Council - Regular Meeting

Yes. Good afternoon everyone. I'd like to call the Anaheim City Council meeting to order. Clerk, can you please call roll? Yes, mayor.

Council member Bis present. Council member Waka here. Council member Curts here. Council member Moss present. Council member Meeks here. Mayor Prom Leon present. Mayor Aken present. Let the record show we have all seven members present. Are there any additions or deletions to the closed session agenda? Mayor, there are none. Thank you. Can you please call forward any speakers? We have Sorry, mayor. Excuse me. I'm sorry. We do have one. Uh, as um notified to the council about an hour ago, we're pulling item one from closed session. Uh, the anticipated litigation.

Item one is removed from the closed session agenda. Clerk, can you please call forward any speakers addressing the closed session agenda? Yes, mayor. We do have 11 speakers to address the city council on the closed session agenda. And we'll go ahead and call the first three speakers, Tom Fler, Francisco Rosas, and Mark Herbert. If the first speaker can please step up and the time limit is three minutes.

Mayor Aken and council members, my name is Thomas Fielder. I come to you as someone who has lived in Anaheim since 1984, who with my wife bought a home here and raised our three children here. I come to you as someone who is active in the community as a volunteer with Housing is a human right Orange County and People's Homeless Task Force Orange County. With the latter, I helped assemble and distribute more than 11,000 meals to folks living on the streets last year, many of those in Anaheim. Most relevant to today's close session, I come to you as a resident who is deeply concerned about corruption in city government. And I didn't come alone. Over the next half hour, you will hear a complicated story of corruption in Anaheim told from multiple viewpoints and involving a variety of elected officials and other players in Anaheim's halls of power. And whether you will listen to this story or not, I want everyone else in this room and everyone who watches online to hear it. Our story begins on December 20th, 2019 with a special meeting of the Anaheim City Council to discuss a proposed sale of Angel Stadium and the surrounding 150 acres of land. On 4:21 2020, Chris Sapata is forced to resign as city manager of Anaheim. In September of 2020, James Vanderpool is hired as city manager. Almost immediately after that, council members, angel executives, and city staff participated in a mock city council meeting on September 21st to make sure the vote for the stadium sale

would go smoothly. Two other rehearsals were scheduled for September 24th and September 29th at a retreat in Lake Havasu. On September 29th, 2020, the AIM City Council voted on terms to finalize the sale of the stadium. In December of 2021, the state of California notified Anaheim that the deal would violate the Surplus Land Act. In uh May of 2022, an FBI affidavit of it was released alleging a variety of crimes by Mayor Harry Sadu in relation to the stadium sale. In 2023, the jail group report was released unveiling a criminal conspiracy and influence pedalling in Anaheim. Then in 2023, mayor candidate Ashley Atken called for attendees at Mock Council meetings to resign. Two and a half years later, we are still waiting for one resignation in particular, that of James Vanderpool. Our next speaker, Francisco Rosas.

Following the speaker, Mark Herbert. Uh, greetings and salutations everyone. I'm Francisco Rosas and I'm here because there's questions, lots of questions raised over uh James Vanderpool. Not to mention the people who recommended his elect uh his position which was Jeff Flint uh the former disgraced Mayor Harry Sadu and also his good old buddy Todd Ament. All of these people have been convicted under felony charges for corruption influence over top political officials in Anaheim for personal and corporate gain. Each one of them has a reputation for being criminals in the city of Anaheim. And the fact that the mayor and everybody else has been complicit in these actions and not addressing Vanderpool's actions and this conduct, you know, raises concerns as to why we even trust you guys to continue um service uh providing service for us if you can't even manage the simple person who allowed the the deal with Angel Stadium, Disneyland forward, and god knows what other deals around the Anaheim that favor businesses over the residents of Anaheim. So again, Vanderpool should not continue working here. He should be eliminated, long gone, and everybody who supported his actions and were complicit in his actions. Thank you. Our next speaker, Mark Herbert, followed by Janine Robbins. Mark Herbert, Anaheimgree.com. The council spent $1 million on the jail report. In July 2023, the report was released to the public. No follow-up community meetings, no hearings, and no

workshops were held. No investigations were launched. No charges were brought. Five of the current city council were members at the time. Mayor Atiken, council members Leon, Rubika, Campus Curts, and Meeks. Better late than never. Now is the time to follow through. The corrupt culture at city hall needs to change and it needs to start now. It needs to start with the firing of city manager Jim Vanderpool. On July 25th, 2023, the LA Times reported text messages between officials showed Anaheim's police chief and city manager coordinated to keep secret a visit by police to council member Jordan Brandman's apartment shortly after the allegation that he was going to quote shoot up city hall. asked if he and the city manager had tried to keep the police visit to Brmond's apartment secret. Chief Sineros told the Times, "When we get very in influential individuals, we put those under wraps." He added that the department nonetheless complies with the state's public records law. The city manager, Jim Vanderpole, declined to comment. At the opening of the September 23rd, 2023 close session, three public speakers asked that city manager Vanderpool be fired. The jail report and LA Times article on the Brandman government were cited. The city manager should have been fired then, but again, no action was taken by the mayor and council. Often times there are costs to residents when the council doesn't take action. The council's refusal to fire Jim Vanderpool is such an action. One, the city manager's office has a seat on the ATID board. Mr. Vanderpool has been in office since September 2020. The ATID budget receives 25% of the hotel taxes. Last year, it was 32 million. In Vanderpool's first three years, ATID

was not audited. The state had to intervene before ATID was audited in 2024. This was ATID's first audit in 13 years. In the city's manager's update at the August 26, 2025 meeting, city manager Vanderpool gave an update on the sale of Angel Stadium. He reported there are no long-term discussions taking place and none imminent. Yet, in an email December 24th, 2025 to Meeks, he wrote, "I'm very concerned that certain people are trying to sabotage any angel deal. It won't stop me. Well, what is it? Are there discussions going on now or aren't there?

Thank you. Our next speaker,

there is a thriving culture of corruption that exists in this city hall. Corruption is rewarded while honesty is met with termination agreements. And if you haven't realized this by now, then you need to pull your heads out of the sand. These corrupt activities are all enabled and authorized by city manager Jim Vanderpool. As a city manager, he is technically the boss of the city and certainly the boss of all employees. The fact that he is still sitting over here to the right speaks volumes as to your lack of moral compass and is a blatant insult to the residents of this city. Let's go through a few points. Number one, he enabled and allowed Chief Communication Officer Lion Mike Lyster to put out fabricated and misleading posts in print, on TV, and on social media. He allowed Lyster to use his personal cell phone for all city related activities, resulting in Lyster insisting that he did not have a city phone during the investigations. He allowed Lyster to refuse to cooperate with both the FBI and the jail group during investigations. He also refused to order Anaheim PD to unlock Listers's personal cell phone for the auditors, which he could easily have done, thereby making Anaheim PD complicit also in blocking the auditors. He met with lobbyists many times since his hiring. Lobbyists who were soliciting illegal handouts and influence here at city hall. These lobbyists were found to have actually written presentations that were passed off to city employees and then presented as staff reports and presented to you. This process continues to this day. Number three, he worked with the Chamber of Commerce and Visit Anaheim, enabling them to steal millions of dollars from the residents that had been designated for COVID relief. Number four, he worked handinand with the felonious ex-meor Harry Sadu to sell Anaheim Stadium to the Angels for a pittance, thereby attempting a brazen robbery of city funds. Number five, he coincidentally attended a retreat just days after an illegal mock council meeting at which he claimed no city business was discussed. But considering all of his other blatant lies, can you really believe anything out of his

mouth? A lie by admission is still a lie. And considering that he only admitted attending when the press found out, I'd say he is lying. Perhaps the worst thing, he worked in tandem with Anaheim PD Chief George Cisneros to cover up the sickness and the wellcheck calls for Jordan Bramman, resulting in his eventual death. There have been no consequences for city manager Vanderpool as one of the last standing members of the family of the cabal. It should be obvious to you that he was an active leader and participant in the corrupt activities here at city hall and should be fired. His hiring was shady and corrupt from the beginning and the fact that he has been called a chameleon by other employees attests to why he was hired at all. He is a yes man and that's why he was hired. There is no other option should you wish should you wish to restore any sense of trust with the residents to continue on as currently it simply makes you complicit with the corruption if not an active participant. For starters, Jim Vanderpool must go. Our next speaker,

good afternoon. Today we gather because Anaheim deserves something fundamental, something so essential that federal law recognizes it as a tangible right, the honest services of its public officials. Under Title 18, United States Code section 1346, the public is entitled to decisionmaking free from hidden agendas, private loyalties, and self-interested maneuvering. When the trust is broken, accountability is not optional. It is required. And that brings us to city manager Jim Vanderpool. The independent JL group investigation, a 350 page report commissioned by this city mentions Mr. Vanderpool 96 times. 96. That is not incidental. That is not background noise. That is a level of involvement that dean demands scrutiny, transparency, and consequences. But the cons concerns don't end with the report. We now have an email dated December 24th, 2025 from Mr. Vanderpool to Council Member Natalie Meeks. In it, last month, just last month, he writes, "I can't believe the story is going to surface five years later. Ridiculous. I'm very concerned that certain people are trying to sabotage any angel's deal. It won't stop me." That is not the tone of a public servant reflecting on past mistakes or acknowledging the seriousness of public concern. It does not read as remorse. It reads as someone frustrated at being exposed. Someone focused on pushing forward despite scrutiny, despite public distrust, and despite the damage already done to this city's credibility. In this context, it won't stop me is not a reassuring statement from the city's top administrator. It is an ominous one. Mayor Ashley Aken herself said the JL reports findings were deeply troubling

and that Anaheim needed to confront the culture that allowed these behaviors to take root. She emphasized transparency. She emphasized accountability. She emphasized restoring trust. Those words matter and today they must guide action. Anaheim cannot rebuild trust with the same leadership at the center of the corruption investigation that remains in place. Anaheim cannot promise honest services to the public while ignoring warning signs placed directly in front of us. Anaheim cannot move forward with a city manager whose own written words suggest determination to continue down the same path regardless of public concern. This is not personal. This is not political. This is about the integrity of our government and the rights of our residents. If we believe in accountability, if we believe in transparency, if we believe in the public's right to honest services, this then we must act. It is time for leadership change at the city manager level. Anaheim deserves leadership that is honest, accountable.

Sorry, your time is up. And unafraid of scrutiny. Anaheim deserves a fresh start. Anaheim deserves better. Thank you. Our next speaker for Nelson followed by Kenneth Te.

Uh let's see how much I have to skip here. For years we could tell that all the important decisions for the city were made behind closed doors and to the benefit of the wealthy special interests, not the people. To a degree it's always been that way. But it was worst of all during the mayorship of Harry Sadu and we were vindicated by the FBI revelations of 2022. The affidavit we read showed that Jeff Flint and Todd amen calling themselves the cabal issued orders and writing scripts for the mayor and most of the council. Jeff Flint was the smartest and most powerful smart enough to not get in trouble with an officer joining the chamber controlled and he controlled all the packs that got the council elected. So they did whatever he said when Sadu had to resign and the remaining the remaining council in a panic voted to commission an independent corruption study which became the JL report. The four of you who took office that year, all of you talking about reform to one degree or another, inherited that jail report and you were stuck with it. But you never allowed a public discussion of it. You practically buried it. We learned a lot, those of us who read that report, but we never cleaned house. There was a fall of reform in 2023, but those were modest reforms with no penalties, which we won't get into now. The main thing is that there was no shakeup of the staff that enabled all the SDU Flint corruption. It couldn't have happened without them, especially in this strong city manager city without the city manager. Let's go back to 2020, the height of Flint's power, the seduce/covid era. We know now that Jeff Flynn, paid by the Angels, was ramming through his preferred stadium deal, very unfavorable to the people of Anaheim, but he still had five votes for whatever he wanted. He had a city manager in early 2020, Chris Zapata. He wasn't a troublemaker, but he was relatively independent and honest. And he would give his opinion when asked for it. And generally his opinions in hindsight were correct. And for that independence, he was fired and replaced with Mr.

Vanderpool. It's important to remember Vanderpool was Jeff Flint's pick. He told Sadu to hire Vanderpool and insisted that his five obedient council members follow suit. Jordan Bramman didn't even want to. Vanderpool was a C city uh city manager that Flint knew he could work with. It's true that the stadium heist was nearly complete when Jim was hired and he also doesn't seem to have been invited to the mock meeting on September 21st. But let's talk about the Havsu retreat. First of all, Jim says it wasn't really a retreat, but I have here the invitation invitation to Laura Cunningham, who was taught immense number two person to Jim Vanderpool's personal email, which I don't know why he's using personal email for this kind of thing. That's also fishy. He says it wasn't a retreat. Laura Cunningham calls it a retreat. And we know from the FBI documents what was meant by a retreat that they're making sure everybody has their act together on policy. Um it's not believable that they didn't talk about the stadium deal coming up September 29th a few days later. Um one one last thing he should have instructed Mike Listister to unlock his phone. Sorry your time is up.

We don't know what was in that.

Our next speaker can Kenneth Batist followed by Mike Robbins. Okay. Hello everyone. Giving honor to God, those on the council that's serving the God of the people. We have a government of the people, for the people, by the people. But when our government goes ahead and starts chasing false idols, greenbacks, our nation starts to suffer. Our community starts to suffer. All of you are in there behind a corrupt city council campaign. Some of you to change things. Harries to do what's the worst of the worst. was going to give away our Angel Stadium and 153 acres for $320 million. The Dodgers sold their team and parking lot stadium and it went for two billion. We was getting a short end. No fins and buts about it. But Mr. Sapata was asked, did we need to go ahead and make those changes? He gave an answer answer honest answer of no. So what did they do? Do you think that they're going to go ahead and give somebody who's looking out for the residents or do you think they're going to put in a yes man, a man that will be corrupt in his ethics and morals? This Lake Havsu meeting, it didn't even come up until later. Talking about five years later, it's about to come up. Excuse me. That was supposed to be disclosed immediately. Immediately. My point is this right here. all of you,

your ethics and morals is being questioned because even when at this point where it says right here that he Vanderpool was on a board with a plan by Disney resort interest to keep as much as $100 million a year out of the city general fund. Excuse me, that's highway robbery. Somebody should be going to prison. Now, I'mma close with this because it's getting down to 50 seconds. Any official that gets paid or hold, they take a oath just like y'all. Y'all take an oath to do the right thing. My point is this right here. If you violate that oath, you need to be fired. You need to be done. The point of it is we have enough going on in our nation right now. We need to clean this mess up and we need to start at home. And every one of your votes will make a difference on whether we get started. And the last say we still have to clean house because if you don't clean house then you're not going to be trusted. God bless. be safe. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for uh listening to us uh this today, please. Um somebody said, and we know who it is, uh a new day was promised for Anaheim. Uh but we can't hope for a new dawn as long as the shadow of criminality still blocks the sun. The se the deceptive beating heart of the cabal the cabal lives on. who who is at the heart of the city who's there running everything and uh while it was being looted and that's James Vanderpool while some players have resigned or been charged uh the center and head and minister of the city James Vanderpool still looms large he was there from the beginning terms of record and past city leaders use many words to describe the city culture under his watch complicit Evasive, unethical, lack of transparency, paytoplay, insider access, backroom deals, opaque and compromised. This is just a betrayal of public trust. The city manager is named over and over again in the cur in the context of betrayal of trust. He becomes a liability as you see by all the articles coming out and they're going to there's more stuff coming out still. He becomes a liability to the city in the past, in the present, and the future. We need a clean break from this era of of corruption. Your city manager, James Vanderpool, I'm going to say this off my own line, is he's like a shark in a silk suit. The man's he's a roadblock to any hope of transparency. He was there for the Angel Stadium fiasco, the the conspiracies and secret deals. He sat at the table while the shadow government plotted to carve up the city's bones. And he's still sitting

there now, blinking behind his spectacles as if he's just a humble clerk. our next speaker. So, you've only heard a little of what is yet to come. There's a web in this city that has entangled many of you sitting on this dis along with the people sitting to my right. So, we know that most of you probably have aspirations to continue your career as a quote unquote public servant. But there's some responsibilities and a price to pay for that. What what we think is once we let the public that's maybe not in this room or maybe not listening online, once the public finds out about this web, once the media finds out more about this web, then it's really up to you to decide how you are going to identify your actions. Because we already know that your silence has identified you as being either corrupt, ignorant or complicit.

So the public deserves some action that would help to change the level or lack of trust, the lack of operation that this city that I call anime so that it it becomes a worthwhile place. not only for the residents but for the businesses etc etc etc. Or your silence and your complicity could maybe identify the city as arguably one of the worst cities to live in because because it's corrupt. You guys have a chance to do the right thing and replace the people that need replacing and call out the people who have remained silent because either they benefit from it or they don't want to get in trouble. But they don't get a chance to do that. They don't get a chance to do that on the taxpayers's dime. It's up to you. You were the ones who ran on the theory that you were going to do right by the city. That's what we expect cuz we're coming back with more.

Our next speaker. Good afternoon, mayor, members of the city council. My name is Josh Kadis and I'm a claims assistant in the workers compensation unit here in Anaheim. I've worked in this role since 2018 and I began as a part-time assistant and became full-time in 2022. During my years as a part-time employee, I routinely worked extreme overtime starting as early as 5:00 a.m. and ending at 11:00 p.m. for months at a time. That's 16 to 18 hour work days consecutively while classified as part-time. Let that sink in. I have the pay stubs and emails to support all this. Since becoming full-time, not much has changed. The overtime continues, and at this point, I'm essentially the only remaining assistant. My counterpart resigned just last month due to burnout caused by chronic understaffing, lack of resources, and a lack of support. Because positions are frozen and we are short staffed, working 11-hour days has become normal for me. I'm carrying claims under my own name as a claims examiner. I'm assisting citywide. I'm always skipping lunches and breaks. I'm handling duties beyond my pay job description and my pay grade. I regularly work past my approved overtime just to ensure injured workers receive their medications, care, and attention that they need. And despite doing everything I can, I don't feel respected, appreciated, and supported. And my job and livelihood feels

uncertain. For years, I have put my co-workers, injured employees, and the city of Anaheim before my own mental health and well-being. I'm now a father of a three-year-old, and if I'm giving 120% here at work, that means I have to give a 220% with the limited time I have for my family. And the truth is, the work life balance is not balanced. I've built strong working relationships with the fire department, police department, and all the other city departments because I know how important it is to get the injured employees back to work safely. If Anaheim moves to a third party administrator, good luck even reaching a live person, let alone someone you can sit down face to face with. Trust me, I've I've worked for TPA and people just become numbers. I've put Anaheim before myself since the day I started. My question is simple. When is Anaheim going to look after me? I'm not here to play politics. I'm just here to do my job, serve the city, and provide for my family. So, I'm asking this council to address chronic understaffing in this work comp program, and ensure employees in my position are properly supported, staffed, and classified so we can continue serving the city effectively.

Sorry, your time is up. Thank you. our next speaker.

Good afternoon, mayor and council members. Thank you for allowing me to speak today. My name is Christy Sukasum and I've worked in workers compensation industry for over 22 years. Before coming to the city of Anaheim, I worked in the private sector directly with workers comp insurance carriers and thirdparty administrators. So when I speak about this, I'm not guessing. I live both sides and I can honest honestly say this city truly takes care of its employees. I've been with the city since 2017. I started as a claims assistant and worked my way up to claims examiner. Every role I've held here, I've been dedicated to working directly with Anaheim firefighters and AFA members. I understand this program and but most importantly I understand the people behind it. When a firefighter is injured, that injury affects more than just their body. It affects their family, their mental health, and their ability to do the job that they love. These heroes run toward danger for our community. And when they get hurt, they trust us to take care of them. I don't see these firefighters as claim numbers. I see them as co-workers. I've built relationships not only with the active firefighters, but with the retired firefighters who still call me till this day because they trust me. We have four people managing workers compensation claims for the entire city. Two claims examiners and two claims assistants. This structure has remained the same even as work injuries continue to rise. And yet, we continue to do a good job. Our audit scores prove that. But I want to be honest about what it takes to maintain that level of service. It takes late nights. It takes weekends. It means answering calls after hours because someone is scared, injured, and needs our help. November of 2022, when outsourcing was first discussed, I was 7 months pregnant and terrified about losing my job. Fast forward to today, I now have three small children, one of which who has special needs. And hearing this conversation come up again brings

back that fear of losing my job for the second time. So I have to ask if the work is being done well, if the audit scores are strong, if the service is there, then what problem are we trying to solve? A management study showed that what we need. We don't need outsourcing. We need additional staff. With the right support, we could do an even better job serving Anaheim employees. I love my job and I want to keep doing this work, ensuring every employee is treated fairly and can recover as quickly as safely as possible. So today, I'm respectfully asking you to choose people over process. Choose trusts over contracts. Choose firefighters and city employees who dedicate their lives to serving and protecting our community. Please vote to keep workers compensation inhouse and invest in the staff who already know the city. Because when our firefighters get hurt, they don't need a third party. They need the city. Thank you. Mayor, mayor prom and council. I'm Sandy Lozo, the current president for Ask Me Local 2002. We're the largest professional union here and here on behalf of not only our 501 members but specifically our workers compensation which all of them are here today. There's only five along with the support for Anaheim firefighters. My cousin's husband passed away a few years ago from cardiac arrest. He was a fire captain at an agency that had an ADR and an in-house workers comp that took care of my cousin and her family.

My husband also was 31 years with Anaheim PD, so I'm very aware of the injuries that occur regularly with our public safety and how important it is to take care of them. With the trust and freedom and creativity that our city manager and you have provided me over the years, I've been able to create a nationally recognized system of care for our most vulnerable homeless population. Once I received notification that there was an issue with our internal system of care with our workers compensation and our team and city staff, I approached the system the same way. I met with our city manager. I met with HR. I was told it was a policy decision. I met with my union members. I met with the policy makers. And the policy maker said, "Meet with AFA and APA." And I did that. I compiled everyone's concern and started collaborating and partnering to create what a system of care should be now and for the future. We have a study that was done just a few years ago that an outside consultant confirmed and recommended that the city of Anaheim remain self-administered inhouse and two additional full-time claims examiners be added. The study was unshelved. If these recommend recommendations would have been implemented years ago, we would not have the issues we have today. Just as this council added three police officers for our Halo team based on experts in our homeless system of care, we have experts telling us to add staff to workers comp. And on top of that, we haven't filled our current budgeted and funded positions that remain vacant. With the claims more than doubled since the study, we now need your help to get our system of care back to where we need to be, the top of the state just a few years ago. Please agendaize for open session the AFA's ADR for council consideration on February 3rd as requested by the mayor along with

directing staff to fill the two vacant uh current positions and add two additional full-times claim examiners for a total of nine. I have 10 people handling the homeless system of care for 1,200 homeless people and we have thousands of city employees. Thank you. Good afternoon, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tim, council members. My name is Tim Kinsey. I am a defense workers compensation attorney. Uh, I represent public agencies including cities and counties in workers compensation matters as well as the creation and tailoring of alternative dispute resolutions. And it has been my privilege for oh over 30 years to represent the city of Anaheim. The ADR program that uh was negotiated between the AFA uh and the city uh is exemplary. Um I understand that it's on the agenda as a labor relations. I'm I am not a labor attorney. I do not participate in the collective bargaining uh agreements. However, this is a labor code issue. Uh the the creation and tailoring of an alternative dispute resolution uh is authorized by the labor code uh between an employer and a collective bargaining uh unit. Um which is exactly what happened in this case between the city and the AFA. Uh this program provides for expedited uh medical treatment um for orthopedic injuries with members of the AFA. Uh whereas normally um in any other workers compensation case uh that treatment would be subject to what we call utilization review and delays um to determine the reasonleness and necessity of the treatment. Um this program allows for pre-authorization of what I would say is probably about 90% of the treatment that we usually see in

orthopedic injuries to make sure that uh injured members uh of the AFA um are taken care of given the medical treatment that they need um to to return to their jobs. Uh, additionally, usually if there is a issue with medical treatment, um, that goes through utilization review appeal, which can also be a relatively lengthy process. However, under the current ADR agreement, um, that was tailored. uh that process is removed from the lengthy delay and put right in front of an independent medical evaluator from a list of agreed doctors that have been agreed upon between the city uh and the AFA. Um it expedites uh certainly any issues uh for the nature and extent of the medical treatment and makes sure that makes sure that that the medical treatment that is being provided um is necessary and and gets um our our people back to work as as quickly as possible. Um, additionally there is uh a 30 a 45day um time frame in which to make a decision on presumptive cases, cardiac cases and cancer cases. Um that is uh significantly shorter than what the current labor code allows which is 75 days. Again, that shortened process makes sure that our people are getting back, getting the medical treatment that they need, and the decisions are being made on an expedited basis um in those types of cases to get them back to work and make sure that they're provided with the necessary medical care. Thank you.

Have our next speaker step forward.

Um good good afternoon, mayor, mayor prom, council members. Uh my name, as many of you know, is Nick Berkkey. I'm a representative with the Ask Me Local 2002 union representing 500 management and confidential admin employees. Um before I start, I'm sorry if I'm jumping all over the place. I was planning for a grievance hearing today and when I left for my long weekend on Thursday, so this was kind of a rope dope for me. Um I just want to I I don't want to re reiterate what has already been said. I just want to uh publicly give praises to the workers comp team. I've wor in my position with ask me. I've worked with a lot of different groups, different employees across the city, all 15 departments, and I have to say that this is what probably the best group that I've dealt with. Um, as mentioned, their audit scores, I believe about five years ago, they were second in the state, above and beyond. So why we would want to reduce their role or outsource their role still is beyond me. They've worked for their their group has worked for about 40 years with the same headcount. Um up never higher, always lower. Uh at best they can always get up to about six people. Uh they they still work on carbon paper. You know the wonderful let's write something out then rip off the back. that's they're still pushing paper that way. They don't even have modern systems, not even an off-the-shelf system to manage their paperwork and they're still second in the state in audit scores. Um, this agreement with FIRE is the result of negotiations between two unions looking for a resolution that doesn't involve losing losing uh control for Anaheim. Anaheim rule gets to retain their control.

ASME management and our workers comp team stays in place. Firefighters get the service that they want. Why do they want that service? Well, when you don't have enough employees, your the service drops obviously. Um so in in the end uh this the proposal in front of you please let's agendaize this for public session and uh please pass it uh at your earliest convenience. Thank you.

Good afternoon Mayor Aken and I'm city council. Um, I'm Raphael Cobian, uh, ASMP general management rep on here on behalf of ASME Local 2002. Uh, here commenting on close session item number two. Uh, we strongly urge the city council to reject any proposal to outsource the city of Anaheim's workers comp program to a third party administrator. As you guys have heard before, Anaheim's, as you, all of you know me, I'm a very data driven person. I look at it very factually. I look at the numbers and I look at it from that perspective. Anaheim's in-house workers compensation team delivers proven highquality results. The city has consistently passed state audits with exceptional scores. Most recently, Anaheim received a 2024 P score of 0.67, well below the failing threshold of 1.76. Um, and is the highest score of any self-administered program in the entire state. So, our workers comp unit does not have a productivity or functional problem. Uh, prior audits in 2012 and 2017 also demonstrated strong compliance and claims handling performance with 2017 ranking the highest statewide. Again, these results are a direct reflection of our staff, their expertise, their professionalism that you heard about today and their dedication to city staff having an in-house team as you heard from one of our workers comp staff is they take pride in helping out our staff and helping out their uh their fellow uh city of Anaheim members. In 2022, the city commissioned a Lana solutions study to conduct a comprehensive independent evaluation of the workers compensation program, similar to the classification compensation study that you guys are uh are aware of. Um, and it included a comparison between self-administered and a third party administrator, what is potentially considered here. Lana's conclusion was clear. The sh the city should remain self-administered and implement targeted operational improvements. That was a result in the recommendation of the study. Among the

key recommendations was the creation of two junior examiner positions to address increased claims volumes and statutory demands. Importantly, the study found that even with enhanced staffing, self-administration remains significantly more cost effective than outsourcing to a TPA. Uh while ASME learned that the city was considering to shift to a TPA, we met with our impacted members in city management. We were told this was a policy decision. We met with council and were encouraged to work with APA and AFA. And we did exactly that. We developed a plan that benefits the city, addresses labor concerns, and preserves Anaheim's proven in-house expertise. We urge you to support the data, the independent analysis, and the demonstrated success of our city staff. invest in the in-house program that already works rather than outsourcing a critical function that Anaheim performs better than anyone else in the entire state. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Our next speaker,

Mr. Mayor and Council, thank you for having me. I'm John Ferrron from Ferrron Law Group. I represent the firefighters. I helped negotiate the original ADR agreement back in 2018. I've negotiated and launched probably 30 throughout the state, beginning in 2008 with the city of Long Beach. What's before you is an innovation that builds a better process. With the team you have and a better process in place, you are going to save time and money. That's what we're talking about here in terms of expediting orthopedic care. The audits I've done with your neighbors with OCFA and OC Sheriff, 75% of the cases are orthopedic. Accessing the care is the challenge today. How to get to a doctor and compressing that time frame is the issue. What we have here is an elephant in the room. It's called backfill to overtime. And the delays in workers comp are profound. And if you did an audit, you would see the number is staggering. Millions. I did an audit in Alama County. In one year it was 3.75 million. They have 400 off 400 firefighters. So when you take that number and amplify it to like OCFA's level at 1,000 the number is huge. When we did the ADR program in OCFA the first year alone we saved 1.5 million in 2014. Half a million alone was saved on overtime. The key here is building internal processes so that your team is not overloaded with tasks. And that's the problem with the statutory system. The system itself is so flawed that they can't deal with the tasks that are coming at them. The system that we are providing to you today is a collaborative effort to solve it. Bringing all the stakeholders together to a table so that we understand what the problem is and how to address it. We're not going to the legislature to solve our problem. and we're going right here locally to solve it and expedite

these cases faster faster and forward. By doing that, you're bringing the people back to work. More importantly, you're instilling a program designed through empathy and trust. And these are the single ingredients lost in employment relationship. When people feel dislocated from a workers's comp injury, the first thing they're going to do is call an attorney. That's not the first step you want. You want to say, "We care about you. This is how we're going to care about you by showing you a better road mapap. The current map and the current system doesn't exist. And that's the the biggest part of the problem. This design that we've created collaboratively, my counterpart, Mr. Kinsey, who I've worked with many years, many cities, brings us just that. It brings us a a semblance of reason, predictive collaboration, solving these problems at a discrete level. And it really is a a gamecher for the system. This will be the gold standard going forward for agencies. I think I've done this presentation before probably 20 cities already and up and down the coast you will see this becoming the gold standard. Thank you.

Our next speaker mayor, distinguished council members, my name is Dennis Young. and the president of the anime firefighters association. I stand in support of the two resolutions that you have set before you. If you're a firefighter, you have no doubt you understand the work compensation system or you will figure out the workers compensation system and that's just an inherent byproduct result of the job. Our job is very um taxing. It's very difficult on the body. We have numerous exposure from stress from getting up at night as well as carcinogenic exposures that we have on a on a regular basis. What we've done working with ASME is to take the issues that we have, which is getting diagnostics, treatment, and care, and streamlining those issues and getting people the treatment and care that they need and they want to get. Um, I've had I've been the result of two workrelated injuries and I can tell you the worst thing that it is is when you're sitting at home and you want to get better so you can ultimately get back to your normal life or somewhat is relatively normal to your normal life. And that takes the treatment and care to do that. Um, with that being said, it's it's a it's a cost savings measure as well. Like you mentioned before, the backfill that's occurring from the delays and the process it takes and the bureaucracy it takes to get through this process cost the city a lot of money. what we've worked through and what we've established is a streamline to be able to look at a set of treatment and set of diagnostics that allow us to get pre-authorized and go get those treatments and go get those um diagnostics to ultimately solve the RIP problem which is what you're dealing with from the iss comp issue. Um that's the orthopedic side and like he mentioned before that's the vast majority of all of our injuries is is having orthopedic injuries. The resolution that I'm the most proud of to be honest with you is the cancer and cardiac resolution. Um, the WHO in 2022 scheduled firefighting is a group one, which means group one is carcinogenic. I

mean, think about that. Your job in itself is carcinogenic. Um, that's pretty damning to think about, right? That's why the state of California has made the made cancer a presumptive, which is it is presumed that you will get cancer becoming a firefighter. So um with that being said, we've once again streamlined everything from setting from 75 days down to 45 days for acceptance of claim and also brought ourselves up to the modern era and allowed us to use um um zooms and stuff like that to be able to get get a hold of our doctors and be able to be able to utilize teleaalth. Um so our whole goal is to streamline orthopedic care to get the members back to work earlier. And what does that do? By streamlining everything, it allows our folks in risk management and work comp to be able to work on multiple cases. So, it frees up their workload as well. Um, I also want to put point something out that the number one cause of line of duty deaths in the state of California right now and the national standard is occupational cancer. So, cancer is not a joke in the fire service right now. I think it's fitting that we have these resolutions up that it is firefighter cancer awareness month. So, I urge you, please agendaize this item and make it a consent item and please uh support this item. It's it has massive comp massive indications on how we're going to be in the fire service as well as helping our risk management department and work comp. Thank you.

Our next speaker, Jason Barlo.

Good afternoon. My name is Jason Barlo and I'm currently the secretary of the Anaheim firefighters local 28.99. Along with the secretary position over the past three years I have served as as the workers comp compensation and wellness representative for the members of the Anaheim firefighters. During my time in these roles I have seen and heard the frustrations from our members suffering from workrelated illness and injuries. As I've learned the state workers compensation system can be complicated and difficult to navigate. This complex process significantly affects our members as approximately 75% of the city's current workers comp claims are from public safety members. After researching and speaking to other public safety departments around the region, such as the Long Beach Firefighters Association, both Huntington Beach Public Safety Associations, the Orange County Fire Authority, and many others, I stand here asking for support for these two resolutions before you. These other agencies with similar programs have seen significant reduction in delays, denials, and time off work for members suffering from work-related injuries and illnesses. After working collectively with Rose from risk management, I believe these two resolutions will not only provide similar results here in the city of Anaheim, but will exceed these expectations as we will also have expedited the process for injuries and illnesses covered under the California state presumptive laws such as cancer and cardiac. Once again, I'm asking for your support for these resolutions for the bene beneficial impacts they will have on the Anaheim firefighters and the beneficial cost savings to the city of Anaheim as well. Thank you for your time.

Mayor and city council, that concludes our in-person speakers. And noting for the record, we did receive a public comment related to the close session that was distributed to each of the city council members and we've posted it on the city's website. Thank you. I will now close public comment on the close session agenda and we will recess to close session. Thank you very much.

Good evening. and I'd like to reconvene the Anaheim City Council meeting back to order. The first item on our agenda is an invocation that will be offered tonight by preacher Jimmy Gaston from State College Boulevard Church of Christ. Following that, I'm going to ask Council Member Rubikala to please lead us in our flag salute. Will you all please stand?

Madame Mayor and council members, I've been coming to these meetings for over 30 years. I've never said anything before, but I want to want to tell you something tonight. I know that most, if not all of you are perfectly capable and comfortable leading this group in prayer before a meeting, but I want to say thank you for allowing those of us in the religious community to come and take this spot. Um, I moved here. I'm in my 34th year in Anaheim preaching for the Church of Christ on State College Boulevard. Got involved in city activities early on, been involved in lots of different things, but this is a different look and I think it's important for our religious leaders to come to read the agenda, to hear what goes on, and to realize all the things that you folks do. So, thank you for the privilege and the honor. With that, let's bow before God in prayer. Our gracious heavenly father, thank you for all the blessings that you give us. Thank you, Father, for establishing government, for its place in keeping society good and decent for all of us. Thank you for our mayor, for our city council members, for all the things that they're involved in. the the big decisions that they have to make, even the minutia that just drives them nuts. I know it many nights. So, thank you for what they do. Thank you for our city staff that uh provide document on top of document for our council members to read and absorb so they can make the best decisions possible. We pray, Father, that you help all of us to work together, not just as those in

elected positions, but those who serve in a variety of ways to keep Anaheim, the great place that it is to live, work, play, and pray. We give you the honor and the glory and the praise for all good things. help us as citizens of this of Anaheim to uh to help make the job of those who lead us as easy as possible. Uh help us, Father, to lavish them with praise when when that's appropriate. Help us not back up from being critical when that's appropriate, too. But help us to do so with an attitude of love and respect and cooperation among all. I pray these things in Jesus' name. We all approach you as our creator and our sustainer. May we all say amen.

Thank you. Please put your right hand over your heart. Ready? Begin to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nationy andice for all. I'm beautiful to congratulate our 2025 holiday lights contest winners. So, our city during the holidays is absolutely magical. From the steps of city hall to the amount of work our neighborhoods put in to making Anaheim look like a city of wonders. And that tradition is something that Anaheim, I think, really drives home. It brings together residents to brighten our holidays. and our residents go all out in decorating. So, I would like to invite our Anaheim beautiful president Lori Denwitty to come up here and show off some of our winners and present the awards as well. Come on. And as well as our Miss Anaheim Beautiful 2025. The mic's yours. Thank you, Mayor Akin and city council members for recognizing Anaheim Beautiful's 2025 holiday lights contest winners tonight. My name is Sophia Prencio, Miss Anaheim Beautiful 2025 2026.

It is my privilege to announce this year's winners with the assistance of Anaheim Beautiful's President Lori Denwy. As we share a slide of each award, please remember one picture could never capture the little details, sounds, special effects, or the time and effort that went into creating these amazing displays. Tonight's first recognition is the Miss Anaheim Beautiful's Choice Award sponsored by Mayor Akin. After viewing every entry, I selected Steven Gonzalez and Jennifer Brooks display at North Amelia Street to receive my award. This was my overall favorite entry. I chose this house because of the coziness of the decorations. They really brought the feeling of being in Santa's workshop. Congratulations. Get a picture of my winner. It's awesome. Everybody right here. We'll have you wait right there.

Moving on to the highest scoring property in each of the six council districts. The district one award winner sponsored by council member Bis is the Garcia Candelario family for their whimsical display at West Lenosa Lane. Oops. Sorry. Sorry. Sponsored by Council Member Leyon, the brand family at South Anthony Street is this year's District 2 award-winning entry. You're all right.

Thank Let's move on on and recognize Robert Nelson with the District 3 award sponsored by Council Member Rubikala for his display at West Alberta Street. We'll have everybody look right here. Great. Next we have the Lutter Tran family at South Barnett Street. Winners of the District 4 award sponsored by council member Compos Kurts. All right. The district 5 award winner sponsored by council member Moz is the pania family

for their display at South Barbara Street. The Smith family won the District 6 award sponsored by council member Meeks for their display. Oh, for their display at East Baja Drive in her own.

We can have everybody look right here. have all our council members. How many do we have?

Oh, okay. Sorry about that.

Yeah. Congratulations to all six of our district award-winning displays. We presented two outstanding LED display awards this year. These recognitions were sponsored by Anaheim Public Utilities for exceptional usage of LED lights to create their award-winning displays. Tonight, we recognize the Ludwig family for their display at South Toppo Street and the Comb family at South Kroger Street is the second outstanding LED display. this year. Congratulations You have your photo, but we won't we won't no. They're gonna take a picture for you. Okay, sweetie. Put it in your pocket. Come on. Listen. Come on.

Don't worry, we'll get it for you. Okay, I messed up. No, that's fine. The judging team selected three standout displays to receive the Bright and Beautiful Award this year. The Stevens family at West Flipin Way was presented the Bright and Beautiful Award sponsored by Mama Kosa's restaurant. Okay. So, we'll have everybody Is everybody in? Can I get everyone to your left?

Everybody look right here. Perfect. Congratulations.

Ray Fricle at North Evanita Mulliga received the bright and beautiful award sponsored by Apollo Printing and Graphics. Congratulations. Perfect. Thank you, sir.

And tonight's final recipient is the Boyinger family at West Catella Avenue. They won a bright and beautiful award sponsored by Boydston Realy and Property Management. Congratulations. Congratul almost. Yeah. Oh, no. No more people have been called up. And can I get a round of applause, please, to congratulate all our winners. Thank you and have a wonderful evening. And can we give a round of applause for our Miss Anaheim beautiful? It is not easy to get up here in front of all these people. She always does such a great job. Bye, Lori. So, we are also recognizing someone very special today. Someone whose presence has brought joy to children and families across Anaheim for more than 10 years. David Bole recently retired after 20 years with Bonds, the very one just right across the street from city hall in our own district three. David is known for more than just his hard work at Vans. For more than 10 years, he's been spreading holiday cheer in a truly impactful way by portraying

Santa Claus at community events in Anaheim and across Orange County. Whether a neighborhood gathering or a local event, David has brought the spirit of the season to life with warmth, kindness, and authenticity. His portrayal of Santa went far beyond the red suit. He gave his time, his heart, and his genuine care to bring smiles to countless faces. So on behalf of the city of Anaheim, we want to thank you, David, for bringing so much joy to our Anaheim community. And we wish you all the best on your next chapter. Santa, congratulations. I was like, it's Santa. Do you know Sans?

Uh, sure. Yes, please. Come on.

Hi folks. This is my family here from sons, daughters, grandchild. I've always enjoyed working at Bonds and playing Santa. I was asked few quite a few years back to to portray him and they got me a a suit for about $80 and I played it out the first week. Uh there was that was a good week uh all week of doing it and then after that I decided I'd go ahead and buy a new suit, something that's a little bit better and I think it really helped quite a bit. But I want to thank everybody for being here. I appreciate the recognition and I've always loved Anaheim this area. been here for 21 years working and playing Santa. Thank you. So, we'll have everybody look right here. retirement.

So last we are going to recognize Dr. Ash Hakeian for his and his team for his efforts to care for a critically harmed dog. So thank you so much to our local veterinarian Dr. Dr. Ash Hakamian, a veterinarian and medical director at University Veterary Center here in Anaheim, is being recognized for his care, his compassion, and his professionalism in a heartbreaking situation. Earlier this year, a small, severely neglected dog was abandoned outside the gates of the veterary center in a disturbing act caught on security cameras. While cases like these are hard to comprehend, what followed was a truly unique and heartwarming action. Dr. Ash and his team responded immediately, giving this dog the urgent care that he needed to survive. And mostly, he got a chance to heal and a chance to be loved. The only good thing to come from this horrible incident is that this dog ended up in the right hands with people who refused to give up on him. This moment reminds us that even in the face of cruelty, compassion can prevail. We want to thank the Anaheim Police Department for their swift investigation and arrest in this incident and for their continued work to ensure accountability. So, on behalf of the city of Anaheim, Dr. Ash, thank you for your dedication to animal welfare and for you the heart you bring to your work every day. Could you please share a few words with us? Congratulations.

I don't want to blow it, so I wrote it down. Um, dear mayor, city council members, and community, thank you for having me. Uh, growing up, I wanted nothing more than to be a veterinarian. It combined my my desire to help animals and the people who stood behind them. Um eventually when I graduated veterinary school um it took me across the United States for advanced training in emergency medicine, surgery, um internal medicine. Um then I started working and I realized how corporate veterinary medicine has taken over our profession. Um I realized that's not what I wanted to do and so I started looking to set up shop for myself. I failed many times over and over for many years and somehow with perseverance and a little bit of luck I ended up in Anaheim of all places. Um, being here has been an amazing journey, I now get to practice the profession that I love under my own terms and in my own community. Uh, being in Anaheim has allowed me to be myself. It has taught me the ups and downs of running a business, entrepreneurship, and um it has taught me the importance of community. This April marks our 10year anniversary in District 2. And this recognition from the city and the support we've received from the public, the community at large has been both amazing and extremely humbling. I'm grateful to be in Anaheim. Thank you for mayor and city council for all your support, the police department. Thank you for the community's support. U we have heard from people in other countries after this incident. I mean it's amazing that despite all the bad that's in the world, how many good people have come out of the woodworks to

support and help in many many different ways. Thank you for allowing me to both live and work in a city that I've learned to love. I look forward to the memories we haven't made yet and I'm super grateful for the memories we've made so far. Thank you. So, next on our agenda is a recognition to be presented at a later date. Clerk, can you please announce?

Thank you, mayor. We do have one this evening recognizing January 27th, 2026 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. And we do have a representative to um accept this um proclamation. if um Karen Warren could please step up.

I'd like to thank the Anaheim City Council for acknowledging and recognizing National Ahala Cost Remembrance Day. I have brought with me um members of my community, Anaheim Hills, and um we are all members of Temple Best Shalom. I also have with me Sarah Schwitz. She is a treasured member of our uh Temple community and she is a Holocaust survivor. Sarah is Sarah is from Greece and she lost 50 members of her family in the Holocaust. Sorry. Um we are living in troubling times. There are those who are deniers of the Holocaust and there is rising anti-semitism in our communities. It was always a mantra of the Holocaust never again and now we are saying never again is now. We thank you for this declaration and um I am a proud member. I'm a proud resident of Anaheim and I will share this with my friends and with my temple. Thank you. May we have a picture? May we have a picture with the council?

Absolutely. Please. We will have to do so. Okay, if we can have everybody, we can ask you to hold for a couple more. Perfect. Thank you.

Super mine. So, now I'd like to call to order the Anaheim Housing Authority in joint session with the city council. Clerk, are there any additions or deletions to tonight's agendas? Mayor, there are none. Clerk, can you please outline the public comment procedures and call forward the first several speakers to address our agenda?

Thank you, mayor. Speakers have one opportunity to address the city of council except for the scheduled public hearing. The public comment period is limited to 90 minutes or until all agenda item speakers have been heard. Any time remaining of the 90 minutes will be provided to speakers who wish to speak on any non-aggenda related items but within the council's jurisdiction. A second public comment period will be open by the mayor only if any non-aggenda item speakers were not heard during this first public comment period and it'll be open at the end of council business. The time limit for public comment is 3 minutes per speaker. Those wishing to address the city council must complete a speaker card which are available at the back of the council chambers. The name and contact information requested on the speaker card is optional. Any unidentified speakers will be called by the speaker card number. At this time, I'd also like to announce that Spanish interpreting services are provided at every city council meeting. SP simultaneous Spanish interpretation is provided through the use of headsets and consecutive interpretation is available to anyone who would like to address the city council. For translation services in other languages, we please ask to contact the city clerk's office at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled meeting. At this time, I'd like to inter introduce our interpreter who make the same announcement in Spanish. city clerk. At this time, on behalf of the city council, we would like to remind the

public that Anaheim remains committed to freedom of speech. And we ask that speakers address the city council with civility and refrain from making personal, threatening, abusive, slanderous, or profane remarks towards any member of the council, staff, or general public. We appreciate you reflecting the spirit when you speak. The time now is 5:54 with the 90minute public comment set to conclude at 7:24 or until all agenda item speakers have been heard. We do ask for speakers to line up at the podium once they see their name appear on the projection screen behind me. And the first three speakers to address the city council is Kenneth Batist, Janice Heckle, and R. Joshua Collins. that they can step forward at this time. Giving honor to God, those on the council serving the God of the people. It's talking about housing. I'd like everybody in the room to just Google what is the third most expensive city in America and they will come up with Anaheim. It says right here the average house is 1.45 million. The average twobedroom is $3,000 a month. Uh it says that the cost of living in Anaheim is roughly 56 to 59% higher than the national average. And we wonder why we need housing stability. We We don't have enough housing. Plus, we don't have the rules to protect those that are in housing. Those of us that are blessed, let's make sure we get it straight, blessed, cuz we're only one hit upside the head from not being there

to have our home. But it's not about just us. I'm going to tell you what my father said. One day, and I never forgot it. He went ahead and he said this. Life is like this. One day, everybody had to cross a river to get to the other side. He said one day somebody crossed that river and built a bridge back to make it easier for everybody else to come through over the river. We got ICE in our neighborhoods terrorizing. We just got through going ahead and talking about talking about the remembrance day for the Holocaust. Well, excuse me. We got right now a holocaust driving in our backyard and it seems like the people who are not ready to stand up to the Constitution and defy the real rule of law. The point of it is is this right here. We got what did it take to go ahead and get rent control in Anaheim? We look for our city council. We look for our leaders to go ahead and do this. never will they do it because the special interest want everything to keep growing up. But we just put in a measure to get rent control at the index of inflation for the residents of Anaheim, the ones that are not fortunate enough to go ahead and be blessed enough so they can go ahead and have stability in their family and their kids can go ahead and live up and grow here. We are looking at this city council special interest is tearing Anaheim apart. They go ahead and they say, "Oh, well, it's so good. It's so good." You're right. It's good if you're on this half. What happen when you're on the other half? And if we on that half, do we don't turn our backs on the people on the other half? We got to go ahead and make sure that guess what? The next person that ICE picks up is our relative. Our relatives. We have to do stuff to

protect our resident. And if you're not doing that, then you're not doing your job. Thank you. Our next speaker. Good evening, Mayor Atken and members of the Anaheim City Council. As you know, I'm Janice Heckle and I'm the executive director of the Anaheim Community Foundation. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight regarding item one on the housing a housing authority consent calendar. The foundation is deeply grateful for your time, your thoughtful consideration, and your continued commitment to the people of Anaheim. The property at 883 South Anaheim Boulevard represents more than just office space for us. It represents hope, stability, and opportunity. It would allow us to establish a permanent home and create a hub where nonprofit organizations can come together to better serve our residents in need. Every day we see families, seniors, veterans, and individuals who rely on community organizations for support. For many nonprofits, finding affordable and reliable space is one of their biggest challenges. Approval of this lease would ease that burden and allow them to focus on what truly matters, helping people. This space would become a place for collaboration, problem solving, and compassion. a place where ideas turn into action and where lives are truly touched and changed. On behalf of our board, our partners, and the residents we serve, I respectfully ask for your support of this lease. We are committed to being good stewards of this space, and continued strong partners of the city of Anaheim. Thank you for your leadership, your service, and for

believing in our mission to build community through people, partnerships, and pride. Thank you. Our next speaker, R. Joshua Collins.

Good afternoon. My name is R. Joshua Collins, founder of Homeless Advocates for Christ on Facebook. And first, I just want to encourage everyone to give the life to Jesus Christ who died on the cross for us to save us from hell, to give us everlasting life. You know, tomorrow's not promised, and we should definitely be living for eternal values. We've all sinned. and we'd all need a savior. Uh only Jesus can save us from that horrible place called hell. And Jesus cared so much about the poor and wanted us to as well. James chapter 2 uh and verse 5 through 7 talks about the poor are rich in faith and heir of God's kingdom and encourages us not to mistreat or discriminate against the poor. And then verse 6 talks about uh you've dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you are called? Uh that's Christ. So uh I want to talk about something that 43 other countries have implemented including Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Estonia, and Latafia. And this is called a day fine system. And also LA in 2026 is going to do an income based traffic fine system, but something that could help a lot of the poor people, the poor residents because uh equal fines are not equal punishment. A flat speeding ticket of $200, it might be an inconvenience for a wealthy person, but could be a serious hardship for lowincome people and could cost them their rent, their food, their utilities. Uh each additional dollar matters more to someone with less money than to someone with more. Losing $200 when you're struggling can change real life outcomes. And in contrast, losing $200 when you're wealthy often doesn't change behavior at all. So, uh, this day fine system, you can look it up online. Uh, they use day units, basically one day of income. Uh, they determine how many days of income for whatever your offense is. U, so it would impact the rich uh, in the same way, right? As far

as the poor, uh, it would be a deterrent, right? uh deterrent fails for the rich, right? It stops being a deterrent for the rich because they don't a $200 fine doesn't mean nothing to them, but it becomes very very difficult for the poor. Paying the fine may mean missing other bills, mispayments can lead to late fees, license suspension, job loss. Uh the punishment escalates far beyond the original offense for the poor. Uh so we definitely need some kind of system like this, an income based uh system because true justice aims for pro proportional impact, not identical treatment. Uh true fairness often means proportionality, not sameness. So that's what I'm going to ask to be put on the agenda uh for the city of Anaheim. Uh LA, like I said, has already started working on this. All these other countries, we are way behind and this will help people could stay off the street as well. So I really hope that uh you guys will think about this and and work towards this because this way uh uh everyone will feel the penalty, everyone will be equally deterred and no one is punished into poverty. Thank you for letting me share.

Our next speaker, Paul Hayek.

We need a group like this to help us with our homeless and those that want to work. We need a place where they can come in, have a place where they can leave their gear and yet get day labor, work today, pay today cash. as a former independent. When I needed help, I went to the state employment, got the guys, I paid them cash, and they worked real real good for me. At one point, I had two guys that were regulars when they were in town. They'd even walk up to me and say, um, when you got anything cooking mean if I got something in the works? And I mean, I did all kinds of work. Mayor and city council, that concludes speakers on agenda items. We will now move forward to general comments and we have 24 speaker cards. Our first speaker, Mark Richard Daniels, followed by Charlotte Nighton and then Janine Robbins.

Microphone.

Good evening everyone. Um, there's so much going on in the world that I just can't even It's getting to the point where I don't even want to turn the TV on. I don't know if any of you feel that way, but when you go to your uh comments at the end of the meeting when each of the council members, the mayor, you each speak on, you know, the latest opening of some latte or some restaurant or something like that. I would hope that you take the time to kind of switch gears a little bit and focus on what's going on in our community with the homeless situation with a lot of the uh uh rent situation that is I'm I'm like right there uh and that take take the time to uh focus on what's going on in the in our world. We got the Minneapolis thing that just I haven't checked the news lately, but this has become like uh some kind of a occupation. You were talking about the Holocaust. This is like uh present day a takeover of an American city by this regime. And that's what I call it. I don't call it an administration. It's a regime. And it's it's gotten to the point where uh more people are going to die. I'll just tell you that right now. There's going to be uh so much heartache before we come to the other end of this. This is uh absolute a nightmare in the history of our nation. Not since the Civil War

in the 1860s have I seen or witnessed, and that's in just in the history books. If you look at what's going on this very moment, and we have a a president, if you want to call him that, that's unhinged, that is absolute a disaster. And I would hope that when you take your time to mention uh what's going on in each of your districts that you take time to to please point out the fact that we're in a dangerous time right now and it's not going to be uh it's it's going to get worse. I I'm afraid uh I sound like the you know doom doom and gloom, but it's just it's

it's going to be a disaster before it gets better. Thank you very much. Our next speaker,

Mayor Akens, city council meeting, um members, ma'am, can you bring down the microphone? Can you hear me better now? Yes.

Okay. Mayor Acres and city council members, um myself and 430 residents of Anaheim, thank you for repairing the Olive Hills tennis courts. You heard us and we thank you. Uh we now the uh we have kids, seniors, and young adults now playing on these courts. We're all very happy the courts were repaired. They weren't resurfaced. So, let's look at um let's not forget in the near f future resurfacing the courts. But I thank you again and you have a nice evening. Janine Robbins followed by Mike Robbins.

Anaheim. You would expect Anaheim, home to Disneyland, the happiest place on earth, to be the best place to live. Instead, when the curtains are pulled back, the city is shown to be a corruption ridden house of horrors. The city of Anaheim holds the number one spot in Orange County for homeless deaths. It's not a good thing. It's a horrible spot to be in. Today, at the board of supervisors, we learned that the city of Anaheim has another number one trophy. They are number one for human trafficking, sex trafficking. With a little research, I found that it's due to the tourism industry. Disneyland, the convention center, Angel Stadium, Honda Center, and probably the new OC Vibe will increase that, too. This afternoon, another door in the haunted house was open, otherwise known as City Hall. It was open for the workers compensation department. Seems to me you have another illegal operation going on. Employees working without pay, working after hours, working through lunch, working through their breaks, all just to keep up with their workload. Why, you wonder, is this allowed? Well, let's see. It appears that there are not enough employees. Why, you wonder, are there not enough employees? Well, it seems that the city is broke. So just go ahead and break employee law. I'll put that on Vanderpool's head since he is the corrupt boss of the city. So if it's happening in one department, we have to assume it's happening in more if not all departments. For example, we know that corruption thrives in Anaheim PD with under Vanderpool's direction under his direction for God's sakes. Chief Cisneros worked handinhand with

Vanderpool to hide important data in police reports regarding Jordan Brandman. Important data like his name. His name was withheld. If he had received the necessary help, perhaps he would be alive today. But no, you hid the data. You let it happen. It happened under your watch. How dare you guys? How dare you? How dare you support corruption like this? Tell us what is going on in this city while you guys are taking goddamn pictures.

Next speaker, Mike Robbins, followed by Stephanie McGon. Uh, I'm uh the husband of Janine Mike Robbins.

We made up some signs. I made up we made I made up thousands of signs for different uh uh items and things over the last few decades. It's it's so hard to do them when you're measuring it all out and and making them up like this. But obviously, we're not we're not doing anything about reading uh any corruption here. So that we should probably just change that. Make make uh make Anaheim corrupt, right? Um 96. That was a good one. 96 mentions in the jail report. Uh $1.5 million. Well, we threw that away. Um transparency. I I don't know what to say about that. There's no transparency. Um

but um what what we seem to have is the same cabal and different faces. Um, and we have a dirt bag for a manager. I'm I'm using the word dirt bag. Of course, you could, you know, I said um uh a land land shark in a silk suit. Uh I thought that was a great one, too. But I'm going to use dirt bag because um you need you need a really heavy dirt bag to hold down the canopy of corruption. So you need him, right you guys? Uh Christ, Natalie Meeks, you need him because he's he's part of what holds down what you need. And until we get rid of that, we're um we're until we get, you know, until we step back. And I do have to say that signs take forever to make, but we spent uh thousands of hours working on the sale of Angel Stadium and thousands of dollars to stop it. To see that we haven't moved ahead from that is just disastrous for us. No, thank you for your help. We'll do it again. Members of the council, residents of Anaheim, the JL group report did not reveal a few isolated issues. It revealed a pattern, a pattern of influence, access, and decision-making that consistently bypassed the public. The reports references make that clear. Disney 102 mentions. Rob Vavlla 117 mentions. Jim Vanderpool 96 mentions. Greg Garcia 80 mentions. Ted White 79 mentions. Steven Fessel 58 mentions.

Carrie Nosella 42 mentions. Mike Lyster 21 mentions. Debbie Moreno two mentions. This is not a random list. It is a map of how power operates in Anaheim and has operated. One name on that list, the city manager, carries particular weight, not because he is solely responsible, but because the scope of the position he itself. The city manager oversees 11 departments, nearly 3,000 employees, and a budget of roughly two for 2.4 billion. The role shapes policy, influences major projects, and sets the tone for the entire organization. When someone in that position appears nearly a hundred times in a corruption investigation, it underscores how deeply the system itself needs examination. But tonight is not about one person focusing only on the city manager risk missing the larger issue. Anaheim has a structural transparency problem. Residents have repeatedly had to use the public records requests to uncover information that should have been shared freely. Major deals were shaped long before the public had any opportunity to weigh in. Accountability has come from outside pressure, not internal standards. If Anaheim wants to rebuild trust, it might it must address the culture that produced these numbers. A culture where certain voices had extraordinary access, where major decisions were influenced behind the scenes, and where p the public was too often an afterthought. Replacing one official will not fix that. Leaving the underlying system untouched will guarantee that the same problems return. Tonight, I'm asking the council to commit to something broader than any single contract or position. Commit to genuine transparency. Commit to independent oversight. commit to rebuilding a structure where people people's interests come first. Anaheim

deserves a government that earns trust through actions. The JL report provided a detailed road map of what went wrong. The responsibility now lies with this council to decide what comes next. Our next speaker, Ruben Greg Sodto, followed by David Pledo. Mayor, city council. Um, Christmas holidays. Believe in Santa Claus. Um, Easter bunny. Believe in the Easter Bunny. He has risen. Believe in God. Seeing is believing. Have you seen the Easter Bunny? Have you seen Santa Claus? Have you seen God? Okay. Um, now apostles, the 12 apostles appointed Jesus appointed 12 apostles colonels. Now I think myself there should have been woman. Women give life. Men take life in the name of Jesus in war. Okay. That's my feeling. A woman has a connection with a baby, you know, and men just don't. What they did to me was terrible. Cops and everybody. But look at me now. I never give up. Okay. I got my head busted. I got punched. I got staples stitches in my head, my arm, my ruer cup torn apart. Or some dumb idiots and the cops are behind it. Disneyland security is behind it. Okay. Now, um, this forgiveness that these churches say, you got to forgive many times what people do to you. That's a of crap. That don't make no sense. Why would Jesus do that when he's about love? You know, they do it on purpose what they did to me. They might think I'm Jesus.

No, I don't think so. I'm a human being. I'm a man and I'm I'm not going to take and turn my other cheek and I'm I'mma hit you back and turn your cheek. See if you walk away. Okay. Now, um that's really abuse what they did to me and stupid. Okay. Now my first amendment had been violated freedom of speech, freedom of religion. Um I have out o laugh out loud law of land that I have. Now all this is like really bad. I'm born in USA the good USA. I'm treated like a refugee. Worked all my life, paid my taxes and my child support. And you know what? They did me wrong and they're going to pay. Now being at that um you say about humanity for a dog, how about humanity for me, a human being, a man? Okay, that was that was really like hit my heart like what the heck. Okay, now Beelina sent me an email on a thing that I said the reason why I'm being attacked because I do the right thing. I turn in whatever I know. I made the deal with the public defenders here in Fullerton and in Riverside that stop arrest me for nothing. I'll give you all the information to get real money real criminals instead of messing with me. And you know I I sit over there in Fitton. There's like two bus loads of criminals going over there.

Mr. Sodto, your time is up. Okay. Thank you.

Our next speaker, David Pledo, followed by Abraham Q. All right. Uh, my name is David Pledo. I'm a resident of Santa Ana and a member of Community Service Organization Orange County. Uh, we fight for Chuco self-determination and community control of the police. That's right. We demand justice for the police killing of Albert Garzola. We demand the release of the full unedited body camera video and audio of all officers from the incident. The family also demands the immediate release of the autopsy report. Now, as you have heard for weeks, but I will repeat for folks who are new to this, um Albert Arzo was only 19 years old when he was ambushed by two Anaheim PD officers who leapt out of an unmarked vehicle with guns drawn and chased him to his home. One officer dragged Albert backwards by his hoodie, shooting him in the back and killing him in front of his 14-year-old cousin.

Shame. When horrified members of his family came out to see what happened, Anaheim PD detained them for hours in the cold night at the scene of their crime. Officers did not give immediate medical attention to Albert. And instead of That's right. Yeah. Instead of providing answers, they have been evading responsibility and blaming the victim with racist justifications and lies. Albert was a loved family member, a hardworking resident of Anaheim with a bright future. and he should be alive today. This is why the full unedited body camera footage is just a basic starting point for accountability. The public has a right to know exactly what really happened and the family has the right to see the autopsy report.

The police killing of Albert Arzola is not an isolated incident. It belongs to a long pattern of racist killings of Chicanos and other oppressed peoples, not only in Anaheim, but in Orange County in the American Southwest. You've heard directly from Albert's family for weeks, and you will hear them again tonight.

You've heard from people like Donna Asdo, whose son Joel Asdo was killed by Anaheim PD in 2012. That year alone, Anaheim PD killed at least seven chos. And just last year in Santa Ana, you know, they our police department killed Noel Rodriguez, Henry Gonzalez Jr., Jose Velasquez, and Freddy Washington, brutalizing many more. So, this is a widespread problem right here, too. The truth is that, you know, despite what you all do, because you have your little presentations, uh, you know, you celebrate the police. The police are used to terrorize and oppress our communities. That's why we fight for community control of the police. We have a basic right to decide on police matters. Everything from their policies to their budget to the power to hire and fire and jail. Your time is up.

Justice for Alberta. Our next speaker. Justice for Alberta. Our next speaker, Abraham Q. For our next speaker, a hand step forward. Are you here? Abraham Q.

Yes, he's here. Good evening, city staff. My name is Abraham. I live in Saint Ana as well. I'm a member of community service organization Orange County. We are here to support families who have lost loved ones to police violence and demand justice alongside them. We are here to demand justice for Albert Arzola. We are standing in solidarity with 19 the family of 19-year-old Albert Arzola, an Anaheim resident who lived just minutes walking away from this chamber. When I visited the site of the shooting the very next day, I saw roughly 100 community members there gathered to mourn a person who supported his family endlessly. Someone who when I spoke to everyone in the neighborhood, they knew who he was and they respected his caring nature. Anaheim PD is also no stranger to escalating violence and presenting misleading and even false narratives. In 2012, as David mentioned, officer Kelly Phillips executed, not murdered, executed Joey Asavdo after officers escalated a stop sign violation to a vehicle pursuit. One witness even testified that officers held Oavdo down when officer Phillips put a bullet in his head. That same year, Anaheim PD officer Nick Benolock shot and killed Manuel Diaz, who was running away from officers chasing him. Yet, the officer got away with the murder because he feared for his life again as Manuel Diaz ran away from them. Shame.

In Albert Arzola's case, an Anaheim gang unit was on patrol and escalated a tagging situation to the killing, the murder of a 19-year-old Anaheim resident. Shame. Shame. They dragged all the occupants of his home out. They left children in handcuffs on a in handcuffs on a sidewalk without access to restrooms or warm clothing for hours on a cold winter night. Shame. Shame. The community has rightly since responded with outrage. We demand the release of all unedited body camera footage from all the officers involved that night. We want the names of the officers involved and we demand justice for Albert Arzola.

Our next speaker, Nathaniel Lozano. My name is Nathaniel Lozano. I'm a resident of Breno Park and a man and a member of the community service organization of Orange County. I'm here to be in support of the family of Albert Ozola who I'm deeply sorry for their loss and my deepest condolences to them. They deserve true justice for the police killing of Alberta. They deserve at bare minimum accountability from the Anaheim PD for their unjustly inhumane killing of him. We demand the release of full and unedited body camera video and audio of all officers present in this state sanctioned violent act. Anaheim PD along with all other police departments across this country commit acts violent acts daily terrorizing communities. The policies, practices, and people of power within these police department departments allow these inhumane acts to occur with no intention of slowing down and don't care to write their wrongs. Don't care to take accountability of the department and their officers. They don't care to reflect upon their acts of terror and the trauma that they have inflicted on these families. This is a systemic issue and what the police is built on. For example, two Anaheim Police Department officers ambushed Albert and immediately drew their guns and chased him into his home, dragging him and shooting him in the back, face down in front of a 14-year-old family member. Why is the immediate response is to draw guns when the officers are trained to apprehend without weapons? Why Why is the immediate act to shoot a

man face down when they are obviously not a threat and outnumbered? Why was a man killed in front of a child when that puts the child themsself in harm's way? Where is the protection for the community? Where is the training that their tax dollars go to to ensure their safety at their own home after this traumatic act, the family members are detained for hours and instead of being allowed to care for Albert, even worse, they have testified that the officers didn't give immediate CPR or wound care to Albert. They're trained to do so. They are paid to care and protect their community. Where was it? This is a This is police culture. To kill first is police culture, especially the Jakana X and black communities. Families are tired, traumatized, and in fear of their own that they will become a victim of police violence by Anaheim PD and across the United States. Do you know this feeling? Do you live in this fear? Have you talked to these family not only as an official but as a human being?

The community and affected families should have a right to decide these police matters like policies and firing or jailing cops who commit violence and killings. Especially when you're supposed to serve the public at this moment. You guys have the power. You have the power to be accountable. You have the power to be creative with these policies and involve your and protect I'm sorry your time is up. Give VB.

Now I have to follow that. Um, totally different subject. Um, hello city council and mayor. Thank you for being here this evening. My name is Andrew Winger and I'm a resident of Anaheim represented by all of you. I attended the last city council meeting when the festival project was discussed and left in disbelief at how it went. On one side, you had a parade of residents who were essentially begging for the safety of their families during the next evacuation. On the same but other side, you had the carpenters union who were focused on their economic in interests. Much to my surprise, the union's concerns visibly resonated with much of the city council when evacuation concerns didn't have the same reception. As I watched the conversation unfold, it was clear that the residents focused on personal stories when this meeting called for detailed facts. The stories that had traction for Deer Canyon didn't make the same impact this time. But that wasn't the only group who made a strategic mistake. The developer underestimated the city council's commitment to the carpenters union. After the public ser after the public comment, the citizens were fully reliant on the city council to ask the right questions. There were times where facts were wrongs, questioning fell flat, and could have been infitted from the feedback of experienced local residents. Don't get me wrong, I know you were doing your best, but you can't possibly have all the answers to this complex subject. For example, during an emergency evacuation, westbound traffic on Serrano is forced down Null Ranch Road. The city of Orange stops traffic from continuing on Sorrano to protect its own evacuation routes. That constraint fundamentally changes evacuation modeling. Another example, when you overlay Anaheim and Orange's know your way plans maps, there's a loop back condition where traffic diverted from Null Ranch Road could be routed back towards Null Ranch Road due to ambiguity in the plans. That's a serious uh coordination gap. These are just two of the many issues related to the traffic modeling impact studies and

methodology that residents are prepared to discuss. What I'm asking for tonight is a commitment from the city council to ensure that we're allowed to speak when festival is on in the agenda. It didn't seem certain at the end of last meeting. You've awarded the developer an additional time to regroup and address the city council again to fix their strategic mistake. Basically, they got a mulligan. The same courtesy should be awarded to those who have an actual stake in this project. Will you please commit to allowing us to speak on the festival agenda items in the future? Thank you. Next speaker, Molina Martinez, followed by Matthew Duncan. Um, good evening everybody. I am here to talk about um public transportation. Public transportation is vital in Orange County. It gives people the opportunity to get to their jobs, education, healthcare, and other essential services. For many, especially lowincome households, people with disabilities, student, and other transit based individuals, buses are a necessity. However, wait time consists of 30 minutes or more, which reduces the effectiveness of the OCTA's bus system. Cutting it to 15 minutes would significantly benefit riders and also the community. Public transportation in the US unequally serves individuals and families with limited mobility options and economic resources across major metropolitan air regions. Bus and rail riders are four more likely to be low income than the general population. Bus riders are about four more times likely to live in poverty and roughly 65% report having no access to a private vehicle for their trip. About 8% of transit riders also report a disability that also significantly affects mobility, highlighting how important transit is for reaching jobs and other vital services. To purchase further in Orange County,

these trends are even more pronounced. According to a 2024 OCTA origin destination survey, 94.5% of OCTA riders identified as lowincome and 86.9% identified as minorities. These figures show that OCTA's fixed route bus system primarily serves residents who depend on reliable public transit to meet their daily routines and needs. Many OC bus routes run every 30 minutes or more during peak and off- peak hours. Intervals that may appear intolerable tolerable on a schedule, but in practice translate into long uncertain weights at bus stops. Even brief delays or misconnections add to total travel time, hurting those who cannot just drive instead. As a senior myself, I use OCTA bus often and I know multiple students that rely on public transportation, especially with the rise of ICE activity in our community. Many parents are afraid to take their own children to school. With California already being an expensive state with the new graduating class needing transportation ahead to school and work, public transportation becomes vital in our community. I ask that the city of Anaheim connects and reaches out to OCTA and make sure that some form of change is accomplished. Thank you. Next speaker, Matthew Duncan, Matthew Duncan, California Wildlife Protection Alliance. Uh most of what we hear now the media both locally and nationally is just awful and deservedly so. So I do appreciate the city recognizing do Dr. Ash Hakeamian and his team for treating the seriously injured little

dog uh who was abused here in Anaheim recently. And as one who regularly speaks to the council about the city's treatment of wildlife, specifically the trapping and gassing of 84 coyotes uh that have been killed in this city um until the California Department of Fish and Wildlife uh intervened and enforced state trapping regulation 465.5G3. three about almost exactly a year ago. Um at which time the city began actually respecting that regulation after ignoring my attempts for you to follow it for previous more than a year. Uh but the warden has a lot more weight. And so because of that, the city has not trapped or gassed a coyote since uh according to your own records since October of 2024. No coyotes trapped during 25. So I recognize you, doctor. We need more like you. You are a hero. And I recognize you in in remembrance of the song dogs killed by the city of Anaheim with no evidence that any of them were aggressive toward humans. Did they attack some un unattended free roaming outdoor cats? Yes. Whose fault is that? It's not the fault of the coyotes.

So I finish by just saying for all dogs. Thank you.

Our next speaker to step forward. Um, I just wanted to start this off by saying rest in peace to Bianca Esco Esco. Uh, she recently passed away a couple days ago from a drunk driver from pretty close to the freeway. And uh, when I saw about it on the news, I understood that I was going to speak this weekend. I wanted to pay my remorse cuz it's a very serious situation. And um also today I'm in support for Albert Arzola. It's uh it's been two weeks now since Albert's life has been or not two weeks, it's going to be two months and uh in a week by now since Albert has passed away. And um I just would like to know why no life-saving measures were taken immediately. Um from one clip from the moment Albert is hit, it flash forwards 10 minutes later. Um you know, 10 minutes after getting shot. That's crucial. the body begins to go into shock and start shutting down. And it's it seems at that point it's a cold-blooded murder cuz it's not normal to say your coworker killed a man today at his house. That's not something that you should say going home. And I would just like to know if uh his partner has also been put on leave because he has witnessed one of the most traumatizing events and I don't feel like it's safe to have someone on that that was there that night in the exact same position as him. And I would just like to know why what was the difference between the two officers. You when you watch the tape, you see one officer run out of the car like it was a 40 yard dash while you see the other officer lightly jog. By that time, Albert's already dead. By the time he makes contact, it's pretty severe and seemed like it was just untrained

to them raid the house. I mean, that's just pretty shameful. His uh Albert to raid Albert's house with all his family inside it. I would just like to know who approved it because he was just a 19-year-old kid a week from his birthday. Barely 19. He might as well have been 18 still. I would just like to know if it was Manny Sid, was it court judge? I would like to know. This is public info. This is something that should be shared with us.

That is all. Thank you. Our next speaker, step forward. Good evening, council members, mayor, and staff. I am here again to demand the entire unedited videos of the officer involved shooting that took place on December 6th be released now.

Albert Arzola was a resident of Anaheim who had just celebrated his 19th birthday. He worked for the Honda Center and he loved the Anaheim Ducks. As a youth, he was exploring the world of work where he developed an interest in culinary arts. Albert's hopes and dreams were shattered by an unjustified act by an extensively trained gang unit officer who reportedly was dispatched to investigate graffiti. The information that has been released just affirms that this never should have been resorted to the officer drawing his weapon from his vehicle. This just shows that there was an intent to cause harm without remaining calm. Police officers need to learn how to deescalate. If not, they should not be a police officer. asking the important questions and gathering evidence if it was just graffiti. All the necessary to prevent future graffiti and that does not warrant a death sentence.

This behavior places the public at risk. My daughter is the same age as Albert. It breaks my heart to see anyone deal with this unimaginable pain of losing a child. We do not wish this pain on anyone, nor should you. And if we can prevent another incident like this from happening again, why not? Do not take us back to the 2012 where in just that year there was five fatal officer deaths of officer involved incidents. And the only way you can convince us that you will not take us backwards is through your actions. release the unedited videos now. Release them.

We want a fair and transparent investigation for Albert Arzola's family and the community of Anaheim. And we will not give up on the urgency to get all this information released to the public so you can reassure all of us that transparency and public safety do matter in Anaheim. The next speaker, Veronica Mahia, followed by Grace A. If Grace A can please line up be the podium. Evening honorable mayor, honorable city council members, and Anaheim community. As man, I stood before you to share my daughter's Mia Mahia story. I return tonight is filled with a heavy heart. A one filled with immense gratitude. Thank you for all for all I a journeying the meaning and tribute to Mia. It was a profound act of reverence that our family deeply felt. We received the certificate of memorial. While it does break our heart to see Mia's name in a context we never imagined, we are profoundly grateful to the city of kindness for saying Mia's name. I want to extend a special thank you to council member, excuse me, my pronunciation mass for requesting the certificate and the installation of 988 signage through our public spaces. By making help visible, you have given us the hope of another family might be spurred from this pain.

In honor of Mia, her friends have created keychains that say hope. I would like to offer these to you as token or gratitude. May they serve a reminder that even in your most challenging moments, you should hold on to hope. Then thank you for honoring Mia's memory and for being willing to help save lives. Thank you and have a great night. our next speaker. And if Ariana Avalos could please line up at the podium. Hello, my name is Grace Arzola. Like I promised, I'm going to be back until you guys release the two unedited body cameras and into the until the autopsy is released. You guys have it. Come on, be transparent. Norma, this happened in your district. you have not bothered to meet with us or give us at least an explanation of what happened because that night we met with you with the Anaheim PD, you had a pre-written statement, did not bother to make eye contact with the mother of the victim, which is very sad. Very, very sad. But the good thing is that you guys all run for reelection and I'll make sure that I show up and let people know who's representing their district.

We're also asking for an independent investigation. It is not okay to investigate yourself. That is not okay. Um, not sure if you guys are person of faith, but Luke 18 t Luke 18 talks about an injust judge who did not fear God nor care for the person he served. But this woman kept on coming back asking for justice. And the judge only helped her because she came to insist for justice. We will come back and insist for justice for my nephew because he deserved better. He deserved better. I'm not sure if you guys are parents or have someone that you guys have raised as a child, but let me tell you guys what the police Anaheim PD did. Anaheim PD asked my sister-in-law to get you guys the quorum the F back inside the house, which is also on the video that you guys released. You're selected with their guns pointing. What mother is forced to go back inside the house? Gave her son the blessings cuz she knew that was going to be the last time she saw him breathing and her last words for him was, "You're going to be okay. He was not okay. And neither are none of us okay with what happened." And then you guys handcuffed my brother for hours and watched and he had to watch his lifeless son lay on the floor. What kind of heart do you guys have? My brother had not committed a crime there. There was no need for you guys to handcuffed him and watch his lifeless son lay on the ground. Shame on you guys and shame on the Adah Police Department for hiding this. This is embarrassing.

I pray to the Lord because he says whatever is done in the darkness will come to light. I pray to go God that whatever was done in the darkness comes to light because I go back and that wall is painted. the one I was graffitiing, but my nephew is gone from my life forever. SHAME ON YOU GUYS. Shame on you. At his own house, and I'll be back in two weeks.

Good evening, city council. I am here on behalf of the Arzola family. As an as an individual with a background of education, I am highly prepared on how to do factual research. So, let me give you some facts about your city. First fact is Anaheim PD is rated ninth out of 60 PD PDs research coming from the FBI and ACLU database. Ninth out of 60 deadliest. Second fact, from 2003 to 2016, there was a total of 33 deaths caused by officers, 29 of those were from gunshot wounds. Third fact, 40% of those individuals killed by police officers were unarmed. Sorry. Fourth fact, 55% of those killings had an officer who had already been involved in at least one other death. So please tell me why we continue to keep these officers on the task force. Please tell tell the community what tactical approaches have you changed because from where I stand and the community stands we see no change.

Let me continue with some more facts. Fifth fact, 77% of Anaheim's population is part of a minority group. Sixth fact, 12.5% of Anaheim's population live in poverty. According to Anaheim PD, they were patrolling a heavily ganged area, an excuse they used to justify their killings every time. But no, they were patrolling 77% of Anaheim's minority group. City council members, are you saying it is okay for Anaheim PD to continue to harass 77% of Anaheim's population? Are you saying that because of WHERE THEY LIVE, COLOR OF THEIR SKIN, they are guilty by association? Are you saying that 7 77% of your Anaheim residents life DOESN'T MATTER? THE ARZOLA family and I also demand an independent investigation. Over 3,000 counties have independent investigations for officer involved shootings. Why would we want the same people that did the killing to investigate themselves? WHERE IS THE common sense in that? California passed a bill in 2020 called AB1506 which requires a DOJ DOJ to investigate officers involved shootings to help trust with the community. The Arzola family also demands the release of the full and edited body cam footage with audio from all officers on the scene from beginning to end. We also want the names of the officers. You guys were so quick to release the name of the victim, and I repeat, the victim, but not of the two suspected officers. Ciddle count city council members, instead of sitting and waiting for a check from Disney, start taking care of your residents before you guys start writing checks to them because of Anaheim PD. Ma'am,

I'm sorry your time is up. Norma, Natalie, ma'am, I'm sorry your time is up. You guys have all received a check from Disney. Ma'am, I'm sorry your time is up. Do what's right for Anaheim residents and not what's right for your pockets. Thank you. Your time is up. City council, are your Ma'am, your time's up. Madame clerk, can you please call the next speaker? Our next speaker, Leslie Lopez, followed by Ar Castillo.

So on December 6, the Anaheim Police Department killed Alberto Arzola. He posed no threat. He was pulled by the collar and shot on his own lawn, a place where the police should have never been in the first place. From everything that has been released, it is clear that your officers are not properly trained. In the video provided, Alberto was not engaging in any tagging activity. Yet, he was the one to lose his life. Tagging, whether suspected or not, should never be a reason someone dies.

What this shows is a serious failure in your training and deescalation skills. These officers did not know how to properly respond in even a very basic situation. Alberto did not commit a crime. And I want to emphasize that. Alberto did not commit a crime.

Ask yourself this. How would you feel if your child lost her life because an officer didn't know how to deescalate a situation? The officer responsible for the killing should have never be free to walk the streets again, let alone continue to be paid by the taxpayers. And if a civilian was to commit the same act, would you let us go home and spend the holidays with their family and face no consequences? I don't think so. And if this had happened to your child, would you be okay knowing that no life-saving measures were taken? Let me be very clear about the severity of this. Imagine hearing a gunshot outside your home, running out, seeing your child lying there, taking their final breath. Would you try to do everything possible to save them? I'm pretty sure you guys would. This is exactly what Alberto's parents tried to do until they were told, "Stay the back or we will shoot you, too." Is this how you guys want your officers to respond to a situation like this? Albert was dragged like if he was an animal onto the sidewalk where they left his lifeless body there until 4 in the morning for the for the entire community to see. Not only were the people to force to witness his death, but they also cut my cousin's clothes off and traumatized everyone around. If you were wondering how I know this, it's because I was there waiting until my baby cousin was finally taken. This is unacceptable. I'm asking the council to push for an invest an independent investigation. A police department should never be able to investigate itself, especially when a life has been taken. I'm also asking for meaningful changes, better training, real accountability, and for the officers involved to be held accountable. This must never happen to another family. That night, you guys all went home to your family safely. That same night, my heart was torn apart, knowing that I will never see my baby cousin again because of an untrained, reactive

officer who should never be entrusted with the power to swear that they swear to use to protect and serve. Right now, it feels like we need protection from them because they don't know what they're doing and they don't know the effect that they have on people's lives. It's sad. And Norma, you look like one of us and you're not supporting your people. That's shameful. You should do something to protect everyone. I'm sorry. Your time is up.

Art Castillo. Art Castillo followed by Vance Disney. You know, I'm just listening to this. This is a repeat. I go back 50 or 50 years ago and this was happening. And they're and those people never got justice for their sons. Um I and I knew every one of them. And they come up to you. It's like they're saying hello to you or they say a cop wants to kill me. And I said there's nothing I can do but I'm in the community. Then a few weeks later, they kill him. And then I can't. And then when I go to the courts and I go with the attorneys in there, they're telling me, "Look at what we're under. We can't make justice. We're prohibited. So there's a faw in our system." And you know, I've been trying to not get upset with things, but because I think there's always a better place and there's good officers. And we had a good officer once and he talked about two young boys getting beat up at different times and they fired him this, you know, and they and they didn't support him. He's a hero. But you know what? And in all this, I had documents that say things. These are police documents. I have police officers telling me that guy shouldn't be on the force. So, I'm going to let this out of the bag. A lot of officers, I'm not going to say their names. They beat kids up. I caught them. I had a talk with them and I said, "You should respect them. They're not turning you in. You're they're not coming to city council putting your name." So, you know what? They should respect them back. And you know what? They said thank you. You know, they said thank you. So, you know what? They're ordered to do so. and they marched in houses and apartments every day. They would come in and they're probably doing it today. They break in and they put guns on little kids and they're and the loved one the person that's not the ones in trouble is not there. What they do is they uh they don't care. They know the person's not there and they go and and terrorize homes and apartment complexes. Oh my gosh. I don't you know guys probably weren't either you were young younger

then back at that time but this was happening on a regular basis and there's a lot of documentations of of um police tampering with evidence. So there's a lot of that going on even with the coroner and I have a couple of cases on that which is really scary that the people in the public don't get to see all what I got to see and how do I even come here to say it and I don't know who's in charge. My last thing is I don't know who's in but you guys are supposed to be the ones in charge over here. they seem to cover up. So that's my problem. I've been coming here since I was 17 years old. And I have been seeing it on a daily basis, not just here and there. So these are your people in your district areas. And um you know, to me, it's not to argue or fight, it's to get justice. And all those other mothers, they didn't get any closure with their son's uh death. So this is something terrible. And I'm just going to say I was coming to say something else in a sense, but I'm hearing this and I'm hearing it repeat. And again, he was an employee of the city or not the city, but a you know, our sister of the uh um entertainment. Are they going to do something for him? Are they going to Are you guys going to do something? Maybe somebody speak for him. Give him a thank you for his service like you do other people. I think he deserves it.

Thank you. Our next speaker Vance Disney.

Good evening. Uh, Mayor Atkins. Um, don't run away. Anyway, I just want to say things aren't going so bad. You know, uh, trying to encourage you, but you're walking out on me. Anyway, uh, um, I had something prepared, but, uh, I'm kind of throwing it to the wind because a lot of, uh, negativity going on. Um, but I just want to kind of touch upon um that the uh Puss and Boots on Disney campaign that I started back in 2020 uh to try to encourage uh our community here to to uh have uh Disneyland turned into an adult theme park after dark so that we can get our kids home at a decent hour and be trained to be um professionals and and create a dis a decent change in in Disney. It it's a positive thing and I think we all need to get involved in a positive thing and and keep our minds on a positive thing and and I talked about it before I know and uh so some of you guys probably remember. Um I'm just going to say that uh well I'm sorry for uh Albert for the Albert family's loss. I don't know what to say about that. um except that we have to remember that justice is not vengeance and we have to remember that to have respect for the community even when we are talking about strong subjects and things that happen we have to come up with positive changes for our community and we have to come up with good things are we running out of time oh anyway um positive change for our community so you have to come up with with a positive aspect and and I'm hearing positive things coming out of them a little bit but but I don't want to see the the did he turn into a a lynch mob? I mean, and what happened in 2020 was extremely worse. And I don't know what you guys are seeing, but when uh people were slammed face down because of some unknown idiot on the other side of the the country and and uh things of that nature were happening, that was very much worse. And now, so things are getting better and you need to, you

know, hold on to that that things are getting better and that and that we are making change. and and Americans you you know just be be aware that things are getting better. don't be too influenced about it uh about the negativity and and keep a positive attitude towards things and um try to try to hold on to a positive idea and um and so the puss and boots on on Disney campaign is really about positive change and it's about um uh kind of well mainly about it is about um getting rid of the corruption but I didn't want to today just seemed like a negative day for me to go into it but I did have something prepared for you. But but right now, I just want to, you know, encourage you because I'm being influenced by kind of a a a stressful situation. But things are getting better and and so, you know, like I was saying before, keep us in the Goldilock zone. And um I'll come up I'll tell you more about the Puss and Boots on Disney next time uh with the with the new new type of rules that we can we can hold on to. And um I want to end with saying that you can always call me at 909. Um, I'm sorry, your time is up.

So, 909 Jet Gray. That's uh if you want to uh get involved in a positive thing as a as an adult theme park after dark. I'm sorry, your time is up. Time is expired. Thank you. Rosita Enriquez.

Hello. My name is Rosita Enriquez. Um, I've lived in Anaheim for the past 20 years. I've always wanted to come to come um you know and participate you know as a as a resident but because I've been raising my children and uh my oldest daughter had a a homework you know to come for for her class. So um I appreciate all of you what you do um you know as a mom. Uh thank you. Um, and I wanted to say something else, but um I'm very touched by by um Albert Arola and his death because I am a mom and um as I was sitting right I saw the lady in front of me with a picture um and I gave her a hug. I don't know if she was the mom but

grandma.

The grandma because I I asked are you the mom? and she just went like that and I noticed she was sad so I just gave her a hug. So, I'm not going to speak about what I was going to speak about, but um I would um first of all, I appreciate all of you guys looking at the speakers as they come because everybody has the right to speak, right? Everybody has a story. Um and um and it's so important to see that your eyes are on everyone, even the ones that may not, you know, anyone. So, um I only have a minute and a half, but what I wanted to say is this. We perhaps this will create a change with um our police and our community as our children grow up right in elementary school. um they admire the police so much, right? When when we have different events and there's um police cars uh that are um you know and and the um uh fire trucks available for the children to go in and you know they're so excited. They get so excited to get the stickers. But how about we bring the burden to the um sheriff, right, and all the Anaheim Police Department to to come into connection to have some connection with the high schoolers, the high the Hispanic high schoolers so that they can they can see and love their culture because they do love the culture already. They love our tacos. They love our burritos. They love our Mexican food. How about they love They see our families. They see that

it's alive. Nobody should bring a gun out like what happened with Renee Good and and Alex Prey. Nobody should bring a gun out. This person was a baby who was taken care of by by by so many people that are going to be mourning for them. So that's it. Thank you.

Our next speaker, Wes Jones and our remaining speakers, if you do see your name on the um projection screen, if you can please line up at the podium. Mayor, council. Um, boy, people are very angry tonight. And uh but it's okay because you guys will keep your job because I doubt any one of them is going to find uh start a political pact, get financing from the police association or financing from Disney. So you'll be able to keep your your jobs and nothing will change it. the city will remain the same until we get something like campaign financing reform because we'll end up with the same type council people and the same problems. So, thank you very much. Noali Tangua. We stand on traditional lands of the Native American Tanguas. Chicanos Mexicos have Native American blood. And this is nothing new to our people. Maybe our white brothers will never understand or feel our pain. I feel bad to say that. I feel very bad.

But I don't feel bad. I actually got to know him painting that mural. There's a mural at the liquor store. When I got the video from Vern a month later, I was been busy just fighting to change the name of the school. The colonist, the colonist is ICE. ICE is the colonist. That is the police department that's been shooting our people. The KKK used to run the city council here in Compos. You're a CH from East Los Angeles. The Brown Berets Meta. We I was the president of Met Anaheim High School after I got kicked out leading the CH walkouts against Proposition 187 against Pete Wilson from Catella High School. And they called gang enforcement on me and they had my father there. Then I found out it was my stepfather eventually later. But anyways, but we want justice for Albert Arsola. WHAT DO WE WANT? WHAT DO WE WANT?

WHAT DO WE WANT? WHAT DO WE WANT?

I'm going to sing a song because when he asked me, "What are you doing, brother? We're painting a mural. We painted was captured by the Spanish colonist Conistadors. It's the native woman. Dark beautiful skin native woman." And then the brothers wanted some choanos. We got respect for our people. Then they wanted some Virgin Mary. We did it native style, indigenous woman, quaticoans. I want to sing a song because our people I was raised in Navario. I live in a different district now. I was raised in Navario. I know where I come from. I know my roots. I speak part Nawat, Spanish and English. And a lot of us chos Mexicos speak Nawat. And we need to change the name of that school, the college nights as well because this is called histooko trauma. Our people don't have opportunities like in Anaheim Hills to go to these bike trails or river trails like in LC5 Vive. I encourage the city van city manager to make a trail for the people in the varios a bike trail that goes down to a crio uh indoor swami and it goes towards uh um the river to decolonize our minds to heal our minds and when I spoke to Albert Arzola I told him this is for youth this is for our culture for our cultura this is an identity it's like psychologically these mascots the knights kits centennials pioneers colonist it's the same Anaheim police colonist ice the same the same the same I hope you're here. Jesus died for you. But

I'm sorry, your time is up. And our ancestors, sir, I'm sorry, time is up. Our next speaker I can't believe I have to follow that.

Esteemed council, madame mayor, um first congratulations on a successful NAM show last week. I had the privilege of working at a few days and um enjoyed it very much. I have an update from um Anoir Bilal Anoir Mosas in Alhalil. I'm deeply impressed by the petition and the thoughtful connection it draws between the cities of Hebron and Anaheim. What is written truly reflects our vision in Hebron municipality to expand our international partnerships, strengthen cultural understanding, and build bridges of friendship between peoples and cities around the world. The proposed sister city relationship perfectly aligns with our mission to promote cooperation, sharing heritage, and develop develop each other mutually. We believe that uniting Hebron, the city of friendship, with Anaheim, the home by the Santa Ana River, would symbolize hope, peace, and unity between communities that share a spirit of resilience and creativity. Hebron municipality proudly supports every initiative that fosters dialogue, partnership, and goodwill across borders. The petition was launched by community peacemaker teams out of Hebron, Alcal last week with both English and Arabic text. They asked me, "How many signatures are you looking for on this thing?" I can't answer. How many signatures would impress you? That's the answer I give. What is the answer? I'd love to know. With deepest respect to Mia, Albert, and the other victims of this community, if this meeting tonight and all the issues that have been presented, the unresolved issues, were a newscast, I offer the chance to write a human interest story, the thing people could say, "How cool is that? Anaheim is Al Khalil's first United States sister city, a source of pride to everyone in Anaheim. I issue a repeated plea for you to agendaize and pass an item to make

Anaheim and Alcal sister cities to build one bridge in the face of so many deepening chasms in our society today. Thank you. Our next speaker, Vern Nelson, followed by Mark Herbert.

Hello. Uh, first I want to add my voice to the Arzas, not only to release the unredacted videos, but to tell us the name of the officer who killed Albert,

as well as the officer who shot Emanuel um, Emanuel Cordova in the head with a bean bag, which could have blinded him, like happened to some of our Santa Ana, our protesters in Santa Ana on January 9th. We want to know if these are gang unit officers who we've had pro problems with before in the past. They probably are. Two, word on the street leaking out of your closed session is that the majority of you want to keep the status quo and you're keeping Mr. Vanderbilt as city manager despite all the arguments we made earlier that we need to clean house from all our old corruption. The smirks of Natalie Meeks seem to confirm this. We look forward to hearing who voted which way. Or maybe I heard wrong. Maybe it's just a rumor. Uh, but mostly I want to talk about Trump's and Steven Miller's ICE war against our community and what we can do here in Anaheim to help protect each other. ICE and Border Patrol have been in Anaheim nearly every day this month and it's probably just a matter of time before what we're seeing in Minneapolis comes to Southern California. So Anaheim needs to do at least two things to prepare for that. A legal defense fund for ICE kidnapping victims like Santa Ana, Costa Mesa, and Buena Park all have. Santa Ana co and Costa Mesa contract with an LA group called Immigrant Defenders. I'm sure we can afford that if those cities can Anaheim uh Anaheim Contigo does not do anything like that. Also, we need clear instructions for how our police are expected to behave. Um there are ways they can defend our safety and our liberties and the law to a degree without, you know, risking being charged with obstruction of federal officers or whatever. There's uh there are middle ground. There's a lot of constructive things they can do and they've been doing in other cities. So, that's something we need to talk about in the coming meetings. And I think I'll talk to my own special council woman Natalie. I mean I mean I mean Kristen about this uh about the legal defense fund. Maybe

it's something you can bring forward. Okay. Thank you. Next speaker, Mark Herbert. Mayor, can I Mayor, can I just make a quick request? One of the speakers asked about the evacuation modeling and things and the public works director uh director Amami has come in and I just wanted to connect them. So, Mr. Winger, would you like to Yes, he's still here. Um the public works director is behind you. He can probably give you more information and figure out how you can get more information on the evacuation plan and the modeling.

And while we're jumping in, I did want to reach out with the to the woman. We have a sister city commission that is made up of citizens that looks into this type of thing. I believe um you've sent me an email, so I'm going to forward that to them. Thank you. It doesn't come directly to council.

Mark Mark Herbert, Anaheim Greece.com. Uh two points of business before I focus on the police department. Um agenda uh consent calendar item number one. I hope the council has read the report and recommendation of the housing authority commission on that and they recommended that it be extended that it needs more questions to be answered before approving it. Point one. Point two. Um, I don't understand why there's been so many shootings and killings of Latinos in Anaheim and and during the similar period, there's been zero or close

in in the resort district in the resort district. And I'd like to suggest since there's so many hotel owners here tonight, perhaps they could facilitate a meeting between the hotel owners and the police department explaining why there's so few killings in their area and why there's so many in their area. Perhaps they can share a better policy so there'll be less police shootings for this area. Right.

Okay. The council spent 1 million on the jail report. In July 2023, the report was released to the public. No follow-up community meetings, no hearings, no workshops, none of those were held. No further investigations were launched, no charges were brought. The corruption continued. Five of you were sitting there when that report came in. Mayor Aken, council members Leon, Rubiko, Campos Curts, and Meeks. Better late than never. It's time to follow through. The corrupt culture at city hall needs to change and it needs to start now with the firing of city manager Vanderpool.

Let me let me tie the police and Mr. Vanderpool together. This is from the LA Times. July 25th, 2023. The LA Times reported text messages between officials showed Anaheim's police chief and city manager coordinated to keep secret a visit by police to council member Jordan Brandman's apartment shortly after the allegation that he was going to shoot up city hall was received. asked if he and the city manager tried to keep the police visit to Brandman's apartment secret. Chief Sineros told the Times, LA Times, "When we get very influential individuals, we put those under wraps." He added that the department nonetheless complies with state's public record laws. Sounds like not much has changed when things involve the police department and important people.

8 seconds. The corruption continues. Mr. Vanderpool's actions speak for themselves.

Our next speaker, Juanita Lopez. Hi, my name is Juanita Lopez and um the grandmother of Albert Arzola and um want to know why they had to kill my grandson? Why did they kill him for no reason? He was just going into the house and they had to shoot him. I don't see that right. I just don't know why they had to do that to my grandson.

So I want justice for my grandson.

Mayor and city council. That concludes all our in-person public comments. Noting for the record, we did receive 34 general comments. Each of those were distributed to city council as well as posted on the city's website and can be found at anaheim.net/public comments. Thank you, clerk. So, we'll now close the public comment portion of this meeting and move to council communications. If any council members have items to share, please ring in now. Start with Council Member Curts and then Council Member Ma.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. Um, Anaheim is not an easy city to govern. We have more than 350,000 residents. We are larger than Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, St. Louis, Orlando, Cincinnati, Ohio. We're a big city and we have a very diverse and wide range of residents. I am very proud, very proud to to represent district 4, the residents in district 4.

The neighborhoods in district 4. District 4 has the most or the highest number of impacted neighborhoods as identified by our city. We have eight. And with the help this last Christmas of our resort community, hotels in particular, businesses in the resort area, we were able to bring a little bit of joy into those neighborhoods with our D4 toy drive. Next,

Albert's family gave out to that same community we were in. the Philadelphia Olive neighborhood with a busload of toys. Next, when they're small, you kill them when they're old. We were in Gita Lane, a severely impacted neighborhood. Our police uh joined us at that event. Next, Hermosa Village there. Our fire department joined. We gave kids

over 200 kids received toys that afternoon. Next, we're in Clifton, Philadelphia. Santa joined us at that location. Next, we're at the Golden Skies Mobile Home Park. Santa again joined us there. Next, Spre Ponderosa area. I have to tell you, that one was a little bit different. We were scheduled to to go on a particular evening. Ice had been in the neighborhood that day and rather than risk rather than risk any danger to our families to our kids, we postponed the event. We held the event the next day after making sure the safety and security. And I want to especially thank that the neighborhood parents, the madas ponderosa, they because we weren't there with the city, um they actually helped us reserve space. The dads in that area protected the kids on the street selecting toys. Those parents those parents made sure their kids enjoyed an afternoon when just the day before they were afraid to come out of their homes. Those moms Those moms

went door todo in their neighborhood saying, "It's safe to come out right now. Come get a toy for your child so they can enjoy a little bit of happiness at Christmas time." Next one. And now I say thank you. Thank you to the hotels and businesses. What they realize, what they understand is that they are neighbors and neighbors help neighbors. To make Christmas just a little bit better for the neighborhoods around them, the following businesses contributed. Best Western Plus Anaheim, Desert Palms, The Castle in and Suites, The Anaheim Hotel, Pizza Press, Sheridan Park, Carmel Shuttle, Tropicana with Windom Hotel, Anaheim, Majestic, Best Western Plus Pavilions, Best Western Plus Stools in, and hold on a little bit. And you'll notice in some of the slides you have housekeepers, maintenance workers. They all are so proud that their that the place they work is helping make their community just a little bit better. Many of the people that work here live in those neighborhoods. Next slide. the Dell Soul in the Weston Safeco Parking. Safeco Parking I want to speak about a little bit. The owner of

Safeco Parking is an immigrant himself. when he found out that businesses were contributing money to help our kids in our most impacted neighborhoods. He stepped up and I want to thank him because he and his business actually reached out to to us. Grand Legacy at the Park, the Orange County Hotel Association, Peacock Suites. Next, Best Western Park Place. I want to comment on that one. You'll notice they're all the uh the housekeepers. Every housekeeper came in for the picture because they were so proud of what their workplace had done in the community. JW Marriott, same thing. Look at the people that came to get their picture taken because they wanted to be part of the Thank you. Cartona in the Alpine in Anaheim Aerolink, a brand new business serving the resort area. Hotel Indigo Hyatt House. Next, Courtyard Anaheim Sinesta Anaheim Almo Inn and Suites Camelot Hyatt Place Parking Company of America Sinesta ES Suites. Visit Anaheim. visit Anaheim was at

every single of the toy distributions handing out bags and anything else that kids that they had that kids might like. They were at every single one of them. And I want to let you know, not only did they just write a check to the Anaheim Community Foundation, they volunteered. Their employees volunteered to help hand out toys. General managers of hotels like the Sheridan, like the Castlein were helping distribute toys and talking to uh the children that were there. A hotel GM dressed up like Santa to make sure the kids were in a happy place. I want to especially thank the Anaheim Community Foundation. They were the recipient of the donations and helped us shop for toys and made sure that the toys that we gave out were ones that were popular, that kids wanted. It is a true community event uh that takes place in district 4 that I'm very very proud of. Someone mentioned there's hotel years here. I want to thank them for for their participation in the project. I also want to thank our city staff, especially community services who helped us at some of those locations. and and I read the the areas, you know, their parking impacted, difficult to get into. They made sure we had space to park a bus that the kids could get on to pick a toy. They

provided churavo um and and Mexican bread for them to have, crafts for them to do. But I also want to mention one other thing. their department head supported the efforts. So, thank you. But I also want to thank our city manager who making sure that as we reach out as we reach out to help our community that the appropriate departments are with us. Tomorrow evening, I have a meeting in one of our communities for traffic problems, speeding problems, parking problems. The right departments will be there to make sure that our residents are heard in that neighborhood, their problems are addressed. But that is because leadership in the city makes sure that employees are responsive. So, thank you very much, ma'am.

Thank you, Council Member Ma. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I only have one slide this evening. I just wanted to acknowledge the great work of the community this past Saturday at the second annual community resource fair at Catella High School. Um, thank you to my colleague. I'll wait a moment. Sorry. Just please

Thank you. Thank you. If you're going to exit, please exit quietly so we can continue the meeting. Um, could you start over? Sure. Thank you. I just wanted to acknowledge uh the great work of the community at this past Saturday's second annual community resource fair at Catella High School. I wanted to thank my colleague uh Council Member Curts for inviting me into these efforts. I think my first week into office last year. Um so this was our second annual. We were able to invite um a lot of resources um and employers. I've learned how much our students want to work. So, it was great to have that opportunity to connect students and families with government organizations at a a city, county, state, and federal level. Um, as well as connect them with many organizations doing great work around the community. I typically um share about four slides and I like to uh take that time to share good work that's being done in Anaheim and to highlight community organizations that are doing the work. Um today I just have this one and I wanted to acknowledge that as we were having this community resource fair um Alex Prey lost his life on the streets of Minnesota and um the terror is not just on the streets of Minnesota. It's happening here too. Um Friday there was a lot of um ICE enforcement around Catella High School and um to see the community come together to protect students so they had a sense of safety was remarkable. So, I just wanted to give credit to the staff there um our city staff who jumps into action to verify information and to uh remind everybody that we need to be kind to each other whether we agree with each other or not. Um it's

more important than ever. So, um I just wanted to use my time to um acknowledge the nightmare that so many of our families are living through. Um and the fact that some of our city staff carries their passports on them is um unacceptable. So, thank you. Thank you, Council Member Rubala, and then Mayor Prom.

Thank you, Mayor Aken. I believe I have a a couple of slides, Madame Clerk. And I I I first want to um just kind of address a couple things. I um I know the Arzola family has already left, but I just wanted to acknowledge the fact that they are here and um let them know that I'm keeping them and their family in our prayers, but I also just wanted to highlight a couple of things. Since 2012, the city of Anaheim has made a significant amount of changes and our police officers go through a lot of training. Um, there's also independent investigations that do occur. So, we actually have the Orange County DA's office who's involved in this investigation, the Office of Independent Review, and we do have a police review board that was designed and created post 2012. So, I just want to make sure the family is aware and I know that you're a representative of the family. Thank you for being here. But I just want you to know that this is not something that this DAS takes lightly. I grew up in Anaheim. My family was part of the CHO movement. We care about public safety. I do. I know people here want to be safe as well, but there are checks and balances in place and I and I promise there will be due process. So, I um just wanted to make sure that we didn't go without recognizing the fact that that is going uh on in our city and there are a lot of factors and I'm sorry for your loss, but um we hear what you're saying and and we have made a lot of modifications since 2012. Uh so I also wanted to um I know my council colleague mentioned this but around uh in the in our country but in the city of Anaheim we have seen an uptick in ice um this past week. I can't remember the day anymore. Maybe it was Monday or Tuesday, but um we did have a vigil uh in recognition of some of the ICE activity that's taken place here in the city of Anaheim. Particularly um we had incidences that occurred at car washes where individuals who were approached just because of the color of their skin or the language they spoke or their accent. Racial profiling was

occurring. So we did gather with um Father Ed from St. Bonafice, which is in my district, and many of our community leaders, including Yenya Rojos, who organized this um event. Um but I was joined by council member Leyon as well as council member Moss just to show our support. Uh when the ice raid started to occur, the first incident did happen at Pearson Park, which is the oldest park in the city of Anaheim in my district. And we did as a council take action pretty quickly. We created Contigo. We started to look into legal defense funds. So these are things that we as a council, although this is a federal issue, we take very seriously at the local level. And I have to reinforce the fact that our police department is here to um serve the population that lives and visits our city. They are not here to assist ICE. It's actually against state law to do so. So I just wanted to make sure that people are aware of the facts that are going on as we are all dealing with this issue as a country. And I'm pretty sure that our council member Moss will be asking for the meeting to be closed in memory of uh the nurse that was killed in Minneapolis. So, um I do support that and I just wanted to bring that up. And then the next slide, um I just wanted to highlight a couple things. I know that there have been some things on our um agendas at um recently and we went into close session. It's no surprise. It's been in the media, but I just wanted to take a moment to recognize some of the good work that we're doing in the city of Anaheim under our current leadership, our city manager. For those of you who don't know, council members, we create policy. We are in the community, but we really cannot get the work done if it's if our um person at the helm is not supportive of the work and doesn't have the buyin from their department heads and leadership within the city in order to get this stuff done. Although I like to take a lot of credit, it's not really me doing the work. it's our department heads and the staff that works for the city of Anaheim. So, thank you all for that. Um, but I I just wanted to mention

um over the past three years that I've been in office, I've had I've seen clear evidence of progress under city managers leadership, Jim Vanderpool. The city has made measurable advances in addressing homelessness. We've hired a highly qualified chief of police, approved major economic development initiatives such as Disney Forward, OC Vibe that will create thousands of jobs and taken responsible steps to balance our budget while paying down an LPMR loan which has which obligation actually diverts funds from our TOOT revenue generated by our resort district to our general fund. Additionally, Anaheim has expanded library hours, uh, strengthened partnerships with nonprofit organizations, improved public safety efforts, launched a housing trust, advanced affordable housing and first-time home buyer programs. We've opened up new parks and youth centers, conducted transparent strategic planning sessions. We've negotiated a $5 million settlement with the Angels related to a breach of contract that occurred with prior council, not this council. We've secured land for fire station 12, which was caught up in litigation. We've initiated construction discussions with the state regarding a path forward for the Angel Stadium site. All of these accomplishments reflect steady, competent leadership and a commitment to a long-term interest of our community here in the city of Anaheim. For these reasons, I continue to support our city manager, Jim Vanderpool. Anaheim is moving forward and I believe it is essential that we remain focused on progress, stability, and public good. So, thank you, Jim. I appreciate your commitment to our city and I just want you to know that I continue to support you and thank you for improving the morale in the city of Anaheim, which was on a rapid decline in 2020. So, I am grateful that you decided to leave Buena Park and join us here in the city of Anaheim.

And that concludes my council comments. Thank you, uh, Mayor Prom Leon, and then council member Bis.

Uh, thank you, Madame Mayor. Just want to, uh, dubtail off of my colleagues remarks. Our community and our nation has seen far too much devastation and fear. And it's moments like these that really test families. They shake our sense of security. They remind us how much people are caring right now. And I look forward to continue to working with our our residents, our partners, our stakeholders, my colleagues, so that we can keep moving forward with compassion in our community, responsibility, and a shared commitment to one another. Constitution. And madame city clerk, with that I think I I have some slides to to share with folks. I'm catching up a little bit. Um but going back to the just the example of community coming together uh in December this was a a prime example. Uh we partnered with Frank Garcia and Lacasa Garcia uh for a toy distribution at Servite High School in District 2. Uh we partnered with United Across Borders uh with Neutral Ground and a number of volunteers from Servite from across the community uh to help give toys to kids who may very well otherwise have not

gotten a toy for Christmas. And it's moments like these that really remind us of the unity and strength that we have in our community. I want to take a moment to thank Chief Sid uh for coming out to one of our district 2 neighborhoods uh to share in the Roska Rees tradition. Um uh we were invited by uh neighborhood leaders and I appreciate Chief Sid joining me. It's it's really a testament to the importance of being out in the community, of building those relationships in the neighborhoods, and I just want to thank the chief for that and and thank all of our neighbors who who went out there. We shared a Roska. Um I think there's a follow-up for some tamales, chief. So, uh just as an FYI. Um and and really this is this is how you start. This is how you start building that that that mutual respect, that understanding, that relationship so that we can move our communities forward. So, thank you, Chief. I also want to thank uh County Clerk Reporter Hunwin. We hosted a mobile passport clinic at Magnolia High School. Um, we were able to help out d dozens of families get passports uh without having to go to the county office or any other office. They were able to go to a safe space. Uh especially in these times where there's a lot of fear about where people can go and can't go. um we were able to go to Magnolia High School and uh we're working uh with the county clerk recorders office to schedule more of these uh throughout the district so that more neighborhoods are able to take advantage of this service again especially uh during these uncertain times. And I I have to admit I went to Anaheim High School um to celebrate celebrate the grand reopening of the Cook Auditorium of the stage joined by my colleagues uh and really just a testament to uh the school district and their dedication to the performing arts as somebody who was a performing arts students in high school.

Um, being able to have that opportunity uh of the of being in band, of being in the performing arts provided an outlet for me and I know that it provides an outlet for so many uh students in our community who may be facing difficult times and music and the arts provides them with hope and opportunity as well. Um, I also want to thank Congressman Korea who uh was instrumental in securing $2 million of uh funding for this project and we look forward to many many more performances uh on the stage as well. And of course, the NAM show, the second largest show that we host here in the city of Anaheim, a great opportunity for us uh to really put us on a global stage. We get to welcome tens of thousands of people from all over the world here to our city. It's a economic uh boom for everybody, for the resort district, for our local businesses, for restaurants across the city. Um and uh I I just it doesn't it doesn't happen without the workers. doesn't happen with our public without our public safety teams being there to make sure that everything is good and uh it was just a great show. So, I just want to give a shout out. I don't think Mr. Morton is in the audience, but uh huge thank you to our convention center staff and everybody who worked this to make it a successful event. And if you're a high school student, uh registration is open now for our third youth leadership summit and expo at the TGR Learning Lab. an opportunity to learn about leadership, to learn about advocacy, uh to learn about how you can get involved, what opportunities are out there, different nonprofit organizations and companies that might be able to provide students with internships or opportunities not just during high school, but what comes after high school, whether that's a four-year college, community college, a trade school, there's a lot of different options. And uh so if you're a high school student interested in learning more, you can uh visit the registration page at anaheim.net/d2. And uh we'll look forward to seeing you on Saturday, March 7th.

And then finally, Madame Mayor, uh I'd like to ask that we adjourn in memory of Joel Esparza. Uh Joel leaves behind his beloved wife, four children, and four grandchildren, each of whom brought him immeasurable pride and joy. His grandchildren, in particular, were a constant source of happiness and light in his life. Joel was deeply dedicated to helping others. Whether through organizations he helped lead, such as the Brown Descents Car Club, or through quiet, personal acts of kindness, he was always willing to lend a hand. He touched many lives by helping people find their footing again during some of their most difficult moments. Joel's kindness, generosity, and commitment to his family and community will be remembered always. He will be profoundly missed by all who had the privilege of knowing him, myself included. Thank you, Madame Mayor.

Thank you, uh, Council Member Bis.

Uh, thank you very much. You know, I had a prepared speech, but I'm think I'm just going to shoot from the hip here. uh my colleague here uh uh Rubikava, Councilwoman Rubikava covered all the points which I think are important parks, you know, there there there was so many that you covered. I had them all in my same speech as well. I'm just going to say uh in the short time that I've been here, Jim, I I believe, you know, you bring a little bit of stability to Anaheim and I uh will say thank you for that and I appreciate it. The other thing I wanted to bring up was this uh I think it was last week I went a ride along with the fire department and I want to just give a real quick shout out to Engine One. While I was there uh we had the unfortunate call of a house fire. I got to see uh great professionalism from our fire department. Uh you know I was in the back of that truck. Thank goodness cuz I thought they were going to leave me there. They left so fast. But I saw them go uh down the street. I saw them get out. I saw them all work as a team. It seemed like maybe within, you know, one or two minutes that fire was put out. Then I saw them go through the fire almost methodically. Then I also saw them care for the residents uh that were there. So I just want to tell uh number one, the engine one at station one, I believe it is, thank you for your professionalism. And then just let the residents know we've got a great uh fire team out there and I got to see it in firsthand last week. So, thank you.

Thank you. Um I think I have a slide. Um thank you. Um, I wanted to thank um our chief for agreeing to do um in our districts um some introductory um meetings with our community. Uh it is not lost on me that that he took office during a extremely difficult week in the city of Anaheim um but has promised to lead with with integrity and address um issues as they come up honestly and transparently. So, um I know that there was a lot of difficult conversations and a lot of concern and hurt in our community around um the shooting death um of Mr. Azolo. But, um I do want to take the opportunity to when we do have um community meetings around, our chief of police is there, our police officers are there, please come get to know them. Um, you know, the more we personalize each other as humans, the easier it is for us to get along. Um, and so I just want to kind of highlight our first um, two meetings coming up, but just really thank the chief in addition to trying to get his arms around a brand new department that is quite sizable um, to be willing to be out and meet the community and answer questions. Um, I also wanted to report um that something that I think I put on social media, but uh so some some of us did we did do a trip to Sacramento uh last week uh council member Bis as well as council member Kurtz, the city manager and I um to start conversations with our elected officials around what the current state um of the surplus land act is as well as whether there is going to be um any upcoming legislation that would affect that property very high level. Um no

commitments made from either side, but we just always want to keep our uh ear to the ear to the grind just on whether um we have any changes that might impact. And to answer some of the public questions that I know always come up about whether there are secret negotiations going on with the angels, we report every month in the city manager report. uh when we have conversations there are under the surplus land act we are not allowed to reach out um um to the angels but we are always ready to come up with a plan coming out of that conversation in Sacramento one of the things that was suggested and I think is a good idea is for us to consider and I and I would like to put it on a future agenda um just doing a master site plan for that area with the lease or without the lease eventually whether it's with the um with with Mr. Mareno or whether it's with a future owner, we're going to have to make community decisions about what we want to see uh on that property and we're going to have to do it with a ton of community input and make sure that we have a ton of community benefits if anything is going to happen uh on that property. So, um we're going to do that's about it. That was a high level um discussion with our elected officials, but just wanted to share that. So, uh now we have the city manager's update. Do you have anything to report? I do. Thank you, Madame Mayor, member for the city council and public. Uh, as the mayor mentioned, we have our community open houses starting for 2026. Anaheim's community open house series is back. We welcome residents to join us for an upcoming open house in their district. You can drop by any time between 5 and 7:00 p.m. There's no formal presentation and no need to arrive right at the start. topics will include district specific issues and those of citywide interest. It's a chance to connect with city leaders uh and staff on one-on-one and ask questions and talk about what's most

important to you in your neighborhood. On the screen behind me are dates for the opening h for the open houses starting next week. We'll also be sharing more details on social media through email and on our city website. and NAM. A big weekend in the city of Anaheim. The NAM show drew more than 50,000 music industry professionals, artists, and more to Anaheim last week from around the world. The show was one of our largest and most significant, bringing people again from all around the world to stay in our hotel rooms and enjoy all Anaheim has to offer. Those visitors in turn provide funding for all we do as a city. Congratulations to the Anaheim Convention Center, to all of our hospitality partners on another great NAM. Thank you, mayor.

Excuse me. Thank you. So, we'll now recess the city council to address the Anaheim Housing Authority agenda. Items one and two are before that before us. Is there a motion? Madam Mayor, may I pull item one for a staff report and the balance? Item one is going to be pulled. I'll move the balance number two. We have a motion and a second to move item number two. Please vote.

The vote is seven eyes, no nays. Motion carries. Thank you very much. So, item one was pulled by council me or sorry, I will get it right by December. Mayor Prom Leon, uh, do you want a full staff report or do you have a specific question? And then, uh, council member Rubikala also had a question, I believe.

I'd like a staff report, please, Madam Mayor. Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to present this item tonight. We come before you um as the governing board to request authorization to um to enter into a lease agreement between the Anaheim Housing Authority and the Anaheim Community Foundation for the property located at 883 South Anaheim Boulevard. The housing authority owns a single property located um on Anaheim Boulevard. The site includes an existing building that is currently vacant. The property was transferred to the authority following the state's dissolution of local redevelopment agencies. Since acquiring the property, the authority has continued to invest in its upkeep and maintenance to preserve the building and site while plans while we plan for long-term housing development um at the site. The Anaheim Community Foundation is a locally based 501c3 nonprofit organization focused on strengthening the Anaheim community through philanthropic support, civic engagement in partnership with local nonprofits. ACF administers grants and scholarships, provides direct emergency assistance to Anaheim residents, and supports community focused initiatives such as concerts in the park, uh, Pearson Park, summer nights under the stars, cops, and cops for kids. ACF's work emphasizes youth development, arts and culture, housing stability, and workforce readiness. Providing ACF with temporary use of the property would allow the organization to operate functional office spaces office space to administer these programs and continue delivering services that directly benefit Anaheim residents. To facilitate this temporary use, the

staff evaluated the the proposed lease under applicable state surplus land requirements. State Bill 747 amend amended the surplus land act to clarify that leases with a a term of 15 years or less inclusive of extension options are exempt from the acts disposition requirements. This statute change change enables public agencies to lease underutilized properties for interim community serving uses while continuing to advance long-term affordable housing objectives. Consistent with this framework, the proposed lease would commence on February 1st, 2026, subject to council approval with an initial term through January 31st, 2030 and two one-year extension options that could extend the lease through January 31st, 2032 in recognition of the substantial public benefit provided by ACF community uh ACF community Foundation staff recommends a nominal annual rent of $1. Under the lease agreement, ACF would be responsible for ongoing property and landscape ma maintenance, ensuring that the property remains in good condition during the lease term. Accordingly, staff requests or authorization to approve the lease with the Anaheim Community Foundation to allow continued delivery of valuable community programs. With that, we're open for any questions you may have.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I So, I just want to clarify currently this house is it's a house, right? It is a it is a house. It's vacant. That is correct. hasn't been used in it was used up until a couple months ago by a prior nine nonprofit Illumination Foundation. Audit and they have since moved out. Now it's an empty building. There's an opportunity to make do this agreement with ACF. That is correct. We had a a lease of similar terms and um the same dollar amount with Illumination Foundation as they were also a community serving Anaheim based um nonprofit. Council member Vakava,

thank you. Thanks, Grace. I appreciate the work that you do. Question. Did the housing commission get an opportunity to review this item? Yes, we did take it to the housing comm uh uh we did take it to the housing commission. Um, I do understand they had a number of questions. Um, I did speak to the chair about the fact that we were advancing it here and we would address a number of open questions that the commission had.

So, I guess I'm concerned that the whole purpose of the housing commission is to review this before it comes to city council. So, the chair doesn't get to decide that for the commission alone. So, what kind of questions did they ask? Um the the questions were centered around how we make decisions for uh I believe I some of this I will leave to Andy because I was not present at that. So it was uh staff's feedback in terms of um the need for ACF in terms of their the staff staffing size for that particular property and I think also determinations of how we came to a dollar lease for that property.

What's the urgency? How come we just I I I guess I'm concerned that we're allowing the chair because I mean if there's no quorum, you can't take action on an item that's on an agenda, but the chair is getting to make a decision for it to come to council. So I guess I'm concerned that we're overwriting the questions that were posed by the commission, which is a form of transparency and checks and balances within the city. And we h all have appointees who sit on this commission. And it's no offense to the Anaheim Community Foundation. I love the work that you guys do. I just think it would be conducive upon this council to consider allowing the commission to review and get the questions they asked answered and then come back with this item so that we can get a fully vetted understanding of what we're saying yes to.

Certainly uh we we do we did we do intend to uh answer all of their questions and answers were provided. Um, part of the urgency is that the Anaheim Community Foundation uh does has invested some some of their own skin in terms of the landscape, in terms of flooring and what have you. And the other issue is that uh we we do not we risk the possibility of having the the building broken into. We have uh invested substantially in termite work and landscaping and what have you. And so every day that uh the building is empty, we do risk um

and I appreciate that and we deal with that often, but I would like to make a motion to consider to have this uh con continued until the commission has an opportunity to get their questions answered. I do feel like we're putting the cart before the horse if we say yes to this item without them getting their questions answered. And I'm also a little concerned that we allowed the community foundation to go ahead and make commitments to thirdparty vendors before having this approved by the city council or or even the commission at that. So, no offense to the process, but I just like to make sure that we're, you know, following the process. Well, if I can speak to that, I I don't um I understand where my council colleague is coming um coming from and and of course always raise concerns if you feel there are concerns to be raised, but I don't want to punish ACF um and the work that they are doing um because it seems like and I'm not cl if you could clarify I guess a couple of people didn't come to the housing commission um but you said they did get all of their questions answered. I mean, I know we've done I know exactly what property this is. I believe it's right next to the Anaheim White House.

That's correct. I I'll turn to Andy again. I was not at the I was not at the meeting. Uh my understanding was Well, I I'll let you Yeah. So, there there were several questions that were asked and so one of the one of the things that we left the commission with with was that should this be a timing issue, which it was based on uh Grace's comments, that we would bring it to the council and answer their questions. So, so not all the questions have been answered at a at the meeting. So, we we could come back as anformational item to the commission and answer all the questions that they were that were asked.

And is a vote by the housing commission required, you know, a majority of with a quorum, a majority of the housing commission required before it comes to us.

There there have been times when we bring it to you as uh councilwoman Rubik said there are the all the advisory commission. The other thing I think that gave us some comfort in com is that every single one of the com uh commissioners expressed support for ACF uh and their use of this property. What they had questions about was really how we how we would go about determining other property and how we would go about determining who gets a dollar rent. And I think that the the sticking point was really around this whole dollar rent. And so we did commit to coming back with with qu with answers about how that is done for dollar rent in this particular case. And in any case that the property that the housing authority has, it's always been communities serving nonprofits. And so we would we would come back with examples of where else we have done that. For example, the Anaheim Ballet or things of that nature. Any we have limited property and and and those in those times that we have engaged, it really is for communitybased focus. And so that is what we're committing to bringing back is really an explanation of what else we have out there and you know the selection of the nonprofits. Um but again that that was that was what gave us uh some sense of comfort that you know again unilaterally they all said we support ACF and we do think uh we would approve this. We just want to understand if you have other properties and how you would go about determining that you would rent that for a dollar. So it is an advisory commission that that's helpful. Um do and you said I remember when Illumination Foundation was in this property. How many years were they did they occupy this property?

They were there for quite some time. Um they were there um at least eight years um in on in that property.

And you mentioned the $1 a year rent um for it looks like at least uh four years with two year oneear optional renewals. Um I I read in their lease that there is an ability for them with your approval to uh subleasase or subcontract which I assume means bring in um tenants, other nonprofits to share that workspace with them. Can you um share with us how that process uh goes? So they would have to come back to the authority and let us know who is in there and we would have to evaluate whether or not they are also nonprofit uh Anaheim specific uh in all cander in our conversations with ACF we have we tend to discourage that unless they can really make a case for it because you know we are going to they are the ones that we are holding accountable to maintain in the building and to adhere to the neighborhood standards that that we have asked them to.

Okay. Okay. So, I thought I heard one of the public commenters talk about u making it more like a share space for nonprofits to as like a nonprofit hub. Um, so maybe I misunderstood the comment. The conversations we have had with ACF that is primarily their space, but they are looking to grow in the event that there is other space that may be available. They would come back to us and let us know there's another nonprofit that might just need two bodies or whatever that conversation might be. But as we enter into this, it is a space for ACF.

And you mentioned that there's other this that we have a history of doing this where we can. Um I believe the Chrysalis building next door is a similarly situated property as well as the Anaheim Ballet um building. We help our nonprofits um through reduced rent on appropriate spaces. That's correct. And it's always with the intent that it they be Anaheim centric. Okay. Um, let's I'm going to stop for right now. Let's turn over to Mayor Prom Leon and then Council Member Curts.

Um, the So, am I hearing you correct? And can you can you back it up from your So, you went to the housing commission with this for their blessing essentially to be able to come to us. And so, is it that the commission did not have quorum to be able to make a vote? No. No. We had we had quorum. had quorum. Correct. Okay. But they had questions. I'm hearing you say that the questions weren't necessarily about this contract before us, but it was related to it in terms of a wider city policy versus a an issue with this specific contract. Is that correct?

That's correct. Um I mean, if I full transparency, I think the part of what gets caught up in this is there was questions about the angel fleece being a dollar. And so we really want need to need to make this be very distinct. And you know I think uh staff did try to outline the fact that when we you know the housing authority has limited pro uh properties and we do this for nonprofits these things are apples and oranges but some of that conversation circled around that. Okay. Um how big is the property? What's the uh

it's a few thousand. It's probably 6,000 7,000 square feet. Single. It's a single family lot. Uh converted to commercial use, right? Okay. And just just for for my knowledge, ACF and I know Janice, you're in the audience. How big is the How big is the team? Sorry. Is may I ask? Oh, yeah. No, you have you have the mic. Can you come up just so we can have you on the record? I don't mean to put you on the spot, but I wanted to get the info.

We have three staff and we host community meetings that include up to 30 nonprofits. And so those collaborative meetings would be conducted in the space such as Accelerate Change Together and we're launching the second act for our older adults initiative. Got it. Okay. Thank you, Janice. I appreciate that. Um Okay. So, so there was quorum at the meeting. Taking another huge step back in terms of just the normal process, I think you kind of touched upon it a little bit. So, they're an advisory body. So, you go to them for what kind of projects? And then what is their what what is their role? Usually,

we take just about anything that's housing authority related and also the community development block grant and some of uh entitlements. It's they help us to review these items. uh ju generally they'll ei uh they'll recommend or rarely do they deny they ask clarifying questions um and I think a lot of their role is you know as feedback also as as advisory appointed by you as feedback to you on on these items. Got it. Okay. Thank you. Thank you Mayor Prom. Uh Council Member Curts and then Council Member Meeks.

Okay. Um Council Member Leon asked the question. And I just want to make sure I understand. Had a meeting. This the approval of the list of the lease, excuse me, was on the agenda and they neither voted it up or down. That's correct.

They left it open to get additional information on who we do the dollar a year to. That's correct. Was it explained to them that it was for nonprofits and so that could eliminate the whole stadium whatever they thought a dollar a year situation or uh based on the feedback from staff uh you know they they asked to continue it for a deeper discussion and I think that would that would allow us just to explore and any any question that they may have about how we utilize property. It my the report back that we guys it was just a complete we want to really know how do you utilize really any available housing authority property. So it it it really and and as a as an advisory board we certainly are want to provide all of that to them. You know full transparency on what we have what can be used as office space. Most of what we own is vacant land, but we're committed to coming back with a discussion about all of the property that we own and how we use it.

Okay. But in that discussion, they were supportive of um ACF.

Uh they were supportive. they I their biggest concern was the optics of you know transparency and this this issue that Grace raised and that the apples to oranges comparison in working with specifically with nonprofits versus the whole angels uh for-profit situation. So I think there was some confusion and I think that's where the reservation came from and so we uh committed to coming back and and answering. There were a variety of other questions uh pertaining to the operation itself that we didn't uh weren't able to answer at the meeting that I think I believe ACF can answer and help us answer those questions. So about the operation of ACF. Correct.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Meeks. And then back to Council Member Rubikava. Sorry. Um, so did you explain to them the sensitivity, the time sensitivity of this and the reasons to move forward, but they still chose not to take action on it this particular? That's correct. We indicated that we were going to have a discussion with ACF and determine whether this was time-sensitive enough that needed to come back to come to the council immediately. And if so, then we would bring it to council. However, we committed to answering the questions that were raised at the meeting, which were several. There were several questions that were raised.

But you didn't tell them, okay, well, you're not going to make take action. I'm going to take it to the council anyways. No, I I mean, that's kind of what happened to him. What would the delay be if it needed to go back to the commission? Um, I'm just I'm concerned that they didn't take any action on it. I think, you know, that kind of defeats the purpose of having them. Um, can you call a special meeting? Can you get a quorum? Can you get this done? I I I also appreciate the fact that we don't want to leave a vacant building there. You know, that's just waiting for somebody to

We we could um um certainly if that is your if that is the preference, we can do that. Uh that's the reason we brought it forward is it was my understanding that it was the chair who called for the continuence. And so in speaking to the chair and and addressing some of the issues with the commitment to come back with a deeper uh we we thought that that we were okay. But certainly if that is not um how you would like us to deal with that, we'll go back. Okay. But you you can call a special meeting or something to get this done. Um and then as far as bringing in any potential subtenants, do you have the ability to approve those? Does it require your approval? Yes. that that is specifically itemized Anaheim focused uh nonprofit. Yes.

Okay. I want to make sure we focus on that. Um yeah, I'd probably support a continuence on this if we can get the housing commission to take action on it quickly. Is that a second council member? Yes. Ruba Calva and then council member Bis.

Thank you. I I just wanted to first I want to reinforce the fact that I do love the Anaheim Community Foundation. This is not personal. It's just policy. I think we have to make sure that we're not picking winners and losers when it comes to um providing publicly owned property, especially um land that we that's part of the housing uh trust. So, I just want to make sure that we are but I completely support the work that you're doing. Um, but one of the things too I just want to highlight, Grace, is I used to be a commissioner on housing and this is a form 700 commission. They actually get paid a stipen. So they're pretty instrumental. So it does concern me that I the word I got back from commissioners was that it was rushed and they felt uncomfortable and they asked about RFPs and they were told that you'd get back to them or people you staff would get back to them. and then the chair who is also the chamber executive CEO is the one who decided to go ahead and move forward with it. That's a concern for me. So I think that just to make sure that we're following the process and not picking and choosing when we decide to utilize the housing commission because they are important for a lot of different reasons. We have redevelopment dollars that go through there. You guys are reviewing CDBG funds that go to nonprofits. So, I think that we just need to be mindful on how you guys are managing that commission and be respectful to the role that they serve. I know they meet twice a month when you're able to pull a quorum together. So, um I just wanted to make sure I got that on the record as well. And thank you to Council Member Meeks for um make a second to my motion for the continuence. But I just want to highlight I completely support ACF. It is not personal. I just want to make sure that we're um we're not putting you guys in a compromising position as well. Thank you, Council Member Bis.

I'll ask this. I think we meet again a week from today. Is it possible to call that special meeting and have a report back by Oh, wait. We have to notice it in our meeting as well, right? So, what what what's the shortest amount of time that that would happen? Do you know? They can be discontinued a week and they can it seems like they could maybe pull the housing commission together and report back verbally to us and well we have agenda has to be posted is usually Thursday evening which means they'd have to have a full quorum by tomorrow. No, I mean they would have to take action before our meeting next Tuesday. But it could be on the agenda just like it is now. They have to notice their meetings. They have to notice our meetings. Yeah,

got it. Doesn't the notice special meeting special meeting can be uh noticed with 24-hour notice. Okay. Wait. So, well, let's cross that bridge when we get to it.

Just one other statement real quick. I value our commissioners for sure. I can tell you I sat on the parks and recck commission for a long time and I saw while I was there stuff come before the city council that I thought quite frankly should have come before the parks commission um you know once or twice but in the end it was well it's the city council buck stops here. I can tell you sitting on the city council or excuse me sitting on the uh parks and recck commission we saw deals such as this uh on on multiple occasions. So, this is not a one-off. Um, we have multiple uh nonprofits using city facilities, uh, you know, for a dollar a year. So, I mean, I I value what the commission has to say, but in the end, it's kind of our responsibility. So, anyways, if we can get it done in a week, I think we owe it to them. Would that be uh com would you be comfortable with that council member Rubikala to just put it on next week's agenda and we'll see if we can um get a meeting pulled together?

I don't know except Grace. Do you think that's even a possibility? I I we would we would ask to we would ask to u be able to reach out to the commission and find out if we have quorum. Um their meetings are generally on Wednesdays. Um and it's only a month. I mean you guys utilize the community service the community um center. It's not like you're going to be displaced, right? Right now, where are you currently located? Next door and you're not being evicted anytime soon. So, it's not like it's super urgent. It's just it was being expedited unnecessarily. So, even if you were able to get a quorum for your next meeting, you get it voted and it comes back to council. Yeah. When is the next meeting of the housing commission?

If we met because we have another meeting at the end of the month. Correct. Correct. On February 24th. end of No, not this month, but February,

their next regularly scheduled meeting would be the 4th. February 4th. Yes. And then um our ne So what is our meeting? Let me get my little cheat sheet. January 27th. February 3rd and then February 24th. 27th. So, so at the latest, it would be the 27th. But why don't we So, we're looking to if that would be an amendment to the council members motion to um maybe just move it one week in the hopes they could do a meeting, but if not, or would you prefer to continue it to the 20? I don't have my glasses on, but I think this

I I'll continue it to the 24th. I don't know if you think Grace I mean, Grace, it's really up to you, but I guess no later than the 24th. It's I mean if you can get them to meet and certainly like I said my my only cons among my concerns was breakins because we've we've already demoed a building on Anaheim Boulevard. The chief is here. Chief, can you make sure you guys do extra patrols in the area? Okay. So, do you want us to continue it when we can give you an opportunity or do you want us to Let's just go to the to let's just go to Yeah. to the friendly amendment. I think the motion was to continue. Do we need a motion to continue to the 24th? Correct.

Sure. I mean, the only thing I'll add is if you keep the motion as is. It gives staff the flexibility to come in as early as next week if they're able to do a special meeting. If not, it gives them the ability to come in on the 24th. Uh, and if for some reason it has to be delayed because of whatever, I doubt it. You there as well. Okay. So, I think we have a motion and then a second by council member Meeks. Let's vote. The vote is seven eyes, no nays. Motion carries.

Okay. Um so next we are going to adjourn the housing authority and reconvene the city council to address the consent calendar. We have items 3 through 14 before us. Are there any members that wish to remove an item for further discussion? Uh Mayor Prom. Oh, you're signed in. Okay, I'm going to clear everybody because I think some people are signed in from the last um item. So, if you have an item to pull through items three through 14, um please let me know. Uh Council Member Curts, I'd like to pull item number seven. Thank you, Council Member Bis. Item number five.

Seeing no more items pulled besides five and seven. Oh, sorry. Council member Rubikava, 12, please. And mayor prom wants item number six. So 75, six, 7, and 12 have been pulled. Is there a motion to move the balance? Second. Motion and second. Please vote. The vote is seven eyes, no nays. Motion carries. Thank you. So, the first item pulled by council member Bis is item number five. Would you like a full staff report?

Department chair Mareno, could you please give us a report when you get situated?

Good evening, mayor, members of this the council. The item before you is a request to receive and file the annual development impact fee report. The attached report is required under AB516 and AB600 that govern development impact fees assessed by municipalities. A de development impact fee is a one-time payment imposed on a property developer that is intended to offset the financial impact that a new development places on public infrastructure including transportation, sewer, storm drains, parks, libraries, police and fire facilities and equipment. California agencies are required to report annually on the development impact fees collected during the fiscal year and how they were used. The annual report includes a description and the amount of the fee, beginning and ending fund balances, the total fees collected and interest earned. The report also includes identification of public improvements on which the fees were used, the total expenditures and percentage of improvement costs that were funded by fees, as well as the expected date of construction for fee funded projects for which sufficient funds have been collected. Every 5 years, agencies must identify the purpose of their fees, demonstrate a responsible relationship between the fee and the purpose for which it's charged, and provide updates on the funding and status of incomplete projects. The report must be made available 100 days after the last day of the fiscal year and presented to the governing body at the next regularly scheduled meeting, not less than 15 days after making it available. This report has been available online and at the city clerk's public counter since December 30th.

There's no budget impact associated with this report. Staff are working on an update to our existing development impact fees based on the projected development through 2045 and the anticipated impact on the city infrastructure. the study and any recommended recommendations for ch for fee changes will be brought to council um in the March or April time frame. That concludes the staff report and we're happy to answer any questions. Thank you very much. Council member Bis, do you have questions?

I do. Thank you. Uh first off, I'm definitely happy to see this report that's here, but I just have a couple of questions. when I was uh reading the city's um rules that are here, I noticed that under chapter 17, we have uh development fee criteria. And one of the things I see in this report on page number four, you've got park and l fees and then it says date of most recent fee study update. It's listed in here as 2011. And when I read the development fee uh application that's in the city's code here, we're supposed to be updating this fee once a year is what I see here. And so I'm curious, has that been done since 2011? I don't believe the park and loo fees have been um brought to city council since 2017. 2018.

So we have not uh had not traditionally handled those and we're only facilitating that in that time frame. Um I was uh individual departments were bringing them. So we've just been facilitating this over the last um several times that we've taken a look. So maybe this is then to the city attorney. What it says here on here the amount of fee sheet uh down towards the bottom it says here that uh land averages updated annually based upon a yearly opinion from the city's engineer office. That's how at least anyways the park and wreck fees were supposed to be uh evaluated. And I I did look at past city council meetings since 2011 and I hadn't seen any of this being updated. So I'm curious one if we were and then number two obviously I'm I'm glad to see it here. So I'm just curious is this the first time that we're taking a look now at the development fees since 2011?

Yeah, let me just respond and then I'll actually um defer to um to Shaunie. But the from a legal perspective the main concern would make uh would be that there's a nexus between the fee and the needs for uh in this case park space and also that there's um some proportionality to the project's impact. How we get there is up to us. If there's some inconsistencies in in how we've done that based on what the ordinance says or the municipal code and how we do it. Yeah, that's that's a concern. But I think the real um legal issue is whether or not there's proportionality and a nexus. And I'll let um Shaunie address what we've actually done.

Great. Thank you very much for the question. Um related to those fees, as you're aware, there is a Quimby Act formula. Part of it's a land valuation that goes along with the um state standard of park acres per um per thousand residents. There has not in in past years there has not been an appetite to increase uh development fees and so those valuations were not done because if we don't increase the fees then part of the the um the development fees state that when a developer builds a park then the city will need to pay back that developer for that land. And so if we are increasing the valuation of the land and not not the park development fees then uh we come out in in the negative in that situation.

Okay. The next question I have is on page number 10 where you've got the beginning and ending FUD balances for the park and loophes uh section 216. You've got an other category there that's listed at $ 122.3 million. I was just curious if you could or if you know if you could break that down as to what that is. don't have the detail on that tonight, but typically that's going to probably be grant revenue since that's how we fund a lot of our park improvements. So, you've we've got fees collected on here as 2.4 roughly, but then there's another 12. So, I was just Is this I'm going to take a guess here. Is part of this Disneyland? Did we get our $8 million from Disneyland for parks?

Yes, it does include the balance of the funds. I believe we received those in June if I'm recollecting. So, if we take out the 8 million, there's still a chunk left. Do we have an idea of what that what that is? still no.

So, so those uh seem to be the balance of the reimbursements that we have received from the grant funds that we have um received in the past. So, many times with our grants u they're done on a reimbursement basis. So, we have to spend our money and then we get the grant money back at the end of the project. Okay. So then what I'll ask is this on the next page, page 11, when I look at the detailed items that are here,

we've got uh let's take for example uh Little Pine Park. Little Pine Park according to this is funded at 100% cost by fee.

And the way I read this, and I don't know about the general public, but we're saying 100% of this is impact or excuse me, is impact fees. But I know that we've got a $750,000 grant that goes along with that park. So when you do that, the grant rebate is $750. The inloo fees is roughly we'll call it $250,000. Where is the I don't know you want to call it a rebate or where is the other money that came back that's sub that subsidized that listed in this report? or is it

so what I believe is that this is a snapshot in time of uh an accounting and we would spend our um impact fees ahead of time on the project and so it's showing on here that those are are development fees and then we get reimbursed by the grant fund after the fact. So are you saying then next year assuming that we receive the 750 after what June 30 of 2025 it would be in the next year's report.

That's correct. If if I'm reading that correctly because this is the previous year we um actually finalized that project in June of 25 and so this is a 2425 project. So those funds will come in after that 25 uh June of 25 or the next fiscal year.

So when you show it next year instead of 100% you show it at minus 100% because there's no revenue coming in. I guess what I'm looking at is is that this gives us kind of a skewed look as to where the fees are coming from and I don't know how to fix that. So these requirements are new to us and so we've been this is only the second year we've done it. So we'll consider those questions when we look at it again next year and see if we can add uh information that's not necessarily required by the um legislation.

All right. Thank you. Well, I just I think it's important to point out because when we're going to when and if we talk about development fees in the future, when you look at that report, it actually looks like, hey, our development fees are doing pretty good. We paid 100% of the park with the fees. And that's not necessarily true. And I think that's important to point out. Last question I have then is on page number 14, moving forward, it's indicated that um you know, we're supposed to put in what the public improvement projects are moving forward. And I guess as as a snapshot of 2024, we have no new projects have been identified for park fees. So, I think that that's because a lot of the fees don't have the way they're are currently adopted, they don't have specific needs lists associated with them. They're more generic and so there aren't specific projects identified at this point in time. Last year's report identified the Platinum Triangle Fire Station because we already knew that that project was coming. It was specifically identified.

All right. Hopefully maybe next year we'll get some of the more more better details in the report. And with that, if there's no other comments, I will move the item. Okay. Um, thank you. We have a motion to move the item. Do we have a second? Second.

Thank you. Please vote. The vote is six eyes, no nays, and the record absence by council member Wukaba. Um, the next item that was pulled is item number six, which was pulled by Mayor Prom. Um, I believe this is with Oh, Chief Russell. So, Council Member Leon, would you like a staff report or do you have Sorry, Mayor Prom Leon. I'll get it by the end of the year. Um, would you like a staff report or do you have specific questions?

It makes you feel any better, Madame Mayor. I'm still not used to it either, so I usually just turn around because I think somebody's talking to somebody else. If I can get a brief staff report, Chief, thank you.

Good evening, honorable mayor, Mayor Prom, members of city council. Uh Ed Sigura, purchasing agent, city of Anaheim. Uh before you is a request to approve the purchase of four medic ambulance from Republic EVS LLC for the fire department in the amount of 1,27, uh 983.92, and this includes all applicable taxes and fees. These ambulances will be located throughout the city to provide dedicated resources where there were previously unassigned. Uh they need to be authorized. The need to authorize the purchase at this time is due to the 20 monthly time on the buildout and re receipt of the vehicles. Uh EVS is a or Republic EVS LLC is a local authorized medex ambulance dealer. Uh the purchasing office conducted research and is recommending the utilization of the Houston Galveistston area council cooperative purchasing agreement for the purchase of these vehicles. At this time, I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have as well as the chief.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. Uh, when do you anticipate that these ambulance would come online? Thank you for the question, sir. So, once we go through the process and they're actually ordered, it's about 20 to 24 months. Occasionally, we'll get a phone call from Houston Galveston. They'll say they have a department that didn't accept their ambulances and if they meet our spec then sometimes it's faster than that but it's a pretty long lead time roughly around 18 months two years.

And so you're bringing bringing this forward knowing that it's going to take a couple years to actually get these ambulances. It's not that we have a a dire need right here right now for four additional ambulances and if we don't have them tomorrow things go sideways. That's correct. These these ambulances will replace some of our ambulances that are currently uh in in service and they'll go into reserve. But with adding an ambulance at fire station 12 later this year, hopefully fire station 4, the uh APRU unit unit that's going into service, if we're if we don't order additional to replace and we add these resources, we won't have the reserve fleet uh if we need them.

Got it. And then chief, can you briefly just I I I know we've talked about this before, but I still think it's important to highlight. Can you talk a little bit about how our ambulance program might be a little different from other cities and that we've brought essentially brought it in-house versus contracting with other companies?

Yeah, thank thank you for the question. Um number of years ago uh we we made the proposal and brought our ambulance program inhouse that it's managed uh u by excuse me by the uh our fire department which gives us complete control over our EMS system. Uh when we had a contract with a private ambulance company we were in charge of administrating our EMS program but we had no control really other than contractually about how many ambulances and other things. So the uh return on our investment back to our general fund has been outstanding and but more importantly uh controlling that service level um has been extremely beneficial uh to where we move our ambulances around uh have control of that system to uh serve our citizens.

Thank you. And it's been an outstanding hiring pool for us as well. Awesome. Do you have any, you don't have to answer this question right now, but I'd be curious if you have any data in terms of how many of those ambulance operators have become firefighters or are in the process of becoming firefighters.

I I don't have the exact numbers with me. I can get those, but I can tell you we've had uh several uh that have went through our explorer program into our ambulance program and and that have been hired as firefighters. Um, and we've done a a great deal of effort to really recruit out of our our community here in Anaheim with our EMT scholarships to make them eligible uh to be hired as as AO's and then helping them through the fire academy. So, they'll be eligible to be become firefighters in our next hiring that we're getting ready to go. I believe we have five or six that were uh ambulance operators and a few of those were Anaheim residents.

Awesome. Thank you, Chief. I appreciate it. you, Council Member Curts. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Actually, I'm just I support uh the item. I just have a a question that's kind of interest. Well, as I was reading the staff report, four engines, three regular one or ones that are normally used and a fourth one specially outfitted. Uh can you explain that one a little bit?

Uh yes, ma'am. Thank you for the question. So, that will be our our unit that will be assigned to our APRU, which is a new program that we're very excited about, which will be with um a captain paramedic and a nurse practitioner um that we've just hired five nurse practitioners under contract. They've start, excuse me, they've started their training uh and they will be in the community here in another couple months. We will use a a unit for them until they get this ambulance. It won't have a gurnie in it specifically like a traditional ambulance. It'll have an exam uh chair, but we will have the ability to put in a gurnie in it if we needed to put that ambulance into service as a regular 911 ambulance.

Thank you. And thank you for um for making sure that um all the needs of the city are being addressed. So um again, I support the item. We have a motion and a second to move the item forward. Please vote. My apologies. Mayor and city council. If you can reccast your votes.

The vote is six eyes, no naysay. Motion carries. Thank you. So, the next item um pulled was item number seven pulled by council member Curts. Would you like a um staff report from director um eami? I thank you. Um I uh yes staff report will be good.

Good evening honorable mayor, mayor prom, members of city council. Before you are request to approve an agreement with Geotab USA, Inc. for vehicle telematic services for the public works department in the amount of 195, uh, 268 and68 cents plus applicable taxes and a 20% contingency. Uh, the vehicle tax will be used for tracking engine diagnostic uh, driver behavior monitoring and advanced reporting. Additionally, the Geotab platform integrates with the city's work order management and the fuel management system. Uh, the purchasing office conducted research and is recommending the utilization of the uh, state of California Department of General Services cooperative purchasing agreement for the purchase of hardware and software utilization. At this time, we'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you, Council Member Curts. I do have a question and uh, this is directed to Mr. having worked for a company that used tracking in their vehicles to measure performance levels for of their employees. Um will you be doing the same thing? No, this isn't used for performance of the employees. It's for uh like mentioned the diagnostic and predictive maintenance um and tracking the vehicle and how it's operating and making sure that we're getting the most out of our vehicles. I appreciate Thank you. Thank you. I just wanted to hear that in public. Thank you. I'll move the item. If there are no other questions, second. We have a motion and a second. Please vote.

The vote is six eyes, no nazs. Motion carries. Thank you. Um item number 12 was pulled by council member Rubikala, but I don't believe she is here anymore. Does anyone know by any chance what her questions or concerns were? If not, can I have somebody move and second the item? The item. I'll move the item.

Okay. Um motion and a second by council member Curts and Council Member Meeks. Please vote. The vote is six eyes, no nays. Motion carries. Sorry, Chief. No, no hard questions for you. I hope everything's okay. Um, so item number 15 is a public hearing. Clerk, can you please read?

Thank you, mayor. Item 15 is de development agreement number 205008, the addendum number four to the Platinum Triangle Expansion Project and the mitigation monitoring plan number 321. And this is for a project located at 1404 East Catella Avenue. Could we please have a staff report?

Director Allen.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the city council. Heather Allen, planning and building director. I'm joined this evening by Landre Rosco, senior planner. The item before you tonight is a request to establish a new performance timeline for Lenar's Atown development. At the December 16th, 2025 meeting, the city council determined that the developer was not in compliance with the terms and conditions of the revised agreement for the 2025 review period and directed staff to provide notice to the developer of council's intent to establish new development time frames. A bit of background. In October 2005, the city council approved a development agreement to govern the development of the then a town metro project. In October 2015, the council approved a revised agreement which changed the name to a town and allowed the development of between 1,400 and 1746 residential units, a range of commercial areas between 38,000 and 50,000 square feet and two public parks. In May of 2018, council approved an amendment to modify performance milestones to be completed by the year of 2020, 2022, 2025, and 2030. And completion of each milestone would grant the next corresponding extension. So, the developer has completed the milestones for 2020 and 2022. Authorized extensions of the revised agreement through the current term ending October 2025. The first two milestones of the project included completion of 638 residential units surrounding streets and associated infrastructure. Aloe Greens Park and the linear park have also been completed and dedicated to the city. The next milestone in the development agreement requires construction of an additional 462 residential units. Currently, 330 units are under construction, leaving 132 units outstanding to meet this milestone. Final site plans including

the outstanding units were approved by the planning commission in 2022 and early 2023. However, due to uh ch uh challenges uh in terms of financing largescale mixeduse projects, the property owner has not started construction on the remaining 132 units, thereby not completing the milestone that was due in October of 2025. At this time, the developer is requesting Can I ask a question real quick? Yes, ma'am. The last map, can you What part did they not complete by fall 2025?

So, areas B and areas C and D are the um so red at the top are the areas with the units that are um under discussion. So, started but not completed. So, uh ENF is started. Gotcha.

Uh B, C, and D all have final site plans but not not started. Okay, you're welcome. So, at this time, the developer is requesting to extend the October 2025 milestone approximately 9 months, moving the deadline from October 2020, uh, sorry, October 20, 2025 to July 31st, 2026. The developer has indicated their intent to apply for amendments to the revised development agreement and master site plan for future consideration that would go both to the planning commission and the city council in a public hearing process to be completed by July 31st. The request would include the new timeline for completing development area B, which importantly includes the future grocery store and changes to development areas C and D. developer has indicated um changing those from mixed use buildings to town homes and they are available to discuss that further this evening. So staff believes that the additional time request is reasonable given the current marketing conditions and provides the developer with the additional time to submit a formal request to amend the development agreement and master site plan returned to the city council for review later this year following consideration by the planning commission. So with that, staff recommends approval of this request to establish the new performance timelines uh for this phase just through July 31st of 2026 for PT Metro. We can answer any questions and the applicant is here as well.

Thank you. Um thank you so much for um clarifying. Uh so we want pretty much a six-month extension. Um and what will they be bringing back to us in 6 months?

Correct. So um within the um time period from from today through July 31st they would u formally request an amendment to the development agreement would um reset the time frames for the outy years. So the next phase currently is the deliverable by 2030. So completing the deliverable that's due currently October 2025. Um looking at the time frame for what remains to be completed by 2030. What those time frames look like. um the provisions of the grocery store um would be also something that we would continue to to look for in that revised agreement and an amendment to the development agreement separate from what we're doing today does require both planning commission and city council approval. So it would be a essentially reopening the development agreement um for consideration of planning commission and council. Um and then also the um pretty pictures that you see on the screen those are from the master site plan. So, we would be seeing a revision to um the master site plan, which would potentially be a reduction or change in unit types um which they are indicating would be coming forward for areas C and D, keeping the unit type currently proposed for uh area B. So, those would go planning commission and then city council.

And you said the applicant is here, correct? Yes. Where? Hello. Come on down. Um I had a question uh when you said the um over the next six months the anticipated um I guess updated site plan um and I was a little bit con I just wanted to clarify the wording is the is the site plan that's going to be coming in six months and if you could explain on which parcels B or C and D going to include a grocery store.

Yes. Uh, madame mayor, members of council, good evening. Uh, my name is Greg Powers with the law firm Jackson Titus. I'm special land use counsel for LAR PT Metro the applicant. Uh, thank you for your consideration tonight. The grocery store would be located on area B. And so right now, as you can see, area A's, area G, A, and H have all been completed. Um, E and F are under construction. Those are the areas highlighted in yellow. Uh we're 132 132 units short of meeting the milestone. I think it's worth noting that um you know obviously in March 2020 we had a pandemic everything stopped. Can

can I just interrupt? I'm sorry. Uh there will be an opportunity for all speakers to have five minutes. So I know you wanted to ask a question. I think you've answered it. I think uh but I think mayor it'd probably be more appropriate if this be part of the five minutes that all members of the public are allowed. I'm sorry that is my bad and thank you for the commitment to the grocery store. Um so let me turn to my I have a couple of other questions but I'll wait till after public comment. Um council member Ma.

Thank you Madam Mayor. Mine was really around the grocery store. Um when we can expect that and what we can do to get that moving along quicker. So that has it's been made clear to us through various meetings with city staff that that is one of the biggest priorities right now is finding a a high quality groceryer for the project and development area B which is one of the red squares up there. It is going to contain the grocery store. There's no proposed change for for development area B with respect to product type or or um or the master plan. Uh, and it would still include the same commercial square footage as has already been approved and the the top priority is finding a top-notch grosser for that for that area.

Thank you. I will put you in touch with our economic development department. We will help you. Um, so I wanted to uh open up the public hearing. Thank you so much. Um, seeing no further questions by council, open up the public hearing. Clerk, I know do we have speaker cards for this public hearing?

Mayor, we do have one speaker card. Mark Herbert and the time limit is 5 minutes. Welcome, Mr. Herbert. Mark Herbert, anaheimgree.com. Uh, I've learned from the previous council meeting that uh, if I have questions about the procedures during public comments at hearings, I can raise them during public comments at hearings. So, I'm going to touch on some of those as well as this project. This project is by Lenar and I'm sorry that council member Rubikala is not here because in September I was at a community meeting at La Palma village and there was a turnout of well over 50 people residents in this La Palma village and they had some issues with LAR who who built and um sold their units, although they kind of sold them through a third party, so it got a little cloudy, but it was serious enough that council member

Rubika came to that meeting with close to a dozen staff people to answer just not those questions. It was primarily a lot about those of how those units were presented in the selling process to the buyers and how the noise of the trucking firm next door that had been there 20 30 years was closer to a 24-hour operation instead of a um 8-to-5 operation. So, the reason I bring this up is I'm a little concerned about LAR handling this development and how it's going to be presented to the public when the units are sold because it was not straightforward to these residents of La Palma village. I suggest you talk with council member Rubika who was there. It was a couple hour hourlong meeting and it was the the residents have come here a couple times following up on that. So, Lenar, I think you should check into and let's see in terms of the the problems of trying to get a supermarket into that area has been longterm, I guess. And I would like to suggest because I'm not behind the closed doors of the potential sale of Angel Stadium and the property, but the last time that went up for sale, it was zoned for the the parking lots were zoned for about um

6,000 units that were never built. If this sale goes through with the parking lot, there'll be some sort of development on that parking lot, which is across the street from these units in the Platinum Triangle, which are already in need of a supermarket. And the missing link, which to me seems obvious, is Northgate. And I'm not saying Northgate their typical store. I'm saying Northgate like I think it's the Marcato or something in Costa Mesa which is this huge like um it's a supermarket as well as a almost like a food hall and entertainment and it's been so successful down there in the year or two open their biggest problem is lack of parking. So although the public's not invited to these behind the-do scenes, it seems to me a consideration as you look at this project in search of a supermarket and the the sale the pending sale of the Anaheim the Angel Stadium land, you talk to the owner of Northgate to begin those discussions because it's almost turned into a tourism attraction. And if you're still thinking of a gondola linking the OC vibe with the resort, the rest of the resort district, it all comes together. But first things first, I think you need a tougher scrutiny on LAR and their track record. I would be, you know, and so far I guess the staff failed these La Palma village people. So I would hope.

Sir, I'm sorry your time is up. Mayor and City Council, that concludes our public comments in person. Noting for the record, we didn't receive any public comments electronically on this public hearing.

Thank you. So, I'd like to close the public hearing and open it back up to comments or questions by council. Do we have any further questions or comments? Okay. Uh oh, sorry, Council Member Bis. I'm just curious uh do we know what the uh the unit density is for the remaining an average unit density for the remaining properties? Good evening, council member. For do you want me to go through each of the remaining ones and how many units each building will have? I'll take just an average. Um,

so two people, three people, four the number of units or uh no the the number of average uh people in each unit I guess. Well, it's I can't answer that specific question. Usually the the units range from um studios, one bedrooms and two bedrooms. So it's a range between those kind of can assume how many people live in each unit. So, for example, for area B, there's 270 units and there are 168 one-bedroom units and 102-bedroom units. And if you do the math, maybe average of two people per unit.

It is two people. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Any further comments or questions, council member? No, thank you. Thank you. Um, I wanted to just kind of follow up um on when when we are uh when they come back to planning commission. is that when they are going to be presenting us with a potential development agreement that might require um these type of um conditions like a grocery store, commercial space on it.

Correct. Yes. Planning commission um does receive the development agreement um draft. So that would be the first um time that the amended um terms would be um viewed. And I know you said this before, if you could just um remind me when do we think this will come before planning commission? So we are thinking probably May, May, June to then hit city council by July. Okay. Thank you. Um council me or mayor Leon. Thank you, Madame Mayor. Can you repeat for us uh Heather, what is it that we're approving today?

Correct. So today is basically just a specific revision to a term related to the milestone that was due October 2025. It it is extending it to the later of October 2025 or July um 31st 2026. So we would be extending that October 25 milestone till July 31st 2026. So all we're doing today is is essentially giving the developer more time to come back to us with a development agreement and what the plan would be for these areas. Correct. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. With no further questions, is there a motion? Move it.

Second. Please vote. A resolution the city council of the city of Anaheim establishing a performance time schedule for the 10th anniversary date as set forth in the amended and restated development agreement number 205008 between the city of Anaheim and PT Metro LLC and determine subsequent environmental impact report number 339 for the revised plan and triangle expansion project along with the mitigation monitoring plan number 321 are the appropriate environmental documentation for this request and the vote is six eyes no motion carries. Thank you. So, at the request of the applicant, item 16 is being continued to the meeting of February 24th. Is there a motion to continue?

I'll move. There's a motion and a second. Please vote.

The vote is six eyes, no nays. The um public hearings continue to February 24th, 2026. Thank you. Uh, item 17 was withdrawn. So, we are now moving on to our report on close session. Mr. City Attorney, thank you, Madam Mayor. As previously announced, item one was uh pulled and was not discussed. As item two, the um matter relating to uh AFA was pulled and there's no other reportable items. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. City Attorney. I had a couple questions um and wanted to see for closed session. um items prepared for us for closed session. Um how do we as a body approach disclosing um work that is prepared for us if that is the choice of the body

close session? So the Brown Act is pretty strict on what is reportable and what's not reportable. So that's what I'm limited by. However, the council can always in in in most situations decide to um uh wave uh certain confidentiality um provisions in the Brown Act and and by a vote in close session um direct me to make certain announcements or have things announced in other ways. So, usually it's by vote of the body on those items in close session.

Okay. Thank you. Um, so next we don't have any non-aggenda item public speakers. So now is the time for future agenda requests by council members. Council member Curts. Thank you, Madame Mayor. I asked that uh staff work with me to put together language for potential ordinance regarding safety at our selfch checkouts in the city that can be reviewed and discussed at the first meeting, the first council meeting in March. Thank you, Council Member Meeks.

March.

Thank you. Um, well, I also wanted to just kind of piggyback on council member Vava's comments on not only the city manager, but the staff and and the great work we're doing um as a city to move things forward that I don't think we were really doing before this council uh was elected and and started to collaborate on our priorities and our vision for the city and to come together and move things forward. and and clearly one of the big things um that we need to do that on and the mayor mentioned it is the stadium property. Uh so I would like to ask staff to um bring back a framework of how that process could move forward both with this body in a public fashion and then the community input um piece. What's the process going to be? And I think we can all discuss that um and discuss the priorities of this council and what we would like to see um on the stadium property. Not specific things, but what are our goals? Do we want open space? Do we want, you know, a one-time influx of cash by selling or do we want to develop something that has an ongoing revenue source to support more police and fire long term or, you know, what are the priorities that we want to see come off of the stadium property? And I think that should be an open discussion um and that the public can certainly comment on on that discussion as a as an agenda item. Um, but I think that'll help us move forward with the mayor's suggestion to come up with a some sort of con conceptual site plan and what we might want to see out there and what are the options really and the pros and cons to those options. So anyways, I just like to ask staff to bring back some sort of agenda item and framework to move forward.

Thank you, council member. I think that's a great idea. Mayor Prom, thank you. Just a point of clarification on that, council member. I want to be mindful it's not an agenda item. I'm not trying to have the discussion, but I know that we had previously given direction to staff and during our community meetings were we're getting community input and all of that stuff and then we had given you direction to go and speak to our state partners. I just want to make sure that that isn't in conflict with No, I think that needs to be part of that framework and what's what comes first and how those things need to come together.

Yeah. Is it? Correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. City Manager. Part of those conversations are happening I mean starting next week with the community at the open houses. Correct. I I got a yes from Britney. So that'll be part of the community meetings. Yes. But at a very high level obviously because we're not kind of in the weeds yet on um direction from council.

Correct. I think it's, you know, in not discussing this item. Um I think it's important to um be honest and upfront with the public and make sure that you know we're not saying what would you like to see on 100% of this property knowing that uh we cannot achieve maybe some of the goals. So, I think having a master site plan or a conceptual plan for the area, then we we can actually go out and ask people for realistic public givebacks and tie those public givebacks um and community give backs to the property depending on who the current owner is, the next owner, the the three owners from now. Um you know, I think it's just

I think we really just have to we it's set up for agenda. I'm really concerned it's not an agenda. That's why I'm not discussing it. I said I wasn't discussing it. Okay. Got it. Um, uh, did you already did you have anything further?

Okay. Um, thank you. Uh, one of the things I wanted to, um, just in in conclusion to some of the comments made here today, um, is that I I just want to thank the public. I I consider public service um a privilege and I think with public service comes a great responsibility um to act with integrity whenever called to transparency at all times and I try to hold myself to a standard that is even higher than those of um state law requirements and and try to um given that you know we are all human and mistakes can be made Um there have been recent concerns um that I spoke at the last meeting that were uh agendaized about unreported paid travel by city staff um PRA uh lack of response to certain questions as well as other potential issues. And so I would like to agendaize a and I would like to work with my city attorney on this. Um, I'd like to agendaize a request to work with our ethics officer to look at uh these potential allegations and prepare a report that can be disclosed um to the public. I think that the fact that we have an ethics officer in Anaheim is extremely important, but we need to make sure that that ethics officer is public-f facing, is open to concerns uh from the public in the spirit of transparency and that work product uh by the ethics officer in response to concerns by the public is then shared with the public. He is their ethics officer as much as he is ours. And so obviously this is not political as has been said. It's not personal. Um it's about accountability for me and making sure that our ethics officer is part of

the complete Anaheim community, not just in this building. So I would like to work with the city attorney in a way that he thinks um that would be feasible. Uh so with no other um council items to be put on the agenda, I would like to close this uh meeting in the um memory of Joel Esparza as well as nurse Prey in Minnesota and we will stand adjourned until February 3rd.