Regular City Council and Housing Authority* - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon everybody and welcome to the city council special studies study session of Tuesday March 31st 2026. I now call the meeting to order. Now please stand and let's uh say the pledge of allegiance together. 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. Madame clerk, would you please do the roll call? U Mr. Mayor, the record will reflect that all council is present.

Wonderful. Okay. So, um we have one item tonight. It's the study session on the CIP uh capital improvement uh program for 206 and 27 and a five-year um look into the CIP uh budget. So remember tonight um we're going to have a presentation by staff and then we're going to be joined by our chair and vice chair of the PAX Commission who are going to uh speak during the staff presentation on some observations by the PAX Commission and uh council and staff. Remember this is more informal. Um if you'd like uh you can use first names and things of that nature. Also, um please um uh ple please feel free to um if you have a question that pops up, just as long as we don't talk over each other, just ask for the floor and we could talk in the middle of the presentation if that's what the council wants to do. Otherwise, save your questions and you'll have time later. So, Madame Clerk, it's hard for me to see. Are we going to do uh public uh comments after the presentations?

Yes, Mr. Mayor.

Okay. Good. Good. And so public comments are after the present presentation. They'll be just on this item and then uh then we'll take the comments from the council. But uh we'll we'll do a check to see how many people are going to speak. Normally it's 2 minutes at study sessions, but if we have a light crowd, we can bump that up to three minutes if people want to do that. Okay, so with that, who wants to go? Roger, you have the floor. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, mayor of city council, city manager, staff, and the community. We are here to talk about uh our proposed capital improvement program budget for fiscal year 2627. Um I'm joined here um for the presentation by our managers from um we have our city engineer um Syang, we have uh Rob Brian our maintenance services manager and we have uh Patrick Bower our deputy public works and um you know in the preparation of all this I was also assisted by our senior management analysts Anna Baka she's in the audience and Kevin Gaxiola in the audience too. And I also want to thank our finance uh staff for their collaboration throughout the process. With that um so just a quick overview um public works staffing we have um it says 79 which actually should be 75 full-time staff. We we have four that are frozen. So it's 75 full-time staff spread across five different uh divisions. administration, engineering, general services which deals with facility maintenance and fleet transportation and maintenance um which is all the street maintenance and park maintenance comes under maintenance services.

Now the CIP process um you know we started this uh few months ago um and it's financed from multiple funding sources. we take into account federal, state, county, local funds. Um, and then we have to recognize that there are some of these funds have restrictions and and we want to make sure that we comply with all those restrictions and they involve oversight from other government agencies. So we for example right now we're going through an audit on our measure M program. Um the same thing happens with even at individual project levels. We get audited on how we are spending any grant monies and uh you know it requires coordination from all departments. Uh we work with our city attorney office um quite often um on all of our projects. And then um for this CIP we have a threshold of $30,000. uh that has been a limit um ever since since I started working here. So it's 30,000 is a limit to be on the CIP list. Under 30,000 we treat as a general maintenance and it comes under uh different categories. Now unlike um the operating budget, the CIP um is spread over multiple years. So, anything that's budgeted into a CIP uh program doesn't go uh doesn't expire at the end of the fiscal year. It gets carried over to the next fiscal year. And that's because it's a it's uh the reason why it's multi-year is because projects are complex. Some we do some projects within the same year, but many of them require multiple phases. Um it requires outreach with the community with um sometimes have environmental reviews that might take some time and then and then of course the the process of going through

the design phase, bidding phase, project award and then construction. So sometimes construction is the fastest part of the project. Um but that's how it is. Uh so that's why it's a multi-year program and our our projects do get uh a lot of awards. Uh most recent one was for Adam's Pine Creek project. Uh we're getting multiple awards on that one. And um again it's um this is a picture from our uh fourth floor wall. With that, I just uh before we jump into 26 27, I want to go over some of the 25 26 CIP accomplishments and uh and our staff will help me on this one, too. So, Sun, you can talk about this.

Thank you, Raja. So, uh good evening uh honorable mayor and members of the city council. Um my name is Sunyang. I'm your city engineer and it's my pleasure to discuss some of the accomplishments we have of the previous or our current fiscal year. Uh one of our breadandbut projects is the citywide street improvement pro improvement projects and it's an annual project and in which uh we go through most of our residential streets and repairing not only the street but also the sidewalks, curbs and gutters and access ramp improvements uh throughout these residential areas. Um once again it's an annual project. We go through each and every part of the community throughout the city every year in which we improve the the roadway infrastructure of our city. Uh for the for this previous project that we just uh completed, the improvements included the Mesaverie, College Park, and other neighborhoods within our city. And it's all in an effort to maintain our city's goal of having a pavement condition index or PCI of at least 85 here in the city. Thank you. And next, uh I'll defer this to our deputy director, Patrick Bau, for the next slide. Uh good evening, Mr. Mayor and council members. Uh a couple of the projects that we were very pleased of the last fiscal year was the police department carpet and indoor paint. If you haven't been over there, you really should go and check it out. It's um it's really given a nice faceelift to the to the um department. And in addition to these two pictures, what you see with the flooring and the paint, we also did some um graphic upgrades on the walls, some new office markings, and we did some little touches here and there. So, if you haven't been over there, I'm sure the chief would love to take you around. We're um really proud of that project. The next one that's currently um underway and estimated to be done the middle of April is the Normma Herzog

roof replacement. Um we're really excited about this project too because this is quite the unique roof. It's not your usual uh asphalt square shingle. This is a very intricate u metal seamemed uh circular roof that the contractor is really proud to add to his portfolio and they're doing a really nice job over there. So, that should be done the middle of this month and I'll pass it over to Rob Brian.

Thanks, Patrick. Uh, good evening, Mr. Mayor, City Council. Um, so one of the park projects were nearly complete and we're just putting the finishing touches off on Brentwood Park. Uh, I think this is project exemplifies Raj's comments on sometimes the planning takes a lot longer than construction. I think we had the groundbreaking in January uh and we're ready to open that up to the public uh this Friday afternoon. So, we're really excited about that. Original playground equipment was installed in 1995. So, we got 30 years of use out of that original equipment. Uh we took a underutilized sand volleyball court and added a separate play area for children two to five. So, we kind of separate those big kids from the little kids. Um there's four slides, seven climbing components. Uh we replaced a picnic shelter there with a brand new metal shade structure will last quite a while. Uh new LED park lighting, some uh access from Monte Vista, a DG path from Monte Vista to the Brentwood side. Um and just this last week uh we installed the sidewalk poetry which I think came out rather nice. So that was installed on Tuesday of last week. So again, I'm ready to open that up at the end of this week and we're we're really excited about it. I know the neighborhood kids, they've been peeking through our our screening and they're anxious to get on there and uh and get on that equipment and play. Uh with that, I'll I'll turn over to Director Seth Ramen for the rest of the presentation.

Thank you, Rob. So, the next one is Fairview Road improvement. If you go south on on um south of Fair Drive on Fair View, you see new improvements being done on Fairview Road. These are active transportation projects. um project on this uh section of Fair Fair View and this construction should be completed by June of this year. The outstanding items are mainly a couple of signal upgrades. One is um uh we're installing a bike signal at Fairview Wilson southbound Fair View at Wilson. The other one is a new hawk signal for a pedestrians to cross at Valley Forge and Fairview Road. So these project once once it's done the project is complete and it's uh it it provides uh a nice separated bike facility for for our bicyclists. Uh and and we have we're serving many schools and we have OC in the vicinity. So it's it's it's it's a much needed improvement for the bike community and active transportation community in this area. Also you see a bus boarding island that's a first in our city that uh was implemented in this section of Fairview Road. And we also added new landscaping and irrigation as part of this project. We also completed design of uh major projects in in in this fiscal year. Um and that includes fire station number two that is in the final plan check process. We should get our building permits sometime this month and we should be ready to advertise that project. Uh Costa Mesa skate park. The design is complete. uh project is advertised and we're coming to you for award at the next meeting. We'll talk about that uh at an upcoming slide and uh Ketchum Light Park expansion that's construction is underway but the design was completed uh in this fiscal year. Same with Shalyar Park um the construction was already awarded. Uh we

have a um a pre-construction meeting scheduled in a week and construction should start very soon. And the final one is signal modernization project. This is a city-wide project where we are improving our signal system and the design of this is uh is complete and it's in the bidding phase uh right now. Now for the 2526 budget um we did request a partial waiver. The city has a capital asset needs ordinance that requires that the city fund 5% of our general fund towards capital assets and 1.5% towards uh in uh towards information technology needs. Um so we did as part of the 2025 budget we deferred some projects that were approved for 2425 um of approximately $2.4 million. And then in 2526 we also reduced the amount allocated to the new CIP projects by 1.2 million. So this required a waiver of the CAN ordinance as part of the 202526 budget and and here is the project list and the idea is uh these projects should get priority funding as we as we move forward. So couple things that we took into mind when we worked on the 2526 budget. One is we wanted to address if there are any ongoing projects we want to make sure that if there is funding need we need to address that. And then and then um some projects uh for example here um the community choice energy is is a good example that project um was not being considered at this time. So that's not being uh you know funded at

at this point. For the for other projects if there is money available we you know we we are not asking for any further amounts and projects that are of lower priority we moved it out uh out a bit. So once we get through the next u few slides you'll see what projects we are recommending for funding in the next uh fiscal year. Just want to point out that we do have quite a few projects uh still underway or are scheduled. We have about 80 some projects 86 projects still on the books um that are uh some of them are ongoing. There are 20 on that list that haven't started yet. Just want to point out at this time when we came to you last year we had 30 projects that haven't started. So we we did make some progress. So we have fewer projects that haven't started but most of the critical projects projects that have deadlines that have funding commitments they are all um underway now the 26 27 as I mentioned this this projects were identified based on one is we looked at your council goals and priorities um the comm the the input we get from various commissions committee ities and and also what we hear from the community our own uh infrastructure and facility needs. Um this year we did uh come to you with a few assessments. We did a uh a facility needs assessment. We did a park assessment. We did a tree canopy assessment. All this guide us in guided us in coming up with list of projects for next year but also guided us in what to put in the next five year in the plan also and then we have various departments that come with their uh

request and priorities. So those those were taken into account and of course we have to live within the constraints of our budget. Now the the CIP does include a minimum requirement that's uh for maintenance of effort. Uh this is required to meet measure M and gas tax um funding requirements. So they according to them you cannot use those funds to supplant what the city has already been spending on capital uh projects. So we have to ensure that we meet that minimum commitment that we have been making and and we are supposed to hear from them an updated value of that requirement in about a week or so. But we think at this point we meet whatever was expected and we're recommending a total of 39 projects with a total CIP amount of 33.4 four and uh there is a future bond financing of about 12 million for fire session 2 that's included. Now again um just want to point out all of this is still I'm I want to call it as a preliminary um CIP list. It's not final until we we get the final numbers from our finance department. So if if thing if if the revenue projections change, these are based on information we received back in January. So if things change between now and between then and when we come to you with the final budget, we might adjust the the total amount or the projects accordingly. And here is how the projects are uh the funding is being split. the the the future bond financing of course has the

biggest amount of 12 million followed by the grant funds. We did receive quite a few grants this year too and that has uh that's about 5.7 million. I'll let you know which ones they are. And then the capital improvement fund that's our general fund allocation of 5.55. Um we'll get to that also. And then the measure the the other funds are in the measure M2 those are grant funds from measure M2 gas tax impact fees uh the money we get from cannabis uh business and also park development fees of approximately 100,000. This is uh this is your attachment. Uh this is attachment two I believe in your staff report. It's it's hard to see but uh this this lists all the the projects that we are proposing for um the upcoming CIP. Again the bulk of the funding u is going towards facilities. Again this includes 12 million for um to of the bond fund. So if you take that off you know this is the highest one is actually going towards streets. uh parks is getting about 1.63 million, transportation about 6.6 million and I will highlight some of the major projects um that we are proposing. We're starting with the city ali project son.

Yes, thank you. So for the next fiscal year for the proposed for fiscal year 2627 uh this is our annual citywide alley improvement project and uh this is a project started uh several years ago and it's nearing its completion and uh the results speaks for themselves. So all the deteriorated asphalt alleys that we had in the city, they have been repaired with new concrete uh paved uh alleys which will last for decades. And the alley improvements um once again it was a multi-year project and we're coming near to the end and after this project was uh we'll have remaining 14 alleys to be designed in fiscal year 2627 and it's our hope that we can wrap up the project within the next two years. Thank you. All right. The the chillers, I know, Mr. Mayor, you said the chillers aren't a a sexy project, but they're much needed. And I want to thank council for supporting the chillers for city hall. They should be here this month, and I hope to have them installed before the summer hits to keep us all nice and cool so we can continue on. So, um, next year we'd like to, uh, replace those two over in the PD. And then the next one is to continue funding for the, um, the tenant improvement for the 911 call center. Um, this would be a complete renovation of the inside of the our 911 call center. Um, upgrades would include um, new thermal, moisture protection, fire suppression, plumbing, all the bells and whistles, new uh, dispatch centers, offices. It would look fantastic and much needed and I'm super super excited to uh move forward with this project. Next up is our citywide tree

maintenance. Uh $200,000 in gas gas tax funding. This is going to provide enhanced maintenance to our median and parkway trees. They're susceptible to the effects of some of the unprecedented weather events we've had, particularly on seasonal winds that have popped up. Um, so we're looking to just get some added maintenance and get us closer to that 3 to five year uh maintenance trimming cycle that our goal would be. Um, and it also allows us the ability to plant some new trees within those medians and parkways. Uh, next up is is Harper Park playground improvements. Um, Harper Park playground was one of five playgrounds that were identified in our recent park assessment uh as being low rated at a the playground itself was rated as a two. the overall park was a C which are a couple of the lower rated rate ratings that you can receive. Um so this would include the removal of the existing equipment, the installation of modernized playground equipment. It would have integrated shade which is much needed. You can see from those pictures actually no shade there at all. Um so we'll add some shading to that. Uh replacement of the safety surfacing and then of course removal and replacement of uh tables, uh benches and and trash cans. Uh next up is is Moon Park improvements. Uh we're uh budgeting $50,000 um just for conceptual design and community outreach and also coordination with other agencies. Um so I think this is going to be a key period of time. Um there's uh there's an easement there that we share with obviously the county with the bike trail. Uh there's a Orange County uh sanitation line that runs nearby that they have to have access to. Um it's actually about 20 or 30 feet of that park actually belonging to the county. There'll be some coordination with there with them and also more importantly it allow us some time to coordinate with uh with the residents there. We had an opportunity to meet with them myself, director Gruner, one of our PAX commissioners. Um and there's a lot of need out there. There's a lot of different ideas out there. Um so give us time to coordinate with them, have

some meaningful engagement, come up some conceptual designs that they can look at, enhance the safety out there. Um just uh for instance at our PAX commission meeting we had residents that look at the moon there and they see that as just a integral part an iconic feature of that park. And then you have you might hear from some residents this evening that talk about that being an obstruction. They can't see from one playground to the other and they'd like to see that gone and expand that playground. So there's a lot of talk that needs to be kind of meed out and and discussed through community engagement. uh this this will give us the opportunity to really see what the budget need is there. Is this just a simple playground replacement or is a much larger project where we can provide some uh direct bike access separate the bikes from the playground which right now that path for the bikes is right next to that playground and we experience that being out there ebikes zipping by with probably about 10 to 15 feet of that playground. So, um, this will give us a year to kind of figure out, engage community, and really set the budget appropriately and give the residents, uh, the the park and playground that they they really want. So, I think this is an important uh, first step in that endeavor. With that, I'll turn over to

Thank you, Rob. So, sorry. The next project is the Costa Mesa skatepark expansion project. Uh we're very happy to introduce this uh this is construction of a new improved features uh with our with a very well-known designer named Spawn Ranch. Um the park will include the installation of a new pump track and the the project was funded through Orange County Board of Supervisor Katrina Foley. We had several couple of uh outreach meetings and we had we heard the voice of the community and uh it will be coming soon to uh the city council for award and uh we also have available funding from prior years with this project. Thank you. So Roger

so Mr. Mayor just to expand on this one. So we are going to come to you with a more detailed discussion at the upcoming uh council meeting. Um so so this is asking for some additional funding. We we have bids for the project uh and and the bids came in while they meet the current uh project needs. We need funding for for uh contingency as well as for construction management and and and support during construction with uh materials testing. So, so there is this funding need. Um hopefully we don't use up all this money but we need to budget uh additional funds to make sure that the project can be completed. as designed. The next one is Adams Avenue multi-purpose trail. So this is a project on Adams between Royal Palm and the Santana River. You have seen this project come to you before and um and we are working on the design of this project. It's a multi-phase project. Right now we are working with Edison to underground the the power lines and we are hoping that that work would start in a month or so with with Edison undergrounding. Meanwhile, we applied for grant funding, additional grant funding to complete the project. So this will reduce the city's commitment by $2.77 million. So we had prior grant, we added more to this uh through grant funding. So the city commitment towards this uh will be reduced as we move forward and and we'll we'll come to you next year with with the final allocation and hopefully award of this project. Mr. Delmare multimodal access. Um here also this is uh we received $350,000 in grant funds to to implement

parking protected cycle tracks on Juniperero between so in this section just between Arlington and Prescidio um this also will implement the first ever we we're doing a raised intersection at the intersection of Juniperro and Arlington. So you have seen um you know when we did speed humps this here the whole intersection will be like a speed hump um it'll be raised uh to to that level and the project will also include payment rehabilitation. So we'll work on design this uh upcoming um um fiscal year and then hopefully construction in 27. Before I get to this one, I just want to touch pay touch back on on um on the project on the CIP amounts. So, uh you know, when you know in in the report we talked about, you know, the the CIP being um the general fund portion of the CIP being $5.55 million. This was based on the information we received back in January. However, based on some new information, this funding could be reduced to approximately $5.2 million, but we do recognize that there is $600,000 of CAN repayment that's also um out there. So, our finance team anticipates that they could fund the the full CAN repayment for the upcoming fiscal year and and whatever is required by the CAN. So, we may have another $300,000 available for future allocation. Again, this is based on some preliminary numbers from finance. Uh we'll have more accurate numbers as we go forward.

with that uh we did go to finance um and pension advisory committee of IPAC and uh the it was presented on March 11th. So the committee appreciated all the information and uh they would like to hold a follow-up meeting um to come up with a final recommendation. We also went to tax commission and um so we presented the one year and CIP C one one year and five year CIP that's related to parks on March 12th. So the the comm the commission recommended uh while they agreed with the recommendations they did have a few other comments and you know those those are listed here. They wanted us to prioritize Marina View Park and Wilson Park for this year. Uh mainly um dealing with some of the items identified in the park assessment study. We looked at uh these improvements and we think those can be accommodated using our operating budget. We don't need a new CIP allocations for that. They also identified some needs for 2728 um for community gardens at $50,000 and for Westside Park development at $400,000 and this is for the 2728 fiscal year. And then um for Fairview Park and skate park projects um they heard our presentations on that and they are looking for ways to cut back on either the project scope or look at other private funding to reduce the city's contribution. And uh they also recommended that the 5-year CIP be revised to exclude parks that are in better shape at this time.

Last couple slides. Um so the 5-year CIP the 5-year CIP is included uh in attachment 4 and that provides projects that were deferred in this um deferred from uh consideration this uh upcoming fiscal year or other projects in our uh various assessments that that were identified for implementation. the projects in years two to five and the future column or for planning purposes and there's no funding attached to those but they do serve as um uh reminders for us when we you know see grant opportunities we can go back and look at those projects and and apply for grants as I mentioned the the assessment studies were used so this table is is is new feature for this year. What it shows is, you know, in the column that says fiveyear CIP. This is so we looked at in in our last year or in the current year fiveear CIP, we projected projects for 2627. So it's comparing that list against what we are proposing. So it it shows how are we matching what we expected for 25 for 2627 or are we drastically changing. For most part we are consistent. There are some projects we uh you know there are some changes. Um one notable one is uh you know for example Shalomar Park expansion. We did identify a need for $350,000. This is for the next phase of Shalomar. But when we received bids for Scholar Park construction, they came in significantly under our um estimate and under our budget. So we have funding in

our current allocations to do the planning for the second phase of Shalimar. We might need more funding down the road for um whatever we decide. It's uh whether it's a community center or park expansion, it depends on that. So, but we'll come to you when we know what the actual needs are. Again, this uh lists the CAN repayment schedule. It identifies the total deferment over the past couple of years and what is the year one payment requirement is. And our finance uh team thinks that they can fulfill that requirement. So our next steps we need to adopt is our budget including the CIP by June 30th and um as I mentioned the proposed CIP is approximately $33.4 $4 million and and as I mentioned we have 86 ongoing projects and 66 are ongoing and and moving well and uh we request council to provide us with direction on this on the 2627 CIP budget and also the five-year CIP budget. This shows a tentative schedule um for uh adopting the budget and the next meeting is operating budget review by FIPAC on April 8th. Um and then we have the planning commission approval followed by several city council approvals. With that, uh staff's available to answer any questions.

Mayor, may I just add one thing? Yeah, of course. study. Thank you. So, um what is not shown on the calendar is a city council study session that's scheduled for April 14th, 2026, where we will be um providing the city council with a midyear budget update. Uh a preview of the fiscal year 2627 budget and a discussion of the CAN ordinance,

April 14th. Thank you. Okay. So, council, do you want to ask questions now of the staff or shall we hear from the uh uh vice chair and the chair of PAX? Whatever you want to do. Let's go. Why don't you all come up and then everybody will be here together like one big happy family and we can ask our questions. So, yes, I think valable to make sure that is here as well to hear this. I don't know if he just stepped out for the restroom.

I don't know where I don't know where he is, but uh I don't think we should wait. He probably just probably just took a little break. Go ahead.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and City Council. I'm Dr. Kelly Brown. I'm chair of the PAX Commission and I'm here with the vice chair who will introduce herself in a minute. So, um we're going to tag team this presentation for you all. We have a variety of things that we want to share. Uh we're going to start by talking process first just for a few minutes so that you understand where our recommendations come from and then we have specific recommendations uh that you've had a chance to see but we want to give you a bit more detail around that. Um first I just want to acknowledge that um this is the first time at least since I've been on PAX which is over 5 years that we've actually been here before you presenting on CIP recommendations. And I'm really I think we're really proud of what the PAX Commission has done. Um we've been working hard to make recommendations and have been evaluating a lot of data in order to make these recommendations. So I just want to acknowledge that and I also want to acknowledge that you have the hard budget decisions, but we just love parks. So we're going to stand here and we're going to advocate for like all the park stuff that we think are important, but we are prioritizing them. And so that's where the data points came into play. Um, PAX has been very engaged and active the last year and it's been really rewarding to be a part of that process and so you're seeing just two of us here but the entire PAX as hopefully you've seen from the memo were really involved in these conversations. Um, in evaluating and providing these recommendations to you, we relied upon a few data points that I just want to put out there and I don't have time to go through them but one of them is the PAX values. So you have them in front of you. We spent the summer in a subcommittee working on these values. We then worked on them multiple meetings as an entire commission. We approved them unanimously. So all of your representatives on packs are fully behind these values. And when we talk about um various things in PAX, we're utilizing those values. We actually created those values with the idea that

they would be the basis for CIP recommendations. Uh the second thing that we analyzed as we were making these recommendations is the playground assessment and I know that you all haven't seen that document in detail yet. It's a 300page document. So get ready for that. We did read it, we did analyze it, and we did talk about it. And so as we were making our recommendations, we were utilizing our collective analysis of that document. Um one note I would say is that 12 of our parks got a C rating. So, we think that we can do better and as we were making recommendations, we want to prioritize getting some of those parks out of the C range. Um, and then the last thing is the open space master plan. That was at the last bit of data that we were you using as we were making our recommendations. And with that, I'm going to pass it on to vice chair right.

Hi, I'm Cheyenne Wright. I'm very excited to share this information with you. I think um it was an amazing exercise for me to use all of my strengths. One of them is reading and synthesizing really long master plans and documents. And so I want to bring your guys's attention to the visual map that I created. Um because you guys haven't seen the playground assessment yet, this honestly speaks volumes to what it covers. There was um five different variables that were assessed. We spent about $50,000 looking at every single park. Um and at first what yes starkly stood out to us and in my opinion sounded a lot worse than it was in reality as someone who also visited all 12 of the C-rated parks is that we have a dozen parks that are in need of some love. Um, however, I find that parks are really personal for people and are a difficult emotional decision. How do we prioritize? And so I actually also took the data from the open space master plan draft, which we spent over six figures investing into. And although we never finalized it, there's a really valuable data in there about specifically um park deserts, which is parts of our city that a resident has to walk more than 15 minutes to get to their park. If that if that's inaccessible to them, then they don't even have a neighborhood park to complain about. And so in yellow you're going to find as identified in the open space master plan, not by me or my opinions. Um both the yellow is the neighborhoods that have park deserts. The C, which is the pink dot, that's going to be parks that were rated poorly

in the playground assessment. And then the letter P is actually the demographics of the people that live in those neighborhoods surrounding those parks. Um, so specifically what I focused on after receiving the playground assessment, not only just going and visiting those parks, but then reporting back to our commission about specifically the five parks that are a C- rating and near a park desert, which as you can see at the bottom is pink and yellow. Then I actually went back to the playground assessment and read in detail what qualified that park as a sea. And often times there was actually like almost a most urgent or borderline like pertinent safety issue that put that park as a C-rated park. Um and so I think in summary just on this visual map and to give you guys you know the most important highlights of the playground assessment it's that yes we do have 12 parks that we need to prioritize in the next 5 years. However the range of those C-rated parks I found were vast. Some are actually beautiful and totally okay in my opinion and others for their demographic, for the neighborhood they're around, the people they serve, and the urgency of the safety issues, we do recommend that they get prioritized in the CIP. So now we just want to talk about some of the specific recommendations and what you were presented just now in terms of the recommendations from city staff is what we saw at our meeting and then we had a variety of feedback. Um that feedback you have in front of you, but it's not built into the recommendations from staff. So we're here to advocate on behalf of the entire commission for our recommendations. Um starting first with

this year or with next year, we want to prioritize Marina View and Wilson. These are two parks that received a C rating. One of the reasons that we chose these is that they are close to park deserts. Another reason is that they are in um in neighborhoods of high density housing. And the third reason is that we see them as lowhanging fruit. So, we want and I and I um I heard city staff talk about how they can be addressed. We just would advocate that it's really important to identify and to make good on repairs to these parks. Um so Marina View and Wilson being two that we would prioritize. There is also unanimous support on the commission for community gardens. We see again and again an increased need for community gardens. We have a wait list of I believe over 200 people. They also generate income for the city be people pay to do these gardens. Um and there is a lot of interest in having a teaching garden. So thinking about the educational outcomes for our younger populations with a garden close by. Someone floated the idea of Neth Park. I know for the longest time there's been an idea for having a sculpture garden at Neth Park and those of us on the commission aren't sure where that came from. We would advocate that if Neth Park stays on a CIP list that it has some function related to community gardens. So we're just putting that out there as something to pursue. um small amount of money set aside for that so that we can actually examine how our community or how community gardens are working in the city. Do they need to be changed? What are the possibilities for that? And then the last thing I would um advocate before handing it over to vice chair again is that Westside Park Development. So for as long as I've been on PAX, Westside Park Development was on the CIP. It just kept getting pushed year after year after year after year. It's gone now. like Westside Park Development, that funding that was on there last year totally disappeared. I

want to see it back. We want to see it as a commission see it back. We set aside a modest sum of money um 400K just so that we can get something started on the Westside Park development. Um it's important in part because this was something that was identified in the um open space master plan by city council. So, we would advocate that Westside Park development be prioritized on the C the 5-year CIP um at an appropriate time. Okay. So, to close us out, in addition, there was a few other things that we gave feedback on in receiving the draft CIP. Um I want to bring your So what I'm looking at and what's on our screens is the comparative um budget between what we received and then what we're recommending and I made this and then our on the right hand column you can see our comments. So I kind of want to bring your attention to a couple of things. First I want to address the slush funds. Um, as the CFO of a business here, I I appreciate that we set aside funds by category of park, but what's interesting after reading the actual playground assessment, I'm actually going to advocate that we go more um that we view our CIP as more of an itemized bill rather than a lump sum because I think it's problematic and results in more Yes, John. Um, Cheyenne, can can somebody is it possible to make this bigger so we could see it? Is does somebody have that technology?

Yeah, but it's the same size on my thing. I I mean, I got Yeah, I did try to squeeze a lot all in one page for you guys. We can't do it all in one page. I don't know. It's just hard for me to read. Maybe a magnifying glass or something like that. No, it's all right. It's all right because then you can't all get it on one. This is Oh, so this is where you're reading from right now, the recommendations. Yeah. Okay, that's beautiful. That's much better.

Yeah. So, I kind of bolded ours um but even before I start because it does relate to specifically calling out Marina View um and Wilson is we have these slush funds that go towards like more general um project types at all parks. And what became really clear to me is advocating more for an itemized bill style rather than the slush funds. I think it is why we're in a problematic situation because it becomes more reactivebased to solving problems rather than um intentional. For example, I didn't really see a lot of parking lot needs in the playground assessment at C-rated parks. And so I'm just a little nervous. I'm really glad that, you know, Marina View and Wilson are likely going to get addressed um through other funding through maintenance um line item budgets, but I'm just putting that on your guys' radar. Two other things that stood out to us. Um we're sort of under the theme of putting more money into projects that are already getting a lot of money, specifically more than a million dollars, and that's going to be Fairview Park and the skate park expansion. those um intended additions have different uses. One is the Fairview Park master plan implementation and two is um getting us to that contingency to actually close on the skate park and get the pump the pump track which absolutely was a beloved and highly requested feature. Um as a commission though we did not really support nor see the need to put more money behind implementing a master plan. we've already spent a lot of money on. It's also specifically using park development funds, which doesn't seem like the best fit. So, we did want to bring that to your guys' attention. Secondarily, with the skate park, I

personally was involved in conversations of bringing in um industry stakeholders in the skate community. We are the hub and capital of the skate and street wear culture. And to me, we are not going to be able to get private funding for Harper Park, Marina View Park, but we would be able to for the skate park. And so my urge and encouragement is rather than using general funds for a project that would bring a lot of PR and a lot of media attention and attract brands like, you know, Vulcram and Ruka and Hurley, all these brands that are from Costa Mesa, Vans. Um, I'd like to somehow both meet our contingency rate yet also pull back and motivate staff to close a deal with a private funer. Um, and then yeah, big picture, uh, we got a lot of fluff on the CIP and I think when you look at the park assessment, we have enough C-rated parks to keep us busy for the next 5 years. And so I'd really encourage us to be judicious and diligent in the parks we have on our five-year. And um is am I missing anything else? Okay. And yeah, we are open to answering any of your guys' questions and we hope that the visuals we provided in the memo was helpful.

It was. Thank you. Thank you very much. Now we're all ready for questions. council. Uh uh Lauren.

Okay. Thank you. First of all, that was a great presentation. Uh very informative, extremely thorough. Um so maybe I missed it. There was a lot. You guys covered a lot of ground. So, um I'm going to look at the park assessment introduction that you did cuz I'm a pictures guy. Um can you first of all, can you tell me how you came about giving certain parks a C rating? What what qualified that? And the reason I'm asking that is because I have a park, Geesler, Gizler, however you want to say it. Gizler Park behind my house. Um, and then you wrote Phil Bank or Bark, I'm not sure. Um, help me out with the C rating. Help me out with how you identified that as

a middle I kind of feel honored that I'm in middle class, but um, a middle class family and um, and and what your ideas were there.

Yeah. So, I'll go first and then I'll let Director Ryan go. Um, we hired an independent consultant and by we, I mean staff hired an independent consultant. They went to every single park. They provided pictures and they all had the same equal objective criteria. It was everything from um everything from the playground which did have the heaviest weight to the landscaping, the facilities, benches, water fountains, and they ranked it from one to five and one being the worst, five being the best. That let's say out of 25 in total then generated a letter rating. A being the best, D being the worst, C is really the bottom, you know, cortile of our parks. So, we as a commission, me personally, did not generate that. And in fact, I really appreciated being given, you know, an objective rubric as objective as it gets. And that's how Gesler ended up as a C.

Okay. Um, oh, can I answer your question about the bark? So specifically, that's true. Let's go there. Specifically, when I went to Geisler, and then specifically if you look into what put Geisler as, you know, unsafe is the bark levels are so low that it's just like compact dirt/concrete. And you actually have the same problem at Marina View. So if a kid were to fall, we're actually not compliant with safety requirements. You need at least three in I don't think it's 3 feet. So, I think you need at least three inches of that padding material. Um, and yeah, let's see. Rob, how did I do?

And then um you're doing great. Just don't even pay attention to him. You have another yellow circle next to um Gizler Park, but there's nothing identified there. And it looks like it could be in my district. Maybe it's not. Maybe it's Del Mesa Park. I'm just not sure. It's blank. And there's nothing going on there. So what what is what do we

Yeah. Well, that proves the point. So the yellow circles are empty because they're park deserts with no parks in them. So those are neighborhoods that basically families have to drive to the nearest park. And so the rationale is all the families living in that yellow circle in your district, they're driving to Guesler Park. And then Gesler Park sucks. So, let's make Gler Park better. Or they're driving to Wilson and there aren't bathrooms. Yes. It's killing me, though. It's Geeseler. Okay. You know, this was this was contested in our commission. That's okay. I know. I just know the family. It's Gesler. Gieseler. Okay.

It's fine. I called it Gizler, too. So, um, did you do you guys have a proposal for Gizler Park of what you'd like? I have some ideas, but do you have some ideas you'd like to share? Do you have them right now that you could I I did propose that we fill the bark at a minimum, but that's actually only $12,000. So that's under the $30,000 CIP threshold. So it should go in one of the slush funds. Actually, we could absolutely do more. I hope you guys can see the amount of restraint I was trying to show in our Rex though. I was trying to really focus on the most important, most urgent needs at the most important parks.

I'd love to see a community garden in that park. Just so you for what it's worth. I appreciate these questions and this is where we've been working to get the PAX commission is to make those types of recommendations. This is this has been a culture shift for us. So, I'm just going to acknowledge that to have any recommendations. So, I appreciate that. We would like to do more and this is just the beginning of that. All right. Thank you for your presentation and answering my questions. Um if there's staff that wants to kick some rocks, please feel free. That's all I have. Any other questions? Um Andrea, where you going to go? Manny,

I don't know. I have one clarifying question. Um so um first of all great job with the presentation. I really appreciate it guys. Um they mentioned in the presentation that the westside um park funding has been depleted. Um if memory serves me correct did we not use that money to purchase the building next to Shalomar Park? Yes. Can you repeat that question?

Did we um So, point of clarification, I just I'm misremembering. Did we not use the Westside Park fund money to purchase the apartment complex next to Park? We used a portion of it. We used a portion of it of the the full we used about 200,000 of it to to pay for the Shalomar property. Correct. Okay. Thank you. And then um where's the where's that remaining 200 200 grand right now? The remaining 200 grand was utilized the other portion was utilized from the general fund. The general fund paid for about 1.5 million. The park development fund contribute 200,000. Okay. Thank you,

Andrea. Thanks. My questions are for staff, so I don't unless anybody else has anything for the commissioners. Um, I think I have questions for commissioners if that's We don't mind waiting. Okay. Um, all right. The skate park. Look, I'm not super excited about putting more money into this either since it was supposed to be mostly covered by a grant, but my understanding, and correct me if I'm wrong, is at this point, if we continue delaying in any way, we are subject to both losing the grant funding and also seeing increased construction costs the longer we wait. Is that right, Mr. Sar Ramen?

Mr. Mayor, if I can answer, council member M. That's right. Um so as you know we have the bids from many contractors bid on the project and the bids are in a in a range very similar range u we don't think we're going to get lower bids um with um uh with if we go back with the with rebidding this project also if we if we want to redesign the project and take out elements of the project then then that involves additional funds that we have to expend to do the redesign and then rebid at a at a later date. Not sure what kind of bids we are going to get whether it'll be close to what we have or whether we'll see any savings on that. But the bigger item is issue is that the ARPA money that was allocated you know there is a deadline of of December 2026. Now I'm hearing different things but to be on to be cautious is better to make sure that we expend the funds by December 2026 otherwise we there's a risk of us losing that money.

Okay. Thank you. Um the amounts so so the the commissioners just mentioned Marina Park uh adding sand is probably under the level of the uh requirements for a CIP. Do you agree with that? Yes, Council M. Yeah, I agree with that. I think um V will staff take a look at it and take whatever steps they need to take to to address this issue and especially if it's a safety issue, they would have addressed it. So, so what's the story with the bathrooms in Wilson right now?

According to So, so when you look at the park assessment, uh there are some tiles that need to be repaired. there isn't too much of uh of actual work involved. Um so that's my understanding. Uh Mr. Ryan can answer to that. Add to that. Yep, that's correct. There's a there's some missing tiles in the bathroom um that can be easily replaced and and cleaned up. Um that was what the assessment identified as far as the need there. Um, the assessment priced out a full renovation of the restrooms, which I'm not sure is necessary at this time just due to a few missing tiles, but I think those tiles can be replaced um by our staff or or by a contractor at a really a really low rate. We can do that in our operating funds right now.

Okay. And so neither of those need to be in the CIP. They don't need to be. Okay. Um let let's talk about the funding that is allocated um for ongoing park repairs. Um, if I'm recalling correctly, and and I I don't think I agree with the characterization of it as the slush fund by any means. That's that's those are ongoing repairs that are made to the park that don't necessarily come back. Um, I think the example that comes to mind, and this is in my district, is in T-winkle at Angel's Playground. Um, there was quite a bit of resurfacing that needed to be had done on the playground material itself. Is that a good example of the types of things that come out of that fund?

Yeah, Council M. Yeah, I wouldn't characterize characterize this as slush fund. Um, we don't save this for anything. We use it mainly for those kind of repairs. The Angel's Playground surface do have uh ongoing maintenance needs. Uh, at some point we do have to replace the whole uh surfacing and that's a $200,000 project. And if we try to actually add that to the CIP this year, but with the challenges we did not. But that's something that um will come as a as a project. But meanwhile we use those funds to fix the surfacing. The other examples are um you know we get um entire you know slides which have to be replaced you know as as you heard many of our parks are rated in a poor condition but the reason why they're still safe and functional is because we use the playground replacement funds to to replace actual pieces of equipment. So we we replace lights, we replace swings where needed and and to keep it going to keep it functional and if it's unsafe, we do definitely I mean there was one um at it which was at a point where we couldn't fix it. This is uh exercise equipment at Wimbledon Park and we said we need to replace the whole thing or we have to shut the park and we did replace that as part of a CIP project. So, so we do take uh the replacements of uh equipment seriously and to make sure the parks are safe for our children.

Okay. Thank you. Um the can can we throw up a slide that just shows the totals if we're taking the amount that's uh repaying to the can total CIP funding that's coming out of our budget. I just I'm just curious to see it all in one place. I don't know if we had if we had it all in one place. This is the referment, right?

Yeah. I mean, we we we don't have it all in one place. This shows the can deferment and the the can repayment only. Um but or 5% um of the CIP is expected to be $5.2 2 million based on the most recent numbers that I received. Okay. Yeah. 5.2 looked like the total amount out of the general fund for this next year's CIP. Yes. Okay. And then somebody do the math for me. So what is the what is the amount of the can that comes out of that 5.2 million?

That is the can. Uh so so the the the entire 5% of the CIP is works out to be actually close to $9 million approximately nine. Um now we do bond payment out of that one. So we subtract that. Um and we also set aside a million dollars for fire station bond repayment. Oh yeah, sorry. Five 5% of the city budget, not 5% of the CIP. Sorry, I misspoke earlier, but yeah. Yeah, help me get there in my head.

Yeah. So, so, so those are those two items and then and then we this year we also are factoring in the cost of uh staff involvement in CIP projects um of about $800,000. So, if you factor in all that, we will be left about $5.2 million towards um towards uh CIP. Now, we do show 5.5. So, there's a potential to add another $300,000 because the CAN contribution is not fully accounted for in the CIP.

Okay. Um, look, this has been a a point of contention for me for a little while. I'm just going to make a point of bringing it up since I'm going to miss the study session that was not scheduled when I booked a camping trip. Um, but the the can at this point, it's an exercise as you just went through. It's an exercise in us like coming up with things we can count as the can and it doesn't feel like it's meeting the intent of what we of what the previous council set it aside for. Given that we've got all this deferred maintenance for both parks and facilities, my recommendation to this council is to focus on a way that prioritizes actually spending the things the money on the things that are deferred. Um, and even if the can has to be smaller, at least we're prioritizing those things as opposed to uh counting everything in the kitchen sink to try to get to nine million. So, let's if we're going to set funds aside, let's make sure we're doing that for things that we think are the highest priority, which frankly are deferred maintenance in our city facilities are is really up there for me. And I've talked about this a lot in the past, so um I will get off my soap box. Thank you. So, just while while we're talking about the can, uh this might be a question for the city attorney, but this was a kind of a bone of contention of mine in the last budget cycle. In fact, I even voted against the budget in part because of it. It's now the 31st of March. We normally vote. We set aside the first and the second meeting of June to consider and then pass the budget. Do we have time between now and those June meetings to consider the can? Consider amending it, repealing it, whatever we want to do with the can. And uh do we have time to do that? I don't know

whether the council has any appetite for it, but that's what I want to do. Mr.

Do we have time to do it? That's my question. Uh well, we're already going to press with next Tuesday's agenda. Um, if we brought something like that forward for the April 21st agenda, if you moved it forward, passed it, whatever it might be, um, then it would go for second reading the first meeting of May theoretically, and uh, and therefore be in effect uh, when you do finally adopt the budget. Um, however, if we bring it forward on the 21st for direction, um, it starts to get very tight.

Got it. So, the answer as a practical matter is as it relates to this budget cycle, it sounds like, is no, the answer isn't no. The answer is it would be a real quick hurry. Yeah, it would be and probably not the level of deliberation that we would need for the public and we'd want to talk to FIPAC and so forth like that. So, I don't think that that's realistic. So, thank you for answering my question. That's that's then we can go on to other folks. I just wanted while Andrea brought up can I wanted to ask that question. Yeah, of course. So, we're we're we're we're on our can can right now. Let's go. Go ahead. No, go ahead, Mike.

Turn on your mic, though. Mike, turn in your mic. Mike. Okay. Thanks. Yeah, just so I have kind of a clear understanding and it kind of pivots off the can discussion we were having there and just first so I've got understanding if we go to slide 16 from the presentation where we have the deferred projects list these were the ones that we deferred um that were originally part of the 2526 budget correct that's correct

okay and then uh this is kind of your your thought process on this chart on what we can do with these projects. Some of them don't need funding, some are sufficiently funded, some we're contemplating potentially moving out to 2728. Is that how I read the chart? That's correct.

Okay. And then as to maybe city attorney uh the legalities of this if we're if we get in and I guess let me take a step back before getting look at macro what I think part of this exercise is tonight we're heading into the all city budget for lack of a better term and all the different departments and all the different needs of the city um are are getting ready to be in competition mode and tonight we're dealing with with CIP infrastructure and And within infrastructure, we got the parks and and all the public works a and and the reason there's this competition uh it's primarily other than the grants, we got to look to the general fund. Is that generally a fair statement?

See the head nod? But for those for those listening at home, yeah, those are all a contribution of the general fund. So yeah, we're all fighting for a piece of Right. So tonight we're kind of looking at CIP and all that that encompasses and then uh we had the nice integrated look at the all budget that's going to go to five. Then we're going to integrate all these things and and then eventually we could get to where we were at last year where okay guys here's how we make everything work. We might have to dip into can. We might have to defer some projects forward. That that's kind of where this is going. Correct. potentially potentially the this year we are saying we are going to meet the can requirements.

Yeah. And and I'll I'll get to that but just I'm looking foundationally legality and trying trying to pivot off what I heard just uh Mayor Stevens or John since we're in study session tonight. Um, so with the CAN ordinance, here's a question for uh, city attorney. If we are going to defer further some of these uh, projects that we had voted on last year that were going to be on the 2526 budget. Um, and maybe we don't have to be able to answer that tonight, but it raises an interesting legal question. And will we need a supermajority vote on that to continue to move these things out further or or and will will it be necessary for us to find an emergency to justify that further deferral?

Uh well, let me let me first differentiate between the capital projects that got deferred in order to cut back on the on the budget versus the can. So we cut those projects back to reduce the the can for those years. That doesn't mean these projects have to go forward. It just so so forget the projects. We're just talking about the money. Yeah. Right. Uh monies showing themselves and realizing themselves in actual projects. They've been earmarked towards projects. But I I get you.

Yeah. Okay. So So what Mr. Seth Ramen has said is that this year uh the the proposed CIP budget includes the full CAN for the 2026 27 fiscal year. Um and there is also a proposal that we would take 600,000 roughly from the general fund right to to fund the payment that we agreed to when we set up the payment plan as a result of the prior can deferral. So if you were to reduce the CIP budget i.e. move projects, defer projects, whatever, in such a way that you did bring the the the monetary contribution from the general fund down uh below the CAN requirement, then yes. So, I I I it took me a long way to get there.

I get there, but I wanted to make clear that we're talking about dollars, not projects. At the end of the day, CAN says 5% of the general fund should go towards, and I'm just paraphrasing here. I know I've got an attorney at the end of the thing, but 5% of the general fund uh uh goes to uh capital improvement uh brick and mortar types of things.

Correct. And so uh so allocating I I guess that's where the finance guys will get in do the accounting and try to and kind of what Councilman Maher was saying smoke and mirrors or whatever to say tada we we stuck to landing and and the numbers are uh we've somehow identified 5% that we can characterize as going to CAN. Well, it it's the CAN is very specific about what qualifies.

Okay. And let me stop you there because that's a good pivot to uh the report and I know there was a lot some members of the public down here to hear about parks and things like that and here we are getting into the weeds but it is a study session. I apologize. Um the agenda report there was the paragraph that I think uh um council member Mar was kind of uh talking about for fiscal year. It's on page five of the agenda report. There was a lot packed into this little paragraph. A and uh I was just curious about some of it. And when they say the proposed general fund allocation also takes into account staffing costs associated with the implementation of CIP projects estimated to be approximately 800,000. Um so that's 800,000 um in staffing costs that are outside or explain that what what's trying to be conveyed to me there. So the CAN ordinance if you I mean the the description of that and what's eligible for CAN I mean of course there are capital projects but it's it applies for it says engineering design um the construction uh project management support inspections and uh and and other design you know services too. So, we have dedicated staff to work on these projects. You know, the good example is um is the police department project that uh that that Patrick talked about. You know, the interior paint and carpet. It's a it was a four-month effort and we had a full-time staff out there every day and many times weekends working on that project. But if you look at this uh we don't have his costs included in any of our budget. I mean he was he wasn't factored in the

cost of the CIP project. We are saying those kind of costs are eligible costs for the project. And do those come out of the CAN funds or or they're part of our pre-existing staffing? We are proposing that those kind of costs be part of the can allocation in the future. Okay. And then I I'm sorry with that. Let me No, if I can if I can answer briefly here and I've been here a couple of days, you know, just just for got to get my lungs working

full disclosure, but I I I took the opportunity to go read the u you know uh uh the municipal code and what it says about the capital asset fund and it's very clear that it says capital asset funds may be applied towards uh debt obligations uh are created by to fund capital assets in addition ition. It goes um basically to say that um it includes um uh uh construction, design, engineering, project management, inspection and contract administration. And it doesn't differentiate whether you're using house staff or you hire outside consultants to do it. So to the extent that uh you're using house staff dedicated to work towards that pro particular project, it qualifies and as an eligible uh uh uh expert that can

and I think you kind of jumped to the conclusion I was going to get to. I was setting it up for uh not necessarily a softball. There were some public comments that we had received and my understanding of what I was reading from the public was that somehow you could differentiate the labor and management from the brickandmortar materials. But you don't approach a project that way. Am I correct? You approach a project if we're going to do a skate park. There's the design, the architecture, the planning that goes into it. And when you use the term staff here, but that's all part of what it's going to take to build that project. Now, I understand we'd like to put as much of that on our pre-existing staff as possible, but there are those instances where if we want to avoid full-time employees and and increasing our our city staff, we bring in outside project managers and outside contracts. Is that how I look at approaching a project? consum uh we we look at it based on expertise needed and and our uh staff availability. So some sometimes you know with limited staff that we have we cannot manage all the projects. So sometimes we're bringing in outside consultants to help us manage but but for some projects we do have our in-house staff um implement them too. Now even for projects where we have an outside consultant we always have an in-house project manager because the projects are these type of projects are very complex and we need to protect safe city interests on these projects to make sure that uh there are no overruns and uh you know the project is being done to city standards. So, so we have project every single project has city project manager associated with it. Sometimes we bring in additional help from outside depending on the expertise needed.

Okay. And I will wrap up and and seed the floor here. But a last wrap up again back to this paragraph. this proposal or these recommendations that we're studying here tonight, you you you're contemplating allocating 600K from the general fund to cover the payments on the deferred projects. Is that correct? That's correct. Okay. And then when we get into the big budget uh and everybody else comes in compete, wait a second, we don't want to see that 600,000. That's for a later discussion, but that's what you're you're contemplating. If CIP bucket gets everything it wants, this is what it would look like. This is how you make the numbers work.

Well, that's a obligation that we're going to fulfill. So, that repayment obligation is we intend to fulfill it. Yeah. I appreciate that, but what was the grand total of the CIP proposed budget? 30 something and 12 million of that is the fire station bond. Um, but incorporating that is fulfilling the obligation and we're going to fulfill that obligation uh by uh looking to the general fund for that $600,000 amount for the repayment portion. Okay. I got a lot of questions but after public speaks and the rest of the the DIY does. Thank you. Mr. Yes, Andrea.

Sorry. Can I just follow up on that? I just want to be clear and maybe you didn't mean to say this that we're repaying ourselves because we waved the can last time. So, we're dedicating more money to capital projects this year because we didn't do it last year. It's not in any way actually picking up these deferred projects unless there's a note in here that we've added them to the CIP. It is a an accounting exercise to make sure that we are spending all of the capital money.

Let me just I'll refer to what the city attorney explained. You know, the money is different and the project is a different contemplation here. uh moneywise, you know, the CAN requires that you contribute 5% of your gross general fund revenue to the uh capital fund each year. Last year, uh the general fund could not contribute all of it. Some of it was deferred. So was the year prior. So cumulative of those two financing it over five and 10 year period the payment for that that is due next year 26 27 is $600,000 and that amount will be teed up as part of general fund expenditure for next year and will go into uh the capital asset fund in addition to the 2026 27 uh 5% that is going there.

Yeah. I don't know if that's clear. All right. Mike, Mike, I'll take one last shot at making at least clear for me. That's just paying ourselves back. We're we're putting funds back into earmarked for can projects. Yeah, we're putting funds rather than just put 600k in and then we can use it for XYZ. We're trying to maintain the integrity of those funds that were earmarked for CIPs. Yes. Uh that's correct.

Uh and to the extent that um uh the ordinance requires that for every year that you are short that you finance that and pay back. So that's essentially what we're doing. So I I have a qu I have a question relating to this. So you you mentioned that there's approximately 820 some odd thousand that um we're allocating from our own staff that staff is spending time on capital improvement projects and then that's being allocated to the to the can. Did we do that in the last two years? Mr. Mayor, this is the first time we're doing this.

Okay, so it here's my question to you. You know how like sometimes when you have overpay taxes or whatever and you go and amend your returns. Okay, this is a question for you. By the way, ladies and gentlemen, Kingsley Okareke making his first uh appearance here in the city hall. Okay, and I ask you this I I ask you this question of of first impression um as a matter of finance. Are we able because we have now we're now doing this which I think is entirely defensible by the way. I mean and it's done by a lot of jurisdictions in the context of measure M2 where if it's properly you know if you you're able to properly account for it you can use measure M2 money to cover some of your specified in-house costs. So, I've got no problem with the practice, but why can't we go back and open up the last two years to kind of like um to for the ca, by the way, maybe this is a city attorney question to to to to basically, you know, redo those like you would uh re amending a tax return and that way we don't have to fiddle around with all these 600,000 and all that federal. Why can't we just do that and apply in retroactively apply this uh this device that we're doing this year?

Mr. Mayor, I I think you would have to adopt an amendment to the budgets both the 2024 25 All right. 2025 26. We need four votes for that, right? Can we not? The problem is we've already had those books audited and closed. Okay. So we're So th those are closed out and we can't It's the my my analogy to amending a tax return is not apt is what you're saying. Well, I I I'm not sure that you're wrong. Let me put it that way. That's a good start. We're getting we're getting off on the wrong foot.

They make the how how you do it. You know, I can I have to defer to the city attorney. Yeah. Can it be done? Yes. If you if you find that um you know to me when you read the ordinance it's very clear that what we're doing now is what was intended. It's defensible.

Yeah. Well I it's defensible and um you know if you just read it you know the way it's written that's essentially what's intended. So how you go back and adjust prior periods uh um I don't know if you know and with that I can defer to the city attorney but I don't think it's out of the question to do that. with I could make a suggestion here. I think we could if we could make a determination and I think we could um to the extent we kept track and were able to determine that um you know internal staff costs specifically associated with the capital improvement projects had not been included in the CAN calculation. um then you could you could go back and you could make a determination that they should have been um and that the deferral amount because you don't actually have to change any of the budgets,

right, to change the deferral and the repayment plan. Okay. And then and then this is my only question is a question of timing going back to my other piece that wouldn't presumably require a a can ordinance amendment or repeal. So, would we be able to do this thing that I've described, uh, a look back and application of this new policy? Um, would we be able to do it between now and the time we vote on the budget? I don't know that it does require an amendment because

No, it doesn't. I don't think it does. What I'm saying is is if if it can't if it doesn't require an amendment of the ordinance, it just requires something. I don't know what it requires, but it would require public works to track the costs associated with the capital improvement projects for those two fiscal years so that they could and working with finance make a determination of what the actual deferrals were and then that could be brought to you as part of your budget discussions to revise the payment plan for whatever is unaccounted for.

All right. Thank you. Thank you. Excellent. Okay. Um, Arless, you you had your light lit up. No, my the attorney filibuster answered my questions here, so I'm good. Thanks. All you're good with all you're okay.

Um, well, I'll jump in because I had a few questions for um the PAX team, so we can let them sit down unless they're called back up. Um, first of all, thank you for the presentation. I think um what you're describing in terms of a more um uh sort of systematic approach and consistent approach to prioritizing is exactly the direction I think we want to be going in why we funded the facilities master plan, why we funded the parks plan, why we funded the or assessments, excuse me, why we funded the sidewalk assessment, and I think um Raja mentioned two other assessments or so that that we're we we mean now now that we have the data we want to use to to guide our work going forward. So, thank you for getting that ball rolling. Um, I had a a specific question on the discussion you've heard tonight on the Wilson Park bathrooms. Um, I want to hear a little bit more about your recommendation having dug into that because I I don't think your recommendation was to fix a few tiles in the bathroom. So, can you describe a little bit more why you pulled that out on the priority list and sort of recommendation on on the budget there? Yeah, actually in that coming up, I looked back at the park assessment and perhaps were realizing discrepancies between what the consultant identified and then what staff is, you know, determining would be the like monetary value of repairing that. But Wilson Park received a C. Specifically, what was rated the worst about Wilson Park was its structures. specifically its structures was not benches, was not the playground, it was the bathroom and the pergola around the bathroom. Um, and it calls out with images um the wood structure is rotted. It's um I got you splintering. It needs repairs and the bathroom. And then at the very bottom of the playground assessment for every single park, the consultant created the

numerical value and the consultant recommended a bathroom renovation. And so that's where we're pulling our information and our data. And I will say I think it's confusing to receive a master plan that we paid so much money for and to take it at face value in seriousness, but then when we actually turn around and reflect and pull data from that to then be told it's inaccurate or it can be a smaller sum or could be spent through a different, you know, funding source. So, for example, like the Marina View um filling of the sand, the consultant identified it would be $31,000, which puts us at the CIP threshold, which is why we then voted on it as a CIP. Um, so that's how we made that decision about Wilson.

Okay. Um, yeah, that's that's helpful. I the I think the costs um uh there may be other reason costs are different, but I um I would be interested in maybe staff taking another look at the um kind of the the specific needs for the Wilson bathrooms. Several years ago, gosh, probably four years ago now, right? We built a a crosswalk for families south of Wilson to get to Wilson Park. Um the what I'm hearing now is like, okay, we get there, but we can't stay very long because there's like the bathrooms are difficult, often locked and so on. So, um I do think that's a high community priority as well. Um the other question I have for um the PAX representatives um is so this values matrix that you guys developed, we haven't heard that summary um here at the council. Was that is that specifically focused on um parks facilities or um has there been discussion at the commission on kind of the community services part of your charge as a commission? That's a really good question. Um, the purpose of the values document was originally around the CIP recommendations, so around facilities. Um, we've yet to go down that road of community services and I think that we would welcome that.

Okay. I know there's there's been a lot of discussion on the um senior transportation program and the the financial cliff on that. So, um, is that on your agenda or is that something that you guys are are planning to discuss?

We do use it. So it's much more informal though in terms of how we're utilizing that document. So people might ask some questions and they'll acknowledge like drawing from our values document. I have questions around sustainability in this right um so I would say yes it's something that we're discussing but uh the very kind of concrete recommendations that we've been making are around the CIP. I think there's a lot of opportunity to put that values document to work in other ways. Uh to answer your question about the senior transportation program, we saw that twice. We had a a huge uh turnout from the senior community, staff provided us with three options uh as an alternative to the existing entirely free, no cap, all locations um program and we did vote with a majority in support of variance 2 which was um you know within the average range that seniors voted on. It does have a co-ay and it goes to a limited number of locations in favor of medical rides specifically. So hopefully when you guys get that you'll see that that was what we ultimately voted on. I do just have to acknowledge though and there's a slight dis difference of opinion in some ways. I I think that's an interesting topic to raise up so please stop me if you don't want to hear this. One of the challenges that the commission had around that program was that we showed up to a meeting and hadn't actually seen their final recommendations from city staff until we were actually seated in those chairs. So, we did the best that we could in the time that we had. Um, we made recommendations. Um, I mentioned that because I think it's really important for you all as you're going to be looking at that just to know that um, if when we do this process again, um, your commissioners need that information in advance so that we can think about it a bit more. So,

yeah. Okay. And I think that'll come in the operating side of the budget, right? The transportation stuff is is operating, not CIP. Okay. Um, last question. you mentioned um looking at the open space master plan to guide your um some of the recommendations um uh whi which which master plan were you looking at? Well, let me be more specific of my question. So, we have I think the last published master plan was from 2018. um council years ago approved some additional budget to further update that master plan. Were you looking at old data or new data? I tend to pull from the 2024 draft master plan which our commission received and filed and actually I remember when here at council we decided to not allocate further funding to chase this ever, you know, evolving perfect master plan. Um, and I specifically like to pull demographic data because I don't think demographic data has changed drastically in the last say 5 years. So, uh, it's lengthy. It's downloaded on my computer. We do reference it really often because there's there's timeless essential data in there. Um but at the same time, you know, staff has shared with us that uh there was a big sports focus when it began or a lot of projects that were identified have already been completed. And so some of it you read it and you're like, great, we already did that. Um but it it it's definitely a draft and you can kind of tell that it's been pieced together over the years, but it's there's a lot of gold in there. Um and so yeah, we use it even though it's technically a draft. Okay, thank you. Um, this is a a note for the city manager just to um or maybe

suggestion to to council. I saw in one of these one of our attachments um it was on the list of of proposed items not approved I think or maybe it was in the five-year I don't know somewhere in here there was $250,000 for open space master plan and I almost fell off my chair because I'm like we've put so much consultant money into that and I'd love to just find a way to wrap it up and um seeing what the commission has developed in terms of this values matrix all of the data we already have um our new parks assessment maybe there's a way to wrap that up through the commission and the work that they're doing. So, I'll just leave that there. I'm not interested in putting more money towards consultants on that. They've had their chance. Okay. Thank you.

Um should I go in? Those are my questions for the commission. Can I should I continue on my others? Okay,

perfect. You have the floor. Um, okay. Raja, you on your first slide, I think it was, um, you mentioned that 30K has been the CIP limit for the last since you've been here, which is a couple decades now, right? Yeah. Okay. Would is there any reason you think we should change that limit? You didn't recommend it, but I was just curious if if are there operational efficiencies to us raising that limit a little bit? Uh, any any recommendations there? Yeah, Council Reynolds, I I think there is uh I mean we could look at uh raising that limit because costs have definitely gone up and what we did 25 years ago with 30,000 is is a lot less now. So, it's something that we can consider uh at some point. I'm not recommending anything right now.

Okay. Yeah, I would encourage you to think about that as part of this budget cycle. And and again, it's about I think we've raised the limit on a couple other um purchasing agreements for exactly the reason you stated. Um okay. Can you remind me on the OCTA um I'm already forgetting what that stands for. Um so do they tell us how much we need to spend? Is that you? So in a couple weeks you'll get a specific dollar amount and then you'll know whether the proposed budget hits that or not. Yes. effort

maintenance of effort. Yes, MO is maintenance of effort. So, um it's based on our general fund revenues. They take a percentage of that. So they did a calculation back in 2011 when measure M2 started and figured how much we were spending uh general fund for um cap for roadway projects mainly specifically for uh projects that measure M can cover and they adjust that every 3 years. We're getting a new adjustment number in, you know, in in the next week or so. And uh, you know, usually we beat that um fairly fairly, you know, by a few hundred,000 close to a million dollars sometimes. So, we'll see how it goes up every three years. So, we'll see what it goes up to now. And we want to make sure that we are within the limits. we have some cushion too because

sometimes they disqualify a few expenditures and so we want to make sure we beat that. Okay. Okay. So that comes every three years. That's I didn't I didn't remember that often coming up. So that that helps explain that. Um in the CIP, did we take any input um or request any input specific to the arts and culture master plan or CIP's recommend recommended from that?

I didn't see any. I wasn't sure if we have a process for that yet. For the city CIP projects, we generally accommodate um the the needs of uh whatever arts and culture master plan requirements are or or whatever we hear from our parks and you know about incorporating any elements within the project um as part of the project budget. So we we don't really ask for a new allocation. Like for example, the the recent poetry that was done at Brentwood Park was part of the Brenford Park budget. Um so we're not asking for anything specific at this point, but I know there is a an ordinance that at some point is going to come forward um asking for contributions for arts from not just public projects but from private. So we'll see when you know if if whatever the requirements are if they exceed what we are actually contemplating now then we need to look at that.

Yeah. Okay. So I'm hearing you say um we like can incorporate elements recommended on arts and culture in existing CIP projects or new CIP projects. My question was um have we made any uh or have we received any specific recommend like spec CIP specific recommendations from the arts and culture master plan? And we haven't. I know and I think we're done with the five-year master plan. Um I I had requested that council get sort of an update on how that went. I was just curious if like if um that five-year effort resulted in any in any specific re CIP recommendations. Do we know that yet? So, we have our parks director, Brian Grer, coming forward, but we do plan on providing an update on that to the council when the PAX commission comes forward with their work plan to city council.

Yeah, it will be the um the the arms commission is going to be presenting um the working plan and they're going to provide an update to that. Um but we have not specified like specific projects um in regards to that. No. Okay. Um and and this is this is a new plan. It's a new commission. and it's a new part of our our budget. Um, but I think I'd love I'm assuming there's a commission meeting between now and the next time this is in front of us. So, I think it'd be great to get any recommendations from them for consideration. Maybe it doesn't make it in this budget, but sort of working that into the cycle, I think would be a valuable exercise. Yeah, we actually have a a arts commission meeting uh this coming Thursday. Um, and that is going to be part of the uh discussion at that point. Perfect. Okay. And then we'll bring it back to the council.

Thank you.

Um, okay. Back to Raja. uh um sidewalk assessment. So, I think it was in our last council meeting, we did actually um uh update our budget on sidewalk repair based on the ongoing sidewalk assessment. Um I didn't see any changes in um new sidewalk budgets. I was curious if we had any information on the sidewalk assessment to date to um give us a sense of sort of how we're tracking on our new sidewalk needs. Yes, council Reynolds. So, yeah, I forgot to mention about the sidewalk assessment that's being conducted um now um as part of other all the master plans. So, we started on a project where we want to complete the entire city sidewalks in the next five years uh uh assessments and the repairs. So, so far we finished 20% of our city sidewalk. we completed uh the assess um I think there were Rob can elaborate on this one but 5,000 um different locations were identified approximately and we fixed 50% of them and the budget that you approved will help in accomplishing the wherever the the repairs are for the remaining um where there's grinding and can be done but then there are some sidewalks that have to be replaced So that's a separate project that we advertised and will come to you for award um maybe in about a month or so and then um we have current budget available to to continue the program and there are some funds available here that will pay for towards that program that's in the next in in in the upcoming budget too. What I'm trying to get at is what do we know from our sidewalk assessment about um like what

the what the estimated budget would be to fill the gaps in sidewalks. So we have the repair existing sidewalks piece and then we have like where we're missing sidewalks piece. What do we know? In the same way, you know, we wanted to compare what are we contributing towards facilities assessment versus what do we need? I'm trying to get a sense of that on the sidewalk um on the new sidewalk or missing link piece.

Yes. So, so that's a that's a separate piece. So, thanks for pointing that out. So, what I mentioned is the existing sidewalks where we have um deflections in the sidewalk that have to be uh addressed and and you know all the claims that we get. We want to address all that. The second piece is a missing link sidewalk and we have a program for missing link sidewalk in the budget. Um, we haven't fully evaluated all the the cost for all the missing sidewalk uh projects, but I just want to point out there are many areas where the neighbors don't want the sidewalks too. So, we we need to make sure that we factor that. We'll we'll come up with an estimate for that over the next few months and bring back to council.

So, you have the you have the data from the assessment. You need to sort of cross reference that with where people do and don't want sidewalks. Exactly. estimates of course. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I'd love to just get a sense of Yes. Again, is our is our current budget contribution like 5% of what we think we need or 20% of what we think we need in the same way we're doing on a lot of other areas. Okay. Um let me just go through a few other things here. Okay. So, in our um proposed budget here, I'm in the transportation section. Surprise. Um, local road safety plan update, $150,000. Why do we need an update to the local road safety plan?

So, the local road safety plan update is needed every five years. Believe it or not, it's almost when you say that requirement, it's a state requirement.

It's not a state requirement, but what the federal government has started doing that is they require that for awarding highway safety improvement project grant. That's a required they need a current study every time we apply for that funding and and that HSIP funds many projects including you know the the signal signal signal modernization project almost $4 million we get we got that funding from them. There are many other projects that can be funded u using that grant program. uh it could be all the safe route to school study that we are doing right now. Uh we can go after funding using that grant program and the study is right now almost uh three and a half years old and we it's it takes almost a year for us to get through that study. So we want to have the budget to get the study started next fiscal year and and be compliant with that grant program. Do they um let me ask you one other question and then I'll I'll take the other questions on this one offline. Um so the federal government requires that we update the local road safety plan every five years. Do they require a minimum contribution to that update like dollar? Do they require that we spend a certain amount on that update?

Council Reynolds. So they they require the study to be done. They don't care how much it costs and and our estimate is because we already have a previous study done and this is an update of the study. It's that's our estimated cost.

Okay. I would I'm going to challenge us to try to do a lower cost update because I just don't know how much actually changes and um I know a lot of the data on that that goes into that is is free. So I'll leave that there. I would love to see us do that update um with less cost. Um, okay. Okay. Um, tree planting and small tree care program. Um, I I Can you explain it? It looks like we're not The proposed CIP here doesn't contribute any additional dollars to that. the um ongoing attachment one, the sort of current CIP list shows that we have as of March 17th only $5,000 left in that. So that leaves me believing we have no money for small tree care. Um but on one of the slides it says we're going to plant more trees. So help me reconcile that. Where's our money to plant more trees and care for them?

So the couple different funds, majority of the tree planting and the maintenance comes from our our normal budget operating fund. um the one that's referenced in the slide, the capital improvement, uh comes from gas tax funding that is specifically for parkway and median trees. So, kind of two separate funds. Um the gas tax fund can only be used for planting trees and maintaining and medians, whereas our our general fund can be used anywhere. So, that's where we get our small tree care uh and tree planting funds and in our regular maintenance, the majority of it.

Okay. So, I'm seeing our line item on tree planting and small tree care down to 5K currently and no dollars added. So, who's who's losing out when we when that fund goes down to zero or stays at 5,000? So, in the past that that's been a separate CIP project for small tree care and tree planting that's kind of been moved to through the uh funded through the gas tax now. And so, so you're saying the dollar we're maintaining the dollars, we're putting it in a different bucket. Correct. Okay. That's council member Reynolds. It used to be a smaller dollar amount before I think it was 70,000 per year or 50,000 per year. Now we are putting 200,000 per year. So we we increased the funding for uh this kind of tree care.

Good. Thank you. I was alarmed to see that and I'm happy with that answer. Um okie dokie. I think those are my questions. Um I'll let someone else go and chime in if I missed a couple. Thank you. Anybody else want to go? I've got a few questions. That's okay. First of all, before I ask answer my questions, Arless triggered me. Yesterday was a big day in the city of Costa Mesa. It's the 26th anniversary that Raj has been with the city 26 years. So, so congratulations.

Means we haven't changed the CIP limit for 26 years at least. No, but he's still coming up with innovative ideas. Even shave the mustache. I'm wondering that's even to this day. So, yeah. So, thank you for your service, Roger. Um, oh, um, I I'm I'm just going to ask questions and then I have some comments later. So, this is a question I should know the answer to because it it I don't live too far away. When you go to Moon Park, maybe this is a director Gruner question. When you go to Moon Park, is there any like signage or educational information about the moon?

There was a a plaque dedicated to the moon there. Um, right. Recently vandalized and gone missing and we're working on replacing that. But yes, there is a plaque dedication plaque.

I know. But I mean like like just to tell people like you know like we have at Fairview Park where you say this thing you see in front of you is the moon and and we walked on the moon and the moon is x from the distance from earth and you know and the moon is whatever I don't even know I don't know about all that stuff but you know you can come up with the facts and interesting things about the moon. The reason is because we've got this big thing that's looks like the moon and then we've got we've got families that say it's obstructing my view and then other families that say oh I like to have the moon thing there. Well, it would seem to be like a more engaging thing if there was some communication about for especially for I'm thinking of the kids. What is the moon? How does the moon fit into our solar system and so forth and so on and something like that? I asked you the question because I might as well just give the comment now. That's probably below 30, right? 30,000 to come up with some signage pertaining to the moon and maybe the maybe the um uh community the local community would appreciate that as an educational thing. Anyway, um Wilson Bathroom Park. This might be a PD question. So, um, stop scrolling, uh, Instagram and listen up. Listen up. Um, uh, so we used to have such a difficult problem with people doing mischief in the in the in the Wilson Park bathrooms that for many years the Wilson Park bathrooms were shut. And to pick up on one of the things that Arless said to the contrary of people saying we we are disappointed in the condition of the Wilson Park bathrooms because we have to go there and go and go home to go to the bathroom. They didn't want it

to be open. A lot of them, not all of them, right? There was mix as I recall. When we opened it, it was a decision made by the council. I think we made it as a council decision if I'm not mistaken. So, um, how's it going in regard to mischief issues? I mean, we heard all kinds of stories about people shooting up drugs, all kinds of things, you know, and so there's a real policy decision was a real policy decision about opening up the bathrooms and now we're talking about the condition of the bathrooms. But how are we just go doing on the people's behavior and attracting nuisance and attracting issues to Wilson Park that some of the neighbors don't appreciate?

Yeah, you're absolutely right. In the past, we did have a problem with the bathrooms um having a lot of issues with um people using drugs and different things. We've increased our staffing in our park with our park rangers. Um we do a lot more patrols there and over the years we've been able to mitigate that issue. I mean, we still have problems there every once in a while, but it's a lot better than it was when we had to close the bathrooms and um ensure people's safety with that with the closures. Do you still hear because I haven't heard it in a long time, but um do you still still ever hear neighbors advocating for closing the Wilson Park bathrooms? No, I haven't heard that in a really long time.

Okay, good. Neither have I. Um, oh, I I I promised to ask our finance staff some questions. Um, where are we with the status of the bond financing for fire station 2? What where at what stage of the process are we at?

Hi, mayor. Uh, so currently we're working with our bound bond council, Jones Hall. We also have a municipal advisor a fieldman and the next steps include uh financial analysis whether to determine 20 or 30-year prepayment cycle. Uh we also are going to uh identify properties that we can pledge for collateral. Um once once we identify the properties to pledge for collateral and once the the rebuild is complete of fire station 2, we can swap fire station 2 out as the main source of collateral. But the next steps include um getting a credit rating, a bond rating. Uh currently we're aiming to get AAA is the highest, but according to municipality bonds, uh double A would be the highest. Um and so we're looking forward to uh getting an underwriter on working to that. And once we get the rating, we'll come back to council on June 16th for adoption of resolutions for the issuance of the bond. and then we'll go out uh for the bond in July uh and to secure funding. So the timeline is about July, mid July.

Okay. Then the second run related question is we're we're we're the prop proposal here is to set aside an additional $1 million toward this bond um financing. And I believe we did that last year. Correct. Correct. Correct. Okay. So then that would give us $2 million in like like a sort of a a reserve fund, right? Yes. Yes. We'll get two million.

Okay. So, you know, obviously, you know, if we say yes to that, we say no to something else. Okay. So, you don't need to do it now. But as the budget as the budget discussion continues, a question I'm going to ask is for the finance team to sharpen their pencil and say, "Why 2 million? It just seems like such a round number to me, right?" And so, because every dollar we put into the into the reserve is a dollar we can't put into sand at uh at some park to make it safe. Okay? So what I'm going to ask you to do, not today, please don't ask now, but at the appropriate time in the coming weeks when we come here, I'm going to ask you to justify why 1 million and why now.

Okay, fair enough. Fair. Okay. Um I have a a com on the comm uh building project. Is there any natural light? Are we going to have windows there? Uh yes. Fortunately, we were able to integrate um an existing window and we're going to bring in some um wonderful outdoor light.

I that's that's great. I think that's just wonderful. Okay. I wanted you to say that those are I have a couple of comments. I think those are my only questions. Uh yeah, those are my only questions. I have a couple comments I'll make when at the appropriate time. Does anybody have any other questions before we open it up to the public? Just do a time check. How many members of the public wish to speak? Okay. Okay. I'm going to I'm going to leave it at two minutes. I think that's probably okay because then we got probably have people on Zoom too, right? Okay. So, two mayor. Can I just ask a couple more quick questions?

Yeah, sure. Um Yeah. Okay. So, this is in the additional projects um submitted for consideration. Um Joanne bike trail was on there. Lighting I thought we had I know um a bunch of lighting was torn out in a um act of vandalism, but I thought we had replaced um I know I've biked along that path with lighting there. So what um is that why this was crossed out and isn't needed or what's the lighting situation on the bike trail? So council Reynolds uh the Joan portion of the bike trail which is between Harbor and Placentia, we worked with Edison to increase lighting. So that's why it looks much better over there. Got it. So from Harbor to Placentia, that stretch, that's what I'm thinking about. But from Marramac to uh that particular location.

Yeah. All those lights are gone too. And the lights on Harbor Boulevard are on the median and they don't light that path well enough. So we need lighting in that stretch still. Okay. So, it's still a needed project and I'm working with our city engineer to see if there is some other funding source that can pay for it. So, so if we can a safety issue, is that a safety concern?

It's a concern uh at this point that we want to address. So, it's um so we're looking into other options because the cost estimate is fairly high. It's almost $400,000 to replace all those lights. So we are looking at some other options to implement that project and once we find confirm that we'll come back to you on that one.

Okay. On the um same page Rainbird irrigation controller replacement that's a relatively low cost 50k that seems like potential cost savings if it's irrigation control. Um have you looked at how much we would save in in water purchases if we do put that in place? There are some um Rob can add to that.

So, Council Member Reynolds, yeah, that that's our irrigation system. It's we're currently um it's not communicating. So, we're having our contractor and staff go out to program those by hand. Um so, I mean, we're I'm not overly concerned about the water savings, but obviously be saving in staff time to not have to go out there and program during rain events. Um, luckily we're heading into summer or spring. There not going to be much of a need to reprogram. That's only a small portion of the the number of controllers that we have out there. It's probably a fifth of the number of controllers we really need to do. Okay. So, the the total cost of that project is actually well over 200,000. So, we are looking at 50,000 a year, but maybe we'll start the program a year later.

Got it. Okay. Um, that's helpful. And then on slide 21 where you talk about the funding sources, um I'm looking at the the bottom three. Traffic impact fees, 250 uh canvas impact fees, and then 100k from park development. Is this um help me reconcile these numbers with like what's actually in those funds. So for example, the traffic impact fee fund, my recollection is it's quite a bit bigger. the um ad hoc committee recommended um like we actually programmed to spend those funds since we're collecting those dollars. So um just help me reconcile that a little bit. Why isn't this um 250 amount um reflecting the the full amount in that fund?

So Council Reynolds, you're right that we had a lot of money in this account, but over the last two or three years, we did fund quite a bit of that. So we are actually pretty close to the you know where we want the balances to be. So it's it has gone down. We've already programmed we have programmed a lot in previous budgets. Okay. Exactly. And park development fees is it 100k in that fund or is that Yeah.

Park development fees. Uh we don't have much money in that account. We probably have couple hundred thousand in that account. It's it's not doing well. um we have not collecting too many revenues in that in that fund. So that's why you see a small amount being programmed and that's reflecting the limited development over the last decade or so. That's correct.

Yeah. Okay. Um Okay. Thank you. That's that's helpful. Um last one on the Moon Park project. Um Rob mentioned um a lot of coordination. Uh, I'm recalling that we we got a lot of emails uh a while back about um the 405 underpass and safety concerns related to lighting there. Is that reconciled? And if not, is that is that something that we could sort of loop into coordination on that?

As it pertains to specific underpass, I I'm not I'm not aware if that's been reconciled that I know PD's been out there and working and we've worked with the county. Um, but I can follow up on that. Okay. Okay. And if if if if not if there's not a lighting solution. So, the concern was it's a it's a pretty long tunnel. Um, it gets pretty dark even during the daytime. It's pretty dark, which is a safety issue, right? Um, especially as you mentioned when people are moving at pretty fast speeds. Um, if there's not an existing lighting solution, um, would it make sense to coordinate finding a solution on on that in our coordination on that project? You mentioned you'll have to coordinate with other agencies. I'm assuming it's OCTA. Maybe it's Calrans. Yes. Yes.

Raja is saying yes. Okay, good. Thank you. That's really it. All right, let's open up to the public. Everybody gets two minutes. You're going to hear you got to talk just about these issues. Um and uh you're going to hear um a beep at one minute. Please wrap it up. Okay, we're all good for two minutes. You have the floor.

Hi, good afternoon. My name is Raone. I live in the State Streets and I'm I'm here uh advocating for Moon Park. Um you know, I live in a really close-knit neighborhood. We have a lot of great community events and I know that community engagement is important to the city. Um we've actually put together moonpark project.com. We have a website, Instagram page and we've gathered over 160 signatures. Um the community is coming forward to you guys saying, "Hey, Moon Park is a problem and it needs to be invested in." Um, I know that we've already or at least it's been mentioned some of the issues, but I have two young kids. My son was very excitedly interrupting Raja earlier, but he's one. My daughter, she's three. There's two separate play equipments um over at Moon Park. And that that park really is a visual obstruction. So, my my daughter has no interest in playing in the smaller playground. My son is too young to play in the other one. So, if I take them by myself, I can't divide I can't be at two places at once. Um, so this is something that's really important to me and I know that park assessment was done um and 12 parks including Moon Park received a C-grade, but there are some distinguishing characterist characteristics that make Moon Park worse than those that just can't be measured by the metrics that were established. Um, some of those things are just what I talked about was the safety component to not being able to have a direct line of sight between the two the two playgrounds. Additionally, there's no barrier or separation between the play equipment and the bike trail. These days, I know ebikes are a really big topic because they can go up to 28 mph without requiring any sort of license or anything. And a kid wandering out onto the bike trail is a very real risk. Um something that could be extremely tragic. So, I'm very optimistic about the $50,000 that have been proposed in community engagement. Um, and I hope that we can stay on that path of prioritizing Moon Park because

as you can see, it is a something that is very important to us and very important to the community in the state streets. Thank you.

Good evening, mayor and council. My name is Jason. Um, live in the state streets as well. I'm here to uh as a resident and a constituent to advocate for the Moon Park improvements uh proposed for this fiscal year. Uh I support the proposed commitment of $50,000 for community outreach and to assess the scope of the project for this year. Uh this begins a critical first phase in coordination with county agencies and creates a design that will give the residents in my neighborhood a park that uh we've been longing for. Uh many of my neighbors and I have advocated at the PAX meetings for an investment that will address the critical safety issues, many of which Raone uh mentioned, such as the fencing, upgraded lighting, improvement to the bike trail access, and reimagining the playground and other park amenities for our families. Moon Park sits at the heart of our neighborhood and has immense potential, but due to neglect, the park is underutilized. As it exists now, the playground is unsafe. The proximity to the unfenced bike trail exposes children to unnecessary risks and presents an urgent safety issue. The lack of lighting poses a security risk. The playground's outdated. In fact, nobody can say for certainty when it was installed. Its layout, as me Raone mentioned, doesn't uh match what our families are looking for. The staff proposal is a smart way to begin the process and revitalize the park. investing the $50,000 now will unlock unlock uh community engagement um as we have started to generate and will further that uh uh process as we move forward um and has a potential to serve with improvements has a potential to serve thousands of Costa Mesa residents for decades and visitors along the bike trail. I ask for you to move forward with the Moon Park conceptual design phase as proposed um and uh signal our community that Moon Park is a priority and reiterate your commitment to completing the project in the next fiscal year. Thank you for your time uh and your leadership on this issue.

Thank you. Yes, ma'am.

Hello. My name is Sonia Triana. I've been a resident of Costa Mesa for 35 years. And when I first moved here in 1990, I was a mom with two young children. Now I'm a retired teacher with two young grandchildren. Um, and I've always been active. So I've been a cyclist for 25 years plus. And I I'm sorry I lost my concentration when you were talking, but the Santa Ana River Trail and 405 freeway, if you look my name up in your emails, I initiated that with the lighting under the freeway several years ago. Took several years, but I'm here for Moon Park. So now I'm a senior and um I'm interested in Moon Park because of my neighbors and I'd like you to do something that makes that park allincclusive. Right now I'm not able to use it because I'm a senior. There's nothing for me. I'd like to have some exercise stations, some nice picnic tables, a gazebo, something that qualifies so that that park is for everybody. It's all inclusive. Um, also I've called the I think the maintenance needs to be a little bit better because I'm always calling the city for there's beehives, there's lack of maintenance on the equipment, there's a lot of weeds that are 4 feet tall and anyway um I I would like you to really consider it and more than anything make the park inclusive and safe for everybody. Thank you. Oh, sorry.

Hello, Mr. Mayor.

Um, yeah. Uh, thank you. Uh, first I wanted to just say thank you to the council and to staff for all of the efforts and all the proposed projects that will increase our street safety. uh projects at Adams, at Center Street, uh along Fair, uh projects that have already happened like along Fairview keep all of our road users safe and I and many uh vulnerable road users are very appreciative of all of the efforts uh in that realm. Um I I think one thing that uh I I haven't seen the narratives for all of these projects, so I don't know exactly what's in all of these. Um, I'm looking at citywide neighborhood traffic improvements, and I don't know exactly what's in that yet, but I I can hope that it includes items that promote some neighborhood traffic calming measures. Um uh if you're familiar with previous uh projects, temporary projects along streets like uh Meyer uh and some of the more permanent ones like along 19th Street, they they just add some simple quick build traffic calming measures that slow down vehicles. And I know that's one of some of residents main concerns along their streets is cars traveling too fast and wanting to slow them down so that kids can go out and play on the streets. So, I don't know if it's part of that CIP project. It might even just be under the $30,000 CIP range, but more funding to make sure that uh kids can play safely out in the streets and people can get around where they need to go safely. I'll also just throw out um the daylighting law AB413 implementing that making sure that we uh don't allow parking within 20 ft of an intersection and maybe that's another place that can be implemented and maybe also implementing uh the school zone speed limit reduction that we can do now

or that will take effect in 2031. Thank you.

Hi Ralph. Good evening, mayor, council. Um, kudos to council and packs. That's the way I think the process should work. A commission or a committee makes recommendations. They're here during the study session presenting to you and you have a good vibrant conversation back and forth. Unfortunately, FIPAC is next week. So, I would say study sessions should be after all the committees make recommendations. Some quick comments. Uh, yes. Start start the CAN roll out refurbishment or replenishment, excuse me. Although I'm going to tick off staff by saying I think the 25 26 should be a 5-year amortization, not a 10-year, which would add about $100,000 to the 600k. Uh, the city desperately needs a long-term strategic plan. question for council and and Pax kind of alluded to this in their conversation on on parks, but is the proposed capital budget really meeting council goals? Um they mentioned the westside park development got constantly deferred. They're recommending it. I would also mention energy sustainability. Those projects there's no been not been one project in four years, not one plan for two more years. And that's one of your core goals. Where's those projects? Um, let me throw this out. Is it mandatory to use the can for the fire station bond? That's going to off the top take $1 million out of can which was used for for the next 20 years or possibly 30 years of depending on how light what the length of the bond is. You may want to use that money instead for ongoing capital projects annually. Um, oh, also talking about the 800k and staff, correct me if I'm wrong, but there's going to be a corresponding or close to corresponding reduction in

general fund expenses. It's not an additional cost, it's a reallocation of cost. What was formally charged with general funds now being charged.

Yeah. Thanks. Yes, sir. Evening, council mayor. Uh I am a resident of College Park just across the street, Fair View here. And I want to say I'm delighted with the improvements uh to city bike infrastructure that I've seen over the past few years. Um me and my kids and my wife. We bike to school at College Park. We bike to Northgate Market. We bike to Wilson Park where we avoid using the bathrooms. We bike to the beach. Uh and it it's truly made our community feel more vibrant and uh enjoyable and friendly. Uh and I know these decisions take a lot of will um and a lot of commitment and I want to thank you all for your continued effort and in making our city uh brighter in that way. Uh and something I just want to lend my voice to uh or in support of is to give fair the same treatment uh you know between here and harbor. Uh there's a lot of kids in the College Park neighborhood across Fair that go to the College Park uh elementary school and into Wilson Park and uh you know some attention to the bike lanes there, to the crosswalks there would go a really long way to make it uh easier for them to get to school and to the park and and to make it more accessible. So thanks so much for the improvements. Uh

thank you. Yes, ma'am.

Good evening, mayor and council. My name is Carla Stagman. I am a resident of the state streets, have lived there since 2000, and I'm here to advocate for our neighborhood park. I loved your idea about the moon. I've always thought that's something that really should be used as an educational opportunity because we know what it is, but I think a lot of the children could learn and it it could spark a lot of creativity and play. There's actually a lot to the structure being that dome where when kids go on top of it, there's this psychology too. They there's a um art uses this often where they feel like, you know, they're bigger than they are. So, there's a lot to that that I think is symbolic. We were there recently with neighbors meeting talking about this and gathering support and just seeing the kids up there. There's nothing to play with on the moon, but they were having so much fun and it was just so sweet. And I think our neighborhood has grown so much over the years. And with the new generations, with so many children, you if you walk through at any time, you will see strollers and little toddlers. They're everywhere. Um, so I want for them more than anything to have a safe park they can go to where they can keep an eye on their children, not have to split between one and the other. I propose to keep the moon. I think it's really special for that community and I just see so much potential and I would love for the city to prioritize it, especially for the safety reasons that my neighbors talked about with the ebikes. There's just so many so many great opportunities. Thank you. Hi, good evening. My name is Riley. I'm also a resident in the State Streets. Um, I've lived there for about eight years. I am one of the ones with a stroller. I have a 5-month-old at home.

Um, and though we are not at the age to play at the park yet, um, I walk through every single day and I was there over the weekend at a little Easter egg hunt event. It was great. There were tons of families that came out and I had a lot of parents say, "Oh, it's so great that we had an excuse to come to the park this weekend." And I was kind of like, well, what do you mean? Don't you guys come to this park all the time? And they said, unfortunately, we we don't um you know, we're going to other parks. They don't feel necessarily super safe um in that environment, which I thought was really interesting and ultimately pretty sad for the community. So, having my little 5-month-old, I've you know, we've been in the St. for 8 years, and I hope that it's in better condition, you know, in the future when I have a little baby who's able to play there. So, um yeah, we're I'm here on the moon part moon park project. Thank you. Uh, anybody else? Anybody on Zoom?

Yes, Mr. Mayor. Matt, please. Matt, you have the floor.

All right. Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is M. Garcia and I'm a resident of Costa Mesa. As I reviewed the CIP, what stood out to me is the scale spending concentrated at Fairview Park. There are already multiple major projects either underway, funded, or planned, including roughly $2 million for bluff restoration, $2 million for Mesa restoration, and additional master plan implementation and restoration efforts totaling at least 5 to$6 million. At the same time, the city is deferring other capital projects due to funding constraints. Just last December, more than 155 community members wrote the council regarding the draft Fairview Park master plan, asking the council to stop the master plan update or make significant changes to the current direction at Fairview Park. Please evaluate the community benefit of the significant capital investments moving forward. Council has an opportunity to provide a clear response to the community's December feedback. I kindly request clarification for how the approximately $10 million in state funding received in 22 23 was or is being allocated across these projects and why Fairview Park might be receiving such a large share relative to pro broader community needs. Additionally, the staff reports supporting these projects lack basic detail. There is limited quantification of problems, limited explanation of prioritization, and no consolidated view of total spending in the park. Before continuing to advance additional projects or contracts in Fairview Park, I would strongly encourage council to take a step back, evaluate the scope of spending, and ensure that these investments are justified and aligned with the broader community benefit, that they are not just efforts to fence off and restrict the community's balanced use of Fairview Park. I support PAX's recommendation to find ways to reduce

spending at Verbby Park. Thank you for your time. Any further speakers, Mr. Mayor? Close public comment. Uh council, um council, now we'll take your, you know, direction to to staff. We'll start with Mike. Oh, no. Jeff, Jeff, you go. I'll defer to Jeff. Go, go, go.

All right. I'm gonna be quick. Michael, that's I know you got uh a lot of wind in those lungs. All right. I say that with love. So, um on Moon Park, interesting. I'm wondering and I and thank you, Arlo, for bringing up uh arts because sometimes I I I get I'm very into arts and I've been kind of they haven't been on my mind lately. I'm wondering how we could get arts involved in the Moon Park project and the moon itself. Um I think that's great. I I I agree. I have mine aren't so little anymore, but I still I have a 12-year-old who won't go to the park with me anymore, but I know how important that is to the kiddos. And so I'm if Fiser, if you're listening, uh let's let's let's think about that. See if we could make some recommendations and see how we can get involved in in Moon Park. Maybe some sort of art project over there. It'd be cool to see. Um initially, I was going to ask Raja a bunch of questions, but I I figured why ask questions and give him the opportunity to tell me why we can't do things. So, um I I know that the uh and thank you to the uh the PAX folks for all your hard work. I mean, it's it's it's a big deal that you guys we we need your help and I'm just bummed that my guy Jason Kamala isn't here, but I know he's probably listening and I really want to give him a nod for helping me understand a lot of this was this huge this huge study that they did with the uh the consultants. Um, you know, District 6 has got a multitude of parks that are at the end of their life, and I'm not going to be so bold as to say that we need to focus only on on District 6, Harper Park. Appreciate it. That's that's awesome. Um, what's happening over there, what I am going to do is focus on one. I'm going to focus on Heler Park. Uh, Heler Park is it it's very it's been at the end of its lifespan since the 2018 master plan. And I would like to see and I know it's already recognized in the five-year CIP and I appreciate that and so is

Lindberg. We're going to leave Lindberg out of this and we'll focus only on Heler. Um I I know that the the bathroom is in in desperate need of repair. It's been in desperate need and it's a safety risk for folks that I happen to live right near there. Uh I see uh flag football many flag football practices taking place there and it's utilized in in a lot of different ways. in the bathroom is disgusting and a safety uh problem. I'm wondering it's already recognized it in the 29 2030 uh time frame and I'm not saying 26 27 but I'd like to see it move back to maybe 2028 and if you tell me no we can't do that because the money is not there what my compromise would be can we do a I'm not going to ask a compromise for me would be a phased approach maybe just the bathroom move the bathroom back from 29 2030 to 2028 at a minimum. I would like to see Heler addressed. Uh it's in terrible shape and uh I have the actual folks come knock on my door at my house and ask me what the hell I'm doing up here on the dis and so I'm going to advocate for I say that they don't really but they do knock on my door and ask about Heler Park. So that is my pitch for the evening. Thank you very much.

All right, Mike.

All right, thanks. Just a few comments. Um, first off, and a few people have said it, Ralph and and uh Jeff, um, but kudos to PAX and their commission and the work they've done. And actually additional kudos to city manager and staff. I think and and Ralph kind of I just want to underscore I really think their involvement, their engagement, the their citizen advocacy, the the time that they put in to roll up their sleeves and and use their expertise to to volunteer and provide these services to the city and the fact that city manager and staff has given them the stage and and the opportunity to convey that their work product to us and I think we're moving in that direction with Bipac. back and that's citizen government. You know, we we have these committees, we have these commissions, and you guys inform us, inform staff. So, just kudos to to staff and management. I know I've only been here a year, but I uh listening to PAX tonight, they they you could see the the awe on their face that they actually had a forum to come in here and and speak. And it it doesn't appear that that has been the case for for quite some time. So, so I'm glad to see that. Um I I heard some commentary tonight on skate park and some of the other and and actually it started with Mayor Stevens. Um you know pursuing this private public partnership thing and and I I'd like to see us get beyond a wish and a hope. It's a wonderful idea, but I'd like us to see staff if we can kind of get more intentional about that. I mean, we identify projects that might be ideal for public private partnership, whether they're libraries, parks, or skate park. And then we we come up with a plan on on identifying some potential stakeholders, partners in the city, and we come up with a plan on how we present them with

these uh partnership opportunities. But rather than just continue talk, boy, it would be nice. It' be great. Let's be intentional about it and actually generate a list, generate a way to move forward, and let's find some money. Uh it seems to me we've got some great uh industry leaders, some great uh stakeholders in this city, and it'll give them an opportunity to uh promote themselves and to get some great publicity and and to to do something great for the community. Um and and not to belabor Moon Park. I I think that they're uh they were uh strongly advocated for tonight and it's unfortunate that a lot of the uh citizens left. I just want to say kudos for you for coming out here tonight and and expressing your your concern. But I just uh elaborate. There was a discussion or in the slide about, you know, we're going to have to coordinate with uh various agencies because we've got that border with OCTA. But again, back to funding. I'm all about finding funding. I is there uh and I'm sure you guys probably do that when we're in there looking to budget, looking to fund these projects, but it seems like that's an opportunity um to ask the county or OCTA to kind of share the expense of some of these improvements to to get broad in our thinking and let's just not stop at the border and and see if they're willing to to contribute to some of this uh the funding of this project. So rather than private public funding, let's have public public funding and get an additional public agency to contribute to to and we have other parks in the city that uh uh border uh county land or whatever. when we get into these projects. Um, and then just for my own information, um, when we're looking as a staff at obtaining funding, uh, in particular for CIP projects, it's kind of cart before

the horse or or the other way around. Do we identify our projects and then go look for what potential funding we can get or uh do we look what funding's out there and then or is it a kind of a science or an art form in 26 years here in the uh city maybe you figured out but is there a way do we go list first find funding or do we hey we just the government's just releasing funds for XYZ maybe this project that we hadn't thought about would be a great candidate what's kind of the internal process there. So consumable beauty the first thing that we do look at is are the needs you know what are the city needs for uh different areas could be parks streets um facilities and then yeah we don't shy away from asking for funding we are quite shameless in that way so we we we get quite a bit of grant funding and you know whether it's uh asking for appropriation at state federal level or whether it's going after competitive grant programs to to get funding. So, we try all means to to get funding and we try to be as creative as we can with the funds that we have to to implement the projects that that are out there. So,

okay, it's all I got and just great work by staff and and you know, we're we're we're putting together this thing. We're heading into the budget season, but I think this was an initial good first launch to some degree. Thank you,

Lauren. Uh, thank you. Thanks, John. So, um, I know I already said this earlier, but I want to thank PAX. They really did a good job on the parks assessment introduction map and and how to go through, at least for us, how to explain what's identified as a A, B, and C rating and and how we can look to improve some of the things that we're trying to do up here for the constituents for our park. So, I I just want to go into a couple of things and um some of the questions I'm going to ask you don't have to answer right now, but um I would like to see what what we can do. One of them is community gardens. That comes up a lot, but we don't really have community gardens anywhere that I'm aware of that we utilize, at least at this side of, you know, um maybe in the west side, but at the parks in my community, we don't have any. Um, I'd like to see that. If um if Gezler is a good spot, I would like to see us utilize that. That would be something that's great. Um, another thing is uh if we could look at some of these desert parks that are say a 15-minute walk, if we could utilize some sort of a community engagement where we can funnel kids and people to these parks, that would be great. If we could look into something like that, I know that we have um a lot of uh uh daycare and stuff like that at Lions Park. Maybe we can introduce something like that. That would be great for the community. And then um last but not least, um I would really like to identify what we can do to improve the restroom facilities for these parks. If it really is that um uh I I know that at uh was it Oh, no. Um yeah, Paulino Park. It's a It's a pocket park. There used to be restrooms there. And when I talked about putting the

restrooms back there, I was met with a lot of resistance. So, I know that's a hot topic, but if we had clean, usable bathrooms that were monitored regularly, I think that would be a good something good for the community. So, right now, like I said, we don't need answers for that, but it's definitely something I want to make sure that we're moving moving forward on cuz I also have heard a lot from my constituents about um uh community gardens. So, all right, that's all I have. Thanks. Um Oh, Andrea, you want to go?

Uh yeah, look, good good job. I know we're going to be struggling with our next budget, but this seems like a very reasonable proposal to address some of the things that we know have been a concern. Um I like the idea of starting the process on Moon Park. And I'll just say for those that are here to talk about Moon Park, it is a process, right? Like um it isn't it is we're going to start it. We're going to have some conversations. We're going to look at some initial designs. But like for the the woman who said she had a 5-month old, your kid will be walking by the time we have a park like that they can actually go to. So um just just setting expectations early. Um I would like to dive into the Wilson Park restroom question a little bit more so maybe when we come back for the actual finalization of the budget we can see may maybe there's a good, better, best solution, right? if we can just use some maintenance funds versus um anything that looks more like a capital project just to get a sense of what our options are. Um support community gardens. I think the first step in that kind of going back to the the Moon Park discussion, the first step is um I you know I would like the data who's on the waiting list, what's the demand before we just start um talking about converting all of our parks into community gardens. Um, I don't think I answered this earlier, but uh, I don't know, that might have been me that floated Neth Park as a sculpture garden back when I was on the cultural arts committee. Um, the the thing at the time is we had just received a donation of the sculpture that's sitting out there and so we thought there might be more coming and that was the conversation about like what happens if we get more sculptures, where are we going to put them? um and spinning them around the corner from city hall seemed like a good idea. So, uh don't, you know, don't hold me to it. I think there's plenty of other good ideas about what to do with Neth Park. Um so, the question about how

do we choose projects? So, now we have a facilities condition assessment. We have an assessment of the sidewalks condition and missing. We have our parks assessment. I mean, we have an abundance of information about what needs to get fixed around here. Um, I'm pretty sure the facilities condition assessment said we should spend $11 million a year just to get our facilities up to par. Um, it look, it would be interesting. This is something I would normally ask for in the midyear, but it would be interesting for us to take a look at smooshing those together, even if it's just a high level, and saying, you know, theoretically, what should our CIP be driven by over the next like 5 to 10 years? If we just did the bare minimum to keep our facilities ship shape, our sidewalks repaired, our roads in good condition, um I think we would find that it's probably probably on the order of 15 to 20 million. So, that being said, we shouldn't have an issue funding the can. We know that there's plenty of work to do. Um, the challenge for us is reconciling all of the work that we know there is to do with the available budget that we actually have. Um, and so, look, I I I don't think we need to go into it too much during this meeting, but I'm just going to put it out there. Look, I would be in favor of like once more not following the can this year if we were to come back later in the year with something that was right-sized, made more sense for our city, and is much more in keeping with um the the plan that I think we all need in order to maintain our facilities over the long term. Um that's it for me. Thank you.

Thank you very much. You want to just go down the list? We'll go with the mayor prom.

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you staff for this presentation. I I think one thing we leave with today knowing is that our parks are very much popular with residents and there want to see a lot of improvements when it comes down to it. Um I echo the statements made by most my council peers. I think um focusing on Moon Park would be really smart. I think focusing on Wilson Street um Wilson Park will be really smart and I think focusing on Marina View Park as mentioned by our PAX commission will be really smart. anytime I have a chance to really um make these targeted improvements that will improve the park drastically, I think it's worth our our investment. Um in terms of like bigger picture, I think for me I still believe what I said before, which is copying things from other cities that work is really smart. And I' I've the best system I've seen for park improvements has come from the city of Cypress where they've designated a park fund. And once that fund is filled up to an adequate amount, they they renovate the the oldest park in their in their repertoire. Obviously, we got have a lot more parks than Cypress does, but I think that model could do a really good job of helping our residents see constant improvements in parks in the Costa Mesa. Um, so that's kind of my my two cents on the parks. Other than that, I really appreciate the work we've done. I know we're having to make some decisions to see what we prioritize for infrastructure and I just want to say I really appreciate your thoughtfulness and choosing the right ones to move forward. So, thank you.

Thanks, Manuel Arus.

Yeah, thanks um thanks to staff to um our commissioners who presented everyone in the public um for their input tonight. Um, I I'll admit I was a little bit afraid to open the staff report because I I know it's another challenging year and I was pleasantly surprised about about how how you've planned or proposed this this um CIP. I was worried it was going to be like skin and bones and I'd be, you know, bummed that things were missing that I was hoping to see. Um, so overall, I'm I'm happy, but of course I have some suggestions. Um, I really like Council Member Mar's recommendations on um uh the smooshing. I I'll use her her word, but just again really um you know it's it's we're not going to be able to um to totally rightize or adjust our our CIP planning based on those assessments that are still coming in, but really starting to to compare them I think is a valuable exercise. Um and so I'm I' I'd like to see that it may be too optimistic, but I' I'd love to see the five-year plan start to reflect some of the lessons of those assessments. I know they're not all done yet, but um starting to move in that direction I think would be valuable. Um on I'm going to have uh questions offline and ahead of um the final budget process about um including dollars for staff time in the CIP. And and my primary concern there is just making sure we're not like double counting dollars towards staff time. It makes sense to me if we're counting dollars towards hired contractors for project management because that's incremental um uh labor supporting implementation of our CIP. And so I I just want to make sure I understand that. I don't I don't fully understand it yet, but I I just want to make sure we're not double counting um uh labor there. Um I support the recommendations um from the PAX commission um primarily because of the thought put into it and the um kind of the values matrix that they gave us a a glimpse of today. I

really like that um uh kind of thoughtful approach. I think they said it was unanimous approval on that prioritization matrix. I think that's a really good way to approach um prioritizing projects going forward. Um the the one thing I well I'll say um I do want to continue um uh dollars towards the Fair View Park efforts, but I'm really interested in those dollars um going towards aspects of the of the master plan that are um activating and creating opportunities for people to engage in the park. So, one of those especially where there's um maybe considerations of of trade-offs. Um so, one of the things for example that has been discussed is um you know lots of kids want to bike in lots of places. Obviously, I'm supportive of that. Um uh we want them not to bike on um you know sensitive uh uh sacred spaces. So, can we create small um biking facilities, a small pump track at Fairy Park? So, that I'm interested in implementing those types of of projects. Um, uh, Commissioner Martinez mentioned the neighborhood traffic improvements, um, budget. I did notice that we had a slight downward tick there, which to me seems inconsistent with my experience of of more and more residents saying, "Please help us slow down vehicles in our streets." So, um, I think if we can reduce the cost of that local road safety plan update and maintain our budget towards um, neighborhood traffic improvements, that would make me very happy. Um, all the park stuff is exciting. Uh, I I think you heard from our comments tonight how valuable parks are to neighborhoods, creating gathering spaces, opportunities for neighborhoods to neighbors to connect with each other. Just want to um uh remind um of the note that our commissioners gave us is that there's lots of parts of the city that are park deserts where there are no

facilities for neighborhoods to to gather. Um, I know it's not easy just to like find land and build parks, but I would be interested in um, and this is what I was hoping that our master plan would do a while back. Maybe there's um, I'm just going to throw out 50K because that seems to be our like steady amount, but 50K towards um, and maybe this is something staff can do. Maybe this is something our commissioners can do but towards um finding like proposing solutions for park pocket parks or green space in our park deserts. So like what is the menu of solutions to um address the the fact that many residents in Costa Mesa do not live within walking distance of a park. Um, and then I love in terms of of park design when we are looking at that design. I love um, uh, Commissioner Pettis's comment about like how do we let's bring in the arts and culture discussion there. Um, ways to activate the park. Um, I loved the comment we heard from someone um, who's no longer here about making sure we're planning for seniors as well. So, there's a lot of good designs on parking for people, planning for people of all ages. I know teens always get for or often get forgotten in park design as well. Um, so, uh, yeah, those are are Oh, and I really like the the suggestion about, um, looking for sponsorships maybe to offset some of the costs on the pretty incredible skate park facility that we're um going to be constructing. Thank you.

Okay, so Kingsley, welcome. This is it. It's It's all fun from here on out, right? Um, so I just want to say, you know, um, the maybe one of the most impactful slides that we just kind of flipped right over was slide number two. You don't have to put it up again, but that's where we talk about all the people that work in the public works department. And Roger, we clap for you for 26 uh, years, but you've got an amazing team. And it's not just Yeah, let's clap for the team. Yeah, Roger wants to clap for the team. It's not just the CIP, but it's like the things that you do on a daily basis, you know. Um I just had a conversation with Raja today about uh tagging that I saw out in the community and his he's got a whole team that addresses that. There's a reason why if you drive through Costa Mesa, you don't see a lot of tagging, but in other communities, you do, and it's because of Raj's team. We just had a thing in Mike's district where uh the lower birds people were um uh asking us how come I can't get through the gate on Adams to get into Boleric Park and his team was able to come up with a good solution for that. And then I had a a a angry uh constituent who was mad about all the potholes in the neighborhood and wondering why I as the mayor couldn't see the potholes in front of my own face. and I and she sent to uh the they sent it to Raja and all the potholes were fixed. So this is the daily basis stuff and then this is the big picture these things that we do over time and that are part of the budget uh these projects but there's a whole team of people that are doing great work in that department and I want to thank them and acknowledge them. um you know lot of great things that are happening just amazing things that are

happening that um have have been a long time coming. I mean you know again as as in my neighborhood to think that we're on the verge of actually doing the Adams improvement from uh Royal Palm to uh the River Trail is just unbelievable. I mean that's been you talk about no sidewalks. There's that's like been the Pony Express breast trail for the entire time since 1953 or before that. And we're finally going to make that. That's great. And it's on this um so I've been proverating about though u the moon. Uh it's all I can think about is the moon and I really think we're on to something about Moon Park and and uh the educational aspects of it. You know, I mean, the moon itself is so important not just scientifically but as a uh uh inspiration for art and also uh politics and geopolitical things. I mean, you know, so I was named after President John Kennedy. Uh I was born in 1963 and you might remember that or you probably very few of you remember this. I don't even think Kingsley's old enough to remember this, but uh 19 in in May of 1961 in in a a address to the joint congre joint uh Congress, uh John F. Kennedy said, "By the end of um this decade, the 10 years, we're going to put a man on the moon and we're going to return him back to to uh the to to the to Earth." And we did that in July of 1969. And that's like a something that we really don't do anymore. You know, you you hear I'm not going to get too terribly political here, but we just don't hear. And that became known as the moonshot or moon goals and uh that was uh President

Kennedy and we did it. So so many things that we can learn and children can learn about the moon. Okay. and we have a moon in in in in our park. So, let's use it for to to teach about our country and the and art and science and the great things and I think that the community will celebrate that. Um, another project, uh, that's I don't think it's on the anywhere on the, uh, but we were talking earlier about what type of projects can the arts commission talk about at their meeting and maybe move forward, not for this year, but for years in the future. And over at T-winkle Park, there's a little amphitheater. And I mean, I've always visioned, but it's not going to happen in my term, uh, people doing like little Shakespeare in the park or performances in the park at that amphitheater. And it seems like it's just not in shape to do that. And that could be a private public partnership to to Mike's point. And with respect to that, staying in TWL Park area and going to Mike's point, um, yes, absolutely, we can't slow down. And with all due respect, and I do thank you to uh Cheyenne and Kelly for coming in. Uh the one thing that they said that I just we have to move forward with the skate park. We're going to pick a uh um you know, a contractor at our next meeting. At least that's before us in our next meeting. We don't want to delay this any further. However, Mike makes a great po point and it's been made before and it's been made by Kelly and Cheyenne. let's get some private um donors to that. And the way to do that quite honestly is let me help you, okay? Because you know, you just you all know me as John, but in the world, nobody cares

about me, but they want to meet the mayor, right? They want to take a meeting with the mayor, and if the mayor asks them to do something, they're more likely to do it. So, put me on the list and use not you use the mayor. That's what we're here for. And the council members, too, you know, especially if it's in their district, they should be involved in that. Um, I like the idea that we talked about it's it's worth at least exploring is to look back on the can and see if there's anything to that. Um, I think it was Mike that made a good point about or somebody made a good point about the aligning the the goals. Oh, was Ralph Ralph made this point and I've always thought and again it's not going to happen in my term but it's something to think about is it seems like we should have more solar right solar in the parking lot things like that solar projects at um parking lots and and in areas. So that's something I mean I don't want to add more uh um more projects but that seems like it would be worthwhile and at least in keeping with our goals. I mean, you know, the new council's going to come in, four of us are termed out, there might be completely different goals, but if sustainability, environmental sustainability is still a goal of the of the city of Costa Mesa after we're gone, seems like that would be a way to address it. And then the other thing I just want to say with parks quality, um, you know, I I'm willing to have a discussion certainly about the park deserts and stuff like that and building parks, you know, but first of all, there's some areas of the city that are just not conducive to building parks. I mean, like one of the areas that's a park desert is like off of Anton and Sakioka and and uh town center and that whole

area in Laurens district, you know, where I've spent half my life working. There's really no park space there, you know. Um it's all it's all commercial use and then some heavy highdensity residential use. So, it's understandable that there's not parks there. Um and then that's true with some of the other parts of the city too. Uh we've only created to my knowledge and recollection we've created one park in the last 10 years uh the Perez Park and then we have created a the one acre spot at um which is essentially used as a park at Lions Park which I think is really good. One of the things we did um and I remember Lauren was really involved in advocating for that is we opened up the uh Luke Davis field. And so we've talked about that for years as a way to get people to be able to uh experience open space to work with the school district to open up more school sites and open up more places for for free play as opposed to building a park. You know, I mean, I've probably told this story more times than than I should have, but when I grew up in a town of about 50,000, we had two parks. And I mean that I'm not suggesting that that was good. By the way, they were good parks. They were really good parks. And I'll get to that in a second, but we had all of the school sites were open. So, when I was growing up, I didn't feel any lack of parks and school sites had playgrounds and all that stuff. So, it was just all provided. So, I think we can be a little bit more creative and we don't need to take on the entire burden and we can we can collaborate. Uh, and we've done this before and we've talked about it, but I'm not sure we've really focused on it lately and certainly not executed to the whole potential of that uh program to to use school sites as places to play and in open space. And then in terms of the

just the park condition, you know, I think there's a sliding scale in terms of the park condition. I don't like to hear as much as anybody that um we're in a C-grade with respect to 12 of our parks on the one hand. On the other hand, I'm glad we have those parks, right? And so there's a quantity quality um what do you call it? Uh like a sliding scale that if we had 20 parks, they'd all be A's. But I'd rather have 32 parks with 12 C's and maybe a couple of B's and some A's than 20 A's. Um because as the parks commissioners pointed out, particularly Cheyenne, you know, when you really look at it, some of those parks that are C's can get up to the B-grade with just a little bit of safety work. So, I'm proud of the work. I'm proud of the number of parks we have. If we can get have more, great. If we can work with the school district, great. But I'm proud of the work we're doing in that area, especially lately with all the min money. And um I like to keep it up and uh I appreciate all the work you're doing. And this is pretty close, I will say, from a budgetary standpoint. I think we've learned something tonight. We've had a chance to express ourselves. The bolts aren't completely tightened, but they're getting close. And I really appreciate the work that we've done. And I also, this has got my notes all over it, but for the public, one of the council members asked for this, uh, which is a 10-year run of everything that we've spent on, um, public works projects, and it adds up to almost a quarter of a billion dollars. So, that's pretty good. So, thank you, Roger. One more clap. All right. Unless anybody has anything else, we can stand adjourned. Okay, good. Thanks.