City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everybody. I'd like to call to order

our city council meeting of Tuesday, 05/19/2026. We'll begin with a pledge of allegiance to the flag led by Aaron Sung.

Aaron.

Alright. Please stand, face the flag. Place your right hand over your heart. 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 God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

Thank you, Aaron. Just a moment. So we are Oh. We are delighted to have Aaron here with us leading us in the pledge to the flag because this is also an acknowledgment of something Aaron did. He is a member of troop eight forty nine here in Manhattan Beach.

But for his Eagle project, he installed the mile markers that many of you may not even have realized are on our veterans' contract. Barry just installed them. He actually came up with the idea, worked closely with our city staff, went through the city process to get it approved, then started a fundraiser to purchase the mile markers, organize volunteers, and then oversaw teams that installed them. So Erin, this is a belated thank you to you for all of that effort, which has improved and enhanced our community. So on behalf of the council, I have several certificates for you.

First, a certificate for leading us in the pledge to the flag, and then for the mile markers, which we now adorn our community, and then last but not least, a city pin. We now move on to a roll call. Madam City Clerk, may we have a roll call? Standing here.

Should we pass the mic down?

Council Member Tarney? Here. Council Member Sherrillian?

Here.

Council Member Hoard? Present. Mayor Pro Tem Franklin? Here. Mayor Lesser?

Here. We now move on to offering a certificate of recognition to our Manhattan Beach Boy Scout troop eight forty nine, which is celebrating its seventieth anniversary this month. So what can we say about troop eight forty nine? It it has produced, I think it's 173 Eagles. Is that right?

Troy Walrich is the scoutmaster. Come on down. So most people know I'm involved with scouting as a volunteer myself. I chair the Pacifica district which oversees the troop and am actively involved with scouting. Troop eight forty nine personifies all of the best characteristics of scouting, focusing on civic engagement, on leadership, and particularly with this troop, outdoor adventure. It's a big part of what they do. Troy, what more can you add about the history of the troop briefly?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A 173 eagles over seventy years. We've been doing everything, backpacking, hiking, canoeing, kayaking, service projects. Our alumni our Eagle alumni are at every major university in the country right now. Our alums are SC, Notre Dame, Princeton, Georgetown, Indiana, just to name a few. They're all over the place, and they're doing wonderful things, and we're so proud of them. And and congratulations. Not only the scouts, the current scouts, but I think we estimated about 3,000 to 4,000 young men have come through the troops since, you know, seventy years ago. It's crazy. We we do a whole heck of a lot, and we're proud to do it.

No pitch is scouting is more important today than ever before, particularly as young kids are often on their devices. This is an opportunity to get them off their devices into the outdoors, working with other young adults and giving back to their communities. Thank you so much. We have a certificate for you, sir. And I'm not sure if there's room, but I think so, a city pit.

Get a picture. The scouts too, they honor you. Thank you for being part of our council meeting tonight. Our next ceremonial is a presentation of a certificate of recognition to Bob Beverly and Shelbourne Tavern.

Bob, you

want come back? Shelbourne.

Bob Beverly.

Bob, thank you for being here. As I shared with you, I think there's many reasons why we should be honoring you, lifelong resident, owner of the tavern. But really tonight, on my final moments, in my final moments as mayor, I wanted to honor you for your preservation of our beach culture and you're promoting it. I mean, the Shellback Tavern is a place where you can go and get a, you know, good food, cheap drink, have fun with your friends, have fun with guests.

You don't want to forget about the hat. Get that. Get

to that. But

really what you're celebrating is our local community and keeping it simple. In fact, leaning into that, which is what makes it such a cherished part of our community. Now, of course, internationally, you've let other people in on the secret of what your tavern offers. And these hats have become a phenomenon in themselves. So hold on. I have a

prop. In

my final moments as mayor, I wanted to tip my cap or caps because I also have one from council member Horuth, which is custom

Yeah.

To you for all that you've done and continue to do for our community. Well, thank you. Thank you.

I'm just so fortunate that back in the early fifties, my father decided to make Manhattan Beach his home and not Santa Barbara. That was the other choice. Think he probably didn't have enough gas money to get up there. In Western Manhattan, we're a little closer. Anyway, we just appreciate being a part of the community and trying to maintain the Manhattan Beach I grew up in. That's our that's what we strive for. Takes a lot of work. My manager, Rico, up there that most people know he's worked for me since he was 12 years old.

And my wife, she has to put up her letters late nights

where sometimes, you know, walk real straights coming home. My daughter Brooke is here too. Thank

you, Will. Can you let us

know to part of your

community? Alright.

Hold on. We got stuff for you. A city certificate and a few city pins and a few pins for your hats. You. Can we get a picture with all

of Sure.

Mayor, can we thank mister all Hey, these dedicated benches for us, the dedicated tables for us, for city council. So when you walk into Shellback, on your left will be our symbol, the city sign right there. And the rule is that if one of us on council ask you to leave so we can sit down there, you got to leave. That's where

we're going tonight.

We always thought it was the mayor's table, but Steve Napolitano said no, it's Napolitano table. Which is mainly more of a South Bay out of this.

Well, it's open to all, and we're thrilled to honor you.

Didn't know I Hold could hold

up the certificate so we can see it.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

And finally, are the representatives of TEDx Manhattan Beach that are here tonight? Going once, going twice. We have a certificate for representatives of TEDx Manhattan Beach because of all they've done in their community in terms of inspiring ideas and conversations and we look forward to providing them with their certificate at a later date. Okay. We now move on to item e, approval of the agenda and waiver of full reading of ordinances.

And I know I will be pulling items from the consent calendar, items number five and sixteen. Does any other count council member wish to pull an item or be recognized as pulling an item before we approve the agenda?

Mister mayor, I do wanna be recognized. Council member Howard. Thank you. And for Richard Montgomery's edification, I did press my button. So item number five, I was also interested in pulling, but I would also suggest instead of pulling that we continue it to the next council meeting in light of, you know, all the festivities and, you know, I know all the stuff going on for the the new mayor, the the current mayor. So I would like to consider continuing that item to a future council base.

I have one just question related to that because I know for example, there's a sanitation board meeting that's coming up on Wednesday, excuse me. So I wanted to make sure how does that impact representation.

The council assignments includes the mayor and the mayor pro designation.

Right.

I did follow-up with the city attorney and as far as the council assignments not being approved, you would continue on with what we have.

Okay. So I would have no objection to that.

Great. In

which case we would move forward and approve the agenda without item number five.

And then the other one that you wanted.

And then we would pull item number 16. We're good. In which case I see there is a motion by Mayor Pro Tem Franklin and council member Sheridan call for the question.

Motion passes five-zero.

Thank you. We will now move on to City Council and community organization announcements of upcoming events for up to one minute apiece. If you do not want or not able to come down to the podium, raise your hand and someone can bring a microphone to you.

Good evening, and thank you for letting me speak tonight during the community announcement. My name is Anne O'Brien. I'm here representing El Camino Community College. For nearly eighty years, El Camino College has served as a cornerstone of the South Bay providing affordable high quality education to about 33,000 students each year. We offer pathways to university transfer, career training, and workforce development that strengthen our local economy.

Today, access to affordable higher education is more critical than ever. Community college costs are a fraction of public universities, making them a vital option for many families. Through our join the conversation campaign, we're hearing directly from residents. Key priorities include expanding job training for essential careers, maintaining affordability, protecting student safety, and preserving educational opportunities. And we wanna hear from you, our residents.

Please take a moment to complete a survey using the QR code shown on the screen or by visiting elcamino.edujtc, short for join the conversation. I also have flyers that I placed in the lobby. So if they're still there, free to pick one up. And thank you.

Thank you.

Honorable Mayor Lester, Mayor Berthand Franklin, last time I'm going be able to say that for a bit, council members, city officials, Bobby Bell on behalf of Richard with Waste Management, not WM, your local outreach educator for organics and recycling. First announcement, Memorial Day coming up on Monday, just to remind all residents of commercial businesses, your service will be pushed back one day, it will be caught up on Saturday. Second quick announcement, I'm sure you guys are all aware, it is Public Works Appreciation Week. The relationship that I have and I'm honored to have with the Public Works Department, they make my life so easy. They help me in so many steps. So a tip of the cap to the public works department. You guys are awesome. That's all I got. Wishing you all God's blessings.

Thank you. Robby?

Hello. Cassandra Sargent with Manhattan Beach Library. I just wanted to give one last plug to the Julia Quinn Manhattan Beach speaker series this Saturday, 2PM at MiraCosta High School. We'll have snacks and refreshments. We'll have incentive giveaways from the library. There'll be a photo op, and hopefully everybody or most everybody can get their books signed. We'll also be raffling off a few of her books too. So hopefully you guys will be there. I recommend probably parking on the street if the lots are full because I think there's another Hermosa Beach event also going on. So it's gonna be a very fun packed day. 02:00 Mira Costa High School, Julia Quinn, author of Bridgerton. And this series just landed too. So thank you.

Thank you.

One more thing and I'll get out of your hair. We have a court of honor tomorrow night. Great. We're going to recognize all these scouts for their rank advancement, their merit badges, all their activities that they've been doing. Lots of things we've been doing the last six months, not just the camporee that we go to. We have a rocket hike where the boys build model rockets and shoot them off. We've done a bunch of service projects. If you saw us Sunday morning, we're out at Tour De Pier doing the Color Guard and variety of things. So 07:00, Jawsons Center tomorrow night. It's only twice a year. So hopefully, we'll see you there.

Great. Thank you.

Good evening. Mosa Alekire, Community Development Director. I just want to put a plug in for the Project Pulse community design workshops. These are your opportunities to play architect or contribute to the design of the 400 Manhattan Beach Boulevard site as well as the former Parking Lot 3 site. So please come join us. The first workshop and both sites will be at both workshops is on May 30, Saturday, two to five p. M. And the second workshop is on the Sunday, eleven to two. So please come down and join us and help shape the future of the downtown area.

Thank you. Thank you. Is anybody else in chamber like to come down and speak to counsel? If not, Patty, is anybody on

Zoom? No requests on Zoom.

Which case we'll close excuse me, community organization announcement and turn to public comments. This is an opportunity for any member of the public to address any item within the subject matter jurisdiction of the council. Three minutes. Any member of the public that would care to come down?

Good evening, honorable mayor Lesser and mayor pro tem, but soon to be mayor Franklin in a matter of minutes, and distinguished council members, of course. Wayne Powell, president of the Los Angeles County Commission for Older Adults. I just came down because I wanna commend mayor Lesser on an exemplary term as mayor. You did the residents well, serving them well, and again, kudos to you. And I want to congratulate mayor Franklin in about a matter of moments for taking the leadership role.

I know this is your second time, and I hope and I know it'll be just as good, in fact, maybe even better, you know, based on your first time as mayor. And I also wanna say that the council as a team have worked well in serving our community along with city staff. So you're all to be commended. Now I know two of you are gonna be running for reelection in November, and I wanna see you back because I want you to continue that team. So keep up the good work.

Thank Thank

Hi. I'm I'm Tiffany Barbara. I'm a resident here in Manhattan Beach. And thank you very much for your service, the city council, but also for our staff. You guys really keep this city humming, and I'm so proud to live here. Just seeing all these Boy Scouts, so proud of our town and Shellbacks, it's just an icon. So it's just really great. I love I love living here. Anyway, I just wanted to congratulate mayor Lesser on your third third term. You have been so and diplomatic and such a friendly face all these years, and so it's been a blessing to have you as our mayor and on our city council that long.

And I also wanted to congratulate Joe Franklin to become our next mayor. It's it's gonna be your second term, and and I met Joe in the dark days of COVID, and it was 2020, I think, when the nation went crazy and defunding the police was a a hot item, which, thankfully, we are sane and our police department are we are so blessed to have such a strong one. But I was over at his house to get one of those support MBPD signs and he and his beautiful wife came out offering me wine. So we made fast friends and I've been by your side all along and you've been a terrific source and such a wonderfully collaborative person on city council. It's been a very challenging six years And I want to thank all of you guys for for thriving during those challenging six years.

And and I'm so proud because I I now have a senior, my last boy of three graduating in MBUSD, which I am so grateful to have had that opportunity. It's a wonderful institution. And when I heard that the the Strand Stroll was going to be changed to two blocks of The Strand instead of Martha's down to the Manhattan Beach Pier where they throw all their caps up and everybody comes out for that even if they don't have a a student. And it's just such a wonderful community event and and Joe was right there and you've been so collaborative and tactful and just in a matter of a couple days, you've gathered all the interested parties and collaborated to make sure that, you know, all the factions and the constituents are gonna do what they need to do to keep everyone safe and that we can continue this six year tradition that really started in 2020 when our children didn't have a high school graduation. And so it was such a beautiful thing that they could have this march down the strand.

And to continue that march is just a wonderful thing for us. So I wanna say thank you for probably all of you in collaborating on that, but Joe for taking the lead and making that happen for us. And I'm really happy to have another term as mayor for you. Thank you.

First of all, my name is Lucia La Rosa Eames. I'm a resident of Manhattan Beach, and, I wanna thank you, mayor Lasser, for your for your service, for, yeah, for your kindness and diplomacy and, for your support for the city and for the Boy Scout. You know, I I have an Eagle Scout and my youngest son is a must in Eagle Scout. So the 02/1949 is in my heart too. And then I want to congratulate Joe Franklin on becoming our next mayor.

We are excited for you. And honestly, we are excited for all of us because we know you are a wonderful leader, and we truly love Smalotham Beach. So first thing first thing first, I have to thank you, for your support for MB SAFE. It has been a gift, to this community. You show up, you listen to us, and you have been a partner, a volunteer, and a friend.

You have never treated homelessness just another issue on the list. It's in your heart to take care of the our homeless residents. You have treated for what it is. These are people with deserving care and dignity and then it's another way to take care also all the other residents of Manhattan Beach who deserve to feel safe in their schools, in their parks, in their streets. So the fact that you embrace a hands up, not a hands out, really says everything about who you are.

And he really, really is a volunteer of NVC. He tell us, you know, where he knows the names of the homeless people, and he tell us where they are, where we can go, when we can find them. He's amazing. Of course, we also have real work to do. There are a lot of things that local control, parking, always parking, public safety and, the cuts to homelessness services coming down from the state and the county, it's a lot.

But we will continue I know you will continue to lead us with wisdom and steadiness and heart. And so we trust you. We trust you completely. We are not going to lose our sleep over this and we are cheating you every step of the way. Thank you again. And congratulations. Thank you, everybody.

Hello. I'm Alita Rathbier, longtime resident since 1976, and I'm so happy for the scouts. We've got the house. We're gonna and hopefully, I see that, Steve Napolitano, who was my neighbor back in 1976,

and I'm sorry. Champion

at fast tracking. And when he did the fire department, the fire fire station over on West on East Manhattan Beach, it was fast track. And he did it with speed, speed, speed. I'm gonna ask Steve to help this council

Yes.

Learn fast tracking because these kids that we've all donated and we're willing to donate more, they deserve it, they need it, it's being outside. It's everything. So please, please, thank you for approving it, and please have this have mister Napolitano fast track it. Thank you.

Was she talking about the fifth beetle? I don't know.

Any other speakers in chambers that would like to address council?

Who's this guy?

I'm gonna make this kinda quick. I flew out here yesterday and worked all day in San Diego and drove down here for this, trying to surprise him. You too. So real quick, I'm Jimmy Franklin. I'm Joe Franklin's son.

Been a since the twenty four years.

But, real quick, my dad has always been someone I've looked up to. He's always had an unbeatable work ethic that I admired when I was a kid, and it's even transferred over to my life. It shined while I was in the marine corps and continues to shine now in my current job. What I thought was normal has proven to be exceptional in all that I do, and that is because of you. Seeing him busting his butt to get the job done and still be able to be there for his family is something I've always admired.

To this day, and you can even ask my wife and my kids back home in North Carolina, I carry that strong work ethic with me and that sense of family. His unwavering dedication oh, I lost my spot. I'm sorry. Yep. Bear like father like son.

Just slow. Just the fast track. No.

His unwavering dedication to serving this community from literally being stopper, the stop sign from the do stop, don't speed campaign from when I was a kid to even now serving at the highest capacity for the city he has called home for almost four decades now is incredible and something to admire. He has motivated me to even run for county commissioner of the county I currently live in once some things finish falling into place for myself and my family. He's always raised my sister and I firmly but fairly, which I believe he is carrying over to this capacity as mayor. He's always wanted nothing but the best, not only for his family or but for his community as well. I'm so happy for him.

I'm proud of everything he's accomplished, and it's awesome to be able to call him my dad. So dad, from me, Christy, Macy, Caroline, and Liam, we wish you nothing but success, and we all love you so much. The kids can't wait to see their Gampa Mima next month. I love you, dad, and God bless you in the city of Manhattan Beach. Thank you.

Wait a minute. Tiny tears.

Give me a minute.

Buckle up.

Tough act to follow. Thank you.

That's a

tough one to follow. Hi, dad. I can't believe that we're here again, but strangely, I can. Because of the last four years have shown us anything, it's that when you care this much and you show up the way that you do, people notice. And somehow, they keep voting for you. Now I thought about what kind of advice I could give you as you step into another term as mayor. But just to be clear, this is not the kind of advice that you give me over the years like to put more money in my four zero one k because I'll thank you later. Still waiting for that. Thank you. No.

This is the kind of advice that you pick up just by watching somebody, the kind I've learned, from watching you over the last four years on council. First, keep connecting with people. That's how you won your first election, and it's still your greatest strength. You take the time to remember everybody's name, which still completely baffles me because I can't remember what I have for lunch today. Second, keep listening.

You have this way of making people feel heard, and reminding them that they can have, that what they have to say matters. That's why people trust you, and I think that goes, back to where this started, to those 88 votes. Because the people you connected with, the people you listened to, and the people who believe in you are all sitting right behind me right now. And lastly, remember why you started. It was never about the title.

It was about making Manhattan Beach the best place it can be for the community you genuinely love. You introduce yourself as a mayor to visitors, any chance you get, and maybe to some people that sounds boastful, but to me, it just shows how much you genuinely love this city and how excited you are to make someone's trip a little more memorable. Those small things, they're what people remember the most. So as you step into this next chapter, just keep being you, because that's what got you here in the first place, and clearly, it worked well enough to get you here again. I'm so proud of you. Manhattan Beach is so lucky to have you. Congratulations.

I'm Brian Goldsmith. I wanted to come to pay brief tribute to mayor Lesser. Some of you in this room may know that I've made the irrational decision to run for the California state senate. And as such, I've gotten to know a lot of mayors, council members across this vast district. And I have said not just in Manhattan Beach, but in many places that David Lesser is one of the most impressive mayors, public servants that I've come across.

And getting to know you has been a wonderful education for me on the variety of issues that confront our communities from public safety to land use, housing, the cost of living, environmental protection. And clearly, the residents of Manhattan Beach agree because they keep electing you as they should. And so I just wanted to show up and say thank you for your extraordinary public service. I've been very grateful to get to know you, mayor Franklin, and look forward to getting to know the other council members in the months to come. But thank you for the job you've done.

Please.

Good evening. Mayor Lesser, mayor pro tem Franklin, and esteemed council members. My name is Fred Taylor. I'm a navy Vietnam veteran, local businessman, and fifty year president of Manhattan Beach. I know that's hard to believe.

I recognize how easy it is to put a three minute public comment together, while ignoring the hours of research and time invested that each one of you do in behalf of our city. So I wanna thank you, mayor and esteemed council members, for all that you do for the city. Mayor Joe, to be, you have a huge role to fill. Probably, in my opinion, the most demanding since the pandemic. Our city is facing a financial crisis.

We recently learned there were $20,000,000 overspend. A Band Aid approach from reserves could get us through this year. However, the years going forward are simply unsustainable. How did this happen? Why wasn't there a warning from the staff months ago about the situation we're in?

So you will have some hard questions to ask, and I know you well enough that you don't like to ruffle feathers, but I think you're gonna have to to get to the truth of the matter. Just five years ago, our operating budget was a $106,000,000. Going into this next year, it's looking to be $165,000,000 That's a 55% increase. Our spending has soared by 55%, and 24% of our staff members are in the top 1% to 3% of incomes nationwide. I have to live on a fraction of that in Manhattan Beach, and most of us do.

So I haven't heard the suggestion from the staff, really, or the council for that matter about a hiring freeze or a promotion freeze. There's talk of raising park parking ticket fees. But I wanna submit to each one of you, we have a spending problem, not a revenue problem. And so, Joe mayor Joe, excuse me. I don't mean to be disrespectful. You're the guy to do it. Thank you.

Any other members of the public in chambers that care to address council? Please.

Good evening, mayor Lesser, mayor pro tem Franklin, Julie Justice McGinnity from Friends of the Senior and Scout Community Center. Really wanna just take a moment to say thank you to all of you for your dedicated service and for being such amazing partners to our little not for profit organization and committing the resources in a very difficult year to get the Manhattan Beach Community Center built. Mayor Lesser has been an extraordinary partner, strategist, communicator, collaborator, someone we could always trust. We know that your heart is with the youth of this community and with the seniors of this community. Thank you for your service.

And mayor to b Franklin, you have been a stalwart supporter of this community in so many different ways. But I will tell you the thing that I remember the most. It's that Valentine's suit, the one with all the hearts all over it. When I saw him wear that Valentine's suit to the candidates for him in O'Donnell Hall during his campaign, I thought to myself, if that man can wear that suit, he can do anything. Love it.

Love it. So thank you very much to all of you for your extraordinary service. The last four council meetings have been particularly long, and you all have demonstrated extraordinary stamina. So I just, on behalf of all the scouts, all the people in this room who are supportive of this project, thank you for your community service.

Any other members of the public in chambers that care to make a public comment? Please come on in.

We

can bring a mic to you or you can move around.

We We need to have

you on a mic so those watching remotely can hear you. But you're welcome to speak from there if you'd like.

So my name is Jim Upchurch, and I've been up here a few times over the past couple of years, and and I just wanted to make a few comments. First of all, mayor Lesser, thank you for the job you've done in your term as mayor. It's a difficult job and and it requires a lot of coordination, patience, calm, and I respect those traits in you. I've seen that firsthand, so congratulations on the term. Well done.

Joe, soon to be mayor Joe Franklin. I've gotten to know Joe over the past four years or so. It seems like it's been ten years, but it's really been four years while we've been working through the 28th Street infiltration project, which I promise I did not put the crows nest up in the tree. But we are we are about about about to kick off that project. And in going through that process, I've learned a lot about the city of Manhattan Beach, the governance, the challenges the challenges faced by the staff, which are daily challenges faced by council and everybody involved in the overall governance and managing of this city.

And I've I've been amazed at how much stuff is on your plate at each council meeting. When I see an 800 page package or a 600 page package or however many it can be, I I just am blown away by how much you have to process. And if there's one thing kind of following on Fred's comments, trying to prioritize and make sure you focus on what is important and what moves the needle and what's meaningful, not just for today, but for three years from today, for ten years from today, and try to eliminate the stuff that is nice, but it really doesn't matter. Somehow, reducing the workload on the staff, on the council, on everybody involved in running the city, I would really encourage you to do that. And that will result also in a reduction of expenses because you'll find that, guess what, we really don't need that.

And if it's gone today, nobody will notice it. So I encourage you always think day to day, do I really need this? Does this really have to be done across the board in every department, in every element of the city of Manhattan Beach. So just a quick comment there. Lastly, Joe, you're gonna be a great mayor again. We're excited. I can tell you from the 28th Street, Bruces Beach neighborhood, we see you down there a lot. You've been a great friend and advocate for us in in everything that you do, and we think the next nine months, Nine Nine and a We look forward to enjoying our time with you again and seeing you on the street. Congratulations.

Thank you.

Hi. My name is Heather Kim, and I just want to reiterate, actually, from my last city council comment two weeks ago, I was cut off because I had a lot to say. So I'm going to recap a little bit, about what I said two weeks ago, and that was basically that, our city has already turned in its housing plan as have all cities. And, but now that that it's all been done, we already know what other cities that are similar to ours are doing. And here's the thing.

I don't think that Manhattan Beach has truly tried its best. And I say that because there are very similar cities who have much better housing solutions. And like I said, we're very similar, and yet we haven't looked into that. And I don't know if there's there are people who are actively who are saying that there's nothing we can do because that's truly what they believe or it's I don't know if city city staff is not wanting to push more creative ideas for whatever reason, but there are definitely ways to do this without going into Builder's Remedy, which everyone is freaking out about. So I know I presented, you know, a question.

Did city staff use AI in order to, you know, do all the research that they need to make better informed decisions to present to council? Because you don't know what you don't know, and there's a bazillion pages of of this housing housing stuff to go through. So not one person can do it, that's why I'm asking you guys to utilize AI. I don't have all the answers and yet I was able to use AI and I'm just a housewife with no formal training in any of this and find out some things. So I presented some ideas to you last two weeks ago and I just wanted to know where we are with that because I know you cannot contact you know, talk to me directly.

But I'm just putting it out there that there are a lot of people like myself who are very concerned in the direction that this is going and what you guys have truly done if you have done your best. And I don't I don't think so. So also I just wanna say that we have a very small window to act right now carefully and strategically with the full weight of comparable city precedent behind us, but that window will not stay open forever. So the choice is pretty simple, and we use the tools available to us and tools that really did not exist before or were not readily available when we adopted this plan to build a smarter and safer and legally defensible amendment. We don't wanna keep watching a corridor where people have been killed on Sepulveda.

So Carmel is doing it and the legal tools exist. There is precedent sitting on a server at HCD right now waiting to be read, so let's go read it. Please feel free to contact, stay at home wives who can maybe help you with this. And thank you so much, Joe Franklin for becoming the mayor, David Lester for the outgoing mayor. You guys have done a fantastic job, I think, as a council. And I I can't say all the nice things I wanna say about you, Joe, but everybody's already said it. So

Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Dean Francois. I'm council member Hermosa Beach. Typically, we come here to honor the outgoing mayor, incoming mayor pro tem, but it just occurred to me that there was something on the consent calendar item regarding the representation on the sanitation counting board or something along those matters and the public wasn't allowed to comment on consent calendar items, I just thought I'd remind whoever is representing Manhattan Beach on the sanitation board tomorrow. On the agenda, I will be there representing Hermosa Beach, is a rate increase for the sanitation, which affects not only Manhattan Beach residents, but residents throughout the South Bay.

I'm leaning against it. I want to encourage you to really look into it. In my opinion, the financial resources of the district are well in surplus and well the rate increase is not justified. So I wanna encourage you to, you know, to listen to your constituents represent Manhattan Beach and try to seriously look at whether we really need to increase the rates for the sanitation board going forward. Thank you very much.

Any other members of the public that would care to address counsel during public comment? If not, Batty, is anybody on Zoom?

Yes. First, we have Michael Jenkins.

Good evening, mayor, members of the city council, Michael Jenkins, forty eight year resident of the city.

Good evening.

Thank you, David, for your service as mayor these past nine months. And, Joe, best wishes for your upcoming service as mayor. I was, very glad to see item 23 on your agenda tonight. As you know, I've been advocating for some time now the creation of the citizens task force on housing. And so I am very glad to see that you are going to at least consider tonight whether to place it on an upcoming agenda.

I know it's not on tonight for discussion on the merits, but I think that the merits are worth having a conversation about. So I would respectfully encourage the city council to support tonight placing this item on your next council agenda. And with that, I hope you have a short meeting tonight and great evening. Thank you very much, council.

Thank you.

Next we have Tina Shifpuri.

Good evening. Can you hear me?

Yes. You may proceed. Thank you.

You. I'm sorry I'm not there in person, but I wanted to take this time. Honorable council members, Mayor Lesser, Mayor Pro Tem Franklin, thank you. My name is Tina Shifpuri. I'm a resident of sixteen years and also have the privilege of serving as your school board president this year.

I've had the privilege of working with each of you in different capacities, and I can only say it has been a privilege. And I want to let you know that we all enjoy attending these organizational meetings because we get to learn about our council members on a personal perspective from your family. We hear gratitude from residents and we hear about the projects and efforts you might not use your podium to boast about. And that shows your humbleness as well as your let's get to work attitude because there's so many things we don't know that council members do behind the scenes. So I recognize that and I want to use today to thank you.

I also appreciate the extra time and energy that's required as mayor. Mayor Lesser, thank you for reinstating school board assignments to each of your fellow council members. This is an example of fast track when now that we have a relationship real time in our meetings with council members there on the ground in our school board PTA meetings, it's really helpful to have someone there in person and working directly on a month to month basis. So thank you for putting that in place again from the past. I'll end with congratulating Joe, our incoming mayor.

I'm again continue to look for I look forward to working with you in our capacity as we always have. And I'm also want to recognize our incoming pro tem council member Tarne. Thank you so much again to all of you. And I know that the partnership between schools and city is unbreakable. And I will continue to support the city as I know you will continue to support schools and we will keep each other accountable and do what's right for the city and the schools and when and all possible. Thank you everyone.

Great. Thank you.

No further requests on Zoom.

No further requests. I see that earlier my council colleagues wanted to speak, and I did not call on them then, but I will call on them now. Council Member Howard.

Oh, gosh. It was it was more about community announcements. I I think it is extraordinary. It's always nice to see so many people in chambers. And it does remind you of what it takes to build a community. I think all of us last week is, I think Julie mentioned, we're here till one in the morning on Tuesday last Tuesday. So tonight if we're out by midnight, that should be good. Right, Joe? But we also have went to leadership in Ann Beach graduation, which was actually one of the most meaningful, impactful I've been to in a long time. Extraordinary class, great leadership, great alumni.

And then Friday night, there were Girl Scouts Gold Awards. By the way, Bella Jacobson got a Gold Award. Yeah. It was also, you know, they were very excited about the Scout House, so you had that. You also had the Elder Adult Fair on Friday. I saw Lita there and it was so well attended, know. So there's and then the tour to Pier on Sunday, which, oh my goodness, I can't imagine what it takes to put that on. It's been going on for fourteen years. And it just this community is incredible. And it's it's not really because of the it's not really because

of us.

It's because of all of you out there. And I know that we're so lucky tonight. I think this is I'm not gonna take the glory. But there's, like, so many former mayors here tonight. So, hopefully, I'll let you introduce them some but, you know, hi, everybody. It's so great to see you all here. It's a great tradition. My mic's not on?

You just have to talk closer to

the mic. You can't hear me? Okay. Call me Ishmael. That's a not term error. Anyway, that's all. I just wanted to thank everybody who's here tonight, who's been supporting all of us and all of our community. It's not the beach, it's all of us. So thank you.

Great. Thank you.

Councilmember Charming.

Councilmember Charming.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Speaking of extraordinary, I just wanted to congratulate Maricosta's athletics department under the direction of Mike Rosenthal. We had an amazing weekend this weekend. We've had a winning season and I want to congratulate all of our CIF Southern Section Champions.

I'm gonna go over them quickly, girls cross country under Renee William Smith, Rebecca Kelly, Annie Seawright, girls beach volleyball, Nancy Mason Reynolds, Savannah Simo Corey, Kaylee York, Tamara Hatter, Boys volleyball, Greg Snyder, Ben Court, Mike Cook, Eric VanOnamona, Canyon Seaman, Nick Sheftik, and I apologize if I've butchered up your name. Boys Lacrosse, Aaron Karsh, Nick De La Esperla, Taj Mobley, Kyle Kennedy, Eric Yoon, Girls Lacrosse, Maddie Bus, Rob Zappo, Laurel Vanthoof and last but not least because my son's on the track team, voice track under Mo Russell, Calvin Gamble and Hunter Johnson. They pretty much swept in CIF this year. So I just want to congratulate all of our teams. And then I'm glad Tiffany brought up the strand walk.

I just wanna thank our police department under chief Johnson for really working hard with the senior committee and the the the schools to try to figure out a path forward. We've we've had several meetings to figure out the best way. There was a risk of the strand stroke being shortened because of concern of public safety with alcohol consumption, smoking, pot smoking. So we're happy to report that it's back on in its original route, drop off at Martha's, walk down the strand to to the pier for a big group picture and celebration, and we hope to get community support in a sober, smoke free, celebratory event. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Chernet, before we move on to the last item, some might say that I'm holding on as long as I can. Can you then just repeat the headline? Four of Maricos' teams took CIF Championship.

Correct. Southern Section Championship this past week. So it was again just an amazing, amazing weekend for our and I will say this, thank you for pointing that out because we compete as a D as D1 teams in our district. We compete with a lot of really supported programs, private schools, and our kids give them a run for their money. So it's phenomenal. If you're thinking, all you parents of eighth graders of whether or not to send your kids to MiraCosta academically, athletically, it's superb. Thank you. Thank

you. And now is the part of the program where we begin the transition. We're moving on to item H4. And I turn it over to you, Mayor Pro Tem Franklin for a little bit longer.

Thank you, Mayor Lesser. And may I also mention we got a 2009 alum of Mira Costa and the SAF Champions in football in 2009. James Franco. So we got a lot of champions here in the room, so that's great. So, Mayor Lesser, I think we move back here.

I call it the hot seat, but I think I'm standing up.

So I have the honor to make a presentation to you, but I'd like to just say a few words. I've really benefited from watching you work, from watching you you know, we heard a little bit about the research that we have to do every week, and you always come prepared. You always find other information to bring to the council to round it out. You're very generous on the clock. So you let people finish what they have to say.

So it's been an honor to sit next to you and to learn at your shoulder. And looking forward to finishing out this term with you as well. So on behalf of this the city of Manhattan Beach, here is a gavel. So Elizabeth, can you use it at home? Will it work at home?

And it's for exemplary service to mayor David Lesser from 08/05/2025 to 05/19/2026. Thank you so much. And now we turn it over to council member Tarne. Thank you.

I have to put my glasses on. I just wanted to take this moment to recognize and thank mayor David Lesser for his leadership, service, and deep commitment to our community. David is led with thoughtfulness, integrity, and care. One of the things I admire most about him is how seriously he takes his responsibility of public service. He's always prepared, always thorough, and always focused on doing what he believes is best for the for the city of Manhattan Beach.

David has also worked hard to ensure that everyone feels heard, that everyone has a seat at the table. In a time when it can be easy for divisions to grow, he has consistently approached leadership with collaboration, respect, and a genuine willingness to listen to different perspectives. As someone newer to council, I especially wanna thank David personally for the support and guidance he's given me as I've been learning the ropes. He's been generous with his time, thoughtful in his advice, and a true team player throughout this process. That kind of leadership and mentorship makes difference.

Most most importantly, David cares deeply about our community. His stewardship has been steady, measured, and grounded in a sincere desire to serve the residents of Manhattan Beach well. We've been fortunate to benefit from his experience, his professionalism, and dedication. David, thank you for your leadership, your service, and everything you've done for our city. We're grateful for your contributions and lucky to have had you in this leading role.

Thank you. And a certificate of preparation from the city of Manhattan Beach and a city pin. And next, I'm handing it over to council member, Shirley Leanne.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem Tarnay Toubi. David, your honor mayor. Thank you for your services mayor for the past nine and a half months. You know I'm a numbers guy. During your three terms as mayor and council member, you have attended over 250 city council meetings and over 50 of those as mayor.

So

thank you for that. You have a passion to really listen to our community even with the toughest topics. I appreciate you always taking my calls and listening to me and giving good advice. By the way, was no brown act violations. It's for clarity.

I want to jump on the prepared wagon. You take time to prepare for council meetings by thoroughly reviewing the staff reports. I know this because the amount of notes all over your reports in the binder. Although council doesn't vote five o all the time, you always find the most diplomatic way to listen to all council members and sum up what we are trying to really say. I look forward to continue working with you as my colleague, and I wanted to send you off as mayor with some cacao.

Of course, nothing less than 70% would do. So and there's plenty to share with Elizabeth as well. And lastly, a little note from Knox. He just wanted to my son, seven year old, who just recently was with the great grades of green and planting trees over the parkway. He wanted to thank you for championing that those efforts to bring more trees to Manhattan Beach. Thank you. Thank

you. Hello, David, mister mayor. It's very telling. So I have sort of prepared notes and it's so telling that we are all picking up on some similar themes because they're true. How prepared David is.

How you seek to build consensus, how you make sure all of our voices are heard and included, and we feel respected and you seek out differing viewpoints. We disagree a lot. You may not know that, but we do and but it's good because we we learn a lot from each other. And they all talk about how much they've learned from you, but I've known them longer. So I've learned so much from you and I I wish I could be as diplomatic, as gracious as you are. And and you make it look easy. Was that you, Fred? That was you, Chuckman. It's true. It's true though.

He does. He makes it look easy. He keeps his cool and I'm here to tell you as I mean, Elizabeth knows this joke. As his work wife, I know it's not easy. Well, I know that there are times that you but you keep your cool because you are in service to the residents.

That's what this is about for you. Building this team of colleagues, making sure our voices are heard because you know that maybe, you know, Joe's voice represents something from Steve's voice, represents someone different from my voice. You understand that's important and it means a lot. So you set the bar high, you've created a team, you've included us, and you are a Boy scout. You talked earlier about his involvement in scouts. He's really really proud of being a boy scout and he is a boy scout. He doesn't break the brown act. You can call him up and say, hey, I wanna talk to you about this, and he really won't. Okay? We we all follow the law, but man, you you set the bar for that.

Now before I I I don't know if I pass the gavel back to Joe. Joe, I gave you an opportunity, but I'm but you didn't take it, so I'm gonna recognize the mayors who are here. You're planning on doing it? Yes. Okay. So Russ and Bob and Mitch and Steve and Richard and sorry. No. I'll let you do it because again, it is so moving to me. It means so much to all of us, to me personally, to all of us that they're all here. So I will let

you do

that. It's been very serious tonight to to because you deserve that. Because you take it all very seriously and we are all better off for it. So thank you for your service.

I can get you a gift.

Who to do I

give this to?

Joe? Here you go mister incoming mayor.

And David, I forgot to give you your gift. Starting off with America $2.50 bling there. So And then there's a puzzle in there because I know you'll have some extra time, you know. There you go. Okay. So I think we go back to here. And so we want to ask the following dignitaries to come in the audience who want to recognize outgoing mayor Lesser.

Can we get a picture of the gavel first?

Oh, the gavel plaque?

Right. Okay. When

you asked for photos, you

asked. Okay.

Give me two. One, two, and then over here.

Right over here.

Thank you. So

I see Hermosa Beach, council member, Rob Sehman.

I could just shout at everybody. Seems to work at home in Hermosa. David, I First first of all, I'd like to present you with a certificate of recognition on behalf of Hermosa Beach and and on behalf of mayor Ditoy who cannot be here tonight. So I wanna give you that first. Thank you very much.

Thank you. And I would just want to say that while our our mayoral terms overlap somewhat, I've just stepped down. It was really great to get to know you a little bit better and work with you mayor to mayor in the last few months. And I want to just congratulate you on a stellar time as mayor. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. And to incoming Joe, incoming mayor Joe, congratulations. And I'm sure you'll do very well. And you'll take over leadership in Mozart and do quite a great job.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Appreciate

you. We're going keep you busy tonight.

Also from Hermosa Beach, Dean Francois, Councilmember.

Yes. Thanks. It's been a pleasure working with you guys. Mayor Lesser, on your way out there. We go way back to fighting those Vista Del Mar Road closures going on, right? And but it's been great. And look forward to Joe coming in there and stepping in. And of course, we will be on our Celebrity Masters volleyball team again for the Sixth Man, right? Come on. Okay. All right. Okay. All right. Okay. Great. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. And Jessalyn from Holly Mitchell's office.

Thank you. Thank you. Hi, everybody. My name is Jessalyn Walden. I represent LA County supervisor Holly j Mitchell for the 2nd District Of LA County. I'm here on her, behalf tonight to congratulate and thank mayor Lesser for his service to Manhattan Beach and the 2nd District. Mayor Lesser from the second the districts change when they redistrict our borders at the five districts in LA County. Sorry. I just said district a lot. That was redundant.

He reached out and has been so hospitable and welcoming and making sure that we're, in included in all of the events and and up speed on everything. Been a great bridge for the county to the city of Manhattan Beach. The night of the El Segundo Chevron fire, we were on the phone together at 11PM. He has been there at any any second we need anything, extremely accessible and, responsive. Additionally, a steward of our coastline and ocean, seeing the safe, clean water project through, over at Bruce's Beach Park, the water filtration system.

I know keeping our oceans clean and coastline protected is important. And libraries yeah. And I cannot, I feel like is this loud enough? I feel like it's going in and out. The LA County Libraries, he's been such a champion and advocate of our library system. I've had the honor to work with him, in how we can use our supplemental library funds to make your Manhattan Beach County Library better for you too. So so much, that I've gotten to work on with you. And congratulations, look forward to continued partnership. Congratulations to you, sir, too. Look forward to working with you in your new term as mayor. And thank you.

And next, we're joined by Mia. Yeah. Yeah. That's close enough from congressman, Ted Lou's office.

Thank you so much. Good evening, mayor and mayor pro tem. For you those of you who don't know me, my name is Mia Tiagarajan from congressman Ted Lou's office, and it is the custom of our office to present a certificate honoring the outgoing mayor. Congressman Ted Lou wishes very dearly that he could be here with you today, but unfortunately, he is on a flight back to DC. I started this position about a year ago with the office, and in that past year, I've had the privilege of working with mayor Lesser.

It's been such a joy to watch Manhattan Beach thrive under your leadership with such poise and grace. And I would like to present this certificate on behalf of congressman Ted Lou's office. I can just adjust the mic. To the honorable David Lesser, in honor and recognition of your remarkable tenure as mayor of Manhattan Beach and with sincere appreciation for your tireless dedication to enhancing our community and the well-being of Manhattan Beach residents. Thank you for being such a good friend to the office and for your service as mayor.

Thank you. Sorry about your last name. Okay. And we're we have here Ian May, who is a special assistant field deputy for Jeffrey Prang, our LA County assessor. And before I let you have the microphone, can we get like a reduction in some of our property? We'll put it to good use.

Well, thank you so much mayor pro Franklin. If I had a if I had a nickel for every time someone asked you that question, I'd be able to fund the entire county of Los Angeles. But, that being said, thank you so much for having me here, city of Manhattan Beach. Mayor Lesser, very There are many voices here in the city of Manhattan Beach, not only to ask for lower property taxes, but ask for many different things. But, very few of those voices have the honor and privilege of representing them on the Manhattan Beach City Council.

Even fewer have have the honor of being the mayor. It's a tough job. It's one that doesn't often come with with rainbows. But, your hard work and diligence in this job has truly been amazing and commendable. And on behalf of Los Angeles County Assessor Jeff Prang, he wants to give you your full your flowers.

You have been a fantastic mayor for this city. So much so that your assessed value is now over $27,000,000,000. It's a 5% increase from the year before and it's gonna be even greater next year. So that is a reflection of the great work that you and the rest of the city council members have added to this amazing community. And I'm sure the fire department's very happy for that as well.

But that being said, mayor Lesser and honorable members of Manhattan Beach City Council, thank you for your service and best wishes as you continue the next journey of your public service. And actually we have more than one certificate. We also have one for the incoming mayor Joe Franklin and for the incoming mayor Pro Tem Tarnay. So just to show how much the county assessor loves you guys.

During election year.

On behalf of the Friendship Foundation, Service of Excellence presented to Mary David Lesser for providing thoughtful guidance and inspiring excellence. Thank you for your leading with honor, commitment, and integrity. You have made a difference. Thank you so much from the Friendship Foundation. And I want to go to the very instrumental with the walk, which we have every year. Thank you, Manhattan Beach, and with the polar plunge and everything else we do on behalf of all the children with special needs. Thank you very much.

Yes. That polar plunge sends shivers. Okay. Anybody else? Any audience? No? Now how about online? Anybody on Zoom?

No request on Zoom.

No? Okay. Thank you. And so Mayor Lesser, this is time for your speech.

Well, I'm finding my notes. Thank you everybody. Thanks for. So I start by thanking the residents for the privilege of serving as mayor of Manhattan Beach. It's been one of privileges of my life to be able to have this position and serve our community that I love.

Thank you to my colleagues for your patience with me and working as a team and thank you to city staff that actually do the work. We're up here, we get a lot of time that we spend on projects and discussions and issues, but it's It's our city staff that actually does the work. I particularly want to thank my wife Elizabeth. She has put up with my pension for public service for a long time. It means an awful lot of time away from home, and I'm grateful to her.

Love you. I'm proud to have led a council that was proactive in tackling the issues of greatest importance to our community. I'm proud that we got things done. Just to give a few examples, e bikes. We as a council have enacted code reforms to be able to address something that we know has been dangerous, not only to the riders, but to all those that surround them.

It's in hand in hand with further education, but we've taken that step forward. Sepulveda Boulevard. There have been tragic fatalities on Sepulveda. We have gone to work with Caltrans and approved a series of safety measures. Now we'll just need funding to pay for it, and we'll be looking to our legislators to help us with that.

The senior and scout community center. You've heard earlier, our council gave direction to proceed with this badly needed programming space for our youth and our over older adults. Responding to the Chevron El Segundo incident last October, our staff and our council has responded proactively by engaging with our regional partners and Chevron to improve our disaster response plans and our communications protocols with our residents so that we can communicate better when the event occurs. And last but not least, we've continued our environmental stewardship with a community tree planting event with our Grades of Greens as partners. We have challenges ahead.

As was indicated in public comments, we are in the midst of our fiscal year budget discussions for the coming year. The state of our city fiscal state is strong, but with moderating revenues and increasing costs, we're going to have to make choices. Also, housing. We are complying with our housing obligations as a city, but we have deep concerns. We are advocating for changes in the law because we, as a small beach city, were not built to accommodate such large projects.

We will continue to advocate because the law is so challenging and it will have significant impacts on our community. Finally, closing thoughts. I have sought, as you've heard, to facilitate council discussions through consensus building, through civil conversations in direct opposite to the divisiveness and corrosiveness in the political dialogue that surrounds us. Each of us is willing to stand up and fight for what we believe in, but we start with listening. We start with a discussion.

We try to find a consensus, then we vote and we move on. It's what government should be. I look forward to continuing to serve on this council under the stewardship of Mayor Franklin. Thank you all. Thank you all very much for being here.

Thank you all.

Anything else going on? So

now I get to take the gavel for one last time, and we move on to selection of a mayor. I'd like to make a motion that we appoint our current mayor pro tem Joe Franklin as mayor of Manhattan Beach. I see that has been seconded by council member Charillian. Call for the question.

Kids are so fast.

Fast.

Motion passes,

five zero. So

now, even though I'm now the former mayor, I'm to ask if there are any dignitaries in the audience to recognize incoming mayor Franklin beyond those dignitaries that already appeared. Okay. If not, I get to read the names of the cities and agencies that provided a certificate for incoming mayor Franklin. Where, pray tell, is that list? Like a well oiled machine.

Here. Here. Sit. They

left the certificate. There's no list. So you just have to So

I'll be reading the

names of certificates that have acknowledged the incoming mayor, Joe Franklin. That includes our California state treasurer, Fiona Ma. I'll be giving these to you. Yeah. Sir? You can tell we've practiced this. Right? From the city of Rancho Palos Verdes, this is a certificate of congratulations from the mayor and city council. From the city of Torrance, this is an award to you. You haven't done anything yet, but it's in advance.

It's a deposit. And then I also see a certificate from our district attorney, Nathan Hockman. Think I have one from him too. Any event, I think that's

Only

once you're done with the job.

Now I get to turn the microphone over to you. I noticed that there's a suggested limit, but that will be up to your discretion. Mayor Franklin.

Let's see, 07:31.

All right.

Okay, thank you. Thank you so much. So thank you all for taking the time out of your busy lives to join in the time honored tradition of our city's mayoral rotation. Or as my wife Nancy says, dear God, again. One of the reasons I pardon me.

I'm glad Monsignor wasn't here to hear that. One of the reasons I wanted to run for counsel was to have more than three minutes to speak on important issues. Sadly for me, when learning about the three minute rule on public comments, the lovely missus Franklin unilaterally, without a motion or a vote, established that same rule in our home. I knew things were getting bad when she installed the countdown clock as well. So it's it's wonderful to see you all.

Since being elected to city council first in 2020 and again in 2024, I have a deeper appreciation of these chambers. Two things in this chamber are my touchstones, which provide me which provide my guiding principles. The first is the photo wall behind you there. Of all the past councils arranged, I believe chronologically, back there. Manhattan Beach today owes so much to their hard work, dedication, and mentorship over the past many decades.

Thank you to our past councils who created a strong and beautiful community, which made all of us choose to live here. I want to invite the former mayors with us here tonight to stand and remain standing when I call your name. I know we're a little out of sequence here. So I try to do it in chronological order, but Russ, I I don't know between you and Bob. Russ Lesser. Whoo. Two turns. And next is Bob Holmes. Three turns. Steve Napolitano, I ran out of fingers.

Mitch Ward, preterm. Nancy Hirschman from Colorado. You really do. Wayne Powell from next door. And Richard Montgomery.

Here's another one. How many terms? Four. Four. Okay. Great. Thank you all.

Behind Steve by two.

You

know, I gave them the mic. That was the big mistake.

So we get a group picture later?

Yes, will. So

thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your vision, dedication and hard work to help make Manhattan Beach the city we all love. The second touchstone is directly in front of the council dais. It's the speakers podium where our residents talk directly to us. Council members should not judge the merits of words or who speaks them. From these discussions, our duty is to allow them to be spoken and understand why they are being said.

From these discussions, we craft ordinances, rules, and make decisions on infrastructure, buildings, budget, our public safety, and more, guided by our residents and businesses, the taxpayers, Even if we don't always agree, our residents' passion and perspective should never be misconstrued or characterized as divisive. In the end, our council tries to make the best decision for the benefit and future of our community. I want to thank our staff and public safety teams for all their hard work and dedication. Manhattan Beach today is a vibrant, safe, and well functioning city thanks to all of you and your good work. You can applaud.

So we hear that from residents and visit visitors alike all the time, and we're proud of that, and I hope you hear it directly too. In this term as mayor with the concurrence of city manager Merzakanian, I plan to provide a series of transparency sessions to give residents insight into how our city works, what is different from past years, and how we are always striving towards efficiencies to make every dollar spent work harder. Concerns about the budget will be discussed with open and frank two way conversations with our stakeholders. We must be diligent creating and keeping a balanced budget, especially in these challenging financial times. I encourage residents to participate in this process and provide input.

To me, fiscal stewardship means approaching this challenging budget year with discipline, accountability and a commitment to protecting the long term fiscal health of our city. We will pursue strategic budget reductions that preserve essential services while ensuring we live within our means. That includes looking at a what I'm referring to as a no net new positions approach to staffing to help stabilize costs without compromising public core operations. At the same time, operational spending must be managed carefully as rising costs continue to outpace growth in local tax revenues. By making thoughtful and responsible decisions today, we can position our city for a more resilient and sustainable financial future.

This year alongside alongside safely hosting soccer fans for the FIFA World Cup, applause. Our committee, where's our FIFA committee? You should be out there.

We won't know till next meeting.

We will have terrific citywide celebrations of America alongside, we will have terrific citywide celebrations of America's two hundred and fifty years, starting with a special July 5 concerts in the park and capped by an extra special Veterans Day ceremony. You'll see special America two fifty flags. I was supposed to have one behind me, but, we had some technical issues. There it is. Yeah.

So you'll see those around town. And we are all looking forward to the groundbreaking for the senior and scout community center. Thank you, scouts and seniors for your patience and thank you colleagues for moving this project along. I will keep the tradition of coffee with the mayor with meetings downtown and expanding it to the East Side. I want to initiate a walk with the mayor on the West Side on the Strand and on the East Side of Pollywog Park. I will initiate a new push ups with the mayor starting with sorry.

Sorry.

Got that all mixed up. Our city is blessed to have so many caring and generous residents and businesses who look both within and beyond our city to volunteer and help others in need. I'm continuously in awe as I witness firsthand the breadth and depth of your generosity, energy, and the positive difference you make in so many lives. So I would like to acknowledge you all. So either raise your hand or stand up and say the name of your organization so we can show your appreciation. Your service organization.

Hometown Fair.

Thank you. Hometown Fair. And safe. Be safe. Thank you.

Leadership in Hatton Beach.

Thank you. Neighborhood watch. Great.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank

you for your service.

Senior Advisory Committee.

Okay. Thank you, Dwayne. Kiwanis.

Kiwanis. Yeah.

The the sled. Oh, thank you, Julie. Sorry, Julie. I spoke over you.

Go ahead.

That's good.

Girl Scouts of Manhattan Beach.

Great. Thank you. And thank you for your patience, and and seeing this project through. So thank you so much. Everybody, let's give her another round of applause.

How you contain the five on council is quite a feat, so thank you. Again, thank you all. On a serious note, in six years on council, I have not ever uttered the words existential threat. I do now. Sacramento zoning overreach, the overt power grab of our local zoning control with one size fits all building density mandates is an existential threat to our way of life and the safety of our residents.

It's heartbreaking to see huge swaths of our community threatened by oversized, out of character developments with outsized density, too little on-site parking, and dangerous proximity to unsafe streets. Ultimately, it affects all of our community. Our city will suffer under the strain of more demands on our already challenged infrastructure and services, and traffic will increase many fold. Sacramento politicians structured these mandates so that if a city contested, they would be sued by the state attorney general. The state would shut down our community development department and issue builders remedy permits to developers allowing even larger developments without safety or environmental reports.

Becoming a charter city is not a solution. I and other council colleagues personally visited with our state assembly and state senate representatives to ask for help, but they were ineffective in doing anything to help us despite some gallant efforts, I gotta say, their part. Yes. We on council told you that our hands are tied, but your hands are not. Your voices are not.

A citizen's initiative is needed to combat this threat to our local control. We have excellent examples of successful citizen led prop propositions and local solutions to push back. We all know about Prop 13. In 1978, a citizen led initiative to protect long term residents and retirees who were being forced to sell their homes because they could not no longer afford rapidly escalating tax bills. In 2024, the citizens passed prop 36.

When faced with rampant crimes and a lack of adequate prosecution, this citizen initiative allowed for felony charges and increased penalties for repeat theft and drug crimes, greatly enhancing our safety. Last but not least, in 2024, many of us supported, raised funds, and helped elect a new Los Angeles County District Attorney. Together, we repudiated George Gascon's prosecution directives that left us unprotected and living in fear of rampant crime. County voters sent George Gascon packing with Manhattan Beach voters, voting for Nathan Hockman by an overwhelming 75 to 25%. All of these initiatives and votes show that we can push back and win.

So what do we do now? The wheels are already in motion to correct Sacramento's one size fits all zoning control. The amazing local grassroots stop the rise has garnered support from over 3,000 residents so far to organize and protest these projects all over our city. Please sign up and join. Along with this grassroots effort, current and former elected officials from the cities of El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, all over the state are creating a statewide citizens initiative called Our Neighborhood Voices.

Their website is ourneighborhoodvoices.com. They are right now raising money and volunteers to put a citizens proposition on the 2028 statewide ballot to return local zoning control to the cities. We are not alone with this effort, and you can help right now. I was profoundly touched at Bob White's memorial service recently when his son reflected on Bob and Connie's long lives here and great contributions to the spirit of Manhattan Beach Manhattan Beach. And he said, quote, these past generations gave us the gift of Manhattan Beach.

They gave us paradise. It's up to us to keep it that way, end quote. So we are guided by the past and look to the future. It's up to us to protect this special place we call home. Thank you very much.

See Nancy? You see Nancy? Thank you very much. Very heartfelt. Thank you.

Let's see where we

are now. So let's, select our mayor pro tem, Tarnay. City Council, please make a motion and vote.

Wait, what am I seconding? I'm sorry, just kidding.

I know it's all mixed up

right now on our screen.

Yeah. So selection of Mayor Proton.

We all wanted to do it.

We all wanted to do it, but it appears that ultimately the successful person who pressed their button first was council member Charillian with a second by council member Howard. I'm no longer the mayor. I'm

It's a hard habit to break.

Motion passes five zero six.

I'm catching up here. Okay. So congratulations, Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you.

And would you like to say some words?

Yes. I would love to say some words. I think I'm only gonna take like thirty minutes of your time. Thank Thank you colleagues for the confidence you've placed in me in selecting me as the mayor pro tem. I'm truly honored and excited to take on this role and continue serving and representing the residents of Manhattan Beach.

This is a community that I care deeply about, and I do not take this responsibility lightly. I also want to take a moment to thank everyone who has encouraged, supported, and believed in me along the way. My family, Mike, Colin, Christopher, and Jacqueline, friends, colleagues, members of this community. Public service is never a solo effort, and I am incredibly grateful for the guidance and support I've received along the way. Serving on council has given me an even greater appreciate for appreciation for this city and for the people who work so hard every day, including our staff, to make Manhattan Beach such a special place.

I look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with my colleagues, our staff, and our community as we tackle the important work ahead. Speaking of work ahead, I want to welcome our incoming mayor, Joe Franklin, as he takes on this new role. It's been a marvel watching Joe's bottomless energy. When most folks retire, they tend to slow down, travel, spend more time with grandkids, and maybe play a round of golf or two, but not Joe. Joe has somehow managed to turn community involvement into a full time job.

He's doing everything, everywhere, all at once. Michelle Yeoh has nothing on Joe. I think that's my tagline. Farmers market, Joe's there checking on all the vendors. Ribbon cuttings, already shaking hand and ready for the official ribbon cutting picture.

Community events, he's there greeting folks, helping them to their seats. At Shellbacks or Uncle Bill's, he's deep in conversation with residents about homelessness, e bikes, Nathan Hawkman, traffic circulation, or our installations. There's something genuinely admirable about the level of that level of commitment because underneath visibility and conversations is someone who deeply cares about this city and loves his job representing it. Cities work because people care enough to participate and Joe has certainly never been accused of sitting on the sidelines. As someone who will eventually follow in Joe's footsteps as mayor, I'll be paying attention and taking notes, watching how he handles this role, how he listens and represents, how he connects, advocates, and collaborates, and how much energy he brings to every corner of our community.

Joe's examples will be helpful to me when it comes to my time to serve in that role. I'm sure I have a lot to learn from Joe's tenure, and while I may not adopt every single of Joe's trademarks, who has that kind of energy, I do appreciate the example of someone who consistently shows up and stays engaged. So Joe, congratulations. Thank you for your enthusiasm, dedication to your causes, and your unmistakable presence in the community. Manhattan Beach is fortunate to have people willing to invest so much time and so much of themselves into our city. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Thank you very much. And I get to do something very popular now and say we're gonna take a fifteen minute recess and refreshments are in the lobby. Former mayors, can you stay here for a group photo? Former mayors group photo?

Pegasus, we're ready to go live.

Okay, thank you. We're back in sessions. And we are on item number J, the consent calendar. But item number 16 is pulled.

So Mayor, we'll go ahead and is there a motion to adopt the consent calendar? We'll do that first and then we'll go to item 16. Okay.

Yeah and it's to approve the consent calendar without the items five and sixteen.

Yeah. And I've seconded it.

Have the vote, please.

Motion passes, five-zero. Okay, I believe we

I need to read the title of 19. There's actually two ordinances. Urgency ordinance number twenty six zero zero zero eight dash u. Ordinance of the city of Manhattan Beach, amending section four point eight eight point zero six o violation nuisance of chapter 4.88 transient uses including short term rentals of title four public welfare, morals, and conduct of the Manhattan Beach municipal code regarding violations of chapter 4.88 and declaring the urgency thereof.

Okay. Thank

you. And so one more ordinance, and this will just be the first reading of ordinance number 26 dash zero zero zero eight, an ordinance of the city of Man Beach amending section 4.88 o six o violation nuisance of chapter 4.88 transient uses including short term rentals of title four, public welfare, morals, conduct for the Man Beach Municipal Code regarding violations of chapter 4.88. And so both of those were adopted as part of the urgency ordinance was adopted as part of the consent calendar and that was first reading on the regular ordinance. I'll come back in two weeks. Thank you.

Okay. And now we move on to consent calendar that was pulled. So was it five in 2016 or

five? It's number 16.

Yes, number

16, yes. Number 16, consideration of twenty twenty six FIFA World Cup banner locations, city.

So Mr. Manage, for me, I'm planning to support this item, but I wanted to talk about just the scale and the number of where all the banners collectively are going. Is it possible just to pull up the maps so we can just total up how many banners we're going to have and then I'll have comments after it's open up. Okay.

Can that be done?

Okay. So I was just curious in totality, how many banners are we going to be having up at this time overlapping?

Yes. So we the city council authorized the display of 120 FIFA banners.

And

then were you asking in conjunction with the Correct.

In addition, we're going to have the quicentennial, I cannot pronounce. Semi sesquitany.

Thank you.

The two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, that's exactly

what The two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, yes. Great. I actually don't have there is a map attached to your items that lists out all of the flags that will be displayed at the same time so that was so that you could see where there was overlap. And I don't have the exact number, but they are listed on there. There's quite a few It's 57.

Thank

you for that. But they will be American flags. Right. Right. So they'll look a little different.

Thank you. I'll save my comments for a moment, but that's what I'm getting at. That's why I pulled the item

in Thank you. Any

more comments from counsel or questions? Seeing none, open this up for public comment in the chamber. Seeing none, how about online?

No requests on Zoom.

Okay. So we'll close public comment.

And for my comment, I'll just simply say these are a lot of banners that are going be up all at once, particularly given that we have not typically had this many banners up all at once. I'm excited about the World Cup. I'm excited about our nation's two hundred and fiftieth anniversary celebration. But I look forward to hearing how residents respond to this many banners, particularly in areas where we have not always had banners up, including our local nonprofit organizations. So that's what caught my eye. It's just the totality, but I will be supporting it. I just wanted to make that note.

Any other comments? I

pressed my button.

Okay. So more for David, a question for David, but or council member lesser. Do you what would you propose would be? I know and I felt the same way that we had option A, B, C and D I think and this was towards the more flags. Is there something that you think is the right number?

For me, particularly now, I don't think we reverse our decision going forward at all. But what I do think we need to do is find out how with the responses to this. Pay attention to what public comments are, encourage public comment.

Fair

enough. Thank you. And that's really where I was going. Thank you. Thank you.

And sorry, staff, I just have another question. Is what's the schedule? Is there overlapping on the schedule because FIFA begins, what, the June 12? Yes. And what did we approve for the American flag holiday?

The

time that they'll

I will leave that to our Parks and Rec department who will be installing them, but there will be overlap. I think the plan is for the FIFA banners will be, begin their installation June 1, so it should be done on June 1. And then the American flag banners, I think that was more aligned around the fourth of July holiday. So there but there will be some overlap there.

Okay. Could I recommend that it be done June 15, Flag Day?

That's a great suggestion. We'll take that into consideration take a look at what the schedule is and what our permit allows for us to do.

Okay. Great. Okay, any other questions? I have a motion. We have a motion from Councilmember Haworth and seconded by Councilmember Chevrillian. Call for the vote.

Thank you. Motion passes, five-zero.

Okay. Let me see. Okay, so public hearing, seeing none. M, general business. Let's see item number 20. So staff is going to be finance director. Brett Howard.

Good evening, Mayor Franklin, members of the City Council. So I can give just a very brief overview of this item if you'd like. At the at its meeting on 02/10/2026, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to place a half percent general sales tax measure on the June 2 statewide primary election ballot entitled the Essential Services Restoration Act for Los Angeles County or Measure ER. If passed by the voters of Los Angeles County, Measure ER would impose a half percent increase to the county sales tax rate bumping up from the current rate of 9.75% to 10.25% and it would become effective 10/01/2026 for five years ending 10/01/2031. This half percent sales tax increase is estimated to generate $1,000,000,000 annually to the county.

So this would mean for us here in Manhattan Beach that our citywide sales tax rate would increase to 10.75% since our local voters also passed an add on sales tax measure, Measure MMB in November 2024. So the staff report also provides some general information about the statutory sales tax cap and also, identifies the measures that are, adhere to the cap and then are exempt to the cap. So one interesting thing about the current, county measure on the June ballot is that assembly member Isaac Bryan has proposed assembly bill seventeen sixty eight to exempt the county's measure from the sales tax cap. And what that also means for us is that we would still we still have that half percent additional capacity if we were to choose to pursue an additional sales tax measure here in the city. So that concludes my overview and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Okay. Council? Council member Holworth.

Thank you. Director Brett Auer, you just mentioned the assembly bill, but that has to pass in order for us to maintain the ability to potentially go out for another sales tax. Because if it doesn't pass, then if measure ER is approved by the voters, we lose the ability to go out for an additional increase.

That's my understanding that if it doesn't pass, then the their sales tax measure would not be exempt, and therefore, it would be included in that 2%.

Right. That's you know, we don't I don't think we understand yet what that how much support there is for the Assembly Bill. Okay, thank you.

Okay, Councilmember Schirling.

Thank you and thank you for bringing this to our attention. Have we taken a formal position on this? I don't No.

I guess I should have included that in my overview. The reason this item is on the agenda is because it was requested by a council member, and then it received an additional vote. So this is the item coming back before you to consider whether to support, oppose, or just remain neutral and take no action.

Thank you. Do we have any no on ER signs?

No. So

right now, it's 10 so it's 10.25 is our sales tax. There was another homelessness sales quarter percent. So is it a total of 10.25%? We went to 9.5% to 10% and then there was that quarter percent for the homelessness, correct?

Yes. I believe you're referring to Measure A that replaced Measure H at the county level.

Got you. And then 05% on top of that would take us to 10.75%.

ER At

the county level, yes, or the city.

Okay. And if ER passes and AB1768 comes in, then our threshold could be a little bit higher?

Well, yes, if the AB1768 also passes, then we would still have the capacity to add on an additional 0.5% measure, which would mean the our sales tax rate in the city could be 11.25%.

And that's where I was going. So if it all pans out the way you just indicated, residents and everybody else would be paying 10.25% of sales tax.

11.25%.

11.25%, think

it's midnight. Also attached to the report is that are all of the statewide sales tax rates just for informational purposes as of last April.

Thank you. No more questions.

We would have

to So go I have a question. There any information about how well the county did and spent the money that they received already from homeless sales tax? I guess what measure H and

Sorry, I wouldn't be prepared to speak on that tonight.

Okay. I mean, just don't want to pour more money into a hole. And I believe they've restructured or is that the city that's restructured? I always say the person who has a full time job is the one that comes up with all the acronyms for all these organizations. So this is going to go in the hands of LA County and their solution is LA County Housing Authority, no LA County.

This is an emergency room. This is I think a different measure. It's not measure A which replace measure H.

Okay. So it has nothing to do with homeless?

No. No. This is related to health and human services initiatives that they say are heavily impacted by reductions from the federal funding that they currently or previously received.

Okay, great. Thank you. Okay, Council member Howard.

Yeah, thanks. Just a follow-up. So again, I think that I just want to be sure if the assembly bill I mean, we would sorry, let me start again. When I think you made a comment, council member Ferland, that our our sales tax could potentially go up to 11.25, but that would only be if we as a council decided to go to the voters to ask for another sales tax increase. So I just want to make sure that it's not understood out there that oh, now our our ours is going to go up to 11.25.

We would have the ability if we should if we think that's the right answer, but we haven't talked about that yet. So just wanted to clarify that.

Okay. Council Member Schirling.

A quick follow-up, Olivia, do we know how well I know it's for health and services, like the fact that they use measure ER. He's not gonna vote for that. Right? But what are the percentage of the likelihood, like, the the the previous one? I don't remember the measure for the homelessness. What how how much what did that pass by? Because that was a general tax or was it a two was it a sales tax increase of a quarter percent for the homelessness?

The measure A?

That's the one.

I'd have to look that up.

Okay. Is it considered a general tax or it is a special tax?

Measure A? Yeah. I'd have to confirm it.

Okay. And then is it is measure ER

A general test.

It is general. Okay.

Thank you.

The only one sorry.

That's all

I got.

Thank you. Okay.

Any other questions? So we'll open it up for public comment here in chambers. Seeing Stefan Kampa get up. Good evening, honorable mayor, council members. Please share with us, if you take a position, what does that mean for the city? Is there much that's going to come out of this? And if not, maybe there's some risk behind it or whatever. Just personally, more tax is a bad, bad thing for me. You. Okay, thank you. Anyone else? How about online?

No requests on Zoom.

Okay, so we'll close public comment.

If I could answer the council members question, Measure A was also a general tax.

Got you. Do we have the percentage?

It was half oh, sorry, I forgot.

That's okay. No worries.

Thank you. Okay. Council Member Lesser.

So I'm struggling with this one and let me tell you why. The reason why I'm potentially inclined to be opposed to the measure and support our counsel taking a position is because of my worry that adoption of this measure would crowd out any efforts that we as a city pursue or the school district pursues to increase the sales tax measure. But the reality is directly to our speakers point is what this would result in if we were to vote in taking a position is a letter would be written. This is page three of the staff report, page four zero five of the packet. Upon direction, staff would facilitate sending letters stating the council's position on measure m e r and assembly bill to the Los Angeles County Board Of Supervisors.

So I'm just scratching my head and wondering, is that really going to impact voters to the extent that we're taking a position on this? Certainly, one understands the challenges LA County is dealing with. Yesterday at a County Library Commission meeting, I heard we had a meeting with the deputies to all of the supervisors, and they talked about dire coming for years ahead, not just because of expenditures on normal expenditures, but because of litigation settlements. It's really put the whole county in a challenging position, let alone these federal cuts, but federal cuts in healthcare, and that's what this is intended to address. But in any event, I am going to listen to the rest of my colleagues, but I'm weighing how effective we really can be in persuading voters.

That's it.

Thank you.

Okay. Mayor Pro Tem Tarnay?

Thank you. I would echo that. I think I have some concerns about the effectiveness of taking a position on this. This is a measure that's going to go to the voters and that's I think that's where it's appropriate. And as somebody who sits on the board of a foundation for a a local hospital, I know that there are challenges that the hospital systems are facing because of federal cuts.

So I do personally have some concerns, but as a council member sitting in this chair, I'm don't think I'm prepared to take a position to represent our city on a measure that they personally have a a vote in. So that would be my take

on that.

Okay. Council member Howard.

So I mean, I I I appreciate everybody's sort of thoughtfulness on the topic. I do believe that we have duty is too strong of a word, but I definitely think there's a place for us with, you know, taking positions for or against. I do think it is it's sort of what we talk about with our legislative platform committee, you know, the mayor and mayor Pro Tem sit on where, you know, we're trying to preserve local control and so we write letters and we send it up to Sacramento. And I I get it. It feels like we're, you know, just a hamster in a wheel, but I think it still is important.

We don't ever wanna give up our voice. Right? And I think that's I think we people look to us to fight these fights. And I I'm not saying this one particularly, but whether you know, with housing or with or with how the county is spending the money. And and I agree it's not maybe as much of an issue with spending as it is the federal cuts.

I mean so I would argue it's effective. I even maybe we can talk about it at a different meeting. I think we should talk about how we advertise our legislative positions and information we provide on our website. I think we do a pretty good job but like it also goes there so our residents could look and say, oh, this could this thing that we're voting on could potentially have an impact on us locally. So that's where I think it is appropriate for us to take a position.

So I would say it's appropriate to take a position. And, you know, it I don't I'm I'm not in favor of it, but I I struggle to say that out loud, but because you wanna help the ERs, and you want to help people who are getting emergency care. But I struggle with this one as far as past supporting it.

Okay. Council Member Sheridan. Thank you, Mayor.

And I appreciate those words of my colleague, Council Member Holworth. And it is tough because you got essential services for health and human services. But again, there's a bigger picture. And the reason I asked the finance director what potentially if all these things go through and potentially if an additional sales tax was added, we'd be north of 11% and that does impact our residents. It's going to it's a tax.

And yes, it's for health and human services, but I think we have a responsibility to and there's optics out there that look to us to make sure that we're able to be a voice for our residents, not increase taxes in our local community. So interested in hearing what else everybody else to say.

Okay. Great. So it's very concerning. You know, we talked a little bit before about, you know, involvement with the homeless situation that was all directed by, by LA County. The thing that concerns me most in the report is Los Angeles County on Page four zero four, Los Angeles County proposes that the revenue from the measure would be placed in the county's general fund.

It will be used for purposes consistent with general fund expenditures. That does not say ER support, that does not say medical support. This is just I don't know what would happen to the money and it would be convenient probably move it elsewhere. So it's not allocated for this, which is a worthy cause. I can understand federal cutbacks and state cutbacks, we experienced that too.

One other thing is the list of cities that are opposing this, that are in our usual collection of cities to which we compare is Beverly Hills and Torrance, and they both and they both oppose it. So I'm inclined to oppose this. And also for what's been stated too is that it limits us as well. I would be a no, I think in this. Okay. Anybody else?

I guess I would repeat my position which is I share Council Member Tarne's concern about whether our position is going to impact voters because every voter has an opportunity to weigh in on this and how many are really going to look to what our decision is when the result of our taking a position is going to be a letter that we're sending to the very Board of Supervisors that's put this on the ballot. On the other hand, I do feel strongly that local governments need to have capacity to be able to put measures on the ballot for their own immediate needs. So I worry about this measure going forward. So I personally am opposed to it. But whether we wanna take a position as a council, that's what I'm saying.

So I'm gonna call it out because in a don't worry, in a good way for you in that you're saying strategically, politically, it may not is this the sword to die on? You know, with because if we're sending a letter to the supervisor saying, hey, we don't agree with what you're doing. Right? So how does that come back to us? Whereas, it it I I think that's what you're saying. I mean, I'm just call I'm I'm not so diplomatic and that's that's why he's nicer and all of that. But so I I think that the the way out is to not, you know, to not take a position, but, know, we can all tell our own networks, which I started doing, what we wanna do with this.

Okay.

That's what you're saying.

Thanks. Thank you.

Okay. So and you brought up a point that I want to make is, you know, this is a political season right now. And I think it's important that we state something. How many people have been asking you how to vote, how to vote here, how to vote there for this person, that thing? So I think people will seek it out because there's so much to try to understand. And so they do seek out the advice of others. So I think it's important. I think it's important that we don't get cut out from other opportunities, not that we would, but

and

it's a tough

one. I think we got to look at what we're concerned about, not so much what the county is concerned about. Council So member Sherrilli.

Thank you. And I

and I appreciate the diplomacy that council member Lasser brought up with. We're sending a letter to our board of county supervisors. But the just the fact that this is not being treated as it's being treated as a general fund item, and we're gonna give $1,000,000,000 to the county of Los Angeles. And and maybe they'll pump some of that money into the essential services and for health and human services. I I just the fact that it's not set aside, and, I guess that would be more of a general tax.

I'm sorry. That would be more of a specific tax or Yeah. That that would require two thirds. But I feel that's a workaround and, kinda somewhat live in that now. But yeah, I guess my question to the city attorney is, do I wanted to make a motion to oppose ERs that would that be my motion because I certainly can't see adding more tax.

Yes, definitely that's what that's one of the it's within the range of motions. And if there's a motion, I mean that's your motion would be that the city take a position opposing the measure.

Yes. I'm going to second that motion. So can can we we call for the vote, please? I'm sorry. The motion was

to The motion was to oppose it. Oppose

it. Yeah.

Motion passes four to one with mare pro tem tarnay abstaining. Great.

Thank you. So moving on.

Sorry. But I only heard a motion to oppose the LA County measure ER. Would you also like to take a position on the Assembly Bill seventeen sixty eight?

But I thought Assembly Bill seventeen sixty eight only comes in if ER passes or did I misunderstand?

It would only take effect if the county measure passes, but if there was an advocacy letter you would like us to send to the state assembly, then we could do that as well.

Go ahead, Darren. Yeah.

Listen, mayor, I I think this conversation may be moved. I heard a a news report that this bill had already passed at least one committee I believe and I'm not sure where it is in the process, I've not followed it that closely, but in the last twenty four hours I think there's been progress on this bill. I presume it would be the legislation that lifts the

cap. That's

all.

So maybe we could just not take a position on that because Yeah. I mean, we would probably want it to pass. I mean, but maybe we should hold off. We don't need to.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Okay. So we'll pass on taking a position on AB seventeen sixty eight. So moving on. Do you need that? Do you got everything? Okay. Great. Thank you. So item number or letter n. So we're gonna recess city council to a meeting of the Manhattan Beach Capital Improvements Corporation.

Were there reports out? Was there an opportunity to add to future We're not there yet. We're not there yet. I'm sorry. Okay.

Sure. So let's call the meeting to order.

Oh, got it. All right. Roll call. Board member Tarne. Here. Board member Cherilyn.

Here.

Board member Howard. Present. Vice President Franklin. Here. And President Lesser.

Here. Present.

I love the time. President.

We haven't turned it over yet.

And so our general business here item number 20. Oh, public comments, I'm sorry. Let's open the floor to public comments on Capital Improvements Corporation.

So Mayor Franklin at this time the Capital Improvement Corporation needs to be run by President Lisser.

Oh, I'm sorry. Decisions are changed.

Why are you so eager?

So I'll just use my fist and knock really hard if that's all right. So we've done the roll call. Are there any public comments on Capital Improvements Corporation? Comments in chamber? Seeing none, Patty, is anybody on Zoom?

No requests on Zoom.

Just like old times. In which case we now move on to general business item 21, which is reorganization of Capital Improvements Corporation. Back to you, Mayor.

Okay. So we're

here to elect a new President and Vice President.

Yes. And I move that we elect you to be President, Mayor Franklin, of the Capitals of the Corporation.

Okay. And for vice president?

No. We do this first. Right?

Okay. One at a time.

I need a second. Okay.

I was seconded by Steve Schirlian. Yes.

Motion passes. Five

zero. Okay. And do I hear a motion for the election of the vice president?

I have motioned that Mayor Perthem Turney be vice president.

Okay. Call for the vote.

Motion passes five-zero. Okay.

So I hereby congratulations to you and me. Thank you. Okay. And I hereby adjourn the Manhattan Beach Capital Improvements Corporation and reconvene to the City Council meeting. So we're back in the City Council meeting. And any requests or any requests and reports including AB1234 reports?

What's item 22?

For item number 22, I'll be the third, but do you want to give the title away?

Okay. You and I are the first and second, we need a different third.

Oh, you're right. Yes. So we're looking for a third vote for item number 22, which I'll

do it.

Consideration request by Mayor Lester and we know. I'll be the same. So we have a vote or is that just?

No, have a Okay,

great. Moving on to 23 consideration request by council members Tarnay and council members. That's the one world.

I'll be a third.

Okay. But you already

did it. Oh, sorry. Oh, sorry. Sorry.

It's okay. I'm happy to defer to you.

I thought you were on it. Sorry.

No. I totally Council member Howard?

One of them.

Is the

That's fine. That's fine. Did you want to?

It's fine. I defer to Council Member Hoer.

Okay. Item number Q, letter Q, future agenda items.

Mr. Mayor, did, sorry, can I interrupt? Because I had a, AB, that I needed a report out my attendance at the SCAG meeting.

Mhmm. Oh, yes.

The AB1234

Yep. Report. I attended the SCAG regional conference and general assembly on May seventh and eighth. It was a great opportunity to learn best practices from leaders of other cities and to bring back lessons that will help me better serve our community. A surprise one surprising take was learning about other cities use of AI.

I've been a vocal supporter, and I've discussed with our city staff about integrating AI to make our services more efficient. So it came as a surprise to me that learn to learn that it's better to proceed with caution because once the AI is in our system, it's difficult and maybe impossible to unwind. Wow. I learned that the most important step in embracing AI is first letting our staff figure out what we need to do and then get everyone trained up so we don't accidentally upload private or proprietary information. So it was eye opening for me. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, Mayor Pro

Tem. And

City Manager report, anything to report?

I just wanted to first say thank you for your Service Councilmember Lesser over the last nine point five months, your dedication and your hard work and your supportive staff. And I also wanted to congratulate Mayor Franklin and Mayor Pro Tem Tarne to their new roles. So congratulations.

Thank you.