City Council - Regular Meeting

Percent of OCPA contracts are long term, ten years or more. OCPA probably follows the practices of other CCAs where they could spend up to a third of their energy costs on hedging. And we had a mild summer that usually drives up demand. Renewable prices are falling. There is no justification for OCPA to raise their rates 13% except they're losing money.

Now the OCPA board can approve a rate hike at any time like this unprecedented 13%, which will amount to about $10 more per month per resident. The OCPA board member, Jung, and council member, Grandis, approved on the consent calendar this 13% rate hike with no discussion. Now in contrast, OCPA is heavily regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission. It takes months to get a rate hike through and approved for SCE. Now, OCPA started service in 2022 and it was supposed to be greener and cheaper than SCE.

But this hasn't happened. Two of the three OCPA rate plans cost more than SCE. And you chose here in Fountain Valley a tiny discount, 1% of the bill. It's not discounted. And OCPA made clear in their presentations to you, they're going to move away to a different kind of rate structure called cost of service.

They'll just bill whatever they think they need to bill, which gives them even more license to gouge the customers. This was stated in the presentations to Fountain Valley, but no one asked about it. Euro CPA board member, council member Grandis, he has the power to protect the current OCPA members and Fountain Valley in the future by acting now to roll back OCPA's 13% rate increase. The OCPA board governs OCPA, not vice versa. He has a lot of power and could work on your behalf, and I encourage him to do so. Thank you.

I have no further request to speak.

Thank you. Just for clarity for those who may know or may not know, thank you for the speaker for coming and speaking. But because the item is not agendized, so therefore we cannot respond or comment on it for those who are here. Just want to let you know. Okay. Mr. City Clerk, do we have any scheduled matter to request to speak?

I have no request to speak on scheduled matters.

Thank you. All right. So consent calendar one through five will be approved simultaneously with one motion unless separate action or discussion is request.

I make a motion to approve items number one through five on the consent calendar.

Okay. We have a motion on the floor. Do we have a second?

I'll second.

All right. Let's vote, please.

Items one through five pass five-zero.

All right. So next one is I have a recognitions of the mirrors by outside agency. And the first one I have on the list here is Assemblyman Trittar. Is he here? Great. Welcome. All right. So the please come up. The floor is yours. Good

evening, honorable Mayor and Council Member. I'm so honored to be here and I want to recognize the leadership of Mayor Chad Bowie. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much for your service, for your leadership to serve the resident in Fun Valley And it has been my honor and pleasure to work with every every member on the council for the last few years.

And I I want to tell you the truth that I really appreciate all of your leadership, especially all the staff in Valley. They're really professional and they gave our office a lot of good ideas so we could able to carry the bill to help not only in the city of Fan Valley, but other city as well. So I have the resolution to honor your leadership. So may I ask you to come down, so I can give you a resolution. Thank you.

A few words for first of all, the honor is I appreciate that, but actually the honor, it has to do with my colleagues and our staff. They are the one who's doing all the work. And it's as you know, I only count as one vote just like all of us up here. So it takes a village to get anything done. So we want to reciprocal back to the state assembly.

Thank you for your service and thank you for recognize our years of service to all of us. Thank you. Thank you. The recognition from the outside agency. Next, I have is state senator Tony Strickland. Is he here or his staff? Do you want put oh. Orange County supervisor Janet Gwyn, please.

This is this is quite tall. It reminds me my kids always tell me how short I am now that they're, you know, six one and five seven. But mayor, when you first step into this role, Fountain Valley has always been known as a nice place to live. Under your leadership, it became a city that is not only nice, but bold. Willing to tackle hard problems, set ambitious goals, and pursue a vision that truly puts residents first.

As your county supervisor, I've had the privilege of working side by side with you. I've seen up close the way you lead, always prepared, always focused on solutions, and always, always putting Fountain Valley's families at the center of every decision you make. Because of that approach, your time as mayor leaves a real legacy. You work to keep you work with your colleagues to keep Fountain Valley safe, supporting our police, firefighters, and first responders, and making sure they had the tools they needed to protect our community. You champion with your colleagues' fiscal responsibility, tightening processes, planning ahead, and treating taxpayers' dollars with respect so that the city council invests in real priorities instead of reacting to crisis, and we appreciate that.

You've pushed to expand opportunities for our kids and families from parks and recreation to to new amenities that found that make Fountain Valley an even better place to live, play, and grow. I'm especially proud of the partnership we built together on the Miles Square Park. You didn't just accept good enough. You picked up the phone, you pushed, you negotiated, and because of that persistency, Fountain Valley secure additional acreage from the county of Orange. And ex and and you're able to expand your sports park and ex the expansion for generations to come.

That didn't happen by accident. You led right after former mayor Glenn Glandis was negotiating with the county. And because of your leadership coming in and helping, we negotiated together, and we finalized it together. You also understood that a strong city means a strong local economy. You work closely with our small businesses, cut red tape, working with city staff when needed, and also really sending a very clear message to everybody in Fountain Valley that Fountain Valley is open for business, and we are here to help you succeed, not stand in your way.

And we appreciate that. We see that as we walk, as I drive around Fountain Valley, have my meetings in Fountain Valleys, you can see that more businesses are open than they are closed. And you never forget that this is a diverse dynamic community. You show up not only in our neighborhoods, you show up at community events, and you also show up at Vietnamese American events for our children and families. For you show up for our seniors, and you show up for our business owners.

You listen, you learn, and you make sure that people felt heard and included in our city government. And so we appreciate you. And, you know, to serve as mayor, we all know, all of you up there, is not just mayor but council. You give up many evenings at home, many weekends from away from your family, and may many quiet moments you might otherwise have had. So tonight, I also want to thank your family, your wife, Rose, your children for giving you to us for the year.

This is not the end of it. You're still on the council, so we still expect work. But carrying the mayorship is a very difficult title because you represent the city and that when when people talk about Fountain Valley, the mayor is who they look to. And so we wanna thank them because without them being by your side, it would be very difficult for you to serve so well and so honorably and always focusing on the community. And, you know, mayor, titles come and go.

Mayor today, council member, or simply a neighbor tomorrow. But what last is the impact you've had on people's lives? The child who will grow up playing on the new fields and playgrounds that this council will get to look and get to negotiate and get to plan. The small business owners who got a fair chance to grow. The senior who feels safe at home because of thoughtful policies and strong public safety with your leadership and with this council, the family who see a brighter future in this community because our city is planning ahead and not falling behind.

So on behalf of the County Of Orange and personally as a friend, I wanna thank you, and I'm proud to work alongside you this year. And I know this is not you know, yes, your midterm might be coming to a close tonight, but this is not a stat this is not the end of your service here with the city of Fountain Valley. And so I know that you will can no doubt continue to have a powerful voice in our city and continue to always make sure that residents is first. And, you know, at this time, I wanna say congratulations to your term as mayor. We appreciate you.

We thank you. And if I may, you know, vice mayor, Ted has quite a big pair of shoes, so you're gonna have to feel those shoes. And, you know, and so if there's anything we can do, we would please let us know. There's many opportunities that's coming before us in the next few years. One that's very exciting with OCTA, and we will, you know, schedule that meeting.

There's, potentially $75,000,000 coming back to six of the cities in my district because of the four five tolling in 2029. And I said a song on your representative on OCTA with me is council member Patrick Harper. We will work side by side to making sure that those funds are gonna be utilized to help our streets and roads to synchronize them, to making sure that people are able to freely move and about in the city. And so we appreciate so many partnership. And so, again, thank you mayor, and might be presumptuous of me, but an early congratulation to vice mayor Kinnin.

And again, thank you to your staff, your city manager, and your staff. They work really well with our office, we appreciate it. Mayor, I have a resolution from the County Of Orange. I would like to present this to you.

Well, Supervisor McWhitney, it's always good to have you come back locally.

And then

you can get a lot of things done for not just for farmland, but many city in Orange County get a lot of things more done. Can I ask you a questions? How much time do you spend on that script on that we just wrote? Because that's a lot of great things. I'm you spend a lot of time just write this.

I thought you wrote it for me. I was just kidding. Just kidding. No. It came from the heart. I appreciate what you do. Thank you.

Just Thank you.

Once again, Supervisor Wingman, you for being here.

You didn't even know that

All right. So next one is a representative for State Senator Tony Strickland is here, I believe. Zach, welcome.

Hello, everyone. My name is Zachariah Hargie. I'm honored to speak on behalf of senator Tony Strickland. And as we recognize a leader who has truly made a difference and found value, mayor Ted Bouie. It's been an honor to work with you this past year. Just wanna go and put that out there. Mary Bowie has served his community with integrity, energy, and a heart for people. Under his leadership, Fountain Valley has continued to grow stronger, safer, and more connected. His dedication to public service is seen not only in the big decisions, but in the countless hours he invest behind the scenes, showing up, listening, and always putting residents first. Senator Strickland extends his deepest appreciation for mayor Bui's partnership and his unwavering commitment to the families of this city.

Leaders like mayor Bui remind us what it means to lead with purpose and humility, And thank you, mayor Bui, for your service, your vision, and your continued work to make Fountain Valley a better place for all of us. And as we look ahead, senator Strickland and our team are excited to work with, you know, the presumptive mayor, Jim Caneen, and continue building the strong foundation set here in Fountain Valley. And I know that the senator was personally able to recognize you with the resolution, but I have the secondary honor of representing that resolution to you today. So if we could just have you down and I can go and do that, that'd be great.

You.

Zac is on behalf you know, as a former mayor, I'm gonna be soon checked out. So please send my regard to senators Tony Schuickland. His leadership is important to us and thank you for his friendship as well. Thank you. Yeah. Alright. Next person I have is Catherine Morrison from ACCOC, Director of Member Services.

Good evening, mayor Bui and council members. On behalf of the Association of California Cities, Orange County, I am honored to be here this evening to recognize you, mayor Bui, for your dedicated service to the residents of Fountain Valley during your tenure as mayor. We deeply value Fountain Valley's continued partnership with ACCOC and the important role your city plays in strengthening regional collaboration. Your leadership has consistently reflected the principles we champion as ACCOC, especially your commitment to public safety, community engagement, and building strong partnerships across Orange County. Mariboui, it is my privilege to express our gratitude for your service.

At this time, I would like to present you with the certificate of recognition.

Catherine, thank you so much for the recognitions. ACCOC play a crucial role this year. One of the important town hall meeting we had was the Silver Group Home. And they were there to answer all questions our resident had. And they play a very crucial role in term of helping not just found Valley, but many city throughout California to address such an important topic that's not only affecting this community, but many community throughout Orange County.

Once again, you for ACOC for your for the work that you do. All right. Someone has to do the dirty work, which is trash, right? Someone has to do the pick up the trash in our city. The only person that is famous in the city for doing the trash work is Debbie Kelly

from Republic. But she's here representing you for the

fan by Chamber of Commerce.

Thank you. In the industry, we like to call ourselves trashy ladies. I appreciate that. So yes, very proud to work at Republic Services and be a part of our Chamber of Commerce and you have been such a great support. I did wanna, you know, just so people know what is a Chamber of Commerce.

So, you know, as the chair this year, I've really had a great opportunity to meet more businesses and be a part of this great community. I really love being in Fountain Valley. And part of a chamber's role is to help businesses thrive by providing marketing support, networking opportunities, educational resources and advocacy with the elected. And you Mayor Bui have been a prime example of that with your mayorship this year by making sure to support our businesses and our chamber. You've showed up to events. You've come to ribbon cuttings. I mean, could just always count on is is mayor Bui coming? Oh, yeah. He's parking. He's right there.

So we really appreciate that because it makes a big difference to the businesses and they get so excited to go, oh, the mayor came to my ribbon cutting? That's so cool. And I know we've had we have few previous mayors on council too and we've appreciated your appearance at those events as well. Mayor Bui, you do walk the walk. Like I said, you attend things, you support business initiatives, you're a conduit to helping businesses get what they need in the community.

I just got that compliment today going, we're gonna miss mayor Bui because he actually helped this business get open, and stay open. So appreciate that that hard work you do for us. So, again, thank you for your unwavering support and we again, we look forward to working with you on council, in the future. We have a certificate of appreciation and a little little card signed by the board member saying thank you for We were gonna have the chamber board if anybody wants to pop up real quick. Thank you.

I know I was talking when you're Come to bed before? No. Any of the chamber people wanna come up?

Debbie, you're

not leaving yet. Last meeting, I recognize the founding of the chamber of commerce, the entire executive team, and the board of director. But Kelly have done an ex amazing job for the chamber of commerce. As you know, that's not her real job. Her real job is at the service republic.

And she couldn't attend my last meeting to be recognized. But since she's here today, I would like to recognize her for her entire years of dedication serving the founding chairman of commerce. To me, Falmouth A Chairman is so crucial and important to the city because any business in the city of Falmouth is the backbone for the city in terms of economics. When I say by that is any purchase, sale, So who is not leaving the city, please remember to fill up your gas tank before you leave Far Valley because any pay any penny counts. So she has dedicated her time and their entire team has dedicated hundred of hours volunteering for helping business to sustain and retain in the city and that is very important for our city.

Without the local business, we would not generate sales tax nor a resident will have a place to shop or do business with their families or their loved one when they come in town. So once again, I would like to thank you to the Family and Chamber of Commerce for their work and Debbie Kelly for your year as a President for the Chambers.

Thank you all for your patience.

All right. The next one we have Joe Moskat from OCPA. Is he here? Yeah. He's here.

Good evening, mayor and members of the city council. Joe Moskow from Orange County Power Authority. We're happy to be here. Andrew DeGiovanni is here as well. Happy to be here and part of the celebration tonight. We don't, unfortunately, have a certificate with us, but I will bring a certificate at another time and and honor your and celebrate your time on the city council as mayor. So thank you so much for your service. We look forward to for many more years of service on on the city council. We look forward to future mayor Kaheen as well. And so thank you so much for your service, and we appreciate being here tonight.

Thank you. So for those who have first time meeting Joe, so Joe Moskow is the CEO for OCPA, and Andrew Gidomine is the representative for this district. Just let everybody know. Thank you. You. Alright. Okay. And the next one is presentations to outgoing mayor Bui by vice mayor, Kunin.

Thank you, mayor. I think we'll let the mayor sit and rest a little bit. He has been getting in his steps back and forth back and forth right so. Mayor you can relax You you you've gone through the the process. We on behalf of the city council and the city staff and everyone in the community, we would like to present to you a plaque that's got the gavel.

And and it says, presented to mayor Ted Bui for dedicated community service as mayor December 2024 through December 2025. Thank you, sir, for your service. It has been really an honor working with you. I have learned an incredible amount. I remember this time last year, your family was here, Your wife, Rose, and it was such an a wonderful celebration.

And one year later, look at look at all the great things that you have done, the accomplishments that you've made, and so we wanna celebrate that. So on behalf of the city, would you please accept this as our token of congratulations? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Well, next is I have a few comments as outgoing Mayor. So as my term as Mayor concludes and we prepare to welcome new leaderships in 2026, I want to express my sincere gratitude for the opportunity to serve this remarkable community. This past year has been both rewarding and deeply meaningful. Serving the resident of family has strengthened my appreciation for our city and for the dedicated individual who work every day to make it better. I'm grateful to our resident, our hard working city staff, and my colleagues on the city council for their support and collaborations.

Although at time, we may not agree on every issue, it is important that we continue our discourse with civility and respect, always placing the interest of the city and the people we represent above everything else. Strong beliefs and different differing opinions are a natural part of healthy public debate. But addressing those differences with professionalism and grace is what makes Falun Bai truly special. I also have I have also value the opportunity to work closely with leader from surrounding city and regional agency. These partnerships have strength of regional relationship and advanced important initiative that benefits Borch's community.

I want to express special appreciation to our Vice Mayor, Jim Cunning, who have been an active and engaged partner throughout the year. His dedication and thoughtful leadership have prepared him well for the responsibility ahead. I have complete confidence in his ability to step up the Mario role and I look forward to supporting his vision and continue working together in the coming year. Finally, I want to thank my wife and and children. Public service often require long hours, evening meetings and time away from home.

Their patient, encouragement and unwavering support made it possible for me to serve in this role. Among many qualities that define Fountain Valley, the one that resonate most deeply with me is its commitment to family value, which truly makes our city special. I'm grateful that my own family reflect those values through their support and understanding throughout this journey. For me, EV means family value and I believe those value are what will make what will continue to guide our community forward. Let us continue moving Valley forward together.

Thank you once again for the privilege of serving as your Mayor. It has been truly an honor and I remain committed to helping guide Fountain Valley toward an even brighter future. Thank you. All right. The next is now we're to go to the election of mayor and vice mayor.

Everyone please take out your folder and go ahead and make your selection.

We will handle the mayor ballot first.

So Okay.

Make your selection, make sure you sign it. And once I receive all five, I will let you know the outcome.

I'll go to you, Rick.

Thank you. By a five zero vote the mayor for the remainder of 2025 through December 2026 will be council member Jim Kenne. Congratulations. Now mister mayor, we have one more piece of business to attend to. We need to select or vote for the vice mayor for the remainder of 2025 and 2026.

The ballot is on your in front of you. Please vote and submit it to me.

Thank you.

And again by a five zero vote, the vice mayor for the remainder of 2025 through December 2026 will be council member Patrick Harper. Congratulations.

All right. Congratulations to my colleague. I can't call you until you take the oath to office. That's the rule. Just everyone knows.

Before you do that, Mayor, we have a bouquet for you to present it to your wife, Okay.

Great.

I'd like to invite my other half, the better looking half, which is my wife Rose. Like I said, it's been a tough year. As you know, when you're the mayors, you're not response you know, you're not being called out to support the city, but you have neighboring city calling you. And if you don't show up, it just doesn't look good as a mayor of this enact, you're wanting to cooperate with other city. And at time, my kids say, dad, you always gone.

Where are you wherever you're, you know, where are you? So my wife Rose has to step up and she said, dad has to be at work serving the community. So you had to be patient with him. The year's almost over. So I wanna thank you my wife Rose and there's a bouquet Rose for her for her dedications and love that she'll allow me to serve this community.

Thank you, Maggie, for the little details. Okay. So now we move on to the administration of the oath of office to newly elected Mayor, Jim Knee.

Alrighty. Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I

I, Jim Keene.

Do solemnly swear that I will support and defend

Do solemnly swear that I will support and defend

the constitution of The United States

constitution of The United States

and the constitution of the state of California and the constitution of the state of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic

against all enemies, foreign and domestic

that I will bear true faith and allegiance

that I will bear true faith and allegiance

to the constitution of The United States

the of The United States

and the constitution of the state of California

and the constitution of

the state of California that I take this obligation freely

That I take this obligation freely

Without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion

Without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion

And that I will well and faithfully discharge

And that I will well and faithfully discharge

The duties upon which I'm about

to enter. The duties upon which I'm about to enter. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you, everyone.

I've actually got a few props. First, I'd like to thank all of my council colleagues for your vote, for your confidence in me, and for this coming year. Thank you so much for that. Appreciate it. One of the benefits of being mayor this go around is I've got four mayors to learn from and have observed.

I'm still the newbie on the block, and that's kind of fun. Right? So I appreciate that. Next, I want to recognize some very special people that are in the room with me. You got to see my beautiful bride, Mimi.

Thank you, Mimi, for being here. I have my entire family, just amazing. Thanks for showing up. So I think what we'll do is sort of that parade wave, and we'll go really quick because I wanna recognize all my family members who are here tonight. And so sitting next to Mimi is my oldest son, Dominic, my son, Daniel, my oldest daughter, Delaney, middle daughter, Delilah, my youngest daughter, Dahlia, and her boyfriend, Christian, you get included.

And then behind him, my brother, Mike, his beautiful bride, Serena. Now I wanna say they drove all the way out from Fontana. So let's give him a round of applause. I'm gonna start with my sister, Terry, and her husband, Glenn. And they drove out from Menifee.

And I'm so thrilled to have my mom, Sue Kaneen, here. So glad you can make it, mom. Yay. And my brother, Phil. I wanna mention Phil is the last remaining Cerritos resident. We all grew up in Cerritos. Cerritos.

And we have former mayor Chungbo here in Cerritos. So yes.

And then I'm so thrilled to have Mimi's family, Mark and Monica from Yorba Linda. Thank you. We have Mimi's sister Maria and her daughter Jenna. And in the back, her twin brother Justin and his wife Brooke with their son, Forrest. Wait.

I have more family still here. And all the way from Costa Mesa, Mimi's aunt Kathleen. And in the back, they may have driven the farthest from Oceanside, Mimi's cousin Kathleen and her partner Robert. Thank you so much for coming. I think that is all of our immediate family. Awesome. We we have friends. Michelle. We wanna recognize Michelle Jones, a teacher at Marina High School, and her daughter, Minnie. Thank you for being here.

I also am so thankful for our pastor at Holy Spirit, father Charles Tran, for being here. Thank you so much, father. And there are so many friends in the audience. Just thank you for being here. One of the one of the special moments for me is is to recognize my teachers, my mentors, and and and they're in this room as well.

And so I I wanna thank the Crandells for Sandra and Larry. By the way, Sandra is president of Fount Valley School District, board of trustees. And and Larry, former mayor, Fountain Valley proud for life. Thank you so much for all of your mentoring and your coaching to me. Thank you.

And because I have a heart for learning, we love our school district. It's so special to have our superintendent, doctor Katherine Stock, here tonight. We have a few board trustees. Steve Schultz is in the audience. Thank you, Steve.

President pro tem, also with the board, Dennis Cole and his wife, Christine, and his family. And there's so many of you who have served in our community who have helped us be where we are today. Thank you for your service. Like I mentioned, we have former mayors. We have former leaders. So glad that they can continue to serve on city count or on planning commission. And so that is just a joy. So I wanna introduce a few themes. We have been talking about FV. FV, Fountain Valley.

We've heard recently that Fountain Valley is a place where we have fabulous volunteers, fantastic volunteers. We have heard that Fountain Valley is a place for family values, and we agree those those are important. So what I thought I'd do, and the reason why I have the baseball hat is because those of you that know me know that I love baseball. Baseball is my favorite sport, and I wish I could have been a baseball player. I tried to live it out in my sons and my daughter.

Didn't quite happen. So what I'd like to do is just talk about four themes, but put it in the context of a baseball diamond. And so these are going to be things that hopefully we as a Citi team can can generate, can sort of build upon. And and and I think these will will be fun, but they will also be challenging to our city. We wanna kinda touch on areas that we think will help us grow, will help us be even a better city, if that's even possible.

And so let's talk about getting to the to first base. Right? You got to the plate. You got you hit the ball, and we're running to first base. So I think of of that first base as a healthy and a fitness valley.

Health and Fitness Valley, FV. And if you think about it, I would say if you talk to anybody in our community, we would all agree, I think, that health and fitness and living your best life is really what is common with all of our community. It seems like everyone is walking. Everyone is playing pickleball, or everyone's out there trying to to to be fit. And I think that's a brand that we can build on. Look at who is in our city. We have UCI. We have MemorialCare. We have a lot of health focus in our city. And so let's let's think about FV as health and fitness valley.

How about that? We have so many great parks. We are working on our parks master plan right now to try to even improve our parks. And one of the things that I'm gonna try to do, and this is gonna be a challenge to me, is I wanna do something called a mile with the mare. Maybe four times a year, we're gonna try to get together, and we're gonna walk, and we're gonna talk, and we're gonna communicate. And this would be a moment for us to get fit, to get to know each other a little bit better. And so stay tuned for that. We're gonna we're gonna talk about a mare's mile. Now I love Huellhauser. For those of you that remember Huellhauser, he had a way of getting out and about.

I hope to sort of mimic that as we as we go and get healthy and fit. Alright. We had a good it's deep. We're gonna run to second. We think we can stretch out a double. So on second base, what do you need to stay fit? Well, we need nutritious, healthy foods. Nutritious, delicious, Foodie Valley. Foodie Valley. FB.

Foodie Valley. We are a food destination, are we not? Let's build upon that. And that is a is a signal to our businesses that that we want to dine here. We want to we want to have more options for you to enjoy your food.

We love our neighbors, but we want we want you to stay in our city. And so this is a nod to the chamber of commerce. This is a nod to our great restaurants. Like, have Istanbul Grill representatives here, and and and we we wanna continue to work on building those kinds of businesses. Foodie Valley.

This ball went deep into the corner. We're still running. We're heading to third. And third base, we're gonna pause a little bit, and we're gonna think about what I think is a great part of being in Fat Valley is a neighborly and friendly valley. And I wanna give an example of of what to me is being a good neighbor.

All you have to do is remember our favorite neighborhood friend, mister Rogers. And we're gonna be channeling the reverend Fred, mister Rogers, this year because he taught us, at least our generation, how to be a good neighbor. I'm gonna go on out a limb and say that I think we can be great neighbors. And so this is the interactive portion of our program. We're gonna do a little bit of practicing on how to be a good neighbor.

Okay? It's a four step process. Very simple. First, you look, you smile, you wave, and you say, hello, neighbor. So why don't we try that? Find somebody next to you, look them in the eye, smile, wave to them, and say, hello, neighbor.

Hey. That's pretty good. That's pretty good.

Let's do this. We are live. We have cameras in the room. Why don't we welcome all of our neighbors in our community, those that are watching, those that will watch. So let's look up, smile, wave, and say, hello, neighbor. Hello, neighbor. Fantastic. And to me, this also carries on a theme of kindness. This is what's great about our school districts, our our our love for learning. This is what I think is also part of Fount Valley is is this ability to to be kind to each other because we are a nice place to live.

To be nice, you gotta be neighborly, I think. So we're gonna we're gonna work on that this year. And I just wanna finish with one act of kindness that I think really shows being a good neighbor and being a good encourager for doing better in life. When I was elected three years ago, I got a nice note from trustee Steve Schultz, and it says, mister mayor Jimbo. And I've kept this in my office because I wanted to share tonight that simple acts of kindness like that make all the difference in the world.

I I have used that as fuel to set to someday be able to say, I'm mister mayor. And that has happened. And thank you, Steve, for that kindness, and we're gonna practice that. We're gonna we're gonna work on that this year. In everything that we do, we're gonna bring that to our neighborhoods. We're gonna bring that to our businesses. We're gonna bring that to our meetings, and we are going to be, I think, the best neighborly and friendly valley there is. Alright. That ball actually went over the fence. So we are going home.

We're going to home plate. And let's think of this as first place home base. Everything that we value in life, we could probably trace back to our homes. We spend so much time working, dreaming, saving money, doing everything we can to create a home base. That's really another major brand for Fountain Valley.

We are we are such a wonderful place to live that people move from far away to come to Fountain Valley. There are some of you in this room who grew up in another state who have come to Fountain Valley. There's those of us that lived in LA that moved to Orange County, and and here we are. So what is it about Fountain Valley that makes it so special that we wanna call our first place, maybe our first apartment, our first condominium, maybe our first house? What makes that so special?

That's where the family values come in. That's where the the fabulous volunteers come in. We are a special community because we have all of those elements. And so really all of these themes, I think, tie in with first place home base. And really what it says to me is this is a forever valley. We will live here as long as we can. It is a forever destination. Doesn't that make you feel good that you are in your forever home? You're living your best life here in Fountain Valley, and isn't that special? So these are the themes that I really I really think that we can work on.

We can we can grow. The the idea of having a safe place at home by the way, that's the goal of baseball. Right? To get to home and to be safe. Safe?

I know it's a little George Carlin, but safe. That ties in our great fire department, our wonderful police department, keeping us safe in everything that we do with with our home life and with our family life. It also is a is a reminder to us to appreciate that the water's working, the the utilities are working, the sewers are I mean, everything in public services, everything a city does really comes down to to our home. And so for that, let's think about Fountain Valley as our forever valley, our home base. And I think with that, we can do amazing things.

We can we can overcome. We can meet new challenges that come from outside. And so as your new mayor, I hope that you too can hit a home run. Let's run around those bases, and then let's play ball. Okay.

We're going to go ahead and continue on with the meeting. So we're at council member items for future consideration. Do any council members have any items they would like for future consideration? Okay. Hearing none, why don't we move into city council successor agency housing authority public comments.

Mister city clerk, do we have any comments to speak? Okay. Alright. So we'll move into our housing authority a b one two three four general comments. And I would like to start with councilwoman Constantine for your report.

Sure. Well, congratulations again, new mayor Canine and also vice mayor Harper. We look forward to your leadership, both of you, and it's a pleasure to be on city council. I submitted my report but I did wanna say on a different note, on an informational note, ocvector.org, they deal with vectors such as rats, mosquitoes, flies, and red imported fire ants. And the website at ocvector.org has a lot of information there about the various vectors, their social media page of the vector control not the vectors, Various resources and how to report an issue.

And please remember to always dump any standing water that you have outside your home. Even the tiniest amount can facilitate breeding mosquitoes, and we don't need to be having mosquito problems. And thank you very much.

Thank you, Councilwoman Constantine. Next, Councilmember Grandis.

Thank you. I I wanna thank now council member Bowie one more time for for your year as mayor. All of us being well, I guess, Jim, you now we're gonna figure this out. It's a lot of work, a lot of effort, and it's very much appreciated. I wanna congratulate our new mayor. Thank you sir. Mayor Kenne.

I get

to say that now and vice mayor Harper. So my report I'm going to go through things quickly I see standing in the back but on Wednesday, November 19, I attended the Veterans of Distinction Award, mister Mike White. Come on in here, Mike. He's kinda listening. It was a presentation by Assemblyman Trita.

So thank you for your service, and thank you in the military, and thank you for your service to our community. Well deserved. And from there, I ran from that meeting to the Orange County San itation District. One thing that's kind of nice with OCSAN is that I sit on not only the as a board member, but on the steering committee. And the steering committee is a subset of the I think there's 34 or 37 board members.

There's seven of us that meet beforehand for more detailed information, and then we get come up with a recommendation that we bring to the general board. So by having somebody from Fountain Valley on the steering committee that really makes a difference in what we get accomplished with the Orange County Sanitation District. And then I attended the general board meeting after that. Thursday, November 30, the Kiwanis meeting, the Fountain Valley Community Foundation board meeting, and then the Fountain Valley Community Foundation volunteer meeting. Thank you to all our volunteers with the community foundation.

You guys make such a difference. Monday, December 1, the Fountain Valley School District Educational Foundation board meeting and the Orange County Power Authority Marketing and Community, Communications Committee. And, this morning, I attended over at the Huntington Beach Pier, the Light the World giving machines at the pier. It's a great, it's like a big old vending machine there, and they have, different, benefactors. So it's the Boys and Girls Club.

There there's a bunch of different organizations, and what you do is you go there and your credit card with a big vending machine, and you buy a backpack for a kid or a meal for somebody or a service animal. You know, it's like $30, and you're giving back. And today is, help me out, Tuesday Giving Tuesday. Giving Tuesday. Thank you. And that was a great kickoff. Thank you to Janine Johnson and team for putting that together. Please go to the Huntington Beach Pier, support one of our nonprofits. And with that, that's my report.

Thank you, council member Grandis. Councilman Bui.

Well, once again, congratulations to mayor Cunningham, and congratulation to vice mayor Harper. You have a lot of families sitting here since, what, 05:30 or someone came in at 05:00. Mhmm. So I'll go ahead and submit a report because I'm sure they're hungry. They're ready to hit and party with you as a new mayor.

Thank you, Council Member Bui.

Vice Mayor Harper. Thank you once again congratulations to incoming Mayor Kennean and I I think I'd like to say a few words about outgoing Mayor Bowie. Know there's Fountain Valley has had a lot of mayors in its history. There's probably, know, if you go down the wall, there's pictures on the wall, probably like, I'd say about 30 mayors and I've had the chance to work with a number of them. But I gotta say, Mayor Buoy, of all the mayors that I've worked with, you're by far the most recent. So yeah, I just wanna say that.

That joke never gets old.

But you you did a great job really hearing the comments today by our state and county officials. You can tell the impact that mayor Bowie had on on our officials also reaching out to the Chamber of Commerce. Had a great a great year. So thank you once again. As far as my activities last couple of weeks, I'll I'll submit the report, but I did want to mention yesterday we had our annual RSVP Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon and the RSVP stands for retired senior volunteer program and they help the police out with vacation alerts you know, providing extra help to our police department.

We really appreciate all the hours that they put in. So thank you very much.

That concludes my report. Thank you. And I just wanna mention two quick items. On November 20, I participated in a tour of iron workers local four one six in La Palma arranged by assembly Mentrita together with council members from Cypress, Garden Grove, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Irvine. Special thanks to Sochi Medrano, Bradley Youth, and Randy Wetmer for the interesting tour and learning about this important construction craft in the building industry.

And then lastly, on November 25, I joined my wife Mimi, who won this great raffle prize at the mayor's gala. And our three daughters who are here and also Christian, a firefighter in training. So we got to go for a delicious and fun dining event at our Fire Station Number 1. It was fortunately a quiet night in our city and no real emergency calls. So after a great meal, we all got to play a game called ninety nine ninety nine, which was a blast and made us all feel real close and showed me and my family just how incredible our local suppression heroes really are.

And I also wanna lastly just say thank you to the staff for decorating the dais and for our offices, for the for all the holiday decorations that are out. They look really nice, gets us into that festive spirit. We will have our next meeting on December 16, two weeks from tonight. And so with that, we'll go ahead and adjourn until then.