City Council - Regular Meeting

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come out of closed session we'll return now for our study session back at 5 0 8 p.m so we'll start with public comments on study session matters only are there any requests to speak I have no request to speak. Thank you. So we'll begin with presentation on hazardous materials in Fount Valley. This will be presented by Fire Chief Chris Nigg and team. Welcome.

Welcome. Thank you, Mayor, City Council. This evening, I'm actually going to hand it over to Division Chief of Operations, Tim Psyche, to discuss not only our prevention efforts, inform you all and educate what's going on in our city from a hazardous materials standpoint, and then an operational response should we ever have any issues in the city. And then at the end, if you have any questions for me, I'll be available as well. Thank you.

All right. Good evening, Mayor and members of City Council. Thank you for the opportunity to allow us to present an overview of how we respond and what we have in our city as far as hazardous materials go. As you know, May 21st of this year, Garden Grove experienced a major hazardous materials incident at GKN Aerospace. that drew regional and national attention to the risk posed by chemical storage here in the urban parts of Orange County. You know, a tank containing methyl acrylate began to overheat and pressurize after refrigeration system failure and ultimately caused the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents across Garden Grove and the neighboring communities, including some of our employees, actually. in a state of emergency was declared in Garden Grove and in the county. So tonight we're here. We want to inform you of the hazardous materials that exist in Fountain Valley and how we're prepared to respond to those emergencies, potential emergencies. So our city's profile is a little bit different than the industrial setting of Garden Grove. We are fully urbanized, mostly residential and are nearly built out, but We are not without hazardous materials risk. So the fire department currently oversees 168 permitted sites across the city, several of which are larger industrial and manufacturing operations. And that's exactly why sustained investment in prevention, permitting, inspections, and joint enforcement with the county is every bit as critical to community risk reduction as our actual response to these incidents. So it's also why the department's upcoming standards of cover and community risk assessment study is so timely. That analysis will formally evaluate the city's hazard profile, including hazmat risk, against our current staffing response capabilities and regional resource sharing arrangements. It will ensure our prevention and response posture keeps pace with the risks actually present in our community. Over the next few minutes, we'll walk you through two halves of our HAZMAT program. First, fire prevention, which is how we permit and inspect these facilities and how we partner with Orange County Environmental Health And second operations, how we, how our firefighters are trained, how our regional, uh, hazmat teams are formulated and how our dispatch procedures are set up with that. I'd like to begin by handing it off to Scott Lyons, our fire prevention analyst to talk about that fire prevention aspect.

Thank you, Chief. Good afternoon, Mayor, members of the council. My name is Scott Lyons. I'm the fire prevention analyst. I'll be presenting on behalf of Tang Wen, the fire marshal, and the hazmat specialist who's out on vacation right now. I'll give you an overview of the city of Fallon Valley's hazardous material program and work for the fire department does to keep the community safe. There we go. Across the city, we currently oversee 168 sites that store or handle hazardous materials. These range from familiar neighborhood businesses, gas stations, auto shops, and restaurants to larger industrial and manufacturing operations such as OC Sanitation, OC Water District, and Omni Metals. Over the next several slides, I'll walk through three key areas how we permit and inspect these facilities under the fire code. how we partner with Orange County Environmental Health as part of the state CUPA program, and how we maintain real-time chemical data through CERS, the California Environmental Reporting System. Here's a snapshot and overview of the city. This is the layout of all 168 sites located in the city. You can see on the east side part along the Santa Ana River is the majority of our hazardous material storing sites. Also, you could notice up Brookhurst down the middle of the city map, that's the majority of restaurants and gas stations, but most of our sites are on the east side of the city.

And I think it's also fair to say that because why the area, there's a lot of it because it's an industrial area as well. It's less residential.

Yes, sir. That's our industrial area, not residential on the east side. Facility compliance requires securing HAZMAT operational permits from Fountain Valley Fire for storing hazardous materials, managing compressed gases, and handling flammable or combustible liquids. Modern facilities utilizing battery energy storage systems, also known as BESS, must also secure these permits due to thermal risk. These HAZMAT facility operators must maintain strict safety infrastructure, including adhering to maximum allowable quantities fire sprinkler systems, functional fire alarm systems, and installing secondary containment to prevent chemical leaks from containing drains or groundwater. To ensure continuous compliance, the fire department enforces a multi-tiered inspection schedule. Fire inspections, conducted every year to verify that all active life safety systems, including fire sprinklers, fire alarms, emergency equipment, secondary containment, and exit pathways are fully operational Existing operational permits are also reviewed and renewed during this annual fire inspection. HAZMAT inspections conducted every three years to perform a deeper regulatory audit. This involves cross-referencing the facility's physical chemical inventory against reports in CERS, the California Environmental Reporting System. as well as auditing employee safety training documentation, site maps, and the business emergency plan to correct any drift between actual storage and official reporting. Joint facility inspections are conducted by Orange County Environmental Health, acting as the Certified Unified Program Agency, also known as the CUPA, to enforce six distinct regulatory elements. Our team takes direct responsibility for handling the first two highlighted programs requirements on this list. Specifically, we manage the hazardous materials business plan, ensuring that our inventory thresholds are carefully tracked and that detailed chemical disclosures and emergency response plans are accurately submitted. Furthermore, our team completely handles the hazardous materials management plan and inventory, collecting and maintaining precise data regarding the storage, the use, and the location of the hazardous materials to protect emergency responders and the public. Beyond the core responsibilities managed by our team, joint facility inspections evaluate four additional critical environmental safety programs. County inspectors review hazardous waste generator protocols and onsite treatment practices to confirm that chemical waste is safely handled and treated prior to disposal. They also monitor underground storage tanks, also known as USTs, to prevent subterranean leaks and enforce the Above Ground Petroleum Storage Act by evaluating spill prevention plans to large oil and fuel tanks. Finally, the county inspections cover the California Accidental Release Prevention Program, which establishes strict facility measures to prevent catastrophic toxic gas or chemical leaks. Based on the chemical inventory and discussion with Orange County health inspectors, we have classified our top five hazmat facilities to the following. Orange County Sanitation, the business focus is wastewater and waste treatment. The hazards are industrial chemicals, pathogens, and heavy metals. Orange County Water District, the business focus is groundwater replenishment and water purification. Hazards are large volumes of water treatment chemicals, acids, and caustics. Omni metals, the business focus is industrial metal finishing. The hazards are toxic cyanides, heavy metals, and strong acids. The occult plant, the focus is large-scale beverage manufacturing. The hazards are hazardous ammonia, refrigeration, and caustic cleaning chemicals. Last is the first element, The business focus is hydrogen fueling. The hazards are high-pressure hydrogen gas, storage, extremely flammable, risk of fire or explosion. All of these sites that we deem the top five in our city, they're all up to date on our inspections. The annuals were all performed in 2025, and all of them are scheduled to have their hazmat three-year inspection this year. They're scheduled for this year, so we're on track with those. Our comprehensive permitting and layered inspection program ensures strict hazard oversight in Fountain Valley. By enforcing fire permits with explicit safety requirements for every HAZMAT facility, we maintain continuous monitoring through annual life safety inspections and our three-year HAZMAT reviews to catch risks early. This robust local framework is strengthened by real-time chemical data sharing via SIRS, providing authorized responders with critical inventory information before arrival. Before entering an emergency scenes, ultimately our success relies on multi-agency coordination and working directly with Orange County Environmental Health. With our fire prevention strategies outlined, we will transition to field operations. I'll turn the presentation over to Chief Psyche to discuss hazmat response protocols. Thank you.

Okay, we'll talk a little bit about our operations as far as hazmat goes. So the Fountain Valley Fire Department maintains a layered approach to hazardous materials or hazmat emergencies. First, every firefighter is trained at the hazardous materials first responder operational level or hazmat FRO is what it's commonly referred as. And this also includes required annual refresher training. This training enables our crews to take immediate defensive action at any hazmat incident. For incidents requiring technician-level intervention or a higher level of training and equipment, the City receives regional hazmat team coverage through the Orange County City Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Authority, also known as ACMURA. And then finally, dispatch and response criteria are governed by established policies at our dispatch center. And I'll go into these in a little bit. So these three elements provide the city with a rapid initial response and access to specialized regional resources at a fraction of the cost of maintaining a standalone hazmat team as a city. So I mentioned all firefighters are trained to hazmat first responder operational or hazmat fro level. Just to go a little bit more into what that means, our firefighters are trained to recognize and identify hazardous materials and assess the threat to life, property, and the environment. They can isolate, deny entry, and establish control zones to protect the public. They can take defensive actions, defensive is the key term, to contain a release from a safe distance and prevent its spread. They can initiate evacuations or shelter in place orders and make required notifications in coordination with RPD. And finally, they can support and integrate with the Regional Hazmat Team upon their arrival. So a little bit about Akmura. The cities of Anaheim and Huntington Beach operate under a JPA forming Akmura. And Fount Valley is a subscribing city to that JPA alongside Brea, Costa Mesa, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Newport Beach, and the city of Orange. So Akmura provides two dedicated hazmat materials response teams. One is in Anaheim, and that's a Type 1 hazmat team, and one is in Huntington Beach, which they together can staff a Type 1 hazmat team, and they will respond to all major hazmat incidents. Huntington Beach's unit is stationed at Lake Station. That's the station in downtown Huntington Beach, giving Fountain Valley a very quick response for technician-level hazmat incidents. As far as the dispatching goes, Fountain Valley is dispatched by a regional dispatch center, also known as Metronet. And Metronet has procedures in place that establish a tiered response, depending on the severity of the incident. So for a hazmat response, from time of dispatch that's a known threat to life and property, Metronet would dispatch the following units as an automatic aid response. So, it would be two fire engines, one ladder truck, one battalion chief, both HAZMAT units from Anaheim and Huntington Beach, and one ambulance. And also, if our regional ACMURA HAZMAT teams are unavailable, Metronet would dispatch a HAZMAT response from the OCFA, which is not part of ACMURA, but has their own Type 1 HAZMAT team. What does this mean for Fountain Valley nuts and bolts? With our training, every on-duty firefighter can safely manage the critical first minutes of a hazmat incident. With pre-established regional agreements and automatic aid backup, we will have rapid technician-level response for HAZMAT incidents that occur in Fountain Valley. The ACMRA agreement provides a Type 1 HAZMAT team without the cost of equipping, staffing, and training a city-operated HAZMAT team. And finally, having standardized dispatch levels ensures the appropriate level of resources are responding from the initial dispatch. So in closing, I want to leave you with this. The hazardous materials in our city are not unique or specific to Fountain Valley. Every community in Orange County and throughout California have those gas stations, refrigeration systems, water treatment plants. or water treatment chemicals and industrial operations that deal with many chemicals. These are the materials that power these businesses and allow them to operate in our city. And they're safely managed safely every day. So what matters is what our city does about them. So Fountain Valley, every one of our 168 sites operate under a permit with enforceable safety requirements. Every facility is inspected annually for life safety and in depth every three years to verify those reported chemicals that are reported to the SERS system. Every firefighter is trained and able to respond to these incidents on that first responder operational level, so in a defensive posture. And when the incident exceeds our capabilities, we have those two regional HAZMAT teams and automatic aid that stand behind us to help assist us in those incidents. So these layered these layers exist to protect our residents, our businesses and our first responders. So no city can promise zero risk with with the hazardous materials that exist in the city. But through prevention, partnership and preparation, Fountain Valley is as ready as it can be. So with that, thank you for your time tonight. And if you have any questions.

Thanks so much, Chief. Really appreciate the summary. Open up to council. Councilman Grandes.

Yeah, Chief. So thank you so much. I was the one who had requested this as a study session. And I'll be honest, I was looking for where do we have issues within the city for explosions. So I was looking for a one slide. You went into so much depth and so I feel so much better about things knowing all the details behind everything that goes into this from beginning to end. This is one of the most thorough reports I've seen in my six years up here so this is really good and I appreciate all the effort that went into this so thank you for doing that. You went over and above.

Vice Mayor Harper. Thanks for the report. You mentioned there's an upcoming study with the statement of cover and community risk assessment. Can you tell us more about that?

Yes, I'll let the chief go into that.

Thanks for the question. And yeah, a lot of credit to Scott and Tim for the work that they put into this. It was a very comprehensive report. So the standards of cover and the community risk assessment that, as you all know, is commissioned and off and running. We've initiated that study. It's often referred to primarily as the standards of cover, but truly it's a community risk assessment first. So what that does is it's a deep, deep, deep dive into what our risk profile is here in the city and what all the hazards are that are in our city. Whether it's something such an explosion or even just a fire risk or a building collapse risk, earthquakes, floods, literally anything that could potentially harm the visitors and residents of the community.

I feel like I've seen that before. Is it due every couple of years or...?

No, so the study that we just commissioned is the very first time that we've ever done this particular study relative to. So these are part and parcel studies, right? So in order for the standards of cover to be performed and then ultimately provide conclusion about the fire department and its ability to serve the community, they first have to arrive at a conclusion about the risk profile and level of the city.

But didn't we do a study that's similar?

I think you reference the hazard action plan.

Yeah, hazard mitigation plan. Those are required every five. Well, every five years you're supposed to update them for grant purposes, et cetera.

So that's different than this statement of cover risk assessment study?

Hazard mitigation plan would fall more into the realm of emergency management or disaster preparedness, which we're also addressing right now. The CRA and the standards of cover that I'm speaking about right now is specific to the fire department, our ability to serve the community from a fire, EMS, hazardous materials, urban search and rescue standpoint.

Got it, got it. Okay, so I misinterpreted it then. Okay, now I know what you're talking

They can be confusing, maybe even a little bit synonymous, but they are two different studies. Okay, thanks.

Can I have one more question? Yes, sir. You know the hydrogen station? Once in a while I see it looks like steam or smoke coming out of the top of it. Can you tell me what that is?

Likely evaporation, but if I can...

It's just the off-gassing of... Yes, it's just the off-gassing of the over-pressurizing of the system. That's normal operations for it. But, yeah, sometimes if there's a lot of static in the air, too, it'll spark and you'll see a flame. That's totally normal operations. We'll get called for it a lot to come out, but that's how that system maintains a safe operating pressure within the tanks and the pumps. Got it.

Okay, thanks.

As somebody who used that station for a decade or so, that's you see the flame up there a lot, and sometimes that flame gets really large, but it's normal.

So I just wanted to make an observation. It seems like in the last couple of months there have been more major issues with with the Guard Grove site you can and then the lineage building in Boyle Heights and and the solar panels catching fire and then now the dealing with that kind of a building that poor community in Boyle I mean yeah horrible disaster that just keeps seem to to find new ways to become a nightmare um and then a recent fire I think it was in Santa Ana I know these things sort of they're random but I think part of what what I'm thinking it it seems like we have got our city and our properties uh really well managed and and and have responses in place if something should happen but do you have any thoughts i mean when you see these happening in other cities um in in kind of reflecting on valley is there anything that comes to your mind I have a lot of thoughts, actually.

I was just having this conversation earlier. And frankly, I think it's just we're in a really good spot in the sense that we are doing our deep dive right now into where our fire department is and what we're prepared to address. What I will say is this. I've been around to a few different departments now, a few different cities. I have some pretty good operational perspective at this point from various counties and operational areas. Orange County does an amazing job at what I call playing in the sandbox well together. And from the fire service perspective, we all work very, very well together. We have very solid automatic aid agreements in place, and that's everything from your your structure fires to your hazardous materials, all those types of things. So with that, you get your closest unit response at any given moment for that appropriate type of emergency to minimize damage and destruction and death and all those other things. Now, i feel very confident in not only our ability as what i would call an all-risk fire department to be able to respond and deal with any one of these types of emergencies because of all those reasons i just mentioned the term all-risk fire department can be a little bit ambiguous where i started my career truly had within 13 stations every single specialty program that the fire service has to offer we don't hear we're obviously a two-station department however because of our auto aid agreements and our expanded training and skill sets that we do in conjunction with our area partners, we are prepared to deal with and respond in some respect operationally or tactically to every type of emergency. So that's the good thing for the city, for the community, for the residents and ultimately the entire regional area. Now it's interesting to me as a fire chief and somebody who's been doing this for almost 25 years now is A lot of times, you know, once our study's done, I'll bring to you conclusions, right, and recommendations for where our fire department is, maybe some needs that we have and what the future looks like for expansion, et cetera. You will hear some people ask questions such as, well, I don't understand, right? Fires have gone down. There's fire sprinklers now. There's very innovative, modern, technologically driven alarm systems, et cetera, et cetera. That's true. However, what I would offer is this for the last at least decade, I've seen I couldn't even count how many large scale brand new buildings with all of these most modern systems in them still burn almost entirely to the ground or massive property loss, high value loss, those types of things. So in my experience, I've been in a lot of these fires and I have seen those fire suppression systems work. They don't always put the fire out. Sometimes they control them until we get there to deal with them. but the reality is that the loading that's in these buildings whether it's from a volume standpoint or the type of material that's inside these buildings is just absolutely overwhelming these systems so the reality is that what we do is really hard and in order to get the number of resources whether it's the equipment the hard equipment fire engines water hoses all those things and then the personnel uh is is very complex and to manage all of those resources i mean Those very large scale, what we call wide rise buildings, no different from a high rise building per se, or even a wildland incident. It's a big orchestrated effort that takes a lot of time, energy, equipment, resources, and ultimately money from a proactive standpoint. It's getting harder and harder to manage. We've all heard the climate change terms, and that's a whole other side of the conversation, but the reality is that There's a lot of volatility that's going on in the emergency response world and we're just we're truly trying to keep up with it. So to answer your question I you know every one of those incidents has a different reason why it happened. You know some are man-made if you will you know arson those types of things for whatever reason but then some of them are just sheer accident accident. The one that was over here recently in our neighboring city the three alarm building over there if I remember correctly, was the result of spontaneous combustion in oily rags. And that happens. It happens a lot. So, you know, the reality is that, yes, we have these systems in place. They are good, but they they aren't stopping these big incidents. And, you know, Yes, insurance is a thing, but the reality is the way our insurance system works is if all these buildings just burn to the ground, we can't financially keep up with that, right? And there's ultimately going to be impact to the taxpayer, et cetera. So there is a reason the fire service exists. There's a reason it has to be comprehensive and prepared respond quickly and efficiently to these incidents to minimize all of that for you know for our broader economy and everything else so obviously for our city our goal is to minimize that so we can keep our tax base and you know our residents and firefighters safe that's another component of this too right we have to be able to get in there safely in a calculated fashion and deal with these emergencies so We do our best in a very tactful, calculated way to mitigate these emergencies as they come up, but they're not stopping, that's for sure. Great. Thanks so much, Chief.

Any other comments from Council?

Great job.

All right. Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay, next we're going to have allowable uses for low and moderate income housing asset fund presentation by housing technician Robert Daly. Welcome.

Good afternoon, Mayor Kenean, council members, City Manager Lee. As requested, I have returned with all of the eligible uses for this fund. I broke it up into four categories. That was to help me understand it. So if you look in the code, there's no categories in there. The first use is administrative and monitoring costs. We have to monitor our affordable housing covenants. This is capped at 5% of the fund or $200,000 just for inflation per year. The second category is capped at $500,000. It used to be $250,000, but the city of Fountain Valley requested that Assemblyman Trita author legislation to increase the amount to $500,000. and that was enacted with AB 1782. So the category two is homelessness prevention. This is what the money that's spent to fund the Central Cities Navigation Center. It also do things like pay for emergency utilities, case management. All of these uses have to be toward getting someone housed. So it can't go to general homelessness. We could also do rapid rehousing assistance. We could do a rapid rehousing program for housing. Then once those funds, then there's no cap on this. The rest of the money has to be spent on the development of housing. So it has to be affordable to and occupied by low income households with at least 30% of the funds going to rental housing for extremely low income. You could also do developer gap financing. So developer comes, similar to Prado, how we want to, we can have them have money to build. That includes pre-development funding. And then also site acquisition. If there's land available, the land can be purchased and then banked by the housing authority for when the developer did come by with an opportunity to build. A few more items. So inclusionary housing, affordability buy downs. So here we would have a developer who has apartments that are for low income. They could be bought down and brought down to the extremely low income. Also purchasing covenants, so apartment owner or property owner who doesn't have market rate could pay them the funds to bring it down to meet the requirements. Of course, preservations and rehabilitation of properties that have existing deeds we want to maintain. and then direct property acquisition. Apartment building, condominiums come for sale at market rate, purchase them, and convert them to affordable housing. Category four is capped at a million dollars, and this is transferring to a regional housing trust, partner with neighboring housing authorities to have a group project, a group building. Then there's the compliance and spending requirements. So state law requires that 30 percent has to go towards those earning 30 percent or less of area median income and then no more than 20 percent for individual households for 60 to 80 percent. So that makes, you know, 80 percent of the money is for people earning less than 60 percent of the area median income. If that isn't met, and in the 2014-2019 period, Fountain Valley made it to 27%. And so therefore, as a result, the city must now allocate at least 50% of the future asset fund development exclusively towards the extremely low income. until come back into compliance, and then it drops down to the 30%. And so if you're wondering what that amount is, that 27, that extra 3%, it's $246,000. So $246,000 goes toward the extremely low-income housing, and then the report gets filed, the yearly report, and we're back to the 30% requirement. So what does not count? Administrative monitoring costs, CCNC operations, homeless prevention, those are not development. The eligible activities are construction, affordability, buy downs, property conversion, gap financing. And then this trustee slide here, a lot of in the news about what low income is in Orange County, 104,200 for a single person. But I would like to draw your attention to the extremely low line. Those are the people in the community that this fund is for, those extremely low, very low, and low income people.

There you go, I have questions.

Any questions from council? Councilman Bui? I do have a question. You've seen also, there's also an area that's called housing loan program. Unless I missed it on the slide, you didn't brush any on that topic.

Housing loan program? Uh-huh. No, that was not for now, for this one.

Really? Okay, because when I was looking at our Farm Valley Housing Authority annual report, fiscal year 24, 25, and there's on the section code, there's a section that talks about housing loan program for first-time buyers. Yes.

That is from the previous, before it became the housing authority, when it was the redevelopment agency, the city did home loans. They're not doing, but that's not happening now.

It's not happening now. Is it because we opt out or the program is no longer available? Can you elaborate on that?

It's not an allowable cost.

It's not an allowable cost. So under the new ruling, it's okay. This is what I was given to me to look at. So I'm looking at the old data.

Yeah, so is it, I had the same thing. It's in existence now, those loans are out, so we're still collecting payments and interest on those, but we are not issuing any new ones.

Okay. It would be nice if we can get a more updated one, then they give me something to look into.

Yeah, the, okay, yes.

Yeah, if we can get something a little bit more update, so I will have a little bit more, you know, more questions, but I guess I'm looking at old data.

That's it. Okay. Vice Mayor Harper?

I had a question. So I'm interested in making sure that we're in compliance with the ELI percentage. So you mentioned that a number of $246,000. So if we were to spend that money this year, would we then be back in compliance? Correct. Okay. And how – so what would be a – alternative i guess how could we spend money 246 000 could we give rent vouchers out uh could what's what's kind of the most doable uh for fountain valley i know we we there's all these options but if it's um okay you know just a matter of uh writing a check for 246 000 to i don't know somewhere and then we're in compliance what what why don't we just do that

yes okay so you're asking my opinion i'm going to state that this is okay um yeah so exactly that so there's if there is a property owner who has a low income affordable unit that's just at low income rent we can do the affordability covenant uh the the of buy down okay and just pay them the difference to bring the rent down for the 55 years

Does it have to be for a 55-year period?

It does.

OK. Yeah.

So we'd have that have to be a big number. They're going to get up front all of their money for the difference. Yes, go ahead.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the city council. So I'm going to just interject a little bit. Robert had a great idea, which we're exploring, which is this buy-down idea. Because you have an inclusionary housing ordinance, there will be a number of homes that are coming online that will be in that low-income category. So we are looking into the idea of maybe buying down one or two of those units to see how much that 200 and so thousand dollars would get us if it would just buy down one unit, would it buy down two units, what that would look like. So we're exploring that idea. Nothing concrete yet, but that may be an idea we bring back to you. That was an excellent idea that Robert came up with. That works more.

Yeah. Okay. Great. Thanks.

City Manager Lee.

For Council Member Bui, can you let us know which report you were looking at? Our team can go ahead and see if that's the latest and greatest. Are you talking about the annual report that our team submitted to the state?

I'm looking at the report. It was for the fiscal year 2425 pursuant to California health and safety code section 34176.1 and 34328. That's what I was given to me to look at. So I must look at the old data.

Well, I think what Robert's saying is that it's current data, but I think we probably need a note in there saying that that program no longer exists. These are old loans that are being paid off. But after the end of redevelopment, there was a new set of state laws that created new structure for the use of these funds. And so those are great programs that we had back in the day when redevelopment existed. And so we did a lot of those loan programs to get people into houses. but that no longer is available to us but we'll make a note in the report saying that stating that to that effect which is not too long ago was last year 25 right so right so you have a new report coming out soon too probably so okay thank you

Any other questions from council?

So Robert, I'm curious, so you reported that we made 27% on the ELI, just 3% below the requirement. I'm curious how some of our neighboring cities who maybe are developed like us and similarly situated, how are other cities performing kind of with this 30%? I'm just curious if you have a sense.

Yeah, I looked at Anaheim, I looked at Santa Ana, I looked at Garden Grove, and they all have buildings to buy and redevelop and hotels to buy and redevelop. And so they have a different playing field than we do here.

Okay.

Yeah, because it seems like we're close. And kind of thinking this is maybe similar to, to the housing element with Rena, you know, we're making these good faith efforts to try to get to these these goals, but it sounds like we're just, you know, struggling a bit, but appreciate the opportunities.

Just as a staff had noted in the staff report, the policy consideration, I think the team also kind of share, you know, we face this practical constraints on development of those funds and those constraint is due to largely built out community with limited vacant land. few redevelopment opportunity and no housing authority owned housing sites currently identify for affordable housing development. So I think for Fountain Valley in itself, we have a lot of limitation.

Not yet. Just not to belabor the point, but it is difficult getting to that extremely low income, and it's a tough standard that the state has forced upon us. And so getting to that level is difficult, but I think we can come up with some creative solutions. It doesn't really hinder us until we have a project that we really need to fund, and then we have to spend those 30% or get to that 30%. But we're exploring those ideas, and hopefully we'll bring something back to you hopefully by the end of the year to get up to that 30% threshold. But it is a tough standard. All right.

And Robert, you mentioned about the housing rehabilitation program that's available under these new rules. For those who are low-income homeowners, could we explore in the area such as if there are situations that those homes need ADA accessibility? but they can't afford it. In other words, the homeowner has a disability, but they can't afford to make their house into, to make it accessible for themselves, but because they're low-income, they just can't afford it. So is there a way we could explore the avenue of those programs and offer those programs for those who are in need of that money? as well as any other correcting building code violations, but they're low income. It's hard for them to come up with the money and to be in compliance and try to do the right thing. Can we explore those avenues? Because I believe there's a section of that that talks about that.

yeah thank you uh councilman bowie we have a program for that um it's the home improvement program there is a disability grant for five thousand dollars that is expressly for low-income homeowners in fountain valley that's my my day job that's what i do every day currently have four people who actually are extremely low income who are in the pipeline to receive that and three of them are getting ada improvements in their home so that they can be safer in their home This program would not be eligible for that unless there was a affordability covenant on the property.

Okay. Of course. Of course. And is there another area we also can explore? Because if I remember a few years, I think either two years or three years ago, we talked about an issue in the city, but I don't think we ever addressed it. It's what this is about is about retain a wall. And people have not... properly install proper material on the back of the retainer wall. Some people go plastic, metal, all you can think of. So you can go down the street, you have a totally different set of material that they, by code, they're not supposed to go higher, but they went higher. So perhaps we could also explore looking to having the money available for those who want to be in compliance and use that money, but they're low income, they could qualify and apply and be in compliance.

We can look into that. I think the issue there is more code enforcement. We call those toppers, fence toppers. Those aren't legal in almost all the cases. And so we really can't use funds to pay for something that would be not legal. So we can either change the code to allow for taller fences, or really it's a code enforcement issue to remove toppers when we get complaints about them.

Right. I understand. I'm just looking at the aspect. If we can look into if we can use that money for those who want to be in compliance. And, of course, we have to make, you know, legal to go higher first. That's another issue. Thank you.

Well, thanks, Robert and Ashley, Omar, for an enlightening presentation and for all the work that you do. Really appreciate it. We'll take about a seven minute recess and come back for our meeting at six o'clock.

Thank you. ¦ ¦ Thank you. ¶¶ ¶¶ ¦ ¦ ¶¶ ¦ so so ¶¶ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ Thank you. ¦ ¦

Call our meeting to order at 6.03 PM. Yes, sir. OK, we'll begin with our invocation with Reverend John Borak. Please rise.

good evening honorable mayor city council members and city staff will you please join me in a word of prayer Heavenly Father, we thank you for bringing us together this evening. We ask for your guidance, wisdom, and support as our city council engages in meaningful, productive discussions and makes decisions that are beneficial for the residents and the community of Fountain Valley. We come together with grateful hearts for this wonderful city we call home. Grant our mayor, city council members, and staff wisdom, discernment, and patience as they deliberate and the ability to navigate any challenges that may arise. Bless our council's effort to work collaboratively, to listen to the diverse voices of our citizens with open minds, and to make decisions that promote inclusion and the common good. May the work that is being done this evening be fruitful and serve a greater purpose. In your holy name we pray. Amen.

Thanks so much, John. Next is our salute to flag by Vice Mayor Patrick Harper.

Thank you. Today is July 14th, also known as, for any French people out there, Bastille Day today. It's when they stormed the Bastille prison in the year 1789, started the French Revolution. And France gave us a lot of support in our own American Revolution. So, unfortunately, it didn't help them in the World Cup today. They lost this game. Oh, boy. But we'll still celebrate with them anyway. And let's say 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.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Harper. Okay, next is City Council Successor Agency Housing Authority roll call.

Council Member Bowie? Here. Council Member Constantine?

Here.

Council Member Grandes? Here. Vice Mayor, Vice Chair Harper? Here. Mayor, Chair Kenean? Here. All members are present.

Thank you. We would like to welcome Teresa Brennan as our City Attorney tonight. Welcome, Teresa. And just want to announce any reporting of closed session items.

Thank you, Mayor. Yes. Council voted unanimously to authorize the city attorney to initiate litigation by filing a petition for disposition of a firearm.

Okay. Thank you so much. And welcome tonight. Next is announcement of supplemental communications. Are there any supplemental communications? We have none. Okay. Thank you. We'll go next to our city manager, Lee.

Yes, thank you, Mayor and City Council. I just have one item. I wanted to share that Fountain Valley is partnering with the Office of Supervisor Janet Nguyen, Golden West College, and a few other agencies to host a free entrepreneurial and workforce readiness workshop series from July 27 through August 13, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 12 to 1.30 p.m. at Golden West College. where individuals will learn practical skills, make a valuable connection, hear from real-world professionals, and prepare for their future all while enjoying a free lunch. Registration deadline is July 20th. For more information, you can go ahead and visit the city website. It's perfect for adults ages 18 to 28 who want to explore new career opportunities. expand professional network, build confidence for the next step in the career and of course spots are limited so for more information visit the city website. Actually, I do have one other item to share. Southern California Edison is replacing its deteriorating vault near the intersection of Euclid and Warner Avenue. Construction has continued since June 1st of 2026, and it's tentatively scheduled for completion by the end of July 2026. So we want to go ahead and thank the community for your patience due to the delay when traveling eastbound on Warner Avenue between Ward and Euclid Street. That's it. Thank you, Mayor.

Great, thanks City Manager Lee. Now for the Mayor update. Citizens Academy accepting applications now. Secure your seat at the table. Applications for the Citizens Academy second cohort launch, actually launched this past July 1st. Transform your curiosity into community leadership by securing your spot in the prestigious Citizens Academy. This exclusive, immersive program pulls back the curtain on municipal governance, granting you an unprecedented backstage pass to see exactly how your city operates, innovates, and serves its residents. Through a series of dynamic hands-on workshops, you will go behind the scenes of local government, tour state-of-art municipal facilities, Engage in direct dialogue with department directors, elected officials, and first responders. You will step into the shoes of city staff to solve real-world challenges. You will gain the deep insider knowledge needed to effectively influence local policy, advocate for your neighborhood, confidently step into civic leadership roles don't just live in your city help shape its future do we make a strong enough pitch for those that are interested I think we did and congratulations to the first class there are some in the chamber tonight so you could help recruit some of the next class that'd be great so for more information please contact city clerk Miller phone number and at Fountain Valley gov 2026 general election candidate filing period began yesterday at 8 a.m. we have three City Council positions for the 2026 general election and the nomination period started yesterday it ends August 7th for more information contact Rick Miller seven one four five nine three four four four five or come here to City Hall and visit Concerts in the Park series. These have been a lot of fun. It's been a great time. And it continues. The next one is an 80s party on July 16th from 6 to 8 p.m. So bring your lawn chairs, picnic blankets, and snacks, and let's dance. See you at the Sports Park at Brookhurst Street at Ed Arnold Way. Big thanks to our sponsors and volunteers for making Fountain Valley a nice place to live and play. And I think some of us want our MTV. Right?

Yeah.

And then the National Night Out Movies in the Park on Tuesday, August 4th. Join Fountain Valley Police Department, Fountain Valley Fire Department and our community partners for an evening of fun, food and family friendly activities at Fountain Valley Sports Park. at Roker Street and Ed Arnold Way. Come out from 6 to 8 p.m. Enjoy emergency vehicles, a SWAT truck, canine Pomex, drone demonstrations, games, raffles, a costume contest, and more. Stick around after the event for a movie in the dark at Dust. I think that meant desk. There we go. OK. All right, and that's the mayor's update. OK, so we have some really fun presentations tonight. It is summer. We like to celebrate in a big way. So I'm going to start with our presentation of parks make life better proclamation. So I'm going to go up. I'll start with the proclamation. And hold onto your seats. all right okay where's our where's our community services folks okay can i get a woohoo all right all right let's get it started so This resolution recognizes the importance of equitable access to local parks, recreation, trails, open space, and facilities for the positive development of all Californians in their communities. We, the City of Fountain Valley, Fountain Valley Mayor and City Council members, therefore declare the month of July 2026 as Parks Make Life Better Month. And I'll read a few of the whereases. Whereas parks and recreation promotes physical, emotional, and mental health plus wellness through organized and self-directed fitness, play, and activity. Whereas parks and recreation creates memorable experiences through youth sports and enrichment activities, teen centers and programs, senior activities centers, adult fitness, enrichment programs, free community events, and beyond. Whereas parks and recreation facilitates community problem and issue resolution by providing safe spaces to come together peacefully and serving as key points of service, helping our communities heal both physically and emotionally. And whereas Parks and Recreation remains versatile and innovative in providing vital services to communities through local, national, or global emergencies, all while adhering to guidelines set forth by governing agencies. And whereas the California Park and Recreation Society We have the president in here, don't we? Yes, we do. Has released a statewide public awareness campaign, Parks Make Life Better, to inform citizens of the many benefits of utilizing parks, facilities, programs, and services. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the citizens of California recognize the importance of access to local parks. trails, open space, and facilities for the health, wellness, development, inspiration, and safety of all Californians, and be it further resolved that we declare the month of July as Parks Make Life Better Month. It is so proclaimed. OK, so I'd like to present this to Jenny. Okay. Okay. You have the video. That's right. That's right. Okay. All right. So I'll come back for the photos. Awesome.

Thank you, Mayor Kenean, and good evening, mayors of the council. It is my honor to serve as the community services manager for the city of Fountain Valley, and I have the privilege to work alongside an amazing team of full and part-time recreation professionals, many of which you see with us here tonight. On behalf of this community services department, it is our pleasure to recognize July as Parks Make Life Better Month. This month celebrates the incredible impact that parks, recreation programs, and community spaces have on the health, happiness, and quality of life for our Fountain Valley residents. While the Community Services Department is honored to lead these efforts, the success of our parks and programs would not be possible without the partnership and support of so many others. We would like to extend our thanks to our Public Works Department for maintaining our beautiful parks and facilities, our police and fire for keeping our community and events safe, and to all of our internal city departments for their ongoing support and consistency in providing exceptional service to our residents. parks make life better month is a reminder that creating a vibrant community like Fountain Valley is truly a team effort and we are grateful for the collaboration that allows us to enrich the lives every day at this time and because a picture is worth a thousand words I am going to stop talking now and allow you to enjoy a short video summarizing the past year and how parks really do make life better here in Fountain Valley enjoy

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road Don't grab you by the wrist, direct you where to go Don't make the best of this test and don't ask why It's not a question about a lesson learned in time It's something unpredictable and the end is right I hope you have the time of your life So take the photographs and still frames in your mind Hanging on a shelf in good health and good time Tattoos and memories and asking on trial For what it's worth, it was worth all the while It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right I hope you have the time of your life Holiday time to celebrate, we'll stay out all night They're chasing girls and burning gas. And one day you wake up, you're tossing up in caps. Oh, say, my good times go by too fast. Yeah, I wish I would take it a little slower. Time feels like a bling and then it's over. They make it last a little while. We can't call good times go by too fast. Yeah, I wish I would take it a little slower.

We live just a little while we live Good times go by too fast. Yeah, I wish time would take a little slower.

Sometimes it feels like a blink and then it's over. They're so good. Better make it last. Sit up while we can call the good times go by too fast. Good times go by too fast.

All right.

So if council can come down, we'll take pictures.

And sitting Adam.

Good, excellent.

Okay, everyone look at me.

Ready, one, two, three.

One, two, three. And then say, parks make life better on three.

One, two, three.

Parks make life better.

Yay.

That was a lot of fun. Thank you so much. And to my council colleagues, I skipped the items for future consideration because I wanted to get right to the park. So I will come back to that. I do promise. So next is recognition of Regional Center of Orange County Multicultural Family Resource Fair participants. So just a little bit of background. A few Saturdays ago, our supervisor, Janet Winn, led a really amazing event over at Freedom Hall. It was packed. Councilman Bowie was there, and it really just struck me on how many people not only were there to help the community, but just how much fun they were having doing it. What we wanted to do is recognize some of the leaders of that effort. And so what I would like to do is recognize the Regional Center of Orange County, or RCOC, which is a nonprofit organization that coordinates lifelong services and support for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families, helping prompt greater independence, inclusion, and quality of life. As I mentioned on Saturday, June 27th, RCOC hosted its Multicultural Summer Resource Fair at Freedom Hall, and it connected local families with valuable community resources, services, and support. So here tonight, we want to recognize on behalf of RCOC, the executive director, Larry Landauer. And Larry, if you could come up. Larry has served people with developmental disabilities for over 38 years. He started his career with RCOC in 1988 as a service coordinator and has worked his way up to executive director. So I'm going to come down and hand this to you.

Welcome, Larry. Thank you for being here.

What I'd like to do is present. Make sure I got the right one here. So first we'd like to present to the Regional Center of Orange County in recognition of your participation in the RCOC Multicultural Summer Resource Fair and your commitment to connecting individuals and families with valuable community services. The city proudly thanks you for your partnership and for your service on behalf of Vice Mayor Harper and all of our council.

Thank you so much for all the work you do, and this is for you. Thank you. All right.

All right. If you could stay up here, because I'm going to brag a little bit more about you. While he's standing here looking happy with the certificate. So Larry has served persons with developmental disabilities for over 38 years. As I said, director of the RCOC. After earning his bachelor's and master's degree in social work, he began his career at RCOC in 1988 as a service coordinator. Over the next three decades, he has worked his way up through ranks, gaining experience and firsthand knowledge in virtually all aspects of regional center operations. from service coordination, area management, and quality assurance to the full range of community resources and public benefits for people with developmental disabilities and their families. RCOC, which their website is rcocdd.com, is the private nonprofit organization contracted by the state of California to coordinate services and supports for about 29,000 Orange County residents with developmental disabilities and their families. Developmental disabilities include intellectual disability, autism, epilepsy, and cerebral palsy. And so, Larry, thank you so much for all you do. And if you could hang tight, because we have a couple of your colleagues we also want to recognize. So could Derek Nguyen please come on down? Derek is the cultural specialist for RCOC and played an instrumental role in coordinating the event. Thank you for coming. So Derek, in recognition of your coordination of the efforts in the RCOC Multicultural Summer Resource Fair and your commitment to connecting individuals and families with valuable community resources, the city proudly thanks you for your partnership and service. Thank you. Congratulations. And the Comfort Connection Family Resource Center, or CCFRC team, the CCFRC is the family resource center affiliated with RCOC. Their staff provided support and resources to individuals with special needs and their families, and they played an important role in helping to organize this event. So I think you have a representative, you wanna come on down? So on behalf of the city of Fountain Valley, we too want to recognize your participation in the RCOC Multicultural Summerfest Resource Fair and your commitment to connecting individuals and families with valuable community resources. The city proudly thanks you and your team for your partnership and service. So from all of us on the council, thank you so much for all you do. we're going to have you proudly show your certificate and council if you could come to stretch and come on down

okay ready one two three maggie come slightly to your right perfect right there ready one two three one two three

Larry, just a quick comment for you, sir. I just want to let you know what regional center means to me and my family. When my son was young, regional center provided respite care that allowed us to go out and try to be a normal family. So you guys did a lot. Thank you.

California is the only state in the United States that has absolute entitlement for people with developmental disabilities. The categories that we talked about, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism, intellectual disability, and conditions like that. Respite is huge to give parents a break. But at age 22, the jobs we're able to line up, the work, it's no different for people with developmental disabilities, the importance of work and having achievements. The thousands of people we have on the job every day paying taxes and working, It may be just being able to sweep a little, or it could be we have the most brilliant people at Edwards Life Sciences that are just, their autism is their geniuses, basically. They have some challenges, but you find the right place. Appreciate you bringing that up because the 29,000 over the years and California, we have this resource and these fairs are all about getting the information out because as much as doctors and everybody relay on the information that is there, it's funny how some people miss it and then you catch them a little later. So thank you and thank you all.

I'm glad you explained it a little bit more because I think the people need to understand just the efforts and what you guys do. It's a great organization. So thank you.

Thank you.

OK. As promised, now we'll go to council member items for future consideration.

Mayors, first of all, do you have a reportable action on the closed session?

We actually did cover that. Oh, I didn't hear you say that. No. Thank you for asking, but we did cover that.

I have one.

Yes. Council Member Constantine.

Well, I thought of it here. I mean, I always encourage public speaking, and I enjoy that part of the meeting. Sometimes people think the meetings here are a little bit of a mystery. I know I certainly did. I think it would be great if we could have a study session on what periods of the meeting people can speak on. I know they can speak on unscheduled matters at the beginning and then scheduled matters. And then at the end, unscheduled matters only if they haven't spoken in the beginning of the meeting, if I think I'm clear on that one, after all these years. So I don't know. I mean, I'm seeking a second. And then if we decide we want to change anything at that point, we could.

I think you just did it. no you just explained how it works well no but I mean that was a short version oh my goodness I have no problem if staff wants to take you know that's something that could be done in five minutes even during a meeting I don't think a study session needs to be done but in a future meeting if the city clerk would expand on that that would be yeah be helpful thank you

I think we we've talked about parliamentary procedures just just as a governing board and it's always a good idea I think to brush up on what those rules are perhaps that could be a perfect a quick primer in the near future thank you okay actually um I have one as well that's my boy

I want to make a point on at the last meeting on one of the issue was reference to best towing and I want to explain a little bit myself why I vote no on that decisions and the way I looked at it is when there's an alleged claim whether it's true or not it is always worthwhile to look you know have the proper authority to look into it but that's the reason why I vote no And I think a lot of it has to lead to in the future when there's any contract that is up incoming to present to council before it's present. I would like the items to at least bring forward at least two meetings prior to the deadline. of the contract rather than just one and then we have to vote and it doesn't give us time to look into when there's any issues.

So Councilmember Bowie and I spoke about this, and I agree with him. I think it would be good if we are to have at least one meeting between the contract award and when we vote on something. So I'll second his suggestion to be brought back.

And I just want to say that because of when the RFP period closed, I want to say it was at the end of April. There was just not enough time in between. I mean, this is not something that's done all the time. It's just kind of a fluke. But I get it. Thank you.

Okay, I think that one got it second, so I'll move forward.

Any other items for future consideration? It's unusual we have all these, but actually I have two. One is a simple one. So PCTA, it's the end of the fiscal year, and I would like to see a study session come back on just a report of how PCTA or Channel 3 did for the year, what the budget looks like, and the highlights of the year.

Yeah, I think Vice Mayor Harper will be happy because he's on the budget and he's doing a phenomenal job on that one.

I'll second it. I'm in favor.

Okay. And then the other one I want to bring up is a pretty serious one. So right now our police department is budgeted and should have 64 officers, and we currently have 52 officers. I want to elevate this and I don't want to call it a state of emergency or something but I would state a priority that we need to do some outside the box thinking to get our staffing level up to where it needs to be there are challenges with all cities trying to hire police department police officers along with our firefighters there's it's so important in our public everybody's important but Right now we are seriously short-staffed. We're going to hear later today from our finance director that the finances of the city are fantastic and we are expecting even greater revenues over expenses and I would like to figure out some way to make a, I don't have the answers, but I'd like us to do some outside-the-box thinking to get us up to that number of 64.

Let's clarify what you're asking. I understand that we just had four cadets that just graduated from the Academy, so they'll be joining the force, so that'll bring us to the number of 56, and we have four more that's going into the Academy. So that will bring us to 60. Of course, the ideal is 64 or maybe greater. But when you say thinking out of the box, what's the end goal you try to accomplish? We'll make sure we understand.

So, you're right, we have people going through, cadets going through the academy and some going in, but that's going to take years to get through and get hired and not everybody will become. And in the meantime, we're going to have retirements and others that may be leaving. we're at a critical low stage i want outside the box thinking meaning let's look up and down the state let's look at what other cities have done let's look at what incentives we could potentially put in place to get laterals others from other cities get our unfair share um you know we a cup was it last meeting on the meet or two meetings ago where we did an incentive for employees and signing bonuses. It's just not enough. It's not working. So, like I said, I don't have all the answers, but I would like this to become

top priority and I know it is a priority but I want it to be even more so with a report back on a plan of what we're going to do to get to 64 so you want like a study session thinking out of the box to bring some different idea how we can either increase or the staffing the law enforcement or way to to be competitive in the market is that what I'm hearing

That could be one of the suggestions, absolutely. It's something that I think we're at a critical stage now, and when something happened in Buena Park with the hazmat thing, it was emphasized in the importance. In Fountain Valley, I think that's our key issue right now.

I'll go ahead and second that, given the fact that as the population is going to grow in the city of Fountain Valley, given the renown requirement that we have, the population is going to grow. And I think that it will be detrimental for the community in terms of a nice place to live, not to have enough law enforcement to support our community. So I'll go ahead and second that.

Because we do a financial incentive. In fact, I don't know if you guys had meetings, but I had a meeting with the police. And I did say that I would support increasing that if it turned out to be something that they wanted to do. So I kind of left it with them. So I am in support also. Thank you.

Councilman Grandes, you had me at police department recruiting. Thank you. OK, any other items for future consideration? Okay. We'll move on to First City Council Successor Agency Housing Authority public comments on unscheduled matters only.

Do we have any requests to speak? We have three requests to speak. Okay. And just for everybody that's in here, when you speak, the speaker timer is up on the video board behind the city manager. It's a new system, so you will see that the speaker timer is much larger, and it will go from green to red at 30 seconds. With that being said, first speaker is Dan Stewart. DAN STEWART. Welcome.

Mayor, Council, thanks for this chance to talk. It's not the first time you've seen me. I don't know if you recognize me, but I spoke to you all last September about my concerns regarding automated license plate readers or ALPR cameras that we have installed here and Fountain Valley Police Department is using, such as flock cameras. As a result of speaking to you guys last time, I'm unaware that anything has changed. I'm just trying to bring awareness. That's not a big surprise since that was just a public comment like this is now. But when I say that these license plate readers are an urgent problem that needs immediate attention, I understand it might be hard to take serious what one person is bringing as a concern. But you should know that I'm not alone. The anti-ALPR sentiment is gaining rapid momentum. As FLOC continues to add license plate readers all over the country, they include parks and trails and other areas where license plates aren't even present. And anti-flock sentiment is starting to go viral on social media, if you haven't noticed. And I'm not going to be the last one talking to you about it. So critically important is in the last few weeks, some powerful groups have taken positions against FLOC and ALPRs in general. LAPD has suspended their contract with FLOC due to severe operational risks found by the LAPD Office of the Inspector General. In CHAP v. United States, the Supreme Court held that gathering cell phone location history constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment requiring a warrant. This is very similar to the video location history that FLOC is gathering on all of us and that FVPD uses without a warrant. Now, I understand some of you are up for reelection, as I just heard. I would just say a candidate that promises to work to eliminate these cameras from our city would earn my vote. I urge you to review the policy that FVPD has on these systems. They're wrong on many levels. Flock makes money on our movements. There's no other way to frame it, and they don't pay us for giving that data to them, and they don't give us a way to opt out. What they're really doing is exploiting an untested area of the law with new tech at the expense of our privacy and our freedoms afforded under the Fourth Amendment. More importantly, what I worry about is they're setting up their infrastructure, which is very powerful in our city, which centralizes our movement data in the AWS cloud. Right.

Dan, your time is up.

Thanks for your consideration.

Mike Rao.

Welcome. Good evening. Thank you. I'm Mike Ruff. Fountain Valley City Council voted to join Orange County Power Authority in November 2024. Mr. Grandis championed voting for OCPA. When OCPA started start service in April 2027, all of Fountain Valley will be opted in by default to OCPA, replacing SCE for generation. Currently, OCPA customers' electricity bills for an average home are $25 to $30 per month more than SCE charges. That's $300 per year more for a home and hundreds of dollars more per year for businesses. Fountain Valley City Council should withdraw from OCPA and save the whole city money. OCPA is just a middleman and does not generate electricity. Of course, OCPA takes a cut, and that's why OCPA customers pay a lot more than SCE customers. OCPA hides comparisons with SCE. On June 16, 26, at a Fountain Valley study session, neither OCPA nor Mr. Grandis disclosed OCPA's prices at all or how much more they are than SCE. Mr. Grandis boasts about some small $1,000 to $2,000 sponsorships to Fountain Valley, like for Miss Fountain Valley or the Mayor's Ball. What flapdoodle. OCPA itself estimates it will extract and retain an estimated $6 million per year. That's $6 million more than SCE would charge for all of Fountain Valley that will go into OCPA's high overhead and reserves. OCPA needs more money because they lost $45 million, half their reserves, while Mr. Grandis sat on the board and did not vote no to OCPA's excessive spending. The latest data shows the OCPA's plan, Grandis chose, has twice the emissions of SCE. Mr. Grandis claims that OCPA brings local control. OCPA's passive board comprised of city council members are rubber stamps that over and over vote unanimously yes to OCPA's request. No board members have experience in energy trading. They are like the hapless sailors in the Odyssey who wind up bewitched by the luring goddess Circe and are turned into slavish animals who mill around in grunt approval for everything Circe asks for. Sadly, Mr. Grandis is not credible anymore. OCPA has become much more expensive than when Mr. Grandis sold it to the city council. Don't be fooled by marketing hype from OCPA and Mr. Grandis. Withdraw from OCPA now before OCPA locks in the city with liabilities for tens of millions of dollars of power purchases. Thank you.

Vicky Johnson.

Welcome.

Good evening. I'm Vicki Johnson. I'd like to second Dan Stewart's concerns about the flock cameras and drone usage, which is also a concern in other cities I'm aware of who are thinking of dropping their flock contracts in particular. I urge the city council again to agendize withdrawing from the Orange County Power Authority. I also urge you to immediately replace Mr. Grandis as your OCPA board representative. On June 16, an inadequate and misleading study session was held, dominated by OCPA in league with Mr. Grandis. They did not disclose the charges we just heard, that OCPA charges 12% to 16% more than SCE. Joining OCPA forces every residence and business by default into OCPA. A city is against business when the city forces OCPA on them, costing businesses and even your own municipal accounts hundreds of thousands, hundreds and thousands of dollars per year more than SCE. OCPA is like a tax. Why wasn't OCPA's economic impact on all of Fountain Valley discussed at the study session? OCPA and Mr. Granich are keeping real quiet about the high prices, the recent 45 million in losses by OCPA, OCPA's admissions, which are higher than SCE, and many more deficiencies. Fountain Valley will be the runt of OCPA. using only 10% of OCPA's electricity, the smallest city if you join. OCPA desperately needs some city, any city, to join. OCPA has showered the gullible Mr. Grandis with free advertising, pictures and videos on the web and in publications, trips to conferences, and a lot of VIP attention. Fountain Valley is the only city to join OCPA since 2020, when OCPA was founded. Three of the six initial members left, and in 2025 the founding city, Irvine, was on the verge of leaving too. There's no good reason to stay in OCPA. OCPA has turned Mr. Grandis, in my opinion, into a yes-man and lapdog who obscures, misleads, and gaslights. replace him as a board member with one of you who will put Fountain Valley first and not gamble on a risky venture rejected by all other cities since 2030. Please agendize withdrawing from OCPA. Thank you.

I have no further public comments.

We'll move on to public comments for scheduled matters only.

We have one request to speak on item number 9,

OK. OK, so we'll move on to consent calendar. All right, consent calendar items three through eight.

I'm trying to determine if she wants to speak on an agendized matter or non-agendized. I'll pause for a moment. Laura, I've asked you to unmute. Do you want to speak on an agendized item? Yes. Yes. On an agendized item?

Yes. Which item? It's about the Kratom ordinance.

OK. When we get there, I will call on you to speak.

Perfect. Appreciate it. Thank you so much.

OK. So that will be item, just to make a note.

That's a public hearing. That is item number 10. Item 10. OK.

OK, so continue with consent calendar items three through eight will be approved simultaneously with one motion unless separate action or discussion is requested. Does anyone want to remove an item?

I'd like to please pull item number three and just get clarification. We did have an email about just commenting that about the OCPA item. previously in the last meeting that our public works director, Scott Smith, merely introduced OCPA. He didn't actually give a presentation. So I don't know how that worked out as far as staff.

Okay, so pulling the receiving file item, item three? Okay. Okay. Vice Mayor Harper?

Yeah, on item number seven, I don't need to pull the item, but I would like to register a no vote on number seven.

Simply my my same thing for me. It's a reference to item number 4. I want to go ahead and stay consistent to what I've said at the last meeting reference to the objects objective design standard once again, I'll go and stay consistent with a no on that one.

I know for.

I'd like to move items number 5, 6 and 8 please.

I believe we are not pulling items number four and seven.

We are just registering no votes for the two. I'd like to move, then, items four, five, six, seven, and eight.

Do we have a second? I'll second that.

All those in favor of approving items four through eight, say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Items four through eight pass. Item number. With the no vote. Yes, with a no vote noted on item number four by Council Member Bowie and no vote noted on item number seven by Vice Mayor Harper. Yes.

OK, so item number three was pulled by Councilwoman Constantine. Would you like to make further comment?

Well, I mean, we had an email from Ms. Johnson requesting that the minutes be revised, just stating that it wasn't direct. Our public works director, Scott Smith, that gave the presentation, he introduced OCPA representatives. It's not a big thing, but I just wanted to make that happen if we could.

Yeah, and also one is clarification from our city manager. Our vice mayor have indicated to bring back, you know, to give clarifications on the date. It's important if we had to redraw or not to redraw. What is the date?

I'll be giving that report on my AB 1234. I'll give you the, or I could do it now if the mayor wants. So at that meeting, at our board meeting with OCPA yesterday, I provided, I made that request that That Vice Mayor Harper made and OCPA agreed they would provide that to staff and share it with City Council as soon as possible.

So they don't have any information at this point?

They're going to provide us with a calendar with all the dates and everything. So we still have time, yes. Okay. All right.

How would we like to proceed on item number three? Yeah, my question, exactly. If you're requesting the minutes be amended to reflect the public works director introduced the item, we can certainly make that if that's council's pleasure.

Yes, that's my request.

Yeah, I think that's rational. I'll second that.

Thank you.

All those in favor of approving the amended minutes, say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Item number three passes 5-0.

Okay, next, public hearings. Each person will have up to three minutes to speak on each public hearing. First is number nine, first reading of an ordinance establishing a fire department, fire development impact fee for the Fountain Valley Fire Department, and adoption of a fire impact fee capital improvement plan. And so I'd like to call on staff to present the item. Chief Pegg, welcome.

Good evening again, Mayor, members of the Council. Tonight we have the opportunity to present an item that represents an important step in ensuring the Fountain Valley Fire Department is positioned to this community well into the future, and we're glad to have the Council's attention on it. This program has some history behind it that predates my arrival as your Fire Chief. The direction to explore a fire impact fee and funding options for ultimately fire station number one was identified in the city's six month strategic objectives brought forward at the March 2025 strategic planning session. Those conversations happened before I joined the organization, but I certainly think it's worth acknowledging that foundation as we move forward tonight. What I can offer is a perspective shaped by my first six months here, and what I've found is that our department is doing truly remarkable work. Our two fire stations were built in the mid-1960s. Our team responds to more than 7,800 calls a year, and the dedication this department brings every single day is something I'm genuinely proud of. In my time here, I've developed a strong sense that our current configuration leaves us with limited room to absorb additional growth. and that this community continues, as this community continues to develop capacity, planning becomes increasingly important. We also have an upcoming standards of coverage and community risk assessment study that will provide objective data-driven analysis of where Fountain Valley Fire Department stands relative to the demands of this community. Based on my experience and what I've observed in these first six months, I fully expect that study to substantiate what we're presenting tonight, that this department is operating at the edge of its capacity and that the need we're bringing forward is not just timely, but critical to our long-term sustainability. I also want to be candid with the council that what we're asking for tonight may well be the first step in a longer conversation about the future of this department. I look forward to sharing those findings when that work is complete. This is ultimately a policy decision that belongs to the council, and I have every confidence in this body's ability to weigh it carefully. The prior leadership and fire leadership and council showed real foresight in beginning this work and it's a privilege to help carry it forward. The questions that have come up around impact fee calculations recently and how different development types are accounted for are exactly the kinds of questions that this process should invite. Our consultant is here from NBS and is well prepared to walk through all of it in detail tonight. So with that, it's my pleasure to introduce Nicole Kissam. from MBS Government Finance, who was the chosen vendor to put together this development impact fee study and ultimately the methodology that will be presented before you tonight. So, Nicole. Welcome.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor, City Council. How's my volume? Good? All right. And City Clerk, were you able to locate my co-worker, Joe Colgan, online?

Yes, he's on Zoom.

Excellent.

Did you say Hulk Hogan? Did you say Hulk Hogan? No, Joe Hogan. Oh, Joe Hogan.

And thank you for not calling me Nicole Kidman. That's happened before. Anyway, Nicole Kisam. I'm a director at firm NBS, and I run our fee study practice in California there. We have a brief presentation for you guys to just walk you through the impact fee analysis and the results, and then open it up for questions.

If you, you can just use the arrow key on the keyboard.

Okay. Oh, there's keyboard here too. I think the mouse also works. Okay. So I will cover kind of what the results are, what impact fees are, and a little bit about the calculations. So right up front, I just want to show the results on the screen here, which are the maximum available impact fees per unit of development that the council could adopt. Of course, it's a policy decision whether to adopt at the full maximum or something different. You want to pay attention to the last two columns on the table. Those are the impact fees per unit. And when I say per unit, if you look at the units column, you can see that residential would be structured per dwelling unit in ranges of square footage. And then there are some non-residential units that are per thousand square feet per bed or per room. So a little bit about impact fees. Impact fees are one-time charges assessed on new construction, new development in order to mitigate their impacts on public infrastructure. In this case, fire facilities is what we're talking about tonight. So the revenues from impact fees can be used to build new facilities, expand existing facilities, And a key component of an impact fee program that's clearly laid out in the law is that they cannot be used for maintenance or operations expense. So this is really just capital, and frankly, capital needed to serve new developments. There is a legal framework here that we're working with. There's quite a bit of case law out there. It points to three key things. Development has to create a need. Development has to benefit from the facilities that are funded. And the impact fees must be proportional to their impact, which is why we get into a conversation about calls for service as we move through. In California, impact fees are regulated by the Mitigation Fee Act, Government Code 66,000, and there are specific findings required in that act in order to justify impact fees. Recently, in 2022, there was a big amendment to the Mitigation Fee Act caused by AB 602, Assembly Bill 602. So there are some changes in approach, methodology, and so forth that we're implementing in today's environment. One of those has to do with how we define level of service. Another has to do with a CIP requirement that needs to be adopted in tandem with the NEXUS study. Residential impact fees are expected to be proportional to square footage of a unit. And also, NEXUS studies like these need to be updated every eight years. ADUs are exempt. from impact fees if they are under 750 square feet. And over 750 square feet, there's a proportionality law where the fee is in relation to the size of the main unit. So in terms of calculating the impact fees, I'm just gonna walk quickly through a high level step by step on this. There are three main methods and standards in California for calculating impact fees. They were called many different similar euphemisms by different consultants for a long time until along with this AB602, the Turner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley issued a document that really created nomenclature for these three methodologies tonight we're looking at a fee calculation based on the system plan method so this is this is a method of calculating a fee where new development pays for its cost of a share of integrated facilities which is appropriate for fire facilities because geography and response time is everything right So in terms of our approach, this is a typical kind of consulting process. We collect quite a bit of data. We work through three key analytical components, demand factors, facility needs, impact fee analysis. And then we work through this reporting and adoption phase with you in order to see what the council would like to adopt. So in terms of development data, we used calls for service in order to represent each type of land uses demand on fire facilities. So we started with about 7,800 calls. We looked at a 500 call sample, and you'll see how that data comes through in the impact fee calculation. And along with the information provided by your community development department and your general plan through build out, so your most recently updated general plan, we're able to project that there will be about a 25% increase in call volume associated with growth. So, you know, this table that we looked at at the beginning that had the fee calculations on them, I'm narrowing in now on development types, which would just be residential and non-residential, as shown here, and how the fire calls per unit were determined, which would be existing number of units, like number of housing units and number of calls. kind of divided into each other. And these are very important because it shows the proportional demand of different types of development on fire facilities. So when we get into calculating the impact fee, it's a calculation here with the system plan method. So we're looking at replacing station one and the capital cost estimate for that provided by the city, existing station two, the replacement value of that and the replacement value of existing fire apparatus, vehicles and equipment. When we did that analysis, it came out to about 48 million. And when we divide that by the projected number of build-out calls per service per year, we come up with a cost per call of around $4,900. And coming back to the table we originally started with, the way that we calculate the maximum impact fee is this maximum cost per call multiplied by the calls per unit by type of development gives you the resulting fee calculation in the table.

Let me ask a question on that one. I'm in trouble for being too far. But that is based on, what, 9,000-something builders per year, right? And let's say this body of council approved this, and what happened the following year, you have less than that. So that tells me the cost per car is going to be higher.

Fee studies are typically done on a snapshot and time basis. So what you're seeing here with the calls per unit by type of development is actually based on existing call volume.

I understand.

Projected call volume just shows us how much revenue the impact fee program may generate over the build-out period. And it shows you the share of funding, frankly, for your capital improvement plan, which is not full funding. It's just new developments share.

Yeah, I understand that part. I'm just trying to figure out the math because that is based on, like you say, based on the projections of that year, which is 9,000 constructions per se. But what happened the next year, you have less than that. And the cost per call is going to be higher.

It could vary. We don't typically see dramatic swings in call volume when we visit studies year over year. So while mathematically I think you have a point, it doesn't typically swing that much.

For a city that's fully built out, how is that not possible?

Well, these are reasonable estimates based on industry standard methodology. I think, you know, that's one of the reasons why fee programs are meant to be taken care of and reevaluated on a routine basis. In fact, recently the law was amended to make sure they're updated in this case every eight years.

Okay. Thank you.

Yeah. Oh. We did do a fee comparison. Your fire chief pointed out some of the key attributes of the fee comparison that he thought was relevant. I won't go line by line here, but fee comparisons, they do provide some sense of regionally what the fees are by type of development. I do like to caveat fee comparisons because we have no idea with these representative agencies how focused their capital planning is, how aware of their needs are, when their last general plan update was, what the council adopted, whether it was maximum, something less. I mean, there's so many things that can influence regional impact fee amounts. That's it. So we're here for questions or comments as needed.

Any questions from council at this point?

Okay, I'm going to thank you so much open the public hearing Are there any requests to speak we have one request to speak Elizabeth Andrade welcome

Good evening. Mayor, Vice Mayor, honorable council members, my name is Elizabeth Andrade, a long time Fallon Valley resident, and I wanted to share some thoughts as I reviewed this item. So my comment is on the proposed bio-development impact fee in the context of tonight's study session on hazardous materials and preparedness. The reason regional hazardous material emergency was a reminder to public safety requirements and the continuous investment. Whether responding to hazardous materials incidents, a fire, or another emergency, our first responders need the facility equipment and resources to protect our community, safety, and effectively. I appreciate that this proposal is supported by a professional nexus study and long-term capital improvement plan. Planning ahead for future fire services needs is a responsible approach that helps ensure our fire department can continue providing the high level of service our residents expect. As the council considers this ordinate, I have a few questions that I would like to offer for your consideration. The first is how often will the capital improvement plan be updated to reflect changing community needs and evolving public safety priorities, which I think Council Member Bowie was raising just before this public comment. Will the council receive annual public reports and fee collections, expenditures, and the progress of projects funded through these fees? Given tonight's discussion, how does the capital improvement plan account for emerging hazards, including hazardous material response and regional mutual aid? And finally, does the plan include investments that improve interoperability, emergency communications, and disaster preparedness in addition to facilities and equipment. It's basically the underlying of infrastructure, so really curious about how we're thinking about that. Tonight's study session reinforced that preparedness is about more than responding to today's emergencies. It's about making thoughtful long-term investments in ensuring our city is ready for the challenges of tomorrow. Thank you so much.

Thank you. I have no further requests to speak.

OK, I'll go ahead and close the public hearing. And then one more round of questions, comments from council?

Vice Mayor Harper? I have a question. So we're currently doing a community, the study we referred to earlier, the community, what do you call it, statement of cover? Yeah, so would the results of that study impact the capital costs required for the future build out?

I think the short answer is yes, but it's more complex than that. So when I got to the city, effectively the final draft, well, close to final draft of this was completed. One of the first questions I had asked was kind of part and parcel with how we got to the standards of cover to begin with, which was, We're a very busy fire department. I'm trying to understand how we're keeping up with that and what our ability is to sustain that in the long term. That therein lies answers some deeper questions about the current fire station one, the proposed new site for Fire Station One. And ultimately what I was looking for was that objective science driven analytical study that says, hey, this is where your new fire station should go. This is the appropriate way to build it. And then, oh, by the way, your call volume is this now. And in 10 years from now, in parallel with looking at where the community's going from a planning standpoint and the known developments that are coming in now and in the future, what does that look like for us and how is that gonna increase our call volume? So like I said, I have real concerns right now about how busy we are and certainly that means I'll have concerns when our call volume gets even, Even bigger. And so the standards of cover is going to provide us that objective deep dive as to, hey, your fire department looks like this right now. It is prepared to address your risk level now or not. We'll find out. And then ultimately, 10 years, 20. When you build a fire station, you're building infrastructure for the next 50 plus years. That's just the reality.

Well, yeah. So my point is the capital costs in this study could be underestimated. And maybe they'll be higher after we get the results of the study, the statement of covering community resource. Allocation? Study? Let me finish. The current capital costs that are in there right now, are they from the $48 million? Is that from the facility resource assessment? Where did the $48 million come from?

And I'll have Nicole come up and speak to the numbers again. But the $48 million, if I understand it, was the totality of the summation of the value, the total value of our fire department, right? Not just the stations?

Yes.

Yeah, so the summation, that is the value of our fire department, right?

And so when you're- Okay, but how do we get those values? I mean, we- Yeah, I'll let Nicole speak to that.

Is it like a- City Manager Lee, just- Yeah.

Patrick Mayer, if it's possible, can I call Omar Dadaboy, our Deputy City Manager, Community Development Director? I think he worked closely on this particular project with our late fire chief. And so he may have some background information as well.

Sure.

Good evening again, Mr. Mayor, members of the City Council. So just for background purposes, as you know, we adopted a new general plan and a new housing element. With that, we planned, because of state requirements, for an additional 5,000 units. We zoned for an additional 5,000 residential units. That doesn't mean we're going to have additional 5 000 but we have to zone accordingly and so that spurred the previous fire chief to want to ensure that we had some development impact fees in place so that if and when those developments come through that they can collect some funds for future fire needs and that they pay their fair share so new developments would pay their fair share Excuse me. So as an example, we had two projects come in, and we didn't have an adopted impact fee, and so we had to negotiate some fees for those developments.

No, I understand that. I don't need all that information. I'm looking at the study, and the cost, the capital cost, it looks like that it's based on some assumption about the square footage of the station and cost per square foot.

So when we looked at the point in time of that, time, we were looking at Fire Station 1 being replaced at Bouchard and Warner. There was a cost associated with that. There were some improvements at 2 as well. And so that created the totality, most of the need and the cost. And the thought here was when that new study comes out, and like you said, it's probably going to be an underestimate in this study. Then if we need to, we can go and revise the study. But because those developments are coming in, which was my original point, we wanna be covered because what they're doing with these new developments is they're triggering SB 330, which locks them in to whatever fees we have established at the time. So right now we're not covered. And so when they trigger SB 330, we're at a loss because we cannot go and add on any additional fees at the time So whatever they're locked into at the time they submit is what we can charge. And so we'd like to adopt something now knowing that we may need to update this in the future so that we're covered for any developments that come in between now and then. Got it. Okay.

So if we adopt it now, we can still update it for when the studies complete? Okay. All right. Thank you.

Any other questions, comments from council? Yes, Councilman Buoy.

Yes, I want to see if we could have some clarifications on the language, which is on page 226. It's talking about AD, I understand the need for this impact fire fees, you know, as population growth and having, you know, three or four or five story buildings. I understand the need that we are, we need to prepare for that for the future. But I'm also concerned that if we are going to create new fees, remember this is, we never had this fee before. So we create new fees to our resident here. And I understand the need for it behind that. But I'm also concerned for seniors that are in this community and their children cannot go out and buy their own home. But as the kid grows up, they want their own space. So if the parent's going to build them an area for them to stay within the area. This just add another burden to the fee, whereas they've been staying here for a very long time and pays their dues to the entire city when they live here 40 or 50 years. It just add more fees. So I just want to put the clarifications on page 226, reference to ADU fee treatment. Here it says here consistent with government code sections 66310 and sequence. So consistent, well, and then no impact fee may impose on ADUs smaller than 750 feet. I think that in terms of clarification that it's a little bit more clear in terms of operations, I'd rather instead of putting it from that perspective, I probably want to say, for example, consistent with government code sections 66324, formerly sections 65852.2 as reorganized by SB 477 in 2024. And no development impact fee shall be imposed on an ADU containing less than 750 square footage. Any development fee imposed on ADU greater than that be charged proportionally in relation to the square footage of the permanent dwelling unit, rather than just consistent with government code sections, you know. That leaves room for interpretations down the road. So I just want a bit more consistent on that. But at the same time that we also put in the sections that does not waive other fees, such as building permit fees is to apply, plan check fees to apply. You're only not subject to the fire impact fee, but all of the fees are not subject for exemption. Just for clarifications on the ADU part.

So I guess to start, what I would say is exclusive of the ADU conversation, these fees are typically encumbered by the developer, right? So on the commercial side, the developer that's building these structures, of course, when it comes to building an ADU, then yes, that burden, I guess, if you will, would be on the homeowner or whoever's building the ADU at that time. You know, ADUs over the last several years have become, our ability to condition them on any, even fire code has greatly been restricted for obvious reasons. It's helping with our housing crisis. And so at the end of the day, you know, what we're looking to achieve here is to make sure that whatever infrastructure it is that's built in the city is going to bring more population and more of a service demand on us, police department, whoever. And we're looking to find a way to sustainably keep up with that. Now, that said, there's a methodology. There's a process. This is a way to bring in one-time funding for whatever it is that's being built. At that point, what you're talking about is effectively a policy decision. It would be up to you guys to decide to what extent, what level, and how all-encompassing you would want that fee to be. My job is simply to just provide this to you along with the methodology and then let you guys work out what you would like to do as far as the community goes.

Understood, but because you're proposing the language here, so, I mean, I'm okay, but just tweak the language to be more, you know, so it doesn't leave room for interpretations. What do you mean? That's what I'm trying to say. I support it, but you need to be, take out the ambiguity in the interpretation down the road.

Specific to, I just want to make sure I'm following you. So language that would not include ADUs?

No, to include by more detail rather than say we are rather than the language I think you put here is consistent with government section code. Okay, what do you mean consistent? Well, I laid out this more specific rather than consistent.

Okay. I'm looking to our city attorney to maybe she can help me interpret.

Yeah, I did assist in drafting the ordinance so I can't speak to that. So the reason that we reference a beginning code section like 66310 and following is that if there are changes then those become included and the section that you're, the specific section that you are referencing is by nature of what it says included in the ordinance by the fact that we're referencing the start of it and continuing on. So 66324 is included in this ordinance by saying consistent with 66310 and following. Does that make sense? It's kind of a common way to refer to a section of the Mitigation Fee Act or a particular law, and it necessarily includes the following. And since 66324 follows, 66310, it's included in the ordinance. Does that make sense?

OK. I guess that's another way of interpreting. Thank you. I see what you're saying. Yeah. OK. All right.

Thank you.

Thanks, Teresa. Vice Mayor Harper?

I had a question. So with the saying on the ADU question, so how would, if I'm building, somebody builds 1,000 square foot ADU, how do I calculate the, what would the fee be? I can't really figure it out.

It's on one of the slides.

Where is it?

Can we go back? Yeah.

226. Oh. I'll bring it up here. So correction, 225.

225.

Yeah, that's the one where I don't, okay, so for 1,000 square feet, but I can't charge it on 750, so they only get charged for 250 square feet of the 1,000, or how does that work?

Can we, Joe Colgan, do you want to respond to that for the council?

All right, I'll call you on the line.

Yes, I can comment on that. So because the way the law is written, for any ADU that's larger than 750 square feet, it's basically a customized calculation that's is based on the size of the primary unit square footage of the primary unit and the square footage of the ADU. And so if the primary unit is say between 12 and 800 square feet and the ADU is say 800 square feet then you start with the fee for the 1200 to 1800 square foot unit and then reduce that proportionately to the relationship in the square footage between the two units. I know that doesn't sound very clear, but this is written, but there's no way to standardize this.

But does the, does the, so if I'm building a thousand square foot ADU, do I get charged for the entire thousand square feet or just the, just the 250 that's over the 750 that we can't charge on?

No, you get charged for the entire 1,000 square feet.

OK.

I assume because that's a finalized part of the application, which is 1,000 square foot, not 750. I think that's my understanding. But why would you put, because we have a clear understanding that if it's less than 750, there's no fee. So why would you want to include the fee here in here graph? What's the intent there?

For the proportionality fee, that is another code section. It's 663.11. So right after 663.10, it specifically says that it will be charged proportionally in relation to the square footage of the primary dwelling unit. So what was included by the consultants is essentially the code section requirement for how you calculate ADU impact fees.

It's how you calculate, but in terms of charging, the applicant is not, right?

Are you asking why is there a tier on the fee schedule lower? Because not all residential development is an ADU, right? So you would have apartment units and so forth.

Okay, now I understand. Okay, I want that clarification. Okay, thank you.

Yeah, I just want to make a few comments. So looking through the ordinance, I think this goes to Councilman Bowie's point. This is written very generally as far as the language. So that, I think, gives us some flexibility in the future. But if you look at... 21.39.080 fee schedule. It refers to an exhibit A. So maybe that's where the flexibility can come. So if that exhibit A, if that ever comes back to council for modification, we'd have that ability. Just want to clarify that.

Yeah, that is the intention of including it as an exhibit is that it can be changed without modifying the ordinance. So the ordinance is written as sort of the general template and Exhibit A is what's going to be changed. In addition, I think Council has been discussing that the capital improvement plan might also be modified as the project develops.

Yeah.

Chief thing.

Yeah. And to vice mayor Harper's comment earlier, I do suspect that we'll need to revisit this once the standards of cover is done. And we kind of reevaluated over the following year. And that discussion was had multiple times as we got to this point right now. And, you know, ultimately, it'll it'll include what that bigger, broader picture looks like at the time we revisit the numbers then.

Mr. Mayor.

Councilwoman Constantine.

So since the ADUs are separate and we know that there's no fee up to 750, if we look at the chart, the second line is residential 600, 800, because I think that's what we were talking about. Can we maybe have a separate chart for ADUs? Because like on this one here, if I was doing an ADU of, well, say 775 square feet, hypothetically, my fee would not be $886,000. and six cents. It would be lesser than that because only a portion would be charged for.

So I mean I would actually look to our consultant because I understand what you're saying that I mean in typically the way this is done is it's set up commercially and residentially and right kind of generic or ambiguously like that so I don't know do we have the ability to separate out ADUs independently?

You could adopt a separate fee schedule and display that. I would caution you a little bit on that because this, I'll try to be brief. This rule, this proportionality calculation, most agencies just adopt it as is because it's the state law. Unfortunately, there is a point at which if you start to create a table, there's an inverse relationship that happens. And so trying to create a table and publish something like that, I think is maybe not the best way, but you could.

Well, I mean, as long as staff can calculate it, if somebody comes to the counter, I mean, I can't imagine that I can't.

Her point, I think, to Council Member Constantine's point is the concern is the interpretation of staff reading at this. You know, it's not clear if, you know, also there's a section talk about ADU, but when they look at collecting fee, they don't look at the graph, right? I think that's her point.

Some agencies do have like an internal similar like building fees. You might have something internally that your techs can reference or a grid of that nature for implementation. We're always available for questions. You could have, even outside of this standardized fee schedule, you could have developments come in that need a customized calculation. So those are all things that are part of fee program implementation that we're available to help with as needed.

City Manager Lee.

Nicole, I recall earlier there's a statement. So for example, any ADU above 750 would trigger. So if they are, let's say, $775, as Council Member Constantine has stated, The fee will stay at $886.06. Is that correct? That's my understanding with the prior statement. It's not being prorated.

No. I hope I understood your question. But if I try to make it very simple, if the ADU is proportionately 50% of the size of the primary dwelling unit, then they pay 50% of the fee on the fee schedule.

if i was doing an adu 775 square feet not 750. i would expect to only pay for 25 square feet not the 886 dollars and six cents so i like to use hard numbers right so if i had a thousand square foot adu and a two thousand square foot main primary dwelling unit that's fifty percent so then we're gonna take fifty percent of the fee that's associated with the primary dwelling unit That's how it's calculated. So we'll work with the consultants on the implementation of it, but with the formula you have on page 226, that will guide us in terms of how we do it. But basically it's the proportion of the size of the ADU to the main unit, and you get a percentage or a fraction, and you multiply that against the main fee, and then you just take that percentage.

I mean, but with all due respect, That's contrary to this paragraph.

Yeah, so that's, to me, the way I look at it, then it's really not true exam 750 because you take different element in to start doing the calculation. So it's not really true to that statement. Because you just laid out the example. You take the primary and 50% ratio of that primary is it less than 750 square feet. If it's less, then no fee. But if it's more, then there's a fee. So it's controlled.

No, no, no. So if it's more than 750 square feet, say it's 1,000 square feet in this example, the ADU is 1,000 square feet, the main unit's 2,000 square feet. You divide the ADU square feet by the primary square feet. You get 0.5 in this case. And then you multiply that by the main primary unit's fee schedule. So it's pretty straightforward in the formula.

Yeah, it says it here. Using the formula, primary unit impact fee times ADU square feet divided by primary unit square feet.

It's very clear, guys. I don't know what this issue is.

My math is not the greatest on this one, clearly, but it seems kind of...

It's detailed, the ADU fee treatment. Let's move on. We've explained it four times already.

Tell me what I would owe if I was going to do it, I mean, please, on an ADU which is 25 feet over the 750.

It's been explained three times already to you.

Well, it's...

guess I don't like the answer yeah I'll do it because I didn't understand it before now I understand it now so 775 square feet is the ad you what's the size of the main house well I wasn't factoring that in well you have oh you have to that's part of the I didn't want to okay a 1400 square feet 1400 square feet Okay, so the 1,400 square foot table.

Make it 1,450 so the number's as simple for him.

No, I'm going with her number, so it's 226, right, 226. Doing the math. Okay, so we go 1,400 square foot is 1,033.74, right?

Yeah.

That's the total, okay.

74. And then you take 775 divided 1400, which is anybody? 53%. And then you multiply the base fee times 53% and what do we get?

But what's my credit for not being charged on the 750 initial fee?

So I think I understand. I think Nicole kind of explained it to me too. So if you go to 751, you're paying the full allocation of it. You don't get a credit for that first 750. I think that's your point. That's just the way state law is written. I understand. There's a lot of things that actually get triggered around 750 to 800 square feet. And so a lot of people keep it below that threshold. So you may find some people don't want to pay the fee. They may keep it below that threshold. Otherwise, they may go up to 4,000 that we allow. But that's just the nature of the way this is In state law.

I guess at the end of the day, it's up to the prerogative of the city council to make it simplified, right? I mean, there's a state law, but let's say just to simplify things. Okay, if you do less than 750, you're exempt. Without it, I'll go through all the calculations.

That's already in state law.

Yeah, but if we want to do it a little bit different, how is that going to stop us? Because if you don't adopt nothing, the state laws are not the same. You have to adopt it. Correct.

As long as it's consistent with state law.

Basically, I'm saying that if you could simplify it, OK, if you bill less than $750, you're exempt without having to go through these calculations of this. That's the way it is currently written. Yeah, it's already written that way. OK. All right, so make sure.

Yeah, but that's small $750. The calculations only triggered if it's over $750. OK. Thank you.

So the fee would be $547.50.

How would you like to pay for that? I still don't know what I owe. Oh, you owe nothing right now. Okay. Just a hypothetical. Oh, the CDs take all form of payment.

I just want to say I appreciate Omar and Chief Nick for bringing this forward I didn't mean to sound difficult but I didn't quite understand it the first time through so I apologize for the question but now I understand it so I'd like to move the item I'll second Mayor may I read title Yes please

An ordinance of the City Council of the City of Fountain Valley adding sections 21.39.050 through 21.39.120 to chapter 21.39 of Title 21 of the Fountain Valley Municipal Code establishing a fire development impact fee for the Fountain Valley Fire Department and adopting a fire development impact fee schedule.

Thank you. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Item number nine passes 5-0.

I want to go ahead and wrap that up. There was a public comment related to, you know, the record and so forth. Our finance director stated that with the fine impact fee, the finance department is required to do annual reporting for the impact fee as part of the year-end process.

All right. Thank you. Thanks for that, okay moving on to item 10 first reading of an ordinance restricting Kratom presentation by Valley Police Department sergeant Donnie farmer welcome Thank you mayor Thank You vice mayor counsel Maggie Teresa and Rick Rick it's just hitting the arrow button.

Okay, I Tonight, can everyone hear me okay? Tonight, I'm going to go through a quick PowerPoint here and address the ordinance that's proposed. Introduction of an ordinance restricting kratom. This is a first read of an ordinance restricting certain activities involving kratom. The proposed ordinance is modeled on the ordinance adopted by the County of Orange. Kratom in its natural form has been shown to provide some benefits such as mild pain relief and support for individuals seeking to reduce dependence on opioids. However, synthetic and highly concentrated 7-OH products pose serious health risks. Medical experts have warned that concentrated 7-OH has been described as legal morphine. Its heightened potency combined with inconsistent labeling creates significant danger, particularly for youth and unsuspecting users who may not realize they are consuming synthetic 7-OH rather than natural Kratom. According to news reports, Hoag has treated more patients for Kratom use this year than in the previous 30 years combined, detoxing as many patients from 7-OH as fentanyl. Several jurisdictions, both in the U.S. and abroad, have restricted or banned Kratom.

Thank you.

The neighboring city of Huntington Beach and the county of Orange have enacted ordinances to restrict the sale of Kratom. By signing the ordinance for the city of Fountain Valley, it will put limits on the distribution of Kratom, most notably, so this is the nuts and bolts of it. One, the prohibition of sales of synthetic Kratom product containing more than 2% of potent compound 7-hydroxy-metrotrigine-70H. Prohibition of the sale of Kratom products to anyone under the age of 21. That Kratom packaging must be child resistant and not attractive to children, and mandate online retailers use an age verification system. In 2025, an FVPD undercover officer purchased Kratom at three smoke shops in Fountain Valley. That undercover officer is that uniformed officer right there, Daniel Shaw. Some synthetic and some natural. So that's actually the products that you see right there that we purchased in the city that evening. And I actually brought them here physically before us. The smoke shops that we purchased from were these three. These are the specific ones in which Officer Shaw, you can actually see in that bottom right photo, that's his back right there. But you can see the word Kratom also being displayed. That's an actual photograph as he was walking in. All right. So these are three. I want to provide an update that's not in the slide here. Today, my partner and I, Lieutenant Parsons, we went around the city and had him go in, identify himself as a police officer, talk to the person that was working. And so we have nine in our city right now, smoke shops. And he contacted them, just merely asked, are you selling kratom, natural or otherwise? And of those nine... throughout the city six did and they were we photographed it but there's there's six on display they weren't hiding it they were open about it and then three did not so of the smoke shop six of nine so one of the questions I wanted to or answers I wanted to provide was that currently what we know is that six locations in the city of Fountain Valley are selling I suspect The number is truly seven, or maybe greater, but one of the ones that said they didn't sell actually did sell to Undercover Officer Shaw, so there's a little discrepancy there. Fiscal review, there's no significant fiscal impact with this ordinance. Alternatives, alternative one, introduce and approve for a second reading adoption and ordinance restricting kratom by adopting a new chapter section in the Fountain Valley Municipal Code 8.65, sale, distribution, and possession of kratom restricted. Two, do not approve the attached ordinance and instead wait for AB 1088, to pass, which is designed to regulate synthetic and creative products. So it says here, however, there's no guarantee that this California Assembly bill will pass. If passed, it would become law on January 1st, 2027. I confirm that this is dead in the water right now, which is a recent development just last month. So officially, before the Senate Health Committee, the bill was canceled by the author's request. That's what I learned upon looking at it recently. So the bill had passed the assembly in 2025, amended in 2026, and then recently canceled by the author's request, leaving the future state legislation action uncertain. And that's the presentation I have. I'm happy to field any questions you may have. Thanks, Sergeant Farmer. So before we open the public hearing, any questions from counsel?

Yeah, so to your point, Sergeant, so if the bill fell, like you said, it's not passing. So it's actually going to put our resident more vulnerable, right, position. So therefore, if we make an ordinance reference to this, it still stands, am I correct?

If we make an ordinance and the legislation doesn't pass at the state level, we could act on this for enforcement? Yes.

OK. I just wanted to get clarification on that. Thank you.

Do we know why it's dying at the state level? If I did, I'd share that. I do not know.

I didn't know. OK. I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing. Thank you, Sergeant Farmer.

And I believe we have one request to speak. We now have three requests to speak. There are ones in. The first being Laura Romney.

Hi there. Can you hear me?

Yes, we can, Laura.

Great. Thanks for letting me speak tonight. So I'm Laura Romney, and I'm actually the president of International Plant and Herbal Alliance. And I ask you to each look at your emails. I'm hoping you received it. I did send you some documents, some compliant documents that our company has actually provided to cities just like yours to help enact the great regulation that you guys have proposed. I'm in full support of it. I love the regulation. I want nothing more than to see the synthetic products banned and then out of the stores. I do not want youth and children getting access to those, nor unsuspecting adults that go in to purchase Kratom and then inadvertently end up hooked on 70H thinking that they have purchased Kratom. There definitely needs to be something done. The DEA has spoken. They have said that their concern is the synthetic products and not natural leaf. So I'm really appreciative that you have drafted a great regulation that really does protect consumers. I myself am a nine-year Kratom consumer. really severe facial nerve disease called trigeminal neuralgia, and it's just really terrible pain and Kratom has literally given me my life back. It's allowed me to function and work and volunteer and be a grandma and just do all those things that, you know, really a person, you know, should have the right to. With the whole opiate epidemic in full swing, it's so difficult for people to have access to pain medication. and other things that help so alternatives like kratom natural kratom are just a godsend but again i just i ask you to look at those compliance documents because they really do and actually we're having an update coming very soon on which i'll forward on an even tighter version of it but these documents can really help your inspectors to be able to go in and differentiate between the natural products and the actual um synthetic products so it should help you to be able to easily enact this regulation and protect your citizens. So thank you so much. I'm obviously available for questions and appreciate your time and your real concern for your citizens and protecting those who really do use the natural plant. Thank you.

Next speaker is Steven McIntosh.

Sorry about that. Can you hear me now?

Yes, we can, Stephen.

Excellent. Thank you, sir. My name is Stephen McIntosh. I'm an eight-year Kratom consumer. I have severe chronic pain. When my pain medications were stopped against my will several years ago without warning, Kratom was there, and it made an incredible difference. I'm also a supporting member of the non-sworn of the California Narcotics Officers Association who does support the access of adults 21 and above to Kratom products but has asked for regulation exactly like your ordinance that would restrict products that would prevent sale to minors, products attractive to children and all that. So I wanted to thank the sergeant for his comments. I thought they were excellent and I absolutely agree with all of them. And was there in Sacramento when this item got pulled and I don't know why it was pulled. But, yeah, again, I just wanted to voice my support for this bill and how important it is for those of us who are in chronic pain and benefit from this product but that are concerned about minor access and these adulterated 7-OH products. So, again, I just want to encourage its passage and thank you for taking up this issue.

Next speaker is Jennifer Gillis. Jennifer?

Hi, yes. Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight. My name is Jennifer Gillis, and 20 years ago, I was diagnosed with transverse myelitis, and I became a lifelong chronic pain patient. After years of struggling to find relief, I discovered Holy Kratom. and it gave me a second chance at life. Because of that, I made a promise to myself to use my voice to advocate for Kratom to remain legal, because many people who rely on natural Kratom products, particularly those in the chronic pain community, may not be aware that discussions like this are taking place, and I feel it's important to speak on behalf of those individuals who, like me, rely on Kratom as a lifeline for a better quality of life. As far as the ordinance that you guys are bringing forth, I think that's absolutely the way to go. And, you know, restricting those 708 products and protecting your citizens while allowing access to the same people, you know, that rely on natural freedom products. But thank you so much for allowing me to speak. I hope y'all will decide to go with that ordinance. Have a good night.

Last speaker, Misty Brown.

Hi. Hello, Misty. We can hear you. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Misty Brown, and I am a seven-year creative consumer advocate activist from Colorado, which is actually in mini-California. I absolutely love y'all's ordinance. Here in a couple weeks, you know, like Laura said, the DEA has spoken. 7-OH and its derivatives will be Schedule I drugs. So the ordinance that you guys have is absolutely phenomenal. I love it. I am a survivor of the overprescribing opioid epidemic. I was addicted to the pain pills, benzos and muscle relaxers for 11 years straight from 2008 to 2019. And because of my actions of misusing my prescriptions, people like Laura and Jennifer and Steven, they can't get access to pain management anymore. And yes, it absolutely breaks my heart. But I always say this too, addiction doesn't discriminate. It doesn't matter who you are. So because the pendulum has swung way far on the other side, now doctors aren't prescribing medications for people like them, as well as myself. But then again, I was an active addict to it. I have degenerative disc disease in my back and hips. And kratom is what allows me to function. It allows me to be a present mother and a present grandmother. And people in your community, I have no doubt that people just walk in and buy natural leaf kratom. And then they got duped into believing that 70H was a more potent form of kratom, which was how it was sold and given away for free. And that has caused nothing but mass destructions in communities. And we've seen it firsthand. So thank you all so much for your ordinance. I absolutely support it. I love it. And I hope that you guys agree on that. So thank you for allowing me this time to speak.

I have no further request to speak.

OK, thank you. I'll go ahead and close the public hearing and. Vice Mayor Harbour?

Yeah. Can I say that the come back up. So do we have a question. So with respect to Kratom calls for service, I guess, do we have a lot of calls for service?

That's a great question, Vice Mayor. No. The answer is no. We have one documented incident at the police department. I had Jen Garasi. I looked into it back in October. I verified that that had not changed today. And it was similar with fire. I had reached out at that time, and they had an unrelated different. The incident did involve a DUI, and it was a reference to Kratom that was in a report. It is something that... could certainly be underreported. It's possibly overlooked, not included in reports. It's a newer type of thing, but does that answer your question?

Yes, yes. And then a question for the attorney. So what, I guess, what authority do we have to regulate sale of products in general? I mean, can we say, you know, you can't sell, I don't know, candy bars is, you know, it's.

So unless the state has preemptively legislated in this area, such as in certain areas like cannabis, cities are restricted by what they can implement based on state law. But in this arena, the state hasn't legislated in this area. So the city can go ahead because the state law hasn't restricted your ability to legislate and has not preemptively legislated itself.

OK. All right. I guess my feeling on this is that although it's kind of trendy to adopt these kind of ordinances, with the fact that there seems to be no issue with it right now, I would not be in support of this ordinance.

So our staff report shows that the neighboring city of Huntington Beach and the county of Orange have enacted ordinances to restrict the sale of kratom. I support it, and I'd like to move alternative.

I'll support it, especially if this is not natural kratom we're talking about here. We're talking about the synthetic one. That's the component that is at risk for the city. So I'll support it, and I'll move alternative number one.

I moved it. You're seconding.

Okay.

Mayor, may I retitle?

Actually, we're not done with the discussion yet.

Okay. Yes.

So I'm just curious on the ordinance itself, if the state does come up with an ordinance or legislation, does our ordinance just go away at that point?

It would depend on what the state passed as legislation, potentially, yes, but also, you know, sometimes the state legislates in a certain way where our ordinance would not be null and void. So it just depends on what comes down the pike from, but it looks like there's nothing at the state level at this point.

Okay. Okay, that's my question.

I also support this. I do appreciate the testimony from the speakers. And they have shared emails. And so I've learned a lot about the issue and appreciate the efforts to make it safer for those who really need this kind of treatment and to protect them as well. So OK. Last call on comments. We've got a first and second. Let's vote. All those in favor, say aye.

Oh, I'm sorry. Can I retitle?

Yes, please.

Thank you. An ordinance of the City Council of the City of Fountain Valley amending the Fountain Valley Municipal Code by adding new chapter 8.65, restricting the sale, distribution, and possession of Kratom.

And with that, all those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed? No. Item number 10 passes 4-1. Okay.

Thank you.

Thanks so much.

We'll move into administrative items. Item 11, approval of professional services agreement with Townsend Public Affairs to provide grant writing consultant services. Presentation by Jenny Chao, management analyst. Welcome.

Good evening, Mayor and member of the council. This evening I'm going to present to you for your consideration a professional services agreement for grant writing services. My goal tonight is to kind of quickly go through the RFP process and present the evaluation committee's recommendation for your approval. I'm gonna go through my presentation and following that I'd like to invite Jake Leishner. He is the associate at Townsend public affairs to kind of come up and go over Their role in the grant application process and kind of discuss What they do to kind of assist the city in securing grant applications. I

You want me to move the slides for you, Jenny?

No.

Okay. So city staff remain committed to identifying and securing new revenue streams to offset escalating operational costs. Through internal staff initiatives and administrative support from our grant consultant, city staff have successfully secured 2.2 million in grant awards and have advanced 3.5 million in pending grant submittals. TPA's grant administrative support role included identifying matching grant programs, drafting applications, and actively advocating for the city's project and tracking application progress post submission. This contract expired June 30th. And to kind of build on this effort, the city issued an RFP for grant writing consultant services looking to contract with firms on a monthly retainer and on an as-needed on-call basis. The RFP was issued on March 30th. It was publicly posted on Planet Bids and the city website. 46 firms downloaded the RFP. On the closing date of April 27, 16 firms submitted proposals, with 15 deemed responsive. A general scope that was listed in the RFP for comprehensive grant writing preparation and management services included a needs analysis, grant research, proposal development, grant administration, and monthly tracking. An evaluation committee comprised of three city staff independently reviewed and scored the proposals we used we utilized a two-round evaluation process and In the first round, we do a review of the proposal. And these are scored on the general approach, the firm's qualifications and experience, as well as past performances or references. Following that, cost proposals are reviewed to ensure pricing reasonableness within the city budget. Five firms advanced. The second portion of the evaluation process included interviews. Firms were invited for interviews, and the interview structure focused on the firm's strategic approach, their deliverables, and sort of their overall experience or track record relevant to city grant goals. Based on a comprehensive evaluation of the proposal and the interview, staff would like to recommend Townsend Public Affairs for grant writing consultant services on a monthly retainer basis. TPA demonstrated the necessary experience, resources, and capacity to effectively meet the city's grant writing needs. Here I'm going to just talk quickly about TPA. Their company has supported over 300 agencies. They maintain five offices with the local one here in Newport Beach. Their team is made up of 19 grant writers and registered lobbyists with policy expertise and advocacy experience. They've secured more than 3.3 billion in competitive grants and appropriations for their clients. And they've been kind of broken down in these following policy areas. These tables provide an overview of the funding summary that we've that we've had with TPA. The first table summarizes the grants that we've secured. The second table provides grants that are pending and are awaiting agency review. Later we can go back to this slide and I'll invite Jake to kind of come up and talk about their process in the grant application and kind of expand on their role and what they do to kind of help the city secure these grants. Additional determining factors for why the evaluation committee is recommending Townsend Public Affairs, they are a top five California lobbying firm. They are a top 15% federal lobbying firm. And as I previously mentioned, we have 3.5 million in funding amount pending. And to kind of maintain that continuity with their assistance with those requests is kind of an ideal. Also, because they are a top lobbying firm, their ability to kind of leverage their relationships to ensure our applications are well positioned for funding by advocating for our application with key elected officials and decision makers is also important. And their fee proposal included a fixed monthly fee structure. kind of ensuring that we stay within budget and to not disrupt our application timelines. The initial contract terms will be two years with the option of four one-year extensions. As I mentioned, the contract is structured with an all-inclusive retainer fee of $6,000 with a not-to-exceed amount of $72,000 annually for years one and two of the contract. And the adopted budget for fiscal year 26-27 has sufficient budget for this contract. For the next steps, once council approves the contract, TPA will meet with city staff to go over and do a new analysis of the city's current funding needs with all the departments. We will continue scheduling monthly check-ins with myself to discuss upcoming funding opportunities and grant programs that are in the pipeline. And then we are proposing to connect with the city executive management team on a monthly or on an as-need basis to keep them in the loop also with grant opportunities. The main point of contact will be myself and Jake Hopkins in community services. Sorry, Jake. In addition to the monthly retainer contract, city staff would also like to enter into a smaller on-call as needed consultant contract with Evan Brooks Associates. They are a firm with experience in ATP, highway safety improvement programs, and FEMA. They would provide cost quotes with not to exceed amounts for any and all billable work. So billing will be determined by the scope of work requested by the city and for actual work performed by EBA. Again, as needed and as requested by city staff. Again, there's no monthly retainer and they will only be paid for work completed. Engaging with these two firms allows the city to strategically match grant opportunities with specialized expertise and established agency relationships, ensuring flexibility and cost efficiency. So tonight, staff recommends city council approval of alternative number one to accept proposal and approve a professional services agreement with Townsend Public Affairs for comprehensive grant writing consultant services and then not to exceed amount of 72,000 annually for a period of two years with the option to renew four times every year. Thank you.

Thank you, Jenny. I'll open it up to council for questions or comments.

Actually, we have TPA, Jake, is coming up. Okay.

Welcome.

Thank you so much. Thanks, Jenny.

Hi, Mayor Kenean, members of council, thanks so much for having me. I've worked with the City of Fountain Valley. Let me start over. My name's Jake Leichtner and I'm an associate on our grant writing team. I know Jenny mentioned that, but I'd like to make the introductions. I've had the pleasure to work with the city for the last two years, first with Megan and Jake, and now with Jenny and Jake. In that time, as Jenny mentioned, we've secured a little over $2.2 million in competitive grant funding, and right now we have a little over $3.5 million in pending funding. One thing I would like to mention, a little nuance in there too, three of those amounts, so the three that you're seeing from Representative Derek Tran are federal earmarks or community or congressionally directed spending. These are applications that we prepared in collaboration with Chief Nigg, City Manager Lee, the police department, many players here to get these three applications out the door and then to Representative Tran. That's the first step is submitting the application Representative Tran then selects from all of those he gets, he only has 15 selections from his entire district, so all of CA-45. That is the first round of cuts. That's then presented to the full subcommittees for the entire federal government. Every representative is submitting their 15 projects. There are then a number of cuts, both to the amounts and the number of projects those representatives are able to submit. I'm proud to say all three of these projects have made it through all of those hurdles so the only thing that we're waiting now for all three of those fundings is for there to be for the federal budget to pass won't put it past the federal government for something to happen there but at this point we've passed all of those hurdles and so it once there is an FY 27 budget that is passed all three of those amounts so the 2.2 million for the fire department and then the two slightly over 300,000 for the two police department projects will all be in law. They're in the draft bill right now. So we're just awaiting that passage. So super excited about those. The other three are more typical grant applications. So waiting for the agency to review, usually between a three and six month window to hear back on those. So definitely happy to keep you updated there. um as jenny said i'll briefly run through sort of the process for these grant writing applications the big umbrella is once a month i send to jenny and jake a monthly grants memo that contains all of the programs that the city is eligible for highlighting ones that they are especially competitive for we then get on a call review all of those it also contains a number of programs that are upcoming so ones that we're monitoring knowing the city has interest in or could put a competitive application in isn't quite open, that allows us to do some of that internal coordination early on, identify eligible and competitive projects, do any sort of community outreach or pass resolutions that may need to happen, that can be difficult during a 45 to 60 day application period. We meet monthly to review all of those programs, make a game plan. Jenny then does some of that internal coordination, connects people in various departments with myself. We have a kickoff meeting once we've identified an eligible grant application. to sort of talk through project scopes, what's going to be needed from the city end. From there, they, and I have to say, all the city staff here is very responsive and always gets me the information I need right away, so that is very much appreciated. And then I take all of that information, draft all of the required narratives, put the estimates, quotes, et cetera, into the budget, handle the submission sort of tip to tail. And then we submit. And as Jenny said, as a registered lobbyist as well, we're able to do a level of post-submission advocacy that some other firms can't always provide. So meeting directly with Derek Tran and his staff as well as other both legislators but then funding agencies as well to advocate for the passage and the successful awarding of some of those programs. So that's the big overview. Happy to answer any questions that you guys may have as well.

Great. Thanks so much. Any questions from council? I was just curious.

You said Congressman Tran is only able to have 15 submissions. And it looked like there were three or four submissions for Fountain Valley. That is correct. So he's allocating three or four of his 15 for Fountain Valley?

So it'll be three of the 15. Yes. And I believe I mean, I can pull up the list, but I don't think there's any other jurisdiction that got more than one selected in this cycle. So I'm proud of the work that we were able to do as a team there.

Okay, that's good.

Also, just curious, so we also have a nonprofit arm of the city, the Fountain Valley Community Foundation, that's always looking for nonprofit grants. Now, I know that any money raised has to go to the city, but are you able to help them as well on items that benefit the city as a whole?

Yeah, we can definitely talk about that. I mean, the big answer is yes, happy to assist however we can. The complication can potentially be if we're applying on behalf of the city and those funds need to come through the city, there could be a potential complication there. But there are a number of grant programs that not only encourage but sometimes require a partnership between a jurisdiction and a nonprofit. There are certain programs are open exclusively to nonprofits. So depending on the scope of what they're looking for, I obviously am not super familiar with them, but happy, as Jenny mentioned, at the start of the new contract, would love to meet with department heads and more in depth with a bunch of departments to learn a little bit more about what the new priorities are going to be, do sort of a reset. And so I would love for them to be included in there. So I have a better understanding both of the work they do and then what we could be potentially looking out and monitoring for them as well.

And do you guys recommend grants or do you respond to the grants that our staff find and ask you to go forward? Which way does it work typically?

So it works both ways. Like I said, every month I send a grants memo that has all of the ones that we've identified that the city could apply for. There's a number of those that on our monthly calls with Jake and Jenny, I say, I think this is a better fit for X, Y, and Z reason, but I also include other programs that at first blush might not be a great fit for me, but to put it in front of them for them to make the final decision. And then if at any point Jake or Jenny or anyone at the city finds grant applications that were not on my radar, more than willing more than happy for them to share those with me do the due diligence to see if the city is eligible they're competitive um and then do the work from then i think jenny with community services is here um last year she brought one to my attention from memorial care which i think was on the most recent slide which was not one that i was aware of and then with her and ben we submitted an application and we're going to do another one this year and i know i owe you an email back about it so you'll get that tomorrow So, yes, both ways. Not tonight? The email? I left my laptop somewhere.

Oh, that's great. I appreciate all this information. It seems really great. It seems like our return is pretty good. Thank you. Of course.

I'd like to ask a follow-up question. I think this is a great idea that you brought up, and you mentioned that you are able to help the nonprofit organization. I think that's a great idea. If that was the case, because obviously you know we have many good nonprofit organizations in the city, if you are going to be able to help the one organization he just mentioned, does that also mean that if there's other nonprofit organizations we want to bring to your attention, would you be able to help as well?

Not under the scope of this contract. If it's a nonprofit that is private and separate from the city, we would have to have a separate agreement with them. The only caveat I would say to that is for an application where the city is the lead applicant and then there's a requirement to have a partnership with a nonprofit, community-based organization, tribe, something like that, which is common in a lot of the larger grant applications. With the city as the lead applicant under the scope of the contract, we would be able to do so. But to do a separate application, not involving the city as the lead applicant for a separate private organization, we would have to have a conversation with them.

Okay. So for example, I'm thinking, for example, the Farm Valley School Foundations, right? They do a lot of great things for the kids. So indirectly, it's kind of like, you know, underneath the school, you know, hopefully we could help something there. Yeah.

Totally, yeah. We would just have to have a conversation. Like I said, I am pretty narrowly focused on writing the grants for the city in the scope of my role. Writing contracts and making those deals is a little above my pay grade. But if you have more specific questions, I'm happy to give you my contact information, refer you to the right people in our firm, and have a broader conversation about what that could look like.

I just want to share a little bit of my experience with Townsend at the beginning of the year. I think it's end of January. So I went out to Washington, D.C. and meet with Congressman Trent and his staff, continuing asking for the $2 million. And I have to say that I had a great experience with the representative in Washington, D.C. and Townsend. It was very interesting. Pleasant experience. He really showed me around and explained the role, how much Townsend played a role in Washington, D.C., advocate for many cities. So I just want to share that was a really good experience.

I appreciate it. Yeah, we have a phenomenal D.C. team that leads a lot of our federal advocacy, as you said, and definitely willing to accompany and lead some of those trips if you are ever out in D.C., especially if we're advocating for some of these applications. So I appreciate the kind words and you bringing that up.

Thank you. Any other questions from council? Okay, great. Thanks so much. Appreciate it. Thank you all.

Okay, do we have a... I'll move to approve.

I'll second.

All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Item 11 passes 5-0.

Thank you. Move on to item 12. Accept fee proposal from DMS Consultants, Inc. and authorized staff to issue a purchase order for the design of the residential roadway rehabilitation project city quadrant B5 and B6. Project number 27002. Presentation by engineering technician 2, Peter Nguyen. Welcome.

Good evening, Mayor Kanin and members of the council. The item that I'm presenting tonight is the design of residential roadway rehabilitation project, City Quadrant B5 and B6. The city owns and maintains 33 residential street quadrants that are regularly used by the city's residents and visitors for commuting purposes. As such, to maintain this network, the city completes routine residential roadway rehabilitation projects on a yearly basis. During the fiscal year 26-27 design, staff received confirmation in April of 2026 that the Southern California Association of Governments, otherwise known as SCAG, confirmed the award of $2.64 million in grant funding for the rehabilitation and resurfacing of Talbot Project. Initially, the rehabilitation resurfacing of Talbert project budget included $1.1 million in general fund and $1.275 million in SB1 funds. However, with the SCAG award, staff intends to reallocate those funds to project number 27002 to capitalize on the opportunity to complete additional paving for two residential quadrants. Since the confirmation of the SCAG award, quadrants B5 and B6 were identified for staff for the fiscal year 26-27 design. These quadrants were selected based on the city's pavement management plan and off of staff's knowledge and assessment of the city's residential roadway conditions. The project scope for both quadrants will include the design of asphalt rehabilitation and improvements for deficient curbs, gutters, parkways, and non-ADA compliant sidewalks and curb ramps. Staff solicited and received four proposals from the on-call consultants list for roadway design services for the design of residential roadway rehabilitation projects, City Quadrant B5 and B6. These proposals are shown on the table seen in this slide. And after evaluation of the proposals, DMS Consultants was determined to be the most suited firm based on previous project experience and offered the best value at a cost proposal of $101,500. DMS Consultants are also a reputable civil engineering firm that is well-versed with the scope of work and have completed several designs of residential quadrants for the city of Fountain Valley in the past. The proposal of $101,500 is within the approved project budget of $105,000 from the gas tax fund. And it's also within the approved contract amount for the on-call consultants for roadway design services for DMS consultants. With this project, staff anticipates a design to start this summer and start construction in the summer of 2027. Staff recommends council to accept DMS consultant's fee proposal and authorize staff to issue a purchase order for the design of residential roadway rehabilitation project, city quadrant B5 and B6, project number 27002 in the amount not to exceed $101,500. Thank you for all your time tonight, and I'll take any questions you may have. Thank you.

Any questions from council?

Yeah, just curious. You said the gas tax. Is that the Measure M gas tax that comes out, or it's a different, just the regular gas tax?

It should be regular gas tax. Yeah, Measure M is a different fund, I believe.

So I know everybody complains about gas taxes. I do, too. But it does come back to the city in some way, and it's paying for our roads. All right, good to know. Thank you. Any other comments?

I'll move the item.

I'll second.

All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Item 12 passes 5-0. Thank you.

OK, we'll move on to item 13. Authorized staff to issue a purchase order in the amount of $115,296.83 to National Auto Fleet Group pursuant to FVMC 2-36.070A4 for the purchase of a new 2027 Ford F450 flatbed dump truck through the existing contract with Sourcewell and authorized staff to dispose of the existing vehicle by means of the best It means that best meets the city's need. Presentation by Cassandra Burkhart, Management Aid. Welcome.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. Tonight, I'm recommending the purchase of a new Ford F-450 flatbed dump truck for our water distribution division. So our current dump truck is a 2005 Ford F350. At nearly 22 years old, this truck has outlived the city's standard 15-year lifespan. And you can see the pictures here of the rusted dump truck. After over two decades of hauling heavy materials like asphalt and concrete, severe corrosion has created holes in the truck bed, which creates potential safety hazards, and debris are more likely to spill out onto our public roadways. So staff is recommending that the city utilize a competitively bid source well contract to secure a new 2027 Ford F450 from National Auto Fleet Group. We are using the cooperative contract instead of utilizing the Enterprise Fleet Management Program because our Enterprise Management Program cannot accommodate the highly specific required heavy duty outfitting for this vehicle. If approved tonight, the truck will go into production with an estimated delivery window of 180 to 200 days following the purchase order issuance. So now for the financial breakdown, the total cost of the flatbed dump truck is $115,296.83. A total budget of $120,000 will be reallocated from the Water Fund to the Fleet Management Fund to cover this expense. Therefore, there are sufficient funds for this purchase. So our recommendation for city council is to approve alternative number one, which authorizes staff to issue a purchase order to National Auto Fleet Group through an existing cooperative contract with Sourcewell, and authorizes staff to dispose of the existing vehicle by means that best meet the city's needs. And that concludes my presentation.

Thanks so much. Open to questions from council?

I'll move the item I think a picture says a thousand words I don't know if you tried Bondo and a little WD-40 we tried duct tape it didn't work I'll second the item I think we heard a first and second we have a first and second all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed item number 13 passes 5-0 thank you and I'm up next

Okay, item 14, award contract to Pacific Sound Control, a CE pickup company in the amount of $110,618 to replace existing operable wall panels at the center at Founders Village Senior and Community Center. Presentation by Cassandra. Welcome.

Yes. Thank you again. So good evening. I am also presenting a project to replace the operable wall panels for the senior center. So over 20 years, the senior center has relied on movable sliding wall panels to split or combine halls A, B, and C multiple times a day to facilitate programs. However, after almost two decades, a little over, of constant use, these original walls have become increasingly difficult for staff to move, causing damage to the flooring and also posing a potential safety hazard for staff. Staff is requesting to replace these panels to prevent a total potential mechanical breakdown that could disrupt our senior center services. So on April 6th, the city issued a comprehensive invitation for bid. The city received five bid inquiries. Our purchasing officer did her due diligence in making sure to reach out to all interested vendors to let them know about the mandatory pre-bid meeting scheduled on April 15th. Unfortunately, only two vendors attended that. On April 27th, the city received one formal bid from Pacific Sound Control, a CE pickup company. The Senior Center will be closed from December 14th through January 1st, 2027 for the holiday break. Therefore, we are scheduling the installation for the week of December 14th to avoid interrupting any regular Senior Center activities. So we have sufficient funding to cover the quoted amount of $110,618. $60,000 is already set aside specifically for this project. And additional funds totaling $50,618 were added through fiscal year 25-26 year-end savings and reprioritized fiscal year 26-27 project allocations. Additionally, I like to add that because the wall panels and parts are sourced from Canada, they are subject to fluctuating tariffs. Because international tariffs and taxes keep changing, our purchasing officer advises to prepare essentially a cushion just in case the tariffs increase during the date of shipment. The contingency is about 20%, so amount not to exceed of $22,000. I want to emphasize that this contingency is a precautionary measure. Cheriffs can go up and down and disappear altogether by the time that we place our order. And we're looking at probably like late September, since the lead time for the delivery of all necessary parts is four to six weeks. So staff is requesting city council approval of alternative number one to award a contract to Pacific Sound Control in the amount of $110,618 to replace the existing opera wall panels at the senior center. And now that will conclude that presentation.

Thanks so much. Councilman Granite?

Yeah, a couple questions. It's always a big red flag to me when there's only one quote provided. Who provided the original wall panels 20 years ago, and are they still in business?

They're not in business anymore. I don't remember on the top of my head. If they're not in business, that's fine. Yeah. That answers it. Okay. Yes.

Okay. It just... How do we end up with just one? Is this such a niche product that there's just not many manufacturers of this?

It seems so. I'm not sure why they didn't want to attend the mandatory meeting. We had the five, like I said. Right. Only two showed up. And maybe in the future we can be requiring our finance team to maybe reach out and ask, why are you not coming?

Yeah, that was the next question. Do we reach out to the four that did not bid and find out why?

I believe she did, but they didn't respond back.

Amanda can share some perspective but I think there's a lot of factors maybe the dollar amount is not you know sufficient for them to pursue they may have a lot of projects and so forth and so but Amanda can kind of step in hi Amanda

So the main reason when I contacted everyone is that they were mostly construction workers that were able to do it and that the product wasn't really accessible for them to provide. And then the one other one that did actually show up She indicated that the amount of work that it would have cost, it could not, what's the word? Accommodate?

Support it. Support it, yeah.

So that was the main reason. Most of them just don't have access to the product itself.

This is not something that's unique to Fountain Valley. I mean, these walls and stuff should be everywhere. You know, most, well, not everywhere, but, you know, in every city. I just find it really hard to believe that only one company, and out of Canada, you know.

Well, the provider is here. It's just that he gets the walls from Canada.

Gotcha.

But that's the only one that can actually provide them the type that we actually need.

Okay, thank you. Eventually.

Go ahead.

Okay, yeah, I mean, I agree with Council Member Green is that I find a little bit strange to, I mean, how other cities or other businesses that are in a business that they need wall separations, I mean, I'm sure they're not bound to one vendor as well.

So there's different types. It just depends on what kind we need. And it depends on the tracks that we already currently have and what we're trying to support. That was my understanding when we went out of bed.

Are we not replacing the tracks?

I don't remember. There are some track suspensions that are remaining. So we're here.

But if you're doing that, you're going to bound yourself in the future with the same predicament. Track suspension to remain. Because it's the same track. You're not changing tracks so you don't run to one manufacturer of product.

We're using one existing hoof core track and suspension system to remain. So all new carriers. So I guess jargon.

No, that's okay. And I don't know every detail about these walls, but typically the construction would merit that you'd have to replace it with something very similar in kind. You can't just go over and change completely the wall system. And as a result, When you start doing that, then that increases the cost. We're trying to stay within the original design or as close to that, and that's sometimes what happens. We did find it a little bit interesting, right, only receiving one bid. And one of the things that staff did do to just confirm that there's a reasonable price is we did reach out and see, is there any projects, similar walls or same walls that were being awarded? And we did find another city this year that awarded those projects. the same wall system. It was in Yucaipa and the pricing was similar. We listed it in the staff report but it's one of those things that is when we do get one bid it's not as if a red flag doesn't go out with us. We want to make sure we want to check. We want to do everything we can to ensure that it's a reasonable price that we're within the scope and what we expect is reasonable and then we know we have to get the work done. We could They're just throwing this out there. I wouldn't recommend it because we need to get the work done. We could reject bids and try to go out again, but I think that that same wall system that was advertised by UKIPA, they had limited response to.

Did they use the same manufacturer, same installer that we do? It's the same one. The same one?

Yeah. Okay.

Yeah, I know we talked about, you know, you and I had talked about this already, and you told me you were saving money off Yucaipa. That's good. I did not realize that it was only one bid when we spoke, so... I would just say in the future we need to be a bit more aggressive in trying to get at least two bids because it shows us that we're at least in the ballpark.

We can try to build in some more time so we can go through multiple times because ultimately what we would end up doing is if we only get one and if it's a good bid, then we're going to have to reject that and go out to bid again. Sometimes that has negative results, but also sometimes it can be positive.

I understand and I know I understand the importance of getting all this done by December so they're closed and we could actually do it and not impact the residents when we do so.

Right and there's a long lead time too so for the product. All right with that I'll go ahead and move it.

I'll second.

Thank you. Discussion so Vice Mayor Harper?

You have a question. So just curious, the Pacific Sound Control, and then it says a CE pickup company. Is there any significance to that, or is that just part of their name?

I think it's initials for the owner. There's no significance to it. Okay. All right. Thanks.

Okay. Ready to vote? So we have a motion and a second on item number 14. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Item 14 passes 5-0. Thank you. Thank you.

OK, we'll move on to item 15, accept the bids and award a construction contract to KNM Design Build LLC. Does business as NM Building Group for project number 24004, city hall improvements, lobby restrooms in the amount not to exceed $304,615. and accept the InterWest Consulting Group proposal and authorize staff to issue a purchase order in the amount not to exceed $55,440 for construction management and inspection services for the City Hall Improvements Lobby Restrooms Project. Presentation by Yesenia Penaloza, Assistant Engineer. Welcome.

Good evening, mayor, city council members, and city manager. I will be presenting to you tonight the City Hall Improvements Lobby Restrooms Project, project number 24004. The city hall lobby restrooms is obviously located in the city hall building. The lobby restrooms, which are right behind us, is as shown here also in the slide as well, is used on a daily basis to public residents and city staff. Before I go into the project scope of the base bid, the base bid being the lobby restrooms, with this bid, we also added, we had alternative bids. We had four alternative bids, and I will further discuss in the next slide. But as for the base bid, the primary reason why we're doing the lobby restrooms is because we were requested that it should be ADA compliant. Currently, it is not. So hence why we will perform ADA improvement work, such as providing proper clearances, installation of ADA-compliant door hardware, installation of ADA-compliant restroom stalls, and so forth. Also including in the project scope is the demolition, plumbing, electrical modifications, new finishes, and other miscellaneous improvements, such as replacing accessories and mechanical work. Next I will talk about the alternate bids so we received four alternate bids obviously all those alternate bids are regarding improvements within the City Hall building So first alternate is the public counters and lobby remodel, which consists of interior improvements to the lobby, to the public lobby area. The second alternate is the public counter bullet-resistant glass, which is installing a bullet-resistant glass to the public lobby counters. Alternate three was a conference room remodel consisting of interior improvements to the conference room located near the entrance of the city hall building. And alternate four, which is the human resources remodel. Again, interior improvements to the human resources area. Next I will talk about the project expenses and budget. So for construction costs, which includes design support, construction, construction contingency, CM and inspection, and printing costs, totaling the project expenses to $422,550. The project budget allocation for this project is $450,000. Remaining project budget would be $27,450. Project timeline. So project timeline, this includes the lobby restrooms and the alternate bids. They were advertised back in January. We received 22 bids back in February. KNM Design Build LLC, also known as NM Building Group, was the lowest responsible and responsive base bidder. And as a reminder, the base bidder was the lobby restrooms. The construction start date is anticipated for summer of this year, and construction end date is anticipated for winter 2026-2027. To conclude, staff recommends that the City Council accept the bids and award a construction contract to KNM Design Build LLC, also known as NM Building Group, for project number 24004, City Hall Improvements, Lobby Restrooms, in the amount not to exceed $304,615. And that concludes my presentation on the City Hall Improvements for the Lobby Restrooms. Please feel free to ask any questions.

Great. Thank you so much. I'll open up to questions from council. Vice Mayor Harper.

yeah i have more of i have more of a comment i just want to complain uh that the you know the these restrooms should shouldn't shouldn't cost us 400 000 to redo two restrooms so i uh i respect that we've gone through the bid process and and done all that but um i i just feel like there's got to be a cheaper way to to um to do what we need to do there so i mean at this point i'm just venting so thank you

I agree with him, with the Council of Harper. I think it's just the dynamic that we're in, and it has a lot to do with prevailing wage. That plays a big factor, because when you look at the size of it, it's not a big issue. If you calculate it out by the square footage, it's huge. But I guess there's not much we could do as a public agency, given the factor that we're in and the regulations that we must be compliant with.

Councilman Grandes?

Yeah, we've had many, many conversations on this one. But this is where the bidding process comes in. As much as I hate to spend that much money, I'm with everybody. We just can't even understand why it's so expensive. But you got 22 bids. If you had one bid, I would be like, no way. Maybe even three bids, I'd say no way. But you got 22 bids, and that's the lowest. And some of them were really high. I mean, I can't wrap my mind around this, but.

Maybe I can share some story. Maybe I put some light into this perspective. As you know, San Francisco, their city council will want to introduce one public restroom. Out in the public way. So those who don't have a home so they can go there and use the restroom rather than be a city of poop, right? It cost them $1.2 million. Just one restroom. And they scrape it once they heard the number.

Just one restroom.

So I guess for two restrooms we pay, what, $450,000. I guess we could feel good about it, right? That's the only thing I can think of.

I love it. They must have a gold-plated toilet or something. I don't know. Yeah, I really struggled with this one. I know it's been brought to us many, many times, and we've fought back on it many, many times, but here we are.

As far as the scope of this project, two questions. Is there another way to complete the ADA requirements without redoing the entire restroom? And secondly, if we don't do this project, what happens then?

So I can answer part of the question. So your second question, actually, if we don't do the project and let's just say in the future we do put this out to bid again, I feel like the cost would come out higher like any other bid. And since also the base bid is very important, like how I said that we need to have it be ADA compliant, that is the main reason too. But I can have Scott talk further more.

Honorable Mayor, Council Members, the question is, is there another way to do the restroom? And really, we're limited. We have to have a certain number of fixtures based upon the amount of people it's serving. So there's a building code element that says we can't reduce those fixtures. Yes, because if we could reduce the fixtures, we can reduce possibly some of the cost. So the fixtures meaning the number of toilet fixtures, the urinal, the sinks, that sort of thing. It is a tight space, and initially we thought we were going to have to blow out some walls and actually make it bigger in order to be able to get the clearances we need for the doors and that sort of thing. So we've actually been able to, as much as it was almost painful to say, we've reduced the cost by being able to find some creative measures on not having to make the footprint bigger.

Okay. As far as the, I guess the Cost of the fixtures, the finishes, is that a significant cost to the equation?

Are we using very expensive materials, or is it mostly the construction?

And what's the big parts of the cost? Why is it so expensive?

it's been brought up before it's a combination of the public process and prevailing wage and the amount of time that it's going to take for them they are actually going to they're not going to bust out the floor but they will take the walls down back to the studs because they have to relocate and do some of the plumbing and so what you'll see in there is is a modernization but nothing that is going to really pop out because sometimes when it comes to ADA issues you're talking about You know, inches of movement in order to be compliant. Moving hand bars, moving toilet seat heights, you know, the height of the toilet. There's a variety of things. The ability to turn around in the stall. It might just be six inches short, but now you have to reconfigure, change the sink, do a bunch of things in order to create that five-foot turnaround or whatever it may be. And the other question was what happens if we don't do the improvements? We do open ourselves. We're on notice that it needs to be addressed. And then it just turns into one of those standard things that we've all heard about or have experienced a potential ADA lawsuit, accessibility lawsuit. At that point in time, it can go either way. Because we have identified it, because we've developed the plans, because we have the funding available, it makes it hard to be in a position to say we're not going to do it now. If we had an emergency need and we had to take the funding to do that, and this is just as a public works director, the attorney might be able to speak more clearly. Absent of some sort of need to pull the funding for something else, there's no reason for us not to do it. And so it kind of puts us in a bad situation. City Manager Lee.

I have three comments. So just as the public works director has stated, we hear the city council concern, frustration related to the cost. I think from staff perspective, we feel the same way. Again, there was 22 bids, and then also we have an aging community, and so being ADA compliant is probably – critical for us and when it comes to potential ADA claim and so forth it probably gonna cost more than what is being presented to the City Council for your consideration at this point in time and also in addition operation needs if we don't do this It limits us because there's other department needs in order for us to kind of move forward with any additional improvements in the Civic Center facility.

That's correct. For the benefit of the audience, there is a component where we are trying to do some other modernizations of City Hall, and there's some triggers along the way, and not doing this would be negligent in not meeting what the building code is in regards to doing those other improvements first before doing this improvement. Council Member Bowling?

Yeah, I think we need to move on because I think even when I've heard all the colleagues here are concerned on the cost, but I think at the end of the day, at this point, like the city manager has stated, we are being put on notice and there's a code compliance to the ADA. One thing is there's an exit point for us. And you laid out all the code already. So at this point we just have to move on and And it'd be compliance. We don't have any other options at this point unless there is others options you can think of but I don't see any Mr. Mayor, I have a question. That's from Constantine.

Please don't hold this against me. This is just out of the box thinking what if we remodeled one to ADA compliance. And again, this is just a rough thought. You'd have to relabel it to, I don't know, family maybe? But then what would we do with the other that would keep the cost down and still enable ADA usage? I don't know. I mean, it's just rough.

It is. And that's a reasonable question. It's nice to think creatively and out of the box. There are such things as gender neutral restrooms. But keep in mind that each of those individual facilities have three fixtures in them. And so it creates a little bit more challenges. And also there can be from the community maybe a little bit of uncomfortableness of having to share a mixed gender restroom if we were to do one side and not the other. Absolutely.

At this time, I reluctantly will make the motion to approve.

I'll second.

OK. We have a motion and a second. Any further comments? Sorry. Jumped the gun there. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Item 15 passes 5-0.

Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, move on to item 16, approval of amendment number three to consultant services with Michael Baker International for contract assistant planner services. Presentation by community director, deputy city manager, Omar Dadaboy.

Yes, you were about to say Victor Veramontes, and I gave him the night off. Thank you, sir. Keep you on your toes. So the city has an existing contract with Michael Baker International. We originally entered into this contract. One of our planners went back and got his master's degree, so he went part-time. And so we offset the need for those hours with a contract employee. And we were proud of that planner. He got his master's degree. And then he warmly took a job with a private firm, which we're very happy for him. And so we had about three weeks where we had him back in full time and we didn't have a contract planner. But now we need a new planner. We're going through the hiring process. We've put it out and are recruiting. And so we would like to bring on a contractor for a little bit longer. We're asking for about $77,000 in addition to the existing contract. And that will be offset with savings from salary. So I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you.

Does it look like there's any? Oh, Vice Mayor Harper? No, I will move approval of the item.

I'll second. OK.

All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Item 16 passes 5-0.

Thank you so much. Okay, last item, 18, fiscal year 2020. Sorry, 17. Moving ahead, moving ahead. Manual. OK. Item 17, approve a resolution requesting dissolution of the Fountain Valley Successor Agency. Presentation by Finance Director Ryan Smith.

Welcome. RYAN SMITH. Thank you, Mayor and Council. This item tonight is a request for the dissolution of the Fountain Valley Successor Agency. So you have to put on your successor agency hat now as board members of the successor agency. So kind of a review of the successor agency. In 2011-2012, the state legislature dissolved all of California's redevelopment agencies. Since 2012, the successor agency wound down any obligations that they had from the former redevelopment agency. In June of this year, the final payment was made on the Palm Island Development Agreement, which was the last enforceable obligation on our successor agency. And so today we're requesting to request to the successor agency board to formally request to the Orange County Oversight Board to dissolve the successor agency. So next Tuesday, I'll be going to the Orange County Oversight Board to request with them to also to dissolve the successor agency. So there were three criteria that must be met to dissolve an agency. The first you have to all obligations must be paid off. So the Palm Island was the last one for us. So we've met that. Real property must all be disposed, which our successor agency doesn't have any real property. And then finally, all the litigation resolved and we haven't had any litigation related to our successor agency for years. So we've met all criteria now and we're required by disillusion law to take this to the county to dissolve the agency. So currently we have about 574,000 remaining assets with the successor agency and that's pending some final interest allocations for the last quarter ending June. So we expect that number to be a little bit higher when we actually have to make the payment to the county. The successor agency will submit a request next Tuesday to be dissolved. The oversight board will approve or deny. Assuming approval, we'll have 30 days to submit to the California Department of Finance our request to dissolve. 30 days after the DOF reviews to approve or deny, then we'll go back to the Orange County Oversight Board for final close out of the successor agency and then be done with it. And the final step will be paying the Orange County assessor the remaining amounts of the successor agency. And then those funds will be redistributed to the taxing entities. which includes the city, so we will get a portion of those funds back. So our recommendation tonight is to, one, approve the successor agency's request to formally dissolve, two, direct the transfer of remaining assets to the Orange County Auditor-Controller, and three, to direct submission of the final resolution and oversight board resolution to the California Department of Finance. And with that, I will take any questions you may have.

Thank you. Any questions from council?

The end of the slide. It's the last slide. There you go.

Yeah, I'm just curious. The $574,000, where did that money come from?

So it was a combination. I believe there was a bond many years ago. And when that bond ended, there were some leftover funds from that. And then also just interest over the last 15 years from that money that's been sitting there has gained quite a bit. So there's that. And then every year the city would go to request basically a budget from the Department of Finance for us to get the funds to pay our obligations. And I think some of those monies were in excess of what was needed.

And this might be a dumb question, but is there any negotiating with the county that, hey, we'll stop this and give you $300,000?

No, I think the disillusion laws with the state are pretty clear on what we can and can't do.

Yeah, it's worth a shot.

Yeah.

All right, I'll move to approve.

I'll second.

Any other discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Item 17 passes 5-0. Thank you.

OK, now item 18, fiscal year 2026-2027 mid-cycle operating budget and capital improvement program update of the previously adopted fiscal year 2025 to 2027 biennial budget, continuing with finance director Ryan Smith.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. So this item is a review of our annual budget. It's mid-cycle, so this is the beginning of the second year of our two-year budget. And so we just basically go through and update any of the budgets that we have new information or we have new projections for revenues. So that's basically what we've done with other departments is gone through, we looked at our budget and determined if there's any adjustments that have been needed.

Can I just interrupt for a sec? So this is, if we didn't have a biennial budget, we'd be just doing a regular budget meeting right now? Yep.

Well, we would have already adopted last month because we would want to have a budget adopted by July 1st. So we would have met for the first time in May to review the draft budget, and then we would have brought it in June for adoption.

So because we have the two-year budget, this is kind of a shorter version of the annual budget? Okay, thanks.

So tonight, Robin Harnish, our finance manager, is going to present the adjustments. We'll look at the adopted 26-27 budget, the proposed modifications, some requested staffing modifications, and then the next steps. So I'll hand it over to Robin. Welcome.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Council. Saving the best for last? Yes. All right, quick general fund summary here. We have the current adopted budget, 84.9 in revenues and 84.5 in operating expenses. And I'd like to note that the operating expenses, that number does include the ambulance program changes that were approved by council in September of last year. So then we're looking at increasing of 1.9 million to revenues, increasing almost 1.3 in expenditures, and that leaves us with just over a 1 million budget operating surplus. We factor in one-time federal grant revenue, which that will be for a capital project we'll discuss later. And then the increase in capital improvement projects of 4.7. So that brings us to a 1.4 general fund budgeted deficit. Looking at revenues, the majority of the increase is going to be sales tax and measure HH tax. And that did come from our consultant, HDL. The $750,000, that's for a new lease agreement for an electronic reader board that we just got approval for. And then the next largest would be police. That's an increase in citation revenue with our contracted vendor. And then we have the one-time federal grant of $2.6 million. General fund expenditures. Human resources, note the asterisks. That's because the revised budget also includes the ambulance program. There was a position in HR and some positions in fire. So community development, we're looking at increases. Sorry, look at my notes here. HR, the majority of the increase is going to be legal fees and some training. community development includes north island study and economic development action plan that's part of our strategic plan as well as a new building inspector and permit tech position that one will come back to council at a future date for approval we're just adding the budget now for uh for fire The majority of that is going to be coming from revised estimates for the PPG EMT program, which is offset with EMS revenue. Then we added a new, well, the position was already added last September. We're adding five months worth of salary for the EMS management position, a captain, that's to fill it for the entire fiscal year, as well as adding an emergency management position part-time with the EOC contract. Internal service funds, the majority, well, kind of pretty split, but majority is coming from carryover items, items that did not get purchased in 25-26, and we're asking to roll that over to 26-27. So almost 3.1 million in carryover items. The bulk of that, and keep in mind the fleet management, that revised budget does include the four ambulances that were approved in September as well. So we're looking at a total increase of 3.1 across all internal service funds in carryover items, and then about a little less than 3.1 in increases. But we're expecting currently that there's going to be budget savings of $7 to $8 million from 25-26 once we finalize the audit. And so those items will be covered with just existing fund balance. All right, going to capital improvement plan. Basically, all items are, this just gives you a comparison of the adopted budget for CIP. Everything, except for with the exception of one project, is a carryover. Either items are already in progress and partially completed, or we've already established contracts for them. And so we're needing to roll that budget forward. This shows the matrix of the projects. Everything in green is a carryover item from 25-26, not currently or wasn't previously budgeted, with the exception of citywide facilities roofing, which did have a small budget, or about half of that. We rolled over the difference and added it. And then we have the new, for $350,000, Newland Slater to Heil Road Rehab. That's the newly added project. Going to enterprise funds. it's ultimately a decrease in new ads but we're adding it's five million in carryover projects across water and sewer and again the ones in green these are the carryover projects that are in progress or will be starting very soon going to staffing modifications again that EMS captain it's just adding five months worth of of the salary or fully burdened cost. And then we're also looking to add a full-time senior IT analyst position. The number is less than the annual cost because we don't expect to fill it immediately. And then looking at the rest of this fiscal year, obviously the fiscal year started July 1. We will be coming back to council around January, February for a mid-year. Then we'll be starting our next biennial budget cycle in March, budget workshop in May, and then back to you guys for adoption in June. And this is our recommendation. And we're here if you have any questions.

Great. Thanks so much. Appreciate that. Can I just add one thing? Yes.

So this was the first time that we've done the two-year budget. So this is the first time that we've done this kind of mid-cycle review. And we really treated this like a mid-year budget. We didn't go into this. So typically we would go into a new budget March 1st and we would begin and Robin would really be full time on budget from March 1st until mid June when it was adopted. So we we really we conservatively estimated within our department going this route probably saved us somewhere between 500 and 1000 hours of work on budget during this time. So it really allowed us to kind of do some other things over these last couple of months that normally we would be creating a 350-page budget book and kind of doing some of those things. So I think overall, we're just beginning the second year, but I think this was a really successful kind of experience for us in finance, I think, as well as the other departments to not have to put so much time towards the budget during this cycle.

Yes, can you bring it back to the slide that's referenced to the expenditure? Next one.

Backward. Is there revenues?

No. Right there.

Right there.

Yeah, right there. So as you can see, 2025 and 2026 on the city self-insurance, it was $400,000. But 27 is a million dollars. And I think that a lot of this has to do with some of the settlements on the claim that we're trying to settle and close those issues. And I have asked in the past that when would the city bring back on the idea is, hey, maybe it would be interesting to start working on having an outside insurance to carry that rather than self-insure or self.

The item is bringing it back to the city council in August. I think it was a scheduling conflict that we were unable to bring it back this time around. JPIA will be at the August meeting in support of staff, and we will share matters related to insurance and self-insurance.

I'm not going to be here in August. Which?

Well, it'll be recorded. We can.

August 18th? 18th. I think you should be back. OK, OK, OK. The third meeting in August. Yeah, we'll have one meeting.

OK, OK. Let's make sure. OK, thank you.

Any other questions from council?

Great presentation. I'd like to move the item. OK.

No, just great job, guys. Appreciate all the effort you put in, and the numbers are looking good. So it's positive.

OK, I think there's been a first. Second.

All those in favor of approving item number 18, say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Item number 18 passes 5-0. Thank you so much.

OK, we'll move into city council, successor agency, housing authority, public comments, unscheduled matters. Are there any requests to speak?

I have no request to speak.

OK. Okay, with the City Council Successor Agency Housing Authority AB1234, general comments. How about we start with Councilman Grandes?

Getting it up on my phone here. All right, let's see, on June 18th through the 21st, we had Summerfest, and I wanna make sure we thank all of our volunteers the Summerfest Committee, Matt Taylor for running it, and all city staff who helped make that such a wonderful event for our community. It's basically us throwing a party for our residents and I think it was very successful. On Tuesday, June 23rd, I attended the first Civic Center ad hoc committee meeting. On Thursday, July 2nd, the Independence Barbecue for city employees. And then that evening, we had concerts in the park. Saturday, July 4th, we participated in the Huntington Beach 4th of July Parade. And I want to thank Eric and Crash Champion Dave Marsh for providing the vehicles for us. It was great when we went through the streets and all the Fountain Valley residents who were there just, you know, And maybe not cheering us on per se, but cheering on that Fountain Valley was going through. So that was really nice to see and very much appreciated by all of us. On Monday, July 6th, we had the second Civic Center ad hoc committee meeting. July 9th attended concerts in the park and on Monday July 13th the OCPA board meeting I do want to go over a couple of things from the board meeting as well as what was said so just a reminder there are over 200 cities in California that are part of the CCA like OCPA millions and millions of customers throughout the state. This is new to Orange County, but it's not new to the state of California. It was a mention about pricing. Yes, at this moment, pricing is more expensive than SCE, but we did talk about that we fixed the rate. We didn't raise our lower prices throughout the year. And SCE changes their pricing up to six times per year. And if you looked at the last three-year average on pricing, comparison, OCPA and SCE, it was about equal. i i think that was a bit misleading um also one thing that's really needs to be understood is pricing has not been set or the pricing structure for next year yet we will be fighting and i will as our representative will be fighting to make sure that there is a level that um does beat sce pricing back to that uh tiered pricing so that's something that we i will absolutely be fighting for um the other thing that was brought up in the meeting uh and again the the two people that come to every one of our meetings for some reason they don't live here they don't live in a city that has ocpa um but somehow they are very much uh involved with it but anyway they one thing that was brought up that was fighting for the city of Fountain Valley was there was a recommendation take a step back this was started by Irvine Irvine put up eight million dollars And they had an extra board seat on the board of directors because they put up that money. Well, that money, which we would like to pay back sooner, but the city of Irvine wants us to pay back January 1st, which OCPA will do, is very little money that's still owed. On that date, that means that Irvine will no longer have that extra seat. So what they requested is that I shouldn't say they, what the ad hoc committee requested was that they retain that additional um vote so one of the recommendations they made was every city go to two representatives instead of one and Irvine would go to three so they'd still have an advantage over the other cities and I was like that that's not what we were told that's not what we were accepted or voted on we were told we would have an equal voice just like we do on OCSAN, on PCTA, everywhere else that we would have an equal voice. I also didn't agree with going to two representatives from each city. Right now, OCPA has a total of 22 employees. That's it. That's the entire, you know, when there's a wasteful spending, I have no idea where that comment came from, but When you have 22 employees, I did not agree to go to nine board members when there's only 22 employees. So when that motion came up, I made a substitute motion that we would stay with one vote, one representative per city, and that we would stay equal for all four cities. And that motion, that substitute motion was seconded and it was approved three to two. So Fountain Valley will stay equal with all the other cities going forward on the board. I want to make sure, you know, people know we are fighting for Fountain Valley and making sure we're taking care of Fountain Valley. So that's my report.

Thank you very much. Councilman Bowie.

Yes on 6, 3, I attend the family connect breakfast update on 6, 4, I attend the OC park meeting on 6, 9, I attend OC county restitution money at the county level the missing money from the district one and at the end with many speakers participants including our city managers and the mayors I think the vice mayor was there too right. Yeah, but it was a long line before it gets to you, so a lot of us have left, but luckily I was able to say a few words before I left. And we were able to get $3.7 million, and the money is staying in District 1.

to go back to the community, which is good news.

On 6-10, I attend OC San Administrative Committee meeting. On 6-11, I attend OC Waste meeting. On 6-17, I attend PCTA Board meeting. On 6-18, I attend Congressman Tran check presentations for or Fountain Valley Fire Station number one. And on 6-24, I attend OC-SEN Board of Director meeting. On 6-27, I attend Freedom Hall event. As our mayor has mentioned earlier, that was a really wonderful event, and the speaker was here today, and you recognize them. That was a really nice touch. On July 4th, of course, we all attend the 4th of July parade. Once again, I think everyone knows it's organized by Hudson Beach City. And this year, it was long. I mean, the crowd was almost all the way down to Beach Boulevard, I think. I'd never seen that that far. And amazingly, Council Member Constantine decided to join this year. After being here six years, I'd never seen her. She decided to show up this year. I was kind of surprised on that. And on July 8, I attend OC Sand Administration Committee meeting. And on July 9, I attend Concert in the Park. And I want to bring up something that's coming up this weekend. So we all receive the... premier girl fist patch uh fast fast pitch on national championship that's coming up to found valley this friday on july 17. this is a two-week event and the top youth girls fast pitch softball players in the country there's 630 teams and of that it's age ranging from 10 all the way down to 18 and you know high school pretty much and of that there's 45 softball fields in five cities and five valley is one of them um and there's going to be about 15 000 players and coaches 35 000 parents and relatives 400 college coaches and five telecasts on ESPNU on Saturday, July 25th. It's going to be broadcast on July 25th. So this is major Fountain Valley hotels are participant. So the hotels are going to be full. So which is great. That's tax revenue for city. Last year, They brought in $114 million in economic impact for the county of Orange County in 2025. And this year, they're projecting to bring in $130 million of economic impact to Orange County. So I want to take this moment to thanks and recognize Dan Hay, who is the CEO of Premier Girls Fast Pitch for his contributions for bringing all the great American family across the United States to compete right here in Pham Bay. So thank you, Dan. That's, you know, in a way that he's playing his part to try to bring some revenue for our city. So great. Good job.

That's it. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Bowie. Councilwoman Constantine.

Sure. So just as a reminder, everybody is welcome to our city hall and all our city meetings. And you can come speak no matter where you live, no matter who you are. I have a very long list of whereabouts, so I'm not going to read them all. But thank you to everybody who helped out at Summerfest. I did a few shifts at the information booth. It was a lot of fun, as usual. Also participated in the Huntington Valley Boys and Girls Club groundbreaking ceremony. That was a lot of fun, and they're moving on with the project. Still would like to have some financial donations. And I did several trips in dropping off items for the bulky items e-waste and tires event. Thank you to Republic Services and our Public Works team. Also attended the Fountain Valley Friends of the Fountain Valley Library Summer Bake Sale, always fun. A couple of our concerts in the park, and yes, it was my first time with the Huntington Beach Parade. It was so much fun, perfect weather, and I can't wait to do it again, hopefully next year. And on a serious note, we have not had any West Nile virus infected mosquitoes here in Fountain Valley. However, in Garden Grove, Costa Mesa, Westminster, Fullerton, there have been. So that was confirmed by the Orange County Vector, Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District They had some mosquitoes that tested positive. So please check your front yards, your backyards. Even the tiniest amount of water will allow mosquitoes to breed. And the website you can check a lot of information is ocvector.org. Thank you.