Council - Special Meeting

Mr. Mayor, we're live. Thank you for that, David. All right. Today is Wednesday, February 18th, 2026. The time is 50:05 p.m. And I will now call to order the Baltimore Park City Council special meeting. City clerk, can we get roll call, please? Mayor Damian, here. Mayor Promayola here. Council member Aila, Council Member Estrada, Council Member Lozano here. Let the record reflect that council member Estrada is not present at the moment. Thank you for that, city clerk. All right. Now, we're going to be moving on to public communications. Is there anyone wishing to speak?

No, mayor. At this time, we have not received requests for comment for that city clerk. I can see that there's no one here in the audience to speak. I will not close public communications. All right. Now, we're going to be moving on to the uh open session study session with the capital improvement projects update presented by Danielle Padilla, our director of public works. Daniel, the floor is all yours.

Yes. Uh thank you, Mayor. Good evening, council. Um David, can you please bring up that uh PowerPoint, please? So again, good evening. Um, the purpose of this presentation is to share with the with the council the projects that the city's uh engineering team is working on and to uh get input from the city council on the projects that that we're working on and hopefully they're aligning with the city council's uh vision and goals. And um a lot of these projects have been programmed for many years, you know, five, six, seven years. Um most of these are um are older projects that have been programmed for a long time. Um next slide. I guess we're we're missing a a heading on that PowerPoint. Um but I want to just quickly touch on the engineering team. Um, by the way, next week is um National Engineers Week and um so we want to give a shout out to our engineering team are um we are on our engineering teams myself um David Lopez our engineering manager. Um we have one associate engineer, two assistant engineers, and an administrative clerk and a part-time department assistant. So that that's our engineering team. Um, next slide. So, um, I wanted to, uh, touch on some of the more, uh, major, I'd say, land development projects that we're working on. And, um, one of our new assistant engineers, Aldo Dorado, he, um, takes care of most of these projects. So, this is a full-time job for him. And, um, David and I, you know, oversee the work

that he's doing. um doing um reviewing plans um doing inspections and um to run through these projects um quickly um we the ARCO service station was one recent project the Cesar Chavez Foundation on Ramona the Habitat for Humanity um project at Steuart in Los Angeles which were very close to issuing um the precise or final grading plan on that project. They were very close, but um they were dumping their storm water directly into the road instead of piping it and connecting underground. So that kind of set them back a little bit, but um we're almost at the point where we can issue that grading plan. We're hoping to issue it in the next couple weeks. Um and then we're we've started um working on some conditions of approval for the revisions they've made on their um Torch and Marinda project. Also, Kaiser has had several projects um that they're uh requiring grading permits from us and encroachment permits. They're they're doing um some really sophisticated projects at their at their complex right now. They're putting in a large um a huge large water tank and and sewer tanks um so that they're a little more resilient in case there's major earthquakes or major emergencies. they that they could still have water and sewer service for a couple days while those services come back online. So, we're um helping them a little bit on on on those projects that they got going on there. Um also, we're working on the senior housing at it's called the Central Place at Central and Downing. They did some curb and gutter and paving um minor street improvements around their project that we're helping them out with. and also um you know Basset Villas, you know, we've had many um neighboring residents come and and discuss this

project, but we're we're working with our community development team and with the focus on um you know the areas that public works is responsible for uh mainly sewer, storm, drain, water, traffic um reviewing their entitlement um documents and um helping them uh through the through the entitlement process. And also one project that's come up recently is the project Home Key. Um that's an LA County homeless development project at Franciscente. So initially um the city uh public works engineering team wasn't as involved on the on-site improvements because the LA uh LA County wanted to lead that effort and approve and review those plans. But um I don't I don't have any records of of the city um agreeing to that. And now they need some permits from us because they're doing work in the city right away and we're having a few issues um with with some uh elements of their of their permit um and their work in the city.

Daniel, really quick on that project, the project home key uh more the motel 6. Is that is that the one by the Walmart? Is that the Merrced in front? Uh, Poente. It's actually Gar Garvey. Garvey and um, Poente. Garvey and Poente. Garvey and Poente. So, I I I misspoke. I said Francis Sko, but I meant Garvey. Garvey. What? Um,

so a couple of the issues there is we want them to clean out the storm water pump. We their driveway is very wide, wider than a standard driveway. We want them to upgrade that to make it ADA standard. Also, there's a rightaway um that they need to dedicate to the city because um a curb return at the corner is not in the rightway. It's on private property and we've also asked them in accordance with our municipal code to maintain some of the parkways and some of the landscaping that is along those project frontages. Perfect. So, that's what we're working with them on.

Perfect. Thank you for that, Daniel. Yeah. All right. Next slide. So, some of the our larger permits that we're working on um include two middle mile broadband fiber internet projects. It's part of a state initiative to to take um highspeed internet to disadvantaged communities in rural areas. These lines are mostly transmission um lines, but there we have two of them that were processing here in the city. Now, one of them was coming moved that a little bit to the north. So, they're they're going in Los Angeles street on one of them. Um other permits we're working on is um some permits. Um we're working with our city attorney's office on on some concerns we've had with issuing new poles. Um our our municipal code states that distribution poles serving lines that are 16 kilovolts and less um need to be underground. And um we're having um some challenges um trying to implement those municipal codes given um their franchise agreements and franchise rights. So we're doing our due diligence to make sure it's reasonably necessary, working with on those and again our working with our city attorney's office. Um we're one of one of the E permits that's coming up soon is in Los Angeles street um in the vicinity of um Baldwin Park. um Boulevard um to replace some poles and and they're doing new telecommunications lines um on those poles. So, that's a pretty significant project um in Los Angeles Street that's scheduled to start in the

next um few weeks. We're also permitting a u uh Los Angeles County regional storm water project at Basset High School, kind of like what we did at Barnes Park where they have um uh big underground um reservoirs at the high school. They're they're working with um several um adjacent cities and uh part and we have to we're contributing some funding towards that project as well. part of our um NPDES funds that we get and we've the plans are pretty um preliminary. It's it's a design build project and we do have concerns regarding um traffic control and some major construction going on at the southwest corner of of Francis Sko and Poente. Um, again, we're we're contributing um I want to say about a million dollars to that project in um part of our NPDES funds in PDS. So, that's another another major project that's kind of coming down the pipeline. It's still a year and a half or two years out, but we started working with them to review the plans. Another project that's been in the works for a while that LA County is doing is a traffic signal synchronization project on Los Angeles Street. Um the the project's been mostly done for for I want to say you know years and um at least a year maybe maybe several months but um they're supposed to get started on that in the next few months and I think you know that's a great project to synchronize those signals but it pro it will um increase um travel speeds through there as we're getting as you get all those lights you know green and uh and they're synchronized ized. Um it will it will um cars will drive a little bit faster through there. And then

another um LA County project we're working to permit is a sewer lining project at Vona Drive, Walnut Creek Parkway. Um they're lining some some sewer um trunk mains that they have and it will also impact Quenta Avenue, Big Dton Avenue, and Francis Sko Avenue. They have um bypassing that they will set up and they initially they were running the bypassing through the main through the roads and we've asked them to instead bypass along the um access roads um next to the Walnut Creek channel to mitig to minimize the impacts to traffic. So, because they're in that Walnut Creek channel, um they haven't been able to get a permit um to be in those in those um channels until after the rainy season. Um perhaps in April. Next slide. So, now I'm going to talk about our um CIP program, our projects in construction. And you're all aware of these projects, the greenway, a ribbon cutting um on Saturday. Um great project for the community, but there's still there's still um quite a bit of work that we have to do on those projects. even though they look complete and we went ahead and have had the ribbon cutting, um we do have to do our final inspections, close the project out, we're still working with the contractors on change orders um and obtaining our reimbursements from the um agencies that are providing us um grant funding. We have a one-year warranty typically on those projects. A lot of those projects have landscape maintenance periods that we have to monitor the plants and shrubs and trees and if and if any plants or tree or shrubs die, they have to replace them. So again, while those projects

look like they're complete, we they haven't been, you know, fully closed out. Um and um so on the greenway um we're working on resolving some change orders and um you know part of the project problem on that one was um we we bid out the project before we had all the permits. You know the the the big the main road up to the up to the um to the park that wasn't included in the in the bid items. Um, we I I think we're going to get the project done with the budget that we have, with the change orders that we have approved, but we're, you know, debating and working with the contractor, negotiating with the contractor to to button it all up. And, um, Barnes Park. So, if you recall um couple months ago, I I came to the council to let them know to let you know that we were considering um removing the walls and the footsaw court from the from the project from the current contract. And um we we were try we tried our best to leave it in the in the existing contract, but the contractor um provided us escalating costs and then mentioned that the schedule would be pushed out till August. So, we determined that it was best to just have them finish up their portion, finish up um what we what we can now exclude the footsaw court and the block walls from from this contract or deduct that from the contract and we would put the walls and the footsaw court out to bid as a separate project. We're still hoping to have it done by August and that would save the city about half a million dollars if we inspect it with with city staff and um and go out to bid as a separate project because they were charging us um $300,000

in in just overhead on top of all the other addition additional negotiated costs that we that we were working with them on. So, so that's the current plan is that for us to rebid the footsaw court and the block walls as a separate project. The community will be able to use 95% of the park. You know, most of the park um we anticipate it being complete in April. So, um be on the lookout for that ribbon cutting um date as well. and our um our Pacific and Bogart traffic signal and railroad safety uh safety improvement project. Um that one's mostly complete as well. We've we had um we redesigned a couple ramps and we've had additional handrail to make those ramps um ADA compliant and safer. Also, the pedestrian gates, we have to shift the gates about a foot and a half um to provide uh more refuge for for pedestrians and people in a wheelchair if they if they had to use those gates to get out of the of the uh railroad area. they they are able to get out of there and and the back of the gate was was um uh in the way of the the existing gates were in the way of that of the back of that arm that pedestrian arm mechanism. So, we're making some um final revisions um to to those pedestrian gates. It is unfortunate because they've already been moved, you know, um once or twice. Um it isn't a large dollar amount, but it is it has delayed us. We we've been speaking with the contractor and our um construction manager on that and uh we hope to get that resolved um very soon.

And um quickly on the Morgan Park um bathroom project, that project is done. But unfortunately, we were selected, we were the we we got lucky and were selected to be audited on that project as part of our single a single audit and also the state department of industrial relations um wanted to verify with the contractor that they were in compliance with prevailing wage laws and and labor compliance. So again, even though these projects look like they're done, um they're not they're not done. So, um unfortunately, that that one's very very close um to to closing it out. Then I I highlighted a couple of these projects in red. That means that we have um funding that is um very tight or in jeopardy of of losing funding. Um, so that that's what the red highlighting means on on this slide and the next couple slides. So on our on our sidewalk project, we're targeting 400 locations. Um, it's keeping one of our engineering staff um busy about um with twothirds of his time. Abuzar Ferris is the project manager on it. And um he he'll he'll that'll take about twothirds of his time for the next several months. And um and on that project, we have two public works um two public works maintenance staff working full-time on that project to do inspections. So, that's something something new that we've that we've done um with having um Anony's team and the public works maintenance and operations staff help with the with uh inspections, do some cross trainining. And the idea is that on future similar projects, our operations and maintenance staff can handle those projects and inspect and manage those projects. So, so the engineering team can focus on, you know,

more unique or larger um capital projects and that's, you know, helping helping the engineering team a lot because if we if we didn't have uh their help, it would probably take half of our staff to to manage and inspect those projects because we have a we have an inspector um watching the demo and then an inspector watching when they're pouring and um getting out ahead of the project, figuring out which trees that have to be removed and um just staying ahead of the contractor, still adding more locations um till we get to the 400 locations that we're targeting. and and also um when we're when we're inspecting and managing the projects inhouse with city staff, we get much higher quality than when we hire consultants because, you know, staff is vested and they care more about the projects than if we hire a consultant. Um they're just kind of out there, you know, doing their job. Anam Montenegro Park. We we started um we're starting on the wall uh phase of that project. We have our we have the um the contract in place. Um we got the bonds from the contractor today. So we have the fully executed contract as of today. We're working with the Native American um Native American Indian tribe to um uh to do um ground monitoring. So, we're we're executing a contract with them so they can monitor the ground disturbance to make sure there's no artifacts or anything they're interested um when we're digging the footings for the walls or doing the grading in in the future. so that we received the contract from the Native American tribe and um we're we're you know we're in the process of

executing it and hopefully we can um start on that project um next week.

Can I ask a quick question? I'm sorry to interrupt. Um you said that these are um highlighted red because initially you said because funding was very tight and possible um losing it. Yes. Okay. So So what are the the constraints on these two in terms of the the monies limit or something?

Um can you go back I guess go back one slide. You're talking about the CDBG sidewalk project and the animontenegro park. So, the CDBG sidewalk project, that one, um, we we have to spend the the funds, I think, by May. By May of of this year, that was the the the initial scope uh that we that we put out to bid. Um, we're hoping to do a lot more sidewalks and um, we will have more time for those, but the May deadline is for the the first um, the first phase or what's actually under under contract now, but I know our community development team wants us to spend that money as soon as possible. And um, so we're working we're working with our contractor to to try to spend that money. But it's it's it's good that we're making progress and we started spending some of that money. And the Anamontenegro Park, that was the um the RMC grant. Um we have we're trying to spend those funds by March 31st. And that that's on that's on the agenda. The wall project was on the agenda last council meeting and it's on the agenda again tonight at the regular 7 o'clock meeting to give Manny the um authority to to execute the um miscellaneous contracts to get the rest of that work done um that to try to spend that money by March 31st. And it keeps things interesting for us. You know, we got to go go. So um next slide. So I I included a couple of these projects um tw um twice. Once in the construction phase and once here in the in design phase because

um you know they're we've kind of broken them into multiple phases now. So the animal park um it's in the final stages of design. The construction documents are about 95% complete. We're waiting on some grant application funding results, you know, before going full stem steam ahead on that project and uh we should hear back in the next couple months whether we get that um that grant funding um from the I I mean Manny and Maria know more, but I think it's um county um some county um park grant funds and maybe some state funds as well. And the as far as the Barnes Park, um the pro the part that I'm saying is in design is the footsaw court in the walls because we would be putting that out to bid and that would be a separate project now that we've in the process of deducting it from Souzer and the current contractor. Uh the greenway phase three, that's the Big Dton Wash greening and the pocket park. Um I that project is um I want to say we have about a little over two million. 300 of that 300,000 of that is um we're kind of past the deadline for for us. $300,000 portion of that um of that project. We tried to put it into the current project that we're we're finishing up, the one that we just had the ribbon cutting for. Um but we were not a they we were not able to do that. Um the the state representative that we've been talking to, they are they are trying to um at a program level extend those funds for all the projects that haven't been um um they haven't expended the funds. So they're doing that at a program level. So we didn't have to ask for an extension. um they're trying to extend those funds at a

program level, but again that's um it's 300 293,000 but it's it's um 10% of the project. So it's um I mean it's it's bad but not horrible is probably how I' how I would put it. And um hopefully we can we still get an extension on on a program level that the that the state is working on.

Correct. And that project is um it's it's in design. The plans are about 90 90% complete. I think that was one that that kind of put got put on the back burner because of staff, you know, staff um shortages. And um that project has to go to Army Corps in LA County to get permits for because it's in a repairarian habitat. It's, you know, on the on the creeks on the Big Dton Wash. So quick question for you Daniel on that on that aspect of it is so these projects have been in the pipeline for years and staff and at that time knew that these funds were to be utilized before an expiration date and they were put on the back burner. Well, I don't know if they were put in a back burner back then or if there was just too many projects, but you know, when I when I came on board, um, you know, we had three projects in construction. So, my my philosophy is projects in construction are my priority, projects in design, and then projects in the planning stages. That's the way that I operate. Um, because the ones in construction, you need answers immediately. You can't wait. So, you know, these projects are, you know, in design. So, um it's been it's been in a holding pattern for at least a year, maybe more than that, but they've been in the they've been in um programmed for many years.

Got it. Okay. Thank you for that, Daniel.

Yeah. And um another project that's that has a very tight deadline, I think it's some unique federal funds um that need to be spent by the end of September. That's the traffic signals at Olive in Maine and Olive in Felin. And um so those projects were kind of put on on the shelf again for the same reasons and also because they required some major or significant water main relocations by uh Valley County Valley County Water District. And um I I looked at these plans a couple months ago and I had I had some concerns about about um the Olive and Felin um intersection and the traffic signal. So um next slide. And then the council chambers is there and we'll touch on that one after the traffic signals. Next slide. Okay, next slide. So, I want to get into this Olive and Felin signal intersection project um briefly. So, when I looked at the plans, there was a traffic signal here. I didn't feel I don't feel comfortable with the traffic signal at this location. We've had some people running um running red lights, some drunk drivers. And if you see th the center lines of those two roads of feeling and bleeer, they're offset 27 ft. So it you could have, you know, head-on collisions if somebody ran a ran a red light. And um I think this would be a a good

location to put a roundabout. I know we had uh um we didn't our previous roundabout that was proposed at Olive and Maine didn't go so well to put it nicely, but that that that intersection has almost twice the volume of traffic as this one and that other one has Olive and Maine has uh Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. The one at um at Olive in uh Maine has two approaches in each direction. So, a lot more traffic, two lanes approaching in each direction. It's more complicated. This this um intersection, you have the center line here, the center line there. I don't know if you could see, but or if you've driven through there, it's 27T offset there. Coming from the east, it's one lane approach here. From the north to south, it's one lane approaching, one lane approaching to the north. And then coming in, you do have two lanes here on Olive as you're going eastbound, but you're you have a trap right lane where you force everybody to go right. So then you have one through lane heading eastbound. So um again, I think this would be a good location to put a a roundabout with, you know, with some input from the community. Um, but I'd like to hear what the council's thoughts are and um I'll I'll I'll touch on a couple next slides, a couple um points about roundabouts. Um, next slide. So, I'll read this from uh FHWA on some proven safety countermeasures about roundabouts. Um, roundabouts feature channelized curved approaches that reduce vehicle speed, entry yield control that gives right ofway to circulating traffic and counterclockwise flow around a central island that minimizes conflict points. The net result of lower speeds and

reduced conflicts at roundabouts is an environment where crashes that cause injury or fatal or fatalities are substantially reduced. And roundabouts are are safer a safer type of intersection. They're efficient in in terms of keeping people moving even while calming traffic. They can re reduce delays and queuing when compared to other intersection alternatives. They lower vehicle speeds and red reduce conflict environment can create or a more uh so they can create a more suitable environment for walking and bicycling. So on the slide I say um motorists and pedestrians are you know one of the reasons why people don't like roundabouts is because they're familiar with um with traffic signals. Um signals have higher operating cost to roundabouts and they're associated with increased crash severity with higher speeds. Um so roundabouts would handle that staggered uh those stagled roads more efficiently. They improve traffic flow and reduce delays consistently, especially during non- peak hours. They lower maintenance costs. There's an aesthetic opportunity for the middle of that roundabout to do some landscaping, boulders. They again they reduce vehicular conflict points, decrease severity of accidents, and they are environmentally friendly. Next slide, please. I mean, if we if we were to move forward with the roundabout, I mean, we would make that roundabout, you know, look a lot nicer. The, you know, that could be a, you know, some type of entrance or grand entrance to to the city. And um per FHWA, roundabouts reduce fatal and injury

crashes by 78% um relative to traffic signals,

whatever determined that street is very dark to begin with at night time. But with that roundabout, would would you have reflectors or lights or something there? Yeah, we would we would add lighting. We would light add lighting at the roundabout. And if the council um you know doesn't want to proceed with that, I would recommend that we leave it a four-way stop because I'm not I would not recommend a traffic signal. I would recommend if we don't if we don't have the appetite to do a roundabout to leave it a four-way stop, do lighting, LED stop signs, do more signage and delineators to make it safer.

Well, you know what? I'm kind of curious. I think I would probably I mean look at the four-way stop sign because you have some congestion that does occur there right like during the morning during the evening so on and so forth and you have some dragsters that go right to that place so maybe having the four-way stop sign maybe versus the Toronto so at least you have all four all four stopping I think with those currently it is currently it is that way right right that is where yeah wondering whether that probably is the solution with enhanced lighting because it is dark there at night time. I'm just suggest that's my

and I think that I mean I know that the roundabout on Olive and Maine but I think that there's a whole different intersection there compared to Olive and Maine Olive and Maine is just too busy and the roundabout there I think that there were the bigger vehicles just from my observations were having too much of a hard time uh because you know they kept on on going over those temporary

yeah cones that they had there. But in this particular area, I know that there's a lot of congestion there and there's a lot of people that just don't even stop there. And that's why it's there's so many traffic accidents in that area. I think that for there it may be possible if it's not going to impede any vehicles getting through the roundabout, that may be a good area to put one in there and then also add some lighting because it's going to force them to slow down versus now that you have those those stop signs everywhere, people are not obeying them. And I've I've passed through there many times when I've seen those vehicles just drive out of those those side streets like a felin.

Yeah. And we we have a um so we talked to Bowman is our consultant on the project. And when I brought it up that I don't I didn't um I didn't uh recommend or agree with a traffic signal at the at the location. They agreed with me um that it would be better to put a roundabout there. Um, and they get we have a proposal for it and the the first phase of the proposal is to kind of do a preliminary design to to address any potential concerns with the larger vehicles going through there. So they would lay it out and they would do some some visuals and and then you know we could we could discuss with the community, discuss with the council and then decide at that time whether we wanted to proceed with the roundabout or just leave it as a four-way stop with additional lighting, signage, um striping and um but not do the traffic signal. Mayor P,

I just I believe the the roundabout they did at Olive, it wasn't a realistic look to a roundabout and the feel of it either. The all those cones everywhere just made it confusing because you couldn't, okay, which way do I go? Which way do the do I follow the cones? I think the way they laid it out with all the cones was just not the correct way to give people the idea what a roundabout is. Um, I think they're safe. I've used them in other countries and I think they work really well and it makes the community area it makes it look really nice and eventually like anything people get used to it even if um you do the four-way stops which we already have if people are not used to them they're going to run through them at first and they're just going to keep running through them until they get used to it. But a roundabout I think would look really nice. I I think people were upset again because of the way all those cones were laid out. It was very confusing.

Yeah. And when you have um two lanes approaching in each direction, it makes the roundabout a little more confusing. When you only have one lane approaching from each side of the intersection, it it's a lot easier to navigate. Mayor, I just wanted to add I know the uh I I agree with uh with my colleagues. I think the um I mean that's a pretty plain roundabout in the in the example, but it's also an opportunity to add we have the funds some public art in the center and I think it beautifies the north side of Maine. I know that sometimes north side of Maine there's not a lot of opportunity to do things just based on you know it's very heavily residential and you know also a lot of well lit a lot of nice lighting

yeah and I and I did I did speak with um Irwindelle's um public works manager and their city engineer they were on board you know they weren't sure about the politics of it but the engineering and public works wise they were on board and thought it would be a good idea

yeah so I know that you know well I mean I just so on that point I think it's an opportunity to beautify keep it safe beautify it and uh and and just offer something to the north side of Bart which I think is important especially in that area because it's also the kind of the borderline between us and window um on the politics side I know that it gets heavily political and I know a lot of times residents aren't very happy with decisions but ultimately I mean I think this is a uh data informed decision right we're looking at data based information you know when we have more accidents our insurance rates go up which I think is something that's already people are upset out. It makes it uh safer. I know we just had I think two collisions yesterday, pedestrians, and we we've had a couple. So, I'm sure that if we really put our data together and we look at the records of know why we're doing what we're doing, and ultimately, you know, it's it's yes, it slows us down a little bit, but you know, but it keeps us keeps us alive longer. And I think that's one of the most important things for for

Yeah. And um it slows us down a little bit, but a lot of the times like if you're on that main if you're on the main street on um on Olive, um you might not you might not um if it's not busy, you won't have to stop with the traffic signal. You might get a red light. Yeah. But if you're going through a roundabout, you might slow down a little bit, but you're going to keep moving through there. Yeah. And I think it also helps with that keep that area because it is heavily residential and school-wise. So it keeps you know people going there if they live there if it's for residential reasons or for the school. It stops a lot of people from using that as a bypass for you know as a detour for other things. And I think it it helps. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I think that's a good And when do you have to spend the funds for this uh intersection? We have to spend it um by September 30th. So it's a it would fast-paced project. So, I think that I think that the council has an appetite for the roundabout option. So, maybe we can get some options as to what we would put there other than a traffic signal. And then when would we be able to get this out to the community if we have to spend the money by September?

Yes. So, I think um the first step would be um signing that proposal um so that so that our consultant can get started on it. I'm thinking they could turn it around pretty quickly. They're doing a preliminary design and then they would present a couple options for the for the landscaping and for the you know for the art or landscaping in the in the side the circle. So do you need a consensus from the council uh in reference to the roundabout? Yes. Do you want that now? Sure. Are you guys in consensus for them to start with the roundabout? Yeah. All right. You got you got your consensus on that. That's

good. Thank you. All right. Um, next slide. So, speaking of um, speaking of deadlines and uh, challenges. So, as you are aware, the council hired Lak or the city hired Lakada Design Group several years ago to design the council chambers project. The project was bid on October of 24. the bids came in high and the city council decided to put the project on hold and come up with some options to move the project forward. Um, one of the reasons I talked to a couple of the contractors, one of the reasons I got why the why the bids came in high was that um, we only provided 120 working days, which is 6 months. So um they you know a couple of them said that ideally they would have had um at least twice as long to finish the project. So that was that was one of the main factors why the projects came in high. You have to spend the five or it was what $67 million in in six months. You're going to have contractors you know on top of contractors in here trying to trying to get everything done. Um so it was a very aggressive schedule. Um, I know I know we want to minimize the disruption to the council chambers, but we're we're in a we're in a tough situation where we to bring down the cost, we we could provide more working days, but also we need to spend the money by December 31st. So, that's that's a challenging predicament that we're in. Um, we've thought about u maybe typically we don't pay for equipment and supplies until they're incorporated or installed on the project, but we're one option that we've considered is maybe um order,

you know, purchasing having the contractor purchase equipment and supplies and paying for them before they're incorporated into the project. I think um council member Strad has volunteered his giant office to stage equipment and supplies in um uh while while you know the contractor gets going. Um no, but so that that was one option um for the equipment and supplies to pay for them upon delivery and not um upon incorporating into the project. And also we thought about maybe pre-qualifying contractors. So the last the last time we bid the project in October of 24, we got two reasonable bids. One of them was like double the rest of the bids and two of them were were um unresponsive. So really we got two bids. So one thing we would consider it might delay us a tiny bit upfront if we pre-qualify the contractor. So, there's a there's a process that we can do to pre-qualify the contractors. Um, we issue a responsibility statement questionnaire. We check financial um their f the company's financials and then only pre-qualified contractors will bid the project. So, that's that's an option. Um, we we're also we'd also like to consider hiring a limited term um in-house or city construction manager to focus on this project. So they would they we would hire them for a one-year period and um and that they would focus only on this project and they would have expertise in in um facilities and building and architectural um construction. And then really quick, Daniel, on the hiring of the limited term in-house uh construction manager, would that be

would that position be paid uh from your unrestricted funds from from funds that you have available or from general fund?

No, that would be um the idea would be that it would be um paid for by the the project the funds, the CIP project. Got it. ARPA funds or um ARPA funds would be the would be the best choice. the money that we would use to build the and I I like that idea because they're going to hold the the the the people accountable and with others, you know, just learning from prior projects, you know, we we pay these these consultants or these outside construction managers that are supposed to be seen over uh overseeing the project and I don't think they're they're doing the job properly. So, I like that idea. So do I.

Okay. So, those are just, you know, a little bit of background and then our engineering manager, David Lopez, is going to kind of get into um get into the weeds a little bit on the project and and provide some recommendations for the council to consider.

Good evening, um honorable mayor, city council members, staff, and I'll be presenting to you the city council chambers uh recommendations uh for scope changes. And so, we're going to end this project. We want to with the changes that we'll be making um also want to preserve the vision of the project while saving time and money. Next. So the core part of this uh scope is doing the council chambers which includes the council uh vestibule restrooms which also serve the zoko uh park uh city council conference room uh council uh rest city council chambers restroom the audio video uh room which would include the audio video upgrades because currently audio video from when it was um bidded out is um now obsolete. can't get the parts. This would um cost in in the previous bid it came out at 4.46 million and this was at October 242 24. So uh costs haven't gone up as much uh from that time. So uh these costs would be about the same. Um recommendation number one. So please go next. Okay. So for this one is to do the removal um from scope the third floor renovation improvements which include the terraces on the third floor uh the interior um work areas and the air handlers on the split level of third floor and uh this um all this work is about uh 2.7 million in accordance with the estimates from the last bid uh recommendation next please. So this one is um a little unique. So

instead of ref instead of um removing and and replacing the whole system, we would refurbish uh the existing uh AC system. So this one we looked at a little closer and um found that the bones are pretty good and it really just needs to just be upgraded. And uh as part of this upgrade, we would add uh many splits which are little AC units for the council chambers, council conference room. And um next please. And and this would save us about $300,000 uh. So in recommendation number three, so this is uh to um it's a reduction in the scope is uh to remove the ADA exterior ramp which would be along this wall and the door also this wall and the uh windows um behind us which are right now uh dual windows and that's the scope indicates that it would be one large window for each side. Next, please. So, this is the location um as shown here on this uh on the plan view. So, it'll be the exterior ramps, exterior door, uh windows, and all of this would be at a cost of about $100,000 um in savings. Next, please. So, this one is a little unique because uh it's a small area. It's um the utility mechanical room uh right on the back side of the council chambers. And um this one has a lot of little things that require a lot of different trades. Uh special equipment um training to be able to relocate all these items like uh the water heater, uh diesel pumps, uh diesel fuel system monitoring for

leakage, communications, uh floor sinks, and uh some chase utility chases that would need to be relocated. So, it's a lot of work. And this would be about 100,000. Next, please. And this one's recommendation uh number five. So, this one is um instead of reducing, it would be added. And this is um recommended so we can do the expenditures um by the December 31st deadline. And it's to do the restrooms uh in the basement, the first floor, and the second floor. We wouldn't touch the third cuz that's part of its own unique and um but consider it a phase a separate phase in itself. Uh and this would save us about including the addition of this uh extra work between 60 to 90 working days and um the overall cost um between is about $3 million. So that's um that would be the the savings and not the savings but the reduction in the total scope. And one of the reasons why we want to take out the third floor from uh us bidding it out is that the um the third floor took a lot of time in the last uh bidding and they didn't concentrate as much on the council chambers. So, we expect that we'll get a better bid just because you'll have more time to bid it and concentrate only on the council chambers work scope. Any questions? Does anyone have any questions? Cuz does anybody have any questions? No. So, I'm sorry. Uh, David, I'm a little confused. Yes, sir. So, I did follow through the slides that you had um with recommendations one through five. Yes, sir. So,

I heard third floor, second floor, first floor, basement. So, what is your overall I I'm sorry, I'm just very lost. I'm trying to figure out a way to say this. So, what is your overall recommendation for the chambers itself? and and what would you estimate the cost with eliminating as an example um the outside ramp and the door back here because that's going to be very costly, right? So, but if we remove this side here and remove the windows from the front, that that was about 100,000 just under 100,000 for the penetrations through the wall ramp and penetrations of the of the of the windows for the back. That was one of the estimates.

Yes. So, if I may, the the main the main recommendation is to remove the all the improvements we're going to do on the third floor. That's that's um 2.7 million. The the HVAC system, I think we estimated at, you know, 300,000. The door and the ramp, you know, I think we estimated it at 50,000. Um, and then the the bathrooms was the only thing. the bathrooms were were already in the project as a as an additive alternate. So, um we're recommending let's just go ahead and let's just go ahead and do the bathrooms. Um Got it. You know, so everything else the main thing was the third floor, eliminating um the all the work on the third floor

and then these main models. Yeah. So then by eliminating the all the work on the third floor, that's 2.7 million. 50,000 for this outside ramp and door and then $300,000 from the what? What was that? The HVAC refurbishing the HVAC instead of replacing the unit. So that would then we and then we would be including the restrooms that were already bid as an additive alternate the ones out here. I I there was multiple bathrooms on um let me see the slide with the city council chambers. Can you go back where it says the core scope of work, but Okay. So, this is the the council chamber.

I'd like if we if we can maybe let's go let's finish up. I think we're pressed for time. I'd like to go um David, if you could um go get past this. I think we have one more slide for projects in the planning stage. I'd like to touch on those projects really quickly and then and then we'll open it up to any other questions. So go ahead.

Um see where was I? So these are other projects that we have program that that are in the planning stages and again two of them have funding deadlines. I'm going to touch on them pretty quickly. uh traffic signal and uh highintensity uh crosswalk beacon system at Garvey and Violin and the I 10. Um roadside park, Los Angeles pavement rehab project. Um I'd like to do some impro other improvements on Los Angeles street because that's that's our least safe street in the city. Um I don't I don't want to say dangerous, but it's our least safest street. and um pavement management system update. Citywide pavement maintenance um project, Baldwin Park transit station, we have a traffic signal programmed at Route and Poente. It's a funky intersection where Chattney and Central also come in. That one might be another one for a roundabout um consideration there, but we'll leave that for another day. We have a quiet zone railroad projects to to finish up at Mac Devit Merrced and Foster. Um we even have one on the books for Francis Sko. Um the first three there would help us achieve the quiet zone. And then we have a lot of traffic signals that need to be upgraded. They have permissive left turns instead of protective left turns like Baldwin Park Boulevard and Ramona where you go when you get a chance where there's a break in traffic as opposed to getting a left arrow and getting a protected left turn. So next slide. I want to run through Los Angeles street real quickly. It's the least safest street. We did um a systemic safety analysis report um a local road safety plan September of 2018. The west side of Los Angeles street sees 20,000 vehicles per day. The east side sees 9,000 vehicles per day.

Uh in the three years from 2015 to 2018, we had 66 collisions, 31 broadside collisions. Again, it's it's our most dangerous street. And I am recommending that we install medians in that street and we restrict left turning movements to signalized intersections only. Um, several residents have asked for us to paint their curbs red because they can't see when they're exiting the driveway cuz cars are parked on the road and cars are going 50 60 miles an hour. It's very dangerous. Next slide, please. Um, so this is what we have right now except for we do have parking in a lot of of the segments. It's a a two-way left turn lane and we have um two lanes in each direction. That's what we have today with parking. Next slide, please. Um this could be one option on the east side of the city. It would work, but not on the west side because we have too much traffic to accommodate. Um we can't accommodate 20,000 vehicles per day with only one lane in each direction. Next slide, please. So, this is what we're recommending to do a center-raised median in Los Angeles street. Have four-lane roadway. You'd have left turn lanes at the intersections that those intersections are signalized and then the council could consider parking or no parking. Um, but it would make the streets much safer. Uh, next slide, please. U, having a median there would reduce conflict zones. So, the one on the left shows no median. You can turn left, you can turn, you can go left in, left out. It's just a lot more complicated. If you have a median there, it's right in, right out only to the driveways and side streets, making it much safer. Um, kind of like you have here in downtown Ramona. Um, next slide. So, this shows Los Angeles and Merrced. If we were to put a median, you'd have the full normal traffic signal at Los Angeles and Merced, but on Jerry Avenue to the right, you would have that would

be a ride it right in, right out only to access Los Angeles Street. Some businesses, I'm sure, would be upset, but again, it would be safer for the community. Next slide. Yes. All right. We Sorry went a little bit longer, but um uh ready to answer any questions. If you guys have direction on the council chambers or any questions on the council chambers, that's probably the one we'd like some direction on. And any any other ones that you guys have any input on, be uh we'd happy we're happy to receive it. Mayor, really quick. Sure. Go ahead.

Thank you. I actually really love the idea of improving Los Angeles Street. It's long overdue of safety wise and aesthetic wise. I think uh it's a great idea to get that project going. It's very much needed. And also I think um I know you said all the things that you want to remove to save money. Um and maybe next time show us what the chambers is going to look like again because it's been a while. And also the pavement outside of the chambers, nothing's going to be done with that. Those ugly rocks that we have out there that are slippery in the rain.

Yes. So that that was in the initial in the um project to remove that and do concrete and we were not recommending any changes to the aesthetics or the interior finishes of the of the chambers. So that none of that was changing. I know there was talks about redesigning it. Um but we did not proceed with the redesign. So, um, everything that's in the project was going to remain as is. Only what David mentioned, um, for removal is what we'd be removing.

Okay. So, if you can send us or get us the pictures and designs of the inside of the chamber again because actually I don't remember anymore. I don't know if you guys do. Um, but I'm okay with removing the the door, the windows, and as long as we fix the outside of the chambers, adding pavement, and getting rid of the stone, that would be good. So, so we give you direction on the roundabout. Do you need direction on what we would prefer to see on Los Angeles Street? Yeah, I mean, any input you guys have on any of the projects we mentioned, we we're happy to receive it. Um, and we could

look, let's start with Los Angeles Street. I I think that's a really great idea. I love the the the race center median there. I think it's great and it's aesthetically it would be a boost over there. Um just one question. These trees that you have on there, are these teaser trees or are they going to be that big? This begin with or not?

Um we're this is just right now it's just an idea. So long ways away from that. We can put any tree you want in there. I mean, we will we will look at the width of it and see which trees are would be um would thrive in that in that reduced area. I mean, I don't I don't have an exact width. I don't know if the median's 8t or 12 feet. It would depend on if we're removing parking or not um on how wide we can make the median. Okay. How does the council feel about the center medians? I love it.

I just gonna think it's great. I think I mean obviously that's a that's a very important street. I do ride my bike down the streets down that street sometimes because we do have the entrances to the emerald necklace there. And I will I agree that it's not the safest street, especially at night. It's really dark. So, those are important. Only thing that I do worry about is the taking out all the parking because I think a lot of those uh homes don't have a driveway, at least not within that street. That's going to be a bigger issue, right? And then all what they're going to end up doing is that they're going to try to park in the smaller streets across the street. So, that's the only concern. That's the major concern I would have. I think the center median and putting in more greenery, especially along all that black top and curbing the it'll cool the area. Island heat island heat effect I think would be great.

And I was just going to add to it sounds as though there's some issues there. It identified it as the least safest and from a liability standpoint, it would be important to at least address those issues in some way. It sounds like it's a good good option, but to not do anything would be not a good idea. Yeah. Mayor, go ahead.

Thank you. Um, I I first of all, thank you Daniel for the total presentation and David, I appreciate all the information you gave us. Um, regarding Los Angeles Street because I'm very familiar with it and I I I um visit it often walking it and it is it is very unsafe. I would agree. Um, I agree with the raised um median. Um, but I I um I agree with Council Member Estrada in the sense of that the uh parking will be an issue and they've already spilled on into other streets. I can tell you that for a fact because I've got parents who live on Los Angeles Street and they're parking every other little street around there. Um so that's going to be a major issue in terms of taking all parking. There's a lot of um uh apartments along there. So that's going to be a concern. But yeah, if we any kind of attention we can give to Los Angeles Street, I know that uh it would be gladly welcomed. You said you were going to take any comments, so I'm going to really quickly go through mine real quick. Um uh any kind of um uh decision we make on the chamber. I'm I'm I'm with the council on that. And then I just want to acknowledge public works and they're working with um kind of checking on the sidewalk projects. I appreciate that. I I'm a hands-on learner, so I appreciate you, you know, frontloading knowledge to to our staff so that they in turn can can use that skill and um you know, help us out by saving us and and uh they have ownership in the project and checking it out. So, I really appreciate all of that. I think that's my comments right now. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Council Lozano. Do you have any comments you want to make? No, I'm excited because as as all of us here, I mean, uh Los Angeles definitely needs to be redone. Uh it's basically a thorough fair for the neighboring cities. Yeah. And I and I'll just uh say I guess you know you got council consensus that we do want to look into the improvements uh especially the safety improvements on Los Angeles street and then just keeping in mind whatever design you bring back um the parking situation there. So if you can so you got full consensus from the council

uh to move forward with the Los Angeles street. And then as far as the chambers goes I think that's going to be a more lengthy conversation. So, I think what would be a good idea is maybe bring it back to us uh so that we can get also refreshed on what the design's going to look like and then from there we can start eliminating because I think I mean if you're telling me that we're eliminating already three, you know, three over $3 million if I'm not mistaken. I think the cost was a little under five million to construct. Yeah. when they when they brought it to us project including the um the third floor and all the additive alternates was um have the bids here. We had two reasonable bids. Um

how long were those bids good for? One was 8.3 million. That was um the same contractor that did the soalo. How long ago was that? That was October of 24. And the other bid was 8.9 million.

So, okay. So, when they brought us So, when we when we turned that bid down or when we went back out, they didn't they didn't give us the whole 8 million with the third floor. They just brought us a chamber. So, if you guys when you bring it back, I think a good idea would be bring it back to us with the design options you think that we should go with, eliminating certain items from there so that we can see what's the lowest that we can bring this chamber remodel down to. Okay. Rose, you have a question. May May I make a quick comment? Sure. Go.

Mayor and city council, I just want to emphasize um I have been talking to uh Daniel very closely and to my staff to see how can we uh move the Apen around to accommodate with uh some other project or program. So give him some more time but there is not much room for us to go to other places. We have come obligated $4.2 million to the council chamber. Now it's February already. We really don't want to uh lose the funding. Uh we might be able to move around about $500,000 to a later date that use other fund for that. But we need to spend about 3.8 million by December of this year. Just like me Daniel say we buy some equipment something with all those projects he's talking about. Uh we talk about to um point out the projects that have the grand limitation date. We don't want to lose the grand the few item in red. So I told him we really need to focus on council chamber if other thing not emergency need so we are not going to lose the 4. Yeah that's all I want to say.

Thank you. Thank you for and yeah I completely agree. I think that you know the the pro look all the projects that we have in the pipeline are priorities right we all want everything done but I think that the way you said you know construction design and then planning phase. I think what we need to do is focus on those projects where we're at risk of losing funding for because we're not going to get this opportunity again for the council chambers. So, I think that, you know, I don't know if if Manny Daniel if we can bring the council chambers to the next council meeting um so that we can start moving quick on it and decide which, you know, at that time all of us as a council decide which option we're going to go with and what the cost is going to be so we can get moving on this because I would hate to lose this money.

Very good. Are we good with that? Yes, we we we have our marching orders. Thank Thank you. All right. So, that wraps it up for uh the presentation cuz we got to go into close session. Does anybody Thank you. And I just want to say thank you to public works for being ready for that storm. I appreciate you guys always being ready for the community and always uh being out there working for our community. Thank you. Yes.

And thank you, Daniel, for that attention to detail because I really do appreciate that. Go ahead. I just wanted to I mean I know we're running short on time, but I just want to reiterate the importance of making sure that we hire I know you're talking about hiring people temporarily. So I think that's one of the most important things. I think for the most part council has been very supportive of of our staff and you know we don't have a just figure it out mentality which I think is great, right? We're very supportive of staff. We want to see get things get done, but we also are aware that we have human beings working behind our our city hall. Um so just, you know, really want to encourage staff take advantage of that, right? We want to make sure that we're getting things done and also, you know, being able to delegate those things and and hiring the the support that we need. So, good thinking. Thank Thank you for all the work cuz I know you're really busy since day one. So, appreciate it. All right. So, now we're going to be going into close session. David, can you uh shut down the video, please?