City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I would like to call to order the regular city council meeting close session. Uh the time is 5:31. City clerk Dwarte, would you please take the role? Yes, mayor. Council member Peton, present. Council member Sosa, present. Council member Trujillo, here. Mayor Pro Mortis, present. And Mayor Frometa, present. Now is the time for public comment for items listed under the close session agenda. Uh, city clerk, did we receive any written correspondence that needs to be incorporated into the record? We did not, mayor. Okay. I don't see anyone in attendance here for public comment. Um, correct.

I will make a motion to close public comment. Can I get a second? Second. Great. So, ordered by the mayor. Uh, the city council will now recess to close session under the following authorities. Conference with legal counsel. significant exposure to litigation pursuant to government code sections 54956.9 D2 and E3 the claim under the government claims act Michael Lefons at all we will now recess to close session the time is 5:32

Yes. Good evening everybody. The city council is now reconvening in the regular council meeting close session. City attorney Funk, will you please report the close session action?

Good evening, mayor, members of the council, and members of the public. In tonight's close session, the city council addressed all items that were agendaized on the close session agenda. There is however no reportable action from tonight's close session proceedings. Thank you.

Thank you, Attorney Funk. Before we begin the regular city council meeting open session, I would like to remind members of the audience that anyone wishing to speak during public comment must obtain a number card from the city clerk. Number cards should not be exchanged with other meeting attendees. And if you decide not to speak after taking a number or decide to leave the meeting early, you must return the number card to city staff. If you did not obtain a number card and wish to speak, please proceed to the back of the room and city staff will issue you a number card. Lining up during public comment will not be permitted. And each speaker should remain in their seat until their number is called. The time clock will begin when you begin your comments. For the city's council meeting rules and for the fire safety regulations, all persons shall remain seated unless addressing the council or entering or leaving the chambers. Standing in the aisles or along the walls is prohibited. And there's over well, we do have some overflow seating available in the lobby uh for those that need to step out. I will now call to order the regular city council meeting open session. The time is 6:32. City Clerk Dwarte, would you please take role?

Yes, mayor. Council member Peton, present. Council member Sosa, present. Council member Drujillo, here. Mayor Pro Mortis, present. And Mayor Froa,

present. I would like to call on Father Sam Ward from St. Braymond Church to lead us in the invocation. Thank you. Good evening. And before the invocation, um, and I was sharing with Mayor, um, for just before, um, we began, um, we're just a couple months from our 250th birthday in the United States. And 250 years ago, could we imagine that a British sovereign, a British king would have been in the White House and addressing Congress? Um, so amazing. And and King Charles mentioned how we're in the Easter season. This is a season of reconciliation. So 250 years ago would have seemed unimaginable. And um so we hope and pray that that spirit can um impw us in our own hearts um certainly in our city, our county, our state, our country, and indeed um throughout the world. Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Almighty eternal God, you've revealed your glory to all nations. God of power and might, wisdom and justice. Through you, authority is rightly administered, laws are enacted, and judgment is decreed. Assist with your spirit of counsel and fortitude the president of these United States that his administration may be conducted in righteousness and be eminently useful to your people over whom he presides. May he encourage due respect for virtue and religion. May he execute the laws with justice and mercy. May he seek to restrain crime, vice, and immorality. Let the light of your divine wisdom direct the deliberations of Congress and shine forth in all the proceedings and laws framed for our rule and government. May they seek to preserve peace, promote national happiness, and continue to bring us the blessings of liberty and equality.

We pray for the governor of this state, for the members of the legis legislature, for judges, elected officials, especially here in our city of Downey, and all others who are entrusted to guard our political welfare. May they be enabled by your powerful protection to discharge their duties with honesty and ability. And again, invoking that powerful protection from the president all down um especially those who are threatened in any way. We likewise commend to your unbounded mercy all citizens and residents of the United States that we may be blessed in the knowledge and sanctified in the observance of your holy law. May we be preserved in union and that peace which with which the world cannot give and after enjoying the blessings of this life be admitted to those which are eternal. We pray to you who are Lord and God forever and ever. Amen.

Amen. Name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit. Amen. Blessings to all of you.

Thank you, Father Ward. And at this time, I would like to call on Girl Scout Troop 71365. They're going to lead us. And uh the flag uh excuse me, the flag salute. Would you give him a round of applause? Put your right hand over your heart.

Put your right hand over your heart. Ready? Begin. I pledge alce 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. Great.

Thank you. You may be seated. Thank you. Thank you, Girl Scout Troop 71365. Thank you for coming and thank you to the parents for bringing them and helping them to uh be part of this uh civic process. Thank you.

We're going to give them a uh just about a minute so they can exit. Thank you. Thank you girls. Welcome everybody.

It is a pleasure to have you here this evening. We do have several presentations and uh I will go down there in just a minute, but I I wanted to say thank you for being here. Um thank you for continuing to support your great city of Downey. uh this city is continuing to move forward and there's a lot of projects that we have uh going on and uh certainly we uh will be voting on the business of the people after the presentations. Let's go ahead and go downstairs and get the presentations underway. Good evening again. The first the first special award we have is the mayor's legacy award. And over the past uh several times that I've had the great honor and opportunity to lead the city as the mayor, um in 2021, the first year, I thought about every mayor has an opportunity to come up with a name of an award that they want to bestow upon special residents uh of the

city throughout their tenure. And for me, it was the legacy. I I always think about uh the legacy that we are living uh in the legacy that we will be leaving once we are no longer on this earth. And tonight uh I want to say that the story of the Porto family is one that I think so many of us connect with on a personal level. Those of us that are immigrants to this great nation. Rosa Porto came to this country with very little, but with extraordinary talent, determination, and heart. What began in her home kitchen grew step by step into Porto's Bakery and Cafe, a place that today means so much to so many of our families, including right here in Downey. But again, this recognition goes beyond their success as a business. The Porto family represents what is possible when hard work meets purpose. They have created jobs, supported our community, and built something that brings people together every single day. You walk into Portos and you don't just feel like a customer, you feel like family. This is the second generation of the Porto family. If I can have Raul, Betty, and Margaret Porto join me here. I will continue to speak a little bit more about your family. I will I will continue to speak uh about you. This is uh second generation of the Porto family, Raul, Betty, and Margaret.

They have played a defining role in transforming Porto's bakery and cafe from a beloved family bakery into a widely recognized Southern California institution. As the children of founders Rosa Porto and Rahul Porto Senior, they grew up immersed in the values of hard work, hospitality, and Cuban baking traditions that shaped the business. Raul Porto Jr. has taken on a leadership role in overseeing operations and guiding the company's expansion, helping maintain consistency and quality as the bakery grew to m multiple locations. By Porto, widely recognized as a creative force behind many of the bakery's signature items, has preserved and refined her mother's recipes while introducing new offerings that appeal to a broader audience. Margaret has focused on the organizational and customer service aspects of the business, ensuring that the family's commitment to warmth and community remain central to Portos. Together, these siblings have honored their parents legacy while modernizing the business, balancing tradition and growth. Their collaborative leadership has helped Porto's Bakery maintain its reputation for highquality pastries, exceptional service, and deep cultural roots within the Southern California community. And I give you the mayor's legacy award. Not only because you embody what is good and what many immigrants like myself too come to this land, this beautiful free country to pursue uh a dream and and I will I I will let you both uh all three of you say a few words. But I I during this time of it could be a little upheaval and this time where people are looking at other ways

um we need to remember that the dreams of entrepreneurship and this democracy makes everything possible. So thank you Puerto family.

Thank you. Well, thank you so much. I think she covered it all. I mean, wow. But I just want to thank Downey. I mean, the community, the all the people in the city, they always been helpful and always whatever we decided to do, they were on board and they were so welcoming. when we opened what was it 16 almost so almost 16 years ago we came to Downey and that little corner was empty and then we came in and next you have mall across the street with a bunch of shops so it's it's wonderful to see what one little place can do as far as you know helping the growth of the city so very happy very proud to be here and we hope to continue to be here for another 50 60 years if we have if we have that much of if we get that life still. So, thank you for for this recognition and thank you to all the members of the city of Downey for always being so kind to the Porter family. Thank you.

You want me to say something real quick? Go

ahead. You know, I love what we do. We've always loved the business that we we're in. Um we get to touch a lot of people and make them happy. Um, but when we opened Downey, my daughter turned 21 and she wanted to go to Vegas and she actually celebrated her 21st birthday at the bakery because we kept saying, "No, we're opening today and no, we're opening tomorrow." And I think it was like the night before we opened that we celebrated and we went to like a Japanese they dressed her in a kimono and she'll never forgive me for not taking her to Vegas. But but um that's what what uh makes um our business. It's all about family and you know and and part of our family is our employees with uh which we couldn't do what we've done without their um support. The belief uh in our goals of uh just giving the best that we can give together as a team makes it a lot easier. But thank you Well, thank you so much for being here and thank you for for you to you and to the council and the staff and everybody. I think everybody has said pretty much everything. Um, one more thing I wanted to say which is kind of funny and you guys are going to love this. You know, in those 16 years, a lot has happened in the bakery, but one of the funniest and and the best and and one of the things that I think means a lot to us. There was a couple, this was about five years ago or so, there was a couple that was in line as you guys know unfortunately there's a line most of the times and uh one of them there was a couple there and they were in line. They were they didn't know each other but the lady her mom was in the hospital at Kaiser or I think it was Kaiser or or one of the other hospitals and she was crying and and you know just felt terrible and the person behind her a gentleman behind her in

line just consoled her and talked to her and they sat down that day and he said well why don't I just why don't you sit down I'll have coffee with you whatever and they had coffee and a year later they decided to get married and they called us and we did a big thing for the wedding we did a cake wow Yeah, we had everybody um there. They brought in a pastor, the whole thing. It worked out so nice. And you know, I think that's one of the things that gets us, as Betty mentioned, Margaret, you know, we we've been doing this since we were six. Margaret, my sister, when we started the bakery with my mother, Margaret was I was 16.

16. I was 15, you know, the age now. And um Margaret was like 13. And we worked so hard at the beginning. And we still do every day. I mean, we were working today, all of us. And I think what makes it so exciting and so fun and never ending and is just meeting all of you, all the people we've met here from people in the police department, the fire, everybody, city managers and all of that and it's just amazing and it's just great. So I want to thank everybody just for that and it's just been a wonderful trip and I'm sure we'll be here for a few more years. We're not ready to call it quits yet. No, I mean I mean us, not the bakery. I'm saying us. There's a new generation coming along already. My son actually was here today, so

that's great. Well, thank you so much again. Thank you all.

I'm going I have to um I have to read these. Um each one you each you each get your own. Um so this is the mayor's legacy award. Um again to Margaret Betty and Raul Porto Jr. In recognition of your exceptional leadership and dedication as a second generation of Porto's Bakery and Cafe, through your commitment to quality, tradition, and innovation, you have transformed a family bakery into a cherished Southern California institution. By honoring the legacy of your parents while guiding continued growth, you have upheld a standard of excellence that continues to inspire the Downey community. Thank you. And I have to give you that this is the mayor's challenge coin and so I will give it to you as this is to continue to do amazing work. And here is um the pin.

This is for Betty. Thank you.

And just let me give you one. Bless you. Thank you. Thank you. You go. And here is your city pen. And if we can take a picture together and then another picture would have come.

But let's take one together first. You think of the castle? Thank you so much. Now, moving on, we have the mayor's champion award. And can I see where Esel Pon is? Ezekiel, would you come up here? I want you to give him a big round of applause. The mayor's champion award is also a very special award. It's people that are champions of the community that are accomplishing great things. Now, Ezekiel, now is it Ezekiel or Ezekiel?

Either or.

Either or. Ezekiel Pon, he's a Downey High School senior. And Ezekiel was elected nationally to participate in a Q&A at the National Catholic Youth Conference. Perhaps some of you heard about him. He's an active member of St. Dominic Savio Church where he is involved in youth ministry and faith-based activities. When the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry reached out to Juan Carlos, the parish's program director, where is Juan Carlos? Is he here? Juan Carlos, come over here. the parish uh the program director Juan Carlos right here they they were seeking young representatives from across the country and Ezekiel was recommended as a participant. He was selected from a national pool of youth and he became only one of five individuals chosen to represent young people in a series of conversations centered around faith and real life challenges. In November, this past November, Ezekiel traveled to Indianapolis where he had the extraordinary opportunity to participate in a gathering at Lucas Oil Stadium. During that event, Ezekiel asked the Pope two personal and meaningful questions. How to balance faith while managing mental health challenges such as stress. And number two, how to feel genuinely connected to God and the pressures of school, family, life, and personal struggles. Ezekiel's questions reflected the concerns of many young people today. And these questions also highlight his courage, his thoughtfulness, and his commitment to faith. Would you please

join me in giving a round of applause to Ezekiel Pon? Let me let me uh tell you this what this award uh how it reads. Ezekiel Pon, on behalf of the citizens of Downey, in recognition of your outstanding faith and leadership as a member of St. Dominic Savio Church and for being selected by the National Federation of Catholic Youth Ministry as one of five youth representatives nationwide. Your participation is important in important conversations of faith and real life challenges. Your courage and thoughtfulness reflect the voice and experiences of the youth and the community of Downey. Congratulations. I just want to say thank you to JC of course for recommending me to have this opportunity and mainly to my family for all the rides to C St. Dominic Savio. It was definitely a lot of Saturdays and Fridays of mom can I get a ride? Can I please get a ride? and of course all my friends at Sawio and at school for um supporting me through it all. So I just once again I just want to say thank you to everyone. Let's take a picture together. We're going to take a photo. Can we get Ezekiel's family up here for a photo? You get to be in the middle.

Don't go away, Ezekiel. I would like to acknowledge that the young people that we have in our city are young people who make the difference every year. At camp, we have Camp Savio and is a summer program where we serve over 400 kids and we have 200 teenagers which most of them are actually from Downey High School. It is amazing the capability that they have to make the difference. Ezekiel didn't know that he was going to be chosen. Actually, Ezekiel, the only thing that he knew is he had the chance to speak in a front of many people and tell what he believe is right. And what was interesting is when he was chosen, this actually was two or three weeks before the event and they chose from plenty of young people. So for those who are helping us or empowering young people, we need more programs like this. We need more programs that actually empower young people to speak and basically collaboration. We are going to give a talk on May 13 to the national advisory board for young people and we work as a team. It was interesting and with this I finished. I have in my things to do survey for adults to see how adults actually work with young people better and I just put survey for adults and I forgot about what it was. So I deleted from my task to do after I done it and he just text me a couple days ago and say hey did you do the survey just to say that intergenerational dialogue and intergenerational collaboration is possible and we need to be addressing that because our young people need it. depression, anxiety and all those type of things are things of the moment. How we as an adults can support them to make

the difference and I want to say thank you because we never expected that acknowledgement but the fact that you're doing this is actually giving the power for young people to continue growing. Thank you.

Thank you. Well, you continue to um do great things and inspire our young people. Now the other uh presentation I have this evening is is also very special and and you have to um stay with me. I we we did not have a council meeting two weeks ago. Um I was not doing well. Um but really by the grace of God here I am. So thank you Jesus. Um and um tonight so we we have a number of presentations because of that. Um, tonight there's another mayor's champion award and this is to someone very special, uh, Jose Carlos Valera for achieving the American dream. Jose Carlos, would you come up here? Um, in a time where our again our youth and things are a little topsyturvy around our country, it is important to highlight the successful stories of immigrants that have come to this beautiful land and that have become so successful. The story of Jose Carlos Valera Armas. He was born in Cuba and came to the to the United States at the age of 21 with big dreams and a strong desire to build a better future. Jose Carlos started from the ground up working his first job at McDonald's followed by a short time at Northgate Market in the meat department and later working in maintenance at a company in Torrance. While working full-time, Jose attended Cerrito's College at night to study machine tool technology.

Through determination and sacrifice, he earned an opportunity to work as a CNC machinist where he continued to grow and develop his skills. He later joined Trio Manufacturing where his strong work ethic and dedication led to multiple promotions from lead to supervisor and eventually to CNC shop manager, a position he has successfully held for over 10 years. During this time, Jose Carlos remained committed to learning and growing and he also attended the NTMA to study Master Cam. This experience allowed him to develop advanced programming skills and today he's able to create his own CNC programs, a key factor in the success of his work and future business. Driven by the dream of never settling and always moving forward, Jose Carlos took a leap of faith and started his own company, Armas Manufacturing Corporation. What began with one CNC machine in a small rented space in the city of Norwok that quickly grew. Within a year, the business expanded and relocated to the city of Downey, a city known for welcoming and for its strong history in manufacturing and industry and where he's proudly become a part of this local community. Today, his company employs 11 people and contributes to critical industries such as defense, aerospace, and satellite manufacturing. Jose Carlos is known for being hardworking, dedicated, and resilient. He's also a proud father of three and a

loving husband, making many sacrifices to provide for his family. He came to this country with an empty suitcase but a heart full of dreams. And through perseverance, faith and determination, he has turned those dreams into reality. Jose Carlos journey is truly an example of achieving the American dream. And and we need more like you, Jose Carlos. We need more examples like you, like the Porto family at a time where our young people uh are needing those mentors are needing to see what is possible as opposed to asking the government what they can do for themselves. They are going out there and they are working hard. There is no there there is no um substitute for sacrifice, for determination, for perseverance and for hard work. And these people that we are recognizing this evening are a percentage of so many that have come to this country in pursuit of the American dream, a pursuit of entrepreneurship and success. And that is possible. We just need to continue to remind our young people today that it is possible. Jose Carlos in recognition of embodying the American dream, having arrived from Cuba at a young age and through unwavering determination, perseverance, and hard work, establishing Armas Manufacturing Corporation in Downey, a successful company that creates jobs and contributes to the vital industries within our community. Congratulations

Yeah, I first I would like to uh thanks uh God for always um blessing my life on every step and guide me through. I want to thanks my family, friends uh for all the support that they giving me. my wife that um take care of our kids and home while I'm out there. Um I want to thank this great country uh a country of opportunity where uh if you are willing to put the hard work with discipline you will achieve uh your goals uh allow me to uh grow and uh pursue my dreams. U thank you to the city of Downey for the warm welcome Claudia. It was you know pleasure. Thank you.

Thank you Carlos.

It's okay. That's that's what we're all about. Let's get the whole Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Can't wait to join our son. Julia.

Oh, yes. Yes, we have um we have a little check that is going to be presented to the city of Downey. And uh we have representatives from Congressman Robert Garcia's office here tonight. Julia, if you can please say a few words. Um, good evening, mayor and members of the city council and all of the residents either here or tuning in. My name is Julia and I'm Congressman Robert Garcia's field representative for the wonderful city of Downey. Um, Congressman Garba Garcia is currently in Washington DC. So, I'm here tonight on his behalf to um uh present the city of Downey with two very large checks um for some community project funding requests that were approved. Um for the members of our community who are not familiar with this process, every year each member of Congress is allowed to request um funding for various projects throughout their district. Um, and last year, Congressman Garcia submitted two requests for the city of Downey. Um, and both were approved through legislation. The first project will be receiving a check for a total of $1 million um for downtown. This check is going to be for downtown Downey renovation. This project will invest in the creation of a new public recreation space that will promote community and strengthen businesses in the region. The second project will be for a total of $250,000 for Rio San Gabriel Park upgrades, which will

um this one will aim to improve the public restrooms and by meeting the needs of accessibility and sanitation. These upgrades will further strengthen the community and promote the invaluable use of our parks. Thank you to all of the city staff who worked with our legislative team to make these community project funding requests possible. Um because of you, the city will continue to grow and flourish in vibrancy. Um Congressman Robert Garcia is thrilled to be part of these projects and we look forward to um seeing how much residents from Downey and beyond will benefit from them. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Julia. We are we're certainly very grateful to uh Congressman Garcia's office for these monies that will be great benefit to our community and thank you to staff, city staff for their uh support as well. Let's take some photos. Is it is the sign?

Yeah. At this time, I will I will call on we have a certificate of appointment to Christian Gutierrez for public works district 4.

Thank you Christian. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Um would you like to say a few words? Yeah. Good evening everyone. Um, I just want to thank Miss Mayor Foretta and as well as all the other council members and the city staff here, uh, and everyone here as well as my family. Uh, thank you for the opportunity and I'm looking forward to work, uh, with the public works committee. So thank you again everyone

being being part of um being a a committee member andor uh a commissioner uh with planning commission. Each council member um has the opportunity to select two individuals um for from their district uh one at the district and one at large to represent the council member at the various committees that we have. And these committees, public works is an important committee because when we talk about what is happening in our um in our city, infrastructure improvements, um this committee uh helps give uh input and review some of those plans. And the people that are selected for these committees have are really key because they represent the council member. uh in this case Chris Christian uh will be representing mayor froma and um it's important because we are looking for individuals that are ethical that have a high degree of integrity that are able to represent the council member but also the city um in an honorable way and Christian is a product of the city of Downey and he serves um in various capacities in the community. And we need people that are committed to being not only a light but bringing people together um and representing uh our city with distinction. And when I think about people, those people that I have chosen thankfully over the years, my my time in service here, um they're key people that again will not will not um put the name of the city uh in bad light, will not be

misrepresenting themselves andor a council member, but will be doing things ethically. And so I am I'm really proud uh to be able to officially welcome you, Christian. And uh thank you family for being here. Let's go ahead and take a photo. I promise you, I promise you, we're almost there. We have a proclamation in honor of fair housing month. And I would like to call upon Martha Torres, community engagement liaison with the fair housing foundation to accept this certificate. So the fair housing month um there's a lot of whereasses. One of the greatest freedoms enjoyed by Americans is the freedom to live in a home of one's choice. And whereas this promise made us made to us by the nation's first housing law, which requires that all people be treated equally in connection with sale or rental of housing regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, age, familial status, or religion. Whereas this year marks the 58th anniversary of the Federal Housing Act, the original legislation targeting the elimination of housing discrimination in America. And whereas since the adoption of the Fair Housing legislation in April of 1968, April has been designated fair housing month. Each year, the United States Department of Housing and Urban

Development and the Fair Housing Foundation organize events and activities during this month to focus attention on the issue of equal opportunity in housing. And whereas April is Fair Housing Month, throughout the nation, we're asking each resident of the city of Downey to support efforts to put into practice the principles of freedom, justice, and equality upon which this great nation was founded. Now therefore, the city of uh the city council of Downey on behalf of its citizens does hereby proclaim April as fair housing month on this 28th day of April 2026. Mayor Claudia from it. Good evening everybody. Thank you mayor, city council, city staff for supporting fair housing foundation and helping us celebrate April is fair housing month. The Fair Housing Foundation is the Fair Housing Service provider for the city of Downey and we're able to assist uh both landlords and tenants, any individual who has questions in relating to their housing um completely free of cost. We offer educational workshops um presentations and landlord tenant counseling. So, if you are in need, please feel free to contact our office. We'd be more than happy to help free of cost. Council How's the temperature for you? Oh, it's good. Thank you.

Okay, if you if the council can just stick around because I'm going to call you up again. Uh we have a proclamation in honor of Arbor Day. Um my council colleagues uh council member Peton and council member uh Sosa. We had the uh great pleasure of meeting with some uh Girl Scout troop uh this Saturday and uh planting a tree over at Independence Park. And um every year we uh we really try to mark the occasion not only of Earth Day but Arbor Day um in the community. So this proclamation reads uh whereas in 1872 Jay Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of trees. And whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska. And whereas Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and the world. And whereas all communities in California can designate their own Arbor Day based on the climatic conditions of the community. And whereas trees in our city increase, listen to this, cities uh trees in our city increase property values, enhance the economic vitality of business areas, and beautify our community. And whereas trees can reduce erosion of our precious top soil by wind and water, decrease heating and cooling costs, moderate temperature, clean the air, produce life sustaining oxygen and food, and provide habitats for wildlife. And whereas trees are a renewable resource, giving paper, wood, fuel, and beauty to our community. And whereas trees, wherever they are planted, are a source of joy and spiritual renewal. I I want to tell you if you haven't had an opportunity and I and I say this because Julia just came to present um a gift to us for the renovation of Rio San Gabriel Park. Um

and we also have an an amazing park uh called Wilderness and about 26 acres and 2 and a half acres of that is considered uh wetlands. And so if you whenever you have an opportunity visit our parks parks do make life better. As I look at Monik over there, we're parks and wreck. Uh we have beautiful ponds and uh again a bird habitat, hundreds of species of different trees that are native to California that is in um a wilderness park. And so again, parks make our life better. And uh whereas now therefore I Claudia, mayor of the city of Downey, do hereby proclaim April 28, 2026 as Arbor Day in the city of Downey. And I urge all residents once again uh to support the efforts to protect our trees, our woodlands, and to plant trees to gladden the heart and promote the well-being of this and future generations. Council, come on up. Let's see.

Oh, Matthew, I guess I forgot to call you. Can we give a round of applause to our uh director of public works? This mayor is is too excited tonight. Matthew, would you please say a few words? Absolutely.

Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Feretta. Um, as you mentioned, we are focused on uh planting trees throughout our city. Um, every year we between trees that we give away and trees that we plant, we we add an additional 600 trees in the city. And we have a goal through our urban forest management plan to add 30,000 trees in the city over the next 40 years. So, and that requires us to put aside that and plant that many trees. Um, so we are focused on that goal. We thank the community for helping us with that and um we we we take our trees very seriously and we are very honored to accept this uh proclamation. Thank you. Okay. What I'm going to do at this time, I know we've had several presentations. And for those of you that would like to say hello to your neighbors, um we're going to take a twominut recess so that um the families that are here tonight, if you would like to exit at this time, you can. Um you're definitely welcome to stay with us through the rest of the city council meeting, but we're going to go ahead and take a two-minute break. Thank you.

Okay, are we ready? Okay, we are back from our brief break and at this time we also have a uh presentation to the city council by the league of California cities. Uh, I would like to call upon Nicholas Cabesa, League of California City's Regional Public Affairs Manager, LA County Division. He's going to provide a presentation and an update for us. Hello, Nicholas. Thank you for coming. Welcome.

Awesome. Thanks for having me. It's such an honor to be here with you all today um on such a great day to, you know, recognize your community. So super excited to share this uh legislative update with you and and um I'll I'll do the presentation so you you can relax for now. But before we dive in, just wanted to introduce myself. Uh Nick Havvesa, the regional public affairs manager at the League of California Cities. Um wanted to provide some background on our organization before we dive into just the legislative and budget update. Our mission is to really expand and protect local control for cities through education and advocacy and to enhance the quality of life for all Californians. So we uh at the League of California um cities serve 473 cities. We have 57 board members um divided into 16 different regional divisions. We um city of Downey is a part of the Los Angeles County division. Uh we have 10 municipal departments ranging from mayors and council members to fiscal officers, police chiefs. We have a couple of different diversity caucuses ranging from African-American caucus, AsianPacific Islander caucus, LGBTQ caucus, Latino caucus, and women's caucus. And if you're interested in being more involved and engaged, uh feel free to uh connect with me and happy to to plug you in there. Um this slide is really just um to show you all that we um at the League of California Cities uh serve cities of all sizes with the majority of our cities um less than 50,000 population size. So transitioning to our 2026 advocacy priorities. Um, in December, the League of California C's board of directors adopted the organization's 2025 2026 advocacy priorities really with a clear message to the state that cities are a smart and essential investment uh for a strong California. The uh 2025 2026 advocacy priorities are

as follows. Um the first one is around protecting and enhancing local revenues and expanding economic development tools. So this is all about safeguarding local revenue streams, opposing unfunded mandates and pursuing new economic development tools that bolster local economies. The next goal is um is around strengthening partnerships with the state to improve public safety. So, this really includes um supporting sustained investments in police, uh fire services, and public works as a foundation of public safety, and really calling on the state to fully implement Proposition 36, which voters passed in 2024 to increase account accountability for repeat theft and certain drug offenses. The next goal um is around securing investments to prevent and reduce homelessness and increase the uh supply of affordable housing. So this is all around bolstering city's efforts to support unhoused residents while strengthening wraparound services. And then the last goal includes strengthening climate change resiliency and disaster uh preparedness which includes wildfires, drought, sea level rise, and other extreme weather events. Um wanted to provide an update on a bill that the city uh took a position on during last year's legislative session. Um, and that bill is SB79 by Senator Scott Weiner, which Cal Cities and the city of Downey oppose. Um, and SB79, what that bill does is it requires uh cities in seven counties to approve residential development projects near specific transit stops really under a one-size uh fits-all development standard. Um, unless HCD approves an alternative plan or ordinance uh starting July 1st. uh the alternative plan and ordinance option they were u there were major selling points for proponents of SB79 however uh local agencies don't have enough information to begin these plans you know adopt these ordinances and secure state

approval uh before the fast approaching deadline so cities is really urging um lawmakers to delay the law um until the seventh regional housing needs allocation cycle um ensure HCD provides ongoing technical assistance and create a deadline for the map so local agencies can understand how to incorporate SB79 in their planning efforts. So, those are our main um advocacy priorities around this SB79 cleanup um efforts. But I wanted to also flag um some amendments to one of the um cleanup efforts around SB79. And that bill was uh s is SB 1361, a bill by Senator Dazzo, which we've been monitoring and it applies to SB79. And as you may know, this bill was sponsored by LA Metro and originally was written to exempt um future transit stops from SB79 SB79 if a local agency has adopted a policy by January 1st, 2026 to complete at least 10,000 units of affordable housing with 50% of the units available as income restricted housing by January 1st, 2032. However, um due to changes from the Senate uh housing committee, SB1 1361 would now uh prohibit cities from reducing the frequency of transit service at an existing or planned transit stop uh conditioning the approval of a transit project due to SB79 density and height requirements um or withhold uh support from a federal grant application. So the the bill, you know, pivoted um quite drastically and given the new amendments, Cal City switched our uh position from a support of amended position to a neutral position. Just wanted to um to relay that to you. Um and Cal's encouraging the legislature to consider a wide, you know, cleanup effort to SB79 to assist cities with implementation and does not believe this measure will help in these efforts.

I wanted to also before we talk about the state budget, I wanted to talk about a few of our Cal's uh sponsored bills that I wanted to bring to your attention. Um the first one is AB1941 by uh Assembly Member Mark Gonzalez, which really focuses on the serious impacts of organized metal theft. So unfortunately, cities absorb the financial costs and the public safety consequences of copper theft, targeting critical infrastructure like telecommunication lines, electrical utility equipment, water systems, street lights, and traffic signals. So what this bill would do is it would strengthen metal theft enforcement and prevention efforts in two key ways. And that's by targeting repeat and organized offenders who steal or traffic um prohibited material metal materials and really establish a statewide uh data sharing tool to improve coordination and visibility among uh law enforcement agencies, public agencies and private entities. So this uh bill would protect vital public infrastructure from ongoing damage by allowing prosecutors to bring enhanced charges for coordinated or repeat thefts and enable more robust information sharing system to tackle this issue. Another Cal city sponsored bill that I wanted to bring to your attention is AB1866 by Assembly Member Rogers. And what this measure would do is it would strengthen the California Disaster Assistance Act by ensuring local agencies who do not qualify for uh FEMA assistance are prioritized when being considered for state uh disaster public assistance following a state declared emergency to support disaster recovery. So access to federal assistance is really constrained by the Federal Emergency Management AY's minimum damage uh threshold um which currently requires u more than $72 million in damages uh for California disaster to qualify for federal aid. So as a result you know smaller rural and economically disadvantaged communities

struck by disasters are unable to access um federal assistance based on this threshold. Um, what this bill would do is it would provide a targeted state level solution by clarifying that when allocate allocating state public assistance under the California Disaster Assistance Act, the director of the Office of Emergency Services should consider uh for priority local agencies that are not eligible for federal assistance due to their inability to meet FEMA's minimum damage threshold. So this clarification would really help ensure more equitable access to state disaster funding and better support communities with limited fiscal uh capacity to recover on their own. The next Cal City sponsored bill that I wanted to bring to your attention is AB2517 by Assembly Member Calderon. And this measure would improve the fire hazard severity zone designation process by ensuring consistent updates to the local responsibility area uh maps and establishing a more transparent publicly accessible process for developing and releasing these designations. So AB2517 would clarify that this process um happens every 5 years and would require the state fire marshall to provide a preliminary release of the maps with a public comment period and regional workshops. So under current law these design these um designations um in local responsibility areas must be periodically um reviewed by the state fire marshall. And what this bill would do is it would improve that process to allow local governments and the public the opportunity to better understand the designations. Um, additionally, the bill would require the state to make the data and methodology for the fire hazard hazard um model publicly available with uh which increases transparency and understanding of the environmental conditions that may cause hazard. Two other bills that I wanted to bring to your attention um are one of them is SB758 by Senator Umberg which would

prohibit all licensed um cigarette and tobacco retailers from selling nitrous oxide. So nitrous oxide is an odorless colorless chemical with established legitimate uses in food preparation and dentistry. However, it's increasingly misused uh through inhalation for intoxicating purposes. And in recent years, numerous California cities have reported an increase in the recreational use of nitrous oxide obtained from smoke shops and other retailers. So what this bill would do is um address this issue by making it a misdemeanor to sell or distribute products with unnatural amounts of nitrous oxide. And then the last uh Cality sponsored bill that I wanted to bring to your attention is SB922 by Senator Leairard. And this measure would clarify that local governments may recover the cost of street maintenance and repair caused by public service operations such as waste hauling um through service related fees and charges and would uh reaffirm that these charges are distinct from prohibited weight-based fees. So, as you know, cities are responsible for maintaining um most local streets and roads. Um and heavy service vehicles, including garbage, recycling, and green waste collection trucks regularly travel on local streets and contribute to pavement wear and deterioration. So, historically, cities have u addressed these impacts through service related fees or franchise agreements tied to the um tied to the provision of those services. So, and recently there's been a court decision that has um created a lot of uncertainty um regarding these long-standing practices and as a result cities are uh facing increased legal challenges to existing service related fees. So, um placing street maintenance funding at risk and creating uncertainty for local governments attempting to responsibly manage and maintain their transportation infrastructure. So, this clarification would help reduce unnecessary litigation and allow cities

to continue maintaining self uh safe and reliable local streets. So, that's just a few of the uh some of the Cal's uh sponsored bills that I wanted to to highlight. Um if if uh the city feels compelled uh to engage and support any of those um I'm happy to send a sample um template letter um and would encourage uh the city to to um place their support behind any of these proposals. But let's go ahead and transition to the 2020 2026 2027 state budget. Um but before we talk about the budget, I just wanted to provide some context on where the state has been these last few years. In 2022, the state had a $90 billion surplus. In 2023, the state had a $ 31 billion deficit. In 2024, the state had a $47 billion deficit. And in 2025, um the state had a $18 billion deficit. The governor unveiled um earlier this year a $348.9 billion budget, just projecting a $2.9 billion budget deficit while increasing the state's um reserves to $23 billion. And ultimately, the governor seeks uh to address the uh $2.9 billion deficit by suspending a $2.8 billion true-up deposit into the state's um budget stabilization account. And while this accounting maneuver may ease the fiscal pain this year, the uh proposed budget projects a $22 billion deficit for FY2728 and shortfalls in the preceding two years, guaranteeing, you know, difficult decisions for the next governor. But, uh, Kel Cities is working with the legislature and the governor to advocate for a couple of different, um, budget priorities, uh, around, uh, prioritizing investments that accelerate affordable housing production, um, ensuring people experiencing homelessness receive the support they need, uh, strengthening local capacity

to prepare for and respond to climate driven disasters, and fully funding the implementation of, uh, Proposition 36. So, those are our our key um Cal's budget priorities. Um as as the um as the budget kind of continues, uh just know that the Cal City is advocating on the city's behalf. Um and the the next big budget announcement will arrive in miday um when Governor Nuome will unveil a new uh proposal based on the latest economic uh forecasts and lawmakers must uh pass a balanced budget by June 15th. So, um, that's all I have, but if you have any other questions, um, there's my contact information. I'm happy to be a resource to any of you around any particular bills or, um, any issues, um, that you all are experiencing here on the local level and just know that I'm here to serve as a resource. So, thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Nick. Um certainly the the work that uh the league does on behalf of the 473 cities up and down our state is is very valuable. Um I know firsthand uh I have had the pleasure of uh being involved in with the league uh in various committees uh the last uh couple of years as vice chair and chair of the public safety committee um under which we passed uh and we supported uh Prop 36. And so we are really looking forward to that uh Prop 36 implementation. But um I certainly want to uh encourage my colleagues to to get involved and get in those committees. Um those are very valuable. I'm serving right now in the housing uh committee. But I I'm going to ask my colleagues if they have any thoughts, questions, comments for Nick.

I just want to thank him for the emails that we do get. There's so many bills, Senate bills that we don't keep an eye on and um like 79, we are all well aware of it now because I think of the communication that you have. So, we appreciate your advocacy and letting us know of certain things that are happening. Absolutely. Mayor Fetta, if I could just add to that. Um so, I do want to acknowledge Judy Montenegro who works very closely with Nick along with our state lobbyist on all these bills. As you mentioned, there's a number of bills that come through very regularly every day. So Judy works very closely with the two of them to make sure that we are putting the city's position whether it's oppose or support of a bill item and following them through. So I just want to give an acknowledgement for her as well.

Thank you. Thank you. And and again uh I'm happy to I know I've uh been have been invited to go before uh the legislative session and advocate uh on behalf of any one of those bills. I'm happy to do that. Awesome. Thank you. And if you have any specific updates, I'm always happy to come back and provide more um context and background on that issue. But um it's been a it's been a pleasure. Thank you, Nick. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. And at this time there is one public hearing uh this evening u the approval of the federal community development block grant in home investment partnership grant fiscal year 2026 2027 annual action plan. um that the city council number one approve the proposed fiscal year annual action plan and authorize the city manager or his designate to submit the document and the required certifications to the US department of housing and urban development and two authorize the city manager or his designate to modify and exe execute any and all appropriate instruments agreements contracts and implementing documents related to the implementation and administration of the proposed fisc year 2627 annual action plan, the community development block grant program and home investment partnership program, including subreient grant contracts and agreements on the US Department of Housing and Urban Development appropriation to the city. The hour having arrived, the public hearing is now open. The time is 7:44. City Cler Darte, do you have a proof of publication?

I do. Mayor, can I have a motion in a second to receive and file the publication? So moved. Second. Okay. Please vote. The motion is approved unanimously. Say manager Bradley, who has the staff report? Uh, Sergio Aorius, our homelessness solutions and housing manager, will provide the staff report. Thanks, Mayor.

Thank you. Hello, Sergio as you make your way down. By the way, we appreciate uh the work that you continue to do as homeless solutions and housing manager. Um we have made sure that the work uh in the the link has been shared uh on our social media platforms. Um this is this is a really important work you're doing uh on the homeless front. So take it away, Sergey.

Thank you. Uh good evening mayor and members council. Uh tonight I'm presenting tonight I'm presenting on the city's fiscal year 2627 annual action plan for the community development block grant or CDBG and home investment partnership or home program. This is a city's annual HUD required planning document and application for federal funding for the upcoming program year. Oh, okay. HUD provides the city with annual CDBG and home funds for the eligible housing and community development activities for primary benefit low and moderate income households. The an the act annual action plan requires each year is required each year and identifies the projects and funding allocation proposed for upcoming program years. For fiscal year 2026 and 2027, the city is expected to receive approximately $1 million in new CDBG funds, $859,000 in prior year CDBG funds and 414,000 in home funds for a total of approximately $2.2 million. Compared to the prior year, the new CD CDBG allocation is slightly lower and the home allocation is slightly higher. Overall, available resources are higher this year because unexpended CDBG funds carried over from the prior year after the housing rehabilitation program was paused due to the federal government shutdown and the CSLB rural determination. Our proposed CDBG activities include the CDBG allocation for the largest investment in our CDBG allocation for is housing rehabilitation program in $1.3 million our HUD section 108 loan repayments and $330,000 fair housing foundation services in at

$20,000 and general planning and administration in $184,000 for a total CDBG funding of $1.8 8 million. Our home activities include the housing rehabilitation program and $37,000, the affordable housing development set aside and $64,000 and general planning and administration and $41,000 for total home funding and $414,000. The housing rehabilitation program remains the city's primary investment and most in demand CDG in a home funded activity. The city has completed five projects to date in fiscal year 2526 with with eight more currently in the queue. The lower production this year is tied to the program interruption including the CSLB related issue in the late 2025 federal federal government shutdown. Look looking ahead, staff estimated that up to 25 projects can be completed next year. The CTBG weight list remains significant with an estimated three-year weight list for assistance. There is no comparable home weight list, but home projects are harder to qualify for because they are subject to stricter income, property underwriting, affordability, and compliance requirements. As part of the public review process, the city held two community meetings on the draft action plan with five attendees in the in person and five attendees attending virtually. The meetings were promoted through the city's social media platforms. The public review period ran from March 27th through April 28th and tonight's public hearing is the final step before submission to HUD. If approved, the annual action plan will be finalized and submitted to HUD for review and approval. This concludes my presentation and staff is available to answer any questions.

Thank you, Sergio. Uh, council, do any of you have any questions or comments? Um, just two two questions. Um, a homeowner can receive is it still up to 50,000 in federal grants? 50. Yes. Do most of them go that or over that amount? But we they have to pay out of pocket if it's over 50. Correct. And

Okay. And I um I understand why it was slow last year with completed projects, but our wait list, is there any way to expedite the 46 households waiting 3 years down the road? Is it because we don't have the funding available to to complete? You estimate 50,000 per household and then you do the math that way or why is it taking so long? It's the paperwork they have to get or

it's majority of approving them with income qualifications and then also um having contractors with the required federal um approval and the required contractor licensing needed to be qualified under the home rehab to do those projects. And every contractor can only do up to no more than four projects at a time max.

Do we help the homeowner with a list of available approved contractors? online. We at once every um every homeowner is approved, we do a bidding process with up to we currently have four contractors on our list. Um every contractor is invited to do a bidding process and we provide those bids to the homeowner and the homeowner gets to decide which contractor they'd like to go with. If they don't like to go with any one of our contractors, then they are we give them a qualifications for each what a contractor is needed to have and they are able to go with any contractor they decide but they are required to have those licenses. Um first

are there more typical repairs such as a a roof or is it windows or insulation? What's what are typically the top three re the the majority we've seen has been re-roofing, electrical and plumbing. All right. All right. Thank you very much. Anyone else? Thank you, Sergio. No questions at this time. We appreciate uh the information in the report. Thank you, sir. Well, um I will now open this item for public comment and uh remembering that this uh public comment is only for this public hearing. Um city clerk, did we receive any written correspondence regarding this item? We did not, mayor.

Okay. members wishing to address uh the council regarding this public hearing uh may come up. Good evening everyone. I was going to send my thoughts in via an email and then I decided to come in. So if you don't mind, I'm going to read my thoughts. My name is Lordes Kotaya. I reside here in the beautiful city of Downey. I am here tonight because what recently happened, the reported death threats made against our mayor and her family.

Lordes, may I interrupt you, please? This is the public comment is open for matters relating to this public hearing. We're going to open the public comment in just a little bit after we deal with this public hearing. Thank you so much. Thank you. Are there any comments related to this? Anyone here? Then I will go ahead and make a motion to close public comment. Can I get a second? Second. Second. Okay. So, ordered by the mayor. Unless there are any comments from the council. Uh, I will make a motion. Can I get a second to approve the staff's recommendation on actions number one and two?

Second. Okay. Please vote. The motion is approved unanimously. Thank you. Now, uh I am opening it for public comment regarding agenda, consent, calendar, and non-aggenda items. If you can, uh pause for the recording first. How many um how many members do we have for public comment? We have four speakers. That's the number, mayor. Okay, let's go ahead and play the pre-recorded message.

Now, take public comment on agenda, consent calendar, and non-aggenda items. If you did not receive a number card and wish to speak, please proceed to the back of the room to be issued a number card by city staff. We will be calling blue number cards for the public comment period. Before we begin the public comment period, we would like to remind members of the audience that the city's meeting rules contained in the Downey Municipal Code prohibit any conduct that disrupts, disturbs, or interferes with the orderly conduct of the meeting. Copies of the meeting rules are located in the back of the chambers. Members of the audience and speakers who violate these rules and cause a disruption will receive one warning and then may be removed from the meeting. Violations of the rules of decorum for council meetings may also result in an administrative fine under the municipal code or citation for a misdemeanor under penal code section 403. The city council acknowledges the right of the public to address issues that are within the city's jurisdiction and invites the public to do so during the city council meeting. However, this right must be balanced with the need of the city council to conduct the public business in a fair and efficient manner free from disruption or disturbance. We expect that everyone who participates in today's meeting from the members of the council here on the deis to staff to the members of the public in attendance do so with respect and dignity. Please refrain from using profanity, name calling or behaving in a way that disrupts this meeting. This includes yelling, whistling, booing, screaming, and any other outburst that disrupts or disturbs the meeting. Any conduct that interferes with or disrupts persons who are addressing the city council. Any conduct that interferes with, or disrupts council members while they are speaking. Any other conduct that disrupts, disturbs, or interferes with the orderly conduct of the meeting. and attacks of a personal nature on city staff or city council members that have no connection to agenda items or

non-aggenda items. We remind speakers that your comments must be addressed to the mayor and not to any other council member, city staff, or the audience. Thank you. Um go ahead. You may proceed now.

Thank you. Thank you. Finally. Uh I had not been in uh had not attended a meeting in a while. So, I do apologize for that. Um, so I'll go ahead and read my thoughts and thank you for allowing me to to do this this evening. I am here tonight because what recently happened, the reported death threats made against our mayor and her family. No doubt this is deeply disturbing. uh regardless regardless of politics, personal beliefs or disagreements, threats of violence cross a line that no community should ever tolerate. We can disagree. We can debate. That's part of living in a democracy. But intimidation, fear, and threats are not activism. They are criminal behavior, and they must be treated as such. I urge this council to take a clear and united stand actions without hesitation and ensure that law enforcement investigates them thoroughly. At the same time, I want to remind everyone here of something very important. Those who sit in this council were elected to serve the people of Downey, not to divide us, not to push extreme agendas, and not to create an environment where hostility escalates into threats. When the atmosphere becomes so heated that it leads to threats against someone's life, we all have to take a step back and ask, what kind of example are we setting? Downey is a very strong diversity diverse community. We deserve

respectful dialogue, accountability, and above all safety. Tonight, tonight, I ask this council to stand united against threats and violence. Thank you for your time. Thank you for that.

Speaker number two may come up. my little notes here. Madame Mayor and esteemed colleagues, my name is John Abraven Alver Verdugo and I'm here representing two organizations. First is the Israel Foundation. I'm the executive director and uh we have Shabbat dinners. We do tours to the Jewish community for Republicans and Democrats. We have over 50 TV platforms for the Jewish community and we also provide tactical security for the synagogues as I retired from law enforcement uh doing 30 years and I was injured in line of duty. I'm also here representing Cho Power. It's a civil rights organization. We teach the US Constitution. We have 100 TV platforms that specialize on CHO programming. We're also a talent agency where we sign social media influencers for the benefit of the community. And we also work to restore the relationship between the community and local law enforcement. Because of the current issue with ICE, there has been a backlash against local law enforcement when they're not doing anything. So, I'd step in to talk to Chicanos and try to tell them, "Hey, look, we're here to restore the relationship between local law enforcement, the Chuco community." We got about 2,500 CHO here in the city that subscribe to me and that write me emails and letters. You can find information on Chuco PowerTV, www.chopower TV. And you can find information on the Israel Foundation at theisrael.foundation. the www.theisrael.foundation.

Uh both organizations support Republic and Democrat. We don't we let anybody on the platform to communicate to the public as long as they're not disrespecting each other. Madame Mayor and city council, I'm going to tell you why I'm here. My son returned from being missing for 9 years. He graduated from Beverly Hills High School, attending American Jewish University, and I lost track probably because I was working in law enforcement 16, 15 hours a day. My son returned when uh President Trump became the president. My son returned home as a trans woman, abused by the lifestyle he was living and addicted to methamphetamines. Local law enforcement re responded to my house over 20 times in the last nine months and supported me while I was trying to deal with my son. My son was dying. I did everything I could to support my son and use every technique that I learned in law enforcement and resources to help him. I couldn't do it. I was getting ready to kidnap him and take him to Mexico and take responsibility for whatever happened to him. I would accept responsibility here in the States. Madame Mayor, I want to thank you. I want to thank you personally for supporting Laca and I want to thank Councilman Mario Truill. He saved my son's life. My son's been in the program now for 60 days and he's off drugs. This the first time that I actually talked to my son in 10 years. I just want to say thank you and anything I can do to support your city. Ma'am, call upon me. Cho Power supports

the city of Downey. The Israel Foundation supports the city of Downey. I spoke with my rabbi and uh he agreed with what I had to say. So that's all I really want to say. Ma'am, I know I can't address other council people here. I'm going address you, but I'm here to just literally thank you and Trujillo because I understand that the city of Downey supports Laca and uh I just want to say thank you uh for the work that you guys have done in supporting Laca because it actually saved my son's life. And so anything I can do for you, the city council, and the city of Downey,

thank you. Your time is up. Thank you very much. Thank you, Alicia. Can you give him my card? Thank you. Speaker number three may come up. Good evening, council members. I came here tonight because I saw press co uh press coverage about threats against Mayor Foretta. I do not condone nor support violence of any kind and we leave it up to law enforcement to handle the case appropriately. I'm not sure whether publicizing the threats would hinder law enforcement's investigation, but that's not the reason I came here tonight. I'm here tonight because I was baffled by Mayor Foretta blaming council member Mario Trujillo for the threats of violence. Mayor Foretta never mentioned council member Torji by name, but because only one council member has called her MAGA mayor, the reference to council member Torjillo is unambiguous and unmistakable. It is absolutely baffling why Mayor Foretta thinks that the nickname MAGA mayor would constitute a call of a call for violence or that it would even constitute a projorative. There are photos of of on social media of Mayor Foretta waving a banner reading Trump make America great again. So, if Mayor Foretta regrets her past support for Donald Trump, she needs to steal a page out of Amanda Robbins of Pennsylvania's playbook, which which was to say in a video that has gone viral. I voted for Trump three times. That was my bad. Apparently, I'm an idiot. If Mayor Foretta does not regret her past support

for President Trump, then she needs to steal a page out of the LGBT community's playbook, which is to say, "I'm MAGA and damn proud to be MAGA." What Mayor Foretta is doing is complete hypocrisy. She supports Trump and then cries foul when council member Trillo points out her support for Trump. Maga Mayor for Meta needs to stop being a hypocrite. She should either embrace President Trump or renounce her past support for President Trump. She cannot have it both ways. Thank you for that. Speaker number four may come up.

Hello.

Good evening, Madame Mayor, members of the city council, Mr. Bradley and staff. U basically I'm going to talk about the same theme some of our earlier speakers have talked about. I'm not going to repeat basically what they said, but we all have a right to say whatever we want to. However, when we cross that line, and that line is defined in legal terms, I'm not a lawyer, but when that line is crossed, the person responsible for going past that line should be dealt with, their asses should be dealt with either way. Sad to say that everything today is the sign of our times and we need to try to work together more with our political differences. God help us. This ends my comments.

Thank you for that. I will entertain a motion in a second to close public comment. So moved. Second. Okay. Please vote.

I don't have so order by the mayor. Okay. Um at this time we have our consent calendar and are there any council members that would like to remove or abstain from an item? I know I would like to pull item number 11 for discussion. Um yes, I was going to ask to pull number 11. Okay. So, um if if everybody else is okay with the rest, um can I have a motion in a second to pass the consent calendar with the exception of number 11? So moved.

Second. Okay, please vote. The consent calendar is approved with Mayor Froa pulling item number 11 for separate discussion.

Okay, thank you. Um number 11 um is the adoption of resolutions pertaining to the submission of a ballot measure amending the city charter to Downey voters at the November 3rd, 2026 general municipal election. uh my council colleague um council member Sosa and I uh worked uh in a in a charter review ad hoc committee and we had previously uh adopted um this as is presented before us uh to be brought to for the voters. Um however as we as I reviewed um this report um I came across a figure that I I don't think it had been made very clear to us um when this was initially brought and that is the cost of bringing this measure this uh charter amendment uh before the voters and that is at a cost of 314,500 for the charter amendment. And again, I I think that given where we are with our economic our potential uh economic downturn uh in the future, I don't believe it is in our best interest at this point in time to move forward with it. Um, I know that uh, Council Member Sosa and I were very much uh, engaged in in getting that charter reviewed. Um, and this also stemmed from um, our city's inability to fill uh, a seat immediately after we had a recall election. and um that threw our city into a a bit of a financial um overspending with having to have that

special election. Now, having said what I just said, in terms of the amount um the cost of over $300,000, I personally don't believe it is in the council's best interest at this point in time. doesn't mean that we're not going to bring it um at at another point, but at this time right now, at this juncture, I don't think it would be wise, but that's that's my comment. And I will um turn it over to council member Peton. You wanted to pull the item as well.

Right. In reviewing the detail, I know that we needed to do some housekeeping issues, revise the charter like you do any type of a bylaw organization, but when I came across what the figure was going to be, that kind of stopped me in my tracks. It is very high. Um, especially at this point in time, I know we I I would like to ask and maybe table it to see that we had redistricting. We approved our new districts in the upcoming election. And I think that is part of the reason that we need to now incorporate that into our charter to show what districts that we really have. We do not have an atlarge. We don't have four. We have five total districts. Can we use that separately or do we need to have that incorporated in our charter? Can we break that one out if we have to or do we not? So maybe the staff can come back and let us know if we need to have our districts be reflected currently in the charter or what we have done so far can stay the way it is. If there's any way to do a cost savings at this point in time um rather than move forward with this.

Uh council member Perman I think I can address your question now if you don't mind. Um, I think you're asking whether it's necessary for these amendments to go through in order to formally incorporate the change that the council made last year from a 4 plus one system to um a pure five district system. Um, that change was made last year and it was done by ordinance. It normally is done via the charter, but um it was permissible to do it by ordinance because we did that in response to a threat of litigation under the California Voting Rights Act. And that statute expressly allows the city council to change its election system by ordinance without having to amend the charter.

So what what the plan here was um was to essentially clean up the charter, specifically section 1305 that speaks to the the districts and how those are defined. Um to make reference to the ordinance, the previously adopted ordinance establishing the new districts. But those new districts will be effective with or without a charter amendment by virtue of the ordinance alone. So, um I guess in short, what I'm trying to say is that that charter amendment is not necessary to implement the new districts. Those will go into effect regardless um at this upcoming election in November for seats two and four first.

Would it be recommended in the future to incorporate that district change in our charter? Maybe not now. Or does the charter look at this is amendment one, amendment two, amendment three, you know, like the ordinance. it's just added on to the existing charter or is it best to keep the charter as one document with all the updates in it?

I I would recommend at at the point in time when the council does elect to send a charter amendment ballot measure to the voters to include that in the amendment, specifically the amendment to section 1305 as it's presented in the documents tonight. Um, if the amendment were to be presented to voters, um, but it doesn't have to be. The charter as a result will stay as it is. the text won't change if it if it's not the amendment isn't put before the voters, but the the redistricting or the change from a 4 plus one to a pure five district system with the new boundaries will go into effect um regardless of what the language in section 1305 is. Essentially, the effect of the ordinance supersedes the language of se section 1305, but technically speaking, the language of 1305 won't change without an amendment. Is there anything that needs to be added to the charter now? Is there any advantage to doing it now? Uh that that the fee could be much higher in five years if we decided to do that or nothing right now has to be done.

Uh legally speaking that is correct. It was the intent of the council in appointing the ad hoc committee in 2024 for the members of the ad hoc committee to look at the charter um holistically from top to bottom. That exercise hadn't been completed in a number of years. Um and as the mayor observed um the ad hoc committee uh worked diligently you know to to do that and the result was a series of amendments that it recommended to the full council um you know to consider for selection um consideration before the voters. Okay.

The council did approve those amendments in form and substance in December. Um the figure we had cited there I guess I should just back up for a second. um charter amendment ballot measures are intended to be revenue neutral to be sure. Um but there is a cost um to place them on the ballot itself and to consolidate the election with the county. Um we get those estimates from the county in in connection the clerk's office gets those estimates and we got the estimate originally actually as it was a bit higher than what it appears in this um agenda memo. Um, but there is a cost and the cost to send these this package of charter amendments is $314,000. Um, you know, the mayor did observe in answer to your question, is it necessary or is anything advantageous at the moment to go through? Um, the mayor did did make reference to some amendment that would um kind of clean up the process uh for appointing a council member in the event of say a recall election before it was necessary to hold an election. Um among the amendments included in this measure um are are amendments that would eliminate that requirement and allow the council to appoint a person rather than elect a person. So that is one one amendment um among the the other sections being amended. Um there is no legal requirement that the amendment go forward. The amendments go forward but it was um an exercise in updating and modernizing and streamlining the charter. Something that hadn't been done in a number of years. I don't know if this question is for John, but just picking back on what my colleague Dorothy was u saying, if we choose to uh just push that specific amendment that really caused a lot of uh issues in our city, would the price go down or is it uh holistically everything the price 300?

Uh we'd have to consult the county on that to get um an accurate measure. Um it likely would go down. I'm not sure. Alicia, I don't know if you have uh insight. I know you work with the county on things like that even a little more than I do, but yes, John, for any measure that we mayor, for any measure that we would add on to the um two council seat election, it would be the same cost. So, it's either you know the package of amendments to the charter at that price and or just, you know, one uh amendment. I think it depends on the size of the the amendment. For example, we have a later agenda item with talks about compensation, which is only $40,000.

So, I don't I think it probably depends on what the individual measure would look like. And I think John, as the city attorney mentioned, uh we could consult if that's the the will of the council, uh the county to get an idea of what a reduced amendment might be. And it's possible that it could be cheaper. Well, because I think and again this this uh idea of of having a um an ad hoc charter uh review was precisely because our charter had not been uh touched on in in some decades. And that was important, but the the catalyst to that was uh precisely the amounts that we had to spend uh on special elections to fill a recall seat. Not that we have not that cities uh or or cities like Downey have recalls every time. Um but again that was the catalyst that that led us in that direction. Um I would be I would be inclined to say how much would that cost just that as opposed to the entire package of over 300,000. Um

yeah if there is you know I think we have time and I'll leave defer to the state attorney but to investigate additional ballot measure format. do have time only because these types of resolutions that are the procedural mechanism that serves to place the ballot measure on the ballot and that are required uh must be submitted to the county no later than 88 days before the November election. So the last date um for the council to adopt this type of resolution that would place this ballot measure or any ballot measure on the November ballot would be the July 28th meeting. So there is time. I guess I would only add um and this is really in recognition of the ad hoc committee's work. Um it took a a very expansive view of the charter and if the if it was the council's perview to say narrow the scope of amendments that wanted to um put before the voters for consideration, it may wish to look at some other ones too and not only just this um this elections or this recall matter. there are there are amendments for example to 34 sections of the charter and the council may wish to send um some or all or none of those to the voters. So I would just encourage um you know again in recognition of the ad hoc committee's work that if um if that's the if that's the objective is to kind of drill down on some of these amendments to see what are what you really would like to um proceed to before the voters. There may be other ones too.

Yes, council member Sosa. Yeah. So, um obviously I was on that ad hoc committee and you know I think we we did a great job of um you know very thorough look at the uh charter spent a lot of time on it and we it took multiple meetings.

Uh but uh you know that that price tag the estimated price tag stood out to me when I saw it and I had to ask myself you know is it really worth it to go through the uh the amendments. Um I for one recalls are very rare. Uh we've only had one in the history of Downey and they're very expensive and um they're they're very difficult to uh carry through. I think that was probably a one-off. Um I would like to see us go through the budgeting process before we even entertain uh looking at um some of the other uh charter amendments. Uh because I would, you know, with that price tag, I would just let's just go through the budgeting process before we we entertained uh um you know, going and narrowing it down to a few amendments. Thank you. And and I those were exactly my thoughts. Um as we continue to look at uh some potential economic downturn uh around the corner, we just need to be uh a little bit more um you know fiscally uh prudent uh with these costs.

Would you also want to include the redistricting that we have done now that is that an item as well like the two items and such or I think I was under the impression that we're going to table this until later on. Yes, we will be bringing madame mayor the uh budget conversation to the council I think June 1st. So that might be the time you might want to give us direction depending upon how that goes on how to proceed. Council member

just to clarify city Mr. City attorney did we already include the redistricting in the set of amendments? Yes, it was included. Um, it was a simple recognition of what was already previously approved by the council and that was the ordinance establishing the pure five district system that will go into effect. Just, you know, out of an abundance of caution, I'll just make it very clear that that will go into effect regardless of whether the charter is amended or not. The ordinance um served to achieve that goal which was permissible under the the statute. Well, and then just just as as our city attorney mentioned um that by ordinance uh we as a council um can amend uh the charter, right? Uh excuse me. We as an ordinance we don't have to amend the charter

because of the ordinance we did not have to amend the charter. That's correct. Correct. That is correct. Okay. Um so if if it pleases a council um we will uh pause we will table this this um matter right right until a future we review the budget. I need a motion. Yes. So moved. Okay. To table. Second. Second. Okay. Please vote. Oh, it's not working, Alicia. There we go. So, the motion is approved unanimously.

Okay, thank you. All right, let's see. And uh moving on on our agenda. Thank you everybody for for this and thank you again for the great work. Um the city of Downey does not move forward uh without a great team and the team is always here, the A team. Uh we have two administrative reports and uh number item number 16 is uh discussion of amendment to the city charter regarding compensation for city council members. Um that the city council discuss and determine an amendment to the city charter regarding compensation for city council members to be submitted to the Downey voters for their consideration as a separate ballot measure at the November 3rd, 2026 January municipal election. And number two, for any charter amendment approved for voter consideration, provide direction to city staff to prepare the elections resolution necessary to place a charter amendment on the ballot. Uh, city manager Bradley, is there a staff report?

Uh, yes, Mayor. I'll turn it over again to uh, our city attorney for this report.

Thank you. Good evening, mayor and council and members of the public. U, this is a continuation of the charter discussion in a different respect in a very limited dimension, if you will. And this is regarding a potential amendment regarding compensation for council members on account of their service on the council. Uh this was really an outgrowth. Um you may recall from the March 24th meeting when the council then was considering um an agenda item regarding the reimbursement amounts that are currently established for council for out-ofpocket expenditures. Um after an extended discussion on that matter, the council elected to instead proceed with some discussion regarding a charter amendment. um instead that would provide council compensation in the amount of $1,000 per month. Um tonight's discussion presents the options in that respect if the council wishes to place an amendment before the voters at the November election. This amendment, if the council did elect to move forward, would be would be presented to voters as a separate measure. Um it was never intended to be linked um to the prior amendments that were just discussed as part of the consent calendar and that at this time are being suspended. Um section 502 of the charter more substantively uh provides that council members shall receive no compensation for their services as such. This section appeared in the original version of the charter in 1964 and has been unaltered since. Um as you can see it's it's fairly unequivocal and unambiguous. Um and so therefore to um to allow for any compensation um for council members there would need to be a change to this

meaning an amendment to the charter um before the voters. So amending the city charter um under state law that can only be done by by a majority of voters. I think we have um we have made that point um previously. Um a charter amendment that was previously approved for consideration. The one we just discussed um was scheduled to be on the November 3rd ballot. Um for now that uh um that is on hold um pending discussion or pending the uh the budget determination. Um but this potential amendment again would be a separate measure to be considered by voters. There is some state law regarding city council compensation. Um and that's specifically for cities not governed by a charter. Those are known as general law cities. um as you're aware um and here in the table it illustrates exactly what the maximum salaries are for cities based on their population. Um these limits were increased in 2024 by Senate Bill 329 and they're also codified in the government code um with room for increases for inflation as well. Um charter cities are not governed by this law and by these limitations. However, they can choose to be governed um if they like and there are some examples of this locally. Um charter cities that do provide compensation for their council members um have elected to be governed by the limits on the previous slide and local examples of that model are Anaheim, Bellflower, Seal Beach, and Santa Ana. Um other local charter cities that provide compensation for their council members um have chosen not to be bound by SB 329, as is their right. Um, examples there include Cerritos and Vernon. How charters establish compensation for their council members essentially uh boils down to two approaches. Um the charter itself can specify the amount um that uh the council members receive on account of their service. Um for

example, it can say um council members receive $1,000 per month on account of their service. It's fixed and precise. Um when the charter does it like that it's essentially a self-executing provision. There is no other action required. The charter itself provides for the direction. The alternate way um or the second way I should say is to provide for the compensation via ordinance um and and by implementing ordinance and if the if the legislative body elects for that approach then it could determine the compensation from time to time whenever it wishes through regular ordinance adoption procedures. uh regardless how the compensation is set, a member of the legislative body can elect to wave the compensation at any time during their service. And that's a that's a creature of state law. So, in response to the council's directive from March 24th, uh we prepared four different options uh for the council's discussion and consideration. Um the first two involve amending the charter itself to insert the um the compensation amount directly into the provision. So you can see here um the the language being added appears in underscore text and the language being deleted um appears in struck out text. But the upshot of of option number one is to fix the precise amount uh of the compensation that was discussed by the the council on March 24th at $1,000 per month. Um not subject to any annual or periodic adjustment and becoming effective the first day of the first month after their charter amendment would become effective. Um, this is really probably the most direct response to the council's directive on March 24th for the preparation of a potential amendment. Um, again, fixing the amount at $1,000 per month in the charter itself. Option number two also fixes the compensation in the charter itself at $1,000, but allows for compensation to be adjusted for inflation on July one of

every year. So, a variation of option number one. Option number three um provides for establishing a monthly salary by ordinance. And so option number three alludes to um the practice that a city council may by ordinance approve from time to time the amount of compensation. This affords a legislative body the most flexibility in terms of the decision to um fix or establish compensation um among their members. Um it essentially shifts that decision to the regular ordinance adoption process. A provision like this in the charter would not immediately direct um in the payment of that would not immediately result in the payment of compensation to council members. there would need to be a second step and that is an implementing ordinance through regular adoption procedures. Option four is to the same effect um but there um there is provision to limit any ordinance establishing compensation to the limits of SP 329. There would be some self-limiting factor there. So there's two approach four options and two approaches in some um the first two fix the amount of a compensation in the charter itself. um it's a self-executing provision. That amendment, if approved by voters, would immediately result in compensation being effective. The second two options um call for the compensation to be fixed by implementing ordinance. So, there would need to be a second step there. Again, just to reiterate, if this um amendment were called for um by the council, there would be a separate ballot measure um just capturing this amendment alone. It wouldn't be tied to any other prior amendment approved by the council for consideration by the voters. Um for options one and two and added clarity,

the compensation would begin on the first day of the month after the um approved amendments were filed with the Secretary of State. That's the process for having them approved. For options three and four, the compensation would begin at a time fixed itself within the within the ordinance itself. Um the fiscal impact um for uh I guess initially the ballot measure to amend the charter the charter to fixed compensation at $1,000 a month. Um that would result in an annual cost of at least $60,000 per year um on an ongoing basis. Um the expense um here as we um received from the county as the estimate was $41,500 to add this measure to the ballot in conjunction with the prior charter amendment um that uh the council elected to to pause for the time being. So tonight's action items were to discuss and to determine um the form of amendment, if any, to the city charter to provide compensation to council members for their service to be submitted as an independent measure on November 3rd to Downey voters. And if any amendment is selected, um an accompanying direction to city staff to prepare the elections resolutions that actually would place that would serve to place that ballot measure on the ballot. Uh just to be clear, no amendment is being enacted tonight. Um I say that just for clarity and for uh for members of the public as well. Any amendment, whether it be for council compensation or any amendment to the charter, does need to go before voters for voter approval. The decision tonight is whether to actually um call this amendment to put this amendment on the ballot so that voters themselves can consider it.

Thank you. I'll answer any questions. I I know we had some discussion uh um just in the prior agenda item that um that you may wish to reprise here.

Thank you. I think in light if I'm if I may say a few things um in light of the discussion that we just had uh in terms of the cost of of bringing these measures before the voters. Um and and let's not it's not something that uh I believe is is in the best interest of our city. Um however having said that I do have to um mention that uh again the reason we brought this conversation is because in light of the reimbursement framework that we've had since 2006 um this council had not had that conversation and and I realize we realize these conversations are not comfortable they are uncomfortable and but at the same time we have to look at how this role has evolved uh over the years and and we certainly don't run for office because we uh want that salary. Uh that is not at all why we do it. Um but it is important not just this council but the councils um coming after us that uh people that are not necessarily semi-retired or retired uh have the ability to serve on this council. Um, and sometimes running for office and sitting in these chairs, uh, you you have to be able to have the time and the ability to do that. Um, and not everybody has the the financial, um, uh, wealth, I I would say, even though none of us here at that level, to be able to to serve in this capacity, right? Um and so again I just want to uh reiterate and and recognize that um this is not a a power grabbing or a money grabbing council. Um but the the the expectations in the service over the last many years

given today's environment uh of serving it requires uh significant um significant sacrifices of many of us uh including monetary and I don't believe that is um out of the realm of possibilities that by ordinance uh we as a council could say We we are adopting uh a $900 uh compensation plan on a monthly basis. Um this is not out of out of the realm of possibilities. This is what I'm um looking at because what is coming and

increase that's what you're saying?

Yes. uh what is coming and the the responsibilities and of of this position um are great and they will continue to increase and I think it's it's important for this city as this city continues to lead um to look at uh the time and the time we spend uh representing our city in various key committees um regionally and nationally. Um that I will I will stop here. Um perhaps some of my cons uh colleagues will vehemently disagree with with my statement, but I do want to say um it is important that this this has been long overdue. Um and and I think that our time and our love for this community uh do require that we look at this.

I do want to I think maybe expand our conversation in regards to this. Mayor, I I completely agree with you. Uh it it does take a lot of time Um and and for me in as an example uh I I I put a lot of money to really uh go out there and and showcase what we are doing here in our community. Uh the issue I'm facing with doing the reimbursement, it seems to me that we're circumvating the the current state that this is just a reimbursement. They're saying no salary. I'm open to the idea of allowing the voters decide. It just seems like we're saying voters, I'm sorry. We're going to skip all you guys and we're just going to increase our salary because it's a lot. We we came into this position because we want to help. We want to do a lot, but it just seems like we're just basically just jumping over saying we have another avenue to increase our salary. What worries me is that future we're not I don't think that our council is a council that wants to, you know, make millions out of this. It's just that idea that we're jumping over. It just seems like it's just another politic move that a lot of polit politicians might do. Uh I I invest so much uh in in uh and I don't hide it. I have I have another uh secretary that I have in my office helping me with my answering emails, getting our uh committee members and our uh commission really involved to events. Um the videos that I'm I'm doing I I do want to give the opportunity for residents to really go out there and say, "Hey, uh do you think we can be just simply compensated for some of the work?" Uh so that's where I want to have a deeper conversation. I don't think this is something fast and and that we should just do but I do have a question for you John. One thing it says right

there in the compensation. In addition, members shall receive such reasonable and adequate amounts as may be established by an ordinance which amount shall be deemed to be reimbursed to them out of uh to them of other out-ofpocket expenditures and costs imposed upon them by virtue of their serving city council. So, if I bring a receipt to uh the city manager's office for something that I'm producing on behalf of my role as a council member, I get reimbursed. Is there a threshold or is there a limit to that?

Uh effectively there is right now Mayor Potm only because the reimbursements are governed by ordinance as they have been for years and they are determined in a lumpsum amount by that ordinance. um that lumpsum amount has been fixed and determined and judged, if you will, to be adequate to compensate council members um for their out-ofpocket expenditures related to their service on the council. So, at this point in time, the reimbursement is is intended all reimbursement is intended to be captured in that lump sum amount that is set by ordinance. If you wish to change that amount, that could also be done by ordinance. I believe as the mayor alluded to that would be the the avenue to change that amount. Um receipts at this point in time are not required to receive that lump sum reimbursement. That is by design. Um for example, our ordinance establishing the reimbursement has in its recital um you know the um recital to the effect that um recognizing the difficulty it might be and I'm I'm paraphrasing forgive me but recognizing it may be difficult you know to keep essentially every scrap of paper or every receipt that you know is um you know is generated in the course of a council member's work you know it is determined that this sum of money this lump sum of money is a reasonable and adequate amount to c to compensate or to reimburse, forgive me, a council member for his or her out-ofpocket expenses related to their service on the council. So, at this point in time, receipts are are not a function of that.

So, administratively, I just kind of expanding and John's right. Uh you're not required to submit receipts. Uh if you're you could turn them into us, that would be something that you could do. I don't know how long we would retain them or if we would keep them on the long term. Uh but if the receipts were in excess of what the authorized reimbursement is, we cannot give you any more. Yeah. Uh let me I'll go back to asking questions. I'll let my other colleagues uh answer any ask any other questions. Did that address your your question, Mayor Potm? It did. So, but I guess my follow-up question will be if we remove that whole idea of receipts, uh, we just have to provide receipts and, uh,

yes, instead of that, maybe where you're going, instead of receiving that that lump sum, if we if we, for example, transition to a receiptsbased system, you know, the re reimbursements would be driven by the receipts themselves. Okay. Um but our approach right now is is a lump sum what I'm going to call a lump sum approach and it has been um for for some decades now.

Thank you John. U my comment would just be that I from last week's detail of all the different cities you we can clearly see that we are not comparatively um reimbursed or compensated as such as other cities and even in your chart here from this SB 329 on a city of our size 75,000 to 150 the state law the governing general law is suggesting $1,900 a month. Mhm.

So, you know, we are far from this and that like our mayor has said, we aren't here because of what we are receiving. We don't want to be out of pocket, which we could be for a lot of things we attend that are on smaller levels or parking or travel or gas. But now in lie of what it's going to cost to be put on the ballot that we're going to review, um I only thought we could include it this way so that it would be listed more as a stipen as the other cities are doing um in lie of the um the reimbursement. I think we might need to pause it but it's for the future as well to to help offset some of the costs that maybe a person who sits here on the dis is not able to work the 100% that they are for their income um and not be out of pocket. I see that it is needed to be increased for what county council right now is being reimbursed or the stipen but um I'm not sure if we are putting this on with the charter amendment and what the cost is going to be. So maybe we just pause a little bit of it. So,

okay. Anyone else?

Uh I as far as putting this on the ballot, I I I'm not in favor of that. My position is uh is uh pretty consistent on that. Uh I I think it would be a mistake to put on the ballot. Um I think it would be a waste of money, the 41,000 estimated uh cost. And I honestly I just don't see it passing. Um, and I don't want Downey to be the only city in the region to receive a reimbursement stipen as well as a salary. Um well with respect to the uh the stipen or any talk of a norance to increase that stipen I you know I I've maintained that I I we put in a lot of work and I you know I want to I want to stick with the technical term of reimbursement. We put some of us put more you know into this than others. We put in as much time as we want to as our uh schedules allow. um as far as us missing work or what have you to uh attend events or conferences, that shouldn't be the city's problem. Um you know, we know what we signed up for. And I will say I will state that uh you know, I do maintain that yeah, I I think you know, we put a lot of work into this. We should be compensating more. But when we go back to reimbursement, as far as uh uh the discussion of potentially increasing that, I'm just asking for justification. what you know it needed to be justified. What justifies potentially increasing our reimbursement stipen?

I believe that was the focus of the discussion on March correct 24th um which ultimately led to today's discussion and and um in a bit of a um you know a focus on compensation rather than reimbursement but certainly if the council ever wishes to return to that subject it's within its purview. Thank you. Um any yes council

I agree with my colleague Councilman Sosa I don't think we should put this on the ballot I think it's going to lose and it be 40,000 so at some point Madame Mayor I would like to make a motion that we not put this amendment on the ballot okay anybody else you're looking for A second. Yes, I think we agree. This should not be on the ballot. Second. Thank you. Okay. Please vote.

The motion is approved unanimously. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, John. I'll leave this here. Okay. Well,

this takes us to to uh item number 17, the discussion regarding the feasibility of a tiered conditional use permit fee structure for small businesses. that the city council discuss the current tiered conditional use permit processes and provide direction to staff on whether to expand the minor conditional use permit categories and initiate a zoning text amendment ZTA city manager Bradley who's got the Oh, I see Irma. Director Irma, Director Wetron is up at the podium. Thank you. Take it away, Irma.

Good evening, mayor, members of the city council. I have a PowerPoint for you tonight. At its October 14, 2025 meeting, the city council directed staff to evaluate the feasibility of a tiered conditional use permit fee structure to better support small businesses. Tonight's report takes a closer look at how the city's current cup and minor cup processes function in practice, including the associated costs, and identifies opportunities to better align permit procedures and fees with the scale and potential impacts of the proposed uses uses. The Tonight's report also provides an overview of the current municipal code provisions, summarizes existing fees, and outlines potential next steps for the city council's consideration. The city of Downey currently uses a two-tiered conditional use permit system consisting of a conditional use permit and a minor conditional use permit. A minor conditional use permit is considered an administrative process subject to director review and the director's designate that does not require a public hearing. It is intended for lower impact uses that have minimal effects on surrounding uses or the environment. Examples of minor conditional use permit applications that we currently process through the community development department include outdoor dining areas and other minor commercial recreational uses. And in contrast, the conditional use permit is a discretionary process that does require a plan a public hearing before the planning commission. It is you it is used for projects that have greater potential impacts and may need special special conditions or we often reference conditions of approval to ensure that they remain compatible with surrounding uses and the neighborhoods. Examples of

these u may be familiar to you include restaurants serving alcohol, those establishments h that have live entertainment or projects that include valet parking for example. staff has evaluated the city's current conditional use permit and minor conditional use permit frame framework and work uh and it's working in practice how we use it uh in our department. While the existing structure appropriately distinguishes between administrative and discretionary reviews, it does not fully capture the range of lower impact uses that could be handled at an administrative level, which I've referenced is under the minor conditional use permit category. And this presents an opportunity to consider expanding minor conditional use permit eligibility to better align permit requirements, cost, and timelines with the scale of the proposed uses. There are also clear differences in review and cost. A conditional use permit involves a more comprehensive process including inter interdep departmental reviews, technical studies, often complex sequalis, a higher level of public noticing and as I mentioned a public hearing before the planning commission. In contrast, the lower cost minor conditional use permit being the administrative review is more streamlined is typically for projects that are squa exempt and do not require a public hearing. And this table before you shows you the city's current fee for a conditional use permit is 7,571. The actual cost that was identified in the city's comprehensive fee uh study is uh 12,619 as adopted in the most recent fee study. The city currently subsidizes the conditional use permit by 40%. meaning

that it is uh less uh less uh $5,048 resulting in the 7500 current fee. The minor conditional use permit is subsidized at a higher level, a little over 75% 76%. Uh the current fee for a minor conditional use permit is significantly less at 1,263, but again that includes a city subsidy of about 76%. And this table just gives you a quick overview of the decision making bodies and the process for uh the different types of uh reviews. A conditional use permit as I mentioned goes before the planning commission. Any decision that would be appealed would be then go to the city council and it requires a public notice of 500 ft. A minor conditional use permit is at the director review. Any decisions of the director can be appealed to the planning commission and any decisions by the planning commission can be appealed by the city council. And the minor conditional use permit also has a lower threshold for notification given that the these are intended to be lower impact uses that already are operating with less impact or can be um mitigated through very simple traditional conditional uh conditions of approval that staff has experienced in applying. Although conditional minor conditional use permit applications do um are traditionally less complex, uh staff has identified that uh these applications do often result in higher level of coordination with applicants. uh often due to evolving project scopes uh due to small businesses often have evolving ideas of how they want to implement their projects or even file their applications before vetting out all the operational requirements. So that's something that staff is uh involved in

in helping guide the applicants in being able to get through the minor conditional use permit. Um and overall the framework uh for conditional use permit is effective. uh the range of uses eligible for the administrative review however remains limited. One of the key discussion topics for the city council tonight is the potential expansion of a minor condition conditional use permit eligibility. Expanding the land use categories would allow certain uses to be reviewed uh administratively with lower fees, shorter processing times while still maintaining the appropriate oversight through the city staff's review process. Uh staff has found that some uses currently requiring a conditional use permit have characteristics that are more consistent with lower impact uses and may not require a planning commission. And so this table uh here on the screen and in the staff report identifies some of the land uses that staff believes would benefit from being changed from a capital CUP to a minor CUP. Uh for example, valet parking. These are often used to uh have a more creative way of parking vehicles. The OSA is one of the most recent ones that staff has processed a couple of years ago where they wanted flexibility and being able to provide rather the amenity of of the service to their clients. It was really not a parking demand issue. It was more of a a convenience that they wanted to provide and those that was approved by the planning commission. Other examples are for example broadcasting video studios. We've been getting some inquiries about podcasters wanting to rent some uh smaller establishments in the city to establish those types of uses. Tutoring centers is another recent one that we encountered. Uh daycare centers. Um animal boarding

is also a doggy daycare would benefit from a minor conditional use permit and the expansion of the uses that fall under minor commercial recreation. Uh current uses that currently qualify for minor cup are Pilates, yoga, martial arts. However, there are other uses that are similar like health, fitness, dance studios, and boxing gyms that could benefit from a minor conditional use permit. They're very similar to the land use category category of minor CUP. And so staff would recommend that we move those over. Um we again this list is very uh relevant to the inquiries we've been receiving at the counter and even some applications that we believe are in the pipeline that haven't quite filed but might be ready to file soon. And so I think this is on point to what we're seeing in the small business world of Downey. Uses um that would still remain as conditionally permitted uses were included in the staff report and are summarized in this table. Those would be businesses that serve alcohol that have ampli amplified music, live entertainment past uh 10:00, restaurants with drive-throughs, bars, nightclubs, and other larger format commercial recreational uses such as bowling alleys and skating rinks when there would be a higher demand, a higher occupancy of those spaces. As far as timeline and costs as presented in the staff report, if after discussion the city council directs staff to proceed with the zoning text amendment, staff will conduct the necessary research and prepare its findings to take before the planning commission. The commission's recommendation would then be forwarded to the city council for final consideration. And based on the departments, the community development department's 2627 work plan, staff anticipates initiating these this effort

for the code amendment and July of 2026. Uh this timing is um mostly driven by staff's availability as current staff resources are focused on completing the comprehensive general plan update and the associated environmental impact report. And we anticipate being able to start this effort for a zoning te text amendment uh in July of 2026 as staff resources become available uh at that time. Uh it is anticipated that the zoning text amendment would be then taken to the planning commission and city council around September um and October of 2026 for final review. And if the city council directs staff to prepare and move forward with the zoning text amendment, it would result in an appropriation of 18,000 from the general fund to the community developments operating budget. And tonight, uh staff is requesting that the city council provide direction on the current tiered conditional use permit process, specifically whether to expand the minor cup categories and proceed with the zoning text amendment. And if so, as I mentioned, the direction to proceed with the zoning text amendment would result in an appropriation to the department's fund to be able to initiate this effort. And this concludes my presentation. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Irma. Um, this is a very good report and I um I know that this council certainly supports um small businesses and uh being that businessfriendly city. uh we are looking for ways to uh lessen the burden on small businesses and and hopefully help them along and uh you've provided the information on the the tables uh table two regarding uh the change from the conditional use permit cup to minor uh conditional use permit and I think it makes a lot of sense. um

we should be able to assist uh the small businesses go through that process uh a little a little easier um with the conditions that you've uh outlined and and I'm I'm very supportive of this. I think this is uh this is taking us in the in in a in a great direction uh from from good to great where we can simplify and if if they are if they if they meet the this threshold um or these areas they don't necessarily need to go through uh planning commission and and be over overburdened with additional fees and costs associated with that. So I'm I'm I'm all for it. Uh council colleagues.

Yeah. Um, thank you, Madam Mayor. Irma, uh, thank you and your team, uh, for putting this, uh, this together and, uh, I know you guys spent a lot of time on it. There was a lot of analysis. Uh, I'm all in. Um, that's why, you know, I wanted to initially bring this up because we hear it from the small business owners. I know all of us on this DS hear from the small business owners in this city. And, uh, you know, I've always felt that there from the beginning, there shouldn't be one sizefits-all as far as the this up fees. And uh I really like uh expanding the idea in this list of expanding the uh the minor cup land use categories. Uh I'm all in favor of it. Thank you. Welcome.

Thank you, Irma. I really appreciate the the the whole packet and I think we I agree with the sentiments of my colleagues, the mayor and and Hector Sosa, my council member colleague. I do have a question. If you could go to table one just really something caught on my mind. Excuse me. Which slide? Uh table one uh where it says the cost the cup versus the Yes. the minor CUP. Is there a specific reason why the public notice distance is different from the conditional the CUP and the minor conditional use permit to 100?

Yes. It it has to do with uh lower impact uses. uh lower impact uses don't have um high potential for um traffic or um cars going out into neighborhoods. Uh and so the noticing periods typically for zoning codes is a lower distance for u minor conditional use permit. And the code actually reads different in that it's a public notice when an application is filed letting an neighboring properties making them aware that there's an application that's been filed. Um it's really the the conditional use permit capital the the big daddy's uh CUP is 500 foot notice because it those do have a potential for greater impacts maybe even have queuing studies uh have a higher level of environmental reviews. Uh the minor cups as I mentioned are typically SQA exempt meaning that they're projects that are already predetermined not to have environmental impacts. So those are those are reflected in the noticing uh distances.

Thank you and I'm I'm all for it. Uh we always always hear uh what businesses are struggling with. Um so thank you for the the presentation. Just out of curiosity, how much time are they going to save if they're not going to the planning commission? What is your estimate of the time frame that business will not

a minor conditional use permit? us still is I would say if it's a complete application they've had a pre-application process or pre-conultation with staff I would say a minimum of 60 days uh and that allows for one uh round of corrections or reviews or clarifications from the time that it's filed and it also allows for the public notice to be generated and and and sent out. I too will agree with with not having just one sizefits-all. I like this modification going to help our small business. We're getting many new small businesses that want to come in. I found it I I liked your chart on table one. I wasn't familiar with current fees and then the conditional use fees. But more importantly that the city does subsidize on both of them. We subsidize 40% on conditional use. Basically, that means the city isn't charging 5,000 and on the smaller one 4,000. So, we as a city too are taking a little bit of the impact and the cost for businesses to pull their license. So, thank you very much.

Okay. At this time, I will make a motion to um accept this report and to direct um this is it TZA zoning test. the zoning test um for for um C MCU space. Am I doing it right? Yes. Um I'll second that motion. What is that? I'll second that motion. You second the motion that I just did that that I butchered along the way. Don't worry. Motion may

Okay. Did we get the motion? Do we know what we're doing? So, as I understand it, mayor, just to recap, you would like us to proceed with the uh the minor use permit changes and and create and execute the zone tax amendment.

Yes, please. And thank you, uh, Irma. I know um I do want to highlight and I will highlight it during my uh during our comments, but um there is u a video coming up um of both of us, but I I want to highlight the improvements that planning uh and development are doing. uh the department is doing to make sure that we are we we can't be perfect all the time. That's that's not that's not a measure that we we are wanting to be. We we cannot be perfect, but we are making significant improvements uh to make sure that we have an electronic plan process um that is that is uh very friendly and that people know about it. But uh more to come on that. I will mention it during my comments, but in this time I made the motion. Uh MPT second it. Let's go ahead and vote.

The motion is approved unanimously.

Thank you. Um, thank you everybody. Thank you uh to the staff for all of the work. Um, we have these binders that we get uh every time we have council and we review them. And I just want to say thank you for providing us the great reports and the information. Uh, at this time we have city council member announcements, requests for future agenda items, uh, conference and meeting reports. And I'm going to start with um, Mayor Prom Ortiz to my far left.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Welcome back. just want to say uh we're so happy that you're back to serve our community. Uh I do I just have a just quick uh events that I attended. We I went to the youth vendor fair. I know my uh colleague council member Hector Sosa also attended. I don't know if any of my other colleagues attended, but uh this uh event has grown. It started at the bunny patch with 15 vendors and now we have 30 vendors, youth vendors. Um, I've been a big uh fighter uh to do big events to uh to our youth, specifically helping them be educated on um money, how to get money. And I'm very appreciative staff uh and and everything they're doing to ensure this is uh coming into life. And also to our uh young council, they they are also pretty involved with this. It's interesting. they were uh to get part of this vendor, they have to pay $20. Uh and after the event, they uh to get reimbursed, they had to go to a meeting or conference to learn a little bit about opening a bank uh account and learning all that. And right now in our high schools or elementary schools, they don't know about the the importance of earning a dollar. And that's what always my parents taught me about the value of the dollar. And uh this youth vendor fair is really teaching uh the youth about something very very important that's going to carry on their lives. So thank you to staff, thank you to our young council uh uh for pushing this forward. We also attended a Friday movie flick which Incredibles 2 was uh highlighted Golden Park, the bunny patch which was a little hot was a lot hot so but it was well attended. Um, I am going to give staff the little uh commercial that I did for the bunny patch. So, hopefully we can promote that in our uh on our uh

future so our residents know cuz I got a lot of people saying that they didn't know about the bunny patch. Uh, but just please follow us on our Instagram uh also in our social medias so we can show the highlight of those events. Uh we did uh uh Council Member Hector Sosa, uh Mayor Fmenta, and Councilwoman Dorothy Pen and I attended the neighborhood block captain meeting uh at the library. My only suggestion, it was uh well attended, but I hopefully we can do it at maybe uh before it was at Golden Park or a different park. I know the library was closing really fast and there was a lot of people that had a lot of questions. Just a little suggestion for next time. Uh we also attended the annual police and fire uh fighter fire of the year event and congratulations to both our police officers and firefighter of the year. Thank you so much for all everything you're doing. I I mean I'm sure my colleagues will agree that we value and appreciate everything you guys are doing. So thank you so much. Uh and please pass that along to our team. And lastly uh we went to the good annual gala uh which was a lot of fun. So if anybody wants to be partaking of a grid nonprofit, good is the way to go. Um I do just have one request. Um I know Hua reached out to me uh for um Elgito. I don't know my colleagues are interested uh to bring this event. I know was well attended last year uh but I'm going to see if uh it's something that my colleagues are interested in bringing it back again. Um and see if we can help sponsor.

Yes, I'll second that. All right. Thank you. And with that, mayor, I conclude my comments. Thank you. Thank you, MPT. Uh, Council Member Sosa, thank you, Madame Mayor. It's great to see you back. You can see your health u on the uh on the uprise. Yeah. Thank you. Good job. No, I know I know you you've had a long road, so uh good to see you uh getting getting better.

I just want to mention a couple things. Uh I did uh several events uh that I went to that I attended. uh some great events around the community, community- based. Um my council colleague, Mayor Pro Tim Ortiz had mentioned a couple of them. I do want to emphasize this past uh Sunday, city of STEM uh was joined by uh Mayor Feretta. I know Assemblywoman Blanca Pacheco was there. Uh Ben Decau and your team. Congratulations. That was another amazing event.

Yes. Round of applause. GREAT JOB, BEN. CITY OF STEM. That's that's that's that comes from Downey, the official science festival of LA County. That's awesome. A lot of uh a lot of uh great exhibitors. It was 250 exhibitors and uh right there at the uh um natural uh history museum. Um and uh right there at Exposition Park, right next to the coliseum. just just a great great place to have that uh that festival. A lot of excited kids and families. Uh well very well attended. So congratulations Ben to you and your team. Also I I last week I had the pleasure along with Mayor Foretta and Council Member uh Peton in attending the inaugural uh Downey PD awards. uh several officers uh were recognized and I just want to um really acknowledge uh Chief Scott Lochner. Uh I know that you worked in in tandem with Downey POA and making that happen. I and I you know from the outside looking in. Uh we appreciate Downey PD and I I we can see that that goes a long way for the officers and their families and everything they have to go through and and just to acknowledge them. Uh most of them didn't want to speak that you know they're very humble. they serve uh they see a lot of things that uh you know uh we don't have to see and we appreciate them. So it was awesome to see them being recognized and again I know uh that you worked um you and your team worked really hard with the POA to recognize that. That was good to see. So thank you Chief Lochner. Uh that concludes my count my comments Madame Mayor.

Thank you Council Member Sosa. Uh moving on to Council Member Peton. Good evening. Thank you. Uh, and w Whoops. Yes. Uh, I also want to say welcome back and I'm hope you're on the right road to recovery. I know it's a long road. Um, everyone is kind of gone, but I'll make my comments. I've we've attended a lot of things. I'd like to recognize right now since we had it on our consent calendar, my future public works committee member, uh, Juan Sto, who is here and attending. Thank you for Thank you for sticking around

in the future where you may want to kind of keep going, but uh, thank you for coming tonight. Um I we attended a lot of things. It's a two week u two actually four weeks. I attended the monthly vector mosquito board and the good news is there is no West Nile human cases year to date. Yay.

Uh the bad news with the recent rains and high heats. I guess it's still hot up here but we turned it off. Mosquitoes are starting to breed earlier. So remember to tip and toss your standing water. Keep your pools and fountains chlorinated. Uh, Vector inspected and treated 110 Downey pools, which is high. So, in comparison, Belfflower had 27 inspections, Burbank 68. So, if you need to watch your pool or your neighbor's pool and it becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoes, call Vector at 562-9449656. And if they want them to come out, they'll go out and treat a pool. And they're always looking for employees, especially seasonal workers. right now they are hiring so give them a call and um it was a couple weeks ago but Councilman Sosa and I attended our veterans subcommittee meeting I wanted to mention that as well they we had a special presentation from LA County Department of Mental Health and there's a veteran peer-to-peer network out there if you have a veteran who needs some support I'll just go quickly to their number 1 8008547771 and they could benefit from their services. So, kind of refer our veterans. Uh my colleagues mentioned a few of the items that we were at at the uh events rather. We had gangs out of Downey holding their first their annual rather Ricky Galveves scholarship award dinner and we recognized seven seniors uh and helped further their education with scholarships. So, thank you chief and all to the committee, Julie Garcia, our president. Yesterday, I attended an all day tour. Um I am the trustee or the board member for the SIAKAKA for our downey um uh city. I attended a tour of four shelters with Siaka staff to learn about different shelters and their systems and protocols in place. We have a new acting director who is very engaged with our staff. We want to make

some changes at SIAKA. Uh we are aware that we need some new policies and we have an internal audit being conducted to review all areas of operation. So, know that we as the board of trustees are aware of deficiencies at SIAKA and we're working to closely make improvements, hire staff, and um fill the vacancies. And our Downey cat spay and neuter program, which we've started about a month ago, um it gives $150 to uh residents per cat, two cat limit. It's already up to 15 reimbursements. So, it's a kitten season right now. Siaka was taking in I looked at some of the numbers, 150 kittens. They are coming in hot and heavy. So, if you know of a neighbor with a cat that doesn't have a fixed male or female, let them know. We partnered, Siaka partnered with ASPCA and they offered several mobile spay and neuter clinics in the fa past few weeks. Um, it's by appointment only, but follow them on social media for upcoming events. I post that as well. And, um, on our consent calendar, just quickly, we accepted work for the HVAC at the Downey Police Department. Your officers are now cool. We have new system in place. It was old and that was part of a 2 point a $2 million improvement funded from measure S. So we're using a lot of our capital accounts this way. The general plan I save the date. The chamber of commerce. We have uh Michael Cart here in the office uh audience. The street fair will be Saturday, May 9th from 1 to 8:00 p.m. on Brookshshire. Is that correct?

Very good. We look forward to that. Hopefully it won't be 95 degrees like last year, right? Yeah. Um, thank you staff on the Easter Bunny. I know my councilman Artiz uh touched on that, but it was a really great event. I think it was great. And and uh Jason and Monica and everyone, the staff public works as well.

And Ben, congratulations on the com uh Columbia Memorial Space Center, the hosting that landing party. Okay. Some of us were able, some not able, but uh we made the news again. So, it looked great and I think you had a great time. It was packed. And I saw us on Channel 5. I saw you on Channel 5, right? Um, and for our our police chief, uh, thank you. At last council meeting, I asked for more officers and visibility on our streets to combat speeding. Residents called me days later. I see someone. I saw a citation. They really appreciate the effort. The officers are out there. That's the only way it's going to stop the speeding. Um, we would like to have them still at our patrolling our schools in the morning and the afternoon. I know we are always stretched, but those are our priorities between our streets and the speeding. Um, city manager, I have one request. Uh, I recently learned of the action of one of our public works committee members, um, who is still passing out unauthorized and self-made city of Downey business cards with our logo in her name. Uh, the passing out of the unauthorized business card was to promote her personal organization. Um, all commissioners and committee members, including Miss Rivera, were instructed months ago and given a letter from the city manager regarding authorized and non-authorized items. Uh, business cards along with self-made shirts with the city logo are not allowed. Um, she has also created a title that does not exist. Um, this is not allowed and is a violation of our city code and the code of ethics. I would like uh to put on the council agenda an item to discuss action needed andor removal of a due to the recent actions of public works committee member Lzette Rivera regarding continual distribution of self-made business cards uh which is not allowed. So it's something that I think we need to address and and stop because that is something we've already discussed. Uh

can I get a second on that? I'll second it. Thank you. you. And that concludes my comments. Thank you, Council Member Through, please.

Thank you. Um, we had an opportunity to do the groundbreaking today for the downtown Downey Archway. Um, it's an exciting piece of um, for marketing and branding purposes that we are hopeful will um, continue to highlight our city. I do believe that this is going to be very Instagrammable and help us continue to, if you will, put Downey on the map. So, looking forward to that. Um, want to see if we can have staff look into the blue agave. What would be the ramifications of using this plant? Maybe uh designating it as the official plant of Downey. I understand that it's a succulent. Uh, this was an idea suggested to me by by resident, by the way. So, I'd like to see if we could get a second and have the staff present the pros and cons of adopting the Ablu Agave. May I have a second?

I'll second that one. Thank you. Um, with that said, I think all the other events have been covered. Thank you. Uh, nothing further.

Thank you. Um, and Downey, I know we are getting close to the very end. Please um please hold on. Please bear with me. Um I want to address uh a couple of things that I think are important and I do want to address them for the record. Um and this is on the rise of threats of violence against those of us in public office uh because of partisan politics. Um I think many of you are aware that I received uh through official city channels messages uh that were quite disturbing. uh we're going to kill her for treason and it should have been your family who got stabbed in the library. I want to be clear, this is not political discourse. These are threats of violence. And like many local elected officials across the country, this is a troubling rise in rhetoric that goes beyond disagreement and into intimidation and harm. When threats are directed not only at me but at my family, it becomes deeply personal and it takes a real toll on safety, security, and mental well-being. We need to remember the First Amendment protects free speech, but it does not protect threats or violence. These type of statements cross a legal line and must be taken seriously and reviewed by our law enforcement, which I know they are doing. And in light of what occurred over the weekend in Washington DC, I need to say this plainly. Violent rhetoric and threats are not protected speech. They are dangerous. They are unacceptable and they have consequences. what occurred and what continues to occur, the escalation that has led to more acts of violence occurs when we stop taking words seriously.

So tonight, I am calling on everyone in our community to draw the line. No more excuses and no more silence. We need to say this plainly. Violent rhetoric and threats are not protected speech. We need to remember to disagree passionately and debate openly, but we need to reject violence every time without exception because if we fail to do that, we risk losing the very foundation of our democracy. Public service should not come with fear for our lives or our family safety. We can and should have respectful, even passionate disagreements, but threats of violence have no place in our community. And and I say this because again this is election season and we need to remember and again for the record this council the people elected to these chairs this is a nonpartisan seat. We may have partisan affiliations because it is a democracy. This is America. But it is important um and I really want to urge my council colleagues to refuse the labels. Council member Trujillo since your post on social media under your council member title labeling me a MAGA mayor. There has been an increase in the type of violent rhetoric and speech directed at me. And I think that we we can agree

to disagree and we always have, but we need to remember that the job that we do here as elected officials is for the good of our community and is it shall remain nonpartisan. And I would like to ask at this time for in 2021 I asked for the creation of a code of conduct and ethics that was applicable for council members as well as committee members and commissioners to this city. What has made this city the city that it is is our ability to disagree without being disagreeable to each other. And we will have differences of opinion in various political affiliations because that is the democracy. That is the country that we live in. But we should not allow those to come and take center stage here and label each other one way or the other. That that is not productive. and that invites violent, aggressive, unnecessary attention and rhetoric to us and to me in particular. So, I would like to ask um for a revision on this code of conduct and code of ethics. If I can get a second, please.

Second.

Thank you. Um we I attended many of uh some of the events that were mentioned by my council colleagues a few minutes ago. Uh unfortunately I was not able to attend several others due to my secondary stay at a local hospital. But I am committed and I think we are committed as a city council to move our community forward and to work together regardless of our political differences for the good of Downey. Um, I would like to ask uh also I would like to recognize our police chief and uh police department, of course, our fire department for their continuous work on behalf of our community. Um, and once again ask uh for additional um perhaps speed checks on our main arteries uh around the the city. I know the Florence um area can be uh a very dangerous artery uh especially from the 605 to Lakewood. Um sometimes I've I've witnessed vehicles in the last couple of weeks going uh 80 90 miles an hour and so if we can have additional attention to that that would be great. Um that's all I have for now in city manager Bradley your comments please.

Uh nothing from staff mayor. Thank you.

Okay. Uh at this time I bring us to the end of our meeting. Uh this city council meeting is now adjourned in memory of Sheriff Deputy Levy Vargas, 30 11-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Sand Dema Station, who passed away after a medical emergency while participating in the Baker Tobago relay race. and Detective Randy Hopper, six-year veteran of the Tulari County Sheriff's Office and veteran of the United States Navy, who succumbed to his injuries after being shot while responding to an eviction notice call. A moment of silence, please. The time is 9:27. This meeting is adjourned.