Council - Regular Meeting

All right, today is June 3rd, the time is 7.07 p.m. I'm calling to order the regular city council meeting. Do we have Pastor Jackson, Pastor Flores here? Yes, can you please lead us in invocation? If you're able to stand, please stand.

Thank you, Mayor, Mayor Prochem, Council, and all those that are here for the opportunity we have to invoke God's blessing upon our conversations and deliberations. I want to read in Psalm 91, it says, Oremos. Gracias, Señor, por esta temporada para la ciudad. Experiencia, graduaciones, experiencias viva, Lord, en los jóvenes, los niños, y también las familias. We thank you, Father, for this season of graduation where we celebrate life, Lord, and celebrate you are all powerful, all present, and all knowing. Gracias, Señor, por su presencia. Tú eres Dios, y Dios, tú eres bueno. En el nombre de Jesucristo. Amen.

Father, we just praise you and thank you. Thank you for giving us the right and privilege to come to your throne of grace that we may find grace and help in time of need. And we are definitely in time of your need, your divine direction, Lord. We're asking you, Lord, lead, guide, and direct the city council, the mayor, Lord God, and giving them wisdom and knowledge and understanding and how to govern this city and what to do. We also, Lord God, thank you for our police department, Lord God, every one of them, Lord, that you will fill them up with your spirit. You will also lead, guide, and direct them, Lord, that they be able to do their job, Lord God, and be able to go home safely, Lord God, and come back the next day to continue their job, Lord. We ask you to move into our schools, and thank you, Lord God, for those that are graduating, Lord. There's those that are getting into adulthood, think they are adults because they have graduated. But, oh, God, keep your hands upon our children, Lord God. And we just thank you, Lord God, keeping them safe away from the gangs, keeping them safe away from the drugs, Lord God. And I thank you for that, Lord God. Our city needs your help, Lord God, not only just here but others. Look at the homeless people, Lord God. that are out there that need you, Lord God, and the people that are the aliens that are here that need your help, need your divine direction as well, Father God. So we just kind of need you all around, Lord, in our White House, Lord, our military, Heavenly Father, our businesses and our homes, Lord. And I thank you, Lord God, for uniting our children together, uniting our homes together, uniting our schools and our business. And we acknowledge you and give you thanks for the things that you have been doing and going to do. In the name of the Lord, we pray. Amen.

Thank you for that, Pastor Flores, Pastor Jackson. Manny, can you lead us in the invocation? I'm sorry, the Pledge of Allegiance?

Please put your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin.

to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic, which is then one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. You may be seated. City Clerk, can we get roll call, please? Yes, Mayor.

Mayor Daniel Damien? Here. Mayor Pro Tem Gene Amayala? Here. Council Member Alejandro Avila? Council member Emmanuel Estrada.

Here.

Council member Emmanuel Lozano. Let the record reflect that Council member Emmanuel Lozano is not present.

Second.

We have a first and a second to excuse Council Member Lozano from today's meeting. Any objections? Any objections? None. Passes 4-0. Thank you for that, City Clerk. All right, announcements. The City Council are also members of the Board of Directors of the Housing Authority and the Finance Authority, which are concurrently convening with the City Council this evening, and each Council Member is paid an additional stipend of $30 for attending the Housing Authority meeting and $50 for attending the Finance Authority meeting. Now we're going to move on to our proclamations accommodations and presentations and i'm sure that that's what all of you guys are here for because you're not here to see the budget right. And i'm going to go ahead and pass it over to Council Member Ayala i'm sorry Mayor Potemayala so that she can present the certificates of recognition, I know they're going to perform so I don't know if you want to pass them before or after the performance.

I think I will pass them after the performance, but maybe Miss Vita, I don't know if she wants to say something first. Do you want to, Mrs. Flores? Thank you. I want to welcome Vita Flores. Thank you, Vita. Thank you.

Thank you very much for allowing us to come. This is now our 17th year, and you've seen us from babies to 17 years old, which is probably the same age these young men are. And I just want to say thank you so much. And a lot of things happened in 2026. So let me get to it. First of all, This year, we had an incredible honor by participating in the Rose Parade. We were chosen as 13 families to recognize our loved ones who had donated organs. And my family was featured in a 10-day commercial encouraging organ donations. And it was really, really, really exciting. great, because I met so many people who were in the same shoes that I was. And it was a unity I haven't felt in a long time. So it was great. So many of you know my story. But let me tell it again. Um, Our son, Mark Daniel Flores, was on his way to Tracy Elementary School, and he was a behavior assistant. And he had a job taking care of Dimitri, who was the son of the late Diana Robles. And he got into a motorcycle accident, and he did not survive his injuries. So what we did, actually, it was my cousin. We were at the funeral and he said, hey, you should do something with all that energy, all those people. They really cared about him. So we did. And we organized and created a nonprofit organization, a C3. And we've been a nonprofit organization since June 9th, 2009. And in those 17 years, we have given out, we have received 51 applicants. We've selected 34 winners and we awarded $34,000. But the best part is yet to come. And that is our winners. So I'd like to introduce them. It's my pleasure to introduce the talented and dedicated musicians. Our first recipient is from Baldwin Park High School. He began his musical journey with six years playing the saxophone, followed by four years in the choir and two years he focused on piano. And along the way, he discovered the passion for the xylophone. Isn't that something? He served as a saxophone section leader and was the head drum major in his junior and senior years. He was selected to perform in the Tournament of Roses Honor Band for the 26 Rose Parade. And he also received multiple scholarships from the Women's Club. Our winner started to shine academically in his junior and senior years by taking AP classes and ranked third in the AP psychology exam in 2025. And he earns extra money by playing background music during dinner parties. So if anybody's interested, he's here. He plans to attend Pasadena City College, transfer to a four-year university, and earn a master's degree to become a music teacher.

And like I said at the school district, I hope he comes back to Baldwin Park.

Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in congratulating and welcoming our Mark Daniel Flores Music Foundation Scholarship recipient, Ulises Vargas. And he will be playing for you. And this is a first for us. We've never brought, well, actually it was Ulysses' idea to bring the piano and perform live instead of on a video. So kudos to him. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. so so Thank you. so so So, Thank you. you Wasn't that great? And being for the first time we do this. So let me go on to our second winner. Our next recipient is from Sierra Vista High School, and he was determined to perform in the talent show. He learned the Strawberry Fields from Ever, which is Beatles song, after only one month of playing piano. and he won over the crowd. In his senior year, he joined the vocal ensemble. His steady growth through practice, musicianship, and technique earned him the Women's Club Music Scholarship and inspired him to begin creating and performing his own music. Alongside his musical goals, he stayed focused academically. He earned honor rolls recognition throughout high school while taking AP classes. He joined the Mesa Club, Key Club, Summer League Basketball for the Kiwanis. By sophomore year, he had completed more than 200 hours of community service for the Shepherd's Pantry, Trunk or Treat, and help decorate the Rose Parade. He also volunteered for the Pasadena Pops organization, and he would be scanning the tickets for the patrons. And by just being there, he was learning and listening to observe master musicians perform. He plans to attend Cal State Fullerton and earn a degree in computer science and pursue a career as a web manager. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in congratulating and welcoming our scholarship recipient, Diego Urieta.

I'd like to give a quick thanks to everyone coming here tonight and joining in to watch us perform. I'd like to give a thanks to my family, friends, partner for being here for me and always supporting me for everything. The song I'll be singing tonight is Come Fly With Me by Frank Sinatra and I hope you enjoy.

Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away If you can use some exotic booze, there's a bar in far Bombay Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away Come fly with me, let's float down to Peru In Llama Land there's a one man band And he'll toot his flute for you Come fly with me, let's take off in the blue Once I get you up there Where the air is rarefied We'll just glide starry eyed Once I get you up there I'll be holding you so near you may hear angel cheers cause we're together weather wise it's such a lovely day you just say those words and we'll take those birds down to our It's perfect for a flying honeymoon, they say. Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away. once i get you up there where the air is rarefied we'll just glide starry eyed once i get you up there I'll be holding you so near you may hear angel cheers cause we're together weather wise it's such a lovely day you just say those words and we'll beat those birds down to a It's perfect for a flying honeymoon, they say. Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly. Pack up, let's fly away. Pack a small bag.

I'm glad you found that entertaining. Aren't they wonderful? Maybe for our pictures.

They're extremely wonderful. Mayor, if I may. Okay. I'm going to go and invite both of our award recipients. If you could come up here and join us. Although they're both getting certificates of recognition from the city. So I'm going to go ahead and read them because they are a little bit different. The first one is for Ulises Vargas from Baldwin Park High School. The city council of the City of Ballpark congratulates you for being the recipient of the 2026 Mark Daniel Flores Music Foundation Scholarship. And we wish you continued success on your piano musical endeavors. And we thank you for the favorable recognition you bring to your school and our community. and our next certificate of recognition and i i see him up here is for diego you think i would know his name right he he's one of my walnut eagles you think i would know his name yes he is from sierra vista high school Again, the City Council of the City of Ballpark congratulates you for being the recipient of the 2026 Mark Daniel Flores Music Foundation Scholarship. And we wish you continued success on your vocal musical endeavors. And we thank you for the favorable recognition you bring to your school and our community. Presented to both of you on this third day of June 2026 by our Mayor Daniel Damien. Our Mayor, myself, Mayor Pro Tem Jean Amayala, our Council Members Alejandra Avila, Emmanuel Diaz-Estrada, Council Member Manuel Lozano, as well as City Clerk Christopher Sainz, and City Treasurer Joana Valenzuela. So congratulations.

And then we have from Senator Rubio's office, Representative Elena also presenting a certificate.

Good evening, everybody. It's an honor to be here on behalf of State Senator Susan Rubio. When we saw on the agenda that they were going to be honoring the two scholarship winners, we wanted to be here. I know that I've met Ms. Flores and spoken to her on a number of events. And it's amazing that out of a tragedy came something so beautiful that helps these talented individuals continue their education and have the resources to do so. So thank you for doing that for them. And to Diego and Ulises, I want to congratulate you both on getting this amazing scholarship. I know it's going to help you one way or another. As a college student myself, I know that things are expensive, so I think this will come in handy. So congratulations to both of you and congratulations, Ms. Flores, on this beautiful award.

Three, fire away.

congratulations once again uh ulises vargas and diego or yet keep up the great job Next, we're going to move on to the certificate of recognition for the completion of the Baltimore Community Leadership Program. And I believe this is for active SGV, correct, Council Member? Estrada will be presenting these certificates.

Yes. Thank you, Mayor Damien. So I'm going to ask all of the participants of the active SGV program to come and join us up here at the dais.

Okay.

So a couple of weeks ago, we got to attend their presentations. And so I'm sure somebody from ActiveSGV will be able to explain it better, but pretty much they took a portion of the city and they looked at how it could be greener, better, and healthier for the community. And You know, it's one of the most important things to really consider public health. And I'm so excited to see that younger people, you know, because I'm still kind of young, so younger people than me, younger people are interested in the longevity of their community and the longevity of their health and overall just longevity in general, taking care of our resources. our water, our air and combating pollution. So it's very nice to see all of you involved. And I hope to see more of you involved, not just in active SUVs programming, but also in city programming and city opportunities. You know, we want to see you here. Of course, congratulations for all the work that you've been doing for your efforts. So we'll go ahead and present a certificate to each one of them. So we have six participants. We have Jacqueline Leon, Ebony Guerrero, Lynn Truong, Gabriela Vasquez, Angelica Hernandez, and Mercedes Gallardo. Round of applause for them. And do we have any of you that want to break it down for us and exactly what you did in your programming?

Not all I want to say.

Good evening. Buenas noches. My name is Angelica Hernandez. Good evening. My name is Angelica Hernandez.

I'm a long life resident of the city of Baldwin Park. My colleagues and I came together through active SGV and our presentations were really focused on how we could improve our local community. My project in particular revolved around air pollution and the impact caused by freeways in the city of Baldwin Park. We presented not only the issue, a possible solution and some legislative recommendations on our behalf. And the rest of my colleagues also did different projects in response to some of the things that we wanted to address within the city of Baldwin Park.

Mis colegas y yo presentamos varios proyectos en cómo mejorar el ambiente del impacto de los freeways. Y también los restos de mis colegas también presentaron proyectos que estábamos tratando de mejorar el ambiente del aire, del agua y otros proyectos. Problemas potential is in a ciudad, y este fue un proyecto de varias semanas, y fue por medio y presentado por ActiveSGV.

Gracias.

Oh, Alema, you want to?

And then we also have Senator Rubio's office presenting certificates too as well.

Hello again, Elena Robles here on behalf of Senator Rubio. You know, just seeing somebody I know from the past, you know, it's amazing to see these wonderful young ladies that care so much about the community that they want to do something about it and they want to take part in taking action and doing something. something for your community. So congratulations to all of you. I know this is difficult because we all have other things to worry about other than this, but for you to commit to this and to do something for the beautiful city of Baldwin Park, it's commendable. So the Senator wanted me to bring you all certificates as well. So congratulations.

Thank you.

All right, one more round of applause for our active SGV leaders out there. All right, and next we're gonna go ahead and bump these three up together because this is our finale of our presentations, proclamations. We have the Proclamation for Lupus Awareness Month presented to Juana Mata and Estela Mata Carcamo from Looms for Lupus, if you wanna join us up here on the dais. This was supposed to be given in May, but we held it up for this meeting. We also have the proclamation for Fibromyalgia Awareness Month, also presented to Juana Mata and Estela Mata Carcamo from Looms for Lupus. And we have the presentation of the city plaque presented to Looms for Lupus in recognition of receiving the California Nonprofit of the Year Award by 48th District Assembly Member Blanca Rubio. So we're going to start with Lupus Awareness Month. Yes, let's give them a round of applause. All right, we're going to start with Lupus Awareness Month. I'm going to go ahead and read this. Systemic lupus, and I know I'm going to butcher a lot of these words. Stella, you want to help me out here? erythematosus, commonly known as lupus, is a chronic complex and often life-threatening autoimmune disease that randomly attacks the body's own tissues and vital organs and joints. It is a leading cause of premature cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, and stroke among young women and currently has no cure. More than 5 million people worldwide have a form of lupus and estimated 16,000 new cases each year. 90% of the people who have lupus are women, typically diagnosed during childbearing years. ages 15 to 45, and it affects all aspects of their lives. However, men, children, and teenagers develop lupus too. Lupus is two to three times more common, and its symptoms tend to be more severe among African-Americans, Hispanics, Latinos, Native Americans, and Asians than Caucasians. And whereas lupus is one of the most difficult diseases to diagnose because its symptoms come and go, mimic other diseases, and there is no single test that can definitively identify the illness. And many individuals living with lupus endure years of symptoms and irreversible organ damage before receiving an accurate diagnosis, in part due to limited awareness among health care providers and the general public. And research into lupus remains underfunded relative to the severity and prevalence of the disease, underscoring the urgent need for increased investment, scientific advancement, and public health and attention. I'm sorry, but there's a two-page thing here. The Mata sisters continue to raise awareness and expand education about lupus. This is essential to improving early detection, reducing health disparities, supporting individuals and families affected by the disease, and strengthening community understanding of its impact. And this proclamation is presented to Looms for Lupus as they continue to demonstrate outstanding leadership and raising awareness of Lupus, providing education, advocacy, social support, and promoting access to quality medical care for individuals living with Lupus and their loved ones. Now, therefore, I, Daniel Damien, Mayor of the City of Baldwin Park, along with Mayor Potem, Gina Mayala, Council Members Alejandra Avila, Emanuel Estrada, Manuel Lozano, City Clerk Christopher signs and city treasurer Joanna Valenzuela do hereby proclaim May 2026 as lupus awareness month and urges residents to help raise awareness throughout the city of Baldwin Park. Let's give her a round of applause.

With the first proclamation.

On here.

Okay, then we've got the second one. This is for Fibromyalgia Awareness Month, May 2026. Fibromyalgia is a complex chronic illness which causes fatigue, congenitive problems, and debilitating pain in women, men, and children of all ages and races. Over 4 million people in the United States, 2 to 4% of the population, and millions of people worldwide have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a disease... for which where there is no known cure. And fibromyalgia often takes an average of three to five years to receive a diagnosis of fibromyalgia. And existing public information, medical education, research and resources to properly serve patient communities remain inadequately disseminated and are insufficient in addressing the needs of specific diverse populations and other underserved groups. Fibromyalgia is present in children and young adults, which poses unique challenges for this population who not only struggle with the symptoms of this illness, but also from the lack of understanding and lack of social acceptance. Increased public awareness, education, and research are the key to winning the battle against fibromyalgia. This proclamation is presented to Looms for Lupus for their hard work and dedication as they advocate for fibromyalgia awareness, support, and a better future for research, treatment, diagnosis, and education. Congratulations to the Mata sisters for their nonprofit organization. Now, therefore, I, Daniel Damien, Mayor of the City of Baldwin Park, along with Mayor Pro Tem Gina Mayala, Council Members Alejandra Avila, Emanuel J. Estrada, Manuel Lozano, City Clerk Christopher Saenz, and City Treasurer Joanna Valenzuela, do you hear by proclaiming May 2026 as Fibromyalgia Awareness Month and urge residents to help raise awareness throughout the City of Baldwin Park. Another round of applause for the Matta sisters. And here's the good one for them. We're proud of the Mata sisters. They do a great job in our community and always advocating for us. So Looms for Lupus. 2026 California Nonprofit of the Year Award. The City of Baldwin Park congratulates you for being recognized as California Nonprofit of the Year by Assemblywoman Blanca E. Rubio, 48th District. We thank you for your commitment and excellent service you provide to all the citizens and community members of Baldwin Park. Thank you for the favorable recognition you bring to our city. Signed this June 3rd, 2026 by myself, Daniel Damien, Mayor Potem, Gene Amayala, Council Members Alejandra Avila, Emanuel J. Estrada, Manuel Lozano, City Clerk Christopher Saenz, and City Treasurer Joanna Valenzuela.

You can see the flowers as well.

I just want to say, you know, it's very important that we recognize, you know, not only our, you know, active SGV leaders, but also our scholarship winners. It's important that we advocate for our community and our residents. And this is something that I've learned from the Mato sisters, that they don't get tired of advocating for a cause that they know is not only important to them, but to many other residents that don't. aren't even aware what lupus is. So just want you to know that we really appreciate all the hard work and dedication that you put into this and the leadership that you do within not only our city, but the entire state. So thank you very much. You want to say a couple of things?

Hi, everyone. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you to city council members and the city staff, because a lot of what we do, we do with collaboration of the city of Baldwin Park. We would not be able to offer all the services without everyone supporting us. So we are so grateful not only for the staff, for the city of Baldwin Park, but also for the support from the community members that attend our events. So Looms for Lupus was born because my sister Juana was diagnosed with lupus in 2009 and almost lost her life. And we realized back then and even until now that it is so important for us to learn about what lupus is. It is an autoimmune disease that can impact our communities. There is no cure for it and there are very little treatments. And the most important part of it is that it takes two to six years for someone to get diagnosed. And a lot of times, lupus is not visible. So it's very important for us to not only raise awareness, but also to provide support for those living with lupus and those supporting those living with lupus. And as far as fibromyalgia, about 20% of people that live with lupus or not immune disease will have also extra added pain, which is what fibromyalgia is. And I don't know if you guys know, but like Lady Gaga, she has fibromyalgia. She has stopped concerts because of it. Now, again, it's not visible, but it's something that hurts a lot. I live with fibromyalgia. And then finally, what I did want to say is, Thank you again for collaborating, and thank you again to the community for always coming with open arms to learn, to feel empowered, and to not give up. Don't give up hope, because that's the one thing that we can have everlasting. Thank you.

Oops. Sure.

And if our family and advocates can also come with us, our team that's always volunteering or voluntold to help us. So you guys can also be part of the picture. Thank you.

Voluntold.

All right, one more round of applause for our Lum for Lupus and Mata for Furs.

Oh, that's it.

All right, now we're going to go ahead and open public communication. City Clerk, do we have any speaker cards?

I apologize, Mayor. We have a few speaker cards. We're going to begin with the first, Irma Morales with the Los Angeles County Library.

Good evening, Mayor Damien, city council members, city staff, and the community. I wanted to tell you about some upcoming programs in June at Baldwin Park Library. We're part of LA County Library System. First, I would like to invite the community to participate in the LA County Library's Summer Discovery Program, our annual celebration of reading and curiosity that encourages people of all ages to read and learn all summer long. This is actually like the 95th year that L.A. County Library has been having summer reading. Before they used to call it Summer Reading Program, now it's Summer Discovery. This year the program will run from June 1st to August 9th, and the library will offer both an online and paper version. So the online version, if you go to the library's website, lacountylibrary.org.org, There will be a QR code that you can join online. That app is called Beanstack. Or you can come into the library and receive a, we call it an activity map. And what we'll need for them to do is for folks to read three books and do three activities or read six books. They bring back their activity map and children, teens and adults will put their name in for prizes. So it's important that students of all ages, kids are reading during the summer. The next item is that we are having a free lunch at the library again this summer. It's going to begin on Tuesday, June the 16th through Friday, August the 7th at Baldwin Park Library from 12 to 1 in our Baldwin Park Library meeting room. And we have a summer discovery program kickoff. That'll be Saturday, June the 6th from 3 to 4 p.m. We're going to be signing up students for the summer discovery program. And lastly, we're having a special bubble mania program on Wednesday, June the 10th. from 2 to 245. That is a program to register, to register for all programs and find our information. If you go to lacountylibrary.org, you will look for our location under Baldwin Park Library and find the information. So thank you for your time today. Have a good evening. Thank you.

Next, we'll call up Melinda Forbes.

Good evening. Buenas noches, distinguished mayor and city council members and staff. I've been up here before, but it has been a while. My name is Melinda Forbes, and I represent the Presbytery of San Gabriel as the chair of the Administrative Commission. We gave a portion of our church property on the corner of Los Angeles Street and Stewart Avenue for Habitat for Humanity to build 15 affordable homes. I try to drive by on a regular basis to see the progress. I have been dismayed by the increase of graffiti on the blue tarps surrounding the property. I know that Habitat has reached out to the Baldwin Park Police Department for help in increased patrolling. I personally have had help with the police department over the years when we had when our church was active and we had renters. I want you to know, Chief Lopez, how amazing, professional and kind they were to me. I just want to add my voice in asking for help to reduce the graffiti problems. Habitat has tried to paint over, but to no avail sometimes. The surrounding neighbors have been good, and I just want them to be proud of trying to do good works for the city of Ballin Park. Thank you.

Next, we call Cindy Rubio. Thank you so much.

Next, we call Reverend Paul Flores.

Thank you, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and City Council and staff. Paul Flores, pastor of Church of the Redeemer in Baldwin Park. He established in 1961 and the senior pastor the last 18 years. We just wanted to like, we would like to thank you for the ongoing partnership of the CDBG with our food bank. And we have for the last nearly 30 years in the food bank for the city. But most recently, and change of leadership, the demands and the reporting structures continue to be like a target in motion, us trying to meet that. And most recently, we thought at best our staff and leadership to withdraw petition from the CDBG funds and to withdraw our application for the CDBG funds moving forward. Most recently, we were told that we need to revise our program specific invoices that reflect only funds coming from CDBG. Our food program is much larger than funds just from CDBG. We serve much more people. We have donations from our membership as well as other community partners. So basically...

It seems that they're suggesting in the sidewalks, we need to clean this up. We need to provide better service. And if we don't do it, you know, people like me and other people who report these issues, who care about these are not going to do it anymore. And we need to work as a team, you know, and if there's no response to our reports, then there's going to be no reports. Thank you.

Thank you for that. Is there anyone, anyone else wishing to speak? Seeing no one else willing to speak, and I'll go ahead and close public speaking. I did just want to piggyback off of, well, first of all, Pastor Flores, I'm sorry to hear about the situation that you're having at Church of the Redeemer, because I know that your food bank's been active there for, like you said, the last 30 years. So our city manager is going to go ahead and look into that to see what the situation is there. And then in reference to what Abel mentioned at CVS, I don't know what CVS he's talking about, but The one here at Superior, Chief, and maybe I don't know who else would handle this, but it's starting to get really dirty again. And then off of Bogart, that little wall that separates the shopping center to the street behind there, off of Bogart here coming from CBS, it seems like they're starting to put encampments there, homeless encampments. And I just seen them there. They're now on my way here. It looks like they were tapping into like the water or something there. So we can have someone check that out, Manny. Okay. Okay, and then that's, anyone else want to address public speaking?

Yes, Mayor. Thank you for those that came up here and speak. It's definitely very important that you come up and tell us what you see, the good, the bad, so that we can address it. But I will say that that area at Jack in the Box, over there off of Garvey, off of the exit, does need a lot of help very frequently because that is an area where there is encampment. However, I do remember they do go on the side that belongs to Caltrans. So we do need to reach out to Caltrans to have that trash removed, those encampments removed, and the graffiti removed. I know in the past if Caltrans does not respond as soon as we'd like them to, we do direct it to the higher ups, like the Senator, for example. She has helped us many times to make sure these areas get cleaned up because it does get really bad in that area. a lot of trash everywhere, a lot of weeds, and then to top it off with the encampments and the graffiti and people are coming off that exit. So Manny, that would be something it's probably a Caltrans that has to deal with that.

Yes.

And as far as that shopping center that you're talking about, Mayor Damien, where CVS is, I actually just talked to Carlos about that shopping center because I was just in that shopping center and there's a lot of Graffiti scratched onto the windows, and I think that has to do with the owner. So we do need to check with that owner, make sure they're keeping up the area, the shopping center, because it makes you feel like not even being in there. It's dirty. It's ugly. There's a lot of empty spaces. locations there so it just makes it uglier and not just that shopping center but there's a lot of shopping centers that they don't take pride in the way they look like their signage is tagged on they're dirty so i know code enforcement is very busy but if we can make sure that we get on those shopping centers and talk to the owners and if we have to find them find them because it makes the city look bad if you can do that manny please thank you yes yes ma'am

All right. Thank you for that, Councilman Ravila.

Mayor, just real quick. I appreciate my colleagues and their concerns because those are my concerns as well. But I just publicly want to thank everybody for coming and speaking.

Mark, residents, we can look into it. I'm not sure how feasible it will be. legally what we can do, but we'll consider it and we'll do what we can to incentivize it.

Okay. And then, so, I mean, we'll approve this item, you know, with the idea that you'll look into it. And then maybe if just the next couple of meetings, we can get a report on how feasible it is to do that. And, you know, maybe later on, we can have a broader discussion on local hiring efforts as a whole for the city.

This is not Public Works Project, but Public Works Project, there's definitely a lot more limitations on that. When it comes to professional services, we probably can include something of that nature. Would you be happy with assurances of hiring local or making efforts to do so? as opposed to like a firm requirement, because sometimes they may not be able to locate someone.

So, yeah, and I think we discussed that last time, right? We're not going to, we want to make sure that we're hiring, obviously our priority is to make sure that we're hiring qualified, you know, insured and bonded contractors and professional services. But, you know, these are kind of extras, right? It's like a wishlist that we can find an agency that's, you know, more on, that can provide these, that wishlist and that's something that we want, right? But it's not going to be our, ultimately, you know, based on the needs of the,

the of the projects we want to make sure that we're meeting those requirements first and then this is the second so we'll look into that then try to incorporate that and then report back but yeah i guess the request would then to be approved as is right now with the ability to make that change.

So right now, the item doesn't really get into the specifics of what the details of the RFP are. They are pretty standard. Typically, these RFPs are for consultants, for professional engineering services. It's qualifications-based. So we can't go to the, to the cheapest or the lowest, you know, cost, um, bidder or, um, proposal. It's, it's typically qualifications based, but I have, um, put in the RFP like incentives, you know, like bonus points or, um, something along those lines. But we can work together and communicate with Manny and maybe the council to see if what we're doing is kind of in line with what your thoughts are.

Yeah, I mean, if you feel that this is maybe, you know, not the proper RFP to kind of start that discussion, that's fine. Just because we've been talking about RFP, so I try to bring it up a little bit more. But, you know, in the long term, you know, I guess maybe just a way to ignite that conversation and then we'll bring something back. And then, like I said, right, we obviously starting off with public works just because your RFP is on the items. But then a more general conversation as to if that's, you know, general language we can include in RFPs as a general rule of thumb for the city.

Yeah, ones I've done, you know, over the last 15 years have been trying to hire local firms that have an office, you know, as close as possible to the city. Sometimes you'll say, you know, I guess in LA County, it's a little different, but in other areas, like we want the consultants to have an office within a 50 mile radius so that we can communicate with consultants in person. And it just improves, I guess, the communication, but yeah, I think we'll look into it, and like I said, we'll do what we can. We'll work together with the city attorney and see what we can put in the RFP.

Yeah, because I want to say that maybe sometimes there's maybe at higher levels, there's times where there's a contract and then, you know, they have apprentices or apprenticeships. And then, you know, even if it's not a full-time job, but an apprenticeship or an opportunity to intern, you know, how do we make sure that, you know, if it's a project in bone park, we can not only benefit all in park, you know, in a structural and infrastructure type of way, but also the community have those opportunities to, you know, have a, you know, have buy-in into these projects and also, you know, be proud of what's happening in bone park. Cause they are part of making it happen.

Sounds good. Yeah. We'll look into it. Like I said, I've seen it for the apprenticeship program for construction. This is consulting, but I think we can, um, we'll do as much as we possibly can.

Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Daniel.

Yep.

Do you want to make a motion? Uh,

yeah so we'll make the motion to approve the rfp and with the direction to us the central. Just leave it at a wish list for you know local local initiatives.

Now get a second. We have a first and a second we'll get a roll call.

We have a motion to adopt item number six with additional direction. Motion made by Council Member Estrada, second by Council Member Avila. Council Member Avila. Council Member Estrada.

Yes.

Mayor Prasad Mayala. Yes. Mayor Damien. Yes. Motion carries 4-0. Thank you for that, City Clerk.

All right, moving on to item number seven. That is the item that I pulled, and this is in reference to the waste management contract. Manny, do you want to start this off before I go on?

Yes, sir, Mr. Mayor. I will go ahead and provide a brief summary. The proposed... Let's see here. Excuse me. This report seeks adoption of Resolution 2026-010, a resolution of the City of Baldwin Park, California, adopting an amended fee schedule for solid waste collection and recycling services to reflect Consumer Price Index increase approving the proposed... Fee changes pursuant to the terms of the existing waste collection and recycling services agreement. Waste Management Incorporated submitted a request for a rate adjustment to all customers based on increases in their consumer price index. Pursuant to their agreement, they have flexibility to increase the fee 5%. They have kindly agreed. Reduce that fee to 4.2% with a significant savings to the Community, which includes the businesses, as well as the residents they've also asked that we. consider initiating an additional five-year extension to the existing agreement, which concludes at the end of June, 2028. So as staff, we consider that included some language reflecting that, and that is what is in front of the city council this evening, if they would like to consider that.

Thank you for that, Manny. All right. So first of all, Josh, I know that you're here in the audience. First of all, thank you very much. And waste management. Look, I thank waste management because I've seen the trash issues that have been happening in other cities. And luckily, knocking on wood, we don't have those types of issues here. So I do want to thank you for that. And I do want to thank you for giving our residents a break on the 4.2% increase versus the 5%. I know that the staff report does indicate that we want to start negotiating another five-year term. Our extension ends June 30th of 2028. Just to be clear, I would feel more comfortable starting the contract negotiations next year in 2027, when we're going to start discussing the increase for that year, only because there's still two years left in the contract. Not that we're jumping ship or anything. That's not what we're saying. But I just think for all transparency cases, I think that there's still two years left in the contract. Let's wait till next year when there's one year left and then start negotiating the contract in good faith at that point in time. That's just the only thing that I have. I want to hear from my council colleagues to see what you guys think.

Yes, Mayor.

Go ahead, Councilman.

Thank you for being here, first of all. I know you guys are always here and very, very involved in the community. I want to add that I'm very grateful of the bulky item pickup that we have here in our city. And I really brag about it because I've talked to many residents from many cities that they're trying to figure out, they just bought a refrigerator and they don't know what to do with the refrigerator. And I always say, well, just put it on the curb. Well, no, we can't do that. And I always act shocked, like, what do you mean? But it's a great service that not very many communities get. And it's free and it's every week. It's just so important that we continue giving our community that message because our community does forget, as you know, Josh. They keep putting things out and then we're calling Josh. Josh, get your people out here because I think we need more information out there. I know you set out information, we put out information, but yet we're not getting enough messages out there to make sure that they call you. They put it out the week that you say. Sometimes they think they call and they just put it out that week. It doesn't work that way. They have to set it out that date. But that's a great service that you provide that not very many companies provide. So I'm very grateful for that. And I'm also so thankful that you did lower that percentage because everything else has gone up. As you know, we just had an increase in the water. So every time the residents see an increase, they start thinking, oh my gosh, I have to change my budget now. But I think it is a great idea. for transparency to make sure that our residents see, hey, look, they're continuing to provide the services. Let's see what we have in the contract. Let's go over it again to make sure we're not missing anything, that you're not missing anything, and cross all our T's and dot our I's to make sure that's exactly what we want as a group that benefits our residents. And I think right now you're doing a great job. But I agree, let's wait. Let's look at it more carefully and go over it again because we do still have time. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Avila. Anyone else have any comments?

Mayor.

Go ahead, Council Member.

I just thank you. Well, thank you, Mayor. I would just echo the same sentiment. I know waste management has been a great partner to the city and very helpful. And, you know, I know you guys are always out there as well when we're doing veteran service activities. cleanups and aiding in that. So, you know, you've not only been a great partner to the city, but also to our partner nonprofits. And so, you know, it's never, I mean, you know, kind of touching on the obvious, it's never easy to have to approve increases. I know that, you know, we're all struggling with cost of living. But, you know, we also need to make sure that we are um you know doing our part to keep these services running and and keeping a good faith contract um so you know but i would i would agree that it's maybe too early to negotiate and i mean we don't know what the next two years will be like um and so i think it's a little bit more fair for everybody because i think even if we started negotiations now they wouldn't get approved till that time and then we could just be literally wasting time on on both ends so i would agree mayor

Thank you for that, Council Member Estrada. Mayor Pro Tem, did you have any comments?

My only comment is I just want to echo my colleagues in the sense of the collaboration that we have together with you. And I appreciate your commitment to this community and the ability to work with us. So I appreciate that. But I'm in line with the rest of you. So thank you, Mayor.

Thank you for that, colleagues. So, Josh, did you want to? Yeah, go ahead.

You can address this, definitely. There is 21-129-FAC. I apologize for the typos.

It's okay. As long as they're paying for it, I'm fine. All right. I'll go ahead and make a motion to approve with the modifications read by the city manager and the city attorney. Can I get a second? Second. All right. We've got a first and a second. We give a roll call.

We have a motion to adopt item number 10 as amended. Motion made by Mayor Damien, second by Mayor Broatsham-Ayala. Council Member Avila?

Yes.

Council Member Estrada?

Yes.

Mayor Broatsham-Ayala?

Yes.

Mayor Damien? Yes. Motion carries 4-0. Thank you for that, City Clerk.

All right, there's no public hearing, so we'll move on to reports of officers. Item 11, approval of revised conceptual design for the Terry G. Meade Family Service Center. Manny?

Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The purpose of this staff report is for the City Council to consider approval of the revised conceptual design of the Terry G. Muth Family Service Center several months back, our architectural firm. SWA Architects provided a presentation. Tonight, we have Mr. Robert Bob Simmons, founding partner of the award-winning SWA Architectural Firm, and he will provide a brief presentation. We, as staff members and as an architectural firm, feel that we've captured all of Council's comments. Bob, take it away.

Mayor, Council, staff, we appreciate the opportunity to present today. Let's go to the next slide. It's on test. Yeah, I just need to get thank you. Okay, sorry about that. Go ahead. And the next slide. That's a little PR. We don't want that. And go ahead and put another slide. So back, I guess it was almost September, right? And yeah it was a September we presented two schemes, one is a one story scheme and another was a two story scheme, and then we received the council's feedback and tonight we're going to share just a refresher on the first two schemes and then we have a third scheme that we'd like to present today. But next slide. Yeah, this is the, if you recall, this was the first floor, which included offices, the celebration room, restrooms, conference rooms. This is a lobby with two seating areas associated with it. We had the food pantry and clothes distribution area that's part of this facility. And again, these are support areas for the kitchen and so forth for the celebration room. So that all came out to about 11,750 square feet and with about $11.5 million budget. Okay, next slide. And these are the elevations we presented at that time, I think the Council was very positive about, especially the rotunda piece that was part of this facility and which we were capturing in the third scheme that will show tonight. But next slide any. And this is the landscape plan associated with it, but this also included an outdoor courtyard we preserved all the trees and existing landscaping as possible. that's there, but you can see the building envelope takes a big part of that site that's associated with it, but also, we wanted to essentially support the circle that's that's there. And one more. And so this was the second two-story scheme. And so you can pass this. This is literally the same first floor plan as the previous scheme. We'll go on to the second floor. So we developed a second floor that was just literally the same building envelope above the first floor, which created a 23,500 square feet building envelope as part of it. And it included conference rooms, additional conference rooms, restrooms. And this is circulation with an opportunity. And this was discussed months ago, but an opportunity to be able to expand the facility because unfortunately we have one crack at this. So next slide. That was the images, but I think that preference the feedback we received from the Council was that they prefer the first scheme as far as the excuse me, the entry piece and the rotunda. So with that we develop one more scheme. Good. And so, again the ground floor same same effective ground floor again with the celebration room restrooms offices. Bobby space with the rotunda and seating areas and there's an existing restroom here for public use and so forth, and then what we did is we developed a second floor to this. And that'll be on the next. slide. The next slide, what we did is we reduced the size of the building envelope. This was feedback that we received from the council at the time. We reduced the size of the building envelope. We created an outdoor plaza on the second floor, and we pulled back the entry so that we could really expose the rotunda. And then we have two unoccupied plaza areas in front that's associated with it. And this was including all this green area, which is all the conference space, restrooms, and still gives you quite a bit of expansion associated with it. We effectively reduced the building by about 3,500 square feet. We ended up with an estimate, roughly $17 million. And that's just a rough order of magnitude, but it'll give you a sense about the building itself. Next slide. And this is the imagery, so it really expresses that rotunda entry to the building itself, these are side elevations that are Jason to it, you can see a trellis over that back Plaza area we certainly can be utilized we put a small kitchen up there, so it'd be work well for the Plaza itself slide. And there you go, so it gives that same expression that we liked on the first story on the one story scheme. But has an expressive envelope that where it's been pushed back again to reduce the square footage reduce the budget, you know associated with the project, and I think it makes it pretty successful but you're still utilizing the land that's available for it. And next slide. You can see an elevation of it, this is a little perspective, but this outdoor area in the back, I think it's going to be utilize a great deal right that's above that celebration space, but it'll be really successful with the trellis, and this is the Spanish tile roofs. Next slide. And this is a view from the to the front really it's a perspective, but a view from the front that again includes the main plaza associated with it, the rotunda and the access area, and this is the trellis in the back. And more slide. There you go. And that's a view of that. So it really gives the same imagery and perspective that was asked for by the council at the one story scheme, but it utilizes the two story opportunity that's there on that property.

And I think that was the last slide.

Yep. Any do want, should we talk schedule?

I don't think we need to talk about schedule. I think at this point we need council direction if they have an option of which one-story, two-story, and or any additional modifications. We feel relatively comfortable at the staff level that we've captured all of council's comments, but looking forward to hearing your comments.

We have suggestions, but I have Emmanuel take care of them.

I know. Um, can you, could you go back to the, uh, the C concept? I don't know who's running the, so I know, um, a little bit further back. Yeah. So I know that we're very cost-conscious right now. And I know that one of the ideas of the C was that if we had less space, I mean, we can still utilize the top space at a smaller cost, but is there a way to, I mean, just minimal amount of building on top or even a more open concept

sure a cost on well we reduced the upper floor by about 3 500 square feet so it is significant that we reduced it but we also wanted to be utilize the space itself so we created that outdoor Plaza and then we we set back the upper floors as you can see it adjacent to the rotunda but you know it's it's it's your preference it could get smaller

I mean, I'm just more because I know that council is post-conscious, which I completely understand. So, you know, the kind of a more of an open concept on the second floor, more of a kind of like a last effort to utilize two stories instead of one. Right. So we had more of a more open, you know, just a more open space on top. And I'm assuming that it would further reduce the costs. possible, or?

Sure.

How many square feet on top right now? I'm sorry? How many square feet of office are on top right now?

Up on the upper floor, I believe it's, it was about 17,000 square feet on the upper floor.

Of office space?

Oh, I mean, I'm sorry, 7,000 square feet of the upper floor. It's just an open.

7,000. So another thing that I was looking, so when you look at this building here, the rotunda, you see the little balcony area, and then you see the building. So the idea was more to have the open space, more looking towards the park. I know in this one, you have it towards the back of the building here, correct? So push the actual office space towards the back. So the open space faces the park. So if we do have events, people are looking at the park and not at the... houses in the back or the shopping center and the sound will be carrying to the park versus to the phones but push the the office buildings to the back they'll leave the rotunda in that balcony make that balcony area bigger as we so you'd like to see the open space on the front versus the back so that the open space faces the park. It's a better view. And if people are having events, the sound will carry into the park rather than into the homes.

Yeah, it could absolutely be done. I think that, and if I may, I think that, you know, before we make modifications to the design, I mean, that's a really great idea. Don't get me wrong. The two-story, I mean, listen, if we had the funding for it, we wouldn't have to think twice about it, right? We'd go with it now. But as you can see right now, the one story is a total of 11,750 square feet. That's got a price tag of about $11.5 million. The second story... has about 23,500 square feet, and that's got a price tag of over $20 million. So, I mean, as it is, we're really scratching the surface. You know, I'm really thankful to Congressman Cisneros for donating $3.1 million towards this, but we're still short, you know, about $9 million. So I think the question here is, do we want to go with...

A one-story or a two-story? Oh, sorry, Mayor. Before we... Go ahead. So, yes. So, I 100% agree. The cost-consciousness is a big, big factor. So, that's why my question was more... So, yes. So, $11 million. And then the other one drops to... Well, not drops. It increases. Although square footage drops a little bit to $20 million. And then if you remove a little bit of the top, it drops down to $17 million, right?

Correct. That's correct.

My question is, if we... made more of a rooftop than office on top that we can still use the top, how much more could we potentially drop the costs? Right.

Less office space.

Use, use, reduce the office space even more and then leave it.

I would say if it's possible to the bare minimum and it's more of a rooftop so that we can still use it for events, we can still rent it out for as a venue, still generate some revenue. Yeah. So very minimal space. I mean, if you see, I think you mentioned maybe a kitchen, which I guess would, but it was more of a rooftop than actual use for office so that we can still secure the use of that space, but still meet the cost consciousness of the council. Yeah.

And then maybe build on it later. So what you're saying is basically like a complete blank space on the second floor. Just create the second floor. Maybe use that as a big rental hall with a kitchen and a restroom.

Outdoor events.

But do it outside.

The kitchen and at least an office.

Yeah. So we would have to.

So you would cut back a lot of the office space?

Because right now the office space is just showing, what, it's showing one boardroom.

Can we show the option C, the top floor blueprints so we can?

Yeah.

And this is an opportunity for more revenue for rental space.

So this one here has, what, one boardroom and four conference rooms. Correct. And restrooms associated right there.

And then there's a service kitchen to support the outdoor deck.

So then just basically like a rooftop type of design with the kitchen and restrooms.

Correct. So then in that way, you still, we still, we're still cost conscious. We still have access to the second. So we're still doubling our space. Technically we increase our opportunities for revenue. And then, I mean, if it's, if the, it could be set up for later on adding, you know, a full on second floor, then I mean, that's later on. Right. But right now I think the question is, yes, let's, I mean, of course we have to meet the cost consciousness because otherwise we can't afford it. How can we make sure that we're, maximizing the most out of the design.

And then with the open space being towards the front of the building rather than the back of the building.

So for what I'm hearing is instead of... So what have you flipped it? Instead of 2,900 square feet of open outdoor space, that was at most the amount that you were using for indoor space, whether it be for office or kitchen, whatever it may be needed, but everything else is open so that our costs come down and we still get to use the second floor.

Really a kitchen with good-sized restrooms because usually if you have a venue, you want the amount of restrooms in there.

So it would be a great opportunity for additional open space in the bottom floor. We would have an opportunity to rent that hall out, take some stress off the senior center, and we would have a patio rooftop On the second floor, we would obviously need an elevator to accommodate the second floor, but definitely would be a nice view. And we could definitely work with that. I mean.

The second floor doesn't include an elevator because we would have to accommodate ABU. Yes.

Yeah, it does.

Yes. It does include an elevator. There's an elevator right there. Yes. Yes.

Right there. So would we be able to bring back a cost estimate of what it would cost if we were to go with the option that they're indicating, my council colleagues?

Sure. We could do that. We're happy to. Yeah.

I mean, if we're able to do this and it's not too far off from the first floor design, I mean, I would think that it makes sense to capture that, right?

Yeah, we could definitely go back to the drawing board. I think the first floor is already solidified and we have the cost there. So now we could add a second floor, a lot more open space to keep the cost down. simplify it maybe with a kitchen, restrooms, and we could take a look at that in the next few months.

Yeah. Okay. Happy to do that. Thank you. We'll bring it back. So the first floor is fine. First floor is fine. We're just going to get a cost estimate of what it would cost to do what you guys are talking about on the second floor. So we all have homework. I just. Door knocking to see who we're going to get money from.

I just, Mayor, I just have a comment to make. I'm in agreeance with my colleagues about it, but I just want to kind of keep that rotunda kind of. Still be maintained.

And we can still look the same. Yeah. Face towards the front.

I think these second floor elevations work really well on this. And so we'd probably maintain that.

All right. Okay.

Thank you.

Do you guys need a motion to bring this back?

Sure, a motion to bring it back.

Anybody want to make a motion to bring this back?

I'll motion to bring the item back once the plans have been, yeah, revisions have been made.

Thank you. Second.

We have a motion to table item number 11 to a date uncertain, moved by Mayor Prozema, second by Councilmember Avila. Councilmember Avila?

Yes.

Councilmember Estrada? No. Yes. Yes. Mayor Damien. Yes. Motion carries four zero.

Hey, thank you. Thank you for that city clerk. Appreciate it.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. We're going to move on to item number 12, the proposed establishment of 45 day moratorium on the approval establishment or open. I'm sorry. Let me start over again. Proposed establishment of 45-day moratorium on approval, establishment or operation of battery energy storage systems, facilities, urgency ordinance number 1526. City Attorney?

Yes, the Baron Council recently we had a more charm related to data centers and this was a kind of a follow up to that when this this concerns the operation of battery injury energy storage systems which all shortened to be best. facilities with all zoning districts in the city, and this would be for an initial period of 45 days, this is to allow staff to analyze and develop regulations related to these facilities. It's to promote the public health and safety and welfare so that we can have regulations that appropriately govern these facilities before they come forward. This is done under Government Code 65858, which allows us to adopt temporary moratoria. uh and it would again 45 days we'd come back and you can extend it up to another 22 months uh but until or until we get some regulations in place um just general background there's been a growing demand for these best facilities across the state this is related to energy demand. And so there's documented concerns with them with respect to the unique fire and explosion hazards related to the lithium ion batteries that are inside these facilities. And that increases fire and explosion hazards under certain conditions that would be often difficult to fight. So we'd have to have specialized ability to address those. There's possible gases that could be admitted in those fires. So really this is just giving us an opportunity to establish appropriate regulations. We would come back to you within 45 days to probably extend this, to give us more time. And it would require a unanimous vote of the four council members present to adopt.

Thank you for that city attorney. Mayor? Anybody? Go ahead.

Thank you. Thank you for the sidearm. I really appreciate it. As you all recall, the Altadena fire, who could forget that? There was a lot of issues when the cleanup came up. As you recall, we had the Larios Park issue. And one of the biggest issues we had there was the batteries that were being taken out of that fire being put in our own backyard, which the communities all around us were infuriated because they didn't consider the damage it can do to our communities in the long run. Thinking of our air, our water, our ground pollution, everything that can happen when those batteries leak, let alone explode. I like the monitorium, but is there anything that we could just ban something like this from our city? I don't know, attorney, if that's possible, because in reality, to have something like that near so many communities, it's outrageous. I feel that we're just putting our community in more danger. Again, I'll go back to the Altadena fire. It was in our backyard where they were putting all those batteries, all those gas tanks, the paints. And to date, they claim it's not affecting us, but we don't know yet. They still need to do studies. And that was just storage. I can't even imagine having a facility that actually holds those batteries here. So if anything, I really would like to look to see if there's any way they can be banned from the city.

So what I would say is you proceed to adopt the moratorium and then, as we examine this issue, and as we extend the moratorium to give us some more time we'll look at what our options are in that regard.

Perfect Thank you.

For that comes from anyone else have any comments. Do we need a motion for this.

Like to make a motion. To pass that at a first and second symbol. Areas. Thank you.

We got a first and a second. Can we get roll call?

We have a motion to adopt item number 12. Motion made by Council Member Avila, second by Council Member Estrada. Council Member Avila? Council Member Estrada?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Temayala?

Yes.

Mayor Damien? Yes.

Motion carries 4-0. Thank you for that, City Clerk. All right, now we're going to be moving on to item number 13. That's the fiscal year 2026, 2027 projected budget discussion presented by Rose Tam. Rose, can we speed through this? No, just kidding. Go ahead, Rose.

yes good evening honorable mayor and members of the city council meet council members i'm presenting the projected budget for fiscal year 26 27 and seek your input and direction i will bring them back proposed budget to the next meeting for public hearing and final adoption. Please feel free to ask any question and provide guidance during my presentation. Thank you. Next slide, please. This is the projected general fund operating summary. And we projected the general fund revenue, including transfer in, to be $44,617,000. With every department's effort, And as you may know, costs continue price going up, continue to go up, and the CalPERS pension costs also continue go up. We are able to bring down the deficit to $140,000. I have the confidence by the end of next fiscal year, we might be able to balance and close this gap. Next, please. This slide provide you with more details of all the general fund revenues. As you may see, we continue to see increase in property taxes. However, we projected decrease in sales tax. And the increase in property tax will offset the decrease with the sales tax. And we also expected property tax in lieu of VLF increase about $700,000. And also, we have about $683,000 increase in miscellaneous. And I will go into the detail in the following slides. And the transfer in, you'll see about $2,400,000 decrease. Mainly, we are going to have less transfer from measure BP. That's what caused this decrease. That doesn't mean we have decrease in revenue, just less transfer from measure BP. Next slide, please. The following few slides just provide you more details in each category of the revenues. I am not going to go into every single item unless you have questions. So this slide shows you the general fund license and permits. revenue that we projected to have. We don't expect much change in this area. We expected about $15,000 increase in one line item for the street and curb permits. Next slide, please. This slide shows you the general fund fines and penalties. If no question, I go to next slide. And this slide shows you the use of money and property. And it shows all the items underneath, what they are for. Next, please. This one shows you the charges for services. As you may see, it lists every single charges for services below. And if you don't have question, I go to the next one. And next slide is a continuation for charges for services. No question? OK. This one is for the miscellaneous revenue and shows all the items with increases. No questions? OK. This one shows you the projected cannabis public benefit fees that we expect to receive. Next, please. This slide shows general fund projected transfer in. And as I mentioned earlier, we expected to transfer $1.2 million from Measure BP, which is over the $6 million exceeded to the revenue we received from Measure BP, and also the cannabis public benefit safety coming to into general fund to support general operating services. Next, please. This slide shows you the pie chart in dollar amount for the general fund revenue. Next, please. This one shows you the projected revenue in general fund in percentage. And this concluded the general fund projected revenue for fiscal year 26-27. If no question, we're going to go to the expenditure. Next, please. This shows you the general fund expenditures by category. And as you may see, you can see decrease in most of the area with every department's effort. If no question, I am going to go into the departments. And next, please. This is the pie chart shows you the general fund expenditure by category in dollar amount. Next, please. This pie chart shows you the general fund expenditure by category in percentage. Next, please. These slides provide you the breakdown for general fund projected transfer out. Most of the line items are for the indirect admin costs in exceeding of the allowable funding source from the special revenue funds and other funds. However, we have reimbursement also to support all the general admin costs. As in the previous slide, it shows $1.7 million. So in other words, the reimbursement exceeded the cost here for about $200,000. Next, please. This slide shows the expenditure by department in summary. No question we go to the slide to go over each department. This is the pie chart, as I mentioned earlier, just like we show you for the revenue. Next, please. Next, please. This slide shows you the admin general fund expenditure in general fund. Most of the increase you see for every department are mainly for the 3% COLA increase and the CalPERS unfunded liability cost that has gone up. And the last item, you might see a big jump for about $118,000, mainly is for the coming up election costs. No question, go next. This slide is for the community development. As I mentioned earlier, the increase is to cover 3% Kola and CalPERS. And the decrease for the $50,000 at the bottom due to city continue filling vacancies, and we are going to use less consultant services and bring savings to the city. Next, please. That's finance department, and it's the same thing for the Kola and CalPERS, the increase due to smaller increases in smaller areas due to cost increase in general. Next, please. This is for the police. And the increase mainly is for the police, I mean, for the 3% COLA and CalPERS. And I want to point out, there are about over $400,000 increase in CalPERS unfunded liability. However, with the effort, we reduce over time. in police department over six hundred thousand dollars that's six hundred thousand dollars saving from overtime offset the increase in the calculus cost increase and other benefit and insurance increase and That's how we balance the budget and helping the budget to balance because also, as you may see, police department continue filling most of the vacancies and that's why they agreed to reduce overtime. Next. Public work. You see all those decreases because we haven't include the special event cost. Those decreases for public were mainly due to the special event cost has not included in this budget. Next, please. Same thing for recreation departments. All the decreases you saw here, they mainly from the special event that has not been included in here because most of the majority of the cost for special event is under recreation. Next, please. You may question the personnel decrease in such big amount for $2.7 million. Not because this big decrease not really because of the personnel cost, but because in the prior year, we were able to have about $3.1 million transferred to the CalPERS Trust account that we You couple years ago, because we have about 6 million surplus from general fund from couple years ago. So in the next year. Yes.

That's a number of strata. Yes. May I? Yes. Mayor Damien. Yes. Motion carries for zero.

Hey, thank you. Thank you for that city clerk. Appreciate it.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. We're going to move on to item number 12, the proposed establishment of 45 day moratorium on the approval establishment or open. I'm sorry. Let me start over again. Proposed establishment of 45-day moratorium on approval, establishment or operation of battery energy storage systems facilities, urgency ordinance number 1526. City Attorney?

Yes, the Baron Council recently we had a more charm related to data centers and this was a kind of a follow up to that when this this concerns the operation of battery injury energy storage systems which all shortened to be best. facilities with all zoning districts in the city, and this would be for an initial period of 45 days, this is to allow staff to analyze and develop regulations related to these facilities. It's to promote the public health and safety and welfare so that we can have regulations that appropriately govern these facilities before they come forward. This is done under Government Code 65858, which allows us to adopt temporary moratoria. uh and it would again 45 days we'd come back and you can extend it up to another 22 months but until or until we get some regulations in place um just general background there's been a growing demand for these best facilities across the state this is related to energy demand. And so there's documented concerns with them with respect to the unique fire and explosion hazards related to the lithium ion batteries that are inside these facilities. And that increases fire and explosion hazards under certain conditions that would be often difficult to fight. So we'd have to have specialized ability to address those. There's possible gases that could be admitted in those fires. So really, this is just giving us an opportunity to establish appropriate regulations. We would come back to you within 45 days to probably extend this to give us more time. And it would require a unanimous vote of the four council members present to adopt.

Thank you for that, City Attorney. Mayor? Anybody? Go ahead, Councilor Rock.

Thank you. Thank you for this item. I really appreciate it. As you all recall, the Altadena fire, who could forget that? There was a lot of issues when the cleanup came up. As you recall, we had the Larios Park issue. And one of the biggest issues we had there was the batteries that were being taken out of that fire being put in our own backyard, which the communities all around us were infuriated because they didn't consider the damage it can do to our communities in the long run. Thinking of our air, our water, our ground pollution, everything that can happen when those batteries leak, let alone explode. I like the monitorium, but is there anything that we could just ban something like this from our city? I don't know, attorney, if that's possible, because in reality, to have something like that near so many communities, it's outrageous. I feel that we're just putting our community in more danger. Again, I'll go back to the Altadena fire. It was in our backyard where they were putting all those batteries, all those gas tanks, the paints. And to date, they claim it's not affecting us, but we don't know yet. They still need to do studies. And that was just storage. I can't even imagine having a facility that actually holds those batteries here. So if anything, I really would like to look to see if there's any way they can be banned from the city.

So what I would say is you proceed to adopt the moratorium and then, as we examine this issue, and as we extend the moratorium to give us some more time we'll look at what our options are in that regard.

Perfect Thank you.

For that comes from anyone else have any comments. Do we need a motion for this.

Like to make a motion. To pass that at a first and second symbol. Areas. Thank you.

We got a first and a second. Can we get roll call?

We have a motion to adopt item number 12. Motion made by Council Member Avila, second by Council Member Estrada. Council Member Avila? Council Member Estrada?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Temayala?

Yes.

Mayor Damien? Yes.

Motion carries 4-0. Thank you for that, City Clerk. All right, now we're going to be moving on to item number 13. That's the fiscal year 2026, 2027 projected budget discussion presented by Rose Tam. Rose, can we speed through this? No, just kidding. Go ahead, Rose.

Yes. Good evening, Honorable Mayor and members of the city council members. I'm presenting the projected budget for fiscal year 26-27 and seek your input and direction. I will bring them back. proposed budget to the next meeting for public hearing and final adoption. Please feel free to ask any question and provide guidance during my presentation. Thank you. Next slide, please. This is the projected general fund operating summary. And we projected the general fund revenue, including transfer in, to be $44,046,000. We also projected the expenditure, including the transfer out to be $44,617,000. With every department's effort, And as you may know, costs continue price going up, continue to go up, and the CalPERS pension costs also continue go up. We are able to bring down the deficit to I have the confidence by the end of next fiscal year, we might be able to balance and close this gap. Next, please. This slide provide you with more details of all the general fund revenues. As you may see, we continue to see increase in property taxes. However, we projected decrease in sales tax. And the increase in property tax will offset the decrease with the sales tax. And we also expected property tax in lieu of VLF increase about $700,000. And also, we have about $683,000 increase in miscellaneous. And I will go into the detail in the following slides. And the transfer in, you'll see about $2,400,000 decrease. Mainly, we are going to have less transfer from measure BP. That's what caused this decrease. That doesn't mean we have decrease in revenue, just less transfer from measure BP. Next slide, please. The following few slides Just provide you more details in each category of the revenues. I am not going to go into every single item unless you have questions. So this slide shows you the general fund license and permits revenue that we projected to have. We don't expect much change in this area. Expected about $15,000 increase in one line item for the street and curb permits. Next slide, please. This slide shows you the general fund fines and penalties. If no question, I go to next slide. And this slide shows you the use of money and property. And it shows all the items underneath, what they are for. Next, please. This one shows you the charges for services. As you may see, it lists every single charges for services below. And if you don't have question, I go to the next one. And next slide is a continuation for charges for services. No question? OK. This one is for the miscellaneous revenue and shows all the items with increases. No questions? OK. This one shows you the projected cannabis public benefit fees that we expect to receive. Next, please. This slide shows general fund projected transfer in. And as I mentioned earlier, we expected to transfer $1.2 million from Measure BP, which is over the $6 million exceeded to the revenue we received from Measure BP. And also the cannabis public benefit safety coming into general fund to support general operating services. Next, please. This slide shows you the pie chart in dollar amount for the general fund revenue. Next, please. This one shows you the projected revenue in general fund in percentage. And this concluded the general fund projected revenue for fiscal year 26-27. If no question, we're going to go to the expenditure. Next, please. This shows you the general fund expenditures by category. And as you may see, you can see decrease in most of the area with every department's effort. If no question, I am going to go into the departments. And next, please. This is the pie chart shows you the general fund expenditure by category in dollar amount. Next, please. This pie chart shows you the general fund expenditure by category in percentage. Next, please. These slides provide you the breakdown for general fund projected transfer out. Most of the line items are for the indirect admin costs in exceeding of the allowable funding source from the special revenue funds and other funds. However, we have reimbursement also to support all the general admin costs. As in the previous slide, it shows $1.7 million. So in other words, the reimbursement exceeded the cost here for about $200,000. Next, please. This slide shows the expenditure by department in summary. No question we go to the slide to go over each department. This is the pie chart, as I mentioned earlier, just like we show you for the revenue. Next, please. Next, please. This slide shows you the admin general fund expenditure in general fund. Most of the increase you see for every department are mainly for the 3% COLA increase and the CalPERS unfunded liability cost that has gone up. And the last item, you might see a big jump for about $118,000, mainly is for the coming up election costs. No question, go next. This slide is for the community development. As I mentioned earlier, the increase is to cover 3% Kola and CalPERS. And the decrease for the $50,000 at the bottom due to city continue filling vacancies, and we are going to use less consultant services and bring savings to the city. Next, please. That's finance department. And it's the same thing for the Kola and CalPERS, the increase due to smaller increases in smaller areas due to cost increase in general. Next, please. This is for the police. And the increase mainly is for the police, I mean, for the 3% COLA and CalPERS. And I want to point out, there are about over $400,000 increase in CalPERS unfunded liability. However, with the effort, we reduce over time. in police department over $600,000. That $600,000 saving from overtime offset the increase in the CalPERS cost increase and other benefit and insurance increase and That's how we balance the budget and helping the budget to balance because also, as you may see, police department continue filling most of the vacancies and that's why they agreed to reduce overtime. Next. Public work. You see all those decreases because we haven't include the special event cost. Those decreases for public were mainly due to the special event cost has not included in this budget. Next, please. Same thing for recreation departments. All the decreases you saw here, they mainly from the special event that has not been included in here because most of the majority of the cost for special event is under recreation. Next, please. You may question the personnel decrease in such big amount for $2.7 million. Not because this big decrease not really because of the personnel cost, but because in the prior year, we were able to have about $3.1 million transferred to the CalPERS Trust account that we bill couple years ago because we have about six million surplus from general fund from couple years ago so in the next year we projected we only have about four hundred thousand dollar transfer to the helpers trust account from From the Arctic, we just completed for 2025. We projected about $800,000 surplus from 2025. So 50% of that will go to the Pell Plus Trust account. That's why you see this decrease here. I just want to point that out. Thank you. Now, no question, we go to the general fund summary slide. So we concluded the projected revenue. for general fund is $44.5 million, and projected expenditure is $44.56 million, and leave us with a projected deficit in $140,000. Any questions? Next slide, please. So with that projection, we'll bring us a projected general fund reserve balance to $12.187 million. Next, please. As discussed before, because the negative fund balance we have in the internal service fund, we need something to reduce it. And I recommend it for fiscal 26-27. We contribute $2 million from the general fund reserve to reduce the negative fund balance in internal insurance fund. which will bring down our general fund reserve to 10 million. And it still should be sufficient to cover emergency need or any other unforeseen events. Which still over 20% of the required reserve that the city has. Next please. This slide shows the special revenue and other funds summary projection. And because of the limited time we have, I am not going to go into details for all the special revenue fund and other funds. Next please. This slide give you the summary of all the financial transactions since inception from measure BP funds. I won't go into each yes or lie item. However, we projected the fund balance as of June 30, 2027. with $16.9 million. That already include all the committee funding for all the projects and programs. No question. Next. I was asked to include this line and earlier this year the city commissioned a company to do a community priority service Residents emphasize the importance of safe, clean, and well-maintained community, strong public safety response, and protection of quality life. As you may see, at the bottom of this slide, it shows some of the bullet points of the residents' requests. such as clean up trash, keeping city street, infrastructure clean, so on. However, everything on this list, the city has been doing it. And we just want to continue to keep this going and city staff will actively pursue and evaluate new revenue opportunities and initiative during the fiscal year to support residents' priority and long-term community needs. That conclude my general fund and other special revenue fund projection for fiscal year 26, 27. I want to thank the honorable mayor and all the members of city council for your effort and support to continue keep this community safe and a better place. I also want to thank all the department head for your help and finance staff's help. I want to also give a special thanks to finance management Anna Sharon's help. She has put in lots of effort and working with me together put this together. Thank you all.

Thank you, Rose. Well, first, before I even go on, I just want to say thank you because I know this takes a lot of work, but not only you, but the entire executive team as well and everyone that came together to tighten your belts to try to make this work. I know we're still not balanced, but I'm going to be very honest with you. When I went through this budget, I was very surprised to see that we were only at $140,000 deficit, which we'll get to the events budget after, but still, it was pleasantly surprising. So before I go on with some of the things that I wanted to ask you, does any of my colleagues have any questions in reference to the budget?

I just want to say thank you, Rose, for always working diligently with this, with our community's money, because I know how important you know it is to be able to fund the projects to make our city better and our events to keep our community busy and happy and our police department safe. So thank you for working on this budget. And yes, I was pleasantly surprised as well. But we're definitely not going to stay here. I know that we are going to increase our budget and we will slowly work our way back up. There's a little hurdles we still need to get through, but I know we'll get there. Thank you. Yes.

Thank you, Council Member Avila. Council Member Estrada, do you have any comments?

Yeah, thank you, Mayor. So I just, I just echo the sentiments of my council. I mean, you know, $140,000 deficit is, I mean, a deficit is a deficit. But I mean, that is something that we can definitely clear. And I'm confident that we will. So Rose, I'm thankful for, you know, your due diligence on the budget. I know you're always, you know, Hawkeye on there and, and always pay attention to everything and always, you know, thinking about how we not only get through this, but longer term, like you said, with the general fund and how we, you know, move our money around. And so it's very, very important that we say thank you to you and all of our staff. Of course, all of our departments, each one of you is playing a role in making sure that we are efficient, that we're not wasting any money, that we're being frugal when we have to be. And so I think this is a good place to be compared to the projections, right? So thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Estrada. Mayor Portempo, do you have any comments or questions?

Thank you, Mayor. I, too, just want to thank you, Rose, for your attention to detail and just providing us the information that we need to move forward. And I want to thank staff as well for working with you. And I appreciate, you know, that everything that you do and the finance department. So thank you. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Thank you. Rose, again, I just want to thank you because I know I sent you a list of questions so that I didn't have to go through all these in open session. So I'm glad that we met the timeline before tonight to get the answers to my questions that I asked you. You did clarify most of them. So obviously the reserves for 2026, the projected, those have not been audited yet. So there may be a possibility that we may end up getting a little bit more once that is audited, correct?

2026 reserves yes hopefully okay we just started the interim audit for 2026.

Yeah, no, no.

See, I always try to bring us to balance the project with tiny surplus.

Well, I'm just expecting for you to surprise me when that does get on. And I know your projections are very conservative because I know that we went back and forth on some of the estimates that you have, but I appreciate you being conservative because at least this way, We're going to present a balanced budget once this is done. So I'm hopeful and I'm optimistic about that, Rose. Don't burst my bubble. So, you know, some of my biggest concerns, I mean, obviously, you guys did a great job with this budget. I don't know. I guess I'm a geek when it comes to budgets, but I'm actually excited to see that we were only $140,000 deficit. But obviously... It's a concern, but it's not a big concern because it's not a substantial amount of money. I know that we can recover from that. I think my biggest concern comes from the internal insurance fund. Yes. And I know that we had to take that $2 million hit from our reserves to cover that because that still leaves us with a substantial amount of deficit there. Yes. So that's obviously, you know, looking in the long term, that's one of my biggest concerns is the internal insurance fund. Correct. So once we get, you know, working on that, my other concern is that, you know, moving forward, I don't see a revenue growth, you know. It may not keep up with the expenditures, right? Especially with the cost of everything going up. Our personnel, as you know, that's one of our biggest driving factors. And I just don't see our revenue growth catching up. So I think it's important that we start looking into ways to... You know, try to try to grow our revenue because, you know, right now we're here. But in a few years from now, we're going to be left behind with the expenditures, you know, outpacing our revenue. And so that's one of my biggest concerns long term, because, I mean, it's good that we're looking at it year by year. But the way I see it is I look at it in five, 10, 15 years from now. And what's what's the city's financial situation? stability going to be, you know, in the future. And so these are things that we have to look at. And I know we discussed very briefly about maybe refinancing some of the bonds, which right now we don't want to do that because rates have been volatile. So that's something that I know you're keeping an eye on. So just, you know, keep an eye on interest rates and see if In the future, we can maybe refinance some of those debts to see if we can lower the interest rate. And I'm pretty sure knowing you, Rose, you've already got lower interest rates on those. And then just keep up the great work.

2.7, most of them. I refinanced it a few years ago. Imagine now, it's 7%.

No, you're not doing it now, but I'm saying it's going to be hard for us to get to that 2.7. So that one, you bursted my bubble really bad when you told me we're at 2.7. So that's kind of out the window. But just, you know, continue doing what you do, Rose, especially when it comes to investing and earning that interest income. I mean, honestly, that's a big driving factor in how you balance this budget. So keep doing what you're doing with trying to make sure that the money is just not sitting there collecting dust. Make it work for us.

No, that's how you see we earn $3.9 million in revenue.

I know, that's why I'm telling you.

We balance the budget and price you at the end of the year.

Well, let's keep trying to find a bit more money to put in there to see if we can collect more interest. But either way, Rose, I want to say thank you very much because I know you took a long time to answer my questions. And I really do appreciate you answering these lengthy questions that I had for you. And that's all I have about the budget. Now, the only thing that we have to address, and I think I don't know if you're going to go over it or not, but it's my concern with the events budget and the funding sources for that. Did you want to touch on that or? Yes. Go ahead.

I need some directions or working together. David or Charles, can you please bring up the special event slide?

And Mayor? As we bring up the special events slide, I would like to inform the city council that we are preparing a report for the SLC committee meeting next Tuesday, and we will be asking if they would like to fund our special events, which is approximately $600,000. So I'll turn that back to Rose. Rose?

Special events slide, my second attachment from the email. They don't want to go over the general fund slide again. Okay, here we go. Here is the special events. We have about, we have 13 events as you may see. I also hang out a hard copy to you and I'm not going to go into details of each single event, how much they cost. That's why I show it on the very first page to show you how much each event it will cost us. We need about $600,000 to support all of these events.

Why don't we do this, Rose, before we start going through these events budgets and try to see what we're going to cut and what we're not going to cut because I don't think any of us up here want to cut any of these event budgets. These are important for our community and some of our business owners as well. So why don't we do this? Why don't we bring this back to the next council meeting when we're going to adopt the budget? In the meantime, let's go ahead and look to see what type of funding sources you guys can find. And let's see how much money you guys came up with. And then we'll make the decision as to what we approve and what we don't. You want to do that? Yes. Okay, perfect.

Very nice.

So then you don't need a motion for this, right?

We will bring this back, right? In the next meeting.

Did you say you're seeking money from SOC for this?

Yes.

And which CR? The SOC. This is the funding.

There's an unallowable expense. So I will. explain that to the committee. And I believe they should be in favor of it, although it is their prerogative to choose to fund it or not fund it. And city council obviously has a final say so.

It is community event, so I hope they do look into that. Thank you.

Thank you, thank and I also like to echo rose and her team and all the department heads, they have come together, and this is a true collaboration and teamwork. Among all of the directors and managers and all of the staff because everyone contributed toward this process so especially roses seem so thank you rose.

Thank you, thank you, thank all of you, thank you, thank you, everyone. Now we are going to present you with a room update. May I have the slide up? It's from the third attachment. Thank you, Charles and David. I think because of all the numbers, it's very, it's kind of hard for you to see on the screen. And I have provided you with a hard copy. Whenever you're ready, then I will explain.

Shoot away at Rose. Go ahead, start.

Oh, okay. So the very first page provides you the summary of since 2018. That's when we started to record the loans and the payment. For the agreement, we have to pay the city with 75% of the residual receipts. The residual receipt is from their total net operating income. Then less all the five items, then it will come up with the residual receipt. And as you may see, since 2019, and we receive payment from WOM every single year. 2019, 2020, 2021, and through 2025. We haven't received payment in 2026 yet. We are going to follow with them. And as you may also see what they supposed pay and In some years, they pay more. The last two years, they pay less. However, overall, they have paid what they have supposed to pay to the city. They even pay little bit more at the very beginning of those years. But we don't penalize for early repayment. We apply the excess payment to the principal. next page please so this page shows you the summary of the loans and the interest rate is 2.75 percent and we have a b c d loan loan for a is for the property which is uh worth $2.16 million at that time. That's what we recorded in the book, the loan for the property. Also the parking fee for $2.6 million. And also the impact fee, we did not correct the impact fee at that time, and we put it in the loan. And also the home fund and provide $1.9 million to support this project. which sum up this total loan to $7.47 million. And in the agreement, whenever we receive money, we have to apply to . That's why you have seen recording of this payment to loan A across all the lines and you did not see anything or repayment for loan B and C and D. So with all the payment and update, they have paid the principal one quarter million and total interest $404,000. and leave the total outstanding balance with principal and interest of now $7.872 million on our bank.

The remaining page just is the breakdown and for each loan.

Any questions?

Are you done with the presentation rules?

Yes. Okay.

Yes. So I do have a few questions for you. Council. Does anyone have any questions before I start? Okay. All right, well, so thank you very much for this update, because this is something that we've been looking for. And I apologize, because I barely got to review this yesterday, so I didn't get to send you my questions in advance. But I see that there's a payment history there. Yes. Obviously, the payments dropped dramatically over the last two payments that were received. Yes. My question is, for loans B, C, and D, what's the status of that? Because we haven't received any dollars from those loans. So... My question is, was it ever projected that loans B, C, and D would receive payments during the loan term? Or what was the expectation when this loan was originated?

The expectation is under the agreement. Whenever they pay the city, We apply the payment for loan A first. That's why you have not see any payment going to B, C, and D. Got it.

So then...

According to the agreement.

We have to pay...

Sorry.

So we're going to satisfy one loan at a time?

Yes.

Loan A gets paid off, then we're going to move to B, then C, then D. Okay. Yes. All right. And then according to the agreement as well, on page 6 on section 26 of the promise, are you know... I didn't know that we were subordinate on this loan to Citibank. So we're subordinate to the $13.95 million that Citibank loaned them. So let's just say, for example, this goes south, right? Citibank's going to get paid first. We're in second position here. So what happens to our loan? Why did we subordinate behind Citibank? How was this structured before? Why was this structured in a way that... I mean, obviously, we know this favored Rome, and I know it was for affordable housing, but it's not like the whole complex is affordable housing. So my concern is, when this loan was structured and originated, why was it so structured in a way... And I say... Why? Because I believe you were here at the time. So why was it structured in a way where we're subordinate, number one? And then number two, it's non-recourse. So we can't go after Rome and its affiliates if anything goes south here. So why did we subordinate to Citibank, number one, and why is it a non-recourse loan?

The Citibank is the primary lender. They are the main lender to support the builder to build this property. And it cost, they landed them 13 some million dollars. And in other words, the city, we did not really give them the hard cash. They are just... not taking the money for the property or parking fees at that time or impact fee. And as far as the agreement, why did we do that? And I think we might need city attorney's assistance to do a little bit more research or analysis.

He was here. So let me ask you this.

In other words, I was not really involved in the agreement process or negotiation.

I would just say in my experience, I don't know a lot about this particular project, but it's an affordable housing project. When you have the when you have the primary lender come forward, they are going to want it to be subordinated. So they'll ask that. The one key component that I always try to negotiate is that the affordability covenant is not subordinated. That way in case, and I did have this happen once where they had to foreclose on it, and it does wipe out the cities, but that's kind of like just the nature of affordable housing where we're kind of at the end of the chain to get these projects built. And, you know, even like when you're working with the county or the state, they'll want us to be at the end. So that's kind of, I would just say that's not uncommon. But the covenant itself, we want to make sure that's protected so that if it does get foreclosed, it still has to be maintained as affordable, at least.

But then you add insult to insult, and then we're still non-recourse. So let me ask you, Rose, was the city council at the time when this was approved, was the city council at the time informed and aware that this was a subordinated lien and that it was non-recourse loan? It's just yes or no.

Unfortunately, I was not involved in the process.

You as a finance director were not involved in the process. So was it just the city attorney?

and the planning department, community director, until toward to the end, like when things almost are done, in other words, submit the staff report for city council for approval, then at that time, I see the final numbers. So in our worst loan ABC,

So let me ask you this.

I was not requesting for funding source. And I was resent like to everyone. That's how they are going to build this project and support this project. And that I was directed to record this loan. I was not requesting for funding source.

So let me ask you, as a finance director, if this was, if you would have been involved from the beginning when they were structuring this loan, would you have recommended approval from the city council or would you have questioned this promissory note?

At that point, with the interest 2.75, It's not really a bad deal, if you really ask me, as you may see on the schedule. As of today, with the accrued interest, the outstanding interest and principal is much bigger than the original loan amount.

So this leads me to the next question, because by the time loans B, C, and D get paid off, what's going to be the entire balance off of that? So this loan's a 55-year term, which I believe expires in 2072. So I don't see anything on the promissory note that says balloon payment. So if let's just say that this is not paid off by 2072, which I don't think any of us will still be here by then. But if by 2072, this is paid off, this is not paid off. Is there a balloon payment involved? Because I didn't see anything about a balloon payment cost in the promissory note. So how is that going to be addressed?

We continue to incur interest. So they continue on us unless, like you said, unless they go bankruptcy. They are still required to make us payment. We learn a lesson also. We've been asking for auditing financial statement. So me and my staff spends lots of time to do analysis. with their financial statement, audited financial statement. That's how we come up with these numbers and calculation. We've been asking room and the CFO provide information and I'm sorry, I don't know if I can say it here. We still did not hear from him. So in the email, I mentioned, since I don't hear from you, but based on the auditing financial statement and the agreement, that's what we come up with. That's what I'm going to present it to city council. Because we have been asking for this update for a long, long time.

Yeah. So, I mean, even if you accrue, so my understanding, you can accrue all the interest you want, but if they're not going to pay it, they're not going to pay it.

It doesn't matter.

Right. And I mean, we know, I mean, I think Ballpark is not,

Then the attorney will come in the picture. I think they've been paying it, and they have to pay it because as long as somebody lives there, they generate income, they have to pay. Unless they really go bankruptcy and cannot receive any money, then... Yeah. Hopefully they continue to have people live in that building.

We understand they have to pay. We understand the interest that we're earning from them not paying. We understand all of that. But the point here is you can gain all the interest and we can have all this interest owed to us, but it doesn't matter if they don't make a payment. Now, I know those apartments are always fully... look there's always somebody living there howdy and when was the last time that they actually showed you how much their revenue is on a yearly basis how long ago was that because i know you said that they have not showed any proof yes uh with our effort we have been asked many many years finally

we push push finally they provided us with the last five years addicting financial statement that's how we came up with these numbers okay so yes sorry we go by the their addicting financial statement come up with this expenditure revenue how much they pay the partner how much uh They generate bonus, something like that. We were going with the addicting financial statement. That's all we can do.

So, I mean, for one, I think it's, you know, this is somebody who we have a loan with for millions of dollars, right? And so they're not being cooperative or communicating with us. I mean, to me, that's a big issue, right? I mean, you know, when we have Habitat here, I think Habitat is a great example, right? Habitat is significantly less and we are expecting them to show up every time. The idea that we've let Rome go for three, four years, five years and let them do as they please, to me, that's not acceptable. That's one. Two, we need to wrap our head around this. Yes, Rome is affordable housing under the guise of affordable because it's under market rate, but it's not affordable, affordable, low income where they're not being subsidized. These are workforce housing units. These are not... These are workforce housings that are still pretty costly. They're not completely affordable. But under the legal sense, yes, they're affordable, but they're workforce housing. And they get rent increases every so often. I know they do because one of our senior couples from the senior center got priced out of their unit. So the other question is, how is your income shrinking by almost 20%? in the last five years or six years?

Actually, they are shrinking in the last two years. I have questioned them already. The reason is because the building has been there almost 10 years. They said things getting bad and they have to do renovation. They have to do lots of repairs. That's why the current year income is less because they spending money to do lots of repairs. And however, however, At the very first few years, from 2009 through 2023, they have paid more than they should have because of their cash flow is better at that time. But the last two years, they say their cash flow going down because they have to spend lots of money in repair.

But this is also a 10-year, yes, it's 10 years, but I don't foresee that a building would need major, constant major renovations at a 10-year mark.

I haven't seen it at least. And so... And if the city decided to add them or inspect the building...

We should be. I mean, look, I think that this is a lot of money. Right. And so, yes, they have paid. So the other one is, yes, they, I did do the math. They paid a little bit more. So they are ahead on their payments technically, but then again, it also depends on the payments that on their, on their payment plan. Right. I go, you know, for example, if I have a car payment and I pay a little bit more than the, than the, than the, than the minimum payment, it doesn't always mean that I get to pay less the next month. Right. So is that the arrangement that we have with them? Do they get to pay more and that takes away from their payment or do they get to or is that money going to apply to the principal?

So then that does this.

If you're applying the payment to the principal, then it doesn't get to become credit for the upcoming years.

Where would we be at a legal standpoint at this point, knowing that they are not making payments when they should be or the amount that they should be and that they're not providing information?

Overlord, they pay over $500,000.

When they're not doing that. So where are we at a legal standpoint on this? You would have to review everything.

I think what was mentioned would be an audit to determine if the way it's written is that they pay us the residual receipts. 75% of whatever the residual receipts are. So when you're looking at this chart, in the last three years, their operating expenses are what have gone up. whatever those are, by $200,000, by $100,000, by another $70,000. So it's like they seem to be going up in their operating expenses, and that's what's causing there to be less residual receipts. So I don't know what that operating expense is.

They claim they have to spend more money to repair.

So have we seen those receipts, the amount of money they've spent? Have we seen that?

The receipt? Uh-huh.

Because they claim they spent $600,000.

Yeah, that's why we, if the city decided to audit their book.

Okay, but wait a minute.

Just so as the auditing financial statement.

Okay, so you've reviewed all the audited financial statements? Yes. And are these legitimate? You've reviewed them yourself or staff?

me and my staff review it but they we we don't ask for receipt i i need to ask the city attorney of if we allow to ask them for the receipt because they provide us the addictive financial statement so for example uh when we um apply for grant or for loan or for something and let's say HUD and some other agency or the bank, most of the time they just ask for addicting financial statement and the bank will not come ask us for individual receipt. We just need to show them the addicting financial statement. So we need to have further discussion with the city attorney, see if in case you want to take further step What can we do or what we shall do?

Well, I think that we need to get an explanation as a council. Number one, if you've already reviewed their audited financials, why is it that their operating expenses increased from $310,000 in 2018 to $752,000 now in 2024? It's gone up every single year. So that's one of the things that we'd like to look at. But then also on the spreadsheet that you had with the no caps, you have that the general management fees and assets combined at $35,000 per year. So this is capped at $35,000 per year with a 3% annual increase. But there's no increases factored in here. So are these, to me, when I see these things and I look at the promissory note, it just seems like someone's just plugging numbers on a spreadsheet. Because if you have a 3% annual increase, then why are we capped at 35,000, 35, 35, 35, 35 every year?

Doesn't matter if they increase or not. Because the agreement says that if capped, they cannot do more than 35,000.

But it's capped at 35,000 with a 33% annual increase. That's what it states. It says that there's a 3% annual increase. So these are things, I mean, I don't want to take up a lot more time because I know that everyone's tired, but I think these are some of the questions. And I'll email you a list of questions, Rose, because I'm pretty sure that the council has a lot of these concerns as well. So that we can just get straight answers and find out what's going on. Because, you know, from the numbers that were provided, the information that we received and all of this, just doesn't add up you know and the numbers are not going to lie so i think that what we need to do is we need to go back and another thing is if those units have not been inspected by by the city why haven't they been inspected so these are things that need to be inspected and we need to go and verify what type of living conditions these people are living under and i would also like to know how many of those units in the entire building are actual affordable And what are the going rents there? Because as my council colleagues have stated, there's been seniors that have been priced out of there and other individuals that have been priced out of there. So I think we need to get the information as to First of all, inspect the building, see what type of living conditions are there, and are they really putting money into it to claim on their operating expenses? And number two, let us know how many units are actual affordable, what is the going rent, and what is the going rent on the ones that are not affordable? I think those are things that should be brought back to us.

Tina, is it 10% of the homes that need to be affordable, or what's the percentage of the property that needs to be affordable?

I didn't have the opportunity to look at the agreement with regards to low housing.

There's a percentage that needs to be affordable in order to be considered low housing.

It depends on the caliber of the loan. It depends. There's a wide variety of variables that comes along with that.

We can look at all that because we do need to look into all that and give our attorney time to review everything, all the records that we have. Because as Mayor said, these numbers do not add up. Their excuses for not paying do not add up. Their expenses for renovating or whatever they're doing, they don't add up.

Well it's obvious that there's a lot of flaws in the agreement there's a lot of flaws in the how it's put together, I had an opportunity to assist the finance team by sitting in a meeting with. Their their finance individual to question the numbers and. they they themselves cannot justify the numbers and i think at this point you know based on the um what six years of expenditure that's identified in this chart here and you see the drastic change there should be some correlation improvements property management as well as maintenance of the facility You know, we don't see that major. And the beauty of it is City Hall is right next door. We could see the activities.

I've never seen.

And they need to obtain for major construction work or maintenance work. They'll probably need to obtain building permits, electrical permits or whatever permit to do the work. And we haven't seen from... A record keeping aspect side of the city. We haven't received that. We don't see it physically. Like my office, I could see it from my window itself. I know our code enforcement have reached out to the property management to get the people to clean up the store stuff outside. But I think it's very important that we need our legal counsel assistance to write a firm letter to them demanding all the paperwork and audit for the last, at least at minimum for the last six years, and to see the correlation. The property management costs, it looked like it was a fixed cost of $35,000 and all the other services. How do you justify the other remainder? You know, if you add all that up to about $200,000 with the expense of over half a million and the amount of work and the result of those costs, where is that coming from? And we could use that to analyze the number and see where that plugging in of numbers just to make the paperwork work. One of the biggest flaw in this agreement is that We agree for them to pay all of their expense first. And whatever's left comes to the city. And that's a huge flaw.

Exactly.

And we get the pennies and they get to spend all the big money.

Okay, so then I think that what we should do is we should direct city staff to work with Christian or city attorney.

Yes.

To send them a strong letter, letting them know.

Do an inspection of the facility. And then once Christian reviews, this is a lot of reviewing for you.

And I think the issue here is what's happening from 2022 on. That's really where it looks like those operating expenses jump. If we can just get an idea of what's happening there and... make a demand there, then you can determine if there's a default or not. If there's a default, then that gives us a course of action under the loan.

Yeah. And between the three of us, finance and the city attorney office and myself, I actually want, if we're going to request an audit, at least the minimum six years as identified on this chart. So that way you could establish a baseline based on the $300,000 expense compared to a $752,000 expense. What type of work, what type of maintenance, what type of services that would provide to have that drastic of a gap and a difference? We understand the cost of living increase. We understand the value increase, what have you. But you have to compare apple to apple and orange to orange, how it got from 300 to 700 plus.

Let me ask you this, because I don't know. When you request an audit, are you just going to request whatever they give you? Or are we going to send an audit from there at their expense to audit? How is this going to work? How do we know whatever audit they give us is legitimate? For all I know, based on what I've seen all along here, they could be making up numbers. Anybody can make a spreadsheet. I can make a spreadsheet and tell you I spent this much money. How do we know it will be legitimate information?

I think we could work with the city attorney's office, and we could work collectively and try to figure this out. This is probably new territory for the team.

It's something we would talk about in closed session, too, so that it's not...

Perfect. Thank you. You guys just need direction for that, right?

Yes, sir.

Is there anyone in consensus to give that direction? Yes. Okay. You guys got direction for that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Rose. Sorry. I didn't mean to drill you. It's not your fault, but these are questions that we needed answers to. All right. Moving on to... Oh, what a night. City Council acting as successor agency of the Desolved Community Development Commission. I'll make a motion to approve items 15 and 16... Second. Did he click and we get roll call?

We have a motion.

Excuse me.

We have a motion to adopt item 15 and 16 motion made by Mayor Damien, second by Councilmember Avila. Only because she's closer to me and I heard it first. Councilmember Avila?

Yes.

Councilmember Estrada? Yes. Mayor Brosamayola?

Yes.

Mayor Damien? Yes. Motion carries, 4-0.

Thank you for that, City Clerk. Right, I'll go ahead and go to the Finance Authority. Item 17, Treasurer's Report. Make a motion to approve. Second. Got a second by Councilmember Estrada.

We have a motion to adopt item number 17, motion made by Mayor Damien, second by Council Member Estrada. Council Member Avila.

Yes.

Council Member Estrada.

Yes.

Mayor Bustamante.

Yes.

Mayor Damien. Yes. Motion carries 4-0.

All right. I'm going to go ahead and do this individually. Housing Authority, item number 18, Treasurer's Report. Going to get a motion to approve.

Motion.

Motion by Mayor Portem.

Second.

Second by Council Member Avila.

We have a motion to adopt item number 18, motion made by Mayor Pro Tem Ayala, second by Councilmember Avila. Councilmember Avila.

I vote.

Council Member Estrada.

Yes.

Mayor Samayala.

Yes.

Mayor Damien. Yes. Motion carries 4-0.

Thank you for that. Item number 19 is to consider the housing authority of the City of Baltimore Park Public Housing Agency 26-27 annual plan. I get a motion to approve.

Motion by public hearing.

Oh, is that a public hearing? I didn't see that. Oh, yes. All right. Sorry about that. So this is a public hearing. I will now open. Oh, you got Ryan. Sorry about that, Ryan. No worries.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and members of the City Council. Tonight, we're asking the Housing Authority Board to approve the adoption of the annual plan for the upcoming fiscal year. HUD requires the Housing Authority to update and submit this plan every year so we can continue operating our federal funds, specifically for our Housing Choice Voucher Program and our public housing programs. We've posted this plan for the required four to five day public review period. We've published this public notice and received no public comment to date. So there's no impact to the city's general fund for this as all programs are fully funded by HUD. Today's action is simply to officially adopt the housing plan for the next year, which keeps us in compliance with federal requirements and allows us to continue providing decent, safe, and affordable housing for Baldwin Park residents. I'm available today to receive any additional public comments or answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you for that, Ryan. Before I open the public hearing, do any of my council colleagues have any questions for our housing manager?

No? All right, lucky Ryan. No questions tonight. Thank you very much.

Appreciate it. Thank you for staying this late with us. I will now open the public hearing for anyone who's wishing to speak against or in favor of. See no interest. I'll now close the public hearing. Can I get a motion to approve item 19 to consider the housing authority of the City of Baltimore HACVP? I know this one very well. Public Housing Agency, PHA 2627 annual plan. Can I get a motion? Motion. Motion by Mayor Potemayela, second by Council Member Avila.

We motion to adopt item number 19, motion by Mayor Potemayela, second by Council Member Avila. Council Member Avila.

Yes.

Council Member Estrada.

Yes.

Mayor Tamayola.

Yes.

Mayor Damien. Yes. Motion carries 4-0.

Thank you for that, City Clerk. All right, moving on to item number 20, Baltimore Housing Authority's warrants and demands. I'm going to abstain from this item because my commercial landlord is on the warrants and demands. Can I get a motion to approve? Make a motion. Got a motion by Council Member Estrada. Can I get a second? Second. Second by Council Member Avila.

We have a motion to adopt item number 20, motion paid by Council Member Estrada, second by Council Member Avila. Council Member Avila. Council Member Estrada.

Yes.

Mayor Bertramayola.

Yes.

Motion carries 3-0-1.

Thank you for that, City Clerk. Right, now we're down to City Council, City Treasurer, City Staff Requests and Communications. I do have two requests. City Council, do you guys have any requests? Okay, go ahead. Let's start with Councilman Ravila.

Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. I have two things. First of all, I'm sure all of you have noticed a group of kids riding on the streets. I think we've mentioned this before. They ride in groups, they cross the street, they cut in front of cars, and it's just very, very dangerous. I don't know what we can do about this, if there's an ordinance or something that we can do because it's not safe. They're putting themselves in danger as well as those that are driving. It's very concerning to me that these kids are out on the street with... No regard to anybody's safety. So I want to see if there's an ordinance or something in place, something that we can do to stop this from happening in our city. And I know it's not the only city happening in, but it's really important that we really look into that. If we can check into that, please. Also, the motorbikes, there's a lot of kids riding without helmets, underage children speeding down the street up and down. If we can keep an eye on those, Chief, because parents are just allowing their kids to ride unsafely. And the last thing we want to hear is that another child got injured because of those motorbikes. Actually, I had three. I'm so sorry. And the last thing is... The third floor, you all know there's a lot of confidentiality going on upstairs and we solved the problem of the city clerk's office where they have offices now where they can have confidential conversations and make sure everything is confidential because the way it was set up before, it actually created a liability for our city. So I really appreciate the fact that we have taken those steps, Manny, to make sure that our staff up there is kept confidential and all their work is kept confidential. However, I still have a concern because, as you know, HR is also upstairs. And it's right as you exit the elevator. I was just there yesterday, and the minute I walked in, it's like they had to stop talking because it's confidential. And it's very concerning to me that anybody can walk back and forth from that hallway they they don't know somebody's coming from the hallway and here they are having a phone conversation with somebody confidential or i'm walking in from the elevator they're dealing with confidential business i think that we need to work on finding a space for them so that they could have a space where they can do their work and not have to worry about other years other people listening and i was looking at the area we have that big conference room running yes where We have a lot of conference rooms in our facility that we can use. Is there any way we can look in accommodating that conference room and putting our HR staff? We already have one little office that could be used and put the rest of the HR staff in there. I think putting up a wall at the area where the door is and then either cubicles or just their desk in there where it's confidential. We can still keep one person in the front which is the greeter and the one that doesn't deal with a lot of confidential business, if we can look into that, Manny, because I just think it's a liability. It's a liability that anybody can walk in and listen to things that should not be listened to. I would not be comfortable if they're discussing something about me and now everybody else or one person listened to it and they shouldn't have. So it's really important to me that when we find a space, if you can look into that,

see if there's any funding anywhere that we can use to help them.

We will look into that and circle back.

Thank you.

That would be all.

Thank you. Thank you for that, Mayor Pro Tem. And then, I'm sorry, Council Member, it's been a long night. We're all in consensus with Council Member Avila's three requests. I am. Got put consensus.

Thank you. Council Member Estrada, do you have any? Yeah. Yeah, thank you, Mayor. I wish, I guess Ryan left, but I wish he wouldn't have been here. I know that in the past, we've floated around the idea of looking to redevelop McNeil Manor. So, you know, I would really like to, and I think right now that the Family Service Center is on the verge of getting reconstructed, it would be a good conversation to have as the potential to rehabilitate, well, not rehabilitate, but, you know, new construction, how we can potentially find a developing partner to increase our density there. I think, you know, it's a, it's, we've, I want to say that we primarily have seniors there. Increasing our housing for seniors, well, for one, very important. On the last couple of reports about homelessness, we've seen that there's been a surge and increase in the amount of seniors that are going homeless because they just can't afford to keep up with cost of living. But it would also be a housing demographic that meets the needs of the park, the senior center. without putting a toll on parking or other amenities that are sometimes short. So, like I said, we've brought this up before in the past, and I know that now we kind of have some stability with Ryan, so it's something that the council would like to consider. I think it'd be great to look into it and explore it parallel to the Family Service Center.

Yeah, we can bring something back, Manny, to explore those options, see what it is, if there's anything that we can do. I think we're all in consensus. Was that it for you, Council Member Serrano? Mayor Pro Temp, did you have any council requests? Thank you for that, Mayor Pro Temp. I do have two, and I'll try to make mine as quick as possible. So I'm still receiving a lot of complaints about the dial-a-ride. Tonya, they're driving me crazy with this dial-a-ride. I would like to see if staff can identify whether, number one, ridership has increased or decreased since the provider change, whether wait times and cancellations have increased. and if Transdev is meeting all the contract performance standards. I don't know if this new app, this new technology is the issue. If it is, then you know what? I suggest we go back to pen and paper, because I don't think we were having this many issues when we were not so into the app and the way the... Listen, I had a complaint from one that constantly complains to me, and I ended up calling myself. And the person who answered on the other line blamed it on the city, said the city was the one handling the app, they were the one. So I know that they're lying to me already off the bat. I had this conversation with you, Manny. So let's get a report back. Let's see, is ridership increasing? Is it decreasing? Are people being not picked up? Because one of the things that I don't see that's even appropriate is that they're telling people they have to be out when they're going to get picked up at least 30 minutes before they get picked up. And if they're not out there within five minutes, they get left. Well, listen, if I call for a pickup, if it's 120 degrees out there or it's raining, I'm not going to be out there waiting for them to pick me up. And if I have to get me out there, I'm not going to meet the five-minute deadline. So why are we expecting for our seniors, who the majority of them are disabled, to have to break their teeth to try to get out? there to meet their deadline in five minutes. I just think that's not appropriate. It's not adequate. It's not what we should be doing for our seniors. So if we have to go back to the drawing board, let's go back to the drawing board because these complaints just don't stop. And honestly, I don't blame some of these. I mean, yes, some of them are complaints that it's like, okay, let's, let's relax. But some of these complaints are very legitimate. I've experienced them and I put myself in their shoes. So we must do better. So let's look at this whole app situation, and if that is what's creating all this craziness, then let's get rid of the app and let's go back to pen and paper. Let's read back some reports, some options, and let's see what we can discuss. Are you guys in consensus with that? Okay. All right. Now, my second one is... At least I think it's a little bit more of a good news. So... I did receive an email from Jason. As you know, we closed on behalf of Guy Wintermute, who was, you know, someone involved in the Little League for 50 years. And I just don't want to get into the habit of renaming streets. I just don't want, you know, to happen because, you know, what's going to happen? It's going to start to create a domino effect and everybody's going to want a street after their name. But if we can do something, you know, to celebrate Guy's success, you know, memorial for him. I know that Merced Street there from Olive to the Little League, there's no homes that will be impacted there. It's a dead-end street. Something that we can celebrate his memory because a lot, I mean, listen, when I played Little League and I coached at the Little League, Guy was there. You know, when everything was closed, Guy was there. He was mowing the lawn. So everyone knew Guy. And I think he's impacted so many generations in our community that I think it's well deserving of us to recognize him above and beyond a plaque. And so if with constant consensus, if you guys can bring us back some options as to what would be best, if it's either a street dedication, renaming that part of Merced, which is, you know, where the Little League is at, something that's not going to break the bank and it's not going to create a lot of extra work. Let's look and explore options. I completely agree.

And let's look at the processes that we have for naming, too, to make sure that we're following, because I know there's a period of time that we need to wait before we name anything.

So let's look at all those processes as well. Even if he's deceased? Well, let's bring the policy.

Look at the policy, please.

Let's bring the policy.

Great idea, though, but let's look at the policy to make sure we're following it.

OK, so let's bring back something. Let's bring let's bring something back. Manny, let's look at the review, review the policy. And if it doesn't do that, we can get creative and do something else. But I think he's very well deserved recognition for everything that he's contributed to the community.

We just want to follow policy because I understand that.

But I'm just saying that if we're if a policy is going to stop us from. recognizing someone who's put 50 years of their life in our kids and our community, then I think we have to revisit this policy. And that's the reason why I said we have to look at this very carefully because we can't go and just rename everything for everyone. But if people are someone who is recognized at that magnitude, then let's look at that. And if the policy doesn't allow it, then let's review the policy.

Yeah, he definitely needs to be recognized.

Perfect. Okay, that's all I have. Does anyone else have anything else?

No, but thank you, Mayor.

Mayor, do you mind if I add? I just want to – oh, man, I lost my train of thought. But I just want to just update a couple of things. Number one, I want to thank Maria for everything. Since we last met, the mental health walk, we had the boxing show and a lot of great events that have been happening. And I just want to give kudos really to the team for really – spending a lot of energy on hosting events at the Susan Rubio Zocalo Park. There's constant events on Mondays and I guess Fridays as well. So thank you. Kudos to the team. But also wanted to give a little shout out to Shirley and the entire Office of the City Clerk, including Samantha. As I'm sure you guys are aware, I think I've mentioned it a couple of times, the U.S. Department of Justice has required cities to... ensure that their websites are ADA accessible. And so if you visit our website and check out our agendas and minutes, I'm going to actually rewind a bit. It was going to be a requirement to be compliant on June 1st, but sometime, I don't know, a few days before June 1st, I think the federal government gave us an extension of six months. So we're ahead of the curve. If you go on our website, you go to the agenda, you can translate it to almost any language. You can use the AI function to search type of question and it'll answer your question about our agenda. So I just want to give a shout out. to the entire team for working diligently to ensure that we are always in compliance with state and federal requirements, but also the work we're doing to increase transparency and accessibility to our local government. So I just want to give that tiny shout out. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. But also, it wouldn't be possible without the support and financing of the city council.

So thank you. Thank you for that, city clerk. and then before i forget i was given this um effective july 1st so don't forget effective july 1st the la county animal services will no longer be providing animal care and control services uh to the city of bottom park the services will transition to the inland valley humane society and spc uh spca so this is on our website and on our social media uh if you want more information and then don't forget next week i can't believe it's already next week uh we have thursday nights um concert street market in the parks. Join us on Thursday, June 11th, 5 p.m. will be the first concert, DJ NGV and the flashback. And then we have a 4th of July spectacular coming up next month already. That's going to be... Friday, July 3rd, doors open at 5.30 p.m. at Sylvester High School. And then just remember, if they're illegal, do not pop the fireworks in chief. Actually, because I've been doing a great job because they've been a lot less this year than I've heard them last year. So just remember, let's throw our social media blitz out there. No illegal fireworks.

mayor yes sorry before you get away too far away from the uh inland valley humane society i just asked that i mean i don't have any contact i don't think any of us have any contact information for the uh admin of the animal control but maybe you know we i do want to follow up and make sure that we can schedule a visit to the shelter so absolutely we'll schedule a visit a visit and we will uh distribute all of the contact numbers

Please keep in mind we also have a officer, animal control officer on staff seven days a week.

Thank you.

Perfect. All right. Thank you, guys. It is 10.23 p.m. Oh, we're recently to close session. Never mind April Fool's. So we're going to go and recess into closed session and we'll be back. But whoever's going to go home, good night, everyone.