Regular City Council and Housing Authority* - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. I now call to order the regular meeting of the city council and housing authority for Tuesday, April 21st, um, 2026. Now, please stand and let us sing the, uh, national anthem together as a video plays and remain standing for the pledge of allegiance. Say by the dawn so proudly we at the twilight lasting stripes and brighter sight for We watch gall through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, that's our single yet for the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, now it's time for our moment of solemn expression. And we're very fortunate again to have from the Lighthouse Church, uh, Pastor Phil Iskkins, our friend. Pastor Phil, God bless you.

Mayor Stevens, city manager Cecilia, Daily Esteem, City Council. It's always a pleasure to be invited to participate in this moment of solemn expression. You know, I've been at the Lighthouse now for 16 years. Things things go by pretty fast, don't they? And as part of the faith-based clergy in our community, I appreciate your support as I recognize what is posted above the city council chambers. In God we trust. The book of Proverbs or the book of wisdom as it is often referred to says this in chapter 21 verse two. A person may think their own ways are right, but the Lord weighs the heart. The late Timothy Keller and former Presbyterian pastor gives insight on this verse. We think we can determine what is right, just, and true. But humans do not define what is right or wrong. God does. We live in a time when we are told no one has the right to tell anyone else how to live. that we can define right and wrong for ourselves. We hold to that, but in the next breath we criticize people for bigotry or greed or cruelty. True justice has only one set of scales, gods. You know, in my lifetime, I don't think there's been a more important time to pray for the leaders in this city, for the leaders of our country, for the leaders around the world, uh that they would exhibit wisdom in their decisions that affect the lives of so many people. Can we pray? Heavenly Father, we uh are excited to be here. We're excited to be in these chambers, Lord, where they mean so much to to all of us, Lord, as we sing the Star Spangled Banner and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Lord, we love this country. We pray that you would give the leaders, the clergy, the president, people around the world the wisdom to make the right decisions uh that we might have peace in our land. So, Father, we thank you for this time together, this time and this invocation and we just pray these things and we also pray for the police department and the fire department, Lord, that uh you would keep them safe. We have such a great city. We thank you for that. And we pray these things in Jesus name and everybody said, "Amen." Thank you, mayor. Thank you, pastor. Thank you so much. Okay, so Madame Clerk, would you please do the roll call?

Mr. Mayor, the record will reflect that all council is present except for council member Reynolds. Oh, she's here. All right. Everybody's here. Great. The record will so reflect. U city attorney, do you have a closed session report?

Uh yes, I do, Mr. Mayor. Um on the first item of the closed session agenda, conference with legal counsel existing litigation. Uh the council considered uh six settlements in the national oip opioid um litigation uh with Associated Pharmacies Inc. JM Smith Corporation, Louisiana Wholesale Drug Company Inc., Dixon Company, North Carolina Mutual Wholesale Drug Company, and United Natural Foods Inc. Uh on motion by uh Mayor Prom Chavez, seconded by Mayor Stevens, the council uh approved Costa Mesa's participation in those settlements on a six to zero vote with council member Reynolds absson and in addition authorized the city manager uh to uh approve further uh settlements with additional defendants as they may come. And that is all I have. Thank you. Thank Thank you, Miss Hall Barlo. Okay, so we don't have any presentations um tonight. And uh but we do we do it's time for the public comments now. So um public comments, you get three minutes. You can talk about anything other than what's on the agenda. For the things on the agenda, you have to wait till that item comes up. Um you get three minutes. At two minutes, you're going to hear a sound. Please start wrapping it up. your mic will cut off at three minutes. And if you're uh speaking uh English to Spanish translation, you get five minutes. You'll still hear a sound I think after one after four minutes. Uh if you're doing English to Spanish translation, make sure that to leave enough time for the translation. Uh then once we're done with the folks in the um chambers, same rules apply to the people on Zoom and we'll call on

them second. So with that, who wants to speak to the council first at public comments?

It's good to to line up on either side. It makes it quicker, but um it's up to you. I didn't really want to speak first, but Hi, Tim.

Uh good evening, honorable mayor and members of the city council. I haven't been in here for a while. I scribbled some notes, but uh I'm going to have to ramble here now. I think I I expected 20 people in each side. Um and I'm wasting my time right now. So, um I believe that the council is initiating uh some process of getting um hydrants installed in Fairview Park. I know it's not approved yet, but you're considering it. And um as you may or may not know, I'm very passionate about Fairview Park. years ago, I spearheaded a a group of uh citizens and uh we stopped the changed the general plan, the specific plan, and made it a passive use park. Um so I'm in love with the park. I'm not liking certain things lately. It's so overgrown. I'm afraid we're gonna have another fire in late summer, early uh fall. and I don't want us to be the next Pacific Palisades or Aladena. So, I'm hoping you'll do everything you can to stop that or at least eliminate some of the overgrowth. The overgrowth uh also has a couple of other uh negative things with it. It's a perfect hiding place for homeless uh vagrants, criminals, and just normal teenagers that are doing things there that they can't dream of doing at home. And all of those lead to problems. I My wife and I walk in the park all the time or ride bikes. I refuse to let her walk by herself in the lower part of the park. I know it's a problem waiting to happen. last well April 12th, Sunday night uh about 8:30, 8:45 at night, we hear this

screaming from a woman that is not acting normal. We couldn't figure out if she was on the raised burm on uh on each side of the uh county flood control channel, but I called the police twice. I never saw anybody show up. She actually was starting lighting things. She yelled horrible things. My wife was terrified because she was gonna come over and burn our house down. That shouldn't happen. Not in Costa Mesa. Um the other thing, a big concern, the ebikes. We're We have less fewer trails and more ebikes. And we need more trails and less ebikes. I think if I said that right, somebody's going to get run over and killed. They are mocking the police. They go up and jump on those hills. there. Every time I tell him you're not supposed to be here, I get fbombed by him. And if a policeman comes, a park ranger, they just have fun waiting till he gets nearby and then they take off. We should lock up their bikes, do something, impound them. Once a few of those kids get uh uh their bike impounded and their parents have to come.

Thank you very much. Thanks, Tim. Sorry, I ran over. It's all good.

Yes, ma'am. Hi, good evening council members. Um, over the last several months, uh, myself and many other community members have come before the council um, regard asking the city requesting the city look into its contract with flock surveillance and either cancel or amend the storage and data policies. Um, an audit was also requested to see if there was any potential for misuse and um to review for any real or potential security breaches. At the March 3rd um council meeting, Council Member Gomero's, you read out loud the Flock, the city's audit with Flock. Um, and I just want to kind of review that with y'all real quick. Um, at the March 3rd meeting, um, Council Member Gamirez, you said that it did a review. They did a network audit confirmed no network security breaches to the data. Uh please audit of access logs and data sharing settings confirmed that users are not conducting unauthorized searches and no users none have unauthorized access to our data. Um also sharing with federal agencies is not possible based on how it's configured. there's no ability for us to share with other agencies and that data sharing is limited to sharing to the 360 agencies in the in California which are listed on the city website um and will not be shared with federal agencies system permissions and user access controls functioning as intended and there are regular audits conducted um that audit kind of misses the point um because all of this data transfers to private corporate corporate database that the city's IT and police department have zero control over. Um, Flock can search that data without the city's knowledge because a portal setting that the city controls does not control what Flock enables on their end. So, I just

wanted to mention that. Um, following the city council meeting on March 3rd, um, about three and a half weeks later, uh, CBS News released an article regarding an ex Costa Mesa Police Department officer, Robert J. Joset, who utilized the city's flock surveillance system to stalk his ex-wife, his mistress, and many others. He accessed Costa Mesa's flock surveillance system. Even after he was put on leave, uh many many months after he was put on leave, he continued to access. He plead guilty, by the way. Um, I'm just curious in this audit, um, and when y'all looked into it, was this not brought to your attention, were you aware of this? Because if you weren't aware of it, I'm I'm glad to bring it to your attention now that the city's so uh, flock surveillance system is being abused. Um, we're not safe as a community and it's wide open for this to continue to happen. So, I wanted to bring this to your attention and I hope that you will re reignite maybe a further audit and um review of

Thank you. Yes, ma'am.

Hi, my name is Rachel Godwin. I'm a longtime resident of Costa Mesa and I am also here again to ask the council to please cancel its contract with flock safety or rather flock surveillance. Um, Flock is insecure by design with how it allows agencies and individuals within those agencies to search for license plate data. Um, and it invites abuse by bad actors. Just as one example, well, to go back earlier this year, um I and other Costa Mesa residents asked you to conduct a network audit of the city's flock systems. And I appreciate the audit that was done and the report that was provided. Um you should have an article with you that I sent to the city clerk from Cal Matters. It was Is that available? No. Okay. Um short version is Cal Matters obtained a log of searches performed in May 2025 against the statewide flock database. They found that California agencies, the same agencies that have access to Costa's flock data, uh violated the law more than 100 times by searching for the federal government. And as well, sorry, my script is small here. There are also 64,000 instances in that one month of searches that only listed a vague purpose such as investigation or criminal justice. So, no case number, no warrant, no no anything. Um, and when we spoke to the council previously, the security audit is great. What we would also like is a network audit and that is in flock terms that is the log of searches in the flock

database. It lists the time, date, the agency searching and the purpose for the search. Uh it obviously we would expect information like the license plates that were searched, personal information, etc. to be redacted. Um, I think if you request even just that network audit or search log for May 2025, it will help show you what we are concerned about. Uh, so thank you very much for your time. Thank you.

Good evening, council. I'm Allison, a community organizer and lawyer from District 4. We're not asking you to solve all the world's problems. We're asking you not to use our taxpayer dollars to sub subscribe to an ecosystem of mass surveillance of innocent residents through a company with a documented record of deception built by investors with a stated political agenda that is anti-democracy. There's also no evidence that Flock makes safer. So far, 50 US cities have either canled their contracts with Flock or suspended service and that last that list has been provided to you. We appreciate the city conducting an internal network security audit. However, I'm afraid this audit does not address a major concern. The concern is that the city's data transfers to a private corporate server that the city's IT and police department have no control over. Flock can make that data queryable without the city's knowledge because network settings that the city controls does not control what Flock enables on their end. For example, Oxnard had the same setting of sharing to California only, but discovered that federal agencies searched their data anyway via Flock's back-end override. Similarly, Berkeley found that federal agencies searched the California statewide database, which included their city's data without their knowledge. What's more, Flock can switch on the nationwide search setting for a city's cameras without the city's knowledge, which happened to the city of Mountain View. These incidents are significant because they show that Flock's own technical infrastructure, not just misuse by individual users, can expose a city's data to federal access without local authorization. The deception does not stop there. Flock CEO admitted that the company had been running a secret pilot program with Border Patrol, enabling access to data without notification to cities. And this admission came after previously denying that Flock had any federal contracts. Does this sound like a trustworthy partner for community safety? The point is that the ALPR data lives indefinitely

on Flock's private corporate servers regardless of who is funding the cameras and residents have no public record rights against a private company's servers. So Flock doesn't answer to the public or to the cities, but only to its investors. Investors who include the architects of Palunteer and vocal opponents of democracy such as Peter Teal. Teal co-founded Palunteer, the the data analytics firm holding a $30 million contract with ICE. Flock data feeds directly into Palunteer's platform that serves as ICE's realtime immigration enforcement tracking system. If we want ICE out of our communities, we should not subscribe to technology that makes kidnapping more possible. These are connected, politically motivated actors who have built an integrated mass surveillance ecosystem with no oversight. and Costa Mesa is using taxpayer dollars to be part of it. Protect democracy and please cancel the flock contract. Thank you.

Thank you. Yes, ma'am.

Good evening. I just wanted to encourage the council. We have so many folks that are terming out and just wanted to kind of implore you guys to think about the next couple months, right? What is your what is your legacy on this council? What will people remember you for in 10 or 20 years or in 50 years when we have a moment of silence for you? What will people say that you did? And to think about the political ties that you've made and the the decisions that you've made and all of those things. And just really encourage you that you spend time in these next couple months thinking about what's right for Costa Mesa. Not necessarily your parties, but your people and the people that you serve. And just really wanted to encourage that. Some of you are looking for higher level positions and that's fantastic. And for those of you who are terming out, we appreciate you and just really hope that you'll make decisions in these next few months that really serve the community. And again, thinking about your legacy and what are you what are you leaving behind? What are you leaving the rest of us here in Costa Mesa with? And you're still residents, so what are you leaving for yourselves as well? Um, so I just want to encourage that. I also wanted to say thank you on a couple things. one, there was a tree that was about to fall in my house. The arborist was fantastic at responding and then we had a conversation about what's next with now the large hole. So, thank you for that. Um, I also want to thank a handful of you for your very wellthoughtout uh committee nominations. Others, we we heard the message. Um, but those of you that had nominations, we we appreciate the some of the direction that you went in. Um, and again, just thank you for all that you guys do and I hope that you continue to think about what is it that you bring to Costa Mesa and what has your last eight years meant. Thank you.

Yes, ma'am. Okay. So, I think I have to apologize. I think I'm in the wrong place, but I did receive a a message saying that you were going to read the TNR uh document today. Yeah, that Excuse me, ma'am. That that you're in the right place. Okay. Right place, wrong time. Hold on one second. So, we're going to call that up later and then you're happy to we're happy to hear you on the TNR. So, because that's on the agenda. So, if you have something to discuss that's not on the agenda, you you have the floor to do that. No, I just wanted to tell you that I was on the animal service committee se uh for seven years ago and I spent 15 months working on the TNR.

Okay, hold on one second. again. Anything other than the TNR? Do you have anything else other than that? Because that's coming up and I I want you to come back. Okay. Well, I just came to celebrate the TNR because I worked on it for 17 months. I got you. So, thank you very much. Thanks. You got it. Yes, sir.

Good evening, council. Am I starting here? Can you hear me? Okay, great. My name Oh, okay. Great. Well, good evening, council. Uh, Mayor Stevens, mayor Potim Chavez, and all members. Uh, my name is Fischer Derenion. I am an arts commissioner for the city, though I come to you not representing the commission necessar or by any means, uh, but as a private resident of district 4 and someone obviously who has the knowledge and experience of the arts commission. I wanted to raise, I think, in some sense an issue, but also a very real near-term opportunity and possibility for us in the city. Uh there has been for the last few years as a part of the arts and culture master plan and thus the arts budget $60,000 that has been allocated each year uh for temporary largecale installations that have been meant to be placed all around the city. Now the unfortunate thing is we found that large scale installations actually cost a lot more money and the hope was always to roll that money over but that never ended up happening uh as uh now former director of finance uh Miss Molina uh had told us uh at the arts commission meeting recently um because there was never clear direction from council to establish a special fund and so that money has continued to be reclaimed almost in total uh over the last few years by the general fund and and never actually have been spent uh on any uh uh public art being installed across the city. And so I think you know that we while we have this opportunity and I know the arts commission is scheduled at some point in the near future to come and talk about the future in a much more significant way. So I don't want to touch on that. I think there's a real opportunity as we look around the city and see the need for beautifification uh and and the need for public investment in our communities. And so I wanted to offer at least one solution especially as we come up here on the end of the fiscal year in a few months um and see if we might be able to utilize the $60,000 as it stands for something approximating the original intent. So as many of you know there's a excuse me a fantastic organization uh in in district 4 uh Bright Youth ran by a wonderful young gentleman named Eric

Himenez and I've been able to chat with him and he's been doing great stuff with the youth in the community and the surrounding neighborhood. Uh a and I had raised this point to him and said there is $60,000 available. I know you're passionate about the arts and art education with these students as well as opportunities to invest publicly in art. Uh and he is very keen to partner in some way or another. And I think there might be a very real opportunity either with the arts commission or separately from the council uh in uh in total to perhaps do some sort of focused contract or grant specifically to Bright Youth through their their fiscal sponsor to beautify the neighborhood to bring some murals perhaps or something of that sort to Shalomar and actually invest especially as they face you know problems with graffiti on buildings and I'm sure there might be opportunities to to partner even with the uh the landlords of the community as well to just actually get murals up and beautify that area. Uh, and so I would welcome the opportunity to uh, work with any of you, especially Mayor Prom Chavez being my council member. I think there's a real opportunity there for us to beautify the district and do some great stuff in the community. Um, but anyone who's who's interested, I'd be happy to talk with uh, or perhaps, you know, through the commission if that's more appropriate. Um, but I I hope you'll help me join help or join me in helping make Costa Mesa more beautiful one block at a time. Thank you so much.

Yes. Hi, Hi. Hi. My name is Danielle. Um, I'm here because I saw an article where um, well, one to express concern about the flock surveillance surveillance system, but also to um, acknowledge the fact that an excomos Costa Mesa police officer was plead guilty to using the flock cameras to track his mistress. And I hate to say that I told you so that this would be an issue cuz we also saw this happen in Oklahoma where another officer used it to track his wife and it just raises a lot of concerns for the safety of women. Um yeah and I just hope that it is not being brushed under the rug that we are paying attention to it. Um, I believe that the flock surveillance system is dangerous and it has already been shown that it it's it we can't trust like humans. Not humans. Sorry, I'm I'm getting nervous. I didn't really practice, but um yeah, that's it. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, I don't see anybody else coming up uh to the microphone in the chambers. So, do we have folks on Zoom that wish to speak? Oh, wait a minute. We have one one more. Brenda. Yes, sir. You have the floor.

Hello. Um, my name is Gabriel. I am permanent resident of California State and um I like this location because uh city hall around city hall we have high school, we have uh city college and we have university. I like it. And my first question next, immigration enforcement activities and board of trustes self assessment. Please can I get this information and I can get can I get this information from uh city clerk? Thank you.

Thank you sir. Now on Zoom, Cynthia McDonald, please. Cynthia, you have the floor.

Good evening. On April 7th, you voted against adopting a code of ethics. I cannot recall another decision by this body that has disappointed me more. To be clear, the city can legally operate without a local ethics code, and state law already requires ethics training. But legality is not the same as good governance. Practically speaking, this decision leaves Costa Mesa operating with fewer internal safeguards, weaker legal defenses and high conflict lawsuits, greater reliance on subjective intent instead of clear objective standards, and a higher risk that disputes escalate into public controversy or litigation rather than being resolved internally. and the current client with ongoing litigation and visible division on this deis. This decision increases the city's exposure even if it remains lawful. Some of you have suggested this policy was about you or about your friends. That framing is wrong. This policy was about protecting residents and just as importantly protecting the city's finances and institutions. First, legal defenses. Cities are often sued over wrongful termination, retaliation, harassment, and discrimination. Courts asked whether a city had clear internal standards guiding official conduct, and whether those standards were followed consistently in the ongoing lawsuit about the city manager's firing. The plaintiff argues that decision-making lack neutral standards, that professionalism expectations were undefined, and that conduct appearing retaliatory was not constrained by local policy. Second, civil rights exposure. Federal claims often hinge on whether misconduct reflects the city's custom or practice. The absence of clear policies can be used as evidence that improper behavior was foreseeable or tolerated.

Irvine and Huntington Beach have long adopted ethics codes that define civility, role clarity, and conflict standards. That contrasts matters. Third, Brown Act risk. An ethics code doesn't replace a baron act, but without one, questionable conduct isn't clearly illegal, lacks a corrective framework. Behavior becomes harder to address internally, and disputes are more likely to end up as lawsuits or public complaints. Fourth, financial risk. Insurers, auditors, underwriters, and outside counsel look at governance controls. When policies are absent, defense costs rise, and settlements become more likely. Ethics policies are not about punishment. They're about prevention. Preventing conflicts, preventing appearances of impropriy, and giving everyone clear guidance before problems occur. Your decision prefers prefers reserves legality, but it forgoes a proven risk reduction tool. The policy needs to return for consideration. Thank you.

Thank you, Cynthia. Eric, please. Eric, you have the floor. Eric. Hi everyone. Can you hear me? Yes, we can.

Hi. Um, I wanted to bring up the 60K for large scale installations that Mr. Greerian spoke about. Um on behalf of Bright Youth, we would be very excited and more than willing to take on the opportunity to utilize and discuss the 60K for future and beautiful murals uh completed by local artists in collaboration with our youth consistent arts programming and arts events um on the west side. I'd love to help the city with strengthening and furthering its mission to have more art in our city and um to help the city own its city of the arts name. Um secondly, I do have questions about uh Shalomar Park. uh expansion project regarding whether the current plan as it stands affects any existing trees and if so which trees specifically. Uh we are concerned about the removal of some of our healthy mature trees in that area and um we would just like more information or clarity on which trees will be removed. Um, and thirdly, um, as I learn about the flock surveillance contract, I would encourage the city to pull that contract. Um, and after learning more about this and hearing about this today, um, this raises serious concerns for the safety of our children, our communities, and loved ones. Thank you.

Thank you. No further speakers. All right. close public comment and then we'll go to um council member committee reports, comments, and suggestions. And the first up from district three is council member Andrea Mahar.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um first I want to start with uh I attended with the mayor this morning a lovely police department uh employee recognition breakfast. Um Lieutenant Sloki did an incredible job mceing it and it's always nice to see um those who serve us being recognized. Uh earlier this year, I had a chance to attend the police department um promotion ceremony. And so I feel like after almost eight years on council, I've been able to see people rise through the ranks, the two very different positions over time. And um always just really fun to to take time to acknowledge people who spend their lives serving us. Um on flock, look, I think there's some really good points that have been raised tonight. Um I too saw the article and was concerned about it. Um when we first rolled out Flock, it was the first of its kind. And if you going back to my comments about the police department, if you ask officers in the department, we have been able to solve crimes that we would not previously have been able to solve because of the quickness with which we get access to data, our ability to frankly solve crimes as they're in progress because we can track down where cars are. That being said, there are other technologies on the market now. Um there are technologies with very different privacy policies and very different data storage policies. And so um I'd like to ask the the police chief and the city manager to at least explore those other technologies. Maybe we can just even get a very simple comparison about what's out there right now. Um and and I think it's it's worth us taking a look um to to understand those differences per perhaps like with it support as well so we can get our heads around the data sharing agreements. Um, as for the arts budget, uh, I'm actually a little confused by the 60K and so I certainly don't want any organizations to get excited about spending that money yet. Um, city manager, if we could make sure that we're talking about the arts budget, at least in maybe the midyear discussion

um, just so I can get my heads head around how we're thinking about that budget because there's that and then there's also the additional funding that's supposed to come from cannabis and I'm not clear on where that is at. Um, and then last but not least, sort of plea to my colleagues up here. Um, I was a little bit stunned by the ethics vote. Um, clearly I I didn't read the room. If there is any appetite um from any of my colleagues to bring back any version of that, I would be open to it um and and reagendizing it if we think we could do it differently. Thank you. Thank you. Next up from district 5 is council member Arlos Reynolds.

Yeah. Thank you. Um I'll I'll second um Council Member Mar's last two comments. Um would love to uh get an ethics policy um on the books. Um I do think there was a lot of good um guidelines in there that um would would benefit Costa Mesa to adopt. Um also agree with the recommendations regarding flock. Um when I saw the article I was very very concerned about how that data was um how someone was able to use the data and the system in that way. Um it did concern me about the information we had been given previously about um access control as well. So um I'm I'm interested in this network audit recommendation um and alternative options that give us the tools we need to address crime um without putting at risk very sensitive data. Um, regarding the question or concern related to um, overgrowth at Fairview Park, I know our interim chief was out there just last weekend um, reviewing that growth and giving some recommendations on some mowing. So, we do um, we are looking at this the schedule for um, sort of inspections of growth as well given the new fire hazard severity zone maps um, at Fairview Park and and Canyon Park. Um, regarding the the arts ideas, um, love all the arts ideas that come to us. Um, I'm looking forward to the presentation from the arts commission that I believe is scheduled for next council meeting. Um, and really want to rely on the commission as a body um to assess the variety of recommendations that we receive um because it's uh uh you know looking at a a group of recommendations as a whole and then elevating specific re recommendations as a body. I think is a more appropriate process. Um, other than that, oh, um, uh, for council and

public's awareness, I'm headed to Sacramento tomorrow, um, with transportation manager Paul Martin. I don't see him out there. Um, we are, it's the next step in our, um, collective efforts to improve safety on Newport Boulevard. Um we're going to be talking about our efforts related to um moving the needle at CALR on complete streets and trying to get a few inches further on um the list of recommendations that we had related to improving safety on Newport Boulevard. Um and then I just have a a list of thank yous. Um our staff are always very very active. There's so many things um you all are working on and I just feel like well anyways let me just get them out there. Um so Nate Robbins um gave a wonderful presentation. and I heard some really good things about um the presentation he gave to the children's leadership retreat at Grace Fellowship Church um related to the work that that we are and that government can do to support um housing and homelessness issues. So, thank you Nate for that. Um the transportation team, parks and community services team, city manager team, everyone who was involved in the crews of the loop festival, that was so fun, so much positive energy about that. That was really exciting. uh Earth Day Festival, fantastic as always. Um to our economic development and services team, um particularly Justin Arios, uh they were working on a um a small project related to one of those um cell towers shaped like a tree and um a challenging project where we actually don't as a city have much influence. Um but I was really pleased. I was not following it after um initially calling it up for review about a year ago. Um, but I got some texts from residents just saying they were really happy with how they were communicated with and treated and really happy with the final outcome of that process. So, thank you to the team who worked on that. Um, and then finally, I don't know if she's back here, but um, Sandy Munoz, who's been um, a a huge support to myself and I

think other council members. Um, just thank you always for your work um, your diligence keeping u my calendar up to date, reminding me of things. uh appreciate you and your work always. Thank you. Thank you, Arlo. I'm sorry, sir. Council member Reynolds. Um next up from district uh six is Council Member Jeff Pettis.

Thank you, Mayor. So, first I want to start off by talking about public engagement. One of the things that I that continue when I first started and continue now to be important to me is engagement from the public and the public participation in in the process here because we rely on or I I should speak for myself rely on the feedback from the constituents that I represent. So, um I I've made some attempts. I do some things like I answer every email. I try to other than ones that are a little out there, but I I do answer all constituent emails and I take texts, phone calls, but one thing that I've struggled with is is uh I've been advocating for things like town halls and that so far has been uh not something we've been able to do. So, I thought to myself, how can I do this? I said, let's bring the town hall outside. You know, uh if I could get that picture pulled up, Brenda, that would be uh great. So, what I what I've done is I'm going to once a month I've created what I call the the East Side Exchange. And this is going to be specific to my my district. And it's going to be just me and it's going to be at a different location in district six on the east side every month. And this particular day, this is the inaugural run, so it was just kind of a rough cut. Uh this is in front of Ralph's on 17th Street there. and I have no agenda other than listening to what the public has to say. Whether it be they're very upset or they're very nice. Whatever they feel like speaking to me about, I want to hear. And I actually want to try and document some some patterns. And this is just my way of inter interfacing because I know it's not everybody wants to come and spend uh their night and be here till midnight and and listen to us ramble up here. So, uh I had probably 15 or 20 people come up and at first they're like, "Are you campaigning?" like, "No, no, no, no. I've been I've been in the job for a year." And they

just they were a little perplexed as to why I was doing it. And then after I my explanations, uh, they seemed very receptive. And I heard a lot about parking. I heard a lot about, hey, how come this pothole is not fixed? And this is all the good stuff in my opinion. So that, count on that. And what I'll be doing going forward is announcing it um on my uh council Instagram page where I'm going to be in the coming uh in the coming weeks. So, please come out, say hi, and uh be nice if you can. If you don't want to be nice, I'm okay with that, too. So, that look forward to the east side exchange from my side. Uh secondly, regarding the arts thing, thank you, Fisher, for getting up here and talking about it. Arts is something that's been important to me from day one. I think it's it's uh something the city should embrace being that we are the city of the arts. And uh the the commission has made a lot of progress in how they're doing things and how they're operating and how they're organized. One of the shortcomings uh so far and I and I'm not going to speak out of turn. I just know from watching the actual meetings myself every every so often that the the finances and the way they're able to spend their money needs some working. So I'm looking forward to staff working with the arts commission and getting them the ability and the means in which uh they can actually execute on some public facing art projects. Westside I think over Emanuel's district is certainly a great idea. murals and also we have the 250 uh uh 250 year anniversary of our country coming up too. I wouldn't mind seeing some sort of uh piece out in public that uh that uh commemorated our 250th birthday in this country. Uh so please staff that's uh I'll be looking forward to that. Uh lastly or second to last the e ethics thing. Please don't make the assumption that when we voted down this ethics policy does not mean that we are unethical or unwilling to follow an ethics policy just this ethics policy. So we are going to take another swing at it. Uh get it simplified. Get something out there that's that's there were a lot

of great things in there. I'm not disparaging at all. I just had some issues with certain parts of it. So look forward to more of that. Cynthia McDonald. We just need to clean things up in my opinion and get it uh get it dialed in. and I'm looking forward to getting that going in the near future. And lastly, Sandy, I agree with what Council Member Reynolds said. If you're out there, it's been a pleasure working with you and I have a I have a I I'll I'll start getting emotional. She's been a she's been a great staff uh person at the city and her efforts are well um are well shared in appreciation by I know a lot of folks on the on the council. So, thank you. Godspeed to you and we'll be uh seeing you down the road. Thank you very much.

Okay, ne next up from District 1 is Mike, Council Member Mike Bele.

Thank you, mayor, fellow council members, members of the public. I'll start with my uh uh accolades to Sandy. You've been a great assistant and keeping my calendar and thinking my thoughts before, after me, and and Sergio, you're going to have to up your game, but uh Sandy, I wish the best for you and your future endeavors. Um couple comments. Yeah. Uh that was impressive. Council member Pettis getting out there in the public uh this weekend. My wife turned to me and said, "How come you're not doing that?" And I said, "Great." So, another thing to add to my plate. Um my one comment though on uh uh uh welcoming positive feedback and even negative feedback. If it if it gets too negative, we may have to institute law enforcement joining us on th those events. So, uh I'll be cognizant of that. Um quick comment on on the flock uh cameras. So, kind of parrot some of uh the other council members. Uh I don't think that it the the benefits of it I I still think probably greatly outweigh some of the potential for abuse uh whether actual or perceived. But I do think it's a reasonable ask uh to research, see if there's other similar type products out there uh that don't have some of the uh violation of surveillance rights or whatever. So, I'm definitely open uh to having the police department research and or city staff research to see if there are other uh um providers out there that maybe don't have some of these uh um access to to private data. Um couple shout outs to uh uh actually Sergio Sandy and public works. I had a member of the community uh with an arbor problem. seems tonight is a public works uh repairing tree issues. But there was this wonderful uh uh 100 plus year old uh constituent who had this overgrown tree that was uh uh impeding parking on

her curb. And uh I alerted uh Sandy and Sergio and and uh public works department uh over the weekend and I didn't expect anybody to get on it and uh by Monday uh they had addressed the issue and kudos to all of you for for jumping on that. Um, I also did the cruise the loop and I just wanted to comment on that a little bit. It was a uh uh uh the the traffic department and uh um Paul Martin, Breta Brett Thomas, Arles, Raja Raine all out there. I missed I I did see photos later that Mayor Stevens got out there. It was over in uh my district. Got out there on the bike. we all kind of brave uh braved some of the uh uh weather conditions in the morning. Uh but just an amazing event and might just comment on that. I know the the green paint issue in the city can sometimes be polarizing. Uh there's some people who don't want to see another swatch of green paint in the city and then there and the other extreme that some people would be happy if they never saw another car in the city. Um, but the only way to find out and get a read from the community is to put events like this on and to get people out there and get people to experience what it might be. And I was more than than glad to participate in that and to get the community feedback. And uh, so just kudos for for a great event and kudos for everybody who got out there um, on that. And final comment uh in regards to this arts uh budget that was raised tonight. I just would ask similar to my other council members to just give us some more information. Uh was there 60k a year that was supposed to be set aside and hasn't been rolled over? Um and how does that uh uh tie into the cannabis set aside? And I think I would encourage uh the the arts

committee before they come up with their presentation uh do present to us some recommendations whether it's uh uh on the assumption that there will be funds in the budget uh for for an art installation and whether uh it's this bright youth organization or or you guys batted around in your committee and come up with some recommendations of some worthy uh potential recipients. Um, but with that uh I'll pass. Um, thank you, Council Member. Next up is uh Council Member Lauren Gomero from District 2.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just have a few things I wanted to uh go over. First of all, I have some congratulations. Um, if uh anyone has heard, we had uh an officer Osborne make officer of the year for the second time in a row. And I just wanted to congratulate Officer Osborne for doing an excellent job in being recognized. Secondarily, our fire department, our probationary firefighters just completed their final exam and drills at station 4. So, I want to congratulate them and welcome to the city of Costa Mesa. Um, couple of other things. I'm just going to be very brief. I know we have a lot of things on our agenda. I don't want to take up too much time, but I just wanted to remind all the constituents that there's still time to give public feedback on the Fairview Developmental uh Fairview Developmental Center specific plan. You have until May 5th and we really want to hear from you. We really want to know what your opinions are on how you would like to see us develop this land moving forward. If you'd like to do that, you can um visit our project web page at fdcousingplan.com. And if you want to submit something, you can go to the city website and you can submit uh to Nancy Saw at 77 Fair Drive. Anything you have to say, we'd love to hear it. And then last but not least, uh at the last meeting, we had a a constituent in my district, District 2, that came up and um basically addressed us saying that there was an individual who was yielding a knife and running around in the streets and basically causing some havoc. And I just want to um thank the Costa Mesa Police Department. They actually conducted an investigation and they did identify an individual who needed some help and they are addressing the situation and hopefully bringing some peace back to

our community. Other than that, that's all I have, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Thank you, council member. Um, next we have Mayor Prom Manuel Chavez from District 4.

Thank you, Mayor Stevens. Thank you everyone for joining us today and always thanks to students from Mesa joining us for their their homework. Um one commu community update, one committee update and then three responses to public comment. Uh first community update. Uh the mayor and I had a pleasure of joining our council Dave Min here in Coast Mississippi Hall last week uh where they give us a nice generous check to our PD department and also to our uh parks and reccks department. um PD we use that money for their upcoming um Santa sleigh where they go around the community offering students a chance to meet Santa Claus and giving him free gifts while meeting officers building that trust in the community and for the and for the park department. Then I'm going to be going to our senior center to make sure they have better facilities for themselves. So I want to thank Dave Men for his effort and always supporting Costa Mesa and again happy to have those funds coming in from the federal government because like like Mel Boss would say it's our money we're paying taxes. Let's get back into our city for the community update. I had a chance to attend two FIP pack meetings. Um, I was happy I was there because they're discussing some potential upcoming ballot initiatives, particularly an update to our business license tax, which I remind folks has not been updated since before I was born and I'm 30 years old. So, um, I wish I could say it was all all great conversations. There was a member that kept rambling and going around in circles and it took two meetings to do what took for one meeting, but we will see eventually something come forward to council um with terms of somewhat of a plan. The committee could not set um rates to see us to see what we can increase which is I thought was a little disappointing. So, I did ask city manager to just do it preemptively so that when we do review these this potential ballot initiative, we do have different rates we can look at to see what techniques we want to take. Um, again, I do want to commend the committee, but unfortunately, some of them were not really interested in

giving us concrete information. Um, and finally for the three public comment responses. First on Flock, um, thank you for everyone that spoke. I had a suspicion that given the article that came out on daily pilot, this has become a more pertinent issue and I just see a few other community blogs mentioned the concerns with the flock program. Um, I have spoken with our city manager and our police chief about this and I am comfortable in asking that perhaps we should have a formal a formal presentation from the police department kind of detailing um how we use the flock program, what the benefits are, what safeguards we have because I don't want to get have a knee a jerk reaction and roll back something that has in fact done a lot of good in solving crimes. I know in my district in particular, there's a flock camera that I won't say where it's at, but it's been very very helpful for us to track down people doing bad things in Costa Mesa. And I don't want to lose that due to some some some very valid fear, but fear. So, let's look at all the numbers, all the data, and see um what the best move forward actually is. Um when it comes to Shalomar Park, uh thank you, Eric, for your questions. Um, what I will say is there will be some trees that are removed, but there'll be some trees that we plant. So, we're doing our best to follow the input of the community. Uh, they did want to have a really packed park. They wanted to have a basketball pitch, soccer pitch in the back. They wanted to have new equipment. Um, but rest assured, if we do lose trees that we replace with new trees. We're not going to have us going net negative on the trees. Um, and finally, the arts commission. I really appreciate um hearing Eric and others talk about this project, but I will be a little blunt. Um it does seem a little bit ad hoc. Um we want to have a process that's fair and and thought out and not just someone campaigning off of this this political thing. So appreciate the sentiment, but I think the way it's being done is not appropriate and let's do it through a proper committee. That's that's all for

now. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Um, really good comments by everybody, the public and the council. So, I'm glad that Tim Cromwell uh came and told us about some issues in Fair View Park, and I'm happy that uh the uh interim fire chief is looking into that, particularly the overbrush uh issue uh caught my mind and uh and so I'm glad that we're looking into that because it is going to get drier um as the you know, the spring and the summer goes on. Um, like uh, Council Member Maher said, we were at the employee uh, recognition for the police department. And you know, the police department is in a really good place. Uh, I don't want to jinx it, but um, you know, we've got more police department on staff than we've had in at least 15 years. Somebody said today 30 years. Uh, the police department just seems to reload and get very strong. We've got great command staff. uh Chief Joyce Le Point is a is a terrific leader and and her command staff and and uh if you would have been there you would have seen I think the other thing too is just the enthusiasm that you see and the pride that you see and also the um the relationship with the community. So I did express that to them how much we appreciate uh the police department and I know that I speak for myself for sure and for most uh most community members who feel that way. Um, let me get to the flock cameras in a bit. Uh, Cruise the Loop. Uh, couple council members mentioned Cruise the Loop. That was a really good event. Also, OCTA participated in that. A lot of good community involvement. A lot of booths out there, a lot of businesses over at Mesa uh, Verie Center. And one of the greatest things that came out of it and I was there last Sunday is every Sunday now from 10 to 1 at Mesaverie Center they're doing a farmers market. So

that's going to be the thing that started at Cruise Deloop and it's going to be going on indefinitely. Then I think the ne was the very next weekend we had Earth Day um last weekend on on Saturday and that was a great event too. So, thank you for uh the public works department, the parks department, the city manager department, everybody that was involved in that. Um, and everybody who manned booths and came out and supported Earth Day. We're planting, which some people talked about planting trees. Uh, we're planting 250 trees in honor of it being a 250 years of the United States of America. Now, could you put up that photo of Council Member Pettis? I just want to put say something about a couple things about the photo. First of all, I want to say while we're putting up the photo, let me put it up there. Um, how I do admire Council Member Pettis for for doing this and getting out in the community. Uh, there's a couple things I notice about this photo. One of it is the easy upup's pretty sad if I'm being honest. And and so I I'm going to take this opportunity. I don't think it's going to blow the budget because almost every other department in the city of Costa Mesa, the parks department, the PD, the fire department, the public works department has an easy up. What I'd like to see is a city council easy up. And you have it. Okay. Well, if you have it, please get it over to council member Pettis. He needs he needs an easy ask, but if you're offering

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The other thing I noticed is, if I'm not mistaken, in his little lawn chair there, there's two spots by the lawn chair. If you ever want anybody to come with you and take the negative comments, council member, just give me a text and I'll be over there. You got a reputation uphold, mayor, but thank you, Dr. Governor.

Okay, good. I never knew we had an easy up. That's wonderful. Um, regarding the flock, um, I'm I'm I'm I'm of the same mind as I think most council members that I've heard so far, which is to say there are many, many good things about the flock system. It's solved a lot of crimes. It's made us a safer place in general, not just in the United States. Sorry, in Costa Mesa, but in the United States of America, crime is down. And in large part, crimes down, not just because of flock, but because of Ring cameras and things of that nature that um uh you know, make sure that the bad people that are doing bad things know that they're on camera. So, I think it's beneficial for crime fighting. I'm intrigued though about what Council Member Maher said in terms of if there are uh uh products that provide that level of public safety and appropriate um surveillance that helps us solve crimes and deter crimes but don't have the tradeoff of uh concerns about privacy and the misuse of the information. I would be interested in hearing about that. But for now, I mean, I think until we have that presentation and I can come to that uh determination, I I do think that there's really good things that the flock cameras do do and and I guess not without tradeoffs. Um the the money that Dave Min provided, thank you very much. that was in part for a real time crime center that the um PD is working on and it's not it's not going to get there when I'm on uh the DES I'll be gone but I'm I'm happy to know that getting back to the PD and how it just builds and builds on itself the highest level of technology of somewhere before somebody said a moment of silence

some sometime before somebody says a moment of silence for me we will have a real time crime crime center and it will be a better or as good a real-time crime center as there is at the sheriff's and I'm just happy that the police department feels that they can have these types of reach goals and they're supported by the council. So, thank you to the council, city management, and especially to PD for being so ambitious in that regard. And finally, Sandy, what am I going to do without you? Um, I don't know who's going to text me first thing in the morning to tell me I'm late for a meeting, but um, thank you Sandy for all the work that you've done and we're going to really miss you. But as Sting said, if you love someone, set them free. So Sandy, I'm not going to sing it. I'm not going to sing it. Okay. Uh, that's all I have. Um, city manager Gallardo Daly, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. Good evening, everyone. I want to first start as soon as we get the presentation up. Okay. I want to first start by providing an update on the contributions the city made to support legal services and assistance to those in need. In September, the city council voted to provide two $50,000 donations to two local nonprofits, Redemption Churches Enough for All and Someone Cares Soup Kitchen, both to assist local families, especially those affected by federal enforcement activity. According to Pastor Christini Nol of Redemption Church through the Enough for All Fund, they were able to disperse more than $148,000, which includes the $50,000 city donation. That money has gone out to 79 families who've been impacted by the deportations, detainment, or loss of work because of the recent recent immigration actions. Of the 79 impacted families, 27 families were directly assisted by the city's donation. Additionally, last fall, Redemption Church collaborated with Eglesia Harbor and Resilience OC to host a lament prayer service for the death of a neighbor in detention. Pastor Null said that they have connected families to other resources available in the community like legal services and food distribution through Costa Mesa Mutual aid and the school district. In a letter from Adam Aith, the executive director of Someone Cares Soup Kitchen, the organization used the funds to serve immigrant families, struggling households, and individuals experience experiencing housing and food

insecurity. From July of 2025 to December of 2025, Someone Cares helped support food assistance efforts for 220 families impacted by the federal immigration enforcement activities in and around Costa Mesa by making its facility available for operations and providing supplemental food. Someone Cares continues to operate a monthly distribution program for impacted families. Since January of this year, Someone Cares continues to serve approximately 60 families each month with each family receiving about 75 pounds of fresh and shelf stable food for a total of 4,500 pounds per month through its indoor farmers market program. Overall, Someone Cares provides daily meal service for approximately 250 individuals on weekdays and 225 individuals on the weekends along with food to go distributions. We thank both Redemption Church and Someone Cares for their service to Costa Mesa. Also in September of 2025, the council voted to provide $200,000 for legal defense services to Immigrant Defenders Law Center and the Public Law Center. These law firms are providing legal assistance to residents impacted by the federal enforcement activity and helping local constituents navigate the challenging immigration laws and climate. To date, these law firms have served a total of 15 community members, 10 from Immigration Law Center and five from the public law center. Okay. Now on to um something called the city manager leadership award. So each month the city manager issues an award to a city employee who has exhibited

exemplary leadership and I thought I would start sharing with the council and the public who the award winners are and their contributions to the city. Um for April I presented the award to our recreation coordinator Victoria Castillo. Victoria is here with us tonight with her mom and her fiance. um so that Victoria and her family can now hear again all the great things about her. So, I just wanted to share with everyone that Victoria was chosen because she's beloved by her co-workers and city facility users for her kind personality and her excellent customer service. She makes everybody around her, especially her staff, feel like a VIP. She's the embodiment of what we want our city staff to strive for. Victoria joined the city in 2019 and um has moved up the ranks um to her current position which is recreation coordinator overseeing facility rentals. She helped kickstart the ground the grand opening and remodel of the Norma Herzog Community Center. She took full ownership of the facility and developed many of the policies and procedures for the building's operations and hired and trained most of the community service leaders for the facility team. She continues to thrive in her facility management role. She also oversees and manages the city's teen program, which includes special events, seasonal camps, monthly excursions, and activities for the two afterchool teen centers. Victoria trains all the parks and community services departments commercial drivers and is always a team player for lastminute projects and initiatives. Victoria is a graduate of Cal State Long Beach with the bachelor's degree in health science and um as I mentioned she recently became engaged. So um Victoria is here with us tonight and I just wanted to um share this recognition with the council. We have so

many outstanding uh staff people um who care so much about this community and once a month we get together and celebrate them. So thank you CITY city manager, can we can we take a photo with Victoria? Does she want to take a photo with the council? Okay,

let's do it. Okay, good. All right. Thank you, council. Congratulations again, Victoria. So, now we're on to the Or were you were you done?

I'm done. Okay. So, uh now we're on to the uh city attorney report. Miss Hall Barlo, you have the floor.

Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um first, I just want to uh let you all know that I'm leaving tomorrow for a couple weeks of vacation. I'll be coming back uh for your next council meeting. So, uh you won't miss you won't miss me very much. Um if at all. Uh and also on the issue of the uh ethics policy, if there is an interest in um providing direction to make revisions to that, uh if council member Pettis or any other council member wants to request that it be reaggendized, uh we can do that under our code. Um, and uh, obviously I would need direction to know what those changes might look like. All right.

Thank you. Thank you. So, no. Okay. So, we're moving on to our consent calendar. Everything in the consent calendar is to be decided in one vote unless it's pulled by the an item is pulled by the um, uh, city council members or staff or members of the public. Um, so do we have anything that's been pulled, Madame Clerk? No, Mr. Mayor. Okay, then we'll just do a motion on the consent calendar. I got there first, so I'll make a motion to approve the consent calendar. Seconded by council member Maher. Let's uh call for the question.

Motion carries 70. All right, that just like that we got through the consent calendar. Well done, council. And then um now we our first item is uh public hearing item number one which is a continuance request. So could you please read that um title madam clerk?

Thank you. This is a continuation request and appeal of the planning commission's decision to uphold the economic and development services director's decision to deny a reasonable accommodation request to deviate from certain requirements of the zoning code to operate a sober living home operated by the Ohio House at 115 East Wilson Street. Mr. Mr. Mayor and City Council staff requests the public hearing be continued to June to June 16th, 2026 pursuant to the applicant's request. All right. So moved. I mean, do we need to open up the public comment now? So moved. Seconded by council member Chavez. Call for the question or mayor prom.

Motion carries 70. All right. Next is uh public hearing item number two. Madam clerk, could you please read the title?

Thank you. This is introduction and first reading of an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the city council of the city of Costa Mesa, California, adding chapter 4, trapneuter return to title three of the Costa Mesa municipal code to establish a trap neuter return program for community cats. Presentation by Lieutenant Sinski. Dan Silinski, you have the Good evening. Thank you for having me tonight. Tonight I will be uh presenting on a trap neuter return municipal code. The trapneuter return TNR program. It's nationally recognized animal management model to reduce feral cats communities. TNR consists of humane trapping, surgical sterilization, vaccination against common disease, ear tipping to identify cats that have had TNR, and return to area they were trapped. The

goals of this program would be to control and gradually reduce the number of free roaming cats in our community through sterilization. It would help reduce cat youth in Asia and lessen the impacts on animal shelters. TNR goals would also prevent spread of common disease through vaccinations. The current municipal code does not allow for any person or organization to release animals in our city, thus effectively banning TNR in Costa Mesa. That would be under CMMC 3-15 running at large. The police department in partnership with the animal services committee and input from animal advocates has developed this ordinance to legalize TNR and establish necessary oversight and safeguards. On January 20th, 2026, the animal services committee unanimously voted to support the draft ordinance that is presented before you. Some key components of this proposed ordinance would require registration which would be to register with the city and obtain approval from the animal services unit and that registration would be valid for one year. The requirements would be that TNR only for free roaming unowned and unsocialized cats. It would check cats for microchips to determine ownership, socialized cats to be adopted, sterilization, vaccination, ear tipping, and release. Another key component would also be recordeping. That would be that would include maintaining and submitting TNR logs. The data allows for assessing community populations. And there would be accountability. Violations can result in permit revocation and or citation. In summary, passing this ordinance

legalizes activity that is potentially already being done by animal advocates. It legalizes free roaming cats that have been returned to community via TNR. All TNR and neutering will be conducted by animal advocates and sponsor organizations with no financial impact to the city. Ordinance drafted with input from the community stakeholders, current TNR providers, and the animal services committee. Staff recommends that city council to introduce for first reading this ordinance adding title 3 animal regulations of the Costa Mesa Municipal Code 3-171 to establish and regulate a trap new to return TNR program for community cats within the city of Costa Mesa. And with that, if there are any questions, I'd be more than willing to answer them.

Council, do you have any questions of Lieutenant Sinski? No. Okay. We'll open it up to the public. Uh if the public wants to speak on this item, we also had already had somebody enthusiastically speak on the item. Okay. Nobody. Oh, okay. We have one member of the public. Two.

Yes. Oh, gotcha. Oh, wait a minute. Podium mic. There you go.

Thank you, mayor and council members. My name is Cara Stewart. I'm vice chair of the animal services committee. I've been on that committee for only two years and I want to say that yes, we not only wholeheartedly endorsed this and I'm a big proponent of this. Others have wrestled with this for seven years and really on behalf of them and their voices and everyone who's done so much work to create the right kind of ordinance, I really hope we can get this advanced. Um, this committee has been keenly aware of the struggles of those who are volunteering their time and their own resources in order to humanely and compassionately and ethically address the issue of these community cats or feral cats. And over the past several months, we really have um jumped back into this issue to find ways to meaningfully collaborate with our community at large, the police department, and really so many passionate neighborhood groups and individuals to get to the point that you see tonight. I really want to acknowledge them and their efforts and listen to how they actually work with these animals and the importance of it. Um, this is not only a community issue about the cats, but it really is a larger public health issue and therefore a larger public safety issue. So, this ordinance is one step in getting it right. It doesn't just allow TNR, it actually regulates it. Importantly, it creates structure and accountability as well as oversight. It requires tracking, registration, and reporting. It ensures that these cats will be sterilized, vaccinated, and identified before being returned. And importantly, it preserves the city's ability to step in when there are public health or other safety concerns. And I know that that's been addressed before as one concern of not having it. So, I'm really happy to see that the benefits certainly are

absolutely clear. And it not only reduces the number of unwanted litters, but it really decreases the shelter intake and euthanasia. While we do not have that issue here in our city, it is a real issue across the county and across the um United States. And really importantly, this program is powered by volunteers, nonprofit partners, veterary professionals, and others who have far more knowledge about actually how to do this. I do want to also thank Lieutenant Sinsky and the police department, the committee, and especially all the people and residents who have come over the past seven years to help shape this. So, I urge us to continue to advance this. Lots more work to do, but this is a beautiful first step. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Yes, ma'am. Okay. I'm also here to speak in favor of um passing this proposed TNR ordinance. Thank you, Lieutenant Sinsky, for bringing it. Sorry. Did you get some of that?

Okay. Um, and I really wanted to acknowledge uh some of the hard work that some of the animal services committee members have put in over the years. I only got involved about a year ago and um gosh, I just can't imagine the the wherewithal they've had to stick in there this long. But I'm glad to see something's actually happening. I'm one of those people that is involved in rescue and you know it's just you go back to the basics. I know we've talked about so many different things about whether the city wants to allow this or not and some people have made arguments about you know I don't want to bring up the arguments against it right now. Okay. But people have made arguments that just they don't make sense. You know we're out there we're trying to we're really helping animal control. We're helping the city because we go out there and we trap these cats. Some of them are friendly. We get them off the street. Nobody else is doing that. Some of them are sick. They might have mange or, you know, upper respiratory infections, panlucopania maybe. We treat them if we can. We pay for the medical bills ourselves. And if a cat needs to be euthanized, we do that, too. Um, so really there's really I can't think of any any reason not to allow this. It's not going to cost the city any money, you know. Um, and there are all these people who are doing it on their dime. And the only other alternatives that people argue argue for are only going to increase the population of free roaming cats rather than try and, you know, reduce it, slow it, stop it, which is what we're trying to do. So, I really urge all of you to please, you know, vote vote yes on this. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Yes.

Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Angela Minhares and I serve on the animal services committee from its inception until recently. I'm here tonight in strong support of the proposed TNR ordinance as I have been part of these discussions from the very beginning. This is a practical evidence-based solution to an existing problem in our community at no direct cost to the city. An ordinance to allow trapneuter return reduces a free roaming cat population over time, decreases nuisance uh behaviors, and improves public health through vaccination. It also allows data to be collected to better understand the scope of the issue. The alternative is what we are already experiencing, continued population growth, more kittens, and ongoing strain on residents and resources. TNR does not create these conditions. It responds to conditions that already exist. I want to be very clear. This ordinance is long overdue. Based on my experience on the committee, I have a real concern that if this is delayed, it may not move forward again. TNR was repeatedly brought forward, discussed, researched, and requested by the community. However, progress stalled due to inter internal challenges and shifting priorities, not due to lack of need or public support. That context matters because it shows that delay has already cost us time and impact. And that brings me to my main point. Further delay is not neutral. It risks stopping the effort entirely. Policies like this require momentum and without it they tend to stall indefinitely. Given the history of negative perspectives around TNR that are now within advisory bodies, I do have a concern that if it doesn't move forward, it may not return in a timely or actionable way. I say that not to assign blame, but to underscore the importance of acting while the opportunity is here. At this point, the question is not whether this has been studied or discussed enough. It

has. The question is whether we are ready to act on what we already know. Respectfully urge you to move forward with this ordinance tonight. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you very much. Yes, ma'am.

Good evening. I'm here to show support for the legalization of TNR in your guys' city. I'm so happy you guys are getting to the point where you're modernizing your municipal codes by legalizing this and I'm excited to be part of it and help out in any way I can. Um, most importantly, it this is fiscally the right way to go as far as uh saving money. You guys aren't doing anything. It's all up on volunteers and other organizations and grants that we can find for this. Um, so many people have been working so hard to get this passed in your city and I'm so happy to see that we have what seems to be the right forward moving motion for this to continue. Thank you guys. Have a good night. Thank you.

Yes.

Okay. Sorry. Can you guys hear me? Okay. Okay. Um, thank you, Mayor Stevens and city council members. My name is Megan. Um, I've been a resident for Costa Mesa for the last 10 years and I just want to express as well that um, the support for the TNR program. Um, I want to thank you first for bringing forward this um, ordinance. Um, it's such a huge important step and I'm hopeful that our city will join other um, cities like Los Angeles, San Diego um, and the city of Garden Grove in recognizing that we need this program. Um it's not TNR is not just about compassion for animals but it also is a responsible um population management um with with which implemented properly stabilizes and reduces outdoor cat populations over time decreases nuance complaints and allows cats already living outside to live healthier lives. Um this also helps nonprofit rescues and private individuals who are already struggling to keep up with the cats in our community. Many of us are spending countless hours um and personal resources trying to address the problem that is outgrown or that has grown out of control um over the years. A thoughtful TNR program will not only help the cats but also supports the rescue communities um and helps to reduce animal control costs by lowering the amount of field of service calls. Um our goal as a community is simple to show Costa Mesa as a city that respects its animals commun animal communities, listens to its residents, and leads by example in humane and effective um animal management. I do however have a couple um I guess questions or concerns that I would like to bring up. Um first like for keeping records um because we don't have any clinics here that are lowcost um if we're going to other cities um my concern is how will that be addressed in it not looking like we're bringing cats from other jurisdictions into Costa Mesa if we're using resources outside Costa Mesa. Um and then uh second is addressing um the issue. I know that that's the big thing is animal abandonment. Um there have been some

anti-TNR groups that have um threatened lawsuits or things like that that it still falls under abandonment because there may be nice cats that slip through the cracks. And we do recognize that that may happen. Um but cancelelling a whole program over maybe some nice cats that may get through I think is going to be a huge detriment um to just getting rid of it altogether. Um, and then my last thing is that um, Costa Mesa has an opportunity tonight to set a lasting precedence on how uh, our city approaches animal welfare and the decision made tonight will shape policy, impact our rescue community, and affect thousands of animals for years to come. I urge you to ensure that the ordinance is strong and protected from unnecessary legal challenges and guided by leadership that supports humane modern solutions because the choice made today will define how Costa Mesa is remembered for decades. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, good evening. My name is Diane Luggo Edmonson. I have been here before for the same subject. Um, I actually wasn't ready that it was already on the books like this and I'm really happy to hear that and I just want to say thank you very much. I hope that it is pushed forward and thank you very much, Lieutenant. Thank you so much. All right. Good evening, council members. My name is Deborah Lee. I have a cat rescue and I've been up here speaking also and tonight is very positive. We're hoping it's going to move on. And I just want to say that we do um we have a choice. Repeat the cycle that has failed for decades or adopt a method that is humane, responsible, and effective. I urge you to support TNR and choose a solution that reflects both compassion and common sense. Thank you. Oh, good evening. I feel like this is such a joke at this point. So, we've been at this for eight years, right? Becca Walls was the beginning of the animal services. We've been doing this for eight years. Um, Lieutenant Zalinsky, thank you. We can both retire now. Yes. So, you know, I I think it's funny because I started this whole thing as a dog person. Um, and now I'm a cat person by by proxy, I suppose. Um, I just really appreciate that while it took a little longer than we had hoped that we're finally here. And I don't know about you guys, but I'm I'm tired. I want to come and talk about bikes and trees and not cats. So, um, I just really ask that you guys push this forward. I know you got to do another reading. I know it's been a long haul. Um, I've harassed all of you in some form or another. Thank you for your tolerance on that, Lieutenant Zalinsky. We haven't always agreed, but hey, we were in it together and uh the learning curve there was a good one and so I really do appreciate you and all the PD and all the extra overtime and time that

you guys spent on this and willing to put up with us. So, thank you guys. Um, one comment that Megan made that I think is really important is that monitoring so it's not cats from other cities. I think an important piece on the tracking is where the cats were found and that's really the best that we can do on that because Costa Mesa doesn't have any of those lowcost vet things. Um, but by doing the TNR ordinance, this will open up opportunity where other nonprofits now can legally come into Costa Mesa and do like spay days and things like that. And I think this ties really nicely with our community events like on Earth Day, you can have a spay day van come out and do spays and neuters and things like that. And so it really ties in nicely with some of the other things you could do. Your your walk the loop and get neutered kind of fun, right? So, um I think it really brings up Hey, I could go all night. I'm I'm I'm exhausted on this TNR nonsense. But anyway, so I I just I really appreciate everybody. Um it's it's been a long time coming. I know, you know, for for those of you that are terming out, um, this is part of your legacy and I appreciate you guys and and I've been here as long as you guys from those 3:00 a.m. meetings. Um, so I just really hope that this is a chapter that we can close tightly for all of you for the council going forward and the council who, you know, as a piece of your legacy as small as it might feel. Um, as others said, how we value our animals also speaks a lot about our community. So, um, I'd also like to profess that, um, as a dog person, I have agreed when this passes, I will be getting a cat tattoo. So, should any of you like to come and be a part of that, it will have an ear tip. So, thank you all. My comment's going to be short and sweet. Now is the time. We've been at this for eight years. You've got a costbenefits ratio. You've got no cost, all benefits, and volunteers that are

ready to pick up the slack. What could be negative about that? And the only thing that's going to benefit is our city, the animals, and the reputation of Costa Mesa. So now is the time for TNR. Now. Thank you. Anybody on Zoom? No, Mr. Mayor. Close public comment. Okay, I'll make a motion to approve this uh staff recommendation. Second.

Second by uh Mayor Prom Chavez. Yeah, I think that this turned out really very well and there was a lot of uh deliberations by the animal services committee. Thank you. Going all the way back. I think for the most part with a a couple years maybe one or two years off I've been the liaison to that and we've gone through a lot of stuff um and this has been on the table and discussed for a long time. So thank you to the folks that are currently on that committee and previously on the committee who studied this. Thank you also of course to the PD and especially Lieutenant Sinsky who who who became a B expert and then then a cat TNR expert and now you're ready to not be an expert anymore, right? Okay. Anyway, uh council, I just hope you vote for this. I think it's as as uh Miss Spedoni said, it's all upside for the city and uh it's very well put and uh I think it's going to make it better for the cat population. It's very compassionate and uh and and at a at no virtually no cost, no direct cost at least. So, I think it's a really good recommendation and I appreciate it.

Thank you, Mayor Stevens, and thank you staff and mainly the volunteers and residents that really advocated for this. Um, it's you're you're right. Throughout my eight years on council, we've heard a lot about the trap and neuter program and having had to deal with cats in my district and mobile home parks. Um, I see the value in this. Um, and I'm just happy we got here and it just goes to show that sometimes the government it takes a while but it does get there. Um, along with persistence and a constant moving forward. So, congrats to you guys. It's a great policy. Be great for our city and happy to support it. Council, anybody want to be heard yet? Yes. Uh, Council Member Gomez.

So, I just want to uh make an announcement now that we're getting this passed through. Um, this evening I spoke with Lisa Price with Priceless Pets. Um, Lisa Price is offering to neuter anyone's cat that brings them in for $100. So, if anyone would like to do that, she has given me permission to make this announcement. So, I thought I would take this opportunity to do that. And um I'm making this statement on Lisa's behalf as she's requested. So if anyone wants to utilize that, go to their website, Price's Pet Rescue. They're right here on Newport Boulevard if you want to go and speak with someone there and she'll be happy to facilitate that.

Thank you, council member. Anybody else? All right, let's call for the question. Motion carries 70. Thank you for those votes, council. Um, now we're on to old business item number one. Madame Clerk, could you please read the title? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This is adoption of an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the city council of the city of Costa Mesa, California, amending chapter 3 of title 15 of the Costa Mesa Municipal Code relating to drainage. Presentation by Mr. Yang, city engineer.

Mr. Yang, you've got the floor whenever your mic works.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, uh, good evening, Mr. Mayor and honorable members of the city council. Uh, my name is Sunyang and I'm your city engineer. So tonight is basically is the second reading of the adoption of the ordinance amending chapter 3 of title 15 of the Costa Mesa municipal code relating to public works drainage. So a little recap back on April 7th uh city council meeting which was the prior council meeting. The city council took uh the following actions. It adopted the 2026 storm drainage impact fee nexus steady storm drain capital improvement plan. Uh in addition, it adopted resolution number 2026-14 for the updated development of impact fees with respect to storm drainage. And lastly, it authorized staff to implement the updated fees within 60 days. Uh in addition, uh council member Maher introduced a motion which was approved by city council to direct staff to revise a drainage ordinance with the following revisions which was to add option C that allows for a fee adjustment based on substantial showing of evidence that demonstrates uh impacts of increasing site permeability and design features as permeable surfaces, bioells and other storm water infiltration features. Uh the the option C fee adjustments that shall be reviewed and approved by our public works director. Uh in addition to that, council directed staff to revise the drainage ordinance with the following revisions which is as as you see before you section 15-75 appeals within paragraph B. Uh council shall consider appeals submitted pursuant to subsections A and AA and AB at a public meeting to be held within 16 calendar days after an appeal has been filed. Appeals submitted pursuant to this subsection AC shall be reviewed by the by our public works director and such review shall be completed within 60 calendar days after which the appeal application has been filed. Um furthermore, city council approved a

review of the drainage fees after 3 years. So staff recommendation is that the city council adopt ordinance number 2026-05 which approves the re revisions of chapter 3 of title 15 of the Costa Mesa municipal code public works drainage and to incorporate the updated drainage impact fees to revise the administrative provisions for fee collection and and uh lastly align city code language with current state law and the city's adopted storm drainage impact fee nexus study. So that uh concludes staff's presentation. We al also have uh on Zoom our consultant Adam Marston from Harrison Associates who gave the initial presentation during our council meeting back on October 7th. I mean I'm sorry, April 7th. So um once again that concludes our presentation and staff is open to to any questions or comments.

Thank you. Any questions council? Just uh yes council member.

Yeah. Thanks, mayor. Yeah, just a question. And I know when you guys were last in front of us, council member Maher, and there was a lot of discussion on these amendments. And the issue that I recall was a as discussed, we wanted to make it easier on uh the developer if they come in and they show adequate uh um substitution if they they uh improve the permeability by by implementing some other forms that that that can offset the uh the construction out there, for lack of a better term. And I'm I see the appeal process that that if they're denied at the uh uh public works level, they can then appeal to to city council, but can you point to me in the uh u the ordinance uh where they're authorized or or or where it comes before what's the standard at the uh uh uh code level, the permitting level?

Okay, that's within our ordinance, which our consultant Adam Mar is more familiar with than I am. So, Adam, are you on the line? I am. Good evening. Yes. I'm sorry. Can you repeat the question one more time?

I'm just trying to see uh where's the decision made when the developer presents uh to the permitting uh department that they can reduce or minimize the fee before they have to appeal it to come to city council. Give me one second. I'm pulling up the actual ordinance myself and where I'm going with it, where you're looking. I just want to make sure we make it as easy as possible for the developer to to state their case uh at the permitting level. Um and then obviously if uh um they're denied at that level for whatever reason, then we'll engage in the appeal process. If I may um speak here, it's in it's in section 15-75 under appeals. It's on page eight of 10 of the ordinance. Correct.

But what I'm seeing though, that's the appeal. The developer subject to the drainage fees required by this chapter for a particular project may apply to the city council. But I was of the impression that what we were trying to solve here is avoiding having to them come from being categorically denied uh at the permitting level so that they then have to come up on appeal and state the case. I I still wanted to have that power and authority resting in the permitting office and is there is that anywhere in this ordinance? Can somebody point me to that? because the way and I quite frankly I didn't I did a a quick cursory review of this and that's what I was looking for. I just wanted to make sure that we give it at the department level the ability to make this call.

I'm sorry I've lost my screen and my ability to turn my microphone on. So could we take a five minute break so that I can take a look at it and get my screen again? Yes. Oh wow. Okay. Yes, of course. We're We're on recess. Let's recess until like um 7:55.

No, I just All right. Excuse me. Excuse me, ma'am. We're back on the record. Uh, did you have something you wanted to say?

I understand. Okay. So, just for tr for transparency, we're back on the record and uh there was a question pending by council member Buley and we spent some uh city attorney spent some time um and she made a discovery and I want you if you could share that with the public. Yeah, I I just I see an error in the language on the appeals section which I think either was a transposition error or happened somewhere between the first reading and now. So, I'm requesting that the council continue this item to the next meeting so that we can get that correct.

Okay, fair enough. Then what we'll do is you were the one that initiated the question, Council Member Buy. Is that is that satisfactory for you? Yes. Okay, good. We're going to open up the public hearing and then we're going to uh make a motion to continue it to the next city council meeting which is I believe on the 5th of May. Right. Is that Cinco de Mayo? All right. Good stuff. Okay. So, open up the public hearing. Okay. We got to keep it. Do we open it? Keep it open. I'll make a motion to continue this item until um May 5th. Second. Second. Um let's all we I guess we can call for the question.

Motion carries 70. All right. Good. Okay. Thank by the way. Thank you for raising the issue, Council Member Buy, and thank you uh for um catching this um uh uh city attorney Barlo. You know, these things happen and it's good that we got it squared away. So, next up, new business item number one. Um and madame clerk, would you please read the title? Amendment number three to extend the term of the professional services agreement with Faulk Mobile Health Corporation for ambulance services. Presentation by intram fire chief pile. Chief Pile, you got the floor.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, council members, uh, city manager. It's my pleasure tonight to bring to you um, amendment number three. I just get to presentation mode. All right. So, I bring to you tonight the Faulk Ambulance and Services uh, agreement. This is um amendment number three. And a quick background uh pursuant to California health and safety code 1797.201 also most of the time referred to as our 2011 rights has provided uh for the city of Costa Mesa uh has to be able to have contracted emergency ambulance services and we've had it consistently since 1980. Uh the city has retained all rights, remedies and privileges regarding this provision, administration and operational control of all prehosp emergency medical services, EMS within its jurisdiction, including but not limited to emergency ambulance response and patient transport services. This is what maintains our city's legal right to control this service. Uh if not, you would uh it would be deferred to LEMs or the county jurisdiction. Background for this is on July 17, 2018, the city council adopted uh and accepted the RFP proposal submitted by Care Ambulance uh now known as Faulk Mobile Health Corporation for the services for contract of 5 years for emergency ambulance operator and support services with the option to extend for up to five one additional year extensions for a total of five years. On July 18th, 2023, the city and Faulk, now new name, mobile health corporation entered into amendment number one to extend the contract for an additional one year. And then amendment number two extended the contract for two additional one years uh to July from on July to July 31st, 2026. Current service provider of Faulk

ambulance has annually met and fulfilled all contractual obligations requirements. Additionally, Faulk has exceeded all expectations and helped foster partnership has been instrumental in maintaining Costa Mesa's high quality EMS system. Uh, this agreement with them is known in the industry as the alliance model for reference. Amendment number three utilizes the fourth and fifth uh of the one-year extensions of the agreement. Extends the term of the contract to July 31st, 2028. Scope and service and terms of the contract remain unchanged from our last amendment. The term for each fiscal year is 2 mill is $2,418,439 for ambulance operator services. The remaining $91,561 for what we call surge ambulances. That is when all of our units are occupied or we have larger incidences or needs, we can call in additional ones. Uh for a total PO amount of 2,510,000 annually. Additional 10% contingency in the amount of 251,000 is available on the PO if needed and that's at the city manager's ability to exercise. Entering into this agreement to July 31st, 2028 will allow for emergency ambulance staffing to continue. It is our recommendation that the city council approve amendment number three to extend the term of the professional services for two additional years. I am available for your questions.

Thank you, chief. Any questions, council? No. Okay, we're going to open up to the public. Anybody from the public wish to speak to this item? Nobody in the chambers? Anybody on Zoom? No, Mr. Mayor. Close public comment. I'll make a motion to approve this uh staff's recommendation. Second by uh Council Member Pettis. This has been a great program for all these years. Thank you very much uh Chief Pile for your um initiative and involvement in it for all these years and uh and it's been very cooperative with Faulk. You got to be very careful in your dick diction. Faulk, right? Yes. Faulk. Faulk,

not Faulk. Anyway, thank you to the PD and thank you to Faulk for great service and all those all those operators all these years. Mr. R. Yes. Sorry. Can I just ask one quick question before we vote on this? Of course. Well, why two additional years, not just one?

When we went back with Faulk at the end of the last contract, uh we were looking for the savings for the city, the two additional years was at no additional contract cost and so we capitalized and accepted that offer to go two more years uh instead of a one year then coming back for renegotiation for potential increased costs. It's important to note that for the city, we have a 30-day uh notice that if at any time you would like to terminate the contract, it's only a 30-day notice. So, our two-year contract extension locks in our last two-year pricing, so no additional costs for the city. Uh but you always have the exercise within the contract uh to terminate should you need to.

Got it. Okay. I'll be supporting the motion. I I do want to just state that I talked to the city manager about um doing a little bit of a deep dive into your ambulance service model. Well, it's been a few years since we rolled this out. I think we hear a lot of numbers about how much is raised for the city. Um, there's obviously an administrative burden that comes with that that's not being captured by this agenda item. There's also the question of like what is the um what are the things that could be improved upon long term, right? In terms of quantities of ambulances, of ambulance operators, of other folks. Um, so yeah, I I would like I'll approve this. We need to keep this going. It's been a good model. I would really like us to step back and take a 30,000 foot view. Um, this was relatively new when I joined the council. Um, and so we have a history of performance at this point that we can look back on and draw some conclusions on. So, um, I I would like a retrospective, but we need to get this part done. Thank you.

Mayor, can I just Yes, of course. Um and I'm acknowledging that that I'm buting in front of um Pettis. Yeah. I just wanted to I I think council member Mar's comments are really great. Um if I and I I like that idea. Um I was curious also if you can add to that um give us a sense of what we ex like what what we expect the cost to jump when there is a new renegotiation. Right. So uh July 1st 2028, right? if if we're continuing, are we going to see a huge leap like we did with um uh waste management and and many of our other contracts? Um so include that in the analysis if you if you want to touch on that now. Great. Otherwise, um happy to hear that as part of that analysis and followup.

Absolutely. And your your comments about looking in deep dive is uh welcomed and look forward to uh your direction on what you're looking for and happy to provide to all of you uh that greater evaluation on the areas that you're looking for. that's not a problem. Uh to the accomment of what would our expected cost be? Uh we were very fortunate with our our partnership with Faulk that they were willing to extend for two years at no stated additional costs. Um two years ago when we did it, our cost went up $400,000 and that there are costs that we receive for them are directly in a cost recovery portion. That's how the original RFP was written. And so as their labor contract with their unions of people adjust and move, that is passed through to us during the contract negotiation parts. Once the contract is locked for these next two years, should they do contract changes within their working group, we will not see or realize any of those until we come back in 2028. Important to note in 2028 that is the last of our extension availabilities and we will be moving back towards a full large look at RFP council direction on what we our next steps would be because this is the end of the original uh contractual agreements that we can do.

Okay. Now I never gave the second an opportunity to speak. Yeah. I apologize council member Pettis. I jumped in too fast. No jump. Go ahead. Yeah. It's worth the wait, I'm sure. Okay, council member, you have the floor. I'll keep it short, man. You had big big shoes to fill and and and Chief Pal, I think you're doing a fabulous job. You have a command of the issues and good answers to the questions. And I'm going to give the floor to Council Member Mah. Thank you. You have more to say. Look, I won't be on council in 2028 when this comes back, but I think all the more reason to step back and understand all of our options. Thank you.

Yes. Okay. All right. Uh let's call for the question. Motion carries 70.

All right. And now the ultimate new business item number two. Madame clerk, could you please read the title?

Award of the 202526 citywide alley rehabilitation project. Presentation by Mr. Weiss, assistant city engineer. Good evening, mayor and members of the city council. Again, my name is Derek Whis. I'm the assistant city engineer. This item is for the award of a construction contract for the 2526 citywide alley rehabilitation project. Uh, a little background. Currently, the city owns and maintains over 130 alleys throughout Costa Mesa. And over the last 20 years or so, the city has funded improvements to over a hundred of those alleys based on a prioritization list that was developed several years ago. Okay, these next two slides um show some before and after photos of two examples of past alley improvements. This first alley is between Costa Mesa Street and 19th Street. Pictures worth a thousand words. And the second alley is near the intersection of 16th Street and Tustin Avenue. And as you can see, the projects have not only a functional benefit, but an aesthetic benefit. Kind of cleans up the alleys as well. Generally speaking, the the ali projects involve the replacement of deteriorated asphalt with conventional concrete, including the approaches where the alleys intersect the roadways. Uh the scope of the current project is to reconstruct 11 of the remaining asphalt alleys located at various locations

throughout the city. And uh upon completion of this project, only 14 alleys will be left to be reconstructed. based on the original prioritization list. Um the specific locations of the uh alleys that are included in the current project are described specifically in your staff report. On January 27th of this year, the city received 15 construction bids for this project. And after analyzing the bid, staff is recommending Calbon as the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. Calbon's had a successful track record of completing alley improvement projects for public agencies throughout Southern California in the past, including Costa Mesa. So, in summary, uh the staff recommendations are as follows. Uh we're asking the council to make a SQA finding of a categorical exemption. We're asking the council to um adopt the plan specifications for the project. We're recommending that the um apparent low bid initially submitted by uh Diamond Construction and Design be deemed as nonresponsive. Uh we're asking the council to awarded the public works agreement for the construction to the second lowest bidder Calbon in the amount of 1,131,951 and authorize an additional 10% contingency for uh any unforeseen costs associated with this project. And finally, we're asking the council to authorize the city manager and city clerk to execute the public works agreement and future amendments to the agreement. That uh concludes my presentation. I'm happy to respond to any questions.

Thank you, Mr. Whis. Um any questions by council? Council member Reynolds. Yeah. Um thank you for the presentation. Can you go back to slide number four which had um images Yeah. Um, yeah. So, uh, four, please. Okay.

So, I think, um, probably everyone in the room would agree that the after on slide four, thank you, is um, better than the before on on slide four. Um, what I also see though is a heck of a lot of concrete. And um I'm thinking about the conversation um we just touched on and had in depth at our last meeting about storm drainage. Um, and I'm wondering what we're doing here and as part of this contract to do our part in terms of creating more permeable surfaces and reducing I forget there was a word that we were all using in the last presentation um uh but creating more opportunities for water capture um or permeability in general. What is there any direction in this contract or flexibility in this contract to create um uh uh permeability whether it's through the material used or by creating more um uh I'm thinking of kind of the green alley concept right um narrowing the concrete lane um to create opportunities for like plantings on the side or at least um sort of water seepage into the ground on the side.

You want to get

Yeah. So, council memoryn, I mean the purpose of this project is basically to rehabil rehabilitate the alleys as they as you see them in terms of replacing the asphalt alleys which don't last as long to something that's more permanent in terms of the concrete alleys. The concrete alleys can last for decades and that is the first and primary proh priority of this project and this was uh made was made by the alley assessment several years back when this entire citywide project was first uh developed. So in terms of your question where in terms of permeability not specifically for this project however the design of the street is I mean not the street but the alleys are in such a way where the drainage is uh directed to the side streets and and led into the storm drain. in terms of that aspect that we improved the drainage.

That was a really fancy way of saying none. Right. I just want and and I'm not being harsh. I just want to understand, right? Because I I understand that we're focused on solving one problem. Um but we're I I worry that we're missing an opportunity to at least um uh um sort of reduce the impact of another problem we're dealing with in a very very very expensive way. Right? So, so the second part of my question was what flexibility is there in this contract to um uh build more permeability into the

um I think we were using units of football fields, right? Football fields of concrete that we're going to be adding to our city through this work. Well, the that we can look at the design and and and the issues with respect to that. Um, as far as prep preparing something that's more permeable, uh, again, it's going to be difficult because it's the surface is concrete unless we decide to we're laying that surface, right? Pardon? We're laying that surface. I mean, we're creating Yeah, we're creating Yes, we're creating the concrete concrete surface. So, the purpose is basically the concrete surface. However, creating something permeable would would mean that we have to use a different type of material.

Yeah. Council member Mammar in our in our discussion last meeting I think it was I think you had brought up permeable concrete as a as something you were had looked into. I just remember some discussion there. Um, but in addition to that, let me ask, there's there's the material used, and I have no idea if that's like much more expensive or how common that is on the market, but I'm also wondering, you know, if you look at the edges of this, um, are there opportunities to have um, sort of a a landscaped setback. Um, and so we're actually not laying as much concrete and some water could be captured. I assume there's cost savings if we're laying less concrete by having a narrower concrete alley. Um and then also creating the opportunity for some water capture and then even greening which has additional benefits right for cooling. Is that possible in this contract to just say hey you know in in in you know we're looking at these alleys in in likeund 50 to 100 yards at a time to look at opportunities to have um sort of a setback on the sides that's not concreted.

Right. Each alley is individual. We we're doing with 11 alleys. There are some alleys where there is landscaping onto the sides and that's something that we can definitely consider in doing and pursuing. Uh just to help me understand what what would we consider

just basically improving the landscaping and also providing the drainage appropriately for for that in terms of the landscaping and next next to the alley. help me understand are the designs for each of those 11 alleys already set or or help me understand the sequence of you know if we award this contract um uh how does the contractor know you know kind of the exact dimensions of of laying concrete are they laying concrete everywhere there is asphalt now essentially so essentially they're just going to follow the existing geometry of the alley and essentially is they're replacing like for like where the asphalt is removed and placing the concrete as you see.

Okay. So, if you um uh got direction tonight to look for opportunities for um uh more greenscaping, cost savings for less concrete laid, opportunities for permeability. You could look at those 11 designs and say, "Hey, here's some more opportunities. Maybe it's, you know, in units of square foot, like it's, you know, scale-wise. I'm acknowledging that it's not large." But you could look at those and say, "Hey, we can we can actually make some adjustments in a few places."

That would change the scope of the project, council member Reynolds, because the scope of the projects and is to basically construct concrete pavement alleys, which was we've done in the other previous phases. Yeah. So, the other previous phases, we're just following the same phase as we've done in in the prior ones. I appreciate that. What we've done for decades has gotten us to a $200 million storm drain master plan. Exactly. So, in order to pursue what what you're requesting, we would have to relook at the scope of the project then. Okay. Um, council member, did you have a uh am I remembering correctly that you had some some notes on permeable concrete?

I I do. I I don't think it's probably appropriate for this project, but I I would be open to bringing something back that provides some design guidelines for other alternatives, other opportunities for us to deploy more permeable solutions. Um, parking lots in particular are um, great opportunities for for permeable surfaces. Um, and actually the best local example is the uh, parking lot uh, for Backbay um, at the corner of Irvine and whatever. So,

okay. Are there any further questions? Okay, let's open up to the public. Thank you, Councilman Councilwoman Reynolds for bringing that up about permeable concrete. Um I think this alleyway um project from 2007 I guess it is I think it's one of the most successful projects the city has done back 20 years ago or so staff council decided let's do the alleyways they need improvements they need to be redone there was a inventory to all the alleys 130 plus put a plan in place 20 years later almost complete so I'm really pushing the city to do the same thing with all the capital projects. Brought it up at the about a month ago at the facilities assessment meeting, the study session you had uh build upon the assessments that the city just completed, staff um working with consultants on facilities and the parks and do a complete assessment for all capital projects. Um the city needs it. uh is and obviously I think that assessment came out with something on the average $11 million per year. Well, obviously the city can't afford that. But what can it afford? And are are we are we talking about the city needs to know is this hund00 million over the next 10 20 30 years? Is this $200 million over the next 10 20 mill you know 30 years? Don't know. And the city needs to know that I think not just from an operational standpoint for a financial standpoint.

What are the potential funds needed, money needed going out 10, 20, 30 years? Uh, one of the prior speakers on the TNR mentioned legacy. I think that would be an excellent legacy for this council. Also, four of you were termed out in November. That would be a good legacy. When you left, you left the city with a long-term capital plan. Um, it's it's definitely needed. Build upon what you've done already, but it can't be just couple council members saying, "Yeah, we want to do it." Somebody needs to be in charge of it. Staff me, you got to have a a person in charge of it on staff. Maybe you need a couple um study sessions between now and November type of thing. take a look at it. What's the status? Collaborate with the PAX Commission, active transportation committee, uh the public. Uh take a look at there's published uh information out there on doing facilities uh plans for municipalities. Take a look at that. You don't have to reinvent the wheel. Uh but I really urge this council and staff to to really do that. Do a thorough uh capital uh long-term capital plan. and uh I think would go a long way to help this the city operationally because then you can start planning it out for the next 10 20 years like you've done.

Thank you, Rob. Thanks. Thanks, Ralph. I don't see anybody else in the chambers. Anybody on Zoom? No, Mr. Mayor. Close public comment. Um Council Member Gomeros. Yeah, I'd like to make a motion to approve staff recommendation.

I'll second. You wish to be heard? Yeah, just briefly. So, um I want to thank you for your presentation and I I I will admit that the alley does look great. Um when we talk about permeability and stuff like that, one of the things we could possibly consider is maybe like a down drain or something like that where we could recapture the water in the center of the swale, a small pump station to redirect the water to plant life that was maybe already existing if any of the neighbors wanted to get involved with it would be an option that we could look at. Maybe not on these projects, but in the future, I know that concrete has to have a a long-term viability. But I think if we are going to look at recapture, the best way to do it would be with a a pre-fabricated structure that's already been put in use and already has established rules and regulations with it that we could easily implement. Um, even a solar powered pump, small pump station could capture water as it collects. So, um, that's all I have.

Thank you, Council Member. Uh yeah, I agree with uh Mr. Tabota. This is one of the mo one of the I when you have a long-term project like this. I mean, you know, I'd call it a moonshot, but it's taken twice as long to finish this project as it did to get a man on the moon. So, it's like beyond that. Um and you have to stick with it. And when you have a project like this, it's initiated in 2007. Thank you to those council members. But then it has to be green light, green light, green light, green light with all the council members to get to the point where we're at right now where we will have when we're done here uh 14 more alleys out of 130 to do. So I hope that the future council um it greenlights the rest of the alleys. It's really good. And I take that good note that uh uh Mr. Dabota made that it's a model of setting a plan and being consistent with it. Now whether we could do that in the next several months with this council to to do that for all capital improvement projects which is what he said I'm not sure we can accomplish that but I mean I'm willing to work on it but maybe with a piece of it like you mentioned facilities things like that. So anyway I appreciate the feedback uh Mr. Dabota, thank you for the motion and thank you especially to the uh public works department for all the work that they've done over the last 20 years to make this happen. Does anybody else have anything they wish to say?

I have comments.

Okay. Yeah. Council member Reynolds. Yeah, that was a um a setup that makes me a little bit um well, anyways, a great setup for me saying I'm I'm going to vote no on this and um I'm going to I'm voting no as as sort of a a protest vote and to express um uh what I sort of touched on in my comments that I I really do think we need to um I I support the concept of the project. I support the work done to date. Um, I think we need to incorporate green alleys into our design. I have brought this up multiple times over the last seven years. Um, and I'm I'm disappointed that we're not incorporating that. Um, uh, I fully support the the framework for setting a plan to achieve a goal over time. I think the comments that, um, Mr. Tabota brought up were excellent. I think we've started that work through a lot of our um uh assessment studies um on parks and facilities. Um but I think you know we're seeing a lot of cities uh struggle with budgets. We know we have budget challenges as costs are rising. Um I think we need to we can't have single-minded projects anymore. So I know when this project started out it was exactly as you described, right? Long-term projects that last um forever reduce our overall maintenance costs. Um, but every decision when we're laying concrete is a decision that's going to last 50, 60, 70 years. I'm not sure what we're assuming the lifetime is. And so we we have to be looking at, you know, are we creating other challenges by doing this work? Are there other opportunities to create additional benefits through this work through every especially 50-year plus project? What else can we do at the same time? Um it's not you know we we approved our storm drain master plan and I think it was something on the order of $100 million $200 million right and so this this idea of building our infrastructure and then

building more expensive infrastructure to handle the water created by that infrastructure like we have to think more holistically on how we design and and maintain our city. Um, I think we can do this more cheaply and I think we by laying less concrete, still achieving the same benefits, but also achieving additional benefits that permeable designs would bring and that green alleys would bring. We could have more drainage on these projects. Um, uh, through green alleys, we could have better air quality, cooling benefits, aesthetic benefits, and I think we're missing that here. So, I support you all of the work you do. So, my protest vote is just to like really emphasize that I want us to start thinking more broadly in our long-term capital improvement projects. So, thank you for for listening.

Thank you, council member. Let's call for the question.

Council member Buy, please. There we go. Motion carries 61 with council member Reynolds voting no. All right. Thank you for all the good work. Uh, staff and council. We're adjourned.