Council - Regular Meeting

Where?

What time is your flight? It's at 9 in the morning, so I'm going to go to work. Leave at 6, go to the airport. For what? There's an AI thing going on over there.

There's a jet setter over here.

All right. Thank you, everyone, for being here tonight. I am now calling the Barton Park City Council meeting to order. The time is 7.05 p.m. The date is August 5th, 2026. Is Pastor Jackson, Pastor Flores here? There you are, Pastor Jackson. If you can lead us in an invocation. For those of you that are able to stand, if you can please stand.

uh...

Asking you... ... ... ...

Pastor Jackson, can you also lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, please?

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

Thank you for that, Pastor Jackson. City Clerk, can we get roll call, please?

Mayor Damien. Here. Mayor Pro Temayala. Here. Council Member Avila. Council Member Estrada.

Here.

Council Member Lozano.

Here.

Thank you for that, City Clerk. City Attorney, can you please report from closed session?

Thank you, Mayor and Council. We had a number of items on the closed session. We discussed a number and received direction. We did not discuss item 1C, and we also did not discuss the two items under subsection 4. But the rest was discussed and direction was given, and there's nothing further to report. Thank you for that, City Attorney.

Mayor?

Yes, go ahead.

I'd like to know if, before we go on with the proclamations, accommodations, I'd like to request that we close our meeting today in honor of an individual who's lived here in our community for easily over 70 years, she and her family, in honor of Nellie Stoichkovich. who passed away over the weekend. She, as I said, was over a 70-year resident here in the city of Baldwin Park, preceded in death by her in-laws, George and Jeanette Stojkovic, her husband, Rick Stojkovic, and their daughter, Sheila. She survived by her son, Bobby, Robert Stojkovic, and numerous grandchildren, family, and friends. Her services are still pending, but I would really appreciate if we do that. Nellie, as I said, She's been in this community for over 70 years, and it's a great loss to our community. And for somebody who's grown up knowing her, I'm very saddened by this. But thank you, Mayor. I appreciate it.

Thank you for that. Sending the family your condolences. Anyone else have any? All right. So now we're going to move on to our presentations. Go ahead. Do you mind closing? Oh, yes. Good catch, City Clerk. Sorry about that. I'll make a motion to close City Council special meeting. I'll motion.

All right.

Can we get a second? Close session. Special meeting is now closed.

Also, Mayor, I just want to make a quick announcement. The agendas that were posted in the back of the room are missing one proclamation commendation presentation, which is the presentation by Inland Valley Humane Society. The corrected agenda was posted online on August 4th and posted on the bulletin board, but the agendas that are in the back of the room are missing that one item. Thank you.

Thank you for that, City Clerk. All right, now we're going to move on to proclamations, commendations, and presentations. First, we have the presentation certificate recognition to the Baldwin Park Library Teen Advisory Board and Summer Youth Volunteers. I'm going to call your names, and as I call your names, Council Member Avila Nacerada will give you your certificates. If we can have Dr. Mendoza, Superintendent for the School District, and School Board President Norma Olmos come up.

And Irma Morales.

Oh, and Irma, I'm sorry. And Irma Morales as well from the main one from the library. Is Irma Morales here?

If you can join us as well, Irma. Are we going to do it down here?

And then also Mini, the youth librarian, you guys can join us up here as well. And I'm going to go ahead and just read what the recognition states. Yes, give her a round of applause.

Yeah.

All right, so the City Council congratulates you for your hard work and dedication as a participant of the Baldwin Park Library Program. Your professionalism and assistance made a positive impact on staff members, residents, and your fellow colleagues. We appreciate the time you volunteered and contributed to making this program successful. Thank you for the favorable recognition you bring to the community. of Baldwin Park, presented this 50th of August, 2026, by myself, Daniel Damien, Mayor Potem, Gene Amayala, Councilmember Alejandra Avila, Councilmember Emmanuel J. Estrada, Councilmember Manuel Lozano, City Clerk Christopher Saenz, and City Treasurer Joana Valenzuela. So I'm going to go ahead and read up your names, and as I read up your names, you guys can come make your way up here to the front. We have first, Sofia Raquel Acosta. Violeta Mendoza. Arianna Nicole Macias. Marlene Fernandez. Is this Carly Huerta? Raina Lynn F. Alexa. Okay. And then, and then you'll also going to be getting certificates from the Baltimore Unified School District as well. And now I forgot where I left off.

What's the last one?

Did I? Okay. Jason Liu. Elen Del Carmen Bonilla. Gloria Yeh. Angela Lily Rangel. Dulce Maria Martinez. Nathan Zaid Mora. Victor Tellez. Israel Pacheco. Angel Ruiz. Laura Torres. Chris Graciano. Christina Anaya. And these first 18 members that I just called were part of the teen advisory board. Now we're going to move on to the summer youth volunteers, starting with Angelina Lopez. Selena Guan. Jimmy Lee. I'm going to butcher this one. I hope I don't butcher this one. Is it Banquan Jason Liu? Alicia Valdivia? Eric Morales? Tiffany Liu? Sabrina Sayavong? Aiden Palacios. Elizabeth Zhao. Victor Puentes. Jasmine Puentes. Ethan Trio. Melissa cuevas. Nailah Guzman. And last but not least, we have Joe Nick Garcia Hernandez. One more round of applause for all of our students here.

I'm on the agenda.

Okay.

No presentation, right? No. It's a presentation of Inland Valley. By seven minutes, Adam, the response of the committee. There's no more, right? No. It's next.

Yeah, let me do it. That was nice.

Thank you, everyone, and congratulations once again. All right, now we're going to move on to the presentation by the Inland Valley Humane Society. Whenever you're ready, you can just come up to the podium.

Pardon my interruption. Please check that the blue light on the microphone is on and press the button if it's not.

Blue light. It's working. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, council, city staff and community members. My name is Nicole Rossiani. I'm president and CEO of the Inland Valley Humane Society and SPCA. And tonight we are talking about coyotes. Thank you for the invitation. Controller.

Just say next slide and staff will change next.

OK, awesome. Okay, so we are seeing coyotes everywhere, right? Coyotes are an opportunistic omnivore, which means they will pretty much eat whatever they come in contact with. They are survivors. I agree. Pretty much when the existence of coyotes began, they were really thought to have only existed in the West, right? Southwest specifically. And over time, they've really expanded and really everywhere in North America has them. They're everywhere except for Hawaii. If they could swim, they would also be in Hawaii. Not that they can't swim short distances, but the reality is, is that over time they have adapted. They resemble a thin German shepherd. So sometimes you may see one walking down the street and you have to kind of do a double take. they will really move within environments. You know, it used to be, I mean, when I was a kid, we would only see coyotes after dusk, right? And so you're seeing them now throughout the day. And so people would, you know, back then, you know, 20, 30 years ago, people would say, well, it's because they're injured or they're sick. And so that's why you would see them during the day. That was more typical. But over time, that's become not the truth and they are really urbanized. And so we are seeing them Denning in people's backyards. It doesn't matter if you live at the beach or you live in the mountains. We're seeing them. Next slide, please. They are very social creatures. So sometimes people will call and they'll report an aggressive coyote and say, well, it was stalking me. It's just being chivalrous and walking you past its den. It would like to escort you out of the area. They are very curious. They want to know what's going on. And you are something that is curious to them. And they will get close if people are feeding them and they are allowing them to habituate. So you want to make them uncomfortable. You want to haze them. You want to do all those things. And we'll talk a little bit about that more. What can be scary for people is that you hear the howling, right? And so the howling is their way of communicating. You might hear them yipping. Some people will be like, oh my gosh, do we have wolves? They're not wolves, they're coyotes. But yes, they are communicating. They're very smart. And as I mentioned already, they are adaptable. They have been here for a long time and they have continued to populate and they will be here long after we are not. Next slide. So why are we seeing them? A lot. Because January through March is their mating time. And then the gestational period is about 60 plus days. So it's taking two months for them to have pups. And then after that, there's a period of weaning, and then there's a period where they're going away. So basically from January to September, we're seeing coyotes all the time. It used to be we'd only see them for a few months, and now it feels like an entire life cycle, right?

Mm-hmm.

Because we're seeing them for eight or nine months of the year. And that's a lot. There are certain times I can tell you in my own neighborhood where I know exactly when the coyotes are flaring. And this is the time my dogs are running out the back door and they're barking to announce that if there's a coyote anywhere within a 10 mile radius, please go away. Right. And so that can be problematic for people that. are concerned because they have small pets that they're leaving in the backyard or they have small children and they're saying, well, what do I do? Right. I am seeing them and it feels aggressive because they're encroaching upon our territory. But we have to remember that coyotes were here long before us and we have encroached upon their habitat like other wildlife with our building and, you know, expanding upon city footprint. So the reality is, is we have to find a happy medium to coexist. Next slide. As I mentioned, they're opportunistic. They are going to go for food sources. So if you have bird feeders and the bird feed is falling down, the bird feed is calling other critters other than birds. If you have fruit trees, Avocado trees and the droppings are there and you're not ready to pick them up. And then you get rats and skunks and raccoons and all of the other critters that come. They are interested in all of those things, the fruit, the bird seed, the other creatures, the other wildlife, in addition to feral cats, community cats, right? Yeah. That is becoming an increased component of their diets because people are feeding and they're not doing timed feeding or controlled feeding. And so that's one of the other issues that happens. So all of those things, it's a domino effect and it really is, it's building upon and it's creating an imbalance with the ecosystem. Next slide, please. So what are some deterrents? Well, you can secure your trash cans. If you have compost bins, all of those things need to be secured because they call them. I'm very aware of the organics recycling, right? We're all getting hit with that in the state of California. I just got my lovely letter as a resident that told me I was supposed to be compliant 30 days ago, right? Don't know how I was supposed to do that without my bins, but where am I going to keep my compost, right? When it's not in my trash can, but all of those things are calling them. As I mentioned before, we need to remove the fallen fruit, the birdseed, but also pet food. If you are feeding your dogs and cats your own outside and you are not doing timed feeding, then you are creating a source for them to come visit. Coyotes are coming into neighborhoods for three reasons, food, water, and shelter. If they have those three things, that's an opportunistic environment and they are going to take advantage of that. pruning back your bushes, the overgrowth. Some of the properties here in Baldwin Park are deep, right? When we have deep properties that go unabated, whether it's somebody, you know, code enforcement can only see what code enforcement sees. They can't see beyond what's in your backyard, right? And so if you're allowing your grass to grow high or bushes to overgrow, that is a perfect opportunity for them to den. And you may never even know. If they're denning, if you don't go in the backyard, so they're denning overnight and they're jumping around neighbors and they're feasting on neighbors' cats and their small dogs and they're scaring people, right? So we are habituating them into our environment. I promise you, if you don't feed them and you don't create the environment for them to feel warm and cozy, they will go somewhere else. But the more we allow them to become comfortable, the more problems that we have. An opportunity is to install motion sensor lights and sprinklers. Motion sensor lights are not too costly and you can get them even battery operated if you can't do the hard wiring. Sprinklers, you can go down to Ace Hardware or another hardware store, $40, Amazon sells them. You just plug them into your regular hose and then they're motion activated. Another one is fence rollers. Now look, I know that, you know, whether it's a chain link fence or a block wall, right? Because people think, oh, I can't install a coyote roller on top of a chain link. You can, and there's, you know, DIY opportunities, do-it-yourself opportunities online. There's low cost, there's high cost, right? For a lot of things that we do in our home improvement. And you can, like I said, buy them on Amazon, your local hardware. You can even make them yourself. that are not costly. But if you have a four foot or five foot wall, don't waste the money installing a coyote roller because they'll jump right over that. If you have a six foot fence, now we're talking about something that you can put a coyote roller on. But they have been known to leap and they will pivot on top of a picket fence. They will cantilever over from your neighbor's shed onto your property and they will make a thoroughfare. They are very resilient and very adaptable. Next slide. So as I mentioned, these are some attractants that happen. So notice the bird feeder, the unintended consequences that it's now calling rats. Well, mice and rats are here, right? They're in our fruit trees and vegetation and in our trees and in our shrubs, but you call that and it calls other food sources, it calls cats, it call all of the things it calls. This is a picture of a cat being fed in the community, not your community, it's just a general picture. But there is no way that cat is eating that food right away. That's way too much food. And it's just being left out. And what happens is, is that all of that food, the cat is going to eat part of the food and then it's going to get scared off. And then now you have a food source for other critters, et cetera, et cetera. And it's just, again, compounding effect. Next slide. So this is a picture of a coyote roller on the left. So you can see it is on a chain link fence that is a higher fence. On the right is just a simulated stock photo of an automatic sprinkler. But it's showing you that they don't like to be sprayed with water. They don't like to have lights flashing or music playing or horns blaring. They want a comfortable, quiet area so that they can find a mate, settle down, and push some pups, right? And so if you are making it uncomfortable for them, they're not going to dent in your backyard. But if we're absent and we're not paying attention to all the things that are happening on our property, that's an example of what can happen. Next slide. OK, so why removing coyotes is a bad idea. I know there's been a lot of communication over the years. I worked in city government. There's differing opinions of this, but the science shows that when you remove coyotes, it creates more issues long term. There can be an immediate short term benefit, but long term, it's not advisable. Number one is it's a natural pest control. We have mice and rats, right? They help to control virus, the plague, things that came out, you know, umpteen years ago that we don't want to have to repeat. Disease reduction. So because I just said that's the things that rats and other wildlife can control. spread, hantavirus, leptospirosis, and plague I mentioned. And it's an ecosystem balance. So they're helping to keep overpopulation of other creatures in check. Next slide. They're territorial, right? And so it helps to stabilize a community, an environment. When we start indiscriminately euthanizing, killing coyotes, it creates an imbalance. And what happens is more coyotes actually move in. So kind of the same principle of there's a carrying capacity with cats. So if you got rid of an entire cat colony and just kept going and got rid of all the cats who think, well, there's no problem. I've gotten rid of all my cats. Well, actually what happens is the feeders are still there. So the food source is still there. And the food source sends a signal that, well, these cats, there's obviously a food source. So we should have more litters. We should have more kittens. And then you have more cats. Same concept happens with coyotes as well. Removing coyotes that are already habituated creates a vacuum effect, opening up area for more aggressive coyotes. And again, sometimes those can be diseased or sometimes you're just creating more population. And as I just mentioned, it can trigger higher level of pups that are being bred. Next slide. So this is a pictorial from Project Coyote. If you've not been to Project Coyote's website, they have a lot of really great educational information. And this is showing on the left side, you have a stable coyote family with two dominant pairs. You have a dominant female and a dominant male. They basically are controlling the population that is happening. You then have the middle column that shows what happens when you have lethal intervention. So if you are randomly trapping and euthanizing because somebody screams and cries about the fact that they have aggressive coyotes in the neighborhood. It hasn't actually attacked a human. It might have taken a small dog off leash, beyond six feet leash. That's considered an unattended pet. Or it might have killed a cat in the neighborhood. So people say, oh my gosh, we have all these coyotes that are horrible. So you hire a trapper and the trapper comes out and starts trapping and euthanizing. Then what happens is the column to the right, you end up getting a disruption in the environment. Now, notice the multiplication that has happened with the coyotes. You went from a very stable environment to disrupting that to now you've got overpopulation more than what was intended. That is the unintended consequence of a culling program. So There have been cities that have tried culling programs. They have not been successful. Again, they could be very short term. So everybody's cheering and saying, well, that's great because, you know, I don't have the coyotes in my neighborhood. Right. But long term effect is that you are creating more coyotes and you don't know what's happening in the neighboring communities as well. Right. Just because they're not in yours doesn't mean they haven't gone out. And again, we're disrupting the environment. Next slide. People always ask, Nicole, why can't you just trap and then relocate the coyotes? Trapping and relocating, as I have stood before you before and explained, can happen with certain wildlife, right? Raccoons, skunks. squirrels all those things cannot do that per california department of fish and wildlife so typically what happens is is that if we get a call um for uh an aggressive coyote right we're going to go out and and evaluate that and i did bring our officer chris hubert who is our wildlife officer you also may get a hold of him when you call dispatch because he's also one of our dispatchers um and chris can come out and do a yard audit right and evaluate some stuff for people So if you're having issues in your yard that's calling coyotes, Chris is your guy. So what happens when we have other wildlife is we can relocate. But with coyotes is that there's a very strict rule that you cannot. It's a state law. So we cannot just go take a coyote from one, put it in another community, because as I already mentioned, that creates a disruption. You're adding potential disease or potential aggressive behavior. And then that that creates disruption. So when we get an aggressive call, we are going to evaluate that. I will give you an example of a neighboring community. We had a situation where the coyote became habituated near a school. It was actually an elementary and a high school right next to each other. So it was a shopping center. There were some bushes. People began to feed the coyote. Well, why would the coyote ever want to leave if we're feeding the coyote, right? So the coyote got habituated and started making people feel uncomfortable and encroaching and hazing wasn't working. And so then we get called. California Department of Fish and Wildlife is not going to come out unless there is a human bite. They just aren't. They don't have the resources. It's not something they're equipped to do. We are an agency that does handle wildlife. So in that situation, we are working in tandem, communicating to Fish and Wildlife, and we will go out, we will trap, and then we will euthanize. We do not enjoy that process, right? Because we are taking a wild animal, and it has now been habituated as not doing the normal things that wild animals do. And we are having to humanely euthanize it. But if a coyote is walking down the street and it has mange, coyotes can live long, fruitful lives with mange. Yes, it's a mite. It's not comfortable. Sometimes they have splotchy hair. They look like they're really diseased. But if they're mobile and they're alert, and by the time our officer gets out there, it could be a mile away. We don't know where that's at, right? Yeah. We are not going to trap and treat for mange. You have to be a certified rehabber to do that. And even if the rehabbers weren't full to treat a coyote, the chances of the coyote surviving are very small. They don't do well in captivity. And if you treat the mange successfully, it could go back to the wild and then get mange again. So it's just this vicious cycle. So sometimes when you're seeing that, just please understand, we know, right? We see them too. And it's not that we want them to have mange. It's just, that's what happens when they're living in the wild. And please do not take it upon yourself as residents to try to put certain medication in their food. We get those tips on social media all the time. We've gone out and actually tested meat that are people leaving and nobody was trying to poison the coyote, but they're trying to, people have big hearts and they're trying to do the right thing, but you risk poisoning or, or doing something else to some other wild animal or getting bit. And so we do not advise that it is illegal because you're feeding and you're also trying to treat. So please don't do that. Please call us. Um, If there is a public safety hazard, that is what we are concerned about. But again, there's certain typical behavior of a coyote that is perceived as aggressive. They're stalking me. They're not really stalking you. There's probably a den nearby. So let's talk about what that looks like. Next slide, please. So what can you do? As residents, you can educate other people. What you learned here today, go online, educate yourself, protect your pets. Do not leave small dogs unattended in your backyard at 3 AM to go to the bathroom because they needed to get up. I get it. That is a snack for a coyote. It really is. Large dogs, medium-sized dogs don't tend to have that problem. You're not having packs of coyote jump the fence in your backyards. Typically, one coyote, they're roaming, they're hunting. You may get them, the mom and dad, you know, are hunting with their pups. in certain seasons, for sure that's happening. But there's not these robust amount of animals that are jumping our fences to steal our animals. It does happen. And it's tragic when that happens. Of course, we feel horrible. We love animals. So we never want to hear about somebody's cat getting killed. leaving you remnants in your yard, right? That's all very tragic and not fun at all for anybody. Removing attractants that I already said, coyote proofing your yard as best as possible, using hazing techniques. You can take a soda can, put some pennies in it, put some rocks in it, tape it up, shake it when you get nearby. You can have one of the little blowhorns Um, screaming, yelling, making yourself really big. I mean, I go home at night from city council meetings and there are two coyotes hanging out on a vacant lot waiting for me to come home. I honk my horn, I flash my lights and they scatter, right? So it has to be that we make them feel uncomfortable. We can't feel like, oh, I don't want to hurt them. No, no, no, because they're hurting pets in the community. when that's happening, when they're getting comfortable. And then supporting humane solutions, right? We always want to start with non-lethal methods. We only want to reserve the lethal methods for when there are public safety concerns. And obviously, denning next to a school and wanting to escort children to school instead of their parents is a concern for us, right? Next slide. Okay, so who can I call? You can always reach out to Department of Fish and Wildlife, but you'll probably get a voicemail and you will not get anybody to respond unless it is a human bite, okay? Any wildlife, whether it be a coyote, a bear, a mountain lion, unless there is a human encounter, they just don't have the resources. If you need to contact us to let us know about, you know, suspicious behavior, activity that you may believe is calling them, or you want to have a yard audit because you're saying, you know what, I don't know what's calling the wildlife to my property that is the reason for me seeing these coyotes. Please give us a call, send us an email, we'll be more than happy to take a look at it. If there's an injured wildlife that you know is not mobile... Absolutely call us and we'll go ahead and take care of that. But we don't need anybody to call us to just say that they saw it. We don't track that. I know you can go on to some other city maps or the COG and possibly report that. But the reality is, it's just for informational and educational purposes. There's nothing that we do. We don't roll an officer out for a coyote sighting. But if there is... denning nearby that you have witnessed you're seeing coyotes coming in out of a den we want to know about that because we will go and we will work with the property owner whether it's a business owner commercial property or it's a vacant lot or it's a homeowner and if you do actually witness aggressive activity towards humans we definitely want to hear about that next slide And we just want to remind everybody that the world is bigger than your backyard. And the coyotes, just like other wildlife, their habitats have been encroached. And so we have to find a way to coexist. And we are here to support the city of Baldwin Park. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for that, Nicole. We appreciate the presentation. Do any of my council colleagues have any questions?

Mayor?

Yes.

No questions. I just want to say thank you. I know it's been a very big topic of discussion here in the city and really important points. It's not just a matter of trapping them and taking them somewhere or just picking them up and moving them. There's a lot of factors that come into play, especially because they're part of the ecosystem. So thank you for emphasizing that. I hope this presentation will be helpful to the rest of our residents.

Mayor?

Yes, go ahead.

Yes, I want to thank you for the presentation. I think it's very important that we educate our community and make them aware of what we can and cannot do and definitely not leave food out there for these coyotes. I see them. I see them on my campus in the morning. They live here. They live here. Like you said, they came before us. We just need to be safe. I think maybe we should have the school district present this to the parents as well, because that's the bigger group of population of our city. So thank you for that presentation. It was very helpful. And again, let's keep our community informed and keep this information out. I know we have it on our webpage, but let's keep that information going so everybody understands what they can do. Thank you.

And there's also some literature that I left in the back as well. And I have some more that I can give the city clerk if you'd like for some other city counters. Thank you.

That would be great. Thank you. Council Member Lozano, Mayor Pro Temp, do you have any questions or comments?

I just, I too just want to thank you for the presentation and I appreciate like the, you know, the way the sound makers and all that kind of stuff. Cause for those of us that walk and everything, that'll be very helpful. So thank you.

I'm going to leave you behind some coyote whistles. I didn't want to hand them out for all the kids to start whistling before the meeting.

Can you use a regular whistle?

Yeah, you can use a regular whistle. Okay, great. We call these coyote whistles, but it's just because that's, you know, what people are wanting them for and they're branded for us. Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

Thank you very much. Appreciate that.

Thank you. And just wanted to let you know that I have seen the Inland Valley Humane Society truck out in our community. So it's great to finally see them out there. Thank you. Not that you weren't out there, but the prior ones. So thank you.

If we're not, if you don't, I told the chief, if you don't see us, we've got a problem. Then you pick up the phone and call us.

I just saw them the other day. So thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. All right, now we're going to move on to public communications. I'm going to first go with speakers here in the audience, and then we're going to check with anyone who's virtual on Zoom. City Clerk, do we have any speaker cards?

Yes, Mayor, we have a handful. Okay. So first we'll call up our memorials with the LA County Library.

Good evening, Mayor Damien, city council members, city staff, and community. I wanted to talk about some of the things that were going on with the library. As of July, we received our foot traffic numbers, and there were 6,561 people who came into the library last month. So as you know, the library is a important place. We were a cooling center three days in July the 14th, 15th, and 16th. And then again, we were a cooling center the 30th, the 31st, August 1st. And we opened on Sunday, August the 2nd to be a cooling center. So always remember, you always can come into the library during the regular hours, but we will notify the community when we're a cooling center on our website. I also wanted to remind everybody the last day for lunch at the library is August the 7th. Our summer discovery program is also ending on August the 9th. So a lot of our summer programs are tutoring are ending. And then, of course, we'll get ready for our new programs in the for the fall upcoming children's program. We have. is we have a program on Tuesday, August the 11th, from four to five. It's called, Who is the Mystery Reader? So Zoom Squirrel and his friends are on a quest to figure out who this mystery reader really is. Find scavenger hunt clues throughout the library and solve the case as you learn more about books and how they are written. This is for children ages three to 12, and there's no registration required. We're also doing a summer wrap-up on Saturday, August the 15th from 3 to 4. Wear your favorite soccer jersey or any sports jersey and step up to the pitch for a fun summer wrap-up party. Join us to celebrate all your reading goals and ending of summer discovery program. And that's for children of all ages. And lastly, we are going to have a back-to-school extravaganza on Saturday, August the 22nd from 3 to 4 p.m. So treat yourself to a back-to-school gift and learn about the library's resources. Show off your creative skills and unique artwork by decorating mini tote bags. The program integrates tons of fun, art techniques, and fosters a lifelong long for art and self-expression. That's for ages 4 to 12. So I appreciate also the recognition of our teen volunteers, and I also wanted to thank the parents, who of course would be the ones who are bringing our teens to the library. So thank you, thank you.

Next we call Belen Loya.

Good evening, Mayor, council members, and staff. My name is Belen Loya, and I'm proud to be here representing North Star Landcare. I'm thankful for the opportunity to work with a company that's challenged me to grow both personally and professionally. Every day has been a challenge to learn something new, ask questions, and better understand the responsibility that comes with caring for communities trees. I've seen firsthand how taking care of trees is really about taking care of people. It's about making our streets safer, reducing hazards before they become emergencies, and preserving the trees that make our communities healthier and more beautiful. One thing I'm especially proud of is how much I've grown professionally. Right now I'm preparing to sit for my ISA certified arborist exam and every day I'm learning from experienced arborists and crews at North Star. The more I learn and the more I realize how much responsibility comes with this work. Every decision we make can help keep our trees healthy while making our trees and neighborhoods safer for everyone. I've also had the opportunity to represent North Star at many community events. And that's been one of the most rewarding parts of my job. Meeting residents, answering questions, and seeing how many people care about our trees in their neighborhoods. And it's reminded me that our work isn't just about maintenance. It's about building trust and serving the community. The more I've learned, the more I've realized this work isn't just about maintaining the trees. It's about caring for the communities that depend on them. That's something I'm very proud to be a part of. So thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to share my experience with you this evening. Thank you, and good luck on that.

Next, we call Tony Martinez.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the City Council. My name is Tony Martinez, founder and owner of North Star Landcare. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I'd simply like to leave you with three thoughts. First, respect. We recognize and respect the years of service provided by your current contractor. Long partnerships matter and the history deserves acknowledgement. But every contract decision is also an opportunity to ask one important question. What is in the best interest of Baldwin Park moving forward? Second, confidence. You may be asking, can a company smaller than the incumbent successfully serve Baldwin Park? That's a fair question. The answer is yes. For more than 33 years, my life's work has been protecting communities through proper tree care and risk management. Northstar is a Latino-owned company based out of Los Angeles County. We are not an outside corporation looking for a contract. We are a local union company with deep roots, professional standards, and a commitment to the communities we serve. Today, we manage municipal contracts of the size with experienced personnel, certified arborists, and modern AQMD compliant equipment. We've carefully planned this transition. With a dedicated five person crew, we can complete Baldwin Park's approximate 6,700 trees on a three year cycle in about 45 working days. and the city's 1000 palms on a two year cycle in approximately 15 working days. That leaves capacity for emergency response, vacant site clearing, and maintaining an accurate tree inventory throughout the year. Finally, responsibility. Northstar's proposal provides meaningful savings to the city. Those savings are not just numbers on a spreadsheet. They are resources that can remain in Baldwin Park and support the neighborhoods, parks, and families who call this city home. If selected, we will also consider qualified Baldwin Park residents for union employing opportunities, including experienced workers affected by this contractor transition. Healthy trees, healthy neighborhoods, strong families. We believe Baldwin Park deserves a contractor that protects all three. Thank you for your time, your service, and your consideration.

Thank you.

Next, we call Pat Mahoney.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and members of the City Council. I'm Patrick Mahoney, President of West Coast Arborist. I come before you tonight to thank you for the past 20 years of service that we've been able to provide you. And thank you for awarding us the contract, selecting us tonight. For more than 54 years, we've partnered exclusively with public agencies to help manage and preserve their urban forest. Today, we employ more than 1200 dedicated employees represented by local, by LIUNA, many of them by local 300, providing families, supporting careers, extensive safety training, and opportunities for advancement. We've been in Baldwin Park since 2005, during the time we've worked safely without any recordable work accidents or damages to any city facilities. We're especially proud of our crews who have worked without any recordable incidents or accidents while serving the city and that the residents have recognized their professionalism and courtesy through letters of appreciation. We also believe being a good contractor means being a good community partner. We have proudly supported Baldwin Park State of the City Address, St. Gabriel Valley Regional Housing Trust, and we remain committed working with the city staff to support schools, community events, and opportunities to assist residents whenever appropriate. Thank you for the confidence in our team, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with the city. And I'm here tonight to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.

Next, we call Julian Merritt.

Good evening Mayor and members of the Council. My name is Julian Merritt and I'm a foreman with West Coast Arborists. I'm also proud to be a Baldwin Park resident. Every day I have the opportunity to help maintain the trees in the same community where I live. That gives me a different perspective. These aren't just trees on a work route. They're in my neighborhood, near my home, and along the streets where my family and neighbors travel every day. Because I live here, I take a great deal of pride in making sure the work is done safely, professionally, and with respect for the residents we serve. Our crews understand that tree maintenance is about more than trimming branches. It's about keeping neighborhoods safe, preserving the beauty of our city, and protecting an important public asset for future generations. thank you for considering west coast arborist this evening we truly appreciate the opportunity to continue serving the city that i probably call home thank you next we call john pineda

GOOD EVENING, MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL. MY NAME IS JOHN PONEDO. And I work for West Coast Arborists. I'm the area manager for this particular city. But most importantly, this is my home. I've lived in Baldwin Park since 1993. I'm a homeowner here. My family's been here. My kids grew up in the schools, you know, Alwyn, which is now closed, but now Sierra Vista. You know, my son is a Baldwin Park Roadrunner, also does Taekwondo, you know, next to King Taco. But this contract means a lot to me because it's my city where I live. You know, I take pride in what we do in this city. And I have the privilege of managing the crews at WCA that work in the city. So every day I drive the streets. I know the city's needs. And I'm able to respond quickly. You know, I live down the street. I live on 8th Street. So I'm local. You know, I'm able to respond. You know, we're there for the city. We also are involved in all community events. My son does Easter egg hunts every year at Morgan Park. And, you know, we're involved in every Arbor Day, you know. Oh, you know, and, you know, I just want to thank you guys for the opportunity. And if the contract is approved, you know, we'll continue to provide the same service that we've been doing for the past 20 plus years, you know, and that's keeping the community safe, keeping it looking nice. You know, and just thank you for the opportunity. You know, if the contract's approved, I'll continue serving the community. Thank you.

Mayor, that concludes all speaker cards at this time.

Thank you for that, City Clerk. All right, now I'm going to go ahead and call on any members of the audience who did not fill out a speaker card who would like to speak. This is your time.

Also would like to make an announcement. If there's anybody in the virtual waiting room that would like to speak, please raise your virtual hand and you will be called upon.

You can come up to the podium. You can just go ahead and speak and then you can just go ahead.

Okay. I did fill it up, but it was a little late that the meeting started. All right. Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, council members, city staff, community. Thank you so much for allowing me to speak. My name is Teresa Renteria, and I'm a resident of Baldwin Park. I've been a resident for many, many years. And I attended the recent joint meeting between the city and the school district recently, and they spoke about the proposed sports complex. I appreciated the time, the planning, the collaboration that is being dedicated to this important project. I also understand that the concept plans and the joint use agreement still is being in the development stages. So I'd like to respectfully ask that my comments tonight are considered as the project moves forward. Measure BP was approved with nearly 59% of Baldwin Park voters because our community believes in investing in projects that improve the quality of life for our residents. I was encouraged to hear during that meeting that they also spoke not only about baseball and softball, but also about other sports such as basketball and soccer. It's important to my family that other sports are also talked about because my family not only played my children, they started in Little League here, they did swimming, they did many community sports. However, we always had to travel to neighboring cities to continue playing tennis. Tennis has often been perceived as a sport associated with more affluent communities, but the desire to play tennis is not defined by income or by where someone lives. Families here in Baldwin Park have the same interests, passion, and the potential as families anywhere else. So they deserve the same opportunity to enjoy this lifelong sports close to home. Likewise, pickleball, which is similar to tennis, has grown tremendously and offers an accessible activity for children, adults, and seniors alike. I fully support baseball, don't get me wrong, or softball. And I do recognize that that's an important role in our community. My request is not to replace or diminish those sports, but to broaden the opportunity available for this investment to serve multiple residents. Tonight, I am not asking the city to prioritize one sport over another. I am asking that this once-in-a-generation investment provide equitable recreational opportunities for our residents and recognize that our community's interests extend beyond the sports that have traditionally received the greatest attention. Thank you for your time, your service to the community. I really appreciate all you've done. Thank you.

Anyone else wishing to speak? Yes, go ahead. Come on up.

Hi, Council.

My name is Brandon Sertamora. I've been a resident of Walden Park for 26 years. You know, I grow public systems, public school systems, and you know. Anyways, my whole thing is very relevant to the CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act determinations. You know how you guys define the... You know, projects and public works projects, the funds, you know, related to the public works projects are foreseeable. You know what I mean? Problems, like exposing the infrastructure, you know, the pipelines, leaving it exposed, putting electronic components next to it, transformers, you know, that stuff that you're like, you know, obvious, you know, that people are just, you know, normal people are aware of that, you know? And it's just corruption, you know, corruption, corruption, people cutting corners. Just, you know, the police too, you know what I mean? But anyways, my whole thing is very CEQA as well. You know, public works projects, you know? you know discretionary funding or approval that you know the potential to either one cause a direct physical change in the environment like uh exposing uh spring all my bad sprinkler systems you know pipelines uh you know public works projects you know um obviously all bad they just you know they don't do much they don't pick up the public works they don't do their jobs they cock in there's loopholes i talk to locals public works uh people um It's not even related, it's closely related, but you know what I mean? They exploit the system. Oh, they give people taggers like tools and shit, you know? They're interesting things, you know? Mike, the whole thing, I'll emphasize on the, you know, the California Environmental Quality Act, you know, projects that was considered, you know, full action, you know, discretionary, you guys, you know, the little loopholes of wording, you know? It's obviously very corrupt, illegal, it's like, you know? Perceivable things, just different things to sabotage landlines. You know, the federal government encroaching on us, upon us, the CIA, all kinds of stuff, you know, very terrible to that, you know, acts of terrorism. You know, just terrorist things, you know, the city itself, you know, doing weird stuff. Throwing building blueprints out to the public instead of shredding them, you know, they're all loosely tailored to that, you know what I mean? But my emphasis on the... there you go, the CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act, you know, you can read it right here, it's on the agenda, it's everything, you know, I can read it for you, but, you know, projects include, I can keep reading it, you know, whatever, you guys know, you guys are pros, you have to take into consideration, you know, the corruption, the police, all kinds, but there is no, For our operations, you know, CEQA, exposing the systems, overcharging, bailing people, like, you know, holding of the water companies, you know, the faulty, you know, the works, the water works you guys did on people's residential streets, the water turning, like, a different color. Then, you know, sabotaging, you know, doing terrorists, like, environmental terrorist things, you know, starting with authorized city councils or whoever authorizes that. Yeah. You know, when you guys advise stuff, it's like, you know, it's very insane, obviously, you know. But, I mean, that's all I have to say. Thank you, guys.

Thank you very much. Have a good night. Thank you. Anyone else in the audience wishing to speak? We're close now, Mr. Rios.

John Rios, resident, 50 years. I'm going to start off with the mayor. I sent you some pictures a couple of days ago. I talked to you yesterday too. I went before I came over here today and there's still a lot of trash all over the city. And I mean trash. I talked to Anthony outside today and It looks bad for our city. We're trying to clean it up, not make a mess. People from other cities, they come by, let's drop it off at Ballroom Park. One of the things is the street vendors. We're bringing back the street vendors, okay? I used to call Carlos, but he doesn't answer his phone. So forget it. I'm not going to call them no more. You know, if they don't want to answer, like public works, doesn't want to answer. The police department doesn't want to answer. It's okay. We have a couple of cars in my street and I talked to Danny about it. It didn't been there or one of them over a week. The other one on three weeks. Okay. Now let's go back to Barnes Park. I was there for the opening and everything. Everything's beautiful. The only thing that we spent $20 million on that park and you guys couldn't fix a splasher for the kids. Out of those $20 million, it's still broken. It's been broken around six years already. Manny, you were in charge of the parks during that time. Why didn't you put out so they could fix it or put a new one? It's something that you should have seen. The money was there. The money is still in there with the VP money. Go out into the city and see the trash that's all over there. Waste management has their duties to the residents. I'm not talking about residents. I'm talking about trash all over the city. Like I say, I used to call board enforcement. I used to call public works. I used to call the police department. They don't want to listen. Okay. All I'm going to do is start taking pictures and send them, you know, over the internet.

Okay, thank you. Thank you for that, Mr. Wills. And hold on for a minute. Don't leave until after public speaking so I can address some of your concerns. Is there anyone else in the audience wishing to speak? If not, City Clerk, can you verify there's anyone on Zoom?

If there's anybody in the Zoom waiting room that is looking to speak, kindly raise your hand and you'll be allowed to speak.

Okay. Good evening, Mayor, City Council and staff. Michael LaRose, just here to show my support, voice my support for Happy's Market. Just want to shout them out for being good owners. Made great upgrades to their market. It's a one-stop, almost a one-stop shop for me and my family. Just want to voice my support for their requests. Been great for the community. Great shopping experience from my part. And like I said, just want to voice my support for them. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Public speaking?

Sure, come on up. I just want to share that if anybody's here to speak on item seven, the public hearing will be happening. I mean, on item number 10, the public hearing will be happening after consent calendar.

Yeah, so if you're here to discuss happy market, we're going to open up the public hearing when we get to that item, and then you can come and speak in favor or against the item.

So you were aware of that.

Okay. So is there anyone else here in the general public that's wanting to speak? No? Okay. City Clerk, can you please verify one more time with Zoom?

Sure. We have one individual. Maria Moreno has three minutes. Please start.

Okay. Hi, everyone. I'm sorry I'm not a very educated person, but I do have concerns regarding the Baldwin Park city, especially where we live. I live where the Barnes Park is. And we had, within two weeks, we had three fires. And they were all because of the homeless. They gathered together. behind our fences. The first time, I really thought that everything was going to burn down. And I just wanted it to make sure that you guys have someone in there to either remove them or do something about it. Now, with the park, it's beautiful. But they did build a wall. That wall does not Let the fire guys, the firefighters go through there to do their business. They're going to have to either jump into like our fences and all of these stuff, which I really didn't mind as long as they would save my house and my kids and my parents. I have two parents that they can't move. I have one grandkid that's two years old and two daughters. One of them is underage, too. She's 16, and the other one is 19. I'm the only one that's supporting that household, and I do pay my taxes and everything. The only thing is that I do not feel secure there anymore. I cannot go to work not thinking that I'm going to come back and I'm going to find nothing in there. I just wanted you guys to please check that out to see what can we do. I had sent a message to Christopher, I think it is. Let me see. It's the clerk. I send the messages and I also send him a video where you guys can see what was the problem that I'm talking about. So I don't know how otherwise or else to do or to, you know, so you guys can understand me, the situation that I'm in here. And if you guys can help or put it into your agenda or something, we just need the help. Unfortunately, it's only me talking. The other neighbors should have been in there. I was there earlier. I was there at 5, thinking that the meeting was at 5. But now it's here. I'm working, but I'm here with you guys, too. Just help us. Thank you.

Thank you, Maria. Your email has been received and will be shared. But if you don't mind emailing me your address, we'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

My address is 3355.

You don't have to share it over the call. If you can just email it to me, that way it's not public.

Do you have her her number city clerk know miss more I know if you can do us a favor and email the city clerk. With your address and your phone number, so that we can observe the video he's going to send it to the entire city council and this way staff can reach out to you to see what type of solution, we can we can make for you okay.

Okay. Sorry, Danny. I muted her when she started to dox herself. Sorry.

She can't speak. Okay. Perfect.

Mayor, that concludes all speakers on Zoom.

Perfect. Thank you for that, City Clerk. All right. Now I'm going to go ahead and close public communication. So just to address, I'm going to address Mr. Rios. Is he still here? Did he leave? Okay. Well, I'll just call him after. Well, I mean, he said that the city doesn't, I mean, he sent me a text yesterday. He gave me a call yesterday. He had sent me a text with about 20 pictures of different things that he found around the entire city with no indications of what the locations were. Yesterday he did give me a call. I did speak with him and he verbally gave me the so-so locations of these. So I had staff kind of driving around the areas just to make sure that these locations were accurate. And I just showed our city manager. the lengthy text that I sent to our city staff. So just Mr. Rios, in case you are listening, this is being forwarded to our city staff. City staff is taking care of the situation. Unfortunately, Mr. Rios, if you call me at three o'clock in the afternoon, the issue is not going to get resolved that same night or the day after. They have a whole city to take care of, but just know that these issues are being addressed. They're just not being addressed at the time that you're requesting them. And that's all the comments that I have for Mr. Rios.

May I?

Go ahead.

Were you done, though? Yes, go ahead. Thank you. I want to address the fires, the woman that called about the fires. I know, Manny, some of the fires were... in the Caltrans area, I believe, where Caltrans is supposed to keep clean. And I know you guys have been in contact and Public Works has been in contact with Caltrans because that has been an ongoing issue. Now we've had the fires, but we have talked to them about the brush and the trash that they're not cleaning up. So if we can follow up on that, because it is dangerous, there are homes right Behind that wall where those fires occurred, and it is because of the brush. It is because of the trash that Caltrans is not keeping up. And I just want the public to know that those areas, the city is forbidden to go into those areas if it's a Caltrans property. So we have been in contact with them. So we will follow up with them to make sure that they're cleaning up those areas, the freeway entrances, the areas behind the houses, because there is a lot of brush. So do know that we are constantly trying to contact them. It is difficult, but I think let's put more effort into that to make sure that our residents are safe along the freeways because there is a lot of brush growing there. Please.

Yes, ma'am. We're also working closely with Assemblymember Blanca Rubio's office. Thank you.

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

Mayor.

Go ahead, Council Member Estrada.

Before we continue, I know one of our residents talked about tennis courts. So I was a little surprised. I wasn't sure what sport you were going to bring up. But I know that we've been working very hard on the sports complex. You know, it's, you know, we're, I think it's safe to say that we're doing everything we can. And, you know, if we, if we could, we'd build the biggest sports complex with all the amenities. You know, I know that you're specific in what you're asking for. And I, and I would really encourage you that, For one, we appreciate that you showed up to the council, to the meet, to the joint commission meeting. Cause I think a lot of people are not aware of it, but two, you know, if there's not an opportunity at the sports complex, you know, we're always looking to build more green spaces and we have a couple of green spaces coming up and we have community input meetings for those as well. So it's important that you can attend those when they, when we announced them and also voice your voice, your input as to what you'd like to see at these green spaces. Cause that may be another opportunity to bring that amenity to you. I just wanted to bring that up.

Thank you for that, Council Member Estrada. And that's correct, Ms. Renteria. I also, I did receive your email that you sent out. So thank you for that. And thank you for attending the collaborative committee meeting. And just as my colleague did state, pickleball is a sport that's You know, it's something that's coming up very popular nowadays. So I did speak to staff and said, you know, these are just the beginning of the renderings, as you heard at the meeting. But it's going to be very important that when we bring this out to the community for input, that we get the community out there to give us all of their input so that this way we can try to perfect These two locations with the limited space that we have in them. So we look forward to hearing from you and the other rest of the residents with the community input meetings. OK, but thank you so much for bringing it up.

Mayor, real quick. I want to also bring up the fact that Sierra Vista does have tennis courts. Maybe they could open that up to the community in the two plus two. Maybe that's something that could be brought up. Yeah, that's something that we can discuss at the collaborative. I remember years ago when we had to plunge the pool there in Ballpark, we had the tennis course right in the corner. It was like, I believe, four different sets. We're talking years ago, but nevertheless.

And she's correct. You know, we don't have to go to other cities to go and enjoy these sports. So, yeah, I think this is a conversation that we're going to continue to have. And we do want to make sure that we are equitable and we do address, you know, the needs of our entire community, not just one specific sport. So thank you very much. Mayor Pro Temp, did you have anything to add? All right, so we're gonna go ahead and move on to consent calendar. Council colleagues, any of you wishing to pull any items? Before we do that, we are gonna pull item number three and we're going to go ahead and bring that back. So we're taking it out of the agenda. So does anyone wish to pull any items from one through nine, one through nine with the exception of three? No one wishes to point any items. I'm gonna go ahead and put item number seven. No other items? All right, can I get a motion to approve consent calendar one through, items one through nine, with the exception of three, which is gonna be brought back, and seven that I pulled for discussion.

Motion. I'll second.

All right, so I got a first and a second. City Clerk, can we get roll call?

Yes, Mayor, just to confirm, the motion is to adopt items 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, and table item number 3. The motion is made by Councilmember Avila, second by Mayor Brotamayala. Councilmember Avila?

Yes.

Councilmember Estrada? Councilmember Lozano?

Yes.

Mayor Brotamayala?

Yes.

Mayor Damien? Yes. Motion carries 5-0.

Thank you for that, City Clerk. All right, so we're going to go ahead and move on to item number 7. That's the item that I pulled. All right, let's see here. So, Council, I pulled this item because it's a six-year agreement, and I want to make sure that we as a council fully understand the difference between the two proposals. I do respect staff's recommendation, and I recognize that West Coast Arborist has performed well for us. However, I do believe that North Star was a second-ranked company. And my question is whether... you know, West Coast Arborist larger size provides enough additional benefit to justify the additional cost to the city. As you know, there is an approximate $78,665 in savings. So my question to staff would be, in your opinion, would North Star be able to provide complete the work that we are requesting from the RFP? Are they capable of doing the work per your recommendation?

Thank you, Mayor, for that question. I would want to caveat that question. Our RFP had evaluation criteria in the RFP, and staff evaluated all the proposals that were received per the evaluation criteria. which consisted of 20% of the criteria was experience and qualifications, 25% was capabilities and approach, 10% references and past performance, 15% responsiveness and completeness, and 25% was the pricing and the cost proposal and 5% community benefit. So that was the evaluation criteria that was in the RFP. And given that criteria, staff recommended and ranked West Coast Arborist as the top contractor. So because the price was only a portion of that criteria, as established in the RFP, staff selected West Coast Arborist. And looking at the rankings, West Coast Arborist, you know, it is a little bit subjective, but West Coast Arborist had a score of 91.7, North Star 84. That was based on our three staff's evaluation of all the proposals. That included a few items such as... Some of the scoring was that West Coast serves 400 municipal agencies, where North Star currently serves seven. North Star is a relatively new company that was established in 2017. West Coast Arborist was established in 1972. We further evaluated Northstar's references after we obtained questions from the council. And they were mixed with a couple below average and two below average, two were above average. And Northstar lost their contract at Huntington Park, picked up two new contracts. And most of their contracts that they've had for, they only have about five contractors that they've five city contracts they've had for five years. If cost was more of a significant criteria, perhaps 50% of the evaluation criteria, then I think staff would have recommended North Star. So sorry for the lengthy answer, Mayor. I just thought it was important to discuss all that so that the council can make an informed decision.

Thank you for that, Gary. I do appreciate that. I mean, obviously, I'm looking at the cost savings, but I also want to make sure that, you know, whoever is that gets this contract awarded is able to do the scope of work that we are requesting. And I mean, to be honest with you, you know, I don't think that North Star, you know, it doesn't have to be as large as West Coast Arborist. In my opinion, it only has to be qualified, reliable, and large enough to successfully meet Baltimore Park's needs. So, Council colleagues, my question to you is, if they are deemed qualified, reliable, and large enough to be able to meet our needs, the question here is, are we getting the most bang for our buck, right? Is this a valuable contract, and can we justify spending close to $79,000 or $80,000 for the same type of work? That's where I'm at with this. I would like to hear from you guys.

Thank you, Mayor.

Go ahead, Council Member Avila.

And thank you for pulling this item. I had a few questions myself, but I knew you were going to pull it. So I looked at the amounts to the difference in money. And I know West Coast Arborist has been with the city for so many years, and I thank them for the work that they've done. But the way I see it, I'm looking at the cost and I'm also looking at, it's almost like when you go and apply for a job, you're straight out of college. Let's say you don't have the experience, but you have the know-how. how are you going to get that experience and that chance? If you're not granted that opportunity, if everything's checking off correctly, it looks like you're, you're qualified in all the areas you pass their tests, but yet you don't have those years of experience to, to prove that you really know what you're doing. You're not given the opportunity. And that's what I see here too. It's a little, it's a difficult situation because yes, uh, uh, All Star has been, North Star, excuse me, has not been in business for 20 years. But I think they're still building on that. They're still building their sources. They're still building the clientele. And as you build a business and you know you have a business, you build a reputation and you built on that, you learn by your mistakes, you fix your mistakes. And I'm not saying that we should be paying a price for mistakes that are done. But I think what I see here on paper, what I see with the cost and I don't think it's, I'm looking at the cost, I'm looking at everything and I don't think to me, 78,000 might not seem like a lot to some people, but it's money that goes into our residents, into our community, money that goes into activities that can be provided for our residents. So I'm kind of right there with you thinking about the cost. And how do we know North Star's not going to provide the services that we need if we haven't given them the chance and be able to still save for our community? That is my comment.

Thank you for that, Council Member Avila. Yeah, and the reason I was looking at that is because you look at $70,000, $80,000, it's not like, ooh, but over six years, that's close to half a million dollars.

Mayor? Go ahead. First of all, I want to thank West Coast Arborists for being here. I really appreciate you coming out. I want to thank the residents who are part of West Coast Arborists for being here as well. I want to thank Daniel for his added information, and I appreciate it. i guess anthony is here to answer any questions that we may have so um i want to thank you and and i and i want to it's interesting i want to comment on um the three topics that the people from north star brought up uh respect uh long partnership matters yes it does matter and it matters to us so i feel that's very important and i have a great respect for um west coast arborist you talked about confidence we have extreme confidence obviously because they've been working with us you know for over 20 years and i appreciate that and i appreciate your professionalism uh and then you mentioned responsibility and they are very responsible so for example um just this year march i believe we had a ridiculous windstorm and as I did my my daily walk and it was very bad everything was like blowing everywhere we had trees you know in the park and I made phone calls and I talked to staff and West Coast Arborist prioritized us this city and And they came out and they took care of the situation. And when I finished my walk, I did come out and have a chance to speak with them. So I appreciate the professionalism and the work ethic that you have. Also, if we remember, before our current CEO was here, we had another... horrific trees falling on i believe it was ramona uh maybe ballpark boulevard it was one of those major streets and they were like we were getting updates from um our previous ceo and anthony had come out and we have a great staff but we don't have enough so i appreciate west coast harbor is coming out in the middle of the night taking care of all of that checking the trees to make sure that they were not going to break either I know that they work collaboratively with our city, and I appreciate that. My question, I wanted to ask, and maybe Anthony or Daniel can answer. We've been talking about the bid and the monies. Was that a stipulation that we were going to go on the RFP as the lowest bid? Do you know that, Anthony or Daniel?

Good evening, Council. Good evening, Mayor. No, it was not. The RFP purposely was not to select the lowest bidder, but the most qualified bidder.

Okay. And so in terms of we're not looking necessarily at the lowest bid, I want to save money as well, but I want to also be... cognizant of the fact that we need to be sure that these people are able to do the job. And I think having 20 years experience in our city alone affords us that opportunity to understand that they have the experience and this working relationship with us. So for me, I see that they are the most qualified, that they are giving a value to our city. They're giving value to our city. We're big up here about hiring within Baldwin Park people, and I appreciate that these two individuals actually live within our community, and I don't think they're the only two. I believe there's more residents who work within your company who are actual residents here in the city of Baldwin Park. As an educator of 34 years, I totally appreciate giving somebody the benefit of the doubt and learning experience. and giving them that opportunity to learn, but at what expense? Not at the safety of my community. And I really feel that it's important that we take a look at it. And I wanna thank you, as I said, for coming out and I appreciate you being here with us this evening. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you for that Mayor Pro Tem. Council Member Estrada, did you have any comments? No, not at this time. Councillor Lozano, do you have any comments?

Yeah, first of all, I just want to thank both companies that are here and it's important. Arborist has been a company since 1972 and been here 20 years. So obviously that says some. And I want to first of all, thank you for bringing residents that have a vested interest. And obviously they want to make sure that the city looks good. But also looking at Northstar, they also had indicated that they would look at integrating some of the employees if we were to choose to go with that specific company. So there's kind of like a balance in between both of them as well. And obviously, one's been longer than the other, 1972 versus 2017. But then again, you know what happens? given the opportunity, the experience grows from there. So at this point, I mean, we'll look and see what my colleagues further assess and evaluate to determine the actual company that would be in the best interest of this community. Thank you. Thank you for that, Council Member Lozano.

And I did hear, I mean, I read into this deeply and I did look at that and I respect the fact that West Coast arborists have been arborists for the last, you know, what, 21 years. I can't say anything negative about them. I think they've done an outstanding job, but my job as a mayor or council member is also to look at wherever we can do cost savings, because those half a million dollars can go towards other projects, especially to beautify the city. You hear time and time again from our residents, we have trash in the area, the planners are not looking nice. Well, if we can save half a million dollars in six years, then why not use that money to reallocate it to something that's gonna benefit the residents? Now, is North Star not capable of doing the job? Well, I don't... I mean... Obviously, there's some type of technique to the way they do the trimming, but I don't think that they would be bidding on a contract if they weren't able to complete the job. Another thing that we have involved within our contract agreement is that we have the 30-day right to terminate. So that means that if the contractor is not doing the job that they're supposed to be doing, we have the right to terminate that contract with 30 days written notice. Now, I would not recommend going with a six-year agreement. I would recommend starting with a two-year agreement and making sure that we do have that 30-day right to terminate contract on there. I'm not going to go and knock a company down because they started in 2017 and the other one started in 1972. As Councilmember Avila stated, we all started somewhere. And if people don't give the opportunities to other companies to succeed, then how are they going to succeed? So to me, it's not about is West Coast better than North Star or is North Star better than West Coast? The way I'm looking at it is, where are we going to get the most value here? And the fact that both these companies, I'm sure are gonna be able to do the job that we're requesting from them. But if we can save our community half a million dollars in six years or $80,000 a year, then that's the way I'm gonna look at this. So I would recommend that we give Northstar an opportunity recommend a two-year agreement instead of a six-year agreement, and making sure that the contract states that 30-day right to terminate in case they don't perform the way they should be performing, then we cancel the contract and we go back to RFP or we go back to West Coast Arborist. That is my opinion and my recommendation.

Thank you, Mayor. And I was going to add, I was going to say three years, but two years sounds much better because it gives us time to decide whether it's a good fit or not. And two years, actually, if we have to change, we change sooner than later. So I agree with what you're saying. I don't have anything against the idea. a West Coast arborist, but I think saving money, especially in this times and providing that money for other services, as I said before, is important to our community. And if North Star is willing to bring in staff into their company that lives in Baldwin Park and hire within, that's even a bigger plus for us. Thank you.

Does anyone else from my colleagues have any other questions or comments? No? Okay. So I'm going to go ahead and make a motion for city staff to bring back a contract awarding the contract to North Star for two years. Obviously check if it's something that we can still get for the same pricing based on the RFP. If we are able to get the same type of pricing, bring back the contract for two-year contract with a 30-day right to terminate. And that's pretty much it. That is my motion.

And I'll second.

And I got a second. City Clerk, can we get a roll call, please?

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

Yes.

Council Member Estrada?

Yes.

Council Member Lozano? Yes. Mayor Pro Temayala?

No.

Mayor Damien? Yes. Motion carries 4-1.

Thank you for that, City Clerk.

If I could, just for the record here, I want to make it clear that this was bid as a best value contract, but it left a lot of language that gave the council discretion to determine what's in the best interest of the city. So ultimately, it's a recommendation to the council. The council then gets to make the final decision. It also specifically says that the council reserves the right to award a contract to multiple contractors or to a single contractor or to make no award. So in this case, they've decided to award a two-year contract based on the same terms, assuming the contractor is willing to that. agree to those terms, then we would come back at the next council meeting with an agreement to that contractor.

Perfect. Thank you for that, City Attorney. All right, moving on now to item number 10, that's a public hearing. Appeal of Planning Commission Resolution PC2605, Denying Conditional Use Permit CUP26-02 for an ABC Type 21 license for Happy Market. It is recommended that the City Council conduct a public hearing. Do you have a presentation?

Oh, yes.

Yes, go ahead. Sorry.

Hi, good evening, Honorable Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and City Council. I'm here to present the appeal to the City Council for the conditional use permit to allow for a beer, wine, and distilled spirits to be sold at Happy's Liquor. Next slide. Next slide. So as you can see in the PowerPoint, the location of Happy Liquor is located at 13810 Los Angeles Street. Next slide. And it is within our neighborhood commercial zone, as you can see in the highlighted portion. And it's surrounded by multifamily housing and single-family housing. Next slide. This is just a street view of the project site at its current conditions. Next slide. This is a site layout of the parking and layout of the Happy Market. Next slide. The parts in red are representative of how the alcohol will be located. Towards the front part is where they have alcohol, beer, and wine, and where they might have distilled spirits. Next slide. So based on the census tract, we have for that specific census tract, there is only to be one off sale alcohol retailer. And currently we have three off sale retailers. So right now the census tract is over concentrated by alcohol sales. Next slide. As you can see, Happy Market is the one in green. Next to it is Walt's Liquor, which they sell beer, wine, and distilled spirit. Happy Liquor currently has an alcohol license to sell beer and wine. Circle K also has a beer and wine license. Next slide. So the project was taken to planning Commission on June 24. To approve the denial of the off sale beer and wine and distilled spirits at due to the over concentration next slide. During the planning commission, the discussion was that there was over concentration of alcohol sales, the potential community impacts due to the proximity to Charles Burch Elementary School, and the potential impacts to the surrounding neighborhood area. There was also the request that the findings cannot be made for public convenience or necessity, which is something that was requested by our ABC license. Next slide. The applicant has completed a few site improvements listed above. As you can see, they repainted the building compared to how it was before. They have improved the parking by slurry sealing, but there are other recommendations that staff would like to see on site. which would be maintaining the existing landscape, improving parking to improve circulation area. That would include restriping all parking stops to ensure proper layout and compliance with current code standards, removing all boarded up windows, and also bringing up all the signs into compliance. So that would be removing excessive banners and eliminated unauthorized temporary signs. That would also ask to, the recommendation would be to modify existing lighting so that light will not encroach into the streets. Next slide. So during public testimony, we did have a couple of members of the community and support claiming that they the current operators of the site have reduced the loitering and nuisance in that location. They have improved the services to the surrounding neighborhood as a grocery store. The those that were in opposed. They had the concern that it might impact schools and create more safety issues. And those were opposed.

Next slide.

Planning Commission determined that the required findings to approve the conditional use permit were not met based on findings number three and findings number six. Finding number three was it was not compatible with the surrounding use. And finding number six, it wasn't consistent with the general plan. Also, the insufficient findings to approve with public convenience and necessity. Planning Commission denied it with five to zero. Next slide. So staff recommends the City Council to approve Resolution 2026-24 to deny the approval of alcohol, beer, wine, and distilled spirits through COP 2602. And that is my presentation if you have any other questions.

Thank you very much for that. I appreciate your presentation. And before we open up the public hearing, do any of my council colleagues have any questions for staff? Okay. I'm so sorry. Can you remind me your name again?

Oh, sorry. My name's Yadira, and I'm the assistant planner.

Yadira?

Yadira.

Yadira. Thank you, Yadira. Nice to meet you, Yadira, and thank you for the presentation. Make sure I write your name, I don't want to forget it. So, Yadira, so basically you stated that the Planning Commission denied this, and that was based on staff's recommendation at the time as well, correct?

Yes, correct.

And that's because they do not meet Is it because of the over concentration?

Correct. And ABC requires us to provide a finding saying that there's a need for public necessity or convenience in order for us to fill out a section in the ABC form. And Planning Commission didn't feel comfortable making any conditions saying that they were meeting those requirements.

So give me an example of what a need would be. I mean, if ABC requires a need, Well, I need to get drunk. I don't know what type of need would this be?

They didn't give us directions when we did reach out to them. They just said that the city or the governing body has to determine why the city would want another alcohol license in an already over-concentrated census tract.

And over-concentrated meaning because there's Walt's Liquor that sells both alcohol, I mean, hard liquor and beer, and you've got Happy Market in the middle, who already sells beer and wine. Yes. And then Circle K, who sells beer and wine. Yes. I mean, alcohol is alcohol. It's already there.

This kind of dates back a long time. I think they used to be more strongly adhered to, I think, historically. Nowadays, if it is oversaturated, they look at a census tract. If it's oversaturated, the technical requirement is that you could still get one, but you have to get a finding of public convenience and necessity. And so, again, you have discretion here if you think that there's a need. The need would be that there's a need to serve people who want to buy this kind of alcohol. Or is that need already being met? You know, would it be helpful to have another one of these? Is this an appropriate location? That's really what you're looking at. And the council has discretion in that regard. Sometimes when there's like, you know, a Target and then a liquor store and they're all kind of closely together and there's a restaurant maybe selling it, it can be oversaturated. And but but there's a need out there. You know, people want to go to a restaurant and.

Like a need would be like a one stop shop instead of let's say you're going to have a party, right? And you're going to have both beer and hard liquor. And you're going to go grab your groceries and you're going to and you're going to grab groceries instead of having to go to one store to buy the groceries and the beer. And then you have to go somewhere else to buy the hard liquor because you also want that. The need is let's have it in one stop.

Is that a need that we would put on the one stop shop?

Yes, that could weigh into it. Convenience and necessity. So it's like your convenience.

Sales tax convenience, a need. Go ahead, Okina.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to provide some clarity with regards to that. ABC, with regards to a need and necessity for these type of uses, ABC set parameters to the limit based on the census tract. Once the parameter exceed based on legal non-conforming status or it was done way before that parameter was set by ABC, that is considered grandfather clause. If the city, the city has a discretion to go above and beyond what those minimum parameter are. In order to do so, the city, in the city council or the planning commission at the final stage at the council, has a discretion to consider the needs and necessity findings in order to support. Once the city make a determination to approve that, then and only then ABC can move forward with their public hearing process and their license proceeding. So what was presented before the Planning Commission, the Planning Commission denied the application based on the overconcentration aspect of it. Thereafter, The applicant file an appeal within the 10-day appeal period to be heard before the City Council. And tonight before you, you have the staff report that outlines the overall report and application being requested. Also before you, you have two different resolutions that is provided to the City Council. Resolution 26-24 is a resolution of denial that is templates similar to what the planning commission's recommendation was. Resolution 26-25 is a resolution of approval. If the council choose to make the finding to support the needs and necessity aspect of that, the licensing perspective from ABC standpoint It's just an upgrade from a type 20 license to a type 21 license. So I wanted to provide that clarity to you. The applicant and their representative is here in the audience tonight as well. and are here to answer any questions, any additional questions that the commission or that the council may have with regards to their requests. We did receive in the planning commission meeting, both in opposition and both in support from the public. So I wanted to share that with you. And this is a public hearing item. So staff is presenting the finding that set forth based on the current status as well as based on the over concentration aspect. So once the council asks any questions as needed of staff, and or the applicant, we open up the public hearing and the applicant can present their case as well.

Okay. Thank you for that, Akina. Okay, so what I'm going to do is I'm going to go ahead and open up the public hearing. And then, thank you, Gadira. I appreciate your presentation.

Thank you.

So I'm going to go ahead and open up the public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak in favor of...

At this time, if there's anybody in the Zoom chat room that is looking to speak during the public hearing, kindly raise your hand and you will be admitted as soon as all in-person speakers have an opportunity to speak.

Hi. Good evening, mayors, members of the city council, and city staff. My name is Dhiratswamy, and I'm here this evening as a friend of the owners and their design consultant representing Happy Market. Before I begin, I would sincerely like to thank the city staff, the planning commission, and the city council for the time and effort in reviewing our application. Tonight, we respectfully ask the City Council to grant our appeal and approve the Conditional Use Permit . I would like to add to the gentleman's point that this application is not creating a new liquor store. There are already three liquor stores out of which only one sells distilled liquor and other two are only allowed to sell beer and wine. As of now, approval won't increase the concentration as is. It is just increasing options to the public of the city of Balving Park. Based on the approval, the total number of alcohol retailers in the census tract before and after will remain same. So that is the one thing I would like to bring. And just also wanted to give you a clarity that APC requirement is It is need or necessity. It is not both. It is need or necessity. You could get the clarification from the staff. And we would like to say that I'll talk about public convenience first, which brings need, because we want to have convenience for our customers. Our customers already visit Happy Market to purchase groceries, beer, wine, beverages, and other daily necessities. And many of our customers, just for the fact that distilled liquor is not available, we lose on good sales tax. And they end up going next time they go outside cities, specifically Sam's Club, which is not in the city. And we lose the sales tax to a neighboring city. So the request is... by our customers. Many of our customers say they would have to drive somewhere else to purchase distilled liquor and we just are here based on their request, going through the planning commission, going through the planning process in front of you to help our customers, which is our point. Necessity via approval would support a long standing family owned business, preserve local jobs, encourage continued investment. Like you see, before Happy Market took over this property, they have improved and invested a lot of money. It is a nice and clean family store, which offers savings to the community.

And if the three minutes have expired already, thank you so much.

Okay. No, I would just like to thank the thing, and I would be open for questions. Just one second.

Are you their official speaker? Yes.

Okay.

So we can go ahead and continue the time.

Let me just explain that so the public understands. They've been denied their application. So he has the burden of proof to establish that this should be granted. And so time should be given to the applicant or their designated representative sufficient time to make their case. And so I think maybe up to 12 minutes total, including the three that we've already used, just so that you can make your case.

Yeah. Okay. Thank you so much. I'll continue. Thank you so much, gentlemen. I'll continue on the necessity part. Basically, we want to generate additional tax revenue to the city, allow our local residents to continue benefiting from competitive price. Because since there's only one person selling distilled liquor in the census tract, we like to have competition. So due to the competition, people who want to buy hard liquor would have better prices or a choice. I would like to go to a point regarding the school and minors. We would like to share that Happy Market owns multiple liquor stores, apart from this grocery stores. And it is in the good standing that we, I would like to say that they have never been, they have never received an ABC disciplinary action or citation related to sale of alcohol to minors. Their staff is trained to check the, ID every time. So the idea being we are not increasing the number of licenses, we are not increasing, and we don't have, we are, you could ask the staff, we, based on their review, we are code compliant, and Plus, I would also like to make a statement that all of this thing, Happy Liquor, it is our commitment to say that Happy Liquor would go ahead and do all the improvements that the city suggests to the store. And we are ready to invest in the commission has made. We'll go ahead and adopt those things. just to the benefit of our public, to make sure that, and our family.

Upgrading this license isn't going to change any of that. If it's already oversaturated, then it's already oversaturated. Nothing's going to happen there, except the only thing I can see is that there'd be more competition, more options available to the residents in that area. And so, you know, Happy's Market is probably the only market within range of that area, the north side of Baldwin Park. So I think we're all very aware that the north side of Ballpark doesn't have a lot of options when it comes to shopping. We want to make sure that those amenities are available to them, not only available to them, but also that we can sustain those businesses and be supportive of them. I think all of us have complained about businesses that are or property owners that are absentee. and that are not involved in maintaining their properties, whether it's plazas or small businesses that aren't doing their part to maintain just the aesthetic of the area and just keeping it clean and safe for everybody. And so we know that the owners of Happy Market are involved. We've all passed through there. It looks clean. People love it. And I think that we should be supporting those businesses and making it easier for them to succeed and giving them the tools necessary to make sure that they are sustainable as well, especially during these economic times. So I just wanted to make those comments and point those things out.

Thank you, Council Member Estrada. Council Member Lozano, my report's on?

Eric, I'm sorry. Thank you. I just want to say, first of all, thank you for everybody that came and stayed and spoke in favor of Happy Market. I also want to say, as most of you know, because I'm an educator here, that my school is located one block over Mayor Mrakas, From that location, and so, for the families, where I teach that's where they go to shop and it's it's very convenient. Mayor Mrakas, it's it's necessary and I appreciate all of the improvements that have been made, because, as I said, you know our families, my school families go to shop there and they're very appreciative of all of those changes you've made so thank you mayor.

Thank you, Mayor Potem. Council Member Lozano?

Yeah, I just want to, first of all, full support of this market. It's a historical market because it's a landmark, you could almost say. It's been there for years. I've been a resident of Ballin Park since 1979, and I'm certain that store, I'm not certain what year, It was built there, but it probably has to be at least maybe close, if not to 70 years. So I just want to thank all the residents that came out here. And, of course, if we give this permit, we need to be responsible. And I know that this market will carry on and respect the community at the same time and make cognizant decisions when you sell the actual alcohol itself. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Lozano. Are the owners here, Mr., of both things? Can you raise your hands? Oh, there you are. Well, first, I just want to say, you know what, thank you very much, because I have noticed the huge improvement there in the storefront since you guys took over. You know, we all knew it, and sometimes I still call it La Blanquita, right? But, you know, we know it's Happy Market. You can see the improvements there. And, of course, I respect the Planning Commission's recommendation to reject it. You know, they're doing their due diligence as well. To me, it's not like we're approving a whole new license. You already sell alcohol. It's just a different type of alcohol that you're going to be selling there. I'm going to be honest with you. I've never seen so much overwhelming support for something like this from our community. And that speaks volume. That speaks that you are committed to this community. And I think it would be I don't want to say stupid of us, but just I don't think it would be in our best interest not to want to work in partnership and collaboration with our small business owners. Because at the end of the day, you know, we want to make sure that we have that great working relationship. I don't have a doubt that you're going to abuse this license. I'm expecting for you to be respectful with it. The fact that you're going to have it in the back counter. and that you've already agreed to make all the storefront improvements, it speaks to your commitment to not only to your store and your customers, but to our community as well. So for that, I want to thank you. I do want to thank you because I do see the difference there. Those are the only comments that I have. Does anyone want to entertain a motion?

I will make a motion.

Second. What is your motion?

My motion is to allow them to, we're going to overturn the planning commission's decision. Is that correct? Is that the proper way? And go ahead and grant them their license.

That would involve the approval of Resolution 2026-025. Yeah. Yes, that's my motion. Second.

So we have a first and a second. City Clerk, can we get roll call, please?

We have a motion to adopt item number 10, resolution 2026-025, motion made by Mayor Pro Temayala, second by Council Member Avila. Council Member Avila?

Yes.

Council Member Estrada?

Yes.

Council Member Lozano? Yes. Mayor Pro Temayala?

Yes.

Mayor Damien?

Yes. Motion carries 5-0. Thank you for that, City Clerk. Congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you so much. Congratulations. And thank you. Please keep up the great work there in that area.

I have to go try that pizza and wings now. Yeah. We're going to try that pizza.

Thank you. Thank you, guys. Have a good night. Thank you. Congratulations. All right. We're going to be moving on. Council colleagues, I'm going to go ahead and make a motion to bring back reports of officers. Item number 11.

I'll second.

We got a first, city clerk. We got a first and a second to move item number 11 to the next meeting.

We have a motion to table item number 11. Motion made by Mayor Damien. Second. Second made by Council Member Lozano. Correct. Council Member Bravila. Council Member Estrada? Yes. Council Member Lozano? Yes. Mayor Pro Temayala? Yes. Mayor Damien?

Yes.

The motion carries 5-0.

Thank you for that, City Clerk. All right, I'm going to go ahead and go down to City Council. There's none. City Council, City Clerk, City Treasurer. staff requests and communications. I'm going to make mine quick. Mayor Damien seeks consensus of the city council to direct staff to coordinate and complete a no-cost energy audit of city facilities to identify opportunities to improve energy efficiency, reduce utility costs, and evaluate aging or inefficient equipment for potential replacement or upgrades. The audit should identify available rebates, incentives, and grant funding opportunities. So, colleagues, what I'm asking for is consensus for the city to look out for an audit of our current infrastructure with our solar. I've had conversations with Manny, and I've asked Manny, do we even know how much... how much we're generating from these solar panels that we currently have, because I see the warrants and demands and I still see high electric bills to Edison and none of us have any clue. So I think that it would be to our best interest to evaluate that, bring something back, see if there's something that we can get incentives or rebates for that will not only improve our current infrastructure, but maybe add something where it's going to bring us back some cost savings. Can I get council consensus? I will second. Perfect. All right. So we got council consensus direction to bring something back. Perfect. Thank you for that. And then I want to make this really quick because I know it's late and we've had an early start this morning at Kaiser, but I cannot go the night without reading this brief thing that I wrote. I want to say that I'm very proud to recognize our Director of Recreation and Community Services, Maria Moreno, for being selected by the Consulate General of Mexico as its Orgullo Mexicano del Mes. on Thursday, July 30th. I really wanted to be there. I couldn't. I had a training already, but I'm doing this because I was not there. This prestigious recognition honors Maria's outstanding leadership, her over three decades of dedicated service, and the positive impact she continues to make in the lives of Baltimore Park residents. Through her hard work, compassion, and commitment, Maria has helped strengthen our community and has become an example of what true public service looks like. Maria's story also reminds us of the tremendous contributions immigrants make to our communities and to this country. Immigrants bring talent, strength, culture, determination, and leadership. Maria represents the very best of those values and her accomplishments bring great pride, not only to the Mexican community, but to all of us here in Baldwin Park. I would also like to thank our council member, Emmanuel Estrada, for recommending Maria to the Mexican consulate and for helping ensure that her hard work and dedication receive the recognition that they deserve. Maria. I can't see you because I'm short over here, but I just wanted to let you know that we are extremely proud of you. I want to thank you for your leadership, your heart for our residents, and the pride that you bring to the city of Baldwin Park. Congratulations on this truly well-deserved honor. Thank you, Maria.

Thank you very much.

Thank you. And then I just want to remind everyone, tomorrow is the last concert at the park. Join us. It's going to be a lot of people, a lot of fun. So come out because it's the last one. I think it's Los Cadetes. There's something. So they'll be playing tomorrow. That's all that I have. Anyone else have any? No.

Just on a quick note, I, you know, I visited one of our local eateries after the 5K, which was La Tropicana. And so, you know, very it's a very good place. It's very interesting. you know, very friendly people, very good people, good food. It's a local business and, you know, they've always been gracious enough to be involved in some of our activities. And so, you know, I know they've been having some issues with their outdoor dining. So I wanted to see if we can come up with something, not only for them, but for businesses and local. We have a lot of, you know, we struggle to have eateries. And so we want to make sure that the eateries that we do have and the local businesses that we do have, that we're supporting them and we're giving them opportunities and figuring out how we can not only elevate them, but give them opportunities to bring in more people.

Is that the one on Main that has the little tables and chairs?

What happened, they had one right next to it, but the one on the sidewalk. That's the one that should go. We could bring that back somehow, Manny, and address it because it's important. I know there's ordinances and so on and so forth, but let's look at that. I'm glad you brought that up, Estrella.

Yeah, I agree. And I think that we should look at what we can do internally, ordinance, for those shops there that are eateries in Maine to improve it and allow for some type of sidewalk. Obviously, we want to make sure that there's enough room for pedestrians and wheelchairs and ADA access to still pass through there. But let's give them the ability to be able to also serve outside. And that'll help us kind of start to bring those businesses from Maine outside. So I'm in full support of that, Council Member Estrada. sure yeah you could send them my way and we'll assist perfect right anyone else have any anything to add no nobody all right so if no one has anything else to add i will make a motion to adjourn at 9 34 p.m can i get a second third fourth fifth we're adjourned good night everyone