City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. It is 06:01 and I'd like to call this meeting into order. If I can please have a roll call.

Mayor Potomato?

Here.

Council Member Peralta?

Present.

Council Member Alonso? Here. Council Member Romero?

Present. Mayor Melendez? And I am here. All right. I'll turn it over to our city attorney for the announcement of the closed session items.

Yes. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor, members of the City Council. This time we have four oh, I'm sorry. Before we go and announce the closed session items, we have items one through four. Do we

have any

comments from the public on any of those four items?

We have one speaker card for closed session.

Okay. So we need to take the public comment at this point.

We have Will Savara for closed session.

Hello. Thank you for letting me talk. This evening, mayor and council members, I want to address the concerns about the city manager Raul Alvarez and the proposed extension to his contract. There's rumors that this is going to be an extension. So I would like to have clarification because I don't want to misstate or accuse anybody. Is this just for eval as well as a pay raise? Or is it also a contract extension?

So we'll allow you to speak on your three minutes. And I just do want to notify that this item will be on the open session too, where it will be discussed as well.

Okay. Just because I know you guys are going to make your decision back there, I want to The reality is Raul has only had two years of experience as a city manager. Montebello is his training ground. The former city manager Renee is being compared to had nearly twenty years of experience. And you guys all know I was not easy on Renee at all.

This has nothing to do with being negative towards Raul. I think he's doing a good job for what he's been put into. However, I do believe that this is a little premature to be giving $40,000. Our, you know, our prior year city manager Renee Obadia was a certified state engineer and the city had extremely qualified in house staff including engineering certified public works director Under Raul Alvarez, we had to pay out a contract for engineering nearly $4,000,000 because the staff was not qualified. That's a major shift in the cost and capability.

Raul also entered into a bad contract with the towing for Mr. Sees Towing, forcing the police and the residents to travel to Southgate to retrieve the vehicles, whereas before they had a local tow yard in the city of Montebello. We are now faced millions of dollars in payouts, costly lawsuits involving former employees, including the former police chief, former assistant city manager. These issues arose under mister Alvarez. Now, may I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt. It could have been a council decision why he had to take how to remove them. I also want to correct the record regarding the development claims. The Tesla facility was negotiated before Mr. Alvarez was hired. Hobby Lobby came only in after Big Lots went bankrupt.

That was a contract just like how we have Best Buy when Circuit City went out of business, the bond I mean, sorry, the bankruptcy court sold those contracts. So, that has nothing to do with the city. Forever twenty one is also closing. They have the mall has their own private management company. It doesn't require the city to do any of these things.

We've been playing these politics for quite some time, and I'm not picking on him, but also like my friend Rosie Vasquez, I wouldn't let her go around making accusations saying that she brought Best Buy when we know she had nothing to do with Best Buy. Given these facts, it's highly questionable why this council would consider extending Mr. Alvertz contract now three years before it expires. That's why I wanted to find out if it was. And the community deserves transparency, fiscal responsibility and experience leadership, not rush decisions behind the closed doors. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Do we have any other speakers? No? Okay, seeing that we have no other speakers at this time.

It would be appropriate to recess into closed session for items one through four.

Okay. So it's 06:05, and we'll, after we review all the items, we'll come back into the open session. Thank you. Good evening everyone. We're back from closed session.

It is 07:01. I'll turn it over to our city attorney to provide a report on the closed session items.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor and members of the City Council. The record should reflect that the City Council, with all five members being present, were present in closed session. That the four items that were announced prior to recessing the closed session were discussed. That on each of the four items those matters were presented to the City Council. There was no action taken on any of the four items, and there was nothing required to be reported at this time. Mr. Mayor, that concludes my report from closed session. It's appropriate to continue with the open portion of the meeting.

Thank you to the attorney. At this time, we'll have our invocation by our city clerk and our pledge of allegiance by our city treasurer. If you can all please rise.

As we gather this evening, let us take a moment to reflect on the purpose that brings us all here, to serve our neighbors and strengthen our community. May our discussions be guided by respect, cooperation, and a shared desire to do what is right and fair. Let us listen with open minds, speak with kindness, and act with integrity. We are grateful for those who keep our city moving, our staff, volunteers, and first responders whose daily efforts make our community safer and stronger. And as we work together tonight, may we remember that every decision, large or small, has the power to make life better for those around us. We ask this in thy name. Amen.

Thank you to both our city treasurer and our city clerk. I'll turn it over to our city manager. Are there any corrections to the agenda?

Yes, mayor. Council members, thank you. We have a couple corrections to the agenda. For item item number eight is adding one additional engineer to be recognized. For item 32, wishing to add an additional clarifying sentence to the staff report under the background section. As it pertains to the access agreement for this project, we are preparing it to ensure continuing collaboration and consultation between the city and the developer upon completion and continuing operation of this important project. The city is in receipt of the access agreement, which will be reviewed and edited before it is submitted back to Altamet for their consideration. Our hopes is to reach an agreement with Altamet on the access agreement in December. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you for that. We'll move on to the ceremonial items and presentations. And we're actually going to start with item number eight, the pending ceremony for firefighters. And I will turn it over to our fire chief.

Good evening, mayor. Mayor Pro Tem, member of city council. This is one of the privileges that I enjoy the most is our batch pinning as we reach full capacity at the fire department. It's a very exciting time for us. So I'm gonna ask at this time that the individuals that are gonna get pinned, that could please make their way up here, please.

Hopefully, they're not on the call. Hey, Frank. How are you? John, how

are you?

Thank you. Okay. Okay. We've got two of the four. Two are off today. So, we'll be at this time if our city clerk can administer the oath. As he's working his way up, these are two lateral engineers. Frank Junior, his dad was a firefighter, engineer, captain, and retired as a battalion chief. So this is Junior with deep ties to the community. Glad to have you.

John Papadakis is from a neighboring agency who came with us with a great skill set. He also has a dog called Delta, which we'll be meeting later. John, it's a privilege to have you here. Both of these men are lateral engineers. Amazing skill sets with a lot of experience.

Alright. Gentlemen, if you can please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I state your name. I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of The United States and the constitution of the state of California against all enemies foreign and domestic that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the constitution of The United States and the constitution of the state of California that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter. Congratulations.

Do

Do you have anybody that wants to do the batch painting? John? Anybody? Okay. Alright.

Alright. Wanna open it? At this time, I'd like to ask the council if they would come forward for a picture. You guys wanna take the center?

Here's your.

Mayor. Thank

you.

Again,

want to extend my congratulations on behalf of myself and the City Council, and again, thank you for all your hard work and thank you for all that you do.

Thank you.

And if we can take a picture over here. Let's give them another round of applause everybody so all night to tonight we're gonna recognize our heroes we're gonna recognize our fire department and I know this took a little bit long, but it's something that we've been wanting to do for for a while, and we wanted to present a recognition for the Palisades fire team that that was there when the fires were happening earlier in the year and played a pivotal role in providing assistance and support. And it's under your leadership as well, chief. So, I'm gonna say a few words and I'll pass it on to the chief so he can talk a little bit more about the team tonight we recognize members of the Montebello Fire Department who proudly representing our city during multiple wildfire emergencies across California these firefighters engineers captains and chiefs stood shoulder to shoulder with agencies from across the state protecting lives homes and communities under the toughest conditions through dedication courage and teamwork exemplify what it means to serve On behalf of the City Council and the residents of Montebello, we extend our deepest gratitude and congratulations to these men and women for the outstanding service.

And we're gonna call them up, if we can please give them a round of applause when we call them up. I'm gonna pass it over to you, okay?

Thank you.

Those of you that are here that deployed to these fires, the last storms, could you guys come up and stand up here please? I'm gonna read a few things here. Honorable mayor, members of City Council, members of the Montebello community, Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. It is my honor come on up, Danny.

You're a big one. It is my honor to stand before you to recognize these dedicated men and women of the Montebello Fire Department who have represented our city with professionalism, courage, and pride during these past wildfire seasons. Over the course of 2024 and 2025 season, our department responded to numerous large scale wildfires across the state of California. Through the state's mutual aid system, Montebello firefighters were deployed to assist our neighboring communities during some of the most challenging and destructive incidents of the year, including the Palisades, Eaton, Wolf, Juniper, Madre, Gifford, Garnet, and Blue Fires. Those are a lot of fires that we responded to.

These deployments placed our members alongside city, county, CAL FIRE, and US Forest Service crews from across California, all working towards one mission, to protect life, property, and the natural resources of our state. Our personnel fill key roles from strike team leaders, task force commanders, to fire line paramedics, rescue technicians, and engine operations, each one playing a vital part in the complex of multi agency operations. They worked long hours under extreme conditions, away from home and family, often for weeks at a time, yet they never wavered in their commitment on our professionalism, on their professionalism. I would like to thank especially acknowledge Battalion Chief, Argus, who served in multiple command and supervisory roles throughout the season. His leadership and coordination ensured the success and safety of our strike teams in the field.

Our captains, engineers, and firefighters, including captain Zachary Humber, Michael Hiron, Joe Dellatorre, and Dave Morgan and their crews performed with distinction, demonstrating their strength of training, teamwork, and dedication that defines our department. Whether assigned to strike team operations, rescue task force, or medical support on the fire line, every Montebello firefighter upheld the highest standard of our profession and brought great credit to our city. Beyond these fires themselves, these deployments also strengthen our readiness at home. Each time our members return from these incidents, they bring back valuable experience, improved coordination skills, and a deeper understanding of a large scale emergency management, all of which benefit the residents of Montebello directly. On behalf of the Montebello Fire Department, I extend my sincere appreciation to the mayor, city council, thank you guys, for our community and to continue support.

Your investment in our personnel, training, and equipment allows us to serve not only our own city, but the entire state when called upon. To our firefighters out there, thank you for your service, sacrifice, and professionalism. You amplify what it means to be a public servant. And I could not be any more prouder than I am today of you guys. Thank you, guys.

I was probably one of the last ones, I'll make this real quick, that deployed on any strike teams back in 2,015. And we had been completely out of mutual aid. We're unable to provide mutual aid to our neighboring communities. And I'm super excited that we are now back and we have so many different skill sets. Don't know, Danny, if you want to add anything to it.

You've covered everything, sir.

Okay, thank you. Danny's an amazing cat for us. He's in charge of our wild land program. Thank you, Mayor, for this time

and everything. Just again, if we can please give him a round of applause and thank you again for your service and thank you for everything. And we're sticking with our fire department these two individuals are very loved here in the community and I think they would probably appreciate treats more than a certificate but and you'll see why when they when they come in but the first one I'd like to recognize this canine Delta Delta is a five year old British Labrador retriever known for her happy playful nature and exceptional skill. She's a certified accelerant detection canine with multiple conviction support by her findings in the court of law. With a sense of smell estimated to be 80,000 to a 100,000 times more sensitive than that of humans, Delta is an invaluable asset to our community and fire investigations.

Delta's career began as a guide dog for the blind, but her curiosity and strong drive to explore sense made her better suited for a different path. She was later imprinted for excellence by main canine and certified by the main department of justice. Delta and her handler fire engineer John Papadakis complete an intensive one training in New Hampshire to form the Montebello fire department's accelerant detection team a d c fifty five even before joining Montebello Delta contribute to multiple fire investigations through the verjugal task force helping bring closures and justice in numerous arson cases so let's give Delta a round of applause John, I'm gonna pass it over to you to just talk a little bit about Delta. Okay. So, yeah.

So, like the mayor was saying, multiple conditions. She's very skilled and trained in what she does, but she is playful. She loves being pet. She loves her belly rubs. As anyone that's tried to pet her nose, she just she smells you and then she lays on her back and she wants your belly rubs. That's all. So feel free to ever come by or ever see her. Just give her a pet. She's very friendly. You don't have to worry about her.

Thank you guys for having us and welcome to be here. Let's give Delta and John another round of applause. Next, we would like to bring in Nacho. Nacho is the Montebello Fire Department's urban search and rescue canine trained by Sue Anderson from Heroes House Nevada FEMA one. Born 07/18/2024 in Texas and bred by Southern Dream Retrievers, Nacho comes from strong working lines.

His sireconin is known for excellent marking ability, smooth handling and his HRC 500 club achievement. His dam rate is recognized reliable blind work and for producing standout working dogs. Nacho trains weekly alongside top FEMA search dogs from California and Nevada teams. With this pedigree and expert guidance he's developing into a capable motivate search and rescue partner for Montebello fire off duty Nacho loves a pool and can play fetch for hours His first of two certification test is scheduled for December with his final test in January when he becomes eligible at one and a half years old. If we can all please give it up for Nacho.

So Nacho is just a puppy now and he's an amazing puppy. But he's met and exceeded our expectations. So usually a rescue dog has a high drive, which he does, but they make terrible pets. And also, you know, they're just really hard to handle, but he's just amazing. He loves people and that's from the Chocolate Lab side that he is. So Chocolate Labs love people. So if you guys ever wanna come by the station and play hide and go seek, he would love to find you. So thank you guys. And just remember, he's Montebello's fire department dog. He belongs to Montebello. And

just at the last note, several of my colleagues and I were able to go to the fire department and see both Delta and Nacho's ability to retrieve and and and spot out certain folks in the fire department. So we got to see firsthand what they're capable and it's extremely impressive. So, again, let's give it up for Delta and Notchin if they could come over here for a picture. I've asked if they could keep my golden retriever for a few months to see if we can rectify. Those that are laughing, Not my my puppy.

Alright. It's my honor to bring on mister Tino Duarte for the citizen of the month. Let's give him a round of applause while he comes up here. Tonight, the city of Montebello is proud to recognize Tino Duarte as our November 2025 Citizen of the Month. Mr.

Duarte has dedicated over twenty two years to the Montebello Unified School District. He served as assistant principal at Scher High School for eight years, Lamerstedt Intermediate for three, and is now in his sixth year as principal at Montebello High School, also the best high school in town. Under his leadership, Montebello High School has truly become a hub of community connection and support. Mister Duarte has been instrumental in creating partnerships that provide vital resources for local families, from food drives and hygiene supply donations to programs that connect students with meaningful opportunities in the city each year Montebello high school collaborates with the city of Montebello heart of compassion and other community partners to serve families in need Mr. Duarte also champions student leadership and civic engagement working with city departments to enable students to shadow city officials and employees during Montebello High School's student leadership day.

I think we've seen you a couple times. Thanks to this partnership and the Montebello youth employment program many students have found their first job and valuable work experience. There's more here. Even though the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic, mister Eduardo led with unwavering compassion and resilience, ensuring that learning and student well-being remained at the forefront. His steadfast leadership serves as an inspiration to us all, demonstrating that even in the face of adversaries, we can continue to make a positive impact.

Mister Duartes says that graduation day is the highlight of every year, a moment to see students grow into amazing people ready to shape the future. He has guided Montebello family, celebrated their milestones, and inspired them to give back to the community that raised them. In his own words, working in Montebello community has been the highlight of my career. His dedication and selflessness serves as a powerful reminder of the impact that we can have when we work together for a common goal. On behalf of the City Council, it is my honor to recognize Tino Duarte as a November 2025 citizen of the month.

Like I said, I didn't tell many people because I thought my students played a joke on me when they got called. Yes. This is behalf of my community. Obviously, it's it's not me, but my my staff, amazing staff, amazing students that we have. And, yes, we look to be the community, so well in the community because our kids come with so much new things, so many so much baggage, so, you know, just you know, there's reasons why they have bad days.

Right? But it's up it's up to us to connect with them and make them feel at home for the six, seven hours, sometimes ten. Sometimes don't leave. Again, behalf of my my amazing high school Montebello High, I gladly and and with the honor.

Continuing with our presentations this month is National Alzheimer's Awareness Month. November is also recognized as National Alzheimer's Awareness Month. According to the Alzheimer's Association's twenty twenty five facts and figure reports more than seven million Americans aged 65 and older are living with Alzheimer's disease. Approximately one in nine people in that age group have Alzheimer's dementia. The disease is now one of the leading causes of death in The United States, taking more lives than breast and prostate cancer combined.

Alzheimer's is a progressive neurological condition that affects memory, thinking, and behavior. It is the most common cause of dementia and currently has no cure. Experts agree that Alzheimer's likely develops through a combination of factors, age, genetics, environment, lifestyle, and other health conditions. Awareness and early detection can play an important role in supporting individuals and families affected by this disease. This month we encourage our Montebello community to learn more about Alzheimer's, have conversations with loved ones, and show compassion and patience to those living with dementia.

To learn more about the 10 warning signs of Alzheimer's or to access local support and resources, please visit the Alzheimer's Association at www.als.org. The City of Montebello wants to bring awareness this November to men's health issues, especially mental wellness, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer. The Movember movement began in Australia in 2003, when a small group of men decided to grow mustaches through November to spark conversations about men's health. Since then Movember has grown into a global campaign that funds research education and programs focused on prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention. Every mustache grown and every conversation started helps raise awareness for these critical issues impacting men everywhere.

In The United States, prostate cancer remains a major health concern. According to the American Cancer Society, about two hundred ninety nine thousand and ten new cases of prostate cancer are expected to be diagnosed in 2025, with an estimated thirty five thousand deaths nationwide. More than three point five million men in The US are currently living with prostate cancer diagnosis. Testicular cancer while less common is the most frequent diagnosed cancer among young men aged 15 to 39. Mental health is another crucial piece of the Movember message.

Men continue to face stigma when seeking help for depression, anxiety, and emotional struggles. Nationally, nearly four and five suicides in The US are among men according to the CDC. These sobering numbers remind us how important is to check on the men in our lives, not just about physical health, but also mental well-being. I encourage Montebello residents to reach out to fathers, sons, uncles, brothers, and friends this month. Ask how they're doing, encourage them to schedule medical checkup, and remind them that it's okay to seek help when they need it.

To learn more about the Movember Movement and mental health resources, please visit movember.com. Okay, that concludes our ceremonial items and presentations. And we'll move on to public comments on non agenda items.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. At this time anyone in the public who wished to address the City Council should have filled out a public comment card prior to this point in time in the agenda. And each individual who has filled out a card will have three minutes to address the city council for a total of thirty minute period. Anyone who is not addressed or who does not have the opportunity to address the council during that first thirty minute period will be have that opportunity at the end of the agenda. Mister city clerk, do we have speaker cards?

Yes. We do. We have a few speaker cards.

We can go ahead and proceed.

Okay. We can please call the first speaker.

First speaker is Raul Hurtado, followed by Bill Poliso.

Good evening.

I've heard some rumors here that the senior I mean, the the city manager is getting a $40,000 raise.

Mr. Ortado, we just we're gonna put the microphone up. Sorry.

Okay. The the rumors are that the c the city manager is getting a $40,000 raise. And yesterday, I went to the veterans ceremony, and kinda funny because he brought his son up there to the podium with all the dignitaries and everything else. And I and I in my mind, I thought, that resembles Alan Musk when he's in the Oval Office with the all the dignitaries from other countries and everything like that, bringing his son in there. So with a $40,000 raise, I guess maybe he thinks he's Alan Musk.

I don't know. Very food for thought. Anyway, going back to the last thing, I left the police chief with that ego problem that seems to flare up every time that a new police chief is selected and it's not him. But I'm gonna leave that for this time and go to what it, I think, takes to be a police officer. They have to go through mentality tests, physical tests, interviews, academies.

They have the command oral that they have to go to, background check. Then they go after they are they're accepted, they go for training. And I don't

know really how for how

long with another police officer. And that one of the things that I wanted to say was that's why I respect and support the police because of all the things that they have to go to, and not anybody can be a police officer. So saying that, I would like to say that Louis Lopez, being around for all the years he has as a captain and before that, he knows about all these procedures. So that's going to come at my next three minute meeting when the next meeting comes. But I would like to say that, you know, giving you a fair warning or whatever it is, it's gonna be pretty harsh the next time because I don't know.

Just I just seen that the the police department is very divided now And I because of this, and I really don't like to see that because I respect them, and I like to support them. So I wanna just give warning that if he wants to bring all the associations back again, I would love it because that encouraged me. That encouraged me that I'm on the right track. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. If we can please have the next speaker.

Next speaker is Bill Belisa followed by James Santana.

Missed me? I'm back. It's come to my attention that I have been accused of being hostile and uncooperative here at council meetings by two council members. Well, just let me say to those two council members, miss Peralta and mister Alonzo, it is my constitutional right to come here and express my opinion to you who work for me. When you go and put out false claims against a person and state this in a police report, really?

Really? You both better find another position then. Because if you can't take criticism, You're in the wrong position. Well, I'm not going anywhere. You're not gonna silence me and I'm gonna be here every week.

And I would have been here before, but unfortunately, my travel for work prohibited it. But I'm gonna be here and I'm gonna speak out against you every time. And you know what you did was totally fabricated and false. My mother always told me, stick up for yourself because nobody else will and I'll be back. So you drew the line. I didn't. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. If we can please have the next speaker.

Next speaker is James Santana followed by Linda Nicholas.

Gonna be my Dana White? Yep. Let's do it.

Alright. Good evening, mayor and council and staff. My name is James Santana representing Montebello United, and I'm actually here to say thank you to chief Lopez and share a little bit about an issue that PD actually helped me out with. So I have wonderful Will Arvanna White here. So a few weeks ago, spoke to chief Lopez chief chief Lopez about an unusual activity around the DePaul Center.

I noticed that these canisters were littered around the center, and this is looks like a container, a helium tank, but it's actually a canister that many are abusing that they they call NOS. The police department and officers quickly helped in my area of South Montebello District 5. It feels cleaner. It feels safer. So I appreciate the quick response and the ongoing presence.

I brought one of these canisters today because I believe many residents have seen them, but they actually don't know about NOS or whippets, as they're also known as. Unfortunately, they're actually legal for auto and cooking use, but some people, especially our youth in our community, are inhaling them for a short high. It's risky because they can cause dizziness, they can cause confusion, and most important and most and worst of all, people are driving off high and intoxicated. So I'm really worried about our young people and our residents in this community. And lastly, they're horrible for the environment.

Residents have written to Montebello United saying that they have driven over them and they explode. They're supposed to be disposed properly. So if you've seen canisters like this in your area, please make sure you speak up to our police department. I think that the council should really urge businesses and support ordinances that restrict the sale of this nitrous oxide. A simple rule like requiring proof of legitimate use, limiting bulk sales could help with the burden with the burden.

So residents, if you see these canisters, please speak up, say something, and call the non emergency line to help us keep track. Thank you again, chief Lopez. I appreciate you. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. If we can have the next speaker.

Next speaker is Linda Nicholas followed by Rosa Tomayo.

Good evening. Honorable Mayor Melendez, staff and community. This evening I would like to address Peralta, Romero and Alonso. At the state of the at the city's State of the Union, there were more council members from the city of Downey attending it than you council members. Where were you three? Couldn't we bother to show up to your own city's State of the Union? Granted, you two didn't even earn your respective seats, so you did not honor nor revere that elected seat that you hold. But you, Scarlett, missed a meeting in October, missed the state of the city, and then called into the last meeting. Why? You broke the law when you called in and did not disclose your location.

You should not have been allowed to participate in the meeting. Guess you can't be bothered to follow the rules of the law. Soon you will realize there are consequences for your actions or lack thereof. Now I would like to address the wrong statement regarding the award the city won for the business the business friendliest award by the company Scarlet works for. Unfortunately, you, mister Alvarez, took credit for bringing Topgolf to our city.

Wrong. That former mayor, Jack Hajinian, mayor Salvador Melendez, former mayor, Copos Cawthorn, and former city manager, Rene Bovedia, were responsible. Neither you, Alvarez, nor Peralta had anything to do with bringing Topgolf nor Tesla dealership to our city. At the grand opening, Tesla management gave former mayor, Copas Cawthorn, and former city manager, Renee Bobadilla, credit. Their comment was both Cawthorn and Bobadilla invested in owning Teslas, so they invested in Montebello, which to my understanding has brought over $350,000 in sales tax revenue in the first quarter.

That's three months. The Montebello Tesla dealership is now considered an anchor location. If sales continue, they will result in over $1,400,000 in sales tax revenue in the year. Both City Manager Bobadilla and former Mayor Kobos Kadler were responsible for the quarter penny initiative that brought that has produced over 29,000,000 in sales tax revenue to date. That is the legacy they left our city, and I'm damn proud of their work. So when I see you patting yourself on the back for what others have accomplished, it irritates me. And I will come here to correct your information. Instead, why don't you do something productive? Prove to us you deserve those seats you occupy.

Thank you for your comments. Can we have the next speaker?

Our next speaker is Rosa Tomayo.

Good evening, honorable honorable mayor and members of the council. My name is Rosa

Okay?

I'd like to take tell the council members to be careful when it comes to voting regarding money, especially because during their next campaign, you have to be careful how you vote.

You

have to be careful when you vote regarding money from the taxpayers because we are undergoing a crisis. There's a lot of money that has been allocated towards sups?

Sups. So

towards the south of the city, and that's taxpayer money. I also want to tell you that you have to regulate rent because there's a lot of evictions. The people that are getting evicted now go on to rent a one apartment or a one room and then they have to use storage and rent that too, which is also increasing the amount of rent for those storage units. You have to regulate rent because it's incredible to see that one room apartments have now increased to $1,516,100 dollars a month. There's a lot of single women that now live on their own because their husbands left or even they left their husbands because of the crisis that we're we're going through with the current government.

So some of these parents are now on their own with their children and rent they have to take care of rent, their clothing, food, and it's really hard for them to keep up. Sorry. Another Okay. Issue is teenagers. They don't want to go to school.

They may want to find a job, and it's really hard for them to do so. There's a lot of unsafety, and they choose to do drugs like vaping marijuana. That increases their issues of mental health, depression, anxiety, and it's also because they're on their own. It is our responsibility as adults to protect our children and our teenagers in the society in Montebello. It's not just about business.

We also have a responsibility to the children and the teenagers. We also have that responsibility as adults in this society. Thank you very much.

Do we have any other speakers?

Mayor, that concludes all speaker cards for non agenda items. Okay.

Thank you to all the speakers for non agenda items. We'll move on to any staff communication on items of community interest.

Yes, mayor, council members. We have a few items of community interest. The first one is I wanna share some really great news for our city. This past week, the city of Montebello won the most business friendly or was named the most business friendly city in Los Angeles County for the small city category by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation. This is a very prestigious award that is given to we're one of one city in one of 88 cities in LA County that was named that was given this recognition.

This celebrates Montebello's innovative approach to economic growth, community collaboration, and dedication to creating a thriving environment for local businesses and entrepreneurs. This is a really a big significant milestone for our city. A few months ago, our planning department also won a national award for our general plan, our downtown specific plan, and our bike master plan. These two awards really reflect the leadership at the city council level, the long term vision that you set forth, and then the dedication of our staff to really meet the needs of our residents. So we're very thankful to be recognized in this capacity. We also have two more items that I want to pass on to David Ossnowski to talk about.

Thank you, mister city manager, mayor, mayor Proton, members of the council, members of the public. Two quick announcements of community interest here. Due to the ongoing federal government shutdown, the city has responded by providing food drive through giveaway tomorrow at Grant Ray Park for those in our neighborhoods who are, in our city who are experiencing food insecurities. So tomorrow, as I mentioned, Thursday the thirteenth at 03:30 p. M. We'll be opening up the distribution lane. The actual distribution starts at four to six p. M. At Grant Ray Park. So again tomorrow, Thursday, November 13, please pass the word to any community members experiencing food insecurities.

We will be having one food box of items to kind of get folks by per vehicle that comes by and again the distribution is from four to six with the distribution lane opening at 03:30. Families are encouraged to enter from Beverly Boulevard, that's the only way to get into the distribution lane on Raya Drive. So once again tomorrow food giveaway at Grant Ray Park from four to six p. M. And the second item is we were planning with the Public Works Department, the Police Department, a large scale community service Saturday, this Saturday on Lincoln Avenue to clean up that area.

Due to the forecasted rain, that event will be rescheduled. So look out for announcements on social media and other city channels but the Lincoln Avenue cleanup will not take place this Saturday due to the rain thank you

thank you mayor council members

thank you for for the updates We'll move on to our regular business, and we'll go on to item number 11, which is the approval of ordinance number two thousand four and eighty six amending Montebello Municipal Code Chapter 5.08, Title five dealing with business licenses and regulations to lift the temporary moratorium enacted on 03/24/2021. And we have a presentation by our

Mayor, we're no presentation, but we're happy to answer any questions from counsel.

Do we have any we don't have any speakers for this item? City clerk? No speakers.

We have none.

No? Okay. At this time, I'll look around to see if any of my colleagues have any questions or comments. Okay. Seeing none. I do Yeah. So I just I had a question in regards to to the business license. In regards to some of our smaller businesses, are there any plan, like, outreach efforts or potential assistance to ease with the transition before the 2026 increase takes effect?

Yes. Thank you, Mayor. Yes. As

part

of the rollout plan for this, my staff will be working with HDL, who manages our business license program, to begin sending letters with renewals and giving businesses plenty of heads up about what is coming July in 2026.

Just to clarify, this takes effect 07/01/2026. And then also on the renewals, they each get individual renewals depending on when they started their business. So there's not no exact date. Whenever the renewal date is, they'll be notified of this change.

Okay.

Sounds good. Seeing no other comments or questions at this time, I'll entertain a motion to approve this item. I motion. We have a first by Council Member Alonso. I'll go ahead and second it. If I can please have a roll call.

Mayor Potemato Mayo. Aye. Councilmember Peralta. Aye. Councilmember Alonso. Aye. Councilmember Romero.

Aye.

Mayor Melendez? And I vote aye. Okay. That item carries. We'll move on to item number 12, introduce and waive first reading of ordinance number twenty four eighty five, amending chapter 8.32, the Montebello Municipal Code to expand the prohibition of smoking to include places of employment, public spaces, and outdoor areas. And I believe we do have a presentation.

Yes, sir. A presentation is being given by the CAHOS.

Okay.

Good evening, honorable mayor, mayor pro tem, council members, and city staff. My name is Carol, and this is Raddell. And we are here to present on item number 12, smoke free outdoor spaces. We are part of Community Alliance for Healthy Outdoor Spaces, also known as CAHOS, which is a community led coalition that focuses on educating the Montebello community on secondhand smoke in outdoor areas.

But before we begin, I think it's important to provide everyone with the definition for secondhand smoke is and how it affects yourself and others. Secondhand smoke is defined as traveling smoke from the burning ends of tobacco products such as cigarettes and also other plant based products such as marijuana and cannabis. This also includes aerosols exhaled by users of electronic smoking devices such as e cigarettes. Secondhand smoke impacts your health in many ways by increasing your risk of lung cancer, stroke, coronary heart disease, more severe and frequent asthma attacks, sudden infant death syndrome, just to name a few. Secondhand smoke also has economic impacts on healthcare costs, cleanup costs, and productivity loss.

Secondhand smoke also puts others at more at risk such as the youth, older adults, people who are pregnant, people who have pre existing health conditions or immunocompromised and also animals such as our pets. So why are we concerned about secondhand smoke here in Montebello? Well, the American Lung Association or the ALA publishes a state of tobacco control report every year. In this report, the ALA gives a letter grade to each city based on its tobacco control and prevention efforts. They give an overall grade which is based on five different categories, one of which is smoke free outdoor air. Unfortunately, for Montebello, Montebello was given a grade of an F.

So knowing that Montebello has a grade of an F, we spent two to three years conducting data collection. So what did that entail? Well, first, we spoke with four seventy five Montebello adult residents to learn how they feel about secondhand smoke in outdoor areas and to learn about their experiences being exposed to it in the community. We asked residents if they would be in favour of smoke free outdoor protections in the outdoor spaces listed on the slide. Results showed overwhelming support.

In fact, the lowest percentage of those in favor reached as high as seventy eight percent for public sidewalks and public events. We also spoke with 25 owners and managers of restaurants with outdoor dining areas. What we learned was that 72% of them would be in favor of a local ordinance that prohibits smoking and vaping in outdoor dining areas. Additionally, 76% of them believe that smoke free outdoor dining policies are needed to protect the health of customers and staff. Lastly, we visited 50 non recreational outdoor public spaces ranging from entryways and sidewalks to observe how much tobacco related litter was present.

Over three fifty pieces of tobacco related litter were found across those 50 sites. More recently, we hosted Montebello Family Cleanup Day at Montebello City Park, was attended by community members, including some of our very own council members. And there, we found minimal tobacco related lure, perhaps thanks to the existing chapter twelve point two four Conduct in Parks, which has done a fabulous job protecting residents from secondhand smoke in outdoor areas.

So we collected all

this data and what did we do with it? Well, our next step was educating the community and also letting them know about the dangers of secondhand smoke. Over the past few years, we participated in 16 community events, facilitated 16 coalition meetings, delivered six educational presentations to various organizations and businesses in Montebello, hosted four Montebello family cleanup days and also a town hall. See, these are some of the photos. In conjunction with these events in conjunction with all these events, we also collected and obtained two eleven petition signatures and 126 stickers for our provisions board, as well as obtaining four letters of support from residents.

The culmination of these outreach efforts along with the support from the community, city staff and council members is the amendment to Chap 8.32, smoking, to expand smoke free protections and to ex include outdoor public spaces as proposed by CAHO's coalition members. The purpose of these protections is not meant to criminalize those who smoke. Instead, it is to protect those who don't smoke. This works in tandem with Montebello's existing milestones and achievements, including chapter 12.24 conduct in parks and the implementation of the 2024 to 2040 general plan, as all of these share a common goal to foster a healthier community. Smoke free outdoor protections will ultimately create a healthier and cleaner environment where all Montebello residents will be able to thrive to their fullest potential.

Thank you.

Thank you for the presentation. I don't ever recall getting an F before. Do have some speakers, so we'll call up the speakers, and then I'll bring it up to council level for discussion. But thank you for the presentation. We can please call the first speaker.

Yes, Mayor. Thank you. Our first speaker is James Santana followed by Gerald Cheryl Bishop.

Hi. Good evening. I'll be quick. James Santana and I'm here in my own personal capacity. I wanna voice my support for the coalition's efforts towards a healthier smoke free Montebello. This aligns with the city's 2040 general plan and our shared vision for a cleaner air, healthier families, stronger community well-being. I wish that transportation stops were included after working on this for two to three years, but this will do. So thank you so much.

Thank you for your comment. If we can please have the next speaker.

Next speaker is Cheryl Bishop followed by William Zapata.

Hello. My name is Cheryl Bishop and I am here supporting CAHOS as a member of the Southern California Foundation of Scleroderma. We all need clean outdoor spaces for invisible lung disease as well as all the other diseases. Thank you.

Doctor. Thank you for your comment. If we can have the next speaker.

Next speaker is William Zapata followed by Angelica Fregoso.

So William couldn't make it. He had to tend to something else, but he had asked us to read it on his behalf. He wrote, my name is William Zapata. I am a resident of Boyle Heights, but spend the majority of my week here in Montebello. I am the program manager at La Casa Youth Build, a local nonprofit workforce program here in Montebello.

I come here in support of the Community Alliance for Healthy Outdoor Spaces and the work they are doing to combat secondhand smoke in our communities. They have been a strong partner in educating our young people about the impact and dangers of secondhand smoke, some of which our young people were not aware of. They have worked closely with us and our participants to deliver workshops, information sessions, and facilitate activities to engage youth and make them conscious of these issues. Through this partnership, we were able to organize cleanup activities that mirror what they have previously done in the community. We see a lot of individuals we see a lot of individuals smoke in the alley that cuts through the back of our building, and now our participants are strong advocates for their community in identifying these problem areas that need attention.

We will continue to support their efforts in this area. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. If we can have the next speaker.

Our final speaker is Angelica Fregoso.

Good evening Montebello City Council members. On behalf of the UCLA Anti Vaping Champions Program, of which I am the program manager, I am here to provide information to help in your consideration of agenda item number 12, expanding smoke free outdoor area protections across the city of Montebello. Like many others in attendance at the city council meeting, we share the common goal of combating the negative health impacts of tobacco use. Our coalition represents over 130 healthcare providers, educators, parents, youth advocates, and community members, and cooperates with over 900 pediatricians through our partners at the local chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, an organization that spans seven counties, excuse me, with headquarters nearby in Pasadena. As health care providers and community members, we see the negative impacts of tobacco products every day.

Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable disease and death, doubling the risk of heart attack and stroke and increasing the risk of lung cancer by twenty three times. There is no risk free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Even tobacco exposure through secondhand or passive smoke, which is the smoke inhaled from others, releases carcinogens. This exposure increases the risk of lung cancer in nonsmokers by thirty percent. Secondhand smoke is tied to multiple significant health risks, especially for youth, including an increased risk of hospitalization from asthma attacks in children by two times, risk of death from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, in infants up to four times, and risk of developing learning disabilities and behavioral issues by up to two times.

Secondhand tobacco exposure also increases the risk of teenage smoking, perpetuating the harmful cycle of smoking. In addition to protecting the community from the harms caused by exposure to secondhand smoke, Other benefits of smoke free outdoor areas include fostering environments that promote tobacco free living and reducing litter and environmental pollutants. Smoke free outdoor policies are especially beneficial to the more vulnerable members of the population, such as elderly people, youth, and people with respiratory conditions who can suffer immediate health consequences from exposure to smoke, such as asthma attacks. Ordinance twenty four seventy one prohibits smoking in public parks and is a testament to the council's commitment to preserving the health of their constituents. By adopting and strengthening local ordinances, significant improvements can be made.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. We have no other speakers.

No, Mary. That that concludes all the speaker cards for this item.

Okay. Thank you to all the speakers. At this time, I'll see if, my colleagues have any questions, comments. Councillor Peralta?

Yes. Just a few comments here. First off, I do just want to stop start by really recognizing your work. For the past two years now, I've seen you all at so many events, whether it was our Street Fest, whether it was our Music at the Parks concert series. I think every single, maybe every single council meeting at this point, the amount of coalition meetings, the amount of cleanups, the amount of town halls that you all have done to really educate our community, educate our staff, educate our council, I think truly speaks volumes to the passion that you all have around this issue.

And I think the key in the model for outreach is this. This is what I would hope any organization or any project that comes to our city, that level of investment, that level of getting to know your this community, right, and the work that you're doing, I think, speaks to the success of where we're at now in terms of considering an item like this and and really adopting an ordinance that speaks to ensuring that we're creating healthy spaces for all our residents. I think for me it was extremely important to ensure that you all were recognized for your work because I know it's not easy. You spent hours sometimes leaving our council meetings even at ten p. M.

And staying behind to chat with us and update us. And just that amount of effort, I think, is exceptional. And so I wanted to go ahead and just commend you guys for that. And I'm very excited to finally see this moving forward after about two to three years now of advocacy and all the work that it took to getting us to this point. I hope that the American Lung Association now hopefully reconsiders their F grade and that Montebello moves up in that report card there. But with that, Mayor, that concludes my comments. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Is there anybody else that would like to speak on this item? Mayor Pro Tem?

Just along those lines, I do want to personally thank Carol and Rodell and also Antonio, who I know is not here, but please extend our gratitude. As council member Peralta mentioned, you have been very diligent in getting to know our community, and we thank you for making Montebello healthier. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Anybody else that would like to speak on this item? Councilmember Romero?

Yes. I'd just like to echo what my colleague said and just really thank you for leading by example and being out there in the community and advocating and helping to educate each of us on council in in getting this ordinance updated and help to benefit our residents, especially those with autoimmune diseases, respiratory problems, and creating a safer environment for our community. And leading the way in the community cleanups, I had the opportunity to participate in one of them recently. And it was actually pretty enjoyable. And I encourage other residents to be out there and to participate in cleanups.

It's great that everybody comes out here and they advocate for things that they're concerned about, but it's also nice when you put that into action. And so I appreciate that, that you don't just come here to voice your concerns. You put it into action. And so I really admire that. And I thank you for all your hard work.

Thank you for your comments. Is there anybody else? Councilman Morlanza?

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your positivity, and thank you for your advocacy. I know you hosted four events here in the city where you helped us clean up. Specifically, I want to talk about when we were out there cleaning up Greenwood Plaza and we picked up a tremendous amount of cigarette buds. And then you guys were nice enough to join me over on Bluff Road and not just clean up cigarette buds, but we also did a general cleanup that day. So I appreciate your positivity. I appreciate your advocacy, and thank you so much for all the positive contributions you've given to the city.

Thank you for your comments. Just echoing everything that my colleagues have said, really appreciate your hard work and how involved you're in the community. I think you might have perfect attendance in all of our council meetings this year. So we appreciate that very much. So with that being said, at this time, I'll entertain a motion to approve this item.

I move to approve.

We have a first by Councilmember Peralta, and a second by Councilmember Alonso. If I can please have a roll call.

Mayor Peralta. Aye. Councillor Moronzo? Aye. Council Member Romero?

Aye.

Mayor Melendez?

And I vote aye. Okay that item carries five-zero. We'll move on. All right. We'll move on to item number 13, amendment number one to employment agreement number 4165 between Raul Alvarez and the city of Montebello. City Attorney.

Yes. Mr. Mayor, members of the Council, there's no report at this time. The agenda documents reflect the terms of the First Amendment, and it's ready for City Council consideration. Are there any public comment cards on this item?

We do have some speakers, and at this time we'll call the first speaker.

Yes, Mayor. Thank you. Our first speaker is Will Savara, followed by Bill Poliso.

Hey, counsel. Thank you for letting me talk. Hey, Bill. Just letting you know, penal code fourteen eighty five makes it a crime to make a false police report. So the chief should know, just go to the sheriff's because our police department cannot investigate our counsel since they're their boss. That's also a lawsuit right there for defamation for Peralta and for Alonzo. So going back to the original, I know in closed session, now this is an agenda item we can extend discussion. So just to clarify and can we put pause when he's gonna answer the question, and it's up to the mayor, I know it's up to your discretion. Is this for a contract extension and a pay raise or just a pay raise?

Mister Sferrazza, we'll we'll take the questions first, and we'll make sure that

I'll cut it short. Don't worry. I I just want the answer because I don't wanna say something and belittle him or say something wrong and it's not accurate.

So we'll so we'll just ask the questions and I'll make sure those those questions

But I can't But that's what was gonna say. You guys can answer. I've done it before with other council members, Vivian Romero, Jack Haginha, Vanessa Del Degado. All I wanna know is, is this an extension or just a pay raise?

So we'll, you know, we'll address those.

And make just sure those making me are waste my time. So this sucks because And I'm gonna say some things that can possibly be wrong to him, and the public's gonna hear, and you have the ability to extend it, to put pause on my time, and to continue. This really sucks. Look, at the end of the day, Renee Bobadia and I did not get along, that's no secret. Everybody here knows it, everybody up there knows it, except for Alonzo because he's always on his phone and was never here at a meeting.

You know, if you're gonna be here at a meeting, please pay attention to the people that are speaking and actually dress appropriate and not like a bum up there. Rene Bobadilla actually saved us a lot of money with refinancing our bonds. It was millions of dollars, and we were all up there here, including Scarlet Peralta, made a comment. I believe we have an audio that another person is gonna be able to play for her, and she was opposed to it and several others were opposed to giving a pay raise. But mind you, that was a millions of dollars that was coming into our city or saving.

He was also involved in creating the sales tax, which generated $14,000,000 a year. So, two raises and it makes sense because we received millions. What was the metric system that you guys used for this, considering those businesses that I mentioned earlier, Hobby Lobby, and the ones at the mall are not because of the City Council, nor is it because of the City Manager. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. If we can please have the next speaker.

Next speaker is Bill Poliso followed by James Santana.

First, I'd like to say, you know, mister Alvarez, I think you're doing a good job.

And

there's always a time and a place for things to be addressed. I like to see a body of work. I think you've only been here a year and ten months. I think it's too soon. Mister David just, made a comment that we have people struggling right now to pay rent, to eat.

And here we are. If it is a pay raise, we're gonna give you a pay raise at this particular time. It's not the right time. And I think you being a professional should take a step back and say, hey, Let me look at my community that I'm representing and take that into consideration. And then mister Zavira just mentioned something that was it's pretty interesting that miss Peralta squawked like a bald eagle three years ago when Renee Bovedia was getting a race.

She even called me personally to come here and speak on behalf to say, don't do it. And here she is now just turning things right around. So we'll see where this goes. We don't know whether it's a contract extension or a pay raise, but I think it's not the right time to be doing this at this at this particular time. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. If we can have the next speaker.

Next speaker is James Santana followed by Linda Nicholas.

Last one, I swear. Good evening, mayor council staff. My name is James Santana with Montevall United. And before I begin, I'd actually like to share that I actually do support the raise increase based on the regional average. What I do not approve is it being the way it's being completed.

14% increase is what was stated, more benefits that are unbeknownst to residents, many writing to me and saying they didn't know about them, and a five year extension of a contract. I also find it very interesting that in this, you'll need four council members to terminate contract over the next couple years. So I'm gonna quote council member Peralta in the full comment that she made on August 2022 meeting regarding the same topic about our former city council member. And let's see if we hear the same thing tonight. So I quote, I do wanna acknowledge the city manager as far as the great work that has been done.

You know, we are seeing changes in the city and I know that the work and the team it takes to accomplish that and I think that personally for me, one of the issues that I have is in regards to providing a bonus without those metrics that are being set and I say this because I feel personally those funds can go towards actually making a direct impact on our residents. Whether it's a one time program providing a bonus for a bonus or 10 bonuses for 10 employees throughout the city. Rank and file employees that are not yet at market rate and we're working on that, but I understand that the work being done cannot go unrecognized. I was extremely supportive of the last contract amendment that was provided and I think that it provides a compensation that's very appropriate for the work that this job entails. I personally just don't feel that it would be prudent and responsible as a financial steward of our residents tax dollars to provide a manner of that type without further explanation or at least some sort of structure or metrics that are clearly denoted for our community, end quote.

Furthermore, in that same meeting, former council member Torres talked about what was already implied in the current contract at that time. So just like now, the current contract reads that mister Alvarez has through 2028, but this approval tonight will extend till 2030. Okay? He David Torres asked a good question, why would we add this owner's provisions, extra provisions that are unnecessary, and then he closed with that this is a dangerous game. So mayor and residents, I agree. This is dangerous. And tonight's vote, you'll be able to see firsthand who is really the financial stewards of our city. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. If we can have the next speaker.

Next speaker is Linda Nicholas, followed by Tila Gregorian.

Good evening again. Back in 2021, You Scarlett voted no to give a raise to former city manager Rene Boubidia. Remember? We all do. He merited the raise because he saved the city, and the amount was $15,000,000 by refinancing the city bond at a lower rate of interest. So my question to you, Scarlett, is why tell us all why Alvarez deserves a $40,000 plus raise. Tell us. He has not saved the city any money. No. Only he alone is responsible for the multimillion dollar lawsuits by firing former chief of police, Paula Espinoza, while he was on a medical leave.

You have left our city open to a huge liability lawsuit. There's also the former city assistant city manager, Arlene Salazar, that was far more qualified as a city manager than you are, Alvarez. Alvarez had absolutely zero experience coming to our city as a city manager, none whatsoever. Before coming to Montebello, he did not go through any application process that we know of, and we all know who brought him to our city. To add to the corruption, just another yes man.

I have submitted a a city manager comparison chart, and I have it here if you wanna see it, showing the surrounding city managers' salaries, years of experience, and educational degrees. And thirty years, twenty eight years, twenty plus years, less than two years. Isn't that something? Less than two years, and you're going to give them 315,000. When these people have got twenty years, thirty years, and they're getting $316,000 Think about that, guys.

You're supposed to be taking care of our money and being responsible. I know someone at Cal State, Long Beach, and I asked if they could look into your degree, your master's in public administration. They couldn't locate it. What year did you earn that degree, under what name? Okay? Please get it back to me. I recommend this console table, this huge pay increase that is not merited at this time. Also, the record, when you are fired, there is a criminal act caused by you against our city. You can forget your $450,000 severance package and your insurance for life for you and your family. You really must know that once these corrupt council members are removed, you will be fired.

That is why you are so insistent on wording regarding your firing and benefits in these this new contract. And for the record, on Instagram, Montebello has made the list of the most ghetto city, one of the top 10. Not even Compton or East LA is on that list. Thanks for getting us on that list.

Thank you for your comment. If I can please have the next speaker.

Next speaker is Tiva Gregorian.

Tealie Gregorian. Address is on file. I'm not a bad resident for most of my life. And to this pay raise raise, I say no. Absolutely not. You came to us with very little experience. And Scarlett fired Rainbow Badia, that was the best city manager the city has ever had, and replaced him with you. I'm sorry. I just do not think that you really deserve a raise at this time. You've only been here not even two years.

And your qualifications are not that impressive. And you came from a city that is not that impressive. Didn't they have the federal government go in the year after you left to the city you were from? I mean, what was going on there was going on there when you were there as a city manager. So I do not believe that you were on a pay increase.

Our money is belongs to the residents of this city. We all pay taxes to have our city council members receive a paycheck and staff. And and you are well, I had I had your name here. You, if you could please, when you're sitting at the diocese I'm talking to you, Ralph. Rick Alonso.

Yes. I am talking to you. When you're sitting up here on our diocese, you need to sit up like a man and present yourself like a a one of our council members. And don't sit there looking like you're so bored because by no means are we so impressed by you. If you're bored with us, we're even more bored with you. How you got into this diocese as a council? Not even legally. There was not a quorum

TAYLOR, if you

you say could we

can stick to the item, please.

Well, the item was three. No pay. So I say no. No increase in pay. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Do we have any other speakers?

No, mayor. That concludes all speaker cards for this item.

Okay. Thank you to all the speakers that spoke here today. At this time, there is no presentation, but I'll bring it up to the council level for discussion to see if there's any comments or questions. And I'll look to see if any of my colleagues have any questions or comments. Counselor Peralta.

Yes. Thank you so much, Mayor. I do just want to take a moment. I think it's important to really acknowledge the audience as well as just comments that have been made and generally where I stand and how I feel about this item. First off, I do really appreciate the comments that have been flagged in terms of items that I've talked about in the past as well as votes that I have taken.

Completely stand by those comments and completely stand by those votes, specifically because the process as well as the person are completely different. And I really wanna touch on that and why it makes a difference here today. In my five years on this council, this is the first time, five years, that we've actually had a full comprehensive evaluation of our city manager. Under the previous administration, myself and another colleague actively called for an evaluation several times. We were denied that opportunity.

There was no structure. There was no evaluations. There was no transparency, and no real accountability before contract agreements or raises. This time, it was different, in a good way. Over the course of about five meetings, each of us had multiple ways to evaluate mister Alvarez. We were given detailed written forms, metrics, and questions that covered every aspect of his performance and leadership. We also had the space to provide candid verbal feedback. We then came together as a council. We talked through our evaluations, how things were scored. We went over the negotiation process.

And importantly, we were allowed and given the opportunity to deliver our feedback directly to our city manager. We talked about what's working, but we also talked about areas for improvement and things that we would like to see different. Having that level of openness and trust and level of collaboration, not only among my colleagues, but also our city manager, is something that I've never had previously with another administration. I also do want to acknowledge my colleagues and thank them for supporting this direction, for actually having an evaluation process going through this structure and doing this together. That was a collective effort, and I do truly appreciate everyone leaning into that process.

I also do want to thank and acknowledge mister Alvarez for being open to this level of accountability and evaluation. That openness and allowing us to discuss as a body what's working, what's not what's not working, what would we like to see different. Those opportunities for constructive feedback were really well taken, which I can't really say about the previous administration. I wanna thank him for allowing us to really have these conversations and to really set what this vision is for our city moving forward in a collective and really a collaborative manner that we have never had. I also do wanna just acknowledge comments that were made in terms of how I have always spoken about the need to really uplift our rank and file.

And that is something I'm extremely proud of doing and the actions that we have taken as this council this past year in terms of uplifting our departments. This past year, we actually ended up negotiating and approving 10 contract agreements with historic pay raises for all our city employees across every single department. For the first time in sixteen years, we also raised health benefits for employees. That was one of the main items and one of the main issues that our employees came to us in terms of having to use most of their paycheck to actually pay for their health benefits. The fact that for sixteen years, the city of Montebello never prioritized actually increasing the health stipends that they provided for their employees was shameful.

We took action, and we recognized the importance of taking care of our employees. For the first time in decades, both of our public safety departments from police and fire are at full capacity. Just a few years ago, our fire department was about 48% capacity in terms of the vacancies we had, affecting the way that we responded in terms of our public safety and the services we were providing. To not have a full fire department and to have vacancies within our police department was something that was unacceptable. The fact that through this leadership, both on council and our city manager's level, to be able to actually say that 90 about what was it the last time we had we went over this?

98 to 99% of those positions have been filled to have full full positions within both fire and police is something that not every city that has their own fire and police department have been able to accomplish. And so I am very proud of the fact that we've taken these steps to uplift our rank and file, and I'm also very proud of the fact that for the first time in five years that I've been on this city council, we've come together to actually have a structure in place in terms of evaluating the head of our city and keeping that person accountable moving forward. Because we know that every single evaluation moving forward, we have those metrics that we've accomplished and that we've completed, and how we are able to then compare it to the following years. We didn't have that before and we never went through that process. And so with that, that concludes my comments.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Is there anybody else that would like to speak on this item?

Okay.

Sir. Getting to it. Getting to it. So I do want to see if city attorney kind of answered some of the questions that some of the residents had regarding, was this just a raise or is it an extension? And if you can please help me clarify that.

Yes, thank you very much, Mr. Mayor and members of the council. And I will address those comments, or those questions I should say. One other thing that I think is important to note, and actually the staff report that's before you lays out all the terms, lays out the accomplishments. One thing that is important to note that I don't think it's clear in the in the staff report is that under the original contract that was entered into in 2023, the city council was obligated to conduct a performance evaluation annually.

And the original contract that Mr. Alvarez entered into with the city for for employment was on 11/22/2023. So in reality, the first evaluation should have happened a year ago. Did not. It was deferred over until this year. And council member Peralta does outline did a fine job of outlining that process. The

So she couldn't Excuse me.

Excuse me, mister mayor. I I didn't interrupt the speakers when they were up here. I would ask for the same courtesy. And the so before the council right now is is an amendment, the first amendment to adjust both the term and the salary. Many of the contract terms that are presented to you this evening are similar to other city manager contracts in other jurisdictions.

They're also, they're also similar to the contract terms that were in front of the council and approved by the previous city council for the previous city manager. So there's really nothing different or unique to this amendment or these terms of the contract. And also in the staff reported outlines, the various neighboring cities and what the salaries are for those. And again, the unique part about Montebello is we have our own police fire police department, our own fire department, our own transit department, and significant public services and city services that are different than many of those others with higher salary rates. So to answer the question specifically, it is not only a salary adjustment, but it is also an extension of the contract term.

Okay. Thank you for that clarification. I do have a couple of questions as well. One to our finance director regarding the increase. Is this can you just describe a little bit of how this will be absorbed into the 2526 budget without impacting any core services or any other services?

Yes, sir. Absolutely. So yes, is that a $40,000 It's an annual increase. Okay, when this becomes effective, we have about six months left in the fiscal year. And on top of that, like other members of the executive team, a portion of the city manager's entire salary is offset by the transit fund.

So 25% of that salary increase, with 25% of special pays and benefits for the city manager, are paid for by the transit fund because of the direct support and oversight that the City Manager provides to that department. So that impact is lessened considerably in the current fiscal year for two reasons. Six months, so we're already looking at only half of that $40,000 and 25% of that is offset by the transit fund, which is easily absorbed by some salary savings and other savings we've seen in that department.

Thank you for that. And I'd just like to state that, you know, I think from several speakers here, we recognized and commend the work that our city manager has done in his tenure here. And part of this also lays out the compression issue that we have between the city manager and the executive team. When the city manager did come here to the city of Montebello, he did come under underpriced. And part of what we're doing here is we're creating and stabilizing the stability of the organization.

So that's also something that, you know, later on there's going to be an item on the agenda that is also going to be an agreement with the executive team. And part of that is for us to continue to fix the compression issue here in the city. So again, I appreciate the comments of a lot of the residents here and and everything that gets done here, you know, in the city of Montebello, I just say it's it's a collaborative effort between city manager, city council, the executive team staff, the residents, many of you, you know, you all you all stay consistent, know. It's and on that too, there's many of you that have provided support for the sales tax initiative. Right?

That's been able to be that we've been able to do a lot with and holding us accountable and holding your city team accountable as well. So it's all a team effort and it's all of us one vision and assuring that we continue to advocate for our city but also be transparent and hold all of us accountable. So with that, if there's no other comments or questions would like For

me also when looking at this, I was a big indicator was the staff. The staff that is here in Montebello, the different departments, and that seems to be working better. And I've been here three years, but it seems to have improved. One of the biggest ones that, I know was with transit. Transit had been stuck in this issue of not having a contract for two years or little over two years.

And our city manager came and resolved that big issue. So he's, you know, done, I think, a great job with the staff. And that, to me, was a big indicator if staff is working, if staff is satisfied, if the positions are filled, and our city is moving forward. So I took that into consideration as well.

Thank you for your comment. If there's no other questions or comments at this time, I'll entertain a motion to approve this item.

I motion.

We have a first by Councilmember Alonso.

I second.

We have a second by Councilmember Peralta. If I can please have a roll call.

Mayor Prozemet Amayo. Aye. Councilmember Peralta. Aye. Councilmember Alonso. Aye. Councilmember Romero.

Aye.

Mayor Melendez. And I vote aye. Okay. We'll move on to the consent calendar. Yes.

Thank you very much, mister mayor. This at this time, it's the consent calendar. And, excuse me, all matters listed on the consent calendar are considered to be routine. We have items 14 through 37. There were some adjustments, but that would also be incorporated into those items that were previously mentioned by the city manager. And do we have any speaker cards on any of those items?

Yes, we do. We have one for agenda item 22. 22.

Two.

Okay. And I'll also call the council. Okay. At this time, we start with our rotation. Mayor Pro Tem Tamayo, do you have any items on consent that you wish to discuss?

No items.

Council member Peralta.

Item 17.

17. You. Council member Alonzo. No items. Thank you, sir. Council member Romero.

Item number 22.

Seven seventeen also.

22. 22. Okay.

Got it.

Thank you.

And the mayor. No

items. Okay.

So then it'd be appropriate to entertain a motion to approve all the remaining matters on consent with exception seventeen Twenty two. And 22.

Okay. At this time, I'll entertain a motion to approve the items.

I motion to approve the items listed.

Okay. We have a first by Councilmember Peralta.

Second.

And we have a second by Mayor Pro Tempe Mayo. If I could please have a roll call.

Mayor Peralta.

Aye.

Councilmember Alonso. Aye. Councilmember Romero.

Aye.

Mayor Melendez. And I vote aye. Okay. We'll move on to item number 17, and that was pulled by Councilmember Perrault.

Yes. I was hoping if maybe staff can just provide a very high level of what this item is. I think this is going to be just really important in terms of the work that we're now doing to ensure that we're really investing in citywide ADA enhancements across the city, including multiple district items listed under multiple districts.

Thank you very much, Councilmember, Mayor and Councilmember and members of the audience. This item seems to focus on the removal and replacement of a lot of the sidewalks that are lifted, cracked, raised by our parkway trees, by other forces in nature, just longevity. So the idea is for us to equitably go throughout the city. We have a list of existing areas where our residents and businesses have called us regarding trees. So for example, Beverly is one of them, Beverly at Montebello.

There's a lot of these beautiful trees that are uplifting our sidewalks and we're here to rectify those issues throughout the city and just make sure that we minimize and mitigate the trip and falls.

Thank you very much. I appreciate that. As we know, our sidewalks are extremely old. Our city is a little bit over 100 years old now, and many of our big trees are now causing these sidewalks to lift, which have caused various trip and falls and also are just an inconvenience as we have mothers with their strollers or even wagons or just in general being able to run freely across our sidewalks without tripping and falling is extremely important. And so I really appreciate the investment that we're making and appreciate the work that we'll be doing across our sidewalks in the city.

I encourage folks to really read the agenda. You will see that every district has specifically a list of sidewalks will be repaved and that will be enhanced through this project. With that, that concludes my comments, mayor. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Is there anybody else that would like to speak on this item? Okay. Seeing none, at this time, I'll entertain a motion to approve this item.

A motion to approve.

We have a first by councilor Peralta.

Second.

Second by mayor Pro Tem Tamayo. If I could please have a roll call.

Mayor Pro Tem Tomayo.

Aye.

Council Member Peralta.

Aye.

Council Member Alonzo.

Aye.

Council Member Romero.

Aye.

Mayor Melendez. And I vote aye. Alright. We'll move on to item number 22, and we'll have a we'll call up the speaker first, and then we'll pass it over to council member Romero.

Okay. Thank you. We have Linda Nicholas for this item.

You know, in reading this, it kind of makes me sad. $186,802 for a playground. 186,802, but 700,000 was spent on that pathetic dog park. So dogs are, what, four times as important as children? Think about that. 186,800 compared to 700,000 for the dog park. And Scarlet, the fact that I thank you for bringing all the attention to all the things that you that have been brought up. We're fully staffed. The insurance. I and you know why it wasn't done sixteen years ago?

Because the city was broke. Thanks to the sales tax, thank you for bringing that. Because now they have a fully staffed city, thanks to the sales tax, because we didn't have money before.

Thank you for your comment. Council Member Romero, I think you pulled this item.

Yes. I'm just I'm extremely excited to see the much needed changes to our city park. I myself use the city park with my children just as much as I use the dog park with my children. And for a lot of people, their dogs are their children. So I'm extremely appreciative of the dog park and what it brings to our community, not only just the city park and the playground equipment.

But I am very excited to see this happen. The ADA equipment that will be brought in as long as sensory items for the playground and equipment. I believe that the playground equipment at the city park is the oldest equipment in all of the parks in Montebello. So I'm extremely happy to see some much needed changes. I'm appreciative of this happening. So thank you.

Okay. Thank you for your comments. Is there anybody else that would like to speak on this item? Okay. Seeing none, at this time it would be appropriate to entertain a motion to approve this item. I motion. We have a first by Councilmember Alonso.

I second.

Second by Councilmember Romero. If I can please have a roll call.

Mayor Potemtomayo.

Aye.

Councilmember Peralta. Aye. Councilmember Alonzo? Aye. Councilmember Romero?

Aye.

Mayor Melendez? And I vote aye. That concludes our consent calendar. I'll look to see if any of my colleagues have AB twelve thirty four travel reports. Anything to report?

Seeing none. Okay. And at this time, before we adjourn this meeting, I just want to highlight. Today, we attended the San Gabriel Valley Housing Trust, both myself, city manager, assistant city manager, along with some of the folks that from the MCAP team. And they highlighted a lot of what the trust has done and the services that they provided here to the city of Montebello.

The resources of funding. We've received, I believe close to over 5,000,000 from the trust. They specifically, you know, spoke about Operation SAFE. And just want to highlight our Chief, Chief Melaez for all of your hard work in that and making us, you know, really leading the program and making us be seen in the region. I wish you would have been there as well and and but it's just I think we all took it and again everybody working in a collaborative effort but really just want to highlight that and again chief thank you for all of your work in that because I know you were instrumental in leading that operations they say so.

With that, Council Member Raymar.

Sorry, just would like to say something real quickly. I just wanted to say thank you to everybody who came out to the park yesterday to pay gratitude to our veterans. I'm appreciative of everyone who put the program together. And I'd also like to acknowledge our city manager for being such a great dad and bringing his son to the program and teaching him the value of being a veteran and what it means to be a veteran. So I just want to commend you for that. And I really appreciate you teaching your son and letting him be a part of

the program. So thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Romero. And before we adjourn, I just do want to state that next the second meeting in November, we will not be meeting due to Thanksgiving. And our next scheduled meeting is going to be moved to Tuesday, December 9, which that's gonna be our reorganization meeting that will be taking place here at City Hall. So with that being said, thank you all who joined us. Thank you all who provided public comments, and thank the whole team and staff for being here with us tonight. Meeting is adjourned.