City Council - Regular Meeting

We're good.

and special joint meeting with the Great Park Board of the Irvine City Council. At this time, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll, noting that the time we called to order the meeting was 4.22 p.m. Thank you, Mayor.

Councilmember Carroll is absent from the dais. Councilmember Goh. Here. Councilmember Liu is absent from the dais. Councilmember Martinez-Franco. Here. Councilmember Treseder.

Here.

Vice Mayor Mai.

Here.

And Mayor Akron.

Here. Because we have a reception in the foyer for honorees for our wall of recognition, at this time we will stand in recess until 5 o'clock.

Would the meeting please come to order once again?

Having been in recess, we're now reconvened. The council meeting originally began shortly after 4 o'clock. And at that time, we called the roll, but I think it would be useful to do so once again. Now that the council is reconvened at 5.15 p.m., this is the June 9th, 2026 regular meeting of the Irvine City Council and joint meeting with the Great Park Board. With that, I turn now to our city clerk, Carl Peterson. Ask him to please call the roll.

Here.

Council Member Liu.

Here.

Council Member Martinez-Franco.

Here.

Council Member Treseder.

Here.

Vice Mayor Mai. Here. And Mayor Agron.

Here. As I mentioned, we were in recess to celebrate with the honorees who were recognized earlier today and whose names are now on our wall of recognition in the city here in Bill Barber Park. If we do have a recognition opportunity here in the council chamber as well, do we not? Is that after our pledge and moment of silence and so forth?

Correct, Mayor. That's our first presentation.

All right, so if everyone would be patient, I see some of the honorees here. We'll have a chance to recognize you yet one more time today, shortly. So at this time, I would like to turn to one of my colleagues tonight. It would be turning to Council Member Treseder to lead us in the pledge. What we'll do is ask you to please rise if you're able. And if you would remain standing for a moment of silence afterwards. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please remain standing if you would. Tonight we... I wish to offer a moment of silence in recognition of two unrelated events, the first being the passing of former city council member Art Bloomer Art Bloomer was somebody I had a chance to know and is a remarkable part of Irvine's history. A second matter that we want to recognize with a moment of silence is in honor of those heroes, actually, who were killed in the senseless shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego last month. Let me begin with the passing of General Art Bloomer. General Art Bloomer served on the City Council from 1990 to 1993, following a distinguished 31-year military career in the U.S. Marine Corps. He rose to the rank of Brigadier General, retiring as the Commanding General at the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, right here, that is, of course, now our emerging Great Park, right here in Irvine. And he was the commander of the Marine Corps air bases for the entire western area of the United States. A highly decorated veteran, General Bloomer flew 330 combat missions over North and South Vietnam. He was awarded two legions of merit, the distinguished flying cross, a bronze star with combat insignia B for valor, 17 air medals, and numerous other campaign medals. As I say, new General Bloomer. He was a good and a decent man and contributed greatly to our local Irvine community. So we offer our sincere condolences to his family and friends. On this other matter, we also offer condolences to everyone at the Islamic Center of San Diego just a couple of hours south of us. Three beloved members of the community there are credited with saving the lives of 140 children, children who were senselessly put at risk because of two gunmen. Our hearts go out to the Islamic community in San Diego, to our own Islamic community here in Irvine, recognizing those heroes and what they did to save lives. So please join me, if you would, in a moment of silence in honor of General Bloomer. as well as the heroes tragically killed at the Islamic Center of San Diego. Thank you. You may be seated. Tonight's invocation will not require us to remain standing. We, in the tradition of our city, use the opportunity for an invocation that's a regular part of our agenda to have it be not only a traditional prayer, as is sometimes offered from time to time here in the council chambers, but also invoking a calling for service and uplift, often with a musical presentation or perhaps a reading, something to lift our spirits and our sights as we set upon the work that we have to do at each and every council meeting. Tonight's invocation will be in the form of a musical presentation. This time, however, I'd like to turn to Council Member Melinda Liu to introduce our musical performers who come to us not in person, but in another format. Council Member Liu.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, everyone. We're delighted to share a special video performance from the High Hopes Band of Hope Center for the Arts. Hope Center for the Arts is a visual and performing arts collective that partner with adults with intellectual disabilities, helping nurture and showcase their incredible talents to the community. As a regional center vendor, Hope is dedicated to empower individuals and families through creativity, inclusion, and opportunity. Although they could not be here with us in person tonight, the High Hopes Band prepared a wonderful video featuring two songs, America and Happy. Please join me in welcoming the talented musicians of the High Hopes Band.

Traveling far Without a hope Not without a star Free Only one of three We huddle close Hang on to a dream On the boats and on the planes, they're coming to America. Never looking back again, they're coming to America. Oh, when it seems so far away, we're traveling light today in the eye of the storm. In the eye of the storm. Home to the new and a shiny place. Make our bed and we'll say our prayers. Freedom's like burning war. Everywhere around the world They come into America Every time that flag's unfurled They come into America Got a dream to take them there They come into America Got a dream they've come to share They're coming to America.

Yeah.

They're coming to America. They're coming to America. They're coming to America.

They're coming to America today. Today. Today.

My country, tis of thee Today Sweet land of liberty Today Of thee I sing Today Of thee I sing Today Today Today

Today! It might be crazy what the founders say So I tried to change years, didn't take a break I found how to move the moon back into the space

No offense to you, but you're worth the time.

Because I'm happy. Because I'm happy.

Because I'm happy. Because I'm happy.

That's what you want to do. Happy. Make me dumb. Don't say them.

Happy. Make me dumb. Don't love if you don't. Happy. Make me dumb. Don't say them. Happy, happy, happy Happy, happy, happy Happy, happy, happy Happy, happy, happy Because I'm happy Because I'm happy Because I'm happy Because I'm happy

That's what you want to do. Because I'm happy.

Because I'm happy. Because I'm happy. Because I'm happy. Because I'm happy.

Thank you, Council Member Liu, for bringing us such an uplifting invocation. We appreciate this. At this time, we have a couple of presentations, the first of which this evening is our Wall of Recognition honorees. I may need some help with this as we move along. I would like to turn to our city clerk at this time to read the title of this presentation, if we might.

Thank you, Mayor. Item 1.1, our presentation is a recognition of our wall of recognition honorees. All right.

Let me, fill things in just a little bit. In 2006, the City Council established the Wall of Recognition program to honor those who have made significant contributions to the city. To date, more than 500 individuals and organizations have been honored through inclusion on the Wall of Recognition, which is located very nearby in Colonel Bill Barber Marine Corps Memorial Park, which is our Civic Center Park. Nominations for the Wall of Recognition are accepted every two years. Community members, staff, city council members may submit nominations for individuals and groups. Tonight's honorees are from the 2025 nomination period, and each represents a broad range of affiliations that have contributed to the progress and success of Irvine. Tonight, we recognize as we did this afternoon, those designated as perpetual plaque honorees, community partners, roots of our community, distinguished citizens, and civic leaders. They fall into one of those categories. Earlier today, we had the privilege of presenting each recipient with a plaque during a special program. It was actually more than a plaque. It was really a wonderful keepsake by way of a crystal-like award. At this time, though, I'd like to step down to the podium in a moment and ask each honoree to come up and join me as I call their name so we can recognize them once again. I hope most have stayed through the long afternoon and are still here. Whether they are or not, we're going to read their name. All right? So let me come down to the... First, we have perpetual plaque honorees. Perpetual plaque honorees are individuals who serve as city mayor or council member, city manager or school district superintendent, president or board member, or university chancellor. So at this time, I'd like to invite forward the following individuals. City Manager, Sean Crumby. Come on up, Sean. That's an order. Council members, William Goh, Melinda Liu, James Mai, and Betty Martinez Franco. IUSD Superintendent Cassie Parham, is she here with us? She was here earlier. Is it an excused absence or not? All right, superintendent, we need to be accountable here. That's right, the IUSD School Board does have a meeting, so that would account for Connie Stone, I assume, not being here as well. Board Member Connie Stone. TUSD School Board Member Dr. Kathy Copeland. Welcome, all right. You know, we have wonderful schools, four or five of them, that are part of the Tustin Unified School District, but are in the city of Irvine. So we have a wonderful partnership with TUSD in seeing to it that the school children of Irvine get the best possible education. So these are the perpetual plaque honorees. Please join me in giving them all a big round of applause. Do we invite our council members down to join? Kathleen and Mike, would you join us? We'll take a picture and then move on to the next category. Next, we move on to community partner honorees. Community partner honorees include institutions, organizations, and businesses that contribute to the betterment of the city. So at this time, I'd like to invite forward representatives of

Which?

All right. Representatives, I am movement. I'm not quite sure what that means. All right. Do we have a list of businesses that have been recognized? We're usually very well organized. Are there community partners here who know who you are? I don't think so, Carl. We're going to move on, all right? Suffice to say, we have many institutions. Maybe if you could get me the list, please. We have many institutions that make a huge difference here in the city of Irvine through their volunteer work, through their everyday support of our community, often, of course, through the employment of individuals who in turn volunteer with our community. We have health care institutions that do amazing things that make Irvine the outstanding community that it is. All of them were honored earlier, and we honor them tonight as well. The next category is Roots of Our Community. Roots of Our Community honorees include individuals, groups, institutions, organizations, and businesses that bring something unique to Irvine, or they're the first to undertake a position, a task, or industry of significance to the community. Individuals must have been residents of Irvine for a significant period, and businesses, groups, organizations, or institutions must have been located in Irvine and have been in existence for a significant period as well. At this time, I'd like to invite forward the following individuals or representatives for each honoree. Families Forward. Is there a representative from Families Forward here? Tanaka Farms.

The Tanaka family, not represented.

James Irvine I. James Irvine I. The very first is long deceased. Is there a representative from the Irvine family here? Well, we had a chance to meet them out in the foyer earlier, and I guess they're on their way. And Julie Zioli, our new city librarian. There we are. Julie's going to get the limelight. Come on down, Julie. So I'll tell you what we're going to do, Julie. You're going to get in a photo with me, and the rest of the council is going to be behind us. All right? Come on over. All right. Now we move on to distinguished citizen honorees, and there are many. Distinguished citizen honorees include philanthropists, community leaders, and volunteers whose service has immeasurably improved the city of Irvine. At this time, I'd like to invite forward the following individuals or family representatives. Charlie K. Choi. Gail Daniels. Robert Dannenbrink. Robert Dannenbrink. Rick Darnall. Come on down, Rick. There we are. Ken Dorey. Clara Valerio Flores. Avram Grossman. Candy Hammerus. Ann Hu. You can get close to me. Edward Sang Hong Kim. Edward Kim. Is there a representative from Ed McNew's family here? Anastasia Rose Myberg. Robert or Bob Pestelesi. Greg Pettit. Laurie Reed. Antoinette Rogel. Colonel Edward Rogel. Timurai Spalding. Jane Stover.

Thank you, Jane.

George Varvas, Annette Walker, and Charlie Zhang. So please join me in congratulating this distinguished group of citizens. And why don't you hang on, we'll do another, we'll do a picture. Did you guys want to come down or you want to stay where you are? Come on down. All right, we have a little more to go here. We've got civic leader honorees. These civic leader honorees include those who are or were city employees, as well as those who have held city offices or were appointees to city commissions, committees, and boards, And of course, they were individuals who made significant contributions for the betterment of Irvine. So at this time, I'd like to invite forward the following individuals or family representatives. They're in alphabetical order. So I'll have to begin with Dr. Phyllis Agron. There we are. Chuck Boza, Dr. Boza. Chuck Boza. Some of these are being honored posthumously, but if there's a family representative here, please come down. Valerie Burlingame.

Avinder Chawla.

Welcome. Allison Maddy Dierdorf. Sean Gallagher. Yousef Kadashi. Is Yousef still here or not? No? Okay. Henry and Mary King. If Joe Kruger is here, we're honoring his recently passed wife, wonderful person, Virginia Nichols, and Joseph Kruger. Is Joseph Kruger, Joe Kruger still here? No. Lisa Osmanian Reinfurter. Dick Owens. Dick, is Dick here? There we are. Is there a representative here for Rick Paykoff, who worked for the city for many, many years and did such an admirable job in connection with our finances? Well, we're honoring Rick Paykoff, who passed away a little while back. Jeff Pearson, Jeffrey L. Pearson, longtime planning commissioner. Revealed to me that he's worked for five different council members as a planning commissioner. William Bill Russell, there we go. Welcome Ron Skolsdang. Ron was with us earlier. Kevin Trussell, Kevin. Saw him earlier as well. And Christine Tully, is Christine Tully our representative here?

Nope.

All right, well, here are the wonderful citizens that we're recognizing, civic leaders, honorees. I'm gonna ask my council colleagues if they wish to come down again or stay put, it's your pleasure. All right, they're all getting exercise tonight. Here we go. We're almost done, folks. Members of the community are invited to visit the Wall of Recognition, which is located right nearby, still light out. You might enjoy passing by it. It's right in Colonel Bill Barber Marine Corps Memorial Park here. The honorees' names have already been inscribed and will be permanently there. This afternoon's ceremonies, this night as well, just reminds me, it really does take many, many hands and hearts to make a community a special place. And we've been blessed in Irvine with so many wonderful volunteers, dedicated public servants, and it has made a difference. That's why we believe Irvine is evolving in a way that reflects the goodwill and good faith efforts of so many people day in and day out. To recognize even a small sliver of them, I think reveals just the big hearts that people have in this community and the aspirations that we all share to make this an even better community for ourselves and as an example to others. So this wall of recognition, celebration is over for now. But the process will begin again for another recognition ceremony that will take place two years from now. You might want to think about people that, in your mind, deserve recognition. It's a very simple nominating process. maybe write down their names. And when we solicit nominations in a year or so, you might want to submit those names for recognition. So with that, I'm going to return to the dais so that we can turn to our next presentation. All right, our second presentation this evening is a proclamation recognizing June 19th, 2026 as Juneteenth. This has been agendized at the request of Councilmember Martinez-Franco. Before we proceed with the presentation, I would invite those who are participating this evening by way of Zoom to raise their hand electronically if they would like to speak on this item. Carl, do you want to provide any further instruction at this time for those who want to participate remotely in tonight's meeting?

Excuse me, Mayor. We only have one speaker on this, but I'm happy to do that if you'd like. Or actually, if we could go ahead and take the speaker, that'd be great.

Why don't we do that now? Thank you. Let's take that public commenter, and then we'll move on with the presentation. Go right ahead.

Thank you, Mayor. Our request to speak is from Eric Nishanian. Mr. Nishanian, you may unmute your mic.

Thank you, Mayor Agle and council members. I'm just a little confused about... This proclamation, not that it shouldn't be recognized, June 19th shouldn't be recognized, or that Martin Luther King shouldn't be recognized, but this is where the city should be staying out of business, this type of business with all this virtue signaling. Somehow the city missed African American Heritage Month, which was February. But here it is, recognizing June 19th, which is something to do with slavery. And I'm not sure who there from the African-American community is there to receive this proclamation, but it's probably the same individuals from the NAACP or the Black Chamber of Commerce, both of which I don't think are stationed in Irvine. Or maybe it's the CRCDC that received money when it wasn't authorized to do so as a charity, wasn't qualified as a charity to do so. But, you know, if the community is big enough or has a large enough African American community to recognize something like June 19th, why didn't it recognize African American Heritage Month? Plenty of contributors to music, to writing, to the arts, to theater, politics. I mean, the mayor of Los Angeles was an African-American. Plenty of things to hit on and use for our library system to educate the youth and our neighbors about the contributions of African-Americans. But the city doesn't do that, despite us. We are Irvine. initiative and its DEI initiative somehow completely missed African American Heritage Month. And it's not the first time that that's happened. But here we are recognizing June 19th, where again, we do this redundancy where we had this thing at the Great Park, but you know, that occurs in Lamai Park and other places where there are predominantly African American neighborhoods. So that we look like we're doing something, but we really aren't. And all we're really, really doing is wasting resources. And this also is a waste of resources in light of the fact that we don't recognize African American Heritage Month. Thank you very much.

And that is all, Mr. Mayor.

All right. Having received that public comment, before I turn the presentation of the proclamation, Over to Council Member Martinez-Franco. I'd like to formally move to approve the proclamation recognizing June 19th, 2026 is Juneteenth. Is there a second?

The motion.

Council Member Martinez-Franco seconds the motion. And so at this time, I'd like the clerk to conduct a roll call vote.

Councilmember Carroll? Yes. Councilmember Go? Yes. Councilmember Liu?

Yes.

Councilmember Martinez-Franco? Yes. Councilmember Treseder? Yes. Vice Mayor Mai? Yes. And Mayor Eagren? Yes. Carry 7-0.

The motion having been adopted allows me at this time to turn to Council Member Martinez-Franco to invite forward our special guests and present the proclamation. At the end of this, I understand we're all going to get in one more photo together. Thank you, Council Member Martinez-Franco.

Well, thank you so much. I'm proud to bring forward this proclamation recognizing June 19, 2026 as Juneteenth in the city of Irvine. Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas and announced that enslaved African Americans were free. This year is especially meaningful because it is the 160th anniversary of the first Juneteenth celebration, which began as a way to honor that long-awaited moment of freedom. I brought this forward because this day is not only a celebration but also a reminder of the resilience and sacrifices of those who fought for freedom. This day calls on us to continue working toward fairness, inclusion, and justice for all. I also want to take a moment to recognize and thank BIPOC-LC for being here tonight and for the meaningful work they do in our community to amplify voices, empower change, and build equity for black, indigenous, and people of color. We are especially grateful for their work in helping bringing Juneteenth festivities to the Great Park and creating a space for our community to come together. Here in Irvine, we have so many amazing cultures and histories that shape our city. Recognizing Juneteenth is one way we honor the contributions of black Americans and commit to remembering this important part of history. I'm looking forward to dedicating this time for our community to learn, reflect, celebrate, and recommit ourselves to building a more welcoming and inclusive city. So now I would like to invite you to come over. I'm going to need my glasses for this. So we have this beautiful proclamation to present to you guys. And I'm not going to read the entire thing because it's long, but let me tell you a little bit. So it says, City of Irvine Proclamation, June 19, 2026, whereas Throughout the history of the United States, millions of enslaved African Americans endured the injustice and cruelty of slavery while contributing immeasurably to the growth, culture, and foundation of our nation And whereas on June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced that enslaved African Americans were free, marking a pivotal moment in American history and symbolizing the long-awaited enforcement of freedom for those who had remained enslaved after the Civil War had ended. And whereas Juneteenth has since become a day of remembrance, reflection, education, and celebration that honors the strength, resilience, and achievements of Black Americans through our nation's history, And I'm going to skip all the way to the bottom. Whereas Juneteenth provides an opportunity for the residents of Irvine to come together in reflection and unity, learn from our shared history, and reaffirm our commitment to fostering and welcoming inclusive and respectful community for all people. Now, therefore, the city of Irvine The City Council of the City of Irvine does hereby proclaim June 19, 2026 as Juneteenth in the City of Irvine and encourages our residents to recognize and honor the significance of this day through education, celebration, reflection, and community engagement. So with that, I present this proclamation, and I will invite the rest of the City Council to come and join us for the speech.

All right, we have concluded our presentations. Mr. Peterson, it occurs to me that there may be some folks at home who don't know yet how they might participate from a remote location in tonight's meeting. Would you like to provide that information so that we can make sure those who are inclined to do so can join us remotely.

Absolutely, Mayor. Members of our audience who wish to speak may submit their name into one of the speaker kiosks next to the city clerk or in the main lobby. We also offer the ability to provide live comments via Zoom and submit written comments through our e-comment system. For those who wish to participate virtually, visit zoom.us using any web browser or the Zoom app on smartphones or tablets and enter meeting ID 1-60-043-4844. The passcode is 272-906. You may also dial in by calling 669-254-5252 or 669-216-1590 and entering the same meeting ID and passcode. Those who wish to provide comments via Zoom are asked to enter the speaker queue by raising their hand electronically. The City Clerk will call your name and allow you to unmute your microphone at the appropriate time. Those dialing in by telephone will be identified by the last three digits of their telephone number. We ask that you please state your name for the record. The time limits per speaker are noted in the posted agenda and are established based on the number of requests submitted. All requests submitted after the first speaker is called shall receive 90 seconds. Those who wish to provide written comments may do so by clicking e-comment on our new City Council meeting agenda webpage at cityofirvine.gov slash agendas. All comments will be provided to the City Council as part of the meeting record and will be uploaded to the City's website. For technical assistance with Zoom before or during the meeting, please call 949-724-6078. For any other questions or assistance, please contact the City Clerk's Office at 949-724-6205 or via email at clerk at cityofrevine.org. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Mr. Peterson. This allows us to move on now to questions Public comments. Public comments for non-agendized items. We take these public comments before we move on to our official agenda, our published agenda. This is an opportunity for citizens to offer comments as to matters not on the posted agenda. Comments may be with respect to any matter within the city's subject matter jurisdiction, provided it's not a matter that is on the posted agenda tonight. With that, Mr. Peterson, do we have any requests to be heard under public comments, non-agendized items?

We do, Mr. Mayor. We have 12 requests to speak, nine in person, and three on Zoom.

Twelve, nine, and three. All right, I'm going to suggest that we limit the comments to... two minutes if somebody needs just a few more seconds to finish up. I'll be happy to grant that, but I think that will allow us then to handle all of these within the allotted half hour that we dedicate to public comments for non-agendized items. With that, would you please call the first commenter who is here in person?

Thank you, Mayor. If I could call forward Tara Bungay, Rohan Bungay, Neela R., Dan Gabay, and Max. And we'll start with Tara.

Welcome to all of you. Please identify yourself by name, if you would, and then proceed with your comments. Welcome.

Hi, my name is Tara Bange, and I'm a current high school student at Irvine High. I've noticed certain effects of light pollution in everyday life, including issues tied to the unnecessary glare of our street lights. Looking outside into our neighborhoods, we see bright, unshielded LED light. While light pollution disrupts our residents, it additionally has a profound impact on our local ecosystems. From the open space preserves to the marshes of Irvine, our wildlife thrives in natural, predictable cycles of sunlight and darkness. Now artificial glare seeps into their habitats, leaving no boundary between day and night. Harsh glare from artificial lighting can disorient many animals. Migrating birds are unable to guide themselves, losing their ability to navigate using the night sky. Additionally, nocturnal animals are put at risk without the safety of the nighttime to hunt or hide from their predators. Advocating for the environment cannot end when the sun goes down. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for... Your very constructive comments. Because we have city staff here, I'm going to suggest that maybe you speak with our city manager or somebody the city manager might designate. This is an important issue, and maybe we can get you connected to some city professionals who might be able to help us address it together. All right?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr. Bungay, you're next. Welcome.

Good evening. My name is Rohan, and I'm a rising college freshman. I hope to bring some numbers regarding the implementations of the changes in these lighting practices that were documented earlier. Following our city's radical shift to LED lights, it was imperative that we noted just how much brighter these lights were in comparison to other previous city benchmarks. Rather than measuring these lights through traditional Kelvin measurements to read the lights, I utilized a lux meter to identify the luminosity or brightness of these lights in a selected sample size of around 40 lights in Irvine's northward courtside community. This sample of lights included street lights, sporting facility headlights, and other foot pathway lights. Many of the light readings measured at an average around 250 to 400 lux, which is around the expected value of the relative brightness of an indoor office or classroom. Shockingly, we were also amazed by the luminosity of the school lights, which ironically exceeded our light meter, which had a set brightness of over 1,000 lux. It is important to note that these lights were still turned on at 8 p.m., even when there was no event going on at the time. For people going on walks or simply just trying to enjoy the outdoors without trying to get blindsided by something so spectacularly damaging is a real cause for public concern. So while the financial costs of these lights might be cheaper, it is also necessary to rectify its environmental and social costs as well.

Thank you. Are the two of you allied in this effort?

Yes.

Great. Are there others as well?

Yes.

All right. I'm going to suggest that all of you be in touch with our city manager and designated folks. You've highlighted an important issue. Obviously, it's not on our agenda tonight, so we can't talk about it. But if you'd meet with our staff, perhaps it will find its way to the agenda in a future meeting. All right?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Neela?

Welcome.

Dear Council, my name is Nila Ranganathan. I have enjoyed living in Irvine for decades, until recently. Growing light pollution has made it very difficult for myself and many others to move around freely at night. In the presence of high glare or flashing lights, our symptoms include eye strain, dry eyes, headache, nausea, and tinnitus spikes. A renowned neurotologist at UCI confirmed that the sensory overload from these lights can indeed trigger reactive tinnitus and atypical migraines. Talking to others has shown that I'm not the only one affected. For example, a fellow resident complained to me that the street light near her house has triggered epileptic fits. What would noticeably improve our quality of life is a citywide ordinance enforcing safe, responsible lighting aligned with dark sky principles. I'm grateful that the city has worked with me to improve lighting in my neighborhood using glare shields and warmer colors, but the growing pollution from unregulated light sources remains a serious concern. I welcome an opportunity to continue working with the city to explore safer lighting options that I've been researching for all of us. Thank you.

Well, thank you. Thanks for the research you're doing. And again, I hope we can hear from your group in a connected fashion that will maybe allow us to address this item at a future date. Thank you.

Dan?

Welcome, sir.

Hello, everyone. My name is Dan Gabay. I live at 4 Lake Knoll. It's a condo. I bought the condo about eight months ago. It's in Woodbridge. I got incredibly lucky and blessed to get this condo. It's right on the path as you walk around the lake. It's very visible. You've all seen it many times. At times, when you're going over the little bridge, you look right at my unit. As you're walking by, you might look and see this condo and a nice balcony looking over, looking at the lake, and you're wondering, hey, what's up? Why is this guy not on his balcony sipping a cup of coffee, having a sandwich or something? The reason very often is that the owner of the very next condo smokes cigars on his balcony. Cigar smoke comes straight over. It's nauseating. Even worse, it goes in my house. I close my windows. I lock it in. I have fans hooked up to try to blow it out the front of the house. It's troublesome. Talk to my local HOA, the Woodbridge HOA, even the city. The city's municipal code says there is no smoking from the patio or balcony of a multi-unit residence. Somehow, this goes on all the time. The city of Laguna Woods has banned smoking from the patio or balcony of any resident. Doesn't matter. Single family, home, apartment. I wish Irvine would do that. I've talked to many people in the community. A lot of people are just afraid of bad blood. They don't want to approach, you know, other people have this situation also. And they don't want to approach their neighbor and speak up about this. They're just afraid they'll upset the community. I wish the city would make some sort of public splash, some headline that says, hey... You know, you can't smoke in a multi-net residence. I'll finish your thought. Go ahead. That's it. I just, the people I talk to that are worried about bad blood, they wish the city would make some sort of headline, some newsletter or something to empower them to be able to tell their neighbor, hey, you know, you can't smoke right near my balcony or my windows.

Let me make a suggestion that perhaps you speak with our city attorney and he might be able to indicate what options are available to you. an occasional complaint that we get throughout the city, so I understand what you're talking about. But I think meeting with the city attorney might open some avenues of thinking that might be helpful to you. All right? Thank you. Thank you, everyone. You're welcome.

Max, and if I could also call forward Heidi, David Park, Jason Garshfield, and Crit.

Welcome.

During last council meeting, during public comments, someone spoke proudly about how the old orange groves were replaced with large-scale development and they're not coming back unless we plant some orange trees as part of our urban forest plan. My question to that individual is simple. How much closer did we get to the dream of the affordable housing? I believe we have actually moved even further away. For more than a year, the public has heard discussions about protecting open space and the possibility of a ballot measure. The Council, all of you, voted to move forward with that process. But instead, we were presented with a different idea of a so-called nature park. There is still one important question that has not been answered. Where is the easement? And why has the public still has not received a clear answer? Public pressure was strong enough to encourage the Irvine company to produce an easement. Yet for some reason, our city leaders have failed to accept and simply sign an offer. And unfortunately, city leaders continue to fail in providing transparency and answers to the public. So where is the easement?

Are you done?

24 seconds. Where is the easement? No answer. So where is it? Anyone? No?

Yeah, I'm happy to say something if the mayor will allow me.

Is that all right, Mr. Melching?

A brief response is allowed.

All right. Go right ahead, Councilmember Treseder.

I was just speaking with a representative of the Irvine Company yesterday, and he said that he has submitted the easement to the city and is waiting to hear back from the city.

Yes. So where is it? Why is it not accepted? It's with the city, I guess.

Thank you, sir. Heidi? Welcome.

Thank you. Good evening, members of the council. I would like to officially state for the record that Chris Slama, Irvine Director of Community Services, is the first city official to walk back statements on the naming of the nature park, citing the reason that it is still in the concept phase. I want this on record because I heard this during Councilmember William Goh's virtual town hall on May 26th and was not able to obtain a copy of the recording because his staffer emailed me saying that we don't record the town hall meetings. So for those of you unaware, whoever's listening to this, the Irvine Company and the City Council wants to develop 176 acres of the Oak Creek Preserve into a 50-acre nature park plus upwards of 5,000 homes. Less than eight miles away, Lake Forest already has a park called Nature Park. Irvine Company didn't even bother Googling the name first so as to avoid the costly and logistical headache this duplicate naming will create. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. David. Welcome.

Good evening, council members. My name is David Park, and I'm a proud high school student here within the city of Irvine and also a member of the B Team, a youth-led nonprofit organization focused on achieving community service and sustainability for all. For the past two years, our organization has worked tirelessly on one clear objective, installing recycling bins here in our gas stations here in the city of Irvine. As currently, our citizens do not have access to the clear recycling options that allow them to throw their bottles and cans away properly. This leads to hundreds of thousands of items being left in landfills rather than being properly recycled. And not only this, this clearly goes against the objectives and values that the City of Irvine holds to be true, that being achieving sustainability and achieving a carbon-neutral future. By simply adding recycling bins here within our gas stations, we can achieve much greater and more practical habits from our own citizens and achieving greater sustainability. The B Team organization would be glad to partner with the city on this endeavor, and we've already began a petition that has gotten 200 signatories from our citizens and increasing in number. We'd be happy to engage in any fundraising necessary to promote the funding for this matter, and we'd hope to discuss with you all in the future. Thank you for your time.

Well, thank you, and your offer's a generous one. Mr. Crumby, if there are people who wish to pursue, perhaps with our staff, a project of this sort to see to it that recycling is done through gas stations or otherwise, and they're ready to volunteer time, do we have somebody they can speak with?

We do. Happy to connect with our sustainability team. Would you like to do that?

Yes, please.

All right. Thank you.

Thanks so much. Jason Garshfield.

Welcome. Thank you. So the issue of affordable housing was touched on at the last meeting, primarily in the form of grants and assistance from the state. Now, I want affordable housing as much as anyone, but I don't want people to have to be on government assistance to live in Irvine either. A city populated half by millionaires and half by welfare recipients is a dystopia, not a healthy city, and Irvine should be a place where ordinary middle-income Californians can live and support themselves unassisted. I understand this is a complex issue, and I don't have anything approaching a comprehensive solution but I know what we should be working towards. Now, on an unrelated note, ever since I escaped the daylight savings time false reality matrix, I've been realizing all sorts of interesting truths about the world, and one of them is that it's been a while since I received the Irvine Community News and Views in the mail. This is a little strange, because most newspapers come out on a regular basis. and yet it seems like the Irvine community news and views only comes out around election season, and it always endorses Larry Agron and Larry Agron-approved candidates. The mayor and his supporters certainly have the right to engage in political speech, but when you disguise it as a legitimate news publication, the word for that is disingenuous. And while we're on the topic, it's come to my attention that Mayor Agrin and District 6 City Council candidate Scotty Hong are this Saturday attending a fundraiser at the Newport Beach Tennis Club, a place where all proud Irvine residents go for fundraisers, where the special guest speaker will be former Mayor Farrah Kahn. I've spoken in previous meetings about the bizarre comments that Farrakhan has made lately, including reposting quotes from mass murderers and calling Israelis pedophiles and cannibals. And I was wondering whether the mayor would like to disassociate himself from this lunatic who has no place in Irvine politics.

I think your time is up.

Thank you for your comments. Welcome, sir.

Mayor Agrin, City Council. I have been quite busy this last year, not as visible here as I had hoped to be, finishing up a couple degrees I got from Cal State Long Beach. But in my travels after graduation, I've been able to catalog a bunch more room for improvement. And I know that other cities around us are also discussing how they can add more dog parks. So we need to be leading that. We're Irvine, and we should be at the top of the list instead of at the bottom. And it makes our residents much happier, much healthier. And right now, we have a lot of dogs that are penned up, and they don't even know we have a dog park. We're squirreled our way back in behind an industrial zone. And we definitely can do better for our residents who are cooped up with their dogs and wanting to do something. Drive around any time of the day or night in Irvine, you will see people walking their dogs. And the vets will tell you that that's not enough exercise. They need more. And so there's some ideas I have that I'd like to continue working with the city on. Thanks much. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Eric Nishanian. Mr. Nishanian, you may unmute your mic.

Thank you, Mayor Agrin, council members, Eric and Shannon. A couple things. First of all, a Irvine DEI committee update. The Irvine Police Department presented a hate crimes presentation to the commission and then they approved their minutes. They took no action on anything other than approving their minutes and receiving and filing a presentation by the Irvine Police Department. Did the Irvine Police Department give that hate crimes presentation to the city council here in open meeting? And if they did, Why aren't they giving it again to DEI? That would be redundant and a waste of resources. I hope that Ms. Trasider or who else, I think it's Ms. Frankel, they'll give us an OCPA update. The OCPA is suing the County of Orange, and there should be some stuff to report about that. And it's been a long time since anybody on the council that represents the OCPA here has given us an update, and I hope that we get one. And then I want to talk about Harvey Milk and Cesar Chavez. They're pretty similar, right? They're both well-known Californians, both deceased, both have been recognized for a long period of time. And then Cesar Chavez fell to grace and everybody distanced themselves. But still this city recognizes Harvey Milk. Harvey Milk is a known child groomer. The city will recognize that child exploitation is bad and child marriage is bad and that things should be done about it, but it still continues to recognize Harvey Milk. I suggest that the city distance itself from Harvey Milk the same way it's distancing itself from Cesar Chavez. It's embarrassing that people like Betty Franco are out there recognizing Harvey Milk while she spoke vehemently against the abuse that Cesar Chavez caused Dolores Huerta here in these chambers. You guys are making mixed messages for political

Thank you. Your time is up. Our next speaker is telephone number 410. 410, you may unmute your mic.

Good evening, Mayor Agran and council members. My name is Eliza Germain, and I've lived in University Park since 1986. I want to speak about the University Park Library. The library has played an immensely important role in my family's life. I cannot imagine University Park without it, but there's another part of this that I hope you'll consider, and that is the Friends of the Library bookstore. Our bookstore has been there for about 40 of the 50 years the library has been there. The mission of the Friends of the Library is simple, to promote and support our public library. People donate wonderful books to the bookstore, then they sell those books back into the community. This is a great way to keep books moving and available to people. Over the years, the Friends of the Library Bookstore has given the University Park Library over a million dollars. I just love to go book shopping there, and I hope you will too. I love the new Irvine Public Library, and when you are there, please don't forget about the Friends of the Library Bookstore. Thank you, thank you.

Our next speaker is Mona. Mona, you may unmute your mic.

Good evening. This call is coming from the East Coast as I have a new grandson. But I didn't want to let it go. There's a couple of things. One, we have talked. I want to revisit the budget business and how we've ended up. We're looking back and doing audits on budgets. items that were in 20, 24, 23, there's no reason you guys should be looking at what you spent between 25 and 26. That $6 million did not come out from back then. For example, when you have OCPA paying us back, And we don't know the numbers, by the way. You guys have not shared. I remember there was about maybe $1.3 million that you guys decided and voted to put towards a mobility hub. That's $1.3 million that could have been back and would have cut down that $6 million, right? So you guys have been voting without having us have a say. Kathleen. I remember in that DGI meeting, while everybody was running before, you talked about wanting a super majority. And this is about being a Democrat and being democratic. And yet you have again and again blocked democracy. You can't do that. You can't claim that you want to be Democrats. and block democracy. For example, this ranked choice voting that you're going to be talking about, you guys are trying to decide it in city council. As Mayor Adrian had asked, and you said, no, thank you. He asked if it could be voted on by the city residents. You have done it more than once. You removed an item. How would you like that one of

Thank you. Your time is up. And our next speaker is telephone number 663. 663, you may unmute your mic.

Good afternoon, mayor and council members. My name is Chad, and I live in Irvine. I want to talk about the conduct we saw at the last city council meeting. To say this council lacks cohesion is, honestly, putting it mildly. The way you speak to each other and treat each other is disrespectful and unprofessional. It looked less like a serious public meeting and more like children arguing on a playground. And people noticed that. Voters noticed that. Each of you has the right to place discussion items on the agenda, but that right should be used responsibly. It should not be abused. And each of you also has the right to stay silent during a discussion. Sometimes silence says plenty. Why don't some of you exercise that right once in a while? You really do like hearing the sound of your voice. I also wanna ask you to do a better job listening to public commenters. Many speakers spend time researching these issues and trying to understand the agenda. You may not be able to answer us, but you can show you're listening. that respect will be remembered. You know who I'm talking about, too. Thank you.

And that is all, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Mr. Peterson. Thank you to our commenters, both those who commented in person as well as those who used our remote connections. With that, we turn now to the city manager for the city manager's report.

Just one item tonight, Mayor. Our police chief, Mike Kent, is going to provide a brief immigration enforcement update.

Thank you, City Manager Crumpy.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members. There have been no ICE or Border Patrol activities in the city since our last City Council meeting.

Thank you. Thank you for that report.

Is that the one item of your city manager's report, Mr. Crumley?

Yes, thank you, Mayor.

All right, thank you. With that, we'll move on to announcements, committee reports, council reports. This is an opportunity for council members as well as for me to make community announcements, announcements of upcoming activities, also to report on what we have been doing individually or as a part of a committee by way of business since the last city council meeting. I think maybe I'll just begin this one, this presentation. this time with a report on the US Conference of Mayors meeting that I attended. And then I'll come back later on to make announcements after my colleagues have had a chance to make their brief reports or announcements. So let me just briefly report that last week, I attended the 94th Annual Meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Long Beach, where more than 200 mayors from across the country came together to discuss the most pressing issues facing our cities. Mayors highlighted their efforts in public safety, housing affordability, public transit, artificial intelligence, and innovation, emphasizing responsive city-led solutions among even amidst Washington's political gridlock. Prominent leaders such as Governor Gavin Newsom and our own UCI Chancellor Howard Gilman praised mayoral leadership nationally. and here in California as well, and pointed out how cities are the very essence of our economic engines throughout the country, where so much in the way of innovation takes place. There was expressed and implied condemnation by mayors of different political beliefs, Republicans, Democrats, unaligned, as to the devastating effects of Washington's cuts, its tax policies, although the president and his administration weren't named, everybody knew who and what we were talking about, and it was highly informative. This event, the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting, is one of two major yearly gatherings for the conference. It's primarily used to adopt policy resolutions guiding advocacy efforts and is open to all U.S. mayors. Key resolutions focused on housing, safety, economic development, children, health, and human services take place and are adopted as the conference moves forward and tries to influence public policy across the country. The annual meeting was presided over by Oklahoma City Mayor Holt, incidentally a Republican, and it was hosted by Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson, and it was just an outstanding gathering. We garnered a lot in the way of very valuable technical information. I was helped in that regard by two staff members, And we're bringing that information back to our city in the hopes that we might be able to do a better job in delivering all manner of services here in the city of Irvine. So that's my brief report. I'll now turn to my colleagues for announcements or reports that they might have before making some additional citywide announcements of my own later on. Let me now turn to Council Member Melinda Liu, who will offer us her brief report or announcements.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening. I'm sharing some updates and upcoming events from our office. On June 10th, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., which is tomorrow, Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control will be treating IRWD San Joaquin Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary. For the updated information, follow our social media at MelindaLiu underscore official for treatment alerts. Next slide, please. On May 29th, I joined OCFA at the 18th Annual Best and Bravest Awards honoring the firefighters and paramedics who serve our region. Congratulations to Chris Shea from Division II on his well-deserved recognition as Reserve Firefighter of the Year. Next slide, please. Last week, my office hosted a fire prevention town hall at OCFA headquarters with Chief Freeman, along with staff from Emergency Services, Parks and Open Space, and SCE. Together, they cover emergency operations, vegetation management, and wildfire preparedness.

Next slide, please.

Yesterday, we welcomed the U.S. men's national team to the Great Park for their only public training session before the World Cup. Being chosen as their training base means global media coverage, hotel bookings, and restaurant spending for Irvine, exactly the kind of economic moment our city tourism readiness and competitiveness assessment was designed to capture. We'll be cheering on Team USA against Paraguay this Friday. Next slide, please. Learn more about upcoming projects at our District 1 Updates Town Hall this Thursday, June 11, from 6 to 7.30 p.m. at Portola Springs Community Center. Staff will share updates on Bowerman Landfill, Gateway Village, the Northwood Playground Makeover, Central Dock Park, the Tribuco Senior Center, and Gateway Trails. RSVP at district1townhall.eventbrite.com. Next slide, please. We'll also host our second annual Flag Day ceremony on Friday, June 12th from 10 to noon on the City Hall lawn. Join Team Lou for a special morning as we celebrate Flag Day by presenting the American flags to local veterans who contributed to our community. And last one. Thank you. And if you need any assistance, please feel free to reach out to our office.

Thank you, Council Member Liu. Council Member Carroll.

Great. Thank you, Mayor, and good evening, everyone. I just want to take a moment to recognize our first responders, and one in particular, Division Chief Nick Freeman. Why don't you come on down while I... Our very own Division Chief who handles all of Irvine fire protection, Nick Freeman, was a critical leader, critically managing the recent chemical leak in Garden Grove, which of course reached national and international attention. Chief Freeman is the branch manager, for those of you who don't know, in Irvine of the entire OCFA's hazardous materials team based at Station 20. They deployed a wide range of specialized equipment, including atmospheric monitoring devices and even a firefighting robot. I want to just really commend the men and women firefighters of Local 3631, Chris Hamm's group, and, of course, Chief Freeman and the entire command staff And I just want to just play a quick clip of our Chief Freeman in Garden Grove, in control, calming everyone down, and bringing this incredibly difficult situation into a controlled environment. Go ahead, Tom, play that.

Hello, my name is Nick Freeman. I'm a division chief with the Orange County Fire Authority and serving as the hazmat branch on the Western incident in the city of Garden Grove, California. It's a respiratory irritant, so it can start off very mild, but it can progress to a point where, yes, you would probably require hospitalization, if not more. Our circles represent our blast zone. So if this tank fails and we have an explosion, these represent our blast zone. The innermost circle represents areas where we can expect severe structural damage

The other concern we have is it's extremely flammable and in its current state, very reactive and can cause that explosion.

We have had a lot of opportunity today after the work that was done tonight to start really inspecting those tanks. So we're just going to watch the trending. We're going to continue to talk to the chemists and the experts, make sure that we're in the right direction. We'll be working through the rest of tonight and until that is complete.

Great. Thank you. And Chief Freeman also met with researchers and scientists from around the country to get this leak mitigated. and a host of other things that we'll never know. And he is our own division chief in Irvine. I just wanted to thank him. And also, I just want to give a shout out to Chief Kent and the Irvine Police Department. We were the ones that provided 24-hour drone surveillance over the tanks. This is an international event that could have caused terrible, terrible catastrophic damage. that was managed effectively. So Nick, thank you. Quick question for you. Given the fact that Garden Grove is a large city like Irvine, we have light and kind of medium and even heavy industrial here in Irvine. Have you had a chance to take a look at a little bit of maybe an overview of similar type structure tanks in Irvine and where we're at on compliance?

Yeah, we've been doing a lot of research on what facilities we have here in Irvine specific to the chemical involved in the Garden Grove incident. We have two facilities, one that's in the Irvine business complex that has 60 gallons, so considerably less, and then one over in the Spectrum business complex that has 11,000 gallons.

Okay, well, thank you. And again, thank you for your service to the county. Thank you for your service to Irvine. And please, on behalf of the City Council, commend the whole team for everything. But thank you personally. for your leadership that you provided up there in Garden Grove. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you, Mary.

Next is Councilmember Martinez-Franco.

Thank you. Good evening, everyone. I have a few short announcements to share tonight. First, next slide. I'm excited to share that I have been reappointed to the Community Economic and Human Development Committee for SCAC, and I'm looking forward to continuing my work with them on resolving regional issues. At our last OCFA board meeting, we approved the proposed budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. And I also want to thank personally to Chief Nick Freeman for his service. As a board of director for the Orange County Transportation Authority, I had an experience just hearing relating how he acted during the incident in Garden Grove. He was the one that actually went inside the chemical tank and took the risk to assess what was happening. So thank you, Chief Freeman. Chief Freeman? Nick? Chief? Somebody can tap him. Yeah. Sorry, I should have asked you to stay here since I was going to do my board of director. But yeah, I just wanted you to relate the same story that you told me that you went inside. So what make you... take that decision to go inside to assess the damage?

Yeah, so someone's got to do it at the end of the day, right? So I've got over 20 years in hazardous materials. I've led the team for years. So I need to be near my folks while they're doing their work. It's extremely dangerous, very high risk. So it's not something I can stand back too far. I do need to be somewhat close to them.

Well, thank you so much, and to you and the entire Orange County Fire Authority for all the things that you did during that emergency. Your rapid response and all the logistics that happened makes us feel safe with you in your charge. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

All right. Next slide. I would like to invite everybody to BIPOC OC's Juneteenth celebration at the Great Park on June 20th from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. This free event is open to all ages and will include music, dancing, food, and cultural performances. Next slide. Last, my office will be hosting our next free grocery distribution June 27 from 3 to 5 in the Rancho Senior Center parking lot. Please enjoy this short recap video from our last event.

Hi, we are so excited. We're here at Mike Ward Park in the city of Irvine, District 5. We have a food distribution today. We are giving free groceries to people who need it. So we are very grateful that we were able to partner with Tree of New America to bring food to the most needed in my district and surroundings. Next time, we will be at a different area here in Irvine. We're looking forward to our June events. Thanks, everyone.

Thank you. If we can go back to the presentation. The last slide. Next slide. You can stay up to date on District 5 by following me on social media and subscribing to my newsletter. Please reach out to my office with any questions or concerns. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, Councilmember Goh.

Good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining us tonight. I have update from Skagg, Metrolink, and OCTA. Next slide, please. At SCAG, we approved the 2028 Olympics Regional Transport Demand Management Plan, which will create a system to manage rail service for this upcoming summer games. At Metrolink, we approved funding from the State Rail Assistance Program for fuel efficiency and maintenance modernization projects that will develop prototypes that reduce fuel consumption, operating costs, and greenhouse emissions. Finally, with OCTA, we approve agreements to continue funding and service for Irvine Connect, allowing for ADA complementary services and one-day passenger rail development. In addition, implementation of the OCTA wave physical and virtual cars continues to be successful, now making up more than half of all boardings. Next slide, please. Finally, you can scan the QR code to stay up to date with our newsletter and social media. That concludes my council update. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Council Member Goh. Council Member Mai.

Thank you, Mayor. And thank you, Nick Freeman, again, for your work on OCFA along with Irvine Police Department for handling the situation in Garden Grove. As some of you know, I want to personally thank you guys because my nonprofit shares a parking lot with that location there, and we were shut down for an entire week. If it wasn't for you guys, we'd still be shut down. So thank you for that work there. I also want to talk about OCPA and a quick update on OCPA. OCPA had its 2026-2027 budget review and ended in positives with increased reserves. OCPA also closed on its first green bonds that will reduce energy costs by 12.45%, and that is $25 million over the next five years. Rates remain higher than SCE right now. I just want to make that very clear. If anyone is rate sensitive, please respond. find your way to exit OCPA as well. An update on the website. There was some questions from residents and then also from also myself on the website and the rate comparison that was on the website there. OCPA had at one point we had, I had requested that they put rate comparison chart on the website. Caused a little confusion. We had a number of calls that came in from to the call center. Also, Southern California Edison contacted OCP in some sort of confusion. At the time, it was determined to take it down to work on that. That caused a little confusion. People were wondering why the rates were off the website. I also inquired about that, and now the rates are back on the website after some clarification. Also, another question that we had from the public and also from members of the board as well as members here on the dais were about benefits, benefits that were increased at OCPA for their staff. That was an incremental adjustment of 0.01% of revenue, no new benefits, no increase in staffing, and they had created that benefit for employees to be competitive within the CCA space. They continued to pay back the loan to the City of Irvine. We're looking forward to a full payback and then a review of our relationship at the time. That's my update. Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. I've seen no other requests. Move on to announcements that I have of citywide import. I'm pleased to share that our city has once again been recognized for our outstanding park system, ranking second in the nation and first in California in the Trust for Public Lands Annual Park Score Index released last month. This is the second year in a row we've finished as second in the nation. Interestingly enough, the number one city park system in the nation is Washington, D.C., which, in all fairness, it seems to me, is not really a city. It's a federal district. I think we're number one. I think we're number one. All right. Anyway, this recognition marks the 11th consecutive year Irvine has been ranked in the top 10. The Park Score Index evaluates park access and equity and found that 94% of Irvine residents live within a half mile walk of a park. It's almost 100%, less than a half mile walk. We also earned a perfect score for investment. A total of $697 per capita is spent each year on publicly accessible parks and recreation. This is among the highest in the nation. So while we may invest the most, I think everybody would agree the return on that investment is extraordinary. In addition, we received a perfect score for several park amenities, including the number of basketball hoops, playgrounds, public restrooms, and senior and recreation centers. So to learn more about a pretty sophisticated park score ranking, visit cityofirvine.gov. Next, this announcement is entitled 20 Years Later, The Great Picture Exhibition Opening. I invite the community to experience 20 Years Later, The Great Picture, an exhibition exploring the creation and legacy of one of the most ambitious photographic projects ever undertaken in the entire world. Opening this Thursday, June 11th, here at Irvine City Hall, the exhibition revisits The Great Picture, the world's largest photograph created in 2006 by six Southern California photographers known collectively as The Legacy Project. A free reception to commemorate the 20th anniversary will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Measuring an astonishing 31 feet by 111 feet, the great picture was produced using the world's largest camera, a converted airplane hanger transformed into a giant...

So to start off, I wanted to talk about our financial reports and our audit. So the city prepares four major financial reports annually. These include these financial reports listed here. Each of these reports was independently audited and prepared in accordance with government accounting standards established by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, or GASB, and ensures that our financial reports are prepared with accuracy, compliance with regulatory requirements, and ensuring the city is following best practices. So the city's audit was conducted under strict governmental auditing standards. The audit process takes approximately six months and includes detailed testing of financial records, internal controls, and compliance requirements. The audit is performed by CLA. It's one of the nation's leading audit firms that specializes in the municipal space. And part of their audit, they help to ensure that the city's financial information is accurate, transparent, and also reliable. So a government audit involves more than simply reviewing the financial statements. Auditors evaluate multiple areas. This includes accuracy of the financial reporting, internal controls, compliance with laws and regulations, governance practices, and also federal government compliance. And together, all these reports that are issued are a comprehensive assessment of the city's financial management and internal control environment. So I'm pleased to report that the city received a clean audit opinions on all financial statements. The auditors reported no audit findings, no deficiencies in internal controls, and no instances of noncompliance. And this really reflects a strong financial management practices and the dedication of staff across all departments who support the financial reporting and accountability of the city. So the city continues its longstanding tradition of financial excellence for 46 consecutive years. The city has received the Government Finance Officer Association Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting, and this is the highest recognition a government institution can receive for financial reporting. It demonstrates the city's ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability, and sound fiscal stewardship. And based on the quality of this year's report, staff believes that the city is well-positioned to receive this report once again for this past fiscal year. So at this time, I'm going to turn it over to Jonathan.

Thank you, Dale. And good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. Again, my name is John Denis, Deputy Director of Administrative Services. Before we dive into the ongoing operations, it is important to share that the City is in a strong financial position thanks to both its strong investment portfolio and reserves. The City has over $1.7 billion in investments separated out into three separate portfolios. THE POOLED INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO OF $1.1 BILLION, THAT'S FOR THE CITY'S ONGOING OPERATIONS AND CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM. THE SPECIAL DISTRICT FUNDS PORTFOLIO OF $630 MILLION, THAT'S FOR THE CITY'S ASSESSMENT DISTRICTS AND COMMUNITY FACILITY DISTRICTS, PRIMARILY OF WHICH IS TO FUND THE DEVELOPMENTS OF THE GREAT PARK THROUGH THE GREAT PARK FRAMEWORK PLAN. And the third portfolio, the Gateway Preserve, the portfolio of $16 million, which was used to facilitate the purchase of All-American Asphalt Facility, the debt service payments, and the development of the Gateway Project. The city does earn interest through its portfolios, however, majority of which are restricted funding, but the city does allocate $5 million to its general fund through ongoing interest for its operations. This demonstrates the city's capacity to meet both current and future capital project obligations. Another factor that shows the city's strong financial position is the city's reserves, which total is over $130 million. This is divided into two separate funds. First, the contingency reserve fund, which purpose is to mitigate the effects of unanticipated situations, emergencies, and to help meet the city's liquidity needs. The current reserve balance is at $66 million, which is a reserve balance of 22%. The city policy is to maintain at least a 20% reserve level, including a 5% ready reserve. The National Government Finance Officers Association recommends a two-month reserve level, which is 16.7%, and as you can see, the city is well above that. THE SECOND RESERVE FUND IS THE CITY'S ASSET MANAGEMENT PLAN FUND, WHICH WAS CREATED BY CITY COUNCIL BACK IN 1986. THIS PURPOSE IS SIMILAR TO AN ENDOWMENT FUND WHICH GOAL IS TO PROVIDE A LONG-TERM FUNDING SOURCE WITH A HEALTHY PRINCIPAL BALANCE AND TO UTILIZE INTEREST EARNED TO SUPPORT ONGOING OPERATIONS AND INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS. THE CURRENT BALANCE IS AT $65 MILLION. In the third quarter of fiscal year 2025-26, financial conditions continued to decline due to external factors, particularly in unexpected expenditures. Economic pressures continue to create fiscal challenges as expenditures outpace revenues. If the city does no adjustments, the projected deficit is $6.3 million, which is 2.1% of general fund or less than 1% of all funds. For the current fiscal year, expenditures are projected to be over budget by $6.2 million, primarily due to salary and benefits and overtime. The key drivers for the higher costs are due to labor, healthcare escalations, inflation, and unexpected events. Salaries and benefits is trending higher than budget by about four points, which may lower the amount of one-time funds needed when the fiscal year closes. The next section of tonight's item is the fiscal year 2025-27 mid-cycle budget review. As the city is near the end of the first year of its current two-year budget, the normal process calls for a mid-cycle budget review for the next fiscal year. If overall financials are doing great and positive, this is the opportunity for the city to allocate additional funding for services and programs. When there are economic challenges, as the city is facing now, this is the opportunity for the city to make adjustments before the next fiscal year begins. For fiscal year 2026-27, if no adjustments are made, the city projects a deficit of $9.1 million or 2.9% of the general fund or 1% of all funds. This is due to continued expenditures outpacing revenues. The table on this slide shows the prior City Council-approved 2026-27 adopted budget, the year-end estimate if no adjustments are made, and staff's recommendation to balance the proposed budget through expenditure reductions and revenue increases. In next fiscal year's expenditures are projected to be over budget by $6.1 million due to continued costs and salaries of benefits and overtime. The proposed budget recommends reducing expenditures by holding recruitments on vacant positions and evaluating the city's vehicle replacement program. These adjustments will reallocate expenses to essential services such as public safety. Salaries and benefit expenditures are approximately 65% of the total general fund budget, which is within range to maintain an appropriate balance between service delivery, workforce investment, and budgetary flexibility. This percentage is only a concern if it reaches 75% or higher. Over the past 10 years, costs have increased on average approximately 6.9% annually. As you can see, during the COVID, costs increased at a modest rate, but as services returned to normal and the city faces higher healthcare expenses and the latest MOU contracts, expenditures have grown. Positions added to the city have also contributed to the salary and benefit costs to keep up with Irvine's growing population and for the city's new and expanded programs. Part-time growth has also played a key role in the added salary and benefits expenditures. As demand for the city services, community programs have increased significantly. To help maintain and balance salary and benefit costs, the city is proposing to hold recruitment on vacant positions, with the exception for emergency personnel such as public safety. Holding positions vacant creates significant ongoing savings, especially as more positions become vacant through natural retirements and separations. Expected savings for fiscal year 2026-27 is projected to be $3.2 million, with growing savings in future years as the city has an average attrition of 54 non-sworn positions annually. The city will evaluate continuously its workforce and assignments to prioritize essential services and positions may be moved throughout the city and departments. Overtime is about 3% of total salience and benefit costs and fluctuates year over year based on unexpected events such as safety and maintenance needs. Overtime is proposed to be increased by $2 million to align with growth trends, as it is necessary again to maintain service levels to keep up with Irvine's growing population and calls for service. Internal services is proposed to be reduced to help balance the budget. This includes two primary functions, information technology and fleet services. Along with all other departments, information technology will be holding vacant positions to reduce expenses and fleet services has reevaluated the city's 629 vehicles in operations and will create a savings of $2.6 million by extending non-emergency vehicle replacement by one additional year. Four fiscal year 2026-27 revenues are estimated to be under budget by $3.3 million, primarily due to slowdown in consumer spending and the overall housing market. Declining trends of sales tax revenue continue into the next fiscal year, and the proposed budget recommends increasing revenue projections and user-free revenues to help maintain the general fund. Property tax is the city's highest and most stable revenue source. Irvine's assessed valuation from the Orange County Assessor's Office is $119 billion, the highest in the county. Property tax is proposed to be slightly decreased as the housing market continues to slow down. Probably tax revenue growth rate is also expected to taper off in the future as Irvine reaches build out, adding to the challenge of expenditures outpacing revenues. Sales tax, as you know, is the city's second highest revenue and unfortunately the most volatile to the overall economy. The slowdown has led economists and government agencies to lower their forecasts in sales tax revenue growth rates. Consumer spending behavior has again become more cautious with automobile sales experiencing the large decline. Consumer spending is also shifting to online purchases. However, sales tax revenue is primarily dependent on people shopping here in Irvine. Transient occupancy tax, otherwise known as hotel tax, was critically impacted by hotel closures in a pandemic. However, after the pandemic, hotel tax has fully recovered and now performing better than budget due to higher average daily rates and occupancy levels finally returning to normal. The future growth of hotel tax remains modest as Irvine's tax rate is at 8%, the lowest in the county. For reference, the city of Anaheim and city in Garden Grove have a 15% tax rate and our neighbor here in Tustin has a 13% tax rate. FRANCHISE FREE REVENUE HAS SIGNIFICANTLY HELPED OVERALL REVENUE GROWTH DUE TO CITY COUNCIL'S APPROVAL OF WASTE COLLECTION AGREEMENTS IN JANUARY 2024, AND MOST RECENTLY IN APRIL 2026, CITY COUNCIL APPROVED THE COUNTY'S NEW SOLID WASTE WISE AGREEMENTS, ADDITIONALLY ADDING $1.9 MILLION ANNUALLY. THE PROPOSED BUDGET INCLUDES ADJUSTMENTS TO FRANCHISE FREE REVENUES TO CAPTURE THESE INCREASES, WHICH WILL HELP OFFSET OTHER REVENUE LOSSES. Documentary transfer tax continues to fluctuate based on the number of property sale transactions. The revenue is also dependent on property values where commercial properties have been struggling since the pandemic. The proposed budget decreases documentary transfer tax revenue to reflect a lower trend as higher interest rates and low inventory continue to result in declining property transactions. Program and service fees experienced severe revenue declines during the pandemic from program and facility closures. As programs return to normal, the city has seen strong community demand with positive performances in contract classes, recreational programs, and field and community facility reservations. The proposed budget reflects increased usage and revenue trends for programs and services. The city is recommending to update its reservation fees to improve consistency across facilities and align cost recovery practices. This includes establishing new fees for private court rentals at the Irvine Field House to support operational sustainability, community demand, and fiscal responsibility. The city is also aligning athletic facility fee structure with other city facilities for consistency and to promote community access to facilities. This includes transitioning to an hourly rate structure similar to our neighboring communities and cities, and recreational programs would receive one tournament annually at a discount. The city is also updating its fee adjustment methodology to standardize and establish a more uniform approach to fee updates in the future. The city is proposing to implement and update user fees to offset revenue losses and increase cost recovery. This is only for services benefiting specific groups or users. The city's overall cost recovery is at 62%, resulting in revenue for the general public, such as for safety and infrastructure, to subsidize the remaining 38%. For reference, about 3% of cost recovery is $1 million to the general fund. Public safety fee updates include increases to firearm dealer special permits, new fees for police report requests, alarm permits, and third false alarm within a year. The city is also recommending to establish a citywide convenience fee for credit card transactions of 2.4% to cover the processing and merchant fees, which has become industry standard. Exceptions will be on donations and cash and check payments, which will remain free. To recap the general fund balancing, for fiscal year 2025-26, the city is recommending to transfer one-time funds of $6.3 million from the Asset Management Plan Fund to help ensure no immediate impacts to services. For fiscal year 2026-27, the city is recommending to reduce expenditures through holding of vacant positions and reevaluate its vehicle replacement program, with the exception of emergency personnel and vehicles. THE CITY IS ALSO PROPOSING TO INCREASE REVENUES THROUGH PRIOR APPROVED AGREEMENTS AND UPDATES TO USER FEES FOR COST RECOVERY. THIS WILL CREATE THE BUILDING BLOCKS FOR FUTURE BALANCING THE GENERAL FUND AND WILL BE RETURNING TO CITY COUNCIL IN AUGUST TO DISCUSS FUTURE FISCAL YEARS. ALSO INCLUDED IN THE MID-CYCLE ARE ADJUSTMENTS TO SPECIAL FUNDS FOR ONE-TIME PROJECTS AND RESTRICTED FUNDING OPERATIONS. This includes city council-initiated programs such as the food distribution and bike share program, the shift of hotel improvement district operations from communication and engagement to economic development, upgrades to the civic center's council chambers, athletic court resurfacing services, Irvine Connect expenditures and reimbursement from OCTA, and self-insurance to reflect the higher expenses on premiums and claims. The Great Park budget is required to be approved by the Great Park Board annually due to the Fiscal Transparency and Reform Act. The Great Park operation includes administration, operations, maintenance, and programs throughout the Great Park. The proposed budget includes adjustments between departments that do not change the bottom line from the previously approved 2026-27 adopted budget. During the next fiscal year, the city will be reevaluating Great Park operations as it shifts from a planning to a more development phase, while also restructuring for financial self-sustainability and stability at the Great Park. The city's capital improvement program currently has 176 active capital projects, totaling $410 million. One-time funds are primarily for capital improvement program, as it maintains the city's hundreds of miles of roadway, traffic signals, miles of curb and gutter, sidewalk, and over 116 city sites, including parks, aquatic centers, community centers, senior centers, and special facilities. In the mid-cycle, the City is recommending to appropriate and allocate $9.6 million of restricted funding for the Capital Improvement Program. Key capital projects include the Library Assessment, Parks Master Plan Update, Annual Slurry Seal and Street Rehabilitation, Sand Canyon Pavement Rehabilitation, Public Safety Armory Lab and Office Modification, Great Park Athletic Turf, Northwood Park improvements, the Joss at Barranca to I-5 extension, basketball court replacement at San Marcos, and ADA right-of-way requirements throughout the city. Routinely included on an annual basis is the city's landscape lighting and park maintenance program. This assessment began 24 years ago back in 2002 and is evaluated annually. This program covers the operations, services, and maintenance of the city's streetlights, signalized intersections, neighborhood parks, community parks, enhanced crosswalks, and monitored roundabouts. The upcoming assessment rates ranges from $1.60 to $149.55 per unit, which does include the average increase of about 2.39%. Also included in the budget is the city's continued contribution of $113 million to the school districts. For reference, the Irvine Unified School District has a general fund budget of $622 million, and the city of Irvine has a general fund budget of $312 million. The budget includes $4 million of direct funding for the Education Partnership Program and the Challenge Match Grant Program, and indirect funding of about $9 million through Public Safety's DARE Program, school resource offices, crossing guards, and training, as well as through community and library services for athletic fields, pools, and Youth Action Team Program. Staff is also seeking council direction for a request from IUSD for a one-year extension on the expanded pilot bus program for University High. This will be a $218,552 of one-time funding through the Asset Management Plan Fund. With that, I'll hand it over back to Dale to summarize and wrap up this presentation.

Thank you, Jonathan. So I'm going to break down the recommended actions for you. I know it's a lot of different recommended actions. Also provide a summary of the Finance Commission's recommendations as well as the Community Library Services recommendation. So first of all, these recommended actions can be broken down into four components. First one, number two, references our fiscal year 24-25 financial reports and our audit. And then second, items number three and four addresses our current fiscal year, so fiscal year 25-26. And as Jonathan shared, it addresses addressing our $6.3 million deficit by using one-time funding from the AMP fund. And then from items number 5 to 12, it addresses next fiscal year, so our mid-cycle, to balance next year's budget and all the other mid-cycle items that you normally see, including our appropriation limits, our Great Park budget, and also our fee updates. So just as a refresher for the $9.1 million balancing measure for next year, we're looking at reducing expenditures in the form of vacancy management, as well as department operating reductions. which totals about $3.2 million, and extending non-emergency vehicle replacement, that's $2.6 million, and also increasing revenues, a component of that already approved by Council for the Wise Solid Waste Agreement of $1.9 million, and targeted user fee updates to improve cost recovery, and reduce reliance on general fund subsidies, which equates to $1.4 million. In addition, that previous slide also asked for Council's directions regarding the one-time, one-year extension of funding for the university high school pilot bus program. SO WANTED TO PROVIDE ALSO COMMISSION'S RECOMMENDATIONS SO FIRST ONE LISTED IS THE COMMUNITY LIBRARY SERVICE COMMISSION WHICH MET THIS PAST WEDNESDAY. THEY APPROVED THE RESERVATION FEES THAT WAS PRESENTED WITH with the additional motion as follows, a recommendation to return in eight months after Fieldhouse opens to review how close the proposed fees and policies are to the cost recovery and also tie it to CPI. In addition, the sports committee members who are using Fieldhouse and the badminton community using this facilities will have to be consulted in an advisory capacity. Moving on with Finance Commission, we met last Monday, this past Monday, and the recommendation that they had was to move forward with all the recommended actions with the following modifications. to incorporate Community and Library Service Commission's recommendation on the June 3rd meeting on the reservation fees, also to recommend City Council direct staff to negotiate with Irvine Unified School District to offset the 218 $219,000 for the expanded pilot bus program for University High by splitting the cost between IUSD and the city. Additionally, Finance Commission also approved the following motions to recommend the City Council fund the 25-26 deficit by allocating 50% from the Asset Management Plan Fund and 50% from the contingency reserve fund up to a total of 6.3 million and direct staff to consult with the city auditors on best practices in this area, as well as to recommend city council provide direction to adopt a policy statement on appropriate uses of the asset management plan fund. So with that, our recommendation for tonight is to approve Actions 2 to 12, provide direction on 13, and also consider the Commission's recommendations. And with that, that concludes our presentation and would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Well, thank you very much for that comprehensive report. And more important, thank you for your continuing outstanding work in managing the city's finances and providing us with the information that we need to in turn give further guidance going forward. I think What I'd like to do, we want to hear from the public, of course, but I think we would benefit from taking a round of questions or comments that individual council members have, perhaps even two rounds. then call on the public, and then move from there. I think to the extent that we can stay focused on your recommended actions and the recommendations made by the Community Services and Library Commission, as well as the Finance Commission, we'd be able to, I think, keep our focus where it needs to be on closing out this fiscal year and getting ready for the next fiscal year and actually adopting a budget for the next fiscal year. I would hope we could do that over the course of the next 60 or 90 minutes. Let's see how we can go. All right. By the way, how many requests do we have for citizens to be heard on this item so far, Mr. Peterson?

We have nine requests to speak, Mayor.

Nine, all right. Well, let's start with a round of questions or comments from the dais here. Council Member Mike Carroll.

THANK YOU, MAYOR, AND THANK YOU GUYS, GENTLEMEN, FOR YOUR PRESENTATION. VERY COMPREHENSIVE. WE WERE SENT AS COUNCILMEMBERS, I DON'T KNOW, I'M LOOKING BEHIND ME, I THINK IT'S ABOUT, I DON'T KNOW, 2,500 PAGES OF MATERIAL ABOUT MAYBE LESS THAN A WEEK AGO OR A WEEK AGO TO DEVOUR. THIS IS A PART-TIME POSITION, CITY COUNCILMEMBER. I HAVE A REGULAR CAREER AND THIS IS A PART-TIME THING AND I WAS ABLE TO GET THROUGH A LOT OF IT. This just seems, can we just put the recommendation slide back up? I just want to maybe just, we could just do some process stuff and I could talk about this budget-wise. I just want to get the city turning away and on some stuff here with definitive opinions. Number two, well, where's number one actually, Dale?

Number one is to hold a public hearing.

Oh, okay, so we did that. Yes. You recommended that we did, okay. So two and three do not require a vote, is that correct? Or do they?

They require a vote. So two is to just receive and file. And also, three is receive and file, although there are budget adjustments related to number three for 2526. Oh, actually, it's number four, yes.

No, I know. I feel like we've been voting on receive and file, and I just want to understand from a procedural point of view, is that's not a receive and file. FOR THE YEARS I'VE BEEN HERE, IT DOESN'T REQUIRE A VOTE. WE SAY IT'S RECEIVED AND FILED AND WE MOVE TO THE NEXT ITEM, RIGHT?

I THINK WHAT A RECEIVED AND FILED DOES, COUNCIL MEMBER CAROL, IS IT PUTS A NOTATION IN THE MINUTES THAT THE CITY COUNCIL RECEIVED AND FILED THE PRESENTATION FROM CITY STAFF. IT DOES NOT REQUIRE THAT THE CITY COUNCIL AGREE WITH IT. IT DOESN'T REQUIRE THAT THE CITY COUNCIL TAKE ANY ACTION ON IT, MERELY TO REFLECT IN THE MINUTES THAT IT WAS PRESENTED TO THE CITY COUNCIL.

Again, you're double talking. Does it require a vote or not?

No.

Thank you. Because for, I don't know, eight years as a community services commissioner, chairman of that commission, years as a planning commission, years on this city council, I haven't voted on that. When I chair these meetings, I say this item is receive and file. The next item is. So can you please definitively tell our new council members and me whether those two items require a vote or not?

Here's your definitive answer. Two definitive answers. No, you don't have to vote on it. Yes, you have historically.

No, we've done it. We voted this receiving file on a couple of items in the last few months or something. We haven't done that. I've been here longer. We have not voted on that. I disagree. I'm not voting on those items. With regard to Great Park parking, what is the status of Great Park parking? I had the displeasure of sitting at the Great Park at a lacrosse tournament with thousands and thousands and thousands of families for two days straight as a participant. I parked for free, and I sat on the sidelines, and a wonderful, wonderful dad from Yorba Linda named Dan, who I spent some time with, who's a super guy, he's got a wonderful daughter, plays great lacrosse, didn't know I was from Irvine. And about 35 minutes in, I had to hear my city, Dale, be trashed and be mocked and ridiculed because the next tournament, Dale, in Oceanside, we'll be paying $40 per car. We will be paying $40 per car. And I'd like to know why we're not charging parking. And I am tired on behalf of 318,000 residents to understand, not the homeowners that pay the CFD around there, why everybody going to these lacrosse tournaments from Yorba Linda and everywhere else are not paying $40 to park their car so we can plug this budget crisis.

Great question, Council Member Carroll. Our director of Great Park, Steve Torelli, can provide an update on the timing of our parking, the parking return back to Great Park Board.

Thank you, Council Member Carroll, for the question. We're actually coming back with the parking at the June 23rd meeting. We had hoped to make the meeting today, but there's two components of it, one of which is the policy and the other one, which is the RFP for the actual operator. And we needed a little bit more time to get that contract settled to be able to bring back to you. But we do intend to bring that back on the 23rd. If approved, we would get that contract signed and hope to be able to charge for parking with that system in place within a few months.

So Steve, how do I plug that revenue into whatever I'm being asked to vote on right now? What is the revenue?

So the revenue in the sports park, once it reaches maturity or once it reaches activation of the parking, is forecast to be about $5 million a year net to the city. That is in the budget. It's in the budget as a partial year because the fiscal year obviously starts July 1, and we're not going to have the system up and running July 1. So it is already in the great park budget for the 26, 27 year. 27, 28, obviously, it would be 100% of the cost. But we hedged about six months, not knowing how long it was going to take to get the system up in place to be able to charge and the QR codes and all that kind of stuff. Plus, we had to get direction from the council. Great.

Thank you. I see my time is up. So, Mayor, I have more questions, but we can keep going.

We'll probably take a second round here from the dais, all right? Council Member Martinez-Franco.

Thank you. Well, thank you so much for this update. It is really good to see all together, and thank you so much for the hard work that you always do on providing us the best information that we can get. I do have one question on the credit card convenience fee resolution. How does that work, the credit card fee? I'm just curious.

Sure. Thank you for the question, Council Members. So credit card fees, we're looking to charge what has been industry practice, 2.4% on any credit card transactions. Customers of the city can still utilize debit cards, other forms of payment, check, cash, without a cost, similar to how you would pay your property tax.

So for example, if I go and buy with my credit card a gallon of milk, I will have to pay 2.4?

Oh, I'm sorry. So it only refers to services that the city provides. So it's not services from the general public.

Like, for example?

So it doesn't apply anything outside of the city. So if you want to get a permit at the city or if you want to take a class from the city and you want to pay via credit card, those are going to be assessed at the 2.4% credit card. Of course, you can use alternative forms of payment which do not charge that fee.

Thank you for clarifying.

That concludes your question. Thank you. Council Member Treseder.

OK, thank you very much. I appreciate your presentation. And I, first of all, want to say I appreciate that you are working on reducing your expenses as well as increasing the revenue. I think that it's very important to do both. I have a question. One of your slides mentioned the internal services extending non-emergency vehicle replacement by one additional year creating a savings of $2.6 million. And so that would help for this year for sure. But what about the next year? Will then that $2.6 million be added to the next year?

Thank you for that question. We are assessing our fleet maintenance program and our replacement program altogether. There is a component of it we may realize, but we do realize as well that some of those are going to be one-time savings for this next fiscal year. So for the ones that are not, that are just one-time deferrals, we are not going to count it for future year savings. We are conservative in our fleet replacement program. Overall, so we're going to see if there's any sort of refinements there. Of course, balancing out maintenance cost, because you have to look at both replacement costs and also maintenance costs. As you hold vehicles longer, maintenance cost goes up. So our public works and sustainability team has a great group that's taking a look at it, taking a deeper dive, seeing how much we can realize in savings more in the long term. But we don't count on all that money

structural savings for the long term thank you yeah i appreciate it because then you know after the year after that it's going to be we have an even bigger deficit so i don't want to be putting things into that year where we're already hurting um and i also just want to say that i appreciate i from what i understand all the departments in the city have been working on reducing um expenses by um was it 12 percent

So we've right now we're in the midst of running through scenarios that have been directed by the council so that motion from a few meetings ago included a five and a 10% scenario and so we're running those and ready to bring those back to city council on August 3rd. We also in addition to that are coming back with a staff recommendation to bridge those finances in the future. And that will have different targets for each department so that as a whole, we can get there.

I appreciate that because I think that the people in those departments are the experts and they would know best how to reduce expenses. I'll say for my part, for the city council expenses, I am not going to sit up here and ask the other departments to reduce their expenditures and not also take on that responsibility. So I've already committed to reducing my city council budget by 10%. I don't want to reduce my staff members' salaries at all. They work very hard. They're excellent at what they do. We really need them. The city benefits from them. But I'm happy to forego my stipend and the car allowance. I don't think I take any insurance out, but any other expenses related to me, I'm happy to forego all of that. I don't do this for the money, obviously. It's a labor of love, and so that's an easy decision for me to make. And so I just want to make sure that I share that with all of you. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Treseder. Council Member and Vice Mayor James Mai.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you for the comments from my colleagues. I want to make a couple of statements as well. And regarding budgeting, regarding our budget on City Council, we're in the black as well and very committed to reducing our spend, which is pretty fiscally conservative. Thanks for the report. Thanks for all the information here. I mean, I love to hear that we have our reserves are $1.7 billion in our investment fund. We have reserves. You know, one of the things I have to tell you just from my first initial comments are we had an issue last meeting. We had an issue about potential taxes that were going to go on to residents. This report, I mean, this mid-cycle report here, it talks about increasing fees. We didn't want to tax residents. No taxes, no new taxes. Let's not explore that. So instead, what I'm hearing now, because we don't hear the full picture about the cuts, the cuts that we need to do, We just hear about increasing fees. So what I'm hearing and what from just a layman's point of view is that we're not going to tax. We're not going to explore any new taxes. We're just going to increase fees across the board to make up for our lack of control in spending and salaries. That's not what we asked for. We asked for a motion. We had a motion here for August to address all of it in one package. Taxes are not in there. But we asked in August to come back with potential increased revenue, potential cuts all in one, so we can take a look at the entire thing. This is a piecemealed presentation here. I don't see anything about cutting expenditures. I hear right now, I just heard it from Sean. I hear of it. I don't hear about it in your report. If you're going to give a report, even a basic one, so that people know the first line or first response to a deficit potential is one-time funds. What are we going to do in the future? One-time funds to address this deficit and increases, increases across the board from all usage fees. That's not the initial response. go to for anyone. I'm not for that, not for taxes, not for let's increase and punish the people for our lack of control. I said that, I'll say that twice. We have a lack of control and we need to address that. That's it for now. I'm going to hear from the public and anyone else, but that's just my thoughts on it. I find it a little inappropriate because we don't have the full picture. We just have let's increase fees and let's punish residents.

I think we're ready for a second round here. Council Member Carroll, maybe if I could offer a few comments of my own before calling on you as part of the second round, all right? Let me just highlight certain things that your report and my look at the agenda tonight bring to mind. We approved a consent calendar tonight that included item 2.11, which was slurry ceiling, our streets. I think it was a two-year contract. Am I right about that?

That's correct. That's an on-call contract.

$40 million. $40 million. That was no doubt the low bid from a qualified bidder. And we're very proud of how we maintain our streets here. It's a big deal for everyone. The fact that those kinds of expenses have escalated, that's beyond our control, really. This is an inflationary period, a period of volatility. But if we're going to maintain our roads in accordance with the very high standards we've set, we've got to pay for it. So that was $40 million approved tonight without comment. Further cut expenditures. I assume you'd be open to that, would you not?

Yes, we would.

All right. Thank you. I'll turn now to Council Member Carroll for a second round. Please, folks, let's try to limit it to five minutes each and then turn to the public and come back to us after that. Council Member Carroll. Yeah, thank you, Mayor.

Yeah, I just want to do a couple more minutes and just go back to these recommended actions again with the staff if I could. So how many of these items ARE SORT OF MANDATORY AND HAVE TO BE ADOPTED TONIGHT. JUST IN TERMS OF CAN YOU JUST WALK US THROUGH THE TIMING OF EACH OF THESE ITEMS?

SURE. LET'S SEE. ITEM NUMBER FIVE APPROPRIATION LIMITS DEFINITELY IS REQUIRED. Oh, sorry, number six. We have to adopt, before the end of the month, from 5 through 12. Oh, actually, let me just take a pause. All of it is part of balancing the budget, so I would say yes, all of the items between four through 12 is required to balance before the end of the month, unless there's an alternative pathway to balance the budget. Some do require fees. So if there's an alternative method to balance the budget, then certainly we're open to consider that as well.

Okay. So, I mean, this is going to take more than three minutes and 40 seconds. So if the big budget meeting that happened previously, I was not here for it, where everything came up and the shortfall came up and all that stuff, if that doesn't happen, We're presenting at this meeting on this date, and you're basically saying we have this, you know, we have this, you know, look, in my world, we call it a de minimis budget shortfall from a P&L accounting perspective, and here's how we're going to fill the hole. Is that what happens, and we just sort of got a preview of it a month ago?

So what we discussed last meeting was both the current solving what we see as a current issue, which we're talking about tonight, which is a current fiscal year closing out and then next fiscal year. In addition, at the last meeting, we talked about a larger structural balancing challenge for 27, 28, and beyond. So that's coming back in August to solve that longer-term issue. What we're presenting is just this current year closing out, next fiscal year is closing out.

So what we're doing in August is what we would have normally done next year?

Correct.

Right. And we've decided to speed that up because of whatever. But this is something that we would have talked about at this meeting anyway. Okay. this imbalance or whatever. It's a deficit, right? A deficit is what it is. And I think it just becomes kind of hard to look at some of these other things. For example, as the person, one of the people that spearheaded this whole bus idea with IUSD, which we thought was pretty cool, I think that's kind of, it feels like a little bit, and again, I don't think I'm I don't think I'm taking words out of the vice mayor's mouth here, but I feel a little bit of a tension between the cart and the horse to some degree. And I don't, I'm not meaning to put that on staff. It's just some of the stuff feels a little weird. I'm not sure why I'm voting for an audit report. I've never voted for an audit report. I've never had a board of directors that voted to receive an audit report. So that makes no sense. I mean, I got an audit opinion and you told me the audit's clean. And for this purpose, I'm a director. I usually sit in Jeff Melching's chair at private companies and that's what happens. So, okay, great. We got an audit. You told me we talked about it offline. The audit's directed to the council members. I hope all of you have read the audit report. It's clean, which means we don't need an audit, but that's a different story. So we have a clean audit opinion under the, you know, the whatever, I apologize, Dale, whatever you call the government gap, the gap for government. So, you know, the other thing, too, is I just want to just prioritize policy. For me, we haven't talked about a lot of other things. I have a slide that I made that has millions and millions of dollars of council-initiated events. And frankly, I initiated some of those. And here's another one. How much is each council member's budget? How much do we each get a year? Tell us. Tell us the number. Approximately $600,000. We each get $600,000. Is that right? Correct. Okay, so I'm going to have a hard time talking about a 10% deduct when seven of us up here are responsible for $600,000 each. Okay? And I don't mean that at you. I just mean that, quite frankly, to my colleagues. This city is being asked to prioritize the things that it needs to prioritize. And to me, those are the Ps. The police, the public works, the parks, the permits, and the people. the people that deliver the services. I don't know how I'm going to be able to get through that with all due respect tonight. I don't know. There's just a lot here. Our professional that runs the Great Park just came up and said, I think we can find $5 million by doing something that I've been complaining about for years and personally face every time I go out there as a parent. which is out-of-town people using my, as the mayor said, pristine, amazing facility that you guys keep, and people aren't paying for it. They're not paying for it. So I just, I don't know, some of this stuff is, I mean, I literally feel like we could spend four hours on each dale of four through 12. 13 I have a serious problem with. The way that I have a problem with the fact that we, what is the number we send to IOSD? How much do we send in Irvine taxpayers for police, parks, public works, and permits do we send to the school district?

About $13 million.

So it's $13 million for multiple school districts?

And I think the DARE officers are great. And I think what we do for IUSD is amazing. And there will be a hue and cry, council members. Be sure of it, because we talked about it at times past. We will all come here with pitchforks. But does it really make sense for the city to be sending $13 million of our tax dollars that we all collect from our residents for the things the city is supposed to do to the school district when we each get $600,000 each for our staff members to take pictures of us at events? I don't think so. Not sure I'm going to be standing up for that. And I'm not sure I'm going to be deciding that at this meeting. So I look forward to what the rest of you guys have to say. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Carroll. Council Member Mai, I saw your name up, but it's not. Did you take it down?

I did, but it's just a quick comment on what Council Member Mike Carroll mentioned about the council staff budgets. Because what was the number again? 600,000. 600,000. And prior to a couple months before that, most of us, we were presented with 300 something, 300 and change in terms of our budgets. This was presented to us in a binder. It was given to us 300 something like that. I just would like some consistency moving forward in terms of actual numbers because a lot of different things were included into the new number which weren't included previously or presented properly. That's all. That was my comment. Thank you.

All right. I see no further requests. I think maybe now would be a good time to turn to the public. How many requests do we have from citizens to be heard?

Thank you, Mayor. We have 12 requests to speak.

Twelve. All right. Leave those recommended actions up, if you would, so that people at home can see them. And I'm sorry, how many are here and how many are remote?

We have 10 in person, two on Zoom, and our current policies procedures say two minutes each, but I'll defer to you, Mayor.

All right. Why don't we just give folks two minutes each, and if they need a little additional time, they can request it of me. All right? All right. Go right ahead.

Thank you, Mayor. If I could call forward Andy Huang, Harita Huang, Angela Yu, Sam Zell, and Don Geller. And we'll start with Andy.

Welcome, sir. Let me just say, are there any other commissioners who are asking to be heard?

Other than I see Mr. Geller in the queue, I don't believe so.

All right, I'm going to suggest that we move Mr. Geller up, because no doubt he'll give us a report from the Finance Commission as well. All right?

Point of order.

What's your point?

Can I just ask, did the Finance Commission vote to have Mr. Geller give the report? Which, if they did, that's fine.

It wasn't part of the action.

Okay. All right, so is there another reason that you want him to be talking first, other than maybe that he's your commissioner?

No, it's not because he's my commissioner, it's because he's the chair of the Finance Commission. They spent five hours in a meeting, actually about three and a half on the budget itself. They conducted themselves admirably in my view, and I want him to bring to us an underscoring of what they recommended in addition to adopting staff's recommendations.

Again, they just said here that the commission did not vote to have Commissioner Geller report for them. And I'm happy to hear him as an individual. I just want to make sure before he starts talking that he's clear about whether he was voted to speak for them or if he is speaking on his own.

Well, why don't we just let him tell us when he comes forward.

I'll just say that I object to having him come early.

All right, I hear your objection. Next. Go ahead, sir. Please, go ahead.

Good evening, council members. I'd like to remind everyone that on August 24th, 2024, in this very room, that Mayor Larry Agron said priority needs to be given to badminton as the orphan sport at this point, and we're going to take care of that orphan. Thank you for the support. I'd just like to make sure that the badminton fee can be says affordable, but at the same time fair. Thank you. Thank you for your comment.

Mr. Geller, please.

Tell us in what capacity you're speaking. I don't want to cause any angst amongst the council. I'll wait my turn. All right, go ahead. This is, I feel petty on the council members' part here, but I'll be more than happy to wait.

All right, go ahead. That will please Council Member Trecedar, no end. Next.

Harita? Charita. Apologies, thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. My name is Jerita, a long-term resident of the City of Irvine. I played on the IVC badminton team during the 2022 season, where our team earned the second place at the 3CAA state championship. made the semifinalists for the double competition. For years, Irvine's badminton community has learned of a home, has dreamed of a home of its own. Seeing our city's first gym with dedicated badminton court become a reality is both exciting and truly meaningful. To me, the Fieldhouse is not just a place to play badminton. It's where families spend meaningful time together, young athletes grow, and community connections are built. However, the current pricing creates an imbalance when compared to multipurpose courts that are being offered at the more favorable rate. We passionately look forward to expanding badminton to a broader community, but this can never be done without a fair pricing structure. So tonight, I'm here to ask a member of the City Council to reconsider and take these concerns into consideration when you make the final pricing structure. Thank you very much.

Thank you for your comments.

Angela?

Good evening, Mayor Agron and council members. My name is Angela Yu, and I'm a junior at Portola High School. This year, I helped establish the Portola High School badminton team, making it the first CIF badminton team in Irvine history. As a self-funded program, we've had to advocate for badminton courts and equitable access to gym time. And through that experience, I've learned how important it is for growing sports to have fair access to indoor facilities. That is why it's disappointing to hear that as our city is preparing to open its first ever indoor gym, badminton players are asked to pay around 40% more than participants from other indoor sports. For students like me, it means a lot to have access to a nearby badminton facility that is affordable, as it provides us with opportunities to grow and compete and develop in the sport that we love. The Irvine Fieldhouse is a community. It should bring our community together instead of sending the message that some sports matter more than others. And so I respectfully urge the City Council to re-examine the pricing structures for the Irvine Fieldhouse and to ensure that badminton players are treated with fairness. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment.

Sam? Sam?

Good evening, Mayor and the Council. I'm San Zhao, a volunteer youth badminton coach. Regarding item 3.1, part 7, the proposed field house fees are mathematically discriminatory and violate state law. Badminton residents are being charged 40% more and Irvine's youth are being charged 128% more than multi-sports court users. I cannot see the justice in this. For those in the audience who came to support badminton, please rise and stand with me. I will now stand in silence for my remaining time.

Are you done?

My time is not up.

All right. Thank you. Thank you for your comment.

Don Geller, and if I could also call forward Carrie Lambeth, Patrick Leffler, Heidi, and Alan Meyerson.

Welcome, Mr. Geller.

Good evening. Good evening, Mayor, City Council members. I'm Don Geller, Chair of the Finance Commission. I'd like to report on last week's commission meeting, but as Council Member Treseder mentioned, I will be speaking only for myself. Council Member Treseder, I appreciate you. Are you leaving? Oh. Should I wait until Council Member Treseder comes back?

I would wait, yes. I would suggest you wait. Would you please set the clock back at 1.35?

Well, let me just say that our attorney mentioned that I definitely should not be speaking for the Finance Commission as the Finance Commission Chair, that I should only be speaking for myself. He made that clear to me, and I don't... I don't quite understand why Councilwoman Schroeder is targeting me, targets the mayor, She constantly talks about the mayor's people, the mayor's allies. I find that disturbing. I find that beneath a council member's ability to serve on this council. So I'm sorry you have this targeting on you. I just want to say... Part of my time is I spend dozens and dozens of hours a month for also no pay for this. It's almost ridiculous how much time I spend. And same with the other members. And for you not to have the decorum and the understanding that we do this for the love of the city, And my association with the mayor for 40 years does mean something. And I am allied with the mayor, and I'm proud of that. And I do get very upset to be targeted by you over and over again, as well as others. It's unprofessional and beneath you, Councilwoman. So let me say my remarks, and you can say a point of order because I'm gonna go over time, and that's your prerogative. That's my prerogative to now speak, and I will. After a detailed and robust discussion, the Finance Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval for the staff's recommendation. There were some time spent on the city's asset management plan fund, and it led to a recommendation passed by a 6-0 vote for the city council to provide direction to adopt a policy statement on the appropriate usage of this fund. On a related item that the council passed unanimously, there was a recommendation to fund the $6.3 million current period deficit. Thank you.

Your time is up. I'll give you an extra minute. Go ahead.

by allocating 50% from the asset management plan fund and 50% of the contingency reserve fund. The split allocation corresponds with the asset management fund and reserve contingency fund having almost an equal amount of money available in their respective accounts. The new result will lower the contingency reserve account from 22% funded to 21% funded, still significantly higher than is currently recommended by the GFOA. We also thought it best to direct the admission staff to consult the city's auditors on best practices regarding this allocation. Council and staff and the public are welcome to review the recording of our exciting five-hour commission meeting for more details. Thank you and good evening. Thank you for your comments.

Carrie Lambeth.

Welcome, sir.

Hello. I've been a city, I lived in the city since 1985. My kids all played basketball, played other sports as well. I appreciate, Mike, I just want to ask you a quick question if you don't mind me bringing it up. But on the 20, August 26, 2022, we had a meeting. It was at UCI. And we went to the Arc Center to view what's going on at the Arc Center, talking about a new gym possibly in Irvine. I just want to thank you for that opportunity. Looks like we're going to get it. I don't know what it's going to end up being like, but I do know that there's some issues here. Number one, they're not paying what they're saying about for badminton. What they're complaining about, just to clear the air, and I don't work for the city, They're talking about the multi-court facility that's available for basketball, volleyball, any sport, badminton include. You can put four badminton courts on it, and it's not going to be the numbers that they're bringing up. So if it's $35 divided by four, that's what it should be. They can use it as well. No one's saying they can't. We have 10 multi-court courts that are used for, it's large, it's 160 by 120 feet. Those can be broken up into badminton, pickleball, many different sports. So what they're telling you is not correct. Your city's done a great job. Your staff has done a great job. They worked with us. They made some mistakes. We talked about them. They reviewed it. And the commission actually approved it after they gave us an extension. So I'm very excited. So thank you again for all your help. The city staff has done a great job. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Patrick?

Good evening, council members, and thanks for having us over here. I just wanted to congratulate the staff on a fantastic job. April 1st, we were presented at the Sports Advisory Committee one proposal. The Sports Advisory Committee did not have time to review it, went to commission. Commission voted to give assignment an extension. We went back and worked with that same city staff and was able to find out actually how to help them on their way towards cost recovery. For the multi-court youth courts themselves, based on the numbers that we have, representing us as a sports advisory committee, we're actually able to increase the aggregate net rate 50%. The initial proposal was $40 flat for every multi-court hourly rate out there for youth. We were able to break that into subcategories and figure out how to actually get the aggregate to $55 an hour. 35 for rec, 60 for that, 60 for club. So I wanted to congratulate them for that right there. We're looking forward to everything that's going to happen with this and just wanted to make sure everybody was clear of that. To give you an idea of the excitement we have, just in December alone, we had 15,000 visits in our program, just ours. There's 25 other sports advisory committee members excited about this as well. December, January, February was 45,000 visits. visits per Irvine residents. Our residency rate right now is 94%. You can verify with the city. So thank you very much. Thank you for your comments.

Good evening. Thank you. I'm new to all this finance. I'm trying my hardest to understand it, but my concern is this asset management fund one-time funding talk. As you recall back when I mentioned that the MOU of Irvine Company's proposal, the very last page, had a timeline, a payout timeline, regarding these payouts. So it's just very concerning that there was a one of the suggested actions that's not listed here was to create a like a policy on how that's spent. I'm sorry, that's what it sounded like was being recommended, but it's not here. I'm not sure if I understood that very well. But when I heard that, I laughed out loud. I don't know if you heard me. But just some transparency on these funds. I don't know if they're available online for us to be able to see how everything is spent. That's something that should be available to the residents as well as a town hall, I think, is necessary where... you can speak with the residents and we don't have to sit here and cross our fingers and hope our rep asks the right question. And then we come up here and speak and all we can do is say something and we can't have like an actual discussion and ask questions the way you guys can. So I think you guys owe us that. So if you could please consider that, that would be nice. I mean, I know we have a finance commission and everything, but also that presentation, if you can tell me what page, if it's available to us or where is it on the 472 page PDF that's been uploaded, that would be nice to know or to make that available. Let's see here.

How much time do I have? Okay.

And then these iConnect buses. It's funny that you said that the audit said that our finance...

Your time is up. Just finish your thought.

That our audit is healthy, but we have these... shuttles that were upgraded to buses, but they're empty all the time. So why don't we revert back to the shuttles and save some cost, maybe sell off those buses until we actually need them. I'm sure we can save some money there. That doesn't sound healthy to keep them empty and running.

Thanks for your comments.

Next. Alan Meyerson.

Welcome, sir. Good evening, council members. Good evening, Councilwoman Treseder. I wanted to address Vice Mayor Maia's comments. A budget is, and I don't want to be condescending here, but a budget is a projection. And the projections aren't always accurate. It doesn't mean you're out of control. And it sounds like you want to fix this whole thing by just cutting things and not creating any revenue in any way, any additional fees. That's the way it sounded from your remarks. I'll give you an example. I have a budget. It's a personal budget. I recently got my homeowners association insurance renewal. And it had doubled. It doubled. And I haven't filed any claims over the whole time I've had it. I've had it for over 25 years. I didn't project that, but it doubled. And that's what happens. Fees come up. Projections could be off. The economy changes. And it needs to be dealt with from a point of view of bringing in more revenue and doing cuts at the same time. You can't just handle everything by cutting everything because then your services are going to go down and the city will lose its reputation. You live here, you know that. You know the city has great services for the people. People want to live here and that's one of the reasons they want to live here is because of the services. So if you just start cutting everything, Your services are going to suffer. The people are going to suffer. So I urge you to just keep an open mind as far as bringing in more revenue and making cuts where you can. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Next.

Mr. Mayor, our last in-person speaker has a presentation. So if I may, I'll go to Zoom and then come back to that individual.

Yes.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Ian Cration. Ian, you may unmute your mic.

Thank you, good evening Council and staff. First, I want to thank Council Member Carroll for the excellent idea to charge for parking at the Great Park. As you point out, most users of our sports fields at the Great Park do not live in Irvine. It would be very smart for the city to follow the lead of the many other cities in Orange County that are charging for parking. This would also incentivize carpooling and those who take alternative modes of transit, which would reduce traffic. A few points of information about the university high school bus that I did not hear mentioned in the staff report tonight. The program currently provides partial funding for two routes to university high school. Parents who use the bus, and I am not one of them, they still write the district a check for $700 every year for each child who uses the bus. Both routes are in huge demand, so they fill in a matter of minutes after registration opens in August every year. And that's because most of the families in Southeast Irvine who use the uni bus are zoned for Alderwood Elementary, which is a Title I school. That means a high percentage of their student population, typically around 40% or more, comes from low-income households. Also, according to Google Maps, walking from the furthest parts of Southeast Irvine, for example, Los Olivos to University High School is about six and a half miles one way. So it would take about two hours and 20 minutes to make the trip one way via foot. And folks who live in and around Turtle Rock report that the University High School bus has significantly alleviated traffic on the roads around uni. So I know I'm one of many parents that are hoping the council will continue that program. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Tiffany. Tiffany, you may unmute your mic.

Thank you. Good evening, Council. Tiffany from Woodbury. Thank you, as always, for making these meetings accessible. I wanted to comment on the proposed convenience fee changes. I understand the city is moving towards a flat fee model of percentage-based. And while that might sound small, the impact to residents is actually pretty significant. Currently, for example, an average summer camp for one child is $200 to $300 per week. This would increase the cost by 100%. For a multi-child household, those fees would increase even more so. Additionally, I was calling to ask for clarification on the proposed change, as currently it's fees only for transactions over $20. There are fees also in the multi-use.

Absolutely. So they actually are separated with a demising wall between the other multi-use courts. We've worked with the badminton community as well as our designers, and there are some very specific design elements such as the color of the paint on the walls, the HVAC, the air system, the lighting. There's a special mat flooring in addition that we'll be purchasing to lay on the wood floor that's customized for badminton play specifically.

So will that require any kind of special setup for a multi-use court if we're using them as badminton courts?

Yes. So there'll be two of the multi-use courts that will have multiple lines on them for different sports, including badminton. So those will be laid out, overlaid for badminton courts, for instance, over a basketball court.

As I see it right now, I mean, to make it kind of clear, that the half court use for multi-sport for residential recreation, let's just compare the same category, it will be $20. That will actually be two courts, two badminton courts out of that half multi-use, right?

Yeah, I don't think we anticipate that being used very often, but yes, yes.

I'm just saying, hypothetically. But then, so that kind of means that if, say, Badminton is going to reserve a half multi-use court, they are actually ahead if we charge them by the court, not so much by the use. Sure, I think that's it. Is that fair? Yes. Okay. And then... Obviously, they're not all the same. So my point is I honestly don't see anything illegal or discriminatory. I think the concern, if I'm hearing you correctly, is that you don't want to be charged more than the other sports in that case. If I may, I don't know if we can offer to have it spelled out that the teams will get charged by the court use, not so much by the function. I don't know if that will be a language that you would like to include. Would that be satisfactory to...

Council Member Liu, you could certainly make that part of your motion. Yes, you could certainly make that part of your motion. I think Director Slama has said that that's what those numbers mean. If somebody comes and they want to use a half of a multi-sport court, they're going to pay $20 no matter what sport they're doing on it.

Right, even if it requires a little additional setup.

Right. Even if there are two badminton courts being used at the same time, that's $10 per court.

I mean, I don't see how that would be. I mean, technically, like I said, it would be, they're paying $20 less unless we're willing to change that structure again. Anyway. My point is if that is something that we would have to put in and spell out in this fee structure to kind of satisfy everybody's needs, and then in eight months we are going to review whether this is going to cover the cost recovery, I believe that as of right now it will be okay if we charge a flat fee. Right? I mean, I think that will be fair rather than, I mean, just to say, I don't know if that will be something that my council colleagues will agree with. I mean, obviously, that'll be something that we can propose later. But anyway, in this structure right now, what is your... Did we do a... I mean, I'm asking. There should be a cost estimate, right? In comparable facilities.

As far as the market rate analysis, is that your question?

Yeah, I will say it is difficult to find an apples-to-apples comparison. There's a few larger, similar facilities that are privately run. Their rates are set much different. They also have the ability to work out agreements with regular user groups to where they can reduce fees at their own will. The other comparison that's difficult is with other municipal facilities. Usually they only have one or two courts. So a lot of those are actually providing their own city-run sports programs. They're doing contracted classes. So they set their rates, their private reservation rates, a lot higher because really they're not using those a lot during the week. They're probably using those for tournaments on the weekends or youth sports groups that are running their games on the weekends that are paying those higher rates.

Okay. Are they comparable in quality of the facilities? I mean, because we have a much bigger facility than other municipal use.

When you say quality, in terms of the design?

In terms of size and design.

Yes, yes, I believe so. I believe everyone you've heard people tonight are excited about it, absolutely. Right.

Well, I guess, okay, so we're not really able to have a more defined estimate right now.

I'm sorry, in terms of estimate, I don't understand the question, which estimate?

Right on, I'm saying we won't be able to actually compare the quality versus the... versus what we're actually going to spend on maintenance and operation.

Oh, yeah, we have actually, I'll hand it to Corey.

We've got those numbers, absolutely.

Great.

The anticipated cost of the facility is about $2.4 million a year to run, and that is actually what our projection is for revenue as well at full operation.

And then we heard from the basketball community and then the community. Do we take into account what the current use is in the projected percentage of use?

Yes. So what we're hoping to do is once fees are approved, we actually will have a web page and we'll go out and get an interest list of all the groups that we've been contacted. And we've been contacted by several volleyball groups, basketball groups, futsal, and all of that. And then we'll start pulling that puzzle together of programming out the facility.

In reservations, are there any type of priority that you'll consider?

Yes. So we have an allegation procedure, just as we do for our sports fields and our aquatics facilities. They pretty much take into account that recreation groups, Irvine local recreation groups, get second priority to city programs. And then it just kind of moves down from A to B to C from there.

Right. So in that case, would it be beneficial to belong to any specific groups?

I think, you know, Irvine-based youth resident groups will always get priority. So that is beneficial. And then from there, club sports too that meet 70% residency or above will get second priority from there. So yes, if you're an Irvine resident, it would be better to be associated with an Irvine youth nonprofit as opposed to someone from Tustin because they're not going to get this higher priority.

So in that case, a more formally formed group that's Irvine-based, and do we have any criteria on the percentage of Irvine participants?

We do. So to qualify for the recreation groups, you have to have 85% residency or greater, and then for the club sports, 70% or greater.

Okay. Well, thank you.

All right, we'll move on to Council Member Mai.

Thank you, Mayor, and I'd like to first address something I heard from the Mayor. You know, I don't mind having a philosophical approach to things, as long as it's a logical approach. I'm guided by a moral compass here. I think people like that moral compass or believe that it's in the right direction sometimes. That's why I'm here. I believe in having a high degree of empathy. Mayor, we may disagree, but with respect, we bring different skill sets to this dais here. For me, I think life is expensive already. Life in Irvine is also very expensive. I believe that when you have fiscal issues, the priority should be cost cutting, not ignoring revenue, but we need to identify how we got here and a comprehensive plan of both increasing revenue and cutting expenses. What I asked for before and what we asked for here two months ago, we directed the staff to come back with a full picture of options, both revenue cuts, I'm sorry, both revenue and cuts together. That report is due in August. Tonight, staff is asking us to approve new and increased fees before that report exists. That's, to me, backwards. I'm not going to approve revenue increases while we're still waiting to find out what's going on on the spending side. We have a spending problem, not a revenue problem. The big elephant in the room that's not been addressed tonight is our full-time workforce grew by nearly 250 positions in the past five years. That's a 30% increase. Salaries and benefits now eat 65%, up to 65 cents for every general fund dollar we spend. You don't solve that by charging residents more for alarm permits and credit card transaction fees. You solve that by getting control of the cost structure. We haven't done that quite yet here. These fees are small and the problem is not small. We're looking at deficits that can grow to over 9 million once you get past fiscal year. The fees on this agenda I heard were between 1.4 to 2.4 million in user fee revenue. That doesn't move the needle on a structural problem. What it does is let us avoid the harder conversations a little bit longer. I'm not willing to do that. We should continue these items to August when the comprehensive report comes to us. We can look at revenues. We can look at cuts together, make decisions with full information, and be accountable to residents for the whole picture, not just an easy half of it. Thank you.

Council Member Treseder.

Thank you. So I appreciate everybody's comments on this issue. I wanted to follow up on one comment from the council member here, just because I'm intrigued and would like to consider this further. But Council Member Carroll mentioned that he wanted to reduce the office OFFICE BUDGET FOR THE COUNCIL MEMBERS EVEN FURTHER THAN 10%. AND SO I WAS WONDERING JUST THROUGH THE CHAIR, DID HE HAVE A NUMBER IN MIND? DO YOU HAVE A NUMBER IN MIND YOU WOULD LIKE TO REDUCE IT BY? All right, well, I'm excited to hear back from about that. And then also next regarding Commissioner Geller. Yeah. don't have a problem at all with anything that he said today. And I appreciate that he elected to go in line with the rest of the individuals here. I appreciated that he was clear about representing himself. No problem with that whatsoever. The issue that I have is the commissioners for certain items being pulled to speak before the other individuals who are here who've been waiting and signed up earlier. And so, for instance, it wouldn't occur to me to assume that anybody should be able to speak if they're representing themselves as an individual. speak before Mr. Wang, Ms. Yu, Mr. Zhao, and so forth, who had signed up ahead of this commissioner. And of fees, I feel comfortable voting to adopt the fee schedule here for the field house. I have seen the data, and I feel like I can be reasonably well-informed In terms of much of the rest of the budget here, I don't feel comfortable voting on it in this point, in which case I agree with Council Member Carroll. I don't have as much of the information as I would like. I feel like once we come back and get these additional reports back, that the council has asked for previously then i'll be in a much better position to vote responsibly on this budget i know that we could vote on it now and then make revisions later but then we got the momentum and inertia and it's hard to overcome that sometimes so for now i just want to hold off on voting for the rest of the budget i i want to be well informed and um i also you know a week having a week to look at the budget we did our best but i can't be sure that i didn't miss anything and i don't want to be in a position two years from now where i didn't have enough time to look at everything and i missed something and then it's going to come back to bite us so that is why i will only be supporting the fee schedule today thank you council member martinez franco

Thank you. A couple of things that I wanted to bring up. Mr. Allen made a really good comment. Things cost more as we increase. From 2000 to 2026, more than double our population, from 168,000 to 320,000. So we definitely need to increase our revenue, and we need to keep on providing excellent services as we have been providing. It's not that we need to cut. I don't believe that we need to cut on services in order to continue doing what we were doing 20 years ago. We cannot be sustainable with the fees that we have. The other thing that I wanted to bring to the staff is that communications team has brought up in the past very good ideas on how to increase the revenue, like advertising and alcohol in certain events. And I want you guys to incorporate those ideas and bring it back to the staff and how much revenue it will provide. I know Melissa already presented us with that, but I want it to be reconsidered again now that we need to increase our revenue. I think they are great ideas. It's not going to affect anybody, and they are going to be approved only for certain events. THE OTHER THING THAT FOR I AGREE WITH A COUPLE OF THINGS WITH THE RECOMMENDED ACTIONS WITH THE OTHER COUNCIL MEMBERS. I FEEL LIKE I NEED TO HAVE A BIGGER PICTURE BUT I KNOW THAT YOU GUYS NEED APPROVAL IN CERTAIN URGENT ITEMS. CAN YOU REMIND ME WHICH ONES ARE THE ONES THAT ARE URGENTLY NEED TO BE APPROVED?

SURE. IT WOULD BE ITEMS 4 THROUGH 12.

Okay, thank you so much.

Thank you. I'll turn now to Councilmember Goh.

Thank you, Mayor. I just want to commend staff for finding the solutions to get us through last year, this year. You know, the world's changed quite a bit since after COVID. Everybody's facing a lot of the issues. Everybody, you know, businesses, governments, whatnot. In our lines of business, we've had to endure rising labor costs, rising food costs, rising, you name it, it's there. We've struggled quite a bit to solve a lot of the problems. Regardless, you know, it's just a math formula at the end of the day, trying to balance everything. I commend that you're able to find the savings needed, although some of them look like it might just be a kick the can on the road. But nevertheless, we got there. I do urge us to proactively keep looking for saving measures. Obviously, the rainy days are not going to stop anytime soon. We might find ourselves in a different situation in a few months. whether it's negative, positive, whatnot. It's always good to have a list of options and looking at all our various programs and looking at the user fees. Everything kind of leave no stone unturned. My request is for us to keep compiling a list of services or any kind of budget that could be deferred, whatnot, and any potential savings. I know there's some discussions about our office budgets. Obviously, we're all looking at that, and I'm happy to contribute. any way possible to bridge some of that gap, and we understand that this is a whole team effort, and let's just keep looking for more opportunities to get there. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Is there anything further? by way of comment. I just wanted to go back to a point I didn't understand that Councilmember Carroll was making about the receive and file. It escaped me and I didn't know what your concern was and how that fits in with the recommended actions tonight. Could you Explain that concern. It seems like it's not a substantive matter.

Yeah, no, I think it's just technical. I'll vote no on those guys. You guys are welcome to vote for that. I accept the audit as it was delivered to me. I don't understand what our city attorney is doing. Our process, as long as I've been in this government since State Senator Stephen Choi appointed me to the Community Services Commission, is when there was an item that is receive and file, and when I was chair of the Orange County Power Authority, when I was chair of the Great Park Board, when I was chair of the Irvine Planning Commission, an item marked receive and file was always scripted for me by Carl Peterson, our city clerk, as the following. This item is a receive and file. No further action is required. We will move to the next item. Somehow our city attorney seems to tell me, the council member, that I don't remember reading that script, but I do remember reading that script, back to 2010, which I think is about 16 years ago, going forward. So I don't know what to say. You guys are welcome to vote on something that I think is completely outside of process and make any sense whatsoever. And I'll just vote no, because I'm not going to abstain and violate the municipal code. And I'm not going to get up either. So I'll vote no on those. So it's fine.

So let me just be clear. as the presiding officer, I want everybody to be very happy. So when it comes to receive and file, I just say the words, this is a report to be received and filed, and that's it. It's done. It doesn't require a motion. That'll work. All right. Well, let me just say that from here on out, I'm happy to do that. Anything that's recommended, receive and file, I'll just announce it as such.

Okay? Mayor, could I just make a comment on the audit? So previously we've included it as a consent item. And it approved as a whole. I just wanted to kind of make that distinction. But more than happy to, you know, do what the council would like to do.

I'm sorry. I didn't quite get that.

Yeah. So normally our audit goes on as a consent item. Yes. Historically in the past, as well as our quarterly. And it is approved as a whole.

So you'll continue to do that?

I'm open to either way, so I just wanted to clarify.

It doesn't matter how it comes to us. Listen, let me just say the important thing is the substance of the audits is something we ought to be proud of. I want to deal with substance tonight, but procedurally, it doesn't matter to me whether it's approved on consent or I simply announce it's a receive and file item. Whatever. Okay? I'll tell you what I'd like to do because I have a concern. If we put off adoption of your recommended actions, if we put that off, until the next meeting, and we're doing deep dives on fees instead of adopting a budget, I think we're really missing the mark. I think it's imperative that we adopt a balanced budget. and that we take that step initially tonight. Can that be adjusted thereafter through what amounts to trailer measures or might call them revises or whatever? All kinds of suggestions that people have, including the most recent one about advertising policy in the city and so forth. Happy to entertain all that. I think we should. If people have better ideas than that are included in the budget, better ideas for additional revenue or for reducing expenditures, great, let's take them up. But let's do our duty, our responsibility under law and just as a matter of logic and tradition, adopt a balanced budget. If we don't do that tonight, my concern is we come back on the 23rd and it's gonna be a free for all and very, very unlikely that it will be productive. That's just my view. I see others want to be heard, and I'm happy to turn to them. And at the appropriate time, I'm inclined to make a motion. Council Member Mai.

Thank you, Mayor. And just to be clear here, what we do tonight, is this going to supersede anything that's going to be done in August? Or is it going to change anything that you're going to be doing for August?

It will not.

All right. I just want to say that I'm not interested in approving or adopting anything until we answer all the questions, until I see a big picture in August, until I see something in August. One of the biggest things is why were we hiring like it was 1999 dot com season? No one has addressed that at all, anywhere, at any time. So I'm waiting for that answer as well before I make any adoptions or approval of anything.

Council Member Liu.

Well, first, I agree with my other colleagues about, you know, we can do both. We can raise revenue and we can also... cut spending in this case of trying to get the fees up to cost recovery. I believe that's not so much raising revenue. It's to make things fair and not not allocate the burden of using these facilities or operating these facilities on taxpayers who don't use these facilities. And again, just like it was mentioned before, we can't keep operating on a deficit and not expect to go into a hole. I mean, I agree with Council Member Carroll and Council Member Treseder on getting parking. I mean, obviously also the Field House is another opportunity for us to charge for parking. I used to pay $20, $25 every day to go into any tournament at any gym nearby. Well, I have one more question and totally forgot to ask. Sorry, Chris. Do we ever consider maybe having a plan or some kind of fee waiver for low-income families?

Yes, for city programs, we actually have within the budget a scholarship program that people that meet the requirements for that can utilize that for city programs at city facilities. So absolutely.

I recognize that our city function is to provide services, so we don't want any kids to miss out on playing sports if they can't afford it. But thank you so much for clarifying that. I have an idea to bifurcate item number seven, just because I have some additional ideas. I am willing to approve the budget today, but I would like to... I would like to add a few things to item number seven. Do I need to put forth a motion to ?

I'll tell you what. Let me tell you what I have in mind. I'll make a motion with respect to the recommended actions here. And then you could, at that point, offer what amounts to it sounds like a friendly amendment to change one of those recommendations in some way all right um council member carroll yeah thank you uh thank you mayor oh thanks thanks uh team for uh pulling that back up um you know dale i'm just wondering um is it

You know, as we kind of roll through all these recommended actions, and, you know, it is obviously as you're hearing, and I understand all the work that everyone did in finances is excellent work, and a lot of thought went into it on behalf of the entire staff. With regard to all these listed, you know, are you able to kind of go through this list with me right now, and maybe there are things that maybe we could get 7-0 and just kind of tick off? And again, Mayor, I understand this may fly in the face of what you were going to do, and I'm happy to just kind of back away there. I'm just wondering, Dale, like, for example, four, I think four just has to go, right? In other words, we're in a hole, six million, whatever, and that needs, we passed a two-year budget that ends when it ends, and then in this first cycle of two-year budget that ends in 27 we have a Gap right this this this is the six million ish.

That's correct.

That's what four is Self-insurance funding you'll have to walk me through again

Yes. So for self-insurance, we did see some additional cost for our self-insurance program. So claims, general liability claims has gone up, expenses gone up. So we have to send funds there to balance that fund as well.

When you say self-insurance, is it a bond? So we self-insure.

So it's for general claims. So if a tree falls on a car, there's a claim. Someone claims and we have to pay out. There's other general liability claims that city gets sued. We have to pay for workers' comp as well. Those are just insurance premiums? Insurance premiums, but we also self-insure in a lot of ways, so the cost of workers' comp claims has gone up because a lot of the cost for health care has gone up, so it's being passed on to the city.

So when you say self-insurance, is that a pool that you have in an account that you're adding to? Is that what we're talking about?

That is correct. So we supply operating cost of that ongoing cost that goes out to pay those claims and to pay the actual insurance itself.

Okay. So you sort of need four past, right? Yes, correct. Are there any other ones?

The number five, oh, sorry, number six definitely because that's the California obligated appropriation limit based on population that says.

Dale, I don't have to give you six. The seven of us don't have to do that, right, because that's July 1.

Seven.

Six or whatever you said. That kicks off July 1, right, the appropriations limit?

That kicks off July 1.

Yeah, I'm just trying to figure out the minimum we could get seven of us tonight. Is it more than four? Number four? In other words, stuff that can kind of wait, maybe? Or we can kind of keep going? I mean, this is going to take a long time, so everybody ought to just kind of buckle up, grab coffee, whatever. But I'm willing to sit in here and do it. I don't know about the rest of this agenda. I don't know how we're going to pay for millions of dollars for ranked choice voting. I don't know how ranked choice voting gets discussed after this, but at least with regard to the current budget cycle, you're looking for a vote to close a $6 million gap, right? Number four? Yes. If I moved four and seven of us vote, I guess what I'm saying is, let me just say it in a different way. If we don't give you four or more votes for number four, what happens?

We need to close the buck, so we would be out of compliance. And then?

I don't know.

It could be a legal question. I don't know. I just want to know.

We would be looking for City Council for direction on how to balance the current fiscal year.

But if we don't give you the votes, what happens?

We'll request direction from City Council of some other suggestions of how we want to balance the current fiscal year. We could do that action tonight or come back at the next meeting as well.

But if we don't give you four votes then, I just want to know what is there. It may not be a question for you. I just want to know what happens.

I think I could answer that. we're qualified to operate like legislators do in Washington, D.C.?

There's no real effect, right, Jeff? What is it? What happens?

Well, I imagine it would have a precipitous effect on all of the financings and credit that you seek everywhere.

And we might, Jeff, lose the award that Dale and his team gets, which is the best fiscally managed city in America. We probably would lose that award, I'm guessing.

For sure.

Yeah, so I think that council that we ought to really seriously think about for and for sure tonight and just close the thing. I mean, I think we all, many of us, you know, I mean, we can audit State of the Great Park where I spoke and that was a lot of money and we can go the bike mobility thing, the council member go and Ciclo with council member Tresider and the flags with council member Mize. So we all spent a lot of money, guys. And we're all apparently on track for $600,000 for each office. And yeah, my answer to the city council is I'm not for that. I don't know if I'm for any of that. So buckle up on that too, okay? But with regard to this, number four, I think we have to close this. The money's been spent. So I will be supporting four. I will be supporting four tonight. I will ask the six of you to support number four because if you don't, especially you four running for office, good luck on that, you need to close the books on the current fiscal year, for better or for worse. For Oliver Chee, for Sean Crumby, for Dale, for everybody, this team has to do that. The good news is I've now just revealed to all of you what the recourse is. The recourse is really nothing except it's going to be used against you this November, for sure. And on top of that, we're going to lose our status as an incredibly well fiscal managed city, which doesn't take away from the fact that the vice mayor's pushed to do what we're going to do in August and everywhere before and everywhere in between. But unless I'm missing something, number four is pretty damn critical. And the rest is a bunch of us sitting here for hours and hours and hours event, you know, determining whether badminton has been discriminated against, which they may well be. And they're sitting right there. And we were all there. I was a leader in that thing with the prior council to get that thing moving, and I don't even know. And the parking hasn't been kind of worked out. And ranked choice voting is not going to be free, and our city council clerk is going to tell us what that's going to cost. So, you know, Mayor, I'm going to defer to you, but I am wholeheartedly for approving and telling our staff that our staff is okay, that our staff is, I'm sorry, everybody gets to go over but me, that our staff is legitimate, that our staff are professionals and they're doing what they had to do. And if you want to go, everybody here wants to go try the prior city manager in Essentia, they can go do that. I will not be doing that. I will move and ask for a second on four, and I expect seven votes. And if you don't give those seven votes, you're telling the staff that, you know, for whatever it's worth, that these books are not going to close correctly, even though we got a clean audit opinion. So that's where my stand is. Unless there's another thing and you got your chance, Dale, if anything else needs to be passed tonight, let us know.

Council Member Carroll, I agree with you. I agree with your approach. Allow me maybe to do my job, which is to move to close the public hearing. That means we won't be taking any more public testimony. Second. Seconded by you. Would the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember, Vice Chairman Carroll.

Yes.

Councilmember, Chairman Goh.

Yes.

Councilmember, Director Liu. Yes. Councilmember, Director Martinez-Franco. Yes. Councilmember, Director Trecedar. Yes. Vice Mayor, Director Mai.

Yes.

And Mayor, Director Agran.

Yes.

Carry 7-0.

I'll hereby announce that we will be receiving and filing fiscal year 2024, 2025 fiscal, I'm sorry, financial reports and audit results. And we'll be receiving and filing fiscal year 2025-26 third quarter update And if you'd like to make a motion to approve recommended action number four, I think we'll be moving in the direction that you suggested.

I move item four with no changes.

I'll second the motion. Any discussion? There being none, would the clerk call the roll on the motion to approve recommended action number four?

Council Member, Vice Chairman Carroll. Council Member, Chairman Goh. Yes. Council Member, Director Liu.

Yes.

Council Member, Director Martinez-Franco. Yes. Council Member, Director Trecedar.

No.

Vice Mayor, Director Mai. No. Mayor, Director Agran. Yes. Carries 5-2 with Council Member, Director Trecedar and Vice Mayor, Director Mai voting no.

All right. That, just so everybody understands... In approving number four, we approve the budget adjustment that allocates 6,000, I'm sorry, $6,338,419 in reserves and $6,212,641 in expenditures for the fiscal year 2025-26 general fund balancing. and we allocated $2,315,184 in special funds expenditures for self-insurance premiums and claims. That's what we just did. With that done, I'm prepared to move on to another round here if people wish to really get into The particulars as you suggested Council Member Carroll, I'm also prepared to just to keep our focus here on specifics. I'm prepared to move adoption of recommended actions five through 12. And then we can have further discussion in that context. or not, or we can all go home.

Mayor, could I ask a clarifying question on number four for the Finance Commission's recommendation? They made a recommendation. I'm not sure if you wanted to consider that as well.

They did. What is your reaction? The recommendation was to split 50-50 between the Asset Management Fund and the Contingency Fund. Correct. I haven't had a chance to ask you what you thought about that.

So I'm fine either way. I think the premise behind the Finance Commission's recommendation is to take 50% from the contingency reserve just as a reminder that we need to replenish those funds in the future because the contingency fund does have a policy that requires the replenishment of those funds in the future.

If we were to simply incorporate the Finance Commission's recommendation, you have no problem with that?

I have no problems with that.

All right. I'll so move that the Finance Commission's recommendation, which, as I recall, was adopted unanimously, wasn't it?

Correct.

I'll move that that be included in the... previously adopted motion. Is there a second? Come on, guys.

I'll second.

Thank you, Councilmember Liu. In the end, it really doesn't matter, does it? I mean, it's kind of the color of money here a little bit. Procedurally, it matters a little bit, but not beyond that.

That's correct.

All right. I see no requests here for folks to be heard. Council Member Treseder?

Yes, could the motion please be clarified?

Yes. Actually, let me turn to our staff here. It was in, instead of taking, basically, let me give you the context. The idea was instead of taking all the money from the asset management fund to instead, there was a suggestion, well, we ought to just take it from the contingency fund too. And so there was finally a suggestion, well, let's just take half of the money to cover the shortfall from the asset management fund and half taken from the contingency fund.

That's correct.

And that seemed to me to be a reasonable compromise. It's pretty much a highly technical point in my view. So the Finance Commission took a fair amount of time talking about it and out of that came the question of, well, what is the asset management fund and how it's used and so forth, which we're not going to be answering tonight. Is that correct? That's correct. All right. So the motion is to incorporate in the previously adopted council action, which was to vote to approve recommended action number four to include direction that half of that money be taken from the asset management fund and half of it be taken from the contingency fund. That is correct. That's what a yes vote would do. Would the clerk please? Oh, I'm sorry. Council member Mai.

Yeah, I just wanted to address this also and number four as well. It was just adopted here. You know, we had, you guys got a pass on this one. I mean, the deal was, hey, we have a $6 million deficit. Let's just dip into reserves and save it. Okay, that happened. I want to remind everyone the term revenue. Revenue, this pencil right here, it's called a pencil. It's also called a writing instrument. Revenue is also called a tax. I'm not for any of this at all. Thank you.

Would the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member, Vice Chairman Carroll. Council Member Chairman Goh. Yes. Council Member Director Liu.

Yes.

Council Member Director Martinez-Franco.

Yes.

Council Member Director Trecedar. No. Vice Mayor Director Mai.

No.

Mayor Director Agran.

Yes.

Carries four to three with Council Member Vice Chairman Carroll, Council Member Director Trecedar, and Vice Mayor Director Mai voting no.

All right. So we've basically successfully covered the current fiscal year's budget shortfall. All right. Now we go on to the balance of the items. I'll tell you what I'd like to do and then can be opened up to whatever the pleasure of the council is. I'd like to move the adoption of staff recommendations five through 12. We'll leave 13 till later. I'd like to move staff recommendations five through 12, and I'd ask for a second so we could at least have discussion, or we can adjourn the meeting if we want. Is there a second?

I'll second it.

Thank you, Council Member Cresceder. It's now opened up so that people should feel free, I guess, to offer amendments to recommended Actions 5 through 12. Were there any Finance Commission recommendations in those regards that we need to take into account?

No Finance Commission recommendations.

All right. So at this point, there's a motion to approve staff recommendations five through 12, and two council members wish to be heard. And I think we'll begin this round with council member Tresider.

Thank you. So I intend to vote no on 5, but yes on 6 through 12. And so would the mayor be willing to consider, please, splitting out 5 from 6 through 12, please?

Let me see. Let me think about that, all right? Let me hear from others and see if we can craft something that works for everybody. At this moment, I really need to think about it and hear from others. You want to...

So five is just adopting the budget. That's the one I have the issue with. The rest of them I'm fine with. Those are the fees.

All right. I'm just trying to think this through. So if we start playing around with the fees tonight,

I intend to vote yes on the fees. I don't have a problem with the fees.

Okay. I'm just trying to think. Maybe Mr. Melchion, maybe others can just sort of help me. I want to figure out procedurally. If we just went procedurally 6 through 12, and then we can come back to the question of Number five afterwards?

Yeah.

Would that be the logical way to proceed?

Yeah, that sounds great. Thank you.

All right. So let me just say for the moment, I accept your suggestion that the motion at this moment be to adopt items six through 12. And who second? Oh, you seconded it, right?

Yeah, I seconded it, so I'm okay with it.

Thank you. Okay. I'll accept that friendly amendment for right now. Council Member Liu.

So I'm going to offer my friendly amendment at this point on action item number seven.

Go right ahead.

I actually have since, I have some printed out, but I have since made additional changes, so bear with me. I'm just going to have, hand this out, and just so you all have, I mean, it's essentially more or less the same, but I have a few addition. So I'm going to read off of what I have, because I made additional changes, but not as much of it. Let me just get to that. OK. So with regard to that, I mean, there's two portions that I would like to make a little change to. With regard to the increasing reservation fees, I move to modify the Canadian Library Services Athletic Facility Reservation Policy and Irvine Fieldhouse fees as follows. Require annual sports and recreation fees to be I'm sorry, it would require annual field house fees to be benchmarked against an annual market rate analysis of the equivalent regional, public, and private sports infrastructure adjusted upward or downward to capture 100% of direct operational and maintenance cost recovery without exceeding the actual cost of service delivery except for commercial or tournament rates, which shall remain at market. And that's First bullet point. Second bullet point is the same as printed, required preparation of an annual report on market rate schedule and cost recovery metrics, which shall be presented to the Irvine Finance Commission and the Community and Library Services Commission every March for review, any adjustments to fees resulting from the report, and presentations will be implemented by July 1st of each year to align with the start of the City of Irvine's fiscal year. And in addition to that, I would like to propose an additional line to ensure that the courts will be charged on a flat fee base, meaning that a multi-use court will be charged as a multi-use court regardless of the purpose of use in the proposed community and library services policy for athletic facility reservation.

All right, well, let me see if... I can respond constructively to that. This is the first I've seen of this. On first reading here, it appears to me to make some sense. We're talking about in connection with the upcoming fiscal year. This is not too much different from kind of where we're going with this. Chris, I'd like you to be listening to this if you would. One, I think you probably do not want to include 100% of direct operational and maintenance cost recovery. We've never, let me just ask, have we ever talked about or sought 100% cost recovery. That's not done anywhere, is it? Not overall.

Not that I'm aware of, no. I will say that the way that we have presented to the commissions and committees thus far is that has been the intent with the fees that we're proposing. They are below market rate, but our intent is to meet that cost recovery in terms of operations.

You mean just in terms of the field house?

Yes, correct. Thank you.

Not everything else, right? Correct. Okay. Oh, I see. This applies just to the field house. All right. Do you find that language objectionable?

No, I think it's very much in alignment with what the commission wanted to recommend. I think it takes it up, you know, another level. I appreciate that we're bifurcating the commercial and tournament rates from the resident recreation-based play as well.

All right, and this court's on a flat fee basis. Is okay with you?

Yes, yeah, I think it's just reiterating what the intent was, absolutely.

All right. So how would this work if this were incorporated in the motion?

If I may?

Yes, please.

Well, so I envision that this, I mean, what's printed in front of you, and I'm sorry, it's a work in progress with all the comments. And so I envision that this will be incorporated into the resolution. on revising methods of increasing reservation fee. I don't have the entire title in front of me. So that will be maybe after section three, maybe a section 3.1 of some sort. And then the flat fee language, I would envision that it will probably be incorporated in the service policy.

Yes.

So this, if I understand this, this works for you.

Yes, thank you.

And in connection with the Field House, since it'll be opening when? In February, maybe? Something like that?

We're hoping for quarter one of 2027, around the spring. But definitely more updates to come on that.

Spring of 27. And then that would allow you sufficient time to do what this...

Yeah, I would just look at Jonathan and Dale to be sure that in terms of an alignment with the annual budget process that that works.

Yes, that works. It does work. All right, if that's a friendly amendment, I'll accept it. How about the seconder? Yes. Council Member Treseder will accept it as well. All right. Did you have anything further, Council Member Liu, at this time?

Well, that's all.

All right. Then I'll turn to Council Member Treseder, followed by Council Member Carroll, followed by Council Member Martinez-Franco.

Thank you. I appreciate Council Member Liu's friendly amendment, and I would like through the chair to please ask her a clarifying question on the first bullet point. Require annual field house fees to be benchmarked against an annual market rate analysis of equivalent private and public sports infrastructure across Orange County, adjusted upward or downward to capture 100% of direct operational and maintenance cost recovery. I just want to check because it seems From my reading, I would interpret this to mean that we would be checking to see what other agencies are charging across Orange County, and then ultimately making our fees to capture 100% of the cost recovery. And so I might be missing something because I MIGHT INTERPRET THIS AS MEANING, WELL, IF WE'RE GOING TO CAPTURE 100% OF THE COST RECOVERY NO MATTER WHAT, I GUESS I'M NOT UNDERSTANDING WHY WE WOULD DO THE BENCHMARKING.

ARE YOU DIRECTING THAT TO COUNCIL MEMBER LIEU?

Well, as of right now, there's no clear language on the, if you go back to, and this will be page, let's see. Sorry, this is a 400-some page document, almost 500 pages. So it will be the, let's see. If you can open up the attachment to maybe page 386. No, I'm sorry, it's 385, whereas it's Exhibit B, and it has City Council Resolution Number 26- and then reserve number, a resolution of the City Council of the City of Irvine, California, revising the method of increasing reservation fees and amending the athletics facility reservation policy and the aquatics facility reservation policy. Now, if you go down to the next page, there is not really a mention of cost recovery close to 100%. And so, as such, I feel like there's a need to put that in writing.

Okay, so you, I don't have the, my apologies, I don't have it in front of me, what you're referring to, but so you're adding the 100% of direct operational. Right. And so then my question is, okay, so if they do a benchmarking and they find, say, just as a hypothetical scenario, that everybody else in Orange County charges more fees than we do, we would still ultimately set our fees to capture 100% of the cost recovery.

Right. So the idea is not to lose money when we're operating and providing a service.

OK. So that makes a ton of sense. And so I'm just wondering then why we would do the market rate analysis.

Well, the market rate analysis, so I'm sorry, that had the additional language that I added did not make it to the print because we're still working on this as we speak because I'm adding all the comments in. So let me just get back to the parts that is missing on that. So after the period in the first bullet point, I added, without exceeding the actual cost of service delivery except for commercial or tournament rates, which shall remain at market. And that's the part that was missing. Because in the case of a tournament, we are not exactly looking at... cost recovery anymore, that there is an opportunity to raise revenue for the city.

Okay, I see. So that we would have like the normal rates, the standing rates would be dictated somewhat by the market rate analysis. But then if we have a tournament that's a one-off, then we could adjust that tournament cost up and down to make sure that ultimately for the year we get the 100% cost recovery.

Right.

Okay. All right. That makes sense. Thank you. Okay.

Thank you.

All right. Council Member Carroll.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor. Yeah, and thank you, Councilmember Liu. I've had a chance to look at this. I guess I think it makes a lot of sense on a lot of fronts. I think for me, I probably would be more supportive, again, in terms of the cart and, you know, the horse and putting things in order. I feel like we need to get a lot more information before we can make these calls. The one thing that just jumps out to me, and obviously I think this makes a lot of sense given what's been discussed regarding the field house, but it sort of leaves this, in my mind, openness as to, well, what are we doing with regard to all the fees that are charged to the club sports and the many, many, many club teams and organizations that use our fields at the Great Park? what about the teams that are using Deanna Manning Stadium back here? I don't think we have this 100%. Do we have that at these other places, or this would just apply to the field house?

In terms of the full cost recovery model, just apply to the field house.

Okay, thank you. Sorry, Chris. I appreciate that. So, I mean, I would just suggest maybe not be the popular option, but I don't think I could support any of this maybe at the next meeting and If everyone has, I mean, you know, I don't think this is really fair to the residents to do this and just like give the, this is a really good cost recovery idea for the field house, but we have all these other facilities that have reservations and the operations aren't being captured at 100%. I'm just using Great Park as an example and everybody out there. So there's that. And then the other thing, which is just kind of important too is I, The other thing is if the recovery of the 100% basically makes these badminton people pay even more as a result of that calculation, it doesn't really address that. I'm sure that this is a really difficult thing that we have to deal with, but at some point, if after we do this benchmarking and the fees are determined to be different from what community services figured out, And that capture of 100% of direct operational maintenance costs, for example, using badminton ends up, it may, it may not, but raising those fees, then, you know, it may have had a reverse effect for which it was intended. So I can't support this right now, although a possibility to you through the chair, Council Member Liu, or a possibility to the rest of the council would be everybody should submit their wishes and their ideas based on these things. And we could pick it up at the next meeting. Still leaves open the question of going through everything from the team in August. So just want to make that, you know, I'm not against it. I think this is a pretty cool idea to get this recovery going. I'm just worried how it actually operates in practice. And I'm worried that it doesn't pick up the other places like the Great Park.

Thank you. Well, maybe I could ask here of... Our director, since the field house isn't opening until the first quarter of 27, we need to get a little operational experience under our belts, don't we? I mean, as you explained it to me, it's very important that we fill the field house, make sure we're using it to capacity in order then to figure out how to adjust the fees thereafter. Is that a fair statement of what you told me?

Absolutely. And we've talked to the community about that too. And there'll be some fluidity to the process as we learn the uses. We think we have a pretty solid idea of what it will be. But certainly there'll be some adjustments. I think the recommendation and motion that's being made allows us that flexibility. And I would just clarify that we have done benchmarking to date, so the rates that we've come up with, again, we know they're below market rate, but we wanted to ensure that we still remain accessible while meeting cost recovery.

I think in adopting this tonight with the friendly amendment that is okay with you, I think we have plenty of flexibility to address any and all concerns next spring, next summer, and perhaps before we get into yet the next fiscal year's budget after that, right?

Yes, and then I'd also, I believe Corey mentioned this, but we do have a lot of people eager to start talking to us about booking the facility as well.

Yes, yes. That's why I would urge Council Member Carroll to... maybe understand this the way I do, which is that this gives us the necessary flexibility going forward to achieve 100% cost recovery at the field house, right? I believe so, yes. All right. Anyway, yes.

May I address some of the concerns?

No. Why don't you check with Council Member Carroll, see if he's satisfied. Okay. Do you need to hear more from Council Member Liu? Okay. Council Member Liu, go ahead.

Yeah, so I mean, the reason why it's limited to the fuel house one is that it has not come online. So we don't know any actual operational costs or maintenance costs. And I think it is better, in my opinion, personally, I'd like to set up a system as complete as possible before we go into any pitfall. So that is why I'm proposing this and limiting it to the Fieldhouse at this point. Great Park obviously is a whole different budget. So we're excluding the Great Park I would say that if Councilmember Carroll believes that this idea should also be applied to the Great Park field, I'm all for that. In our discussion, like I said, I've talked to many people and taken in the comments. I think it is fair across the board if we're going to increase it or decrease it, decrease the fees according to market. We're not singling out any specific sports, and this will be done, and I believe that CS has been doing a great job of consulting different sports, different facilities, even operators around the area. And the reason why I change it from Orange County to regional is because I realized that there's not a lot of badminton facilities around and that is where this group is facing the problem that there's not enough facilities and we are providing the 10 courts dedicated to badminton. And so this has been a product of many days of working with many, many parties to try to come up with a more balanced plan that is fair to everybody, including the taxpayers who are not using this facility in the city of Irvine.

All right. Council Member Martinez-Franco. Council Member Martinez-Franco.

Yes, I want to understand this. I didn't understand at all. Let's see if I can say it in my own words. So if we compare, let's say, to another court that charges $100, we will be charging the badminton court $100. Is that the case? Is that what benchmark means compared to another market? And we will increase it. So the other question is 100 of direct operational, capture 100 direct operational. So that means that we just stop at recovering the cost and we are not earning any money back to the city on top of the recovery? And the third question, sorry. Isn't this already being done by you guys? And why wasn't it done before?

So in terms of the first question, we would... We would go to multiple facilities, as Councilmember Liu mentioned, throughout the region and essentially try to average out what the market rate is before we make any adjustments. In terms of cost recovery, when we're talking about operations, it's the staffing of the facility, it's the utility bills, it's the maintenance, et cetera. So we've taken all that into consideration. And again, we feel like what's being recommended will meet that recovery cost. part of Councilmember Liu's amendment allows us flexibility to gain additional revenue off of the commercial and sort of tournament rates, those that are mostly non-resident-based or the profit-making organizations. Because again, we want to make sure that the priority and the accessibility is to the residents of Irvine first. And so I think the way the motion's made, and I don't mean to speak for you, Councilmember Liu, but I think it gives us flexibility for additional revenue from for-profit events and organizations.

So that means that the fees that you presented us are not going to be that. It's possibly most likely that they're going to increase for the badminton people, right?

No, I don't believe so. I think that time will tell. I mean, if we're doing benchmarking over the years, certainly costs go up. And so organizations do start to increase costs, just like we try to do here. But I don't foresee, for any sport, if this is approved tonight, we will come back and we'll need council approval, essentially, on any significant increases. But I don't see that happening.

But so what I don't understand, I think this is redundant. I think for me, I mean, if I was doing the presenting this, I would have just think about all these things. So I'm assuming that you already did this. So I don't see why we are voting on this when you already did this, and that's why you're presenting us with the fees. This is like putting you to work double for me. So I don't approve this motion. Thank you.

Can I make one comment on that? I really appreciate that. I think what it does is it, It helps provide accountability after a year or two years that we're ensuring that we have done this right, and it just gives a little bit more flexibility and accountability for us to come back to this council and report on that and ask for adjustments if necessary.

Thank you. Thank you.

All right, on this round, anybody else? If not, we're doing one more round, I guess, with Council Member Liu.

If I may address Council Member Martinez-Rancos' concern. Like I said, if you click on the agenda item on our screen and go to page 385, you'll be able to see why I am making the proposal. Not that I'm criticizing anything about the report, but I felt like that was the missing portion and that since we had discussed this, like I said, in the last few days with multiple parties, including staff and folks in the sports community. I believe this is something necessary to ensure that we do not fall short on on budget or spending. And I believe this is a more fiscally responsible way to move forward with how we operate as a city. And I would highly encourage you to read that portion of the agenda and maybe it will make a little more sense.

All right, Councilmember Martinez-Franco again.

Can I make a friendly amendment to the motion? Because we're talking about a bunch of items rather than just number seven. I know that this was a friendly, or do we have to vote first? Mr. Melching, do we have to vote first on these? Because I would like to vote on seven alone rather than to vote all. So I don't know if we need to vote first in.

Let me see if I could help us all out here. if we were to adopt staff recommendations six through 12, including the Lew amendment. And we took no action tonight on staff recommendation five, which is a resolution. adopting and approving the appropriations budget for the city of Irvine for fiscal year 2026-27. What's your reaction to that? Is that problematic for you or is it just another day at the office and we'll come back to it?

We would need to come back to do number five before the end of the month.

Yes. All right. I think we should go ahead then, and I'd appreciate it if staff felt otherwise that they say so now. I would like to move to a roll call vote on items six, through 12 and see if we can take care of those. Do you have a problem with that?

Nope. As long as we come back for number five.

All right. We'll talk about that. All right. Why don't we then move ahead with a calling of the roll on items recommendations six through 12, incorporating the friendly amendment of Council Member Liu.

Point of order. Yes, go ahead. I wanted to ask Mr. Melchin about how do I do to pull number seven? Do I wait for them to do a motion? Because I want to approve all the rest But I wanna think a little bit more about number seven.

So Councilmember Martinez-Franco, the motion for items six through 12 with the Liu amendment to item seven is currently pending before the council. If you want item seven removed, you can make a motion to bifurcate seven from the existing motion, or you can ask the maker in the second whether they will remove seven from the existing motion so that you can take it up separately.

So I can do a friendly amendment?

You can ask for one, yes.

Okay, I want to do a friendly amendment to pull seven out of this motion.

Let me make a suggestion in that regard. I'd prefer that we... Let me just think for a second. I'd prefer that we adopt... Well, why don't we just take the bifurcation route, which would give you an opportunity to vote separately on item seven. And therefore, we could call the roll on Or you could make a motion to bifurcate. She could make a motion to bifurcate. We could just vote on that. And that is, in effect, voting on whether or not to approve seven, right?

It's voting on whether to pull out seven for a separate vote.

Yeah. Would that satisfy you to pull it out for a separate vote? It would.

It would.