City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We're going to have the call to order. We will have the invocation by Reverend Eva Ty Irwin of the Church of the Good Shepherd, who will also lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Let's rise.

Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem Paul Cheng, distinguished council members, Arcadians, and guests present this evening. Let us pray. Gracious and loving creator of us all, we come to you with hearts full of thanksgiving for the many blessings you bestow upon our city, our work, and our families. Thank you for the gift of this city and the people who call it home. We lift up our elected officials and civic leaders present at this meeting We ask that you grant them wisdom beyond their own, the courage to do what is right, and the patience to listen to one another. This evening, we pray that every action taken and every word spoken be done with integrity and the best interests of our community at heart. And even in this midst of challenging and changing times, may you continue to guide our leaders and our city towards harmony, prosperity, and peace. Amen. I invite you now to face the flag, remove any caps or hats, and place your right hand over the heart. Join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please be seated.

May we have the roll call of the city council members?

Council Member Cao?

Here.

Council Member Fu?

Here.

Council Member Kwan? Here. Mayor Pro Tem Ching?

Here. May we have any supplemental information from the city manager regarding agenda items?

good evening mr mayor pro tem and members of the city council if you can allow me just a little bit of an indulgence i think i'll make a little longer comments that i normally do during this part of the meeting just to make sure we set the stage for everybody that's gathered here today um first of all to everybody in the audience let me say thank you for coming tonight you're all very welcome it's an important evening for the city and we're glad to see that you are here to share your voice I'm sure that many people here are here because of the situation regarding former Mayor Eileen Wang, and we understand that you have questions and concerns. The city council and the city staff are here to listen to those concerns. I've had the opportunity to work here for over 14 years, and I could say the one unifying thing of the city council is I've had the pleasure of serving for. are that they listen to the community, they're interested in what the community has to say, and they take your thoughts very seriously. So for those that are going to share your thoughts tonight, thank you very much for doing so. But I also ask that you keep in mind that there is no agenda item tonight concerning the issues regarding former Mayor Wang. She is no longer with the city, and there's no action that can be taken by the city council related to those federal charges that she is now facing. We have received a lot of comments and questions regarding those charges related to Eileen Wang. And to make sure that we're all on the same page about what has transpired, let me just briefly reiterate that Eileen Wang voluntarily resigned from office on May 11th. She has been charged with acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government, specifically the People's Republic of China. She has pled guilty and awaits sentencing. And the criminal charges she is facing are for conduct that happened before she was on the city council here in Arcadia. In a time like this, it's natural for everyone to ask why the community didn't act sooner. And I'll tell you that my role as the city manager of this community is providing the city council with fair objective and impartial advice. That responsibility includes preparing for a range of potential scenarios and outcomes. Following the arrest federally of Council Member Wang's partner, Mike Sun, I had conversations with each city council member, including Council Member Wang, regarding potential implications. Those discussions included broader potential consequences for Council Member Wang, including the possibility of the need to resign. The city staff and I also committed at that time to keeping the community informed with reliable information and ensured that we were available to our federal partners to assist in any way as needed. In the nearly 15 months that transpired after that arrest, the FBI did not contact the city with any information regarding the case to Mr. Sun. Nor was anyone informed of any investigation involving any other individual, namely Eileen Wang. As a public agency, an important part of our responsibility is recognizing the limits of our authority and respecting the jurisdiction of other entities. Federal criminal matters do not fall under the jurisdiction of the city of Arcadia or the city council. I do not believe the city community wants the city council to act based on speculation rather than on evidence, especially in matters of justice. Regardless of what could have been concluded based on what was happening and known at the time, at no time could the city council have removed Eileen Wang from office. The city charter only allows the city council to remove another member if the person is convicted of a serious crime or abandons the office. Even today, those conditions have not been met. Otherwise, it's left to the voters to recall a council member if they CHOOSE TO DO SO AND NO RECALL EFFORT WAS INITIATED IN DISTRICT 3 IN THE LAST 15 MONTHS. SO MOVING ON TO OUR NEXT STEP THE NEXT THING WE'LL BE DOING TONIGHT IS THE PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD ON THE AGENDA. Please keep in mind that the rules of decorum and procedure are in effect, and we will remove people if necessary. Please keep in mind that cheering and booing and calling out is not productive, and it disrupts the meeting for others. It's hard to get up and speak. If you're one of the people that are getting up there, it is very difficult to speak. So we ask that you listen to what everybody has to say, even if you strongly disagree with what they have to say. We would want to give everyone the same courtesy we would expect for ourselves. If you have banners or signs, which I'm not seeing any this evening, just make sure they're not blocking anybody's field of view. Please don't leave anything in the aisles, camera equipment included. We need to make sure that our pathways of travel are safe and secure. Speaking with the mayor pro tem before the meeting, it looks like we have about 18 or 19 cards submitted at this time. That would mean based on our rules of decorum, it would be three minutes to speak per speaker. so we ask everybody to respect that time limit there is a timer at the microphone there that little color-coded box it'll go red yellow or green yellow and then red when your time is up please state your name and your address for the record it helps for the council to know who they're hearing from specifically please refrain from personal attacks on anyone and keep it to the issues that you wish to raise please address the city council in front of you this is your time to speak with them directly later tonight on the city council agenda the city council will be selecting new leadership deciding how to handle the vacancy and deciding how to handle the vacancy at district 3. your input on those two topics are very much appreciated during this next public comment period when the city council shifts into deliberations later we ask that you allow them their time to discuss and determine how to proceed And finally, on a more personal note, let me just say that Eileen Wang's conduct is deeply disappointing and harmful, but the responsibility there ultimately rests with the individual who committed those acts. Arcadia has long benefited from the contributions of Chinese American residents and immigrant families who have made and helped shape and strengthen our community over many decades. We should not allow the actions of one individual to unfairly cast suspicion on an entire community that has contributed so much to this city. And we should also not allow the actions of one individual to divide a community as wonderful as we have here in the city of Arcadia. So thank you, council members, for allowing me to make these remarks. And with that, I'll turn it back to you for the public comment period.

Thank you, sir. We have a total of 18 cards. What I do, just to make it easy, is I alphabetize everything that I see. If you've put your first name only, that'll be in the alphabetical order. And so therefore, the first person to speak is Angela. Next person on deck would be Batman.

Good evening, council members. I'm here in regards to a prior event that took place in 2024 during Paul Chang's campaign. I spoke out at a prior city council meeting back on October 15, 2024, where I stated that I had been harassed by police department and fire department union staff members during a campaign rally for Paul Chang. Chang later commented in the meeting that my statement and claims were false and untrue. I have a letter signed by retired Chief Nakamura confirming that my complaint and allegation against Detective Whiter was found to be true. According to the statement in my letter, it is the policy of the Arcadia Police Department to investigate all complaints regarding our personnel. A thorough investigation was conducted into your allegations, including an examination of the evidence and interview with the officer involved. At the conclusion of the investigation, a violation was sustained. This means that the actions of an officer were found to violate law of the department policy. Paul Chang has has supported and spoken highly of Eileen Wang and her illegal conduct even after the city council members were made aware of and warned by the meeting with the FBI in 2023 regarding foreign influence on city government in the San Gabriel Valley. Yet Council Member Chang has had the nerve to completely disregard and negate me and the residents of the Arcadia community. I do not appreciate to be called a liar. In Council Member Chang's own words from October 21st, 2025 City Council meeting, he stated, no one was compromised. And also you preached about the city staff, but misconduct, I should say that the city staff maintains high quality conduct, but misconduct must be held accountable. In Council Member Chang's own words also, I feel the way that he states about causing fear, uncertainty, and doubt, I feel you are causing that. in this current City Council's ability to manage important community issues and its budget matters. It is disgusting how no one supported, in the City Council, Councilmember Kwan when she asked to put the issue regarding ex-Mayor Wang's illegal conduct and CCP affiliation on future agenda so that Arcadia residents had a chance to speak on the issue. I did not appreciate the fact that no one supported her.

That is time, ma'am.

The next person will be Batman. The next one up on deck is Tom Beck.

Good evening, members of the public. This case law that I'm gonna read into the record represents individuals who are illegal agents and terrorists to our country. United States versus Bagdasarian. Let's get familiar with the words. No less troubling is the defendant's second statement imploring others to shoot the nig. Lest this country be fucked for another four years because never in the history has a blank done anything right. Now when our law punishes words, our law should punish the insecurities of such a person by the name of Wang Yilin, the acting illegal agent of the city of Arcadia. Don't whitewash, don't cover up, stick to the law and abide by the rules of the law. Otherwise, the words of the law refer to this statement On Brandenburg versus Ohio, 395 U.S. 444, 1969. How far is the nigger going to, yeah. This is what we're going to do to the niggers. A dirty nigger. Send the Jews back to Israel. Let's give them back to the dark garden. Save America. Where is the justice in America to save? Let's go back to constitutional betterment. Bury the niggers, we intend to do our part. Governs our state rights, freedom for whites, and nigger will have to fight for every inch he gets from now on. Now, what is the theory of my conversation tonight with you? Is it that we should allow elected officials to bamboozle the public, such as in the city of Los Angeles? The second largest city in Los Angeles allowed Jose Luis Huizar and developers, scumbags, to destroy America? Or let's go further. What about the Indian from Anaheim, the mayor there? What did that scumbag do with development? So you see, I don't speak facts. I make statements that are true. I uphold to the laws the same laws that I enact and say from here, the heart is here, but the mind says 42 SC 1983 politely, fuck you. Thank you. Here are my documents for the record, sir. Right over here?

Yeah, you can put some up here. Yes, ma'am. Thank you.

Oh, that's not... Former Mayor Tom Beck. The next one would be Mark Bauer. Thank you.

Thank you. The first thing I want to say is a defense of Dominic, our city manager. I'm not on social media, but my wife told me that he's getting hammered by people that don't understand how things work, which is Dominic works for the city council. The city council doesn't work for Dominic. And no matter what Dominic wanted to do with Eileen or how badly he wanted to have her off the city council, if he did, he was a powerless to do that and he doesn't. Dominic does not deserve the criticism he's getting, and I hope people now will understand that he did not play a part in this. And the second thing is, I know from working with Dominic for 8 1⁄2 years, he enjoys one of the best reputations of any city manager in Southern California. He's widely respected by all city managers and And I think he's probably the best. I ended my term as mayor in December of 2022, and that was the night that Eileen got sworn in. And I recall her referring to Mike's son as her fiance and also thanking him for her help in getting elected. Then in December of 2024, Eileen's residence is raided by the FBI. And they take her computer, her laptop, her city cell phone, her personal phone, which they've never returned. And I would think that if you're on the city council and that happens, the lights start flashing red. And the train wreck that happened last Monday didn't need to happen. But then Eileen's fiance pleads guilty of federal crime of being an agent of the Communist Party. And the big part is, as part of his agreement with the federal government, he agrees to testify against Eileen. And then he goes to prison for four years. All this time, Eileen's continuing to fundraise for her legal defense. And then we had the bombshell last Monday when I don't know if any of you knew this was coming. I was traveling that day and my phone lit up and she decides not only to destroy her reputation, but to bring our city down with her. And the question is, was there an off ramp so this didn't need to happen? And I watched the March 3 meeting where Sharon Kwan tried to get it on an agenda and couldn't get two other people to agree to put it on an agenda to discuss it, just discuss it. And it got shot down. And you know, Mr. Fu, you're the spokesperson for the three men. You appear to be the alpha. And you shot it down. You didn't even want to discuss it. And I don't know if it's because You obviously have disdain or hatred for Sharon Kwan because it came out when she was mayor and you and she were having your issue. But I want to say I hope that given the facts that you, that didn't even want to discuss it, will at least man up and apologize to the residents of Arcadia for letting this happen.

Next person will be Mark Bauer and the person after him will be Burton Brink.

And while Mr. Bauer is coming up, I just remind everyone to please hold your applause. We do want to get through all the comments and we want everyone to be treated equally. Sir, please don't disrupt the meeting.

Mr. Mark Bauer, are you here?

Very hard here.

Understood, sir. You're doing great. Yes, sir.

All right, Mark Bauer, resident of Arcadia. To make sure I stay in three minutes, I'm gonna mostly read, I guess. Arcadia has a very serious safety problem, and I'm surprised that it has not been addressed. Namely, we have bikes and e-bikes which are operating at estimated speeds on our sidewalks And estimated speeds could be up to 28 miles an hour on an e-bike. And if it's a Class III e-bike, and I'll tell you what that means subsequently, but if it's a Class III e-bike, which can weigh anywhere from 50 to 80 pounds, at least I got this online, and you add the weight of a student that may be 120, 130 pounds, depending if it's an older student, you've got 200 pounds either coming from behind you or at you on the sidewalk. Admittedly, the students are very skilled in their handling. They're able to maneuver in and out very quickly, amazingly, and I suppose we all did when we were young. But they're near misses. And what I envision is you have a group of students, and I'll tell you my own experiences, but you have a group of students and somebody near the sidewalk, and and they just inadvertently uh you know make a shift onto the sidewalk and one of these vehicles is coming along and they do pass you at least in front of the school and elsewhere at a good rate of speed i'd say at least 20 miles an hour i spoke to a watch commander about this and he agrees with me that some of them may be actually going 28 miles an hour and that's like a almost a sheer death if you get struck by it. Pedestrians can be startled by this when they're either coming at you or from behind you. And again, taking into account the 28 miles an hour, but you feel intimidated when one of these comes toward you. You feel like you need to step aside and it should be just the opposite. And I'm gonna basically address that. It's called a sidewalk for a reason. The idea is, the pedestrian should have priority. Arcadia lacks any safety codes for its sidewalks. Again, talking to the watch commander, reading what's there, it does get into helmets, which is a protection of the rider, but it is not protection for the pedestrians. No, no code on the books. So many cities, not hard to find, go online, have enacted safety codes. Definitely Pasadena has a code, it's out of date, but they have these signs posted over on Lake, no riding of bicycles, skateboards, rollers, scooters, and so forth are prohibited, at least in a high business area.

Thank you. Your time is up, sir. Thank you. I'm sorry? Your time is up. It's only three minutes per speaker, so your time is up. My three minutes are up? Yes, it is. It's the blinking red light.

Oh, you're right. All right. Mr. Bauer, did you have something to give to us? I've got the message anyhow. Let me leave this, what I call the talking points, and it will give you some more information. Thank you. Thank you, sir. That's a fast three minutes.

We are going to have Mr. Commissioner Burton Brink and then Donna Choi after. Thank you.

Good evening council members and residents. My name is Burton Brink. I've been a resident of Arcadia since 1967. I've been a public servant since 1977 and a former commissioner here in the city of Arcadia. I'm here tonight because the people of Arcadia deserve accountability, transparency, and leadership that always puts our city first. Residents have raised serious concerns regarding former Mayor Eileen Wang and the federal investigation connected to her household. Her home was raided by the FBI in December of 2024. Her ex-fiance pleaded guilty in federal court to acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese Communist Party known as the CCP. These are not minor issues. These are matters that have serious implications for public trust, reputation of our city, and confidence in our local government. Despite all this, the majority of the council still chose to elevate Eileen Wang to mayor in February of this year. Only one of you publicly questioned whether it was appropriate for the City of Arcadia to risk having a sitting mayor, tied to an ongoing investigation, a federal investigation, and possible criminal proceedings. Residents came here before the city council demanding answers. They asked for transparency. They asked for accountability. They asked this council to protect the integrity and reputation of Arcadia. Instead, many of those concerns were dismissed, ignored, minimized, or treated as a political attack rather than legitimate questions from concerned citizens. Federal plea arrangements do not happen overnight. These negotiations typically take months behind the scenes. By the time the mayor's gavel was handed down to her in February, there were already serious warning signs that there should have caused every council member to pause and reconsider whether that decision was truly in the best interest of the city and its residents. But instead of listening to the community, this council chose politics over public trust. We witnessed repeated criticisms and attacks towards Councilmember Sharon Kwong, one of the few voices willing to publicly raise concerns and ask difficult questions. Rather than being heard, those concerns were often brushed aside. This should never be about personal alliances or political convenience. Public service comes at a responsibility that I hope to trust the people, and even when it's uncomfortable and politically inconvenient. This is not about party politics. This is not about race. This is about leadership, ethics, accountability, and protecting the reputation of our city. The residents of Arcadia deserve better moving forward. They deserve leaders willing to put the city above politics. Thank you.

And Mayor, while Ms. Choi's coming up, I'll just provide a point of clarification that under our charter, there is a rotation of mayors. So each district gets a turn being mayor. And in February, it became District 3's turn. The charter does indicate that each district gets a term within the four years. And so that period backs up against the four years of when the term would end. So there was no action to elevate Ms. Wang to mayor. It simply happened as a matter of our procedure and our charter requirements. So thank you for that.

So we have Ms. Donna Choi from the Downtown Arcadia Association and after Mr. D, Mr. Michael Danielson. Thank you.

Hello, city council and city staff. My name is Donna Choi, Executive Director of Downtown Arcadia. The Downtown Arcadia Improvement Association is an independent nonprofit organization who brings the patriotic festival, the Halloween haunting, holiday fair, and the Lunar New Year Festival to the community. these events are all produced and promoted independently by the downtown arcadia improvement association it's a 501 c 3 non-profit organization a community benefits district we are not the city of arcadia there's often some confusion about that we are a non-profit dedicated to the businesses in our district and bringing our community together at our signature events make sure you're on our email list and get updates at arcadiadt.com our 2025 annual report has been submitted to the city manager's office and we hope you enjoy reading everything we've done there's lots of pictures not lots of words so it should be fun make sure you're on our email list where arcadiadt.com as we have a fun community night planned for arcadia in downtown arcadia at the end of august thank you for your time

All right, we're gonna have Mr. Mike Danielson, a former council member, and then Michael Dergeron. I apologize. Dergeron, thank you very much.

Hi, my name is Michael Danielson. I've been a resident of Arcadia for over 40 years. This has been a tough season for the city council. I am speaking here because of my concern for the heart of the city. At times of testing, the heart is revealed. The community is reacting to what it sees. Over the last four years, I've seen the council shift from a listening, caring, responsive board to an adversarial, divisive one. Opinions expressed by people the council is sworn to represent have been met with derision, hostility, and retribution. Our youth has been accused of not doing their own work. Parents have been accused of weaponizing their children to speak the words that they had not have the courage to say themself. Our first female mayor of Asian descent was openly bullied during council meetings. Opinions expressed by the council and the public that disagree with some council members have been attacked as anti-armed forces, anti-health, anti-police, or anti-fire service, even if seeking just to find some fiscal middle ground. Personal attacks followed with social media playing a part through degrading out of context rantings to further exacerbate the tensions. The people have lost faith in the council, whether in response to overt acts or as recently made so apparent, covert acts. They no longer speak their ideas because they don't trust the council to listen. Politics and sound decision making requires dialogue, not agendas and mandates. When constituents are not heard, they fill in the gaps with their understanding, often with falsehoods, gossip, and media posts that degrade our city. To citizens of Arcadia that are not of Asian descent, our issues do not stem from the unique makeup of our council. Martin Luther King Jr. said that we should judge not by the color of your skin, but rather by the content of your character. The city council is not a courtroom. It is a place for community and conversation between intelligent, informed, and well-meaning individuals about our future together. I pray for decisions that reflect a heart for the people of Arcadia through quality, selfless, prudent, and compassionate governance. Thank you.

Michael Durgerian. And after it will be, Thank you. And I apologize, sir. Could you be able to say your last name just because I obviously didn't.

No problem. Everybody gets it wrong. It's Durgarian.

Durgarian. Thank you, sir.

My mother, Ann Dragarian, was a dedicated Arcadia volunteer for decades. Starting with the Welcome Wagon in the 1970s and 80s, she welcomed all new Arcadia residents to our community. She went on to serve as Cub Scout leader, Arcadia Methodist volunteer for 35 years, a supporter of the Foothill Unity Center, secretary of Sir Optimist Club, and a member of the Arcadia Coordinating Council, she believed in service, inclusion, and community pride. If my mother were here today, she'd be asking the council members who supported Mayor Eileen Wang, why did you continue to praise her and welcome her? Even after federal law enforcement actions involving her fiance were made public. Furthermore, when former council member Sharon Kwan raised valid concerns She faced intense pushback. The deputy manager claimed the council could not take action on these matters, yet last year this council voted 4 to 1 to remove Sharon Kwan after she reported inappropriate contact. The double standard is glaring. Is this incompetence or is it something worse? I grew up in Arcadia defined by excellent schools, vibrant community spirit, dedicated leaders like Gary Kovach, George Fashing, Tom Beck, April Verlato, and many others who serve the public interest. Today, the current city council's actions are causing deep embarrassment and concern among long-term residents in the local Chinese American community alike. Many of whom moved here for a better life and have treated Arcadia with the utmost respect. Ironically, by failing to address these serious issues transparently, your actions fuel the very division and xenophobia that my mother spent her life fighting against through the welcome wagon. It is exactly why so many former residents look at Arcadia today and say, this is not the town I grew up in. As I organize our class of 1986 reunion, alumni returning to town are all asking me the same thing. What's going on in Arcadia? Every resident in this city deserves an answer. What exactly is this city council planning to do to restore trust? And what is your solution to this crisis? Those who enabled this situation should seriously consider stepping down. David Fu, you should seriously step down.

All right. Thank you very much, sir. Ms. Liu, and then after it is, the handwriting is beautiful, but Cindy?

Monji? And Mayor, we're coming up to a podium. I will just clarify that there was never any vote to remove anyone as mayor. Ms. Kwan served her full nine and a half month term as mayor pursuant to the charter. So I just wanted to make sure that was clear. Thank you.

Good evening everybody. My name is Feng Lan Liu. I'm a business owner in Arcadia. I'm coming here today not coming for the LN1 issues. I'm coming to ask for help and maybe give some suggestions about public safety issues. My office is on Baldwin Park, Baldwin Avenue, was broken in early 2020. I believe about five business officers was broken in the same time. And for so many years, I lose mails, my documents, losing all the time. But until end of last year, find out somebody had our master key, like a post office mailman has. So recently, people reported to me there's like a crime, like multiple properties on same street were broken in same time in San Gabriel Valley happening recently very often. And on April 29, I organized the resident from Temple City had a meeting with city manager, council member, mayor, police, chief police. We had a meeting. And I believe from this month, Temple City put a lot of efforts on public safety issues. Temple City decided to put on code enforcement personnel, those vehicles on the street for public safety issues, too. Because I think because of California, Police hiring frozen, they cannot get more police. I know police are working very hard here, but obviously criminals work harder than law enforcement people. So I'm here asking if Acadia can do the same. Tampa City is doing right now. I think, obviously, they get some results there, because they put more efforts. The police patrol more on the city. And they put those law enforcement personnel on the street patrol for public safety, too, because I believe they have some direct communication with the police department. So I'm suggesting. If Acadia can do the same, I think we are all neighbors. Sometimes we don't know which house belongs to Temple City, which house belongs to Acadia. The criminals go to Acadia, to Temple City, from Temple City to Acadia, maybe just take two seconds. So I think all the cities in San Gabriel Valley should work together. So that's my suggestion. Thank you.

The next person is Cindy Mongey. And then right after will be Ophelia.

Good evening. I'm Cindy Mongey. I actually live in District 3. I am one of Eileen Wang's constituents. And I'm just here to say I've been playing catch-up on what's going on because it's been highly publicized. And I'm disappointed. I've lived in Arcadia since 1999. and my children went to Arcadia High School. We moved here specifically for the school district. I wanted my kids to be educated. They got educated. For those of you that don't know me, I am a widow. My late husband was highly involved with AYSO here in Arcadia and Arcadia American Little League and When my husband passed away, the community embraced us and they were very good to us. So I'm just here to say our community deserves better. We should be asking our leadership, at least at the very least, to use common sense. Although Ms. Wang's involvement with China was prior to her serving Arcadia Council, I worked for JPL for 12 years, and I will tell you this. China is a designated country for us at JPL. They are not allowed on our premises. And if they do come to lab, it's a one-on-one escort, whereas usually any others, it's one person to nine people. And the reason for that is there have been situations in the past where Chinese visitors would go on lab and wander off and start taking pictures. And this is documented. This is part of our IT, our security training on lab. Our city shouldn't expect anything less. A Chinese spy a Caucasian person spying for another country should not be serving on our council, period. And I think our community deserves much better. I've never seen this happen in my whole years here. in Arcadia as a resident. Arcadia is a beautiful city. I love this city. My children love the city and I just want something better. And I hope that you all listen to your neighbors, your community and hear them. And when they ask for action, that's exactly what we're looking for is action. Thank you so much for your time and I love Arcadia and I hope you can do better. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Monge. We have Ophelia and then Amy and Diane Pearson. Thank you.

Good evening, everyone. First of all, I left my Chi Chi Chi in my car, so pardon my limited English. So I'm sort of new to Arcadia. I moved in here like a few years ago. It's a beautiful city, great school, and a safe community. It's really sad to see that Acadia will forever bear the record of having a CCP agent that was sitting in Acadia, sitting mayor's chair. So I have artists. I think artists have said a lot enough. My concern here would be about the leadership. how you guys would install the public confidence and earn the public trust back. The reason I'm mentioning it, because back to March, I think, it's March or February, when Ms. Sharon Guan bringing up the motion about discussion of Eileen Wang stepping down. Mr. David Fu kind of, I feel like, kind of attacking Sharon Kwan. I don't know what between you two, but certainly there is, or I should say there has been. I want to say that if you guys need to like appoint a new mayor or go special election or whatever, please work together and put your personal life behind because you need to put your You are the representative of the city, so you're elected to represent your residents. So please don't be petty, put your personal rights behind, and just earn our trucks back, please. Thank you.

Thank you.

Amy and Diane Pearson, thank you. Person after will be Steve Rhee.

Hello. Good evening, City Council. Diane's not with me, but I'm Amy Mufarij. I'm with ServPro of Arcadia, but I'm here representing the Arcadia Chamber today. And I'm just here to share some events that we have going on this month. And so that's what I have. So tomorrow, the Chamber is having a multi-chamber mixer at the La Meridian Hotel. That's at 5 p.m. Thursday this week, we have a chamber breakfast at 7.30. That will be at the Santa Anita Park. We have a networking lunch next week on May 28th at 12 o'clock at the Derby. And then we also, on the same day, we have a happy hour hop going on at the Dave & Buster's at 5 p.m. And if you want any more information on the events for the chamber, just to visit the ArcadiaChamber.org. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up is Steve Rhee, and after will be Sonia.

Good evening. I stand before you tonight not just out of anger, but out of profound sense of disappointment and concern for the future of Arcadia. The recent revelations that former Mayor Eileen Wang has resigned in greed to plead guilty to acting as an agent legal foreign agent has sent shock waves through our community. It has undermined the public trust, compromised the integrity of our local government, and cast a dark shadow over this chamber. But while federal prosecutors handled Mrs. Wayne, we as constituents must look at the leaders who remain for now. Specifically, we must examine the judgment of Council Michael Cowell. As an elected representative, your primary duty is to protect the interests of Arcadians and to safeguard our local institutions. Yet for years, Councilman Cowell worked side by side with Eileen Wayne. You sat next to her on this council, supported her ascension through the city's leadership rotation, and implicitly vouched for her character. multiple times. For example, on February 3rd, you stated, quote, in your words, and if nobody believes me, if you're watching this on TV, the news channel, go to the one hour and 45, 46 mark. Per your word, Councilman Cowell, you stated you were so proud of Eileen Wang, and you said she was so honest. How can your judgment be so profoundly compromised? The red flags were glaringly obvious as far back as late 2024 after she was raided along with Sun. The feds raided her house in Arcadia. Sun pleaded guilty in late 25. Yet you decided to praise on February 3rd with all those red glaring warning signs. Why? Why do that? I don't understand that. Any reasonable leader exercising sound judgment would have asked tough questions. Any leader prioritizing public trust would have demanded transparency or distanced themselves from administration so deeply compromised by foreign interference. Instead, what did we see from you? We saw a failure of oversight. We saw a passive acceptance of the status quo that allowed a foreign agent to ascend to the highest level in our office. And worse, we saw city council members gang up on sharon kwan you try to shut her up all she just tried to do was shed a light to the truth and you guys lie to us and we hear you pulled back the asian community by 20 years shame on you you're a traitor veteran cow

The next speaker will be Sonia, and the one after will be Ellie, so thank you.

You shouldn't be smiling. Good evening, council member and fellow Arcadia residents. I stand before you to address a profound failure of leadership by council member Dr. Michael Kao. As a US Air Force veteran who served 10 years as a major, including deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Dr. Kao took a sacred oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. When he was first elected to council, Dr. Kao, other councilmen, council and city manager met with FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force, and they were explicitly warned about the signs of foreign meddling in local government. Yet Dr. Cao ignored those red flag warnings. Instead, he publicly shamed then-Mayor Sharon Kwan and her daughter for not supporting veterans enough, while praising Mayor Eileen Wang and never once questioning her loyalty to the United States. He defended her, and even after the FBI raided her home and her fiancé, Mike Sun, had already pleaded guilty as an unregistered foreign agent for the People's Republic of China. Dr. Cao knew the dangers he had been briefed, yet he stayed silent and even elevated Wang, calling her honest. Meanwhile, Wang had already been negotiating her plea with the Department of Justice. She signed that guilty plea agreement March 30th, just weeks after taking the oath as mayor. She fooled you, Dr. Cao. This was... not ignorance. The FBI raid, the co-conspirators, guilty plea, the background, all were public red flags. Dr. Kao, armed with direct FBI warnings, chose not to press on the allegations. He never demanded transparency. His selective outrage over veteran issues rings completely hollow when weighed against the silence on a foreign agent inside City Hall. Our veterans sacrificed for this country when CCP-linked influence was at our doorstep. Dr. Kao, briefed by the FBI, failed to stand guard. His military oath required vigilance. Instead, he looked the other way. Same goes for David Fu and Paul Chang, both attorneys who know how to read a court documents, ignored all the things Eileen Wang did in her fiance's complaint, after she got elected. The CCP planned a trip for her to China, and she took that trip while she was a council member. She also spoke to high-level CCP agent on the phone several times after her election. You all should have asked her to resign, saving Arcadia the embarrassing international headlines. you could have asked her to resign. The people of Arcadia elected officials to protect our city. Dr. Cal's actions have undermined public trust and dishonored the uniform he once wore. He must resign immediately, otherwise he will have to explain during his election, reelection to- District 5 voters, why he never addressed the allegations against Wang. Ms. Martin, time is up. Thank you. Okay, I would like to put these into the public record. This is Mike Sun's complaint that shows what she did after she got elected and her plea so that residents can request them. Thank you.

El Iso and then Domenico Telerico.

Good evening. My name is Eli Zhou. Eli, I apologize, sir. It's okay. I'm a physician. I'm an Arcadia resident, a proud father of three in this community, proud husband of my wife, who is also a physician, who has had three generations of Arcadia, proud Arcadia families here. I speak today on behalf of myself, of her, because i want to share these concerns of those who cannot be here the the working families the busy parents the people who believe in the city and expect more from it um when i when i go to national championships that my kids have worked very hard for um as they you know you know win their gold medals and go to these state competitions i want to say go arcadia with pride And unfortunately, instead it's like, oh, is that where the Chinese spy is? Or is that where the fentanyl bust is? Or the surrogate birthing house is? So I'm pro-health, I'm pro-kids, I'm witness also as the other citizens here are to council members who have accused our citizens that they're representing of being unqualified, unprepared, and unworthy of voicing our opinions here. Eileen Wang's federal guilty plea is a disturbing example of how undisclosed foreign interests can buy their way into public office through hidden channels and use our tax dollars to serve agendas that have nothing to do with the people of Arcadia. Her former fiancé and campaign manager are serving four years in federal prison for acting as a legal agent of the Chinese Communist Party. She herself has agreed to plead guilty of federal felony. This is not an isolated incident. We are watching this pattern play out on a local level and a federal level alike. What troubles me as a resident is not just what Wayne did. Federal prosecutors handled that. What troubles me is that this council had the information and chose silence over transparency. When a colleague asked for open discussion, she was shut down. That's a local failure that deserves local accounting. Foreign influence starts locally. City councils, school boards, if we're not paying attention at this level, we're handing them off on ramp. to bigger positions in our democracy. This timeline before this council requires no interpretation. It was mentioned before and is a matter of public record. If we are silent when foreign influences you back challenge to infiltrate our public institutions, if we do not investigate, challenge, or bring these concerns into light, we do not simply fail to act. We become complicit in the erosion of public trust and the slow undermining of the democracy we inherited. As we approach our nation's 2250th anniversary, I ask this council to honor what the milestone represents. Protect the integrity of these offices. Enforce the checks and balances the generations of Americans fought to preserve. Council members Fu, Cheng, and Cao, your backgrounds in law, medicine, and public service equip you to lead on exactly these moments.

Time is up, sir.

Use those gifts in service of this community. Time is up, sir. If you cannot, then step aside and open these seats to those who will and have the heart to do so.

The next person after Domenico Tallarico will be Christine Yee.

Good evening, everybody. I'm Dominic Tallarico. I live at 1852 Highland Oaks Drive. I've been here for 20 years, and I feel like a rookie. Anyway, I'm here to offer a suggestion to get past all of this, because I think you guys have quite a challenge. I think you should consider some type of a law firm or a forensic accounting, public accounting firm to do an in-depth review to validate everything that you have said, that the city collectively has said. And ideally, such a firm might give you an action plan where you can show the citizens, the people of Arcadia, what you're going to do going forward in the next several months to a year or two. I like the idea of a forensic accounting firm because it doesn't just look at financial records, it looks at operations. I have a bunch of examples that I'm not going to go into because some of them have already been mentioned on the need for such a review, but I would like to mention one because unfortunately it does reflect on our prior mayor. When a contract was being considered in these chambers, there was a vote not to approve that contract. But that vote was subsequently changed, I believe it was the next meeting, because the former mayor changed her vote. And the only explanation that was given, at least from my recollection and from what little research I was able to do, is that new information came up. But nothing was ever said about that. I think the notion of a forensic accounting firm, or even a law firm, could really be helpful in terms of where Arcadia needs to go. I have one other quick suggestion just as an alternative to that. We had talked about a citizen's financial advisory committee that had been around a couple of years ago. You might want to consider that type of a committee with doing the type of activity that I'm suggesting to review and validate what's been said and perhaps come up with ideas on improving certain areas to get the confidence the trust that people have voiced tonight, and I'm sure exists out in Arcadia today. With the 30 seconds that I have left, I just wanted to say that I completely agree with City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto on his comments. It's a tough situation. You can be right. You can do the right thing and still come across badly. And I also would like to second the comments from Mayor Tom Beck. I thought those were spot on as well. Thank you very much for your time. If I can help with anything, I'm available.

The last two will be, hello Miss, Christine Yee and then Ben Yee right after.

Good evening. My name is Christine Yi, and I'm a resident of Arcadia over 20 years. Today I'm here, I respectfully ask Council Member David Fu to resign. Arcadia is facing a serious crisis of public trust after former Mayor Eileen Wen pled guilty to acting as an illegal agent of the foreign government. During that same period, Council Member David Fu worked closely and tightly with Eileen Wen and against Mayor Sharon Kwan's reasonable question. Many residents view those actions as divisive and harmful to our city. A Council Member's duty is to use good judgment, serve fairly, and put Arcadia first. At this important moment, our city needs the healing and leadership to win the public trust again. For those reasons, Council Member David Fu should resign from Arcadia City Council immediately. Thank you.

The next person will be Benny Yi. Benny, are you here? Hello, sir. Come on up, sir.

Good evening, council members and Mayor Pro Tem. My name is Benny Yee. I'm a resident of Arcadia. I'm here tonight because the people of Arcadia deserve integrity, courage, and honest leadership from their elected officials. And frankly, we have not received it. This council staff has failed us. For months, the public watched as nearly every member of this council stood beside Eileen Wang and defended her while dismissing concerns raised by members of the community. And during that time, Mayor Sharon Kwan stood alone as the voice of the people calling for an open and honest discussion of those concerns. Yet council member David Fu and others moved to shut it down and prevent further scrutiny. Arcadia residents are wary of elected officials who seem more consumed by political maneuvering than committed city management, playing games and protecting their allies. After Eileen Wang had pleaded guilty to acting as a spy for the CCP, those who once defended her suddenly act as though they were concerned all along. They were concerned all along. The council has done a complete 180-degree turn. That is not integrity. It is not leadership. It is betrayal of the public trust. Residents of Arcadia are asking, what else has been ignored? What else has been kept from public view? Public trust has been broken, and we demand openness and transparency. True leadership means having the courage to speak honestly before it becomes politically convenient. Councilmember Kwan demonstrated something this council sorely lacked, the willingness to stand alone when she believed the public trust was at risk. Arcadia residents will long remember who demanded accountability early on and who tried to silence or discredit her voice. And Councilman Fu, you should step down. And yes, I am reading this. Thank you.

If we could, if we could please not clap. Let me just do this alphabetically. Chris Arzati. And we are gonna stop the cards from coming in just because we have to move on. We'll see this real quick. Stephanie Aiken. I apologize, Chris. Mr. Arzati and then Stephanie Aiken, thank you.

Good afternoon, Mr. City Manager, City Attorney, Council Members. My name is Chris Arzotti. I'm a resident of the city of Arcadia. I've lived here for about five years. I have three daughters. They all go to Arcadia Public Schools. And, you know, I find this issue to be an honest rarity in the country's American politics. I don't think there's a guidebook on really how to handle this, but I assume that The smarts of the city attorney and the city manager and the other law enforcement agencies that were providing guidance were duly followed by the council members on the stage today. This afternoon, when I was picking up my youngest, we went to In-N-Out because I had to feed her something before she went to a musical tonight with her sisters and her mom. And as I was going through the drive-through, there was a banner, a couple banners, really advertising what looked to me at really close or really quickly to be just a racially motivated smear campaign against three of the council members here and the former council member who's no longer on the dais. I find this difficult to be able to explain to my daughter, who's only 11, right? And here's a lot of things. And as folks behind me talked about the vitriol on social media, it's very true. There's a lot, right? It's hard to filter out the truth through hate. I was fortunate enough to be able to talk to my daughter, my daughters, about what is taking place here today and what the role of government is and what the role of the electorate is. And we all have a responsibility to be able to address this issue, whether it's wanting folks to resign from office or whether it's to work with them to build this community, to really value diversity, collaboration, and to address the issue that yes, the world does now know, which is Arcadia has had some issues and very rare ones. But together, I think we could sit down and we could talk about how to repair that image. And I think that's one of the priorities that this council should really focus on. so that it trickles back down to the kids in the schools, so that you could work with your colleagues over at the school board and be able to present this information as a learning opportunity for them, as well as for the rest of us. So thank you, I appreciate the time.

Stephanie Aiken, and then after will be Julie Lim.

Hi, I'm Stephanie Aiken. I have a business in Arcadia, and I reside in Arcadia. My business is Move Your Mountain Fitness. I've been here for 15 years, going on 15 years. And of course, like everybody else, I haven't seen what I've seen. And, you know, it happens, right? Kind of speaking from the heart here, because as I sat here and I listened to everyone, I think everyone made really wonderful points. But as I sat here and watched these three gentlemen who reside on council, who sit in a bullying standpoint quite frequently towards Sharon Kwan, yes, and there has not been an amends made, but as I sat here and as somebody spoke about other former leaders, April Verlato, Tom Beck, Michael Kau chose to, excuse me, Dr. Michael Kau chose to smirk And that's not on the video because the video was on the person speaking. And you only sat forward when somebody decided to confront you. When you sat forward, it was based on for the city, for the people. But you know what everyone here, every single voice here is the voice that you need to be hearing. Not just one who speaks to you directly. Thank you, Paul Chang, for remaining quite neutral in your sitting there. I appreciate it. I will say that. We've got to amend. One other thing I can say that I agree with Paul Chang is let's get back to work. But I said that last year when we were calling for censure of the mayor, which meant no more voice for Sharon Kwan. In my last one minute, I just wanna say this. Change and grief have the same five processes. Denial, depression, bargaining, anger, and acceptance. Your constituents in the comment threads on social media and beyond, are feeling all those feelings, including myself. I'm quite angry. I'm quite disappointed. And I hope that when you get up to speak tonight, when you get your turn, because you will, right? Remember that although Dominic Lazzarota works for you guys, you work for us. Thank you.

The next person will be Ms. Julie Lim, and the last speaker will be Transgender Goddess.

I hope you excuse me for wearing the mask, I have a sore throat. Wow, this is- Sorry, let me read. Hopefully we don't start the timing early. I'm gonna try to read since it's limited. Good evening members of city council. My name is Julie Lim and I'm a resident and registered voter in Acadia Second District. I'm standing here tonight because I deeply love this city, Acadia. It's our home. It's where we raise our family, build our dreams, and take care of one another. We made history by electing Acadia very first all Asian American city council to represent a community that's 60% Asian American. For so many of us, that milestone was a source of immense pride, celebration, and full hope for our futures. That is why the recent news regarding former Mayor Eileen Wang hurts so deeply. To see our beloved city name drag through the national hairline breaks my heart. As an Asian American resident, it brings an unfair shadow of shame to a community of loyal, hardworking neighbors who have done absolutely nothing wrong. It feeds into harmful stereotypes that we have spent decades trying to break, putting a target and suspicions on our innocent people who just want to live

you

in peace. True love for the city means protecting it. It means holding on to our leadership accountability when things go wrong. The most painful part for this situation is knowing it was preventable. Long before this federal case came to light, residents stood at this podium out of love for Acadia, sounding the alarm and including our city council representative for the district too, Sharon Kwan. and asking this council not to elevate Ms. Wang to the seat of mayors and also sounding for discussions. but those warnings fell to deaf ear. The three male council member who backed her choose to ignore those community red flags. In doing so, you didn't just ignore public comments. You effectively silent all district two council woman who was trying to protect me, my neighbor and all districts voice. By locking out her inputs and maintaining a folding block to shield an individual now exposed as a foreign agent, you broke the secret trust of the resident who believed in you. You were chosen to be guardian of our community. You were chosen to be the guardian of our community. Instead, the population of our beautiful town has been deeply damaged. I am not a legal expert like many of you, but as a folder who cares about future of Acadia, I'm asking for healing.

Thank you. Your time is up. Thank you.

The last speaker will be transgender goddess.

Good morning. I thought my name will never be called. So first of all, I want to talk about CCP. It seems like it's a very, very hot topic. A lot of people send me the message because I don't even have a time to watch the news until my friend gave me a notice about this. I remember that during the pandemic, I was not able to have enough food and I reached out to the Arcadia Police Department because my friend told me that when they live in LAPD they can reach out to LAPD and LAPD can provide food resources. So I reached out to Arcadia Police but I was not given anything useful. It is Mayor Eileen Wang provided me with some connections with Los Angeles County Food Bank, with some Los Angeles County, I think it's called CalFresh, helped me step-by-step. I don't even have a computer at that time. When I was going to, continuing, I was going to college at Rio Hondo, in order to qualify for certain scholarships, you require three different recommendation letter. As a new illegal immigrant, that I don't have any connection, I don't have a family member, I don't have a coworker that can help me whatever scholarship recommendation. And then, The mayor, Eileen Wang, is the one who helped, who is the only council member who actually answered the call when I was begging for help. And then right now it seems like everybody are saying that she is a spy or she is whatever working as a special secret agent. I just want to confess myself Number one, please direct all of the attack towards me and I am willing to dedicate my life to take all of the attack for my friend. Second of all, is that for the FBI, CIA, Arcadia Police, Sheriff Department, Highway Patrol, Homeland Security, and most important, ICE. It seems like if you guys are saying like Eileen Wong is a Chinese communist spy, maybe I am too because I receive a recommendation letter without this communist spy. I already dead of hunger, of no food. with this some sort of a Chinese spy, I'm already dead, living on the street, dying on the skid row. I was able to have a shelter for two year and a half because of this mayor. So I don't really know about how all the stories and all the dramas and all the romantic love story about the city council, but I just want to support my friend who saved my life during the pandemic when nobody helped me.

Well, thank you very much. That concludes our public comment. In terms of the City Council, I wanted to ask if it would be possible, I know that the public wants to hear from us, if we can be able to make our statements because obviously a lot of the public comments had questions and thoughts, but then when we go to 7A and 7B, if we can please limit the comments just to 7A and 7B, are we able to do that? Okay. I'm gonna take the chair's prerogative, and if I may, with your permission, I would like to speak Is that okay, guys? You guys okay with that? Yes? I have some of my thoughts written down. I hope you don't mind. I wanted to thank each and every one of you for coming. Just like you, we are working class people as well. And I know that it's not easy for you to change your schedules to come to city council meetings. You have to have babysitters. You need to have friends to watch your family. So I wanted to thank you. I also wanted to say that your voice matters. Our job as a city council is to lead, learn, and listen, which is why public comment is so important. Obviously, listening and learning and leading are easy when there's no issue, but obviously when there are difficult issues, it becomes harder. But I want you to know that we are not merely here to serve you. We are servants of the people, and that is what we had asked for when we got on city council, and that is what we are intending to do. Now, earlier, our city manager talked about what we knew. And I felt that it was important tonight to talk about what we're going to do moving forward. Many people have had questions about the events that have really transpired over the past few weeks and the actions that the City Council is going to be doing moving forward. I wanted to thank my council colleagues that have told me that my orders are cut, my mission is clear, and to not self-deploy. Instead, to focus on what I need to do over the past week, which is to make sure that our city services are unimpeded. that we give the residents what they deserve, which is the excellent services that we know in Arcadia. I wanted to thank each and one of my council colleagues that instead of mudslinging, that is what they told me to do. I do want to say that our city council will see us forward. not merely as elected officials, but what we truly are, which are residents and neighbors that drive on the same streets, that shop at the same places, that eat at Moffitt's just like you, that debate on whether Taco Lita or Taco Treat is the better place to eat. The last several days, have really shaken me as an individual. Earlier, someone has said, there is no playbook, and we don't have a playbook. Many families, they are hurting, they are frustrated, disappointed, and uncertain. And I think all of your feelings are absolutely valid. I think everyone on our city council have felt the same way. But I do know this, that our city is bigger than a headline on TV. We are bigger than any controversy or any punchline that somebody puts on social media. I know that this city is stronger than any challenge that will ever face us. America has always been tested during difficult moments. Great communities are not measured by the quantity or even the quality of the problems that occur. Great communities are measured by how we respond to events that occur. And I want to tell you that's what makes Arcadia the best place in the world. We always respond with courage. During COVID, when the entire world was shut down. Do you know what Arcadians did? They gathered together and gave our city more PPE than across any other city. We became an arc of assets so that those in surrounding communities could be able to get PPE. That's what our city and our residents did. During the Bobcat fire, when fires were raging, do you know what our residents did? For the first time in the state of California, 60 straight days of food for our first responders. That's what our residents did during the fire. And during the Eaton fire, when our first responders were able to stop the fires right at our doorstep, right at our doorstep, literally, do you know what our residents did? They didn't say, well, you know what? It didn't touch us. They stopped their lives. Some people moved to the border of Altadena where we were not allowed to go in. And we fed Altadena residents when they did not have any food or clothes. That is the Arcadia that you live in. Arcadians also struggle. We also suffer. And we also have uncertainty. But this community has never collapsed based on division or hatred. We always, always rise together. When I first moved to Arcadia, somebody told me about the Arcadian Way. I'd never heard of that before. What is the Arcadian Way? And when I got on city council, I was told that again. The Arcadian Way are neighbors helping neighbors. RESIDENTS RESPECTING SENIORS. TEACHERS THAT SHAPE STUDENTS TO BE FUTURE AMERICANS. FIRST RESPONDERS THAT RUN TO DANGER. CITY STAFF THAT ADOPT OUR FAMILY AS THEIR OWN. THERE ARE SOME CITY STAFF THAT HAVE GOTTEN DIVORCED BECAUSE THEY CARE MORE ABOUT THE RESIDENTS HERE AND THEY WEREN'T ABLE TO KEEP THEIR OWN FAMILY INTACT. Through every challenge, the people of Arcadia have shown the true meaning of community, resilience and the American spirit. That same spirit lives here today. Right now, the eyes of the nation are on this small town. people wonder how does a small American town that many people have never heard of deal with an attack on the way of life that we hold so dear in our institutions? Our response is an American one. We will not be destroyed by those that seek to divide us. We will not surrender to fear. We will never allow the well in our town to be poisoned by outsiders. We will come together as Americans. In moments like this, there will be voices trying to spread fear, anger, blame, and division. There will always be attempts by people to weaponize pain for gain There will always be people that seek to turn neighbor against neighbor, sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally. But that is not who we are. We know something far more powerful than fear, uncertainty, and doubt. We are unified. We live service. We have faith. We are resilient. And we love our country and our community. We do love each other, no matter how divisive the rhetoric can be. I wanted to thank the residents that came up. Not one resident has said that this is a Chinese problem. I know that it doesn't really resonate with the group that's here because you don't see race. This is not a Chinese problem. It is an American problem with a person that has violated the law that happens to be Chinese American.

Is there no more outbursts, please? That's your one warning. You get one warning under the Brown Act. The next one will ask you to leave. Please don't interrupt.

But I do want to speak to those residents that aren't here, that may feel hurt right now about being who they are and the color of their skin because someone that looks like them has violated the law. There are residents that have told me that the first time in years, in decades, they have been questioned based upon their loyalty, their patriotism, and whether they belong in this country. I want to tell those residents, do not be ashamed and be encouraged by the residents that have spoken up today. They have said, you are an American as well because Asian Americans are part of the American story. Asian Americans embrace this country. You know, when people tell me to go back to China, I wasn't born there. I wouldn't know where to go. This is what makes Arcadia special because Asian Americans are teachers, first responders, military members, public servants, doctors, neighbors, you name it, that's what they are. And I am so glad to have the residents come and speak today because they are saying with one voice that brushing over an entire community is not American, it is not justice, and it is not Arcadia, and that what the residents are asking us to do is to stand as one people, one community, and under one flag, 100% loyal to America, and that is the right message that we need. The American spirit is not about tearing each other apart during difficult times. The American spirit is about standing shoulder to shoulder when times get tough. We need to ensure our light is more bright than ever before because there will be people that come to say that the night is coming. Tonight, I know the light of Arcadia shines brighter than ever. For those that are struggling with what to do, I would say this. Not only do you want to move forward as you want our council to move forward with transparency, but come and serve. Come and serve. Come to city events so you can be able to see what community is about. Let us show the entire country what a united community looks like. To every resident listening tonight, do not let fear consume you. Do not let negativity divide you or guide you. Do not let anyone convince you that Arcadia is broken. This city is filled with good people. You are great people. Not you. Hardworking people, patriotic people, compassionate people. Together, we are going to write the next chapter of Arcadia's story. We're gonna be stronger, wiser, and more united than ever before. This city has overcome adversity in the past. We will overcome it again. Never let anyone tell you that America's best days are behind us. They are in front of us. And the reason why I know that is because you are here. Thank you for allowing me to serve. I will ensure that our services remain unmatched going forward. We are here to listen to you and move forward together. I know that God will bless this country and this city council will not let the flag touch the ground. Thank you very much. Council Member Kwon.

First of all, I wanna say thank you to everyone that came out here. I have to say, I'm kind of speechless because it's so good that the public understands what's going on. And for the past three and a half years, I've always trying to have transparency, accountability, and fiscal responsibility. But my experience in city council prevents me from doing this. So today I have to speak honestly of how I feel. When I ask question about the budget, They tried to silent me. During the mayorship, I thought that if I have the microphone, I can speak candidly about the things going on in our city. Because I've been very resilient and patient to wait for my chance to speak openly and to disclose the things that's happening in city council. Unfortunately, they know that I have the microphone. So what they did was they censored me. I don't think the attorney here is speaking the truth. They did vote to censor me. And what is so ridiculous is the allegation against me was that I was using chat GPT. I can tell you, Paul Chen sits next to me, not that I want to spy on him, but his screens were all chat GPT. His personal work, his city council work. Can you believe that everyone is using chat GPT and when I'm using it, they have to censor me? They think that is illegal and criminal and that they have to censor me? And then when I'm reading my notes, Council Member David Fu thinks that's criminal. Are you reading your notes, Council Member Kwan? Do you know why I'm reading my notes? It's because I cared what I say. I come here, I'm prepared. I take my job, I take, this job extremely seriously. I wanna serve in the best public interest. His tactic as an attorney, David Fu, extremely eloquent, and he always try to interrupt my thinks, the train of thoughts that I have. try to interrupt me many times. And saying that, are you reading your notes, makes you feel like you've did something so bad that you're not supposed to read your notes. I can tell you, he treats me like this is a courtroom. I'm a defendant. I am being cross-examined for every word I say. Thank you so much for the support because you guys came and spoke. They censored me, but they put a stay because there's a public outcry. I am the only genuine and authentic voice in this city council. I believe in transparency, accountability, and fiscal responsibility. What I am seeing and what I'm hearing I've been asked all the time to be a good girl, not to say anything to the public. I'm not supposed to ask questions because that is supposed to be making a big fuzz or that it's making a staff member in the city uncomfortable. It is so difficult for me to do my job, but it is so good that because after four children and being a fighter, I stand strong because it is not that I'm serving, it's the community I'm serving. It's because my residents, my constituents, you guys invested your money in the city like me, have so many good memories of the city and got so much in return. And I want to serve, it's because I care a lot about this community. There's a lot of problems going on in so many cities, corruptions, foreign influence, budgeting issue, compromising our taxpayers dollar because there's a lot of, a lot of influence I am so happy that I remain independent. I'm not working for anybody, but only my residents of Arcadia. And so, as you can see, it's so good that finally this comes to conclusion All this time, every two weeks that I meet with city manager, I informed him about the red flags of happening in our city because of foreign influence. I've been to events. I saw what's happening out there. It's very uncomfortable and alarming to see that holding such a positions and not speak up. And I think this job requires a lot of integrity. And it's so important for you guys to understand, do not be fooled by what you hear or how you feel. great of a speaker they are because they're attorneys, I'm not. I'm just a mom, a small business owner, a resident, just like one of you guys. And so, I mean, I prepared a speech, but because of such the public outcry and the support that I'm getting, I just want to speak from my heart and let everyone know that it is so important to come out and be engaged. And this city requires more attention from the public, requires a lot of effort. I've been standing alone in city council, and it has been a uphill battle. And there's so many things that are going on, my goodness, that I see and I hear, and it still can't be brought up to city council. Because the reason why they censor me is that they don't want me to speak. And they changed the code of decorum, where when I speak, I have to ask for permission from my three city council members. And you saw on March 3rd, I begged for discussion. Every time I don't get three votes, I am not allowed to speak. That's what they changed to silent me. And it's so funny today, I didn't know that I would have the opportunity to speak. The only opportunity I have is to address the March 3rd event under personal privilege. That's why I wrote the speech. And that's how they do it, because they have the three majority votes. The majority votes matter so much. Is it the right vote, the right decision? No. It's all about political coalition here. And it's dangerous if this is the path Al Qaeda is going through. It's so dangerous because the majority of city council does not mean they make the best decision. It is just what it gets done. I have so many concerns. Since this is my opportunity, I'm gonna bring it up. This city is changing. We are going to have a 140 units drug rehab center. And there's no information about it.

Council member, that's not on the agenda.

Okay, that's fine.

This is to respond to items that came up during public comment that was not part of public comment.

Okay, so my last, my last, see, it's always.

Please, please, please don't interrupt. Hold on.

So the last, so the last thing that I wanna comment is a public comment from Dominic. I think it was not cleared of what he was saying. He said that during the budget negotiation to approve the big increase for our unions, we have two votes to approved and Eileen Wang was the third vote that makes the difference. For the first decisions, she voted no to approve the budget. And the next day, she, this is my opinion, got pressure from the city council members and asked for a we vote and she voted yes. So they got the three votes to prove the contract for the unions. I want the public to think about this. It is something for you guys to think deeply. And thank you so much for making the comment about forensic accounting. I brought it up. And I was accused of, as you can see on the March 3rd video, that I'm accusing our city manager of maybe doing something wrong. I don't know. I'm just asking for a forensic accounting. We haven't done one yet. So that's all I have to say. I can go on to tell you my three and a half experience. It's not a good thing, but I think it's so good. This is the opportunity for me to speak and let the public understand where I'm coming from and what I'm going through. And I hope that this kind of TRANSPARENCY AND WHAT OUR MAYOR PROTEM JUST PROMISED IS SOMETHING TO BE KEPT, NOT JUST TO MAKE SOMETHING A HOPE WHERE THE CITY COUNCIL CANNOT FULFILL. THANK YOU SO MUCH. THANK YOU FOR COMING OUT AND KNOWING THE TRUTH. THANK YOU.

Thank you very much, Council Member Kwon, Council Member Kao. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem.

Our nation is built on the shoulders of our country's men and women who have sacrificed their lives defending our great nation. For 10 years, I served in the United States Air Force in both peacetime and wartime conflicts, including Iraq and Afghanistan. It's been the greatest honor of my life to serve our nation. The serious charges brought against the former Mayor Eileen Wang are serious. Unethical behavior will not be tolerated. We believe in the rule of law. Equally, it is truly wrong for any individual who tries to divide our community. Our city is not defined by a single person or political agenda. Arcadia is resilient. We will overcome any challenges. We will continue to govern with integrity and stay focused on serving the community. We will move forwards to heal and in a positive direction. I remain committed on focusing issues that matter most to residents, public safety, fiscal responsibility, quality city services, and protecting our local government. One of the United States America's foundation is always built on unity against enemies, both foreign and domestic. We need to remember freedom is not free. We ask for God's mercy and guidance so that our country is and will forever remain the greatest nation in the world. God bless America.

Councilman Fu.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. City Attorney, I wanted to ask you a couple of questions because there's clearly a lot of emotion out there and I understand that. but I think it's very important to restress a couple of points, which I believe we tried to make tonight, but I'm not sure how clear they were for the people in the room or for the people watching. So the allegations here are that we should have done something, although I'm not really clear on what that thing is, but let's try to take that hypothetically, I guess. So it seems like that what people are angry about in part is that we should have conducted some kind of an investigation into Eileen Wang. Can you tell me whether under our charter the City Council is permitted to conduct that kind of investigation?

So the charter doesn't really touch on an investigation, but what the charter indicates is that there's only a vacancy in the office in this particular type of context. There's only a vacancy in the office upon a conviction. And so up until the point, even with the plea agreement we have now, there hasn't actually been a conviction entered. The office does become vacant with a resignation. But what we're looking at as a city is that up until the point of conviction, there's no vacancy there's also no power under the charter for the city council to remove one of its members as a council member so the the city council's not in a position where even if there are charges out there allegations out there even with the admission of those allegations as part of the plea agreement the council's not in a position where it could take any action to remove until there's a conviction

In other words, under mere suspicion or an allegation, we are not authorized to take action to remove, correct?

That's correct. And even under a conviction, there's no action to remove. The seat becomes vacant upon the conviction. There's never an instance where the city council is taking action to remove someone from their seat.

So as a matter of law, upon a conviction, that person is deemed to be removed? That's correct.

They're trying to play legal games. Yes.

Sir, you're causing- Sir, this is your one warning. If there's another outburst- No! Okay, thank you.

So let's entertain this young man's point for a moment, Mr. City Attorney. This body operates under law, correct? Yes. So we- can't do things which are illegal, right? That's correct. So if we had, let's say, pressured Eileen to resign, would that also be activity which would be construed to be an attempt to remove her?

So not necessarily. I don't... There would either be... As council members, you can say what you want to say, but ultimately someone... You have to... As a city council, you have to act as a body and take a vote. There has to be a majority vote. And so there's nothing that you could take a vote on in order to remove someone, to have them resign, anything like that. I see. Okay.

So... If someone had come to any of us and asked us to conduct an investigation into a resident of the city, would we have the power to do that? No, you would not. And those actions, if they were a violation of the charter, could possibly be actionable against us, correct?

I don't want to go down that path.

Very good. Well, thank you very much for entertaining those questions. Mr. City Attorney. So I'll keep this brief because I sense there's not much patience for me in this room. Look, all of us are disappointed and sad about the news that we had last week. This is a remarkably wonderful community. We work together, we play together, we live together. We're not big like Los Angeles, where nobody knows anybody else. We're not so small that we don't have our own police and fire departments in our own school district, all of which are top notch here. So this is a, it's a Goldilocks place, you know, where everything is just about right. What I believe about all of us in this city, from top to bottom, left to right, is that we all strive to be good Americans. You know, I serve with the Rotary Club. It's mostly a service organization. I serve on the Fire Department Foundation. I can see from the work that we do in this city that we're all trying to make this a fantastic city and to make this planet a better place. All of us work hard to be good Americans. I think it's probably because all of us came from somewhere else. And someplace which wasn't as nice a place as this, somewhere often where we really weren't quite free. I've heard friends talking about how disappointed they are about this news about Eileen. I am very disappointed. She was my friend. She was my colleague. As far as I knew, she was doing excellent work for the city, and I could see no other motivation for that work. None of us will ever really know what happened, but what I think is clear is that Eileen will pay a price, and I hope that price is a just result. What I know now is the most important thing for us to do as friends and neighbors is to work together and start the healing. By crying on each other's shoulders, we can share that common hurt and start the common recovery. What I know is not going to be helpful is to start trying to play the blame game. What is clear is that following the law, and I know the law, that we did not have the right to remove her despite what the emotion is from some of the people in this room. I understand that. I understand that. But we can't do what we can't do. We were not told of any investigation until I think it was May the 11th when that indictment was unsealed. So everything was really speculative. And, you know, yeah, I'm a lawyer, I'll cop to that. But what I think all of us know about living in America is they were innocent until proven guilty. So I think what's really important today is that we stick together. Unfortunately, there are people out there who are haters. Some of them are racists. This unfortunate event and efforts by some to capitalize on it only gives those haters more power and more desire to see harm come to all of us, not just the Asians in our community, but all of us. Because all of us suffer when any one of us is victimized. I thank the community for continuing to support us. My door is always open. You know that. I love serving you. There is no greater honor for me. And I will continue to do that with honor and integrity, no matter how much some people want to try to divide us. Thank you.

So I'm thinking, Council, we've been going now for two hours. Let's take a five-minute break. We'll recess, and then we'll come right back. Thank you. still running to the restroom or need to go to the restroom, Council Member Kwan. Council Member Kwan. So we have a couple colleagues still in the restroom, but as soon as they come back, we're gonna start. So thank you so much. If you guys still want a fellowship, if you can do it outside, only because we are gonna start very, very shortly. All right, ladies and gentlemen, again, thank you so much. It's so good to see fellowship in the room. We are gonna be starting our meeting. If there are any people that still would like to talk with each other, we would ask that you would do it outside. We're gonna proceed with the City Clerk's Item 7A as an alpha. the appointment of the mayor and the mayor pro tem in accordance with resolution number 7463. I just wanted to open up to the floor really to our council members if they had any thoughts very quickly. I'll just go from left to right if that's okay with everybody. Council member Kwan, did you have any thoughts?

Yeah, I think so as we can see the residents are not now very engaged and It's so important to have somebody to really step up and come to City Council and and help serve so I mean what I want to do is that I think the appointment should be open to everyone and

I'm sorry Madam Council Member, this item is for the leadership on the City Council. He's looking for nominations on Mayor or Mayor Pro Tem.

Oh, yeah, so I'm talking about nominations, but I'm just saying, but as I call you this morning, I asked if we have open nomination, and you said that you're not going to make the announcement until today. So what I'm just hoping is that the public should understand that there is open nomination, so anybody that wants to serve can come up, or there should be a period of time where they can submit their application.

Yeah, just again, this item is for deciding who amongst the remaining four council members should serve as the mayor right now and who should serve as the mayor pro tem. Okay. As far as the District 3, whether there'll be nominations or not, that'll be the next agenda item we talk about. So right now they're just looking for who should be the mayor or mayor pro tem.

Yes, so yeah, I'm saying the mayor and the mayor pro tem, we should have open nomination. The mayor of Arcadia should have open nomination. That's my... Recommendation.

And I will clarify, it is under the charter, there's the nine and a half month term. And under the resolution that the council adopted in 2022 to implement the charter, it does say that any members of the city council could be appointed as mayor to fill the remainder of district three's term. So it is open among the members of the council.

So are you saying that it's only limited to the people in the city council right now?

That is correct. That is in the charter? That is, so the charter requires a nine and a half month term for each district to serve as mayor. And it requires the council to adopt regulations to implement that rule. The regulations that the council adopted in 2022 say that anyone, the council may pick one of its members to serve as mayor for the remainder of that term when there's a vacancy. So what we're looking for right now is one of the four of you to serve as a member. for the remainder of district three's term, which will be until November.

Okay. I thought that we should bring an outsider to really step into this important role at this time. So that's my take on it. So I don't know, it's only limited to the city council member. And as you can see, there's a public outcry today, and there isn't any public trust. So to fulfill this duty, I think if it's coming from someone that is outside, I think that would be justified.

Understood. Council Member Cao.

Thank you, Pro Tem. You know, I read the city staff report and thank you city attorney for clarifying the rules of the charter is probably the best way to say it. So following the rules of the charter, My suggestion would be is that since the job of the pro tem is to fill in for the place of the mayor, then my suggestion would be for our current pro tem chain to then fill the vacancy as mayor left in District 3 and then if you follow the rotation of the way the city charter rotates among districts, then the next council member comes from District 1, would be the next individual following the city charter rules. So that would be David Fu. So that is my suggestion, following the rules of the city charter. Thank you.

Council Member Fu.

Yeah, I think that's really just a logical extension of our existing guidance under our charter. We have a rotation. It really doesn't change much. It's a few months that exist under former member Wang's term. So I think it does make sense to just follow what is the normal rotation and just proceed there.

Understood. Is there a motion on the floor? Pro Tem, this is Michael, I'll make that motion. Is there a second?

Fu will second.

Roll call.

Council Member Cao?

Yes.

Council Member Fu?

Yes.

Council Member Kwan? No. Mayor Pro Tem Chang?

Yes.

All right, we're going to go to city clerk item number seven B as in Bravo, which is the discussion and direction regarding the district three city council vacancy.

Did you like the staff report, Mr. Mayor?

Yes. I can have an update on the 7B. Thank you.

OK. So this item is intended to give the city council an opportunity to decide what it needs to or wants to do with the vacancy that's been created in District 3. You have a few more options or you have one more option than you normally have available to you. You could call a special election. The difficulty with calling a special election is the timing of a special election would be held sometime in late September and not really certified until October. And the term in District 3 ends in November. So to incur the better part of a $200,000 expense for a 40-day appointment doesn't really make the most sense. You have the ability to just pick somebody and appoint them. Anybody can make a nomination tonight and nominate an individual. And if the council majority agrees, the city council could appoint that person tonight. Third option is that the city council could go through some kind of a process. nomination window allow anybody who wanted to to apply for a period of time. I will tell you that the last time the city council faced a vacancy, the city council went through a nomination process. At that time, the city council chose a five-day window for the nomination period, specifically, I think, because they wanted to get to the weekend, let people apply, and then have interviews and kind of deliberations on the following Tuesday when the next available council meeting was. So it's the City Council's pleasure on how fast or slow you want to take this process. Obviously, if you give the community more time to react, you might get a few more applications. But the more time you take, the less time there is to serve. So it's kind of a balancing act there. And the final option for the city council, and by the way, you could do interviews. You could not do interviews entirely up to the council on how you actually carry out that process once you get nominations. And I would suggest tonight if you're going to do nominations, maybe hold back on the second part of the process other than knowing how long the window is open. Because if you get 25 applicants, you may not want to interview 25 people. But if you get two applicants, you might want to interview both applicants, that kind of thing. Your final option you'd have available for you that you don't normally have available. So the city charter, the last time we had this open window, the city charter was rewritten because at the last time we had an open window, the city council was stuck on a 2-2 vote and we were stuck without anybody in the seat for a long time. And the charter now says that the city clerk shall call an election within 60 days without even asking the council if the council can't make up their mind. except and this is a big except if we're at the end of the term of that person you can just ride without somebody until the next general election and we happen to be in that window so the city council for this one and only time in this four-year period has an opportunity if it wants to to just not appoint somebody to district three and just continue as a four-member city council until the november elections and allow the normal course of elections to take place The obvious potential downside of that is not having any representation and getting stuck on 2-2 votes and those kinds of things which we've seen happen. And the city council, a lot of people who are here tonight don't normally come to our council meetings. There are a lot of votes that are 5-0, unanimous kind of votes, 4-1 kind of votes. But when the city council's stuck in a 3-2 kind of situation, it tends to be the most volatile situations in the city and there's a lot of motion. lot of people in the audience on those nights so if we had one of those issues come up in the next four months and you only had four people you might have a more volatile situation with the council not being able to make up their minds so we're not here to as a staff to make any specific recommendation tonight I will be strong and say it's probably not wise to have a special election but any of the other options are available to the council and it's entirely up to you on how you'd like to proceed so with that I'm happy to answer any questions you may have and I'm sure Mike Maurer is as well

Did any council member have any questions? Yes, sir, go ahead.

We have the budget coming up before us, do we not?

We're scheduled to adopt the budget at the June 2nd city council meeting.

So it's particularly important that we avoid a deadlock of some kind, I think, given the fact that we've got this issue coming up, because that would really stymie the city operations. And I don't think that anybody wants to spend a quarter of a million dollars on a special election. So I think that what we should likely do then is move forward and take applications or something like that for the role. I think that Mayor, that Member Kwan mentioned that she wants to have an open process and to be able to offer a nomination or allow people to apply. I think that's wise to have that. uh... measure of transparency and to allow people to come forward and identify themselves and say, yeah, I want to serve. So I think that we should try to do that. We've got to do it really lickety-split because we need to swear this person in for June the second since we've got a vote on the budget. So that's my observation about what our timing should be like. I don't think it's likely that we're going to have a dozen people come out for this seat. It would be great if we did because I'd like that spirit, but I suspect that that's not going to be the case. So I suspect that how we decide to interview and do that kind of thing will probably be manageable. So I would suggest, and I don't know what the other members think, that we operate on that timetable.

Mr. Mayor? Yes, go ahead, sir. If I could just add, just to, I mentioned interviews, which we did do the last time, and it is a public process, and those interviews just, they're not a private interview.

Councilmember Kwan, earlier you were talking about how you were thinking about the nominations.

Yes, I think we should have the public to have a period of time to submit their applications and so that during this process, I think it needs to be transparent to allow the residents to see how we go through this process and to make it fair for everyone that wants to serve. So I think that's the way to do it. I don't think it should be nomination just from our city council, but it's definitely, it needs to be a public announcement for the public to come forward if they're interesting to serving.

Understood. Council Member Cao.

Um, so I just want to, I guess, gather my thoughts publicly. And so I just want to double check. So with our city manager, so if we do a special election, that's a lot of money, right? But how much was that?

So the latest estimate we got from the county registrar was it would be between 115 and $225,000 for that district.

Okay, so that is not a small amount of change. And I think that, you know, I would concur with your assessment, city manager, that probably not wise because it's such a short period. And then just speaking out loud is that every district should be represented. And I don't think that just because there's a quirk in our city charter that says we could, in theory, leave this seat vacated, I personally don't think that's a good idea because that would mean that District 3 would not have representation. So then getting into the nomination period or the application period, I'm not sure what you call it, city attorney, what do we call that?

There's no formal process. It'll be something you establish, so either terminology works.

Okay, so I agree with both of my council members, Fu and Quan, that I think that an application, a nomination period should be out there. But I also, I know that our city budget is one of the priorities in our city. And I think that District 3 should have representation concerning that. I guess my question is, is that in reference to the transparency that we're all echoing, is that I have a question for Council Member Fu actually, is that would you be open to like, I know we haven't made a motion, but I don't know how else to phrase it, but like a friendly amendment where we open up applications for District 3 residents for the next several days so that we could, in theory, interview them next week, and it would be publicly then, is that correct, City Manager?

Yeah, it would need to be a public council meeting.

So we do, if we can get applications in by the end of this week and then we can interview publicly and then I myself was part of the last vacancy unfortunately because former Mayor Roger Chandler passed away from cancer. So at that time I was part of the District 5 application pool and I remember that one of the things that District 5 uh felt was that we we were stuck because we didn't have representation because it took a while for the process to evolve and i i know there's no rule book for that because um you know that's an unfortunate circumstance that one of our former mayors had passed away on on the dais but i think that Going through that experience myself, I think that if we can interview next week publicly, and then hopefully maybe come up with some decision as a body next week, so that in theory, we could try to get that new representative of District 3 in for our budget meeting, which is June 2nd. So that's my, I guess, friendly amendment for a motion that hasn't been made.

Go ahead. Sorry for interrupting you again. But I put pressure on you all as far as the scheduled date of June 2nd. It's just normally how we do it. The city charter just says we need to adopt a budget by the 1st of July. So you do have a second meeting in June if the city council needs more time or wants to give the new person more time to react. And just a reminder that Monday is Memorial Day. So getting people together next week or getting applications before next week may be more difficult than normal. Whatever you wanna do, we can make it happen with the special meeting next week and somebody in place by the second, but don't let me put pressure on you for the second if you'd prefer to delay the budget for a couple weeks.

Well, the only thing that, when I was previously mayor, what I did was I did a point system so that each council member could actually give a three, two, one, their preferred candidate a three point and then a two point and a one point. Now I understand that may create some ambiguous results, but at the same time, I think it allows our council members to be able to rank who they like. I don't mind if it's done next week. I would recommend we do it as soon as possible. Whether or not our budget is going to be approved on the second, but that would be my hopeful recommendation that each council member could have they're able to score across three candidates and not merely one. So I understand it sounds very unique. I don't even remember if you guys were on city council with me at the time, but I did feel that a three, two, one point system, I think allowed for better results. Yes, sir.

Go ahead. Can I ask? Actually, it's a question for the city manager, if that's okay. So I guess in order to have District 3 representation, I guess, would it be possible to make the application as simple as possible so that this way they This way they don't have to spend a week filling out applications. I guess for me, you know, once again, I was a I was part of that district five applicant pool. So I thought, you know, looking at it in hindsight, I think the two most relevant questions that we. should try to find out from any applicant would be, why do you wanna serve and what makes you best qualified? And that really just kind of simplifies the application because this way, people don't have to spend an incredible amount of time filling in the application to turn in the application to get the interview, if that's okay. And then I guess I would echo Pro Tem's suggestion of doing it. I mean, I understand that Monday's a holiday. So would it be possible that we get applications in by the end of this week? And would it be possible to set up interviews a week from tonight? You know So staff could do that.

So to answer your first question. Yes, we can make a simple application We can get that in the field if not tonight than tomorrow morning Fairly similar to what the the application looked like last time And staff would be available on next Tuesday if the City Council is available next Tuesday evening for interviews. I

So I'm the liaison to the planning commission. Isn't there a planning meeting?

There would normally be a planning meeting in here. I'm looking for Lisa. There is one next Tuesday. So we can have it in a different room?

Yeah, or we can schedule it at five and get in and out.

Whatever the council's pleasure.

Possibility. So does everybody have availability at five o'clock next Tuesday then?

Just to make sure that... Well, I want to say that I'm hearing you saying that the interview will be public. I really hope that this interview process is televised so that the public have a chance to be engaged in this process and that for the residents that are not available to come, they can view it on the monitor. So I do not think that it should be in a conference room or something that we do it secretly. I think it needs to be televised. So it is fair process for everyone. So I don't know why you say next week in a conference room. So to me, when you say public interview, I would assume that it is going to be like this kind of setting. where everybody can watch us, what we do and what we say. I think right now, because there isn't any public trust, so I think that is a way to demonstrate that we have nothing to hide. That's my concern.

i would support member kwan on that issue i i think if we do it in here then we can i guess we can bring our video guys in we can make sure to do that yes okay so what it sounds like to me is we would have a simple application process the interviews would occur 5 pm next tuesday I didn't hear any objections to giving a 3-2-1 scoring. I can show you guys how to do it in terms of basically scoring three candidates and that we would have it televised. I didn't hear any objections on that. Were there any other issues that anybody would have or any comments, clarifications? Okay, do we have a motion on the floor regarding a one, the four points being, again, simple application, interviews next Tuesday at 5 p.m., scoring of three candidates, three, two, one, and have it be televised.

The only thing I think we left open is when the applications will be due. Is that Monday night or Friday night?

So it really gets back to the public part of the process. If it's a special meeting, the city council only needs to notice it 24 hours in advance. If you take applications right up to the deadline, you might have a staff report that just says the city will be able to, or the community will be given the applications at the hearing. If you give us a little more time and you have the applications due Friday, Saturday, Sunday, we could have everything posted and ready to go for Monday morning and people would see the applications when we posted the agenda. Friday, Saturday.

And I want to add something. This is for District 3. It has to be a candidate that lives in District 3 just to make sure there's no manipulation.

Yes, they need to. One thing we will verify is that all the candidates are registered voters living.

So as of today, if you live in District 3, you're qualified. Not that you're going to move out of that another district because it seems like there's been some sort of manipulation in the history in the past. So I just want to make sure that it doesn't occur this time.

So good point. So to answer your question cleanly, I think if you took on to Monday at 5 p.m. or excuse me. Well, no, we'd have to post on Monday at 5 p.m. So you need to do Sunday.

Well, do we really want to do that on Sunday? I think that's inappropriate, too. So as far as I'm concerned, we could close the nomination process at. you know, Friday night at 5 or midnight or whatever, and that would allow the staff, sorry, to work on Saturday. But I think that makes more sense. I kind of doubt we're going to have an avalanche anyway. But I think if that works, then that means that we're not having a fire drill to get it all done. So perhaps I would suggest that the application process close it. midnight on Friday, or actually 1159 p.m. on Friday, to avoid confusion, and that I would suggest that. So may I make a motion then?

May I interrupt? I'm so sorry. City Manager, I have a question. I wasn't gonna try not, I wasn't going to stop you from making a motion. I just want to have a quick question before you make your motion. So going back to myself being in the District 5 applicant pool, What I remember about that is that the process during the interviews, we were there for a long time actually. Whether it be because we had great response to individuals wanting to serve the city, but also because of the fact that I thought that it put a lot of pressure on applicants who had never served before, meaning that when you have never served before and you are being asked, you sort of feel like you're in this quasi-judicial setting. And I remember vividly when I was getting from the four council members, it was rough. It was tough. And what I realized was that as an applicant, you're on public TV, you're recorded, you're getting grilled essentially by, at that time, very seasoned individuals who had been on council for quite a long time. And I you know, for lack of a professional word, I felt the pain with all my other applicants when they were getting questions. I was like, oh, my gosh, you know, that's really rough. That's really tough. And then I felt mine was as well and all the other applicants. And then and then what happened was, if my memory serves me correct, was that None of the applicants that day were selected, actually. So we were publicly interviewed and it was deemed that no one met the credentials or qualifications that were needed. I remember one particular statement, maybe because it's PTSD, my part, but I remember one comment that was made to me was, Michael, you're overqualified, but you didn't earn a position. So I also want to sympathize, I guess, that we want to make the applicant process a little bit better, I guess, than what had happened to the applicants in the District 5 pool. So I guess, In addition to what we already stated, would it be possible to have council member questions to a certain amount of time so that this way we're not essentially kind of grilling the applicants, because I think that in this environment now, I don't think that that's what we want to portray, that that's who we are as a city, that we grill our applicants. I think we want to ask some questions, but not necessarily grill them. So, I think that's one other thing that I would like to add to the interview besides the point system. I actually had never thought of that. That makes sense. But in addition to that, also add like a, A TIME PERIOD FOR EACH COUNCILMEMBER TO ASK QUESTIONS. I KNOW WHEN YOU WATCH CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS, EACH CONGRESSIONAL HEARING IS A FEW MINUTES FOR EACH COUNCILMEMBER. I MEAN, NOT COUNCILMEMBER, FEDERAL LEGISLATOR, BUT I THINK SOMETHING WE CAN DO LIKE THAT SO THIS WAY THE APPLICANTS THEMSELVES, BECAUSE IT'S TOUGH ENOUGH FOR THEM TO HAVE THE SPIRIT AND THE COURAGE TO COME OUT AND APPLY AND GET INTERVIEWED PUBLICLY. You know, I can't echo enough. I thought it was tough for all the applicants, including myself for district five. So I wanna make sure that that process is a little bit better for them.

So to answer your question, it's up to the council. You can set your own rules for how the interview should go. I think last time, you're right, we had seven or nine applicants and it was, we had 15 or 20 minute time windows and we blew those out because everybody was asking a lot of questions. People got interested and engaged and then started to try to ask questions that pushed up their favorite candidate and those kinds of things that just happen sometimes in politics. So if you as a body want to limit yourself to a specific number of questions or specific time per council member, you're welcome to adopt that in an effort to keep things moving along.

I would I'm not sure what your motion would be, but I would ask you to include that in your motion.

Yeah, I'm going to make the observation that I think that the way to solve it, because I don't think we want to be there all night, but I also I mean, I appreciate Michael's point that there's this kind of star chamber effect to having to run the gauntlet and that we don't really want to have that kind of proceeding. So what I would suggest is that we have the applicant make a short statement. We could limit that to no more than two minutes, something like that. And then possibly do kind of a round robin to go through the panel that each one of us would have the right to. ask a question, then we do one more round, one more question, and then close it there so that we can just move on to the next candidate. And I would also suggest that we wrap it up Tuesday night, that we vote on it at that point in order to be able to move forward in a timely way. So if I may, let me go through this list and then perhaps a motion's appropriate. So number one, that the deadline for the applications would be Friday, May 22nd at 11.59 p.m. Number two, that the interviews of the applicants would be conducted on May the 26th at 5 p.m. in this chamber. That a short application will be issued by the city for the applicants to complete. That our general rules for qualification for city council will apply. Therefore, it would be that you have to actually reside in District 3. That it will be a televised process so that it's open to the public. That the applicant will be selected. I'm sorry, the council person will be selected from the applicants proposed so that we don't have that process that Michael describes. And that a point system would be employed that 3, 2, 1, which I think it sounds like kind of like you're ranking your three favorite candidates, you know, number three and then two and then one. And if they're four, then number four gets zero. Okay. As I understand it. And I think That's all we talked about. So if that makes sense and there's nothing more to add from anybody, then I'll proceed with the motion.

I think the one thing I didn't hear a response on was how long for the interview, like how many minutes are you giving between interviews to answer the how?

I think we're trying to get in and out because we've got the planning commission following. So we've got two hours. If we have two minutes and then a Q&A going around, It sort of suggests that you've got maybe 15 to 20 minutes per applicant. I mean, if we got more than five, it would be the embarrassment of riches. But I don't think it's going to happen. But that would still likely get us out within that two-hour period. And our friends in the Planning Commission could always be patient with us for a little bit if we were to run over.

And I don't want to belabor the point, but I will say it's stressful for the applicant, but also you'll find that it's stressful for the council because you're going to realize that you're making a decision on behalf of the 6,000 voters that are in that district. And normally they're going to vote for themselves, and now you're having the responsibility of picking someone on their behalf.

I have an issue with that again. because it seems like a point system again where you three hold the majority votes. And so now we have, again, accountability issue. So I just, if this is the case, It seems like we're getting back to square one again. There's going to be a lot of public trust issue here. I mean, if we're going to do it, this process, we can only limit to the term ending November of 2026. so that the public can have a fair voting after that. So this is only for a six month position.

And that is correct, Council Member.

Yes, I just want to make sure because I don't want, the person, you know, all the in favor, and then same thing, we have this issue of political coalition again, and so it's, and then there's gonna be public trust issue here. So, I mean, it's been only six months. I think we should let the public vote for the candidate that they want to serve in that district. I think that's a fair thing to do.

there there will be an election for district three in november that we're already on the four-year cycle so that'll absolutely happen yes i just want to make it clear that we don't change the charter for that and i would support member kwan in that regard it's just to complete the unfulfilled term so therefore nine points um and so i will make the following motion then that there be an application process for an appointment of the person to fulfill the balance of the District 3 term, that the applications will be due on Friday, May the 2nd at 1159 p.m., that the candidates will be interviewed on Tuesday, May the 26th at 5 p.m. in this chamber, that the city will issue a short application, for applicants to submit, that the rules applying to city council members in terms of their qualifications will apply to that process, and therefore residency in the district, that the interview will be televised in this chamber, that the appointee will be selected from the applicants that are heard from at that point, that the applicant will make a short statement, approximately two minutes, if that makes sense, after which there will be a round robin and each council member will have two questions to pose to the candidate, that a point system will prevail there and that the candidates will be ranked by each council member, three, two, one, And again, that the appointee will only be fulfilling the unexpired term of currently existing at District 3.

Well, I also think that there were two questions Council Member Coward wanted on the application, correct? Or was that the- Yeah, there was two questions.

If we can add that to the motion. I think the two questions is- Why do you, the two questions are, Why do you want to serve? And the second question is, what, you can phrase it however you want, city manager, but the intent is, you know, how do we decide that you have the most merit?

Who's the best candidate?

Yeah, who's the best candidate, who has the most merit? All right, let's have a roll call. This is Mike, I'll make a second to that motion. Thank you.

So the two questions are why do you wanna serve and what are your qualifications? In fact, okay, right?

Or what makes you the best candidate choice?

Yeah, what makes you the best candidate? I think that was the second question. Okay.

Okay, so subject to that friendly amendment.

Let's have a roll call.

Okay. Mayor Pro Tem Fu?

Yes.

Council Member Cao?

Yes.

Council Member Kwan? Yes. Mayor Chang?

Yes.

And Mr. Mayor? Motion passes 4-0. I'm sorry.

Yes, sir. I'm calling you, Mr. Mayor, but we neglected at the end of the last item to actually swear in the new mayor and the mayor pro tem. So before we leave these city clerk items, it would be appropriate for you to take your oaths of office. You can do that individually or collectively, depending on what you want to do.

Excuse me. I think I haven't been able to finish because we were taking a bathroom break that I still have to, I want to say something. addressing the public comments. Can I say that?

We've already moved past that portion of the agenda. It's up to the mayor, but we've already moved beyond that portion.

Well, no, I appreciate Council Member Kwan. Council Member Kwan, is it possible for you to make just a comment?

It's gonna be very short.

Thank you very much, go ahead.

Okay, so what happened is that I'm hearing our attorney saying that based on the charter, you cannot censor a mayor. and that also backed up by Council Member David Fu saying that it's illegal to do so because even though as we know that Mayor Eileen Wang was under investigation and we could not censor her or we could not do anything. And as for me, as you know, I was censored because of very ridiculous allegation. And so it seems like I'm hearing the message very contradicting. What I'm requesting is that the city council we moved or know the censured on me, Sharon Kwan, and that also needs to do a publication so that we know that the charter is aligned with the things that happened and that I'm THE CITY COUNCIL OWES ME AN APOLOGY FOR CENSORING ME USING CHAT G3T AND READING MY NOTES BECAUSE AS YOU CAN SEE TODAY, COUNCIL MEMBER DAVID FU READ HIS NOTES AND SO I THINK ASKING QUESTIONS IS ACTUALLY MY DUTY AND AS YOU CAN HEAR FROM THE RESIDENTS THAT CAME HERE, SPEAKING CANDIDLY IS VERY IMPORTANT AND ALSO I'VE BEEN ALWAYS SPEAKING, YOU KNOW, the voice coming from my residents. So that is what I am requesting to do, to remove my censored and to write a publication to apologize and to null that censorship. That's my take on it.

Mayor, I can provide a quick... Yeah, we're going to have the city attorney just make some clarifications.

Okay, so I just want to clarify. The statement that was made was that there was a vote to remove Sharon Kwan as mayor, and that's what I clarified didn't happen. There was a vote to censure. There was not a vote to remove Sharon Kwan as mayor. And I also clarified that under... the charter and under general law, the city council can't remove someone as a member of the council. We also made that clarification very clear during the censure process. So thank you for letting me clarify, Mayor. Understood.

May I also request, Mr. City Attorney, that you clarify the distinction between a censure and being censored? So I think that that remains a sticking point for some people, and perhaps you would educate us.

okay the so a censure and i'll i'll keep this very quick a censure is an action that a body like a city council can take to effectively reprimand one of their members it's simply a statement that the body makes it's not a prohibition on the mayor or excuse me it's not a prohibition It's not a censorship in that it doesn't prevent speaking. It's a statement on behalf of the rest of the council that this is the position of the council.

With my understanding during the way that was censored me was that it was to remove me from my duty as a mayor. The censor went for one and it was approved. And that, unfortunately, they just do a stay. So a stay, it's like the censure did happen, but it's just, it's giving a pause. So I think, to clarify, I hope that you don't manipulate the facts, our attorney here. I mean, you were, basically, it was a censure to remove from my duty, but there was just a stay. So now... you need to remove that stay and completely null the censorship.

Okay, so that's not an item on the agenda. We've addressed it. We've clarified it. We need to move on at this point. Understood.

So my call is to put that onto motion to make that happen so that the public can have a better understanding and it can restore public trust. and that I'm allowed to speak.

Councilmember, we're not at that point on the agenda, so we can.

Okay, then I think I can patiently wait for that to happen.

All right, we're gonna go to public hearing item eight, A is an alpha. Oh, we're gonna do the swearing in first, thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, is this on?

All right.

Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, state your name.

I, David Fu.

Do solemnly swear or affirm.

Do solemnly swear.

That I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

That I will solemnly protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

And the Constitution of the State of California.

And the Constitution of the State of California.

Against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

That I will bear true faith and allegiance.

That I will bear true faith and allegiance.

To the Constitution of the United States.

To the Constitution of the United States.

And the Constitution of the State of California.

And the Constitution of the State of California.

That I take this obligation freely.

That I take this obligation freely.

Without any mental reservation.

Without any mental reservation.

Or purpose of evasion.

Or purpose of evasion.

And that I will well and faithfully.

And that I will well and faithfully.

Discharge the duties.

Discharge the duties.

Upon which I am about to enter.

upon which I'm about to enter. Congratulations.

Thank you very much. All right, all right.

Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, state your name.

I, Paul Chang.

do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic,

that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California that I take this obligation freely that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation, or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, well, we are moving on to item eight as an alpha, the annual military equipment report per assembly bill number 481 and reaffirm ordinance number 2387, military equipment use policy.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Given the late hour, I will just give a brief presentation. If you have supplemental questions, we'll turn it over to staff. But this is a requirement of state law. We have to identify publicly every year the items that we have in our police department that qualify as military-level equipment. This was an effort... This was an effort in years past to make sure that the public was aware of the level of equipment that was on hand. The report before you meets the state law, it reaffirms our adopted ordinance and our current policy. I will say that the report identifies that there was no new equipment that was purchased in 2025. The only planned purchases in 2026 tend to be replacements of ammunition that we already use and service and just, you know, we train on it and we need to replace it from time to time. It also identifies that the budget includes a proposal for the acquisition of drones in fiscal year 26-27. And the report also identifies that there was an internal audit and there were no errors found in the auditing process. With that, we would say that you'd be able to approve this report and reaffirm the city's policy. This is not a CEQA project and we would recommend you approve the item before you.

All right.

All right, do we have any questions from city council? Do we have any comments from city council? Do we have a motion from City Council?

Before we do that, we need to open the public hearing.

Oh.

I don't think we have any cards, but just in case.

No, there are no cards. Oh. Yes sir, I apologize, I forgot your name, but if you can get up, identify yourself please.

Yes, my name is Transgender Goddess. So the reason why she was confused is because on my speaker card I clearly wrote items so I was assuming that that that will satisfy all speaking items that's how I submit a card because no any other person giving me it says one item has to be one individual card and she is already running my time I'm just trying to explain how does that work she is already wasted my 30 seconds I disagree with her so about this military equipment thing is that it concerns me because the similar item occurred in the city of El Monte. Well unfortunately while I was homeless and as well as the illegal immigrants. The police budget is about more than half of the city budget. That's at least how the city of El Monte did. And then when the residents came to the El Monte City Council, when they were asking for housing assistance, when they were asking for food assistance, when they were asking for legal defense funds for ICE and then federal law enforcement or whatever, and then the city council gave an answer is, I'm sorry, we just don't have that. We are dealing with physical deficit. So I have a similar concern in the city of Arcadia because I also read on the newspaper that when other city, LAPD, El Monte, they are giving their police officer 5%, 6% increase rates, the city of Arcadia gave the Arcadia police more than 20% big rates, which is all of the Arcadia residents and even LA Times are trying to question the physical responsibility of the Arcadia City Council. So my concern is that the military equipment And then the military spending and then whatever associated with the police department will drain the bank account of Arcadia. But I am aware the mayor informed several times to the news media that you have money, you have no concern. But I do, I do have a concern. And second of all is that using of the military equipment, I'm trying to agree with the council member Fu said because council member Fu made several comments that we have the best police department, we have the best fire department, we have the best of the best of everything. Now I want to give you an example that when I was doing the Uber and Lyft drivers and then I stopped by the city of Arcadia because one of the drunk passenger from the Alhambra bar returned to Arcadia and she refused to exit my vehicle. And then where I called the police 911, I said, can I get a police officer to take this lady out of my vehicle? But for some reason, 20, 25 minutes, there's no Alhambra police ever responded. So my concern, this is one example, but because this lady only gave me three minutes, I don't have enough time to give you so many 100 example. This is one out of many. So my concern is when we are giving the Humber Police Department the best equipment, the best salary, the best of everything, but why they are still have residents go to KTLA are complaining that where I call the police, police doesn't show up. Where I personally experienced that where I call the police, but somehow police determined that, oh, that's nonviolent event. Oh, somehow that's you are not injured. Oh, there's no bleeding. So therefore, we are no longer responding. So somehow, I'm just sitting right there for 30 minutes with the so-called best of the best police department with the best military equipment.

Thank you, sir. Go ahead, sir. I got the floor, yes, thank you.

I strongly believe that America is fucking doomed. We don't have the motherfucking resources for motherfucking simplify to do their fucking job in the capacity of what's going on in today's society. Now, I understand we got to simplify fucking faggots but I just don't understand why they dare to question law enforcement and their responsibilities. I think every law enforcement officer should have an IED, an RPG, something that is destructible and ends the problem now, just like what happened in San Diego. It could have been solved. It could have been stopped. Political weaponizing happens all the time. We target officers that are good officers who work overtime, hypothetically, for example, in Omani, a detective who made $40,000 in one month in overtime. Now, how the fuck do you make that fucking kind of money as a police officer in overtime in one month? Now that motherfucker must have been working more than one minute a second, like in a New York second. Not even Batman alleges he works that many hours. Even Batman dedicates his time to a good time. Like many officers, they have drinking problems, they have drug problems, but that's off the record. That's what they do on their social time. So I'm here to support that you give them more than 35% of your budget to fix this fucking problem of burglaries and crime and the statistics about why we have to put up with this in America. Yes, you're a veteran. Yes, you have PTSD. Well, fuck PTSD. You got fucking mental health problems. You fucking losers. That red, white, and blue flag don't mean a goddamn thing unless you protect our free speech. And the only goddamn reason why officers have their badge, because they know how to say, motherfucker, get on the ground now. That's an order. So don't ever say that the goddamn police officer is using vulgarity in his free speech. He's exercising his conduct to say 42 SC 1983 politely, fuck you.

All right. Do we go to comments now or?

Close the public hearing.

Close public hearing. Do we have any council questions? Do we have council comments? Do we have a motion from council?

Foo moves to approve item 8A.

This is Michael, I'll second that motion. Roll call.

Mayor Pro Temfu?

Yes.

Council Member Cao?

Yes.

Council Member Kwan? No. Mayor Chang?

Yes.

All right, we are going to item eight B as in Bravo. It's resolution number 7683, authorizing an amendment to the statement of objectives and projects for use of community development block grants, CDBG, funds for fiscal year 2025 to 2026 to add an American with Disabilities Act, ADA, curb ramp project and execute a memorandum of understanding with the Los Angeles County Development Authority, LACTA.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think that title kind of explains it, but the short story here is that the federal government has identified that we have $290,000 in excess of what we originally thought we had to be able to spend on our community development block grant funds in this current cycle. And so we're asking you to update the budget so we can do more projects with the money. We tend to, we're asking in this, instance for the $290,000 to be able to do more curb ramp projects, Americans with Disability Act curb ramp projects. So this doesn't approve the actual projects. It just includes the planning. It amends the spending plan. And we will return to the city council with an actual bid and a project at a later date, but we need to first submit this paperwork to the state to be able to get the funding approved in the first place. So with that, staff stands by and is happy to answer any questions you might have.

Do we have any questions or comments for our city staff? Are we going to open up the public comment?

We do need a public comment.

Earlier, sir, Mr. Transgender Goddess, you said that you were planning to speak on the items. Did you have any comments, sir?

I do, but the gentleman asking me to speak first.

Go ahead, sir. Yes, sir.

Me or him?

You, sir. Thank you, sir.

Thank you. Yes. Thank you. So about the American with a Disability Act curb ramp project, I'm here in support of that because I do have several family members are on the wheelchair. So if there's anything that we can make our community more accessible for wheelchair users or any other sort of disability, I'm here in support of that. One concern I want to add, something that will benefit with America with Disability Act, that will benefit people without disability, is the vehicle enforcement on the street. Because there are several times that me, without a disability, I was standing on the side of the pedestrian crossing, I standing right there, and I was just looking at the cars, Going, going, going, going. Like, for example, I was right there non-existent. Going back to my previous comments that I just don't know where did our best of the best officer go. So I don't have, all of my family member are in their home country, so I'm the only one right here, but I do have disability neighbor. Sometimes I have to help her personally with the grocery shopping and everything because she cannot carry much. Whenever I am available, I try to help her on her grocery shopping. And then there are numerous instances that where me and then a wheelchair and then we are standing on the side of the road, hopefully praying to God, praying to our council member, praying to our police department that please make them stop so we can just go home. We have frozen items, we have frozen food. We cannot in the summer, 110 degree, we cannot stand there for 10, 20 minutes. All of our food become bad. But sometimes crossing one street take more than 10 minutes and I'm not exaggerating. So I'm support. TO HELP THIS AMERICAN WITH DISABILITY RAMP, BUT I ALSO WANT TO ADVISE THE MAYOR THAT WE CAN HELP AMERICAN WITH DISABILITY, SOMETHING WE CAN DO TO HELP THEM CROSSING THE STREET MORE EFFICIENTLY, IF THE DRIVER, If a wheelchair or if a random person has to stand right there for 10 minutes, something is wrong. I don't know what is wrong, but I know something is wrong. That's not how it works. When you get a chance to travel to Japan, when you get a chance to travel to Korea, they do not have your amazing so-called best of the best police officer. They do not have 50% of the budget dedicated to their police department. Their police budget is only 20%, less than 15%. But however, when you stand on the street of Japan, you know less than 10, 15 seconds. The vehicle stopped. Why? I don't know. What did their mayor do? I don't know. I'm not a politician. I do not have enough education, but I know there's a clear difference because I experience what it's like in the United States. I experience what it's like in Japan and Korea. So I want to make sure that we can do something, we can think about it, we can do something. Thank you.

Mr. Batman, before you begin, may I just say something, sir? You have really good points, but unfortunately when you curse, I'm not able to hear your points clearly. If it would be possible for you to make your points without cursing, I can guarantee that your well taken points, sir, would be not only well received, but actually heard by council. Thank you, sir.

Correct. One man's lyrics is another man's static. But the great words of Plato was, why has society failed us? Real simple. We know why. Look at the infrastructure on our daily commutes. Matter of fact, let's put on record what the fine gentleman spoke about, that elderly man who said, why are these scooters or these e-bikes riding on the sidewalks where they don't belong? Quote, unquote. Why are they, Mr. City Manager? Why haven't you imposed a sanction to prevent that veterans like the one that died recently from a e-bike or some stupid motorcycle after the parent allowed the son to ride it into him and kill him? So the question here, are you gonna follow the 2010 standard? And if so, let me advise you. It's just not in Arcadia. The city of Los Angeles, as Donald J. Trump has said against Newscum, why are you not spending the billions of dollars we're sending you for the infrastructure? Why? What's so difficult about spending not your money, Mr. Manager, my taxpaying dollars? Do you own a home? Is it paid off? Do you pay taxes? Do you live in it? Do you rent it? You can't answer that. Because apparently you don't give a rat's fucking ass. I do. I just all of a sudden became disabled like the fine Air Force guy over there, suffering from PTSD, or as I call it, mental health. But I've battled many cities like I did in Downey and got $21 million into a budget for ADA coordinator and ADA consultant. Now, this city doesn't want me to do that, right? I got friends in Washington. I got friends in California. I got friends in the DOJ. Matter of fact, I got friends in the FBI. I'm sure they're listening. I'm sure they're wondering why Donald J. Trump on the record has stated why is California stealing public money not to include infrastructure up to code, up to date, up to time in every city in California while the goddamn taxpayers are paying for it and getting like, for example, that K rail out there and those grinded goddamn sidewalks. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Do we have any further questions or comments from city council over the budget item? I'm going to close the public session. Hearing none, is there a motion from council?

This is Michael. I'll make that motion to approve resolution number 7683, authorizing amendment to the statement of objectives and project for use of community development block grant funds for fiscal year 2025-26 to add an Americans with Disabilities Act curb grant project and execute a memorandum of understanding with the LA County Development Authority. This is not considered to be a CEQA project. Who seconds? We'll call.

Council Member Cao?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tempfu?

Yes.

Council Member Kwan? Yes. Mayor Chang?

Yes. Passes 4-0. All right, we're going to be going to our consent calendar. Are there any items that anybody would like to pull from 9A through G as in gamma? Hearing none, are there any, I do not believe that there are any public comments for any of the- Wouldn't need to on that one. Understood. With that being said, is there a motion for the consent calendar items?

Foo moves to approve the consent calendar.

This is Mike, I'll second that motion. Roll call.

Mayor Pro Tem Foo?

Yes.

Council Member Cao?

Yes.

Council Member Kwan? Yes. Mayor Chang?

Yes. Passes 4-0. We are now going to item number 10, AB 1234, reports from Mayor and City Council. Does anybody have anything to report? None at this time. Here. Seeing none, we'll go to...

I think since I already wrote what I want to say, there's a lot of residents that are not here. I think I still want to say what I want to say, that I plan to say. And this is under personal privilege.

Council Member, this is the portion for AB 1234 reports.

Okay, that's fine. I'll wait for that then. I just want to make sure I get my chance.

It's... We're going to item number 11, request for future items. Are there any requests for future items from any council members?

Yes. So the first future items I want to request is that we request a forensic audit into the City of Arcadia books that is requested by public comments. And I want to put it on the agenda for that.

So is the request to put on a future agenda whether we do a... A forensic accounting. Okay. Mr. Lazzarato, can you be able to let us, at least the public, know what the, very quickly, what the city does in regard to any forensic accounting?

So the city every year is required to do a financial audit. It's not as robust as what I think Mr. Tallarico was indicating in terms of a forensic audit. But the financial accounting and standards are reviewed every year. If we get any federal grant funds, those have to be specifically audited. There are other situations that have to be what we call a single audit. And they go through all of our expenditures. They pull random, you know, approvals every year to make sure that we followed all of our policies and protocols, those sorts of things.

Are there two council members to support the forensic audit?

And so I'm not getting any support to do a forensic accounting that we haven't done in how many years?

May I ask a question about this? Because it seems to me that what Mr. Tallarico is referring to was the concern regarding former member Wang and that for some reason, although not clear to me, it seemed like there was a statement that a forensic audit would help somehow. Just to be clear... I don't think any individual council members handle any city finances. Is that correct?

That's correct. Any involvement in city spending from a council member point of view has to have three votes here in public.

action that this body takes is what would affect any kind of financial expenditure. Correct. And even then, we don't actually handle the money. No. That's all through the city manager's office. Correct. All right. Thank you.

Let me ask you, our city manager, when was the last time we had a forensic accounting audit?

I am not aware that there has been a forensic audit of the city at any time.

So, and you've been in office for 14 years? Yes. So we haven't had a forensic accounting audit.

Which is not unusual in a city.

Yes, but because...

The city every single year goes through a financial audit, but a forensic audit, you're usually looking for something specific after an incident.

I think we should because of all these voices that we're hearing from the public and that of all the public news out there about corruptions and all these prosecution going on, I think it's good for us to do something proactive just to make sure that we are aligned with compliance. And I think it's asking for a forensic accounting audit. It's a very reasonable thing to do at this time, especially when there are so many questions from the public. I think that we should do one. I mean, it's, If we are very clean, we should be having an auditor come and stamp that and let the public know that we don't have any issue. So I don't know why we're not having a discussion about that. We should have a discussion so that the public can come and let us know how they feel. about having a forensic accounting if that's the way that we can build public trust. I think that's also a good idea.

So the request right now is for a discussion on whether forensic accounting would be good for the city of Arcadia. Are there two council members to support a future agenda item for a discussion on forensic accounting?

Okay, it's on the record. There is no support at all for a forensic account auditing.

Is there an additional request for future items that you have?

Yes, I think I made my announcement before that I want the city to clear my name, the council member to clear my name since it is illegal to censored a council member. And I think that should be removed, not a stall. And that I also demand a publication for an apology And to me, I think, to be very honest with you, the censure was a retaliation of me filing a harassment complaint against Council Member David Fu. And I think after that harassment complaint has been...

This is not to discuss the item. Okay, yes.

So I think you hear me and hear it from the public. That's what I want, Mayor.

Understood. So there is a request for a future item to have the censure removed and a public apology by the council. Are there two supporting council members for that future item? Are there any requests from any other council members for any future items?

So I'm not getting support to remove that and that the statement made by our city attorney and council member Fu is contradicting. I just want that to be on the record as well.

Understood. Do we have a request for any future items? We're referencing item number 11.

Hearing none, we are going to just clarify it's and I may apologize. I do need to clarify that again. The only statement was that there was there has never been a mayor removed from the mayorship under this charter or removed from office. I've never made any statement that the censure itself was illegal. I just have to clarify that on the record. I apologize. Thank you.

Understood. So we are going to adjourn. The City Council will adjourn this meeting to Tuesday, June 2nd, 2026 at 6 p.m. in the City Council conference room.

I'm sorry, point of order. Are we actually adjourning to May 26th at 5 p.m.? Or is that a separate...

We can post it as a separate meeting. It's easier if we call it a special meeting on the 26th.

So let me ask you, the meeting is moving to May 26th?

The only thing that's where the confusion is, is the regular meeting, the budget adoption, all the other agenda items is June 2nd, Tuesday night, like we normally do. Next Tuesday, the 26th at 5 p.m., we'll be meeting for the express purpose of doing interviews for the District 3 vacancies.

This state does not work for me because I have a graduation to go to to fly to Boston. My understanding is that it should be televised, so it should be every other Tuesday, the meetings that we have. So why are we having a meeting where knowingly that I will be away and I will be away for my daughter's graduation? And I can let you know that there's a lot of graduation going on the end of May. So that would really prevent candidates to come forward because everybody have their other activities going on. And so that's my understanding. Basically, the state does not work for me. And I don't think it works for other candidates as well, too. It's not convenient. And the second thing is that I feel like, you know, WHY ARE WE MOVING IT SO QUICKLY AND RUSHED INTO THIS TO HAVE SOMEONE COME IN AND TO APPROVE THE BUDGET WHEN THAT PERSON COMES IN AND NOT UNDERSTANDING A LOT OF THESE CITY COUNCIL Informations and financial information. Why are we rushing that person to come in and to make a vote for our budget? I do not understand. I think the same thing. It makes me feel like, you know, this is another way of not having transparency.

Council member, we already took action on that. We read the motion several times.

No, but my understanding was not next week, because I have to fly to Boston to attend my daughter's graduation. And I want to be here to be in this process and to see how city council go with this process. So the date was not given to me. I was just knowing that it was televised, so it was every other Tuesday. So I hope that I would be here and I don't think you want the public to know that you are excluding me in this process.

Council member, we read the motion and you voted in favor of it.

No, I did not hear the date was changed, no.

Okay, well.

So now I ask that we change the date to June 2nd to make it available for me to be in the process of selecting a city council member for district three.

So that would be a motion to reconsider. You did vote in favor of it. So you can make a motion to reconsider.

I did not hear the date. I did not hear the date at all.

I'm talking procedurally. You can only make a motion to reconsider if you voted in favor. So you can make a motion to reconsider because you voted in favor.

I'm going to make a vote to reconsider to change the date back to June 2nd so that I can be here. And also, I think the state would be more accommodating for applicants to come forward because that's really, there's a lot of graduation going on.

Um... Are there any dates prior to June 2nd, 2026 that you would be available?

I am coming back after on May the 29th at night. So I am available on May the 30th and forward

And just as the council is reviewing its calendars, staff's understanding is that whenever and wherever this meeting is held, it will be recorded and televised. So it's ideal in this room, but anytime we needed to have it, we can make sure that it is televised and broadcast.

Why don't we just keep it on June 2nd? Like we always have our meetings.

The difficulty is that we need to, our target right now is to approve the budget on that day.

Why are we in such a hurry to approve the budget when we have a new council member coming in, not understanding city matters, and rushing that person to make a decision on the budget. I do not understand. That is so suspicious.

No, okay.

Why can't we have the voting happen to select a candidate on June the 2nd and postpone the budget approval process?

Council Member Kwon, I appreciate your comments. I don't think that using words like suspicious, I don't think is accurate. We discussed it on item seven A as an alpha. And so what we're trying to do right now is to try to accommodate, but you making, using certain words, I don't think are accurate.

That's fine. So we can just have it on May the 30th to June the 2nd, if you think it's better, but same statement I wanna make. We're gonna have a new council member coming in not understanding city matters and asking, abandoning this person to immediately to make a decision on the budget representing district three, that is just,

So we still procedurally, it's just a motion to reconsider that's on right now. So the motion to reconsider needs that there would need to be a vote on the motion to reconsider before we even vote on any change to the timing.

So I just want to ask Council Member Kwan, you're going to be gone the entire week of the 25th.

So the graduation, it's gonna be three days in Boston. They have class graduations and they have the whole school graduation. And so I'll be coming back on the 29th at night. I am available immediately after I come back.

Understood. When are you gonna be leaving?

I will be leaving, but you need to have enough time for the public to know that this seat is open so that they can, fill in the application and submit. So I will be leaving Thursday.

Point of order, we have a motion on the floor.

There was a request for a motion to, A motion for reconsideration. I've been just trying to get the dates. So you're leaving on May 28th and you're coming back on Monday.

No, I'm leaving on May the 21st and I'm coming back on May the 29th. I see. I'm helping my daughter to move because she's been there for four years. She has a lot of furnitures, a lot of household appliances. But it doesn't matter. We need to allow enough time where we can have the publication on our website that the seat is open. So I think that if we can make it May 30th, 31st, I'm available, or June 1st.

Okay, so the request is to amend the interview time to either the 30th, 31st, or the 1st. That's the motion for reconsideration. Would any of the council members support an amended interview date only?

And Mayor, it would be, I'm sorry, I'm being procedural here, but there will be two steps. The first step will be to reconsider, and then the next step will be to take a new action if the motion to reconsider passes. Understood.

So is there a second on the motion to reconsider, to even talk about reconsidering?

Well, let me just ask the other council members. In terms of the 30th, 31st, or the 1st, we're just talking about the interview date. That's the only change. Would anybody be available on any of those days?

Mr. Chair, I vote against this motion for reconsideration.

Michael, would you be available on the 30th, 31st, or the 1st to have an interview? It's just the date of the interview. It doesn't change anything else. It's just the date of the interview.

So one of the points that Council Member Kwan is making is that we're not gonna be giving the applicant enough onboard time. So are you available Council Member Kwan this Saturday? Or this Sunday? Are you leaving to Boston this weekend?

I'm leaving to Boston this Thursday, which is a day after today.

Because the whole premise of doing an interview early on is to allow appropriate onboarding time for the new appointee. So that's where I'm trying to kind of figure out about this onboarding time.

I don't understand why we need to bring this person in before June 2nd and burden this person immediately to vote for the budget. I do not understand. I think we should, number one, allowed enough time for the residents to come forward so that they can apply and spend some time with the application. I mean, this whole thing is just, even like within a week, it's just, it's not enough time. The public is not expecting this. before with the position where when our council member, our former mayor, Roger Chandler passed away, we had a lot of time for them. And so why do we have to, and now there's another gonna be a questioning. Why are we rushing into budgeting? And there's a public outcry here and saying that there's a lot of things that are done behind the doors. I mean, it's just, if we're trying to restore public trust, this is not how we do things here.

Point of order, the question has been called.

I mean, I'm just thinking, it's just, this is very common sense for the public to really digest the information tonight and allow them to know why they want to serve and what is the purpose of serving. and the duty to be a city council member. So I'm just asking to change the date. Is that that difficult?

I'd like a ruling on my point of order.

So Mayor, there's a point of order to call the question on the motion for reconsideration.

So I'm asking my council members for interview date change only. Everything else remains the same. Is anyone available on the 30th, 31st, or the 1st? If you could just please just entertain that because then we can figure out whether we have, you know, two additional votes for just the date change only. Everything else remains the same.

I will not.

You're not going to be available, sir? Okay. All right.

If that's the date that's not available for Council Member David Fu, then we can have it after June, June the 2nd, the meeting, so that we don't have to spend extra money to get it televised, because we will get it televised on June 2nd anyway. And that was the perception that I was having, that we're going to have it televised, and it's only happened on Tuesday night. at seven o'clock. I hope you understand that is not something that is a difficult thing to accomplish here. And now it's gonna go back again where I'm just asking for a simple request and I'm getting no support And it seems like we're getting back to square one of how we conduct business. And I thought that we're making a change here. It doesn't seem like we are.

Council Member Kwan, I think that all the council members are doing their best to accommodate uh your request would now how about june 2nd at five o'clock is that something that the council members can make themselves available for i understand that the budget is going to be likely approved on june 2nd um And so is that something that everybody can consider because it would require two additional votes to have a motion for reconsideration?

Yeah, I'm available on June 2nd at 5 p.m. if needed.

Okay, understood.

So my observation on this is that if our concern is about onboarding the new councilman, then they're going to have no time whatsoever to onboard.

Mean am I mistaken we're doing it the same day as the vote on the budget on June 2nd Yeah, I would look like one of two things would occur either we would Encourage the person to abstain from the budget Or we would ask the city staff for purposes of timing, if they could extend that a little bit longer. It has to adjust many different departments, and it would cost money to do so, obviously, with the different adjustments, but we would have to extend it to presumably an additional two weeks.

Yeah, Dominic, we could have that vote on the 16th, right?

So, if I can jump in, the first 12 years or so that I worked for the city the city council elections were in April and we would adopt a budget in June and even having those two full months when somebody was elected to council and then faced with the budget question no matter how much onboarding you did how much training you did how much time you spent with them that first time through the budget it's a lot of information coming at you fast and you're trying to figure out how to vote and what to say so I From a staff standpoint, we can take an extra two weeks with the budget. Legally, we're still fine. The city council can ignore the charter and say there was extenuating circumstances and push the budget out another month or two if needed. We could do a continuing resolution like our friends at the federal level do. So there are ways to solve the budget problem, but I'm just here to suggest that whenever you force this new person to make a decision, they're probably doing it with just their gut and kind of the, slimmest of information because they're just going to have gotten there whether you interview them on the second and have their first night be the 16th or whether you interview them on the second and appoint them the night of the second or what have you that budget is going to be a big question for that person if it's in their first month

Well, it looks like what Council Member Cowell was saying was that he would be available at five o'clock. I always make myself available on Tuesdays for city issues. And so with that being said, are there Would there be two votes to support a motion for reconsideration and a friendly amendment to our currently approved motion for an interview on June 2nd at 5 p.m.? Nothing's changed. We still appoint on that same day. Well, I would second it. I would hope that we could have an additional motion. Nothing has changed. All the deadlines are still the same. The only difference is to have the interview on June 2nd at 5 p.m. Council Member Kwan has stated that she had misheard the date and that she's asking for an accommodation until the next council meeting.

I'll second that.

Understood. Do we need to take a vote for that?

Yes.

Yes, we do. So let's do this twice. And I know we want to get to adjournment. I apologize for putting us through this parliamentary procedure. The first vote will be on the motion to reconsider. The second vote will be to approve the same motion, but with the date changed to June 2nd at 5 o'clock.

understood um i'll make the motion to uh for a motion for reconsideration to is it to reopen let's just call the vote on the motion to reconsideration all right so there's a motion to uh reconsider uh the first and the second will be uh sharon kwan the second will be michael cowell if you guys are okay with that because you know it seems like we can move forward okay are you okay with that

Yes, I was the one that brought it up. Of course, I'm okay with that.

Understood. Okay. So, let's take a vote.

Council Member Kwan? Yes. Council Member Cao?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Phu?

Yes.

Mayor Chang.

Yes. All right. So we're going to have a second motion. The second motion is a friendly amendment on the previously approved motion, and that is to amend the date of the interview to June 2nd at 5 p.m. Do I have a second? I'll second that. Okay. All right.

And I really don't want to belabor this, but since we're delaying the interview process, do you want to give people more time to submit their their letters of interest, or you want to leave it on the Friday at 1159?

I think we should allow more time for applicants to come forward.

okay so um right now the friendly amendment that we had was a date change and the request now is for all the dates to change uh and the logistics to change so what is the motion on the floor well let's just say may 29 right that's the friday before that gives us the time to do it i think we can um

dispense with some formality here. I think at that point we're all in agreement. Member Kwan says it's better to give more time. I think we're in agreement there. We've already moved the actual interview to June the 2nd, so perhaps we can just wrap this up by saying We've agreed to amend the prior motion to have the deadline be May 29 at 11.59 p.m. with the interview to take place at 5 p.m. on June 2nd.

Understood.

Otherwise, all other previously understood terms are continuing in effect.

5.29 at 11.59 p.m.? Okay.

Understood so the friendly amendment right now by councilmember Kwan supported presumably as a second by councilmember mayor pro tempu is to move the deadline for the applications to May 29th and at 1159 p.m. and to have the interviews to occur on June 2nd, Tuesday, 2026 at 5 p.m. with all other terms and conditions to be unchanged. Take a roll call, please.

Council Member Kwan? Yes. Mayor Pro Tempfu?

Yes.

Council Member Cowell?

Yes.

Mayor Chang?

Yes. We are going to adjourn our meeting to June 2nd, 6 p.m. in the City Council Conference Room. Thank you.

Thank you.