City Council - Regular Meeting

David? All of it? Yep. That's not sufficient. There we go. Good afternoon. I'd like to call to order the special closed session meeting of the city council. It is 05:15PM, meeting number 3096. Madam city clerk, roll call, please.

The record will reflect that all members are in attendance.

Thank you. Next, have public input. At this time, any member of the pub public may address the council on matters which are on the closed session agenda. If any members of the public who are participating through Zoom wish to address the council, please raise your hand. And if you're calling in, please press 9 to raise your hand. Madam city clerk, any request to speak?

No, mister mayor.

Thank you. We will now move on to the closed session update, mister city attorney.

The council will be convening in closed session to discuss item five as it appears on the closed session agenda, which is conference with real property negotiators, Aldo Schindler, Nicole Bernard, and Brian Moncrief regarding APN 43048112.

Thank you, sir. We'll recess the closed session. Good evening, everyone. I'd like to call to order meeting number 3096, the regular meeting of the city council at 6PM. Tonight's invocation is by Reverend Tim Ellington from Aldersgate Methodist Church.

Reverend?

Good evening. Let us pray. Gracious and loving God, we come before you with gratitude as we begin this meeting. We thank you for the gift of community and for the opportunity to serve the people of Tustin. We are especially grateful for the members of our city council and for our dedicated city staff, those who work diligently, often behind the scenes, to support, protect, and strengthen this city.

Grant them encouragement, perseverance, and a deep sense of purpose in their work. And God, in the season of Easter, we are reminded that you are a God of hope, renewal, and new life. Where there is weariness, bring fresh energy. Where there is uncertainty, bring clarity. Where there are challenges, bring the promise of new possibilities.

And as important decisions are made tonight regarding payroll, property, preservation of history, infrastructure, technology, and public art, we ask for your wisdom and guidance. May every conversation be marked by respect, every decision shaped by integrity, and every action guided by a sincere desire to serve the common good. We pray for the flourishing of Tustin, that our city would be a place of safety, opportunity, beauty, and belonging to all who live and work here. May this city continue to grow in ways that reflect compassion, justice, and hope. We entrust this time to you and ask for your presence among us.

Amen. Amen. Thank you, reverend. Council member Nielsen has the pledge of allegiance this evening.

Please rise. Please place your right hand over your heart. And if you're a veteran, you can render a salute. Ready? Begin.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. We have one presentation tonight about the Tustin Legacy Community Outreach and Engagement for 2026. And we have JPW here tonight, Suzanne Bankhead. Suzanne, go ahead.

Hello, everybody. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, city council. Suzanne Bankhead with JPW. Excited to be here tonight. You might remember I was here in the fall to give you an update, so I'm here tonight to share a little progress and then where we're headed next. So this is just what I hope to cover with you tonight. We'll recap our outreach goals for Tustin Legacy, highlight our efforts to date, and as I mentioned, I'll close with what's coming up ahead with our outreach and engagement opportunities. And this is just a good orientation slide to remind ourselves where we started with this whole process. So our goals for outreach were really simply to just continue to raise the community awareness of Legacy, the history, the vision, the progress, and future development.

And then also look at ways of gathering input and getting that two way dialogue with the community that would help us guide that future development at Legacy. And then lastly, just to inform the community about the process and ways that they can get involved. And we've really centered that conversation around key focus areas and what we're calling the Tustin Legacy Core. So that's the north and south hangars. So we've been busy doing that and really looking at alignment of the needs of the and priorities of the community today compared to where when we started. Just looking at that and also the opportunities and constraints that exist on the site. So here's a bit about where we've been. In the past, we have had a a lot of different events as you can see here. Been out at community tabling events. We've been to a total of seven of those.

So everything from the tree lighting, sunset market, movies and concerts in the park, the egg hunt twice, and Viva Tustin. So we've really covered the ground, had a total of 650 connections at those events. We've also hosted three community meetings. So we started back in April with Citizens Academy, had a very engaging conversation there, hosted a community workshop in May, and then also the LRA in August of last year. So lots of good coverage there.

We've also had community survey where we've gotten a lot of engagement. And we continue to try and, anytime we're out, encourage folks to join our email list, get involved so they can follow along in next steps. So we've seen that our subscribers are continually growing, particularly since last fall when we were out at the AgCon event. We saw a spike in that, and we continue to see anything that we push out. We're getting a lot of open rates higher than certainly, than, like, our typical market rates for that.

You you're seeing people that are very engaged and excited about this topic, which is wonderful. So as we're out and about, we're learning quite a bit and we tried to summarize this really as quick hits. So, again, awareness continually grows on legacy and I think that was a key goal in the initial phase of this is just giving that foundational education and making sure everyone knew what was happening. And then we've seen that that awareness is really centered in on three main conversation pieces. So that's been cost, safety, environmental concerns.

That tends to be where the conversation goes when we're out. And then secondly, there's an intense desire for people to learn more about where the hangers stand today and where they're going in the future. So again, the appetite for continued information is there, and we keep feeding that and meeting the community where we're at. Third and fourth is really a sense of community pride around the history of the site and obviously honoring that in some way. And I think the character in history, that's something we hear quite a bit and it's highly valued by this community.

And then lastly is just getting traction around the outreach efforts, just continuing to educate and and inform. People appreciate that. They really love that the city is committed to getting folks out to answer questions. So, again, just wanted to share that that has been recognized and appreciated since we started this effort. So where are we gonna take ourselves in the next few months? Pretty aggressive schedule, but we wanted to, you know, really lean in in 2026 to continue in that conversation. So you'll see here, these are multiple opportunities that we'll be offering in the coming months. We'll have two community surveys. I'll dive into a little more detail next. Community workshops.

And obviously, there will be touch points with you where we're gonna report what we heard, and that would happen in May or June time frame. And then, of course, the annual LRA in August. So just a little more information there on the workshops. We plan to host two. So we are looking at a pre workshop survey that would go out ahead of the community workshops in late April.

And really, the focus of that survey is going to be big picture priorities, vision for Tustin Legacy Core. So this is more open ended. And I think that that's where we can really start to hear the vision. And we've done some of that in our past efforts, but this will be a good opportunity to give folks another opportunity to share that vision. And in that second workshop, we're going to be really looking at weighing priorities with framework planning that we're working with a third party on.

So these are just ideas of what's possible out there. It's going give folks a chance to really visualize some of these options that could come up. And that'll be a more focused and detailed conversation. Again, we're shifting from, like, a really open ended conversation to being a little bit more deliberate, intentional with the input that we're getting. So you'll see the areas and the, I guess, the the tactics we will use to promote.

We already have started promoting these surveys through the egg hunt event last weekend. Postcard's gonna be mailed to all households, e newsletter, social, website, and we're starting to print lawn signs and banners that'll be out in the community shortly. And then those workshops, that's two workshops that will be hosted. Same information is going to be hosted or shared in both of those. So that's April 22, April 23.

That'll be at the community center at the marketplace. This is where we're going to share start out the the evening with the orientation and a a longer film similar to what we did in May of last year. Just give people the same information, and then we'll turn them loose to open house stations, as we did at the last workshop. And we'll have opportunities for them to talk to us, ask questions, engage with the framework plans, and then have a way of getting input at that meeting and a printed survey. There's other interactive ways we're exploring right now.

But the goal is to really, as I said before, hone in on some more deliberate and intentional conversations and ways of getting input. So you'll see the same promotional methods there on the screen. We're going to try and pound the pavement and make sure no surprises and everyone knows about this in this final phase of outreach here. And I believe that is all I had. That was a lightning round. So thank you for your time and attention. And I hope hope you can join us for one of those workshops coming up. Thank you.

Thank you, Suzanne, and all of the folks at JPW and staff for collaborating. I think this is in line with the council's stated goals. And I think we're all unanimous in this of being transparent with community, providing opportunities for collaboration with our residents and businesses, and then showing progress, measurable progress against those markers. I'd really appreciate it. Any questions for Suzanne or comments?

Counselor Murphy?

Yeah, I appreciate the effort. Think most And of us were at the egg hunt on Sunday and saw the booth there. And I've seen you and other folks from your team at a number of events. And so very much appreciate you all being there and undertaking this effort. I wanted to just comment briefly on something you said, which is that it's that that people are glad and I I can't phrase it quite as well as you put it.

But people are glad to to see the city making an effort to try to engage the community and understand and be proactive and involved in what's going to happen there. And I think that's very important. But there's also a sense out there. I've talked to people that there's a fear that decisions have been made either intentionally or or by default. And it's about what's gonna happen with the legacy, what's gonna happen with the the hangar site and the South Hangar.

And I think it's very important that the process that as we come up to these next stages of it, that we make sure that people understand that there aren't decisions that have been made, that there are, that this is, that this, what you have been doing has been an education effort to make sure people understand what's there. And now we need to also hear back, and you've been collecting a lot of feedback. And that's great. One of the things that I've expressed this to staff, it's very important for us to get that feedback up here so we I have a sense of what people want, but that's a sense that I might hear from the people that might talk to me because they might think I agree with them on that point. Right?

And we need to have that sense of all of that that you've gathered. And I think it's really important that we do that, that we get that, and that people understand that decisions aren't made. And part of that is, as we go on to this process, as you're laying out these steps, I think these workshops that are coming up are very important. I'm going to be at the Wednesday one. I encourage all of us to make it to at least one.

I'd go to both, but I have a class on the Thursday. But it's critical that we get that feedback and critical at some point before we step into the stages of concepts and planning, much less decisions, that we have a form. It was talked about in our original framework. And I know it's been pushed back because we're listening and getting input. But it's critical that there's a point where the public tells us what what it wants to see very directly as well. Because there's a lot of ideas that I've heard. I don't know. Some of them are good. Some of them are bad. Some them are crazy.

Some of them are feasible. And they and and I think at some point, we're gonna have to hear that and and see what we can try to do and try to do it, and then ultimately, maybe what we're what what what we can, what's feasible. So I just think it's really important as you go out there, make sure that people know there's not decisions been made. And there will and and this feedback is coming to the decision makers, and there will be a time to tell that directly to their face. So thank you for that.

Thank you for sharing that. And I'll just add, I know at the May and June, that council presentation, the goal is to come back with that full report of what have we heard from the community and present that in some form or fashion to you all. Hopefully that's helpful.

That's fantastic.

Appreciate it.

Thank you for the presentation. And again, I've kind of been to some of the events that you guys are hosting. And again, I'm really glad that we're getting all this feedback from all these multiple touch points. Just to let everyone know, this transparency and all of this outreach that we're doing through JPW is not about optics, and it's not perfunctory. Like, we genuinely want to hear what you'd like to see in the city of Tustin. It's genuine. And, again, this community is not just our community. The five of us here are staff. It's 80,000 residents of Tustin. So I just want be very clear that that feedback that we get, we're going to hear it. And we're going to use that to help guide our North Star as we continue to develop the Tustin legacy and other parts of of Tustin. So thank you.

Anybody else? Okay. Thank you, Scott.

Thank you. Appreciate it.

Thank you very much. We'll move on to public input. At this time, any member of the public may address the council on matters which are not this evening's agenda, provided the matter is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the city council. If any members of the public who are participating through Zoom wish to address the council, please raise your hand. And if you're calling in, please press 9 to raise your hand. Madam city clerk, any requests to speak?

Yes, mister mayor. We received three requests to speak. We have two in person and one on Zoom. Our first speaker in person is Pedro Gonzales.

K.

Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Pedro Gonzalez, and I'm from here, Tustin. I'm a carpenter for the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters. I am here. I work in construction across Orange County.

I am here tonight because construction tax fraud is something that directly impacts workers like me and the community I live in. When contractors misclassify workers or pay them off the books, it avoids and avoids paying payroll taxes, workers' compensation, and other legal obligations. That hurts the workers, but also hurts the responsible contractors who follow the who follow the law. Companies during companies doing the right thing are forced to compete against businesses that cut cost and break the rules. It also impacts our cities when taxes go unpaid.

Our community loses revenue that can help support public services like roads, schools, public safety, and when workers are, denied proper wages and benefits, many families end up relying on public programs. That means taxpayers here in our city are affected substantially and contractors who are breaking the law. As someone who lives here, works in the industry, I believe that everyone benefits when the rules are followed and businesses complete compete fairly. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next speaker is William Johnson.

Good afternoon. I'm not here to talk about trees today. Thank you guys for speaking on what what moves you. It's honestly quite inspiring. And I'm really just moved by a spirit of gratitude. Thank you, Lee. I've been following your newsletter. It's really helpful. Pay attention to what's going on. Ray, thanks for holding me accountable.

We'll show up to the meetings that I make or or miss. This is an important topic, and it's really at the heart of my life's work. I've talked about different things at this podium before about beer or football games, etcetera, which are all important in this community. But before this meeting tonight, I was talking to one of these guys who's a a sort of titan ish or at least fancies himself to be a titan real estate developer who said, don't bother with the city councils. You're you're wasting your time. And and I just I don't believe with it. I I don't believe that. I I actually think public forums are more important than ever today. I'm sad to see our researchers leave. I wanted to ask a couple of questions of them just because I'm glad we are doing this.

I'm I'm a Oxford qualified researcher, so I've been doing my own as well. I go in to zero period once every other week to talk to, high school kids today about what they wanna see in their community. And one of the themes that's been coming out is they want friendship. Okay. What's friendship from a 41 year old to an 18 year old? For them, it's the answers, you know, the answers to the test. So, okay. I've been given answers to the test. Here's how to read. I don't mean, like, actually, the dog jumped over the the the the log, but the most important thing I learned at Oxford was to read the table of contents, the first five pages of the introduction and the last five pages of the book.

And then anything that interests you in a table in in the table of contents, then write down the author and the year and put the book away. It that counts. And I learned how to really, really, really read and read quickly, and I've been really, really reading the law that governs this city starting with the 1944 surplus land act, the 1990 defense base closure and realignment act, and the twenty twenty six one, twenty twenty five one big beautiful bill act and the 2026 national defense and armament act. There are important themes that are happening in our country today. Thank you, sir, for your service.

I'm a big fan of the Legion. And I think no topic is more important than how we, as a city, talk about how we use this land because a legacy is not, something we will ever see. Right? It's it's seeds we plant today that we won't harvest. And harvest is an important topic in a historically agrarian town. So I just thank you for hosting this forum. I totally disagree with the advice I got earlier today. I am I'm I'm honestly floored by all of the people I've met who work for our city, who work in our city, who serve our city as elected officials, and I just wanted gratitude to be the theme tonight. So thank you very much.

Thank you for your comments. Madam city clerk.

Yes. Our next speaker is Melanie.

This is online. Thank

you. Good evening. My name is Melanie For from Upwards. We're the nation's largest network of family child care providers, and we were founded not too far from Tustin. We recently applied for CDBG funding for our boost program.

And as an economic development program, my understanding is this falls under council's purview. So I just wanted to reach out to get a bit more context. What the program does is we equip low to moderate income in home childcare providers in Tustin with one on one coaching and digital tools to optimize their operations and revenue, which helps them grow their small business, create local teaching jobs, and in doing so, expand access to affordable quality care for working families. I'm sure I don't need to tell council why this is an urgent need, but just to quickly recap, for those who don't know, over half of children under six intestine lacks lack access to licensed childcare slot, which leaves thousands of families, especially moms and single parents, unable to fully participate in the workforce. So this isn't just a childcare issue.

This is an economic development issue. Meanwhile, childcare workers in Tested earn on average $18 an hour, far below what elementary educators earn, which drives high turnover and deepens this capacity gap. We recently did a poll of families and providers in Orange County, and not surprisingly, 45% of families ranked childcare as their largest or second largest expense. 62% of working parents have had to reduce their hours or change jobs due to childcare, and half of the providers cite operational costs as their primary barrier to staying open. And 2025 has been the hardest year yet for providers with two thirds struggling to meet basic needs, including food and housing.

The good news is Boost is a proven model. We've worked with 30 cities and counties. We've mentored over 500 family child care providers, created a 180 new jobs, and help providers increase revenue by an average of 25% in the first year alone and expand child care slots by 30 to 50%, again, all in the first year. So we're already operating in Orange County, including our longest running partnership in Garden Grove. So we would be ready to hit the ground running in Tustin from day one.

I shared the full impact report with council via email, but wanted to reach out just to introduce myself and say I'd be happy to meet with you before the next council meeting to answer any questions about the program, both as a representative, but also as a parent, who was first a client of Upwards for years before I joined the team. So thank you for your time and for your service. Good evening.

Madam city clerk, any other requests to speak?

No, miss mayor.

Anybody in the room? Okay. We'll move on to the closed session report. Mister city attorney.

The council took no reportable action.

Thank you, sir. Next, we have the consent calendar items one through nine. All matters listed under the consent calendar are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion without discussion. Public input for consent calendar items. If any members of the public wish to address the council, please submit a request to speak form if you have not already. And if any members of the public who are participating through Zoom wish to address the council on items one through nine, please raise your hand. Madam city clerk, any request to speak on the consent calendar items?

No, mister mayor.

Do I have a request to pull items? I understand count mayor pro temps Chanel is pulling item number seven. Four. Council member Fink is pulling items number four and eight. Any other requests? No. Okay. So we have alright. Do I have a motion to approve the balance?

So moved. Second.

I have a motion and a second. Gallagher and Fink. Madam city clerk, roll call, please.

Councilmember Nielsen? Yes. Councilmember Fink? Aye. Councilmember Gallagher? Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Schnell? Aye. Mayor Lundberg?

Aye.

Motion passes five zero.

Thank you. Councilmember Fink pulled item number four, which is purchase and sale agreement with CAZ LLC for the competitive offering of 150 East 1st Street. Councilmember Fink. Thank

you, mayor. I just wanted to highlight this for anybody who's here, anybody who might be listening, that this is the old war memorial building on Prospect And 1st Street, which hasn't been used as a war memorial, but has been used as a preschool for years and years. And hoping that type of use will resume there. And just a note, especially because I know one of our American Legionnaires is in attendance today, but there were several plaques that have been installed around the city that had been at the building and will continue to be at parks throughout the city to recognize the service of people there. So that legacy continues.

So I think it's very positive. I just wanted to make sure to note that for folks. I'll move

the item. Okay. We have a motion. Council member Gallagher, you have a request to speak?

Yeah. I was just going to add a little bit more context to the comments. William, you mentioned gratitude. I want to express my gratitude to the staff for implementing what has been really a broader push to revitalize Old Town, to get development going on vacant lots, and to ensure that if we've got city assets that they are delivering value to our residents. And this is one of those properties.

You mentioned a number of the prior uses, but really in the last few years, there's been no use. And this is going to bring money into our pockets to do more events, to pay for police, and bring value to our residents. And so I just want to thank the staff for moving quickly on this because it has been an item that's been sitting for a while. And just to remind everyone, this is part of a bigger vision, which why we're doing this outreach at the Legacy. We're trying to convert these vacant lots into value to our residents.

Was that a second?

That is a second.

The motion is second. Further discussion?

May I

take a roll call, please?

Councilmember Nielsen?

Yes.

Councilmember Murphy?

Aye.

Councilmember Gallagher? Aye. Mayor Pro Schnell?

Aye.

Mayor Lundberg?

Aye.

Motion passes. Five zero.

Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem Schnell pulled out number seven, which is approved agreement with Enterprise Fleet Management Inc. Mayor Proton.

Great. Thank you. And again, following along with that theme of gratitude, I just wanted to thank staff and Public Works Director Mike Grisso on, again, very good stewards of the public treasure. And it also aligns with our streamlined Tustin initiative. So again, we are stewards of the public treasure.

And this program is going to allow us to look at ways that we would be more efficient with every single dollar that we bring into the city to acquire, manage, service over 196 vehicles that are used across the city. So partnering with a company like Enterprise that purchases about a million vehicles a year, that scale, especially with our partnership with government agencies across the country, will allow us to get better leasing programs, be able to purchase vehicles less expensively, and then be able to dispose of those vehicles and potentially get more revenue from those vehicles that we can no longer keep in service. So again, I really wanted to thank staff again for looking at ways no program is too big or too small to try to find savings and efficiencies. So that concludes my statement. And I will move the item.

We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. Motion second. Further discussion? Madam City Clerk, roll call, please.

Councilmember Nielsen? Yes. Councilmember Fink?

Aye.

Councilmember Gallagher? Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Snell? Aye. Mayor Lunburn? Aye. Motion passes. Aye.

Thank you. Councilmember Fink pulled item number eight, which is the Tustin Family and Youth Center mural project. Council member Fink.

Thank you, mayor. I was just hoping that we could actually show it because it's a pretty cool public art project. If if is it possible to to put the renderings up on the screen so that folks here and folks who might be watching it online will see what this is going look like? I should have warned you about that before, sorry.

We can do it, it'll just take a second.

Oh, thanks. I think it is, and if folks know who go and use the Tustin Family and Youth Center, it's a great facility. It has a huge influx of users and kids that come there during after school programs and all that it does, food distribution programs that it has. And so this is I think when you see it, it's pretty cool. It will speak to the community. And it really brightens up the center. So I just thought it'd be cool for everybody here to see it and to thank the Public Art Commission and the staff that has worked on the project.

Wow. Staff is getting it.

There. Oh, we got it.

That's beautiful.

Somebody's got to register. Yeah. I just wanted folks to be able to see it. I'd I'd move the item.

I will second. And I appreciate staff and the Public Art Commission and their efforts to encourage beautifying landscapes and hardscapes throughout town. It's been a really fun project that wasn't happening before and

it's happening a

lot now.

I appreciate it. We have a motion and a second. Do we have further discussion?

It's nice to see that. And it's nice to see the mural of the chicken, which is kind of the mascot over there or has been. So it's very, very nice. And for such a small property for the city, it does just a herculean job of taking care of the community, actually very close to my district. So always appreciative of the staff there. They do a wonderful job. So

Thank you. Any further comments? Madam City Clerk, roll call, please.

Council Member Nielsen?

Yes. Council Member Keats?

Aye.

Council Member Gallagher?

Aye.

Mayor Bloomberg? Aye. Johnson passes? Aye.

Thank you. Now move on to other business. Mr. City Manager, do you have a report tonight?

Thank you, mayor. I do have an update. Staff have continued to work on funding requests with our United States senators and congressional representative. We were just informed that Congresswoman Kim has chosen our project, the City Mobile Command Post replacement, totaling $1,500,000 to put forward to Appropriations Committee for inclusion in the appropriations package. Congresswoman Kim's office will now submit the project to the House Appropriations Committee for consideration for fiscal year twenty twenty seven's Commerce, Justice, Science, and Appropriations bill. So the project still must advance through several steps before funding is secured, and we'll continue to track it and provide counsel updates on that process. That concludes my update.

Thank you for that report. It's exciting. Mr. City Attorney, do you have a report?

No further report this evening.

Okay. Thank you. We'll bring it back to the council for our reports. We will start tonight with council member Nielsen.

Thank you, mister mayor. Appreciate it. So we'll start out on March 18. I attended on behalf of the city of the Newport Bay watershed executive committee. And, for those that aren't aware, basically, we're part of this committee, because of, actually, the legacy in the, in the swamp that used to be the legacy in the creek that feeds down into the Back Bay.

So we're part of this organization that helps preserve the creek, helps preserve the Back Bay, looks at making sure that we have wildlife there and making sure that it's clean, not polluted. Its its job is essential to keep pollution down and to have things dredged and things of that sort. So it's fairly complex and very research driven. A lot of research goes on there. So anyway, during the the meeting, we handled several items, talked about coastal waters research on different areas that are happening, looking at what are called the total maximum daily loads of selenium, which is a naturally occurring chemical.

But that if it gets too much, then it starts kill starts messing up the eggs there and killing birds and all sorts of things. So we were looking at that and and basically how to mitigate that. And then looking at current and upcoming grant opportunities, which I know our staff is on top of so that we'd be aware of some of that, and just some of the services and things that are involved regarding the Newport Bay Watershed. So very, very interesting. There was another total maximum daily load annual report that came out, two more, and went through those.

And again, their pollution reports looking at, you know, what's really at minimum level, what's at maximum level. Fortunately for us, most of everything in the back Bay is pretty much normal. There is a little bid, I think, on selenium, which is a little high. But other than that, it was very fascinating, as always. And actually, I served on that committee for about seven years a few years ago.

So always interesting and informative. March 19, I went to an event for the California Charter Schools Association, which is great. Good to meet a lot of educators and get the scoop on what's going on in Southern California as far as schools and everything else go. So that was very informative. On March 26, you know, it was the highlight of my month, the highlight of my month.

I got to have lunch at Barolo Cafe with the honorable mayor pro tem Ray Chanel. So and I couldn't believe he had never been to Barolo Cafe. How can you never been there? But he had a good time. We had an enjoyable time and just, you know, talked to him a lot about Italian food, and, he just kinda kept talking.

But, anyway, also on April 4 was the great Tustin, egg hunt. And if you've never been there before, if you've never seen 5,000 kids basically go at a a horn going off, trying to get a plastic egg before somebody else does, then you haven't lived. So you need to go to that event next time. I was there with the Lions Club, and we did I think we did five game booths there and was there for pretty much most of the morning. So it was an enjoyable event. Congratulations again to Chad and his staff and putting that on. It was better than ever. And that's all I have for this evening, mister mayor.

Thank you. Council member Fink.

Thank you, mayor. Well, in the spirit of gratitude, I wanted to thank staff for taking on a few projects in the last couple of months. And so I know that staff has been working hard on helping to ex expand the deal with the parking near Peppertree Park and expand that on the East Side Of B Street to the residential parking. So I appreciate staff's efforts on that. And in the parking vein, staff's been working on making it a little easier around the new law school on Industrial Drive in Red Hill by extending the hours that parking can be allowed overnight into 10:00 so to accommodate the night students.

That's a special place in my heart because I teach there Thursday nights. But it has helped alleviate some of the parking issues. And it's a I've said it before, but it's a pretty cool thing that Tasson has an ABA accredited law school. I have a friend of mine pointed out maybe that 1% of cities or something like that have an ABA accredited law school. So it's a great resource.

So I appreciate staff staff's work on that. And also wanted to thank staff and Orange County Fire Authority. There were two fires on back to back days in Testin. One more note you know, sort of everybody sort of paid attention to the fire at American Grub and the swinging door. And then the next day there was a residential fire on Marshall Lane that cost a whole house there.

And just appreciate the OCFA, who's Chief Morgenstern's not here today. But appreciate OCFA dealing with both of those. And I know staff is working with it came at American Grub and the swinging door. Swinging door got back open. And they're working on the American Grub to try to expedite the plans. Please keep doing that. Obviously, I think everybody knows. I don't know if Ray and council members Snell and Nielsen have had lunch there in the past. But I'm sure they will once it reopens soon. So thank you, staff, for working on that.

And thank you, OCFA, for addressing that. And also for addressing the fire on Marshall Lane. And I know some of the residents around there were affected. We were able to help them out a little bit. I was able to attend the Columbus Tustin birthday party after our last council meeting, had a few slices of cake, and got to see the museum open at night and interact with a bunch of the folks who were there.

It was very cool to celebrate that, obviously, next year with the one hundredth anniversary of the city, more so than even the two hundredth birthday of Columbus Duston himself. But our historical society will be playing a big part of that. And, obviously, we approved tonight the historical resources reports. And we're talking about one of the pieces of history in our city in the in the legacy in the hangar. So it was a good event to attend after the council meeting.

I was at the Easter egg hunt. A couple of notes. I I had a little community meeting at our VITA last month just to take input from residents, talk about the concerns they have, been able to answer some questions about Enderle Center and about the Old Town project and see what we can do about some items going forward. And I'm going to do it again on Saturday, March 18. If anybody out there wants to come, it'll be at Baskin Robbins.

So I'll buy you a scoop, just one scoop if you come. And another chance to just talk about what your concerns are. And if you've got questions or thoughts, anything to share, I'd love to do that. And then the other thing that's notable on March 18 is the Orange County Waste and Recycling is going to have a compost giveaway. In fact, I think it's happening at all of the greeneries in the county.

So that's the Bee Canyon Greenery, which is at the Bowerman Landfill, which is up on basically Portola And Jeffrey Road. That's the local one. Valencia Greenery in Abrea And Juan and the Capistrano greenery in San Juan Capistrano are also going on. But if you want to go get compost, bring a bag. They'll have shovels. Bring a shovel. It might be helpful. And you can take away as much as you might need. So it's a great opportunity. That's all I've got, Mayor. Thanks.

Thank you. Councilmember Gallagher. All right.

I had a couple of OCSAN meetings, a board meeting, and a operations committee meeting. The highlights would be OCCAN is going through its budgeting process and starting to look forward towards a five year rate setting process. Fortunately, OCCAN has been a good steward of resources and continues to be one of the lowest in the state of its size sanitation districts. And and that position looks like it's gonna continue forward through this next five year rate setting process. So that's good news for all of us that that pay those on our property tax, is everyone here.

And then I attended the Easter egg hunt and had a good time. My my four kids run around, got a lot of a lot of eggs, didn't get in any fights, which is great. Everyone was very kind even though there was a lot of chaos. And my two year old actually ate so much that he spit up all over himself, so that was fun. But no, I had a great time. And it does seem like that event has grown a lot, and I just I'm so grateful, a lot of gratefulness to say. I'm so grateful that we have so many community organizations that come out and volunteer. It's hot out there. It's chaotic, but it's so fun. There's so much engagement.

There's so much going on, and you can see the people responding to it because it seems like it gets bigger every year. So thanks to staff and thanks to all the organizations that come out and volunteer.

Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem.

Appreciate it. On March twentieth and twenty first, I attended the California Association of Public Cemeteries, the annual conference. It was held in Garden Grove, and the Orange County Cemetery District was actually the host. And they really did a great job. Shout out to our general manager, Tim Deutsch, who was coordinating the sessions.

Really very proud to be a trustee on the Orange County Cemetery District and, you know, really proud to see that we set a very high bar, and they do a wonderful job of maintaining the three cemeteries and providing those services for the residents. On March 26, I also had a very pleasant lunch with council member John Nilsen. I didn't realize that you were so effusive and excited, but I think I know the reason why. It's because I picked up the tab. But it was a very good lunch.

And we also talked a bit about John and Aaron, the veterans ad hoc. We spent a bit of time seriously talking about mission and vision and how we can actually help support veteran, veteran causes, and also honor their service and sacrifice. So looking forward to working with you very closely on that, John. And then on April 7, today, I attended the Orange County Cemetery District Trustee Meeting. David Kendig was our attorney.

He's the attorney for them as well. Much of the focus is on the Gypsum Canyon Cemetery that is currently under development. We're actually going to start funding for start of underground work on the cemetery, which will begin by placing electrical poles below ground. We also spent a lot of time reviewing the current design plans with the landscaping engineering firm. And the plan is to have development begin in second half of twenty twenty seven, which the first phase opening in 2028. So it's going be a beautiful resting place for residents, but also for veterans and first responders. So looking forward to the completion of that project. And that concludes my report. Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. I don't really have a report. I ate lunch by myself on March 26. Thanks for the invite. I'll go through some upcoming events, though. Tustin Library Earth Day celebration with OC Waste and Recycling is gonna be on Thursday, April 9 from 05:30 to 7PM at the Tustin Library. For more information, visit o c p l dot org slash earth day. The city's community yard sale has been pushed out due to weather. It is now Saturday, April 18 from 8AM to 12PM in the Civic Center parking lot here. For more information, visit tustinca.org/yardsale.

City of Tustin Spring twenty twenty six Community Emergency Response Team or CERT program is going to be Tuesday and Thursdays from five to 9PM, Tuesday, April 14 through Thursday, April 30. You can apply today at testonca.org/cert,cert. And the youth talent show applications are going to be accepted through May 20 Monday, April 20. Excuse me. Tryouts are Saturday, May 16.

The main event is Saturday, June 13 at 2PM at the community center at the Marketplace. For more information, visit tustinca.org/talentshow. And unless there are any other comments, we will move on to adjournment. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 04/21/2026 for the closed session meeting at 04:30PM and the regular business meeting at 6PM. Thank you. Have a good night.