City Council - Regular Meeting

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See you soon.

Low, low.

© transcript Emily Beynon

I'd like to call the meeting of the City Council Public Financing Authority to order. City Clerk, may I have the roll call, please?

Yes, thank you, Mayor. Councilman Drew?

Here.

Councilman Kennedy? Here. Mayor Pro Tem Twiney?

Here.

Mayor McKeon? Here. Councilmember Burns? Present. Councilwoman Randermark? Here. Councilman Williams?

Here. Thank you. You have a quorum. Thank you. City Clerk, do we have any supplemental communications?

Yes, one. Also, I'd like to announce that pursuant to city charter section 310A, city clerk Lisa Lane Barnes has requested permission to be absent from this meeting. If there are no objections, it will be reflected in the minutes. For closed session, we have one supplemental communication for item number four. One email received regarding existing litigation, people of the state of California slash Bonta versus city of Huntington Beach. That is all.

City clerk, do we have anyone signed up to speak on closed session items?

No, we do not, Mayor.

All right. Included in closed session is Conference with Labor Negotiators, Government Code Section 54957.6, Agency Designated Representatives, Travis Hopkins, City Manager, also in attendance, Marissa Sir, Assistant City Manager, Mike Vigliotta, City Attorney, and Zach Zee, Chief Financial Officer, Employee Organizations, the Police Management Association, Tunnington Beach Firefighters Association, and the Fire Management Association. Council to have a motion and a second to recess the closed session.

Motion. Second.

Recess to close session.

Come ride with the winds that bring you gladness And see if you can see A place that's free from all dismay

Where wandering thoughts do roam And ships sailing on the seas sail onward And know not where they go On and on, on and on Through the times we marched along We never noticed what tomorrow's gonna bring Find your way every day Though the skies be all dark Find your way.

There's a name written on my door And it's mine, could be yours if you really want it And more, more Uh-huh, uh-huh I'm a man for security So have you done?

Put all your cares away Leave them to fade away Let them go flying Always been there for you to come and tell your troubles too, too. Put all your cares away. Leave them to fade away. Let them go flying.

Thank you. ? ? ? ? La, la, la, la, la. La, la, la, la, la. La, la, la, la, la. Right now. Thank you. Bye. Thank you. Thank you.

Stay at home, sitting staring at the TV. She comes home late, tell me, honey, where have you been? Well, if I didn't feel so down, I'd be sleeping underneath the I got up this morning too late to go to work She told me to get out and she threw me down my shirt Well I ran to the station and I got on the very next train And when I opened up my eyes I was back in bed again I don't want to get a job because work is just a waste of time. I'm going to be an independent person for the rest of my life. But if she catches me at home, she's going to beat me all about the head. And if you come in shouting, you better get yourself to bed. Come on, please let me stay.

I said, come on, please let me stay home, girl. Bye. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Yeah. ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la. La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la. Thank you. guitar solo guitar solo

She comes home late, tell me, honey, where have you been? Well, if I didn't feel so down, I'd be sleeping underneath the I got up this morning too late to go to work She told me to get out and she threw me down my shirt Well I ran to the station and I got on the very next train And when I opened up my eyes I was back in bed again I don't want to get a job because work is just a waste of time. I'm going to be an independent person for the rest of my life. But if she catches me at home, she's going to beat me all about the head. And if you come in shouting, you better get yourself to bed. Come on, please let me stay.

I said, come on.

Bye. ¶¶ Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. ¶¶ Bye. Bye. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We ain't to be never Need you, need you now guitar solo guitar solo

See you soon.

Thank you. you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Once I had a dream that made me sad. How so many people can be bad? Everybody wants all they can grab. People running don't have much to say You better get your dreams before they fade away We're all here until we know not when

You know we'll be together You know we'll be together

Thank you.

There's a name written on my door And it's mine, could be yours if you really want it And more, more Uh-huh, uh-huh I'm a mind for security So have you, don't you

Me, me Put all your cares away Leave them to fade away Let them go flying Far, far, far Always been there for you To come and tell your troubles To, to Ah, ah, ah, ah Put all your cares away Leave them to fade away Let them go flying Ah, ah, ah, ah

Come ride with the winds that bring you gladness And see if you can see A place that's free from all dismayness

where wandering thoughts do roam and ships sailing on the seas sail onward and love not let ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶ ¶¶

If there's clouds in the sky, you can dry your eyes. If there's rain up above, you can give your love every day, every day. When you smile at me, I can see you're giving all the love that we share, and it's all I'm living for every day, every day. Every day is sunshine And I'm so glad that you're mine If the rain and the snow and the ice is cold Deep inside love is new And the sun comes shining through Every day Every day Every day a sun Every day a sun Shine

La, la, la, la, la. We'll be right back. Thank you. so so ¶¶

Come ride with the winds that bring you gladness And see if you can see A place that's free from all dismay

away where wandering thoughts do roam and ships sailing on the seas sail onward and love not let

Stay at home, sitting, staring at the TV. She comes home late, telling me, honey, where have you been? Well, if I didn't feel so down, I'd be sleeping underneath the I got up this morning too late to go to work She told me to get out and she threw me down my shirt Well I ran to the station and I got on the very next train And when I opened up my eyes I was back in bed again I don't want to get a job cause work is just a waste of time I'm gonna be an independent person for the rest of my life But if she catches me at home she's gonna beat me all about the head And if you come in shouting you better get yourself to bed Come on, please let me stay at home girl

Thank you.

There's a name written on my door And it's mine, could be yours if you really want it And more, more I'm a mind for security So have you, don't you see You could lay all your troubles on me, me I don't mind always being there for you To come and tell your troubles To, to Let them go flying.

Once I had a dream that made me sad. How so many people can be bad? Everybody wants all things. We don't have much to say. You better get your dreams before they fade away. We're all here until we know not when.

We'll be together You know we'll be together

La, la, la, la, la, la, la. La, la, la, la, la, la, la. ¶¶ ¶¶ Thank you. guitar solo guitar solo

If there's clouds in the sky, you can dry your eyes. If there's rain up above, you can give your love every day. Every day. When you smile at me, I can see you're giving all the love that we share. And it's all I'm living for every day. Every day. Every day is sunshine And I'm so glad that you're mine If the rain and the snow and the ice is cold, deep inside love is new and the sun comes shining through every day, every day.

Every day a sun shines.

La la la la la Thank you. ¶¶ Thank you. Thank you. you Thank you. oh oh

Good evening, everyone. I would like to reconvene the regular meeting of the City Council Public Finance and Authority. City Clerk, may I have the roll call, please?

Yes, thank you, Mayor. Councilman Grewal?

Here.

Councilman Kennedy? Here. Mayor Procter & Twiney?

Here.

Mayor McKeon? Here. Councilman Burns?

Here.

Councilwoman Vandermark? Here. Councilman Williams? Here. You have a quorum. Also, I'd like to announce that pursuant to City Charter Section 310A, City Clerk Lisa Lane Barnes has requested permission to be absent from this meeting. If there are no objections, it will be reflected in the minutes. Thank you.

Thank you. Tonight's invocation will be given by Huntington Beach Police Chaplain James Pike.

Let us pray. We call upon you, almighty God, that you might bless us, that your purposes might be our purposes, your desires our desires, your just government our government. We pray for those elected to lead us, that you might endow them with virtue and wisdom, and that our community might come together for the sake of the common good, for the sake of neighbors, in building a place where life can thrive. We pray especially for the beginning of a new school year, for all those who are students, teachers, staff, and administrators, that it might be a great time of learning and a great time of growing. Bless these proceedings, bless those who will speak, and we ask all these things in your name. Amen.

Thank you, James. Tonight, the Pledge of Allegiance will be led by the one and only James Gormley of American Legion Post 133. Jim spent 31 years in the U.S. Army and flew Army helicopters for 26 years. He served three years as an enlisted service member and 28 years as a commissioned officer, retiring from the Army as Lieutenant Colonel. His military service included command and staff assignments at all unit and organizational levels up through division, two tours in Japan, both less than a year, and several short tours at the Pentagon. One of the many highlights of his career was the assignment as commander for all air security for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. During his flying days, Jim was privileged to fly President Ronald Reagan, during his time as governor in California, and Christopher Reeve, Superman, and California Governor George Duke Magin. After the U.S. Army, Jim worked as a commercial actor for television for four years, appearing in commercials for Sears, Chevy, Tahoe, Pillsbury, Honda, Farmer Boy's Restaurants, many regional commercials, and several infomercials. In 1999, Jim became an instructor for the University of Phoenix at the Southern California campus, teaching in the College of Business and Information Technology and College General Studies. He spent 22 years with the university and he earned his doctorate of management in organizational leadership while there. Jim also holds bachelor's and master's degree from USC, right on. Today, Jim is very active at St. Hedwig Catholic Church and is into teaching, writing, public speaking, and relearning the piano. Thank you for your service, Jim.

Place your hands over your heart. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all.

Thanks, Jim. Closed session report by the City Attorney. City Attorney, do you have anything to report from closed session?

Nothing tonight, Mayor.

City Council Member comments. Would anyone like to make a comment? Council Member Burns.

All right. September 18th will be the Air Force's birthday. Congratulations to them. Casey and I both went to a 9-11 ceremony at Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station. It was very well done. And then we came to Huntington Beach where Post 133, led by Mr. Gormley, it was awesome. So keep that in our memory, 9-11. And then... Just so, Casey always does a minute with the mayor. Of lately, I've had a few opportunities to go to Old World. That's a hidden little gem. I forgot about that place for years. And that place, it's got great food, and it's right there off Center Drive. I just want to remind everybody, that place is, God, that thing is huge. It's really, the restaurant's big, and it's got great food. And then, again, I'm going to remind everybody that I want everybody to reevaluate the oncoming popularity, it seems, of growing socialism and communism, and there's no place in Huntington Beach. Tee hee hee by a bunch of idiots, but no room for socialism in Huntington Beach. We're patriotic, we love our Constitution, we love America, and I'm willing to fight for it. Thank you.

Anybody else? Go for it, yeah.

I just wanted to take a moment. A year or so ago, the council passed the commemoration of Colby IPA, Colby IPA Day. It's going to be celebrated September 18th. We privately funded a plaque designed by the IPA family. It will be revealed or unveiled on Tower Zero on September 18th. I believe this starts at 3.30. So if you have a moment, you want to come out and celebrate the life and the legacy of Colby IPA, It's going to be very heartfelt, very touching, and probably painful as well, but it's going to be a memory that should live with everybody for a long, long time. So it should be quite an honor to be out there. So Colby IPA Day, 3.30 on the pier, revealing the Colby IPA plaque.

Thank you.

Anybody else?

So about a year ago, Charlie Kirk had died, and he was asked in an interview, how would you like to be remembered? And he asked, like, what do you mean, like, if I died? And they said, yeah, how would you like to be remembered? And so his desire, the way he wanted to be remembered, was for courage. And courage is the deliberate decision to take action in the fear, in the face of fear, uncertainty, and danger. And I do think that he was certainly a man that embodied that. We are in a very strange place in society nowadays where we have folks saying that people like Lindsay Clancy deserve mercy while people like Charlie Kirk deserve to die. And unfortunately, and I'm not saying that this is true of the people that are here in this room, but anyone that has social media turns on a TV can see that with their own eyes. And so we're in a dark place. And so when he spoke about that courage, courage for what? Courage for his faith. I think it's worth remembering what that faith was because that's what he wanted to be remembered for. And that was a faith in his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who came down into this world and lived a holy, perfect, sinless life. And when he went to the cross, he absorbed all of our shame, all of our regret, all of our sins upon himself. paid the penalty of our sin in full, and rose again from the grave, conquering not only sin, but conquering death. And he declared from that resurrected life, because I live, you also shall live. And so there is hope beyond the grave. There is hope for someone like Charlie Kirk. And as Jesus says, he is the resurrection and a life. And though a man shall die, he shall live. And I do believe that Charlie... is alive with him. He has left that legacy behind and that offer of God's mercy is open to anyone that would respond and call on the name of the Lord Jesus.

Anybody else?

Andrew. We have the cleanest beaches, in my opinion, probably anywhere in California, if not the United States. But it's obviously, every single day, it is an uphill battle to keep those beaches clean. So I just want to, number one, commend the residents of Huntington Beach for helping with the city to keep all of those beaches and parks as well clean. A lot of volunteer groups that commit themselves to that. But the good news is that this Saturday, on September 19th, is Coastal Cleanup Day. So the Huntington Beach State Beach, as well as many other state beaches throughout California, will be hosting a coastal beach cleanup day. It's from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m., and everyone is meeting at the Lifeguard Tower 7. I think this is a great activity, especially for kids, and kids are back in activities Saturday morning. Get out there to the beach. It's going to be a beautiful day. and then teach your kids, your grandkids, and you, of course, yourself can be a part of it, to maintain the integrity of this amazing marine coastal environment that we have here. If all of us just do a little bit, then one person, including the city, doesn't have to do a ton. So Saturday, 9 to 12.

Anybody else? A couple things. I'm sure you've all seen around town. We're in campaign season. Signs have gone up. Respectfully request people do not vandalize other signs. It's a lot of hard work to put those up and very expensive to pay for. Individual slashed signs earlier today on Hamilton in broad daylight, and that person was identified through video surveillance later. arrested, admitted guilt. So in working with our police department, we just want it to be known that the city will not tolerate vandalizing personal property like signs and they will be prosecuted as an example. And we appreciate their quick police work to do that. And then I really want to highlight the visual representation and validation of how business-friendly Huntington Beach has become with the future-proof wealth management convention on the beach right now, just south of the pier. Just so people understand, this is the largest financial planning and wealth convention in the entire country, the entire United States, and it's in Huntington Beach. And it gets bigger every single year. So there's over 5,700 people that have registered. They've booked over 3,500 room nights in HB. There's 132 custom-built sponsor structures. Because although they're located in New York, they've actually hired our local company, Code 4, to enhance this event this year by over 30%. So it's a good local business. They have live podcasts, a national broadcast coverage on CNBC. I was getting text messages today of news clips from CNBC with Future Proof, people on the beach. And plenty of other news outlets covers it. And we should be very proud that the biggest financial wealth convention in the United States has its location here in Huntington Beach. And I just love driving down PCH when I'm taking my children to school. and seeing people, attendees, come out of the hotels with their badges around their neck, holding their coffee, rushing because they're late to a meeting, and realizing their meeting is on the sand. Like, they're under tents in breakout rooms on the Pacific Ocean in Huntington Beach looking at the waves. There's, like, a huge stage where they're having symposiums and TED Talks, and then the last night, tomorrow night, they're actually going to have a concert. So it's just incredible. It's something to be proud of. We all should feel that way. And then next week, there's the retail convention as well. So it's just... Local businesses have created a template for these big events, and it's something that creates a huge economic impact to the city. And, again, I just get comments all the time about how amazed people are, so we should really be proud of that.

All right, moving on. I just want to say one thing. And I just want to... back up what Casey just said, and I want to personally thank Code 4 for bringing, I know that a lot of you laugh. I heard you when we said Code 4. If you guys would bring 1%, one scintilla of the type of business that Code 4 brings to Huntington Beach, I might have some respect for the laughing. But I want to thank him because I know a lot of Huntington Beach residents that work for Code 4, I know they've been out there until midnight, 1, 2 o'clock in the morning for the last week and a half, setting this up so that we can have this great event here in Huntington Beach. And my hat goes off to Kevin Elliott and Code 4. Thank you.

All right, moving on to everyone's favorite portion, the Adoptable Pet of the Month. Tonight we have Denise Woodside from OC Animal Care. And the Adoptable Pet of the Month, is it Lispy? Right? Okay. Okay. And Kendall.

Hi. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for having us. I'm joined today by Michael. Michael is one of our dedicated volunteers, and I invite you all to volunteer with OC Animal Care as well. Today we have two adoptable dogs with us. Go say hello. Hello. This is Lipsy. He's an 11-month-old. You can probably tell by his big paws. He's a German Shepherd mix, and he's very fun-loving, very lovable. And then over here is Kendall. Kendall's our big fluff ball. He's absolutely adorable. They've been very good boys visiting this evening. They're available at OC Animal Care. We're located in the city of Tustin, so... If you're interested, please visit our website. You can also view our animals just like these two every day from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. And then talk about the boarding program to adopt, right? So we have a foster to adopt program where if you're interested in adopting a dog, certain dogs have been selected to go home as a foster. And then from there, after about a two-week window, you can decide whether or not you want to make that dog a permanent member of your family or if maybe just the foster was enough time and maybe you want to try to foster another dog. And then we also have our Dogs Day Out program. That is a morning field trip program where select dogs go out on a field trip in Orange County. Yes. It's animalcare.oc.gov. And you can get information about our programs as well as our available animals. Thank you so much. Thank you.

All right, moving on to the business highlight section of the meeting, where we'll share upcoming business events and recognize local businesses that continue to invest and strengthen our Huntington Beach community. So thank you to everyone who braved the heat and the humidity for the State of the Surf City last Thursday. It was a great evening celebrating our Huntington Beach business community, featuring the built-in HB Business and City Department Showcase, the State of Surf City Address, the Business Leadership Panel, and the reception at Sandy's. So we want to thank the Chamber, our city staff, and everyone who helped make the evening possible, especially with all the vendors and tents up top of Pier Plaza. It was great, a lot of networking before the event started. We also have several upcoming opportunities for our business community, including a career fair on September 18th at Freedom Hall, presented by Supervisor Janet Nguyen and the County of Orange, as well as the Chamber's Huntington Beach Restaurant, Retail, and Tourism Sector Partnership. These initiatives connect employers, employees, and business leaders and help create new opportunities for our local economy. As we continue with our Minute with the Mayor series, we're going to recognize two new Huntington Beach businesses. Not new, but two Huntington Beach businesses. So first is Stone and Ceramic Services, a veteran-owned business that has proudly served Huntington Beach since 2000. Led by Mike Foss, they've become a trusted resource for homeowners, designers, and contractors while continuing to give back through their Give Forward Friday program. So Mike, we really want to thank you for your investment in Huntington Beach and for being such an important part of our business community.

What's up, HB?

I'm Mayor Casey McKeon with previous Mayor Pat Burns. Today's episode of Minute with the Mayor takes us to the industrial park right off of Grammar Commercial Drive to Stone and Ceramic Surfaces. Let's go meet the owner, Mike.

So Mike, tell us about Stone and Ceramic Services. We founded this company thinking we need something that has a huge selection of all styles of tile. We carry ceramic tile, porcelain tile, glass tile, metal tile, marble, granite, limestone, pavers, just about anything you can think of. The thought process when I opened this 27 years ago, there was really nobody like that around here. And we are what's called a trade showroom. We cater to designers, contractors, and architects. So they bring their customers in here, and we just help them design whatever size project they have in mind. It might be a kitchen. It might be a bathroom. It might be a whole house. What percentage is Huntington Beach business? It's probably 80%. Oh, that's awesome. It's pretty large. I mean, I personally love Huntington Beach. It's one of the best cities in California, if you ask my opinion.

Well, like, what's the one thing you want, I guess, residents or customers of Huntington Beach to know about? Since if they don't know you guys exist, like, what's the one thing you want to tell them?

I think the main thing is we on staff have about 75 years of customer service and design service, and anybody that walks in the door kind of has that same thought process as like, what am I going to do? So we're really good at design help and color coordination and aesthetical design. And I have 99-cent tile, and honestly, there's tile in here that costs $399 a square foot. So it just depends what you're looking for. And we're really good at helping them and explaining things to them and making them feel good about what their selections are.

That's another local gem right here in Huntington Beach. So remember to shop or model local. We'll see you at the next stop. Thanks, Mike. Place is great. Highly recommend checking it out.

Stone and ceramic surfaces.

Next up is Second Floor Gallery Bar and Grill on Main Street, which is a Main Street favorite that celebrated 15 years in Huntington Beach last year. So owner Carrie Ivey and her team created a true community gathering place while supporting our local schools, sports teams, and community events. So after 15 years, Second Floor has become a fixture in downtown Huntington Beach and an important part of the Surf City community. So thank you, Carrie, for your continued investment in Huntington Beach.

What's up, HB?

I'm Mayor Casey McKeon, with previous Mayor Gracie Vandermark, Mayor Pro Tem Budge Twiney, my wife Josephine, Brady, and Liam. Today's episode of Minute with the Mayors takes us down to second floor, right up from Main and Walnut. Let's go meet Carrie and Michelle. All right, Carrie. Tell us about Second Floor.

All right. Well, Second Floor is a full-service restaurant with an art gallery theme. Full bar, open seven days a week. We serve breakfast on the weekends, and our fare is considered American fast casual.

Can you tell us a little bit about what it is we're looking at here?

Right here we have the filet mignon kebab and a chicken kebab on a bed of roasted veggies. We have our colossal nachos that will feed everybody. Yeah. We have our Freddy Negretti, which is a carne asada steak and black beans and rice. Jalapeno poppers, which are a little bit different and more unique than most because they have a shrimp inside. Oh, these are fried deviled eggs. They're amazing. Super delicious.

How long has Second Floor been here?

We celebrated 16 years just this last June, and we had a big celebration last year for 15 years. So not a lot of restaurants on Main Street can say that. So we've been here a long time, and we're going strong.

That's another local gem right here in Huntington Beach. It's forever to shop, dine, and celebrate local. See you at the next stop. Thank you. All right, so finally just thank you to all our local businesses for continuing to invest in Huntington Beach, create jobs, sales tax revenue, and contribute to our community. Your success is an important part of our city's success, and we appreciate your partnership and commitment to Huntington Beach Surf City. Up next, we have community event announcements. City Clerk, please call for the community event announcements.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. The City Council will now receive announcements for community events only. Community events announcements are accepted in person only. Please queue in the designated area along the stairs and use either podium. State your name and organization for the record. Each organization is allotted two minutes for its announcement.

Awesome. Good afternoon, everybody. A couple of things. Eric Botsford of Wazza Sports. I'm the one producing or my team is the one producing the fitness festival coming up down on the beach in the next couple of weeks. If you don't know about it, we've been an event, a fitness event for many years, 15 years in Miami Beach, third year here. We, I think, I'm hearing the numbers for Future Proof. Our economic impact report was around 4,700 room nights that we brought in last year. So hopefully we're going to inch that up this year and keep growing. But yeah, Future Proof actually builds and operates the week before our Miami event too. So we're very familiar with them. But yeah, we produce a fair amount of economic impact anywhere we go. Obviously, Miami Beach, we've been there for 15 years. And now with our third year here, we're estimating around an $8 million impact. So it's pretty good. Lots of room nights. Lots of, as I was kind of speaking earlier, we love to dine, shop, and sleep in beds. We don't cause a lot of problems because we go to bed pretty early. So we're kind of a good clientele to have around. The event is the 25th through 27th, as many of you know. Um... Obviously, ticketed events, so anybody's welcome to come out to it. Over 50 vendors, so local folks and folks who travel around with us around the country, endemic brands that are kind of used to the fitness tour, if you will, will be there. So lots of things there. Over 2,000 athletes competing this year. We've added not only just the CrossFit event, which kind of anchors our programming. We've added Strongman. We've added USA Weightlifting. We have an ErgShoot competition happening. and a host of other activations that will be going on. Local business here in Costa Mesa, 511, they make a lot of gear for both the tactical athlete as well as the fitness athlete. They've bought up a huge swath of the beach, so they're going to be doing some really cool activations as well. Police and Fire, obviously we've invited both teams out to kind of take part in this. We'll be doing a large thing for the Navy Seals Foundation as well. So anyways, thanks so much.

Awesome, thank you. Thanks, Eric, for bringing your event to Huntington Beach, too. We appreciate it.

And Code 4, by the way, we're fans. They've helped us out a lot, so thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Jerry Donahue, Amigos de Bolsa Chica. In 1976, Huntington Harbor was built out. Signal Landmark, who owned the property on the south side of Warner, proposed a new project, Huntington Harbor II, consisting of 5,200 homes and 1,000 boat slips. Some Huntington Beach residents, especially women, from the American Association of University Women and the League of Women Voters thought otherwise and formed Amigos de Bolsichica. Over the years, Amigos has fought this proposed project since 90% of California wetlands that existed in 1900 have been developed with homes, parking lots, and other structures. Amigos is celebrating its 50th anniversary on Saturday, October 17th at the Senior Center in Huntington Beach. Today, the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve covers 1,300 acres owned and managed by the state of California. Besides the Amigos, the Bolsa Chica Conservancy and the Bolsa Chica Land Trust offer tours, educational programs, and restoration activities. Over 100,000 people per year stop and find beauty with the birds and other wildlife that inhabit this tranquil place. Please join us on Saturdays, October 17, at the Senior Center. For more information, it's AmigosDeBolsaChica.org. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Hey, HB, we have something special for you. Tomorrow, September 16, 630 to 830, we have... Surf City decides. Honeydew Beach City Council candidates speak out. Candidate debate focusing on local issues and community values. We have the fortune to have two of our former mayors there. We have the esteemed Eric Peterson there and Jill Hardy to be the moderators. We also have our ex-city clerk, clerks I should say. We have Robin Estanislo and Joan Flynn to do the timekeeping. All are welcome and all candidates were invited. Candidates will be seated number one through 11, which is the ballot designation. Their merchandise or their literature and signs will be on the tables in the lobby in the foyer numbered one through 11. Note taking for the attendees, we have A note-taking pamphlet numbered 1 through 11. We have a thumbnail picture of all of our candidates. We have their name on there and their designation from the ballot. We also have a space for people to take notes on there. We kind of call it the report card. What you see is what you get when we have our debate. We also have the debate rules are on the back of this as well. If you can't make it to the debate, we're live streaming it online. Sorry. www.protecthp.org. We will also have it on our Facebook, Protect HP. We also have a YouTube channel, Protect HP. And you can watch it there. 6.30 to 8.30 tomorrow evening. Hope to see you all there.

All right. Announcement of supplemental communications. City Clerk, do we have any supplemental communications?

Yes, Mayor. For consent calendar item number 14, one email received regarding the proposed contracts with Soares and Conway LLP for state legislative advocacy services and also for contract with Stapleton and Associates for federal legislative advocacy services. For item number 16, one email received for the approval of the design, inscription, and installation of a plaque commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Main Street Branch Library. For administrative items number 23, one email received regarding the approval of the design and language for the America 250 plaque at Pierre Plaza. And for council member items number 24, one email received regarding the consideration of creating an art center committee. That's all.

Thank you. All right. Up next, we have awards and presentations. So in celebration of National Constitution Day, September 17th, myself and my council colleagues will want to present a commendation to the Daughters of the American Revolution, naming Constitution Week 2026 from September 17th to September 23rd. I'm going to have a special reading of the preamble by Grayson Latham, who's son of City Celebration Committee member Michael Latham. So come on up, guys. Come on up. Do you guys want to say anything?

I just want to say thank you very much. One of our members, Debbie DeMille, helped facilitate us getting this proclamation. And I really appreciate it. I'm the brand new regent of the Clara Barton chapter of the Huntington Beach. And I'm very proud to be here and accept this award, this proclamation. Thank you.

Thank you. And then where's Patty? Looking good.

Thank you.

We're so glad to be here and to introduce, first of all, honorable mayor and council, thank you for this opportunity. My name is Patricia Pappas. This is Michael Latham right here from our celebration committee and his son Grayson, actually, a.k.a.

John Hancock.

Following the lead of Mayor McKeon, we continue to recognize America's 250th birthday. Tonight, Grayson will be featuring some of the California state civics curriculum. September 17th is designated as the Constitution and Citizenship Day to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia. A few years ago, Grayson participated in Smith Elementary School's Revolutionary War reenactment, and he portrayed himself as John Hancock. Tonight, Grayson will be reciting, because he's memorized, the preamble from the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. So here we are with the preamble, thank you.

We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Yes, and now the preamble to the Declaration of Independence.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. Among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

And also Grayson would like to talk about what 250th anniversary and birthday means to him.

Our 250th anniversary means a lot to me. We have gone a quarter of a millennium as a nation. And in that time, we've done so much. We've grown, we've evolved, remarkable achievements. I really hope that we will keep going as an incredible country with our Constitution guiding us.

Grayson, so why John Hancock?

I liked how he had the biggest signature on the Declaration of Independence.

You know why?

Yeah, why do you think he had the biggest signature?

Because he wanted King George to be able to read his name without having to use his glasses.

That's what I'm talking about. No fear. Threw it all on the table. And then I think some people don't know about the Daughters of the American Revolution. Do you guys mind giving a little background and description?

Well, so the Daughters of the American Revolution, we promote historical preservation, patriotism, and education across the nation. We're a national organization that was founded in 1890. We have the largest woman-owned property in Washington, D.C. It's just down the street from the White House. And so we're the Clara Barton Chapter in Huntington Beach, and there's lots of California chapters. And if any women would like to... belong, just come and see us and we'd love to have you as a member. Correct, so it has a proven bloodline to someone in the Revolutionary War, and so that definition has expanded. You didn't have to just fight, you could be a nurse, you could have made supplies and everything, so the pool of the patriots that we could be lineage to has grown and it's expanded, and so there's a big pool of patriots that you could be connected to that were involved in the Revolutionary War. We have lots of people that, we have lots of genealogists that love to do your tree and discover if you have lineage to someone in the Revolutionary War. And, yeah, there's people that are just dedicated to helping people, you know, find out their family tree and if they could qualify. Do you want to plug the website where they can contact you? Yeah, DAR.org.

All right, so thank you. So on behalf of myself and my fellow council colleagues in the city of Huntington Beach, we want to give you this proclamation because we're such a patriotic city celebrating Constitution Week from September 17th to the 23rd, 2026 on America's 250th birthday. So thank you. Thank you. You guys want to come up here? Yeah. Why don't you guys all come down this way.

I'll go down this way. You look great. You look great. Thank you. Okay. Thank you.

All right, moving on to public comments. Pursuant to Senate Bill 707, public comments will be accepted both in person and remotely via Zoom. The city clerk will not read profane, obscene, or otherwise inappropriate Zoom display names or identifiers. Instructions for providing comments on Zoom can be found on the agenda cover page and on the city clerk webpage. The city clerk will provide instructions for participating during public comments. City clerk, how many speakers do we have?

Thank you, Mayor. We have 25 in person and one potential Zoom speaker, so let me read the announcement. Okay. The City Council will now receive public comments for any topic, including items on the open session agenda. If you are here to provide in-person comments for open session, your number will be called. Once your number is called, queue in the designated area along the stairs. Use either podium and state your name if you would like it reflected in the minutes. If you would like to provide comments for an open session item via Zoom, use the raise your hand feature in Zoom and you will be called to speak by your Zoom identifier. Once called, be prepared to unmute your microphone and speak. For the Zoom caller, phone number ending in 7789. I don't see your hand raised, so I'm assuming you're not going to provide comments.

So in person, please line up.

Numbers one, what was the number? So yeah, so today we started with number one. So speakers with numbers one through 10, please line up over here. Use both podiums.

Please proceed.

Kathy Ryder, 41-year, Huntington Beach voter and homeowner. Good evening, council members, city staff, and fellow HP voters. Beginning with their swearing in in the office either in December of 2022 or December 2024, our current city council members have shown disdain for voters who dare to question any agenda item. And the very open partisanship of these council members for a non-partisan office has been a disappointment. You see, for decades, I had no idea which council member belonged to which political party, which is as it should be. Over the years, voters have attended meetings to express their concerns over the lack of transparency with the multi-million dollar air show settlement. the use of foul language from the dais towards fellow members and the public, the disbanding of many of our citizen commissions, the lack of diversity during our invocation, expense of several lawsuits, attempts to censor books and privatize our public libraries, using city reserves to balance our city budget, spending money on a special election that was not asked for by the citizens, in the very beginning of your terms and back in 2023, writing some kind of ordinances in order to make homelessness some kind of a criminal activity, and now you seem to offer sweet deal contracts to friends. You see, each city council member takes an oath to uphold the laws and constitutions of the state of California. And yet often, the city council says, well, we're a charter city. We'll just pick and choose which of the city California laws and constitution will follow. And as a voter, I expect transparency and accountability from my elected officials. I expect fiscal responsibility. Are these too much to ask from our elected officials? I don't think so. And for those of you who object or loathe the large corner political signs, you need to blame this current council, who have had plenty of opportunity to change our political sign policy and shows not to. So again, if you're unhappy with political signs, you can blame this group of people. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Good evening. My name is Brenda Glimm. For the last four years, some of you have treated this dais as a launching pad, not a job. Tony Strickland used this seat to get elected to the state senate. Gracie Vandermark is sitting up there right now, mid-term, running for state assembly. Meanwhile, this council has courted national cable news and national culture war headlines because a viral moment plays better on a mailer for higher office than fixing a pump station ever will. We are not your platform, not your resume line. We are your constituents, and we've been a stepping stone to Sacramento while our own house falls apart. And tonight, on this very agenda, you're being asked to approve another $504,000 in state and federal lobbying contracts. More money chasing influence in Sacramento and Washington on the same night residents are picking up the tab. Here's what that pattern has already cost us on the public record. $3.5 million in legal fees fighting the Kennedy Commission over our housing plan. And we lost. nearly 960,000 more losing a library policy lawsuit, 102,000 losing a public records fight over the air show settlement. Our voter ID law was struck down twice, and the Supreme Court refused to even hear it again. Now we owe the state 170,000 in penalties, plus 50,000 every month going forward, because our housing plan still isn't approved. One of your own colleagues has admitted two of these cases alone could burn through most of our $14 million litigation reserve. This is not fiscal responsibility. That is not defending Huntington Beach. That is setting our money on fire for a national spotlight while the residents get the bill. That $14 million isn't an abstraction. That's roads unpaved, part of the $1.8 billion infrastructure backlog this city admits it can't pay for, and public safety funding we didn't have because we were suing Sacramento instead of partnering with it. So when my sign says, you've thrown this city to the wolves, This is what I mean. You used your position to chase attention and hire office and left residents holding the bill. On November 3rd, Huntington Beach can send a council to this dais that answers to the people who actually live here, not Sacramento headlines, not the next campaign, and not whoever's watching on cable news. I'm Brenda Glynn. I'm candidate for Huntington Beach City Council.

Next speaker, please.

Wendy Rincon, or according to Pat, another idiot, or I'm also mother to another effing cow. Take your pick. Pat, you really do enjoy trolling us residents, and I think that that goes against your Facebook post last week about how you want to bring the community together. So, tonight I want to talk about accountability and about the choice Huntington Beach has this November. Pat, Casey, Andrew, Gracie, Mark have shown us the direction they want for Huntington Beach. This council majority has supported efforts to privatize management of our public libraries, restrictions on library materials, despite enormous opposition from residents. They have pursued political and legal battles that have cost the city time and taxpayer money, including the voter ID policy, ultimately blocked by the courts. And then there is the Pacific Air Show settlement. The council approved an extraordinary settlement with Pacific Airshow and Code 4, head by Kevin Elliott, involving nearly $5 million in direct payment and additional concessions. Residents did not learn the full terms until legal action resulted in a judge ordering their release. And now the California State Auditor is investigating that settlement and a judge has ordered Huntington Beach to cooperate. Residents deserved transparency before these commitments were made, not after lawsuits and court orders. But this election isn't only about what we are against, it's about what we are for. I'm supporting Taryn Palumbo, Brenda Glimm, Ben Davis, Erin Spivey, the Surf City for. I'm voting for leadership that will protect our libraries, respect our residents, restore fiscal responsibility and transparency, and put Huntington Beach ahead of partisan politics. This November, we do have a choice. Let's choose a city council that works for all of Huntington Beach.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. In the weeks ahead, Huntington Beach voters will decide who should fill four seats on the City Council. We are fortunate to live in a beautiful city with miles of public beaches, precious wetlands, parks, distinct communities, and a public library that generations of residents have valued. but none of these things thrive on their own. They require responsible stewardship, and over the past several years, that stewardship has been seriously lacking. Our city now faces a structural deficit that did not appear overnight, while citizen participation has been greatly reduced. The result is a divided city under growing financial strain at a time when we most need thoughtful, collaborative leadership. My friend Ken Inouye, a longtime resident and retired CPA, started warning us about an impending financial crisis in 2022-23. Back then, while the current city council was focused on restricting puberty books, abolishing citizens' committees, posting large signs around town with the word porn, and developing a MAGA plaque for our library, Ken was warning that recurring deficits, reserve spending, and losing legal battles were putting Huntington Beach on a dangerous financial path. By 2026, many of those warnings have materialized. The city faces a $15.6 million deficit and is drawing on reserves to balance its budget. This is like draining your retirement account to pay for household expenses. Our city treasurer even warned us that we're heading for bankruptcy at this rate. And unlike the federal government, which is approaching a staggering $40 trillion in debt, Huntington Beach can't simply print more money. Eventually, something has to give. Services will have to be cut, infrastructure neglected, taxes or fees increased, and residents will pay the price. Huntington Beach doesn't need four more years of governing by political tribe. We need council members who understand once the election is over, their responsibility is to one, represent all of Huntington Beach, and two, pay attention to the budget, not culture wars. Beautiful cities don't remain beautiful by accident. They remain that way because generations of residents and the leaders they elect are willing to work hard to leave it stronger for the people who come next. On November 3, vote for new council candidates who will protect and strengthen our city, not weaken it. And Mr. Burns, I really resent the fact that you use that term socialists. I don't know if you understand, there are so many of us long-term residents, independents, democrats, I'd like to know who these socialist communists are in Huntington Beach.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good evening. My name is Elaine Bauer-Keeley. As an update for the public, the Friends of the Library has submitted an MOU to the members of the City Council and the City Manager, Travis Hopkins. For members of the public who would like to review it, it is at FOTLHB.org. That is where things stand today. At this point, we're waiting for our proposed $825,000 donation to be placed on a city council agenda or for the city to invite us to a meeting to discuss and negotiate an agreement for the MOU and the donation. That is where we stand today. I also want to speak tonight for my experience as a former member and president of the city's Allied Arts Board. The Allied Arts Board was a city advisory board that played an important role in bringing the Huntington Beach Arts Center to fruition over 40 years ago when I was 25 years old. The City and the Allied Arts Board worked together to purchase the building, identify appropriate staff, and establish what has become the first of many public-private MOUs of its kind in the City of Huntington Beach. Once the City committed to the Arts Center, a separate foundation was established for the building because it needed significant renovation, and so the Huntington Beach Arts Center Foundation was formed. The role of the city arts board was to serve as an advisory board. It listens to residents, brought a community perspective, and developed relationships with many 501 arts organizations throughout the city, and kept the city council informed about opportunities to advance the cultural experience of Huntington Beach for residents and visitors. Importantly, the arts board did not determine the programming inside the arts center. I believe that distinction remains important today. Just as a library board or a library fundraiser does not select the library books, a city advisory board or an art foundation does not put the art in the art center. Programming requires a level of professional expertise and knowledge of the institution's mission, audience, artists, and community. The Huntington Beach Art Center Foundation has raised millions of dollars, which is held by the Orange County Community Foundation in an endowment. This group gives $25,000 at least annually to help with the two curated professional programs. There are three other programs that highlight the artist council, the high school district, and an open call art show. I understand the desire to establish a city art board that works separately from the library community service board. That structure existed in the past. I was on it. My hesitation and my reason for urging caution is that it is advisory to the city council. It does not provide the program. It should not assume the role of the city staff.

Thank you.

You can read the rest.

Next speaker, please.

Good evening, Mayor McKeon, City Council. Recently, the city celebrated the reopening of the fountains at the Central Library after many years of sitting idle in need of repair. A happy occasion, certainly, but fountains don't translate into political support for a free public library, nor do plaques. The council has done real harm to our library system, to the collection, to access for patrons of all ages and to staff morale through treatment so demoralizing that the library likely has the highest employee turnover of any department in the city. The council even caused a special election on book censorship off-cycle, costing taxpayers roughly a million bucks. When holding it during a regularly scheduled election would have been a few hundred thousand dollars. Meanwhile, basic maintenance keeps getting deferred. A leaky roof at Central Library, also in City Hall, down the hall, and no air conditioning at Main Street Library, which forced the branch to close during the extreme heat. and took the International Surf Museum down with it since the council chose to co-locate the ISM inside that same building without first addressing its basic infrastructure needs. A library serves many purposes and during extreme weather, it's a respite for residents who don't have air conditioning at home or work. Closing it doesn't cut off access to books. It now also cuts off the museum the council was so eager to fold into that space. I'm glad to see tonight's agenda includes repairs to Newland House and the Harbour Dock. The library needs the same attention. Tomorrow night is the city council candidates debate, moderated by former council members Hardy and Peterson. I hope they include in their questions to the candidates what their plans are to restore the library services despite facing a structural budget deficit of $15 million. Perhaps the next council will be more amenable to accepting the $850,000 gift from the Friends over a three year period. Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good evening city council and staff. My name is Dr. Gerald Chapman and I'm here to speak on item number 24. 30 years ago, I was one of the original members of the Art Center Foundation. It was charged by the city with the task of privately raising the funds to renovate the old Edison building to serve as the Huntington Beach Art Center. A private group was quickly formed that was the foundation and within a few weeks, we presented a check to the city for $140,000, which was the first of over $2 million we donated to the city. I strongly urge the city council to first review the history of the art center before approving item 14, or item 24, I'm sorry. It may give some ideas on how to deal with the surf museum problem. I also encourage you to dust off the plans for Celebration Plaza. It was a proposed plan to establish a cultural node at the north end of downtown. Open your minds and learn something from the past. You may surprise yourself and discover that knowledge doesn't hurt. Thank you.

Next speaker. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. My name is Mr. Amory Hanson. I'm speaking tonight in support of item 24, the Mayor and Councilman Burns and Kennedy's item to create a Huntington Beach Arts Center Commission. This commission will play a pivotal role in supporting Huntington Beach's effort. to create a cultural district on the fifth block of Main Street, consisting of the Main Street Branch Library, including the International Surfing Museum, and the Huntington Beach Art Center. With Verizon Communications' recent purchase of Frontier Communications, it would be extraordinary to put my proposed Huntington Beach Performing Arts Center in the old Frontier Communications building. tying it into the other buildings in the cultural district. I hope to be able to make this happen when elected. I encourage a vote for Mr. Amory Hansen, a historic choice for Huntington Beach City Council, number one on the ballot. Once again, I urge a yes vote on I Am 24. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

I am here today because I'm angry. I'm angry that poor decisions made by this city council are costing residents. Our treasurer, Jason Smith, laid out a frightening financial picture. He explained that the city's financial projections show a fiscal emergency and bankruptcy. Let that sink in. We are talking about bankruptcy. Instead, despite warnings about city finances, the council voted a new 17% three-year police contract. A resident asked the simple question, what happens when the firefighters and general services unions ask for similar raises? What's going on at City Hall? Two council members who voted for this contract are candidates on the November ballot. Andrew Gruhl and Gracie Vandermark received and accepted the maximum campaign contributions allowed from the Police Officers Association and reported it in August. On September 1st, both voted for the police contract. There is no evidence establishing that their vote was bought. How does this look to taxpayers? It looks terrible. The public questions the relationship. It creates an appearance. Transparency matters. Trust matters. Let me be absolutely clear. My dad was a fire captain. My neighbor is a police officer. These are honorable and difficult professions. They deserve fair wages. This is not about attacking police officers. This is about whether elected officials are protecting taxpayers. The council spends huge amounts of money fighting political and cultural wars. The library fight is a perfect example. The council restricted books, was sued, lost in court, and paid a million dollars in legal fees with taxpayer money. The council put a surf museum in the Main Street Library. Residents questioned the appropriateness and described the arrangement as a sweetheart deal. Maybe this isn't illegal. There are other reasons to demand greater accountability. The California FPPC fined former Mayor Pat Burns for failing to report gifts. This is not an accusation of criminal corruption, but they remind that disclosure and transparency are not... optional niceties. They are fundamental to public trust. If nothing is improper, then disclose. Show us the long-term costs. Exactly how is the city going to pay bills the next five years, ten years, and beyond? This is our home, our taxpayer dollars, our parks, our libraries, our public services. Trust is earned by putting taxpayers' ahead of campaign contributors, political alliances, and personal agendas. Put financial health first. Put taxpayers first. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Hi. I'm here to ask the council or beg the council to protect our elections coming up and keep outsiders away from. I just heard that the FBI director, Kash Patel, has said that the FBI people will be at our polling stations across the country. And so I think that that's something the city council could reject. And I hope they do because that's what Kash Patel said. So we really don't need interference at our polling stations. That's my number one thing. And I guess my number two thing is I've said several times that I was hoping that the city council would approve the idea of selling some of our helicopters. I think we still have three. That would fill a big gap in our budget. The police department and others have drones. Drones are wonderful for it. chasing criminals, going through corners and alleys, much better than helicopters. Helicopters waste fuel and gas and smoke up the air, and so I strongly recommend that we sell them because they would bring in a good price. Oh, the other thing is AI. I was in Fountain Valley, and they had an individual there presenting on AI, not on AI scams, which we keep hearing all the time, but just as a learning tool, a learning tool maybe at the senior center for what AI can do and how to write AI notes, et cetera, et cetera. I think that the city should set up maybe for the senior center. I actually have a person's name who did it in Fountain Valley. He's a computer expert or he's a computer expert. And he explained all the things that AI can do and should not be doing. So I think that would be a very useful learning experience for Huntingtonians. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Greetings. Tim Geddes in the house. Well, I'm wondering if our city council, which has been suffering from plaque psoriasis lately, has got its act together for the newer ones. After the debacle with the MAGA Central Library plaque, the shamefully disingenuous Main Street Branch Library plaque, and the squabbling over the America 250 plaque, we are waiting to see if these vanity projects to a again dominate the meeting agenda and remain the bacteria buildup for decision-making this evening. Oh well. The third meritorious minute in my five-part series focuses on Surf City 4 candidate Taryn Palumbo. Taryn is an HB native, a wife, a mother, a lawyer, a non-profit executive and a community leader. She is Executive Director of Orange County Grantmakers and has incredible qualifications. Taryn Palumbo has, well, it's one thing to be well qualified, it's another to be well-meaning. Taryn Palumbo has priorities which serve the entire community. She is about protecting our quality of life with practical housing solutions. This has been a complete failure of the current city council. She is about ending corruption and stopping the waste of taxpayer dollars, especially on special interest vanity projects and frivolous ideological lawsuits. She is about strengthening our infrastructure, investing in our local business sector, and protecting our libraries and community spaces. She is all about respect for our citizens. Although Taryn and the other Surf City 4 candidates are newcomers to elected office, they are the right leaders for the job. Being an incumbent is no guarantee of competence, and the current council has clearly mismanaged our local government over the last few years. Our residents and taxpayers need a change. Too many MAGA promises made, too many promises unkept. We need a fresh set of leaders and a fresh new council majority to bring progress and respect back to our city. We need a city council that is free of the taint of possible corruption, cronyism, self-dealing, ideological idiocy, and abject arrogance. Our city needs to get healthy again. Thank you and I hope to see you all tomorrow evening.

Okay, that was speakers 1 through 10. Speakers 11 through 20, please line up, queue up by the stairs, use both podiums, and state your name if you would like it reflected in the minutes. Thank you.

Good evening, City Council. My name is Tuni Chatterjee. I'm a local resident, homeowner, parent, and I serve on the Huntington Beach Art Center Foundation Board. Over 30 years ago, the Huntington Beach Art Center was founded because a group of committed residents believed art was essential to the culture and intellectual curiosity of our great city. The original founders raised a lot of money, pushed the city to act, and helped create the public-private partnership that became the HB Art Center in a very, very drab space. The foundation renovated into the gallery that we all know and love, and the current cultural supervisor has made additional space for veterans art, students art, and most recently VALA, a Vietnamese art organization. For three decades, the Huntington Beach Art Center Foundation has advocated for the center by raising funds, recruiting volunteers, and supporting hospitality. The foundation has done this without telling professional staff what to put on the walls, what to teach, or how to curate. We understand that our role is to support the institution, not control the artistic process. Today, the Art Center has just two full-time city staff members. They need more support, additional hours at the center, an educational coordinator for our schools, and while we're at it, better parking. Can it be free? Do you guys know anyone for better parking at the Art Center? Let me know. My children have grown up at the Art Center. Art gives them a way to process, question, and feel. It helps them make sense of life. We recently discussed a piece about the grief of losing a parent at the Creative Visions exhibit, the Art Center's annual exhibit that features work from all of our amazing high schools in Huntington Beach. You guys were invited, your kids were invited, it was incredible, it ran for a month. Other than our beaches, my family's favorite place in Huntington Beach are the Art Center, Central Library, and the Wetlands. These places endear because generations of residents, boards, and community organizations have worked to protect them from being sold to the highest bidder. The Huntington Beach Art Center was built through community trust, civic partnership, and respect for artistic expertise. For 30 years, that model has worked. Art should be supported and curated, but never dictated and never commercialized. Thank you so much.

Next speaker, please.

Good evening, mayor, council members. My name is Alex Kess. I'm 12 years old, and I'm here asking the Huntington Beach City Council to support a state-level e-bike safety pilot program here in Orange County. Huntington Beach has always been a leader in our community. Your coastal location, your active families, your commitment to safety, those things matter. I've collected 1,356 signatures from across Orange County pushing for e-bike safety reform. Huntington Beach residents have been a part of this from the start. Here's why this matters. E-bike injuries have jumped from 7 in 2018 to 116 in 2024. That's a 1,557% increase. Two of my own friends have been personally hurt. A kid in Lake Forest just recently died from an e-bike crash, and I decided to do something about it. We need state-level action on e-bike safety. age 16 minimum for riders, mandatory speedometers, licensing with a safety test, a parental accountability, and a youth e-bike safety fund. Laguna Niguel City Councilman Ray Genoway supports this. Mission Viejo City Councilwoman Cynthia Vazquez supports this. San Clemente City Councilman Mark Enmeyer supports this. Aliso Viejo City Councilwoman Tiffany Ackley supports this. Irvine Mayor Larry Ogren supports this. Assemblywoman Lori Davis is preparing to back it. Huntington Beach can, too. I'm asking the Huntington Beach City Council to pass a resolution supporting e-bike safety reform at the state level. It doesn't require you to do anything locally. It just shows that Huntington Beach communities want our state leaders to act. Assemblywoman Davies is listening. The Orange County Board of Supervisors are listening. But they need to know that cities like Huntington Beach are behind this. Thank you for your time and consideration. Young man.

Good job. Young man. Great job. I love it. If you can, the officer over there, fill out a blue card with the police officer right there by that screen. I'll reach out to you and we'll get it going. I'll share with you everything that we're doing in Huntington Beach. Appreciate it. Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Hi there, my name is Janet Johnson. It's really hard to follow a really nice young man who had so many good things to say, so I hope that you will also listen to this lovely message that I'm about to give. My name is Janet Johnson, and I would like to invite all of you to visit the Arts Center. to see interesting exhibits that are there now and then come back again in a couple of months to see new exhibits that are sure to be good too. I was very pleased to see our mayor at the Art Center student show. He was carrying his child around, a very nice introduction to art for children, so thank you for being there in that way. I was much disappointed that when I learned that a proposal for a new committee that could deter good experiences at the Arts Center, professional staff is doing a really great job now, and please do not disrupt that. Instead, take time to see for yourself. New efforts are underway to create the cultural hub with the art center, the main library, and the surf museum. I hope that all of that comes together in ways that are pleasing to all of us and that I hope you get the real message that I'd like to deliver tonight is don't mess up something that is working just fine by trying to create yet another committee that is unnecessary, unproductive, and not probably something that would be required, you would have much better things to do than this, I would hope. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Bethany Webb, long time Huntington Beach resident, anti-fascist. Here actually to talk to people that are tuning into this to see this. If you're watching city council meeting, you care about Huntington Beach.

as do the rest of us, as do I.

So November 3rd is the date to vote, but ballots hit the mail in one month, first week of October. And you have to decide if this group of circus MAGA is who you want to represent, Huntington. I'm not talking about conservatives. Pat Burns called himself a conservative. There is nothing conservative about this city council. There's nothing fiscally conservative. There's nothing small government about this city council. It's a big government, nanny state, money spending, Division-oriented failure. You have dwindled our surplus. Our Republican city manager says we're on the form of bankruptcy, and there's something we can all do. Do you love Huntington Beach? I love Huntington Beach. Let's start a new tribe. Let's get people in here. It'll still be a divided city council if we get four new people in here, but maybe we won't have a city council member who disrespects the constituents here, the taxpayers here, and calls us idiots and comes dressed as a schlep every meeting. You're not a conservative. You're not a surfer. You are an embarrassment to this city and And it's time that we have new blood here. It's really easy to remember. You have two Bs. You have Brenda and Ben. You have two Reimers. You have Taryn and Erin. And for the other two positions that I'm going to talk to you about, We have the original book banner, Gracie deciding that she wants to get out of here before everybody figures out just how bad she is. And she's running for assembly. She's running against Chris Cluey. So you have Chris number one. We have Tony Bologna, the original architect of the air show fiasco. He's running against Chris number two, Chris Duncan. Once again, the two Bs, Brenda and Ben, the two rhyming names, Taryn and Aaron, and the two Chrises, Chris Duncan, Chris Cluey, Brenda Glimm, Ben Davis, Aaron Spivey, and Taryn Palumbo. Let's send MAGA packing and make Huntington Beach sane again. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Good evening. Chris Reni, native resident. Agenda item 24 suggests forming a committee to be a liaison between the Huntington Beach Art Center and the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum. Fifteen months ago, the city spent over a million dollars on a special election about the Community Parent Guardian Review Board, another committee. The majority of the council supported this measure and the infamous protect our kids from porn signs. You lost that election by thousands of votes. This does not set a good precedent for council appointed committees. Now, I get it. Being a public servant is hard. You have to think about the needs of your city. You have to put them ahead of personal agenda, egos, or preening for Fox News. Unfortunately, this council seems to have a penchant for fighting culture wars and putting up plaques with your names on them. I'm looking at agenda items 16 and 23. Museums that thrive, that build partnerships and become essential, they build partnerships with the community, they build partnerships with other institutions. If there's gonna be an art district, it really should happen organically, not because city hall legislates it. You know, think of, imagine if you said that we legislated everyone have fun. You know, that would be the worst party ever. Meanwhile, the council's spending money like drunken sailors. Fiscal responsibility, not happening. You've ignored our F-grade infrastructure. Last November, there was a freak rainstorm. Miles of streets were impassable. I think it was about 10 miles. We have a super El Nino and a king tide coming up. What are we doing to prepare? I don't think Code 4 is going to rescue us if the harbor floods. Now, despite being called idiots, we're not creeping toward what Councilman Burns calls communism. We are not getting rid of private property. We're not having the government control the means of production. We're doing what the Republicans did under Presidents Taft and Roosevelt. And lastly, I just got to say theologically to Councilman Williams, Jesus was born with original sin. His sin was dissolved when he was baptized by his cousin John. The only person to not suffer from original sin was his mom, the Blessed Virgin. Thank you.

Next speaker, please. Russell Neil, Huntington Beach. Well, I am excited. The Pacific Air Show is coming up the first weekend in October. I'm excited that Huntington Beach is the Pacific Coast city that hosts this premier event. Along with other events like our surfing championships, our Independence Day parade, and other attractions, HB is the place to be. I know not everyone likes the air show with its loud airplanes and patriotic themes, but I do, and I think most people do. There has been a lot of unjustified criticism of the air show settlement. I think The malicious cancellation of the last day of the air show over an oil spill that had no bearing on the air show is what was unjustified, and that Pacific Air Show had grounds to sue. A settlement that cost us no out-of-pocket money and preserve the air show is, in my opinion, a good settlement. Pacific Air Show incurs a lot of costs, and after their experience, they might want some clearly defined sources of revenue to minimize their risk. Does the city make money on the air show? That is the wrong question. Do our beaches make money? Do our parks? Does our library make money for the city? Does road repair make money for the city? No. All of these things cost money, but also make HB a great place to live and do business, and that in turn produces property tax and sales tax and other revenue. Good accounting is important, but you don't let the accounting department run your business. HB is the place. To this council, I say keep up your good work and don't let a handful of chronic complainers get you down. Now let's all enjoy the Pacific Air Show in Surf City, USA. Thank you and God bless you.

Next speaker, please. Hey, good evening, council. And staff, thank you for your time. My name is Ben Davis, running for city council, and I'm here to oppose item number 16. Now, I find it disingenuous that the people that are wanting to put their name on a plaque supporting the library, the same people that tried to ban books and censor the library, that also tried to privatize the library, that refused to take money from an organization that's wholly dedicated to the library. Why not put unrecognized librarians on the plaque? Why not put Friends of the Library on the plaque? And I get it, it's kind of cool to have your name on things. I wear t-shirts, hats with my name all the time. But we have enough politicians that are haphazardly and preemptively putting their name on things. So the way I see it, let's history decide. In a few months, many of you will be off city council. you'll be replaced by four people that are wholly dedicated to this library and will be able to do what's right for the library. Then, just let history decide and figure out whether you're worthy of your name on anything. Thank you for your time, and I hope to see some of you tomorrow night.

Next speaker, please.

Thank you. Well, this is kind of exhausting. I want to say what Elaine Keeley said. Number 24 on the agenda, Casey considered an art committee. Dan Feltz, who is the art center director, was not consulted on this. Ashley Wysocki, library and community service director, was not consulted on this. Elaine Keeley was not consulted. In fact, she called you twice, Casey, to talk about it, and you never returned her phone calls. Something smells fishy. No, it smells wolf. No, it smells like Tyler Wolf. It smells like Wolf House. We foiled the cronyism deal costing $720,000 of our money to Tyler Wolf and Wolf House. Wolf House presented a presentation on a misinformed plan about the HB Art Center. Wolf House, you will remember, had no business license. It had no office. It had no functioning website. Well, may I remind you, Wolf House did have a listed phone number that was working. It was to the Wolf House Sex Talk Line. And I still have the recording. When you call that number...

Welcome to America's Hottest Talk Line. Guys, hot ladies are waiting to talk to you. Press 1 now. Ladies, to talk to interesting and exciting guys free, press 2 to connect free now.

Okay, you get the idea. This is who you want to give the Art Center Committee to. We smell something fishy and we smell something wolf. And we don't want cronyism and the McKeon Art Committee scheme.

Next speaker, please.

Hi, Kanan Durham, resident of the city. First of all, I wanted to say huzzah for the Daughters of the American Revolution. I love that they were given that recognition today. My grandmother is a daughter of the American Revolution, and when I was a kid, she always was like, when are you gonna join? I was like, grandma, sorry, there's something you don't know about me. But in that regard, I think it's lovely that we're recognizing the daughters of the American Revolution because they have evolved as this country has evolved. repeatedly in the last several years, they have affirmed the right of trans women to be a part of their ranks, which I think is great. I do also want to comment on Pat's statement earlier regarding socialism and communism with this upcoming election. The Surf City Four are running as a slate under the Democratic Party, not the DSA. However, there are many people in this city who are members of the Orange County Democratic Socialists of America and of the Orange County Communist Party of the USA. One of my friends, Ven, is one of those people who's part of the CPUSA, and we were talking yesterday about how we still love this country and that's why we're fighting for it. So I take personal offense even though I'm not in that party with her, I take personal offense with the suggestion that anybody who is socialist or communist is un-American or somehow not welcome in this city. In regard to that, a lot of people have brought up valid concerns about the art committee already. I just want to know, when will we be bringing back the Human Relations Commission, the Mobile Home Advisory Board, and the Environmental and Sustainability Board? Since we're talking about bringing back commissions and boards, I'd like to see us start with the ones that we dissolved because apparently we didn't need them and didn't have the capacity for them. Thank you so much. Bye-bye.

Okay, the remaining speakers, 21 through 25, please queue up by the stairs. Use both podiums and state your name if you would like it reflected in the minutes. Thank you.

Well, this is awesome. You guys were all snippy today. We're all animated. This is just a really great meeting, guys. And I don't know why we're talking about communism at a municipal council meeting, but power to the people. All right. Hello, friends. My name is Sean. I'm a longtime resident and a former city council candidate way back in 2010. I'm here to talk about the MOU you guys approved for the police. This is a nearly $10 million commitment over three years, topping an already substantial legacy pay deal in the previous contract at a time when the city is facing serious long-term fiscal pressures like our expanding budget deficit. It's really not hard to question whether some of these decisions are being driven by political calculations rather than simply by what is financially sustainable for the community. We saw in the Surf City Sentinel that Andrew and Gracie each had a $5,900 donation from the police union, the maximum allowed contribution. And given the timing, I think the public is entitled to ask questions about the relationship between campaign contributions and votes on major contract deals. That said, some of you voted against this MOU, and so I wanted to thank Dawn, Casey, and Pat for their votes against this pay raise. Dawn specifically seemed to be willing to step up to the plate last meeting and try to be a real advocate for the taxpayers. Now that is unfortunately a rare occurrence, but it's what we like to see, and I hope that you keep it up. I also just really quickly want to weigh in on item 17 from last meeting, approving the contract for the lobbyists in Sacramento and D.C. Looks like it might be on the agenda this time, and I didn't get a chance to look, so I don't know what we're doing. But it sounds like we have a good relationship with this company. Staff did a phenomenal job, and it sounds like they got us a discount from last contract. And yet you guys decided you wanted staff to go back and renegotiate a two-year deal with a one-year optional contract. I feel like we could just approve the contract, even as a member of the public. I can tell you that it seems highly unlikely that we can replace qualified lobbyists with ChatGPT. With that in mind, I also just want to say something positive about the city, about the people who actually do the work of keeping the city running. So I've been coming to these meetings for a while now. I've seen staff give multiple presentations, advise on technical reports, and the department heads have given us thorough rundowns of their organizations. Staff seems like a good group of folks. They appear hardworking and professional and they seem like they actually care if the city succeeds or not. I am grateful that they decided to give their talents and time to our community and I hope if they have one that their union fights like hell for them too. Thank you.

Next speaker please.

Good evening, my name is Paula Schaffer. Mayor and council members, tonight I would like to talk about several items. The first item relates to the lobbying contracts. As proposed, these appear to be an unnecessary use of about $150,000 per year. It would seem that with Tony Strickland in the California Senate that the city's concerns would be addressed. However, the city used to subscribe to this League of California Cities contract, which would only cost about $45,000. The second proposed contract is for federal lobbying, and it's noteworthy for the lack of public agency lobbying experience reflected on the Stapleton & Associates law firm's website. I found no city or county lobbying experience. How did this firm even get selected? My second item relates to the ongoing, seemingly never-ending litigation regarding the housing element. Please end this litigation now before the city faces hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and penalties. There seems to be an endless loop of issues to litigate over and over again with little success by the city. Once again, the state is asking the court to approve the fines and penalties because the city has not fully complied and completed the necessary rezoning procedures for a compliant housing element. Would the City Council please provide the dollar amount it has spent litigating the housing element for the past four or five years? For those in the audience who may not know, this is not in-house legal work. It is apparent from the court filings that the City has contracted with two outside law firms. The total cost should be public knowledge so that the citizens and the residents of the city can determine if more litigation is worthwhile financially. If the city council is counting on Michael Gates, former city attorney, becoming attorney general and stopping the litigation, I wouldn't bet on it. Along with the amount of funds the city council has spent, they should also provide the value of possible grants or eligible other funding from other sources that the city has not been eligible for for these years because it does not have a compliant housing element. This is important information that the residents of the city should know before the upcoming election. Upcoming election is November 3rd. On November 2nd, is the hearing date in which the judge, the San Diego court judge, is going to be hearing and make a determination as to whether the state will reinstate, whether she will reinstate the fines. And it's $170,000 and counting. Please end this litigation. It is not going anywhere. You're not winning.

Let's get nostalgic. Do you remember when we were neighborly and didn't know which party our city council members were on? Do you remember when we had citizen committees like the Human Relations Committee? 61 years of public engagement and then poof, gone. This council had enough of human relations, I guess. Or the Mobile Home Advisory Board. Sorry, retirees. How about the Youth Board? I guess they weren't really interested in the youth perspective. The Environmental and Sustainability Board, gone, gone. No time for that mess when climate change is a hoax, am I right? Anyone see the sand gone along the coast this last week? What a hoax. I guess we're gonna get some new committees now though, huh? Those old committees were a waste of resources, but tonight, on the agenda, they wanna create an art center committee. Which I mean, if it was really about art, cool. But alas, we know it's not really about art, is it? This is about the surf museum that took over the downtown library for only 500 bucks a month in rent. Insanely under market rent. Just give these good old boys some Hawaiian shirts and you too can get some damn cheap rent in downtown Huntington Beach. Remember when we didn't sell alcohol at kids' sports games and 20 feet from a playground? Brian Theanus was all in on this idea. Casey and Pat, too. The head of the Youth Softball League begged them not to vote this in, but Brian Theanus was like, oh, hell yes, let's sell some alcohol next to a playground. Yeehaw! Remember this in November. Do not vote for that guy. Remember when our city council was focused on actual stuff that helped residents? Potholes, stop signs, clean beach bathrooms, and protecting us from flooding streets? Remember that? Because now they are obsessed with plaques. Plaques, plaques everywhere with their names all over them. Tonight on their agenda, a plaque in the downtown library for 75 years with their names on it? Come on. We know you guys hate the libraries. Gracie confessed why so her grandkids can see her name at the pier. It's not really about the country or the library, is it? It's definitely not about the library. I mean, it's all about you. It seems odd to be obsessed with putting these plaques up while still in office. Weird and sad. This is what you choose to spend our money on when we are facing bankruptcy. Remember when the city council was normal and served the people and not their egos? We can have that again. We can vote in people that actually care more for the city than seeing their name in lights. Come see the debate tomorrow or tune in live at Protect HB on YouTube or Facebook. See real citizens talk about serving the city, the people. They are not obsessed about their names on plaques, their egos, and their legacy. They want to combat El Nino, fix problems, focus on avoiding bankruptcy, listen to residents, and maybe not call them idiots, and help right this ship. Remember, sanity, not vanity. Vote for Brenda Glimm, Ben Davis, Aaron Spivey, and Taryn Palumbo.

Next speaker, please.

Valentina Bankhead, Huntington Beach resident. I'm here today to inform you and the community that I have made an official election complaint to the Secretary of State of California against Brian Burley, who is running for California Congress District 42, and also a candidate for Huntington Beach City Council election cycle 2026, November 3rd. Burley is deceitful, he is defrauding, and he has disingenuous actions to run two races and one election. I believe he has elections violations to California election code 8003 and also violated AB 1784 that went into effect January 1st, 2025. I urge appropriate legal action to address potential fraud, confusion to the community and misleading them for their votes and donor money. While it is prohibited to run for multiple potential violations and removal from one ballot should be enforced, I also feel he should be removed for OCGOP Central Committee and stripped of his delegation position. I am also sending my complaint to the OCGOP President and California GOP President. Two races, one election cycle. The SOS is investigating into potential violations and removal from one or both candidate qualifications. I called SOS today, and they are looking into my case request. But let's take a breath. There is some good news for HB. We have some extremely viable candidates for Huntington Beach City Council race on November 3rd. These are the top runners, the fantastic four, consisting of the real Brian, Brian Theinus, former Mayor Pat Burns, current Mayor Casey McKeon, and our favorite chef and council member, Andrew Gruel, all for HB Council. As well as Michael Gates for Attorney General, Tony Strickland for Senate, Gracie Vandermark for Assembly, Laura Castell for Huntington Beach City School District or Area 4, David Clifford for OBSD, Austin Essel and Conrad Mazica for Orange Coast College Community District. There are real fighters for this community and voters in Huntington Beach that are passionate and willing to earn your vote in their capacity to serve us. Today is National Voter Registration Day. Let's get out there and sign up if you have not already done so. SOS.CA.GOV. Make your vote count. God bless the state of Huntington Beach.

Thank you. All right, Roger.

first of all Pat I love you and I really want you to stay on here because you're part of the community and if there's people that vote for you and you say idiot so be it and if they vote for you next time you know something you bring character and truth Truth. Truth. You want to have somebody that doesn't say it but he thinks it? I'd rather have some man over there that says what he thinks. And I can vote for him or I don't vote for him. Seriously, we've all become a bunch of... vagina? Yeah, oh yeah, yeah. See, then we're going to get in trouble for that, and then this, and this. And by the way, you can't say anything about profanity, because it's a freedom of speech. It's already been, I mean, adjudicated and everything else. So, I mean, you shouldn't interrupt anybody, even if they curse the whole time. Second thing is that I'm really disappointed. I mean, Andrew, seriously, if you, you voted for the second deal, you know, I remember when, if I needed $15 for my parents, you know what I'd do? I'd say, hey, Can I borrow 30? Can I have 30? Can I have 30? Can I have 40? And then they go, no, what do you need 40 for? I'm like, something stupid or whatever. And they're like, no, no, no. And then they're happy when they give me 15. That's what you guys did. I mean, I was driving back and I was going, that's what you guys with the police thing. So we were so happy that you guys didn't screw us. With the first one, with the second one, you had Mark over here, the city attorney, go, oh, today's the last day. We can't push this one. You have to vote for it. Oh, well, I guess we're going to have to vote for it. And then Gracie, oh, yeah, anything that says public support, I mean, public safety, oh, I'll do. Oh, I'll vote for it. They can get $120 million already. Do you know what they do with the $120 million? Plus the money that they make that they don't tell you about. For all the money that they make for the inner agencies, each department makes money and they don't tell you about it. And when you give them budgets, they make more money. When they tow cars, they get money. It's a three-tiered system. They go all the way over to the central California where the CHP divvies it up to all the agencies, the police agencies that are in the know. I swear there's some that want to get in. It's like the freaking mob. But I'd rather have the mob. The second day they came over here, I said, you know something? We should hand over the police department to the mob because the mob is so much more honest. They're so much more honest. And if you have a problem, you tell the person above him, from just a worker drunk all the way to the soldier, you go to the sergeant, and they'll take care of it because he doesn't want to get up to the lieutenant. He knows because that's the reason that the mob man comes up, the head guy, the godfather, and all the people, they're all respected because they're loved. We don't mind paying taxes. Okay, we're paying taxes anyway. That's the same thing as when the mob comes over for protection money. It is. We just call it taxes. But you know what? They do something about it. When you give them protection money, there's no freaking way that anybody...

Thanks, Roger. Your dog, Roger. Roger, Roger, your dog. You're all fired up, man. Don't forget the dog. See you, Roger. All right. Moving on to council committee appointment announcements. Council members, do you have any council committee appointment announcements? Seeing none, AB 1234 reporting. Does anyone have anything to report? Seeing none, openness and negotiation disclosures. Does anyone have anything to disclose?

I talk to police and fire.

Okay.

Talk to fire.

Butch? All right, moving on to the City Manager's report. Republic Services update on their services to the community. City Manager, please introduce the report.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. Debbie Keeley from Republic Services is here tonight. She is the Municipal Services Manager for Republic Services to provide an update and an overview of the services provided to our community here in Huntington Beach.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, people, staff, and the community of Huntington Beach. As you said, my name is Debbie Killey, and I work for Republic Services. I've been there nine years. I'm also a resident of Huntington Beach for almost 30 years, so I have a lot of heart for this community.

Debbie, hold on one second.

Thank you.

Debbie, hold on. There's a lot of noise in the background.

Okay.

All right, you're good. Thank you.

Speaking right in. There you go. Can you hear me now? Whoops. There we go. I'm going to move to the next slide. Oh, and that's our truck on the pier, our pier. We don't go on the pier anymore, but it's fun.

It's not going, my friend.

There we go. So I work for a large company. We're the second largest hauler in the United States. And the good thing about that for Huntington Beach is that we have a lot of resources available to us, even though we are local here in Huntington Beach. And this is the five core values for our company. And what I did here is I put in pictures of things that relate to those values that happen here in Huntington Beach. So I just want to point out a couple. One, safety. That's our number one priority. Everybody gets home at the end of the day. So that first picture is a driver named Ben. He services Huntington Beach. He's a recycle driver. You've even recognized him at council for doing some great things in the community. And another thing is driven. And you see our drivers all around the community. Every day we're out in there talking to residents, helping them with whatever they need. We'll have little kids stop and wave and drivers will get out and say hi to them. So we are in our community and really involved. Next one. The community support that we provide is weekly services to over 48,000 households. While we have 200,000 people, we actually have 48,000 households and 3,500 businesses. Obviously, there's more businesses that exist, but that's where we have accounts. We have service commitments. We have 99.9% service commitments. And what that means is that for the missed pickups in the community, we meet that metric for 99.9%. And that is something that we compare ourselves to nationwide across the country to our other business units. And it's pretty remarkable that out of 10,000, we miss less than four. And sometimes that's not even our fault. It might be that there's a block or someone didn't put the card out or something like that. So very proud of that metric. And our customer service center handles over 6,000 calls per month. I mean, that's just phenomenal about how many residents are calling into our call center. We provide community education and outreach. You'll see us around the community. at different events, we partner with different non-profits, and I'll talk about that in the next slide. We provide monetary support, in-kind services, we're also out there volunteering. That top right picture is us in the Huntington Beach Parade, partnering with the Huntington Beach Chamber. These are just a few of the organizations that we've given back to this year in Huntington Beach. The pictures there are worth a thousand words. That's such positive feedback that we get in the community. The top right was Public Works Night. We partnered with the the city to have a booth there and educate residents on our services and how to properly recycle. The bottom right is my favorite. This is where we do little birthday parades. We've done a couple for some council, friends of council. We're happy to do it for anybody in the community. We'll arrive to the resident early in the morning and surprise the little birthday fan. There is a little, I think he turned two. This just happened in July. And our drivers will get out and hand them a little gift. And they love doing that too. It's a great involvement in a community for them to be thanking our residents for their support. The programs that we have for residents in Huntington Beach, just as a reminder, we can't take credit for the Household Hazardous Waste Center, but it is located on our campus and we're so excited for that because there's only four in the entire county. It's a free place for you to drop off. We get a lot of compliments about that facility and how well it's managed and how easy it is just to drop off your e-waste and your chemicals. It's still there. It will be there as long as Republic is here. on that site off Nichols. Bulky item pickup, residents with cart service. It's actually a part of their service that they get for their monthly payments. It's 10 items four times a year. You can remember it as 10-4. We have temporary dumpsters if you're cleaning out your house. Those aren't free. They do have a fee, but those have been very popular with residents. We get a lot of residents requesting three-yard bins. That's like the size of a small dumpster so that they can work on house projects. And then we recently, as everyone is aware, just passed the mixed organics program We rolled it out. It was effective July 2nd. We rolled it out first to residents with green carts, but it is a huge program to roll out across the entire city, so we are doing it in phases. So if you are a resident that does not have a green cart right now, like me, I live where I only have trash and recycling, we will be rolling that out next year, and you'll get a letter of notification in advance. I get that question a lot, so I thought I might talk about it tonight. So I want to talk about recycling, just to kind of finish up my presentation. The number one question we get is always, you don't really recycle, do you? Well, we do. And I'm very proud to work for a company that is the only one in the United States who has invested in technology that actually takes those recycled plastics from your containers and So what happens is we collected the curb, we bring it back to our facilities, we sort it out by whatever type of plastic it is. So you've got number ones is your water bottles, number two is like your laundry soap. We take one, twos, and fives to our facility in Las Vegas where they chop it up, separate it out, clean it up, and then we're able to sell it back to producers who can make it into a product again. So for example, Coca-Cola has to have a certain amount of recycled materials in their water bottle, or in their bottles, in their beverage bottles, and we have a contract with them to be able to sell them that material. So your Huntington Beach one, twos, and fives are getting recycled and put back into new bottles. And we actually have those across the United States, just ours go to, Huntington Beach just goes to Las Vegas. And the last thing, fleet electrification. You've probably seen our electric trucks. They're pretty snazzy looking out in the community. They pick up recycle right now because that's the lightest material. They can go all day on a charge. What we are most excited about is all the safety features that exist on these machines. They have 360-degree cameras, just like all the new cars where it has the bells and whistles that, hey, someone's coming on your side. Those kind of alerts, those are also in those vehicles. because they're electric and they don't have engines, they are very cool inside. So for this heat wave that we just had, the drivers that were lucky enough to have those trucks were very happy because they had a nice cool cab to hang around in all day while they were servicing the community. And that is it. Thank you.

Debbie, thank you so much. Question on, like, lithium batteries. What's your recommendation for residents that have those? I mean, I know a lot of devices do now, toys, et cetera. Where should they dispose of those lithium batteries?

Yes, that's at the Household Hazardous Waste Center. They'll take those. And they're open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 to 3.

And where are they located?

That's at Nichols and Warner.

So right at the Republic Transfer Station. Okay, perfect.

Thank you.

Debbie, I just want to thank you again for sending a couple trucks over to my five- and two-year-olds' home the other day for their birthdays. And they were extremely thrilled. They were as thrilled seeing the trash trucks, sorry, Chief, but as they were the fire engines. And they really, really dug that. The funny thing was is that the two trash trucks came down their street, and the people in the neighborhood thought it was trash day, and they all ran and started pushing their trash cans out, and my son had to go, hey, no, it's not trash day. They just came by to wish the kids happy birthday, and it's a real thrill, and thank you for doing that. Appreciate it.

And that's open to any resident. They're welcome to reach out to me, and I'm happy to do that.

Yeah, go.

Thanks for touching on, I didn't know you called it the 10-4, but I knew about the four big pickups. I didn't know you can get up to 10 items per pickup.

Yes.

Couch, anything like that, you know, pretty big.

Yeah, furniture, 40-pound bags of, you know, if you're doing a yard waste project or something and you've got a lot of bags or you're just cleaning out the garage. It's hazardous, though. I just want to make that.

No question about that. But you call in Republic. Does it go out the same day as your trash, or do they give you a date?

We'll pick it up on the same day. So if your trash day...

is today it would be next tuesday okay that's a great program secondly on the e-waste of the e-waste like old big flat screens they they go to gate six or is that where they go and what people may not know that is a great service you pull in they don't even let you get out of your truck for the most part if you have paints and things like that right yeah they take it all out so So that's good for the flat screens. We got a lot of questions on the extra bin coming, starting later this year. If you have two of the same colored bin, you'll either keep them. If you don't turn it back, there's a monthly charge, like $11 and some odd cents. Is that correct?

Yes. so do you want well i was going to say so the reason for that though is i mean that happens in a lot of communities we've been lucky that we haven't had that extra charge but that is a wear and tear on the trucks we do have a disposal or processing fee depending on what type of material it is so it was just something that in our negotiations with the city we requested okay thank you for that and

We've said it to the residents quite a bit, but the organics, that was mandated by the state. This is not Republic. This is not a money grab. This is not a profit center. This is something that was mandated back in 2016, and you guys have had a slow rollout, but can you confirm that this is where it was initiated at a state level?

Yeah, the organics program is a state mandate.

Okay. Okay. I had one other question. Oh, you and I communicated. You're always very quick with the responses. For the residents, I know it's on our city website, but just to confirm, there's a way for seniors, low-income seniors, to get a discount on their trash bills. Is that correct?

It's actually through, and maybe Chow can speak to it. I'm not sure if you know off the top of your head. In the city of Huntington Beach, it's a little different than in some other cities, but you have to apply online. And I think you do it through the city and that it's all your utility. So it would account for your other city utilities, I believe. I don't know, Chow, if you know that off the top of your head.

That's correct. They do have to fill out a form and it is through, you can contact city staff and you go through the finance department who handles the billing.

So can we publish a number or something that would somehow, the residents ask me about it all the time because I've touched on it before talking about it. I say it's somewhere on the city website. That's not a great answer.

Yes, we'll get that. We'll put that out. You can also sign up for that at the senior center.

Okay. But maybe right on the, maybe the homepage of the city's website or something might say, you know, click here to potentially get discounts, something like that. Because I know the seniors that, Is it just seniors, or is it low-income and senior in combination, or low-income? Anybody could maybe qualify? I think it's low-income seniors. Okay. So they want to know where to go. Yes. So make it easy for them. Thank you.

Just a couple quick questions here. So in regards to SB 1383, which was that organic waste, really we'll call it the reconfiguration as to how it's disposed of. So just to confirm, what you've been doing over the past, six months, I think, is rolling out those green bins in certain quadrants of the city, and those green bins require that people put their organic waste, eggshells, food scraps, et cetera, into those green bins, correct?

Well, Councilman, the first rollout was for residents who already had a green cart, and so what we sent out was a mailer that told them what they could now put in there. It was a letter, a sticker, and this brochure. So that, yes, that was at phase one. Phase one, yep. Phase two is we're working on getting the carts ordered right now so that we can roll them out to the residents.

So get the rest of them out. And then they put all the organics in there, and then that's essentially what the add-on and all the fees are is because of.

It's processed completely differently because once you add food waste to your green waste, it's more solid waste. than it is just your green material that can easily go to a composter, get shredded and break down. It's still going to a composter, but that composter has different permitting that's required. So that's why it's a completely different facility. So it requires more transportation and more processing just it's a completely different facility.

And then one of the questions that I didn't get full clarity on this might be you might be able to answer this I don't know if the city can answer this but since we're talking about this you know specific piece of it is that we had talked about bringing on two new positions into public works to help manage this new process is that are we still in the process of doing that?

Yeah and I think it's one position.

It's one position? One position and then the role of that position would be to do exactly what?

And I will turn it over to Chau.

It's called the Field Service Representative, and this person is the face of the customer. They are the go-between the customers as well as with Republic to make sure that we are providing customer service to all of our residents, our businesses, and also compliance with the new SB 1383.

Yeah, so the state mandates that you also have to have an enforcement mechanism, and Republic Services is not an enforcer. We educate and we work with the city on that enforcement piece, and so that field services person kind of helps us when we're working with a business that might need a little more guidance.

Okay, so now we hire the enforcer. Are we going to call it the enforcer?

No.

Customer service. Will part of that include lid lifting?

Not from the city. We do the lid lifting.

Okay.

And right now, in our previous presentations, right now, we're doing education over, you know, fines and things. So, I mean, I just answered that question for a resident today. We're going to go out three times and tag a cart and try to work with the customer on how to properly sort or what materials can and can't go in those carts. Got it. So, it's going to be... a while before there's any actual enforcement of fines to residents.

Okay. And then switching gears really quickly, one of the, you know, you guys seamlessly blend into the city and you do a wonderful job. My kids love the honking. They love all of your team members. So thank you. One of the issues that we had last year, which, you know, you were very much on top of was, of course, was the potential or it was the strike that was occurring elsewhere. Now I know that there's potentially new labor negotiations in the event that there is another strike or there's a stop of service by virtue of the Labor negotiations, is there a process and a procedure in place to prevent service from stopping altogether?

We have worked with the city on a contingency plan. That's a part of our amendment that we would work with the city on that, so we do have something. And then just to report to, I think my boss has been sending emails to you all. He's a part of those negotiations, and they are going very well right now.

Okay, got it. Last question for me, Debbie. I've had a few neighbors ask, when your bin gets cracked from the claw, are they allowed to call in and get a new bin?

Oh, yeah, that's a great question. So residents can have an exchange of a cart if it's broken, you know, broken wheel. And that happens a lot because these bins have been out, these carts have been out there since 2006. A lot of them, if they say rainbow on them, that's when the first automation started. And they're only supposed to last about 10 years. So if you have a crack, you can call into our customer service and we can exchange it.

Okay, thank you. Anybody else? Thank you, Debbie.

Thank you.

All right, moving on to consent calendar. Would anyone like to pull an item?

If not, I'll move the calendar.

I'll second.

Got some items worth calling. I don't know if anyone else does. But poll number 14, 16, 22, and 23. It only goes to 22, I believe.

Yeah, 23 is not consent. So 14, 16, and 22? Yeah. Okay.

I'll pull 20.

Anybody else? All right, I'll move the balance, which is 13, 15, 17, 18, and 21. Second.

Councilman Grew?

Yes.

Councilman Kennedy? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Twiney?

Yes.

Mayor McKeon? Yes. Councilman Burns? Aye. Councilwoman Vandermark? Yes. Councilman Williams?

Yes.

Motion passes 7-0.

All right, item 14.

Yeah, we had a little discussion on this at the last council meeting, and I don't know if anything has changed. I know that we were going to have staff go back and see if they could renegotiate some terms. Have there been any changes to these terms that are presented to us tonight?

So the terms is the ability for the city to get out of the contract in two years.

But nothing about the dollar amount has changed, because I'm looking at the totals that were put together between the two lobbyist groups, $270,000 for the first and $234,000 for the second. So it's the same grand total of $504,000, correct? Correct. And that would be coming from what fund to fund that?

General fund.

Okay. And so one of my concerns, too, is that, you know, just in this current period, environment, right, where we're looking to try and save as much money as possible, especially with reoccurring expenses. This seems more like a luxury item. I don't like the idea of, you know, spending this much money on a pay-to-play with state lobbyists. This is why we have folks like Senator Tony Strickland, Assemblymember Diane Dixon, and prayerfully Gracie Vandermark after November and even on the county level Supervisor Janet Nguyen and so I think that this could save us an incredible amount of money about a half a million dollars out of our general fund and so I will not be supporting this item and I encourage my fellow council members to do the same.

Anybody else? So I was confused because I was under the impression that we were taking that back and we were going to look at potentially trying to renegotiate that. My original pitch was that it was a one-year deal and that there was an actual tangible or a financial deliverable that they would have to return and then we would move forward into a second year. You think that that's still a possibility?

Actually, you did bring that up, but then we discussed that you can have legislation moves really slowly in Sacramento, so one year might not be enough. So then that's when we agreed, okay, well, let's shoot for two. And then Council Member Kennedy said, well, why don't we shoot for two, and if nothing happens, then we can just sever ties there. It would probably be prorated.

On one year, we could. Well, is it prorated? That's a good point. Is this current deal prorated to two years? Would we, if we... Terminated the contract after two years.

So the request and the discussion with council was to have three years, but we can leave in two. And even though these numbers are on here, it's divided by three for each year and paid monthly.

So I guess asking the city attorney, if we did terminate after two years, would there be a penalty associated with that, or is it a clean break?

Yeah, there's no penalty provision. You can terminate it pursuant to the contract.

So if they were willing to go two, if we went one with deliverables so that we can review after one year and determine what they're bringing in. Because I'm just trying to understand what we're paying for, right? So we got an $850,000 grant that we speculated. We don't know for certain whether we would or wouldn't have gotten that without the lobbying agency. But other than that, I'm just trying to understand what we're spending this money on.

While you're thinking about that Who runs this portion of the city? Who oversees this?

It goes through the city manager's office, through our staff.

So have we had a look back, not counting this group, how long have we had lobbyists advocating for our city?

For almost, I believe, every year that I've been with the city.

Okay, so let's say, have we taken a 10-year look back and said we've spent this much money and this is what we've yielded?

I don't have that, but I could get that for you if you would like.

I'm surprised I didn't think of that last time. We should have quantified at least a historical window. I'm for this type of thing, if they can produce something that, if we can spend X and return X plus one or greater, and it's viable, and yes, we have some people in Sacramento that can do some advocating for us, but let's face it, it's a swamp and we only have minimal, you know, people on the ground. So I believe as much as I'm not a lobbyist fan, that there may be some value to them. But, you know, I don't know if our council members would be opposed to allowing two more weeks in order for you guys to take a 10-year look back and determine, you know, what have we done in regards to what we spent and what have we gotten in return? I'm amicable to that. That's...

I think that's good. We definitely talked about it last time. You've got to be careful that it's not all financial rewards that we receive back, especially on the state level. When you hire lobbyists, you have a seat at the table up in Sacramento advocating on behalf of the city. They come in these IRC meetings and they educate you on all the many horrible bills that Sacramento is pushing, but also then advocate on your behalf for policies that are important to the city, like e-bike safety, et cetera. That was my big push this year as mayor. When they asked, what is the biggest policy you want to advocate for in the state? And I said, e-bike safety. And then they're up there advocating on your behalf, the city's behalf, to push e-bike safety, especially Huntington Beach. We're leading the state in e-bike safety. And In my opinion, our lobbyist group on the state level has been very effective at getting our e-bike safety policies passed through assembly members and state senators. And I think there's a big push now through the state. I've just heard today the district's attorney of Orange County is pushing in on and looking to adopt our I-10 Beach e-bike safety policies. So it's obviously effective you have a seat at the table I wouldn't say it's pay to play. It's either advocating on your behalf. Sure, on the federal side, there is a monetary value there. You're pursuing federal funds. That, of course, could be looked at, but they also advocate for your behalf. But I'd say more on the federal side, There are some financial rewards with grants, et cetera, like we just received for the navigation center, 800,000. So I just think we just got to be a little bit careful if you guys want to look at it for two more weeks, not just to put a monetary value on what we're getting back, but also it's more advocacy and pushing for policies on the state that can, A, keep you informed on what's coming down the pipe so you can be strategic and react accordingly and preemptively, and then also advocating for policies that you believe will make your community better through the state level.

Well, and also... Having cities be advocated or organization advocate for cities is a big deal. That's why we had League of Cities and ACCOC. We've actually been out to legislative advocacy tours in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. with them. However, we did leave League of Cities because they were advocating for bills that were hurting our city and our residents. So we left them. So we no longer give them our money. We're still working with ACCOC, but once again, they're not just focused on Huntington Beach. And given the political climate in Sacramento and the fact that the governor doesn't like us very much, I think it's really important that we know what's happening there and we have somebody there. And like I said, eyes and ears out there. I spoke to Senator Strickland and I told him, I said, well, we're having these discussions about the lobbyists. I said, I know you're there. I know you're listening. I know you have staff working. but he's also advocating for a lot of other cities. That is also why we left a larger firm, because the larger firms that we had prior to these represent many other cities in Orange County. We looked for smaller firms that would only focus on our city. We wanted somebody to focus on us, so we're not competing with other cities. We didn't feel like when you have, let's say, a lobbyist that represents us, Irvine, Tustin, and all these other cities, it almost feels like you're competing against yourself. So we actually went with smaller firms that would focus on us. So we did like, you know, council member, gosh, I forgot your name. Butch Twining, he's on the club. I can't think anymore. I need some water or something. Council member Twining, he's been in the group now. Oh, Mayor Pro Tem, yes. He's in the group and he sees now what the value is in working with these lobbyists and Mayor McKeon as well, Pat Burns as well. We've all experienced and learned a lot from these lobbyists. I think it's a value. And, you know, just like the mayor said, it's not always a monetary value. It's the fact that they go out there and they say, hey, this bill is coming up. This is going to hurt your residents. Tell us what you want us to do. This is what we suggest. Do you want us to move forward or not? And then they started advocating with Senator Strickland, Diane Dixon, and Janet Nguyen when she was out there. So in my opinion, given the fact that we're not very loved in Sacramento, I would just feel more secure having a watchdog out there for us.

Yeah, just real quick, Butch. I mean, the way I look at it, you have to have a seat at the table. I've only been in D.C. once, and that was, I think, our first year of being elected. And I was just fascinated. We went with ACOC, so other cities that were part of that group. And the entire time, you're with Congress people, and they're just having meetings all day with lobbyists. We were lobbying on our behalf, but as a city, obviously, we can't be there every day. But that's their entire job, is they're just having meetings, people advocating, for something they need for their city or their state, whatever. And so you have to have a seat at the table. And we've been diligent, as Councilwoman Vandermark said, with League of Cities. We were just, I think, paying almost $40,000 a year for that group. And then when they advocated on a policy that we didn't agree with and they weren't, protecting Huntington Beach local control issues over sober living homes. We pulled the plug, and so we're not coming back. A firm like this still represents you specifically, advocates on our behalf specifically. They're small, they're nimble, they've reduced their costs from their previous contract. These meetings are very fascinating. Butch and Pat are in there with me, and they come in and they tell you the bills that are going through Sacramento, the odds that they will get passed, which community they got out of. You know, when it's going to go to the floor through the Senate, the process that can't get approved, how it's going to affect the budget, how it's going to trickle down to Huntington Beach, how it's going to affect decisions we have to make here. And then on the federal side, the congresspeople, the senators, the bills they're pushing, the likelihood that there's going to be a government shutdown or continuing resolution. So you can, you know, look forward. Is that going to affect the money, federal money coming down to the city level that we're not going to get? So it's a look forward. information from these lobbyists that you're not going to get without them having your seat at the table for you. So again, it's not always a monetary value, but it's very valuable information that helps you as an elected official make prudent, sound decisions moving forward.

But it comes at a monetary cost, $504,000, half a million dollars. This is a very expensive seat at the table, a very expensive education and eyes and ears. And if we're looking for ways that we can save money, In Huntington Beach, I want to encourage my fellow council members, this is more so of a luxury item than a necessary item, and I think it's a good area to make some savings.

There's no luxury in protecting ourselves. That is not a luxury. So if you don't agree, that's cool, but no, that's fine.

I missed, how are we not protecting ourselves?

To say that this is a luxury, do you not want to be informed as to what's happening in Sacramento that could Focus on that.

I don't think we need lobbyists to protect us.

Okay, that's fine.

Then vote no.

Well, hear me out, right? So I'm not trying to be a stick in the mud on this. I guess I'm kind of looking at, can we use a couple weeks to potentially see if there's like an a la carte menu that we can create here where we can better deploy the capital that we otherwise would commit to, right? So the way I look at it is, if we're going to expend a little bit over $150,000 a year, hypothetically, we could hire somebody in-house. But then again, that position might not exist. So it's kind of like sitting down and asking them, look, you know, we're we're looking at this and we're looking at the deliverables from a financial situation. Can we get other options? What would an hourly situation look like? Would it be more prudent for us to take some of that money and apply it to a grant writer where we pay an outside grant writer an hourly amount and then some sort of, I don't know what grant writers look like, whether they take a percentage, whether we reorganize it, like I mentioned, with that cliche of an a la carte menu. And perhaps that's not available or that's not an option, but those were questions that just popped up right now as we discuss potentially taking two more weeks to consider. Just my thoughts.

I agree with everybody. And there's two differing opinions up here, but I agree with all of you guys. I've sat on the IRC now for a year or so, and I find it incredibly educational because I'm hearing everything that's going on, everything that affects us in Huntington Beach, and I also, you know, from the state, and then I, you know, we also hear from the other company. I think that's, is it Conway? Is it our federal? Or is it vice versa? Oh, okay, Stapleton. I can't disagree with Councilman Williams that this is a luxury. I have a heck of a lot of confidence in our legislative analyst, Shannon Levin, and the first time when I saw that we would have to spend $504,000, which is a lot of money, on these two different lobbyists, I asked her, is this something that you absolutely rely on? Because she is a fantastic researcher. My big problem is our state lobbyists, because I don't think no matter how hard they lobby for us, if anybody up in Sacramento hears that this is for Huntington Beach, I don't think we're going to get a fair shake. And I've seen that in our judicial system, and I don't think it's any different than in our assembly and our senate up there. On the other hand, our contractor, my familiarization with our federal guys, those are some issues that have some teeth to them. But again, in the age of AI, we can look up any assembly bill, we can look up any Senate bill, whether it's federal or state, and we can write our state senator or our state assembly person, and we're going to have Gracie up there pretty soon, so we'll just lean heavily on Gracie to be an advocate for us up there, because I know she will. I'm like, I don't know, because like I say, I sit in there and I learn a lot, but is my education on state and federal issues, is that a luxury that the city can't afford right now? I'm kind of falling that way because, like I say, I have a heck of a lot of confidence in Shannon Levin.

She's just a fantastic... What did she say when you asked her the question, though?

She goes, well, I mean, she really did hem-haw. You know, she was like, well, you know, it's good for here and good for there. But it wasn't like she was totally sold on it. It wasn't like, you know, she indicated to me that, or I felt like, yeah, I could do this. I can look up these bills and I can tell you what they're all about. I just don't think in the state that we're ever going to get a fair shake.

Yeah, again, I'm not. Advocating for this whole system, I'm just saying, it's just reality. They advocate on your behalf, whether it's education. Yeah, of course you're getting educated, but they're advocating on your behalf. That's how government works, unfortunately, especially in the federal government. They're in the congressman's office. We need money for our navigation center. We need money for the cliff erosion by Dog Beach. We need money for this, and pressing, and squeaky wheel gets the grease. And your other state legislators, they don't just represent Huntington Beach and the You know, she'll have a sealed beach all the way down to Laguna Woods and Lisa Viejo and all those residents are, you know, banging on their door. There's only so much hours in the day. So I'm totally with you guys. We want to get two more weeks to look at it and and get a report back and see what it looks like. But there obviously is a benefit to having someone advocate on your behalf and we can disagree on what that benefit is. But in my opinion, it's not just a luxury item. I understand the cost. But I think if we give it two more weeks and you guys get some answers, let's just talk about it again. But I mean, especially on the federal level, they're advocating for money for grants. And there's a lot of hands out, people looking for grant money and and for their projects in their city. So unless you're there advocating, like, Shannon's not going to advocate in D.C. on the phone. Like, you've got to be in there in person, pressing the flesh, getting in meetings, looking them in the eye. Like, that's just how business and government works.

And a lot of the info that Shannon gets is from the lobbyists.

Yeah, I'm the only one, I think, that has been on that board for all four years. And... there is a huge benefit. And Shannon does get a lot of her, she works tightly with those people, our lobbyists. She gets a lot of her information from that. And the education, I find, is invaluable to keep us knowledgeable on what's going on in Sacramento, as screwed up as I think they are. But the feds, I don't think we would know a lot of the little particulars without our lobbyists. And Sacramento, too. It's It's like saying, yeah, you know, I don't know if the 200 grand for college education is worth it. You know, I guess I won't get it. I think it's worth it. I think it's a worthwhile investment in staying knowledgeable and keeping us in the know and possibly getting very much great benefits from that knowledge.

Well, we had this same conversation with Shannon when we were thinking of leaving League of Cities. Because we said, we're out. They're advocating for policies that are hurting us. And there was some pushback where she said, well, they advocate for us. They keep us informed. So we said, well, that's okay. Let them advocate. But some of the things they're telling us about are hurting us. So we left. So Shannon does rely on these lobbyists for her information. She's not out there constantly looking herself. She takes information and then she does more research. So a lot of what she does comes from these lobbyists.

And I would agree with that. I agree with a lot of what's being said on both sides. In sales there's a saying, presence is power. So I get that. I also understand that not everything is quantifiable with dollars and cents. like policies. I also, you know, when I talked to Travis, you know, in the council briefing two weeks ago when this was coming forward, and I said, you know, and you recall, I said, you know, what can AI do? You know, AI can now really give you a rundown of the bills, the pitfalls, the upside, the downside. You know, it's pretty good. So that piece, I believe, to a certain extent, can be handled. But I don't think there's no way it's going to handle all of it But I think everybody's open to like two more weeks. I'd like to spend some time with Shannon. On the federal end, where we're getting monies, that is pretty black and white. Have they gotten us monies over the year? I know this is a newer, smaller company that maybe we've been with for a while, but who's ever doing the federal end? At a state level, I agree. We need people advocating. AI can do a lot of the bill diagnostics, but So we can see what they've done, you know, how well they push these items through, like the e-bike bills and things like that, that aren't monetary, but there's certainly enormous value. And then while we're doing that, talk to Shannon. You maybe can do a little bit deeper dive on the people that are focused on bringing money in. We pay, they bring in money, you know, so we bifurcate the two different companies or the two different entities, even though they may have been different companies. and see what the money bringer's done for our dollars out. And then we can talk about what the advocates have done at a state level. You know, and we wait two weeks, and we come back, and we either vote on the two years, maybe we try and say, it really does make sense, but let's break it down to a year and a year. And I get it, Gracie, things in the first year might not have manifested, but they would have to at least say work. We're working on this, this, and this, and if they say at the end of one year, we're not working on anything, the answer would be clear, but that wouldn't be the case. But if you guys are open for it, I would make a motion for a two-week delay. We do a little bit deeper dive. We have our city manager and the finance department look at the entities, because over 10 years there's been different ones. What have they done for us? How much money have they brought in, and what did we spend? And then we kind of look back a little bit on what this company, I think this company's been with us for three, four, five years, the one at the state level. And, you know, they can probably say we've helped push through this, and we advocated for this successfully for you guys. And then we have a full picture, because this is moving fairly quickly, and then two weeks from now we vote on it.

I second Don's motion.

Yeah, Councilman Kennedy, how far back would you like to go for that? I mean, 10 years is a pretty good, you know, study. You know, 10 years is a long decade.

So 10 years will cost out how much we've spent overall on lobbyists, and we'll look at the return on investment.

Yeah, I think it sounds like there's two types of lobbyists. One's that are advocates for us, and that's more the state-level entities. And then at a federal level, we have people that are trying to draw grants in. Is that a fair assessment, Travis?

I think they both do both.

All right, well, then any monies that have come in at a state or federal level, let's see. You know, it's all money in. And then the people that are policy, you know, wonks or whatever you want to call them, what have they done for us? You know, kind of holistically, that's just great info for Shannon. She is amazing at what she does, and she's going to be able to say it. YOU KNOW, THEY ARE REALLY VITAL OR, YOU KNOW, THEY'RE NOT. AND THEN, YOU KNOW, KIND OF TALK BACK ABOUT WHAT THEY'VE DONE AND HOW MUCH MONEY OUT AND MONEY IN.

NEW SPEAKER P. ALL RIGHT. MOTION AND A SECOND.

NEW SPEAKER P. MOTION, COUNCILMEMBER KENNEDY. SECOND. MAYOR PORTEMP.

NEW SPEAKER PORTEMP. NEW SPEAKER PORTEMP. NEW SPEAKER PORTEMP. NEW SPEAKER PORTEMP. NEW SPEAKER PORTEMP. NEW SPEAKER PORTEMP. NEW SPEAKER PORTEMP. NEW SPEAKER PORTEMP. NEW SPEAKER PORTEMP. NEW SPEAKER PORTEMP. Councilman Grewal.

Yes.

Councilman Kennedy. Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Twining. Yes. Mayor McKeon. Yes. Councilman Burns. Aye. Councilwoman Vandermark.

Yes.

Councilman Williams. Yes. Motion passes 7-0. All right. Item 16. All right.

I don't know if we can get a staff presentation on number 16. It's a plaque at the library downtown.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. Before you this evening is a presentation on the Main Street Branch Library's 75th anniversary plaque. The Main Street Branch Library was opened September 30th of 1951 and has served as a vital community resource to the Huntington Beach community for 75 years. And so on September 30th, 2026, we are planning a celebration honoring the library's 75th anniversary and also the inaugural celebration of our city's new cultural hub on the fifth block of Main in Triangle Park. And so the proposed location of the plaque is to be located on the inside of Main Street Library through the front doors on the left-hand side. And you can see that picture here currently in place as a commendation from the library's 65th anniversary. And so the proposed plaque will, this is a rendering of the proposed plaque, I'm sorry. And so for 75 years, the Main Street Library branch has been a beloved place for learning, imagination, and community. Generations have discovered new stories here and created their own. Huntington Beach celebrates all who have helped make the library a welcoming home for curiosity, inspiration, and a shared love of reading. And so this is the text that is recommended to be on the library's plaque in addition to the Main Street Library, city council's names, city manager's name, the library's logo, the Huntington Beach logo, and then the years of the 75th celebration, which is 1951 to 2026. And so the fiscal impact for this is $2,200 for the design, fabrication, and installation of the proposed plaque. And so the recommended action this evening is to approve the proposed design, inscription, and installation of the Main Street Branch Library's 75th anniversary plaque, as recommended by the Community and Library Services Commission earlier this month. And I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

I'll just be the point and share my own take on it and be brief, but I'm not a big fan of voting in favor of a plaque with our own names on it. It does seem like another one of those luxury items that we just don't need to be spending extra money on items like this, even if it's just a couple few thousand dollars when we're looking for ways that we can save. And so I think we find ourselves in a deficit. It's a death by a thousand cuts, and this would be one of those cuts that we could remove and get off the books.

So just no plaques at all in the city going forward?

It seems like it's just been plaque city lately. I don't know where all these plaques are coming from. We're talking about this item right here.

What you said basically is no plaques at all, but plaques commemorate significant moments in history. 75th anniversary of the Main Street Library. 250th anniversary of America's the site of the Declaration of Independence, the ones that are down at the pier currently, you know. I think it was 100 years of the pier, like moments in history. And, Ashley, isn't it commonplace on every single plaque that it has the then-seated city council on the plaque?

That is typically something that appears on our commemorative plaques, yes.

Thank you.

Ashley, whose idea was it to have this plaque? Where did it originate from?

I've heard some conversations about having a plaque for the 75th anniversary. So we did one for Central Park's 50th anniversary. This tends to be the generation of staff where we're meeting a lot of remarkable milestones in our public spaces. And so to commemorate those anniversaries, there's typically a plaque request and or approved by city council.

All right, I'll move the item.

I'll second.

Can I just ask one quick question? We might be doing Groundhog Day, especially for me because I'm an appointed council member. Would you guys be okay with me replacing my name with somebody who perhaps was historical or

Long pause. I like the idea.

I mean, if you don't want your name on it, that's fine. We can take them out. We just figured you're on council now. Why not? But if you prefer not to be on it, that's cool too.

Again, with the item later, it's like you're singling out people specifically when these plaques are moments in history and it's commonplace to celebrate that moment in history. It's commonplace just to put whoever is the city council elected at that point or appointed seated city council that's all it is and so I just think you go down this slippery slope of like who's you know if it's not a council member who should it be and what are the other people feel scorned they weren't put on it so it's just it's commonplace it's tradition it's you're celebrating a moment in history a commemorated plaque with the seated city council

I think the idea is it's not to try and force anyone else to play along and do the same, but if our name were to take up a certain portion of real estate and we voluntarily say, you know, in lieu of our own name, we'd like to honor somebody else, what's the harm in doing something like that?

Make a substitute motion. I've said this last time. Without the context of why that person's name is there, as this passes and it falls off the Facebook forms and things like that, and somebody walks in the library and there's a name there, if it resonates with somebody who has a person in their family or lineage that might be in that category, they would say, how did that person's name, why didn't my dad, mom, sister, brother, why wasn't that name on? So I think without context, you know, a narrow pointing, this name was put here for this reason. It's just going to be something that is going to create more feelings of why not my family member? How did that name get on? What's the relevance? I think it's too ambiguous. And, um, That's my take.

It could just be it means something to a current council member at that time. When I wrote a book, I wrote it in memory of my mentor. I put one name down. I've never had anyone write me being offended that someone else's name wasn't included.

But you were writing a book as a private citizen. You weren't, you know, so you can do what you want as a private citizen. I mean, this is now a body. Yeah, it's taxpayer-funded money.

Somebody reached out to me yesterday to actually two people to fund this privately, so it's not going to be paid for by the city. All right, motion and a second.

Whose motion?

Mine. To determine if the council members want their name on it.

Do you want your name on it, or do you want us to remove it? So, Councilman Burns... We're not replacing...

I'm trying to speak.

You have been. You act like we don't let you speak. You speak more than most of us. I mean, the last one, this one. Would you like your name on it? If you don't, that's fine. If you do, that's fine. We're not adding any other names.

May I know? So Councilman Burns had suggested we make a substitute motion, so I would make that substitute motion to any council member that would like to voluntarily replace... their names on the plaque with someone in lieu of them, that would be the motion on this plaque to make those changes. Second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second.

Okay, so substitute motion for any council member who wishes to give their name in place of another name. Councilman Grohl? YES. COUNCILMAN KENNEDY. NO. MAYOR PROTENT TWINING.

NO.

MAYOR MCKEON. NO. COUNCILMAN BURNS. NO. COUNCILWOMAN VANDERMARK. NO. COUNCILMAN WILLIAMS. YES.

So motion fills. I just want to say I'd be proud to have my name on any plaque with Councilman Gruhl and Councilman Williams, and I've told them both that before, so I don't know who they would think about putting on, but I'm proud to have them on there. If they decide they don't want them on there, that's fine. I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you, Bush.

All right, motion and a second on the floor. Clerk? So this is for the recommended action as presented by staff? Correct.

This is going to be as is with both of your names on there, correct? Correct. You're okay with it? We're going to vote on it. Okay. But if you vote no, your name would still be on it. If you want your name on it, that's cool. If you don't, then we can have it removed. We don't want to offend anyone.

There's a motion and a second. Okay.

I'll call the roll. Yeah, but if they don't want it, even though they're going to vote no, if they are in the end outvoted, but they mentally don't want their name on it and vote no. Okay. Their names are on there without their permission.

Do you guys want your names on the plaque?

If they want their name on or off, and then vote.

If you guys want to make a substitute motion, that's a motion you'd have to make to remove our names. That's a substitute motion you guys could make. I'm saying if our names are not on there, that in lieu of that, I would like to put somebody else on there to honor them. I am indifferent of whether or not my name winds up on any plaque. This is ridiculous.

There's a motion and a second.

Who was the first and second?

Myself and I believe that was you? Gracie. Okay.

I will call the roll.

All right.

Councilman Grewal? No. Councilman Kennedy? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Twain? Yes. Mayor McKeon? Yes. Councilman Burns?

Aye.

Councilwoman Vandermark?

Yes.

Councilman Williams? No. Motion passes 5-2.

All right. Item number 20.

So this was mine, right? Yeah, I just wanted to walk through. Chow, if we could kind of walk through just some of the numbers, just because whenever we appropriate some of the funding that was on the previous year's budget, I'd like to just review it briefly. Sorry to surprise you there.

Of course, this is for the award of the Newland House Museum and Water Tower Restoration. So the Newland House is one of the oldest homes in Huntington Beach, 1898. It's adjacent to Bartlett Park. This is in our CIP for 2425. So there's an appropriated budget towards this project. We have $571,695 towards the project. Based on our bids, this is low bid, we will have additional appropriations of $101,000, $385.40 out of infrastructure funds, carryover infrastructure funds towards the project in order to cover the shortfall, as well as the additives, which includes historical expert so that we make sure that we comply with the architectural elements of the Newland House. So our request is to award the lowest bidder for a total amount of $670,080.40 towards a construction contract with a 5% contingency. Okay, and then just the brief scope of work on this. The scope of work for this house includes scraping the surface, preparing the existing siding, the fascia, the window frames, the window molding, the window putty, as well as removal of any rotten wood, replacing wood, the frames, and cleaning, priming, and painting with ultra-premium paint the entire building, the exterior building.

So then will this, will the amount that we're allocating above and beyond what was originally budgeted, will that come out of 25, 26 capital improvement budget? Correct. It'll just deduct. So it's all rolling together.

Yes.

We're just now, we're just going to be more cognizant as that budget rolls forward. Yes. Okay, got it, got it.

I have a question. Joe, just for clarity, Let's just say I'm super naive to labor unions. Does our government and everything we do have to be done by labor union workers?

We don't have to have union labor workers. However, if there's a penny, any penny of public dollars, taxpayers' dollars, going towards a project, we have to have prevailing wages, and that's dictated by the Department of Industrial Relations.

Okay. When people bid on the RFPs, do we ever see private sector companies bid on the RFPs, or is it based on your knowledge of reviewing RFPs, always labor union-based companies with union workers?

We have a mix of contractors labor union, non-labor union. We have mom and pop contractors that also bid on the projects as well, local contractors as well. When they bid, they need to comply with the DIR. They have to have a DIR number, and they also have to have a bond. They have to have their licenses, the appropriate license for the specific project within the scope of work. And afterwards, we have to verify their payroll as part of the compliance that we have to have with the DIR. So it all comes down to verifying payroll, making sure that the contractors pay their workers appropriately. We don't determine if they're union or non-union. We don't specify that. We don't have that built into our contract right now. Got it. So it could be anybody.

Okay. So, somebody who is gonna bid that's not using labor, union labor, but is willing to pay prevailing wage, they would have all the requirements in order to even participate in the RFP. Obviously, otherwise it'd be foolish to go through the process. Do you have any idea, just off the top of your head, over the last, you know, how often does a private sector company willing to pay the prevailing wage and has all the certifications necessary and, of course, willing to show the books, which I would imagine union workers, you know, whoever has that company has to show the payroll as well. How often do private sector people who have met the criteria, participating in RFP, you know, roughly get awarded the jobs? Off the top of your head. I'm not going to hold you to the number, 5%, 10%, no percent, 50%.

I can tell you that in the past few years, bids that we've had, we've had rejected 80% of the bidders because they could not comply with our bid requirements. They didn't have their bond. They didn't have their licenses. They were basically new to the public sector industry. So we've seen a lot of rejected bids on our CIP projects.

Can I ask you a question? Because this kind of came up on something else we've been working on. How can somebody even bid and spend time if they haven't met basically the checklist in order to bid? Why don't we have a system in place that everything has to be verified up front before you guys spend any time having to review and reject? By the time somebody's participating in RFP, if you have it dialed in, They've done all the front-end qualifying. Why don't we have that? Why would anybody be able to bid if they're not qualified? It should be clear. You either have it or you don't. Show proof. Basically, in the auction business, you have to go through A, B, C, D, E, and F before we give you the bid button, before you can ever bid. And if you don't have that, you'll never be able to bid. Why don't we do that here?

That's the process that we have with the public contract code. We have to cross... Cross the dots, cross the T's, dot the I's, everything. They have to have everything. We are spending taxpayers' dollars, and we have to have it, too.

No, I understand that, but you said 80% of the people that are... bidding are disqualified. How can they even bid if they're already disqualified before they ever start bidding? Why don't we check up front and make sure that anybody placing a bid has met every qualification? Why find that out later is my question. This is just, hey, I wasn't even thinking about this until I started talking about Lowe's bid. You answered the prevailing wage. You know, I want to make sure our private sector people have an opportunity. Yes, they do. But now we're in a process breakage here where it seems like this process, nobody, in my opinion, should ever be able to place a bid if they haven't met every criteria. It should be so clear what they have to provide and do up front before they can ever participate so that you don't have to disqualify them after they've already participated. Isn't there a way to make sure they're qualified on every metric at all?

Can I answer this question a little bit? Well, speaking as somebody that has participated in the city of Huntington Beach's bid process for probably 30 years, every year that I was still working, we qualified every single year. After I retired, we got disqualified because we didn't respond well. to the letter of the RFP. I mean, we were very qualified, but they picked something out that we didn't, well, I wasn't there anymore. Bring back Twiney. Yeah, bring me back. Also, and I'm not sure, I didn't hear all your comments on union versus non-union prevailing versus non-prevailing, but every contractor that I know that is going to bid on a municipal project, they know that that it's prevailing wage. And so they price it as prevailing wage. And they're also required every single month, every month they have to fill out a report and send it to the DIR. Yeah, no, I get that.

But what she was saying is 80% of the people that are bidding, they're having to reject because they haven't met the qualifications.

Well, I'm going to tell you, the city of Huntington Beach is extremely tough. And they... They ask a zillion questions that really have nothing to do with the project itself. It's who the company is.

Yeah, okay, whatever. I mean, it's just to me, it's a process. It's another example of, in my opinion, maybe I'm getting a misread, government's lack of efficiency and process flow. In the private sector, you would never, I'm coming from the auction business, nobody would ever be able to bid on an asset if they weren't fully qualified. We had our own qualifications, proof of funds, A, B, C, D, E, F, G. Nobody would ever give a bid button because you're going to be bidding against other people, driving the number up, and in the end, if you're not qualified, if we found that out in the end, it would be the biggest breakage point ever. So again, anytime I see something that I think is a process flaw in government, That's one of the things I ran on. Inefficiency in government, looking for new opportunities. Government's not efficient. I'm just pointing it out or asking questions.

Maybe I misread it, but that's why I was... Ashley, how much revenue does between the Newland Barn, Newland House, they go hand in hand, correct?

So the Newland... house sits on the same property that the Newland barn does, but the Newland house does not generate revenue. The historical society operates that facility for us and the agreement requires that they take care of the interior and then the city maintains the exterior of the facility. but the Newland House does generate revenue. I'm sorry, Newland Barn. The barn generates revenue. And last year, we generated about $170,000 in weekend rentals. That was a jump from the previous fiscal year of... about $50,000, and that was as a result of City Council approving premium rates for Saturdays. We do have renters who utilize the facility Friday and Sunday, but when there are prime days that people are really wanting, we felt there was an opportunity to elevate the rates on Saturdays and then also open the opportunity for some midweek rentals as well.

Okay, I was out there just the other day, and that Newland house... is a mess the exterior of that thing is trashed it we have let that thing degrade so badly it's atrocious what does the what's the typical maintenance for between the barn and the house the outside and we take care of the lawn and all the flowers and everything around there there's some fruit trees etc what's the maintenance and cost of maintaining that average

Sure, so the garden on the exterior falls under the responsibility of the Historical Society. They have some volunteers who maintain the garden. But on an annual basis, we have, it's about, $18,000 in costs to provide maintenance for both the Newland barn. And that's where we're also annualizing the cost of paint over time. So we're looking at a new model where we're building into our budget. How much will it cost for annual maintenance? This is a little bit higher because there is lead in the paint. So there's some remediation that needs to be done as well. So once that's remediated, it will be easier in theory to maintain the Newland house. The Newland barn does not have lead in the paint.

Okay, but you're saying it's to really maintain and provide maybe future funding for roofs and other structural work like this, because we've let that place degrade badly. It's a mess. And you're saying it's only about 18, 20 grand a year?

for maintenance, not for capital.

No, I'm talking everything. Cost to have that property for the city, how much is that per year anticipated? I mean, because that's a good number to start with, with charging the rent, isn't it? So what's the capital, everything cost?

Councilmember, we're talking about approving a construction contract, not the rent, and we're getting off topic.

Right, but He wants to know before he approves a contract, like, what kind of return on investment we're going to get. Like, are you going to drop a million dollars on something that generates 20 grand a year? I mean, you've got to know what the operational cost is and what the revenue potential is before you vote on 700 grand or 600 grand in CapEx. In my opinion, it's a great question.

And that's kind of where I'm just trying to justify spending this kind of money and getting us on a program, at least, or do you have what that overall cost should be per year to assure that maybe it's self-sustaining?

Sure. So our annual revenue last year was $170,000 approximately. And then in order to operate the Newland Barn, it cost us about $82,000. And that's inclusive of full-time and part-time staff dedicated to rentals, in addition to supplies for the facility, public works maintenance, and annualized costs for painting the Newland Barn, and then also landscaping.

But we still have to capitalize in the house, too, don't we?

Correct. The house would only ever be, as the agreement stands today and if it remains, the house would only ever be a maintenance contract or a maintenance cost for the city because the city does not draw in revenue on that particular facility, but it is the backdrop to the Newland Barn.

Yeah, it's one package. Really, they go hand in hand, don't they? Correct. Our responsibility is everything outside. Correct. And that's what I'm trying to say is what, I mean, can, in the future, I don't want us to see us continuing to have to come up with over half a million dollars to take care of something that we should have funded already. That's all I'm saying.

I can't help but to think that maybe there is a nonprofit group out there that would possibly be able to fund this eventually because it's something they're passionate about, or I imagine there's probably some grant money out there worth looking into. So I'm a little hesitant to be green-lighting this one right now because... Yeah, it's hard to believe there's not a group out there like Friends of the Library that can raise, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars, right, for the library. Is there not such a group for a historic resource like this?

There's a lot of numbers flying around, so this is a lot of money. I would make a motion to just take a deeper dive into some of these numbers. I'd second that, yeah.

All right, motion and a second.

Okay. Okay. So for the item to come back at a later meeting?

Yes, with deeper dive in the numbers.

Okay. So you're going to table it indefinitely until we have the numbers?

I think indefinite is the way to go.

Indefinitely, okay.

Indefinitely, okay. Don't you guys want to give a little bit of a shock clock on that?

Is there a house in urgent need of the repair? It's a mess. I don't think we should do it indefinitely if the house is in that bad shape.

Come back in two meetings. Give time. I remember when this came to a council briefing a while back, I had questions and now we're ready to vote on it. How about You know, two meetings from now.

I mean, even two weeks is sufficient, but if you guys want to do 30 days.

Well, let's give it 30 days. I mean, you know, we have questions. You know, this is another asset that should hopefully generate money, not cost us a fortune. It's historic. Yeah, I don't know. Is 30 days good? It's fine with me. Two meetings, you know. It's good.

It's fine. Chow, will our contractor be okay with that?

Could you guys get us an info on 30 days, the info we need? The bids typically expire 30 days.

Well, if we give you permission to extend the bid, what's day one on the bid today? How aged is the bid already? Oh, the contractor bids. When did they give you the bids?

It was advertised over, I'm going to say... Don't say over 30 days, because then it's expired.

No, no, no. It's when they turned their bid in.

Right, but I think...

How old is your bid?

I have to verify that bid because there's an expiration date on the bid.

Is there anything we could do as a council to take action to extend that expiration date right now with this action item?

Do we set the expiration date or does the person who placed the bid?

No, the bid specs do. The bid specs do.

Cost go up. I mean, this isn't that complicated. If we need to like circle back and bring this back in two weeks, I think we can, you know, we're going to be asking you questions, Chow and Ashley and anybody involved on, you know, like Pat said, how much have we spent over the last few years? Who's doing what? You know. Show us what the money, you know, can we do things different just some basic questions? It's another asset of the city's just two weeks good you guys I mean you guys good with Bring it back in two weeks, but we'll yeah two weeks for the vote.

Okay, so motion to return in two weeks Just to let the council know.

I know we've been talking two weeks. There is an extra month in September the next meeting Next meeting there's an extra week next or extra week in September

So next council, return, bring the item back to the next council meeting. Please. Okay. Councilman Grewell?

Yes.

Councilman Kennedy? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Twining?

Yes.

Mayor McKeon? Yes. Councilman Burns? Councilwoman Vandermark? Yes. Councilman Williams?

Yes.

Motion passes 7-0. Item 22.

All right, this was the docs over the Huntington Club that are in disrepair, and this was discussed back at the... June meeting, and some discussion had taken place when the Commodore of the Huntington Yacht Club had come out, Dean Oliver, he said that they were looking to either get the docks refurbished or replaced, repaired or replaced, and they had sought out a company to get an estimate on what that cost would be, and they said that it would cost approximately $150,000, is what he said at public comment, to replace the docks. And what's presented to us on the agenda here It's far north of that $150,000. It was put out to bid, I believe, with a not-to-exceed of approximately $388,000, and there was only a sole bidder, even though I guess that there were many that came out to inquire. Only one bid went through, and it requires an additional sum of money beyond the $388,000 not-to-exceed, another $388,000. approximately $27,000 and so all in it's coming to slightly north of $416,000 to replace these docks and I just find that number to be a pretty big disparity between what the Commodore had sought out, Dean Oliver, and that $150,000 dock replacement and so I'm just a little concerned about spending this amount of money and I can't support this item as it is.

I've I've heard about the replacement of this thing for years. Years. And 400 grand is about the cost I've always heard. 400 grand from the beginning. And it's not the Yacht Club's dock. It is our dock. It is a public dock that we have. And although they did kind of patch it up to be a little bit safer, It was unsafe before that little fix-up, and that's nothing compared to what we face if somebody gets hurt on that.

Well, slip and fall, I mean, just being out there for the cruise of lights. I mean, I work it every single year, and they knew that this wasn't going to get repaired or replaced. They really pleaded to get in the budget this year, which we did, but last year put new toppings on the docks that are in serious disrepair and some almost barely floating. To Councilmember Burns' point, slip and fall on that alone the liability exposure is tremendous and so this needs to happen before the holiday season with the boat parade and the cruise of lights with the thousands of people that buy tickets to go on these boats but again like i work every year so it's like critical that we get this done so i just walked it today before the meeting and it seemed like it's there's it's nothing like our boardwalk it's it's smooth it's got a band-aid on there

It's temporary. They did make temporary repairs for years. People have been tripping on it. We're lucky that somebody didn't fall down and have a serious injury.

The surface gets really wet and slippery, especially with the condensation from the ocean, and it's very dangerous and slippery. So it was just a temporary fix to make it more level so people aren't tripping, but it is not an ideal situation.

And a temporary fix with the idea we were going to replace it too. A temporary fix was only with the kind of understanding that it was going to be

That we talked about, and we made sure it was in the budget, and we budgeted it, and that was all voted on and approved.

How old is that, Doc? 50.

50 years old. Almost 50. So after 50 years, I do think it's justified to fix it. It's 50 years.

And I'm 100% supportive of fixing it. I just think that this was the June 2nd meeting, in case you're wondering, Council Member Burns, where the Commodore had gotten up And he had said it was going to take about $150,000 to replace the dock. They hired a company to go and look at that. So my concern is that where we're at right now is $416,000 through a sole bidder who saw the amount of money that we had budgeted in that June 2nd meeting allocated towards the dock. And by golly, they asked for all of it and some.

It's not the Commodores dock though. I don't care what he said kind of but I know for a long time like a couple years I have always heard it's gonna cost about 400 grand because it's been on the it's been requested for a couple years at least and It's 400 grand has always been in the back of my mind of what that and I haven't liked that number but yet seeing at one point before they put the band-aid on and That more than 10 people on that thing, it was almost a pile up of people either meeting in the middle or going overboard. And it needs fixed. I mean, bottom line is, unfortunately, it's another thing that we kind of let go. But things wore out, and that thing wore out.

Councilman Williams, I seem to remember, and, you know, My memory's not the best in the world, but I think I remember the Commodore saying that that was an old bid and that he expected it to be a lot more. Now, I don't know how old that bid was, two years? Two years. Yeah. So he said, you know, the last bid he got was $150,000, but he expects it to be a lot more. So... He didn't quantify or qualify what he meant by a lot more, but I haven't walked the dock like you did, but I know it's a problem.

And I completely understand. Of course it would go up from two years, right? But it just seems rich, $416,000. Let's repair it, guys, but maybe we can find a cheaper price. This was a sole bidder. Maybe we have to put it back out.

How many people... Bid on this. We had 14 contractors open the bid on Planet Bids. They came from California. They came from out of state. We had five attend the pre-bid walk. We received one bid from a local company in Huntington Beach.

There you go. If I could ask you one question, Shadow, thank you. Yes. Do you have that list of people that showed up handy by any chance?

We have a list. I don't have that list on me, but we have a list.

I just did a quick search. So I would love to see the fact... I would hope that Harbor Constructors, Heavy Marine Construction, these are Orange County-based companies. I would hope that if they didn't open the bid... Everything I talk about is sales. The phone is your friend. I would have hoped somebody maybe reached out to Harbor, Associated Pacific Constructors, probably one of the better fits for larger complex commercial scale repair. They're local South Shore. That's who got it. They're on this list So, you know, this list is pretty targeted and then Swift slip dock and pier builders does complete dock design So these are people when I said, you know dock builders Institutional commercial grade in Orange County in return these four, you know I would hope that we do some outbound in here at the city and try and bring when we have one bidder Even though people are looking I would look a little harder, and I would have somebody sit on a phone and be making phone calls. I mean, you've got to generate business in the outbound and, you know, make it competitive. So I didn't read the RFP, but I think I heard Councilman Williams say that the RFP said the bid had to be not to exceed 388,625, and that's where the bid came in. Did I hear that right? Was there a predetermined not to exceed before the RFP launched and somebody just happened to get the number?

I think what it was was there's a certain amount of money allocated at that meeting, right? And then they entered into an agreement for it not to exceed for 388, and then there's the additional $27,000. It's over. You had to ask for an extra amount, right?

Yes, because our project budget was $400,000.

Okay, and so that's available to the public.

That's correct.

And they asked for just north of that $400,000. Is that correct?

Actually south of it, but because of contingencies. it did exceed the 400,000.

Yeah, you could, you know, if it says we can't go over 400, you know, you can come in just a little low. And maybe it is 388, and maybe they are the best, South Shore, but by the time you only had one participant after the walkthrough, I would have had somebody grab a phone... start making some phone calls just to make sure other people that aren't in Planet Bids, not everybody's in Planet Bids, knew that right here local, you had an opportunity to work for the city of Huntington Beach, building that dock, and by virtue of what your description says, this is what you do. Are you aware of our business opportunity? Quick phone calls. We've got to do more of that. That's part of this process I've been talking about. We have to generate business opportunity for local vendors. LA and Orange County would have been a natural. Maybe San Diego County. Somebody would probably drive up here that's in this dock building business 60 miles to get a contract. People want to work. You've just got to drive business. That's all I'm saying.

I just want to point out that probably one of the reasons that we didn't get many bids is this is relatively speaking, a very small job. So some were saying, well, they did. I mean, 14 full plans, five showed up for the job walk, and a local company, you know, because they're here, they're not going to say, hey, this project's too small. We don't want to do it. They're here in Huntington Beach. This is a great opportunity for them. I don't like getting one bidder any more than anybody else up here, but it's not that big of a job, and the Other contractors, I can't speak for them, but I'm going to say they probably thought this wasn't, you know, they knew that the budget was $400. It just didn't fit their business model. That's what I'd say, I think.

Could be the case. I mean, this company is just showing the job in Long Beach right here. All I'm saying is a couple quick phone calls, and if you say, hey, we've tapped it. We had the 14. I called four or five other people that didn't show up for the planet bids. They said, eh, too small. Then I know we did what we call our due diligence, and I'd feel better about it. But I'm not saying it's not worth $3.88. It probably is, but I would have liked to have seen a little bit more participation or the fact that somebody said, I made some outbound phone calls. I've been harping on that from day one. I'm not going to stop until we start doing it.

When will they start construction, if approved?

Within the days of the contract execution. So everything has to be signed and executed by city manager, city clerk, mayor.

I'll move the item because it's critical we get this going before the holiday season and the boat parade and the cruise of lights and all the heavy flow of traffic that's coming to our harbor.

I asked about that. Chow, you did say that it would not be before the holiday season, correct?

They need time. They need few months to fabricate the dock and then transport and plop it into the the existing location We have secured the current dock right now where it is usable It is sound we can use it this year as is because we've stabilized it over the years But we will not get a brand new dock Before Christmas this year.

Okay, regardless. I will still move the item. I

Okay. So first and the second, Councilman Grewal.

I would make an alternate motion to give it, once again, give it another two weeks. Can we confirm that we've reached out to any of those other companies that Councilmember Kennedy mentioned?

I can get you the list of the firms that pulled the bids, and I can get you a list of firms that showed up at the job walk. So those companies, they sound familiar. I think Harbor was on the list. So I can pull that list for you.

I mean, I think we're not going to have the dock by, it's not going to be done, right? So it's not time sensitive. I don't see why two weeks to put a little more pressure on and try and scrape the bottom of the barrel to see if there's any competitive bidding out there would be difficult.

We might even have more time than that just because it sounds like that dock is going to be the dock that is there through the entire Christmas season to the end of the year. So it would seem there is more time to open this up.

I would say if you showed me that a couple of those companies were on the list, two weeks from now, I would feel much better voting yes for this. It's not going to be there for Christmas. I don't have a problem with the dollar amount if it's been... Like you say, in real estate, the market has spoken, and this is where the dollar landed. But on principle, if these companies haven't been reached out to, then I would vote no on principle just for principle, because I've been talking about this since we've been talking about what I believe in an RFP system that needs help. If you guys don't want to adapt to some of these small nuances, I'm going to vote no. So if you guys want to give us two weeks, you know, because if you had the information right now, Chau, I would vote. If you said, yep, Harper's on it, this other guy's on it, I would say, okay, feel good about it. You reach the radius, you know, one guy said, I'll do it, I would vote yes, but not knowing that a couple of these other companies were even touched. Two weeks from now, if you say they were all touched or some were touched, you'll have a yes vote for me. But for tonight, I'll either vote to bring it back in two weeks or I'm going to vote no.

Is there a way for you to check your email for a search to see if any of these companies come up? Did they email back and say we're declining? Did they email back and say we want to come look at it? Do you have any communications to maybe let us know if they did reach out to you? That you can check on your laptop without having to right now. Did you want to go look and then come back?

To see where the list is?

Yeah, did you want to go grab the list and we can wait until you come back? We can just set this table until you come back with the names? And then we can move on to the other items and come back to this?

I can go upstairs and get it.

I'm just asking if Harbor Constructors... Declined. Associated Pacific Constructors. Declined. South Shore, we know, participated. And the other one, Swift, Slit, Dock, and Pier. You know, they worked on a 46-slit marina, so it's not that these guys are huge, but they're capable. They seem to be somewhat local based on the question I asked geographically.

Here's the list off of planet bids. We had 14 prospective bidders, and those are the ones who pulled plans. AG, let's see. All American Building Services in Santa Clarita, Allied Solutions, Carmel, Illinois, Angelus Waterproofing and Restoration, Huntington Beach, Anterra Incorporated, Tustin, Bedour Construction in Costa Mesa, Harbor Constructors in Huntington Beach, California, Health Science Associates, Los Alamitos, Jilk Heavy Construction, Brea, California, Mammoth Precast Solutions, Fairfield, California, Meta Mechanical Company, La Palma, California, Metro Builders and Engineers Group, Newport Beach, California, Primo Construction in Irvine, South Shore Marine in Huntington Beach.

And child, isn't the way the bid process work, you open the bid, companies apply or not, they submit a bid or not, and I was just talking with Butch, and then those groups don't, but this group's done everything, this firm has done everything correctly to submit a bid, and they get awarded a bid, and now it's going to go and wind up, well, no, let's go out and

There's going to be other people that should have submitted a bid, but they didn't. And this group's like, we did everything right.

That's a fair point, too. We're the lowest bidder. Here we are. And now you're going to go back out and be more proactive? I mean, she just read a list of companies that seem legit. It's a fair point.

My point is, you know, by the time you're ready to go to RFP, moving forward, yeah, and I don't want to penalize that company. At least Harbor was on there. They're one of the ones. Two of the four were on there. South Shore got it. Harbor was on this list. They submitted or they looked at. So all I'm saying is, moving forward, I will... be willing to cast a yes vote. It seems like there was enough net cast, but I think you guys, when you're down to one bidder, even if you've had four, you should cross-reference that on your own research and do a little outbounding. You'd be surprised what you can do by picking up a phone.

And I will be voting yes on this, but I just want to say I heard the list of the bidders, and it reminded me that... I knew a lot of those people on that list and they have no business building docks, but they are subcontractors that want to, they open the bid so they can see everybody that bid it so that they can call the legitimate like Harbor or or South Shore to see if they can do engineering or mechanical or electrical work on it. Because you mentioned at least three mechanical contractors that I know that don't build docks, but that's how they find out who's bidding it. And then I was telling our mayor, I said, if that was a construction contract, twining laboratories, and I did everything right, I qualified, I did everything to make a really good proposal to you, And then I'm watching the city council meeting on TV and they're going, wait a minute, let's take two more weeks and let's call everybody and ask them why they didn't bid on this. In the future, what I would say, rather than pick up the phone and call, hey, you want to bid our project? You want to bid our project? Because Planet Bids is the way of the world. Everybody that is going to build or wants to bid on municipal contracts, federal contracts, anything, they all go to Planet Bids. We had somebody at my company that was constantly on PlanetBid looking for opportunities. And so it would really upset me a lot if that did say award a contract to Twining Laboratories, and then I turn it into TV to watch everybody vote me in, and I'm going to go, oh, yippee, I got a $388,000 contract. And then you say, no, let's wait a couple weeks and let's make some phone calls to these other guys that didn't turn in. I'd be mad.

Well, just because it comes to council doesn't mean you're getting an approval anyway, even though you go through the process. So just because they're watching and we're voting on them, we're voting. A vote could go against them, too. But the point, it's a fair point, but not everybody's on Planet Bids, Butch. That's why when we sat in that RFP or that ad hoc committee for... The other thing, the Wolf House, Chris Kennedy took to heart that when somebody, I said, you need to enhance that. I said, when somebody pulls a business license, you should enroll them in Planet Bids, because remember we talked about the coffee shops, and a lot of them, and you knew them as well, they weren't aware of the opportunity at the library, so they thought that was a good idea. So not everybody's on Planet Bids.

Well, what I'm going to say is everybody that's on Planet Bids, every... contractor and subcontractor in the building industry is on planet bid. Coffee shops, coffee makers, probably not. But in the construction industry, everybody's on planet bid.

Has there been a first and a second on this? Then I'd like to make a substitute motion as recommended.

As recommended by staff, okay.

Second.

Motion by Councilman Burns, second by Mayor McKeon to approve as recommended by staff. Okay. Councilman Grohl?

Yes, and I'll say, man, I think that this whole conversation was a good exercise in being fiscally prudent. We did previously agree to this amount, and Chau, thank you for doing your quick research and coming up with the names. I think on a go-forward basis, we learned a few little techniques here, so I'm a yes on that.

Councilman Kennedy? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Twiney?

Yes.

Mayor McKeon? Yes. Councilman Burns? Aye. Councilwoman Vandermeer? Yes. Councilman Williams?

Yeah, I'd just like to remark the same. I think that was great conversation going forward. You know, it's... Hopefully we can get it more out there to a larger planet, you know, when it gets out there on planet bid. And I don't think it would be so cost-effective looking back now because it seems like the process, right, if we were to say no, is to go back to the drawing board, start the whole bidding process all over again. We could wind up in the exact same place that we are right now, and it winds up costing even more in the end. And so I can support it after that deliberation. Yes.

Okay. Motion passes 7-0.

Also, Bush has made a great point. They're also a local HP company, so that's even better. All right, item 23, staff, please introduce the report.

Okay, good evening, Mayor McKean, members of the City Council. This evening, we will be reviewing the America 250 plaque at Pier Plaza. And so at the July 21st meeting, City Council approved Councilmember Item 26638, setting aside Resolution 2017-25, and directed staff to create an engraving template memorializing the Huntington Beach America Semi-Quincentennial celebration on one of the black granite panels at the Pier Plaza monument. And so staff are also directed, as you know, to collect input from the Historic Resources Board and the Community and Library Services Commission. And so moving through the various iterations of the plaque, City Council's rendering, this was working directly with the authors of the council member item. The Historic Resources Board was consulted and made subsequent edits. Then the Community Library Services made edits on August 12th, and you can see that here on the screen. And then at the August 18th meeting, City Council provided edits and suggested edits were to add the Medal of Honor recipient names to the plaque. And then at the September 1st meeting, City Council suggested additional edits to remove the members that were listed on the plaque who are not City Council members and to edit the language to honor America's veterans past, present, and future to the plaque. So this evening you can see those edits made. The America 250 logo at the top of the plaque is slightly smaller. There's some decorative elements with stars and lines to separate the text. The 250th anniversary of the United States of America text is also larger, and then the text on the central area of the plaque now reads, Huntington Beach celebrates America's 250th birthday, a patriotic city proudly honoring America's veterans, past, present, and future, forever America's heroes. And the fiscal impact of this is to produce the plaque about $12,000 and then the production for the plaque on-site is $3,000 with a not to exceed $15,000. Unfortunately, after working with the plaque company, they're unable to remove the granite slate off-site, so the work does need to be sandblasted on-site at Pierre Plaza. And so the recommendation this evening is to approve the design and inscription for the America 250 Celebration plaque at the Pierre Plaza Memorial as presented this evening on September 1st. Happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you, Ashley. That was perfect. Any questions?

I'd like to make a substitute motion to not remove... I'm sorry. Okay, so we're not voting on this? There's no motion yet, so you're going to have to substitute. Okay, sorry. Yeah, substitute to the recommended action when that comes. I'll stand by.

Can you just make a motion now? Yeah, he can make a motion.

Yeah, I'll explain the rationale. It's the same as last time, and I don't want to try and get in a big crossfire with you guys about it. To me, Chris Carr, the Medal of Honor recipient, him and his battalion, they were pinned down by enemy gunfire, the Germans in 1944. He flanked them on his own. We've got that park that's named after him. I spent most of my childhood there in lieu of my name. I would like to see his name up there. Also, Mike Ali, not only is he a Vietnam War veteran, I just learned something about him last week. I went for a run and ran into him, and he was telling me about Hey, did you know about the time down on PCH and Maine when there was a robbery in 1985, and there was a police officer that got shot in the chest, goes down to the ground, his gun falls out of his hand, and the police officer yells out to Mike, Mike, get him. He picks up the gun and eliminates the threat. Wow. I mean, I think a guy like that... That's a polite way of putting it. Yeah, so I like the idea of having, you know, names like that. That really means something to Huntington Beach. In place of my name and as Councilman Andrew Gruhl had expressed in place of his. So I would prefer that other rendition where we had that Medal of Honor recipient, Chris Carr, and Vietnam War veteran and local hero, Mike Ali, on the plaque.

Just to be fair, the last meeting we all voted to give Ashley this direction to come back with this exact design, and that's what was approved, and that's what's in front of us today.