City Council - Regular Meeting

This is Good evening. I'd like to call the December 16th, 2025 regular council and special housing authority meeting to order. Let the record reflect that all council members are present tonight. Votes this evening will be recorded using the city's electronic voting system. At this time, the city council will convene to consider public matters. If you wish to speak, please fill out a blue speaker card and provide it to the city clerk. If you wish to submit any written materials, please provide those to the city clerk. They'll be distributed to the city council as required by law. When speaking on an item listed on the agenda, your comments to to the subject of the item. If you wish to speak on a subject not listed on the agenda, you may speak under public comments portion of the meeting. Finally, please address your comments to us to city council. Staff will not respond to questions. They will only respond to questions from the city council, not from public speakers. We

will now move on to invocation. We have chap chaplain John Shu from the Orange County Sheriff's Department coming to bless our evening. Thank you, Chaplain. Thank you, Mayor.

Father, on behalf of everyone who is here this evening, we thank you for your abundant blessings. Thank you for our lives, for the health we need to fulfill our various obligations, for your provisions, and for friendship. Thank you for giving us each the ability and the honor to be involved in the important work that we are tasked with fulfilling. In addition, thank you for the freedom to embrace you or the freedom to reject you and for loving us in whatever our choice may be from your boundless and gracious nature. It has been said that we as citizens should obey our governing authorities since you have established those authorities to promote peace and order and justice. Therefore, I pray for our mayor and the various levels of city officials and in particular for this assembled council. I ask that you would graciously grant them the wisdom they need to govern even in the midst of conflicting interests and issues that they may face. A sense of the responsibility for the welfare and true needs of the people of this city. A keen thirst for justice and rightness. Confidence in what is good and fitting. the ability to work together in unity and peace even when there may be honest disagreement p and lastly personals peace in their lives and joy in their task. I pray for the agenda they have before them tonight. Please give them an assurance of what will be pleasing to you and what would benefit the residents and businesses in and around the city of Lake Forest. In your precious name I pray. Amen.

A thank you chap. That was beautiful. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you. That brings us to the pledge of allegiance. Is scout troop here? I believe that they are not, mayor. Okay. So, please join me as you rise to say our allegiance to the greatest symbol of freedom in the world, our flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Okay, that brings us to presentations one and two. Do I have a motion to consider presentations? I'll second that. Okay, moved and seconded. Let's please cast our votes. Madame city clerk, please read the title of item number one. Certainly, mayor, and that motion passes unanimously. And the title of item number one is service awards. Madame city manager, please introduce the item.

Thank you, mayor. I'd like to invite Mika Tyuka to come up to the podium. She's a management assistant with us and she's going to give the presentation tonight. Thank you, city manager Rose. Good evening, city council members. Sorry. On June 4th, 2002, the city council established the employee service award program to honor employees for their dedication and commitment to the city. This program recognizes individuals for reaching key milestones in their employment in 5-year increments. This evening, we are proud to recognize 15 employees for their years of service to the City Lake Forest. We will begin with those that have reached their 5-year milestone. When your name is called, please come forward to receive your certificate and remain standing. Once all the names have been called, please join the city council on stage to take a group photo. Kayla Brown, accounting manager, five years. Emma Gerston, senior recreation leader, five years. John Mesa, management analyst, five years. Amy Stonic, assistant director of community development, five years. Trant, traffic engineering manager, five years. Kelly Wallik, senior accounting technician, five years.

Hugo Andreani, senior landscape administrator, 10 years. Eric Kitz, senior recreation leader, 10 years. Mike McConna, deputy director of maintenance and facilities, 10 years. Jeffrey Wesson, recreation specialist, 10 years. Peggy Samantha, management assistant, 25 years. and Deborra, city manager, 25 years. All right, thank you so much. And

please join us in giving a round of applause to all of our great employees.

And if you are able to join the city council on stage for them to take your photo, Congratulations in the middle. You can be behind me. Okay. Thank you very much.

Keep coming. We're going to get involved there.

Let let the council um sit get in the middle here with you guys. Come on in.

All right. So, you know, we got a well-run city and it's largely due because of the dedication and commitment of our employees. And so on behalf of the city council and the community, thank you so much for your dedication and your hard work in making the city of Lake Forest such a great place to live, work, and play. You guys are a blessing to the city, and we're blessed to have you. So, thank you so much, and we hope that you guys have many more years here. Don't let any other city steal you guys because we love you. So, thank you. One more time, let's hear it for our city employees.

You're doing a great job, but we're happy. You know, that's just a small token of our gratitude to our our city employees because they make us on council look so much better. So, thank you guys. That brings us to item number two. Madam City Clerk, please read the title of item number two. The title of item number two is Do we have any public comments for item number one? We do not. Okay.

So, the title of item number two is Mayor's Award. Madam City Manager, please introduce the item. And again, I'd like to invite Mika Toya, our management assistant, to come on up and provide a presentation.

Thank you, city manager Rose. Again, good evening, city council members. Okay. In May 2018, city council created the mayor's award to recognize employees that provide exceptional service to our city and its residents. The selection criteria for the award includes seven categories highlighting excellence in performance, innovation, customer service, and customer service. While we have many employees who deserve to be honored, six individuals in total were nominated this year. From there, the management team then narrowed it down to three finalists. After the presentation has concluded and the winner is announced, we would like to invite the finalist and the mayor's award recipient to come forward to receive their certificates of achievement of achievement and to please come to the stage to take pictures with city council. Amy Lewis serves as the assistant director of finance in the finance department. Amy has earned recognition from her peers for her creative thinking and ability to develop innovative solutions to complex challenges. Amy provides great leadership while working as a team player and consistently demonstrates her strong commitment to the organization. Our next finalist, Connor Musler, serves as the associate planner in the community development department. Connor consistently demonstrates outstanding performance, has a proactive attitude, and is always ready to adapt to take on new challenges. Connor exemplifies teamwork and collaboration, making him a valuable asset to the organization. Our third finalist, Peggy Samantha, serves as a management assistant within the public works department. Peggy has demonstrated exceptional efforts towards various city programs that have positively impacted the community, contributing to the overall success of the city. Peggy's dedication and strong

follow-through ensures projects are completed successfully, delivering lasting value to the community and contributing to the overall success of the city. The city council selection committee, which included the mayor, mayor prom, city manager, and deputy city manager, have selected Peggy Samantha as the winner of this year's mayor's award. On behalf of the selection committee, Peggy will be presented with a city plaque, a certificate of achievement, and a 250 gift card to Lake Forest Business of her choice. Again, congratulations to all this year's recipients and finalists and of course our this year's mayor's award recipient. Your hard work and dedication are greatly appreciated by the city. Will all the finalists and the mayor's award winner please come forward for your certificates and then come to the stage to take a picture with city council. Here's your award. Congratulations. Okay, congratulations. Stand in the middle with him. Let's get one of you guys on each side between

between those two.

So this was a hard choice for Mayor Prom Peno and myself. The fact is we have such great employees and these three these two these three actually exhibited great dedication to our city. What kind of threw us over the top this year was um Peggy's long service to the city dedication and me and Councilman Serbo went to an Eagle Scout Court of Honor earlier this year and the Eagles were saying that they needed projects in Lake Forest. Now we have a great rotation of Boy Scout projects that will elevate them to Eagle Scout. So that's a great thing. But then just recently we had the dedication of our veterans bricks at Heroes Park and Peggy that was your idea and what a great idea that was. And so on behalf of the city council, our community, the veterans of the city, we want to thank all of you. But Peggy, this year you are the top winner and me and Mayor Prom Peno were you unanimous. You are awesome. Thank you so much for your commitment and dedication. and thanks for recognizing the veterans of our city. Let's hear a round of applause for them.

That's a pretty one. That's a pretty one. Okay,

we're fortunate to have all three of you and um want to say thank you. So, if you haven't been to Heroes Park lately, we have bricks laid by the flag pole in honor of the veterans that have served our city um or served from our city. So, we're Thank you for that project, Peggy. That was awesome. Thank all three of you. Okay, if you'd like to make a public comment, please fill out a

Oh, do we have any public speakers for this one?

We do, Mayor. And our public speaker is Andrew O' Conor. Andrew Conor Foothhill Ranch. Geez, I thought I was going to be the one to push Peggy over the top because it was such a close tiebreaker. And I thought Mary say, "You know what? It was so close." But we have a resident, Mr. Okconor, who just thinks Peggy does the best thing. And Mr. Okconor is going to do the tiebreaker. So Mr. Okconor got Peggy over the top. That's what I was hoping for you to say. But Peggy, you really are something because what do we hear in public is when I call city hall, nobody answers and leave a voicemail and nobody calls me back and Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That doesn't happen here. I don't know what it is. If me and Peggy got something going on because when I'm out in the, you know, being retired, I'm running around the community, things like that, and I don't go on the app. I I just pick up my phone and she's in my favorites and I like that. Yes, captain. I pull over the side of the road. I'm not driving. I'm not using my smartphone. I pull over the side road. I park my car. Call up Peggy. Maybe two or three rings. See Lake Forest. There's Peggy. Hey, Peggy. It's Andrew. Oh, what do you got going here? I says, "Well, I'm over here this and this and get and all this." And she goes, "Is it that near this landmark?" I'm like, "Holy smokes, she she knows the corner better than I do. That's how good she is." and she says, "Um, I'll get right on it." So, I'm doing my errands and all that sort of stuff. Lo and behold, there's the truck with the lightsoop crews out there picking it up. Dead animal, broken sign, branch. She's got them on there. Okay, Justin Kirk, shout out to you. Shout out to the guys in the truck. You know, some people in the

early morning, they like to hear the birds singing. You know what makes me happy? Monday mornings at 7 am is the shovel scraping at my storm drain because that's their first assignment to come to the corner of Torino and Lunette and clean up the storm drain. That is so cool because as you know that's Foothill Ranch Elementary. That's people coming in every day. It looks like Augusta National because those guys have it on their to-do list to clean that storm drain. And I couldn't be happier. So yeah, I'm a crazy guy that hearing a shovel scrape at 7 on a.m. on Monday goes to Justin, but Peggy, you rock and I got you over the top. Don't you ever forget that, girl. Peggy, that's a great compliment from one of our residents. And so, congratulations once again. If you'd like to make a public comment, please fill out the blue speaker card. Give it to the city clerk and your name will be called. Comments will be limited to three minutes per person. The city council staff will not respond to questions or comments during the public comment period. If you leave your contact information with staff, they will contact you and the and address the issues you raised during your comment. When you're called to speak, you will come to the podium. Your three minutes will begin when the green light is on. When the green light will remain on for two minutes, when the light changes from green to yellow, speakers will have one minute left to conclude your comments. When light changes from yellow to red, please conclude your thoughts and return to your seat. The timer will not be displayed on the screen. Madame clerk, have we received any public comments?

We have. We've received four public commenters. And our first public commenter is Andrew O' Conor. So, Andrew O' Conor. Um, just wonder, have you guys missed me? I haven't been here a while, but I've been watching on that on the video. Oh, Mr. Serbo's happy. There's a smile. Not happy. Not happy. Happy. Not. So, I got two councilmen are happy to see me back. Um, it's good to be back. I've had some uh health issues that I'm working through. With the uh power of prayer, I think I can get through it. So, as long as we're talking about awards, I've brought this up before that why don't residents get any awards for Ask Lake Forest. You know, in 2023, I submitted 260. 2024, I submitted 348. This year, I submitted 264. That's quite a bit. And I'm sure there's other residents in the city that have done the same thing. Really, you can't give us a certificate of appreciation for helping you out. It's just it's mind-boggling. So, I'm back again asking, you know, can we get some kind of certificate? There's got to be 10 other people behind me do the same thing. I mean, you get certificates out every day, but you can't give one to the people who do ask Lake Forest. It's amazing. Okay, let's get down to some hard stuff. If I notice that um the Mc Brian McMillan versus City of Lake Forest has got a jury trial scheduled for next year, October 27th, 2026. I'm still not happy with the $700,000

that we have budgeted for monument signs entering the city in Lake Forest and El Toro Road, Rockfield. I understand monument signs, but I just don't understand how these two are going to cost us $700,000. It's just mindboggling. Cosmin Consultants here. They're back for round two. You know, last year we paid them $92,000 for retail and I don't know what the hell we got out of that. Now they're coming back. They want $89,000 for distribution centers. What is that all about? So, we're spending over $170,000 with these consultants. And what are we getting out of it? This is really poor spending. It's $170,000. I don't get it. I still The first thing they did for the retail up in Foothill Ranch, what do we got? Two thrift stores. Salvation Army and Goodwill. They do that. No. That's And then we go this. I mean, we're tearing down the Panasonic building at Enterprise and Dimension. That's already done. It looks like the row of buildings coming up to Pure Commerce Center. All those nice construction companies. What happened to them? They had to pull up stakes. Are they leaving? I think I saw once upon a time that that's all going to be leveled and you're going to put apartments in there. I don't know, guys. $170,000. think we just flushed it and Cosmount is making a lot of money.

Thank you for your comments. Our next public commenter is Bob Holtzclaw. Good evening.

Hi, Bob Holtzclaw, resident of Lake Forest and I'm kind of dressed here because I have another appointment. Uh, and I did want to speak on this, so bear with me. Uh, I guess it's time again for the to choose a new mayor and mayor prom. I hope you're not uh going to uh to nominate a paranoid schizophrenic and be the laughingtock of Orange County. Benjamin U has declared by army doctors as a paranoid schizophrenic and viciously assaulted two women and slamming one of their heads on a countertop when she needed medical care. Both u months ago when these charges were made, four of you uh read a very weak response that sounded like someone wrote it for all of you at that time. One of you asked uh Councilman U. No, I said no one actually asked Councilman U to resign. Why? years ago when uh uh Councilman Hersaw got a DUI, Scott Foitz almost got out of his chair and and stood there and and yelled and demanded that Hersog resign and he did. Matter of fact, uh Councilman Yu also has a DUI. Uh when uh what what what changed? I hope nothing uh has to do with donations, but I think the best person for Mirror Prom would be Doug Servo. And I think he'd probably do a better job than

anybody else. Matter of fact, he's excused himself when his wife had problems uh well, not a problem, but involved with something with the county and he didn't vote on it. And I think that's pretty noble. So, thank you very much. Thank you for your comments. Our next public commenter is Tamara Manaka.

Good evening.

Good evening, city council. I am reading this letter on behalf of my mom. My name is Tamara Manaka. We have been residing in Lake Forest since 1975 when my husband retired from the ring corps and we purchased our home in what was El Toro and now Lake Forest. On behalf of the Tiller and Sahara families, we would like to thank Mr. Robert Peo, Mr. Omar Telis of Love Lake Forest, Brian Wolf, Melissa Mobility, Pacifica Institute, Calvary Chapel at Foothill Ranch, City of Lake Forest, OC Fixit, Saddleback Church, and all other organizations and volunteers involved in the repair of our common fence. A much improvement in the character and property value. Thank you, Beverly Tillery.

Thank you for sharing that with us and we're we're we're really honored um to be able to bless the community v. I think Mayor Prom would like to say a few words. Yes. Thank you for coming and I'm sorry your mom didn't feel good tonight, but uh this is the third um project that uh Love Lake Forest has done and Omar, thank you for coming tonight and helping us. But uh that was that was a very small thing that what this city does and I'm glad that all those organizations were able to get into that. Well, she said it was, you know, small to you guys, but it was really big to her and we really appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thank you. We value our residents. Thank you. Thank you. Happy holidays and merry Christmas.

And our last general public commenter is Oliver Douglas Brown. Um, good evening, uh, city council. Um, I'm Oliver Brown. I am a resident of Lake Force for 13 years. And, uh, I request, I respectfully request that we improve security on our public parks. I was coming back from swim p, not swim practice, tennis practice on Saturday when it was rainy at Pittsford Park and I was walking back to my house. Um, just after I exited the tennis courts, I saw that the gazebo there, which some parents had rented for a birthday party, um, had graffiti on it and there were vulgarities on it, there were swastikas, and there were inappropriate drawings. And um the parents look very distraught and I was pretty disheartened by it frankly because I've been going to that park since I was like maybe a month old and it makes me very sad um to see the park be disheveled like that especially at a kid's birthday party. So, I respectfully request the city council to improve security, maybe install security cameras for the parks or just improve general security for the parks in the form of patrols or something. Another point that I would like to make is landscaping during Christmas. Um, other cities have lights on trees. They have nice landscaping around the Christmas season. And I think if we can't do it this Christmas, next Christmas for preparation, I think that would be pretty cool because if I were a traveler entering any city, the city is kind of reflected on their landscaping

um partially their businesses, but mainly their landscaping uh with lights. So, if you're coming in here for the through the festive season, um I think it would be pretty nice to have some light set up. Um yeah. And um that concludes my two points. So improve the landscaping or at least maybe next Christmas just we can put some lights on the trees in the main streets and improve security for their for our public parks. So yeah, thank you Oliver. And those are great suggestions. We need to get you more involved with our city. You should join our our neighborhood watch committees. Was that our final?

That's it, mayor. Well, thank you all for your comments. Now, that brings us to the consent calendar for the city of Lake Forest and the housing authority. They will be running all matters on the city council under the city council and housing authority be consent calendars will be considered routine and will be acted by one vote. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the city council or staff request specific items to be removed from the consent calendar for separate action. Have there been any requests? Uh, mayor, we do have a public comment on the regular city council consent calendar number five. Okay, I'll just finish and all colleagues, do you have any to pull?

I'll move to Okay. Um, there is an item in the public um warrants for the register for the county of Orange. I am an employee of the county of Orange and I don't work for the county. I do not work for the county for work for the department that generated the warrants because the county of Orange is a public agency and because I do not work for the departments in question. I have determined that I have a non-interest in these warrants and I will be voting on the item. So that one um do we have a speaker for that one item? We do for number five. Would you like to take that comment now? Mayor.

Uh that speaker is Andrew O' Conor. So, regarding the consent calendar, um the warrant register and as I try to simplify this to the residents, the warrant register is like your checkbook at your house. It's what the city spends money on. They reported out and recently they spent $6 million on a variety of costs and I have questions on one, two, three, four, five, six cost centers. why we spent as much as we did. And this is the city of Lake Forest organization chart. And at the top is me, the resident, followed by the mayor and city council, and then followed by the city manager. Uh, unfortunately, there was a issue with the HTML link and me and uh, T were able to get that worked out. So, some of the questions I have here is that our city manager and our deputy city manager both took a trip to Tampa, Florida, the end of October. Um, city manager's expense was almost $4,000. Sean McGomery and deputy city manager was $2,000 all the way to Tampa, Florida from California. What the heck did we learn there, Mr. Mayor? Did the city manager report back to you? And was it valuable what you learned? City manager and deputy city manager like, "Hey, I got this great idea. I'm going to bring back bring it back to Lake Forest because you spent close to $6,000 of my taxpayer money." And in business, you

spend and you get a result back. I don't see a result for this. And I don't know, did she even write a report, Mr. Mr. Mayor? Did she give you an oral report, Mr. Mayor? Economics. This is a uh contractor for the waste management. We just wrote them a check for almost for $18,400. Kidd Matthews, again, $53,000 to manage this complex. Our city attorney, Best Besson Kger, we just paid them $116,000. My calculation is you hit the jackpot again this year and you surpassed last year that you build us almost $1.2 million in legal fees. Mr. Richardson with a little smirk on his face. He's really happy. He probably got another trophy from his boss. So do 1.2 million by 12 months. That's $100,000 a month in legal fees. Mr. Mayor, have you ever talked to the city manager about reducing these expenses because they keep going up every year? And last but not least, we have our own mayor who spent close to $1,000 going to League of California cities just up the road to Long Beach. What did any other city council member attend? I'll be dead, but you're the only one submitted an expense for $1,000. What what you do? What it cost $1,000? So, I'll pull record, see what you did, all those sort of things. But ladies and gentlemen, we got to keep an eye on this stuff.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay, that only that was it, Mayor. Okay. I'll consider uh um a motion for all the items in the housing authority and the city council consent calendar. I already make a motion for the remainder. You want Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Motion. We're doing We're doing them all right now. So, okay. So, there's a motion. Any a second? Second by Mayor Prom. Please cast your votes. And that motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. That brings us to discussion action items. This will bring us city clerk, please read the title of item number 11. Of course, mayor. The title of item number 11 is the consideration of appointments to regional committees and boards and city ad hoc committees. and mayor. Um, I will just jump right into it. Okay. Um, the item before you as I just Well, um, madam city manager, please introduce the item. Sure. I'm going to invite our city clerk, T Merritt, to jump right into it. Thank you so much.

Thank you. So, the item before you, um, as I said, is the consideration of appointments to various regional boards and committees and city ad hoc committees. And so we will start off with uh the regional committees and boards. Um in that in those two columns on the right are the designated members, the current designated members and alternates for each of those regional committees. Now um it is out of the pleasure of the council if you would like to reaffirm those nominations or uh the floor is open now for nominations. All right. We'll come back to council. Do we have any changes we want to make or we want to make a motion? I um

reaffirm. Well, I I'd like to reaffirm um with the exception of League of California Cities that I'd like to be the designated member or the the voting delegate, but um I think the rest of them should uh should stay. I mean, uh, well, that's my motion is that the only thing is I'll be the the designated member for Cal League of California SERS, but the other ones we just leave as is. Okay. So, that I'll that's a substitute motion to the motion of all. So, um, I'll just clarify that. So, Benjamin, would you still like to be the alternate?

Uh, yes. And I will second that motion. Okay. Motion has been made. Okay, we can move on now to the standing city committee and that is our uh budget/ audit committee. There is one um there is one opening for that committee and this is a committee that is subject to the Brown Act. So um here is your opportunity to open the floor for nominations. You might go ahead. Okay. Okay. So, I I see the uh the second two-year term. Does it have to be a two-year term? It does not. Okay. So, Mark can get right back on it.

Uh if I if I nominate him, which I am doing. It is out of the pleasure of the council who you got no choice, Mark. Well, I if I may, I I I was happy to provide an opportunity, but I appreciate the vote of support. And if that's the pleasure of my colleagues, I'm happy to do that, but I was also wanting to provide an opportunity if somebody wanted to. And you're already there, so I you know, you can't you don't get two votes. Um anyway, I'm happy to serve. Councilman Kimer, you're a thorough I'm okay. watchdog and so I think that's a perfect role for you in there, the watch. So I agree with that. I'll second that.

All right. Thank you very much. And now we will move on to our city ad hoc committees. And to put a finer point on these committees, these are not subject to the Brown Act. They are temporary in nature. um have a specific goal in mind when they are created and once that goal has been achieved the committee does dissolve. Uh so right now um on the far right uh column is the are the current members for each of the ad hoc committees. Um that middle column is staff's recommendation recommended composition for each of those committees. So again the floor is open for nominations for those. I'll um move the the um recommendation or the current members on that and my motion will be just to keep it as if everybody's willing to serve still.

Yep. So, I'd like to make a a a subsequent motion that for economic development used to be the chamber of commerce ad hoc and um I think it's only appropriate that Mark Tedmer or Council Member Tedmer who was instrumental in getting the Chamber of Commerce started here in this city be put on that ad hoc. I I'll take that as a friendly amendment and I'll support that. All right. Very good. May I

I just want to clarify because I think mayor you were saying keep it as is, but I think there's a to me a a subtle change that's going on here because we're specifically calling out in the first two, it's the mayor and one other council member. So the the columns on the right are what we do today, but the difference is we're now specifically codifying that it's the mayor, economic development. It's the mayor and one other ledge. It's mayor and one other. Mayor, I understand that. I'm just saying but I but I want to be clear because what what is he supporting? I want to be clear on that.

Uh it's it's supporting you for economic development. and you you were instrumental in um the founding of the Lake Forest Chamber when it when we didn't have a chamber. Okay. And and mayor and council if I may to clarify the one council member can include also the mayor prom. So it it is just the one the the additional council member right but we're not at this point I are we looking to specifically identify the second person. I think we are.

So it's the mayor. So let's just take e economic development. If we say yes, the mayor should be on that committee, that's fine. Then we need to identify the second person and I appreciate the mayor prom um offering me and I'm happy to serve if that's the will of the council. Um but I just want to highlight that there's that the subtle difference going on here is what staff is recommending as we follow that script. Okay. But the but the mayor the mayor has been selected for next year. So the fact is that's still a variable. So well once the mayor is selected that mayor then ass immediately assumes okay those positions. So the motion was that you be this council member serving with the mayor with whoever's chosen as mayor. Okay. Yes.

And then for for ledge um if I may.

You may. Um, same idea. The mayor and I I think um and we'll hear a little bit more about this in our report outs, but um the city recently uh went to Washington DC to meet with a number of legislators andor their staff as well as committees to advance some city initiatives and it was a very good meeting, very good meetings I should say. Um, but it really underscored to me the value of having the mayor be on the ledge committee because I think it's most impactful when you go to meet with committees or legislators or their staff when the mayor is in in that meeting. Um, so I I I very much support the ledge mayor plus one more. The other thing that I think we came to appreciate during the discussion was some of the things we brought forward were things that I happened to be involved with. Um we had some conversations about the Cleveland National Forest and Fire. Uh we talked a little bit about the El Toro freeway interchange that relates to OCTA which I'm involved with. So I think it becomes a little more nuanced here in terms of who that second person going because of this ledge push that we are we we've undertaken recently. So I'm not sure how to unpack that other than to say that I think it could be um whether it's one person with the mayor that attends the ad hoc meetings but those trips to go meet in Washington for instance might have somebody else coming into that position depending on the topics that we're going to discuss if that makes sense. Yeah, it does.

So, I'll leave it there. Yeah.

So, um yeah, not I'll report out on on it later, but um so I did go in in the mayorstead because um because of medical issues. Uh but he's right. He uh I I led off the meetings and then threw the hot potato in his lap and because we did talk about the uh wildfires with I think it was a total of 11 different staffs and Mark or council member Tedimemer, you know, his his time on OCFA and on OCTA, I think was a was big with the people we spoke to because he's he goes to those meetings and he gets the inside baseball on stuff. So, um you know, I I I I see that it says mayor, but I think he's instrumental when we go and we're going to be going back with uh with our appropriations request for these same things. So, I think it's it's only appropriate that he speaks on two of those. And the other uh issues we spoke about was affordable housing and some appropriation requests for some other items we're doing within the city. So, I I think uh Council Member Tedmer should be the one of the members. Anybody?

I'm I'm I'm happy. I'd be honored to do it. I I appreciate that. So, so my my motion will be that that the incoming mayor will take the role of mayor on both those committees and that Tedimemer will stay on as on ledge. That's that's fair to say. Okay. Um and I guess that's that would be the motion. So um the changes would be mayor and then Tedmer economic development because of your involvement with the early chamber. Appreciate that.

I mean um this is these committees are just um inside um baseball really um because we all get um data and information. So the fact is we vote largely as a a unit here. Um our council is mostly in agreement. So I'm good with that. So Tedur will take my spot as economic development and you'll continue on as ledge with the incoming mayor. So my motion will be that the mayor incoming mayor will take the role of the mayor. Tedimemer will have economic development and ledge.

All right. Very good. So to quickly summarize, we have Mayor Prom Piceno with first motion and second motion by council member Yu to reaffirm the regional appointments. Um save having Mayor Prom Piceno as the delegate for Kel Cities and council member Yu as the alternate. We have a motion by Mo Mayor Prom Piceno um seconded by Mayor Voits to nominate Council Member Tedimemer to the audit committee for a one-year term. And we have a um submotion by uh Mayor Prom Piceno with a little bit of a a change from Mayor Voit to have the incoming mayor um uh to delineate that the incoming mayor is going to be on the economic development and ledge uh policy ad hoc committee and that council member Tedimemer will be on both of those

as council member. Correct. Yeah. All right. Very good. Please. Okay. Motion's made and seconded. Please cast your votes. Uh point of clarification. I just want to make sure that city council policy, public safety, and south lake Forest, the two council members that will be serving are the ones listed on this report. We're going to keep those the same. Can we go back to the slide? Yes. So, that slide should be up on your on your screen. Hold on one second. They're not up. Let's get you back there. the votes up. Yeah, let me get you back there. Um, can you switch it?

I'd be willing to share the uh policy ad from Titan to back to the Anybody else on policy ad hoc, Doug? What's that? Okay. Recommended appointments. These are Can we go back to the list? They're up here. Oh, okay. Sorry, it's not on our screen. So, uh, council policy You interested, Doug? You all enjoy it? Sure. All right. So, I make the motion that council member Serbo replace me on the city council policy ad hoc. And you okay with? Yeah. And with council member U.

Okay. I'll second the motion. Okay. For 2026. For 2026. Okay. Are you good? Yes, we're good. Hey, please cast your votes. Yeah. Go ahead.

And that motion passes unanimously. Okay, that brings us to item number 12. Madame city clerk, please read the title of item 12. The title of item 12 is the selection of mayor and mayor prom for the 2026 calendar year. Madam city manager, please introduce the item. Thank you, mayor. Traditionally, this item has been handled by the mayor, so I will turn it back to you. Okay. Well, um, do we have any comments from the public? We do have one public comment. Would you like to take I'll take that now.

All right. So, our one public commenter is Andrew Okconor.

Andrew Conor Foothhill Ranch number 12 selection of mayor prom for 2026. No, this is actually the mayor. Or are you going to speak on the mayor prom? Okay. Yeah. Okay. I strongly oppose nominating the D2 councilman.

We all remember how this went screaming across social media. Everyone saw it with his picture. Lake Forest Councilman U. Domestic violence. Orange County Sheriff's Department deputies have been dispatched to report of a domestic disturbance and found you's former partner confused and dizzy after you, prosecutors allege, had slammed her head against the granite kitchen countertop multiple times. He was subsequently charged with a felony and two misdemeanors. Is that the type of mayor prom we want in the city of Lake Forest? He claims he has changed. However, he's still a reckless driver. He often leaves the Civic Center above the speed limit in his high performance BMW M4 convertible. How do I know? I have a dash cam video where he exceeded the speed limit by over 15 miles per hour just right here in Civic Center. I watched him do a California roll at the end. Go ahead and laugh. I got it, dude. I download it. So, it's all there. That's why I have a dash cam. Okay. Sooner or later, you're going to be involved in an accident involving another driver. Part two. Remember, we're back November 2019. Councilman, you had a restraining order against me. We went to court and out of your domestic violence and all this, we learned that you have paranoid schizophrena. Well, well, well. Do you know in 2019 you purged yourself?

You didn't tell that to the court. That was a very big thing. with a restraining order and all this baloney that you said about me and all the things that you said I said that I refuted. So my employment lawyer is going to reopen the case based on your paranoid schizophrenic comments. you committed perjury and we're gonna reopen the case in 2026. So, you got that baggage looking at you. Okay. And you sit there and laugh and you think it's funny. You committed perjury.

Please conclude your comments. Thank you for your comments. In concluding my comments, I ask for D1 Councilman Doug Serbo for your comments. Thank you. Thank you. Here he is. Uh Mayor. Uh yes, let me say it. If you have the dash and camera you claim, please release to the public. Otherwise, it's not true at all. And also, if you claim anything about the litigation, please feel free to forward to my council. Thank you. Okay. Um that is that our final comment from the public?

That's our only comment. Okay, then I'm going to open up the selection for mayor um open up nominations and I'm going to nominate Mayor Prom Robert Peno as mayor for the city of Lake Forest in 2026 um as a great public servant to our city and um thank you. You would second my nomination. I second I will second that. Do we have any other nominations? Seeing none, I close nominations. City Clerk. Um, please we'll cast our votes

and that motion passes unanimously. Well, I am blessed to say that um, Mayor Prom will be the mayor of the city of Lake Forest starting January 1st, 2026. Congratulations. Thank you. We're honored to have you. I will open up nominations. I will open up nominations for mayor prom. Mayor, if you if I may. You may. So, when I look to my right next year, I want to make sure I I look at a handsome face. So, looking across, I would love to see uh Doug Sarbo minus his dad jokes. So, I want to nominate Council Member Serbo as the mayor prom.

I'll second that. And but I think you get the bad jokes with that nomination. I'll accept the nomination without your conditions. See, I told you you were going to get it without with the bad jokes. Do we have any other nominations? I'll close nominations and ask for the vote, please. Do Yeah, I got a second to say.

And that motion passes unanimously. Well, I'm proud to announce that the mayor prom for the city of Lake Forest 2026 will be Doug Serbo. Mayor Prom starting January 1st, 2026. Thank you, gentlemen. Madame city clerk, please read the item of number 13. The title of item number 13 is the recognition of Mayor Voitz for his service in 2025. Madame city manager, please introduce the item. Thank you, mayor. Again, this is a presentation um by our mayor prom this evening.

Thank you, madam city manager. So, I'd like to thank uh Mayor Vitz for his service and leadership during his term as the mayor. Um I want to say it was 2017. Got a knock at my door late at night and um there's Scott saying, "Hey, I got a proposition for you." I told him I was taken. So he said, "That's not what I mean." But he was in his boxers.

I was in my boxers. And so it was a little awkward. But anyway, um he's made his home here in Lake Forest since 1978 where he's raised his wife and children and uh daughter and built deep roots in the community. Um, I also want to recognize his 15 years on council since 2010. Uh, multiple terms as mayor and his experience and perspective that come uh and it that come with his commitment. So, um he remains engaged in the city. He also uh repres the district representative for um Don Wagner for the county supervisor. So, um, Scott, on behalf of me and my colleagues, we want to give you this for your leadership in 2025.

Thank you.

Thank you. It's It's an honor. Um, that brings us to item number 14. Madam City Clerk, um, I'm so sorry, Mary. There there is a public comment for item 15 and I believe that we also have representatives from Assembly Member Dixon's office uh to present you with um some materials as well. So, okay, we'll take those first.

Good evening, city council. My name is Janelle Atienza. I'm with Assembly Member Diane Dixon's office who represents the city of Lake Forest in Sacramento. It is truly an honor to be here today to celebrate outgoing Mayor Scott Voit and for all your leadership and service this past year. Um it's truly an honor to have you as a mayor of Lake Forest. We wish you the continued success in all your future endeavors and thank you so much for everything that you've done for the community. So congratulations.

Thank you. Could you come up for a picture and mayor prom could you come up with a picture too please? May want all council come up please. I'm going to hang out. And council members, before you return to your seats, we do have another representative from um from Young Kim's office.

Apologies, I seem to be an unannounced guest. My my mistake. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Andrew Garcia and I am here on behalf of Congresswoman Yan Kim. We would like to congratulate you, Mr. Mayor, on a job well done and thank you for your service to the city of Lake Forest. Your leadership has made a lasting impact on the community and you will certainly be missed. We wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

Yes, sir. That's right. And mayor, we have one last public commenter for this item.

Okay.

And that is Andrew O' Conor. I'd like to um thank the staff of Assemblywoman Diane Dixon and the staff of Congressman Young. Tell them both thank you so much. I very much appreciate it. Thank you to them to the for their service to our community in the state and in the Congress. Merry Christmas and God bless you guys and God bless both of your representatives. Thank you. Well, I guess I can accept um Councilman Servo's dad jokes as long as he's mayor prom because he's in the corner for District 1 and he knows how passionate I am about Foothill Ranch and how passionate he is for Portolo Hills. So, for 2026, Councilman, let's rock it. What do you say? All right, Scott. 2025. Disappointed. Sincerely disappointed. I don't know what accomplishments you can hang your hang your hat on, Scott. What What What can you say like, "Wow, man, this is really great." You know what sticks out to me in 2025 with you is the ebikes at the sports park. We had four or five people come up here and it's clearly it's on the video and you clearly said I didn't know we had a problem. It's a big problem. And to say that you didn't know it was a problem as the mayor, I was like wow. Then you ask the city manager what was the OCD po, you know, what's this their policy? She didn't know. She came up with the word salad. So I thought maybe the next meeting she would come back with it, but the next

meeting she was out of town, which is okay. And I thought, well, the following week from there, she'd follow up and see manager, you still haven't followed up. Ebikes is a big problem in this city. And I know it's all over the county and it's it's I don't know how to get my arms around it myself, but really disappointed street vendor enforcement. Why' they take 15 months to get this thing cleaned up? Why? Because the city attorney over here saw a chance to to give us for 100,000 and bill us. He had to write an ordinance and he slow dragged it. You're the mayor. Get things done quicker. Tell this guy to work faster because he works slower and he bills us and it costs a good amount of money. I say $100,000 for a simple ordinance to get street vendors off the street and make it look bad. And while this is going on, grease is going down the storm drains Laguna Beach. Aren't you embarrassed? I reached out to the city Laguna Beach Council. Hey, by the way, like forest is polluting Laguna Beach because we can't stop vendors from throwing grease down the storm drain where it says clearly drains the ocean and then we had a contract with Panther Security and I don't

Your time has concluded. Are we even doing that anymore? Please conclude your comments. Okay, read the rest of it. But disappointed, Scott. Think you could have done a better job. Thank you for your comments. Is that the only public? That's it, mayor. Okay, that brings us to item number 14. Madame clerk, please introduce the item. The item of the title of item number 14 is comments by our outgoing mayor.

Madame clerk, please introduce the item. You have anything to introduce? It's all mine. All right. So, I first want to say um how proud I am to serve on the Lake Forest City Council. Um I'm involved with a lot of committees and I'm involved with a lot of cities and um the city of Lake Forest just shines. So, I want to thank my fellow colleagues here on the city council because um you guys do a great job and your dedication and commitment to the city is unquestionable. So, um, thank you from the bottom of my heart and my family. Um, I want to thank the city staff for their collaboration, their hard work and dedication to the city and implementing the council prior priorities and serving the community's effectiveness. So, people want to question what I've done. Look at what the city's done. So, let's take a look at 2025. Completed a citywide replacement of aging street signs. The old green light, the old green signs are out. The new blue ones are in. We've upgraded park facilities with Heroes Park field renovations and LED lights upgrades and synthetic for turf replacements and three park locations. Intersection improvements through the Bake and Tribuko Road $3.5 million widening project. a signal coordination across eight corridors and 33 signals. Coordinated numerous many numerous high attendance community events including the 32nd annual beloved Fourth of July parade featuring the flyover, the first flyover, Orange County Fire Authority. Thank you, Councilwoman Tedimemer. I know know that you serve on that. and um Firehawk

helicopter flyover here in Lake Forest. Advanced community guided planning with the Kavanaaugh Park renovation and redesign through a twoperson outreach event at at dignitary community surveys survey. We launched and redesigned the city website and mobile app. We've come a long ways. expanded digital outreach with more than 5,000 social media followers. Thank you to our social media crew. Finance, we lead the way is one of the first cities in the county of Orange to go become totally debt-free and we've earned government finance officers association award for the 30 30th consecutive year for budget and financing reporting. So when they go through our reports, they come up um good. Release the city's first pro popular annual fiscal report document simplifying complex financial information for residents to see. You got to like that, Andy. Then our city clerks and her department doubled passport revenue and added notary services at city hall. here. We completed a final phase of the buy one get one bogey um gift card program generating millions of dollars in our local economy through a grants from the federal government that we used wisely and reinvested into the bogey um buy one get one cards which were renowned whe whether I was in Irvine Santa Margarita everybody talked to Mission VJO they were buying our gift cards buy one get one. We invested $50,000

in Main Street Digital Grant Program, supporting 20 local businesses with training and advertising grants. Public safety accomplishments. We improved fire wildfire preparedness through evacuation zone mailers and two Foothill Ranch and Pulla Hills fire safety events. Thank you, Councilman Serbo. We graduated and could keep expanding our searchs. This was a class 11, bringing a total graduates to 250 plus with 70 active volunteers. We added one new sheriff deputy to the city's patrols with another one coming on next year. So, that was all budgeted in. launched the Love Lake Forest volunteer program, completed four volunteer events, one of them being highlighted today, focusing on home improvements and assistance for residents in need. Thank you, Mayor Promo, for being involved with that. We expanded our neighborhood improvement task force efforts in the Southwest Lake Forest through community cleanup, outreach, and enforcement programs. We received American Planning Associate Housing Award for Mountain View 71 Homes and Aspen Court 50 homes affordable housing projects. We were one of the first cities in California, not only Orange County, but California to finish our housing element, which actually completed that. That's a well-run. Thank you, Deborah, for leading us in that effort. There's surrounding cities that didn't get theirs done and they're paying the price now. So, thank you. The city adopted the 20 25 and through 2035 strategic business plan which focuses on keeping Lake Forest fiscally

stable, well-run, and supported by strong staff and clear priorities. And we have a 7-year balanced budget forecast for the next seven years as a balanced budget. So, thank you Kevin if you're listening, if you're here. I don't see you, but that is staff run. I told you the staff makes us all look so good. Um, thank you council staff volunteers for your commitment and partnership because I couldn't have done it by myself. It's fact is a team effort and the fact is not one of us can take credit for all this by ourselves because you guys are all part of the team and we have a great team. That leads me to saying that making Lake Forest a great place to live, work, and play is our motto. And the fact is that we had in 2025 had a wonderful year. Thank you to the residents for their engagement, their feedback and support, including you, Andy, expressed confidence in the city's direction. I have nothing but praise because of my colleagues and this staff here in Lake Forest is one of the bestrun cities in the state of California. And I have confidence that 2026 is going to be a better year than even 2025 was. So, um, my hope is that all of you, um, enjoy the Christmas holidays, the holidays, um, and have a great, healthy, prosperous, and happy 2026. Thank you for allowing me to serve to my colleagues. Thank you staff for backing us up and helping us become the best we can be. And so my confidence is high and I want to say thank you for the honor of being the mayor for 2025.

I know Mayor Prom, Mayor Pen will do a great job in 2026. And that concludes my comments and I'm so blessed to live in the great city of Lake Forest and I'm so um excited about the future. That brings the city manager report. Thank you all. Madam city, you had your comment. Madam city manager, do you have anything else to report? I only comment 13. There's no 13. There's 14. There's 14. I get the comment on 14. There was comments. That was my comments. No, I get the comment. She has the card right there.

Okay, come on up. You It says I I relayed all the good things that the city accomplished this year. Let us hear what you have to say.

Yeah. Well, let me let me That's why we had democracy. So, yeah, you went through a whole list there, mayor, and they are accomplishments, but those things were started three, five years ago, and maybe this year they came into fruition. Okay? So, if you're going to say, "Oh, all the new signs in the city happened this year." No, that happened three or five years ago. And by the way, you know, that whole planning process happened three or five years ago when you weren't mayor. So now it happens this year. So you're going to say, "Wow, I was the mayor. The signs came up." And by the way, I'll take a picture of it tomorrow. You got to fix the sign at Lake Forest and Maryland's going into the Jack in a Box entrance to the apartment complex. What's it say? The marketplace or something like that. The arrow points into the apartments. You guys notice that? I mean, you all live in that neighborhood. You go, you don't notice that, Tedr. you go down Lake Forest or come up Lake Forest, the arrow for that center should be pointing towards the center. It points into the apartments. Okay. So, yeah, Mayor, you just ran a whole list. That's good. Like I said, that stuff happened. There's a lot of footnotes. A lot of other people do it. What I want to say is where did you plan a flag this year and say, "I'm going to take care of this in January 2025 and I'm going to run with this." what you just did a whole list of things that were done a long time ago. But as you go off into the sunset of your career as you're done, remember you're the first mayor to sue us for $550,000 for a frivolous lawsuit and you got $155,000 out of it. And what did you do with that money? You know, you're Mr. America. You tell the kids the flag and all that. What'd you do? You went and bought two German SUVs. Isn't that great? Mr. American, you got right there in lapel. What' you do? German. You can't buy a Chevy or Ford

and daughter. No, you got to get Mercedes-Benz. What a hypocrite. OCPA. If we vote, if we join that, we'd be bankrupt. We'd be bankrupt if we joined the Orange County Power Authority. District boundaries. Remember how we paid 80,000? You're like, "No, I want to move it up. I'll move the strings so Susie Betts can be in." Remember that, Scott? You did that, too. Marijuana testing labs, $100,000 in litigation fees because you got $5,000 from the owner to vote and it went back and forth and all that. It finally ended and you wanted it. That's great leadership, Scott. OCTA, the street car over budget. It has nothing to do with Lake Forest behind schedule and you never push back to the county on that because you're working it up at the county. You're not going to uh burn your bridges. I I5 southbound El Toro exit. What's going on with that? These are the things you should plant your flag and you didn't did nothing.

Thank you for your comments. Looking forward to 2026. Well, it's coming. So that that brings us to city manager report. I have nothing further. Thank you. Okay, Councilman Serbo.

Thank you, Mayor. I'll start by just acknowledging and recognizing the service that you've had uh mayor voice to this community for such a long time. There's so many things behind the scenes that you don't see or hear about uh what the the mayor and rest of us and the council and the and the staff all do. So, you're one of those hardest working guys and you really powered through all sorts of physical challenges and other things this year and so I just wanted to acknowledge and thank you and appreciate for your service and your leadership here this past year. So, thank you for that. Thank you.

Uh just a couple of things in terms of activities. Um myself and council member Tedmer serve on the audit committee committee and I was just again impressed by the financial stability and actually the shining star that we are in terms of finances. So to our finance director Kevin Shyer who stuck around all night and his team just another exemplary report and how we are managing our funds to a degree that keeps us in a position like no other in California. So, thanks uh to our uh finance uh department and the great work that our staff is doing there. Uh had a great time for our tree lighting that we have out here now. I know Vicki and the community services group, what an outstanding job that event was all day long. Lots of young children and opportunities to have fun and Santa was here and just chance to meet people and and talk about the, you know, the holiday spirit that was going on there. And since it is a giving time uh during this this the season here, I do have two public service announcements that I'd like to take care of here right now. So, uh first of all, I know a lot of us were going to parties and maybe you're having a party. So, there's some wisdom that I picked up off of the uh the internet and it said that you should always invite polar bears because they're great at breaking the ice. Okay, so that's the first one. The next one is my granddaughter. Shout out to Mila, just turned one year old this last week. And we've got a Christmas tree in my son and his wife's uh house there. And of course, all the shiny little strands of things like there. So, I'd had to remind them that make sure that Mila doesn't eat any of those shiny strands, otherwise she'll end up with tinselitis. So, just wanted to put those two things out there for you. And finally, I would just um like to say merry Christmas from all of us. Happy New Year, happy Hanukkah. There you go. It's almost like a happy birthday one, isn't it? Okay, so

thank you, mayor. So, um our next incoming mayor will have that to his right plus his lovely face. And so, congratulations. That brings me to Councilman Tedrimer.

Thank you very much. So, I alluded to it earlier. Um, but, uh, Mayor Prom or mayor elect, I guess now, uh, and I went to Washington along with staff. We attended about a dozen different meetings over less than two days. So, it was quite an action-packed time to go and uh, introduce ourselves to some of the legislators and their staff and bring forward some initiatives that we found important. And it was really helpful, I think, for us to get the facetime uh, with those folks back in Washington. and hopefully that will pay uh dividends over time, but it was very successful and so thank you to staff for all the hard work to help make a a great experience. Uh I attended the stars holiday brunch, so congratulations and thanks to all them for all the hard work they do. I also attended the annual Christmas tree lighting event, so thank you to staff for all that as well. I'd also like to say thank you to the mayor for your service in 2025. Uh wish the best to the incoming mayor for 2026. If there's anything I can do to assist, please let me know. And I also want to wish everyone happy holidays and a happy new year. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Tedimemer. That brings me to Councilman U. Oh, I also attend the Christmas tree lighting. It's great to see Santa and the spirit of the community and uh congratulations to the incoming mayor and also thanks so much for your work of mayor voice. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. you, Mayor Prom Penho.

Thank you, Mayor. I echo my uh colleagues. Um kudos for you. Thank you for your leadership in 2025. Um well, I hope don't turn the timer on because I'm going to take a while here. So, uh I attended the tree lighting and I want to thank Vicky Blathon and her crew for throwing a f fantastic uh Christmas tree lighting like she does every year. I went to the stars brunch. Um, and uh I I did like the uh Devon's uh roast of his stars. I I think I'm going to I'm going to join him next year with that. Also, uh I know my colleague talked about the the Washington DC trip. Uh, I really thought they were I I I was telling Mark at the end of it, it felt like the baton death march because they just had us going from meeting to meeting to meeting with no lunch, by the way. Uh, I was a little upset with BBNK. They did have some snacks, but um I have a a peanut allergy, so I couldn't eat them. Uh, so anyway, uh it was a great trip. Uh we met with uh state senator Schiff and state senator Padilla's people and uh it it looks like it could be a fruitful thing especially for uh we did get an email back from one of the people we met with the uh the minority member of a subcommittee who re let us reach out to the forestry service so we can work on maybe cutting back some of the uh Cleveland National Forest. Um, and I did attend the Love Lake Forest event on Lar Rosa in District 5. Uh, Omar uh and his um crew were there and this uh Miss Beverly was she's 89 years old. She's a widow and uh they we they came in and that fence I think the next

strong wind was going to knock it over. So, thank you so much for what you did. I also want to thank the Pacifica Institute um OC Fixit for their generosity day of the event because they went into their pockets and bought a lot of material. So I want to thank them. I also want to congratulate Coach Dave Cole and his Saddleback Valley Pop Warner 13U. They won the national championship for Pop Warner, which is a great big deal. And I'm super super jealous because I never got out of Orange County when I coached Pop Warner. So, but then the cheer teams um the Saddleback Valley Pop Warner Cheer sent three team three teams uh to the national cheer and dance championship. So the pee-wee cheer uh with a score of 94 captured first place in the national championship also. U and then the junior pee-wee team uh was four fourth out of 11 and the JV team was sixth. And on Sunday night I attended the 15th annual toy drive at our place. Um, Cliff uh opened up his doors and there was over 600 toys given to uh this this um event. The the person that ran the event is Johnny uh Johnny Lavine. Um he started this 15 years ago. he was in the hospital during the holidays and he noticed that there were children in the hospital during the holidays and he's you know he said that he felt really bad for being in the hospital during that time but how about these children so now every year um he loads up a truck full of toys for the boys and girls that are in the hospital and it it's it was a great event and if

I would like to ask the mayor if we can adjourn tonight's meeting in memory of deputy Greg Ruiz who patrolled the city of Lake Forest who passed away this week. And um I want to wish everybody a happy new year and merry Christmas and uh thank you for u having confidence in me to steer the ship next year. That's all I have. Thank you, Mayor Prom um Peno. And we will close tonight's meeting in memory of officer grease broom Greg Luis

Greg Luis. Um we will close the meeting. I want to say that um we did have a good year, a great year. Um I too attended the stars um lunchon. um great group of seniors that volunteer um as visibility and eyes on the ground for the city lake forest. We had a phenomenal tree lighting here. Probably the best carnival I've seen here in the civic center out there because we had stilt walkers games galore. We had a great um visit from Santa Claus. had a little trouble with the sled, so it came in on a firet truck, but we had a great presence and a great excitement for what Lake Forest is and um it will always be. So, um I too attended um the toy for toys for chalk. Um in fact, I actually took um a big load of toys over there um to um help them out because I just love that. And so, thank you for bringing to the attention of the community and myself. I was there and giving toys and um it was a blessing because it's better to give than it is to receive. And children that are in the hospital should get a toy and enjoy some of the cheer of Christmas and the holidays. Um Christmas is a special time of year where the spirit seems like um everybody's friendlier and happier. I think it's the spirit of God moving, but the fact is that there is a reason for the season and it's evident by the the conduct of people. Um, so I want to say um it's been an honor to serve the city of Lake Forest this year, 2025, and I'm so pleased to say that um 2026 is going to be bigger and better because we keep getting better. We have a great staff. Um I like to get consensus. Um there's been many cities in the state and in the

county that are bringing up um revisions to term limits. So if I get a consensus from someone to bring it back for agenda item, I think that some of the cities in Lake in County of Orange have already done some stuff and so I'd asked the city attorney if they could look into that for us and so if I can get consensus from anybody. Yeah, I'll um support an agendaized item to look into expanding the current two-term limits to to three term limits. That's what you're asking, I think. Right. Well, I I think that we just bring back the items one some of the things that other cities are doing and so I think that we'll leave that to the city attorney.

Um so that's consensus. So So are we good?

Okay. Thank you. And um so on behalf of the city staff, the city of Lake Forest, my family, I want to wish everybody a wonderful Hanukkah, a very merry Christmas, and God bless you and have as we look forward to may all of you be blessed with a healthy, prosperous, and very happy 2026. Happy New Year, a merry Christmas, happy holidays. Thank you so much. And we'll close in honor of Deputy Greg. Thank you. God bless and God bless Lake Forest and God bless America. Thank you. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Ooh.