City Council - Regular Meeting

Hi, I'm Gretchen Verbeff, an exercise physiologist. It is important that you consult your doctor before starting this or any exercise program. If you feel any discomfort during an exercise, please stop and consult a medical expert.

Rejoin in our study session. Call the order at 05:03PM. Are there any public comments through Clerk Miller?

We have one request to speak. Okay.

Do you want to speak now, Cheryl? Do you want public to speak

now? Yes, please. Cheryl?

An hour after the presentation. Thank thank you, mayor and council members. I just wanna remind everybody up there that city council is not a full time job. The voters put you in office. The city didn't hire you as employees.

You raised your pay in 2025. California offers low cost insurance for low income citizens. And if this is your only revenue, you're certainly a low income citizen. And I noticed in the staff report you compared benefits to other cities, but what was left out was comparing their budgets and their jurisdictions. Jurisdictions in many cities are bigger, which requires them to do more, and their budgets are bigger.

And considering our budget and our status, I really don't support medical insurance. Thank

you.

I have no further request to speak.

Okay. So we'll move into presentation on city council benefits from city attorney Colin Burns.

Ricky, you have to put the presentation up. Oh, sorry. Thank you.

I was looking not on

the screen. It's okay. I can look at this one. So city council health and welfare benefits. Historical historically, city council members did receive medical and dental insurance. It covered the cost of a city council member plus one defendant. The city paid the full monthly premium of a $15,000 life insurance policy also. Council members were also able to participate in the city's CalPERS retirement plan. A policy change in 2012, you'll remember that was after the great recession, and the city had had a substantial amount of revenue taken by the state to balance the state's budget. In 2012, the city council members elected to no longer be eligible for health and retirement benefits.

At a council meeting on February 3, there was a request to restudy this issue, and that is, why we're here today. So looking to the applicable law, a city may provide health benefits for council members. The limitation is that benefits should be no greater than that provided to a non safety employee group. That's the most generous non safety employee group. We used the department heads as our benchmark.

That would make the max possible amount of benefits for council members to be a PERS PPO family plan, life insurance plan of a $100,000 for a we looked at for a regular work schedule of thirty hours or more a week. The life insurance would cost $10.25 a month. And we did take a look at some neighboring jurisdictions. This did as the mayor testified the former mayor testified. We did not add the population. I I received a request after the agenda was posted to look at population, so I did add them to the PowerPoint presentation. So looking at some similar cities, I believe Fountain Valley is 70,000 60 to 70. Looking to some similar 57.

57.

Thank you. So looking to some similar cities, have Aliso, Viejo, and Cypress that provide medical of over $2,000. Buena Park, a little larger, provides $2,200 of a medical contribution. A smaller city, San Juan Capistrano, only 35,000, has a medical contribution of approximately $3,000 a month. Ultimately, the decision of whether to explore council benefits, and to direct staff to to do some more work up on this is in council's prerogative.

Council did receive benefits for a significant number of time. And as you can see, a large number of Orange County cities do provide benefits council members. I would also note that, your stipend is fairly close to most of these, fairly below some. Some cities just pay a low stipend, within that. I don't think it considers all of the meetings, readings, and everything else that goes into being a council member.

Everybody who is elected to council understands that you don't make money, you lose money. And the stipend helps pay for some of your gas, but you put in a lot of time, sweat equity, and personal involvement in being a council member. So we tried to adjust the stipend recently to at least provide so that you didn't have to go out of pocket. I don't know if we fully made that up. I'm sure we didn't. And if you include your personal time, I know that you are very far into the into the deficit on on personal time, but you've you've taken the position as as volunteers, essentially. We're just trying to make sure that the position, has some cost recovery, and and this health and benefits was part of that. If it's something council wants to explore, I am available for any questions. But these are the cities in Orange County that offer it and the populations and the decisions up to council.

Thank you. City attorney Burns. I'll open it up for council comments. Perhaps those that brought this forward might wanna go first. Councilwoman Constantine.

Well, I brought it forward. It wasn't necessarily my idea. But anyway, I like to just be out there. So I'm enjoying hearing from council members. And I'll go with the consensus. I'm good.

Any other comments?

Councilman Granted? Yeah. I as far as I'm concerned, I have health insurance through my company. I donate my council compensation, so I wouldn't partake in this. I I but I do see a a reason some people would wanna run for council, in terms of at least breaking even, in some of the cost. So remind me, can you go back to what would it I mean some of these are pretty low and then ours seem pretty high. I wasn't sure I understood why. With $3,800?

That's the maximum. And that is that is what is tied to the most generous employee group that's non safety. So that's the maximum. That doesn't mean that every city sets theirs at the maximum. This is just more of the ceiling.

And so if it wasn't the ceiling, is this for this is a family. Right? This is for two people. I guess my question is, if we say we did I'm just throwing out a number half of that. Just say 2,000. Does that mean that the council member would be out of pocket then $1,833 in order to get this plan? Is that what we're

And if you wanted this plan, there's various plans that the elected officials could select from. And so that would really depend on what the decision was.

Understood. Okay. Thank you.

So, yeah, this is the generous plan available through the CalPERS. And so, you know, other executive, for example, may pick Kaiser or PPO that has a different rate.

Got you. Councilman Bui?

Yeah. I just want a bit of a background. I think I've asked this at the meeting. When was it actually the first time the council had, you know, this plan in the past? And I know that it was removed 2013 or '12, something like that. But when was it originally started? And how long was it on there before it got removed and why it got removed?

I don't have data for when it was originally started.

We saw 1989 was on the paperwork.

Thank you.

Yes. So 1989 to 2012.

'12. That's when we had some financial challenges and so forth. And so the elected body during that time felt that it was the right thing for them to discontinue that opportunity.

Okay. So during the, I guess, crisis at that time, I guess? Okay. Thank you.

Vice Mayor Harper?

Yeah, I'll chime in. So I think that I understand I I appreciate mayor brother's comment that you know we're not we're not we're not here to to get rich off being a council member. Yeah. Having said that I think that there's we should have some sort of system for determining council compensation, you know, right? And I don't I don't know that comparing to other cities in Orange County is necessarily a system.

It's it's a it's a method, but so I I I wonder if the and maybe it just varies with each city. Each city council has a different opinion about compensation. It could be they will never get to a an easy way to do this. But if there was a we have we're limited by general law for the state law to 1,600 stipend I guess plus and we can offer benefits. That's sort of the ceiling.

But it seems to me that there should with 400 cities in California, there should be kind of a best practices system of how to set council compensation. And you know if we if there were such a best practices that we could kind of use I think that would be the way to do it. Otherwise we're just sort of guessing up here. And we can you know there's some people say well you know you shouldn't make any money and some people say well you know in bigger jurisdictions it takes a lot more time and maybe at some point then yeah maybe it has become more than an occasional position. So I guess without for me without any we just raised it to I guess adjust for inflation in my opinion up to 1,200.

I think another adjustment would be a little soon But longer term, I think that it'll be in our best interest to try to come up with some best practices in a system for determining compensation. So that's kind of where I am.

Just as an informational component, I apologize. So best practices, the state legislature and their oversight authority has said it's the best practice the city of your well, as a state law practice, the city of your size can go up to $1,600 a month and give yourself health and give yourself welfare benefits and also get reimbursed for an actual unnecessary expenses. And this council has conservatively for a very long time and continues to be very conservative. Always pay yourself less. You look at all of these other cities that have stipends that might be a little bit less than Fountain Valley's earning, but they're earning thousands of dollars in medical benefits.

So, you know, whichever way council decides to go with this issue, it needs to be stated that this council is extremely conservative with the public's money and with your compensation, and you always have been. And I believe that you've continually not only under compensated yourself from from what state law allows, but from whatever other neighboring jurisdictions do and especially considering the amount of work you put into this position.

Well, I I appreciate that, but I I don't necessarily that I would categorize the state laws as a best practice. That's you know, that sort of limits that they've put on certain sized cities. So, you know, again, I think I think if if there was a way to determine kind of the best practices for various cities, that's that's sort of what I what I do.

Councilwoman. I'm sure.

So as Article Colin just stated, there is a system in place and it is based on population. Am I not correct? City population?

That's correct.

Same way our stipend is. So we do have all the the information.

Just just the stipend system is

Right. Based on

so we did do 400 less than the maximum is allowed for the stipend. And so I wasn't really prepared to speak much, so I really, the whole thing is, you know, it's not so much this council. We talked about too in the past about future councils going forward. And this whatever would be, if there's any changes would take effect after an election. It would actually start in January if it ever got on our agenda to vote on.

Is that correct?

December, January, correct.

Alright. Thank you.

Councilman Grundis?

So I'm just curious. I think Councilman Harper or actually mayor you or vice mayor Harper, sorry. Do you guys get health insurance through OCTA? That's an agency that provides health insurance, don't they?

They do provide health insurance for directors. That's correct.

Okay. Do you know what they provide? I'm just trying to get it concurs.

They provide the same as any employee gets. They offer the same. And I will also comment that they have a $3,000,000,000 in the bank right now, so they're a little larger agency.

So they can pay for our health insurance too.

Yeah. That yeah. There you go. That's right.

So the the other thing that I I would I don't really have much skin in the game. It sounds like you don't either. But one thing that we have always tried to do for our employees and something I've always pushed for and I know we all have as a council is to make sure that all employees are at the county average. Right? That's kind of a goal that we try to set for employees because when we first came on board, our employees were paid towards the bottom of the county and we did every and we continue to try to make sure we're close to the county average.

I I wouldn't support if we were to something. I wouldn't support anything that's above the county average. We should be in the same boat, you know, swimming upstream with our employees. So I would never approve anything if I were to approve anything above that. Just my 2¢. Okay.

Any other comments? No? Okay. I think I think staff is looking for some direction. What's the pleasure of the council? I'll I'll just I'll go first. I'm not interested in increasing anything to what we're already getting. I'll be consistent with if if it were to move forward, I'll be consistent with the same way I voted on the compensation increase. And so with that said, just to kinda give staff direction, what's the pleasure of the council as far as moving forward?

Yeah, for me, I would say not move forward at this time.

Okay.

But I think in the future I do think there's a if we can come up with a best practices system, I think that would be a good idea long term.

Okay. And hearing okay. So that's I'm hearing two against sort of one leaning in that direction. Okay.

I agree with Vice Mayor Harper.

Okay. Okay. Think with that then Sure. We sort of table this for now and revisit if there is another desire for item for future consideration. City Manager Lee?

So I hear revisit in the future. So for my clarification, would you like us to revisit potentially at the 2027 after the election and everything like that?

If we were to do that, then it wouldn't go into play if we did do something until 2029.

Yeah.

Because I would have to wait it can't go in until after the next lecture. I'd say if we're gonna do something, do it. And if we're not gonna do something, then just kill it. Otherwise, you have to wait till 2029. That kinda if we're gonna do something, that kinda defeats the purpose. But, again, I wouldn't support anything above county average.

Councilman Buoy?

Yeah. I I agree with council member Grant S. Either we do it. If not, just kill it. There's no point of bringing it back in the future. Just for transparency, I do have insurance for my own place of work. But I do agree with Councilmember Granis to the point that he mentioned earlier that this will invite more talent for those who want to serve for the city that I could see that, that it will invite those who want to come in and this will give them incentive to want to serve the public that I could see that benefit on that aspect. For me, either way, it doesn't matter because I have insurance on my workplace.

I'm not sure if we got clarity with staff yet. We are close. We we need a majority to either say do something in the future or not.

Well, I agree

with that. I'm saying Well, if we do it further action.

If we do it in the future, the question is what's the future? Are we doing it in before the election or after the election? Because that's

I offer another option.

Okay.

Strategic planning session, March 24. Is that would that be a time where we bring it back and maybe we can reach out to the League of California City to see if, you know, there's any best practice potentially with council benefits?

My thought is we have so many items to cover in that short period of time. I wouldn't support that.

Yeah. I think I think in the interest of priority, it's it's not a high priority item for me, so I think we can just I feel comfortable killing it.

Okay.

I don't wanna kill it. I think we should explore what

council member Grand has said, and I support what council member Bui said as well.

Remind me what did we say?

Not going above the

counter. Let's try it another way. Yeah. All those who want to move forward with this, say aye. Aye.

One? In the interest of future councils, yeah.

Okay. I'm a nay. Okay. Two nays.

I I I don't have I don't have skin in the game. So

Doesn't sound like there's support.

Yeah. Just kill it then. It's fine.

Okay.

And it could always be brought up as a future item for consideration. That's that's available. Yep.

Okay. Would it serve, though? I mean, because, you know, I've brought up items in the past and Mhmm. I'm fine with this, but I'm just saying what I'm good.

Okay. Great. Thanks. Alright. Thank you so much, city attorney Burns.

Okay. We'll go ahead and recess. We will start at 6PM, and see you back then. I'd to call our meeting to order at 6PM. We're gonna start with an invocation, which I will deliver.

If you could please rise. God of wisdom, we seek your help today. Come and let your wisdom fall upon us, o lord, as we gather for this meeting. Give

us

clarity so that we can effectively tackle each part of today's agenda, reveal challenging areas, and show us the best solutions that will apply. Point our eyes to every positive outcome since our last meeting and let these favorable results and developments encourage every heart in this room. Dear God, let us apply your wisdom as we decide on all matters and make plans that benefit the future of our great city. And in this, we pray in Yahweh's God Yahweh God's name. Amen. Amen. K. Next, have salute to the flag by council member Bowie.

Alright. Please join me as we salute the greatest flag in this in the world. Please put your hand over your heart and begin. I pledge allegiance to the flags of United States Of America and to Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

You, council member Billy. Thank you, mayor. K. City Council successor agency housing authority roll call. Council member Bowie? Here. Council member Constantine?

Here. Council member Grandis? Here. Vice mayor, vice chair Harper? Here. Mayor chair Kunin? Here. All members are present.

Thank you. Announcing any items out of closed session, city attorney Burns.

Thank you, mister mayor. We did have some reportable action on item number one. Direction was given five zero for the city attorney to initiate two code enforcement cases. On item two, direction was given three to two. Council members Bowie and Harper voting no for the city attorney to initiate a weapons petition. Item number three, council was updated. No reportable action.

Thank you. Now we'll move to city manager update. Manager Lee?

Mayor, I don't have any update tonight.

Okay. And I did skip over any supplemental communications.

We have none.

Okay. Okay. So I'll do the mayor's update. Some notices, there's a there are two public hearings. Both will be Wednesday, 03/04/2026 at 3PM. First one is for a special use permit number 25Dash12 for El Capitan Avenue. These are for us SUPs. And then also for SUP number 25Dash03, this is gonna be at Los Reyes Street. Just announcing that. And thank you for in advance for joining us this Thursday.

This will be our state of the city evening edition this year. This will be at Freedom Hall. Wear your red, white, and blue as we come together to celebrate not only the great strides Fount Valley continues to make, but also enduring spirit at 250 years strong. Enter off of Edinger And Ward and mention the state of the city event for free parking. There is VIP parking for elected officials, Golden Eagle, red white sponsors next to Freedom Hall.

We will hit it out of the park with a taste of Fount Valley, an update from supervisor Nguyen, also an update from our state senator Tony Strickland. Keynote address from Kingston Technology vice president Larry Gonzalez, who we understand used to play some ball. Yeah. Okay. Good. A public safety panel and performances from our local high schools. Thank you to supervisor Nguyen, city council, and our sponsors for making this event possible. I wanna mention on Saturday morning, Fountain Valley Little League will have their opening day ceremony. These are always a lot of fun. Encourage anybody wanna come out.

It starts at 10:00. We'll be there. The Cash Mob, it's back Monday, March 9 from eleven to 9PM. 10% of all sales will benefit the Fount Valley Community Foundation. So join the Cash Mob crew for dinner at between five and seven and be part of the special Facebook Live event with owners at 05:30.

And this is at the Thai station on Slater Avenue. Also want to highlight network at night. This is through the Fountain Valley Chamber of Commerce. That will be at Masala Waves Cuisine of India and Nepal over in Huntington Beach. This will be Thursday, March 12 between five and 7PM.

Come join us for networking, food and drink, raffle prizes, and a special thank to the sponsors In The Park and World Financial Group. And then lastly, City of Fount Valley has awarded a contract to PCI for signing and striping improvements for 11 school area projects. This work will consist of removing, relocating, furnishing, and or installing new signs and posts, the installation of striping, such as new pavement markings and crosswalks. Construction will start on Monday, 03/16/2026 through Friday, March 20 around the surrounding school locations. So it'll be Ethan Allen Elementary School, Monroe Elementary, Language Academy, Norcutt Elementary School, and Los Amigos High School.

So basically in the Garden Grove Unified School District portion of our of our city. So that concludes the mayor's update. Thank you for all the hard work, especially preparing for state of the city and and all of the events that have been going on around the city. Okay. Next, we'll move into presentations.

This is gonna be a lot of fun. We we are honored tonight to have our Boy Scouts and especially recognizing three amazing young men who have reached an incredible milestone. They're gonna be obtaining their Eagle Scout rank. So I'd like to, first of all, introduce a little bit about Eagle Scout. So earning the Eagle Scout rank is a journey.

Scouts work for many years on fundamental scout skills such as knot tying, camping, cooking, fire building, first aid, map compass compass navigation, and tool safety as they earned six ranks from scout to life rank. The Eagle rank is the highest achievement in scouting America. It requires scouts to earn 21 merit badges, 14 specific Eagle required badges, demonstrate leadership for six months, and plan, develop, and lead a significant service project. For the Eagle Scout project, each scout provided a different service to our community. So Matthew Lai, maybe you could raise your hand.

Alright. Matthew, you hosted a health fair for the community to get information on how to do CPR and the negative effects of nicotine products. Richard how do you say your last name? Sweet. Sweet.

Your Eagle project consisted of designing and building cat playsets for WAG's pet adoption center. And Arthur Rowe, your Eagle project involved the campus safety initiative at Fountain Valley High School where you standardized and replenished all emergency response buckets and first aid backpacks in every classroom. So just to give a little bit of a a backdrop to the journey that has brought you to this moment. And so what I'd like to do is call you up. I've got certificates of recognition, and then we'll go from there.

Alright.

So Matthew, the city of Fount Valley proudly acknowledges your remarkable achievement in attaining the rank of Eagle Scout. This honor symbolizes perseverance, integrity, and a profound dedication to serving others. We commend you for this outstanding accomplishment and wish you all the best in your future endeavors. Matthew, this is for you. And they all say the same thing, but I just want to add this is for troop four one two for Eagle Scout.

And let me go ahead and read it because I think this is for you, Richard. Our city proudly acknowledges your remarkable achievement in attaining the rank of Eagle Scout. This honor symbolizes perseverance, integrity, and a profound dedication to serving others. We commend you for this outstanding accomplishment and wish you all the best in your future endeavors. Congratulations.

Thank you. Alright. Well, you know what I was gonna say. Maybe we do this a little bit different. If we can invite up your scout master and we'll we'll maybe maybe have you you present this to him, and then we'll get you in the picture. How's that? So this is for Arthava Rao? Atarva. Atarva. I'm sorry. Atarva. Congratulations. We're gonna have you

Okay. Phone and

then Fantastic. Thanks. Next to you. Alright.

So this is for Atarva Rao, certificate of recognition. The city of Fountain Valley proudly acknowledges your remarkable achievement in attaining the rank of Eagle Scout. This honor symbolizes perseverance, integrity, and a profound dedication to serving others. We commend you for this outstanding accomplishment and wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

What about having parents and then also counsel just to go little stretch? We we could have a big group photo. Eagle scout's a big deal.

Thank you. Thank

you. Do you want to say anything? I got a I got a question for these young men. Did did any of you guys in your in your time with Boy Scouts do the film on trip?

No. No.

Oh, we gotta get we gotta get this trip to do. I did my my son is an Eagle Scout, and, we did that film on trip, which was an 88 mile backpacking trip through the, mountains of New Mexico, the Colorado well, the Rockies Of New Mexico. But the, anybody who's in scouting, you you need to take that. It's it's one of the best trips I ever had in my entire life. So encourage you if you're able to do that. You guys should do that. It's wonderful.

We did do a trip to Alaska last summer where you got to find some glaciers and and

Oh. Yeah. So that

was You went to Alaska? Where in Alaska did you go?

We were in outside of Juneau.

In Juneau. Okay. I'm actually going to Fairbanks in two weeks. It was minus 38 degrees today.

It was a little warmer

for us.

I hope so. Great. Thanks We so really appreciate it. Yeah. Have a warm round of applause.

Okay. Next is First City successor agency housing authority public comments on unscheduled matters. Do we have any requests to speak?

We have two requests to speak. First is Katie Wright.

Welcome.

Thank you, mayor Keene, city council members. I'm prone to giving public service announcements. And, you know, I've spoken many times about my sensitivity for people in this community, especially senior citizens who do not do social media. They barely do email. They were probably a lot of them watching on TV.

And I want to make life simpler for a lot of people. So I cross post things on social media, but for now, this is for the people that don't do it. I'm seeing a lot of questions in social media under a lot of posts. And a lot of people are asking, how do we get rid of a city council member if we're not happy with them? And so here I am to share, I did a little bit of research on my own.

There is a handbook. It's available online, but even going online, knowing where to look on the registrar of voters website, I had a hard time finding it. It's a handbook, handbook on the procedures for recalling local officials. It covers state, county, city, school districts, all that. And it lays out all the requirements, And it's a very valuable document for anyone that is curious.

In addition to that, there's a lot of signatures that are needed any time someone tries to do this. It's not always successful. It's a big undertaking. If a group should choose to do fundraising to be able to afford to pay professional petition circulators, there's a whole series of requirements and most people wouldn't have a clue if I told them, Oh, you check with the FPPC. A couple years ago, I didn't even know what it meant.

Fair Political Practices Commission, you all know that. You all have to file reports. Financial reports is very similar to that actual financial reporting if you do something like developing a committee. So in the interest of making this simple for those who do have an interest in this, I want to submit these documents into the record and I want them to be made a part of an exhibit A or whatever you will of this meeting. So anyone who is watching this can call the city clerk and arrange to get copies of them easily if they're so inclined. God bless America. God bless us, everyone. I wish everyone Godspeed.

Thank you so much. Next

speaker on Zoom is Vicki Johnson.

Welcome.

Good evening, city council. I'm Vicki Johnson. About onethree of every electricity bill is for the actual electricity, and the other twothree is for transmission of the electricity. In late twenty twenty four, the Fountain Valley City Council chose the Orange County Power Authority, OCPA, to replace SCE as the electricity provider for all of Fountain Valley, every resident, every business by default. In late twenty twenty four, OCPA offered a tiny discount on one plan, but their other plans cost more than SCE.

For 2026, OCPA has announced there will be no discounts compared to FCE, and OCPA will cost 12% to 16% more than FCE. So OCPA will add 240 to $350 more per year of the total bill for an average resident, and it OCPA will cost some 350 to $450 per year more for an average business. Now because of this huge rate hike by OCPA, there have been discussions in Fountain Valley about delaying the start of service by OCPA from October to April 2027. But a recent public records act request that I made indicates there is no formal agreement to delay. I urge you to hold a study session to understand how Fountain Valley can withdraw from OCPA.

After OCPA matures and all of its prices are below SCE, Fountain Valley could reassess OCPA. I especially urge you to reach a written agreement with OCPA about the delay to reduce Fountain Valley liabilities and possible litigation. One other item, in January and February, OCPA presented twice to Laguna Beach. In two separate presentations, OCPA did not tell Laguna Beach about these new very high rates. Not a word that OCPA rates are substantially higher than SCE.

Not one word to the city council and a committee. Now in my opinion, this demonstrates OCPA is not forthcoming or transparent. Please protect your residents from OCPA and withdraw. Thank you very much. And as Katie said, blessings to you all.

I have no further request to speak.

Thank you. Now moving into public comments, scheduled matters only. Do we have any requests to speak?

I have no requests to speak on scheduled matters.

Thank you. Next is consent calendar. Consent calendar items one and two will be approved simultaneously with one motion unless separate actual discussion is requested. Does anyone want to move an item?

I'd like to move items number one and two on the consent calendar.

I'll second.

Just just for clarity. So the the call of the question was anyone want to remove an I just wanna make sure we give counsel an opportunity to weigh in on that.

I just want number two just for this just for Okay.

So item number two is pulled by councilman Bowie and so I'll now look for a motion to approve item one.

I make a motion to approve item number one. Oops.

And now we'll continue to abstain on on that one because I I haven't got my answer respond in reference to the

PCOR. I'll second. Okay. Please vote. Okay. So item number two was pulled by Councilman Bowie.

Mayor, if you'd like I haven't announced the vote on item one. Sorry. Item number one passes four-zero with Councilman Bui abstaining.

I'm sorry. Why did you abstain?

I couldn't No hear

problem. I abstained in reference to the demand register from the

last

meeting. It was referenced to the P Card. I'm waiting for some data to come in before I continue. Thank you. To approve the minutes.

And thank you. Yes. So you have the

floor now for item number two, discussion.

Thank you, Mayor. It's actually it's pretty straightforward. I was looking at the register of demands and to my understanding that in the past, I'm not sure if Maggie, if she's able to give a respond, if not, she probably have to look into it and get back to us. So I was looking at May ratio demand throughout the years. And what I've noticed is there's always a order from each department on their inventory things, whatever that may be, for the office supply from one department to next department.

And I thought that as an organization, think it will bring more value to organizations if we are able to identify what are the items that each department needs to buy yearly. So there's it serves two purpose. Purpose number one, so rather than buy individually by each department, buy as a bulk. So you have a bulk rate discount, number one. Number two, you could have a much better robust inventory control on the items.

But right now, my understanding is whoever needs to buy it. So I've heard that in the past, the city was centralized purchasing and when did it get decentralized? And why is the reason for decentralized or the purchasing rather than centralized? So if you are able to bring the history that'd be great. If you don't know, just bring it back at the next meeting or whenever it's convenient.

So Manager Lee, response?

Ryan, do you want

to bring that back or yeah. We'll bring that back

for discussion. I'm sorry. No. I'm trying I I think it's a great question, and I think it's one that's warranted. My only thing, why bring it up at a city council meeting? Why can't you just ask them for the answer instead of bringing it up at city council?

I already did. It's I already did ask. It just got decentralized, but they don't know why. So I bring it here so the everybody's aware of it. Next time we bring it back is to understand why it got decentralized.

Mister mayor?

Yes. Council. Well,

that's You know, whatever you wanna call me. No. You know, this doesn't even make any sense. So you are you thinking to have one central place to have office supplies and then each department comes and gets whatever office supplies and light bulbs or what are you thinking?

Referenced to office supply.

I heard you.

Sorry, not light bulbs. Referenced to office supply that if we are collectively as an organizations, if we purchase collectively in bulk, we'll have better pricing. We don't have to so that's what that's called smart spending. That's number one. Number two, let's for example, one department utilized 100 notebooks yearly.

And for that next year, they need 200. Okay. Whoever is doing the order, they have to ask, hey, you normally order 100, why suddenly you have a big huge explain yourself. Because right now, anybody who needs what they just order. So there's a benefit of bulk ordering, there's also a benefit of inventory rather than not having just like any organizations. Okay.

I'll stay tuned.

Okay. Thank you, Councilman Bowie. We'll go ahead and call for a motion.

I make a motion to approve.

I'll second.

Please vote.

Item number two passes five zero.

Thank you. Next is council member items for future consideration. Are there any items any council member wants to put forth for consideration?

I do. Councilwoman Constantine. I do. Okay. So this is a little bit long and I apologize, but, you know, not everybody watches every single meeting here. So some people think we talk in code and we don't, you know. So anyway, in our February 3 and February 17 city council meetings, we had the first and second read of an ordinance clarifying the procedure for selecting the mayor and vice mayor. We basically settled on should instead of shall. So today, I'm seeking a second for a two part idea on the matter. First of all, there's an election this November.

Three council member seats are up, Constantine, Harper, and Kenin. The first part of my idea has a potential requirement of a possible vice mayor to have served at least one year on city council, as a council member before, being voted in by city council to be the vice mayor. And for mayor, my thought is having for a council member to currently serve two years before being voted in as a potential mayor on city council. So that would mean no newly elected people serving on city council could be immediately vice mayor or mayor. So that's part one.

Okay? So I still need part two. Because for us to have a study session, we we need to have another council member second the idea. And then when we go into study session in the future, we need to talk about everything. So the rest of the item that I'd like to talk about in the future in a study session has to do with what happens after the election.

So let me just present a hypothetical scenario. My scenario would be, it's it's now, the results have been tabulated and and I ran for city council along with Harper and and Keneen. And again, this is just hypothetical. So I'd rather just talk about myself. So, it's after the election and the results are certified.

I was reelected, but Harper and Kinneen were not. There's two new council members now, and at the city council meeting in which they get sworn in, we do vote, you know, for the vice mayor and mayor. And so depending how part one were to go in my idea of having a study session on this matter, that would be contingent on who would be able to serve as vice mayor and mayor. So there's that. The other thing is that well, me just cut to the chase.

The other thing is that here in December, if I was hypothetically reelected, I don't believe it would be in the absolute best interest of the city for one or two others coming in brand new to be the mayor and or vice mayor. And I'll leave it at that. So I'm I'm seeking, a second so we can do a deep dive into this appropriately, please.

Okay. Councilwoman Constantine seeking a second.

I'll go ahead and second you on that, but I want to remind you, anything that's rules out there, which I've said last time, it doesn't really have any teeth to it because at the end of the day, it's advisory. So therefore, all the rules, like I said last time, it was just for pony show. Just want make sure you understand that.

I understand. I do remember

you said all this rule, it's counsel that decide. And I've said the last time, if you put that rule as advisory, therefore, the majority of this council is going to dictate the outcome. Regardless, what kind of rule you set in place.

Well,

That's what I've said last my

thought is not to have advisory. My thought is that if anybody if every anybody eligible to be vice mayor and or mayor that has a desire to do so would be.

Yeah. Alright.

It it wouldn't be up and and perhaps there wouldn't be a vote.

Alright. Just to make sure you have the clarification, I'll I'll I went in a second. I don't think we can discuss any further.

No. I get it. Alright.

Thank Does Steph have clarity on the two items? Perhaps we can you can restate that or provide in writing. I

I from what I understand that the request is is that Steph's going to bring back a study session on adding a provision to the mayor rotation that would be mandatory that requires two years to serve as mayor, one year to serve as mayor pro tem. So use shall instead of should for that sub requirement.

We're subject to discussion. I just threw out my idea. It doesn't I'm not saying it has to be. So contingent on that part during the study session would be if city council would even vote or if it would be I mean again this is all for the study session.

Okay. Yeah.

Okay.

But it would be black and white, very clear. That's my goal. Thank you.

Any other items for consideration? Okay. Let's move into City Council successor agency housing authority public comments on unscheduled matters. Do we have any request to speak?

I have no request to speak.

Okay. Next is City Council successor agency housing authority a b one two three four general comments. Why don't we start with council member Grandis?

Thank you, mayor. So Wednesday, February 18, I attended the mayor's breakfast. Awesome job, mister mayor. On Thursday, February 19, I attended the Fountain Valley Community Foundation board meeting and volunteer meeting. Friday, February 20, I attended the California Pain Center Lunar New Year celebration. Thank you to doctor Van Vu for putting that on. It was a great cultural event. On Saturday, February 21, along with most of us, attended the Westminster Tet Parade, which was just a fun event and thank you to what's the

name of the company again? The company?

Crash Champion.

No. No. Wasn't Crash Champion. Yeah. Provided the boat. We have we have a manufacturer in our city of, auto boats.

Yeah.

So they're half automobile, half boats, and we rode on those, during the parade, and we'll think of that name of the company.

Wanna thank I apologize. The owner, Dave March

Right.

Who was a former owner of Crash Champion Fountain Valley Body Works, but he's in a new adventure.

And this manufacturers these boat cars are manufactured right here in Fountain Valley, so that's kinda cool. Then also that day, I attended the mister Fountain Valley pageant. Congratulations to Dennis Cole who represented the school's foundation. On Saturday, February 28, Pony Baseball opening day with the mayor and councilman Harper, vice mayor Harper, and perfect pitch. Way to go, mayor.

Thanks.

Not bouncing the ball. There you go. Monday, March 2, the Fountain Valley Schools Foundation meeting. They have their golf tournament looking coming up. Look for that. And then Tuesday, March 3 oh, today, earlier today was so much fun. Courageous Elementary, I was a mystery reader. So I got to read a couple of books to three fourth grade classes. And what was kinda interesting is one of the books ironically, coincidentally enough, was about a student who brought forward to city hall the idea of creating a new park and what would be in that park. And we just happen to be working on that.

So I thought that was really cool. And the other thing last just remind everybody, the next Fountain Valley charity poker tournament is coming up on April 18 at vpoker.org to register. $25 to play and whatever organization you pick, they get 100% of the money. It'll be our I think it's tournament number 50. Wow. I think it's 49 or 50. I gotta check that out. And again, we've raised about $800,000 for nonprofits in our community. So I'm hoping my fellow council members will be there to help support. And that's my report.

Thank you, Councilman Grandes. Councilman Bui?

Thank you, Mayor. On February 5, I attended the OC Park meeting. On February 10, I attended the OC Board of Supervisor recognizing Lunar New Year's Year of the Horse. On February 12, I attended the Chamber of Commerce Network at Night at Istanbul Grill. On February 14, I attend the flower festival following UVSA forty fourth Annual Tet Festival.

On February 16, I attend Lunar New Year's Community Event at Advanced Beauty College. And on February 18, I attend the mayor's breakfast following PCTA board meeting. Later in the afternoon, I also attend La Quinta and Bosa Grande High School celebrating once again Lunar New Year lion dance. And on February 19, I attend ABA OC Lunar New Year's lunches, year of the horse And on February, along with the mayor. And on February 20, I attend California Pain Center Lunar New Year celebration with Doctor.

Van Vu. On February 21, I attend Westminster Tet Parade along with our colleagues here. And on February 25, I attend Family Chairman of Commerce Small Business Conference following OCCEN Board meeting. I have a little announcement to make on behalf of OC Waste. So OC Waste is having a $6,000,000 grant and the application is currently open through the Orange County Waste and Recycling and is accepting applications for the regional recycling and edible food recovery grant.

The deadline is Friday, April 10. And the purpose of the fund project is that to recover surplus edible food for human consumptions, expand food recovery infrastructure and then help organization comply with California SB thirteen eighty three. And the question is who can apply for this grant? So any nonprofit organizations and community organizations involved in food recovery or waste reductions apply for that $6,000,000 grant. If you'd like more informations, our virtual Q and A meeting will be held on March 19 to explain the program and answer questions.

So for those who are interested for more informations are available, I'm going pronounce phonetic way, that's Oscar, Charlie, Lima, Alpha, Nancy, Delta, Foxtrot, India, Lima, Lima, Sierra. Charlie, Oscar, Mike, forward slash golf, Romeo, Alpha, Nancy, tango, Sierra for more information. That will conclude my report.

Great. Thank you, Councilman Bui. Over to Councilwoman Konstantin.

Sure. Okay. So before I read my list, I just want to tell everybody that on Tuesday, March 24 is our twice a year strategic planning meeting citywide. It starts at eight till about 03:30. It's at the Fountain Valley Rec Center 16400 Brookhurst.

And, bring your lunch. You can leave when you want to, but, it's a long meeting. So my whereabouts, February 19, I participated in the annual open house of the Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control and the board meeting. And, also later that day, the Fountain Valley Community Foundation monthly board meeting. And on the twenty first, I stopped by the compost giveaway at the Fountain Valley Sports Park and the Friends of the Library twenty five cent book sale.

On February 24, I watched the Board of Supervisors meeting on the county's website and then later attended the monthly Green Valley Homeowners Association board meeting. On February 25, I stopped in at the Fountain Valley Small Business Conference at Founders Village. That was a great event with what I saw. And we had our swearing in for our police chief, Craig Herrera, very nice event and well attended. I stopped by that evening to our twenty twenty six, twenty twenty nine strategic plan community outreach and then the planning commission meeting.

And then the next day, I delivered around a lot of the centerpiece newsletters for Founders Village Senior and Community Center. Thank you.

Great. Thanks so much. Now, Vice Mayor Harper.

Thank you. February 18 attended the mayor's breakfast and and also went to the PCTA meeting. February 19, OCTA Finance Committee meeting and later that day, Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Committee meeting. February, TEP Parade in Westminster. That was a great event.

We have participated the last four or five years and and it's it's it's good to good to see all the community spirit out there. And as they as the Westminster speaker said at the beginning of the of the show, their theme for for 2020 what's what year is it? 2026 is the year of the horses is unity and action. And they reminded us that community contains the word unity. So there is a little tidbit for you from the Tet Pre.

Almost like you were there. I know. Okay. So next, February 23, OCTA board meeting. February 26, attended retirement lunch for Henry Sue in the police department. He had been there with how long was he with the city?

I think twenty years.

Twenty seven?

Twenty. I

think twenty. Just twenty. Okay. It seems like longer. But he is looking wish him well on his retirement. He is moving moving to Tennessee and enjoying life there. Later that day, February 26, went to a dinner in Lake Forest with council member Bowie and Ocon, the owner of Istanbul Grill. It was with the for the Pacifica Institute, and they are organizing the a potluck event September at Mile Square Park. Last year, they had over 2,000 people for the potluck. This year they're trying to do get 3,000 over to

six break the 500. 6,500, really? Okay. That's to break the world record. Okay. That's currently held by Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia. Okay. So we're coming after Saudi Arabia. Okay. But it was a great event and we're looking forward to that later in the year, September. So and then February, went to Pony Baseball opening day. And yesterday, March 2, OCTA Regional Transportation Planning Committee meeting. That concludes my report.

Thank you, vice mayor Harper. My activities since the last meeting included the following. On February 18, I let our first mayor's breakfast twenty twenty six. I counted over 60 in attendance, so it was a good lead off single to get to our first base of Health And Fitness Valley. Thank you to MemorialCare staff for their incredible hospitality and hosting us. On February 19, I attended the Asian Business Association, Orange County Lunar New Year luncheon in Tustin.

And what is the first base? What what FV is that?

Health And Fitness Valley.

Oh, Fitness Valley. Okay.

Alright. FV. There you go. Thanks. Later on February 19, I met with representatives from the Irvine based Cityside Fiber to discuss their interest in Fount Valley.

On February 20, they attended the Assembly District seventy mayoral roundtable at Assembly Tree Taz Westminster office, where he updated us on multiple bills his staff are pushing such as DNA theft and senior housing related to Rina tracking. Later that day, I joined in the festivities at the California Paint Center here in Fount Valley for their Lunar New Year celebration. Thank you especially to doctor Van Vu and his staff and and the neighbors, the tattoo parlor and Glee's Donuts for a one wonderful event. On February 21, I joined most of my council colleagues and city manager Lee for the annual Tet Parade in Westminster. Thank you especially to Trevor and Eric who are kind enough kind enough to drive us in their cool water car EV electric they're leaving yeah.

Electric vehicles. Later that night, was privileged to provide opening remarks and give the invocation for the Mr. Fountain Valley fundraiser, and it had a really cool program for those that didn't go, if you wanna look at it. Huge congratulations to Fountain Valley School Board President Dennis Cole for winning the crown as our new mister Fountain Valley. And thank you to Kevin Bowie, principal Paul Lopez, officer Daniel Shaw, they're in the back protecting us, and doctor Matt Taylor for their competitive spirit and being good sports for this fun event.

On February 23, I toured the local four one six iron workers training facility in La Palma with other local electeds to learn about the apprenticeship program there. On February 24, I had lunch with our new fire chief, Chris Nigg. It's great getting to know him better and expanding my learning of fire suppression and emergency services. On February 25, I attended three events that day. First in the morning, I made opening remarks at the small business development center conference at Founders Village.

Then that afternoon, I participated in the swear in ceremony for our new police chief, Craig Heredia. And that evening, I made opening remarks and participated in the community workshop at the recreation center that was led by Tripepe Smith. That's to help us inform on the upcoming twenty twenty six, twenty twenty nine strategic plan efforts. On February 26, I was privileged to attend and make comments for the opening of the Fountain Valley fast pitch softball season. It was a beautiful night, picturesque.

Could couldn't have asked for better weather and learned a lot about how softball works, especially with some of the some of the some of the events that they do. For instance, they did a musical chairs in the middle of the field, so it was pretty cool. Next day, February 27, I was privileged to make opening comments and to throw out the first pitch. This was at the Pony League, and just wanted to make a comment. They're the baseballs that they're using, it's called flexible low compression five. These are amazing, amazing baseballs. And thanks for the kudos for the pitch. It was a high, but, you know, got it in there. I called it a strike. Thank you.

Thank you. And then lastly, I participated in a virtual interview with our consultant, Tripevi Smith, to discuss our upcoming semi annual strategic plan. So I want to thank all my colleagues. As you can tell, it was a very busy few weeks. I appreciate everything that you all do.

This is really the the moment to to show the community that we we are working hard. We're we're we're we're engaged and and we're having a good time. I mean, that's the point of it is to is also enjoy the service because it's an honor and a privilege to be with you on all the different groups that are thriving right now in our city. And so on that note, I think those that are gonna watch their Ducks game at seven can rush home or get on to that. So go Ducks.

They've won, like, eight or nine in a row at home. So they're Okay. They win tonight. They're gonna be in first place.

Okay. So I'll go ahead and adjourn our meeting. We will next meet 03/17/2026 at 6PM here in the chambers. Have a good evening.