City Council - Regular Meeting

If

you want to get arms like me, you need to come in here and get in the weight room. I'm Marcus Williams and this is MW Athletics. As an NFL superstar, coming back to my community is really what I wanted to start MW athletics for. If you want to do cattle bell swings, we'll get you right in here. I'll just do one of these with this. That's all you need. footwork, speed, strength, fastest, most explosive athlete come in here ready to work and you'll get to where you want to get to. And if you don't grind, you don't shine. And if you don't shine, you don't eat. The mission and vision behind MW Athletics to create the fastest, most explosive athlete in any given sport that they choose to be in, whether it's high school, college, or professionals, we able to help them get the little details right so that they are able to go out there and perform at the highest abilities that they possibly can. So, our training program mainly consists of group training, whether it's strength training, performance training, or speed training. We have our performance treadmills where we are able to do our speed zone to make sure these athletes are running fast just like cheetahs and they'll be the best that they can be when they go out there and perform. We're really out here in the community trying to get back the best possible way we can and giving scholarships back to the kids who are in high school. What makes MW athletics different from other gyms in Corona or other places around is our culture, our dedication to having our relentless pursuit of excellence. And everybody here in Corona knows that each and every day they come in here, they're going to leave off better than when they came. If you want to book a tour, go to our website, mwathletics.com. We are located right next to In-N-Out off of Surface Club. Grind, shine, and eat.

Chris Yoshioka has been my mentor. He's been my captain. I guess I'm proud to say I've got the lowest paramedic card number, but some of the things like started the first IV.

Yeah, I started the very first IV in the city of Corona. I was the first paramedic. Corona is pretty unique. What also makes Corona super unique is in which I'm so proud of being a part of this family is our local 3757 firefighters association. We're heavily involved in the community. We adopt many kids, kids who have cancer, kids going through hard times. We make their day a little bit special. I mean, when a fire engine pulls up at their house with lights on and we can get them gifts or just show them support that we're there for them and we help them out, that touches my heart pretty big. Corona fire seems daily we're involved with something within the community. We're constantly going to fundraisers, we give tours, you name it, we're there. My fire service journey began, we went to a preschool event, Garden Grove Fire Station 1, probably 1976. I was four or 5 years old. I saw the firefighters. I saw the engines and I told my mom on the way home, all I could talk about is being a firefighter. Here I am and 31 years later in the city of Corona. It's a dream come true. Who would have known that the city of Corona, I was born and raised in Orange County and the city of Corona would be my second home. But all the guys and gals here in this department, they're your second family. It's my morning routine coming in here, making sure the cab's set up the way we need to get set up. Actually, we got a call right now. Okay, so we were just dispatched to a medical aid. Engine one just cleared. are responding to someone having uh some difficulty breathing. We do everything. Don't just fight fires. Seems like 90 plus% of what we do now is EMS related. It's what's fun about being a firefighter. It's everyday is different. I wake up in the morning, come to work, I have no idea what to expect. I've got a schedule, but that schedule seems to never adhere to that schedule. It's it's very dynamic. I told myself when I got in the fire service, if I could save one life, just one, I mean, my career is fulfilled. I mean, imagine changing somebody's life and I've gotten to do that hundreds and hundreds of times. So, I couldn't imagine more rewarding career and

especially working in this city. It's been great to me. It is kind of get emotional when you get to the end. 31 years. This is all I know. This is my second family, but it's been a good run. It's been a great career. I love everybody I work with, but it's time for the next chapter. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen.

Happy weekend. [Music] Happy Halloween. [Music] [Music] [Music] Well, good evening. Everybody, welcome to our city council meeting. Can you please stand for the pledge of allegiance? Place your hand over your heart. Ready? Begin. I

aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Please be seated. Okay. At this time, I would like to call the meeting to order. Miss Edwards, can you please read the special instructions? Yes, Mayor. Individuals wishing to address the city council are requested to complete a speaker card and deliver it to city clerk staff prior to the item being heard by the city council. Please observe a three-minute limit for communications. And once called upon to speak, please state your name and city of residents for the record.

Thank you. Okay. So, we have three proclamations or recognitions tonight. The first one is um recognizing September as childhood cancer awareness month. So I would like to invite Veronica Smitherman, president CEO of Victoria Sparks of Joy to the podium to receive the proclamation along with her team. Come on up, guys. Just come right over here, buddy. Hi Rana. Didn't see you out there. Good to see you.

Okay, so this proclamation, let me read this. Childhood cancer awareness month, September of 2025. Whereas childhood cancer remains the number one disease killer of children in the United States today, often the story is even more personal than barefaced statistics. Far too many of us know a child currently battling cancer, a childhood cancer survivor or a family who has lost a loved one to this terrible disease. Whereas each year an estimated 16,790 children aged aged up to 19 are diagnosed with cancer in the United States, globally there are more than 400,000 children diagnosed with cancer every year. And whereas we encourage the citizens of Corona to raise awareness of the efforts to find a cure for childhood cancer through education, appropriate programs and activities. And whereas this September, we honor the absolute courage of tens of thousands of children who fight cancer every day and all of the loved ones who support them. And we recognize the medical professionals, researchers, companies, philanthropies, and academic institutions who search tirelessly for early detection methods, better and safer treatment, and even cures. Today, we create a cancer. Together, we will create a cancer-free future for our kids. Now therefore, I mayor Jim Steiner on behalf of the city council to hereby proclaim the month of September 2025 as childhood cancer awareness awareness awareness month. So I want to introduce to you uh Ricardo Sandival. He recently graduated from Corona High School. He actually had his graduation at Chalk in Orange County and he's he's battling a severe form of leukemia. So, I'm going to pass the microphone on to Miss Smitherman, but we want you to know that we love you. We're behind you. Keep fighting. Okay, brother.

Okay. And I'm not going to hug you because that's not allowed.

Yes. Thank you. Real quick, um want to speak on behalf of Ricardo because going up the steps, he got a little overwhelmed. Uh he's still in treatment. So, uh we just want to speak about Ricardo's um briefly about Ricardo's journey. Ricardo was diagnosed May last year uh on at the end of May when he was about to graduate from Corona High. Um he got really ill. Uh the journey has been really hard. He ended up having an induced coma. Uh after he woke up that induced coma, he couldn't walk anymore. Thanks to physical therapy, he's here. However, um Ricardo was disclosed that he says to die. They prepare the family, but God had another plans for him. Um his brother is right here. Ricardo wants to say that childhood cancer is a tremendous um shock and uh journey for every family and his family. That dynamic change. The oldest brother became like a mom and dad and caregiver to help mom and dad to run the family to keep financials going and uh but especially also the the terrible heartache and mental mental emotional and financial um your um challenges. So, Ricardo wants to say thank you to um um the mayor of the city and everyone here for giving this spot to childhood cancer and he is a witness of um the fight how he's fighting for his life yet he has um a year and a half more to go uh from treatment before he can be declared in remission. So, thank you everyone and on behalf of Ricardo and family, thank you for this proclamation. Jim Steiner,

what are all these beautiful ladies over here? Oh, yes. Um, thank you. Um, just want to introduce our team. Sorry, it's Victoria Sparo Joy. We're a nonprofit in Corona. And uh here are the high schoolers and one of the board members and my daughter, Briana. Uh, Victoria was my daughter who died from brain cancer on 2016. She was a Santiago High School student when she passed away. This team makes an amazing job bringing uh sparking joy, bringing in uh um encouragement to kids uh who fights cancer at the children's hospitals in the city and beyond. Thank you very much. Shall we get a picture?

Absolutely. All right. Thank you. [Applause]

All right, next one. I would like to invite Elk Elks Lodge members and Martin Viejos uh community service vets connect coordinator to the podium for the recognition.

How you doing bud? Good seeing you. Same here. Hi. How are you? How you doing, gentlemen? Hey, how are you, sir? Good to meet you, sir. Good meeting you, buddy. Yes, you do.

All right. And city council of the city of Corona, California is proud to recognize and commend Elks Lodge number 2045 for their generous donation of the Corona Community Services Department Vet Connect Center or program. Whereas elks are all about community, they invest in their communities through programs that help children grow up healthy, meet the needs of today's veterans, and improve the quality of life. And whereas the Corona elks is a charity organization that brings people together and creates friendships. And whereas veterans across the country are are not accessing their uh benefits and or their services to their full potential. California Public Libraries in partnership with Calvette are working on connecting veterans and their families to local resources that provide them with the support they need to access these benefits. And whereas the Corona Public Library Veterans Resource Center can be the connection vets need for help. Our skilled volunteers can help veterans in finding with finding employment, accessing health benefits, and buying a home and other needs. So, this is also presented uh on behalf of the entire city council. Would you like to say a few words?

If you don't mind, I don't mind. Thank you. Uh my name is Patrick McDall of Corona. I'm currently the exalted ruler for Lodge 2045. Um and uh Mr. Mayor and honorable members of the council. Um some of you may know and some may not know that that our uh one of our slogans is Elks Care, Elks Share. And part of that is lifting up um veterans um especially locally. And um with me today and also is going to speak for a moment is our trustee Ron Anderson who helped secure the funds that we're going to be donating today.

Thank you for having us here, folks. A quick word about the Elks. We're a community-based organization. Uh we do the best we can for to make this community better. Veterans are are the top top of our agenda. Uh thanks to Elks National Foundation in Chicago, every year I write grants looking for money, begging, praying, hoping. We've been lucky. Over the last several years, we've been securing up to this year $20,000. We raised through Elks National for grants. This is one of the projects we have. Uh we have several here in Corona and Riverside. Uh we have uh Vets Connect. We have Veterans Honoring Veterans. We're doing uh $10,000 worth of work with the uh March Reserve Air Force Base Village and Pantry housing 150 men, women, and children, veterans in need. So, uh stop on in Elk. We're looking for good members. Work for the community. And thank you very much for having us.

All right. Thank you. Should we get a picture? Check.

Thank you. Hello everybody.

Thank you.

Okay, last one of these. I would like to invite Mr. Les Jones to the podium to receive the recognition. And your beautiful wife Denise can come up here too if she wants to. You want to come up Denise? Come on, Denise.

How are you? I'm good. How are you? Good. Nice to see you. Thank you for having missed you today, man. Yeah, I know. All right. Are you done? I'm done.

All right. The city council of the city of Corona, California is proud to recognize and commend Lesie Les Jones on receiving the 2025 senior legacy award. Whereas Riverside County Supervisor Karen Spiegel hosted the third annual uh second district senior legacy awards on August 14th, 2025. The county of Riverside and cities of the second district honored senior senior age 65 or older. He doesn't look 65, but he is uh at the awards lunchon who have shown exemplary exemplary service through their passion for volunteerism and would be considered for the legacy award winners. And whereas Leslie Jones was nominated and received the senior legacy award. For the past three years, Leslie has de devoted every Wednesday to teaching students in Orange Grove High Orange Grove High School how to play a wide range of musical instruments, offering not only music education but also mentorship, joy, and inspiration. And whereas as a professional musician, Les brings a depth of knowledge and passion that is truly remarkable. Each week, he personally loads his truck with a variety of instruments and brings them to school, transforming classrooms into vibrant hands-on music workshops. And whereas the consistency and care Lesie brings to his work have made a lasting impression. His students look forward to his sessions, not only for the music, but also for the respect and encouragement he offers. And whereas Leslie Jones is a true member of the city of Corona and we thank him for all that he does to bring people together in the true spirit of community. And what what was kind of cool is um we met a few years ago. He had emailed the council pissed off about something and I I picked up the phone and I called him and we met for coffee. We would later meet again with Miss Casillas because he lives in district 1 and we we helped him out solved his problem. But um I learned

that you know this guy was a professional actor. He was actually a stunt double for Wesley Snipes.

He was on Beverly Hills 90210. And so we just kept talking. Then he was telling me about um some of his work with youth in the past in Los Angeles where he would he would create classes for students and teach them about theater and acting all on a volunteer basis. And then when he told me he's a musician and all these different bands and he plays at Disneyland, I said, 'Well, yeah, this, you know, it's kind of kind of cool, you know, me and Don Kendrick doing something over at Orange Grove and he goes, "Man, I'd love to join you." We're like, "Yeah, come on down." Because me and me and Don are just so so, you know, and uh so this guy brought his coolness. Uh he brought just so much great instruments because we had some stuff there, handme-down stuff, but he would bring his all his percussion and horns and saxophone. And I I can't stress this enough, he brings these kids into the circle who've never picked up an instrument. And it's only 4550 minutes a day, but by the time in about 20 minutes, he's got all of them and me and Dawn actually sounding decent. And I don't know how he does it, how he connects with these kids, but he they the best part of their week is coming and spending a few a few minutes with Mr. Jones. So, I just wanted to thank you very much in front of our community. So, thank you, sir. Did you want to say anything? Listen, I just want to say thank you to the community because um I I'm actually happy that you offered me that or brought me into it because it's the highlight of my week as well. I have a lot of things going on, but still that is the highlight of my week to watch them and to see them blossom and just to see the spark in their eyes, you know. It's it's a beautiful thing, you know. No, thank you all. Let's get a picture up.

Good job, guys. Bye, Denise.

Thanks, Lassie. What happened? All right, Miss Edwards, are there any speaker cards from the public for the proclamations or recognitions? Mayor, yes, we have one speaker card for agenda item 5.1. Okay,

Miss Maddie wants to talk about that. Um, Mayor Steiner and council members, I want to thank you so much for recognizing childhood cancer awareness. Um, my niec's son, I guess, my great my great nephew um was diag had horrible headaches about age 15 and they couldn't figure out what was going on. They finally discovered that he had glyobblasto, a very aggressive form of brain cancer. At that time, I believe he w he was 17 and he did not qualify for any of the clinical trials. When he turned 18, they said he was too young to qualify for any adult trials. Um, sorry, I've gone through cancer twice. My husband passed away from ca blood cancer in 2016 and in September of 2016. This beautiful 19-year-old passed away from glyobblasto. Um his had his whole life ahead of him. And I just want to thank you for bringing some awareness to this because it does hit home. Thank you.

Thank you, Manny. [Applause] All right, let's get into our consent calendar. All items on the listed on the consent calendar are considered to be routine matters, status reports, or documents covering previous city council action. These items listed on the consent calendar may be enacted in one motion with the concurrence of the city council. A council member or any person in attendance may request that an item be removed for further consideration. And I see uh Miss Edwards that Councilman Richens needs to recuse himself from item 6.7.

Yes, Mayor. That is correct. All right. Thank you. If the item is pulled for discussion, he'll need to leave the room, but if it's not pulled, he can remain at the dis. All right. Thank you. Would any of my colleagues like to pull any of the items for discussion? 6.7. No. No. Doy. I'm just kidding. Okay, Miss Edwards, are there any speaker cards from the public on any of these items? Mayor, yes, we have one speaker card for agenda item 6.6. 6.6. Okay. So, can I get a motion for all items except for 6.6? So, moved. Second.

Please vote. Okay. And that passes 50 6.6. We're up. Who wanted to pull that?

Good evening.

Hello. Good evening. Rory Connell, District 5. Uh, I'm just curious if any of you have actually hiked Skyline Trail and tried to cross that bridge, you know, because this agenda item is to remove toxic waste from police department. And no surprise there that, you know, there's going to be toxic waste in a 50-year-old building. So, someone didn't do their job in the planning there. But now we're going to take away 200 grand from the Skyline Bridge project in item C. Right? that you're pulling budget from the Skyline Trail Bridge bridge project to fund the toxic waste cleanup of the police department and how many years have we been waiting on that bridge, right? Skyline's a vital part of this community, it was only 500 grand that you guys have budgeted for it and you're going to pull 200 grand away and then in the and then in your agenda you don't even repay it. It just poof, 200 grand gone. So, I'm curious once again, have any of you ever hiked Skyline Trail? Have any of you tried to cross that sketchy bridge with your kid and a bicycle? Because I know people, hundreds of thousands of people do it every year. Skyline is one of the busiest trails in Corona in the Inland Empire. And right there, 6.6 item C, you guys are pulling 200 grand away from the pedestrian bridge on Skyline Trail to clean up somebody's poor planning and you're not repaying it back. So, I'm baffled that you guys would even do that. But once again, I'm not surprised because we've got $120 million for City Park, but we can take 200 grand away from Skyline Trail. It doesn't make any sense to me. Like, I really didn't want to keep coming to these meetings and picking fights, but you guys are literally trying to strip away budget from one of the most used resources that you guys have totally ignored and neglected forever. Like, that bridge should have been built as soon as you guys all got on council. Instead, we got a little cheesy bike pump and some wrenches. Come on. Is there any help here, Mr. Ellis? Like,

I'll answer you when you're done speaking. Perfect. I'm done. I would love to see that. So, the bridge is there. The bridge is there. Yeah. I walk Skyline every day. The bridge is there. It's been there for probably six weeks, eight weeks. The bridge is there. The bridge is there. Okay. It orig It originally was uh this golden thing of something that was going to cost I think it was like $600,000 and we actually did it for $5,000. So, the bridge has been there. It's great. I use it all the time. Check it out. Okay. Perfect. Answered enough. And we saved And we saved 595,000. And we're send 200 clean up as best. Hey, I'll take it. Thank you. All right. Okay. Can I get a motion on 6.6? So moved.

Please vote. And that passes 5. Okay. Communications from the public. Persons wishing to address the city council are requested to state their name and city of residence for the record. The portion of the agenda is intended for general public comment only, which means it is limited to items within the subject matter jurisdiction of the city council that are not listed on the agenda. Please note that state law prohibits the city council from discussing or taking action on items not listed on the agenda. The city council will appreciate your cooperation in keeping your comments brief. Please observe a threeminut limit for communications. Miss Edwards, are there any speaker cards from the public?

Mayor, yes, we have four speaker cards for communication from the public. Excellent. Who's going to go first? Mr. Beagani.

Good evening everyone. My name is Yusa Bagani and I'm a 26 year resident of the city of Corona. Today I'm here on behalf of Pakistan Day Corona team and the entire Pakistani American community in Corona. I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to all who made the very first Pakistan day celebration in our city such a tremendous success. First and foremost, I want to thank Mayor Jim Steiner, the entire city council members, manager Jacob Ellis, Assistant City Manager Justin Tucker for their incredible support. So, thank you. A special thanks as well to go to Donna Finch, director of Corona Community Services and event supervisor Karen Lee for working tirelessly to ensure every detail was handled so smoothly. We also deeply grateful to the Corona Police Department led by Chief Bob Newman, Left Justin Perez, Sergeant Walden as as well as Corona Fire Department and Corona North Unified School District. Without your support, with your support, we you ensure the safety and success of this historic event. So, thank you. This was the fifth Pakistan day celebration in Southern California this year. But the feedback we have received makes it makes it clear this was the best one yet. So, thank you. With Kona being home, the third largest Pakistani American population in Southern California, it was heartwarming to see our community come together to celebrate our heritage right here at home. The event even reached across the globe covered by Pakistani news channels and reported back in Pakistan itself. So that was a huge achievement that speaks volume about the sense of pride and unity this celebration inspired. Finally, many attendees have already asked about next year's event. We look forward to working with Kona with community service department and park department to explore larger venues

so we can make next year's celebration even bigger and better. Once again, thank you to each and every one of you for making this dream a reality. Together, we made the history in Corona and this is only the beginning. So, thank you guys. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thanks, guys. That was a nice event. Really nice event. Next year we're going to have to try to get it back over to Santana where it's a little bit farther from home. Okay, brother. I actually have a couple of other ideas. So, we'll discuss with Kona Community. Let's just start early. Okay. Absolutely. We starting off uh next week. Sounds good. Thank you. I'm going to take a little break and then start next week. Thank you again. Thank you very much, guys. Thank you so much.

All right. We got another speaker. Three more, I think. Anybody else? [Music] Hi, Maddie. Welcome.

Welcome back. I'm still Maddie Paxton, longtime resident of Corona. Um, before I get started, I know you're all aware of this, but this is for the people at home. I have people that stop me and tell me about issues that they want me to bring up to the council for them, like they think I have some power. only on one issue. But anyway, um what I really want to do is tell them that yeah, it's scary to come up here the first time. But of all the councils that I've been at for the past several years, you're the most understanding, and I've just want them to be brave and come on and and have them express what they need to say. That being said, what I really want to speak about is 911 Patriots Day, the absolute worst day in the United States history. Um, and we're recalling the 24th anniversary of this tragic day. As Bobby Spiegel will say, well, follow me. Um, that the Corona Chamber of Commerce does an amazing job around here. Again, I'm sure you're all aware of, but many aren't. Um, their slogan is we will never forget. And, um, he'll go into the dates um when they lay down all the 29 2,977 American flags will be placed. And if I'm I'm wrong, he can correct that. And um this is for 78 countries from all the people that perished. When I saw that the very first time, I totally freaked out. It was unbelievable to me to represent all the lives that were lost. And that doesn't even include all the women that were pregnant and some that have never been found. So there's a lot there. Um, I'm going to make this a little brief because I know he's going to add a lot to this. As you can see, this is my picture that we're being shown that happened to be on that day looking south was I believe it was the airport fire

last year and the way the smoke was and looking at the flags, I just stood there and cried because I could just picture how it was in New York at that time. And again, for me, my dad worked on Wall Street, so it kind of hit close to home. Um, this will be my third year that I get to read names of those that we know that have perished and it's an honor for me to be able to do so. Um, and there's a Corona connection for you all know we and Mayor Steiner, you probably can help fill me in that we had um Corona Fire Department sent three firefighters to the World Trade Center for recovery efforts. You're probably aware exactly who did this, but that's part of our Corona connection. And we have had the pictures of the flags. Um, two high school sweethearts, US Navy Rear Admiral Wilson Bud Flag and his wife Darlene D. Um, Ellen Embry, we're aboard the American Airlines Flight 77, which flew into the Pentagon. And for the people that aren't aware, oh, if you just go into, um, historic Civic Center, make a right and turn around, there's a beautiful tribute to them. So, um, we will never forget. Thank you.

Thank you, Maddie. Hi, Bobby.

Hello, Mr. Mayor. Thank you so much. to just conclude with what Maddie had started with. We're going to put out those flags this Tuesday night, November, I'm sorry, uh, September 9th at 4:00. And we're doing a plea to the community if they would like to come bring their children. Uh, we're going to teach flag etiquette. We're going to put the flags in alphabetical order by their last name. Um, and there's a whole process in which we're doing and that will be right at the historic civic center lawn. I want to thank the city of Corona for partnering with the Corona Chamber Foundation on this very important uh memorial. Um I was going to ask Mr. Richens if he would go ahead and do you want to share any more on Thank you.

Yeah. 911 uh it was devastating to the country but it was devastating to our city because we lost two of our citizens. So Maddie started it. It was Bud Wilson and Dar Darlene Embry Wilson. They were on the plane, the jet that hit the Pentagon. But, uh, they grew up in Corona. He was a fighter pilot. He was an airlines pilot. Um, Darlene lived on 10th Street, just not too far from here. She was on the tennis team. We have pictures of them where these flags will be from when they're in their high school days. So, not only is 911 special, but it's more special to our city because of Darlene. Bud Wilson and Darling Embry Wilson. Thank you.

Thank you, mayor, or sorry, former mayor. And our mayor this year, uh, Mr. Steiner, will be speaking as one of the uh, special guest speakers, and we appreciate you doing that. And I know that you served on the fire department, and as U Maddie had indicated, you know, there were three firefighters that went over for recovery. So, we've got a lot a lot of connections here in our community, and we just want to continue doing this. So, we set the flags up on Tuesday night. They'll remain up until Sunday at 4:00. We have people that are volunteers in groups of uh two for every four hours to kind of stand watch and also to help explain the whole um lawn full of flags to people that stop by. Thursday morning, September 11th at 5:00, we're going to assemble. 5:00 in the morning, we're going to assemble uh in front. We will have a stage and a large American flag sound system and we'll start reading the names of each and every one of those 2,977 individuals. Um that will start at 5:30. At 5 till 8, 7:55 a.m. we'll start with our official program where the mayor will address the group. So if anyone would like to attend or if they've got questions, you can uh log on to the website or hit the QR code there. Our website is coronamberfoundation.org and come and attend this free event. If people are compelled to make donations, there's a donation button on there as well. And I just want to say again to the chamber, I'm sorry, to the council and to the city, thank you so much for your partnership.

Appreciate it. Thank you, Bob.

Welcome. me again. Uh I just want to take a moment tonight to recognize a man who impact had a great impact on the city of Corona, Forest Lucas, who passed away last week. Uh Mr. Lucas passed away at the age of 80 83, but his legacy is woven into the fabric of this city. Many may not realize that Lucas Oil was born right here in Corona in 1989 and it grew into a worldwide corporation that is now based out of Indianapolis, Indiana. Beyond just business, Lucas Oil was a pillar of employment and economic growth for Corona. It provided hundreds of jobs, supported local families, and made our city known as a national on a national scale. Not only through its products, but through its motorsports media company, MAV TV, which is now Racer Network. And that all broadcasted from right here in Corona. But perhaps most importantly, Forest Lucas built a company with heart through his giving back initiatives. Lucas Oil employees contributed to causes that mattered. Supporting local kids, building playgrounds, feeding the unhoused, and backing veteran programs. That spirit of service made its way into our neighborhoods here in Corona. In a time where it feels like corporations are packing up and leaving communities behind, for Lucas is a reminder of what it means to build something with purpose rooted in people and values right here in Corona. And although they left in 2022, not due to anything because of Corona, admittedly, you know, to environmental impacts and regulations in California, I hope that this city can take the time to recognize Forest Lucas and Lucas Oil and the impact it had on this community. Thank you.

Thank you. I had not heard that Mr. Lucas passed, so thank you for letting us know that. Bless his family. And we will close tonight's meeting in his memory. Was there any other speakers? Okay. Make a note of that so I don't forget. All right. Then we're going to move on to public hearings. Right. Let me see. Yeah. Okay. 8.1 is a zone text amendment 25 2025-00001 amending title 17 zoning code of the Crona municipal municipal code to establish regulations for feather flags and amend the review process for projects that require architectural review board and conditional use permit approval. Does any council member want a staff report?

Okay, public hearing is now open. Miss Edwards, has the city clerk's office received correspondence or any speaker cards from the public regarding this item? Mayor, we received one speaker card for this item.

Okay, come on down, Mr. Morgan. [Music] Good evening. Uh, I just want to I want to thank Wes and I think you were the you were the one kind of driving this feather flag deal and you know, he's like, "Yeah, maybe maybe possibly maybe had something to do with it." So, I just want to thank you for that and because they're they're kind of out of, you know, there's people are using them for things that they're not supposed to be used for. You know, they're using them to kind of supplement the existing signage and so they're out a lot and it just trashes up the city. So, and it's it's also nice that they have to be kept in in uh in good condition, too. So, so it'll be nice to see that change. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Any other speakers? Edwards. We're good, mayor. We do not have any additional speakers. All right, the public hearing is now closed. Any questions or comments for my colleagues? Wes, would you like to make a motion? So moved. Second. Mayor, the motion needs to be read. Oh, there you go, Wes. And you like to talk, so it's perfect.

All good. Introduced by title only and wave full reading of consideration of ordinance number 3420. First reading of the ordinance amending section 17.74.030 17.74 080 and 17.100.020 020 of title 17 zoning of the Coronal Municipal Code to establish regulations for feather flags and to amend review process for projects requiring a conditional use permit and architectural review board approvals ZTA 2025-00001. All right,

I'll second. Please vote. Every vote. Council member Dario.

There we go. Okay. 41. And let's see. Going on to 8.2. This is a hearing to consider Reszo 2025-094 to amend Reso 2020-043 declaring necessity to acquire by eminent domain extended and modified property interest in 151 to 1951 to 195 North McKinley and 2275 Samson APN's 172-420-002 003 004 and 005 for the McKinley GS grade separation project the public hearing I think it's now open. This is a hearing on proposed resolution to amend resolution 2020-043 to declare the necessity to acquire biominant domain the modified and extended temporary construction easements interest and the new intermittent parking area and impaired impaired irrigation area interest certain real property located at 151 195 North McKinley Street in 202075 2275 Samson Avenue Coron Riverside County, California for the construction and maintenance of the McKinley grade separation project. I call upon the city's legal council, David Skinner of Meyers Knife Nave, to explain the nature and scope of the hearing. Good evening, Mayor Steiner and members of the council. Uh my name is David Skinner. I'm the city's outside eminent domain council on an eminent domain case entitled city of Corona versus Circa Trova Restaurant Group Holdings, Inc. The purpose of this hearing this evening is to ask the city council to consider adopting an amended resolution of necessity regarding this current eminent domain action. Back on June the 3, 2020,

the city council adopted a resolution of necessity to acquire certain property interests located at 151 to 195 North McKinley Street and 2275 Samson Avenue known as the Los Arcos Plaza and M McKinley Executive Plaza property of about 8.09 acres in size. The city needed very various property interests for the McKinley Street Grade Separation Project. The property owner is known as CPI Properties, Inc. And after adopting the resolution in June of 2020, the city filed its complaint in eminent domain on July 24, 2020. At that time, the city anticipated, and Josh Coser, who's a project manager, can can discuss this. city anticipated needing what's called a temporary construction easement on the property for for staging and lay down and construction activities for about a 2 and a half year period from January 24 January 24, 2021 to July 24, 2023. Uh the city also estimated that the temporary construction easement area or a portion of it would be nonexclusive that the land owner would also be able to use portions of it. However, as as commonly happens with large infrastructure projects, during construction, things happen and things change. And what happened here is that during construction, the city realized that there were delays on the project and it needed the temporary construction easement for a longer period of time. Needed the temporary construction easement all the way through August 24, 2025. city also realized that a portion of the temporary construction easement that it thought was going to be non-exclusive was actually exclusive and fenced off. Um thirdly, there was a period of time where some of the construction workers

without authorization used about eight parking spaces intermittently on the on the property between July 1, 2023 and August 24, 2025. And then lastly, there was a issue where uh the irrigation system for landscaping was inadvertently severed on July 1, 2021 and needed to be replaced and was in May of this year. So, as you can appreciate, eminent domain is the power of of a public entity to acquire property uh for a public project. If we acquire property and realize we need more, we're acquiring more or using more property than we thought, then it's upon us to go back and in this case amend our complaint in eminent domain. We've asked the landowner, will you stipulate to allow us to amend the complaint so the landowner CPI can make its claim for compensation for these additional property interests? They're absolutely entitled to compensation for those additional property interests. Um, but we didn't get a yes from them. So, under the California eminent domain law, there's a provision under the code of civil procedure that says a public entity in this situation can go back and amend a resolution and say, "Okay, we need more property than we thought we were going to need." And then we seek leave of court to file a first amended complaint in eminent domain. It's as much procedural as anything. and we're in this situation because we can't get a stipulation from the land owner just to allow us to file a first amended complaint in eminent domain. Um, so we're asking the city council to adopt the amended resolution necessity so we can go and ask the court to allow us to file a first amended complaint. Timing is important because we have a trial date of October 31 of this year. Uh, CPI has indicated they to the court they want a trial continuence. The city's not

going to uh contest that. Their appraiser had a an issue and so they need more time. But right now, we have a trial date of October 31 and and we need to amend the complaint. So all of the property interests that the city is is acquiring for this project from that from that property are included in the complaint domain. Okay. Thank you. You miss Edwards. Was the notice of this hearing mailed to the affected property owners? Mayor, yes, they were. Okay. Then we have Josh Cosper of Mark Thomas. will provide a report on how the real estate interest to be acquired relate to the city's purposes.

Thank you all. Uh as Mr. Skinner identified, he actually went through the additional requirements of the temporary construction easement, the intermittent parking and the landscape uh severance easements uh included in this. Um throughout construction of the project, it became evident that we needed to extend the TCE and add the terms in also account for the additional parking that was discussed about and uh as we determined that during the demolition of the outback property uh capping that water line, capped a portion of the irrigation and so it became evident towards the latter end of last year and was fixed around middle of this year um to to resolve that. So these were all needed for the project. um thoroughly explained by Mr. Skinner. He asked us to put a summary report together uh to to really dial in the terms and that became kind of the basis of what uh was attached to this resolution of necessity.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Coser. Miss Edwards, did we receive written objections or requests to be heard? Mayor, yes, we received a written objection and we also received a request to be heard. There was also emails that were sent to the council that we that would be part of the record. Okay. Thank you. All right. Um, mayor, the person that's speaking for this item is on on Zoom. Okay. So, he's ready to speak or she I Good evening, mayor. This is Michael Kho. Hi, Mike.

Uh, I am the attorney for the property owner CPI Properties, and I want to make sure everyone can hear me clearly.

Yes, sir. You sound great. All right, great. Thank you. Just a few points. I'll keep this brief. I know your city council meetings, they all tend to run long for all councils, so I'll try to get to the point. The property rights that the city required for this project were greater than what were originally included in the resolution necessity. The property rights that are described in the current resolution do not describe all the rights that have actually been taken. The city's known for quite some time, actually a period of years, that its construction has gone beyond the scope of the originally authorized resolution. More area has been taken, more rights have been used, and the rights taken have been used longer than originally authorized. As council acknowledged, the city needs to and is absolutely obligated to compensate the property owner for all the rights that have been taken. And that includes rights that are greater than are even identified in this resolution of necessity. and we did submit a letter in that regard. The city provided an amended offer with regard to some of the rights that have been taken. That offer is insufficient because it doesn't address the full scope of the rights taking that have occurred. And to be very clear, this isn't a case where city council is approving a resolution to look at a future taking of what is needed. The taking has already occurred and it's been ongoing. As a result, the property owner has appropriately sought to assert its right to compensation in the case and did so in the case uh almost a year ago and is

entitled to be compensated for having to defend itself when there was no authorizing resolution for the additional takings. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Okay. Next, uh persons with an interest in the property who wish to be heard, please come to the podium. This is someone with a property interest. Anybody? Okay. Seeing none. Now any members of the public who wish to be heard, please come to the podium. Welcome this project. You to hear the to hear the attorney be so dismissive about the whole thing. Well, you know, things happen. things happen. That's that's how this city that's how this city regards private property rights. It's funny. It's I I hear uh Mr. Dario, you know, when you're going going on, you're quite passionate about Canal and they can do whatever they want with the railroad, you know, with the depo and all that kind of stuff. You seem real real concerned about it. I wonder how concerned you are about somebody literally stealing a third of a shopping center and not paying for it and then lowballing the property owners. How do you feel about that? It seems like that might be something you might be fired up about. And then and then when they get caught, the city gets caught taking things and and using property that they don't have a right to, attorneys like, well, you know, things happen. Oopsie. You know, you know, who knows that there's a, you know, traffic can't get through or that traffic is being, you know, going through a shopping center. You know, I mean, I I would think you'd be fired up about that. You know, I was down there today and it's it's worse than I thought. I mean, the the told you so was strong at this one. I told you this was the wrong bridge. This is the wrong project. You were going to hurt people.

And you have you've hurt that whole area. And as we were talking this morning, you guys have spent more time discussing the shade of that bridge than you have about the damage and the people that you put out of work and the people that you've hurt. And when you go down there and have to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to get out of the Food for Less shopping center parking lot, when I said this is this bridge is the wrong bridge for down there. It's the wrong project. and the fact that there's now more damage than what was originally foreseen. I I would think that of of the five of you, I would think you'd be fired up about it. It seems like you guys just don't give a about it unless you're doing it. Unless it's your stuff. That's the way it seems. You know, you when you built a ramp around Popeye's, you should be embarrassed. you should be ashamed that you did that. And the whole thing was started on a lie and now it's like, well, I guess we got to finish it. Screw it. You know, it's shameful. It's shameful. and then to, you know, to basically loot the shopping center, you know, peeling off peeling off the tenants and reducing the value, reducing the income strategically, I might add, in an effort to damage the property owners, not make them whole. That's disgusting. All right. Thank you for your comments. Any questions or comments from my colleagues? Seeing none, public hearing is now closed. I have a motion. Miss Casia, we have a second.

Any seconds? Please vote.

Mine. All right, that passes. I'm a yes. But we got your vote. Yeah, my screen went blank. You got everything you need, right, Sylvia? Yes, we did. All right. Thank you. All right. Moving on to administrative reports. Uh council requested update to first amend first amended and restated school resource officer agreement with Croninor Unified School District. Police Chief Robert Newman will present this item.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Thank you for the opportunity to provide the update as requested on the June 4th meeting to come back to council and seek direction to staff on how to proceed with our uh currentou with the Croninarco Unified School District and our school resource officer program. Just to provide a a little summary on uh the June 4th council meeting was presented and approved by council on the June 4th uh with a caveat that uh a report back with some uh explanations by the district as to apparent inequities between uh agreements between the school district and their law enforcement partner agencies. Um, and just a a reminder of the main points of theou. Um, we will see increases, incremental increases for compensation raises uh throughout the five years uh with the year five seeing a $200,000 increase in total compensation by the school district to the city of Corona. Uh it will include overtime reimbursement uh over those incrementally over the five-year term as well as an increased motorpool rate. So, um, on June 18th, I myself along with Lieutenant Perez met with the executive team and superintendent of the Croninoko Unified School District and explained to them the concerns of council as well as ours uh, and ask for an explanation as to the, like I said, the impair apparent inequities between um, primarily why the city of Corona is paying 100% for school resource officers while the Norcco school uh school resource officer was 100% funded by the district and um during that June 18th meeting, you know, to be honest, it was

a the cabinet there, their executive cabinet was brand new. So, they asked for an extension just to do some research um and find out the answers. Uh so I met again with uh the superintendent um on August 18th and uh learned a few details just confirmed mostly with uh about the Norcco contract and the one thing I will say that's unusual uh with regards to the Norcco school resource officer contract. It is a gentleman's agreement there is no written contract. So, it was virtually impossible for us to research the historical, you know, factors with that contract. All I can tell you is that it is confirmed that uh the school resource officer um who is a Riverside Sheriff's Office officer or deputy um is fully funded by Kronorco Unified School District and that value is about $121,000. Um during our discussion, the superintendent pointed out that the the school district for half of a Corona police officer funding is 104,000. So nearly the same as a fully funded Riverside sheriff's deputy. Um also during our discussion, she pointed out that as she's a new superintendent, she was the business director, I'm not sure the title, but for the school district uh for some time. and she was aware that the headquarters for the unified for the dis school district is located within a building a large building current owned by the city of Norcco and the lease was a $0 lease agreement and she did not want to jeopardize that significant potential lease by renegotiating a $121,000 or $60,000 split with the uh the school resource officer agreement with Norcco.

Uh we spoke about uh the Roosevelt High School uh SRO agreement. Um as you may or may not know, Roosevelt is an extremely large campus with approximately 4,500 students. It's a split campus with a STEM uh academy attached to the campus. Uh for that reason, the district and Eastfail entered into agreement where the district would cover a 50/50 split of one school resource officer and at the district's request for the safety due to the the population, the student and faculty population, a second resource officer was requested and agreed by the district to be funded for 100%. Those two uh deputies for that high school is approximately $180,000. Once again, our fully funded um officer at in fiscal year 2026 is about $104,000. At the end of this contract that was approved on June 4th, if it continues, that funding for a 5050 split for one Corona police officer will be approximately $140,000. uh kind of went already already went over theou um something I think that is uh important and it was a good faith effort by the district and something that I will send a shout out to Lieutenant Perez. He noticed and he realized that we did not have a written agreement with the school district for special event coverage which was an overtime uh compensation package. It was just always agreed upon that it would be a 50-50 split uh no contract. So we hearing council's concerns with uh the apparent disparities approached the

district with a anou that would require the the school district to reimburse all of our overtime expenses for anything outside of normal SRO coverage uh for sporting events, graduations, whatever the case may be to 100% reimbursement. this uh agreed upon, which I'm happy to report the school board approved last night, uh will bring the city of Crona an additional $140,000 approximately per year in revenue. And finally, I just want to point out that um the school resource officer agreements uh for each city between their, you know, respective law enforcement agencies between the district or various districts, they're very unique and each city kind of has their own historical reasons why uh those districts are in place. in speaking with a long time um the security adviser for the district for over 20 plus years, he mentioned to me that the city of Corona police department managed the crossing guard program. When I became an officer here, we oversaw uh all the crossing guards for the city of Corona for the schools. It was the Corona Police Department that approached the Krona Unified School District at that time to ask for help because we did we wanted to relieve our resources from having to employ the crossing guards and we asked for the school district to be the employers for those school crossing guards and the police department would agree to a 50/50 cost sharing um of those crossing guard programs. That was 20 plus years ago. At that time it was also agreed upon that that was a reason why our 5050 cost sharing would remain in place with the Corona Police Department and the Corona Unified School District because the district incurred an additional cost with the crossing bar program along with some um management responsibilities.

So with that I'm here to answer any questions and ask that uh council provide staff with direction on how we proceed with theou with the school district. Thank you very chief appreciate it. Miss Edwards, there any speaker cards from the public? Mayor, we do not have any speaker cards for this item. Thank you. Any questions or comments from my colleagues? Go ahead, Tony.

Thank you, Mayor. I brought this several times. Um, appreciate the chief and Lieutenant Perez for sitting with the uh the school district to get some answers on some of this and and I'm certainly glad that we are no longer uh we're moving away from handshake agreements because those uh put us in a bad position like the terms of this contract. So, it is pretty obvious to me that, you know, the city of Corona for years and or decades the residents have been receiving the short end of the enforcement stick because of the all of the additional events. Looks like we're, you know, they're uh they're hoping to do, you know, employ the same tactic of not rocking the boat by getting us by giving us a little bit of of of uh payback for overtime for events and so on and so forth to hopefully distract us from the big apple, which is the fact that we are, you know, uh, you know, we are subsidizing their enforcement on our on our school campuses to the tune of 50%. It's not a fair split. Um, I know that, you know, against my better wishes that we we passed this uh resol or this amendment um back in June that and with the understanding that we would bring this back. And if I understand correctly that we can give a 60-day notice and we could renegotiate this. I would like to um if there if anybody else has something to say, I have a motion that I would like to bring back to um further this discussion. But um if anybody else has something that they wanted to say,

anybody? Um I I don't want to repeat anything I said the last time. I I see value in this and I think frankly without a without officers on campus we would be there every day anyway and getting no getting nothing. Uh, I don't want to repeat what I said before, but I get what you're saying and I appreciate bringing up to to, you know, unearth the extra at least $140,000. Um, but I do see value in this and uh from not just a you know an enforcement, it is still in the city of Corona even though it is part of the district's property and um I'm I'm still in favor of of proceeding. Anything Tom Jackie?

Likewise, same as last time. um that the value goes beyond just the presence of our officers there. And I agree with you, it's important for us to memorialize. Um but I think what came out of this process is also recognizing that every city is is a different and they've got, you know, I didn't realize the agreement that they had with the with the building and that's a really big deal. So, um anyhow, I appreciate the work that's done and I don't see an issue with this program. So, yeah, I feel the same way. I I very supportive of having our officers in our high schools and I think 50/50 is reasonable. So, um you can certainly make a motion, but um go ahead, make your motion. Yeah,

it's it's actually my duty to make a motion. You know, I u I can appreciate what everybody is saying. I I don't understand where this got off the rails as far as me asking for officers not to be in our our schools. I'm asking for the school district to pay for our officers. Corona PD officers are not discount officers and that's what they're doing to us right now. So my motion is to renegotiate with Corona Unified School District to full compensation for our police officers in the schools. We are not a discount police department. Thank you. Is there a second? Seeing no second. That motion dies. Do I have another motion? We need a motion here.

Do we need a motion? No. Okay. So, you got you got three. At least three. All right. Moving on to legislative matters. There are none. Library trustees, none. Planning commission, none. Parks and direct, none. Regional meetings. Oh, for me. Riverside Transit Agency from August 28th. There's a few things, but I don't think you're going to really care about any of them except maybe this one. 16 bus stop locations will receive site improvements, including shelters, benches, and trash cans in various locations in western Riverside County. Board of Directors awarded this uh project to CT&T Concrete Paving Inc. That completes my update. Miss Edwards, are there any speaker cards on that incredible update I just gave? Mayor, we do not have any speaker cards for your incredible update.

Oh, thank you. At least you thought it was incredible. Uh city attorney's reports, Mr. Derlith. Uh no reports. City manage reports. Mr. Ellis,

just a quick comment. Um, the city of Corona utilities department in collaboration with Riverside County Department of Waste Resources will be hosting the fall 2025 household hazardous waste collection event on Saturday, September 13th and Sunday, September 14th from 9:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. And uh, this is always a popular event. Provides an opportunity for our residents to be able to have a safe and convenient way to dispose of household hazardous waste materials. So, just wanted to get that out there to make sure folks are aware. Can we rename that the Dario hazardous material drop off day?

I don't know how hazardous material materializes in my house. I go every year and I swear I go through everything to dispose of it properly. But then when this comes up, I realize there's more paint. There is somebody that is going to my house and dropping off this place. And I have no idea how this happens.

It's me. It's me. Thank you for uh the city manager for answering my one of my many emails. Um but the one of them I I've been pretty active on social media talking about uh solicitors and how I had a pretty negative solicitor uh through our records that we do have an ordinance that limits that. We're going to come back and maybe make a couple tweaks to it. And I had a resident and I was trying to find the guy's name and I spaced on it and I I wanted to say it out loud, but I will try and give him a shout out at some point. He asked me how many how many solicitors permits are issued in the city. You know, I think he asked how many this year and I asked the question how many period and the answer was one. So technically if you have a no solicitor sign on your door, no one is supposed to knock on your door period. Even if they have a sign or not and else get out of our city unless you go through the process to get approved to be a solicitor. So thank you. Thank you to staff for for opening the door or ask for their information and send it into code enforcement and we'll make something happen. So I appreciate it. Thank you. Anybody else?

I'm excited for the toxic waste. Just want to remind everybody that the weekly toxic waste dump is at the council member Dario's house. I just want to acknowledge uh Lucas Oil and and the Lucas family um just for being incredible closing in memory of Forest Lucas. Our next city council meeting is September 17th at 6 p.m. This meeting is adjourned.