Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Get started. All right. Good afternoon, everyone. I'd like to call the Anaheim City Council meeting to order. Clerk, can you please call roll?

Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Bayless? Here. Council Member Ubacalma? Here. Council Member Kurtz? Here. Council Member Moss? Here. Council Member Meeks? Here. Mayor Aiken?

Here.

Let the record show we have six members present.

Thank you. Are there any additions or deletions to our closed session agenda?

Mayor, there are none.

And are there any public speakers here to address our closed session agenda?

We don't have any in-person speakers, and we didn't receive any electronic comments on the closed session agenda.

Hearing none, we're going to close public comment and recess to closed session. Thank you.

Lots and lots.

Good afternoon, everyone. So we are going to reconvene our Anaheim City Council back to order. The first item on our agenda is a workshop on the proposed fiscal year 26-27 budget. At this time, we will be doing public comment on our budget workshop. So, Madam Clerk, do we have anyone that has signed up for public comment?

Mayor and City Council, we did receive one. We have one in-person comment, Mr. Mike Robbins. If you could step forward at this time, and the time limit is three minutes.

Thank you. I want to remind you that 2021, we were down, I'm just going to give you generals, about 45 million. 2022, about 45 million. 2023, we were up at 47 million or something like that. 2025, 60 million and 70 million, 2026. And you've got to remember that not only these are deficits that are building, but there's also interest due on that. So when we are going to get maybe $120 million in a few more years, the first thing is that our budget is probably going to be close to that. So you're going to be $100 million just to be even, plus $5 million you're paying on the on the interest on the money that we have due, that's gonna be 120, 125 million, which means we're just gonna be zeroed out. There's gonna be no extra money, and we still don't own City Hall or anything else. Meanwhile, in Florida, Disney World is paying 6% on their admissions and parking, and look at the surpluses there. Tens of millions of dollars of surpluses for the County of Orange. Orange County in Florida and the cities around Disney World. So they're doing the right thing. They know how to build a surplus. And they also know that there's a lot of money there. And we should take our fair share from the business that we supported with $1.6 billion. in order to balance our budget now and for the future. I just want to add that into the whole budget here. So you guys can all add. And certainly those are numbers you can put down and go like, oh my gosh. And don't forget the 5% interest we're paying on all of that because we're low rated in the bonds. So we pay more interest on anything that we borrow. And we have to put a collateral, which included city hall, police station, and fire stations. Thank you very much for your consideration.

Mayor and City Council, we have one more speaker, Mark Herbert.

Mark Herbert, AnaheimGreece.com. Why does the council have the benefit of listening to the staff presentations on this and the public doesn't before making comments and having questions? We've done that in the past, we're not doing it now. That doesn't seem like it's giving the residents a fair shake. Two, the California Transparency website came out with their pay for various city employees. Anaheim's top 10 positions, all fire and chief people. The city manager is the number 11 or 12. I found that kind of odd. The top 10 positions with many earning much more in overtime than the regular pay. During general comments, I'll bring up Mr. Garcia's over time, the man who shot Albert Arzola. Housing, affordable housing. We're halfway through the housing element. Anaheim's target is 9,100 units. You're holding your head, Natalie. The city has completed 367 units. At that rate, we're falling behind. Santa Ana in the same report, 1,681 units completed. How is Santa Ana doing it and Anaheim isn't? Maybe one reason, is the city's leadership. California's affordable housing and sustainable communities program over the last 10 years had eight rounds of distributing over $4 billion. They said that that's led to $37 billion in housing across the state. How many dollars did Anaheim get over this 10-year period? Zero. How did Anaheim miss? This is from the state report. Zero over 10 years. Let's look at Santa Ana. They're going gangbusters over there. How many units during these eight rounds did Santa Ana get?

Mr. Herbert, your time is up.

About 250.

Mayor and City Council, that concludes our in-person speakers. And noting for the record, we didn't receive any public comments on the workshop.

Thank you. So I'm going to close public comments on the workshop. Mr. Interim City Manager, can you please present the workshop?

Yes thank you mayor council excited to present this first of two budget workshops on our twenty six twenty seven proposed budget as you'll hear tonight from a handful of our key departments and then followed up on the twenty third with the remaining departments. really proud of this team for putting together this this plan to move forward it's a stable budget with our eye towards next year and increasing the investment there's a lot of good things in this budget to fill a lot of holes in the city while also maintaining responsible spending so with that i'll pass it on to our finance director debbie merino and her team

Thank you. Good afternoon, Mayor and members of the City Council. With me today is our budget team, Deanne Lee, Yvette Ramirez, Megan Warren, and Arlene Groa. So we'll begin with a brief economic outlook and then look at the citywide proposed fiscal year 26-27 budget. I'll then share an overview of the proposed general fund budget along with the general fund five-year forecast. Then we'll move to a quick overview of the administrative department's proposed budgets before I turn it over to our department directors who will present their proposed department budgets. At the June 23rd budget workshop, we'll have presentations from the remaining departments followed by a public hearing later that night for formal adoption. When building the budget, we consider forecasts from economists and local universities and rely on the professional judgment of staff and industry experts. The proposed budget includes modest revenue growth and supports our existing levels of service. We have adding funding for limited essential services, knowing that we'll need to exercise restraint to allow for a comprehensive discussion of funding with the LPMR payoff. The budget does not contemplate a recession or economic downturn, but there continues to be a lot of economic uncertainty. The national economy remains steady and is expected to experience moderate growth. Household disposable income is growing due to tax reductions from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and geopolitical tensions have strengthened the U.S. dollar. Economic volatility may affect consumer spending, travel, development activity, and sales tax performance. Fuel prices are at high, which affects both local travel and airfares and could have a direct impact on Anaheim revenue. Consumer confidence has decreased and the federal deficit has increased because of the Supreme Court's invalidation of most 2025 tariffs imposed by the Trump administration that were intended to offset tax reductions. Their mixed signals and uncertainty and volatility seem to be the only guarantee. The proposed fiscal year 26-27 budget includes citywide expenditures totaling $2.6 billion. The general fund budget makes up only 22% of the budget, but we focus most of our attention there because it's where the bulk of our discretionary funding comes from, and it's what's used to support our core services, such as police, fire, parks, and libraries. As the chart shows, the remainder of funds are mainly restricted for a specific purpose, such as our enterprise operations that include electric, water, sanitation utilities, and are not available for general fund, general city services. The budget includes a capital, improvement plan of 324.5 million. The CIP is a five-year fiscal planning tool that allocates budgets for capital projects to rehabilitate, improve, or build new public infrastructure, such as streets, parks, and libraries. Most projects are supported by restricted funding sources and projects are divided into seven project categories. The CIP includes five years of projected capital needs, but only the first year will be adopted. Approval of the five-year plan doesn't guarantee approval of individual projects. As projects move forward through the development process, they'll be brought back to council for final improvement and contract award. Until a contract is awarded, projects may change in scope or be reprioritized. The general fund is the main repository of tax revenues and discretionary sources. Our big three revenues, TOT, sales and property tax make up nearly 80% of general fund revenue sources. The largest piece is the transient occupancy tax or TOT at 40%. Sales and use tax makes up 19% and property taxes make up 18% with business license, fees and permits, other revenues and transfers from other funds making up the remaining revenue. Now we'll go over the outlook for our big three revenues. The proposed DOT budget for fiscal year 26-27 is $257 million and represents the 15% tax visitors pay on their hotel, motel, and short-term rental stays of 30 days or less. DOT is our largest source of general fund revenue and is driven by visitors to the Anaheim Resort. For the current year, TOT is projected to be about 253 million or 3.8% above the prior year. After a strong year, we expect TOT to moderate next year with 1.6% growth. Growth in the out years is expected to be in the range of three to three and a half per year. The proposed sales and use tax budget for fiscal 26-27 is $122 million. Sales and use tax is a tax applied to the sale of tangible personal property. The tax rate in Anaheim is 7.75%, and the city receives one cent of every dollar spent in Anaheim. For the current year, sales tax is projected to be about $117 million, which is 3% over the prior year, fiscal year 24-25. Sales tax revenues have increased across all sectors except for construction. For 26-27, sales tax is projected to be $122, an increase of 4.5% or $5.3 million from the current year projected revenues. Growth in future years... will be between two and a half and three and a half percent annually based on moderate sustained economic growth. the property tax budget for fiscal year 26-27 is 119 million so all real intangible personal property in the state is subject to a property tax equal to one percent of the value the county collects the revenue and distributes it to local taxing in entities our share is approximately 20 percent Property tax revenue is projected to be 112 million this year, which is about 6% higher than fiscal year 24-25. Again, the 26-27 revenues are estimated to be 119, which is an increase of 5.8 or 6.6 million from the current year projections. Increases in the out years are moderate while tapering to the statutory increase of 2%. Now that we've seen where the revenues comes from, let's look at where the money goes. The pie chart represents general fund uses, which include expenditures and transfers to other funds. Nearly half of our uses go to keeping us safe, which includes police and fire, and is typical of local government. providing the necessities, utilities, and public works makes up 6%, ensuring quality of life 15%, and the support departments make up 7% of the general fund. The dark green slice represents the transfers to other funds, the majority of which goes to support debt. The bulk of that debt is the resort or lease payment measurement revenues, LVMR, that are amounts equal to a specific portion of TOT and then sales and property tax increments on Disney properties by formula. The slice also includes the working capital bonds, the convention center expansion debt, and a small piece of other neighborhood improvements that were done when the convention center expansion bonds were issued. If we exclude the transfers to other funds, we're left with the general fund expenditures, and the table on the right shows how these expenditures are allocated. Police makes up 39% of all expenditures and includes funding for new deputy police chief and improvements to the detention facility to upgrade access controls and facility systems. Fire is 25% of the general fund expenditures and includes a new fire captain to begin implementation of a new hand crew program to support fire prevention efforts and six ambulance operators for the expanded fire station four. community services and other quality of life departments make up 19 percent of the general fund and include increases increased funding for park rangers to patrol parks and restrooms public works makes up seven percent and includes additional funding for right-of-way improvements including vandalism mitigation and crosswalk striping that helps support their maintenance of effort for measure m2 grant funding Public utilities is less than 1% and includes funding for straight lights and the 311 call center. Finally, you have the administrative and supporting activities, which make up less than 9% of expenditures. Labor expenditures of almost 397 million make up nearly 70% of the general fund budget and include full and part-time salaries, overtime, fire minimum staffing, and all employee benefits including medical, dental, retirement, and workers' compensation. Other operating makes up 30% of general fund expenditure and includes increases for landscape maintenance contracts, reimbursable safety contracts for the ambulance program, and interdepartmental service charges related to insurance, information technology support, and facility maintenance. Debt service and capital outlay make up less than 2% of the general fund expenditures. Funding for most debt is supported by revenue transfers from the general fund and paid out of a restricted debt service fund. So we'll put it all together and here's a look at our five-year forecast. This plan represents our most likely scenario. It does not contemplate a recession or impacts of expiring labor agreements. It includes the AFSCME agreement that is on the agenda for consideration tonight. We're in a better place as we near the payoff of LPMR bonds, but there's still work to be done. to do to ensure that the availability of revenues are managed and prioritized responsibly including reserve levels repayment of debt service enhancements and capital improvements proposed operating sources of 645 million including the big three revenues other revenues and transfers from other funds Operating uses are $687 million and include salaries and benefits based on the current labor agreements, other operating costs, and transfers out to other funds, leaving an operating deficit of just over $42 million. This includes the projected payoff of LPMR bonds in the spring of 2027, and reflected in the transfers outline that goes from 116 million this year, this proposed year, to roughly 28 million in year two and beyond of the forecast. The forecast is relatively unchanged from the amended five-year forecast presented in December at the strategic plan workshop. The deficit has increased slightly from 38.6 million to 42.3. We did close last year a little better than expected, so we have more proceeds remaining from the sale of the Hilton parking structure, which reduces the proposed draw on fund balance from 28 million to 11 million. With the one-time money and early repayment of LPMR, the reserves are estimated to be 11% of general fund expenditures, which is within our current policy levels. The five-year forecast does not contemplate the risk of recession or impacts of economic uncertainty. The recent increase in gas prices could result in fewer visitors to Anaheim Resort having a direct impact on TOT. While recent returns have been solid, TOT often lags current economic changes by six to 12 months. Any revenue loss associated with a recession could only delay, could also delay the projected payoff of the LPMR revenue bones. The five-year forecast does not include any salary adjustments beyond what is contractually obligated in the current MOUs. And this as a city is a service organization and 70% of the general fund pays for salaries and benefits of our workforce. The agreement with our police association and police management will expire this month. Salary adjustments will increase general fund expenditures by approximately $1 million for every 1% wage increase in addition to the projected cost of any benefit changes. agreements with our fire association municipal employees association and management and confidential groups expire in june 27. for those groups combined the general fund impact is estimated to be 1.4 million for every one percent salary increase beginning in year two through five of the the five-year forecast. With the help of the departments, we also monitor the impact of federal and state funds, which are subject to factors outside our control. Reductions to grant-funded programs, particularly in housing and community development, could increase general fund uses to maintain existing programs and services. If these or any other risk materialize and cause an imbalance in the five-year forecast, we have to reprioritize spending or alter service delivery. We monitor revenue and expenditure performance regularly, and we'll reevaluate and respond accordingly as new information comes to light. So now I'll present a brief overview of our administrative departments before handing off to our operating department directors. So the administrative departments include city council, city administration, city attorney, city clerk, finance, and human resources to support the day-to-day operations of the operating departments that provide direct service to the community. The city council, city administration, city attorney, and city clerk are predominantly funded by the general fund. Their operating budgets are largely unchanged from prior year aside from contractual increases in salaries and benefits and internal service charges. Finance has a proposed budget of $113.1 million, and Human Resources has a proposed budget of about $391 million. Their general fund budgets are $18.4 million and $4.6 million, respectively, with a balance comprised of citywide debt service, information services, insurance, and the employee benefits fund. additionally the supporting departments recover approximately 30 percent of their general fund budget from cost allocation to our enterprise funds finally this is the schedule of the council workshops meetings and community outreach events the proposed budget was made available may 29th and is available at on our my city budget webpage With that, that concludes my presentation. We're happy to answer any questions you may have before we do a seat change, and we'll ask the other departments to come up and present their budgets. Thank you.

Thank you. Did you say, Ms. Marino, that AFSCME is included or is not included in this year's fiscal budget?

It is not included. I apologize if my voice is going, so I apologize for throwing me off a bit. it's not included in the budget document um because that's going before you tonight so um we will have that if it's approved that will be included in as an amendment when we come back for budget approval okay

Thank you. And then for the general fund, you said that labor is 69% of this year's budget. Is there a national or state best practices about what percent that should be at versus direct citizen services?

It's going to vary depending on how service delivery is performed. So if it's a smaller city, you're going to have a lot of contract labor. So you'll have more of a services typically than you'll have in labor. So it just depends on the service delivery models.

Okay, thank you. Mr. City Manager, do we want to?

Without any further questions, we'll switch out and we'll have our... Do you have a question?

Sorry, I have one more question from Council Member Bayless.

Thank you. Just a quick question. I know it wasn't up here on the slides, but I'm looking at the budget book on page 64. We're listing revenues on there for the resort, and you have Disney fees and police and fire. I'm curious, does that include the 10 officers and overtime, or is this just an overtime number?

It accounts for any of the labor for those contracts, whether it's overtime or full-time.

Thank you.

So Mayor and Council, we'll go ahead and kick it off with Chief Sid, Anaheim Police Department, and then we'll continue with fire and community services thereafter. And then we can answer questions at the conclusion of the presentations. However, if spirit moves you to ask a question on the fly, we will facilitate.

Okay, good afternoon, Mayor, members of City Council. As your Police Chief, it's my honor to present the Police Department's proposed fiscal year 26-27 budget. This presentation includes an overview of the department's core services, staffing, the proposed budget of our six divisions, and key performance highlights and initiatives for the upcoming fiscal year. Public safety remains our highest priority, and every aspect of our work is focused on protecting life, safeguarding property, and preserving the quality of life our residents and visitors expect. As we strive to protect Anaheim, preserve community trust, and set the standard for the public safety profession, we maintain a sharp focus on the following, preventing crime and responding effectively to emergencies, fostering and maintaining community trust and credibility, addressing quality of life challenges through coordinated partnerships, and leveraging data and technology to address challenges proactively. The proposed budget before you supports a total of 731 police department employees. This includes 431 sworn officers and 191 full-time professional staff who collectively deliver the essential services our community depends on. In addition, it includes 109 part-time employees, which equates to 76.33 part-time FTEs. Recruitment and retention remain critical as we work to maintain and increase staffing levels to meet the significant safety and service demands of our community today and into the future. While not represented in this current proposed budget, I have submitted a staffing plan to the city manager's office that aims to right-size the police department over the coming years. These additional positions, particularly police officers, are critical in meeting the existing service demands of our entire community, as well as setting the foundation to ensure the department is properly resourced for the future, including for the upcoming LA28 events and the continued growth of our entertainment venues. In coordination with the City Manager's Office, I anticipate initiating the first phases of that plan later this fiscal year. As it relates to our proposed budget, the police department's budget for the upcoming fiscal 26-27 year is just short of $250 million. This chart on the left shows the police department's operating budget accounts for 9.6 of the citywide budget and 39.2% of the city's general fund budget. As in previous years, the majority of the department's budget is funded through general fund, with additional support from other general purpose funds, capital project funds, and special revenue such as grants. This slide outlines the expenditures across the department's six divisions, along with year-over-year challenges, I'm sorry, changes, and includes a 5.3% overall increase, or about $12.5 million from last year's adopted budget. A large portion of that increase is driven by the contractual salary and benefit obligations, higher liability self-insurance costs, increased fleet replacement, facility rent, information services charges. Additional increases reflect funding for a critical update to the department's jail management system and the purchase of response vehicles for the Platinum Triangle area. The variances depicted on this slide between the divisions reflect the department's recent reorganization and the resulting reallocation of staffing and resources across those six divisions. Since joining the Anaheim Police Department in late December, I have focused on assessing and prioritizing the department's culture, structure, professionalism, allocation of resources, and service levels. In furtherance of those priorities, we have proactively implemented a department reorganization which took place earlier this calendar year To further advance our mission, enhance operational effectiveness and fiscal efficiency, maximize our resources, and prepare APD for long-term excellence as well as future growth. As depicted in this slide, labor costs account for 81% of the department's operating budget, reflecting the staffing required to provide 24-7 public safety services. Of the remaining 19%, approximately 13% is allocated to intergovernmental services or IGS charges. This leaves 6% to fund all other operational needs such as professional services, safety contracts, mandatory training, equipment procurement, and uniforms. Less than 1% of our total funds are allocated to debt service and capital outlay. I'll now review each of the police department's division's proposed budgets, starting with the administrative division, which totals 41.6 million and represents 17% of the department's overall budget. The administration division includes our department's professional staff and encompasses key areas such as records, property and evidence, dispatch, and the crime analysis unit. The division manages essential functions including budget and finance, fleet, and facilities. They also serve as a liaison of the city's information technology services group. In preparation for major events coming to the city and to enhance the department's overall response to the city's major venues, fiscal year 26-27 platinum triangle development impact fee funding will be used to procure several response vehicles. This includes a tactical armored response vehicle to ensure ballistic protection for personnel and civilians during high-risk incidents, This funding will also be used to purchase two F350 trucks to tow our four mounted enforcement unit trailers, as well as two police interceptor units, a sedan, and a 15-passenger van to provide visibility and support patrol for the entertainment venues and the platinum triangle areas. The Community Policing Division's budget totals $29.1 million and represents roughly 12% of the department's budget. The community policing division is responsible for addressing quality of life issues across the city's districts. This includes addressing vagrancy and homelessness, mental health concerns, vice-related offenses and drug abuse, as well as fostering youth engagement through school resource officers and youth services. The division also oversees the resort policing section, convention center safety, our tourist-oriented policing team, as well as managing our volunteer program, our peer support team, and our chaplains. The department recently participated in the annual point in time count for Anaheim's unhoused population due to the continued efforts of APD's HALO team and PERT teams and in collaboration with other city staff, there has been a reduction in the number of unsheltered individuals in our community. The Investigations Division, which is budgeted, totaling at $34.9 million and represents about 14% of the department's budget. The Investigations Division is responsible for keeping Anaheim safe by conducting thorough follow-up investigations to crimes, including but not limited to homicides, major assaults, robberies, gang investigations, crimes involving human trafficking, fraud, economic crimes, auto theft, burglaries, narcotics violations, and vandalism. This division also includes our forensic unit and the Orange County Family Justice Center, which, as you all know, is a multidisciplinary location that assists the victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. As a part of the previously mentioned department reorganization, the department reinstated a full-time narcotics unit within this investigations division. This is an important step in combating illegal narcotics use, sales, and trafficking in our city and region. The Office of the Chief of Police has proposed budget of 26.5 million and represents roughly 11% of the department's budget. The office leads the department's vision, strategy, and policy, as well as provides daily oversight and collaborates with city officials and community stakeholders to build public trust, pursue strategic and innovative ways to provide exceptional public safety services to the community. The department's reorganization also restored APD's overall structure back to two distinct bureaus, the Operations Bureau and the Support Services Bureau. This change serves to enhance command and control, operational efficiency, and restored a second deputy chief of police, strengthening our overall leadership and oversight of the organization. The operation bureau is overseen by one of those deputy chiefs, and also includes the patrol and special operations division, which are responsible for the day-to-day operations. The support services bureau oversees the community policing, investigations and administrations divisions, as well as focus on hiring highly qualified staff, provide ongoing training, as well as professional development, drives innovation, and supports employee wellness within the organization. The Patrol Division totals a budget of $79.1 million and represents roughly 32% of the department's overall budget. The Patrol Division is the department's largest division, responsible for 24-7 response to emergency and non-emergency calls for service. They ensure public safety by enforcing state and local laws, proactively impacting crime, and building trust within our community. The Patrol Division includes our jail operations, our field training officer program, as well as our police service representative teams, ensuring an effective and rapid police response throughout the community. One of the most notable changes to the department's reorganization is the prioritization of patrol staffing, helping ensure a strong and visible police presence throughout our community, preventing crime and improving response times to both emergency and non-emergency calls. To further strengthen field supervision, a lieutenant has been reassigned to patrol to serve as the fifth watch commander, ensuring full-time leadership and fiscal responsibility by reducing reliance on overtime to fill this critical role. With this change, our patrol teams now benefit from dedicated leadership, helping them to maintain high standards and accountability. Additionally, this proposed fiscal year 26-27 budget allocates funding to upgrade the department's west station on Beach Boulevard, preparing it for future full-time deployment of patrol personnel from that location, very similar to what we have in our east station model. This transition will enhance response times within the service area and provide increased visibility throughout West Anaheim. And finally, the Special Operations Division. which has a budget that totals 35.5 million and represents roughly 14% of the department's budget. The Special Operations Division oversees traffic safety, which includes our motorcycle officers, traffic control assistants, and accident investigators. The division also manages the entertainment and emergency management section, which oversees the special events and emergency management details. It is also responsible for the special enforcement section, which encompasses our real-time crime center, air support, our canines, and the high-visibility gang suppression detail, all of which contribute to proactive and efficient policing. Additionally, the division also oversees the department SWAT team, tactical negotiation unit, our mounted unit, as well as our mobile field force. The reorganization also reinstated a commercial traffic enforcement unit as well as a high visibility full-time gang suppression unit. Respectively, these units will serve to impact traffic safety throughout the city and increase police presence in some of our gang impacted neighborhoods. In addition, the department just initiated a pilot phase for a drone as a first responder program designed to bridge the gap between our air support unit and our existing drone program. This program not only serves to improve our public safety response and emergency preparedness, but also demonstrates the department's commitment to innovation. Mayor and council, that concludes my budget presentation and overview. Thank you for your time and your continued support of AAPD. I remain available for any questions you might have, but I'm now gonna turn it over to our fire chief, Chief Russell.

Good afternoon. Sorry about that. And Interim City Manager Garcia for this opportunity to present the proposed fiscal year 26-27 budget for Anaheim Fire and Rescue. The mission of Anaheim Fire and Rescue is to ensure the safety and welfare of the public we serve through the core services we provide. We suppress fires, respond to calls for medical assistance, work to reduce various risks in our community and pair our city staff and community for emergencies. The department has a recognized for its excellence by the insurance service office, the ISO who then earned a class one rating resulting in lower insurance rates for our Anaheim businesses. Anaheim Fire and Rescue proposes a budget which includes 373 full-time positions, 250 of those positions are sworn fire suppression personnel. The remaining 123 positions are considered professional staff, which include 54 ambulance operators, 17 community risk reduction officers, 35 dispatch and training positions, which are funded by our MetroNet and NorthNet JPAs. For fiscal year 26-27, Anaheim Fire and Rescue's total proposed budget is approximately 167 million or 66% of the total city budget. Our general fund budget is approximately 148 million or 25% of the city's general fund. The remaining difference of 19 million is comprised of our JPA divisions, MetroNet and NorthNet, and our CIP projects. And I Am Fire and Rescue is composed of five operating divisions and I'll discuss those momentarily. The proposed operating budget for our five divisions is approximately 148 million, an increase of 17% from last year. Most of the 17% increase is attributed to increased salary and burden costs, increased operating costs for our support services division to replace aging equipment and increased IGS charges. The proposed CIP budget is $7 million, a decrease of 62% from last year due to Fire Station 12 CIP project entering its final construction phase. NIM Fire and Rescue's proposed budget is broken down into four categories, labor, operating costs, debt service, and capital outlay. Approximately 75% of our budget is labor. 22% of the budget is for operating costs for supplies, equipment, and training. The remaining portion of the budget is for capital outlay purposes and debt services. Fire Administration Division is responsible for managing personnel, the budget, grants, and strategic planning, as well as managing activities within the community, including pop-up events, such as wildfire preparedness and other topics. The Fire Administration Division's proposed budget is 4.7 million, or 3% of the department's operating budget. A project highlight from the Fire Administration Division involves a visit to Washington, D.C. this past January. Anti-fire and Rescue provided testimony before the congressional hearing in support of H.R. 4038, the Wildfire Response and Preparedness Act. This vital legislation addresses the escalating forest health and wildfire crisis by establishing a standardized nationwide response timeline for wildland fires. The operations division is our core of our department and is responsible for firefighting, emergency medical services and maintaining readiness for all emergencies. Last year, operations responded to over 45,000 calls for service of which more than 84% were medical related. The operations division has a proposed budget of 123 million or 83% of the department's operating budget. The budget increase of $14.7 million or 13.5% is attributed to the addition of six ambulance operators to staff a new ambulance that will be located at Fire Station 4, the addition of a new fire captain in our training section, and the reclassification of an existing vacant position to a second fire captain to serve as the program manager for the new wildland hand crew program. This dedicated program will support citywide live fire risk reduction, including prevention, fuels management, and emergency response operations. The project highlight for the Operations Division is a newly launched Advanced Provider Response Unit, APRU, the first fire department-based program of its kind in Orange County. The APRU pairs a nurse practitioner and a paramedic fire captain, allowing the unit to provide field-based clinical assessment, harm reduction services, substance use disorder intervention, and behavioral health support, among our other services. The APRU helps address the underlying factors contributing to repeated emergency service utilization and supports the improved patient outcomes. The Operations Division is supported by two JPAs, Metronet and NorthNet. This fiscal year, Metronet continued to improve their operational readiness by leveraging technology. Metronet started a complete 911 system upgrade with AT&T, This project is 100% funded by Cal OES and will completely replace and modernize the hardware and dispatch software used to receive and route emergency calls. Implemented Comms Coach, an AI-powered cloud-based platform designed for 911 emergency communication centers to improve quality assurance, training, and real-time call guidance. North Net. This fiscal year, North Net completed capital expenditure as well as field and plant improvement projects, including the purchase of a new air track management prop to enhance fire suppression training by providing firefighters with realistic hands-on experience in controlling and managing live fire scenarios. Upgrades to classroom equipment have modernized the learning environment. The Support Services Division is responsible for maintaining all fire stations, fire equipment and vehicles, helping oversee our capital improvement projects and managing our fire technology projects. The Support Services Division has a proposed budget of 10.6 million or 7% of the department's operating budget. A budget increase of 1.6 million or 17% is attributed to increased labor costs due to labor contract increases, purchases of new vehicles and planned replacement of cardiac monitors. A highlight for support services division is the fire station four remodeling project. Construction started this past June and is scheduled for completion in July of 2026. Fire station four was remodeled to accommodate the size of modern fire apparatus. The community risk reduction division is comprised of life safety, planning, development, and hazardous materials section. The community risk reduction protects residents and visitors through education, enforcement, and engineering while providing inspection and mitigation services for new construction, wildfires, and special events. The community risk reduction division has a proposed budget of 8.3 million or 6% of the department's budget. The budget increase of $908,000 or 12% is attributed to increased labor costs due to labor contract increases and the purchases of new vehicles. Community risk project highlight is a project of the division includes a recent implementation of an electronic plan review service, which with workloads tripling over the last decade, this shift in digital workflows improves efficiency, transparency, and interdepartmental tracking. New customer features include QR codes for inspection requests and online payments. The emergency management preparedness The division is responsible for maintaining the Emergency Operations Center or the EOC, supporting city homeland security objectives and providing emergency training for our staff, residents, businesses, and volunteers. Coordinating the Community Response or CERT team and the RACES volunteers who provide radio support during emergencies. The Emergency Management and Preparedness Division has a proposed budget of approximately 1.1 million or 1% of the department's operating budget. Highlight for the Emergency Management Division is a continual support for community preparedness. This fiscal year, the division graduated 60 residents who have completed community emergency response team or CERT training, partnered with Project SAIT to expand team preparedness, providing hands-on first aid, CPR, and stop the bleed training, as well as the first team preparedness workshop attended by 25 young adults. Finally, looking into the future following land procurement this year, our strategic planning for the new fire station 13 continues to move forward. To address significant manufacturing lead times, we proactively secured a spot in the production queue for a new fire station 13 engine requiring no funding until delivery. Once opened this part of the Anaheim strategic plan, Fire Station 13 will significantly reduce emergency response times. This concludes Anaheim Fire and Rescue's proposed fiscal budget 26-27 budget presentation, and we'll take questions. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm gonna have community services go, and then we can do questions at the end. Thank you.

Thank you. Good afternoon, Mayor and members of the City Council. On behalf of the Community Services Department, it is my pleasure to present the Community Services budget for fiscal year 26-27. Community Services is made up of the five divisions consisting of golf, libraries, parks, and capital, recreation, and human and neighborhood services. Community Services is proposing a budget with 103 full-time employees and 209 full-time equivalent part-time employees. There is no increase to full-time staff and a small increase to part-time. The department's proposed budget is 103.6 million. The various funding sources that support the budget are made up of the general fund, capital funds, and enterprise funds. The department's budget makes up 3.9% of the total city budget and 10.1% of the city's general fund budget. The proposed department budget is $103.6 million with an operating budget of $78.8 million. The general fund allocation for the operating budget is $58.6 million with the remainder and other non-capital operating funds. The capital improvement budget is $24.8 million and supports all capital projects planned for the upcoming year. Included in the summary above is new funding for labor increases, additional park ranger patrols focused on park restrooms, additional funding for increased costs in park landscape maintenance, and gap funding for two library maintenance projects. The proposed budget of 103.6 million is comprised of 45% personnel costs, 55% other operating expenses, and less than 1% for capital outlay and debt service. The Human and Neighborhood Services Division operates with a budget of 9.6 million. The variance and other operating is due to grant funding for the Senior Mobility Transportation and Mobile Family Resource Center programs, which will be carried over in the next fiscal year. Human and Neighborhood Services supports the stability and wellbeing of Anaheim's youth, families, older adults, and neighborhoods. Our older adults program fosters social engagement to reduce isolation in partnership with over 100 local organizations, offering health and wellness programs tailored to older adults. To support these efforts, the senior mobility transportation program provided over 21,000 bus rides. This year, we filled a gap in service by expanding our hot meal program for older adults to include both the downtown and East Anaheim community centers. In partnership with Katarina's Club, we are now serving an additional 800 hot meals each week. Human Services continues to facilitate the Contigo Emergency Assistance Program for those affected by immigration enforcement, providing economic relief to 338 Anaheim residents to date. The library division budget is 20.5 million and consists of seven branch libraries, Heritage Services, Founders Park, Mobile Library Services, and Books on the Go. This year, libraries received over 2,300 responses to their community survey to help shape programming and to better understand the needs, interests, and priorities for the future. Libraries continued their accessibility initiative by launching a braille collection, providing magnifiers for computer screens at each branch, and creating sensory support kits to help support self-regulation. The Link Labs at Haskett Library officially opened last October, providing a space of creativity and collaboration for local makers and future entrepreneurs. Since its opening, nearly 800 people have utilized the space. Over 144,000 people have enjoyed special events and programs at the libraries, such as a third annual Native Art Festival, Korean Culture Day, and Spinal Dread, a horror, literature, and culture festival. The golf operations budget of 16.1 million is a fully supported enterprise fund. Anaheim has two beautiful golf courses with Dad Miller on the west side and Anaheim Hills in the east that serve as community assets. Golf programs include daily golf, tournaments, junior golf, lessons, restaurant and banquet services. This year, over 173,000 rounds of golf have been played, an increase of 5% over the previous year. There are currently just over 2,300 player club members between the two courses, an increase of over 16% from last year. Highlights this year include the addition of top tracer driving range technology at Anaheim Hills, while a redesign of the 15th hole at Dad Miller was completed, turning it into a lakeside par 3. The park's budget is 16.8 million and is committed to providing clean, safe parks, trails, and recreational facilities. They maintain 68 parks spanning over 475 acres, plus an additional 325 acres of natural parks and trails. Our 64 playgrounds, including our newest at Maxwell Park, promote physical activity, social development, and healthy lifestyles for children and families of all abilities. Our parks are valuable amenities and enhance the quality of life for our community. This year, over 20 park improvement projects were completed, including installation of restroom stall doors at seven parks. Playground surfacing was replaced at Circle and Sage parks. Athletic field renovations, landscaping improvements, and playground upgrades were also completed in various parks throughout the city. Sport court renovations were also completed at Olive Hills tennis courts, Twyler Reed pickleball courts, and the basketball courts at Chaparral and Sage parks. Recreation Services operates with an annual budget of $14.5 million, supporting a wide range of programs and activities. These services are accessible to residents of all ages and are delivered in parks, community centers, and neighborhoods citywide. Increases in this budget include the addition of park ranger patrols focused on park restrooms to ensure additional safety in our parks. The newly formed Interdepartmental Public Art Committee expanded the city's creative resources, approving murals on private property as part of the public art plan, and added qualified muralists to the artist's register. Oak Canyon Nature Center will celebrate 50 years this summer with special activities and commemorative giveaways planned. Youth Programs continues to operate after school programming in the community, inviting department partners like police to our Fun on Wheels neighborhood sites. We continue to invest in our parks by adding new facilities and improving existing amenities. This year, the beautiful mural at Center Greens was completed and is viewable from all areas of the park. A new playground was built in one day at Maxwell Park with volunteers completing our 18th Kaboom project. Another exciting addition was the Rio Vista Park restroom building replacement and installation of a shade structure and picnic tables that will be utilized by the Stars After School program and residents enjoying picnics in the park. Lastly, two permanent pickleball courts were added to the Olive Hills Tennis Courts and Dog Park in an area that was underutilized. Key projects for this upcoming year include the construction of a new skate park at Boysen Park, marking the first phase of a broader park renovation. Construction is scheduled to begin late summer and is funded by a state grant and developer fees. Also on the horizon is River Park, which will become Anaheim's 69th park with construction scheduled to start in the fall with an anticipated opening in mid-2027. I'm also happy to report this project is fully funded with grant funding from various sources. The city's third splash pad is coming to Brookhurst Park with construction underway. Barring no delays, we anticipate being able to open in late summer, operating during the hottest months of the year. This upcoming year, additional playground replacements are scheduled for Chaparral, Walnut Grove, Eucalyptus, and Peralta Parks. Libraries is receiving funding to complete two capital projects, a new roof at Haskett Library and an HVAC system replacement at Sunkist Library. These projects receive partial grant funding and now with additional city funds will be completed this fiscal year. Finally, as part of the OC vibe improvements, Meadow Park will transform the approximate five acre parking lot outside of Arctic into Anaheim's 70th public park. Meadow Park will include walking paths, playgrounds, terrace picnic areas, art and other park amenities. Design documents are under development and construction is anticipated to start this next year with completion scheduled prior to the 2028 Olympics. Anaheim Community Services is committed to serving the people of Anaheim through parks, golf, libraries, cultural events, recreation programs, and human and neighborhood services. We work every day to enrich lives, build connections, and create opportunities. Thank you for your support in making Anaheim a stronger, more vibrant community. With that, we are happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you so much to the three of you for, for that detailed report. I wanted to start with Chief Sid. I had a question. So you mentioned that D1 was gonna have an expansion, or looking to have an expansion of officers in the west side, similar to the East Anaheim substation. How many officers will be permanently working or stationed, if that's the correct term, at that West Anaheim location?

Yes, Mayor, pardon me, thank you for the question. And I just wanna highlight what you highlighted at the end there, that it's really where they're stationed, geographically located. It's not an additional group of officers to our department, it's just taking our existing staff and placing them across the city in a more efficient and effective manner. But there should be somewhere between 40 to 50 officers a patrol officer that will be assigned out of West Station. They will respond to work at the start of their day there, dress out there, attend briefing there, and then deploy into their respective patrol districts from that location. Again, very similar to what we do at Main Station now and that we've been doing at East Station over the last several years.

Thank you. And then you mentioned the beginning of your program. And I know you and I have had several conversations about the staffing plan that was done by the previous chief in the department. And you and I have talked about kind of a plan to 500. So when you look at kind of the 436 officers that we have right now, do you have just general timeline about kind of how many officers we could add per year and how long you think it'll take to get to the number from the staffing report?

Yes, Mayor, so just to be accurate, the number today, sworn number is 431. And I think that as an organization, a very reasonable number is to take on about 25 sworn positions a year. I come to that number from a standpoint in looking at historically how the department has done with recruiting and hiring new staff. We average about 35 new sworn staff members a year, keeping in mind that we always have to account for attrition. People are going to retire, step away from the organization. So for my end of it, the plan would be to add between 20 to 25 officers every year as we grow out. I think that's a number that we can very reasonably attain year in, year out, and fill.

Thank you. Those are kind of just the initial questions I had for you. And Chief Russell, on Station 13, thank you for also Chief Sid for that detailed report. And thank you, Chief Russell. When you mentioned about Station 13 is going to be an upcoming capital improvement, is there a plan or a number associated with that 13th station?

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Are you talking for the land or the building of the station?

I know we're acquiring the land for Station 13 this year, but when we look at putting something on that land, what the cost would be in potential cost, it would be in building and or do you anticipate additional staffing for that station as well?

Yes, ma'am. So rough costs is once we have the land and we start the process pending on city priorities and LPMR, all the things that get factored in, it would probably be rough numbers of about 20 million to build a fire station, buying the fire apparatus, and then it would be the staffing of 12 firefighters for per shift to staff the station.

So the 20 million is just the building, that's not all inclusive of?

No, that would be for the fire station and then there would be staffing on top of that and we would continue to look for avenues like we did when we did fire engine 10 and 12, the safer grant and other federal grants to try and offset that cost, but that would not include the ongoing personnel. The 20 million, that would be for the fire station.

Thank you. Council Member Kurtz?

Thank you. Excuse me, police chief. Page 15 of your report, you talked about a priority one response time of six minutes, 37 seconds. And I'm seeing on your budget request, although you did mention just a minute ago, this report doesn't have any increase of officers. How do we, how quickly do you think we lower that response time? Because for priority one, I think it's a bit high. Is there a plan? Are there discussions taking place now to help that?

I appreciate the question, it's a great question. Yes is the answer. I think there's a short-term plan, one that's already in effect. Last year in 2025, the department averaged just over six and a half minutes for a priority one emergency response time, which I agree is slower than I'd like it to be. One of the things that I already did and we already did as an organization this year with a given 431 we have was I reallocated staff. I talk about that reorganization. One of the things was prioritizing patrol. So we have already, within the existing staff, pushed out more staff into patrol. Year to date, our response time now is about 45, 46 seconds better than it was prior to that. So I highlight that to show that as we get cops out on the street, you will see a fairly immediate improvement to that response time. It is my long-term goal that there is no reason that the city of Anaheim shouldn't have a sub-five minute emergency response time. That's a very reasonable goal to set, and I think that as we get to a place that we grow the organization, and we are able to add staff and increase that number of police officers on the field, as well as the work that we're doing to geographically put them out on the west side and main station and east, that I think that a continued decrease of response time, particularly for priority one and two, is a very real and attainable goal.

Thank you, Chief. Chief Russell, on yours. There is an increase in personnel, and you alluded, mentioned a ground crew. Can you tell me what that is?

Yes, thank you for the question. One of the things we've been looking at for a couple years is, again, bringing into being able to provide year-round weed abatement here in the city, as well as have a crew that can help suppress wildfire when we get them in the city or around. So that would be the start of that with the changing one position from an open position to a captain that can start setting that program up Later adding those those fire suppression crew members that just purely do we debate. They're not sworn firefighters They're just doing we debate men and and and that type of stuff to to allow us to keep up on that demand I Look forward to that discussion because that would appear to me a place where young folks from anaheim can get absolutely start into the fire department just like our ambulance program and our cadets we always look to recruit from within the city and try and have a market to get them to the firefighter position or whatever other career goals they have within our community absolutely thank you thank you council member bayless and then council member moss

Thank you. I guess we'll take the police chief first. And it's already been brought up by the mayor, but in my view, I think you buried the lead, which was you're going to be able to dispatch the cars finally out of the west station, is that correct?

There's a remodel that we're gonna have to undertake at that station to get it ready, but yes, sir, that is the plan and that is what will be happening hopefully in the near future.

So first I'll just say I'm really glad to see this funding included in the budget. I want to thank staff, thank the public safety team for recognizing the importance there of West Anaheim. As you know, public safety has always been one of my top priorities, especially for the families, the neighbors, the businesses in West Anaheim, and I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am to see that. Preparing that west station for future full-time deployment is a huge step forward. We talked about response time. I have to imagine that that will also add to your decreased, it'll decrease all levels of response time out there. I did a basic math where probably, and maybe you can back me up on this, but with 30 to 40 minutes per officer per day, that averages out, I think, to about 240 more minutes of patrol time on the west side. I don't know any more way to say it than thank you. I think that's the best step forward. Thank you very much. With that though, I did have two other questions for you, maybe a little tougher. I'm curious, I was looking at your administration slide and in debt services, I noticed that you were able to decrease the services that were there while increasing the labor. I was just wondering if you had an example of what that was.

So I'll start by saying as I kind of try to review and get a good handle on it, a lot of the variances that you see division to division as it relates to our budget, the police department, is driven by the reorganization of the department. So things have gotten shifted around the organization. So that accounts for the greatest kind of impact that you see on some of those variances number to number. We have no real increase to labor. staff in this proposed budget or over the last year I know on the administration side there was also some impacts from some grant funding but again that the greatest variance you're seeing there is really just reallocating existing staff and moving them throughout the different six divisions we have okay thank you and then you know what I'll just say thank you chief great excuse me thank you fire chief Russell great great

a great PowerPoint presentation there, and then I'll move on. Thank you to the community services department. I am always amazed every time I see your budget. If you could take out the library and police and you see everything else, I don't know how you do it, but you definitely get the most bang out of your bucks. So thank you very much.

Thank you. There we go. Chief Sid, I have two questions for you. First, you had mentioned a second deputy chief. Can you explain how that benefits residents and why we're going in that direction?

Great question. So a lot here. Number one, it sets and helps reset the framework of the organization that was previously in place years ago. And as we conducted this reorganization moving forward, that oversight and leadership is incredibly important, not only for command and control, but professionalism, the accountability of the organization. It provides significant oversight. This is a true midsize pushing large city with a lot going on, a lot of workload associated with it. So having another executive level employee is incredibly important. It's also going to help me and the organization also set the framework for what I am hopeful that will come in the years to come. And what I think will more directly impact residents, which would be, you know, increased staff capacity. uh in the years to come and this really goes a long way to setting that resetting that framework to kind of prepare for that thank you and the second question is in regards to the length of time it takes for an officer to go through training and get out on the street or whatever their detail is great question um so at the anaheim police part it's worth highlighting because roughly 50 percent of our staff is what we call lateral employees, very similar to myself, already an established police officer at some other municipality or sheriff's department in the state, and they will ladder all over and join us. So for those individuals, it's relatively quickly. They get here some few weeks of onboarding, and they go right into our field training program. Depending on the experience level for that individual, it could be anywhere from 20 to 30 weeks, so relatively quickly. For a new recruit, new police officer, new man or woman joining us with no prior experience, We hire them, take them on, and then we send them to a police academy. That academy will last roughly six months, at which point they'll rejoin us, go into field training for another six months. So, you know, for a new employee off the street before they're kind of fully functioning, a solid year. For a lateral, hopefully as short as four, maybe no more than six months if they're able to. Navigate the program.

Thank you. Next question for you, Chief Russell. In regards to our nurse practitioner that we have out with ambulance drivers, how does that overlap with the Cal Optimist Street team, or is there much overlap?

Thank you. So we have five contract nurse practitioners, not one, and they each work one to two days a week. So there are some similarities, but they're really targeting different challenges. Our team goes out, meet with people, knowing that there's usually two or three times that they need to meet and develop a relationship, very similar to the other programs. And during that, one of the big things they can do is provide some medical care. to them without having to take them to a facility. With the intent, as the relationship builds, then they can assist them in getting in short-term and eventually long-term housing and care. So a little bit different. They do see some of the same patients, but there's a little bit different there.

Thank you. Can they administer medication?

They can. They can do some suturing, some antibiotics, some different meds. And again, a lot of times we find with certain clients that need medical care, they won't go get it. So again, providing them, getting them more stable, more open, and getting that headache off their plate allows that to kind of build that relationship to hopefully get them to better living conditions.

Thank you. I just want to comment that the budget really reflects the concerns that I have received and passed on to you in regards to bathrooms at our parks and increased patrol and traffic. So I just want to say thank you. That's it.

Thank you. Councilmember Ruba Calva and then Mayor Pro Tem Leon.

Thank you, Mayor Akin. Well, first of all, I want to say thank you guys for your work on the budget. I know developing a budget for a city of our size is never easy, but I'll start with Shawnee. I want to say thank you because I know a couple of years ago, we charged you with opening up libraries and expanding hours and you've done an amazing job. And I see our director of libraries here. So I just want to thank you for all of your efforts because we can see the difference that it's making in the community, especially now that summertime is coming. So thank you. A couple of questions regarding the increase of staff. So your full-time versus part-time is very lopsided. So what are some of the changes that you could potentially make to have more of your part-time staff full-time and deliver more services? Because I know the question earlier was asked about the amount of labor versus services, but it takes labor to deliver the services that we're providing because we're not necessarily giving people handouts. We're giving them services that make our quality of our city better. So can you share a little bit about how community services does that and what you could do if you were able to get more full-time bodies in your budget?

Great, thank you for the question, Council Member. You know, CME Services is very good at being strategic with our funding, and so we are able to stretch our dollars with more services with part-time employees. Now, saying that, you know, there are pros and cons to each scenario. If we had more full-time employees, then we would have more consistent and more stable staffing levels, whether they're operating a facility or providing a program. And so it is a give and take. Obviously, in many situations, we would prefer to have more full-time folks. But then on the other hand, there are other situations where part-time is preferred because you have more flexibility and you can, a lot of our work is evenings and weekends. And so we're able then to adjust and react quickly to changing environments. So I would say that there are pros and cons to each of those, but we definitely would always want to have full-time people. especially in key roles where we are serving the public directly.

Yeah, especially with things that we've enhanced in our city like Contigo and delivering services to our neighborhoods directly with your family mobile resource centers. And I want to thank Anaheim and Joe who are really, I mean, partners of ours who are and districts one, two, three, four, and five, who really have a lot of these services that are delivered to residents. So, I mean, I would like to see more full-time if you are able to, or would like to make that request. I think that would be something that would be beneficial to the residents of Anaheim. especially since you've taken on a lot of other things like the Cinco de Mayo Festival and other activities that bring quality of life enhancements to our communities. The parks, I have to say, our residents, at least in my district, I think I have 16 parks, everybody is very happy with the services that are being delivered by our park rangers. So thank you for that because we have seen a step up. Even at Pearson Park, you guys converted tennis courts, which was not popular for the tennis people, to pickleball. So they are happy about that. So thank you so much.

Thank you.

And then Chief Russell, thank you for your presentation. So I do have a question about the hand crews that you mentioned. So is that in the budget for, because we had a kind of controversial housing development that we approved maybe a couple of months ago. And one of the things we talked about was enhancing the quality of, or just the opportunities to mitigate any potential wildfire danger. And you mentioned a hand crew would be something that would be helpful. Is that in this budget?

So we're asking to fund the superintendent or the manager position. He or she is gonna have quite a bit of work to do to get it up and running and then go back and have discussions mid-year to see if we can start probably with 10 of the hand crew technicians to start. Ideally, full build out would be 20 full-time and 10 part-time, but it's gonna take us some time to get there with training and those types of things. So that's the plan now.

How much would that cost? So that's not in your budget, but what would it cost if we were to create a hand crew?

If we went full boat right off the top, I'm going to guess probably $2 to $2.5 million. A lot of one-time money up front. Equipment, vehicles is a big part of that. Like everything else, there are some reimbursement and some grant opportunities that will be the first thing that the new captain will be doing is researching those to see through Job Corps and other things what we can do to kind of offset that.

Which I think would be a compliment to the fire plan that I know District 6 has been working on. Can you share a little bit more about the reimbursements and how that's kind of like an enterprise and what kind of revenue fire brings in for our city?

So as far as for fire response, We all work under the Master Mutual Aid Program. And then a big piece of that is what we call the CFA agreement, which is basically our agreement with Cal OES that when we send fire apparatus, people or overhead to emergencies, not just wildland fire, but majority of the time is, then we get reimbursed a rate for the overtime for the individuals that are out and for the people that we have to backfill for at the stations. We then get an administrative rate on top of that that goes into the funds. So the idea is not really to make money on it, but to be neutral in what we pay out. But we do make a little bit when you factor in the admin rate. And the hand crew would fall under that too. They now in the state of California, they use local hand crews under that same agreement to send them out and get that same reimbursement.

How long do you think it would take for us to become cost neutral with that hand crew?

I would say starting and then some lag time to bring the first group of hand crew. I would say at least a year would be on the aggressive side because we need to get them qualified for firefighting as well as the weed abatement. So there are classes and qualifications that we will have to do. We started looking at some of those avenues, partnering with the community college that provides those classes, doing them here. We do, we're very fortunate. We do have a lot of Anaheim firefighters that came from hand crews. Myself, we have several firefighters that did time on hotshot crews. So they have the experience to help do that. I would say probably more realistic, it would be a year to year and a half And then vehicles is a big thing. And that's like challenges with all our vehicles. That's probably 18, probably closer to two years to get the crew buses that you would need to do that. So it's kind of a domino effect.

Right. And could they do other things that would, so for example, once you have a fire, then we possibly have landslide issues. Would they be able to do other things that would help with that preparation?

Yeah, absolutely. I envision this hand crew program much like some other departments. Most county departments have one, but there are Corona, Santa Barbara City, Chula Vista, Oceanside are doing the same thing. And really it's a labor force with, when I say unskilled, I don't mean they don't need a lot of technical skills, but I would envision if we had major jobs, Flooding that we need people to do sandbags for critical infrastructure if we did have earthquake and we need Individuals to help move debris piles those types of things I think they could be a labor force for anything that the city needs as long as we don't get in you know encroachment of you know, labor union issues, obviously, but if we were building a park and we needed people to come help, I think we would have the ability to do whatever the citizens and the community needed would be my vision.

Perfect. And then, Greg, I have a question for you. So when we have, like, I know somebody mentioned overtime. A lot of times we talk about overtime, but it doesn't really cost our city anything because we're getting reimbursed for a lot of the overtime that comes from fire, police, or other general services. Where does that money go? the reimbursements? And do we put that up against their budget? Because we always talk about how much they cost, but we never actually talk about how much revenue they generate.

Right, and so I think every situation is a little bit different in terms of not all overtime is created equal. As you've mentioned, sometimes it is reimbursed. Sometimes it's reimbursed at different levels, especially in the fire area. And so, but it all goes back into the general fund to cover expenses and costs within the department.

So I'd be interested in seeing how much is reimbursed back. I know I asked for this, I think maybe last year or the year before during budget season. So I'd like to see that number when we come back to approve the budget. I think it's helpful because it does, when we talk about safety, we always talk about how much it takes up our general fund, but we never really highlight how much is actually being reimbursed for some of the services that are delivered to partners that are paying a portion of it and maybe not their full fair share. which um oh and then chief one last question about fire station 13 so there's nothing in this budget for that but do you think there's an opportunity for us i i don't want it to get slowed down we just had a very successful negotiation with caltrans and we're able to acquire that land at a good price so thank you to you and your team and i know the mayor was proactive on that front what would it take for us to at least start the process to what could we start the baby steps 20 million is a lot of money all at once, but if we were able to do that every year, invest $2 million towards it, could we start to get there sooner than later? I'd hate to see this only start in five years.

Yeah, I think probably the first step, like I said, we did get into the queue with our fire manufacturer, just so you're aware, because we're looking at about a three-year delivery time to get Type 1 fire engines, and we're not obligated to pay for that until it gets delivered. So saying we want to be in the queue is a big... a big step with that i would say the the other thing that we could do um sooner than later is you know the the architecture and those types of of things that that take they do take money but not in the millions to have that process going very similar like we did fire station 12 even though we know that unfortunately we had some delays with fire station 12. thank you mayor for getting that going eventually but we still had that stuff done so once we did get the green light we were ready to start building so there are some things that that we could do like that you know all the surveys they need to do and those types of things that takes time anyway um so we could look at and talk to the city manager about some of those things that and and i don't know off the top of my head the exact cost but just kind of I think when we did Fire Station 12, it was $200,000 or $300,000 to get some of those administrative things that we need to do anyway.

Perfect. Great. Can we come back with a plan to include the hand crew in that? Because one of the things, the residents of District 3, it's an open space that is an eyesore in some cases. And now that we actually have a plan, it would be great to start to develop that plan and not wait. So if that's something that you can work with the fire chief on.

Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, the fire chief came to us with this hand crew plan and we're super excited to get it underway. And I think this budget does take those critical first steps and funding positions to make it happen. And as the chief mentioned, we fully anticipate in mid-year making a further investment to make it happen as soon as possible. So I feel really good about the hand crews and we're moving in the right direction. And if there's an opportunity to accelerate, we'll certainly accelerate. Look at that.

I mean, I think the residents of Anaheim Hills would probably feel better if we started the investment for the hand crew sooner than later. I get it on the administrative side having the starting with the people, but the $2 million initial investment, just something to talk about a little further for this one.

Yeah, no. I think even moving at lightning pace, I don't know if we can accelerate it. I mean, we have to build the program. We got to get the vehicles. We got to get the individuals and everything else. So I feel pretty good about our schedule for that. And then on Fire Station 13, I agree with you. I don't think we've been thinking about a five-year plan on that. Actually, we understand this is a priority. And so as you know, we've secured... the the property the chief is already in the works on the vehicles for that and then we need to have a frank conversation about where this lands in our strategic plan and and we will be having that conversation very shortly and this the city's going to need to make some big decisions on how we're going to pay for some of these bigger projects and I imagine that one will be on that list and and we will need to prepare a plan to figure out how to get that done sooner rather than later

Perfect, thank you. I think the residents of District 2 and 1 and 3 would be happy to hear updates on that.

Council Member, if I could just add one thing back to a question that City Manager was asked. number of years ago uh finance was instrumental with us on the the admin rate on reimbursement for our fires as we uh developed a plan to put some of that into an account for our small equipment which has been amazing for us to keep up on some and it's tate we've built it up over a number of years but like we're at the end of life with our cardiac monitors which is about a three million dollar investment that's coming out of that account turnouts for our new recruit firefighters is coming out of that account radios there's a lot of things that we would have to come back and ask for adjustments in our budget for some of those things that come up that It's hard to plan for all those things. And working with finance and the city manager's office and setting that up, it really allowed us to operate and save money for the city because we're getting that from incidents that is helping us do critical replacements on a lot of equipment. When we have four new fire engines that just got here, that fund is equipping all four of those new engines. So things like that is a very huge benefit for us.

Perfect. Thank you. And Chief Sid, thank you for your presentation also. I just have a couple of questions related to, and I just probably need explanations. Sorry, let me get my. So we have Office of the Chief of Police. So can you share a little bit about exact, I know you mentioned the different things that are there, but I'm impressed that you were able to cut expenses on that front. But can you share a little bit about what that department entails?

Yeah, so again, and I don't want to beat a dead horse, some of what you see there, variances, while I appreciate the shout out is truly just reorganization of existing staff, but I think some of the cuts you see, or not cuts, but reductions you see there, just grant funding, stuff that is not always secured year to year, we try to go out and get it, but we are at the mercy of what we might get from the state or whatever the case might be.

And then special operations, so there's a 25% increase there. Can you just share a little more detail about, I know you mentioned special events, gang suppression, which thank you very much, we do have an issue there, and then SWAT, traffic safety, but can you explain in a little more detail what that entails, and does that include anything that goes on at the Honda Center, any runs or anything that go on at Disney, Can you share a little bit about that?

Yeah, thank you for the question. So our Special Operations Division is going to be a lot of the staff and support that you directly see to patrol. So from air support up in the air to traffic safety, our motor officers, our commercial enforcement. And I'll stop there for a second in that traffic has a huge role when we talk about our venues, particularly at the Honda Center, at Angel Stadium. ESSENTIALLY EVERY EVENT, YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE STAFF OUT THERE SUPPORTING THAT, GETTING FOLKS IN AND OUT SAFELY. WE GREW OUR ALLOCATION WITHIN THE TRAFFIC SECTION, TOOK EXISTING STAFF AND JUST REALLOCATED, KEEPING IN MIND THAT TO SOME DEGREE I'M KIND OF ROBBING PETER TO PAY PAUL WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION, BUT I THOUGHT THAT WAS IMPORTANT INVESTMENT, HEARING FROM MANY OF YOU AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS AROUND THINGS THAT ARE RELATED TO TRAFFIC SAFETY. THE OTHER ONE THAT I WANT TO HIGHLIGHT, WHICH YOU BRIEFLY TOUCHED ON, WAS OUR GRANK SUPPRESSION UNIT. AND I THINK THAT'S IMPORTANT THAT WE HAVE A CONSISTENT touch in some of those neighborhoods, having a consistent visible presence in some of those gang-impacted neighborhoods, not only to do good proactive gang suppression enforcement, but to also build strong ties and partnerships with the folks in those communities that I think badly want us there, need us there. So I see some of the variances that you see there. Again, within that reallocation was driving up our allocation within the traffic section, and then the initiation, if you will, of that gang suppression unit.

Is special operations, does that include our Disney coverage as well?

It does not. That's going to be currently in our community policing section or division, if you will. That's where you find that. That's an operation that is, quite frankly, heavily reliant on overtime.

How many fully burdened police officers are reimbursed by or paid for by Disney?

So our contract with Disney states that they will fully reimburse full burden both for all staff that's a part of the core team, the team that's specifically assigned to that unit, as well as any overtime costs associated. Per the contract, we can have up to 12 core team members, as well as a lieutenant. We currently have 10 assigned there. But again, I have to highlight that that's an operation that is significantly reliant day to day on overtime to provide the level of service and the level of staffing that they're requiring down there.

Have you ever talked to Disney about adding more fully burdened bodies to the number that they cover? I mean, overtime is a quality of life issue. I'm sure police officers don't like to be mandated overtime.

That topic is one of my primary concerns since I've joined the organization, and it is baked into the staffing plan and the conversations I've had with the city manager. It's an ongoing conversation having with Disney leadership as well as the CM's office to try to address that for a myriad of reasons. Number one, the service level we provide down there to find some consistency, the impact it's having to our staff. with having to be mandated and having to work that great deal of overtime. And then just operationally, it's not a good model to be that reliant for core services in that section on overtime. So as a part of the staffing model that I mentioned, that is one of the, you know, if not the top priority, one of the top priorities to kind of right-size that and address the over-reliance on overtime.

Yeah, and Greg, I'd like to see what that number looks like as well in terms of reimbursement over the last year, year over year. And I'd like to see that against the budget that we have for overtime for police. Yeah, absolutely.

We'll provide you a memo with that and the other overtime you mentioned on the fire side as well.

And then I noticed that you have mounted unit. You have trucks that you're allocating for mounted. So what's the amount that you're paying for that? And then how did they transport these horses in the past?

So aging vehicles, in short, we have trailers that we have to be able to transport the horses both to their stable all the way out to our training facility and then out into the field. And this, what you see in the budget, is replacing some aging vehicles that were well over their shelf life.

So it's not new. And then I'm really curious about this van.

Two prong, as you know, on any given day here between the stadium and the venues, we have a significant amount of staff out there. Currently, the model is for our staff oftentimes to have to drive their personal vehicle out to the facility, park it, sometimes in a secure area, sometimes not, and then deploy from there. It is my goal to number one, get us to a point where our staff can go to one of our safe and secure police stations, prepare for their shift there, and then have us shuttle them out to their deployment, number one. Number two, it's also part of preparation for 2028, because we are going to need probably a couple hundred police officers at the Honda Center in and around that area every given day for those two weeks, and we're not gonna be able to park 200 police officers down there. They are gonna have to get shuttled out there. So it's also a part of gearing up for what's coming in 28 and being able to shuttle significant amount of staff out to different venues.

And then you mentioned 25 police officers a year. That's not in your budget, right? That was just like a wish number.

It is a part of a staffing plan that I've put forward to the CM's office. It is not a part of this current proposed budget. But as I mentioned, I think we're in conversation and planning. And it is my hope that I think we might see some movement on that. I think this fiscal year is the hope.

Yeah, so we're working with finance and with the chief's office to make it work, sharpen our pencils a little bit. We still have some questions and we're working out some final issues there, but I'm pretty confident as the chief said that this fiscal year, although it may not be in this book right now, that we will be adding some bodies.

Well, good, and I hope that when you're negotiating your contract with Disney and OC Vibe that you're definitely asking them to pay their fair share. Not that they're not, but I'm assuming that there's probably still some room for them to expand what they're spending as their operations start to grow and cover some of these expenses, because we're taking police officers off of our streets. that are servicing the residents to support the resort. So I think it's important that we're making sure that we're keeping our police officers here on patrol and responding to emergencies that are affecting our residents as well.

Understood.

Thank you.

Thank you. We have two more council people that have questions or comments. So I apologize to those in the audience who are running a little bit behind, but Mayor Pro Tem and then Council Member Meeks.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I only have 50 questions and so, no, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I will be brief. I appreciate staff's work and the presentation. I want to start, Chief Sid, just in terms of the staffing and the reorganization, I just want to make sure that as we're moving forward, the HALO team still continues to be consistent and we still have them out there and no necessarily any cuts in terms of staffing for them.

I appreciate the question. That is correct. There is no cuts to them. The team remains the same size that it was when I joined the organization. That said, in fairness, I think there's room and it's a unit that I'd like to see in time grow. I think that need and that consistent effort needs to remain. So certainly, if and when we get to a place where we're able to grow the organization, that's certainly one of those places that I think as a community and certainly as a council, I know it's a priority that I'd love to see grow. But again, as where we are today, the unit has not shrunk in staff from where it was when I joined the organization six months ago.

Okay, I appreciate that. I know that that continues to be another kind of tool in the toolbox as we continue addressing homelessness in our community. So I appreciate that. A question for you on the drone as a first responder program. I've seen a lot of speculation from residents or concern from residents about PDs out flying a drone proactively, just monitoring everything. Can you explain what is it? We're only responding with a drone if we get to a specific call, request for service. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Great question. So drones aren't new to the organization. They were previously being used more of an incident-specific situation. Officer goes to maybe a critical incident, we would get a drone out there and we would send it up in the air for that incident. Drone as a first responder sets up a drone over one of our city facilities and as dispatch takes in calls for service, it quickly identifies it and our pilots from inside our real-time crime center launch the drone, if you will, and get it overhead, sometimes within seconds. We talk about response times, the impact it's having there, the ability to sometimes clear calls without an officer ever even going on scene, being able to get real eyes on whatever this current situation is. It serves as an immense de-escalation tool and safety tool, not only for the community, but for us. But again, very similar to the other technologies that we're using. We are not using it to go out and spy and look into your backyards.

responding out to public spaces uh you know generated from calls for service from the community i appreciate that i think that last part is very important that we're responding to calls that come into us um with that with that program

That is largely what we're doing. That said, I think as time goes on, we are going to be looking for ways to proactively use it and do, if I could use the term, virtual policing with it. I think later this evening, you're going to hear a presentation as it relates to Fourth of July and fireworks and some of the proactive efforts that we are going to take using that technology to impact a challenge in our community. So regardless, knowing that with good oversight, accountability and policies that we're using it responsibly, always within the eyes of the law and being mindful, of course, of People's Fourth Amendment.

Thank you. And then in terms of the West Anaheim station, I'm supportive of dispatching officers out of there. I think it's a great idea. And as my colleague mentioned, it would greatly benefit response times over on the west side of town. The question that I had was, I know that the youth center and the substation isn't necessarily the largest. And so as you're looking to Remodel or revamp it to make it a be able to dispatch people out of there. Just want to make sure we Are we using the existing space that we have as part of the substation or are we expanding into other areas of the community center? I

Councilmember, again, great question. We are not growing the size of the center itself. The space allocated to the police department remains the same. We're gonna take the existing space and rework it to make it more patrol ready, which really means the growth of some locker rooms and other needed facilities to house folks there. And then also looking to expand our existing parking lot just to get some more secure parking. But the community center, and their respective space stays intact. We are not encroaching any of that. So taking the resources available to us, whether ideal or not, and trying to make the most of them to make them work for what we're trying to accomplish.

I appreciate it. And in terms of a timeline as to when we could expect that to be ready to go, is that a few months out, a year?

Yeah, you know, I don't want to speak out of line, and I would probably defer that more to our public works director, but I think that a reasonable timeline is, with any hopes, maybe in calendar year 2027.

Okay, thank you for that. I appreciate that, Chief. Shawnee, a question to you. One, I want to highlight the work that your staff has done, obviously, with the Anaheim Contigo Program. I know it's been a team effort. I know we have a lot of city staff that's out in the audience. I know that's a team effort, but obviously your staff is one of the first folks as part of that program responding to calls and answering questions. So I just wanted to highlight that and appreciate the work that goes into it. The two questions, I'm gonna limit it to two questions. The park rangers that I believe I heard our finance director mention that we're gonna increase the number of park rangers. Do we know how many we're gonna be adding?

So we will be adding park rangers specifically to really provide additional safety measures related to park restrooms. So we will almost be doubling the number of park rangers that will be out in the field. They will be specifically patrolling and keeping an eye on restrooms, safety issues, anybody camping inside or doing some other things. So it's really highlighting restrooms, but you are correct, it is going to add additional park rangers patrolling, probably adding four more rangers at any time.

Okay, I appreciate that. And then you don't have to answer now, but as a follow up, and I'd love to learn a little bit more information in terms of the training that our park rangers go through. And then a little bit as to the if they find an incident, or if there's something that needs to be addressed with police, kind of what that looks like in terms of the process. Is it that they call it in like everybody else? Do they have a direct line? But that can be a follow up. I'm sure there's more information than a quick answer on that one.

Sure, we can follow up with our normal procedures. We do have direct communication with the police department through our 800 megahertz radios, which is really important for safety of our personnel that are out there. But I can provide you some more details with that at a later time.

I appreciate that. And then the last, very last question also for Shawnee. I just wanted to, I know that we're probably gonna have the conversation as it relates to Dad Miller and the agreement with the county. Just wanted to reiterate my support of doing everything we can to make sure that the fees for Anaheim residents that are using that facility, that we keep those low as much as possible. And obviously as we work through this agreement with the county. I'm sure more conversations to come. But I appreciate the work, and I'll take the opportunity to the staff that is here. I know this is part one of two of workshop, but just know that any opportunity I get to express my gratitude to all of you and the work that you do, I'll take it. So thank you all. I appreciate it.

Thank you. Council Member Meeks?

Yes, and I'll try to be quick also. We have talked about having the homeless hotline or all the homeless calls go through dispatch, and I believe that's a work in progress. Does this budget allocate the staffing? Does it have the staffing to make that happen?

Council Member, it does not. I know that some conversations that have occurred well before I joined the organization that have continued, but there is no staffing or anything allocated to forward that effort specifically.

Mr. City Manager, we'll have a talk about that later. I think that is our goal, to have a single single number that we can call that is available 24 hours a day. I mean, I called the other day and they said, well, thank you, but we close in 20 minutes, so we might not get out there.

Yeah, let me work with the departments and figure out a plan and a way to get that done.

Okay, thank you. You know, and I don't want to, because I misspoke, just got educated. Last year we did get some, last year's budget, got some FTEs related to that. So you have my commitment, I'll circle back on it, and whether it's through a memo or whatnot, to kind of see where we are on that and what gap needs to get filled.

Yeah, I know you're like in the process of hiring additional dispatch and you were short and so that hasn't happened yet, but I would like to see that transition happen.

And again, forgive me, not in this year's budget, but last year's, yes.

All right, thank you. And then Chief Russell, I mean, you know I totally support the hand crew. I think that it's important, and yes, there's a cost to it, but it's cheaper than a wildfire. Cheaper than a wildfire response, and I think that there's ways we can figure out how to fund that. Because the vehicles take 18 months to arrive, is it possible to order those vehicles now?

Yes ma'am, thank you for the question. We were asked for prices and we did turn those into budgeting so they can start planning for that and we are looking proactively. There are some programs where we could lease some pickups like from Enterprise to get us up and running as other hand crews do when we bring them on until we get the vehicles. So sometimes we get lucky and departmental or a vehicle, then they'll decide for some reasons that they don't want it and they'll call and say, hey, we know you ordered a hand crew bus and we happen to have one. Do you want it? And so we move on those things like we do with ambulances when we can. So we try and narrow that gap as much as we can.

Yeah. I mean, I'd hate to get the program all set up with our staff that we are funding and then go, okay, well, now that person, you know, just sits around and waits for vehicles to arrive.

We will find ways to. I can take three people in my pickup. We'll get them out there.

OK, great. Thank you. And Johnny, I have noticed an improvement in our golf courses and our parks and the quality and the feeling of safety in there. And I mean, the safety in our parks has been a team effort across the board with all of our departments. But it's noticeable to not only me, but our residents. And thank you. Those are an important amenity to our community.

And that is all I have. Thank you. So this concludes our workshop. The next item on our agenda is an invocation that's going to be offered this evening by Dr. Joseph Gishuhi from Morning Star Victory Church. Following that, Council Member Bayless is going to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. So Dr. Gishuhi, if you're ready.

Thank you.

I'll give you a second.

I'd like us to pray then. Our precious Lord, we want to thank you.

Doctor, why don't we wait just so we have no interruption. Staff, if you're leaving, if you wouldn't mind just trying to keep it to a minimum so we can start the meeting. There you go. Please start, Doctor.

Thank you. We want to bless you and to magnify your wonderful name, loving Jesus. Thank you for the opportunity to serve, that you have given to all these officers and people, the mayor and everybody, to serve your people. And we thank you for this opportunity to deliberate on things that affect the city. And we pray that you grant your wisdom in this meeting that whatever will be spoken here will be useful and valuable to the people, to the residents of this city. Thank you for you give the strength. Thank you for the gift of life. Oh, we just bless you for life. the strength you give to us and to the people. So bless this meeting, for we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Please stand if you're able. Put your right hand over your heart. Repeat after me. I pledge allegiance.

Thank you.

There we go. Thank you, everyone. I'd like to start with our two formal presentations this evening. So this is an exciting time, obviously, in our region due to World Cup starting and having a lot of the teams practicing in Orange County. But we are also equally as proud to have one of Anaheim's own rising stars, Nathan Enriquez, a District 5 resident, be one of our top achievers on the field and off. Nathan was named the Trinity League defensive MVP and played a key role in an incredible season for Mater Dei High School. He's on their varsity soccer team, and the team's accomplishments include Trinity League champions, CIF Southern Section Open Division Champions, Division I CIF State Southern Regional Champions, Division I CIF California State Champions, and National Champions. Their soccer team ranked number one team in the country. So these accomplishments reflect not only exceptional athletic talent, but also dedication, teamwork, and perseverance. So Nathan, we are incredibly happy and proud of you and what you have achieved and look forward to seeing where this journey takes you. And hopefully one day it will be the World Cup stage. So congratulations to Nathan, the entire modern day varsity soccer team, the coaching staff, all the parents and families whose support made this incredible season possible. So if you could please join us.

Yes, I am. Just to start off, I want to say thank you to Mayor Aitken and the Anaheim City Council for this recognition. I am truly grateful and honored. First of all, I want to thank God for all of his blessings and his guidance. I'd also like to thank my family, especially my parents who have really supported me and helped me throughout this entire season and everything else. And I want to thank you to all my coaches for believing in me and helping me grow. None of this would have been possible without them. Thank you.

Great.

So we can have everybody look right here.

Ready? One, two, three. One more time. One, two, three. Congratulations.

Thank you.

All right, so tonight we also have the honor of recognizing South Junior High for earning the 2026 Civic Learning Award of Excellence, the state of California's highest recognition for outstanding civic education. So South Junior High was selected from over 112 schools that submitted applications demonstrating an exceptional commitment to preparing students to become informed, engaged, and responsible leaders. At a time when civic participation and community involvement are more important than ever, this award recognizes schools that successfully combine civic learning into their school values. Students can prepare two-minute soapbox speeches that have to call to action on their important social issues. And they can speak on issues they're passionate about in a public platform during soapbox night. Additionally, students receive meaningful classroom instruction, student-led projects, service opportunities, and programs that encourage students to actively engage with their communities and with their local government. This achievement reflects the dedication of South Junior High's amazing administrators, teachers, staff, students, and families who create an environment where civic leadership is valued and can thrive. So thank you to the entire South Junior High team and community for empowering our next generation. Can you please join us for a photo and to share a few words?

Good evening, everyone, thank you for having us here. I really wanna thank everyone present and Councilmember Moss and everybody behind us that's been supporting our school with not only this recognition but everything else that we could elaborate on at a later time. Don't wanna take up too much time. I really wanna thank the team that's behind me. They represent a lot of people on our campus that make civic learning and the award possible. I am gonna allow my colleagues to say a few words so they can speak to the actual award and what it takes to earn the award for us. So thank you for having us here tonight. And I'm gonna have Mr. Collar and Mr. Poggio introduce themselves.

I just want to reiterate the hard work that not just the staff and admin, but the students that are doing in the classroom. It really comes from student voice and being able to hear their voices is really what is empowering to our future.

Well, as a teacher in the classroom, I think the best thing we can do is provide a sound civic education for our students, for our community. And that's what we do. That's what we aim to do. And across our school, across our district, we're proud of it. Partnering with the city, local city, state level. It's fun. So get involved. I mean, it doesn't have to be unique to South. All you guys out there in the audience, we're welcome. Community schools, where it's at. So proud of this work. Thank you.

All right.

Is this OK? Yeah. Perfect. We'll look right here. All right.

Ready? One, two, three. One more time. One, two, three.

Perfect. Thank you.

So next on our agenda are recognitions to be presented at a later date. Clerk, can you please announce them?

Thank you, Mayor and City Council. We have three this evening, recognizing June 5th, 2026 as National Gun Violence Awareness Day, recognizing the month of June 2026 as Pride Month, as well as Immigrant Heritage Month.

Thank you. Now we're going to address any additions or deletions for tonight's agenda. I believe we have some.

Yes, Mayor, we have two this evening. Item number 17 on the agenda was a resolution regarding the pro-housing designation program. Staff has requested to remove that item on tonight's agenda and will bring back for council consideration on June 23rd. Also, under Council Business, we did have an ordinance for Council consideration regarding staffing standards for staff service checkout stations. And the sponsored Council Member, Council Member Kurtz, has asked for this item to be removed. And she's also asked to speak and make some comments on this item at this time.

Thank you, City Clerk. I'm very proud to work on this ordinance. Very proud indeed. The Mayor and I have both worked on it. spent a lot of time we have talked to both sides grocers and Workers and it's obvious to us that at this point in time there still needs to be work done on the language of the of the ordinance so for now I would like to Pull it and we'll take a look at it at a later date Thank you Thank You councilmember

So we now have the public comment portion of our procedures. Can you please go over the public comment procedures and call forward our first several public speakers?

Thank you, Mayor. Speakers have one opportunity to address the City 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-agenda related items, but within the council's jurisdiction. A second public comment period will be opened by the mayor only if any non-agenda 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 comments is three minutes per speaker. Those wishing to address the City Council must complete a speaker card which is 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 state that Spanish interpreting services are provided at every City Council meeting, 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 and other languages, we ask that you please contact the City Clerk's Office at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled meeting. At this time, I would like to introduce our interpreter who will make the same announcement in Spanish.

Buenas tardes.

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 5.37 with the 90-minute public comment period set to conclude at 7.07 or until all agenda item speakers have been heard. We do ask that speakers line up at the podium once they see their name appear on the projection screen behind me. And mayor and city council members, for the agenda items, we have 22 speakers. And let me go ahead and call the first three speakers if they can step forward.

r joshua collins bulmaro vicente and vern nelson good afternoon mayor and councilman is our joshua collins founder of homeless advocates for christ on facebook First, I want to encourage everyone to get the life of Jesus Christ who died on the cross for us to save us from hell, to give us everlasting life. He's the only way to heaven. We've all sinned. We all need a savior. Jesus, of course, cared very much about the homeless. He himself became homeless. And I'm very concerned about some recent trends. I was reading how Anaheim has moved to some of the most strict anti-canning policies. And we have a lot more homeless people going to jail. I was reading in the Voice of OC a 40% increase in the amount of homeless people being jailed and also the overturning of the Martin Boise case, which makes it easier for cities to arrest homeless people who are basically existing in public spaces. I'm really hoping that this city will not move in that direction, that they will change and go a different direction. We still have a great need for more affordable housing, more shelter for those in need. A lot of the elderly are still out there. So we need less subsidies for corporations and more housing and shelter for those in need. It costs actually a lot less, as we've heard a million times, to house these people. The cost for policing and jailing and all that is much more than just housing people and taking care of the problem that way. And I'm also concerned, I was reading from your presentation, 27,000 items were taken from people, but then only 17,000 were... outgoing from the police. So what happened to other 10,000 items of property that were not accounted for there? Or people haven't received that. So where is all that going? That's very concerning. I was also just reading, none of the AHSC 4 billion, from what I understand, went to Anaheim that could help the homeless and create housing and all that kind of stuff. I guess Santa Ana took some of that money, but... Why isn't Anaheim involved in that? And why isn't housing more of a priority? Of course, I want to also encourage the staff to work on training the police to work better with people, maybe retraining. more maybe mental evaluations to make sure that police don't do anything like what happened with Alberto Arzolo as well. That's a devastating thing. And it's amazing to me that they've been able to come in here and speak and not, you know, it's amazing just their self-control. But that's just a devastating thing that any family shouldn't have to deal with. So what are we doing to change those types of situations and make things better? I hope that she'll do something. Thank you.

Our next speaker.

Hello, Mayor and Council. My name is Bulmalo Vicente. I'm the political and policy editor of Chispa. First, I just want to wish a happy Pride Month to all my LGBTQ family and community members out here. I'm here today in strong support of item 27, the ordinance establishing standards for self-service checkout stations. We recently supported a similar policy in the city of Santana, and we believe Anaheim should follow through with these important worker protections. I also want to recognize the leadership of UCW Local 324 for their advocacy and work on this issue. Their efforts have been critical in advancing policies that protect workers and improve accountability in our communities. Lastly, I want to stand in solidarity with the family of Albert Arzola, who continues to seek the release of the audio and video footage related to their son's death. This family has waited far too long for answers. They deserve transparency, accountability, and justice. Thank you.

Our next two speakers, Vern Nelson.

Aye. First, the public service announcement. Jesse Lopez has just passed the Republican runner-up in the 68th Assembly District, where a lot of us live, so she'll go on to face David Pena-Losa in November, and the fight for the soul of the Democratic Party will continue five more months. Anyway, as promised, I will address item number eight, the contract with more alleged builder to create the long awaited Ballyhoo Boys and Skate Park. I was just walking around that park and I wished I had a skateboard because it takes a lot of walking to get 20,000 signatures for rent control in Anaheim. I won't say it's a thankless job because people thank us a lot. I hear so many sad stories knocking on doors, old people and families on the verge of eviction, having to choose between paying rent, food, medicine, not able to keep up with the constant hikes of 8% or more. To remind everybody, the State's Tenant Protection Act allows rents to be raised each year by the cost of living plus 5%. We want to get rid of that extra 5% because really why should the landlord, which is most often an out-of-town corporation, increase its profits by 5% every year on the backs of the most vulnerable residents? We see the, can I hear an amen? Amen. We see the wreckage all the time. You have to deal with the homeless problem with losing school funding due to families having to leave town, the workforce forced to leave, et cetera. Our ordinance does away with that 5% of profiteering.

Now indulge me for a moment.

Use your imagination, close your eyes. You guys could actually pass this ordinance without us having to get 20,000 signatures and spend a million on an election. You could be heroes, heroes to Anaheim's people. You're laughing. Some of you are looking down. This does not comport with your idea of Anaheim. Don't laugh too hard. Santa Ana's council passed the same thing and they keep getting reelected. Well, let's lower the bar. Every day we run into tenants whose rents are raised way over what's legal, over 10%, sometimes twice a year because the state law is not even enforced. also rent evictions because the state law is not even enforced. And it's often ignored, especially by out of town corporate landlords. Finally, once or twice a year, you guys mentioned that maybe you'll do something about that here, at least enforce the state law like civilized cities do. Can we get a pinchy report on that? Oh, one more thing I just thought of while I was perambulating around Boysen Park. Justice for Albert Arzola. Justice for Albert Arzola. If anybody wants to sign for rent control, I got that here. Thank you.

My name is Donna Acevedo-Nelson. My 21-year-old son, Joel Acevedo, was killed by Anaheim police on July 22, 2012. I've been coming here ever since, speaking about different things, different killings. I took a break for a couple of years, Right now, I'm here about agenda item eight, the approval of the skate park. I'm glad our city is able to afford the park improvements. I'm hoping the 14-year-old boy that was physically abused by Officer Kyle Smith and Killer Cop Nathan Garcia will recover enough to use the future bowl, quarter pipe, mini half pipe, rails, and ledges at the improved Boysen Park. I'm also here to speak about how when someone is murdered by the Anaheim police, how the family is harassed by the police. When family members speak up, they become targets of the police. I have experienced light shining in my home windows, being followed by the helicopter, being stopped for bogus reasons, shining lights in my face while I'm driving, and countless other things where I was told they're not against police policy. Like I said, I stopped attending council meetings for a while. The last time I was here, I did speak about some of the police killings and a few days later, my son was arrested for resisting arrest. I talked to Sergeant Nguyen, he said, that's what the charge is, resisting arrest. So he was released the next day, ticketed, and told when to come back. Well, we got a letter in the mail a few days ago saying they're not gonna go on with the charges of resisting arrest. I don't know if it's... Like is it coincidence that all this happened after I started coming back here again? I don't know. Another thing I'm here to talk about is the social media. A lot of you here are really into your social medias and so is our Anaheim police and our chief who might as well be a Kardashian. On June 1st, there was a post about a naked man, and yes, maybe he committed some crimes, but mocking him on social media, posting pictures of him naked, even though it was blurry, just to get likes and inappropriate comments is wrong. You could tell he was in a mental crisis. I have worked... I used to be a nurse and I also went to school for EMT. That was the first thing is HIPAA, privacy, breach of privacy. And I don't know if this is okay with our city manager or our city attorney, but it sure seems like it's okay with our chief Kardashian because he is also posting these things and it's wrong. Not only is it against HIPAA, I believe if even if it's not, it's a disgusting and it's wrong and it needs to be stopped. And I hope somebody sues the city and the police department for doing things like that. It needs to stop.

Thank you.

So good afternoon, my name is Masa. I come from the Deer Clan, Obsidian Knife Clan, Heart of the Mountain Clan. And we stand on traditional lands of the Tongva State recognized tribe. Hopefully one day we'll be federally recognized so we can get some land back and have our own tribal police. I wanted to talk about item number eight, the skate park. I actually went to Cotella High School before, I got kicked out for walking out leading the Chicano walkouts during the flag salute. Symbolic, right? And so the skate park, I think it would be a great idea. We support the skate park. I just wish that it's in a public view, not in the back section because of the drugs and a lot of bad negative things that happen at parks. I've seen it at skate parks. Maybe not so much at this park because there's a lot of cameras. And I think we do need to add cameras to just watch the drug dealing and prostitution. And there will be young people that can be probably molested or, you know, chomos. And if you're watching, you better be careful because in prison they'll take care of you chomos. We don't like chomos of any color, any religion, any gender. You don't do that to kids of any color, any religion. And once you do that, I hope that You guys had like maybe some Native American history or some, actually a community center. I've been hearing that maybe a community center would be really good because we don't have a community center in that area. I remember going to their meetings. I actually have family in that district as well and they were mentioning having some type of circular. I know they play soccer and there's not much land and I know they took a tree down, a real huge tree. I remember walking from When we used to go to Cotella High School, we used to walk this one by Avocado California Street down Vermont, and we'd always hang out at the big tree. The tree's not there, but I'm hoping, assuming from the last plans, the meetings that we had, that they were gonna build the skate park in that area. Hopefully it gets there. Campos, this is your, I believe this is your district, and I know you've mentioned this before, and I hope finally this is gonna come through, And I just really applaud for all the desert plants that they're replacing them for grass. I've been watching, going through the OC vibe, exercising, running with my dog, my child, and it's really nice to see a lot of the landlords and agriculture, they're coming together and changing, decolonizing the grass, and putting more desert plants, because there's no water. I know we're going to need a lot of water in the future. Maybe the future wars are going to be because of water, sadly. But I'm very thankful for Senator James Ramos for having bills being passed, and hopefully not just for the Indians that got taken down, but Comanche Wars, Anaheim Hills got taken down. Those names are very disrespectful, and even the colonists. And I hope those Anaheim Alumni Association colonists, Anaheim Alumni Association that are watching this that respectfully read more about the history of the colonists, what they did to native peoples. And one way for you, our white brothers, to feel good and not guilty, change the grass. and vote to change that name soon. Thank you. Thank you.

Our next two speakers, if they can please step forward. Courtney Carranza. Annalisa Braun. Courtney. Carranza. We'll go to our next speaker, Annalisa Braun. We'll go to our next speaker, Miguel. Alcaron or Alarcon? Luis Andres Perez. Our next speaker, Jose Perez.

Good evening, Mayor, council members. My name is Jose Perez. I am the president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 324. First of all, I'd like to express my disappointment in knowing that you have pulled the self-checkout ordinance of the agenda. Again, we are UFCW Local 324. We represent 21,000 members in Orange and Los Angeles counties, with 16,000 of them working in the grocery, drug retail, and pharmacy industries. Over 1,700 of them reside in the city of Anaheim. And we are here today, or we were here today in support of this self-checkout ordinance. Anaheim is a major economic hub with millions of residents and visitors relying on grocery stores in the city every week. But behind the scenes, we are seeing a troubling trend where corporations are replacing workers with self-checkout machines to cut costs. One worker is often left to supervise multiple machines, 8, 10, even 12 machines at once, while also handling customer issues and monitoring theft. That creates a bad situation for everyone. Workers are stretched too thin, stores become easier targets for theft, and customers receive less help and slower service. This ordinance is not about being against technology. It's about setting responsible standards. Anaheim has the opportunity to join other cities like Santa Ana, Costa Mesa, and Long Beach by adopting clear rules that ensure proper staffing and improve store safety while maintaining quality customer service for residents and visitors alike. And just to mention, Santa Ana just recently passed this ordinance, one to three ratio, unanimously. A city like Anaheim should not lower standards. It should set them. Three self-checkout machines are the maximum amount one worker can reasonably monitor to help customers and remain safe. And that's not just me saying that. Hundreds of people signed a petition agreeing with that. On behalf of UFCW members and working families in Anaheim, we urge you when it comes in front of you to please support this ordinance, but it has to be a one to three ratio to make it a benefit for working people. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Our next speaker, our next three speakers, Linda Molina, Kim Morgan de la Paz, and Gladys Gonzalez.

Good evening.

My name is Linda Molina. I live in Long Beach. I worked for Rouse for 31 years. I'm the first one that passed the audience in Long Beach. I'm so happy. I appreciate it. I don't have to be seven Lindas in one body. We only have three check stands. I'm happy. I don't have to deal with money orders, refunds, book stamps. I don't have to deal with walking, trying to get an override and all that. I'm happy that I don't have to deal with a lot of theft, because when you're just dealing with three check stands, it's so much easier. It's not stressful. I don't have to be babysitting both check stands back and forth. I'm so happy. I'm so appreciative to be here to explain that I don't have to stress out, you know, go home and feeling like this. I'm happy that... the customers that are senior citizens, they want more regular check stands. I feel sorry for them because some are crippled. Some have problems with their hands. They don't know the codes. They can't press the buttons. They always say, Linda, Linda, please have someone open more check stands. They're tired of these robots. They don't know about these robots. Because my mom used to tell me, You know, you've got to respect the elders. One day you're going to be old, and you're going to know how it feels to be old. I just pray and pray to God that you pass these orderings in the city of Anaheim. I'm so happy that my union brothers and sisters are here today to say their testimony because they need answers. And I'm so proud of them. I'm so happy they're having the testimony to speak out. I hope we get the respect. I hope you please, please pass the audience because Long Beach is a beautiful city. I'm so happy that they passed the audience and I hope this will be a good thing for us. I appreciate it. God bless you all. Next speaker, Kim Morgan.

Hello Mayor and Council Members. My name is Kim and I have worked for Ralph's for 48 years, with 23 years at my current store here in Anaheim. I am a cashier and almost every day I spend time supervising self-checkout. My store has six self-checkout machines and it can be very stressful trying to manage all of them at once, especially during busy rushes. Even though our job is supposed to be watching the machines, we're constantly being pulled away to help customers handle other tasks. When that happens, self-checkout is left unattended and customers become frustrated because they cannot get the assistance they need. The stress from trying to keep up with everything often falls onto workers, even though there is only so much one person can do. Having us watch three machines at once would make the job much more manageable, improve customer service, and help reduce theft by ensuring employees can properly monitor the area. I am asking the city council to pass this ordinance because workers should not have to take on this amount of stress, and customers deserve better service. Thank you for your time. Gladys Gonzalez.

Hello, mayor and council members. My name is Gladys. I am a pharmacy technician at CVS here in Anaheim. I work with the company for 28 years. At my store, we have a very big issue with theft because of the lack of people that are in the front. It is very common to have only one person up front and having to both check and watch the self-checkouts and also help stock the aisles at the same time. We have people run out of the store with the entire shelf of products gone. This is because of having one person that is juggling multiple tasks in front of the store only and sensitizes this kind of theft. This creates a huge safety concern for my coworkers, especially those who work up front, especially those who work at night. Having a dedicated person to watch over sales checkouts would make my coworkers feel safer and will make the experience much better for customers. This is why we're asking for this ordinance to be passed so that we can work in a safe environment and customers can get more attention. Thank you.

Our next speaker, Yvonne Schroeder.

Good evening, mayor and city council. My name is Yvonne Schroeder, and I work as an inventory control clerk at Vons in Anaheim Hills. And I've been with my company for 28 years now. Even though the store I work in does not have self-checkout at the time, I've heard enough about it from workers at other stores to know that it is far from the perfect human labor replacing machine that the grocery industry would like it to be. These machines need constant attention from employees in order for them to be usable to the public. Having one person to watch several checkout machines that are all in use while they're also being made to stock and help other customers at the customer service desk is simply not possible. And I also know how frustrating this is as a customer because I've been the customer that has had to track down an employee when self-checkout needs someone to assist me so that I can finish my transaction. Workers shouldn't have to juggle several tasks at the same time, and customers should not have to endlessly wait for customer service. But unfortunately, this will keep happening if we let the industry continue to prioritize profits over the well-being of the community that it resides in. Workers and customers are being made to pay the price so that a select few at the top can continue to make more and more. and it's about time that we stepped in and you did something about it. Having one person for every three machines will make the job more manageable for workers and will make it for a better shopping experience for our customers. So I ask that this council steps in and passes this ordinance, not just for us grocery workers, but for the benefit of the entire community. Thank you.

Our next speaker.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the Anaheim City Council. My name is Oscar Barayo, and as an Anaheim constituent, I am here in support of the self-checkout audience. Self-checkout should not come at an expense of safety. When stores rely heavily on self-checkout with too few employees, workers are left managing multiple machines, handling customers' issues and responding to theft or conflict at the same time. This creates unnecessary stress and safety risk for employees and customers alike. As a constituent, I also want to make sure we maintain good paying jobs, good paying local jobs that provide the customer service our community deserves. Having enough employees in stores not only improves safety, but also ensures customers get the help they need when they need. Tonight, you have an opportunity to send a message that Anaheim is a beautiful and welcoming city that cares about its workers, residents and visitors. This ordinance is not against technology, it simply ensures that technology is used responsibly and that people remain a priority. I respectfully urge you to support this ordinance and put safety and good jobs and quality customer service first. Thank you.

Next speaker, Virginia Russell.

Good afternoon, mayor and council members. My name is Virginia Russell. I work for Rouse. I've been working for the company 27 years in several locations. I currently working in your beautiful city of Anaheim. I'm the safety coach, the district cashier, coordinator, and I'm also the union store for my store. And I'm here to talk about the reality many of our employees face every day in the self-checkout area. Right now, attendants are often expected to supervise far too many registers at once. At the same time, they are helping customers fixing and scanning errors, verifying ID checks, and watching for potential theft. That is simply not a reasonable expectation for one person. When one employee is responsible for too many registers, problems happen quickly. Machines freeze, customers get frustrated, and unfortunately, that frustration is often directed at the attendant who is trying to help, and many times leads to a verbal abuse while they're doing their job. The solution is that complicated. We need reasonable staffing standards. A practical radio would be one attendant for every three cell checkout registers. This would allow employees to assist customers properly and keep the area running smoothly. Second, cell checkouts should have a clear item limit. This station were designed for quick transactions, large orders, slow everything down and increase frustration for everyone. Finally, employees working in this area need clear support and protection, especially when it comes to situation involving theft and aggressive customers. These changes are not unreasonable. They are improvements that make common sense and would make the workplace safer and more efficient for everyone. At the end of the day, we deserve to do our jobs in an environment where we feel supported, respected, and safe. Thank you very much.

Bethany? Mayor, council members, my name is Bethany Allberg, and I've been a resident of Anaheim for 17 years. I live in the colony, and I want to thank you for listening to all of our union workers who have brought up the issue of safety for our grocery workers and retail workers. The safety of all workers and residents of Anaheim is important to your constituents. Today, I make an appeal to safety. The residents of Anaheim are not safe as long as alleged murderers are allowed to patrol our streets with authority and firearms. We are not safe because men currently under investigation for murder drive through our streets with authority from the city of Anaheim and firearms. In December 2025, Officer Nathan Garcia allegedly shot and killed Albert Arzola in front of his family. Investigation of the shooting is ongoing. Yet today, Officer Nathan Garcia wears a badge, carries a gun, and drives a police car through the neighborhood Albert's family still lives in. It's almost like Officer Nathan Garcia is above the law. under an ongoing investigation for murder, given the same tools and access with which he allegedly committed the crime he's being investigated for. If any member of the Anaheim police force is allowed to be above the law, that means the only way to be safe in Anaheim is to be on the side of the police no matter what. Mayor and council members, are you on the side of police no matter what? Are you safe to exert your law-given authority over a police officer who is under investigation for murder? Who is running Anaheim right now? Why did it take five months for you to release the name of an officer under investigation for murder when the law says you are to do that as soon as you have the name available to you? What do you care about more than upholding the law? Is it your safety? Mayor, council members, blink twice if you are in danger. If you're not, then there's no excuse for your actions and lack of action. Release the full incident footage immediately. Ma'am, your time is up. Remove Nathan Garcia from the city's payroll immediately. Comply with the law immediately. Ma'am, I'm sorry, your time is up. Anaheim isn't safe for any of us unless you do. Thank you, ma'am.

Your three minutes is up. Thank you.

Our next speaker, Jorge Rodriguez, followed by Al Gaspino.

GOOD EVENING, MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS. MY NAME IS JORGE RODRIGUEZ AND I'M A BAKERY MANAGER AT ALBERTON'S IN THE CITY OF SANTANA. I WANT TO HIGHLIGHT HOW MANY WORKERS ARE HERE TODAY IN SUPPORT OF ITEM NUMBER 27 WITH SELF-CHECKOUT, THE ORDINANCE. CAN ALL THE UFCW MEMBERS AND WORKERS PLEASE STAND UP? If this wasn't an issue, they wouldn't be here, but they are. And last month, we passed a self-checkout ordinance in Santana, and we made sure there was one self-checkout attendant for every three self-checkout machines. And these companies didn't fall to the ground like they did in Long Beach and Costa Mesa. It's just, we're asking what's fair. At our store, we had one person watching all the machines, answering phones, unlocking baby formula, unlocking liquor, and more. It has been so bad that customers will leave self-checkout to find someone like me in the bakery, which I'm on the other side of the store, or my other coworkers in other departments. This creates an unsafe environment since the theft can more easily occur and customers can become hostile when they're left waiting for help. When we raise up these issues to these companies, they turn the blind eye. I can tell you many times that I've raised concerns with backed-up drains, fire exits that are constantly blocked, and it's just upsetting that they don't listen to these type of safety concerns. This creates an unsafe environment, and to have one person for every three self-checkout machines will take the load off one person, help reduce theft, and allow us to give better customer service. And to be honest, it's upsetting as well that I spend hours on end cake decorating, making cakes, donuts, pastries, and it can be gone in the blink of an eye like in a matter of seconds. It's just not cool. We hope Anaheim does the same with this ordinance so that we can protect workers and customers and our stores. And thank you.

Good evening, mayor and city council members. My name is Olga Espino. I work for Ralph's for about eight years. I am the floor manager at the Ralph's store in Anaheim. And I speak for my department, also for the store. My department will sell every single day because after I go home, I come back the next day, scan my department, and there's no movement of items that are gone missing in the whole store. Like this morning, we have inventory, and we got a new item, $40, and two of those bookets were missing, no movement, so they walk out of the door through the self-checkout because at nighttime or the evening, there's not enough people to watch the self-checkout, so they either cut off the $14 tag or $8 tag for a $40 or $50 tag. So I lose sales and my labor is waste. So we ask, I'm here to ask to help us pass this ordinance for self-checkout so we can have more people and more help in the self-checkouts. Thank you so much.

Our next three speakers, Andrew Wigner, Maddie Garcia, and Kendra Gray.

Hello, Mayor Akin and the members of the City Council. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I'm here to talk about the California Pro Housing designation, and I realize that it's been pushed off to another meeting. I need to start by saying that pro-housing is good. We're all pro-housing, but this particular designation is not a very good deal. I usually come before you to speak about evacuation safety, but tonight I'm asking you to see that the California pros housing designation is just not an East Anaheim issue. It affects every district in Anaheim. In my opinion, it should be called the anti-Anaheim designation because it trades away local control in exchange for the possibility of grant funding that has not been very much defined. There are two major problems with this designation. First, Anaheim would be agreeing to not take any actions that may, quote, inhibit or constrain housing production. That language, and unquote, that language is too broad. We do not know what the future housing proposal may come to the city, and Anaheim needs the ability to respond to real local impacts, including traffic, parking, infrastructure, and public safety. This program even rewards policies that allow housing projects with zero parking. It also does not appear to recognize local safety thresholds that Anaheim may need to adopt in the future, including evacuation safety standards. The second thing is the designation appears to tell Anaheim how it must handle policies related to the unhoused population. Anaheim needs the flexibility to address those issues in a way that fits the city, sometimes with compassion, sometimes with stronger enforcement, depending on the situation. That should be a local decision, not something dictated by the state. Beyond the policy concerns, the application claims Anaheim conducted a diligent public participation process, but the numbers do not support that. One addendum describes the environmental justice outreach program that only got 39 total participants across meetings, surveys, and emails. In a city of roughly 346,000 people, 39 people is not meaningful. Another addendum relies on the housing element outreach that took place during the COVID period and appears to show only 93 participants. In there, nine of the links in their proposal are dead web links that make it very difficult to verify anything more than that. Finally, the city's pro-housing designation web page does not clearly explain to an average resident what Anaheim is committing to. To understand it, residents have to dig through the application supporting documents themselves, which are very detailed and difficult to read. That's not diligent public participation. I'm out of time but I'm just going to say please remember when you're reviewing this that this is not a good deal for anybody in Anaheim regardless of the district you really need to look at this it's bad thank you our next speaker Maddie Garcia followed by Kendra Gray good evening mayor and council members my name is Maddie and I'm a cashier at Ralph's which is where I've worked at for seven months

I'm around self-checkout a lot, and I can tell you from my experience that self-checkout causes nothing but chaos and unhappy customers in our stores. We have one person watching five machines, and when it gets busy, it's sometimes impossible to attend to all the customers that need help. For example, just this past Mother's Day, I was supervising self-checkout, and we were having up to four machines going off at once, needing assistance. This leads to customers getting angry and often verbally abusive towards us. This is why it is so important that we have an employee for every three machines. While I love helping my customers, we're being put in a position where it is impossible to give customers the help that they need. So we are asking the council to pass this ordinance so that we can work in a safe workplace and customers can get the attention that they deserve. Thank you.

next speaker kendra gray followed by mary janet ramos and then mark richard daniels hello mayor and council members my name is kendra and i work as a at ralph's as a cashier almost every day i supervise self-checkout and it can be very difficult to give up with everything we're expected to do while also providing good customer service when only few people are using it it's manageable when it but when it's all five machines are busy it can be It can quickly become very overwhelming. When I'm helping one customer for an extended period or other customers are left waiting, and it becomes very frustrating. It puts employees in a difficult position. We want to help every customer, but one person can only do so much. The company tells us customer service is a priority, yet we're often expected to supervise too many customers at once. Having additional staffing at self-checkout by having one worker for every three machines would make our jobs more manageable and improve the experience for customers as well. I'm asking the city to pass this ordinance because self-checkout needs to be staffed properly for both workers and customers. Thank you.

Good afternoon, mayor and city council members. My name is Mary Janet Ramos and I am the senior political coordinator for UFCW International Union. I'm here to speak on agenda item 27 and I'm here to ask the council to amend the staffing ratio to one to three. USCW Local 324 represents over 21,000 hardworking members across Orange County and southern Los Angeles counties employed in grocery and drug retail stores, meat packing and food processing, and the emerging cannabis industry. Nationally, the UFCW represents 835 grocery store workers across North America. These hardworking families put food on the table for communities in Southern California and play an essential role in America's food supply chain. The widespread expansion of self-checkout stations in grocery and direct retail stores has been a growing trend nationally. About 96% of grocery stores in America offer self-checkout today. Self-checkout by volume has become the dominant form for transactions, accounting for about 55% of all total consumer transactions. Initially, self-checkout was sold as a convenience technology that would improve efficiency and increase customer satisfaction. I don't have to say more about this. You have heard the stories of members speaking about this. Self-checkout threatens worker safety, increases retail theft, causes... customer dissatisfaction, and threatens the livelihoods of grocery store workers. That is why state and city governments are taking action to regulate self-checkout across the entire country. Here in Southern California, the cities of Long Beach, Costa Mesa, and Santa Ana have enacted a one to three staffing ratio ordinances. And I am pleased to announce that by the end of this week, the state of Rhode Island is poised to become the first state in the country to enact a similar measure, all following the same staffing ratio of one to three. I ask the city council members to amend the current draft ordinance and to work jointly with UFCW Local 324 to include the same staffing ratio to protect worker safety, decrease retail theft, increase customer satisfaction to ensure grocery retail workers do not lose their jobs and the ability to provide for their families. Thank you for your time.

Mark, with your Daniels.

Here I am. In the interest of full disclosure, I am not a cashier. I don't work in a supermarket or any retail. But I am a customer. And I've seen much of the goings on over the years, many years of my life. And since they first enacted whoever that was, the self-checkout concept, That made it much easier. But then I would see the overflow of people coming in, especially when you have the holidays and all that. And then you see they're just, you can see the stress on the faces of people. And even if you sort of casually ask them a question, they kind of look... you know, they're just so tensed. And I realize that they're also looking out the corner of their eye at everything that's going on around them. And you got people coming at you, and then you got people running out with merchandise. And that's at any store. I'm up by Walmart grocery market up there by Beach and Lincoln. And just sometimes you see people just run out and they can't stop them. And then they're just, they're expected to do all these. I would end up shooting somebody. If I was a checker, it would not work. Yeah, it would not. It would not work out for me because I would not put up with the crap you see. So you have to look after the employees, the working people, the citizens of the city, and never mind the corporate interests. The corporate interests always get theirs, no matter what. The rest of us as a customer, I see the... you know, as my own, okay, I'd like to get through this line, and I'm not the most patient person in the world. But then I look at these, especially these younger people, they're just starting out in the workforce, and you can just see they're just overwhelmed by this psychotic world we live in, you know, that just kind of blows up all of a sudden. And so I think you should absolutely back these people. This union... bust their butt to do this kind of work. And what are you gonna do at the end of the day? You're gonna say, I voted for this and I did the right thing because I'm looking after the citizens of my community first. And that's what it's all about because at the end of the day, we're all in the same fix. So we have to look after each other. Thank you very much.

Mayor and City Council, that concludes agenda item speakers. We have 15 general comments, and I'll go ahead and call those next three speakers. The first speaker is Dr. Maria Zanar-Rowell, Cecil Jordan Corkin, and then Ruben Greg Soto.

Good evening, Madam Mayor Atkin, council members, Councilwoman Ms. Rubicava, and members of the community. I am Dr. Maria Cherner-Rao, and I am honored to stand before you today as the founding principal of Magnolia Science Academy, Orange County, Anaheim, located at 412 West Carl Karcher Way. I wanted to express my sincere gratitude to Councilwoman Rubicalva and the City of Anaheim for approving our CUP that allows our campus to expand enrollment to serve students from transitional kindergarten through eighth grade. This moment is especially meaningful to me because Anaheim is home. I am born and raised in this city. My very first job was with the city of Anaheim at the age of 16, teaching swimming lessons and lifeguarding. I attended Barton, Ball Junior High, and Loera High School, and they taught me the importance of service, leadership, and investing in young people. I now get to return to this amazing city. It is truly a full circle moment. Magnolia is not new to the educational excellence. For the past 24 years, Magnolia Public Schools has served students and families across Southern California. Today, Magnolia operates 12 campuses and has earned recognition achievements including four California Distinguished School Awards and one National Blue Ribbon. Our mission at Magnolia Public Schools is to provide a college preparatory educational program emphasizing science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics in a safe environment that cultivates respect for self and others. Our vision is to graduate students and prepare them to succeed in college, career, and in civic life while becoming lifelong learners and responsible contributors to our community. I would like to highlight three key strengths of Magnolia Public Schools. First, our strong academic outcomes and commitment to STEAM education and preparing students for the rapidly changing world. Second, our college-going culture, which ensures our students and families that would receive guidance, support, and access to opportunities that help make higher education attainable. Third, our focus on character development, leadership, and community engagement that helps students become compassionate, responsible citizens who contribute positively to society. Thank you again, council members, to Councilwoman Rubicava, and to the City of Anaheim for investing in the future of our children just as you did for me. Thank you.

Our next speaker, Cecil Jordan Corkin.

outreach homeless ministries city chaplain let me tell you you can find these reports as I've dated them and put them out together it's in does the official Disney porn adults actually exist then I have dates on these things when they came out and This one happened two years ago on porn, 18K upvotes and 1,200K comments. And that's what I'm finding out on these pages. And if I turn over, To the other pages, you will find the dates when they come out. It was 20... It came... These Disney Sex and Court Rules and Laws of Disneyland Sex... Disneyland sex trafficking and child pornography, it all came out in July the 13th, 2019, and it updated July the 13th, 2019. I can't read the reports to you because we only have three minutes. And I'm trying to tell you that's when these reports came out. You will have to go into your... uh thoughts in your notes and look up what you heard me say and if you want to find me out you got my phone number already i don't have to keep giving it to you every time i come in you need to to identify what you're getting involved in when you get involved in disney on uh The reports on Disney, on Gene Arbyway, they want to remodel and rebuild, reestablish, because y'all explained that a while back, what they want to do with this next project. And I'm trying to establish where you're coming from to be safe. Now, what do y'all tend to do on this matter in the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit? That's where I come from because I'm writing the Bible. I finished one already, 400, and I've got 450 pages in all. On the second one, I'm working on the second book, and I got the first book already finished of the crucifixion.

Thank you, Cecil. Your time is up.

Where I'm coming from. You got any questions? Thank you, Cecil. You got any letters you want to send me? Any notes?

We'll have our next speaker step forward.

Mayor, it's up to you. Be careful.

Thank you, Cecil. Our next speaker, Ruben Greg Soto.

Mayor, City Council, I'm going to do history on the cross. Crucifixion was a prolonged method of execution, torture utilized by several ancient empires, including the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Romans. The practice was designed to maximize public humiliation, agony, and deterrence for rebels, slaves, and enemies of state Assyrian and Babylonian early origins of suspended execution traced back to Neo-Assyrian and Babylonian empires. Rather than formalize wooden cross used later, Assyrians frequently used impalement. Hysterical wall reliefs from King something's rib in 701 BC, before Christ, show victims strung up on a sharpened wooden poles inserted through their ribs as they to a state of terror. The Persians influenced the formalized practice of hanging victims on a vertical post or cross was a symptomatized by the Persians in the sixth century before Christ. King Darius in 519 BC crucified 3,000 political opponents in Babylonian. The Roman evolution, the Romans adopted and perfected crucifixion turned into a slow agonizing public spectacle that could last from anywhere from six hours to several days to kill someone. So all this cross stuff, I tell you, it's been done many years before Jesus was even tortured. And you take it for what it's worth. But I've been kicked out of a lot of churches, and these Christians did me wrong. So I'm attacking them. I don't care. I trust in God, but no man. Thank you.

Our next speaker, Renee B., followed by Janine Robbins.

My name is Renee. The first time I stood before this council was in 2011, speaking on behalf of the families of Cesar Cruz and David Raya, both killed by Anaheim officers. Both families paid after a long legal battle and no accountability to any of the officers involved. In the years that followed, Anaheim experienced a series of officer-involved shootings that resulted in death. I spent years organizing residents, documenting officer-involved shootings, tracking repeat offending officers, demanding accountability, and helping bring victims' families together so they could support one another through this unimaginable loss. I attended city council meetings. I sat through their wrongful death trials. I watched families fight for answers while the city fought to defend itself and the police department. I also watched Anaheim city attorneys repeatedly focus on the lives and backgrounds of victims rather than the actions of the officers. In Manuel Diaz's case, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that inflammatory and irrelevant evidence had been presented to the jury and ordered a new trial. When the case was retried, a federal jury found Officer Nick Benalik used excessive force in the shooting death of Manuel Diaz. The Diaz family received compensation, but the officer, Nick Benalik, remained employed by the Anaheim Police Department. That is the problem. Time and time again, families are forced to spend years fighting for justice. If they win, the city writes a check using taxpayer dollars. But what happens to the officers? What changes? What accountability follows? The answer too often is nothing happens to the officers. Over the years, Anaheim implemented some reforms in an attempt to pacify and tone set the families of the victims. Body cameras were introduced. A police oversight board was created. Policies were updated. Those changes were necessary, but one critical piece is still missing. Accountability. An oversight committee does not create accountability, especially the one here in Anaheim. A settlement does not create accountability. Accountability means consequences when wrongdoing is found. Today, the family of Albert Arzola is fighting for justice and accountability after the death of their 19-year-old son. Officer Nathan Garcia was found held accountable for excessive force before Albert Arzola was killed.

Time is up. Thank you so much. Thank you. Ma'am, your time is up. Thank you.

Our next speaker. Shut up.

You shut up.

Our next speaker, Deneen Robbins.

Two weeks ago, the LA Times released an article that the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit against its former CEO, Todd Ament, alleging self-dealing, kickbacks, bribery, and influence peddling. What stood out to me was not just the lawsuit itself. It was the Chamber's statement. The Chamber stated it wanted accountability. The Chamber stated it intended to hold individuals responsible for misconduct. the Chamber stated that corruption would not be tolerated in Anaheim. That's a remarkable statement because many residents have been asking a simple question. Why does the Chamber seem more interested in accountability than you seven sitting up there at City Hall? Residents have spent months asking questions about drinking water issues, well 51, PFAS contamination, brown drinking water, excessive flushing, retaliation against employees who raise concerns, management decisions, and the lack of transparency surrounding those events. Instead of answers, residents have received presentations. Instead of accountability, managers have been reassigned. And in some instances, these managers have claimed to receive a pay raise. Instead of investigations, we hear talking points. Instead of transparency, we get photo ops and public relation campaigns telling us everything is fine. The Chamber says misconduct should be investigated. Residents agree. The Chamber says people should be held accountable. Residents agree. The Chamber says corruption and unethical conduct should not be tolerated in Anaheim. Residents agree. So why does that standard appear to apply everywhere except inside City Hall? Why are residents still waiting for answers regarding Well 51 and the reported 74-day delay in shutting down the well after PFAS levels requiring action were identified? Why are residents still waiting for answers regarding the brown drinking water that occurred in Anaheim Hills? Why are residents still waiting for answers regarding the extensive flushing activities that reportedly occurred throughout the system following those events? Why are residents still waiting for answers regarding retaliation and harassment directed toward employees who raise concerns about water quality and operational decisions and public safety? And why are residents still waiting for answers regarding reports that crews were directed to perform excavation work without proper dig alert notifications, without adequately locating underground utilities, and without following safety practices designed to protect employees, residents, and critical infrastructure? These are not minor issues. They involve public safety, employee safety, drinking water quality, and the city's responsibility to protect both residents and workers. At some point, Anaheim must decide whether accountability is a slogan or a principle. because residents are tired of watching scandals managed instead of investigated. We are tired of watching problems rebranded instead of resolved. Ms. Robbins, I'm sorry, your time is up. If the Chamber of Commerce can publicly demand accountability, surely Anaheim City Hall can take some lessons and do the same. Our next speaker.

Residents have been asking very specific questions about our drinking water for months. These are not new concerns. These questions have been repeatedly presented before the City Council and the Public Utilities Board. Instead of direct answers, residents have often been met with interruptions, inappropriate name calling, dismissive comments, and efforts to categorize legitimate questions as misinformation. I would like to address what occurred following the May 27th Public Utilities Board meeting. At that meeting, residents submitted detailed questions regarding Anaheim's drinking water system, PFAS contamination, water quality issues, operational decisions, public disclosure, and transparency. These were specific questions seeking answers. Chairperson John Seymour agreed the questions deserved answers and directed General Manager Du Ku Lee and Water Production Manager Craig Parker to respond. What happened next was concerning. After receiving that directive, Craig Parker did not appear willing to simply answer the questions. Based on his comments and demeanor, he appeared irritated and argumentative. Rather than answering, he challenged the premise of the questions and demanded additional context. He said any meeting with residents would not be to answer the submitted questions, but to understand why the residents were asking them. The context was already provided during the meeting. It had also been provided repeatedly at City Hall Council meetings for months. When residents ask why Well 51 reportedly remained online for approximately 74 days after PFAS levels requiring action were identified, that question contains its own context. Residents have also asked why different shutdown dates were presented to the public, why drinking water turned brown, and why staff reportedly conducted extensive flushing before compliance testing. What additional context could the city, Dooku Lee or Craig Parker possibly need? Residents are now questioning whether the city is choosing to release only the information it wants the public to hear while remaining silent about what residents are actually asking. I would respectfully remind the city council and city management that you are public servants. That includes accountability and transparency to the residents you serve. When residents spend months asking direct questions about their drinking water, they deserve direct answers, not delays, not deflections, not interruptions, not name calling, not demands for additional context. The specific questions directed by Chairman Seymour to Craig Parker and Duke Hooley will again be submitted as part of tonight's public comments. We look forward to those questions finally. We look forward to those questions finally being answered. Residents have provided plenty of context. What has been missing are the answers. Our next speaker, Mark Herbert.

Mark Herbert, AnaheimGrease.com. I'm here to discuss accountability within the Human Resources Department. The City of Anaheim has policies that promise employees a workplace free from harassment, retaliation, discrimination, and misconduct. The City also has grievance procedures, EEO complaint processes, whistleblower protections, and ethics policies. Who is holding human resources accountable when these policies are not enforced? The mayor, the council, the city manager, the city attorney, Linda Andall serves as Anaheim's human resources director. During her tenure, numerous employees have filed EEO complaints, grievances, retaliation complaints, whistleblower complaints, and workplace misconduct allegations. Yet it is common knowledge among city employees that human resources protects management rather than investigating management. When allegations involve senior executives, who investigates? Who provides oversight? Who ensures complaints are impartially handled? When the LA Times covered the story about the fire department's supervising dispatcher, Brenda Carrion, having awarded her niece a $500,000 contract, where was Linda Andall? Did she refer this potential procurement fraud to the OC district attorney for investigation? No, she didn't. when former city manager Jim Vanderpool was accused of misconduct and later found to have provided inaccurate information regarding his Laughlin trip, where was Linda Andall? Did she initiate an investigation? No, she did not. And speaking of Jim Vanderpool, why was Linda Andall involved in efforts to pursue a multi-million dollar third party administration contract for workers' compensation services with a vendor connected to Jim Vanderpool? Why did Linda and all step in when the city already employed staff performing those same functions? These are not merely procurement questions. These are questions about oversight and stewardship of public funds. These are questions on whether the mayor, council, and staff are working in the best interest of Anaheim residents. If not, who are they working for? When public utilities employees repeatedly reported harassment, retaliation, protected unit activity issues, drinking water concerns, call before you did complaints, safety issues and whistleblower disclosures. How many of those complaints were fairly and impartially investigated? The answer is none. Why not? How many tort claims, grievances, EEO complaints and lawsuits has the city faced during Linda Andall's tenure as human resources director? The purpose of human resources is not to protect managers, the council and mayor from accountability. The purpose of human resources is to protect employees, enforce city policy and ensure ethical conduct and reduce liability to taxpayers. And by the way.

Mr. Herbert, your time is up.

Nathan Garcia.

Mr. Herbert, I'm sorry, your time is up.

Has earned over $660,000 from the city since he started here in 2021. $660,000. Mr. Herbert, your time is up.

We'll have our next speaker. Following the speaker, we have Mike Robbins and Dave Duran.

Mayor and Council Members, my name is Tom Fielder and I've been a resident of District 1 in Anaheim since 1984. Residents and employees have raised serious concerns regarding Water Field Superintendent Pete Garcia. Among the allegations raised by employees are were directives to perform excavation work without proper dig alert notifications, discouraging the use of potholing to safely identify underground utilities, assigning understaffed crews to potentially hazardous work, requiring employees to continue working after extended overnight shifts, and managing through intimidation and fear rather than professional leadership, safety, and accountability. And now, effective today, it seems the city has recognized there is a problem, as Pete Garcia has been transferred to another department. Is that what the city calls accountability? Because from the public's perspective, it appears that Pete Garcia was rewarded for unsafe and retaliatory behavior, rather than being held accountable. Indeed, Pete Garcia announced this morning he was promoted, received a raise, and will now be working on capital projects in the engineering department without a college degree. If a manager is accused of creating a hostile work environment, compromising safety, disregarding safe digging requirements, and retaliating against employees, why is the city rewarding that behavior? Because transferring a manager to another department into a higher paid position is not holding the manager accountable. It is a cover-up. Residents have seen this pattern before. A problem is identified, complaints are filed, employees raise concerns, an investigation occurs behind closed doors, or doesn't even occur at all. Then the problem individual is transferred, reassigned, promoted, or quietly moved elsewhere while the public is left wondering whether anyone was ever held accountable. So tonight I am asking a simple question. When serious allegations involving management are raised, does Anaheim investigate them or sweep them under what must be a very large rug? Because taxpayers are funding these salaries. Employees are working under these managers. Employees are suing the city because of these managers. And taxpayers are paying for that too. But the employees are not to blame for holding the city accountable. When is the City Council going to help Linda Andal understand that the City's zero tolerance policy also applies to management? When the City fails to protect its employees, it also fails to protect taxpayer dollars. The costs of retaliation, grievances, lawsuits, investigations, and mismanagement are ultimately paid by the residents of Anaheim. Thank you.

Our next speaker, Mike Robbins.

Boom. We're trying to be informative. Accountability, Keith McDonald, the water systems operations manager who reports to Greg Parker was reportedly transferred out of the water department effective today, June 9th. Well, 51 reportedly remained online for approximately 74 days after the city was notified for the PFAS levels requiring action. That happened under Keith McDonald's management. Anaheim Hills residents experienced brown drinking water following operational decisions involving Walnut Canyon Reservoir that happened under Keith McDonald's management. Millions of gallons of water reportedly flushed the system prior to a required testing. That happened under Keith McDonald's management. And now he's no longer responsible for the day-to-day operation of Anaheim's drinking water system. which raises an obvious question. If the city utilities believed there was no problem, why was he transferred? Where was the accountability? How did the transferring solve the problem? Was Well 51 shut down? Could it have been shut down sooner? Where was the failure? We don't know. Why were different shutdown dates provided to the public? Why was the drinking water brown? Why was it brown? Why were extensive flushing activities reportedly conducted throughout Anaheim Hills? Reports are that employees who raised concerns regarding drinking water quality, public safety, operational decisions were met with retaliation, intimidation, or efforts to discredit their concerns rather than address them. Human Resources, Linda Endall is the Human Resource Director, as was mentioned. Her responsibility is to investigate complaints, enforce city policy, and protect employees and taxpayers from the costs of the misconduct and the retaliation. Employees raise concern regarding water quality. these employees were retaliated against. What point does human resources start protecting the integrity of the organization and the people of Anaheim? You chose a career in public service, That doesn't mean cover up or conceal or contain. It means honest service, honest service like any great or at least good employee in any job. This includes transparency, accountability, and honest government. The residents of Anaheim deserve nothing less. Hopefully you guys will accept this. We put together some great information here from inside Anaheim, and we need some action on that as soon as possible to protect us, you, and of course the public. Thank you.

Our next two speakers, Dave Duran followed by Art Castillo.

Pete Garcia, Water Transmission and Distribution Superintendent, was reportedly transferred out of his position overseeing water production and maintenance after employees raised numerous concerns regarding workplace safety, intimidation, retaliation, staffing levels, and excavation practices. Keith McDonald, the water systems operation manager has also repeatedly been removed from many of his previous operational responsibilities and transferred to a position overseeing laboratory functions. This is the same laboratory operation that reportedly failed to complete required monitoring identified in the annual water quality report. This is the same laboratory operation that observed the brown drinking water conditions at the Linane water treatment plant. This is the same laboratory operation that ordered excessive flushing before required state testing. This is the same laboratory operation whose observations regarding those events were not disclosed in the annual water quality report and were not discussed during the city's April 21st presentation to the residents. So again, where is the ethical accountability and the legal responsibility? Linda Andal's repeated failure to investigate complaints and failure to protect employees is unacceptable and should not become the defining legacy of any human resource department. Because from the public perspective, the city's response to management failures appears to be remarkably consistent. Ignoring and looking the other way, it's not acceptable. When employees make mistakes, they face disciplines. When the mayor and council make mistakes, they will face discipline probably on November 3rd. When residents ask questions, they are interrupted and called the disinformation brigade. When the whistleblowers raise concerns, they are attacked, disciplined, singled out, and even terminated. But when management decisions result in controversy, public distress, regulatory concerns, grievances, tort claims, and lawsuits, management is protected, promoted, and continued to receive pay raises after pay raise. And the voting residents taxpayers are forced to continue to pay these bills. Residents deserve to know the truth about how much these decisions have cost the city. November 3rd's coming. I see the light is on. I have no more time. You'll be hearing the public's voice.

Our next speaker, Art Castillo.

Good evening. This is for Ryan Bayless. Thank you very much. The grass went down. Everybody was happy over there on Stony Brook. Thank you for, if you did that, it was a great job. It was scaring the residents because they had a fire there one time. And getting as a seniors, you know, they try to get in connections, their patients are very limited, but I wanna thank you for taking care of that. But I'm here to also say that I heard some people talk here, you know, as a Exidy employee, maybe I'm still a city employee because I was illegally fired. I actually, the persons that signed my name, the people that did to me were impersonators and they came up to me and confessed. I'm glad of all the confessions from all the officers who came forward to tell me everything what happened. and that tampered with evidence. And some of the chief, we had a chief that got fired. But, you know, it's a point to me, you know, we, I've been hearing in here, it's like the helicopter issue. I was told by some people, and there was an officer that was flying the helicopter telling young men, I'm watching you. And then one day I was at my friend's house. He's a second generation Anaheim High School family business here. And I was at his house up on the mountaintop called Baja Pamaran Mountain in Orange. And I was up there talking with him in his backyard and that helicopter came right up below that mountaintop, came and looked at me and then took off. So this is like our tax dollars getting spent on that gas. How long has it been going on? Also, some of these chiefs have gotten in trouble and some of these officers got in trouble, but they end up leaving and getting jobs somewhere else. So wanna put that out there. And going into other people's homes and intimidating, that's a big time thing. This was going down in 1976 in my time, shining lights in people's houses, raiding houses. If you didn't know that, little kids in the house, even sometimes when the kids were not even there, they were in juvenile hall, the cops would do prior everyday raids on houses. And I actually, for a long time was sitting in houses and caught them. As soon as they saw me, they turn around and walk out, but they had their guns drawn with little children. So I'm, you know, I'm very old now. I just wanted to let you know, there's an other side and you know, ICE was helping out, being helped out by Anaheim police officer. There's a video on that. So, you know, it's not all the officers. I think I've heard the Arzola saying they're not mad at everybody. They're mad at the bad ones. So we want to show you that we are helpful so those other officers don't look at us bad. And a lot of the officers told me, hey, say the names of them. Don't say we're all bad. But, again, if they don't come up and go forward, like Officer Steve Nolan in the whistleblower case of Anaheim, who was intimidated and then he was fired.

Mr. Castillo, I'm sorry your time is up.

I just want to leave you with that kind of document information.

Our next speaker, Grace Arzola, followed by Pearl Arzola.

My name's Grace Arzola. Albert Arzola was my nephew, and I come every other Tuesday to advocate for him. It's been six months since he passed away, and we have no answers regarding what took place that night. And we don't know the name of the other officer that was there that conveniently had his camera off. I called the district attorney, they finished their investigation and they're waiting for the attorney to, legal to sign off on it. But they asked me, I asked him, why are they back on the field? And they said, that's a personnel problem that the city of Anaheim should be answering. I want answers, why are they back on the field if they're still under investigation? You know, I think it's really important. I've been here six months and I've never seen anyone, I haven't seen you guys vote with what the public wants. And it's sad, because you are elected to be the voice of the people, but the people come and give you their voice and you guys go against them. And that should really worry you guys. You guys really need to serve the public. I heard someone else said that the county, the city should have transparency, accountability, and trust. But without transparency and accountability, you guys will never build the trust of the community. And that is really sad. Because we've been organizing in the city in the last six months, you know, everything happens for a reason. Since the passing of my nephew, we have been organizing to make Anaheim the city of kindness that it's supposed to be, even though Anaheim PD did not show my nephew kindness. We are working hard to make sure that it doesn't happen to another family. We want change. We want policy change. We don't want you guys to say, oh, there was no wrongdoing. They acted what they said on the statement in the best interest of the city. What city? There was no one there but my nephew and the officers that killed him. You guys should be alarmed. And LA PD, I don't know if you guys are aware, they shut down their South LA gang unit because they had the same problem that Anaheim PD has, turning off their cameras. You guys need to shut that down until they're able to turn on their cameras. It's something so simple. I'm a licensed clinical social worker. If I forgot to document a note and a client... committed suicide under my watch and I had no documentation, my license would be pulled. If a police officer forgets to turn off their camera and there's someone dead, he needs to be fired and Nathan needs to be jailed. And we need answers and we deserve that. And also I want to support the supermarket in a city where we know cost of living is high and AI is taking a lot of jobs. The least you guys could do is support them. Especially we hear with the midterms coming up, the affordability. You guys could not continue taking hardworking people's jobs. Please support them. Thank you. Our next speaker.

Hello. I just want to ask how many killings do cops have to do before you remove them? I also want to say, you guys say trust the process. If I shot somebody, I would be sitting in a jail waiting for trial and trial takes two years and I wouldn't be out roaming the streets with the job. I would be sitting eating bologna sandwiches and, um, literally it's bologna sandwiches with a, No, not Doritos. Doritos, this is what you get for commissary. And it's a bologna sandwich with a fruit and a package of unflavored Kool-Aid. So I would be eating that. And that should, Ryan, no, Nathan Garcia should be eating that. Nathan Garcia should be in Theo Lacey right now eating those fucking bologna sandwiches. Like all of the people that I know that are wrongfully convicted of drug abuse that you guys jail all the time. Instead of giving them help, you guys take them to jail and take them to Theo Lacey and take them to the main jail. Why hasn't Nathan Garcia gone to Theo Lacey? Why hasn't he been... to the jails, why hasn't he got convicted? Because if I were to kill anybody, I would be sitting in that jail cell rethinking my life. But he could be outside riding his stupid ass fucking car thinking that everything's okay. But you guys are not taking accountability with anything. And I go to Ralph's in Anaheim. And everybody in that self-checkout is tired of people go, and I always go with only three items the least because it's self-checkout. So many people go with big carts of grocery items because they rather go and deal with somebody not even a person, and then just go and wait in that line. You guys need to at least have it three minimum with one person. Our next speaker, Paul Hayek.

Well, hi, Council. Are you aware OCTA's come out with a new bus pass? I'd like to make a comment on your workshop. Why rent vans when you can get a contract with Keola Transportation who will provide class type twos like our meals on wheels van with properly trained drivers properly maintenance Mercy House was running class B rigs on C licenses and not stopping at railroad tracks where Keola would love to take the contract and why make it a no walk-in when we've got OCTA we've got line 38 La Palma we've got Kramer 129 going to Playa we got the 59 going down to Santa Ana let's get a let's make them walk in walk out I'd like to talk to these people that are they were doing this job and work as an advisor I helped bring in the first year-round shelter back in 17 with Councilman Fessel of the 5th District and Spitzer in the Orange County Register and I made the front page of the Anaheim Bulletin back in 2017. brought it in i dedicated and i lived there for six months and furthermore once you tell these operators why not hire the homeless that have the trades or want to work because they could get a breakfast a bed a dinner work for us in the facility even part-time to get a hot meal and minimum wage. One more thing, we might even have a few that are on probation and probation has to approve where they work and where they live and they have training in various fields and the security needs to be licensed security guards with guard cards. I'm willing to help organize it in that fashion. And these can be purchased at Northgate, Walgreens, and 7-Eleven with the racks that have the gift cards, and they can be primed for as little as two bucks. If they wanna buy them on the street, a $10 bill, you buy it, have the change put on it, and you can get right on the first bus. and they never expire, and you can always reload them. That's what you need to do. Yeah, get rid of them. Forget renting those vans, because you're going to need to look for wheelchairs and everything else. Wheelchairs, handicaps.

Thank you, Mr. Hayek. Our next speaker, Leslie Lopez.

Hello, City Council. I hope you guys all had a nice break because we didn't. While you guys were on break, my family was mourning the loss of our loved one. This month marks six months since Officer Nathan Garcia killed my cousin. With that being said, I wanted to point out a few facts. First, Officer Nathan Garcia has a documented history of mistreating young Hispanic males. Another fact is that my cousin had no criminal record. With that being said, why was he constantly being harassed by him? As council members, you guys choose to take on these roles to serve and protect your community. So I ask you, Norma, is it helping your community to continue employing an officer who has killed someone and previously beat another young man so severely that he had to be hospitalized, resulting in the city later paying a settlement to that family of the 14-year-old that Nathan Garcia beat? If killing someone is not enough to raise serious concerns, then what is? You accepted these positions to represent and help the people of this city, yet from our perspective, it seems that you're protecting what generates revenue, overtaking priority of protecting the residents. We saw this when Anaheim Hills residents came here before you guys to share their experience and concerns regarding the fire safety, yet you guys all approved that. fears regarding contaminated drinking water in their wells that are not being checked properly. You guys haven't done much for them either. We see that now as we continue to seek accountability for my cousin's death, what confuses me the most is if transparency is truly important to this council, why was Officer Garcia's name released to the attorney and not to the public? I believe it's imperative that the public knows that Officer Nathan Garcia is still patrolling the same area where he murdered my cousin. I would never want another family to experience the pain that mine has endured, but we are constantly told, trust the process. What are we supposed to do when the process feels broken and nothing appears to be changing? Six months have passed and we are still waiting for answers and actions because Nathan Garcia should not be on the force, much less be patrolling the area. And I actually did see that we had the budget for this next fiscal year. And as someone who works in a physical department, I hope you guys are writing in a bigger budget because obviously with changes not being made, you guys are constantly gonna have to be paying out for all the families that are being impacted by your officers and the misconduct that they're doing in your guys' city. And also we have partnered up with Jessie Lopez to help us as well. And we are like supporting her campaign as the Arzolas want to make changes and meaningful ones. Thank you.

Mayor and City Council, that concludes our in-person speakers. Noting for the record, we did receive electronic comments. Four comments were for item number 17, one comment was for item number 26, seven comments were for item number 27, and nine were 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 forward slash public comment.

Thank you. We're now going to close public comment and move to council communications. If any council members have anything to share, please ring in. I have two brief things I wanted to share and follow my reporting obligations for attending the US Conference of Mayors Conference in Long Beach, where I was asked to chair the economic mobility workshop and the tapes committee, which is tourism, arts, parks, entertainment, and sports. Also, the swearing-in ceremony of San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria as the new president of the US Conference of Mayors. Second, I wanted to share with the community that we recently lost our 42nd mayor, Fred Hunter. He passed recently at the age of 84. He was a former Anaheim police officer who served as mayor from 1989 to 1992 during the era where our city built the Honda Center. His years of service to our city included working as an undercover officer for Anaheim police, where interestingly enough, he was my uncle's partner. So our hearts go out to him and his family during this difficult time and I'll be adjourning the meeting in his memory. Council Member Meeks.

Thank you. And you did steal a little bit of my thunder. I was going to ask you to close in Fred Hunter's name. He went to high school with my parents. So we go back a long time. I also wanted to share, he was instrumental in making the Honda Center happen. He and Jim Ruth, city manager at the time, were the people that really had the vision for that Anaheim Arena. We were kind of in a race with Santa Ana at the time. Orange County could support one arena, and where was it going to go? Anaheim, of course, felt it needed to be in Anaheim. And so, yeah, Fred Hunter was the mayor that was visionary and brought that forward. And so I had the honor in February. Fred Hunter had gotten a diagnosis that was very serious. And I thought, you know what, he needs to see what's happening with this. the Honda Center and OC Vibe while he still has time. So I had the opportunity to take Fred Hunter, who is third from the right there, and Jim Ruth is there with the cane, and took them on a tour of everything they're doing with the OC Vibe. So they built the foundation, and Anaheim just keeps making things better. So really, it was very... wonderful afternoon and meaningful for all of us. We had Greg Smith there, who was the department head at the time. That's Chuck Smith on the right, who was the contract administrator to build the building. So we had a great tour and a little reminiscing about how that building happened. But definitely going to miss him. He was a wonderful person, a wonderful mayor, and brought a lot to the city.

Thank you. Council Member Maaz and then Council Member Rubicava.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I have a few slides to share. Starting with OC Animal Care's Dog's Day Out program, I wanted to share that this program is up and running. If people are interested in taking a dog out for a few hours, it's a really great opportunity for the dog to get more eyes on it for potential adoption. It's also a great enrichment for the animal, and it's great for the people too. So there may be some people, I'm specifically thinking of older adults and seniors who may not want to take on the responsibility of caring for an animal full time. This is a great way to get a fix. So visit ocanimalcare.com for more information and to sign up. And last month on May 23rd, I believe it was, there it is, we went to Aloe Greens Park for my monthly cleanup. We were joined by several community members, including a father and daughter from Anaheim Hills. And these two brothers who were, they're taking trash out of the tree, but they were at the park to play and they saw us picking up trash and they asked if they could join us. So I think we picked up a total of eight bags of trash and these two young Anaheimers were inspired to continue picking up trash through the summer. Our next cleanup will be June 27th at Edison Park. All are welcome and supplies are available. We just ask that you wear closed-toed shoes. Later this month, Council Member Kurtz and I are gonna be co-hosting a Senior Care 101 presentation. This will be over at Anaheim United Methodist Church. I work in the senior care industry and there's a lot of assumptions that aren't accurate. So a lot of people think that once they turn 65, Medicare takes care of everything and that's not the case. So we have representatives from the North Orange County Senior Collaborative, an attorney and a fiduciary to come out and talk about how people may explore paying for care, care options, legal planning, and some really important conversations to be had. We're also going to have some city departments there to represent different services that the city offers. So all are welcome to that Friday, June 19th at Anaheim United Methodist Church. One more slide. Also later this month, I am partnering with Community Health Initiative of Orange County. They connect families to quality, affordable health care as well as social services. There are several enrollment sites for Cal Optima, Cal Fresh throughout our city. Specifically in District 5, we have the Mira Loma Family Resource Center. We also have Ponderosa. There are several school sites. and the UCI Medical Clinic are places where people can sign up for Cal Optima. There are new eligibility requirements as a result of HR1 that will dramatically impact coverage for several people receiving benefits. There may be new work requirements, so it's important that people learn about this information and understand it before they lose their benefits. So again, I'm partnering with Community Health Initiative of Orange County to bring that information to our community. We will have a session in Spanish and English and both are virtual. That's all I have, thank you.

Member Aruba-Calva, and then Council Member Bailey.

Thank you, Mayor Aiken. I have a couple of slides, but while the clerk is getting those up, I just want to mention that I represent 50,000 residents in District 3, and I just want to highlight a few things that are going on in our district. First, I want to recognize a resident whose wife reached out and wanted to share some of the amazing things that people that live in District 3 are doing. So this is Leonard Salazar. He's an eight-time amateur Muay Thai champion earning titles across the International Kickboxing Federation. I will be asking council to bring him in for recognition, but I just wanted to share a little bit of a highlight about him. So he's proudly representing Anaheim, where he was born and raised. His ultimate goal is to give back to the community, and I'm happy to say that he has made major achievements and has really been a role model for many of the kids who are looking up to people who are in martial arts. So my kids wrestle, and I thought it would be nice to bring him in, and his wife is one of his biggest champions. I wanted to give her a shout out as well. So the next one is not necessarily directly related to District 3, but it is somebody who does a lot of work in our community. Mayor Aiken and I had the honor to sit on the Orange County Fair Board together. And one of the things that we're able to do as board members is recognize people for the contributions that they've made in the community. This individual, his name is Joe Pak. He has been a fierce advocate for the veterans community, and more specifically, the Korean War veterans. So we were able to recognize him this past month for Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Joe Pack currently works for Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva, who does represent the city of Anaheim. So I'm just happy to mention him and all of the work that he's done. If you have not had a chance, he has been a champion for the Korean War Memorial, which is located in the city of Fullerton. So I just wanted to recognize Mr. Joe Pack. In District 3, we are seeing a lot of growth on the business front, but 90% of the businesses in the city of Anaheim are small businesses. They're not necessarily the big businesses that are located in the resort district or in other areas. So I just wanted to mention three that are coming to District 3 on Center Street. So it's Deco Day is... It had a line around the corner, so a very popular store. And then there's also Pulse Legree, which is a place to go and exercise. I highly recommend checking it out. And then we have a couple of additional restaurants on Center Street. I know that our chamber as well as our economic development department have been instrumental in making sure that we are filling a lot of these empty spaces. So I just want to thank them and recognize the businesses that are now serving the community in Anaheim. This past month, so it's been a while since we've had a council meeting, but I want to recognize the VFW as well as the American Legion for hosting a Memorial Day event at Anaheim Cemetery. We are able to just remember many of the veterans who fought for our country, so wanted to recognize that our entire council was able to make it and just really be there to recognize and remember those who have lost their lives for our freedoms. And we also have a couple of former Anaheim, City of Anaheim employees who have been a real champion for this event. So grateful to have been included. And there's also a picture of our school board member, Jessica Guerrero, who has been instrumental in our city as well. I also want to thank our community services team as well as our communications team for hosting the raising of our pride flag. As you know, June is Pride Month, and I was able to join a couple of my council colleagues there this past month to raise the flag and just make sure that everybody who lives in our city knows that regardless of what your sexual orientation is or who you love or your your documentation status, you are welcome in the city of Anaheim and we are here to make sure that everybody feels safe and secure in our city. And then I just have to recognize, so last Tuesday was election night for the primaries and a lot of times our city clerk is not recognized for the amazing work that she does. So I happened to be leaving a meeting at 7 p.m. and she was still here along with Susanna just making sure that any Anaheim residents who had questions about voting or where they can get it done before 8 p.m. had somewhere to call. So thank you to Teresa Bass, the best city clerk in probably the state. for all of the work that she does to make sure that our residents have the information that they need and that our city is in compliance on that front. Thank you. And then I also just want to highlight, so I know we had a public speaker here who talked about Magnolia Science Academy. I want to recognize this charter school. I had a lot of residents reach out asking to support the expansion of the services that they deliver. So they did start with TK to sixth grade. and now they are able to serve students up to seventh and eighth grade as well. So I wanna thank our planning department, because it was really them. I might be able to advocate for something, but I'm not actually doing the work. So I wanna thank our planning department for working with this school and making sure that they were able to expand their, it's not a CUP, but it's something right, underneath it and thank you for helping them because you have made a lot of Anaheim families happy and they are able going to be able to start the expanded educational access for these parents and these kids in this coming school year so thank you and only two more I just also, we have a community open house and District 3's is tomorrow from 5 to 7 p.m. It will be located in the downtown Anaheim Community Center. All of the city departments will be present, so if any residents have questions or concerns about anything related to anything, fireworks, coyotes, public safety, there will be somebody from every department there to address some of those concerns. We will also have refreshments and you can enter to win Angels tickets if you are present, so. and lastly i would like to ask the mayor to close the meeting in memory of alan grainer who is a resident or who was a resident of district 3. he reside he lived here with his wife nancy grainer they were positive fabrics of the community and have done a lot very engaged a couple and i just want to say that we are going to miss mr grainer but would like to ask the mayor to close the meeting in his memory And that concludes my council comments.

Thank you. Council member Bayless and then Mayor Pro Tem Leon.

Thank you very much. Just got a couple of, I guess, maybe announcements. I think there's some pictures there out there. First off, thank you to the Public Works Department. This is, I think, the first signal out of five. This is on Western and Ball. We've got four-way protected left-hand turn signals in all directions. It's also a little bit further down the street on Western and Orange is completed. I know that they have now started working on Orange and Dale with two more to go. And I can tell you the dentist there that's on the corner is very happy. He's hopeful to keep the cars out of his office that's there. So thank you for that. The next one is Beach Boulevard. We're actually seeing some removal of the power lines on Beach Boulevard. So thank you to Dooku and the utilities for this. I am to come to understand that once the power lines get removed, we actually may end up topping some of the poles down to where the utilities are at. So starting to look super good out there. So thank you for that. And then I also had the option to go to the Anaheim Fire Department graduation. We have 21 new recruits that just graduated here last week. So I wanted to just extend a welcome to them, say thank you for choosing Anaheim and thank you for what I know will be a rewarding career. In addition, we also had the Anaheim Fire Department badge pinning. I think we had about 20 different firefighters getting some promotions So, it's good to see that we've got movement and all of the good going-ons of the Anaheim Fire Department. Lastly, I want to give, or second to last, I want to give a big thank you to the Angels. youth kids out there from little league baseball, practicing hitting, what else, throwing, catching, all of the baseball skills that were out there. There were some players there. Saw a lot of wonderful kids getting some great tutorials out there. So thank you to the Angels for doing that. and then lastly i don't have a slide on this but i know when we had our last meeting here i mentioned pay attention to the city's uh website for updates on the garden grove incident and the one that i want to give for you tonight is the orange county resiliency fund from the united way If you were affected or if you're needing any special needs that are out there, just simple dial 2-1-1 on your phone, option number seven. And then in addition, if you don't have any special needs, but if you'd like to donate to the fund, do the same thing. Pick up the phone, dial 2-1-1. There's an option operator will pick up and you can donate to the fund as well. So thank you very much.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Before I begin, I want to just dovetail off of my colleague's comment. I know we talked about it during the special meeting, but I think it bears repeating to express my sincere gratitude to all of our city staff members, our first responders, our volunteers, and our partners who came together during the recent emergency response in Garden Grove. Very grateful to everyone who played a role in that. It's very much appreciated. I also wanted to thank the residents who joined us for our recent District 2 Community Open House. These gatherings create an opportunity for direct conversations about the issues that they're facing in their neighborhoods, the priorities that they want to see addressed, and I appreciate everyone who took the time to stop by and to ask questions, to give feedback, and of course all of our city staff who was there ready to answer all of the questions, and I know there's some follow-ups as well on that, so thank you all. I want to start by wishing a very happy 100th birthday to Angie Vecchia. Reaching a century of life is a remarkable milestone, and Angie's story is deeply intertwined with Anaheim's history. After moving to Anaheim more than six decades ago, she helped raise a family. She contributed her talents as a seamstress at Knott's Berry Farm for 25 years. and became a very cherished member of her church community, and she is a remarkable, amazing lady. Hopefully, I'd like to agendize that we're able to bring her in for a council recognition, and just wanted to wish her a very happy birthday, celebrating a remarkable life, an extraordinary milestone, and very much appreciate the opportunity to be there to celebrate. I want to thank County Clerk Recorder Hu Nguyen and his team for partnering with us to host a passport services event at Savannah High School. More than 70 passports and applications were processed. This is bringing an important government service directly into the heart of our community and making it easier for local families from our neighborhood to access the resources that they need. Following the tragic shooting at a mosque in San Diego, Chief Sid and I met with leaders from our local mosque in District 2. I just wanted to say that I appreciate Chief Sid's willingness to join me in listening, in engaging, in reaffirming that every person in our city deserves to feel safe in their community. Anaheim's strength has always come from people building relationships across cultures, across faiths and neighborhoods, and their partnership remains as important as ever. So thank you to Chief Sid, thank you to the lieutenants and our PD team who has been following up to make sure that they feel safe as well, especially with the holiday that just passed a couple weeks ago. So I just want to say thank you for that ongoing partnership. I had the opportunity to also attend the St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church Greek Festival. For decades, this festival has brought families together while celebrating traditions that continue to enrich the cultural fabric of our city. A huge thank you to Dr. Voss and all of the organizers who continue that tradition year after year. If you haven't been there, definitely recommend it. Put it on the calendar for next year. I also want to recognize the Brown Descents Card Club for hosting another outstanding community event for their commitment to giving back to the community that many of them were raised in through scholarship programs. They gave out thousands of dollars in scholarships to kids from the neighborhood and their efforts to support local families. They continue to create opportunities for young people and definitely make a meaningful difference throughout the community, throughout the Orange County community, so I wanted to give them a shout out and say thank you to all of their whole team for their continued work. And finally, Madam Mayor, I'd like to ask that we adjourn tonight's meeting in memory of John Gao. His life was defined by perseverance, sacrifice, and service. Following the fall of Saigon, he endured imprisonment in a re-education camp before making the courageous journey to freedom with his family. Like so many refugees who arrived seeking opportunity and safety, he helped build a new life not only for himself, but for countless relatives and future generations who benefited from his guidance and his support and determination. Across Orange County, he became a respected leader within the Vietnamese community. He helped preserve the stories of those who endured war and displacement, remained active in Black April commemorations, and used his voice to advocate for freedom and human dignity. His work in civic affairs and Vietnamese language media helped strengthen connections across generations and ensured important stories would never be forgotten. I also want to extend my gratitude to the nurses, doctors, health care professionals, and workers at Anaheim Health Care Center and West Anaheim Medical Center who cared for him during the last two years of his life and for all of the important work that they do for so many for our community. Their compassion and dedication provided comfort to him and all of those who loved them. The measure of a life is often found in what remains after we're gone. In his case, that legacy can be seen across generations of families he helped, friendships he built, and a community that benefited from his steady commitment to service. Our thoughts are with his daughter, Tammy, his loved ones, and all who had the privilege of knowing him. I would like to ask that we adjourn tonight's meeting in his memory as well, Madam Mayor. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Just some quick items. One, the District 4 community meeting will be held on Thursday at Betsy Ross Park. This is the first time our city is doing anything at a park. So bring the kids, whole family, and come enjoy and learn about what's going on in the area and be able to talk to our city resources. All the city departments will be represented there. Also, Saturday the 13th, there's gonna be a neighborhood cleanup. In the area, in the neighborhood, Valencia on the north, Vermont on the south, To the east is Olive, West Anaheim Boulevard. That area will have several of the large bins for the major trash items that can be tossed. Also, it will end with a neighborhood kind of party at the parking lot of Olive Street Elementary School where several city departments will be there to talk about issues that are important to that neighborhood. There'll be someone there to talk about parking because parking is a huge issue. But also we'll have hot dogs that will be cooked by Orange County Employees Association. And so those residents are welcome to join us on that day. And lastly, just wanna make sure that y'all are aware, Council Member Maas mentioned it, we have a senior meeting on the 19th, the morning of the 19th at United Methodist Church on State College in Vermont. We'll give information to seniors. That is extremely important. That event starts at 9.30, so thank you.

Thank you very much, Council Member Kurtz. Now is the time for the City Manager's Update.

Thank you, Mayor.

Mr. City Manager, do you have a report for us?

I do. I have a few items this evening. First is a general update as requested on the ongoing stadium assessment. No new developments at this time and no changes since my last update. As previously mentioned, the final assessment is expected to be completed late this year. So we'll continue to provide general updates as the process plays out. Next, I would like to highlight and congratulate an Anaheim family of four on becoming homeowners through one of our newest programs. The Housing and Community Development Department recently celebrated the first home purchase completed through the first-time homebuyer down payment assistance program. This family has lived in District 4 for more than 20 years and was able to buy a home in the same neighborhood, allowing them to stay connected to their community through this program. Reaching this milestone took significant dedication from our staff who work closely with the family, escrow representatives, lenders, and other partners every step of the way. I'd especially like to recognize staff analyst Monica Pinto, who played a key role in coordinating this effort and helping make the city's first local housing trust fund home ownership opportunity a reality. This first closing is an exciting milestone for the program and the first of many opportunities to help Anaheim families achieve home ownership. And so for those who are interested in this program, you can find more information on the city's website, and I'm dot net slash first time homebuyer. And then also, I understand we have some flyers for those in the room, flyers in the back of the chambers for more information on that great program. So this is the first of many to come. And again, because of the great work of this council and establishing that local housing trust fund. So thank you. Next is Arctic Viewing Party. So the FIFA World Cup begins this week. And if anyone's heading to a match at SoFi, Anaheim's Arctic Transit Facility is a great way to get there. So from Arctic, there'll be direct affordable bus rides to SoFi and back to Anaheim. You can find more information at ocbus.com slash World Cup. And then also excited that the Arctic facility is going to host a watch party, a free watch party for the final match on July 19th. Thanks to our host, OC Vibe. It's a family-friendly event that will bring hundreds of fans to watch the final match on a giant 26-foot screen TV while enjoying live DJs, photo opportunities, food and beverage vendors, and other fan experiences. It is free, but you do have to register. And so I would just encourage folks to go to ocvibe.com slash final watch party. all right and then finally i i do want to close with a quick mention of our recent employee appreciation picnic uh as you all know we have the best employees here in anaheim bar none and while i wish i could celebrate them in this way every week we can't but glad we had the time to take take a day have a picnic out in the back and recognize them and show them how much we love them And so I want to thank council for being there and to all of our Anaheim staff. And thank you for everything that all of our employees do and for showing up for our community day in and day out. We cannot do what we do without all of our great employees. And so with that, that concludes my update. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Interim City Manager. And I just wanted to thank the Anaheim Ducks. They were able to put information about the watch party out to Anaheim residents first. They were taking, they did paid social media, making sure that it's our asset, that our residents are able to get first bite at the apple. So if you haven't had a chance yet to register, please do it, because now I think it's open to the public. So now we have our consent calendar. We have items one through 25, except for item number 17, which has been pulled before us. Are there any items that members would like to pull? I'll start with Council Member Kurtz.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'd like to pull items seven and eight.

Seven and eight, thank you. Mayor Pro Tem.

Nine and 15, please.

Thank you very much. Council Member Moss.

Item 13, please.

And Council Member Meeks.

Item 21.

Thank you. I have item 7, 8, 9, 13, 15, 21. So can I have a motion for the rebalance of the consent calendar? So moved.

Second.

Motion and a second. Please vote.

The consent calendar also included the adoption of ordinance number 6626, item number 24, an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Anaheim amending chapter 10.18, water conservation, water storage, contingency rules and regulations of the Anaheim Municipal Code to update water shortage responses, processes, and water conservation requirements and determine that such action is not subject to CEQA pursuant to California Water Code section 10652. And the vote is seven ayes, no nay. Motion carries.

Thank you so much. The first item pulled by Council Member Kurtz, item number seven. Would you like a staff report?

No. First of all, I want to say finally, Thank you. This is an undergrounding project along a busy residential street that has residences, school, businesses. There's the street. I do have some questions. residents and businesses are obviously gonna be disturbed, interrupted, upset. I think at one community meeting, our general manager actually told residents, for about a year you're gonna hate me, but after that you're gonna love me. So can you tell me when are they gonna start hating you and for how long? And also importantly, how are the residents and businesses going to be notified of what's coming?

Absolutely. Would you mind if we walk through the slides? Because I believe we can answer a good number of the questions based on that.

Wonderful.

That's OK. And just thank you very much for holding this item. I'm joined by our public works team, as well as Vin Tran from our electrical engineering group. Of course, this item is for the construction bid of the all of Vermont and starting with the project boundaries just to show the limits of it. So what you see in red is essentially where the construction activities will take place. There are some transmission lines that are shown in the purple. And they cross the districts and because of both technical as well as Edison being on a set of those lines, they will remain. But the balance in red will be undergrounded. As you mentioned, there are elementary schools who will be affected. There's actually three of them as Jefferson, Olive and Roosevelt are all within the district boundaries. And we have been coordinating with them over the past several years as we try to work out designs to find locations for equipment or talk to them about how the process is going to go. And I do have a later slide that talks about the public notification process. Next slide shows some of the construction activities. So this will be phased. The excavation and installation of the vaults and conduits obviously is the most disruptive part of the construction. The civil work will be done in increments. And so it's not like the entire stretch is gonna be constructed all at once. They go in increments and they essentially backfill what they excavate on a daily basis so that one, it's safe as well as the disruption is minimized. Following the civil work, electric equipment and underground cable will be installed, along with 60 new streetlights spaced to current standards that will improve nighttime visibility. And as you mentioned, previously mentioned on the Vermont substation project, we will do our best to limit traffic on Vermont because there are both residential schools, as well as businesses on there. And so while construction activities will have to go through that area, obviously, since we'll be undergrounding, we will do our best to try to minimize the impacts. And as we've talked to residents, businesses and the schools, they do understand that the short term disruption will lead to long term benefits. So here's the schedule, the design and permitting for this project, it did take quite a time to coordinate with the two railroad agencies. Five private telecommunication companies, as well as other utilities in the roadway and the many residential and commercial property owners that we have to coordinate with as well. The civil and electrical work will take roughly about two years to complete, and that's because the streets are very narrow in this particular project, because there's two rail lines that we will have to bore underneath, and then because of the schools and their schedules. And so obviously we want to work around the school schedules and not impact their operations. So we'll do our best to work around them and then find windows where we can construct when the schools are out of term. And then the construction contract, it does include liquidated damages. So we're trying to make sure that the contractor is going to be expeditious while still being safe, as well as accommodating to the customers impacted. So that's a fine balancing that they will do. Liquidated damages of $1,000 a day if they go past their time frame. And then in terms of the telecom companies, the ordinance that was previously approved by city council that took place in 2024 is active and it's working. We have seen quite a bit of more accelerated activity from the communication companies. We actually have initiated one fine to one telecom company on a project in order to get them to remove their overhead lines and it did. They took two days longer and they were fined for those two days. In terms of public notification, we started at the design and district formation process, and following that was the engineering phase. Following the district formation, we coordinated with property owners for easements and construction access as some of the construction will take place on private property. Additional notifications will coincide with the construction phases, including construction signs, mailers, and door hangers. prior to any type of planned outage. And we will have our project manager and inspectors contact information if accommodations are needed, depending on the situation. And following the undergrounding projects, we do send out feedback surveys to learn how we can always continually improve our notification and construction process. So this is what the intersection of Olive and Vermont looks like today. And magically, The lines will disappear. It will take a little while to do that, but this gives you an idea of what it will look like after we're done with the project. I want to thank our partners with Public Works who help us with the construction management as well as making sure that the contractors are going to do right in terms of the roadway access and making sure that inspections are performed appropriately. And we're available to answer any questions you may have.

I just have one other question, and that is this is not a project under the PLA because of the type of work being done.

Correct. So there is high voltage work that's being done. It is being done by IVW 47 contractors. So there is definitely training and apprenticeships and all of those good things that I believe the community workforce agreement also instills, but in a different fashion because it's a different union group.

Thank you. I don't have any further questions. I'd like to move the item.

Thank you. We have a motion and a second. I had one question, Dooku. Is there going to be the Edison lines or those main wooden lines either on this one or the Beach Boulevard project that Councilmember Bayless brought up that we're going to have to work to get removed? Or can we remove them?

So in terms of Edison lines, we've gone through the CPUC process to try to get them to underground within Anaheim. And the ruling is that they don't have to pay for undergrounding their lines. So if the city wanted to proceed with removing Edison, then we would have to find a funding source. So on Beach Boulevard, what we're doing is the utility is fronting the money. But because they're not our lines, the general fund is essentially helping for cost recovery. And that's over a period of time. So on East Street, we do have the telecommunication lines, which are the lower level lines closer to the ground. And the agreement is included in this approval request for about two hundred thousand dollars, which we think is very nominal to remove those lower level lines. The transmission poles on East that go northwest. Sorry north-south on E Street. It would be quite expensive to do just even a handful of polls And so as a result, we're not anticipating undergrounding Edison We have been actively looking for grant opportunities and one of the things that we've done is we've asked and petitioned our congressional members to see if they can get the Department of Energy to look at a distribution level types of projects because right now the grants are mostly geared towards transmission or interstate transmission types of projects.

Thank you. Motion and a second, please vote.

The vote is seven ayes, no nays. Motion carries.

The next item also pulled by Council Member Kurtz is item number eight. Would you like a staff report?

A brief staff report?

Just one moment. We have a couple of images to go with it. All right, good evening, Mayor and Council Members. The item before you is the award of a construction contract for the Boysen Skate Park project. Staff recommends awarding the contract to Molage Builders in the amount of approximately $1.57 million. This project represents phase one of the Boysen Park master plan improvements and will construct Anaheim's ninth skate park. Boysen Park renovation includes construction of a new skate park within an underutilized area near Vermont Avenue and State College Boulevard. All work will be confined to Boysen Park, and the project includes a new skate facility with bowls, rails, ramps, shade structures, landscaping, stormwater improvements, and supporting amenities. The city will coordinate construction activities with the surrounding neighborhoods, nearby schools, including Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School and Cotella High School to minimize disruptions. Construction is anticipated to begin in August of 26 and be completed by December of 26. The contractor will distribute project notification door hangers to the surrounding residential areas. And a portion of the last project you just approved, Underground District 71, will occur in Vermont Avenue. However, staff will coordinate the projects to avoid any conflicts if activities overlap. This project supports the city's strategic plan by investing in infrastructure and amenities, advancing the park's master plan, and ongoing pursuit of grant funding. This concludes my staff report, and I'm joined here by Director Larson Cash and Construction Services Manager Raul Garcia. You can answer any questions.

Thank you. There was a comment, excuse me, from a speaker earlier, and that speaker wanted to make sure that the skate park wasn't hidden in the park where it couldn't be seen. I just want to point out it's right on State College.

Can't be any more unseen.

The other thing I think it's important is that you're putting it in an area where, my understanding is that you're not having to move the giant trees that are closer to Vermont. Is that correct?

Correct. That's correct.

Now, residents were really worried about, they're worried about two things, moving the trees and moving the airplane. So... It looks like it's far enough back. Much anticipated for both districts four and five. Both our districts are really looking forward to this. So thank you for finally bringing it. Looking forward to it. And this contract is under the CWA, is it not?

That is correct.

Yeah, that's what I thought. And thank you. I have no further questions. I'd like to move the item.

Oh, sorry, Council Member Moss.

One question. Unlike baseball fields and football fields, not all skate parks are the same. Did we get any input from skateboarders in the design of this?

Yeah, I'll take that question, thank you. We actually went out to the community on several occasions and garnered their input related to the larger design of the entire park, and then again went back when we were designing just the skate park to get the input of our skaters and our neighbors related to what they want to see out there, so yes.

Thank you. I know function is really important, so I appreciate that.

I wanna add something to that. Parks had a project where families went with the kids, because they were talking about skateboard design, and they actually gave materials to kids and a map, and the kids were able to build the skate park on paper, and some of those ideas were taken. It was really heartwarming, and again, the community is so enthusiastic. Those kids that were participating in that were, On the younger side, they were eight, nine, 10. These kids are now ready to use that skate park. So thank you.

Thank you. So we have a motion and a second. Please vote.

The vote is seven ayes, no nays. Motion carries.

Thank you. Next item also with Mr. Romani is pulled number nine by Mayor Pro Tem. Would you like a staff report?

Thank you, Madam Mayor. No staff report. You don't need to pull anything up. More than anything, I just wanted to highlight the good work that we're doing. I know that our office has received a number of concerns regarding some of the residential street conditions, and this is just going to be a very important item to District 2 in West Anaheim in addressing a lot of those issues. So just wanted to say thank you and I'll move the item.

Thank you. The motion and a second, please vote.

The vote is seven ayes, no ayes, no nays. It passes.

Thank you. The next item, pulled item number 13 by Council Member Maz, also with Mr. Amani.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Just two quick questions about the timeline of the bridge and the funding source.

The timeline is anticipated to start in the third quarter of this year and be completed by 2029. It is a multi-year project and the project is being funded through the Platinum Triangle Bonds for development.

Thank you. I will move the item.

I'll second. Second, please vote. I'm gonna go, oh, go ahead. Did everybody vote?

Okay, one more. The vote is seven ayes, no nays, motion carries.

I'm gonna go out of order just because you're already at that seat. So we're gonna go to item 21, which is also Department Head Imani for Council Member Meeks.

Actually, number 13 is mine as well, if you want. Oh, I'm sorry, we did 13. Didn't we just do 13? We did 13. Okay. I can do 13 again if you like.

Don't do that to me, Rudy.

All right. Would you like a second? 21 is yours as well.

All right, just a couple questions on the sewer study. Did it include the zoning that we did as part of our housing element? So we had identified a bunch of sites for higher density, so did we incorporate that into the study?

Right, we used the current general plan that we have. So if that is part of the current general plan, then yes, it is included.

That was the current general plan a year ago, or the current general plan as of the time we did our housing element? I am going to. And didn't the housing element change some of the zoning?

It did.

Or am I confused?

So it included the Center City Master Plan that was updated that has those numbers in it, but anything done after that, it would not.

Okay. Is it a model that you can easily incorporate those things and then kind of see where the impacts go? Okay, because I think, and so then I assume it included like the Disneyland Forward densities and things like that. Okay, but if we wanted to

adjust densities in more in the resort area we could use this study to to somewhat easily kind of figure out where those pinch points are we can and remember this study also gives us the additional protection that if something is not in the general plan or if something is being requested above the general plan then it is studied separately and then it can carry excuse me carry its own set of conditions with that project right but sometimes it's hard to like do a whole new study if we can just plug it into a model and yes and that study would fund the update to this model we wouldn't start from scratch again but if we have to do an amendment to this model or update this model then we could do that and the developer would be responsible for that cost

Well, I'm thinking it might even be a city-initiated, if we wanted to give some more opportunity out there regarding density as we move forward with what we're gonna do in the resort. So just wanna make sure it's a flexible study that we can use.

Yes, in the same way the city could update the study.

Okay, thank you. You're welcome. I'll move the item.

Second, please vote.

A resolution of the City Council of the City of Anaheim adopting the Central Anaheim Master Plan of the Sanitary Sewers dated April 2026 and adopting the Central Anaheim Sanitary Sewer Financial Implementation Plan dated April 2026. And the vote is seven ayes, no nays. Motion carries.

Thank you. So we're going to go back to Council Member Maz and item number 15, which is with Chief Russell. Would you like a staff report?

I did not. Mayor Pro Temo. But thank you.

Just kidding. Sorry.

No worries. Thank you, Madam Mayor. No staff report, Chief. I figured I didn't ask you questions during the budget thing, so I could come ask questions now. I'm kidding. No staff report. I just wanted to ask, because I have had residents reach out about this issue specifically, about seeing a lot of Anaheim fire responses into the county islands and the unincorporated part of town. And so I just wanted to ask, do we have any data in terms of what those calls look like or the number of those calls?

Yes, sir. Mayor Pro Temo, I've got a little bit of data for last year. We had in that county contract area, we had 196 responses, combination of fire, medical aid, depending on what the emergency was would generate a different response. Obviously, like a structure fire would be multiple units versus a medical aid call it would be one unit and an ambulance or it could be a vehicle accident or or other things but um yeah that was our total calls into that area and and i had them look that's been very consistent for the last few years give or take 10 calls okay i appreciate that and this is separate from the mutual aid response that we do with the county and other cities right Yeah, there's basically, there's automatic aid or mutual aid, assistance by hire, which we kind of touched on earlier, and then a local agreement with pre-established rates for a specific service for a specific area, which this one falls under, because it's kind of unique. It's an unincorporated service.

uh county island in the city and then i'm gonna this is my last question and i don't know a better way to ask it um and so uh because this resident actually did reach out about this concern about anaheim taxpayer dollars uh anaheim resources being used in the county islands unincorporated part um i i just want to confirm make sure that this this contract that we would have with the county It basically, we're even, right? In terms of costs, we're not spending more money to respond to something versus what this contract is. Does that question make sense?

Yeah, since we're getting, this one is under a local agreement area, so they're paying us a set fee to provide service. But I think for your community, a better answer would be if you look at the automatic and mutual aid with Anaheim to OCFA on both the east end, on the west end, we are in the same area. parameters that we have been for for several years so you know a number of years ago when when all the orange county fire agencies decided to go closest unit concept regardless of whose agency to provide that that level of care or assistance we cross boundaries regularly Our paramedic units will go into the city of Yorba Linda. Boynton Park comes into West Anaheim. And with all cities, not just Orange County, but that happens multiple times a day and if it's a fire engine for a fire engine that's mutual aid if it's a specialty piece of equipment that's where it would be they could ask for compensation which they they never have but that's kind of the difference so even though they see our units running into there there's fullerton units coming into the north part of anaheim there's you know it's a moving target all day long to provide the closest

level of service awesome i appreciate that chief thank you i'll move the item madam mayor thank you um i think i'll second but i think there's some questions i have a couple questions and council member bayless does um so just just to be clear do you have the feeling that then between anaheim resources and the county resources it's a wash

Yeah, because if we look at the entire city, what we give and get on the west end and on the east end, I would say totality, it's very close. Mutual aid automatic aid has always been kind of measured in a, if you're giving or receiving in a 10% margin, you call it good. If it's more than that, then you have fee for service discussions and we're always in that. 10 percent margin. I think we may provide a little bit more on the east end, but we pick up quite a bit on the west end of town that's very busy. We get a lot of automatic mutual aid from the Orange County Station in Stanton and in Buena Park, or coming into Anaheim multiple times a day as the closest unit on a call.

So what is the closest unit to your Belinda? Is there an OCFA station in Yorba Linda?

There's a couple, yes, ma'am. There's station 32, 53s and station 10, I believe are all Orange County Fire Authority.

In Yorba Linda?

Yes, ma'am.

And they all have ambulances?

I don't believe so. They have a different delivery system where they have a private ambulance that has that area under contract. So I don't know how many ambulances that they have. They do have a private provider, but it's not their ambulance. It's a private contract ambulance.

Can you look into that for me and maybe we can connect at a later time? Because I'm concerned that because we are a city operated ambulance system, credit to your department, that there's not the same level of care with a private contractor out in East Anaheim. If there's no ambulance service even stationed out there, I would assume that we're getting all of the calls for ambulatory transportation.

Yeah, I'd be glad to meet and talk with you. Just for clarification, Madam Mayor, when we send a fire company as a paramedic unit into the city of Yorba Linda or another city, our ambulances do not respond. Our ambulances stay in Anaheim. The only exception that we have with agreement with other fire chiefs is if we had a major train derailment, mass shooting, something out of the normal that you need, 20 or 30 ambulances right now, we would assist with that. But normal day-to-day emergency 911 calls, our ambulance would stay in Anaheim, our paramedic unit would go into the City of Rio and Belinda, and whatever ambulance company they contract with, and I believe it's Falk, but I don't know that for sure, they would do the transport with our paramedics.

Thank you for that clarification. Councilmember Bayless and then Councilmember Rubicalla.

Thank you, Chief. Just kind of a follow-up here. I understand the mutual aid concept that's here, but the islands that's there, where these particular streets are, it falls in our service area. So if the county decided not to, say, reimburse us for that, we would still have to cover that anyways, is that correct?

Yes, sir. I believe that we would, via closest unit concept, our fire station 411 or our fire station 6 would probably be closer and would respond on the closest unit or be picked up by AVL if they're out in the area.

So then it's definitely to our benefit to have the county contract here reimburse us for some of that service.

Yes, sir. I believe it is.

Thank you.

Chief, can you just explain the logic around contracting with OCFA for this particular service versus another part of the city like Yorba Linda, for example?

I'll try. So there's a lot of different contracts when it comes to 911 services or first responder services. This contract came into being in the early 90s, if memory serves. I got the date here, but something like that, where closest unit concept, we went by station orders at the time, and it was a much different system. A contract like this basically under their fire fee is their, and the reason it's, they still do some things in there, like they do the investigations if there is a fire in there, they do the building permits and that kind of stuff. So it's not full service, basically to Council Member Bayless's point. Other areas like you could contract out full service, if I understand your question, ma'am, like OCFA being contracted to the City of Yorba Linda. More recently, as I'm sure a lot of you remember, about five years ago, the city of Placentia, who was under contract with OCFA, decided to establish and go break away from that contract and go to their own department. Really it comes down to what service level you're looking for and what service level do you want to afford? OCFA bills a couple different ways or fire fee or what would they call a rooftop taxes? Which is their fire fund based on what when you came into the county and what you what you pay like Irvine Pays quite a bit into that and sometimes there's discussions. Do they offset other cities? so it's kind of a a different conversation on what deal you're getting versus not. And then it's always the, you know, how important is local control?

And this is important and it makes more sense because it is part of Anaheim, but just unincorporated versus being a completely different city that would take one of our Anaheim Fire and Rescue ambulances out of service for residents who live in Anaheim.

Correct, it is unique because it's a very small island in the city of Anaheim. Now in the contract, I'm sure you saw that, so a medical aid in there would get an Anaheim ambulance and we would provide that transport and we would collect on that fee like we do in our ambulance program throughout the city. Back to the mayor's point on when we send a paramedic unit into Yorba Linda or Boyna Park or wherever, we do not send our ambulances. In this contract area, that small area, We do. That's part of the contract and that's part of the fee that they're paying us for that coverage.

Thank you.

With no more questions, we have a motion and a second. Please vote.

The vote is seven ayes, no nays. Motion carries.

Thank you. So item number 26 is a presentation on the city's plan for fireworks enforcement. Mr. City Manager, may I kick it off to you for a staff report?

Absolutely, yes. Thank you, Mayor. So tonight we present an informational item on our fireworks planning and enforcement strategy as we go into the 4th of July. As a city, we are not alone in this. As you know, fireworks are a problem stretching well beyond Anaheim to all of Southern California. That said, fireworks clearly are an issue for our city, specifically in some of our neighborhoods. Thankfully, for the past few years, we have not had major fire incidents during the holiday, but the 4th presents a challenge for us every single year with regard to noise and impacts. And there is more we can do. There is. This year, we are bringing new resolve and additional resources. As you'll see, we will also have more boots on the ground for the holiday weekend. That includes our police department, fire department, code, and park rangers as well. Everyone chipping in. This is very much a citywide effort. Additionally, we are deploying technology this year and utilizing and really leaning into our host liability ordinance that we passed last year. And this is all part of our heightened enforcement. We are enforcing now, and we will enforce through the holiday weekend and beyond. It won't solve everything, we know that. Unfortunately, we're already seeing and hearing fireworks in our neighborhoods, but we are significantly increasing our efforts with the goal of seeing more citations for violations and sending a clear message to those who choose to use illegal fireworks in our community. With that, and for our presentation, we have with us our Chief Communications Officer, Mike Lister, Anaheim Police Lieutenant, Jimmy Rodriguez, Anaheim Fire and Rescue Fire Marshal, Lindsey Young, and also Mark Autrebald, our Community Preservation and Licensing Manager, also head of our Code Enforcement Team. So I'll kick it off to Mike.

Mayor Aiken and Council, I want to start by acknowledging the frustration of our residents and our neighborhoods. We share that frustration. Fourth of July should be a time of fun and honoring our nation. And for many, it is. But sadly, each year we see rampant illegal fireworks that were never meant to be part of this holiday. And certainly were never meant to be part of Anaheim's reintroduction of legal fireworks in 2014. With that, we are bringing new resolve this year as part of a citywide effort. Here's a quick recap of recent fireworks history in Anaheim. In 1986, all fireworks were banned after a tragic apartment fire in the Mira Loma neighborhood. No lives were lost, but hundreds were displaced. The cause, an illegal bottle rocket. Nearly 30 years later, in 2014, voters approved an initiative allowing safe and sane fireworks, with the council retaining the ability to allow, regulate, or prohibit safe and sane fireworks. Today, eight high schools and eight nonprofits run stands each year as fundraisers. They are overseen by our fire marshal, and a lottery is done each year by the city manager's office to allow different groups to take part each year. Here is a summary of Anaheim's fireworks regulation. The key points, safe and sane only, and only on July 4th, and no fireworks of any kind other than our yearly professional display are allowed in the east because of wildfire risk. Now, telling the difference, safe and sane fireworks are clearly labeled. It's very easy to identify them. And so are illegal fireworks, very easy to identify. They are ones that leave the ground, they are the ones that explode, and they're the ones that most commonly we hear and hear about in our city. Now, fines can be very costly. For illegal fireworks, they run $1,000 to $3,000. For misuse of safe and sane fireworks, for example, by unmonitored children or at any time other than the 4th of July, fines can be $250 to $1,000. Last year, this council took a very important step by adopting what's known as host liability. This is now a section of our municipal code that allows for citations of homeowners, property owners, or occupants for knowingly allowing illegal fireworks on their properties. We'll hear more about that in just a moment. Now, even with all this, this slide shows the challenge. This isn't Anaheim, but it is our region, and it shows the widespread illegal fireworks that happen each 4th of July. With that, Lieutenant Rodriguez will address some of the enforcement challenges presented each year and also cover police staffing and enforcement plans for this year. Lieutenant.

Good evening. As previously discussed in this presentation, growing misuse of illegal fireworks has been an impact, not just in our region, but specifically to our area of responsibility. Historically, we've had some challenges with enforcement action related to illegal fireworks. mainly due to the logistical issues of detaining a violator and issuing a physical citation in the field. Not just with our staff, but we've seen some enforcement issues with our non sworn staff facing hostility, unruly crowds, and in some instances, assaults on staff. To put some of this into perspective, we experienced an extremely large call volume on this date, and even more so when the holiday falls on a Saturday, as we will experience this year. This year, we plan to address dangerous and illegal fireworks through various methods, not just uniform enforcement. We generally experience about 300-plus firework calls on any given Fourth of July, with over 2,000 total calls for service. In comparison, on any other given Friday or Saturday in Anaheim, we experience about half that call volume. to put into a little bit more, I'm sorry, go back one slide, please. A little bit more perspective what those calls numbers look like. As you can see over the last six years, the numbers are steadily in and around a little bit above 300 calls for service regarding fireworks and above generally 2000 calls for service on that day. Now to talk a little bit about the plan. First, we want to understand what our goals and objectives are. First and foremost, keep everyone safe, our residents, our visitors, and including our staff. We want to respond to all emergency calls and respond to any community concerns that might arise. We're going to issue citations. We're going to confiscate illegal fireworks and we're going to identify and respond to any and all fire threats. Also, to put something in perspective is what does our staffing look like on any given 4th of July, not just the weekend, but specifically that day. So on this day in particular, we're going to have 15 dedicated officers to working firework enforcement. We have 90 officers assigned to patrol, which includes not just our patrol deployment, but our homeless liaison officers, as well as our real-time crime center staffing. And then you add on top of that our special events, which is another 83 officers assigned to the 4th of July events out in Anaheim Hills. the various celebrations, Angels baseball, as well as still policing the resort and the Disneyland Park. So leading up to the 4th of July, what are we doing? Are we doing anything to mitigate any of these issues? And we are. We're going to be investigating illegal firework sales, working on illegal firework confiscations, as well as the use of fireworks leading up to the 4th of July, because as we all know, people just don't start lighting fireworks on the 4th. It's already started happening, and we're several weeks out from the holiday. The enforcement is going to consist of operations from our real-time crime center, our air support unit, which is going to include both manned and unmanned aircraft, as well as uniformed enforcement personnel in the field. Thank you. And with that, I'll turn it over to my.

If I may.

Oh, I'm sorry. I take that back. We have one video to kind of highlight our first enforcement efforts that actually took place this past weekend. We had a call for service that came in through our real time crime center utilizing our drone as a first responder program. We were able to respond and be on scene, not in minutes, but seconds and identify several violators. As you can see, it kind of started off fairly playful enough, and then the bottle walkers kept going, being thrown around the parking lot. Citizens were calling in and complaining about it. We were able to get our drone on scene, identify the offenders, and call in uniformed officers to detain the suspects and issue citations for illegal firework use in the city of Anna. And with that, I'll turn it over to Fire Marshal.

Thank you, Lieutenant. As part of the 2026 operational plan, Anaheim Fire and Rescue will implement a citywide deployment strategy focused on maintaining the highest level of operational readiness and emergency response capability during one of the busiest periods of the year. The objective is to ensure that the department can rapidly respond to vegetation fires, structure fires, medical emergencies, and any significant incidents as needed while maintaining uninterrupted service levels throughout the city. In addition to our normal daily fire suppression and emergency response resources, the department will deploy a dedicated 20 person task force consisting of three type three engines, two type six patrol units, one water tender and one battalion chief to oversee task force operations. This surge capacity strengthens the department's ability to manage multiple simultaneous incidents, increases initial attack capability, and provides enhanced citywide emergency coverage while maintaining full frontline service levels across the city. In compliment to this approach, the Arson Investigation Unit will deploy two additional teams of two to respond to any events requiring cause and origin determination, working in tandem with law enforcement to identify responsible parties and strengthen public safety efforts. The Community Risk Reduction, or CRR, division plays a critical role in this operational plan by administering safe and sane fireworks booth permitting and providing fire and life safety oversight at all professional fireworks displays. This year, it's currently scheduled at Disneyland, Peralta Park, and Angel Stadium. Additionally, CRR will coordinate the collection and disposal of illegal fireworks confiscated through enforcement operations over the next several weeks. Next, I'd like to turn it over to Community Preservation Supervisor Mark Dickinson.

Thank you, Lindsey. During our maximum enforcement period, code enforcement will deploy three two-person teams throughout our city. These teams will operate citywide, including East Anaheim, where all fireworks remain prohibited due to wildfire concerns. Our officers will be in marked code enforcement vehicles and conduct highly visible patrols to deter violations and respond to community concerns. The goal is not only enforcement, but education and voluntary compliance. Teams will be deployed based on historical activity, complaint volume, intelligence received through our reporting systems, and real-time information from our public safety partners. This deployment combines proactive patrols with responsive enforcement. Officers will investigate violations, gather evidence, document activity, and coordinate closely with citywide operations. One of the challenges we face each year is that illegal firework activity can start and move quickly from one location to another. By working together with ground units, air support units, and a real-time crime center, code enforcement can identify violations more effectively, respond faster, and hold violators accountable. Our objective is to increase compliance, reduce illegal firework activity, and improve neighborhood safety throughout the city. One of the biggest enhancements to our firework enforcement efforts this year is the city's citation by mail program. In the past, enforcement was often limited by our ability to contact violators in person while legal firework activity was actively occurring. As many residents know, it could be difficult on the 4th of July when incidents are happening across the city at the same time. To address that challenge, Anaheim now uses an evidence-based enforcement approach supported by the city's host liability ordinance. This means citations can be issued after the holiday based on evidence collected during our operations, including observations from code enforcement and police personnel, drone and helicopter footage, photographs, video recordings, and other investigative methods. As a result, individuals who knowingly allow firework activity on the property they own, occupy, or control may be held accountable, even if an enforcement officer is not present at the property at the exact moment the violation occurs. The goal is straightforward, increase accountability, improve public safety, and reduce potentially dangerous confrontations between violators and enforcement personnel. We're also conducting proactive outreach to apartment owners, property managers, and housing providers to ensure they understand the responsibilities under the Host Liability Ordinance and the steps they could take to prevent illegal firework activity on their properties. This message, excuse me, the message this year is simple. If illegal fireworks are used on a property, enforcement actions may follow and a citation can arrive after the holiday based on documented evidence collected during our operations. While code enforcement and APD focus on neighborhood enforcement, our park rangers also play an important role in protecting city parks and open spaces during the holiday period.

Thank you, Mark. Yes, our park rangers will be part of our eyes and ears on the fourth. We will see our regular team of five rangers led by a senior lead, plus two teams, additional teams, for a total of eight rangers on duty. They will advise and educate that fireworks are never allowed in city parks. With a goal of gaining voluntary compliance, and involving and working with police as needed. They'll also serve as fire watch patrols at Deer Canyon and Oak Canyon Nature Center in the east where our wildfire risk is highest. Along with park rangers, you will also see high visibility signs going up in our parks in June, about two weeks out from the holiday. There's no missing these signs and they are very clear and they are very direct. They'll go up in all 68 parks and they are part of a larger messaging campaign that illegal fireworks are not going to be tolerated this year. Our public works colleagues are also part of our citywide effort. We will have 10 roadway message signs going up on June 22nd. They will be at high profile intersections from west to east, and they will make clear that illegal fireworks are never allowed. And in the east, the messaging indicates that no fireworks of any kind are allowed. Here is an at a glance look at our communications. It starts with anaheim.net slash fireworks, that is in the upper left, which includes our online link to report illegal fireworks activity. We are also doing videos with our first one last week about stepped-up enforcement and the potential of receiving citations by mail. A insert to utility bills is arriving now through early July, and that's in the upper right. It is bilingual. We're just happening to show one here for mail. economy of space. We'll also utilize social media for a series of informational posts. Some of our community centers have free yard signs available for those who may want them. Those are pictured at the bottom row in the middle. And we're also spreading the word at our open houses last week, this week and beyond, and via our city newsletter, including the recent June edition that just went out and July's upcoming edition ahead of the holiday. Mayor and council, this marks a significant increase in our efforts and a responsible integration of technology. With our host liability law, we are moving from last year's introduction and education to enforcement. We know the challenge is big. We are already hearing fireworks in our neighborhood. And to set expectations, we will still encounter fireworks in the days ahead, even with stepped up enforcement. But we fully expect to see citations. We thank you for holding this informational session, which is part of our raising of awareness of the real possibility of getting cited for doing illegal fireworks or potentially, without warning, receiving a violation in your mail after the fact. If residents see someone in the act of doing illegal fireworks, then they can call the Anaheim Police non-emergency line at 714-765-1900. That's 714-765-1900. As with any call to police, be ready with a description of a person who may be doing illegal fireworks. a specific location, and other helpful details. If you're just hearing fireworks but can't quite see who's doing them, then a call to police may not be the most effective action in that case. Go to anaheim.net slash fireworks and report that general activity. As Mark mentioned, we will use those reports to target our task force patrols. With that, counsel, we turn this to you for discussion and any questions you may have.

Thank you so much, team, for continuously every year trying to help us tackle what I know is one of the most irritating issues that our residents feel and have to face during this time. Mr. Lister, I wanted to ask you, so you said people could go to the website if they're not quite sure. Does that same thing hold true with MyAnaheim? Do we want people to report it through the app or do we want people to go to the website or call?

Yes, either one would work. We like to use anaheim.net slash fireworks as a very easy way to remember to go to it. I'll go back to that. You can see in the upper left there, once you get on the page, there's a very clear red bar there to click. So we do want to make it easy for them because we are asking them to take that extra step. But should somebody report it via MyAnaheim app or Anaheim Anytime, that is also an effective way for us to take that data, put it into a heat map that we use, and that becomes the basis for us to know where are our particular problem areas in concentration.

And will the drop down menu in my Anaheim have fireworks as a category that we could add just during this time?

It does not at this time, but we can certainly look into the prospect of that, particularly around this time of year.

Thank you. Council member Kurtz.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I have a few questions. Back up to the non-profits and the high schools that are very supportive of Safe and Sane Fireworks because there are fundraisers for them. Do we have any idea of how much they make out of selling the fireworks?

We do keep track of that year over year. It varies, obviously, depending on which year. In 2025, firework booth sales were at almost $164,000.

And who decides, or is this all done by lottery, which high schools are going to be where? Because I imagine the location drives a lot of the traffic, and so some high schools make a lot more money than others do. Is that all determined by lottery?

so the lottery just uh well first of all let me back up the high schools all the public high schools don't have to enter the lottery they're automatic the eight public high schools so they get their their boost no matter what every year the lottery is for other non-profits to qualify and so we try and refresh that and change that out regularly with regard to your question about location. So each high school and nonprofit is able to work with the fireworks vendor of their choice, whether it's, I'm blanking on the- TNT. TNT, and there are others. We don't normally see them very often, but, and so they work with TNT who throughout the year works on locations. and tries to secure locations for that week. And then they try, I think they try their best to keep them in the general area of their school to be around their supporters.

Okay. Over the last couple of years, last few years at least I've been on council. I mean this is, during this time of year it's the number one complaint I think that we all get. And calls have been made into primarily the police department. So we have data that tells us which areas have received the most calls, or which areas that are more impacted by fireworks, because I've got residents who say my neighborhood's a war zone. Tell them to call. In the past, no one has shown up, but at least I'm assuming we've registered those calls, so we have data as to where the greatest problems are.

We do, we have heat map availability and depending on the date range that we use, we can narrow it down a lot. I will say though that the heat map when you zoom out from it is all across the city.

So as, especially on the third and the fourth, when we'll have most activity, are we already gonna have officers, whether they be code enforcement officers, police officers, already kind of in those areas so that they're ready to respond?

Yes, ma'am. Excuse me. So leading up to the event, this is going to be an ongoing practice of proactively going out and responding to these calls, like the video we showed. We've already started doing it. So we will continue to do that, and then we go fully operational with our task force, starting on the 2nd, going through the 4th.

OK. When will the signs go up in the parks?

They will go up just in mid to late June, about two weeks out from the fourth. And there is a rationale for that. If we put them out too early, people become accustomed to them and they lose their effect. So we've picked a little bit closer to the holiday for a little bit more maximum impact. And then I did, just quick on heat map, I did go back to our roadway signs, with the exception of those in the east, because no one should be doing fireworks there, but generally where we place the roadway signs do reflect high areas of illegal fireworks being reported.

You left out my neighborhood. The reality is that those shooting off the illegal fireworks are not apt to look at our social media, at our website. How are we going to make sure those communities learn about what we're going to be doing from now on? You can get to some of the homeowners, you can get to some of those folks, but the people that are, a lot of the folks that are doing this, again, are not on the city's social media. They are not on our reporting sites. How do we reach that population?

I will share with you that fireworks, whenever we put it on our social media, is one of the most widely seen, shared, and viewed things that we do. An incident like we had, unfortunately, in Garden Grove, Two weeks ago, something like that will get a high level of visibility. Anything involving trash pickup and street sweeping, those issues that really hit home with people. Fireworks is up there. So the video we posted... just a few days ago is already at 100,000 views and it's growing from there. So I will just offer that fireworks, while there is a challenge trying to reach everyone, fireworks is a topic that does get a lot of exposure and sharing. And of course I will defer to my colleagues here, but unfortunately for others who may not see it and end up doing it, Sometimes that's what enforcement is there for. And people will learn by word of mouth. I got a ticket in the mail or somebody actually got cited. And hopefully that will be another channel in which people learn about the risk to doing illegal fireworks.

Only one other idea. I know the schools will be out for the summer, but all of them have the electronic boards. Have we attempted to work, especially with the elementary schools, because those are more in the neighborhoods, about some information on their boards?

That is a great suggestion, and let me look into that.

Thank you. That's all I have for now.

Thank you, Council Member. Council Member Moss and then Council Member Meeks.

Thank you. Thank you. I just wanted to clarify about apartment owners. So based on our outreach, if a tenant sets off a firework, the apartment owner will be fined. Is that correct?

Yes, ma'am. Due to the host liability ordinance, they will be fined. Yes.

Okay, thank you. Sounds like apartment owners need to educate their tenants.

We've, sorry ma'am, and we've already reached out and spoke to two of the executive directors and they are completely aware and they're pushing their outreach as well.

Thank you. I get really frustrated when I see the staffing levels and how much we're spending on bad decisions and dangerous behavior, but I do appreciate the collaborative effort in putting this plan together and executing it. So thank you in advance for your time.

Yeah, I want to say thank you. I mean, the host ordinance was something that I was one of the champions of last year. And although my district doesn't have a huge problem with illegal fireworks, because it is such an issue, but one or two Bottle rockets, one bottle rocket, can be devastating. So the extra enforcement, the extra outreach, very important across the city for all of us. I mean, yes, people think it's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye. The $164,000 you said that they sold in fireworks, is that the profit side or is that the sales side?

I'm not 100%. I can confirm on that.

I can share with you a little bit about that. That would be sales side. Generally, my understanding is that an individual stand could make anywhere from $15,000 to $30,000. They benefit because it is a community model. So when you ask about sales versus profit, they actually have volunteers working these stands. They do need to provide security.

And they need to do the security and they need to buy the firework.

Of course, that's the biggest cost.

I mean, if it's only 160, I mean, that's like $20,000 per location. And if they have to spend 10 of that buying fireworks, it's not very much.

Yes. I believe in our after action report every year, I think we provide the amount that was raised by the various groups. And I believe there's a net number in that report as well.

Okay, all right, thanks.

That's all I had. I just want to say thank you. Thank you. Council Member Bayless and then Council Member Rubicova.

Thank you. I do want to say thank you to staff for putting this together. First question I'll ask is, has any citations been made or nine days into June, I know, so I'm just curious, has any citations been made at this point? Yes, sir. We've had two from the video that we showed this. This was from this past weekend. Perfect. The second thing I wanted to say is I know you said identification. Just FYI, maybe for you, I don't know to put this up there, but every legal Safe and Sane Firework has stamped with the California Safe and Sane stamp on it. If it doesn't have the stamp on it, it is not legal, safe, or sane. I don't know if you want to include that. That's something to look for, for sure, in case people are confused. The last point I wanted to bring up is this. I appreciate the effort here for 4th of July. I'm hoping that there's a couple of days that we're looking to get some additional enforcement out before the 4th. I'm wondering if we might be able to hold this over, say, maybe slightly for New Year's Eve, and then another time, oftentimes we see it, especially if a local team around here wins the World Series, maybe a Super Bowl. Those types of activities immediately following seem to also elicit the illegal behavior, so I don't know if it's possible to also look and extend it to those times as well. Thank you.

So to address your comment real quick, this was something we tried to put in practice for this past New Year's Eve, almost as a trial run for 4th of July. And if you remember on New Year's Eve, it rained the entire night and we had zero fireworks calls. But we do plan to put this in place for any of those other events where we would anticipate fireworks occurring.

Thank you. I appreciate you putting this together. How are we going to be using drones for the 4th of July as well? Because I have a lot of constituents who've actually requested or asked how drones would be used and if that's even a possibility.

So the use of drones leading up to the 4th is a lot easier than to use on the 4th. The FAA is pretty clear about the 4th of July and not a good idea to be using drones that can be shot out of the sky, especially after a certain time and threshold. And we're also limited on the actual fourth because there's an Angels baseball game going on and there's a flight restriction in a big chunk in the area where we're allowed to fly. So we have to be a little strategic when and how we use them. On the actual fourth, if we need to use them in certain areas, they can go up as long as they're in a safe area and we feel comfortable that if something happened to that drone, it's not going to fall out of the sky and hurt someone.

In past years, how many citations have we been able to give out? I know that's a question that my constituents ask pretty frequently.

Prior to last year, I don't have those numbers, but I know last year, I believe it was one.

So I know this is frustrating for many people to hear, but there were none last year. But no one should mistake that for a lack of contact or presence. There would literally be more than 100, if not hundreds, of contacts. The officers in the field have a challenge, as we outlined here today. And there may be occasions where we do have to allow them discretion, where they come out there, provide a very stern warning and say, if I'm coming back, there could be a citation, but they may have other higher priority calls they have to go to. In previous years, we can see anywhere from three to five or more citations, but we are in a new period now. and we have a new approach this year. We've shared with you a new resolve, and we can't promise any certain amount of citations because they always have to be based on activity and evidence. But I can tell you that the team is certainly committed and knows that the level of activity out there certainly has the potential to see many more citations this year.

We've already made progress, right? Two versus zero from last year, so that's good. So back to the safe and sane. So since council has discretion to roll back this policy, do you think that that would actually help with enforcement if all fireworks were banned from the city of Anaheim?

That one's a... That one is obviously an opinion question and hard to gauge what the actual result of a move like that would be. In terms of enforcement, I can tell you if we had a zero tolerance, we had no fireworks, it would be an easier enforcement effort. But in terms of it being really a statewide issue and would we really have an impact on the areas around us, that is really hard to, but it's always an option that if council wants to go that direction, we'd be willing to figure out how to make that successful.

I have a loud group of constituents who have requested that. And one of the things that I think as council members were threatened with is what TNT has actually said to us is, well, you'll hurt your constituents because of the fundraising. But if we educate a lot of these nonprofits, the amount of time and energy spent to sell these fireworks does not benefit them or the kids who are out there selling them. So for me, that's something that I would be interested in exploring. It does. I know it puts a burden on our police officers to have to go out there and enforce and take safe and sane away from little kids on 4th of July or another day. it is something that has been a big concern for my residents so i i love the progress that we're making and maybe we'll see what happens after this but i'll already warn everybody who's already involved in this is that we will get a lot of emails and concerns about fireworks so I know that this was an action that we took to not have to look at banning safe and sane, but it is something that I would probably be interested in exploring after 4th of July to see how this goes. But thank you guys for your effort. I really do appreciate it. And I'll make sure that the residents in the colony have all of this information as well.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I won't repeat everything that's been said. I just do appreciate all the work of our city staff and teams in preparing for the 4th of July holiday. I would say that as someone who has worked the fireworks stand for a number of years now with my alma mater and my band program, I can say that these fundraisers are actually very, very important to them. And maybe it's not a significant amount of money, but it is a significant chunk and it's significant enough for them and making sure that they have the funding to go to different tournaments and be able to do what it is that they do. And I know that's not what we're talking about right now, I just wanted to kind of also provide some context or additional context from the other side of things where this actually is a very, for some groups, this is the big fundraiser of the year. I know this year we have two of our veteran groups that are gonna be out there selling fireworks as well. This is, they didn't get a fireworks stand last year and they were hurting. And so this does provide that opportunity for them. I wanted to ask Lieutenant, your slide said that there's gonna be 15 dedicated officers for fireworks enforcement. Can you just clarify for me, does that mean that there's an additional 15 officers that are gonna be out there patrolling? Are they gonna be in a certain area? What does that look like?

Thank you. It's going to be a mixture of different teams that are going to be spread out throughout the busiest areas of the city.

Okay. So in terms of the specific 15 officers, it's not like there's just in addition to, it's not 15 additional officers that otherwise wouldn't be out there in a car or anything like that?

On that evening, the majority of them would not normally be out there. We're utilizing one of our suppressions teams to assist with fireworks during a certain operational period. And that 15 consists of various offers from around the department that are coming in special for that day. Got it. As well as on the second and third as well.

Okay, thank you. What would be the message to residents that would say, I'm just gonna wait till eight or nine o'clock. They're not gonna be able to see anything. They're not gonna be able to do anything. What would our message be to them?

Well, I can tell you our suppression teams are going to be out all night. Some of our aerial teams aren't going to be able to be out after a certain time. Even our helicopter, after a certain period of time, like that picture you saw, that's very relative of what Anaheim looks like. And after about 8 or 9 o'clock, the sky is blanketed in smoke, and it's very hard for the helicopter to see. But that's not going to stop our suppression teams from being out and proactively going after not just the calls for service, but independently going out on their own just looking for the areas where they know there could be hot spots.

Thank you, and then just a clarification, dovetailing off of the mayor's question about uploading to MyAnaheim or Anaheim Anytime, can you clarify for me, is the citation that one of our officers or a drone needs to see it, or if a neighbor takes a picture of somebody doing an illegal firework or setting that off, does that suffice to then follow up with a citation?

Having third-party information or images could be a challenge. It depends how it's captured, what it captured on, how can we validate it, how do we know it's not AI? So in a more likely world, it would be us out there either recording it, viewing it from our drone feeds, from our helicopter feeds, or officers out on the field filming it themselves. There is a way to cooperate that I just couldn't say on any given case. We would have to go out there and treat each incident on its own face value.

Got it. OK, thank you for that. And again, thank you for all the work that you all do. And I know that we've focused a lot on reports, on policies, on metrics and enforcement, and that the risk and danger is very real. And I want to highlight that. I want to acknowledge the memory of Jasmine Nguyen. Jasmine was an eight year old Anaheim resident, tragically lost her life last year in an incident that involved illegal fireworks. And Jasmine's family experienced an unimaginable loss on what should have otherwise been a celebratory day. And so as we approach another Fourth of July to all of our residents, I hope that we carry that perspective with us and that her memory encourages all of us to watch out for one another. paying attention when something appears unsafe, making responsible choices, simple actions that can make a really meaningful difference for our community. So I'm hoping that our residents, however you're celebrating, we all have a role to play in keeping our neighborhoods safe. But again, I want to appreciate, thank our city staff and appreciate everyone that's been working on this. Thank you.

Thank you, just one last question. Mentioned in Anaheim anytime, this is gonna be a weekend, is somebody gonna be looking at those reports in real time or are they gonna wait till Monday to look at them?

either anaheim.net slash fireworks or Anaheim Anytime, there can be a delay. So if you are actually seeing an urgent matter and you're identifying, you can see this activity happening, well, that's where you wanna call 1900, our police non-emergency line. And of course, I wanna pause and say in a real emergency, some dangerous situation that someone sees, that's what you use 911 for. But yes, everyone should be aware that on a weekend, there could be a delay with Anaheim Anytime or the fireworks reporting.

Thank you.

Thank you. So as this is an informational item, there's no action by council. Item number 27 was removed, so we are now moving to item number 28, which is a public hearing. Clerk, can you please read?

Thank you, Mayor. Item number 28 is a public hearing on the status of city vacancies, recruitment, and retention efforts pursuant to Assembly Bill 2561.

Mr. City Manager, do we have a staff report for this item?

Yes, Mayor, our staff report will be provided by our HR Director, Linda Handel.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. To my left is Luz Flores. She's our recruitment manager and will be assisting me this evening. Let me gather my notes just a second. All right, this evening's public hearing is regarding AB2561, which requires public agencies to present information regarding full-time vacancies, recruitment and retention efforts, and any actions taken to improve hiring processes prior to the adoption of the budget. The intent of AB2561 is to underscore the importance of maintaining adequate staffing levels and to reduce any operational challenges that can result from high vacancies, including employee burnout and increased turnover. The legislation also requires additional information be provided upon request when vacancies within a single bargaining unit reach or exceed 20% of authorized full-time budgeted positions. Fortunately, the city remains well below this threshold across all bargaining units. Finally, also as required by law, all labor groups were notified and invited to participate in this hearing and provide comments. However, no requests to join us this evening have been received. They were also provided notices of their vacancies within their bargaining units as well. The city currently has five full-time labor unions representing 10 different bargaining units. As shown in the table before you, no bargaining unit exceeds the 20% vacancy threshold. As of May 11th, the city had 2,082 represented full-time positions with 149 vacancies. This represents an overall vacancy rate of approximately 7%. While vacancy rates are below the statutory threshold, we continue to work collaboratively with departments to address recruitment challenges and implement targeted and creative strategies to support their individual operational needs. Again, as of May 11th, this slide reflects the 278 successful full-time recruitments for represented full-time positions. Of important note is the 33,000 applications reviewed, resulting in over 700 job placements in various full-time and part-time positions. The city has about 1,300 part-time positions. This includes 427 new hires and 263 promotions throughout the city. Since last fiscal year, applications received increased by 21%. This increase reflects several positive factors that could include a strong market interest in public service careers, Anaheim's strong reputation as an employer of choice, expanded recruitment outreach efforts by the division led by Luce, increased visibility through online recruitment platforms and social media, and competitive compensation benefits offerings and employee programs and incentives. Here are just a few of recruitment's proactive strategies and initiatives to enhance the candidate experience, support departments, and reduce time to fill vacancies. The first one is we enhanced our onboarding procedures, providing all pre-employment documents, benefit materials, and mandatory training to candidates prior to their start date. We expanded the use of Spark Hire to support virtual candidate screening through one-way interviews. This tool provides greater scheduling flexibility and allows HR and our hiring managers to efficiently evaluate larger applicant polls. We implemented critical testing, reducing time to hire of dispatchers by approximately four weeks. We also added supplemental background investigators and post-certified psychologists to expedite the hiring of both police and fire positions. And we also attend career and college fairs. I think it's appropriate to actually give Luce and her team a big shout out at this point. They're a mighty team of five, and they have accomplished everything under recruitment, supporting every department in the city, whether it's recruitment, the testing process, and then the onboarding as well. In the area of retention is another area that we must present on, and our retention rate is strong at 95%. A key component of our retention strategy is investing in our employees and fostering a workplace culture that supports growth, engagement, and well-being. Without Council's continued support and direction to maintain competitive compensation, the City has and continues to evaluate classifications to adjust salary ranges to remain at the 75th percentile. while offering longevity incentives for certain classifications. We also prioritize employee development through various skills training, well-being through our vision pop-ups, health fairs, biometric and longevity screening, and our robust vitality program. And as mentioned in our city manager report this evening, we want to make sure we celebrate our employees as well, and we host a fun employee appreciation to celebrate them and their accomplishments. We continue to take steps to identify areas where we can improve and enhance our hiring process and retention efforts. and we remain committed to attracting, developing, and retaining a talented workforce that can continue delivering high quality services to our community. This concludes our presentation and Luce and I are available to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you. Are there any questions by council at this time? If not, we can open the public hearing and see if we have any speaker cards.

Mayor and City Council, we do have one, Mark Herbert, and the time limit is three minutes.

Mark Herbert, AnaheimGreece.com. It seems like if you're interested in public comments, on slow nights like this, you would maybe allow up to five minutes, just as on busy nights, you suggest people reduce it from three to fewer. Okay. At this hearing, I look back at last year's hearing, June 10th, 2025 comes to mind at the five hour, one minute and 48 second mark. That's when Joanna Barris, president of the Anaheim Municipal Employees Association spoke up about the number of vacancies in dispatch. 26.3% was in police dispatch. There were 10 vacancies and there were four vacancies with the fire dispatchers. So it's been a battle. In September of that year, I was at a district three meeting and there was some officers there and I asked how the vacancies were going, fulfilling them in the dispatchers. And they said at that time in September, there were still four. So looking forward, I know it's a never ending battle remaining competitive in the job market. And I would suggest as, Ms. Barras said that competitive pay was a big driving force and employee picnics maybe weren't as big. With taking her lead, I would suggest the city double down on their housing incentive programs. And it was mentioned tonight on the housing trust fund was able to set up their first sale or assist. And I thought that was good. But when the affordable unit target is 9,100 units, I think maybe a little more effort. And I'm sure effort usually comes down to a lack of funding. So I'd like to suggest two sources of funding, an entertainment tax. We've discussed that before. And second, this one hasn't. I touched upon it in the... Earlier, the California Affordable Housing and Sustainable Committee Program, which I have the numbers now, distributed $4 billion over the last 10 years, and Anaheim received none in the eight proposal periods. Santa Ana, on the other hand, was able to do 300 and, oh, I wrote it down this time, 326 units. So I would say, look to Santa Ana, how are they able to tap into that state money? And we haven't been able to do it. I'd say it's a lack of commitment.

Mayor and city council, that concludes our in-person speakers. Noting for the record, we did not receive any public electronic comments on the public hearing.

Thank you. So I'll now close the public hearing. Are there any further comments or questions by council? If not, is there a motion? Motion and a second, please vote.

The vote is seven ayes, no nays. Motion carries to receive and file the report.

Thank you. Next is a report on closed session. Mr. City Attorney.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. No reportable action for closed session.

Thank you. Now is the time for future agenda requests by Council. Council Member Kurtz.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'd like to bring two different groups to Council for recognition. One are three... Students at Anaheim Ballet, Logan Ostaskowski, Antonella Via, Shane Wexelman, they represented Anaheim at the premier ballet student competition in the country. You actually have to be invited to the competition. And they represented Anaheim and would like to bring them in for recognition. I'd also like to invite the Madres Comunidad Ponderosa, the Ponderosa moms. Not only are they responsible for putting together the Christmas tree lighting at Ponderosa Park every year, they're also taking care of the neighborhood. They actually put together a neighborhood cleanup worked with city staff on their own, didn't reach out. They want to learn how to take care of their neighborhood and are doing a phenomenal job. I'd like to recognize them. Lastly, I'd like to invite the Visit Anaheim marketing manager in. While they were giving their annual report, a couple council members asked about the data that were used to determine really how much money is Visit Anaheim bringing to our city? They cited a couple of industry standard reports that they use. I don't know much about the reports and how they work and how they collect their data, but I'd like to have somebody come in and maybe give a presentation on the data that's used, how it's collected, so that we can in the future make some really good decisions about Visit Anaheim's annual report and what they're doing with the monies that they're collecting.

Thank you. Council Member Moss.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I would like to request a future recognition for George Gilliam. Through his leadership at Creative Identity, George has helped adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities build confidence, creativity, and meaningful community connections through art for more than 30 years.

Thank you. Council Member Rubalcalva.

I would just like to bring in Leonard Salazar for recognition. And then I just wanted to remind the mayor about closing the meeting in memory of Alan Grainer.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I wanted to agenda as a recognition for the 100th birthday of Angie Beckia. Also wanted to bring in Servite High School's boys golf team. They are CIF Southern Section Division I champions, as well as Servite High School's track and field team for their CIF state championship back-to-back and finishing as well. Finishing as the nation's best in all three relays. So go Servite High School. And then I know there were a couple other requests, including Hot Car Awareness Day. If we could add that to the list. And then another 100th birthday, and someone stopped me and somebody else was already going to do this. I believe it is for Marie Antoinette Bueno. I think we got that request.

Wonderful. Thank you. So with no other business before the council, I'd like to adjourn the meeting in memory of former Mayor Fred Hunter, Alan Grainer, and Tran Cao. Thank you, and we'll see you on June 23rd.