City Council - Regular Meeting

Go ahead and resume our council meeting. It's 05:32. And first, we'll start with any public comments.

City clerk Miller. Sorry.

I know. Either way.

We do have one request to speak. I don't know if you want me to give my report first or if you wanna do the public comments first.

I I think because on the agenda, it's listed public comments. What what are

we Katie Wright. Welcome.

Greetings mayors all. I saw this actually, I saw it recommended or suggested in the last meeting. And why should I care? You know, you would think I wouldn't care, but I do care. First off, I don't wanna see any meetings canceled because of this.

Second off, if anyone is not able to make it on the Tuesday after a Monday holiday, there's like two in the year, January and February. That person can just miss a meeting. It isn't gonna kill him to not be here. If there's a reason why people wanna have band of brothers in lockstep on some issue, that's not my business and that's not an accusation I would make, but there's no reason anybody couldn't just take a day off if they wanted one. I see a lot of people actually trying to follow what's going on here, paying attention.

And if you suddenly jam up the schedule to where it's not what's expected, I don't think that's fair to treat the public that way. Thank you very much. I'm personally against the idea, but, of course, it's none of mine it's none of skin off my nose. Thank you.

Are there any other requests to speak?

That's for the regular meeting. No, I have no further request to speak on this item.

Okay. So we'll move into presentation. Discussion regarding the changing of council meeting dates when preceded by a city recognized Monday holiday. Presentation, city clerk Rick Miller.

Thank you, mayor, members of council. Yes. At the January 20 meeting, vice mayor Harper brought up the fact that in January and February, we do have city council meetings where the Monday before the second meeting of the month, City Hall is closed due to Martin Luther King holiday and President's holiday. So on February 17, that will again be a Monday where City Hall is closed, City Council meeting scheduled for Tuesday. This is purely a City Council decision of what you guys feel like you wanna do.

I mean, the options would be leave the city council meeting as it stands on the seventeenth or in the future, the Tuesday following a holiday. Reschedule the meeting. If we were to reschedule the meeting for the same week, Wednesday's city attorney is another of his, contract city, he would not be available, which would then push, the meeting date to Thursday, if that's an option. Or the third option would be just to cancel the meeting if that were if you were to be so inclined. But we're just seeking your direction on what you'd like to do, I guess, for at least the next city council meeting on the seventeenth.

Okay. Thank you. So I'll open it up to council comments, perhaps Vice Mayor Harper first.

Thank you. Just to kind of articulate my thinking on this is that when there's a Monday holiday, know, some some people are on a long weekend and and they don't get back until the Tuesday. So we have one less day to sort of read and discuss the agenda before the meeting. So the thinking is that by moving it to another, we wouldn't I'm not suggesting we cancel any meetings. Right.

But move it to the next day. I'd I'd personally think Wednesday is better because it's closer to the sort of in line with moving it on Monday. And notwithstanding, the attorney may not be able to make it, but I think there's others in his office who could who could who could sub in. So my as far as the the upcoming meeting, the next meeting, I think it's too soon to reschedule it. So I think we'd keep the next meeting at Tuesday, February 17, but looking forward to I guess next year that would be suggestion would be to move it to the Wednesday if if a Monday meeting followed.

So that's my that's my thinking.

Any other council comments?

My comments is I could support this because as long we give adequate notice to the public in advance because our senior manager can reach out to all of us and prepare the calendar months in advance. Hey, this are the day we is in conflict with anyone. And all of us do have families, all of us do have jobs and other obligations in life and sometime it might help a colleague, right? Because he or she, it's a meaning that it's important for them to attend, but because what for whatever reason the conflict of schedule and if we give that notice to our senior manager and the senior manager give that notice to the public, I don't see any reason why not. As long as you do a last minute, yes, I could see that.

But if it's important for the public to attend the meeting and they know ahead of time when we have it, they'll be here regardless if they're Tuesday or Wednesday.

Councilman Grannis?

Yes. So I'm not in favor of this. Right now, I don't think it's that big a deal, like, having a meeting on a Tuesday following a Monday. I think it's a burden on the city manager, and what we can do is accommodate either meeting for agenda review. This is what we do typically before the meeting.

We could do it on that Thursday before if we needed to or get the agenda out on Wednesday, the week before one time or twice during the year, and we could review it on Thursday. Or Tuesday morning, we could review the agenda. So what what my concern about changing it is as much as we would love to make sure the public knows, there's it's really difficult to let the public know. I had so many complaints on the January this year that we we had canceled the meeting, and we typically do. I mean, that one I understand.

But even that confused a lot of people and they were like, you know, was standing outside the door and there was nobody there. As much as we tried to get the message out, you can't get it out to everybody. I don't think it's a huge inconvenience for staff to do this. I always put staff up there as very important, but I don't think, you know, and I talked to to Maggie a little bit about this. I I think if we did it Tuesday morning, the review of the agenda or in advance, it wouldn't be an issue.

My concern here is if it's not a huge impact on the staff, it's not really a huge impact on us. I mean, Tuesday is a workday anyway. That's not a big deal. Maybe we get the agenda a day early, so we have a chance to review it in advance, so we don't have to do it over the holiday. But I think the impact to the residents would be enough that it's not worth doing.

Councilwoman Constantine.

Sure. I too would like to keep our city council meetings on Tuesday. The public really recognizes this day as being our meeting day and unless we really have to, I'd still like to keep it on Tuesday. Thank you.

One of the factors that I think is worth mentioning is that because the city now works on a four ten, and so the Fridays are a little bit impacted with some of the staff. You know, it doesn't sound like that's that's a major factor, but it is something to consider if if there's a Friday off and then a Monday off the following Monday that, you know, could could there be some scrambling from staff, some issues. I don't know. I haven't heard that be an issue, but it's just something to consider, which is a newer work schedule that our city used to be nine nine eighties, but that doesn't seem to have much much of a wait. I've personally sort of built Tuesdays around my my work schedule.

I actually try to have in office days on Tuesdays, and so it's it's just sort of a routine for me. And I'm I tend to be more routine and and like to keep keep that, and I think a lot of people also would would, as councilman Grandis mentioned, would would either forget or there would be some kind of, you know, I didn't know or and so I think we wanna minimize any impacts to the public to be able to attend our meetings. So I I I'm tending to lean towards keeping the schedule the way it is and then working towards, you know, helping to to sort of make up that those couple of days where there might be extra holiday time.

So I

just want to add something that we should consider or at least staff look into it. Giving to the point that you just made that we have lost one day, which is Friday. And the agenda comes out what, late Thursday, right? So technically, when is really a next available date if we need to sit down with staff and talk to them. Monday or Tuesday, we lost one day, right?

And that sometime it is somewhat inconvenience because when the agenda is thick and we have a lot of questions, it does not give enough time for have all the information that we need to ask. So, and I've heard that, you know, the new work schedule is great for staff, but some public, of them are not too thrilled about it because the only time, the only day they're available is Friday. And then Friday comes around, we're closed. So it's something that we need to look into it. Hey, are we going to have this new schedule forever, permanent? Or when are we going to reevaluate that? Just a thought.

Okay. Yes. Councilwoman Grant.

I'm I'm

a little confused with what council member Buies was talking about losing the Monday. Get it in the holiday of how we lose the Monday, but as far as staff goes, they can always put the agenda out the day before to do it on Wednesday. Is the day that you're talking about being lost Monday because City Hall is closed in addition to the Friday and the Saturday and Sunday too?

Thank you for asking that clarifications. What I mean is not about this particular holidays. Currently right now, let's say there's no holiday Monday.

We

get our agenda sometime late Thursday. And sometime late Thursday, they don't even show up early Friday. It happens. I'm not saying it didn't happen. And then the only available time we are going to meet with staff or ask question is Monday. We lost that Friday, right?

Right. That's about us.

That's about us. That's correct. And I'm just saying we should think about it. Actually we evaluate that. And in addition to that, not only us, but also some of the public that have reached out to me and said, Ted, sometime my own day is Friday, but your city is always closed on Friday. So I have to take a day off to address wherever the issue is. That's what I'm trying to say.

So we have residents addressing matters with staff about our agendas? No. Well, I didn't think so.

No. The staff is the resident matter is different. Whatever they need to take care the city business, I understand. They they can come Friday, but or Friday is closed.

I understand.

Vice mayor Harper?

Yeah. Think just to just to clarify, before we were on 04:10, didn't the agenda go out the end of Friday?

It it would alternate. It it would depend on how the months shaped, but yeah, generally it would be a Friday.

Okay. Yeah. That's what thought.

There would there would be an occasional Thursday if the week landed that way.

But Okay.

By and large, yeah, it was Friday.

So, yeah. So before the 04:10, the agenda actually went out end of Friday. So just for information. Thanks.

Also too, the 04:10 is permanent. Correct me if I'm wrong. I mean Yes,

you're correct. Thank four ten is permanent and

it's

part of our contracts with our staff.

Right.

So we'd have to renegotiate with staff. That's not changing.

Okay, Thanks.

Vice Mayor Harbour?

Yes. No. No. I appreciate the the feedback on the dais. And, if we wanna keep the same, it's okay with me too.

Okay. Any

other comments, questions from staff? No? Okay. It it sounds like we've got a majority of leaving the system the way it is. But I appreciate the the discussion. It was an interesting topic, and we flushed it out. So, you know, we are concluded.

Got it. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. We'll take a recess until open session starts at 6PM. Go ahead and call our meeting to order at 06:01PM. Welcome to Fount Valley.

We will have a invocation by the honorable Tai He, faith leader representing Buddhist community. Would you please rise?

And all the council members. I want to introduce myself to you. And my Buddhist name is Thit Thong Hai the Abbas and CEO of Baobang Buddhist Temple in Santa Ana, Orange County, one of the biggest Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Orange County. And also, a very beautiful temple was built by lay master, venerable Thit Guang Tan. So he passed away six years ago and I was introduced invited by the board member of the temple.

So now I'm I'm here in Santa Ana. So I'm very honored to be here in this evening to miss all of the all of the council members, especially the mayor of Vaughan Valley. And I want to say good evening to all of you, and I want to do the short prayer to pray for first, pray for the mayor and also all the council members and for the people in Palm Valley as well as also for the worldwide for peace and happiness. So now, please enjoy joy with me in a soft place in Vietnamese. Thank you very much for your give me a chance to be here today.

Thank you. Money Thank you.

Thank you.

Next will be the salute to the flag by vice mayor Harper.

Thank you. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. Ready? Begin.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thanks so much. Next is City Council successor agency housing authority roll call. Council member Bui? Here. Council member Constantine?

Here.

Council member Grandis? Here. Vice mayor vice chair Harper? Here. Mayor chair Kunin? Here. All members are present.

Thank you. Any any items in closed session to report out? City attorney Burns?

I understand that we have no reportable action, mister mayor.

Thank you. You know, it's like I can still call him city attorney Burns. And we are very graced to have Colin's dad here. Let's put it that way. Former city attorney, Alan Burns. Thank you so much for being

here. My

pleasure. Any supplemental communications, the clerk?

Just one item. Item number one, the minutes. And there was a minor correction to the minutes has been provided to the public and to city council.

Great. Thank you. Next we'll move on to city manager update. City manager Lee.

Yes, Mayor. I just want have one item to share with the public. Next Monday, February 9, the City Hall and our Public Works Yard will be closed to the public. We will be operating behind closed door to free the files, and and so we want to share that with the public. February 9 is the Lincoln's observance holiday. We will be working and also will be doing a team building opportunity for city That's it, mayor.

Thanks so much. So for the mayor's update, state of the city tickets are on sale. The twenty twenty six state of the city tickets are on sale now for public for the public. Early bird tickets are available for $60, and prices will increase to 75 on February 16. The net revenue of proceeds will go to the Fountain Valley Kiwanis Club Foundation. Thought you'd like that. Lunar New Year festival. Let's welcome the year of the horse. Celebrate Lunar New Year with us on 02/07/2026. Our morning will be filled with history, games, crafts, activities.

Come catch the lion dance at 11:15AM. Our event will be held from 10AM to 1PM at The Fountain Valley Recreation Center on Brookhurst. Join the Fountain Valley Chamber of Commerce at the next network at night on Thursday, February 12 at 5PM. This will be at Istanbul Grill nearby New Hope and Talbert. The first mayor's breakfast of twenty twenty six will be February 18.

That's Wednesday. That'll be 8AM to 9AM at Memorial Health Care Center in line with my four Fountain Valley bases, the Merrill themes. Our guest speaker will be Doctor. Leah Fan from Memorial Care who will share insights on health and fitness first base. And then lastly, Fountain Valley Small Business Conference in partnership with Small Business Development Center and Fountain Valley Chamber of Commerce will be on February 25 from 08:30AM to noon at the center at Founders Village.

So far there are about 20 people registered. Okay. We anticipate 70 to 90 attendees. Look forward to that. Okay.

Next we're going to move into presentations And we are very pleased to be recognizing really three amazing people. We're gonna start with the recognition of Tam Nguyen. So he is one of the members of the 125 most influential people in Orange County for 2025. And so I'm gonna come down and present to you. So I want to congratulate you, Tam, and we have a couple certificates of recognition.

So so for being one of the 125 most influential people in Orange County for 2025, the city of Fountain Valley recognizes your remarkable achievements as

chef, founder

no. No. That's somebody else. No. No. For for everything else amazing that you do for the city, we we we will fix this. Yes. And we also have a certificate. This is from assembly member Tree Ta, and he he sends his celebratory recognition for you being named one of the 125 most influential people in Orange County for 2025. And so love to present this to you, sir.

First of all, thank you, mayor Canine, vice mayor Harper, council members Bui, Grandis, and Constantine, city manager Maggie Lay, along with Fountain Valley City Staff. What an honor for me to receive this recognition, and I'm I'm a very, very, very proud Fountain Valley resident, three generation member, and of course, three other f's that are important to me is faith, family, and friends. And today, our faith leader, Tai Tak Yong Tom Hai, is here, presented who did the invocation. I have family members, the most important family members and women in my life, starting with my daughter Maya, my my wife Christine, have my sister Lynn, and and grandma mom Kian here. And representing my friends, we have Tommy also and friends in the audience.

So just wanted to thank Fountain Valley. It's not just a nice place to live, but the best city in the world to raise my family. Thank you.

And and could we do a picture of council members with

the family? You okay? I

also wanna give a shout out to the other OC one twenty five. I know there's other Fountain Valley residents, so thank congratulations to Jan, Viet, and K Concepts and all

the others.

Do you Thay?

Yeah. Can I invite Thay and my family and friend up? Christine, Christine and Maya please join us.

It'd be an honor to invite Thay.

Another round of applause. Thank you.

Mister mayor, I I just have to say something here to Tom and the family. So, Tim, he does so much. I think it needs to be recognized. How many nonprofits that he sits on? It's not just his business, the beauty school over in West or Garden Grove. He's also was the chair of OCTA as a resident member, and that's just, like, unheard of. You know? So the amount of he gets back to the community, I think it needs to be recognized why he's one of the top one twenty fives. And that's not just because of his business. It's because of his heart and how much he does in this community.

So thank you so much for what you do. Next,

we'd like to recognize former Planning Commissioner Richard Lopez. So if you could please come up to the podium and So I know we haven't really done this in the past, but having served on the Planning Commission and knowing how much work the Planning Commission has done, especially over the last five years, Richard has done an exemplary job. I wanted to recognize him here in front of the council and also for those watching at home because there was a lot of heavy lifting. And so Richard, I wanted to give you a certificate of recognition. The City of Fount Valley thanks you for your invaluable contributions to the planning commission since 2021.

Thank you for being an integral part of our city's development and for making Fount Valley a nice place to live. So on behalf of the council, thank you so much.

And also,

Assemblyman Trita has also provided you with a certificate of recognition for your commitment to public service and engaging with the community. The assemblyman thanks you. Thank you again.

This is imperfect.

Would you like to say a

few words?

Sure. Okay. Great.

First of all, counsel, thank you so much for this. I'm very honored to be recognized as one of your planning commissioners, but it really has been my pleasure to serve the city of Fountain Valley and to serve the citizens of Fountain Valley. When I first applied for this position, I wanted to do something good for my city. And I think that I have done that over the last five years, and I stand by every decision I've ever made. And we have a wonderful city.

We have a council that cares. And, you know, our future is always bright. And I thank you for giving me that opportunity to do that. You know, I first got into this because I wanted to be involved with the regional housing neighborhood assessment, the RHNA, and I was able to get through that, and I helped. And here we are today, and we're moving forward, and I thank you very much.

And another thing that makes us real special is Tam and I have been friends for a long time. Our boys grew up together. To be here the same night that he's being honored, it makes it that much more special. But again, thank you so much. I appreciate it and continue to do better because I think we are. So I appreciate you. Thank you.

I

have the corrected one, Tim. Make sure to get it to you. Thanks. Okay. Next, First City Council successor agency housing authority public comments on unscheduled matters. Do we have any request to speak?

We have several requests to speak. Okay. First is Michelle Johnson.

Okay.

Welcome.

Mayor Canadian Council members, my name is Michelle Johnson. I'm from Irvine. My background is in corporate banking, finance, real estate, and I was a Managing Director at a major investment bank with thirty years of experience. I also served as a planning commissioner in Irvine. I'm here tonight to speak against the city of Fountain Valley joining the Orange County Power Authority.

I want to highlight the increased risk profile of OCPA, higher costs for the city and ratepayers and the potential for future liabilities that your own residents will be forced to take on. OCPA losses are accelerating. At fiscal 'twenty six, OCPA expects to lose a total of $45,000,000 over the prior eighteen months. They've supported their ongoing operating losses by depleting their reserves, which went from $90,000,000 to a now projected $42,000,000 by December '6. In the first three months alone of fiscal twenty twenty six, they lost $15,000,000 That's a burn rate of $5,000,000 a month.

AB205 passed in 2022 and became effective November, reducing the price of electricity for all customers of Edison. The 12% to 16% disparity in rates between OCPA and Edison means the annualized increase for Irvine residents is $23,500,000 this year, and Fountain Valley's residents would pay an additional $4,400,000 Edison's residential generation rates last year did not change until October, and AB205 dictated Edison's rate increases and timing to once a year over the next two years. Fountain Valley would be the smallest member of OCPA. Just one vote on the board and you would not be able to block OCPA rate increases, which are effective almost immediately. The JPA agreement is one of only three in the state that put the liability to the maximum extent possible onto your ratepayers.

Western Community and Riverside was one of those CCAs. In 2021, they went bankrupt, and the judge discharged the shortfall of $6,000,000 onto the ratepayers' electricity bills. The council has a fiduciary duty to your residents to perform due diligence before entering into any agreement with those CPA. The city of Long Beach spent over $350,000 studying the CCA industry over several years and decided not to join any CCA, including OCPA. Long Beach stated it best when they said, When you're a CCA and you're buying a commodity, your investors unfortunately are your residents.

And unbeknownst to them, they're taking on a piece of risk in the energy market. Joining OCPA means you are becoming an energy trader with all Do your residents know that you, the City Council, will be taking the choice away from them when you opt them out of SCE and assign them to a default energy tier of OCPA that costs 12% to 16% more than what they are paying now? Please consider scheduling a special study session on OCPA A as soon as possible to discuss these rising risks. Thank you. And I've left some materials for each council member.

Harvey Liss.

Welcome.

Mayor and council members, I'm going to speak some truths about the Orange County Power Authority or OCPA that's scheduled to begin providing electrical service to the city in October 2026, so there's still time to get out. I'm Harvey Liss, a longtime resident of Irvine and a licensed professional civil engineer who has been following the OCPA tragedy in Irvine since its beginning in 2022. First and most importantly, and the key to the puzzle, is that renewably generated electric power is now much cheaper than fossil fuel generated electrical power. So the investor owned public utilities like Southern Cal Edison, who are highly motivated to minimize their costs, purchase as much renewably generated power as possible. And all of SCE's energy traders are employees, all motivated to minimize costs whereas OCPA's energy traders are all highly paid consultants who have no such motivation to minimize costs.

So OCPA can never compete with SCE in obtaining renewable generated energy contracts. For my example, I opt out of opted out of OCPA immediately in 2022 and enrolled in SCE's 100% renewables program. And ever since, I've been getting a discount that reached 19% of the entire bill in August 2025, and I have the bill here if anybody wants to look at it. At the same time, OCPA has been charging a significant premium for their fake 100% renewables program. Currently, SCE is not accepting more enrollees into their fund 50% or 100% renewables programs because those purchase contracts are not available.

Why? Because the electricity grid is saturated with 100% renewable generated electricity during the day. If SCE cannot purchase more renewable generated power, how can OCPA? Obviously, they are not. OCPA's recently published power content label shows that OCPA's greenhouse gas emissions are over 80% higher than SCE's at basic choice and at a higher cost.

So OCPA is purchasing dirty energy. And when promoters of OCPA claimed that OCPA was charging 3% less for the basic right than SCE. That was very misleading because the 3% discount was only for the generated portion of the bill, which is only 40% of the entire bill. So the actual discount was only 1.2%. Why were community choice aggregators like OCPA created?

Years ago, renewable generated energy was more expensive than fossil fuel generated electric power, so the investor owned utilities were motivated to purchase fossil fuel contracts. For ratepayers who want to reduce global warming, the CCAs were created to give ratepayers the option to pay higher prices for the more expensive, renewable generated energy. That reason no longer exists. Over the past three years, Irvine ratepayers who did not after who did not opt out of OCPA due to being misled by OCPA's advertising, have thrown away probably more than $50,000,000 that could have been used

Harvey, your time's up.

Solar panels. Thank you.

Mike Rao.

Welcome.

Good evening. I'm Mike. I brought a handout for you that shows, data from the website of the Orange County Power Authority. You should have a copy with a green stripe in front of you right now. The handout shows examples of the rate hikes they planned for 2026.

No more discounts. Now OCPA will charge 12 to 16% more than SCE's total bill. Total bill. An average resident under OCPA would pay $20 per month more than they would to SCE, and businesses too will be harmed. The example shows that under OCPA, businesses would pay $30 per month more than to SCE for an example commercial bill.

Your Fountain Valley City municipal bill is about $2,000,000 per year. Under OCPA, the city would pay $240,000 more than to SCE. OCPA OCPA has projected revenues of over 30,000,000 per year from all of Fountain Valley. 12% is $3,500,000 more per year than OCPA will cost Fountain Valley. 3,500,000.0 more than to SCE.

OCPA's new rate policy would financially harm the entire city. Don't be deceived by OCPA. Their sponsorships, grants, and giveaways were far less than 1% of their revenue last year. I urge the city council to exit OCPA as soon as possible to protect your rate payers. Thank you.

Vicki Johnson.

Welcome.

Hi. Good evening, city council mayor and vice mayor. I'm Vicki Johnson. I recommend that the that the city council vote to exit OCPA as soon as possible. And I have a handout with the red stripe that shows the cities that exited OCPA.

Three of the founders of OCPA, Lake Forest in 2021, the County Of Orange in 2022, and Huntington Beach in '23, '24, they all exited OCPA. So that just left three cities, Irvine, Fullerton, and Buena Park. So the handout just briefly describes a few of the reasons why those cities exited. OCP goes around to cities all the time, but only Fountain Valley has joined. In 2024, as when you joined, but since then, OCPA has really gone downhill.

They've lost $4,045,000,000, half their reserves. They had higher emissions as I said earlier. Now OCPA has decided they're going to stabilize their rates so that OCPA will cost 12 to 16% more than SCE. A county supervisor said, Christine Fuller, when the county exited OCPA that there seems to be a systemic problems with OCPA that can't be fixed. There seem to be systemic problems with OCPA that can't be fixed.

Now, OCPA is planning to start up in Fountain Valley in October right before the elections. More people will be paying attention. Won't a lot of residents and businesses come and ask? Have the city council force all of us into OCPA? Who voted for OCPA? I followed OCPA for four years. It looks to me like OCPA is a sinking ship. Exit as soon as possible to protect Fountain Valley and mitigate the liabilities. Thank you.

Bill Spear?

Welcome. Good evening.

I just want a couple of issues real quick, but I want to thank you guys for coming around on the charter issue. I think a lot of public input kind of drove that change. After hearing the story, I think of about I think it was Bell. They did a lot of work upfront with the community to make sure that everybody was on board. We as the community have been asking all along for us to lay out a plan on what and why and the benefits for this. And we missed those steps, which would have got a lot of buy in. Like I think what Glenn said is if there's a good reason to do this, we're all going to support it, but you have to show us why. Patrick and Jim, I think you went along with Ted in spite of us asking for details. You guys should have been asking for details just like us. Okay?

Why? We're glad we came around, and we're moving it to target the next election down the road, but I think we missed a critical action at this point. We're going do a survey, but we still don't know what and why. So we're going to go out for a survey and say, are you in support of a charter? Why? The consultant's not going to be able to generate what and why. That's the hard work that needs to be done by the community to come up and say, what are the parts of a general law city that we want to change and take advantage of? What are the benefits and what are the risks? And then you can go out with a survey and ask reasonable questions to the community. But without that, you're just going to say, are you in support of Charter, yes or no?

That's kind of where we're at. And the consultant can't make that up. He doesn't know why or what. So I think you still got some work to do on that. The other issue I was a little disappointed was kind of the attack that went on up on the dais up there, and I think we're better than that. That's pretty petty crap, to be honest. And I think you guys should hold yourself, all of you, accountable for that kind of stuff because that's unacceptable. The next thing I'm going to see is people show throwing shoes up there, which is absurd. We can disagree and we can have conversations about stuff, but being petty about that stuff, you guys need to hold yourself to to a much higher standard than that. And the third thing, I'm just gonna bring up because it just came up at this OCPA thing, it's come up at a couple of meetings, and it's making me nervous that we don't have a plan here.

I know you can opt out, but if this thing is going down like the Titanic, you guys need to step up and at least tell us what's going on and whether there is an issue or not because this is the second meeting I've heard this thing come up. Thank you

for your time. Ben Nielsen.

I guess I'm not clear on the hot topics, but I have an item that has bothered me for over six months now. Late twenty twenty five, I noticed on the agenda a closed session item negotiation to purchase property on Newland Street in Fountain Valley. I inquired with Colin at the time under Freedom Information what the purpose of that purchase was. And he advised me that he could not divulge that yet, that the council would be advising the community at some time. Later or earlier this year, again, it appeared back on the closed session, negotiate for real estate on New Hope Avenue.

Again, I inquired with Colin. He said, well, didn't you know that the council was given a public summary of what this was about prior to the closed session? I asked him if I could see if I could have the tape or the video of that. Oh, no. They don't they don't exist.

I asked them if I could get the staff report. There was no staff report. What are we hiding here? Colin did agree to have Omar send me a synopsis of what was discussed prior to the closed session. Come to find out, City of Fountain Valley is negotiating with Los Cab with some homeowners in Los Cab to buy 14 Conduit units to be used for low income housing.

I think it's time that you open up the books and you let the community know what's going on. I don't know where I stand on that, but I'd like to hear some of the positive and the negative too. But it is not right to be negotiating for something that we don't know anything about. So I'm asking you tonight to stop the negotiations and schedule a study session to go over these items and maybe an agenda item to see where the council I don't know when this decision was made. It must have been made in the back room to go ahead and start the negotiation.

Three of you must have agreed to start the negotiations. If three you didn't agree to start the negotiations, there would be no negotiations. Or maybe staff did it without your input. I don't know, but I'd ask you at this point, please schedule a study session and let us know what's going on. Thank you. Katie Wright?

Welcome.

Greetings, mayors. Non agenda. So I have a couple things I wanna mention. One of them is I'm against OCPA. Please reconsider. I never liked being shoved it over to it, and I don't like having to remember, and I don't trust the communications that I get. That's enough of that. I also wish you would extend the speakers time from three minutes to five minutes. I know it's not ever likely to happen but hope springs eternal so I will bring it up. Now the real reason I'm here.

I have an email record. I would like to have it entered into the record if our clerk would be so kind. I'm requesting a breakdown of the billable hours attributed to each of our Fountain Valley City Council members. This was to Rick Miller. And I request a breakdown of billable hours attributable to each individual City Council member for the calendar year of 2025. Thank you, Katie Wright. There we go. And it kind of duplicates as sometimes the chain goes when you get back and forth responses. I got a response from Colin Burns, cc'd to Maggie Lee. And I don't want to misquote it and I'm not good at quoting and there's a long no, that's okay.

There's a long hypothetical and a very well thought out and well written explanation as to why I couldn't get what I wanted. The basic answer to oversimplify it is that they don't actually track those things in their record keeping as far as designated per council member. Sometimes a council member's name may come up in a different item. So if you do like a global search for the name, it'll give you gibberish back. It won't give you actual records of what you're looking for.

So he explained to me that they don't currently do that and that was the answer was no, you can't have this information. Frankly, as taxpayer, as someone who likes logic, as someone who thinks it's only fair to ask a reasonable question, I think I should have been able to have gotten an answer to that, but I understand Colin's reasoning. I would request going forward that you all bring it up either at the strategic planning session or subjects for a future consideration. I've heard from various people who work in the city. I know a lot of people in a lot of departments in the city on a first name basis.

And it seems that one person is utilizing a lot of the city attorney's time for things that are not necessarily in the best interest of our citizens. And I would like that looked into and have a system developed in the future that that can be tracked so anyone can get the answer. Thank you.

On Zoom, we have Dee.

Yes. This is Dee Fox. The Orange County Power Authority promised lower rates and cleaner power than Southern California Edison. And according to the CFO of the OCPA, they are providing neither. Why? Because they have people running this organization that don't know what they are doing. I encourage all of you to either attend or watch their board meetings at ocpower.org. This is not innovation. This is gambling with public money. I hope your city can afford to pay all your utilities through the OCPA because your cost will be significantly higher than you are paying through SCE. Why would you subject your residents to higher rates and with no benefits? Please reconsider joining this organization and do your research. Thank you.

Next speaker is Evan Jorgensen.

Welcome. Hello.

City Council. I'm here to discuss the Charter City initiative that's been presented to us many times. During the discussion by the City Council, there was an analysis that was presented. And in this analysis, it doesn't give any case law, statutory analysis, other cities audits, or even a consultant report. It's a major red flag.

It doesn't really state why we should go this way and there's no history of this being the case where it will cost less to be a charter city. In it, there are four point areas of concern. The planning housing with CEQUA zoning consistency in the general plan. Charter cities must comply with the state housing laws, they must comply with CEQA, they must comply with the general plan law, and they must comply with the consistency requirements. A charter doesn't exempt the city from those.

In the public work sections, it lists SB1 pavement reporting. SB1 funding and reporting requirements are state law conditions. The charter status does not change the eligibility rules, the reporting rules or the audit requirements. Under storm drains, listed NPDES. NPDES is a federal clean water act implemented through the state and regional governments.

Therefore, it doesn't apply to charter cities either, either, either, whatever. And then in the last one it says, please mandated administrative functions. The post assignments, records retentions, DOJ reporting, etcetera, all remain mandatory. Again, charter status does not change any of this. So on all points, the charter city doesn't change any of it.

Also, when this is presented, since it's presented on the screen, this needs to be distributed to everybody that was in the room. It wasn't. This is under government code 54,957.5, Section A, Item one.

Thank you.

Susan Sane.

Welcome.

Thank you. I'm Buena Park City Council member Susan Sonning. Except for a few months, I have been on the board of Orange County Power Authority since its founding in 2020. This year, I'm serving my second year as chair of that board. As the chair of the board, I want to start by saying that I am immensely proud of the work my fellow board members and I are doing together.

We are providing the communities we represent with local control over energy decisions, energy choice for every resident and business, and local reinvestment in ways that make a difference for our cities. As a matter of fact, a grant was provided for a Buena Park Middle School for their FFA program. They have the only middle school FFA program in the state where they are they have gardens and chickens and a watering system that is solar provided. It's an extraordinary piece of work that these young kids are doing from a small grant from Orange County Power Authority. Having that kind of reinvestment in your community is so important.

I'd like to commend director Grandis for his illuminating questions, his hard work in learning about the complexities of the industry, and his significant contributions to the board. He is a fierce advocate for your community. The OCPA board works with a dedicated staff of around 20 people, not hundreds, like the investor owned utility. They go above and beyond to work directly with our communities, giving personal support and consideration in a way that SCE, with over 5,000,000 customers, does not. This year, the OCPA Board has locked twenty twenty five electric generation rates for all of 2026.

That was a thoughtful decision that puts our customers first. We are providing customers with stability and predictability on their electricity bills, which are known for being extremely unpredictable. Notably, OCPA generation rates remain low, especially when compared to the average rate over the past few years. In fact, SCE's rates have averaged around 13.7¢ per kilowatt hour over the past three years, which is exactly where OCPA rates are. For reasons beyond OCPA's control that are impacting all CCAs across California, OCPA customer bills will be slightly higher at the 2026 than bundled SCE customers, not higher than they paid at the end of last year, but higher as in comparison.

But this is not permanent, and we fully expect this to correct, especially as the power charge indifferent

Susan, your time is up.

Okay. Thank you very much.

Is

this a nonagenidized item?

Yeah. Okay.

Less less than true blood? I only need thirty seconds.

Welcome.

Well, you're going to have to excuse me because I was out for a walk, and I dropped by to use the bathroom and realized you guys were having a meeting. Excuse the appearance. My observation this evening is, Ted, how are you? I've noticed that everyone who's come up here to speak this evening with the public really hasn't had your attention. Everybody else has been looking at the people that have been speaking. They've been listening carefully to the people that are speaking. And you, I don't know what you're doing. Are you on the Internet? You're not looking at me now, Ted? Is the public not important to you?

Why don't you listen to the people and give them your attention instead of staring at your screen or whatever you're doing there? I don't understand this. Maybe you'd like to explain it to us. Thank you.

I have no further comments.

Mr. Mayor?

Yes. Councilman Grundis.

So since we had a number of people speaking on OCPA tonight, I have my AB one two three four comment I wanted to bring up on OCPA and to keep them from having to stay for the entire meeting to listen to this. I think it might be appropriate just to give a quick update. So on Monday, January 26, OCPA had a special board meeting, and I want to provide a couple of details. So at the last meeting I was here, I mentioned that in prior years, OCPA maintained that 3% difference of from Edison, and Edison raises and lowers their rates four to six times a year, and we follow them. So when they go up, we went up.

And there were a lot of complaints back in October or November, I forget when the exact date was, when Southern California Edison, I think, went up about 15 points 15%, and OCPA went up 12% or went up the same thing to stay 3% below them, and they kept going up and down. So what they what we decided as a board was to lock rates that we're charging in 2025. So we are not raising rates in 2026. We're maintaining what they were in 2025. It is true in a point in time that OCPA is now more expensive at this point than Edison.

And on these forms that were handed to us, it it does show that. And the reason it shows that is during that meeting, we said we must be transparent to everybody on what's going on and where we are at every point in time, and we'll continue this. And you'll see as Edison rates change, we will not. And at some points we might be a little lower, some points we might be a little bit higher in order to address the issue of the instability of the pricing going forward, my expectation is that Edison will raise rates in the future. We'll see.

If they do, we will not, we'll maintain. As was mentioned by Chirasani, the price over the last three years is about the same that you were getting from Edison because of the rate fluctuations and all that. So, there this is a point in time where we are. It's unfortunate if this point in time we were, if Edison would have raised the rates at the January instead of lowering it, we wouldn't be having this conversation because we'd be more than 3% less expensive. So all that being said, that was what was discussed.

In addition, I've had a conversation with the CEO of OCPA. I've had a conversation, brief conversation with our mayor, with our city manager, our public works director. We have too many distractions that are going on in Fountain Valley right now. We have the Charter City survey that's coming out. We have an election in November.

In order to communicate OCPA properly to the public because there's a lot of information. I don't wanna say misinformation because it's how you give that information. There's a lot of bias on one side and the other. So that being said, I don't think that the city of Fountain Valley has the resources or is prepared to join purchasing power for the residents in October 2026. And at next week's meeting on Monday, we'll be presenting that we're asking for a six month delay, I guess, for lack of a better term, until April 2027.

That will give us more time to research everything that's going on. It will give us more time to educate the public without all the other stuff that's going on at the same time. And it'll give us more time to figure out what's next. So with that, the also I want to make sure it's clear that no contracts have been purchased for Fountain Valley. There's no liability to the residents of Fountain Valley, and that also will be delayed by approximately six months.

And we'll take a look again. And if it's proper for us to start in April 2027, we will. If we need further extension, we'll talk about

it at that time. So that's my report on OCPA. Thank you, Councilman Grandis. Next, public comments scheduled matters only. Are there any requests to speak?

We have one request to speak on item number six and one request to speak during item number seven.

Okay. Next we'll move into consent calendar. Consent calendar items one to five will be approved simultaneously with one motion unless separate action or discussion is requested. Does any council member want to pull one of the consent items?

Make a motion to approve items one through five.

Yeah. Actually, I'd like to pull item number two.

Okay. Then make a motion to approve items one, three, four and five.

I'll second.

Okay. Motion to approve with a second. Please vote.

Items one, three, four and five pass five zero.

Item number two was pulled by Councilman Bui. Would you like to comment?

Yes. Actually I have a questions for our City Manager. I've noticed that on this particular demand of register, it did not include the city P Card. And so I was looking at other previous records and I don't see I try to understand the consistency. When do you include the P Card spending and when you do not include the P Cards? Is it on a quarterly basis or every other month? I'm trying to understand the consistency of that.

I will redirect that to our Finance Director, Ryan Okay.

Thank you. So the P Cards are paid monthly. And what would be on this register is basically anything the city has paid within the last two weeks. So it just happened that during these last two weeks, the city hasn't had any P Card payments. Most likely on the next one, there would be a payment being made. So yes, it's just once a month that we pay those.

Okay. All right. That's so it's the last two week. If there's no data, then it won't be in there. So if you say that I was looking at the last ratio demand, which is in January, right? And the ratio demand at that time it shows at 62,000, but it goes way back in October. So why so far back? So what happened to I'm sure there's something in November, December, January.

You'd have to look at those specific ones, but it may be that the payment wasn't made until so the last register would have had a month of payments since we didn't have a meeting in the first meeting in January. So it would have had all of the payments from roughly mid December through mid January. So it may be that the payments for October wouldn't have hit until mid December is when we made it, yeah.

Okay. And can you explain to the member of the public what is exactly a Citi P Card is?

Yes. So the P Card is a it's a basically a credit card that members of employees use. And we have specific policies on how to use those, when to use those. And it's really to help expedite employees being able to do their jobs so that we don't have to wait because we only do check runs every Thursday. And that could really delay payment of a lot of things if we were waiting for checks to be cut. So we have the Citi credit card that employees use for those types of payments. And generally, they're going to be smaller payments that are being made.

When you say small payment, if I'm looking at that one, it's $62,000 How one many card do we have out there?

As of last week, we have about 92 in the city.

92 credit card?

Yes.

Is there a need for that many? And how would you do oversight? I would think only high executive management of each department should have one, but 92 credit card, that's overwhelming a lot. Even in the private sector, they don't have that many to give out

It to is a lot to administer, but it's really the employees out on the field, the line level employees that are making these types of purchases that have the cards. We have a number of controls in place to have supervisors review payments and then finance also reviews for compliance with purchasing policy, credit card policies. So yes, it is a lot to have to control, but we do have controls in place to review.

Okay. I would like to if you could look into it because I when I saw that I was kind I didn't really understand why that big dollar amount I was talking with the city. And so I asked them, do they have such thing as a credit card for employee? And some of the city I've talked to two city, don't one city have only 10 and they're half of the size of this population. Another city seems actually bigger don't have more than 20. But we have 92 now, that's a lot.

Yes. And it's something that you have to weigh the benefits and the costs of it. The benefits is the speed and efficiency of being able to get things done. The costs are the administering that many cards.

Well, just want to if you is it possible to take a look at it because they're same thing, but they have less. Absolutely. So I'm just see if you can look into it. Why we need there's really a need for that meeting.

Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make comments. Here's my work credit card. Every employee in my company gets a corporate credit card. There's expense accounts that need to be filled out and approved by managers. I assume we do the same thing here. If it goes over a certain threshold, then it goes to the finance department that also has to approve it before you get reimbursed or they pay off that portion of the credit card. The convenience factor is amazing, but that is standard practice. I can't even imagine if we had an employee that had to go on a business trip, for example, and to try to get a check for a hotel in advance. I mean, it just that's just not today's world.

So I I think as long as we have the controls in place, which I believe that we do, that we're perfectly fine the way we're doing it and the way it's been done for a very long time.

City manager Lee.

Yeah. Maine City Council. I want to reassure City Council that we do have control measure. And as you've heard recently, we have a great audit in addition to the standard acceptance of the audit, our city actually goes above and beyond. As stated by our Finance Director, there are separation of duty in our operation.

Depending on the conversation that you may have with other city, there might be a difference in the operation. Fountain Valley is actually a full service city, which is very rare and different in a lot of agency. And so, we have a lot of function and responsibility and to ensure efficiency, credit cards are in place. As Finance Director stated, there are protocols and we do have auditors and independent auditors who look at our books. So I can reassure you that there's system in place to ensure that we are doing what we're supposed to do based on best practice in our profession.

Councilman Lee?

Yes. So Councilman McGranis, thank you for explaining your positions that you have a credit card with your organizations. That's might be true to a certain extent, but not every private acquisition will give credit card to everyone. Maybe you're one of the exceptions. Maybe you have a high position in company.

And my understanding your position, sales in that company, you travel all the time on behalf of the company. That's why you have a credit card. That makes sense. If I was the owner of the company and you've used you are the sales team, the lead sales team of the company and you travel to sell products, of course, you have a credit card. But not every other departments that 92 credit card, let's identify the 92 credit card or the executive, what level, what do you need the credit card for?

If there's things that needs to be ahead of time, that's what the supervisor is for. Pay things in advance. That's much more a robust system. Have a 92 credit card, like you say, their system in place, it's very tedious to go to 92 employee and go and itemize each one of their spending. It will be too much time consuming for auto import. I run a business, some of us are credit card, but not all of us.

Mr. Mayor, I really think we need not go on this fishing expedition. Our city manager represents us. She's already explained we have controls in place. Nothing's out of whack. Nothing's out of line. We've been audited. We've won awards. Am I correct on the auditing? What part are we not understanding of this? It's never been an issue. Now you're going back to what period of last year?

No. Just last month.

What are you looking for here? No. No. I think We have systems in place. And for you to say that the whole thing is tedious, I've never heard any staff complaining about anything being tedious in this regard. So that's your thought that it's tedious. Thank you.

Actually, it's it's more efficient because if we had to have every employee submit paperwork for, in advance to get paid so we don't have to have the employee pay in advance, we would never ask an employee to do that, you know, and and do a that that the paperwork involved with that would be so much more than automated. I assume it's similar to my company where everything is automated. And if I accidentally put something on the credit card, then I just pay it privately. That is frowned upon, obviously, but there's checks and balances. Or if I expense something that the wasn't allowed, my boss would not approve it, and I would have to pay it privately.

And it happens, not often. But there's always that if it's not right or it's not approved, it doesn't get paid. And I would assume the same thing happens here.

Well, I can share you on what experience and we'll move on. The public will wait in. If the public thinks that 92 credit card is good, let it be 92 credit card. Who knows? Tomorrow will be one hundred, one hundred and ten, fifteen, who cares, right?

The point I'm trying to this is because when I talk to other city and so they see they have reduced their credit card down. Why? Because there was an incident that it got to their attentions that the employee would buy things that they were not supposed to and no one caught that. It was a small amount, but the problem is a live room for improper spending of the public fund, they're not supposed to. And that's why they cut down the number.

So if this council thinks 92 is not a problem, okay, that's your opinion. I have to speak what I think that we need to look into it and define what is the appropriate number of credit card of the city that should be hand out and to what department.

Vice Mayor Harper?

Yes, have a question. I understand Councilmember Buoy's point. And I've worked with a lot of different companies. Some companies feel that the company, you know, employees should come out of pocket and then submit an expense report for reimbursement. Other companies give credit cards to their employees and trust them to only spend accordingly. So I have a question. What kind of expenses are typically charged on the P Cards? Is it travel? Is it public work supplies? What kind of things are being is it being used for?

Yeah. The largest amounts that would be on a credit card would be for travel, hotels, conferences and those would usually be for the executive level, manager level employees. But there are various numbers of small supply type purchases as well. And that's would be coming from the line level employees in the city.

Okay. And as far as issuing the cards, does the employee request a card or is it just issued automatically or how

does It's that requested. The department requests that a certain employee has a card to be able to do certain things in their job Okay. That they'd need to go out and do.

And and that would be to save them from having to come out of pocket. Yeah. And then it's expensive, which is reasonable. I I think that, you know, to ask a employee to pay in advance is is it's a convenience so I. You know I understand council member Bowie's point.

But I think it seems like it seems like it's working okay, but it is certainly. Prudent to keep an eye on it. Thank

you. Any other questions or comments on item two.

Okay. Just one just one last thought.

Okay. Councilman

Any of the credit give any rewards?

No. So this credit card is is run through the state of California. So we we get a credit to our bill depending on how long it takes us to pay it from when the billing date is. So the sooner we pay it, the higher credit we get. So every quarter, we get a credit, a check from the Cal Card company, US Bank to that's a credit towards our account.

So it's like a cash back reward. Right. So okay. And then and then that goes to the general fund cover cover, I'm assuming? Okay. I just wanna make

sure. Yep.

Yeah. That's that's the same way our company does. We get no personal rewards with company credit cards. That's pretty standard.

So thank you, Finance Director Smith and City Manager Lee for answering those questions.

I'd like to move the item number two.

I'll second.

Please vote.

Item number two passes 50.

Next we'll have public hearings, Item six. Update on vacancies and recruitment and retention effort report in compliance with Assembly Bill 2,561 Presentation by senior human resources analyst Maria Salas and also with HR director Tanya Narrajes.

Narrajes. Yes. Good evening, everyone. I'm here today to present to you just really quickly my newest staff members who oversee the recruitment team. So I have Maria Salas here. She's gonna be doing the presentation today. She's our senior HR analyst. And then I have Tamron Roberts here who's our newest HR manager.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Hello, and good evening, mayor, members of the city council. As mentioned, my name is Maria Salas, and it's an honor to be here before you today. This is my first presentation of many, hopefully. And today, I'm just here to present to you the annual vacancy recruitment and retention update that is required under assembly bill two five six one. Assembly Bill 2,561 was enacted to ensure local governments proactively manage vacancy rates.

It requires an annual public discussion regarding recruitment efforts. Specifically, if any bargaining unit exceeds 20% vacancy rate. Additional comprehensive data must be provided. While assembly bill two five six one requires an annual discussion of vacancy levels, the intent is really about transparency and accountability and how we manage the city's workforce. This report allows council and the public to understand staffing trends, how vacancies impact operations, and what steps human resources is taking to support service delivery and employee well-being.

Tonight's update focuses not just on where vacancies exist, but on what's driving them and how they're being addressed. As of 12/31/2025, the city had 250.5 budgeted full time positions with an overall vacancy rate of 8.8% representing 22 active vacancies citywide. During 2025, the city successfully filled 65 positions. This reflects a significant improvement from the 2024 when the city's vacancy rate was 13.4%. Throughout twenty twenty five, fifty three vacancies were created primarily as a result of no workforce activity.

And as and as of 12/31/2025, all recognized bargaining units were under 20%. In 2024 the vacancy rate was 13.4% and in 2025 the rate decreased to 8.8% reflecting an improvement of 4.6 percentage points. This improvement is largely attributed to the focused efforts of the human resources department working in close coordination with departments to streamline recruitment processes, modernize job announcements, and maintain consistent outreach to qualified candidates. As a result, the city was able to fill more positions contributing to improve staffing stability across the organization. Our focus on retention is evident in our growth on our internal growth.

Nearly half of our vacancies, 25 out of the 53 in place, were employees that were recruited through a promotional recruitment. This demonstrates that Fountain Valley is a place where employees can build long term careers. The reflected table is organized to display vacancies for all recognized employees by bargaining units followed by non represented employee groups. As shown, all recognized bargaining units remain below the 20% vacancy threshold established under assembly bill two five six one. At the conclusion of the reporting period, the city had 22 active vacancies citywide, including nine police officer positions.

Of those, seven recruits were enrolled in the police academy and were anticipated to graduate and be sworn in as police officers in the June 2026. Subsequent to the reporting period, three police recruits voluntarily resigned at the beginning of the year. In response, staff has taken proactive steps to address these vacancies. Human resources is working closely with the police department to reopen recruitment in the upcoming weeks. The higher vacancy rate reflected for the administrative officer group is primarily attributed to plan executive level transitions.

Since the end of the reporting period, the city has successfully appointed a new fire chief, and the police chief recruitment is currently underway with a candidate in the hiring process. At the executive appointments are as these executive appointments are finalized, the vacancy rate for the administrative officer group is anticipated to decrease accordingly towards the end of this month. To attract top talent, we focused on marketing the city as an employer of choice. We modernized our job announcements to specifically highlight our front four ten work schedule, comprehensive benefits, and upcoming cost of living adjustments. Our outreach has also gone digital.

In partnership with the city manager's office, we have launched work with us Wednesdays through social media and added a join our team feature to our monthly news newsletter to reach residents directly by leveraging diverse outreach strategies and cultivating a strong applicant base. We are ensuring a reliable workforce for the city's long term success. While our 2025 results were strong, human resources remains focused on optimizing recruitment to ensure long term work for stability and service continuity. By the redefining hiring timelines and expanding outreach, we aim to keep the city competitive in the labor market, retain top talent, and maintain full compliance with assembly bill two five six one. At this time, staff is requesting that city council approve of alternative number one to receive and file the city's annual vacancies and recruitment and retention report in compliance with AB two five six one.

This concludes my presentation. Thank you for your time. I am happy to answer any questions.

I think we're next going to move into the public hearing. And so I'll go ahead and open the public hearing.

Thank you.

I believe Isaac Marquez wishes to speak from the POA? Yes.

Welcome. Thank you for having me.

Alright. Good evening, mayor and members of the city council. My name is Isaac Marquez, and I'm the president of the Fountain Valley Police Officers Association representing the officers who proudly serve this community. First, I wanna thank the council and the city leadership for the continued support you've shown our association. We recognize the progress that has been made in previous contracts and the investments that have been made in public safety, and our members truly appreciate that support.

Tonight's discussion about vacancies and recruitment is important because staffing levels directly affect public safety and service level for our residents. It's important to recognize both the progress that's been made and the work that still remains. With the city's focus on hiring, including the efforts made by interim chiefs Ishi and Cox and city manager Maggie Lee, who made the recruitment a clear priority. We've made significant strides and are much closer to being fully staffed than ever before. Our members see that effort, and we truly, genuinely are thankful for the leadership and the support and the progress that's been made.

That progress matters, and we're grateful for the collaboration that helped get us here. At the same time, we're not we're not quite at full staffing yet. When positions remain unfilled, it means fewer officers are available to respond to calls, longer response times during peak periods, and fewer opportunities for proactive policing and community engagement. We also understand that Fountain Valley may not always be the highest paying agency in the region, and we're realistic about that. As we've said before, all we ask is for fair and competitive compensation so that we can continue to attract quality candidates and just as importantly, retain the experienced officers who already know this community and are deeply invested in keeping it safe.

We do acknowledge that the city has taken proactive steps in prior contracts and those steps were meaningful at that time. However, the cost of living continues to rise and everyday expenses have increased significantly. As as a result, what once felt like real progress can quickly turn into feeling like you're falling behind. For many officers, this means it has become increasingly difficult to afford living in the very city we serve. When compensation does not keep pace with these realities, it impacts our ability to recruit and retain qualified officers.

In the past, our bargaining unit has sometimes been viewed through the same lens as other bargaining units in the city. We value and respect all city employees and every department plays an important role in serving the public. At the same time, the nature of law enforcement really is just different. Our officers are on the front lines responding to emergencies that allow us dealing with volatile and unpredictable situations and performing work that many people are just simply not willing or able to do. In today's environment, fewer people are choosing law enforcement as a career, which makes recruitment even more challenging.

That reality creates unique challenges and pressures that should be recognized when decisions are made about staffing and compensation. Our members are proud to serve the city and its residents. They care about the safety of our neighborhoods, our schools, and our businesses, and they wanna continue providing the level of service this community has come to expect and deserves. We simply ask that the city remain committed to addressing recruitment challenges and compensation with the urgency they require. On behalf of our membership, thank you again for your continued support and for taking this issue seriously. We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with the city and to keep Fountain Valley a nice place to live. Thank you.

I have no further request to speak.

Okay. I'll go ahead and close the public hearing. And now I'll open questions to City Council. Any questions or comments?

I just wanna add a comment. Okay. A nice place to live and a nice place to work.

Councilman Grundis?

Yeah. First off, great job on your report. I remember the first time that I was a speaker up there as a resident talking about something years and years ago, and my knees were shaking and stuff, but you did a really good job. So congratulations on that. And I love that our staff, the director levels allow staff levels or maybe not staff management level, whatever, to give those reports and and give, know, that kind of exposure.

I think that's wonderful as well. You know, Scott, I everybody is doing that. It's it's really nice. I also wanna say that, I'm really pleased to see that we're doing better in the retention and recruitment part. It was a real emphasis of the council to make sure we were doing as fair wages as we were able to do.

I think in the last negotiation with most of the groups, it went pretty quick because if you try to be fair, things happen. And also wanna thank the groups who are very understanding of some of the limitations that we had on our end and what we could do. Because if we can make everybody the highest paid in the county, we would love to do that if we had that kind of budget, but obviously we can't. I also want to recognize, and I forget what the name of the group that Megan's part of to the employee.

Financial nonrepresentative group?

No. No. No. The Oh,

the engagement.

Engagement group. Thank you. I couldn't think of the word. You know, when we do four forty schedules, you know, maybe it's not the most convenient to the residents always, but those are things that we can do for employees that don't cost us money that make them a little bit happier. And we, in the long run, save money by doing those kind of things. And the programs that group and the HR department leading that and bringing them together to do those intangible things for our employees, you know, when we have the food trucks or all the different things, the I know on the

Team building that we're gonna do this coming Monday?

Yes. Exactly. I was gonna bring that up. You know, those are the kind of things that make a difference. And and it's just nice to see that with all those efforts that the results are starting to come forward. So great job and keep it up. Thank you.

Councilwoman Constantine.

Sure. Well, Maria, you did great with your report. We hope to learn more with other reports in the future and thank you also Isaac too for speaking. Thank you.

Any other questions or comments? Well, thanks so much, Maria. We'll make sure to tell your supervisor you did a great job. Oh, she's there. Great. Perfect. Okay. Call for a motion.

Mr. Mayor, this is a receiving file item.

Receiving file. Gotcha. Okay. Alright. Thank you. So we'll move on to item seven, introduce and conduct a first read of an ordinance clarifying the procedure for selecting the mayor and the mayor pro tem, 5 Valley Municipal Code two dot 04 dot 200 and approve the ordinance for second reading presentation by city attorney Burns.

Mister

mayor, would is it okay if I give the report from here, or would you like me to step down?

What's the pleasure of the council? Okay. That's fine. Yeah. You're you're good there.

Okay. Good. Thank you. Thank you. Mister mayor, members of the city council, the proposed ordinance would eliminate an ambiguity and the found values current ordinance relating to the selection of mayor using a rotation system.

The selection of mayor and mayor pro tem is a matter within the council's discretion. A few decades ago, the city council established thank you. Established a rotation system for appointment to avoid the bickering and animosity that arose from the selection process. The rotation system was enacted to take the politics out of the process and to bribe everyone, every council member an opportunity to serve a term as mayor. The rotation process worked fairly well and did foster harmonious council relations while providing every council member a chance to be mayor.

Other cities in Orange County also adopted rotation policies. As currently written, the ordinance states that the council member who has served the longest since being mayor or who had the longest service since the election, whichever is longer, should be the next mayor. The reference to the longest service since the election was probably for new council members who'd never been mayor. The way it worked in practice is the council member with the longest service since last being mayor became the mayor and then set up the rotation order. Recently, it's been suggested that the ordinance should actually be interpreted to mean that the tests are parallel tests.

And if the person serving longest from the last election is a tie between two council members, and that's a longer period than the time since both had been mayor, that reference to the votes in the last council election must be made to sue who had the highest vote count, and that person would be reset in the rotation order and he or she might then leapfrog over the person who was in the previous rotation order. This was probably not the original intent but it is unknown what the original intent was. In any event, the council has the absolute discretion to have the ordinance read any way that it wants to, but is also free to ignore the rotation order and make any appointment at once. The ordinance is submitted for your consideration and or the council is free to direct any amendments that it may desire. Thank you.

Gonna open the public hearing. Just a reminder that each person will have up to three minutes to speak on the item. Are there any requests to speak?

We have one request to speak, Katie Wright.

Welcome.

Thank you, mister mayor. And attorney Burns, I'm sorry, but at the very beginning, I couldn't hear part of what you were saying. When was this policy initially enacted? What year?

I'm not sure of the year but it's probably three decades ago. It was probably in the 1980s. I was around when I think I wrote it and I'm to blame for the ambiguity but Close I can't tell you exactly

Thank you. So this policy has been around for decades which was my understanding. And I haven't lived here forever, I haven't paid attention forever but it has not seemed to be a source of rancor from what I've seen over the years that I've been paying attention. My question is, who is it that actually wants to change the policy? Which of you is the person that is pushing this agenda of possibly altering what's been working for decades?

Raising of a hand would work. Somebody, obviously somebody is promoting this idea. I don't think attorney Burns, either wonderful attorney Burns whom I respect and admire both, brought this up, pulled it out of their hat and thought, oh, I need a little attention tonight. I'll bring this up. No, I don't think so. It says staff recommends. Staff doesn't recommend things by pulling things out of their hat either. They are busy with their own jobs, their own agendas, their own protecting their P cards or whatever they're doing, which since we're getting such glowing reports on our finances, I don't worry about it. I trust that it's being attended. I have faith that the people in charge are paying attention.

Someone brought it up. Someone someone generated this to be something to be put on the agenda. I'd like to know who.

This is an agendized item, so we're allowed to communicate with.

Yeah. I wanted to just check as a point of order, city clerk, if that if a response is allowed.

Can Generally, mister mayor. I'm sorry. I overstepping? This is city clerk.

That's directed. City attorney Burns.

Okay. Council does not engage in cross examination and allow itself to be cross examined, but takes the questions and then writes them down and then responds as part of your discussion. It's you certainly have the freedom to engage in a little back and forth, but I'm just saying that it's not the public does not cross examine the City Council.

So the question is which of the council has brought this forward? I actually don't have an answer.

So

if a if council member wants to step up.

I I think to the point of, mister attorney, is because you have a limit you wanna stop stop the clock. The reason for is any question you wanna ask, ask now. We'll take note and we'll respond back to your questions. We Is don't this carry extent that the dialogue I

it's always been in place? I don't know how many people actually ask a direct question. I know I've tried in the past, and sometimes I get an answer and sometimes I don't. And since no one's explained to me that the policy is that I cannot do that, no one's ever told me I can't do that, so I'm doing that. So

If it's a non agenda item, we cannot communicate with you. There's been many times that I've communicated with somebody speaking on an agenda item to answer that question.

That's my understanding. What I will say is people do observe and create their own opinion. This looks like a solution looking for a problem. This has been an in place situation for decades, possibly three, without it being a problem. It would appear to those who have opinions that one person here wants to look really, really good when they're running for the next public office higher than Fountain Valley City Council.

And they're trying to show that they can accomplish as much as they want as they can. And gee, wouldn't it look great to get my turn again before the normal time that would routinely have shown up? That's the opinion of a lot of people paying attention and I'll have you know a lot of people are now paying attention. Thank you for allowing me to ask the question.

I have no other request to speak.

Okay. I'll go ahead and close the public hearing. Open questions for counsel.

Respond thank you, Mayor. So to respond to your questions, who has brought this item up? It was I that brought this item up and what I asked is for clarifications. Rick, So could you please bring up this email that I shared with you earlier? All right.

So here is the current policy, which was written like Mr. Attorney Alan Burnard said earlier, probably three decades ago. That's what, thirty years ago, forty years ago. And if you look with the items B1, offers of mayors of Pro Temers shall have one year term and shall be fulfilled in accordance with the following rotation procedure. Now if you have council member who has a longest conservative service since his or her last elections, last served as a Mayor, whichever is longer should become the Mayor.

This is how it's been in the code. Now I want to ask my colleague here, Gan Grenes. We both got on the City Council in 2020. Is that correct?

Am I being cross examined?

No, no. No. I mean, it's just this is a fact to this point. I think that could be still It's a fact to relate to the point to this.

Yes.

We all know. On advice of counsel, I refuse to answer.

Kidding. A little humor.

A little humor. Yes, you are correct. In 2020, I was elected as well as you and I had the most votes in 2020

Perfect. By a Perfect. If you ask me who has more vote, recognize you have more vote. That is a Is that

a high five you've given me? Yeah. There we go.

And that is a reason why he was ahead of me as the mayor because people like him, he has the most vote. That's according to this. So we have that consistency understanding. Right? Now, so in the last election, which is in December, I said, wait a minute.

That's the current code. But so I asked clarification for our city attorney and let's read what he says, clarification of the existing code per city attorney, Collenburg. I can only state that the intent of the section is provide the mayorship to the person who has the longest conservative service send his or her last service as Mayor when all current council members have served as Mayor, right? It goes back to Section one. If you roll down to the next screen, please.

So the rotation rules, the Mayor is normally the Council Mayor who has gone the longest since the last elections and the last time they served as a Mayor, whichever of those two time period is longer. Now in that case, look at December 2025. My colleague served thirteen month. I served thirteen month. Twelve month as a Mayor's, his twelve month as Mayor's.

So it goes to the tiebreaker. The tiebreaker says right there. Tiebreaker, what does it require? If two councilmen end up with the same amount qualifying service time, then the tie is broken by looking at who received more vote in the most recent elections. Look on the bottom, then Subsection B2 applies. Tiebreaker, election twenty twenty four, Glenn received 13,137. I received 14.

Thank you for your votes by the way.

Of course. So the point I'm trying to make is want to keep a consistency in what we have, right? And this is what it also what it also achieved what? The consistency with the will of the people because that's how you people vote. That's the will of the people. And the mayor election result get reshuffled of the order. That's what this court was apply And I'm applying the same thing. So now when I I spoke with Attorney Collin, Attorney Collin said, well that was not the intent. Fine. If that's not the intent, that's fine.

Then let's rewrite let's rewrite the code if that was not the intent. And that's in that's what we hear. So to the questions of, oh it has been working fine all this year. Well guess what? Mr. Allen, what did you say earlier when you when I brought all this question? Wow. We didn't realize any of this until you brought up now, how the code was written because my interpretation analysis is correct based on the code was written, but it creates some issue which is what we hear now. And if it was not the intent, then we must rewrite the code. If not, according to this code, this apply.

Other questions from council?

Mister mayor, I'd like to say a So couple of things when council member Harper and I were elected in 2018, council member Harper had more votes than I did. And of course, he served as mayor before I did. We were both reelected in 2022, and, at that time, I did have more votes than council member Harper. However, it would be council member Harper who would be, mayor before me, and I totally respect that. So moving on from that, the verbiage, the council member who has the proposed cleanup on this, the council member who has the longest consecutive council service since his or her since his or her last service as mayor should become the mayor.

I'd like to clean that up even a little bit more. I don't like the pronoun. I don't like pronouns in general. In fact, I didn't wanna be known as council member, I preferred councilman. So just for full clarification on that. So I'm proposing this read, the council member who has the longest consecutive council service since the council member's last service as mayor should become the mayor. Thank you.

Okay. So before we jump to the proposed, I just have a few questions. Unfortunately, I sent an email to our city attorney for clarifications for tonight, but he has a conflict of schedules. So when I met up with Mr. Allen Byrne and I had some questions for him and I forward to him and I want some clarifications for the public to understand.

So my question will be in term of compliance explanations. Can you provide an explanation of how the current or recent selection and term practice for mayor and mayor pro tem comply with the current Section 2.042 in terms of compliance?

Well, Mr. Mayor, I think the answer to that is that it's been interpreted to apply so that the last person serving as mayor it was your last service as mayor that's what counted. It puts you into a rotation procedure. It's worked ever since, and it hasn't been questioned since then. And that's just the way it's worked. I don't think the city attorney has been much involved in it. It's just worked.

So if you're saying that, are you saying the application on the tiebreaker rules is incorrect on the applications?

Oh, tiebreaker rules would come into play if there was a it was the beginning a person who had never served as mayor and was just elected, you'd have to go to the tiebreaker rule and to see what the popular vote was in the election. So that would that's when that would come in.

And if both council member has served the same amount as mayorship, then what happened? Then when it goes to the next tiebreaker, which is who has the highest vote in the last election cycle according to the rule.

Okay. I'd like to jump in here just real quick.

But let let the attorney explain. Why can't we allow him

to It's interpretation that's wrong. So if you look at this, even on the screen, thirteen months, twelve months, they don't get a stopwatch and say, okay, you're gonna stop being mayor. It's the year they're talking about. So if you look at this, it's the year 2025, not how many days since you were last mayor. You're interpreting it incorrectly.

So if you look at this, we were both at 2025 at the same spot. It's all equal, then it goes to who hasn't served the longest. And I have not since the the election only comes in if you both were never mayor before. So you're you're you're using a technicality saying, well, it was thirteen months. That's greater than twelve months. So if it's thirteen months if they were both twelve months, then the election wouldn't come in. So you're you're playing the system. You know? We've been doing this for thirty years, and it's unfortunate. I know you're newer to the city than most of us.

I've been here for forty six years, and it's been done the same way for all those forty six years. And you're looking at this in a technical exception to try to game the system to move yourself ahead of me. You voted for council member or vice mayor Harper over council member Constantine. If you had an issue with this at the time, you wouldn't have done that. It's self serving what you're doing.

So what I would like to do is regardless of all this, let's clean it up. You're right. Let's clean it up. Let's make it so it's not you know, that it's not subject to interpretation. I think all of us will agree that the intent of the way it's supposed to be. So let's just move on with this instead of figuring out what's wrong and what what my technical input, you know, because it's three weeks, four days, nine minutes, and three hours or whatever difference.

Let me let me ask you that. I want I want to ask the attorney because he hasn't he has a duty to explain if my explanation here to Councilmember Grunitz, do you agree with his statement where he just said that my application is incorrect?

I think not to dodge your question,

but I think

you can unring the bell. We've had people that were mayor. There was an election system and we've gotten to this point. And now if there's an issue, I thought you might if you wanna remove an ambiguity or clarify that's this is the time to do it. Council has absolute authority to make anybody the mayor they wanna make.

Thank you. That that just shut down to the point that you say that my interpretation is incorrect. No. It's not incorrect.

Yes. He just he just said no. He just told No.

No. You're again interpreting what he's saying incorrectly. He's saying this is the way it's been done in perpetuity for the last thirty years, and that's the way it should be. Regard who cares how we got here? Let's move on, let's fix it and let's move forward.

Once again, my point, I'm not saying, if that's not the intent, we need to change. But my point is, I'm trying to say, my intuition is not incorrect, Okay. That's not You're right. I'm wrong. No, no, it's not incorrect. You're right. You're right. You're right.

That's what I'm saying. Let's fix it. Okay. Let's fix it. Let's move on.

Councilman Oui, if you could wrap up thoughts.

Okay. Go ahead. Well,

I I think just to kinda get us back on track for item seven, there's been language that's been proposed in a resolution. I think if if you have comments on that language, let's submit that. This is a first reading. Okay. So we'll we'll be able to put that language in there and bring it back for a

second need to vote on this language. I would like to remove the word should.

Okay.

It is so just everybody's clear. If we come up to right now and we make a motion and a change of mayor and say, you know what? We want council member Constantine to be mayor and three people vote for it. Council member Constantine's mayor. And when we come and do the rotation, if we wanna change the rotation at that time, you can make us a motion to change it.

In 2016, I wanna say, council or vice mayor, McCurdy was next in line. He refused to do certain things that the council requested of him to do, and they skipped him. And we have every right when it's next mayor's turn. If we don't want, vice mayor, Harper to be the next mayor, we don't have to have him. So it doesn't need the word should because it's a policy, and policies are something that you go off of, but it's not a requirement.

So all of this is really a waste of effort and time, but to make things so it's not you're right. This thing is ambiguous. I don't think it is, but you think it is. So I would like to make the motion to accept the verbiage that's there minus the word should because that's already in place. It is a should because it's a policy.

Well There there's a motion.

Sure. Just just just mister mayor.

So that's

It it said shall before, and it was changed to say should because it's your shall means you must and should gives you the authority to do do it or not to do it.

That makes sense. I'm good with that. So I I I'll amend my motion accepted as written.

Well House circuit. Mister mayor, really No. Open.

Sorry. Yeah.

This is a new public document. So is there a member of the public that would like a copy of this?

Hey. There's hands that had two that raise their hands.

Two of

them. Yes.

So miss

I will get you copies shortly.

Okay. So we we have a motion and a second. We're now back in discussion. So councilwoman

I'd like to make a substitute motion, but I think does the public really understand that looking at the rotation, so like when when I finished being mayor, then council member Grandis was mayor and then council member Bui was mayor. So it's technically what we're talking about just for anybody wondering about the the timing, it would be council member Grandis who would have had the longest time of not being the am I correct on this to explain it?

You are correct.

So hopefully everybody gets it.

And you notice we play musical chairs up here at the end of every year? We sit in the order of the rotation.

Yeah.

So I follow council member Constantine. Last year, I sat there. She sat here. She moves there. We do it so we don't make the mistake because we might forget what the rotation is. So council member Bowie, next year, will sit here. He'll sit over there, there, and then if he's reelected, he'll become mayor.

So mister mayor, I'd like to make a substitute verbiage with the the verb, with the substitute motion on the verbiage here, to reflect the council member who has the longest consecutive council service since the council member's last service as mayor should become the mayor? And I'm seeking a second, please.

I'll go ahead and second that, but I want to go ahead and make it to the point my colleague is saying. We move the word shall to should. What's the difference? One of them is mandatory, one is advisory. Now be careful with the word should. I'm going tell you why. That means that on this council, whatever the majority is going to be, that can make the change who's the next Mayor. That's politics. It should, it's advisory. When shall, the system is rotate.

But we do rotation and should

would No,

that, not

should is recommendations. Majority is that, let's say, if it's his mayor. But the next council majority is going to be on the other aisle.

Right. However, council member Grant has clarified it with Attorney Burns, I'm not mistaken, just like ten minutes ago, asking about the should to shall and was it not deemed that should is fine? Thank you.

Should is advisory.

Yes. We Now should if

hold on, just keep that Should same is advisory. If this council is aligned to one side, but to and normally, it should be you. But because this council, no, we're going to skip because it's advisory.

You didn't even vote for me, but that's another thing.

I'm trying to stop.

I didn't even know, but okay. I'm just trying to get some humor.

But I'm just saying that how you move forward and my all council member understand moving forward.

That is correct. He's absolutely correct. At the next rotation, we do not have to put in the person in rotation. Right. We don't. It's a policy. It's not a mandate.

So if it's sided to one side, it's gonna hurt.

It can happen. It's happened. Look at Huntington Beach. The last three

years of Huntington Beach states city. I'm not to degrade any city or point out any city. I'm just saying, you set a policy, you guys see the fourth thinking what other possibly can happen?

And it's you said the magic word. It's policy. It's not a law.

It's Okay. So the main motion has been set aside. We have a substitute substitute motion first approved by councilwoman Constantine.

Can you explain the difference

of what you said again? Didn't quite Well, sure.

Absolutely. And I am keeping the should simply because should in theory means that while we do a rotation, that person would be the should. So let me start again. So my substitute motion is the council member who has the longest consecutive council service since the council members last service as mayor should become the mayor.

Could we could we know where that is and so we could follow-up?

Well, I mean, mean,

it

could It's a one staff report page 163. It would be

under Well, it's on 159 on my printed copy. Under one.

So it's toward the top. There's a b section and then one right after, and it's that sentence. The council member who has the longest consecutive

Too far, Rick. Right. Now you went too far the other way.

It is. It's page one sixty one s at two zero four two hundred terminal select.

So council member Constantine would like to remove his or her and replace it with the council member.

Just approve. The council member who has the longest consecutive council service since the council member's last service as mayor should become the mayor. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. That that's fine with me.

Okay.

And could I mister mayor, could I just Yes. Clarify one thing that's a minor point, but it's I don't wanna leave it unclarified. Sure. And that's that this is a law,

but it's a law that establishes a policy. It gives a

lot of discretion, but we're talking about a law. So you are enacting a

law, but it's a policy that gives a

lot of discretion and gives you the ability to do it or not do it.

Okay. Okay. Perfect. Thank you

for that advice.

Yeah. Thank you.

Any more discussion on the substitute motion?

Yeah, I think she did a council member, second substitute motion and I'll second it. Before we vote, I want to ask a clarification from Mercy Attorney.

Do you

have a problem?

Yes, I do. We've wasted so much time on this.

So you just want to shut my voice not allowed to talk? No. Because it doesn't bother because it bothers you?

No, please go ahead.

All right.

Will you please ask me question?

Because he's done it many times, not the first time he's doing it and it's kind of irritating. So when we move this, this is for clarity and remove all the main green, which is great. That's what we want moving forward. But if you could confirm that any amendment to the current policy on municipal code would operate prospectively only and that action taken under the previous adopted policy or could provision remain valid and effective unless otherwise determined by law? Because you said it's a law.

It is it is a law.

So I think what you're saying is, well, let's let's do this now, but I'm still grandfathered in under this rule, and I'm gonna be voted in before grandis. Is that what you're saying?

I want the city attorney to explain what I just asked.

Nice try.

Because people will look at this. Others attorney will look

at it. I think we're clarifying the law. And so you're basically restating the law, but you're saying we're not changing it. We're making it read how we think it should be operate and how it was operating. And some of the changes that are made are specifically state in the ordinance that they are in fact declaratory of existing law. So the intent here is not to change the system we have, to clarify it in case anybody were to think it was an ambiguity. All right.

All right. Okay. That respond back to the legalities of the law. Okay.

Call for the vote.

Item number seven passes as amended.

Okay. Great.

Thank you. Okay. Moving on to administrative item eight, adopt the resolutions approving the full time and part time non represented limited service ambulance operator classification to the city's classification and compensation plan and amending city's master salary schedule to include the existing individually represented division chief when assigned to administrative duties. Presentation by human resources director, Tanya Nauerhays.

Hi. Hi. Welcome.

Thank you again. Good evening, mayor and members of the city council. Name is Tanya Najar Hayes. I'm the HR director. I'm here to present administrative item number eight as it relates to the ambulance program. So back in September

hold on a second.

Back in September 2025, the city council approved the transition to a city operated ambulance program to enhance our emergency medical services delivery, improve response times for the community, and streamline patient care. Currently, our program operates through a partnership with Valcorp. As we move to a fully city operated model in late twenty twenty six, we need to establish our own dedicated workforce. This includes creating the ambulance operator classification, defining the paying benefit structure, and adding the division chief to the city's master salary schedule. The ambulance operator.

So the city council approved the creation of 12 full time and six part time ambulance operator positions. These are entry level positions. The primary duties of an ambulance operator are to transport patients, respond to respond to medical aid incidents, and provide EMT services. The ambulance operator positions are non safety, non exempt, at will, limited service positions with a two year term, they will work a schedule similar to our fire suppression employees. This structure is designed to encourage these operators to eventually promote into firefighting roles.

HR conducted a labor market analysis consisting of Orange County cities, and staff recommends a five step hourly salary range of $18.5 to $22.49 for both full time and part time operators. In addition to the hourly rate proposed, we also recommend the following: full time employees will be eligible for city contributions to medical insurance equivalent to that available to other nonrepresented limited service employees Full time employees will be enrolled in CalPERS. Part time employees will be enrolled in PARS. Full time employees will earn an accrued vacation. Now in relation to the Administrative Division Chief.

In addition to approving the resolutions to add the ambulance operator classification to the city's class and comp plan, staff is requesting that the division chief, when assigned to administration as part of the ambulance operator program, be added to the city's master salary schedule to comply with CalPERS requirements. The division chief would provide increased managerial oversight by assuming overall responsibility for the fire department's suppression operations, EMS operations, and ambulance program. For fiscal impact, there is no additional fiscal impact to approving this item. Funding for the ambulance operator positions and division chief was approved by the city council meeting on 09/25/2025. The division chief as well as the full time and part time nonrepresented limited service positions have been appropriated in the fiscal year twenty six-twenty seven annual budget.

Our recommendation tonight is to adopt the resolutions approving the full time and part time non represented limited service ambulance operator classifications to the city's classification and compensation plan and amending the city's master salary schedule to include the individually represented division chief when assigned to administration. Thank you for your time. Do you have any questions?

First, just wanted to check, are there any public comments on this item?

I have no request to speak on this item.

Thank you, director Nourhaus. Any questions from counsel? No? Okay. Thank you so much for this.

Thank you.

You've answered and clarified everything.

So Thank you. And I wanna thank the fire department for working closely with HR with this special project. Thank you.

Thanks so much. Okay. I'll call for a motion.

I'll move to approve.

I'll second.

Item number eight passes five zero.

Moving on to item number nine, mid year budget review for fiscal year twenty twenty five-twenty twenty six presentation by Finance Director, Ryan Smith. Welcome.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. This item tonight is our mid year review of the adopted budget for fiscal year twenty five-twenty six. If you remember, we started the year with about a 7,800,000 use of reserves. And a lot of that was going towards a larger than normal CIP program this year. In addition, we're using $2,000,000 of Measure HH funds to pay down our OPEB liabilities and $3,000,000 of HH funds to put additional payments towards our pension liabilities.

So those are just a few of the things leading to that $7,800,000 reduction. So coming into this major budget review, one of the priorities we had as a staff was making sure that we're not increasing that deficit, that use of reserves. So that was one of our number one priorities coming into this. And so we started this review by looking at our revenues and what we needed to adjust there. And that kind of gave us a baseline to how we could adjust the expenditures from there. So our Finance Manager, Robin Harnish, is going to present the details our view.

Welcome.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Counsel. How are you tonight?

Excellent. Thank you.

As Ryan mentioned, we started we adopted the budget with a deficit, and we did not want to increase that number. So looking at comparison of the two, we started with operating revenues 83,800,000.0 We're looking at almost $1,600,000 in midyear adjustments, bringing that number to 85,400,000.0 Operating expenses would be increasing about 1,500,000.0 deficit down by almost $120,000 When we factor in $100,000 for one of the capital projects, that brings our reduction to the deficit to about $20,000 And we'll go through the details. So looking at our revenues here, the largest increases were sales tax and that came from projections from our consultant, HDL. We had other revenue was a big increase. A large chunk of that, about 200,000 is for OCTA reimbursement related to the I 405 project.

And then we also have the Vesta nine one one system for PD that was adopted or approved by council last year. So those are the bulk of those revenue adjustments. Some moderate decreases in community development just because of activity to date. And then we had public works increases. Those are due to improvement plan checks, the majority, and some other fees related to public works permits.

And then we had fire. EMS revenue is going up $230,000 and that is offset by expenditures equal. We'll cover that. Looking at general fund expenditures, 1,500,000.0 increase is what we're looking at. The majority of that is coming from public works, which a portion is I-four zero five project costs, we discussed would be reimbursable, fiber optic integration and repair.

Then we have fire, the offsetting expenditures related to the EMS revenue, ambulance program. And then $144,000 that is for the new division chief that was approved last September from to get them through the end of the fiscal year. We also have police. That is overall, it's a 136,000 increase. We were able to find some savings, so we're able to to offset some of those increases.

Part of that's for the Vesta nine one one, also internal investigations and some supplies related to the 800 megahertz radio contract. Lastly, we have community services. The majority of that increase is for the parks master plan that is coming from a reserve account, that will not impact general fund. We already have over 500,000 in there. And the rest will be 19,000 for senior transportation, that's reimbursable through Measure M funding.

And we're increasing to get better bands for summer concerts. Yes. All right. Looking at the internal service fund, the majority of the increase is gonna be in fleet. We are purchasing a couple of a new vehicle for the chief, fire chief, and there will be some upfitting and some undercover vehicles for PD.

Aside from that, then we have equipment fund, which is modest. We were able to find some items to reduce to lessen that impact on the general fund. And then a large portion is self insurance, but we are covering that through fund balance, so that also will not affect the general fund. And then just looking at the other funds, we're looking at small change modest increase in revenue for Water Fund and sewer, but we are increasing operating expenditures. Most of those are just activity based.

However, we are for water, there is a new design for Bouchard and Slater waterline rehab. So that's a big portion of it, as well as the OCWD well replenishment basin equity assessment. And then going to CIP, the majority, so we were we were able to find some savings in residential road rehab. Came in under budget, so that saved us 150,000, which we're using for the design of four traffic signals. Then we have the fire station one subgrade in concrete.

That's a 100,000. We also added in design for pavement restriping and Euclid southbound lane striping. That makes up the 215,000 in capital increases. And then as I mentioned previously, the $1.44 for the division chief, that's just for the five months. Those are only staffing modifications. Fiscal year ends on June 30. We will be meeting with departments May, June to go over projection changes or changes to the 2627 budget, and then we will come back to council in June or July to present those to you. And that is all for me, but I'm available for questions.

First, are there any question or comments from the public?

I have no request to speak.

Thank you. Questions from counsel, comments?

Just want to say

Councilwoman Konstantin?

Just want to say thank you, Robin, and thank you to our finance team. Thank you very much.

Councilman Grandis.

Yeah, want to thank you as well. And when the public sees this, this is a lot of information to take in all at once. I don't want you to think this is our first time seeing this. So we meet with staff, Vice mayor Harper and I sat down with with Robin and with Ryan to go through this in detail, and we had many, many, many, many questions. So if I were watching this at home and like how did how can they vote on this, like all this information? So a lot of this is done in advance and I just wanna thank you for your time in doing that. It we're looking good and that's that's great. So thank you.

Councilman Bui?

Thank you, Mayor. Well, thank you for the presentation as well. The only thing is for tonight, I'm going to abstain on this. The reason being is, as you know, we're willing to have only two days with staff, which is yesterday and today. Today was my day yesterday was my day with the city manager over the mid years, but something came up. So I couldn't do my review with her. And today my schedule was hectic, so I didn't get a chance to ask a lot of questions either. So I'm more abstain on this one.

Any other questions from counsel? So I do wanna express my appreciation for for the idea of actually going to a a two year budget look ahead and then this mid year. I think it's a little bit easier for us to follow. It also captures some of the projections and the thinking sort of two years at a time. So appreciate that. With that, we'll go ahead and

Actually, I I do wanna make one other comment. One nuance to this. You, Brenna, I meant to mention that, I'm glad you said this. I think it's a little bit off saying it's the midyear budget review for twenty five-twenty six. I think it should be something to the midyear review of year one of the biannual budget for '25 through '27. So people understand it's year one. We'll do the same thing in six months where we normally do a full budget for the year. We're going to do another review. So it's just a little nuance, but I think it's clearer.

Maybe you can put that in the fine print down below. Okay.

Like I said, it's a nuance. It's a little thing.

Great. Thanks so much.

Thank you.

Go ahead and call for a vote.

I make a motion to approve and I'm very happy that I did review the paperwork. Thank you.

And I'll second.

Item number nine passes four zero with one abstention by council member Bowie.

Thank you so much. We'll move on to appointments item 10 appointment to the Fount Valley Community Foundation, Housing and Community Development Committee, Planning Commission, Advisory Committee for Persons with Disabilities, and Measure HH Committee for 2026. Presentation by the very busy city clerk, Miller.

Thank you, mister mayor. Okay. Now after council interviewed all the applicants for the various committees, it is time to make the appointments. The first ballot you should have in the Manila folder in front of you is for the Planning Commission. We had five applicants, and what we need to fill the Planning Commission are three full time full term members, which is a two year term plus one alternate, which is a one year term.

So you will select three of the five names as your full term choice and one of the five as the alternate. And once you have done that, please make sure you print and sign your name as this is a public record.

Shouldn't we do the full term vote first and find out who's left over so we can then do the alternate?