City Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome to the City Council meeting for June 23rd, 2026. Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Council Member Dillard. Here. Council Member Lothian. Here. Council Member Suzuki.

Present.

Vice Mayor Cazares. Mayor Apostathis.

We begin every meeting with an invocation and a flag salute. Today, that will be given by Council Member Patricia Dillard.

Thank you. Good evening, everyone. I thought about what kinds of things I've been thinking about over this month. And one thing that keeps coming up is about the Constitution of the United States. And so I just want to remind us, if we don't know the Constitution, I beg you to please learn more about it. So I'm just going to say a couple of things. The US Constitution is the supreme Supreme Law of the United States, establishing the framework for the federal government with three branches, legislative branch, executive branch, and judicial branch, and a system of checks and balances along with federalism, power sharing with states. Drafted in 1787, it begins with we the people, affirming popular sovereignty and has been amended 27 times with the first 10 amendments forming the Bill of Rights. It is the world's largest surviving written charter of government outlining the powers and limitations of the government and the rights of the citizens. Shall we please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance? ready begin i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you council member dillard thank you um city manager are there any city manager comments there are none

Okay, going on to our community bulletin reports. I'd like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who helped make our America 250 weekend celebration such a success. The movie in the park and flag day parade were wonderful opportunities for our community to connect, celebrate, and enjoy traditions that strengthen our community. A special thank you goes to our city staff whose hard work behind the scenes made these events possible, and I'm serious, they worked very hard delivering bunting and putting it up and we will have the pleasure of seeing it through 4th of July. Their dedication, planning and commitment to serving our community does not go they don't go unnoticed. Thank you as well to our volunteers, community partners, participants and residents who joined us in celebrating. We appreciate all of you for helping create memorable experiences for our community. The second announcement is that Sunday's at six concert series is back. Enjoy great local bands every Sunday from six to seven at the outdoor amphitheater at Harry Griffin Park. This Sunday, June 27th, the variety band Breezin will be performing. Make a difference in the community. Number three, consider joining a board or commission. And this is very important for people who want to get more involved. Several positions are currently open. The application deadline is July 6th. The fourth is join the community to clean up the neighborhood around University Avenue. And please consider doing this if you're available. The event is this Saturday, June 27th, starting at 9 a.m. Trash pickers and buckets will be provided. Just make sure you bring your sunscreen and water. Participate in a city cycling event. Learn essential cycling tips, including bike safety basics, handling techniques, road rules, and enjoy a guided group ride. The event is on Saturday, June 27th at 10 a.m. at the La Mesa Library. The last is something important to me, but I'm hoping it's important to you as well. Join me on June 27th at 2 p.m., and council's invited, everyone here is invited, at the La Mesa Police Department Community Room for the Don't Fall for AI Scams seminar for older adults. I'll be moderating I just realized, I'm not saying that we're old, but I am saying that this is a really important seminar for those of us who may not be up to date on what's going on with AI. And I'll be moderating the seminar, and it will help you spot and avoid today's most common AI scams using insights from AARP's con artist playbook. Experts from the County of San Diego Scam and Fraud Education Support Team, the AARP Fraud Watch Network, the FBI, and the La Mesa Police Department will explain how scammers think, the tactics they use, and the steps you can take to protect yourself and your loved ones. Information about this and all of the events that I mentioned can be found on our website, cityoflamesa.gov. I'll go to Council Member Lothian for any community bulletin reports.

Thank you. I'm going to pile on your thank you for the Flag Day Parade. So I think it was the biggest crowd I've ever seen for Flag Day Parade. I don't know if we've got official numbers or not. I want to thank, she's not here tonight, Vice Mayor Cazares, but she and I were co-chairs on the blending the Flag Day Parade with America's 250th. And we were very enthusiastic about it. We had a ton of fun with it. But all the red, white, and blue bunting, the red, white, and blue stripes on the palm trees, the flags was actually not done by us, but they're there. Thank you, Tony Guypa. And we had a national anthem singer. I mean, I think we went really all out. Also, too, I want to thank Lynn, Amanda, Leslie, Misty and Josh for all the behind the scenes. They were pounding the pavement, guilting people if they didn't put up their bunting. So it turned out to be great. I'm glad we're going to be there through the Fourth of July. We've been getting compliments from all over the place. So thank you.

Council Member Dillard.

Yeah, I'll just say all of us were there at the flag parade, and it was, I'd say, one of the largest flag parades. And I want to say thank you to all the people who participated in that parade. It just kept going. And my head was hot. It was so hot. It was hot that day. But it was so much fun. And we really appreciate all the people that came out to support it. We had the largest group, I think. And so that was a big plus. And if you missed it, we hope to see you next time.

And I'd like to put a plug in for the city public works folks. They let me use their truck. And I made my spirit of aloha, well, my team, my float. And I think that next year we should be challenged to do it even better, guys. So 251. Not the same ring. Are there any additions or deletions to the agenda from staff or council?

None from staff.

Okay, so we have a recognition of Father Christopher Bongatto for his appointment as diocesan vicar for ethnic and intercultural communities. Father Chris, could you please come up to the dais? Son, can you hear me?

Yep. Okay, here we go.

I have the honor of presenting this to Father Chris. Many of us here are parishioners at St. Martin, and Father Chris has just been appointed, given a pretty big appointment for our diocese, and I think it's an important one given the importance of thinking just acknowledging the importance of everybody as people and as a diverse community. So I'd like to just read the proclamation, and then Father Fritz, I'd like you to say a few words. And after that, I will let you look at it, and then I'm gonna take it away, because we need two more signatures on this. And then I promise I will bring it back. Okay. It's bad if I lie to a father, too. Whereas Father Christopher Bungata was born and raised in San Diego, and from his home parish of modern-day Catholic Church in Chula Vista, answered a call to the priesthood after completing a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of California, Irvine, and the Master of Business Administration in Film Producing from St. John Paul the Great University. Whereas Father Chris was ordained to the priesthood on June 2nd, 2023, and began his ministry as Associate Pastor of St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church in La Mesa, serving the parish and community with dedication, compassion, and faith. Whereas during his formation for the priesthood, Father Chris developed a passion for multicultural ministry through his service at Good Shepherd Parish in Mira Mesa, alongside then-Father Michael Pham, now Bishop Pham, fostering a lifelong commitment to building unity among diverse communities. Whereas Father Chris has been appointed diocesan vicar for ethnic and intercultural communities for the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, where he provides leadership and pastoral care to 21 cultural communities and advances a vision of an intercultural church in which all people are welcome to worship and celebrate together. Whereas Father Chris now leads diocesan efforts and signature events including the annual Pentecost Mass for all peoples, and has embraced this ministry with a deep commitment to strengthening the bonds of faith among people of every culture and background. And whereas the city of La Mesa recognizes Father Chris for his service as associate pastor of St. Martin of Tours Parish and extends its warmest congratulations on his appointment as diocesan vicar, as well as its best wishes as he begins a new parish assignment as associate pastor of St. Thomas More Parish in Oceanside, California. Now, therefore, our Mayor Mark Abrapastathis, 23rd Mayor of the City of La Mesa and the entire City Council do hereby honor and congratulate Father Christopher Bongato upon his appointment as Diocesan Vicar for Ethnic and Intercultural Communities and commends his dedication to fostering unity, inclusion, and understanding among all peoples through the bonds of faith it further proclaimed that the city of la mesa celebrates father chris's ministry and wishes him continued success and many blessings as he carries forward his sacred mission of service leadership and community

Thank you, Councilwoman Suzuki, her fellow council members, the city of La Mesa. I have to give a big thank you to St. Martin of Tours and my family that's able to join me here today. It's just been such a blessing because I've only been a priest for three years, you might be able to tell from my young face. But just being able to just be so much in the community, and see the Holy Spirit working, not just only in the church, but whenever I visit coffee shops or the lake or the park, all these places where I'm able to see these encounters. I might just pass by them, but see the Holy Spirit working with all of us. But now, as I journey into my role as the vicar of ethnic and intercultural communities, say that I need to continue to journey with all the people of God, with all cultures that are represented here in San Diego, and say, how can we, as a people of God, gather together and say, how can we just be one? Especially as I journey with these people. these intercultural communities for them to have an opportunity to just celebrate the mass, which is familiar to them, to celebrate in their mother tongue, but also that they belong here in the city of La Mesa, in the Diocese of San Diego. It's just such an important mission for me to just be a missionary for Christ and to bring his love out there in the world. So, yes, just thank you once again for this great recognition, this proclamation, and I'll continue to journey with the people of God. Thank you so much.

Would everyone from St. Martin please come up and we can all take a photo with Father Chris up here. And for anybody from the St. Martin announcement or Father Chris's proclamation, you may actually leave if you want because most people do.

But you don't have to.

You definitely don't have to. We'd love you to stay. Okay. Thank you. So we'll now take public comments. We'll call speakers up one by one. Thank you. Okay, so the first speaker is Martha Backdall.

Good evening. Dear council members, I haven't been here for a few months. I'm sure a lot of you have seen me before, but I've noticed a lot of changes around my part of town. I stopped walking in the park in December when I heard there would no longer be park employees working full time. I ran into a person I used to see a lot in the park, and he said the kids were bothering him and asking him if he had any money on him. It has become an unsafe area for everybody. The park looks awful. The grass has grown tall. They don't mow it all the time. And I refuse to walk in the park anymore. It looks bad. I drive past it all the time on Poppy, and just from the back of it, it doesn't look like a place that I want to enjoy anymore, and that's my neighborhood. So I don't know what changes you all made, but you certainly didn't talk to the community about it before you did it. The streets around my neighborhood are growing weeds out of the cracks due to the lack of maintenance. The construction on Jericho starts at 7 a.m. with trucks lining up on a Maya between 6 and 7 a.m. I believe you as a council had told the community that the work wouldn't start until 8 a.m. I don't feel the quality of my life is going to be improved in La Mesa with this city council making decisions on where new housing should be built. The project on Jericho was sold to the community as a way for people to become new homeowners and be invested in their neighborhood. But at the last community meeting with the builder, they mentioned investors could be 100 percent of the buyers, which means that it's going to become rentals. And so that means my neighborhood is going to lose property value. This is just renters coming in, no investment, and most of them don't care. Your untruthfulness in selling this project to the community is unforgivable. Maybe instead of having builders and environmentalists in your pocket, you should try taking care of the people who elected you and pay taxes. La Mesa is becoming another town with too many apartments and is losing the charm that so many moved here to experience. My street is already being used as a bypass for a Maya. Whenever I attend these meetings, I hear you say, we hear you. You may hear us, but I don't think you listen because if you did, maybe you would make better decisions for the people you are impacting the most. With the exception of one member, Ms. Lothian, 30 seconds. I am disappointed with all of you. All you are doing is putting up a bunch of ugly boxes and calling them homes. They are not homes, they are just places to house people on top of each other. I don't see my tax dollars being spent on things the majority of people need like roads, public parks, infrastructure. By the way, the valve on my street to turn the water off from the main break two years ago still has not been fixed. As I said before, just because you build next to a trolley stop or bike lanes doesn't mean people are going to use them. I wish you would stand up and say no to the state.

Thank you. Our next speaker is David Nichols.

Good evening. First off, let me say thank you for all that you do. As a 46-year-old resident of La Mesa, I can constantly see improvements implemented by this council. My name is David Nichols. I have been a member of the La Mesa Mobility Commission for the past six years as a vulnerable road user representative focusing on ways to make our city streets safer for all users. At a recent meeting, I submitted a document titled La Mesa Commission Vulnerable Roadway Improvement Recommendations, which outlined specific methods to be taken to improve the safety of our streets through less costly methods. At a subsequent meeting, My outline was brought up once again and suggested I come to the city council meeting, which is why I'm here tonight. Each year, the commission creates a neighborhood traffic management plan, specific streets to work on. What I would suggest is that the addition to this, a motion be made and a policy implemented to upgrade arterial streets during routine paving to reflect the current standards of the MUTCD. The California Complete Streets Act of 2008 mandates that local governments plan for a balanced multi-model transportation network The City of La Mesa has supported Complete Street since the inception, but has not kept up with the modifications to the MUTCD. My recommendation to the City of La Mesa is that specific areas should not be focused on unless a situation exists that need to be addressed for safety reasons or to further the infrastructure. Rather, a program should be implemented where funds are allocated to updating roadways to current MUTCD standards with regular maintenance of resurfacing taking place. First and foremost to updating these guides to all road users is that of education. The education of the general population should be done through the dynamic means of consistency, completeness of design, as well as repetitive use with constant visual and directional support road users will become educated to the use of vulnerable road users, making them more aware and safer for all through the ability to predict the movements of others. For the most part, if done during routine repaving, updating will be relatively inexpensive, incorporating only paint and signage. And I do have a copy of that document, if that is acceptable to pass that out. And thank you much. Thank you. Any questions?

Thank you, Mr. Nichols.

Thank you.

Moving on, we have conflict disclosures. Are there any conflict disclosures? Seeing none, we'll move on to current business. Consent calendar. Does anyone want to pull any items?

I want to pull 9.6 for a separate vote and 9.10 for comments, but not a separate vote.

Council Member Suzuki, did we get public comments on consent calendar or announce that one?

I apologize.

There aren't any?

Okay.

Sorry about that.

Okay. OK, so I guess we're going to deal with 9.6 first. Is that how it is?

Just a comment. So I just comment in separate. I know how it's going to go, but I just want it for the record.

Okay, so 9.6, it's a resolution approving project 2026-1209, a final map for La Mesa track number 2023-2348, a one lot subdivision for a 73 unit condominium development at 9407 Jericho Road.

Yeah, my only comment is this is this is administrative. So it's not really a decision kind of vote. But you know, since the beginning, I've listened to that neighborhood. And I feel like the council should have listened to that neighborhood. It's it's it's a done deal. But nonetheless, I just want to be on the record of a vote separate from all the other consent calendars. So I'm ready to do a vote. That's just want to make that comment.

All right, why don't we have the council vote on the remainder of the consent calendar? Go ahead.

Okay, so we'll be taking a vote first on the remaining consent calendar? That's correct. Okay, so we're gonna, does anyone have a motion to approve?

Thank you.

Motion carries with all council members voting yes.

Now are we ready for comments on 9.10 or a vote on 9.6?

Why don't you give your comments on 9.10 because you've already approved it. OK. And then you can go back to 9.6.

OK. All right. Thank you. All right. Okay, so yeah, so this is for a consent calendar 910, and this is about the 2027 compensation plan for the city of La Mesa. So I'm not gonna get into the weeds, but what's been coming out this year is that our revenues are down and our spending is up, and so we're heading toward an operating deficit. So I wanna commend city management for taking some prudent first steps to deal with this budget situation. So they're cutting overtime when it's possible, freezing hiring and declining a salary adjustment for management. I just wanna point out too that these are stop gaps and it's not a strategy and we need to step back and take a bigger picture. So this is what I've always done in my own business, in my own household. When money gets tight, you have two choices or two options. One of them is to increase revenue and then the other one is to cut discretionary spending. I'm just gonna touch on how we can, how the City of La Mesa can increase revenue. So how we can do this is by meaningfully improving the permit process. This is something that's been a cornerstone of everything I've stood for since I've been up here for the last five years. I think the permit process is one of the most important things the city of La Mesa does. We can grow our revenue without raising taxes on residents. The fastest way to do that is to fix our permit process, which remains cumbersome and frustrating for the people to invest here. So I want to list some of the businesses that we've lost who could be contributing to our sales revenue. So there was a business that was going to be called La Mesa Emporium. It was in downtown La Mesa. Think about the food hall at Liberty Station. It was going to be a collection of eateries. The gentleman that was behind it had architects and people that were experts in historic preservation. After five years, he gave up and he sold it to a real estate office and now it's a real estate office. So that's sales tax revenue the city of La Mesa is never going to see. Also, a couple of years ago, there was a person trying to open up a healthy food delivery kitchen called Food of Joy. That was going to be on a lot at Campo at Kenwood. Instead of a business generating sales tax revenue, it's an empty lot filled with weeds and garbage. I just learned over the weekend that there is a gal named Jennifer Georgies. For six years and $2 million, she's been trying to build La Mesa's first rooftop restaurant and bar. gave up and i just learned it this weekend so she moved her money and creativity to the gas lamp in downtown san diego where she got approval for her new restaurant called siren stem in six months now that's what we've lost and now i'm sure there's a ton more that i'm not aware of what we're on the verge of losing so again the city needs sales tax revenue we need to be more welcoming to these these businesses that are trying to open their doors So outdoor sidewalk dining in the village is beginning to take shape. And there's one landmark restaurant, and it's being blocked right now from expanding its outdoor dining because of a 10-foot sidewalk rule, which would be reasonable, except for the fact that Lemoncello, Tour de Tapas, City Tacos, Santa Fonte, and Curbside all have four to seven-foot sidewalks. So if this establishment gets to expand its eatery, then they're going to make more money, and then we're going to collect more sales tax revenue. I also heard from another entrepreneur last week. This is someone who's already opened two successful businesses in La Mesa, and he helped revitalize a pretty rough corner. The two businesses are in the same corner. So again, not only was it two great businesses, a revitalized corner. So now he's trying to extend the kitchen of one of those establishments by 20 feet and adding about 30 seats. So more business for him, more sales tax revenue for us. And then here's what he texted me, which I've already shared with management community development. Hopefully we can fix this. But he goes like this. It's really going bad, Laura. I haven't even gotten back my first set of reviews for the building. My design review plan check comments were crazy. The list is endless. I don't think there's any hope to have this even approved before summer ends. Feel really defeated. So I don't think anyone that chooses to invest in La Mesa should ever feel defeated. I know it's a complicated process, but I think that the onus falls on the city to make it as easy as possible for them. Again, it's a hard process. We're the experts, they're not. They should never feel defeated by us. So when these businesses fail to pass go, it becomes a lost dream for that entrepreneur. it becomes a potential loss of their life savings, and it becomes a self-inflicted wound of lost sales tax revenue for the city, which we're feeling acutely now. So absolutely, community development has made progress over the years. I give credit to Director Lynette Santos. I tell her in person, over the phone and emails, she's done a great job riding that ship, but there are still internal challenges that we have to overcome. When we solve this, We're going to have that classic rising tide, lifts all boats, including city halls. I want to make La Mesa the easiest place in the county to open or expand a business. And that was my comments on that one.

Thank you. We have one speaker for agenda item 9.6, Jerry Jones.

Hello. I'm hoping that I was correct and that you were going to pull this and talk about it. Otherwise, I don't want to waste anybody's time. I'm Jerry Jones, a Senate Planning Commission. I am here tonight representing myself, but I would like to share some facts about this particular agenda item. First and foremost, what is on the agenda this evening is a final approval, which is to say this is just making sure it hasn't deviated in extreme ways from the many approvals it's already received. That's for you folks and the public. This particular development is for sale condos. I want to remind folks of that. This is one of the reasons that we saw it as a planning commission was for the subdivision, which means this is opportunities for families in La Mesa or coming to La Mesa to buy homes that don't exist. So mostly I want to say that because I think this is an incredible opportunity for La Masons and future La Masons. And I also want to commend the developer on this particular project. We see a lot of projects that come to the planning commission. In many cases, we don't have a lot of latitude, depending on what the state law is, depending on what they're asking for. This particular developer actually came back after the very first meeting and said, hey, guess what? We reconfigured some things and we've added some parking. We don't hear that very often. This is within a half a mile to the Amaya trolley station. So even then, legally, from a housing perspective, the city has no authority to even demand parking. So it was actually pretty cool to see the developer come back. respond to some of that public comment. So I just mostly came down this evening because I had heard some folks say they were going to discuss it. I want to remind people of the very, very narrow nature of what is being approved this evening. And by and large, just remind folks that when it comes to housing, it behooves us to work with the developers that are willing to work with the city. And this was one of those scenarios. So keep that in mind, please. And I'll remind folks. on the whole that buying opportunities are really hard to come by these day and age. Most folks aren't building houses to sell. So this is very much in that kind of missing middle of opportunity that I think is so important for folks to get established both in our community and in their livelihoods.

OK, thank you. I believe now we're going to, should we call for a vote?

I'll just say the one comment that I wanted to make. Thank you, Jerry, for that. I understand it is condos, which I think is fantastic. The part that bothered me about this, and it's becoming a problem throughout La Mesa, it's the congestion and the parking and the traffic, and it's just gotten out of control. I think some of these units are three or four bedrooms, two parking spaces. I know what happens to the neighborhoods that surround these. It just becomes impossible to park. And I do believe also that these could become rentals. And, you know, there was a city that, there was a neighborhood that just wanted to be heard, and I felt like they weren't heard. And I'm the minority person here, so I've already voted no on this a couple times. It's just for the record. I know it's going to go through. It is just administrative, but it's just, again, this is a record thing for me.

I'd like the city attorney to explain to us if it will go through.

I'm not sure what the vote's going to be. But if it is a two-to-one vote, just thinking out loud, that's not going to pass tonight. That's going to return to the council because under our municipal code, a resolution or an ordinance or any subject matter presented to the council has to garner three affirmative votes to pass. So a two-to-one vote would just merely delay it. And the question really before the council tonight, it's just a ministerial one. Does this map and its final draft comport with all the requirements of the tentative map? And the community development director and the public works director says that it does. And I believe it does too. OK.

wrench in it for no reason so my point again was just i made my public comments it's part of the record i'll be a yes vote on it just just for the city's convenience thank you council member lothian um just i'm sorry i know that i promise we'd be short but i just want to make one quick comment um and

Just a quick comment. Just coming from someone who grew up in an apartment. And I'm saying this because I feel that there aren't many of us speaking. Many of us maybe don't get the opportunity like I have to speak to people about what it feels like to hear that your home is not a home. And I'm saying this because this is the second time I've heard it. And I'm saying it to ask you to please not think about people who are living in apartments as not living in homes. Because that apartment that I grew up in from three to the time I graduated from high school meant everything to me. And it meant everything to my mom and my dad and to my mom when my parents got divorced. Because people who are living in single-family households do not have the luxury of owning properties. And we don't always have the opportunity or the luxury to be able to have that house. And that doesn't make us less of any kind of person sitting here today. We still pay our bills. We go to college. I went to college on a scholarship. And I got my law degree. And so please try to think of your fellow person when you're speaking about others and saying that their box, their apartment, these are not homes because that home was everything to me. And I still remember it's 1919 Citron Street in Honolulu, Hawaii. And it was the house that the home I lived in. and the home that I will tell anybody I was lucky to have it. And my mom was the resident manager and I was lucky that she had that because she did not have a degree. She had a GED. So please be kind to your fellow human. That is, I'm sorry, I know that is coming from the dais, but it is coming from my heart because I think that too many times we don't remember that people that are moving into these apartments, they have dreams too. And I really think that we can't be putting all of this meaning into, oh, well, I don't have enough room for my cars. I live in a three-bedroom home with five people. One of them is my 92-year-old mom. I don't care. I'm happy to live there. And I walk my neighborhood, and I'm right in Strawberry Hills, and I love it. So we're lucky to live in La Mesa. La Mesa is a damn good city. And I want us to stay a good city. And the reason we're a good city is because of our heart, not because of the spaces that we have for our cars.

I'm sorry.

So I'd like to move on to staff reports.

Yeah, we have to vote on 9.6.

Moving on to 9.6.

Is there a motion?

I make a motion. I'll second.

Motion carries with all council members voting yes.

Okay, staff reports. I'm sorry, 10.1. So the acceptance of annual comprehensive financial report including the basic financial statements.

Motion carries with all council members voting yes.

Item 11.1 is a consideration of appointing a second alternate representative to the San Diego Metro and Wastewater Joint Powers Authority Commission. I'll let city manager Greg Humora explain this.

Thank you, council member Suzuki. This is an item to get some redundancy to the Metro Wastewater JPA. We have second alternates at other commissions as well. The meetings are the first Thursday of the month at noon in Kearney Mesa at the City of San Diego. Really, really important things going on in wastewater. I know it's not a sexy thing, but we spent a lot of money getting our wastewater treated. And it's really important that we have an elected representative at the dais. So I'm recommending we pick a second alternate so we have redundancy there. First is Vice Mayor Cazares. Second is Council Member Suzuki.

I already suggested to you that I would take this, but I want to have it of record that I do serve on several other boards. It's just that this one, the only reason why I'm able to do it is because it's the first Thursday in the month. And so that's normally a break for me, but I'm going to be a team player here and fill in for the third or second alternate, third person. And I'm going to be happy to do it. Thank you.

OK. So Councilmember Dillard, are you saying that you're stepping up for the third alternate? OK. OK. So I'll move to make Councilmember Dillard the third alternate.

Motion carries with all councilmembers voting yes.

Okay, thank you. Item 11.2 is a consideration of resolution authorizing an agreement with the San Diego East County Economic Development Council for the administration of the Leap Forward program. Mr. Lynn Dedmond, you will be giving the staff report.

Thank you, Council. Good evening. We're going to start out with some background on LEAP. In March 2022, Council authorized Phase 2 American Rescue Plan Act funding. Allocation is recommended by the ARPA City Council Ad Hoc Committee. Out of that phase two bucket, 800,000 was allocated to the La Mesa Entrepreneurship Accelerator Program. LEAP utilized the funds to provide assistance and training to promote business development and bolster La Mesa's economic recovery post COVID-19 pandemic. Next slide, please. LEAP is and continues to be a partnership between the City of La Mesa, East County Economic Development Council, and San Diego and Imperial Small Business Development Center. LEAP completed three total cohorts. Cohorts one and two targeted new business startups, while cohort three focused on existing businesses. From cohorts one and two, we had 16 businesses sign leases in La Mesa. That was out of 27 businesses that were accepted into the program. Cohort three trained and provided grant funding to 33 existing La Mesa businesses. When we started LEAP, we knew it was likely we would have a remaining fund balance for ARPA allocated funding to LEAP. We have $45,000 left. We would like to use that remaining funding on a LEAP Forward program. So with that, I would like to introduce Matt Sanford at East County Economic Development Council, president and CEO, who will be speaking about LEAP.

Thanks, Lynn. Good evening, council members. My name is Matt Sanford. I'm the new CEO of the East County EDC. I've been here for about three months, so I appreciate this opportunity to come and introduce myself as part of this program. I can say as an organization, we have very much enjoyed the partnership with the city of La Mesa to run those first three cohorts of the LEAP program. They were phenomenally successful. Before this role, I was with the city of Carlsbad, and from Carlsbad, we were looking at the LEAP program as a model of ways to work together in partnership for economic development. We would be proud to continue this program. We think that it would have meaningful impact for La Mesa, filling those storefronts, increasing revenue. and more importantly, helping somebody who has a dream of starting a business or growing a business be able to fulfill that. To speak to the program details, I'm going to ask Alex Eberhart, our Economic Development Director, to come and share the more nuanced things and be available for questions. Thank you. Good evening, Council.

As Matt said, my name is Alex Eberhart. I'm the Director of Economic Development for the East County EDC. So I'm going to dive into a little bit more detail on what we're envisioning the Leap Forward proposal to look like. As you can see on the screen, it's going to be two cohorts, so 10 businesses per cohort, so that's 20 total businesses. There are going to be four SBDC trainings, so that's through our Small Business Development Center training for the cohort. It's going to be a structured application process very similar to the previous cohorts. And then there's going to be an individualized case management and business advising. So we're going to get really intimate knowledge of the local La Mesa businesses and just continue with the case management and kind of taking that to the next level. With that, there's also going to be kind of the performance metrics tracking. So job revenue or job growth, revenue growth, all that sort of kind of important metrics that really identify and help categorize success. Next slide, please. So this is kind of the breakdown on the curriculum of what we're going to be including in those SBDC classes. The first two are ones that we got really good feedback from the previous cohorts. So developing your kind of financial projections, your business plan, something that's very important to a business. The next one is how to successfully use social media. The modern kind of day and age, everything on social media is super impactful. You can really punch above your weight as a business if you have kind of a presence on social media and you can advertise your products or your storefront. Next, we're going to be doing a new one, which is kind of the AI intelligence for small business. So we're going to be using AI for good, not bad. So it's going to be one of those things, again, AI is prevalent everywhere now. So we're going to be really teaching the local businesses how they can use AI to, again, kind of punch above their weight. Finally is the HR basics for your business. So teaching small business owners kind of things that they may not know, kind of plug those holes from the HR standpoint that they may potentially have, and really kind of hammer in the core requirements for successful HR. Next slide, please. So our expected outcomes and program goals, this is really just a continuation of cohort one, two, and three. We've seen what we can identify as success, and we really want to continue that. So we're going to support the growth in La Mesa as far as a long-term sustainability for small businesses. La Mesa is known for being a small business town, and we're really going to continue to have the city support that. So that includes the local job retention, job creation, increased business survivability and revenue growth. So again, we're going to, you know, all those important metrics. To your point, Council Member Lothian, we're going to encourage continued investment, economic activity in the city, and then just strengthen La Mesa's overall economic vitality through small business support. So it's really a continuation of an already very successful program. We're just kind of taking it to that next step. Next slide, please.

All right, so with that, staff recommends the City Council approve the resolution authorizing an agreement with San Diego East County Economic Development Council for administration of the LEAP Forward program. That concludes our presentation. We're available for any questions Council may have.

One question? OK, the $45,000 remaining, is that being applied toward people who've already gone through the LEAP program or brand new people?

We prefer brand new people. OK. Yeah, new businesses. OK. Yeah, yeah.

And I just want to say I'm really proud of this program because I have to tell you, when my husband and I were running a business, there was no such thing that we knew of. And I know that starting up a business is extremely expensive and very difficult to just getting going. And to have all this extra help along the way is phenomenal. It's a great program. And I'm so glad we still have $45,000 to wrap it up. But I hope that we are able to get it again. I don't know if that's going to happen. But I think adding 16 businesses compared to the 20 that were actually you know, on deck to do it is really a great number and very significant. So I just want to thank you for everything that this program offers. And I hope that the business owners that have, you know, been able to receive these funds for help are very thankful and will dig in and stay with La Mesa. So thank you. Thank you.

OK. Do we need a motion for that?

I'll make a motion for us to approve.

Motion carries without council members voting yes.

Thank you.

OK. So now we move on to council committee reports. Council member Dillard.

I just have one report. And we just found out about this. Originally, we were scheduled to break ground over at the MTS Brink Street location for 150 affordable housing complex. So I just wanted to give you a short update on the status of MTS and affirmed housing which is the developer that is helping us with this project, building the project. While MTS had been hoping to celebrate a groundbreaking, which I announced last month at the station in July, the event is now being targeted for the end of the summer. Reason being is that there are two bills under consideration in Sacramento that have unintentionally created uncertainty for the banks participating in affordable housing. These two bills are affecting all affordable housing projects throughout the state. The affordable housing groups have successfully lobbied to have the bill language amended to specify affordable housing funds are exempt. MTS affirmed and all of the affordable housing groups throughout the state are working with the legislature to find a solution that does not impact projects like Spring Street. In the meantime, the MTS and affordable affirmed teams are continuing the work necessary for the project to be ready to start construction shortly after the groundbreaking. And then on a bright side, if there is one, because we're disappointed in this, but we understand these things happen, the Spring Street Trolley Station parking lot will be open and available for Comic-Con, which is scheduled for July 23rd through The MTS parking lot will remain open until construction is ready to begin. So that's it. Thank you.

I have a couple questions about that. What's the name of the project?

It's a Spring Street affordable housing.

That's the name of the—because you know how all of our departments have names?

Well, I mean, we've always just been calling that. It's MTS.

OK. And that's all MTS decision. La Mesa has no. It's their land, so we have no.

It's their land, and it is gifted, which makes this project possible because it's 100% affordable housing. And also, it's right in front or will be right in front of the trolley and hopefully people that work. will use it to go to work if they can and help support public transportation.

So the City of La Mesa on its home page has all these projects, and you can check the status of it. This will not be on the City of La Mesa's home page because it's an MTS thing, correct?

Oh, it is on there? So it'll tell you how many apartments and how many apartments and all that kind of stuff?

Yeah. OK. And then I heard from someone, I have no idea if this is just talk, someone said it wasn't really affordable housing, but it was for formerly unhoused. Is that true or false?

Well, I don't know what that category means, Glenn, formally unhoused.

It was a specific category that said it for the formally unhoused. And I'm like, what is that?

I have no idea.

OK. Yeah, me either. But I will say that I believe the range is between like $30,000. A person who lives, a single person between the range of $30,000 and somewhere up to 75 or somewhere around there and i know that there is a different category but that will be this category and so they add for each person they add that income so if it's two people at sixty thousand uh then they can that's affordable housing for them they would qualify and it's a hundred percent it's a hundred percent okay all right thank you i have no community

Yeah, I just have one quick committee report that we had our meeting for the Harry Griffin Park Committee and Canine Corners is no longer in charge of our dog park. So if you are interested in getting involved and want to help with the dog park part of our park, that's a lot to say, let our parks people know. So, yeah. And are there any reports of travel?

Yes, I will be traveling to Baltimore as a board member of the Metropolitan Transit System. There is a convention in Baltimore, and so I will be learning all about rail. Yeah, which I hadn't been at a convention for rail, so I'm excited to know more about it. And I'll be back early next week.

OK, thank you. City attorney, any remarks? OK, thank you. This meeting is adjourned at 6.56 PM. Thank you.