City Council - Regular Meeting

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of the city council public finance and authority to order. Madame clerk, may I have the roll call, please? Councilman Gr here. Councilman Kennedy here. Mayor McKeon here. Councilman Burns present. Councilman Williams here. Pursuant to resolution number 20001-54. Councilwoman Vandermark and Mayor Prom Twining have requested permission to be absent from this meeting. If there's no objections, it will be recorded in the minutes. Well, no.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Do we have any supplemental communications? Not for close session. Madam clerk, do we have any sign up to speak on close session items? No speakers signed up.

All right, we're going to recess to close session. Including close session is conference with real property negotiators, government code section 549 uh 58.8, 8 property 211091 Pacific Coast Highway, Huntington Beach, California 92648 APN 024281-16 Agency negotiators Travis Hopkins, city manager. Marissa sir, assistant city manager. Ashley Wisaki, director of community and library services. Chris Cole, community and library services manager. William Krill, real estate project manager. Negotiating parties Foy Hanari Pacific City Hotel LLC doing business as the POA Hotel and Spa not present under negotiations is price and terms of payment conference with labor negotiators government code section 54957.6 Six agency designated representatives. Travis Hopkins, city manager, also in attendance, Marissa Sur, assistant city manager. Mike Vigliata, actually Paul deandro, city attorney, and Zach Z, acting chief financial officer. Employee organizations, the police management association and the Huntington Beach Police Officers Association, uh the Police Management Association and the Huntington Beach Firefighters Association, HBFA, uh Fire Management Association. Council, do I have a motion and a second to recess to close session?

Motion. Second.

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Good evening. I'd like to reconvene the regular meeting of the city council public financing authority. Madame clerk, can may I have the roll call, please? Councilman Gr here. Councilman Kennedy here. Mayor McKon here. Councilman Burns present. Councilman Williams here. Pursuant to resolution number 20001-54, Councilwoman Vandermark and Mayor Prom Twining have requested permission to be absent from this meeting. If there are no objections, it will be reflected in the minutes. Awesome. And I think we want to have a special guest just come out and say hi.

Butch. flare for the dramatic. Hey,

yeah, say something. But I didn't want to miss this meeting. The way I can say I never missed a meeting, but I do have to leave in about one minute because as you most of you know, I had open heart surgery on Thursday. Uh f uh four what I have four uh quadruple. Yeah, a quadruple bypass. So, just just last Thursday. So, I I really wanted to come and just say thank you to everybody. The outpouring of of care and friendship and love and I I probably got somewhere between seven and 800 uh emails and texts and I just felt like and I'm telling you from both sides of the room and I appreciate it. Uh

love you. Love you guys. See you on the 21st. All right, bud. Love you, man. Lisa here.

What a legend. Quadruple bypass. On a Thursday, quadruple bypass. He's here on Tuesday. A amen. So with that, let's give the invocation. Tonight's invocation will be given by Huntington Beach Police Fire Chaplain Bob Euan. Gracious God, we pause at the start of this meeting to give thanks. We are grateful for each member of this council for their time, service, and willingness to carry the responsibility of leadership on behalf of this community. I especially am thankful that Councilman Twining is here briefly. I pray that you would continue to watch over him and bring healing to his body. We also give thanks for the many residents and community members present. Those who are engaged, attentive, and invested in the well-being and future of Huntington Beach. Father, in this season of spring, as the days grow longer and new life begins to emerge, we are reminded of renewal, hope, and fresh beginnings. For many, this season is also marked by Easter, a time that speaks of restoration, grace, and the promise of new life. May these themes inspire us as we gather, encouraging us to approach one another with patience, humility, and a spirit of cooperation. We lift up in gratitude and prayer our first responders who serve this city with courage and dedication each day. We especially remember Chiefs Parr and McCoy, asking for wisdom in their leadership, strength in their service, and protection over them and those they lead. As we move forward in this meeting, may our words be thoughtful, our actions respectful, and our decisions guided by a genuine concern for the good of all. Help us to listen carefully, to speak kindly, and to seek understanding even when perspectives differ. May this time together be marked by a unity of purpose and a shared commitment to serve this community well. In your most holy name, Jesus, I pray.

Amen.

Amen. Tonight, the pledge of allegiance will be led by Gary Robas of American Legion Post 133. Gary served in the US Air Force and Air National Guard from 1980 to 1986 as a personal affairs officer and staff sergeant were serviced at Lachland Air Force Base, Kesler Air Force Base, Sky Harbor A&MG, and Davis Monthan Monthan Air Force Base. His duties included managing personnel affairs for enlisted and officer personnel ranging from military code violations and promotion reviews next of kin uh notifications. Following his military service, Gary built a successful corporate career starting as a commercial banker before being recruited by Johnson and Johnson. He later retired from Fizer and served as a regional manager with BBI an opthalmolic surgical company until his retirement in 2021. Gary has lived in I2 Beach for 10 years and has been a dedicated member of the American Legion for 29 years. Thank you for your service, Gary.

Thank you.

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. All right. Close session report by city attorney. City attorney, do you have anything to report from close session?

One one matter to report case of Grant Parks versus the city of Huntington Beach at Al Council. Upon motion by council member Grul, second by council member Williams, the council voted to authorize the city attorney's office to enter into settlement discussions. Vote was five in favor, none against, Twining, and Vandermark absent.

Thank you, city attorney. All right. Next is council member comments. Um, I'll go first. I know there's a lot of people in the room tonight. And regarding agenda item 22, I assume, which is the presentation of professional services contract. And although we don't need to go to RFP per municipal code section 3.03.100 03.100 and also our city charter section 13. Several people have requested an RFP for other bids. I'm highly confident that Wolf House is the best group to to perform all these highly specialized services based on their track record and client list. Their past clients I've spoken to have confirmed Wolf Wolf House has performed this work at scale and larger. Wolf has no issue with submitting through an RFP process as they are highly confident in their track record and work they can provide to improve our community. And I don't want I don't want the negative attention of not performing an RFP to ruin the massive community benefit and revenue potential this project can bring to Huntington Beach. Therefore, we will pull item 22 from the agenda and open an RFP process. But before we do, I want everyone to be on the same page for transparencies as to the scope of services that will need to be performed. One, a firm who can build, fix, and run a brand ecosystem consisting of media, merchandising, licensing, events, tourism, film, sponsors, and partnerships, cultural programming, and optimizing our city venues. The firm needs actual media and film relationships, and local and international artist relationships to help optimize our art center. The firm needs to build a creative direction strategy and communication infrastructure within city hall and train our staff to implement and operate. The firm needs to develop and implement a city-controlled merchandising program that trademarks finally and captures the economic value of Huntington Beach's global identity and tourism traffic. The firm needs to create and implement a film and digital media office permitting and location marketing system. The firm needs to create a pathways project, most importantly that works with Golden West

College and our high schools to implement internships within this new ecosystem to provide our youth with school credits and job training so that they can find a future and career in Huntington Beach. And their proposal needs to have milestone deliverables that have to be verified so that the contract moves forward. If there are no if there are so many firms that can perform and deliver all these requirements as people have claimed to me on email, there should be not be an issue receiving bids very quickly. I also hope the bids are from local firms. There's a great opportunity to capture the America 250th birthday celebration merchandise and revenue opportunities. So, if we decide to move forward, we need to pick a firm quickly. And also to clarify some correct information I've received. The city does not pay visit Huntington Beach. The hotels do. Thank you.

Go ahead.

Thanks for that, mayor. Just a little I'm happy it's going in RFP that uh you know the city deserves a transparency. I think he laid out a scope that seems to be uh what needs to be achieved. I just wanted to make one point for everybody's you know awareness that the RFP although it is a process and it's it's a transparent process there is no guarantee of quality of work of u scope met on time and all the variance that could be uh garnered when they are pick a winner with that said we've secured contractors through RFPs and in turn have to terminate those relationships although they came through an RFP So the RFP is not the golden arch that guarantees results, scope, and all these different things. So I am very happy that we're going to go through the RFP process. Uh and we will see where it lies. I just wanted to remind everybody that an RFP RFP does not guarantee unequivocal unequivocal success. Thank you.

Anybody else? Andrew,

I just wanted to make note because I gotten a lot of emails, so I figured this would be a great forum to mention it. This was in uh specific relation to the HB landscaping concerns. So those emails were really about the median and um some other parts in regards to the streets and even some unpaved areas. So you know in speaking with public works I know there was delays in regards to finalizing a new landscape maintenance contract and that was a result of the gap in service um and the contractor's mobilization. So there was once again that temporary lapse in service, but I just should mention that crews are now in the field. Public works expense all median and parkway maintenance to be fully caught up within the next 4 weeks. Obviously everybody uh including and most spec more specifically public works appreciates your patience and we're continuing to monitor that situation closely. So any other questions feel free to email.

Any other comments?

Yeah, if I could. Uh just coming off of the heels of Easter and you know I realize that not everyone might share the same views but you know humor me because it is council comment right now. Uh I just want to remind everyone that it's a very holy uh day for for many of us. Um Jesus is the reason for this season and I would like to encourage some of you maybe just to do a little bit of historical research and maybe I could share something with you. This is kind of off the cuff in terms of something you didn't know before. If you look at the historical documents that talk about the historical figure Jesus of Nazareth and you don't just look at the Bible but you treat these as separate uh historical documents you have not only Christian history but you do have Jewish history like Flavius Josephus you have Roman history like Tacitus or Marbar Serapen that talk about the historical figure and there are certain historical facts that actually come to the surface about this person Jesus. And when I say it's a historical fact, I mean that the majority of historical New Testament scholarship agrees these are facts. Even uh you could say hostile towards the New Testament or or critical. The facts I'd like to kind of lay out for you guys just with the couple minutes that I have here uh would be that it is a historical fact that Jesus was uh crucified. Uh it's a historical fact that he was buried in a tomb. You know the location um it was Joseph of Arythea. It's also a historical fact that the tomb was discovered empty and it's a historical fact that his disciples went around saying that they saw post-mortem appearances of Jesus. A couple other interesting facts that come to the surface would be uh James which was a halfb brotherther of Jesus uh after the resurrection he went around saying that you know he he basically was a leader of the church and you got to ask yourself what changes a person like that well it was recorded in 1 Corinthians 15 that he appeared uh to James's halfb brotherther and I think one of the biggest ones to consider would be uh this member that was known as Saul of Tarsus who was hostile towards uh Christians he was actually going around and killing them

and he himself became he went from being a foe to a friend of the church. And you have to just ask yourself why. And when you take into consideration those facts, you could draw your own conclusion in terms of a hypothesis. You know, that he was crucified, that he was buried, that the tomb was discovered empty, that his disciples said that they saw him, that Paul went from being a foe to a friend. Um, and you have James the halfb brotherther that was an unbeliever to coming becoming a believer. What's the best explanation of that? And and Jesus said that here's the big authenticator. here shall you'll know that what he says is the truth that if you destroy this body in 3 days I will raise it up. The best explanation I would suggest to you all is that God raised Jesus from the grave. You are free to draw your own conclusions and all I want to encourage you with this final remark is that if you lack any peace in your life, I just suggest that you look I suggest you just look to the prince of peace and cast all your cares upon him. So thank you for humoring me and just allowing me to share my personal views during that council comment. I just uh two things. There was a big we got a lot of emails and there's a lot of discussion since we're pulling it about sole source on um the one contract. It's very typical we do soul source and I know I belong I've been on the vector control Orange County um sand district and a lot of different other agencies that I've dealt been on the boards. Soul source is not uncommon when it it's justified. So that I just leave it at that. We do it all the time and uh I'll make it but we're not going to go sole source. We'll go RFP I guess. Um, the other thing is I think what we got to do recognize is the value of our commissions, boards, and committees. I'll tell you, I I it would be almost

impossible to do this job without the benefits of having them on basically call to do that advisory work for us. They make some big decisions. They pass it on. They It's basically a big shortcut often uh for us in making decisions up here. I'm really proud of some of the work they've done. Like planning commissioner uh Brian Theus has gone above and beyond with his investigations and stuff like that. And that goes right along the boards with the other commissioners and all these things. they've they go really out of their way and for really nothing but a parking pass. Uh and I want to just thank them immensely for what they do for our city. So, thank you. All right, moving on to the mayor spotlight section of the meeting. At the March mayor spotlight awards, we recognized over 100 people. I think that's an all-time record. Uh we first started with the HB mayor's excellence award that went to public affairs officer Jessica uh Jessica Cuchia in the city manager's office. Uh yeah, Jessica's impact on our community goes far beyond managing the city's social media presence. Day in and day out, she tells a story of our city keep residents informed, connected, and engaged with transparency, creativity, and care. And what makes this recogni recognition even more meaningful is the strength and compassion she has shown behind the scenes while continuing to serve our community at the highest level. Jessica faced the heartbreaking loss of a close family friend. And she turned that personal tragedy into helping lead and support a kidney donation effort for Shawn Cortez, who's a a good friend of mine I grew up with playing ice hockey. And she gave Shawn a second chance in life. And Jessica should be really commended for it. Um, it's hard not to get emotional about it, but she's

selfless and she deserves everything. And I, you know, I wish she was here. Uh, we will bring her back and I I talked to Shawn recently and he's still not um able to come to big public gatherings, but when he is and he and he's on the men, we're going to have a big celebration for him and we just want to honor Jessica for that. So, thank you, Jessica. Next up, we recognize a few members from our code enforcement team who always does a great job. Um, officers Josh Charlin and David Chapman. They uh responded to a resident complaint at Pacific City and immediately took charge addressing each concern with professionalism, responsiveness, and genuine uh sympathy. Over the course of a month, they kept their resident informed every step of the way, ensuring progress was made and the solutions were confirmed. So just thank want to thank them for their efforts and because of that residents can now enjoy a peaceful living environment once again. So thank you code enforcement and on that same thread another code enforcement officer uh Eric T whose dedication is making a meaningful difference in our community. A resident shared um her gratitude for Eric's compassion, patience, and professionalism over the past five months as he met with her every Monday to assist with her brother's brother's extreme hoarding situation. And through consistent support and understanding, Eric went above and beyond to help not just address a code issue, but to truly help a person in need. So, thank you, Eric. That takes a lot of patience. Then, we honor the entire Huntington Beach High School cheer team who competed na at nationals in Anaheim. And all three HP High School cheer teams made history, each advancing to day two of the finals and placing in the top three in the nation, an accomplishment never before achieved in the program's history. The freshman and JV teams both earned an impressive third place in the nation, while the varsity team brought home the ultimate honor, first place in their division in the national championship. Who's that guy on the right over there?

Up next was Marina High School's own Aubrey Storm Gutierrez. She's amazing. A star wrestler, Aubrey has made history as Marina High School's first ever two-time CIF Southern Section Masters and California State Champion. An incredible accomplishment that reflects her unmatched dedication and talent. And as a sophomore, she completed a flawless 47-0 undefeated season in the 2025 2026 wrestling campaign, dominating the competition at every level. She has her sights on the 2020 Olympic Games and she's ranked sixth in the nation in girls wrestling. And right after this photo, she took Butch down to the leg lock. We then honored the the eight and under Charger cheer team for capturing another national championship and we honored them last year as well as they continue their success this year. So just dominant. Then next, we're proud to highlight Fred's uh Mexican Cafe and their incredible commitment to giving back. As part of their 25th anniversary celebration, Freds is making a meaningful impact by do uh donating $10,000 each month to a local charity. And this month, the Assistance League of Huntington Beach was the grateful recipient of this generous contribution. And last but not least, we recognize the men and women that make up the board of directors of the HB Board Riders Club. Founded in 2017 by local friends Chris Moreno, Ziggy Williams, and Casey Wheat, this nonprofit 501c3 organization has grown from just three clubs and six contests into a thriving global community now boasting over 50 clubs and more than 600 members. And thank you, Don Kennedy, for putting this together. Congratulations to everybody. It was awesome. All right, moving to our business highlight section. Uh, Huntington Beach continues to see strong momentum with new businesses opening across our community, and we're excited to finally

welcome, not finally, excited to welcome uh, several recent additions. So, Brandy Mel Melville uh, did a relocation at 300 PCH. Long-awaited, the Coach's Lounge finally opened at Magnolian Adams at 8911 Adams Avenue. If you haven't been, it's it's incredible. The Fakasha House open at 200 Main Street. Offside department open at Pacific City. Stride Fitness at 6886 Bulsa Avenue. Surf City Escape, an escape room, also Pacific City. The Fur Seasons, great name, at 16901 Beach Boulevard. Wingstop 6918 Warner and Wolf Gang also a great name at one 19051 Golden West Street. So, thank you for investing in our community. And then we're also proud to continue to spotlight the people and businesses that keep our community vibrant throughout our minute with the mayor series. And tonight, because of the the extra long break, we have three videos we want to show for our local standout businesses. The first one is Crave Personal Training with Taran. So, thank you to Taran and the Crave team for keeping Huntington Beach strong. We had Expert Automotive. So, thank you to Gary From and the Expert team for keeping our community on the road and running smoothly. And then Facets 58 Jewelers. Uh thank you, Council Member Kennedy for recommending them and for them applying. And we want to thank uh McKay Kuchi and the Facets 58 family for helping Huntington Beach shine for nearly 40 years. 40 years. So, we're going to take a look at these quick videos.

What's up, HB? I'm Mayor Casey McKeon with special guest Mayor Prom Bush Twining. Today's episode of Minute with the Mayor takes us to Adams in Alabama to Crave Fitness. Let's go meet the owner, Taran. Come on, Casey. Let's go do some personal training. Let's do it. Let's go.

So, Taran, tell us about Crave Fitness. We are a private gym that offers strength training, functional training for all ages. And then we have a second location which is contracted with the city um where we take care of our 50 plus. Why did you choose Huntington Beach? The city of Huntington Beach lives outside. So it's kind of the perfect place for a strength training gym because you need all those muscles in order to keep doing those fun things that Huntington has to offer. In addition to that is it's not just about staying active, but it's about aging and continuing to be independent. That's where strength training is really important. What sets your training approach apart?

It's so personalized. Training is going to look different at 40 and at 70 and at 25. So, my coaches are really aware of that, but also the lifestyles. Are you playing with kids? Are you golfing? Are you sedentary at a desk all day? All those things are important to creating the right strength training plan. So, we're very customized. We're not a one cookie cutter type of gym. That's another local gem right here in Huntington Beach. So remember to support local and keep Sir City thriving. See you at the next stop. Oh yeah. Kneel a little lower on that squat next time. What's up HP? I'm

all right. Expert Automotive. What's up HP? This episode of Minute with the Mayor takes us to Expert Tech Automotive right off of Towardon Beach. Let's go meet the owner, Gary. So Gary, tell us a little bit about Expertech Automotive. Expertech Automotive has been here 33 years. We are open six days a week, Monday through Saturday. Uh we work on all makes, all models, do every bit of work except for body shop work. And then why did you guys choose Huntington Beach to open up your business? Well, I'm a fourth generation Huntington Beach resident and there's no other city I'd rather be at. And what do you what would you guys say keeps customers coming back to expert?

We treat our customers with uh respect and dignity and we always want to treat them the way we would want to be treated if we were on that side of the counter. And if someone comes in for the first time, what's usually like the number one service they get? Either an oil change or a smog inspection. Okay. And we do a safety inspection with every vehicle comes in and let them know what an update on their car. Thank you so much. Thank you. That's another local gem right here in Beach. So remember to support local and keep Surf City thriving. See you at the next stop. All right. Fast Fastest 58.

What's up HP? I'm Mayor Casey McKon with special guest Councilman Don Kennedy. And today's episode of Minute with the Mayor takes us the fastest 58 jewelers at the corner of Maine and Yorktown. Let's go meet the team. McKay, tell us about Facets 58 Jewelers. So, we're a local jewelry store. Uh, my dad started the company back in 1987 over in Bellotra back when it was the Huntington Beach Mall. Uh, he kind of chose Huntington Beach because of the family-friendly environment and uh, he just wanted to start a family here.

What's the forte here at Fastets 58? We specialize a lot in custom fashion jewelry, custom bridal, engagement rings, basically anything you guys can think of. We try to specialize in that. You could also uh sell your gold here as well, right? Yes, we buy and sell gold. All old antique jewelry, stuff that was passed down from family members. If you don't want it, we will buy it. The local vibe you give, I know, because it's close to home. You do watch repair, batteries, come on in, free cleaning, do all that kind of stuff, right? Yep. Yeah. We try to offer services that you don't always have to pay for. Um, so we do offer free cleanings, non-verbal appraisals. We try to specialize in everything, every little thing. We're a one-stop shop. And what does the 58 of Facets 58 mean?

Uh, there's 58 facets on a perfect round dining. Why did you guys choose Huntington Beach to open your business? My dad really, really liked um the community here. He met his wife here. Uh, my mom is born and raised here in Huntington, and I think they just wanted to settle down here. That's another local gem right here in Huntington Beach. So remember to support local and keep Surf City thriving. See you at the next stop.

Don't try to leave it that watch. All right. And for our local business community, uh we mentioned this last time. Applications for our Surf City small business digital grant program uh open open April 13th and close April 28 28th. So please uh get involved in that. The three-week program will help brick and mortar businesses strengthen their online presence with expert uh advising, hands-on digital marketing, train, marketing training, and a $1,000 ad grant. So, space is limited. So, please learn more at hb uh biz.com. Lastly, we're excited about an upcoming opportunity to connect and learn. The Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce's AM connect on April 9th will include a listening session on the city zoning administrator and conditional use permit process provide an opportunity to hear directly from our business community about what's working and where improvements can be uh may be needed. So registration is available on the chambers website. Up next is our community events announcement portion, a two-minute time limit. So madame clerk, do we have anyone signed up for the community events announcements?

We do. The city council will now receive public comments for community events announcements only. Each organization is allotted two minutes for its announcement. When your name is called, please approach. Use both podiums. State your name and organization for the record. Marissa Beck from HBUHSD VAPA. Hadley Ruiz from the same organization. And Pat Goodman regarding community service day. Good evening. My name is Marissa and I'm My name's Hadley. We're here representing the Marina High School Art Department to announce the Huntington Beach Art Center School Districtwide Art Show, Creative Visions.

You guys can pull that. Yeah, pull that mic down. Oh, there you go. Thank you. All semester, students from each high school in the Huntington Beach School District have been developing our own exhibition. From concept to artwork selection to exhib exhibition layout, every creative choice is made by the students in this program. Join us for the opening reception Friday, April 17th, 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. at the Huntington Beach Art Center. There will be a panel discussion with students at 6:30 p.m. We think it's an amazing opportunity to see the students art and hear about our experience creating the exhibition. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor McKan and council. Um Pat Goodman and I'm here to speak about the community service day, the annual community service day on Saturday, April 25th and uh it's sponsored by the Greater Huntington Beach Interfaith Council. And service projects will take place from 9:00 a.m. to noon and you have to register online. You can either go through the ghic.org org website or communityerviceday.org. And then following that is a community picnic. Um there's entertainment and local arts groups and um service nonprofits that have booths along the way and games and prizes and all kinds of good things. Kuanas will be barbecuing and uh it's a fun day. Uh hopefully it won't rain like it did last year, but uh we soldier on even if it's raining. So there's over 40 projects and everyone's invited. There's all kinds of levels of activity, so age is not an issue. Um thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening, city council mayor and um guest. My name is Donna Brandt and I am um the president and one of the instructors at the therapeutic writing center of Huntington Beach. Our mission is to empower people with physical and developmental challenges to discover their greatest strengths and gain a sense of self-confidence and self-reliance through the special relationship with a horse. Um I'm very excited to announce that we have a second location. We are actually have been in Huntington Beach since 1990. our program has grown um crazy big. So um we have acquired another location in Long Beach. Um we are at a uh formally um the program was called Dreamcatcher. We opened in January. It's been a year of back and forth trying to um get the license through the Edison company. Um and we're successful and we're open. Um, so we wanted to invite everyone here to an open house that we have um in Long Beach. Um, it's going to be April 19th, 1 to 4 PM. We've done a lot of work to make the program over there um open and running. We have six horses. Um, we have 40 students right now just opening slowly. Um, we're going to have face painting, pony rides, horseshoe decorating, bounce house, taco truck. um ice IC's and con the Kona Ice whatever they're called I can't remember but anyway we'd love it if you guys could all attend and support this um second location so thank you

thank you and ma'am the first location ma'am the first location is at our equestrian center is that a given say it again I'm sorry the first location is at the equestrian center right the first location is at the equestrian center yeah we have 10 horses is there um 150 clients, a mental health program, and we're going to um hopefully be growing into the same um size over there as well. So, come and visit us. It's going to be great. Thank you. Thank you. Announcement of supplemental communications received after agenda distribution. Madame clerk, do we have any supplemental communications?

Yes. For item number 17, a PowerPoint presentation received from community and library services director Ashley Weissaki regarding the proposed approval of a amendment number two between the state of California acting through the department of parks and recreation and the city of Huntington Beach for the operating agreement A0-40 for Bulsuchica State Beach. Item number 161, email received regarding proposed adoption of resolution number 2026-07 declaring weeds and rubbish a public nuisance and scheduling a public hearing on May 5th, 2026 at 6 p.m. to hear protests and objections to the abatement. On administrative items, item number 22, 22, emails received regarding presentation of professional services contract between the city of Huntington Beach and Wolf House for brand media press and digital ecosystems comprehensive audit, marketing and assessment services for city council consideration. Council member item number 23, one email received regarding discussion of state audit.

Thank you. Public comments, madam clerk, how many speakers do we have?

40. Okay, please call up the first uh 10. One moment, please. The city council will now receive public comments for any topic, including items on the open session agenda. When your name is called, please approach. Use both podiums. State your name and organization for the record. Andrew Einhorn, Sally Westcat, Tina Vay, Dom McGee, Brenda Glim, Mr. Amry Hansen, Charlie Jackson, Hannah Bass, Britney Bass.

Just a reminder to the public, agenda item number 22 was pulled from the agenda. Go ahead, sir.

Yeah. Dom McGee, 25-y year resident of Huntington Beach. Um, I know we're not supposed to speak about Iden 22, but uh I would say when conducting the RFP, you might want to choose a company that has a DBA because Wolf House doesn't seem to have a DBA, a business license or an LLC of any kind. You might also want to choose somebody who doesn't have a sex line on their website as their official as their official telephone number, okay? because that's what Wolf House has at the moment along with nothing else on their website. Uh this is a little disturbing to me. I've uh supported most of the people on this city council for a long time, but it seems that certain people are ruling by fiat. So I would take all those things into consideration before you give away contracts to people for cronyism. The last thing I want to talk about is the somewhat secret meeting that happened a few weeks ago between uh uh Mayor McKon and California Attorney General Rob Bontter while the police officers association representative Pete Mitchell was also present. I'd like the city council and anyone else who was in that particular meeting to provide the minutes so that we the people, the great unwashed can determine if the city or indeed some of the people present in that meeting were the beneficiaries. I ask one question when any of this goes down and that's kibono. Who benefits? Again, I've supported most of you on this council but my support is waning. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please.

Go ahead.

Um, good evening, mayor and honorable council members. I'm Sally Wescott, and this is my partner, Tina Veret, and we're the owners of the Surf City Store on the Pier in Huntington. And uh we realize that item 22 has been pulled, but we did want to clarify some misconceptions and downright inaccuracies that were um pertaining to our business on the on the pier. And we were very disturbed to to hear um our business misrepresented by Mr. Wolf. um he conducted an audit but did not speak with us uh or consult with anybody associated with our store. We're not aware that he ever came into the store and we had participated about a year or so ago in another audit done through the city um to uh talk about some changes that needed to be made um with our building and some suggestions. So, we knew nothing about this audit and it was brought to our attention at 7:00 a.m. on Easter morning. We have partnered with the city for over 30 years and it has been our great privilege and joy to be on the pier to serve the people of Huntington Beach and also as ambassadors to the city, support local schools, charities, and organizations such as our sister city. Um, some references were made with regard to the trademark that the city did let lapse. Um, and however, we do protect the Surf City Huntington Beach trademark. Uh, we do notify the city when we see infringement of the trademark and so this was misrepresented as well. And also some misrepresentation was done with regard to the amount of money that is gross. And Tino, you might want to u address that. Uh yes, just briefly um we were expecting that there would be a

presentation by this organization tonight and one of their PowerPoint uh slides indicated sales for two years of 1.5 million. And the item below that was the city fee that was paid for roughly 75,000 at a 5% lease rate. what Mr. Wolf did not take into account because that assumes and he stated further in that document insinuating that oh we pocketed you know roughly a million dollars. The fact is from that 1.5 million we had 1.143 in expenses, payroll, products, fees, all the expenses it takes to run a business and our net profit for the two years was roughly 371,000. So, it made us appear to be a greedy bunch of people that were taking money that belonged to the citizens and that is simply not the fact.

Thank you. Oh, Sally, if you wouldn't mind filling out a blue card. So, sorry. That's a way to get a hold of us and we're really sorry if that apparent misrepresentation happened to you guys and we've it's been our pleasure to work with the city and we look forward to doing so for a long time.

Next speaker, please. Good evening. I'm Brenda Glenn and I'm here tonight as city as a city council candidate. As a certified project management professional when I reviewed the contract um I know what to look for. I examined the Wolf House contract that was online with some scrutiny the same I would be would have used in my professional work and let me tell you clearly I would not have approved it. This contract is vague, filled with buzzwords that mean nothing measurable. Phrase phrases like strategic frameworks and institutional knowledge sound impressive, but there are no deliverables attached. None. There were no clear work program, no project schedule, and no definition of city's responsibilities. And in the world of project management, that's unacceptable. Since February, there's been no operational website and zero transparency. We don't even know who their other clients are. Has anyone from the city verified their experience or checked a single reference? If this were a private sector deal, it would never make it past the first review. But here's the most troubling part. Why now? Why is this being pushed through at this moment? To the public, it looks like a political campaign funded with taxpayer dollars. 720,000 taxpayer dollars. This council has had four years to show integrity and leadership. Yet again and again, it has failed to represent the majority of our citizens. It has spent these years promoting a Christian nationalist agenda, sidelining our LGBTQ, black and brown neighbors, and sil silencing anyone who dared to disagree. Meanwhile, lawsuits keep piling up, draining millions from our city budget. Money

that should have gone to our parks, our schools, our safety. And let's not forget the image this council has cultivated. Proudly placing a bust of the current president in chambers while claiming to be nonpartisan. Keeping banned books hidden on the fourth floor of the library even after the appeal was denied. standing shoulder-to-shoulder with extremists at rallies instead of condemning hate. It's behavior that has earned our city an ugly reputation, the city of losers. And now they want to funnel nearly three4ers of a million dollars into what looks like a re-election slush fund disguised as consulting. Enough is enough. This isn't just mismanagement. It's a boondoggle of the worst kind. Our residents deserve transparency, accountability, and ethics from those who govern, not political theater paid for by the people. As your future council member, I will demand real oversight, measurable results, and respect for every citizen because this city belongs to all of us, not a chosen few.

Next speaker, please. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. My name is Mr. Amory Hansen. I'm speaking tonight in support of item 20, the purchase of a new spotlight for the police helicopter. The new spotlight has a 360° range of motion and is integrated with the police helicopter camera system. This spotlight is long overdue. The spotlight is not just for the lost soul, but the lost child. I urge the council to continue its support for public safety. Once again, I urge a yes vote on IM20. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please. Andy Einhorn, Huntington Beach. This council spent your money on voter ID legislation and never thought about the qualifying ID standards or the conflict of state laws. Now they're spending more money defending it in court. Just blind loyalty to Trump's debuck fraud myths. When Trump wins, it's the will of the people. When he loses, the election is rigged. Here are the facts on nonsitizen voting. The right leaning heritage foundation's election fraud database found 68 cases of noncitizen voting since the 80s. State prosecution records show noncitizen votes account for approximately 3 and 1 million voters. Nonitizens risk prison and deportation for illegal voting. Experts agree deter this deterrent works and a systematic fraud is non-existent. The clear this this evidence is clear but not to this council. Noncitizen voting myth is a fraud. This council weaponized a trumped up lie into voter suppression and build the Huntington Beach taxpayers before it. Before your next bright idea becomes policy, have your outstanding staff review and run it through a SWAT analysis. It might limit the lawsuits, the failures, and the costs dumped on the taxpayers. I realize tonight you're not discussing

the branding deal. However, I did notice in their proposal they pointed out that your political diet tribe is harming our city with controversy. So, stop governing for Trump and start governing for Huntington Beach. Next speaker, please. Hi, I'm Charlie Jackson. Um, I'm glad that Butch is doing well, but it reminds me that we need to update the city charter to fill vacancies. Basically, the HBC would appoint a temporary replacement, then at the next election, people would run to finish the term. If a ballot initiatives are put on a future election ballot, please add a city charter change to update the vacancy policy.

Thank you. Next speaker, please. Hi, my name is Ellen Riley. I've lived here a long time and I want to make a recommendation. I am hoping you're not preparing to open up any oil pipeline which has been recommended by the president of Oil oil oil pipelines up and down the coast should be reopened and I hope you don't do that because um it covered there was a spill an oil spill as many of you know like five years ago and 13 square miles were affected. Um the air show was cancelled at that time and uh 24,500 gallons of oil spilled on our beach and killed 116 dead birds. So I hope you will not consider think about opening up any of our oil pipelines at this time at all. Um otherwise um I have talked about the housing element and I'm hoping that we fulfill some part of the housing element if not all. We've lost every lawsuit that we have brought against the state. Every one costing us up to $4 million to fight the housing element. Um that's our money that all of us put in paid for our taxes. Um uh so Huntington Beach has been um ordered to pay 3.5 million to the Kennedy Commission and five $50,000 in monthly penalties for failing to fulfill the housing element. And there there are big fines also that I think Huntington and Beach is paying. But if that's not true, somebody should let me know. And that's about it. Thank you for listening.

For the record, we were not fined $50,000 a month for the housing element. Just want to put that on the record. That is not correct. Next speaker, please. Um before sharing my speech, I just wanted to say since April is um sorry, since April is autism acceptance month, I wanted to share my speech and show the importance of inclusion. Okay. Hi, my name is Hannah and I'm in fifth grade at Lake View Elementary. During our our classroom discussions surrounding inclusion, I was able to bring a firsthand experience. My experience with my brother offered my class a different perspective and gave the opportunity to answer questions they had about inclusion and showing respect and empathy to those who may not look, act, speak, or think like how we expect what we think is normal. Um, inclusion is important to me because since my own brother is autistic and has high support needs, he often gets treated differently and excluded. Although he needs what people call special treatment, he is kind, helpful, creative, and overall just a loving person. My brother also loves swimming, coloring, and singing, which he's great at. Um, without my brother, I would be a whole different person. As his older twin sister by 3 minutes, it is my responsibility to make sure he is always included and knows that he is loved by so many. And April is Autism Acceptance Month. Please join us um at our fundraiser for the Amuse Fund for Autism at the Annual Lions Club Crabfest. Saturday, April 11th, 2026, 4 to 7:00 p.m. at HB Senior Center. Thank you.

Thank you. Good job. Thank you. I can teach your people skills. Are we ready? Yeah. Go for it.

Thank you so much. Hi everyone. My name is Britney Boss and I'm the founder and president of the Amuse Foundation, also known as Amuse for Autism. We advocate, educate, connect, and provide. Children with disabilities often spend hours being taught how to interact with others. Why don't we spend a little time teaching those without disabilities how to interact with them? Our organization advocates for autism acceptance and inclusion through action. We provide accommodated community events, educational seminars, scholarship programs at Golden West College. IEP assistance. We advocate for the special education department and their needs. And we offer peer-to-peer support. Not all special needs are visible, but art, music, and kindness are universal languages. We are proud to offer community service hours to students while educating our youth about invisible disabilities. We initiate and participate in ongoing dialogue with our community about possible behaviors one might encounter with an autistic individual and how to deescalate and be of safe service. Recognizing autism acceptant month at this meeting is our friendly reminder to be kind. Everyone has a story. Everyone should feel included, represented, and dignified. Our neurode divergent families often feel isolated, misunderstood, and face everyday struggle that most do not see. Amuse offers a safe space and are a voice for those families. We see you. We are you. Autism Acceptance Month means so much to so many. It is our time to show gratitude to those who have changed our lives. Whether it be a child, a family member, a friend, or a neighbor, most families worry about raising their children until they are 18. Neurode divergent families have to worry about support and care for their adult child with disabilities beyond their years of existence. This is draining and exhausting to think about. Typical children have 28 classmates, one teacher, one principal. Neurode divergent children have a special ed teacher, para educator, multiple aids on rotation, speech therapist, occupational therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist. Some I'm sure I missed. Most of these

educators and classified employees become our child's only form of friendship. This month, we thank you and we highlight you. Your willingness to serve our delegate demographic means more to us families than you'll ever know. Thank you to the friends who stick around, grandparents and our support systems. We as parent givers care parent caregivers carry the weight of the fact that we know what you may incur from a day-to-day. Thank you is not enough. Huntington Beach has been a pillar of support with every department we've come in contact with, shared our ideas with, collaborated with, and our seminar initiatives, as well as donating their time, effort, and willingness to learn. Special shout out to Huntington Beach Fire Department for participating in our training video that we use to educate other first responders. And to our police department who show their support every April with their autism patch program. We thank you for your support. April 11th is our annual um fundraiser this year with the Lions Club, the CrabFest. If you'd like to learn more, please visit our website, amusefoundation.org. You've got a friend in us.

Thank you. Thank you. Excuse me, ma'am. Ma'am, excuse me, ma'am. Miss Ma'am, I I believe we met when I was on the CPAB a couple years back. Yes. So, that was very impressive with your daughter there. Why don't you fill one of those blue cards out and let's get together and check in. See see if there's anything else we can do for you. You've always had that passion and energy, been following through on it. I really appreciate that. What a fine young lady you raised. Thank you so much. I'm sure her twin I had boy girl twins as well. Thank you. You know it. Good job. Nice job. I appreciate you. Thank you so much. I'll do that. Fill out one of those cards. Thanks. Thank you.

Madam Cler, call the next 10, please. Andrew Hard, Grant Walker, Deborah, Ben Davis, Stephanie Dufour, Luanne Shupe, Anne Palmer, Russ Neil, Kathy Carrick, John Erie,

Lan,

good evening. Well, since we pulled uh item 22, I have something else to talk about. But first, I do want to comment on uh competitive bidding. I worked on the space shuttle program for 10 years. And I worked in the purchased labor department and we used to have a saying, you get what you pay for. And just because someone comes in with a lower bid doesn't mean you're going to get a better quality project. And I will leave it at that. I want to thank Casey McKon for taking such an interest in improving our downtown. I love the one minute with the mayor going around to the different businesses. I'm finding about all kinds of businesses I didn't know about. I'm going to check out that jewelry store.

Whoa.

Um well, you know, a girl can never have too much jewelry. Um but it's been a long journey. been I have been working with Casey for over two years on cleaning up downtown and I know he cares a lot about our city and bringing in Tyler I think he has a lot of good ideas and you know you can't always stick with the same thing all the time people don't like changes people don't like spending money but the thing is I I think you need to look at the revenue that he has looked at in helping us bringing in. Also, this isn't just spending $750,000. This is also about making money for the city. And I think people need to take that into consideration. So, that's all I have to say. And once again, thank you, Casey, for cleaning up our downtown. I appreciate it.

Thanks, L. Next speaker, please.

Good evening. My name is Deborah and I'm a 39-year resident of Huntington Beach. And I do have two questions for each of the city council members if they could answer before uh considering the different companies who will be applying for the public's work. Item 26 324. A wise person is credited with saying insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. So, keeping this statement in mind uh as you answer the following two questions I have for you. First, how are each of you going to change your behavior and decisionmaking actions to improve the city's re reputation? And then secondly, how um what are you cutting from the budget to cover the new $720,000 expenditure? I personally believe changes in your focus and actions to meet the needs of all the residents of Huntington Beach can help improve the city's reputation without spending almost three4ers of a million dollars. So, I look forward to hearing your answers and remember actions speak louder than words. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Next speaker, please. Good evening, Huntington Beach City Council, and thank you for your work uh in serving our city. My name is Stephanie Dufour. I'm a 47year resident of Huntington Beach homeowner, and I uh own an insurance agency. I specialize in nonprofits and special events. I've worked with a lot of cities, counties. I've reviewed a lot of RFPs, contracts, and conflict of interest policies. Part of working with these clients is conducting risks risk assessments. And although the city of Huntington Beach is not my client, it's my city. And I feel compelled to warn the city of the risk pitfalls of awarding a $720,000 contract to Tyler Wolf House. First, our municipal code and California public contract code requires competitive process for services over $30,000 unless there is a clear exemption for unique expertise. Uh his expertise is doesn't appear to be unique and there are several reputable firms in Orange County who have a proven track record of working with other local municipalities and film commissions. Idea Hall, for example, has worked directly with city of Irvine, County of Orange, Great Park, uh, Dana Point Harbor, Visit Anaheim, and many nonprofits tied to the public sector. Rell and Costa Mesa is another long-term partner. Both of these firms are hightouch, high-tech, and lowrisk for city contracts. In addition to inviting other reputable firms to apply for this contract, I recommend including an advisory committee of local business owners and public servants to weigh in and provide their wisdom. If Tyler's make sense after the review and recommendations, then we need to have

all council members disclose any conflicts of interest. Conflicts of interest rules under the political reform act and our code of ethics demand full disclosure. Um, friendships or small uh political interests aren't automatic disqualifiers, but they trigger scrutiny, complaints, fines, or even worse, expensive lawsuits. Third, Wolf House doesn't appear to have any proven municipal municipality experience. I didn't find any city audits, public contracts on record, clear business license, which I think is required for con consultants even. Uh the incorporation details of his business are unclear and there's no public financial records. That doesn't mean he's terrible, but this is a big contract to assign to someone without deep relevant experience. I read the 38page report Tyler put together and I agree with some of his findings, but I question some of the assumptions and the ability to deliver. Some of the comparisons uh to the Laguna Arts Center, for example, and to Los Angeles for film permits uh are lacking in quantifiable measurable outcome metrics for evaluation. And his proposal also risks alienating some of our long-term amazing.

Thank you. Next speaker, please. Ma'am, could you fill out a blue card? I'd like to hear the rest of what you had to say if you could fill out a blue card.

My name is Janet Ewell. I'm a 50 plus year resident of Huntington Beach. I come before the city council willing and even anxious to believe that your political positions and your religious beliefs are sincere, not selfserving or a matter of convenience. I extend that charity whether or not my positions agree with yours and I will hold on to that charity as long as possible. It behooves you to represent your beliefs well and to protect them from shame. That would include adhering meticulously to the law, including the Brown Act and the Constitution and the first and the the Bill of Rights, the First Amendment in particular. Providing maximum transparency in all your civic doings, following procedures designed to protect public funds, and providing accountability and remembering that the servant is not greater than the master. And in a democracy, the people are the public figures masters. You have need of improvement in avoiding the appearance of evil, in following the law, the best practices, in protecting public funds, and in your relationship with the people to whom you should be accountable. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good evening, council. My name is Ben Davis city. I am running for uh Huntington Beach City Council as well. Uh I want to thank you for pulling agenda item number 22. Um one thing about that, if you're not going to be able to get it taken care of in a short amount of time because it's going to take a while, be okay with that. What I do want to say about the audit, uh that it did get a couple things right. Uh the city staff are operating under real strain uh which I'm sure is partially due to the loss of highly capable staff with decades of service and experience. But the bigger issue the public peression perception carries real implications to reputation and this affects tourism investments and civic pride which all of you are aware of. Uh the city reputation um th this reputation is due to the high visibility press that political and controversy focuses that was in the that was in the um uh report. So take that in uh take that in context. But this bad press isn't arbitrary. It's a problem of the council's own making. And the solutions offered in the report is that the city just needs to get better at press. The sense is that if the city gets louder about the good things, no one will care about the bad things. This doesn't get rid of the real problem, which is bad management, culture war agendas, and self-enrichment. You can't say this any more pleasant. You can't polish a turd. To fix the city's issues, policies need to change. The people need to change. Plea, thank you very much. Thanks for listening.

Next speaker, please.

Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Andrew Hard and I'm a local business owner operating a Duffy rental business here in Huntington Harbor. back in 2020 and 2021 or sorry, I'm here tonight because I've experienced firsthand how the city enforces its zoning and permitting requirements. And what I'm seeing now is a clear inconsistency that needs to be addressed. Back in 2020 and 21, when we attempted to open a Duffy rental business on Pacific Coast Highway, the city made it very clear that we could not operate without full compliance. We were cited and we were issued notices of violation and we were required to either obtain approvals or shut down. Specifically, we were told we needed a conditional use permit, a coastal development permit, and an adequate and adequate off- streetet parking. And importantly, we were not allowed to operate while those approvals were pending. Ultimately, we were forced to relocate our business in order to comply. Now, fast forward today, another operator, Huntington Harbor Boat Reynolds, move locations along Pacific Coast Highway from one address to another. That move resets their entitlement status, meaning they are required to obtain a conditional use permit and meet the same parking and zoning requirements that we were held to. However, there is no conditional use permit on file. There are no there are known parking constraints, and they have been allowed to continue operating for well over a year. I personally filed the code enforcement complaint on 8:14 2024 and the city has acknowledged that there is an active investigation. But despite that, the business continues to operate and the case has effectively been placed on hold. So my question is simple. Why was my business required to comply immediately while another operator is allowed to operate in violation of the same rules for over a year? This is about fairness, equal treatment,

and consistent enforcement of city code. Given this issue has gone unresolved for over a year and a half and that communication from code enforcement has stopped, we've consulted legal counsel to better understand our rights. However, we are here tonight because we believe this can and should be resolved without litigation through consistent enforcement of the city's own rules. We're simply asking that the same rules that were applied to us are applied consistently to everyone. At this point, we respectfully request a clear explanation of how this business is currently allowed to operate without a conditional use permit, whether they have been instructed to cease operations, and a defined timeline for enforcement. This has been going on for far too long, and active investigation is no longer a is no longer a sufficient answer. Thank you for your time,

Andrew. Let's uh fill out a fill out a blue card. We'll look into it. What's that? Fill out a blue card and and let's look into it. Okay. Thank you, gentlemen. Yep. Appreciate it. Next speaker, please. Hi, my name is Grant Walker. I'm actually Andrew Hart's business partner. I had a three-minut speech, but his was better than mine. So, it's pretty true. We just want to see what's going on with code enforcement. Why is it taking a year and a half to get something settled when it was taken upon us? And we shut down, I think, within 3 months. Okay. So, that's it. We just want resolution. Yeah, we'll look into it for sure. Thank you. Good job.

Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, council members. My name is John Erie. I'm the president and CEO of Visit Huntington Beach. I wanted to come in. I've been on the job now for three months, and I figured it time to come in and say hi. Um, I come to you with 30 years of experience in leadership in tourism, hospitality, and sales. My past 15 years, I was the CEO of Visit Mammoth. Uh, back in 2010, I founded the organization. In 2013, we put in a groundbreaking funding source. Uh we expanded our T- bid past just lodging to include restaurant, retail, and our ski area. Um and we went we were able to drive the TOT for the city from $10 million average to almost $30 million in that 10-year period. Um as you mentioned earlier, Mr. Mayor, Visit Huntington Beach is a private nonfor-profit 501c6 uh destination marketing organization and we are funded solely by the T-BID. Uh for those who are not aware what the T- bid is, T- bid is uh funding through the hotels. It's an assessment that the hotels can pass along to the guests. That funding is then u submitted to the city and then returned to visit Huntington Beach for our marketing purposes. Uh visitors also contribute heavily to the city's revenues via sales tax and transient occupancy tax. Uh they're number two and number four on your revenue list. Um my team's two objectives are crystal clear. If it's not driving overnight visitation or guest experience, we're not doing it. Our job is to fill the hotels and drive your toot coffers. Uh, Visit Huntington Beach's efforts include marketing, so brand and content creation, telling the Huntington Beach story, uh, digital first marketing, website, email, search engine optimization, generative generative um, engine optimization, which is all the AI that you see now, social media, digital, and photo libraries. Um, attract and promote events that drive that overnight visitation, awareness of accessibility. And it was great to see Britney and Hannah up here from Muse Foundation. We actually have a a film crew in here this week working with us uh from a group called Wheel the World

talking about uh different aabled people and how they can get around Huntington Beach including surfing. We also have an event coming up or a partner coming in called Culture City which goes to the neurode divergent talk that she had mentioned really training all of our lifeguards, first responders, uh hotel front desks on how to uh work with folks of neurode divergence. We have two visitors centers uh one on the pier and one on our office at Fifth Street. Uh we work heavily on public relations both domestically and internationally with writers and influencers. And really we're trying to get that third party endorsement that that article written about Huntington Beach is way more valuable than anything we could buy for advertising. International sales, you know, we're going after folks from around the world that are going to stay longer and spend more money with us here. And then last but not least, really on the conference and meeting sales. This is a big one. Um, our VHB sales team drove nearly 90,000 conference room nights last year. What that amounts to with the hotels, uh, the hotels have their own sales team. Our team did 90,000 uh, room nights and that's really producing nearly $3.5 million in toot that comes back to the city. So, thank you. I appreciate it.

Thank you. Hi, Ann Palmer, 30 plus year resident, and I want to state first that I support every single one of you. I think we have the best sevenperson council we've ever had in the history of this city. I appreciate what you've done to clean up the city. We have the safest, cleanest city. We have a path to success for our homeless. And I couldn't be more proud to live here at the time. I'm here to speak on agenda item 22. And I too have a question. How did Brance, Missouri become the live music capital of the universe? Why do a million people a year visit Galina, Illinois, population 3,200? And what makes a home within Beverly Hills zip code worth 500,000 more than one across the street in an LA zip code? Well, I can tell you it may be market driven. It may be a trend, but where it started was with a branding agency. They've developed brands that are desirable, aspirational, and destinationdriven. They used agencies, experts, consultants, and measurement tools to guide their success. Of course, this item 22 is controversial. That's okay. But I know we want to avoid taxes, and I believe there are eight cities in our county that have either just instated sales tax or have one on the agenda. So I believe that you may succeed with an RFP process, but I want people to know that a municiple brand is not exactly a hot topic among the top agencies. So you may get a film distribution company, you may get an event company, you may get somebody that knows brand marketing, but I urge you to look at the consultative process of any company that is going to propose a brand

marketing platform and program. We need to create an create a comprehensive RF RFP and not make it so definitive that you're bidding on things that may not be the best solution. And once the project is underway, you don't need just a solid template with milestones. You need an inter iterative process that will continue to assess what works, what's not working and adjust and grow with our brand because our brand is not what people say on Reddit and it's not even what people say in these internal forums. Our brand is what people experience when they come here and I know that people have visited here. I've talked to them. I've spent a lot of time with them and they love this city. So, thank you for what you've done. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

All right. Uh Russell Neil, Huntington Beach. Concerning the what I call the manufactured issue of the air show settlement. Uh first, in my opinion, the settlement was no great deal for Pacific Air Show with most of their loss recovery pushed into the future. Second, the settlement by itself tells us nothing about whether it was a good or bad deal. You would have to know everything that led up to the settlement to answer that and none of that information is in the settlement. Third, for that reason, a state audit of the settlement cannot really be done. The auditor will not have that information either. Fourth, as a result, we can see the proposed state audit is just a political stunt designed to generate political talking points for the fall election. Fifth, most efforts to analyze the cost benefit of the air show have been wrongheaded. We have a lot of activities that would not show a net financial benefit if analyzed that way, including our parks and beaches and even road repair. Yet, all of these things contribute to making people want to live, work, and visit here, improving property and sales tax revenues. This is how we should think about it. Sixth, and finally, the idea of having the California State Auditor of all people who cannot find the billions of dollars of fraud in this state that a kid with a camera can. Having him audit our little town is a

farce. You guys are fighting the good fight. The people of this city know what is happening and we are with you. Thank you and carry on. Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good evening. My name is Kathy Carrick. I'd like to take just a moment to pay tribute to our amazing military who spare no effort to rescue their fellow Americans. Their heroic dedication is an example of the values we hold dear and the very same values that allow each of us to come to this podium to share our thoughts. For that, I am grateful. In that spirit of service to our community, I am here tonight to speak in strong support of item 22. I want to thank the council for your leadership and bringing this forward. It shows a commitment to taking bold, proactive action to secure our city's financial future without simply defaulting to the same old let's raise taxes mentality. We need these types of innovative revenue streams to ensure that Huntington Beach can continue to provide the highquality services our residents expect and deserve. While there will always be critics, it is refreshing to see this council thinking creatively to keep our city fiscally strong. Thank you for your hard work and for your willingness to explore new solutions. I fully support this item. Thank you.

Thank you. Madame clerk, next 10, please. Kaylee McHugh, Donna Bralt, Tim Gettis, Brother Steven Gerard, Sid Luski, Kristen Carol Nelson, Ros Pierce, Dave Patel, Kanim Durham, Libby, Bethany Webb, Wendy Ringcon, Pat Goodman, David Rhinerson, Patricia Papis, Roger No, Thank you.

Go ahead, Tim. Um, good evening, mayor and city council. Uh, Tim Gettis here. I I guess we'll never we're never going to get a close session report update from the city attorney on any of the litigation involving this the state of California. specifically what uh Attorney General Rob Bont has in has in store for us. Our staff time and legal costs must be a real drain on the on the budget and any punishments, restrictions or other negative impacts that taxpayers may be facing are kept in the dark. The exact opposite of transparency the surf city citizenry deserves. Why do why won't the council fess up? The war against Sacramento over housing, voter ID, and other issues is likely to hit us like a ton of bricks. And yet, the council continues to pretend that all is well. And our residents should just uh sit down, shut up, and take it. By the way, just just uh what is going to be discussed at the bottom of the agenda regarding the state audit, the state is clearly looking into the sweetheart deal regarding the public uh the Pacific Air Show settlement perpetrated by the incumbent council members up for reelection. The agenda item is being raised by current council members not elected in 2022. This state audit could really reveal the sk the skeletons in the closet well before Halloween. Once again, is the public uh being left in the dark? Remember, Tony Strickland isn't here to front for you. Neither is Michael Gates. I'm reminded of the famous quote from

the movie uh Blazing Saddles. Son, you're on your own. This is this is an election year and in six months even some of those who voted for you last time may consider changing horses. They voted to they voted for change. All right. And now many are having buyer's remorse. A new slate of candidates, honest, infinitely more transparent, and truly representing the entire community, is revving up its engines. And all the partisan special interest money you have squirreled away will isn't going to save you if your actions have screwed our residents. All the dog and pony shows cooked up by the mayor to uh put a business friendly uh face on things are going to turn sour when everybody including the business sector suffers from uh uh suffers the fallout from the what the state may do to us. It's time for new change. Real change that will let uh the let the

Tim for the record the attorney actually reported out of close session about that audit item that you were talking about. Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Hello, I'm Roz Price, not Pierce. Uh good evening, mayor and council members and all the guests here this evening. As I reviewed tonight's agenda, I was encouraged to see several items that reflect the values so many of us care deeply about here in the city of Huntington Beach. Public safety, environmental stewardship, clean neighborhoods, and responsible government. From continued coordination regarding Buchica State Beach to addressing weeds and rubbish and public nuisances to strengthening our storm water permit implementation. These items may seem administrative on the surface level, but they directly impact the quality of life our city is looking to. They affect how safe, clean, beautiful, and well-managed Huntington Beach feels for the residents, families, visitors alike. I also appreciate the city's continued investment in public safety, including our police department's air support unit, keeping our first responders equipped with the tools they need essential to protecting our beautiful community. And when it comes to contracts, audits, branding, and environmental review, I believe residents want the same thing I do. Transparency, accountability, and wise stewardship of taxpayer dollars. We want a city a city government that communicates clearly, plans carefully, and always puts Huntington Beach first. As far as agenda item 22 goes, I'm glad you guys chose to go through the RFP process making this right. It makes us wonder what was going on in the people's heads who chose to not do that initially. These are not just agenda items. They are reflections on the kind of city we want to be. The city that's safe, strong, clean, and fiscally responsible and proud of its identity. This is exactly why I'm running for city council in November of 2026. I care deeply about this community, the city. I believe Huntington Beach deserves leadership that listens, shows up, and follows through. I've been here for almost 50 years. I'm Ros Price, your

Huntington Beach City Council candidate for 2026. Showing up for public safety, clean neighborhoods, strong families, transparency, common sense of course, and Huntington Beach we can all be proud of. And I also want to God bless every single one of you here and continue prayers for Butch Twining during his time of healing. And I also want to extend my condolences to Love's family, friends, and everybody that supported her. We will miss you so much. love our city surf city splash organizer, president of the sand dollars which coordinate Miss Honey Beach and the scholarship. We'll always remember you and will never forget you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Hi, my name is Kaylee McHugh. I moved here a decade ago and was enamored with the weather and how welcoming the people of the city can be. However, this city has earned its current negative reputation due to this council's failure to meet the needs of its residents. I and many of my generation are struggling with the rising cost of housing. Your rejection of that truth and costly legal fights are costing me and everyone in this city twice as much. As California citizens, we are paying for both sides of these unnecessary legal fights. For what? You can easily fix this city's reputation by actively addressing the needs and cares of your cit residents instead of wasting even more of my tax payer money on a costly and phony social media contract. As Ben said so truthfully earlier, you can't polish a turd. Thank you for your time.

Good evening. My name is Dave Patell. I'm a local resident and I'm trying to find out why Overlook Park remains closed to vehicles and uh and the public. Uh initially it was closed because of CO. They didn't want people congregating in the area and we've we're well past CO now. I've talked to people in the parks and recreation and they don't know why the park's still closed. They say they don't control What's which park, sir? Overlook Park. Overlook. Okay. Yeah, I I know most people don't know where it is. Do you know where it is? It's at Seint and Garfield. Yes, sir.

And it has remained closed since CO. We're past CO. And I just wondering why is the park still closed? There's no other park in the city that is still closed. Any answers or we Yeah, fill out a blue blue card and we'll contact you and get you going. Yeah, if you fill out a blue card, we'll try to get All right. Thanks. Yeah, Sergeant-at-Arms right there. Thank you, sir. Next speaker, please.

Brother Stephen Gerard Sidlovski, beloved Huntington Beach Mayor, City Council, you're being provided uh an information sheet. Uh and citizens, uh I was delighted to be able to make the California March for Life. So, you're going to get some of the wonderful pictures in front of you for that March for Life. Uh, I would say well over 4,000 citizens attended a few Mondays ago at the state capitol and uh I continue to amplify in my travels and now back here in Huntington Beach the new possibility for USA pre-born person cities. So on the back of that, of course, I continue to give all of you the resolution and support of a Huntington Beach, California declaration of a safe pre-born personhood city. I love to hear the term public safety. I've heard it several times. Well, public safety, we have to learn to love God and we have to love our neighbor as oursel. And public safety means that the child peacefully developing in the mother's womb is also our neighbor and should be part of that public safety. Now we can new now move in this new direction of passing this resolution for all of you possibly by Mother's Day or Father's Day because the US Supreme Court DOB's decision did not just send this decision back to the states. It also sent it back to the counties and cities especially with charters. So this is just step one. I looking forward to all of you pondering this, putting this on your agenda and possibly passing even by Mother's Day or Father's Day. I know we have National Day of Prayer coming up what the first Thursday of May. I'm sure your city participates in that also. So, I'm just

delighted that I'm here before all of you. I have collected signatures from citizens uh all throughout the state of California and I can tell you I have at least 20 more signatures from citizens from Huntington Beach encouraging you to put this on your agenda. pass this pre-born personhood resolution because remember the joy of the spirit of God, his love for his creation. Thank you for your great love in all that you do. God bless you all. Thank you. Go ahead, ma'am.

I do not know him. Um, okay. Let's see here. Um, I'm here in Strong. This is my friend Steven Silvski. Um he would love to have a um a prolife resolution um passed in your city. Um I went to the um so I'm in strong support of this. I went to the March for Life in Sacramento this year. Uh the March for Life is fun and everything, but um and to take a stand for the baby peacefully developing in the womb, but it's not going to solve anything. Walking around a city does not solve anything. What we need is we need to show um God that we care that we care about what his ten commandments say. We care about what his word says. That we acknowledge him as Lord of all. That we acknowledge that he is the creator of all things and that he comes first. That there are no other idols or gods before him. And we need to um absolutely we need the word of God. Of course, everybody knows that the word of God is spirit. The word of God is God. Um, and he created us to know him. So, um, we should decide to take a stand on his word and make a righteous decision, um, for a prolife resolution in the city. Um, and to rever, uh, the one true God. Amen. Um, so we are so that we uh continue to um we and unless we decide to take a stand on his word and make a righteous decisions that rever the one true God, we are going to continue to see little value placed on human life. Amen.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Uh Kanan Durham, happy Easter week. Um, I wanted to open up with uh Casey. I actually think what you're doing with the minute with the mayor videos is awesome. Um, I think it's really cool. Um, aside from that, I am opposing agenda item 22. Um, I'd like to echo the earlier bipartisan concerns about cronyism, lack of experience, and a lack of trustworthy business information. Um, I myself worked as a buyer for a decade and reviewed a lot of vendor contracts and I would agree with the earlier speaker. Um, that this specific contract that was on the website, uh, lacks the concrete information that I would generally expect in a contract of this type, especially when it comes at the cost of nearly 3/4 of a million of taxpayer dollars. Yes, this city has a PR problem, but we seem to have a misunderstanding of why we are struggling with tourism dollars and business contracts. I constantly find myself meeting people who are afraid to come to this city. Not just resistant, not uninterested, but afraid. And many of the city council's actions are included in the list of reasons. rejecting autism inclusion infrastructure efforts, opposing laws that intend to make council meetings more accessible to disabled folks and English as a second language folks, writing marginalized people out of our policy on human dignity, dissolving our human relations commission, regularly targeting the LGBTQ community, aligning with ICE and with the Proud Boys, opposing affordable housing efforts during a cost of living crisis, leaning into racist dog whistles, becoming known as the porn city thanks to Chad Williams while attacking librarians and

repeatedly setting up a physical idol of Donald Trump on the dis who just yesterday called for the genocide of Iranian people, many of whom have family here in Orange County. Aside from the questionable business decision that it would be to dive into an untested sweetheart contract, I'd argue that this threequarters of a million dollars will be going down the drain until the actions and words of this council fundamentally change. Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Uh Patricia Papis, happy to speak to you. to the honorable group here, the mayor and council members, all of them um have lived here 46 years and have had the opportunity to see that we just don't have enough money. We past council members, past councils have not known how to run business. They haven't known how to bring money into our city and that's become a problem for you. And so I believe that we have the um the most hardworking mayor and city council members that I've seen in a long time in my 46 years. Uh when mayor when uh Strickland, Vandermark, Burns, and McKon joined the DAS as our newest council members, they immediately took to reviewing the needs of the city uh both budget, infrastructure. I was on the infrastructure committee and we had to go around and do surveys and find out what the um what the residents needed, what they wanted. We went on tours, we took meetings, we saw the degraded um bridges, etc. The um at that time about when we've lived here about 42 years um and I have to tell you a little story about my neighborhood. But I live up in the north and the north did not get a lot of attention from the last previous council members. And so when I did wait for this new four to come in, I contacted all of the um council members and asked for someone to come. I said I need my neighborhood. I said, "I need a decision maker." And um our trees, our streets, the the water, the just it was just really, really bad. And so um Councilman McKeon at the time sent some decision makers, sent Chauvu out, sent Denny Bacon out, and I have to tell you,

four years later, and we had hardly any service in the first 42 years, okay? But he sent the Chauvu again and Denny Bacon and then Frank and then Greg with Trees and Trees and they came out. It's just been they're in our neighborhood now. They've been in our neighborhood working and cleaning it up and I just so appreciate you when we could never get any help. So when you're looking at bringing more money into our uh neighborhoods and into our city, I totally respect that and thank you for all that you do. Thank you. Next speaker, please.

This city council has repeatedly said that they will run the city like a business. It's well past time that you stop simply talking the talk and start walking the walk. One of the first principles of a well-run business is that you don't treat the symptoms, you treat the cause. This is what makes the proposed contract with a PR firm a bad decision. This city's reputation is in tatters precisely because of the endless ill-advised lawsuits that this city council has brought to bolster their political standing. Suits that offer no benefit to the citizens but cost us money and goodwill. It was the repeated losses in these lawsuits that prompted the Orange County Register to rebrand the city of Losers. What good is it to hire a PR firm to try to monetize the city's brand when the city's brand is City of Losers? what business in their right mind would want to be associated with a city of losers? No. The correct response if you're running the city like a well-run business is to take action to restore the city's reputation. Stop the posturing lawsuits and start running the city for the benefit of all its citizens. Stop doing sweetheart deals behind closed doors and fighting their exposure. Stop governing for the benefit of your supporters and friends and instead for govern for the entire community. When and if you have accomplished that would be the time to consider engaging a PR firm. But having spent 40 years in business contracting with private firms as well as all levels of government from local to federal, the way that a PR firm should be selected is another principle of good business. Unless the contracted for something only one firm can offer such as a proprietary technology, which PR is not, competitive bidding is how the firm should be selected, especially in government when you are spending public money. Typical is an RFP with at least three responding bids and a selection of the least cost compliant bid. Failure to receive at least three compliant bids means that the RFP must

either be rerun or a detailed costbenefit analysis must be performed to ensure that good value for money is being received. The current proposal complies with none of these requirements and as such should be rejected.

Next speaker, please. Good evening. I'm glad item 22 has been pulled and you'll be preparing an RFP, but I urge you to take the time to write a thorough RFP that isn't tailored to fit your friend's proposal exactly. Um, Tyler Wolf purports to be a highly qualified brand manager, yet he can't even get his own website up and running to demonstrate his amazing skill. Until this morning, the only thing that worked on the website was the phone number that went to a sex line. Is that the kind of professionalism we can expect? I wonder why he has the symbol of Russian social media on his website along with the Facebook and Twitter symbols. His Instagram is private, which seems odd for someone that wants business. I have taken a look at the PowerPoint and the only references that are provided are a couple of quotes from well-known entertainers and a bunch of well-known logos, but there is no way to verify that these weren't just grabbed off the internet. And none of these references are municipalities that have actual laws that govern what they can and can't do in contracting. And I wonder who will actually implement all these ideas. I but I expect city staff will actually be doing the implementing the implementation. But the city's understaffed. At the budget presentation, we learned that the city council is currently saving millions of dollars by not filling open positions. That means staff is already stretched extremely thin and likely can't take on on all these brilliant ideas. I'm looking forward to reviewing a comprehens the comprehensive proposals that you receive. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Good evening, Mayor McKeon and City Council. Thank you for pulling item number 22. Uh, and not to beat a dead horse, I would just want to point out some things that struck me as odd or um, uh, really not getting the best product for the city in such a contract. And in exhibit A, um, I felt that it was incomplete. It does not identify city staff responsible for the implementation or contact for the contractor. What are the contractor's estimated hours, hourly rates, contractor staffing, and will there be any uh expenses reimbursed to the contractor, including travel from the contractor's address in Sheridan, Wyoming? The council should not approve that contract until some of this information is made available. Although mentioned in the contractor's audit, the contract makes no mention of visit Huntington Beach, which owns the registered Surf City USA trademark. City legal staff should review item 14 to include trademark and intellectual property in order to determine how the city moves forward given VHB's ownership of that mark. Uh while Mayor McKeon and the council have made recent efforts to highlight local heroes, acts of patriotism, businesses, and community events. No, no marketing contract fixes a governance pro problem. The consultant's own audit found that 75% to 80% of a 100 sampled media stories about Huntington Beach were negative or political. The underlining causes are all well known. Costly litigation, library disruptions,

exclusion of minority groups, lack of transparency around the air show settlement and symphony of flowers, dismantling of boards and commissions, associations of elected officials with extremist groups and conduct at public meetings. A branding strategy is only as strong as the governance it represents. I love this city and I want to die here. Uh, and I hope to uh live for many years with a welcoming and inclusive environment. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Bethany Webb, longtime Huntington Beach resident, homeowner, still anti-fascist. Been a while since I've been here and what I found out right away is grifters gonna grift. The idea that Oh, I do want to back up for a second to the very beginning of the meeting where once again the chaplain ex uh excluded many of us that do not consider ourselves Christian. And then we had Chad give us a little sermon from what is supposed to be a again a speech that represents all of us and there still is a separation of church and state. I do have a question kind of aimed at you Chad when you bring up Easter since you're all MAGA self you know self um identified MAGA. What you think of your dear leader's post on his truth on Easter? You like when he says he's going to [ __ ] annihilate people. That's what the president's language is. Take talking about committing genocide on Easter. A real religious leader, the Pope has condemned him in every way possible. to get back to this the newest griff that that Casey has brought to us. Instead of spending $720,000 of our taxpayer money to find out what the problem with our reput reputation is, go to Lowe's, buy some mirrors and look into them. Your constant culture wars, divisions of our city are beautiful. wonderful city is what is causing the damage. Say save us all a bunch of money and start acting like you

care about all of us. Mr. Gr said he was coming here to care about all of us and then called the half of us barnyard animals. It's time that you stop this. And by the way, I bought lot uh Olympic tickets this weekend and I couldn't help think, boy, it sure would have been nice if Huntington Beach had a venue in the Olympics when everybody knows people connected with the Olympics have been out front. We lost the Olympics because of your culture wars because people don't feel safe coming here. And yes, you don't care if there are people of color or LGBTQ people that don't feel comfortable here. You don't care if Canadians don't want to come here. All you care about is your Riverside 909ers who feel right at home with racists and bigots. But the rest of us would like people from all over to feel welcome in our beautiful city.

Next speaker, please. Wendy Rencon, 52-year resident. It seems that agenda item 22 was pulled because once again, you were caught with shady cronyism, much like the code for settlement. I'm not sure why you're rushing with desperation to do a PR study. Now, 730,000 give or take to survey why our reputation is in tatters. I'll do it for free during my speaking time. Let's start with former Pat Mayor, former mayor Pat Mayor. Pat Burns, excuse me, calling my daughter, and I quote, "Sorry, a [ __ ] cow on a hot mic." Or Pat Burns displaying a bust of a war crimes Trump, cutting off speakers like me when you do not agree with them, leading to the ACLU sending you a cease and desist letter on my behalf. It could be the treatment of our librarians over the past several years, leading to one librarian tearfully quitting while standing at this podium to cheers from many in the audience while many of you smuggly looked on, accusing librarians and community members of indoctrinating children, grooming them by allowing for access to age appropriate books. I know one thing, not one of our librarians is on the Epstein list. Or it could be the numerous lawsuits that we keep losing not against only against our state in California but also against community members. It could be the anti-LGBT attitudes of this council and city. Or it could be Chad Porn Williams procilitizing from his city council seat. Sir, this is a government building and a government meeting. I did not come to your church, sir. If I wanted to do that, I could have gone to your church on Sunday. How dare you force your religious magical thinking on us.

I came to a city meeting to talk to the city council members. If I wanted a Christian pastor, I know where to find one, and you wouldn't be it. Here's the real money maker that could really solve our problems. How about we tax the damn churches? Thanks, Chad.

Next speaker, please. Good evening, city council. The police the police department has implemented a policy where emails from lieutenants and higher ranks autodee in just 15 days whenever they choose. Autodee their emails. Okay. I mean, so that way you can't use it as evidence or Okay. They and they admit this, okay? I mean, this is insane. It's kind of like the the Mission Impossible where it says, you know, this tape will self-destruct. So, there's no evidence at all for anything. So, they can lie. They can do anything. Okay. And they admit this. Okay. The perfect environment for making statements to the public or c or council that could never be verified. A built-in shield that enables lying with without any paper trail or accountability. This is not transparent government. When a department controlling nearly one quarter of our city budget can make its own records disappear so quickly. I mean, okay, residents lose the ability to trust what they're being told about policy, budgets, and public safety. I asked about a body warn camera and they said that doesn't apply to the the uh to the public records act because it's a very narrow thing, but but body cams don't. You have to still subpoena those. I mean things like that when they they can autodelete anything that they lie about within 15 days and in fact even if you take it and then you you put it in a file it explodes and I mean it doesn't and it's gone. I mean, this is insane that we have I mean, they have that power. And Chief Eric Perry, I want to apologize for last the last time that that he wasn't here and he had mini me instead sitting in his position because he was his mom was or his his mother-in-law was sick. I apologize for that. But the rest of the the times that you weren't here, naughty naughty, especially Okay, then. Okay, we must,

okay, we must immediately stop this 15-day uh email deletion policy and enforce proper retention standards under the California Public Records Act. Okay, and remember Eric Perah, okay, during his time interimm city manager while still serving as police chief and that was and that goes against his his contract as the chief of police. He wasn't allowed to do anything else except that. Okay, he still he still got paid double. Okay. As an interim city manager and as chief of police. Okay. Eric Per personally, he was the one who personally placed the libraries outsourcing item on the agenda and spearheaded the entire effort of privatizing the libraries. Okay. In March of 2024. Okay. He initiated the push to solicit bids for private contractors to take over our public libraries which cost about seven or budget is $7 million a year. He promoted that it was a way to maybe save around a million dollars, okay? Or it could be a lot higher, okay? Savings that we were never guaranteed and it could easily end up costing the city more while disrupting the services and harming all of the Liberians pensions and benefits. Thanks, Roger. All right, moving on to council committee appointment announcements. Council members, do you do you have any council committee appointment announcements? None. AB123 reporting. Does anyone have anything to report? All right. Openness and negotiation disclosures. Does anyone have anything to disclose? All right. City manager report. City manager, do you have anything to report?

Nothing tonight, mayor. All right. Consent calendar is items 16 through 21. Would anyone like to pull an item? I'm going to pull uh 19. 19. Anybody else? All right, I'll make a motion to move the balance except for second. All right, motion in a second. Voting on items 16, 17, 18, 19 pulled by Gro 20 and 21. Correct. Councilman Gro, yes. Councilman Kennedy, yes. Mayor McKeon. Yes.

Councilman Burns. Hi. Councilman Williams. Yes. Items pass 502. Councilman Gr. Item 19.

Yeah, I I pulled item 19 not because I have an issue with it, but I just kind of want to explain it to the public because you see $700,000 and there's kind of a sticker shock there. But this is actually uh an interesting interestingly something that I learned through this process. This is really part of the more grander wholesale streamlining HB approach. So the $700,000 is not an actual allocation of funds. It's the bu bringing in contractors and experts that are specifically within this field of understanding SQA and then ultimately any ERI that are connected to development projects in the city. So when somebody comes and they have a project in the city and ultimately it gets approved and if there's some sort of an environmental analysis that's required and obviously SQA work then um they pay for that however the city conducts and you know provides those services and then we get the money back. So this isn't $700,000 that's allocated and then goes away. the amount of time that it takes in many cases after speaking with um city city members and those that work within the city and the team members is that the amount of time that it takes in many cases in order to bring on some of these companies can be upwards of 3 to four months. So by having these on call contractors ready and in the pipeline we're actually saving 3 to four months. Time is money as we know and that's a small piece of streamlining this process and procedure. So I just wanted to kind of call that out. I think that that's a real interesting interesting piece that I learned as a new council member. And I also for people who are looking at the sticker shock of $700,000 want them to understand that's not money that we're allocating specifically right now for our projects. It's just the contract element and ultimately a lot of that um and correct me if I'm wrong, Jennifer, but that is paid back to the city in many cases through the developer or other projects. Right.

Yes. Anytime we use one of these contractors for a development application, we also do a reimbursement agreement with the developer who deposits money to the city and we pay the invoices to the consultant using that money. Thank you so much. Because the city is required to undergo the the um EIR or any of the SQA elements. Correct. Yes. Any development application or entitlement application that's submitted to the city is subject to SQA. Thank you, Jennifer. Just real quick too, these are some smaller firms as well, right? to kind of open up the the bidding pool for other firms that weren't necessarily the larger firms that we kind of had on the roster. Correct. Yes, we have an um a variety of firms. Right. But I know that was a a desire from some smaller firms. So, I'm glad that we're able to kind of open up the roster to to bring in some other environmental groups.

Yes. Thank you. So, that's it. I'm ready to move the item and I just wanted to make note of that. Second. All right. Motion in a second. Councilman Gr. Yes. Councilman Kennedy. Yes. Mayor McKeon. Yes. Councilman Burns. Hi. Councilman Williams. Yes. Item po item passes. 502. All right. 22 is pulled. 23. Council member items. Well, I we we discussed this when we read it through the close session. So, I don't know how much more detail we need to go into on Okay. It's you guys item. You want to just read out what's on the uh on the memo? I could read it.

Yeah. Go for it. Okay. So, on the memo here, it says, "Authorize legal counsel to compense settlement discussions with council for the state auditor regarding the Grant Parks case. The goal would be to arrive at a settlement of the lawsuit, thereby ending further legal fees and related matters. Any settlement agreement would be submitted at a future council meeting for review and approval. And so, this is just a great opportunity for uh transparency um and reconciliation. And so I move the item. Second.

Councilman Gro. Yes. Councilman Kennedy. Yes. Mayor McKon. Yes. Councilman Burns. Hi. Councilman Williams. Yes. Item passes 502. All right. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? Motion.

All right. The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Huntington Beach City Council Public Finance and Authority is Tuesday, April 21st, 2026 in the Civic Center Council Chambers, 2000 Main Street, Huntington Beach, California. Meeting adjourned. Thank you. I love you. la.