City Council - Regular Meeting

You Just let me know when you're ready. I'm  ready now. Thank you. Okay. All right, guys. Okay. Good evening. Um this and welcome to our regular  meeting this Tuesday, November 18th at 7:30 p.m.   And we will start off this evening. We I'm calling  this meeting to order at 7:33 and uh I'm convening   this meeting in honor of Sadi Gomez Birdwell uh  Bridwell born July 21st, 2025 to Jillian Gomez   and Corey Bridwell. And so congratulations and  it's always so nice to uh convene our meetings   in honor of our little ones. And we will start off  then with our invocation by Chaplain Steve and a   pledge followed by the pledge of allegiance  by Council Member Edward Belden. Chaplain, good evening everyone. Good evening. Would you  join me as we dedicate tonight to the Lord? God,   thank you so much for all those who are  here today, for those who couldn't make it,   and for the city of Monrovia. We pray as as we  gather, as we discuss, as we hear new ideas,   as we honor things that have happened and people  who you've brought to this community, that you   will bring a sense of unity, that you will guide  the discussions, the thoughts, the words. We also   pray as we look ahead to um the holiday season of  Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's, may you   bring your peace to a world that so desperately  needs it. May we tangibly experience that here   in Monrovia as we think of even dedicating a new  life tonight. We pray for the children of this   community, for the schools, for the families,  especially those who are struggling. May you  

provide everything they need and may you be  their peace as we celebrate so many things in the   upcoming weeks. We pray this in your holy name.  Amen. Amen. Please stand. face the flag. Ready   to begin. I aliance to the flag of the United  States of America and to the republic for which   it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with  liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Edward. Okay, roll call, please. C. Council members  Feldon here, Jimenez here, Spicer present,   Mayor Prom, Dr. Kelly here and Mayor Shep here.  Okay. Um, we did have a closed session, so I'll   ask our city attorney to please report out on our  closed session. Uh, thank you, mayor. Prior to the   meeting this evening, the council met in close  session. All members of the council were present   uh and gave direction to staff and the city  prosecutor and took no reportable action. Thank   you very much. Then we're moving right on to our  presentations and proclamations this evening and   PR1. I see our four-legged friend out there in  the and so Pasadena Humane pet of the month and   I'd like to call up Kevin Mcmanis and uh to  introduce us to his friend here. Good evening   everyone. Uh I brought with me tonight a lovely  13-year-old husky mix named Oreo. Um Oreo's family   um had to uh surrender her to us. Um they were  going through some tough times, but we're really   confident that we can find a great home for  her. Um 13 in age maybe, but certainly not   in spirit. Um she's got a lot of love yet to  give. Um and I brought her again specifically  

tonight because uh November is adopt a senior  pet month. So, if you want to open your heart   and your home to a senior in need, like Miss Oreo  here, um, at adoption, well, at Pasadena Humane,   uh, we're waving adoption fees for any animal  over the age of five for the entire month, um,   because, uh, we all love our seniors and we want  them to find a great home this month. Thank you.   And any other, uh, events you'd like to promo,  uh, upcoming for the holiday season? Yeah. Well,   um I'll be here for the next one, but um we  will be having uh an adoption promo to the   end of at the end of the year called home for  the holidays. So, uh a great time to adopt is   over Christmas when you have some time to, you  know, get a pet used to a routine. Um and so I   we're I believe fee waved adoptions for about the  last two weeks of the month of December. And I   know you normally have photos with your pets  for the the holiday season. So, I'm assuming   that's that's I believe that's on the calendar,  but I don't know the date yet. Oh, okay. This is   where I need Michelle. All right. Well, we'll come  down and take a a photo with uh Oreo. All right. Always happy to picture. Hi,  Oreo. Hi, honey. Hi, Oreo. Thank you. Thank you for coming every Oh, yes. Yes.

Thank you, Kevin. Always always great great to  see the pets and remember they need homes too. Uh   okay PR2 and we have recognition of Dr. Heather um  Po Vanelli and I hope I didn't I pronounced that   correctly uh as Monrovia Unified School District  and Los Angeles County 2025 2026 teacher of the   year and state of California 2026 teacher of  the year. though is Dr. Hi there. All right. All right. Um, can we can Lauren  Can you help her with the the mic? Did you just want me to say hi? Um or just share.  Yeah, sure. Share a little bit for the audience   and those at home and that might not know don't  have kids in the school district. And I mean that   is such an honor and thank you. Thank you so much  for giving back to our children and it's just a   wonderful honor and we're so happy to have you  here. But I wanted to give you the opportunity   and we do have a little something for you. Want to  read it? Well, first of all, um it is an absolute   honor and privilege to be working at Monrovia or  in Monrovia for Monroia Unified School District.   I've been doing it for 25 plus years. I've um  taught at Brad Oaks all those years. I love this   community. I love the children that grow up in  this community. And um I've taught some Yes. Yeah.   M I've taught Mr. Spicer's both his children. And  um it's weird how time flies that I've seen the  

children grow up to be adults. That sounds strange  to say. My own children went to Monrovia. Um so   thank you so much. I hope I make you proud. I will  do my best. You You definitely do. We do have a we do have a certificate here for you  and it's addressed to you and recipient   of Monrovia Unified School District, Los  Angeles County and state of California.   Um 202526 educator of the year awards. The city  council congratulates you on these welldeserved   recognitions. Your leadership and dedication  to the education and enrichment of our youth,   going above and beyond for your students and  fellow teachers have truly made Monrovia a   better place. And we do have something  for you and council. Come down with me. Thank you so much. I want you to see those flowers. Thank you. Congrat Congratulations. Congratulations.  I'm an alumni. I live across the street. Oh,   how awesome. I've seen you. I think you're  looking for parking at better school. I I'm   pretty good at finding it. Lawrence  and Laya said to tell you congrat. Okay, I've seen her multiple times at Brad. Yeah,

congratulations again at wonderful achievements  and and awards. Um, then we're moving on to uh   PR3 proclaiming November 2025 as pulmonary  hypertension awareness month. And we do   have Barbara Golar who's here and she will um  receive this proclamation. Barbara, I know you   were here. Oh, there you are. Um, I'll read the  proclamation and then then I'll let you speak.   Whereas the health of our community's people  is the foundation for a caring and productive   society. And our future rests with our ability  to adequately treat and ultimately find cures   for individuals who are afflicted with a variety  of illnesses including pulmonary hypertension. And   whereas pulmonary hypertension, PH, is a rare  disorder causing high blood pressure in blood   vessels leading from the heart to the lungs and  is a contributing factor to more than 18,000 adult   deaths each year in the US. And whereas there are  at least as many undiagnosed as diagnosed patients   and whereas pulmonary arterial hypertension PH as  one type of PH without treatment PH patients live   2.8 years past diagnosis on average. With early  diagnosis and effective treatment, the disorder   can be managed for 20 years or more. And whereas  adults and children of all ages can develop PH,   women develop PH more than three times as often  as men. And women of color are disproportionately   uh poor health have poor health outcomes. And  whereas education can help with early diagnosis   and funding for research, research can help  find a cure. Now therefore, I, Becky Shavelin,   mayor of the city of Monrovia, California, along  with the entire city council, do hereby proclaim  

the month of November 2025 as pulmonary  hypertension awareness month, and encourage   people to spark awareness and learn about the  challenges those with PH and their families face,   dated this 18th day of November, 2025. And  um we've asked Barbara, her sister Joanie,   which many of us knew very very well. Um she  unfortunately succumbed to this disease. Um and   I wanted to give you the opportunity to well we  will give this proclamation to you but to share   some words. Yeah. First of all, thank you so much.  And as as you all know, um we were cancelled. Um   and so that's why we here in Monrovia are uh no  longer having the walk here. Um so I actually I appreciate us still being able to to um  proclaim November as pulmonary hypertension month.   um like I don't know if most of you know  that pulmonary hypertension acts like   um asthma and then and so it's it's a long process  to even get to that point to be diagnosed with it   um because first of all the the testing of it is  a is um expensive. So the doctors do all of these   other things to to rule out and so that that in  itself kind of delays the process of you being um   being diagnos diagnosed and and and also treated.  Um, so, um, I'm I'm thankful and grateful that,   uh, Joanie actually brought this awareness to  the community and actually at one point we had,   um, two members of our community that  had the that had the had the disease. So,  

um, we're not having it this year. Um but I this  morning I woke up and really kind of prayed upon   what can I do um different um because we can't  do the walk. So I'm I'm figuring out going to   be meeting with with the committee as well as  my family to see if something different that we   can do to still raise funds to to contribute  to PH because it's it's extremely important.   um you know like what um um the mayor read in  regards to um in regards to the disease. Well,   thank you very much for being here with us  this evening. We'll come down and and give   you your prop. Yes. And and I brought two of my  committee people here and I have my shirt on. I couldn't find the shirt that had in memory of Hello there. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Okay, moving on. We've got PR for  Make a Difference Day recap and   we have Macy Gracia presenting on behalf of  the Volunteer Center of San Gabriel Valley.  

She's the executive director extraordinaire. And  so she will be giving us a a recap of our October   25th Make a Difference Day. Perfect. Well,  thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. This   year's we proudly hosted another successful Make  a Difference Day and I'm excited to share a brief   recap. We had 400 volunteers, an incredible  turnout. We completed 14 community projects   throughout Monrovia. We had 22 participating  groups including schools, local service clubs,   local businesses, faithbased volunteers,  and individual community members. Everyone,   every one of them brought heart, energy,  and the determination to tackle whatever   was needed. Our theme, helping hands, changing  lives, guided this year's Make a Difference Day,   and it shined through every project. From  yard cleanup and landscaping to painting and   organizing and supporting seniors, our volunteers  showed what community looks like in action.   We also want to thank our We also want to extend  our sincere appreciation to all our sponsors and   partners. Their support provides the tools,  supplies, and resource resources needed to   make this day possible and we couldn't do it  without them. A special thanks to our staff and   to our Make a Difference Day committee for their  coordination and support. We truly appreciate you.   and all you did behind the scenes. The video  highlights something special. The hard work,   the smile, and the spirit that filled the day.  It captures every It captures every age taking  

every age taking part. From our youngest  helpers to our lifelong community members   who never missed the Make a Difference Day.  Thank you, and please enjoy the recap. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Yes. See you next year. And thank you again  to you, your your staff, all the volunteers,   our sta staff members. And uh and just  remember, every day is make a difference day,  

but you make you make uh that one time a  year, you make that very special. A lot   of people are helped in our our community. And  I had a great time working with the map leader   uh leadership uh kids. So, and adults, too.  But at any rate, you know, um, we'll come   down. I know we've taken a picture before, but  we always need a picture with Macy. Thank you. Tell you thank you. Okay. Excuse. Any other board members? Thank you so much. Okay. Um, unfortunately, we do not have a  student government uh representative report   uh this evening. uh Elsie could not make it this  evening and so we'll move on. I don't believe   there is any changes to our order of business this  evening. and then our consent calendar which are   items CC1 through CC-15 and there are just a  couple of items on CC10 the recommendation was   omitted and that's adopt resolution number 25-59  and then on CC-15 the um um resolution was not   attached and that is now available. So with  that, these items are considered ordinary in   business and can um in nature and can be  entertained in one motion. So if we have   I'll make a motion to adopt CC 1 through 15 with  the modifications to CC 10 and CC-15. Second. We  

have a motion in a second. Then without objection.  So approved. And um now we will you know I think   somebody told me it was somebody's birthday  today. It's actually today. Is it today? No,   it's not today. It's um It's Sunday. Sunday. Oh,  I thought it was today. But it doesn't matter. So,   it's Dr. Kelly's birthday. And so, we would  like to sing happy birthday uh to I'll let   Jeremy light the candle and we can on the count  of three. 1 2 3. Happy birthday to you. Happy   birthday to you. Cha cha cha. Happy birthday  dear. Happy birthday to you and many more. Happy happy. We ate pizza and  spaghetti for dinner. I think But thank you for the Thank you for  the cupcakes. Okay, I'm good. Okay. Yeah. Okay, then we're moving on to public com uh  input and this is separate. Don't get excited   here. This is not for our public hearing,  but this is public input for items not on   our agenda. And the public, we encourage the  public to come forward and share their thoughts   on items not on our agenda. You are allowed  3 minutes and if there's anyone do we have  

um speaker cards? Uh our city clerk will call and  um call you up and again you have three minutes   and I will just say that if you marked public  input and meant to do public hearing just let   me know when I call your name and we'll call  you back up later. Starting with Steve Sodto, mayor, members of the city council, Dr. Kelly,  thank you for inviting me to speak to you. My name   is Steve Sodto and I have been writing poems for  over 60 years. I've been a guest poet columnist   for the Desert Sun newspaper, a major newspaper  that serves Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley,   and I've also written four books. I write on  issues and feelings that I see in the world today.   Right now, I see a lack of empathy and compassion,  and I see the destruction of the humanity within   men. I'm afraid our country has lost its moral  compass. We are a country of laws and immigrants.   What's happening to immigrants now should be an  affront to all Americans. Our checks and balances   are out of balance. We can do better. I've written  this in response to our unconscionable treatment   of immigrants and I'd like to read it to you  now. It's a poem I call home of the brave. People born in land of chains seek refuge where  our freedom reigns. They walk in pain. They risk   by boat. They risk their lives to cast the boat.  Their journey just so fraught with terror. They   risk all lives because they care. No food, no  drink, their lives in doubt to think this was  

the safest route. They reach our shore in broken  shape. Ecstatic now that they've escaped. A new   great life awaits them now. Their children now  safe somehow. Years pass by. They have a place.   Life is hard for their one race. Kids have school  and made some friends, but all their friends are   just like them. They made a life. They scrape on  by. Can't get ahead even though they try. We have   our jobs. Don't make a fuss, but people smirk when  look at us. We're not like them. It's just not   right. We pay the price because we're not white.  They tell us now to go back home. For decades now,   this is our home. Home after work, a throw of the  dice. Because of masked armed men, now known as   ICE. Committed no crime. I'm innocent. But they  say deport me because I'm immigrant. Home of   the brave, land of the free. Maybe to some, but  not you and me. Thank you very much. Thank you. Excuse me. Next is Martha Mack. Good evening, Martha. Hi. Um, hello council and  fellow community members. My name is Martha Mack.   Um, thank you for that lovely poem. I'm actually  here also um just to request once again that we   do something to commemorate um Carlos Roberto  Carlos Montoya who died on our freeway here in   Monrovia back in August by the Home Depot. Um  so um this is my second time coming and I would  

just appreciate your consideration of that.  Um I am also um um I also do not agree with   beginning this meeting with a Christian prayer  as not all of us are Christian and thank you. This is Ellen Der. Hello, City Council. Thank you for uh an  impromptu request uh of the attorney in charge of   uh Monrovia. This came up this morning regarding  an FCC rule that will be probably introduced both   from the FCC and from Congress that would  allow an imminent domain effect to put cell   towers anywhere they feel like it. and be um  if rumors are correct, setbacks from schools   and homes would be ignored, local design  and aesthetic standards would be ignored,   fire safety and placement restrictions  ignored, saturation limits ignored,   and exempting historic preservation reviews.  So, kind of an important issue that um I   only became aware of this morning and I  hoped that I could give the city clerk,   my print out of the matter to give to the city  attorney that he could possibly research it and   ask the city council to make a public statement  to Congress and to the FCC that would disallow   any language in this proposed bill that would put  cell towers ostensibly in your backyard or your   front yard or, you know, the library park,  heaven forbid. So that's apparently HR3557 and hopefully you guys will look into it and  make a pronouncement from the city of Monroia   that that would be unacceptable. As well I would  like to mention that I do pray for you guys to   have a Bible study starting every Wednesday  at two if anyone wants to join me. Uh I would  

love to find the Lord providing a man to teach  the Ralph Drawinger curriculum. And thirdly,   because I think I have about 30 seconds  left, my own father, Juan Gabrielle Morales,   came from Mexico and turned his own brother away  at the front door for not following protocol when   he came here illegally. Turned his own brother,  Antonio, away. So, I am all for rule of law when   it comes to immigration. Amen. Okay. Could I?  Yes. Thank you. Appreciate your time. Thank you. Sorry, too much going on. Uh Vicky Hansen. Hi, Vicki. Good evening, Mayor Chevlin. Council members, my  name is Vicky Hansen. I'm here tonight to give a   brief update on the grassroots community effort  underway to celebrate 2026 Route 66 Centennial.   Across the country, planning and activities  have already begun. Many organizations are   recognizing April 30th as a symbolic date when  the mother road officially became Route 66.   That date will kick off what is expected to be a  very active weekend and a summer and a summer of   celebrations nationwide. As someone who has driven  the entire Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica,   I can tell you it is a remarkable journey. It's  full of Americana, quirky roadside attractions,   and wonderful encounters with people from all over  the world. Monrovia has an important and special   place in that history. Fortunately, we still have  many historic Route 66 landmarks that visitors are   excited to see. So, this was what we've planned so  far. Thursday, April 30th, a grand opening of the  

museum's historic Route 66 exhibit and possibly  a a community cruise along both the Monrovia's   Historic and the Bypass alignments. Friday, May  1st, a Friday night movie in the park presented   by the historical society, which hopefully  coordinates activities with Oldtown businesses.   Sunday, May 3, car show and recreation park, food  truck at Fred's Center Stage Productions, and MoPG   home tour focused on Route 66 architecture. We  have participation interest from the Flying A gas   station, KG GM, Upper San Gabriel Valley Water  District, and with any luck, the Aztec Hotel,   and and many more. I want to encourage our local  businesses, restaurants like Jake and Leroys and   others to take advantage of the attention this  centennial will bring. There are many Route 66   social media platforms including our own Monrovia  100 years of Route 66 where businesses can pro   promote events, marketing and photo ops. Condast  Traveler magazine recently named Route 66 as one   of the top places in the world for 2026 and it's  one of only two US destinations listed. A recent   survey by AAA indicates that 41% of US adults  plan to visit Route 66 in 2026 with another   15% interested in learning about the centennial.  Springfield, Missouri was awarded as the national   host city for the official April 30th kickoff  with many national events already scheduled   in every state. To be clear, my role is not to  organize each event. I'm simply here encouraging  

participation, support community involvement,  keep a shared calendar, and share information,   especially through social media. Each group can  coordinate directly with the city as needed. I   think uh I brought some packets earlier today that  you guys could look at that had more information   because that was in our slideshow with the group  uh earlier. Thank you for your time, your ideas,   and your support in helping Monrovia celebrate  this historic milestone. Thank you, Vicki. Tim Antgore. Good evening. Hello. Good evening, mayor, council members, and the  public. Uh, my name is Tim Anatore. I first became   involved with community media of the foothills  in 2016 as a volunteer and producer KGMTV.   I joined the board in 2023 after existing board  members approached me with alarming concerns,   warnings about financial irregularities,  mismanagement, and a pattern of secrecy.   They asked me to help restore integrity. From  the moment I became a board member, I supported   one basic goal to review the financials and  understand how CMF had been operating. But   the board was blocked at every turn. Requests for  fundamental documents were ignored. Meetings grew   hostile and any attempt to perform normal legally  required board oversight was shut down. And the   most important part, the clearest proof that  something was being hidden was the cover up. The   executive director and two of his allies on the  board illegally removed legitimate board members.  

There is no clause in the bylaws that  allows the executive director to fire board   members. There's no legal process that allows  a minority faction to purge the majority. Yet,   that is exactly what happened. The executive  director with the help of two board members   removed the board that was asking to see financial  records and insisting on a proper audit. It was a   coordinated takeover. And instead of stopping  it, the city manager validated this removal.   That is extraordinary. A city supported nonprofit  was seized by an internal faction and the city   manager enabled it. After we were pushed out,  the executive director handpicked and installed   his own replacement board. That board had no  lawful appointment process and yet it has now   approved a new audit. When the very people who  orchestrated the takeover control the audit,   this is not transparency. It is an attempt to  rewrite the record of what truly happened. If an   audit is going to be done, it must investigate the  entire takeover, how legitimate board members were   illegally removed, how access to financial records  was denied, how the city manager and one city   council member involved themselves in an internal  nonprofit matter, and how the executive director   installed a loyalist board to secure full control.  This is not simply a government's breakdown. This   is a misuse of public resources. CMF receives  taxpayer funding when an organization benefiting   from public money blocks oversight, fires its  legitimate board, hides its financial practices,   and replaces governance with handpicked loyalists.  Taxpayers dollars are being put at risk and public   trust is being violated. So, I'm urging the  city council to do two things. one, conduct an   independent investigation into what occurred,  including the involvement of city officials,  

and two, require a fully independent audit that  examines everything, not just the finances,   but the takeover itself and the obstruction of  oversight. The people of Morovia deserve the   truth. They deserve lawful governance, and they  deserve assurance that their taxpayers dollars are   not being misused. This demands immediate action.  Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Nelson. Good evening, council. I'd like to  categorically denounce Pardon me.   I'd like to categorically denounce any Thank you. I'd like to categorically denounce any and all  political violence and corruption, both big and   small. Emphasis on small. Speaking of which,  regarding the charity, Community Media of the   Foothills, KMTV Studio, in the city of Monrovia  in general, may wisdom guide us on our path.   Community Media of the Foothills KMTV Studio has  been involved in multiple lawsuits. Information on   one relevant court case in particular is in the  publicly available court document titled Kelty   versus Community Media of the Foothills, reference  number 20 STCP0 2975 dated March 23, 2021.   There are several points of interest regarding  elections, board members, bylaw changes, fraud,   and others. listed in detail are also relevant  points to my prior public comments. A section   towards the bottom of page one reads in part,  "Plaintiff is informed and believes and thereupon   alleges that CMS board improperly removed the term  limit provisions from CMS's bylaws. plaintiff is  

informed and believes and thereupon alleges that  the amendment to the 2002 bylaws was improper   because the amendment was not approved by a vote  of CMF members. A section on the bottom of page   three reads in part, because fraud involves a  serious attack on the defendant's character,   fairness requires that fraud allegations be pled  with specifically so non-mtorious actions can be   eliminated before the defendant is required to  answer. A section towards the top of page five   reads in part, "The first CL cause of action also  alleges more generally that an actual controversy   exists between plaintiff and CMF about whether  the term limit provision in a 2002 bylaws was   properly removed from CMF bylaws. On the topic of  CMF bylaws, there have apparently been multiple   changes to the nonprofit's bylaws under the studio  management since March 2024. This brings up many   points of interest in light of the information  from this particular lawsuit document that I have   shared. I contend that the activities at the KGM  TV studio benefit only a small identifiable group,   not the community as a whole, as required by law.  Yet, Monrovia taxpayer money in the hundreds of   thousands of dollars fund the management of this  small identifiable group. There are a lot more   points of interest that I did not share. So, I  encourage the council members and the public to   look into this document and read it for themselves  so they may make informed voting decisions. Again,   the publicly available lawsuit document is titled  Kelty Ky versus Community Media of the Foothills,  

reference 20 STCP 02975 date of March 23,  2021. Thank you. Thank you. Randy Bixenman. Good evening. Good evening, council members. Uh Mayor  Chevlin, uh the reason I'm here today is   I have been a resident for 21 years on uh  uh South Alta Vista. Uh during the spring,   all of our my uh neighbors and or such were  given a a letter from the city that they were   going to put in a stop sign at the second cross  street down because basically what happens is   people go in to use the 7-Eleven. By the time  they get out, they're doing about 70 miles an   hour. I've already had two cats killed.  I had one grandson almost hit by a car.   Uh it just keeps going on and on. We we uh we  we've gone to the city and talked to them. They   can't tell us anything. And then about a month or  two ago, they put in a new stop sign and the next   street may flour. So I I just want to find how  we can resolve this stop sign situation because   before there's some serious injury. So if you  can suggest anything or you know what I can do,   please you know let me know about it. I'd really  is Alex. Alex Alex Tiki is in the back. He's our   director of public works and he if you'd like  you can meet him out in the lobby there and   he can talk to you. Okay. Wonderful. Thank you  for your time. Great. Thank you Sherry Lochner.

Good evening everyone. My name is Sheri Lochner  and I'm a resident of Monrovia as is my mother   Lorna Lochner. I was born and raised here. I am  here this evening to advocate for day laborers and   other people who are immigrants targeted by ICE.  As you would be well aware, ISIS is continuing   with their fascist unlawful practices of detaining  and kidnapping people throughout our country. My   colleagues and I have reinstalled the memorial for  Carlos Roberto Mononttoyo Valdez several times and   we will continue our practice for as long as  needed. We want to see a permanent memorial   for Carlos to commemorate his life and acknowledge  his death as a result of the brutal unjust tactics   of ICE. 24 people have died as a direct result  of unlawful ICE action that has no place in our   community indeed throughout the United States.  These are the names of the people who have died.   Ismael Ayella Urebei Oscar Dwarte Rasone  Lorenzo Antonio Batres Vargas Gay Shian Jean   Fan Isidro Perez Johnny Noviello Jesus Molina  Vea Eberardo Evanda Delgado Marie Anjie Blae   Nonuk Nuen Brian Reo Garzone Maxim  Chernyak Sowit Gazhen Dean Jeanri Ruiz   Guen Ramsh Amachand Panka Pankage Karan  Singhqataria Jose Manuel Sanchez Castro  

Santos Riaz Benas Gabriel Garcia Az Castro  Riviera Sylario Viegas Gonzalez Haime Alanis   Garcia Carlos Roberto Mononttoya Valdez I  stand here this evening because I and my   colleagues refuse to allow the government to  sweep these these deaths under the carpet. The   Monrovia City Council silence on Carlos Roberto  Mononttoya's death is deafening. My questions   for the city council this evening are what  progress has been made on securing the report   investigating the circumstances resulting in  Carlos Roberto Mononttoya Valdez's death. Two,   how can my colleagues work with the city council  to secure an appropriate site for the erection   of a lasting memorial for Carlos Roberto  Mononttoyo Valdez and the 23 other people   who have died as a result of ICE actions? And  three, when is the city council going to stand   up to the authoritarian actions of this federal  government and denounce the ICE rights and secure   justice for Carlos Roberto Mononttoya Valdez?  As Mahatma Gandhi said, the true measure of   any society can be found in how it treats its  most vulnerable members. I stand for justice.   I stand for compassion. Where do you stand? Yos  soy Carlos Roberto Mononttoya Valdez. Thank you. That is all the speaker cards we  have. Is there anyone else wanting   to address the city council  on items not on our agenda? Not seeing any then I will close that  portion of our meeting and we will move  

on to our public hearings. But before I  do that I wanted to ask Mr. Fe if he had   any comment if he wanted to address  any of the um public comment items. The public comment period is reserved for  community members to come and address the council   for items that are not on the agenda. The city  is not we do not we do not participate in either   responding or answering questions or even having a  dialogue. I I think the the only comments I would   make at this time is um when members of the public  come and address council, particularly tonight,   uh concerns related to community meeting of  the foothills, um the listening public in   the room and at home do not have the benefit of  past conversations or discussions that the city   has had. Um when allegations were made uh around  um public funds that the city uses to provide a   public access studio and record meetings like this  one, um the city promptly investigated. Um we used   our independent auditor to review processes,  procedures, and finances of community of the   foothills. Um they they at the conclusion of  that audit, we provided all of the information   to any member of the public who would like to  see if anyone's listening at home would like to   know more information, please feel free to reach  out to me. Um I would categorically dispute the   comments that were shared here this evening and  I think that's my comment. Thank you very much. I   did want to add for those um in terms of our comm  our prayer at the beginning of our meeting. We do   encourage uh anyone to come forward and in fact we  sometimes have difficulty filling that position.   But if there's anyone that wants to come forward  or volunteer, I encourage you to contact our   city clerk uh for that uh position. And we en  encourage all to be involved. Um with that,  

um I'm going to go ahead then and we are going  to begin our public hearings. And we are going to   start with PH1 to conduct a public hearing on the  proposed establishment of the Monrovia citywide   lighting landscape and park um parks maintenance  assessment district number 2025-1. And so   um may we please have I Ray Bowman we have here  this evening from staff and she will be providing   the report. Perfect. Great. Thank you. Thank  you so much. Good evening, Mayor Chevavelin,   members of city council, and members of the  public who are joining us this evening. Thank   you for your time. Tonight's public hearing is  for the proposed Monrovia citywide lighting,   landscaping, and parks maintenance assessment  district number 2025-1. This evening, our   engineering consultants from NBS have joined us.  Sarah Maris, the chief operating officer from NBS,   is joining us via Zoom. and our senior consultant  on the project, Sandra Birkhart, is here in person   with us tonight, as well as Amanda, who is at the  NBS table right outside council chambers. On that   note, if anyone is in the audience uh needing  to submit their ballot, you may do so through   the ballot box located in the lobby. Or if you  need a replacement ballot, you may also request   that from Amanda in in the back. So, as council is  aware, we've been reviewing information related to   the proposed district and have held several study  sessions and presentations, and we've been working   with council, our engineering partners at NBS,  and the city attorney's office to complete the   necessary proceedings for the proposed district.  This evening, we will be conducting the public   hearing. These assessment district proceedings  are being undertaken pursuant to the landscaping  

and lighting act of 1972 article 13D of the  California Constitution and Assembly Bill AB 2257. So tonight I'll provide a brief review of the  proposed district and the engineers report.   I'll review the timeline and steps of the Prop  218 balloting procedures and provide information   related to the public hearing. And some of these  slides may look familiar as we've reviewed the   information previously. This evening, we are  seeking council's consideration of all oral   and written testimony, objections, and written  responses to objections, close the public hearing,   and direct staff to proceed with the next  steps, which is tabulating the ballots.   Ballot tabulation is scheduled to be uh held back  here in council chambers tomorrow, November 19th,   starting at 9:00 a.m. As a quick review, an  assessment district is an area where property   owners agree to pay assessments in order to  fund improvements that directly benefit that   area. The city of Monrovia currently  has two existing districts, the Park   Maintenance District or PMD and the Lighting  and Landscaping Maintenance District or LLMD.   These two districts have been in place since  the '9s. And although the PMD allows for annual   CPI increases, the LLMD does not and has  remained unchanged uh for over 30 years.   Because costs have increased over time, the  assessment revenues collected have not kept   pace. And so the city's been subsidizing the  shortfall of over a million dollars annually   to help fund those costs. And and costs continue  to go up. As you can imagine, doing this over the   span of the last few decades, the deficit has  grown, and that's why we're doing this now. Staff has been working with NBS for over 2 years  to evaluate and prepare the information for the   proposed district. The proposed district  is also one of the last remaining items in   our fiscal resiliency plan, ensuring that funds  that should be self- sustaining can do so, which  

we started talking about back in 2018. Staff and  the city council met for multiple study sessions   between February and April. And during those study  sessions, city council reviewed the preliminary   analysis from NBS and provided direction to move  forward with the proposed district. On April 15,   the city council provided the direction to phase  in the proposed assessments over a 5-year period   in order to reduce the financial impacts of the  rates on property owners. The direction was that   if we have to do this, let's do this in the least  impactful way. On September 2nd, council approved   ordering the engineers report and staff worked  with NBS to incorporate the 5-year phase in period   and the most current property role data. And on  September 16th, council reviewed and approved the   engineers report, approved the mailing of notices  and ballots, and set the time and date of the   public hearing. Article 13D, which is also known  as Prop 218, imposes substantive and procedural   requirements for imposing the assessment,  including holding a notice public hearing,   conducting an assessment ballot proceeding, and  determining whether a majority protest exists   based on the tabulation of the assessment ballots  submitted and not withdrawn. I did want to note   that if this proposed district is approved, the  existing districts go away and they're replaced   by the new district. If the proposed district is  not approved, the existing districts stay in place   and the city will need to determine options for  addressing the deficit. On this slide, I wanted   to provide a few key points about the engineers  report. State law guides how the engineers report   should be completed and article 13D requires that  assessment districts identify the properties that   receive the benefit. Separate general versus  special benefit. Calculate each property's   share of the benefit ensuring a fair methodology.  And lastly, that publicly owned parcels need to  

pay their fair share. As council will recall from  previous discussions, the city is responsible for   costs related to general benefit, which refers  to the overall public benefit to the broader   community rather than to specific property owners.  The general benefit for the proposed district is   19.33%. So in short, property owners will only pay  for the special benefits for their property and   the city pays for the general benefits. The city  is also required to pay for its fair share of the   special benefits for city-owned facilities. There  are no exempt properties. As we've previously   discussed with council, the assessment rates were  designed with the following benefits in mind.   Street lighting, traffic signals, trees,  landscaping, and parks and recreational facilities   provide the benefits of improved safety and  accessibility, improved aesthetics and livability,   as well as increased economic activity. NBS  evaluated these benefits and designed rates   by factoring in lot characteristics and land use  classification. Each parcel is assigned special   benefit points, which factors in land use and lot  size to determine the proposed assessment amounts. Based on council's direction from previous  meetings, NBS completed the engineers report   with a 5-year phasein structure. Each parcel's  assessment will have two components. The first is   the administrative allocation rate per parcel,  which is the top row on this table. This this   covers administrative costs for the district. And  the second the second row is the special benefit   assessment rate per parcel um oh per special  benefit point. I did want to point out that   these rates represent the maximum rates for the  5-year phase in period. After the initial 5 years,   these rates will be subject to an annual CPI  increase not to exceed 4%. And as a note,  

even though these rates represent the  maximum assessments that the city can   charge, annual engineers reports will still be  required each year. Meaning if costs go down,   the assessment rates charged to property owners  can be lower than these rates. The rates for the   five-year phasein period do take into account  a CPI inflator to ensure that the rates keep   pace with the increasing cost to maintain  the district during the phasein period. This slide includes an overview of the proposed  district's cost. The district's costs is the top   row on this table. The city's general  benefit responsibility is on the second   row and the net of both of those is on the  third row. The fourth row shown here in green   is the proposed assessment revenue we expect to  collect and the blue bottom row at the bottom of   the table is the city subsidy. You'll notice  that the city will subsidize costs for the   next four years during phase in and the proposed  assessments are estimated to fully cover costs   for the district by fiscal year 3031. I did want  to note that the revenue collected in 2627 at 50%   phase in is more than we are currently  collecting for the existing districts. This slide here includes a timeline for  the proposed district. On September 26,   public notices and ballots were sent out to  property owners. Between September and November,   staff focused on outreach. This included utility  bill inserts, information on the city manager's   weekly updates, and a web page dedicated to  providing information for the community. We   also met with several community partners during  this outreach period. And November 10th was the   deadline to submit written objections as part of  the exhaustion of administrative remedies process.   AB2257 provides for an exhaustion of  administrative remedies procedure which   requires persons and entities to submit a written  objection that specifies the grounds for alleging  

non-compliance of the proposed assessment with  Prop 218 prior to the deadline established by   the city council or be barred from any right  to challenge the assessment through a legal   proceeding. The city council established November  10th as the deadline for the submittal of written   objections. Tonight, the 18th, is the public  hearing and all ballots must be received by the   close of the public hearing. Tomorrow, November  19th, the city clerk's office with the assistance   of NBS will complete the ballot tabulation and if  needed, tabulation can continue to the next day,   November 20th. And the declaration of results is  tentatively scheduled for December 2nd. And again,   if the proposed district does not get approved,  the existing districts will remain in effect. In accordance with Prop 218 and AB2257, the city  mailed notice of the public hearing to the record   owners of the accessible parcels in the proposed  district. The notice was mailed on September 26,   45 days prior to the November 10th deadline  for the submission of written objections.   Each notice included an assessment  ballot, which you see pictured here,   a summary of the procedures for completion,  return, and tabulation of the assessment   ballots, and the requirements for submitting a  written objection to the proposed assessment. The ballots included information about each  parcel, and we've asked property owners to   complete the ballots by clearly marking one  of the two squares on their ballots. Yes,   I'm in favor, or no, I'm opposed. Those  ballots could be mailed in the enclosed   return envelope provided or dropped off in  person sealed to the city clerk's office. Again,   all ballots must be with the city clerk by  the close of tonight's public hearing. And if   anyone is here to turn in their ballots  or request for a replacement ballot,   NBS has set up a table right outside council  chambers to assist uh assist you with that.  

And you may step outside to do so now if you'd  like. As a note, ballots will be weighted based   on the proposed assessment amount. So, $1 of  assessment counts as one ballot weight point. We wanted to make sure the property owners had  access to information. We included inserts in   our utility bills between September and October  information in the city manager updates and we   also had a web page dedicated solely for  the district which included an interactive   parcel map to give property specific assessment  information. We also had a dedicated phone line   to answer questions and staff who personally  met with property owners who had questions. In summary, a new combined district  is being proposed to create a fair and   financially stable structure to maintain the  city's lighting, landscaping, street trees,   and parks. The proposed district is supported  by a certified engineers report. And in order to   reduce the financial impacts to the community,  the city council has decided to phase in the   assessment rates over 5 years. This means the  city will continue to subsidize the district   for the first four years until assessments  are fully phased in by 3031. At that point,   rates are anticipated to fully cover the  costs of the district. If the proposed   district is approved, it will be it  will still be subject to completion   of an engineers report each year per Prop 218  requirements and subject to annual proceedings. During the public hearing this evening, the city  council will receive and consider written and   oral testimony from all interested persons.  In addition, the city council will consider   the written objections received by the November  10th deadline and the city's responses to those   written objections. Assessment ballots may  be submitted, withdrawn, or changed during   the public hearing prior to the close of the  public hearing. If the city council concurs,   the appropriate motion would be to accept  and consider all oral and written testimony,  

objections, and written responses to timely  submitted objections, close the public hearing,   and direct staff to tabulate the assessment  ballots at the designated time, date, and place. And that concludes my portion. Thank you very  much. Um any questions of staff at this time?   We will be opening the public hearing and we will  be taking oral and written um objections. Um then   we will proceed now with I am opening the public  hearing. Um it is now open but prior to calling   the first speaker um could we please have um we  will consider timely written objections and the   city's responses to those objections. May we  have the summary of those please? Of course.   So, the city received five timely submitted  written objections from three people by the   November 10th deadline for the submittal  of written objections. Pursuant to AB2257,   the city must consider and respond in  writing to any timely submitted written   objections prior to the close of the public  hearing and the objections and responses   must be presented to the city council for its  consideration at or prior to the public hearing.   The written responses were prepared by city staff,  the city's assessment engineer and BS government   finance group and the city attorney's office. And  the written objections and the written responses   have been provided to the city council as exhibits  A and B respectively to draft resolution number   2025-58 which is included in the agenda materials  for this evening. In accordance with AB2257,   the written response to each written objection  explains the substantive basis for retaining   the proposed assessment in response to the  objection. Each written response also includes  

the council's determinations that the written  objection and written response do not warrant   any clarification to the proposed assessment.  Do not warrant a reduction or modification of   the proposed assessment. do not require further  review before making a determination on whether   clarification or reduction is needed and that it  is appropriate to proceed with a public hearing   and ballot tabulation. As mentioned, both exhibits  have been included as part of draft resolution   number 2025-58. Staff and representatives of  NBS are available if the city council has any   questions regarding the written responses. And if  the council concurs with the written responses,   it's appropriate at this time to accept and  consider public testimony. The council will   consider adoption of resolution number  2025-58 at its December 2nd meeting.   Any questions of staff regarding the  written objections and our responses? Not hearing any. Then I will proceed  then and we will have public testimony.   Do we have any speakers? And the city  clerk will announce those and you can   come up to the podium. Oh, and you have  Thank you, Larry. Uh, your comments,   please, if you can keep those to three minutes  each. Thank you. Beginning with Lynn Lewis. Good evening. Good evening. Um Lyn Lewis,  Bradberry Road, Monroia. Um just want to thank   you that you're at least doing this over five  years and not throwing it. For me, it would be an   extra $300 a year and tax assessment for a fairly  small private ownership single dwelling house.  

Um I can only imagine some of the other properties  that have larger ones um that this will be a quite   a burden for them. Um, I do feel like maybe this  is a circumvention from Prop 13 that will not   not take into some kind of account that older  people that are on fixed income, me being one,   um, that this kind of circumvents Prop  13. I don't know if that's true or not,   but um I'm just kind of wondering we got into a  million dollar deficit for how many years was that   that this I mean I know it took you two years  to kind of figure out what we're going to do,   but it just seems like that was needed to be fixed  a little bit sooner. Anyways, and I am concerned   that homeownership for young people is getting  even more and more difficult. Um, I'm actually   what I do with to my property taxes I have to take  out of my IRA so much money every year mandated by   the government. My whole IRA almost went to pay  my property taxes. And that's kind of how I've   been dealing with paying my property taxes every  year. I don't know what other people are doing. So   my request is to you is to really take a look at  the budget of this city and really, you know, do   a little doge on it. Maybe maybe we need a little  Elon Musk here to figure out, you know, some of   the um expenses that maybe we don't need to do  in Monrovia so that the taxpayers that are paying   taxes um every year can get a little bit of their  burden, you know, released. Um I know Florida,  

I heard Florida today is not going to charge any  of their people property taxes anymore. I don't   know how they're going to do it, but prioritizing.  I don't know. Anyways, that thank you for   listening and I appreciate you guys. Um, just I  know it's a big job running this city, running   any government area, but I just want to make  sure you're maybe doing a fiscal responsibility   for us poor property owners that work hard  and uh pay our taxes. Thank you. Thank you, Thomas Stewart. Good evening. Hello, Thomas Stewart, city  council and residents of Monrovia. I I'm   here to oppose the proposed assessment district.  I submitted submitted a no vote. But first of all,   I'd like to thank Monrovia for the improvements  already made to our lights, parks, and streets.   Earlier this year, I came to the city council  and complained about the streets light street   lights not working after a friend of mine hit  a pedestrian with his car and on a particularly   poorly lited lighted Mon uh Mayflower Avenue.  After significant effort, these lights were   finally repaired by the city staff in Edison. But  Monrovia went above and beyond and fixed all the   lights in Monrovia. It's like Christmas came  early. All the lights are brighter. The lights   don't flicker, they burn steady and consistent. I  was very surprised. I also want to thank Monrovia   for reopening and improving Canyon Park and also  for opening wilderness reserve in the hills of   above Monrovia and building and upgrading many  parks that my family have enjoyed over the years.   I could go on, but the point I want to make is  Monrovia has done all these improvements with  

the current budget and capital stream. Why tax us  more? A few other reasons I think this proposed   amendment district stinks. Number one, the way  this ballot has been rolled out is sneaky. It's   not following the standard voting protocol that  we come to expect by getting a ballot in June   and November. Instead, it comes to us looking like  normal junk mail that would easily be thrown away.   Many of our residents throw out their B may have  thrown out their ballots without looking at them.   Probably yes. Do you know their that their tax did  they know that their tax assessment if passed will   escalate quickly to three to five times what  they are paying now? Probably no. And now the   a public hearing just a day before the ballots are  counted. Is this assessment legal? Does it violate   Prop 28 which requires property assessments to  provide specific benefits to individual parcels,   not just general community benefits? Is this  a good time to raise taxes significantly?   Residents are already plagued with inflation  in our most normal costs of groceries, gas,   utilities, insurance, housing. It feels like  Monrovia is just piling on. Is this assessment   fair? Not only because it's alarmingly steep, but  especially because this assessment appears to be   based not on individuals usage or consumption, but  on property value. I consider this discriminatory.   A person may have a high value property but are  living on a fixed or low income like many of our   retired people in this city. The assessment  leans on the dist redistribution of costs   and collective benefits over indivi individual  benefits. This practice essentially introduces   the princ principles of socialism to a once  businessfriendly town. Government entities use   its policies to burden citizens and businesses to  enrich. Tom, can you can you wrap it up, please?  

Okay. What about measure K? You have over the last  five years, 19 million have been approved to be   spent. A little over 6 million have been spent and  a whopping 31 million sit in measure K bank. Why   not use this fund which has already been assessed  to be a to improve our lights, streets, parks,   and landscaping. Thank you. Let's have a thankful  month this month with no new tax increases. Mike Johnson. Hi, good evening, city. Um, yeah, I was  one who submitted a legal objection to this   because I do think it does not um satisfy the  requirements of Prop 218. Um, but besides that,   I agree with what's been said here. This is just  way too much of an increase. Um, California,   especially the nation at a whole is seeing an  affordability crisis. Monroe should be doing its   part to try to help that, not make it worse. Um,  and you know, increasing property taxes 400 500%   sometimes up to almost a,000% just is the wrong  thing to do at the wrong time. Um, and I want   the city to also clarify what people might not  have have be hearing that this does not solve the   deficit issue that even if this passes, the city  is still going to be spending nearly a million   dollars a year to cover the district. So, you need  to clarify that with everybody so they know that   this does not accomplish what the city intended  to accomplish. I see Mr. Beldin shaking his head.   But do you disagree with that? This is not a  two-way dialogue. Please proceed. Okay. Well,   thank you. But you need to clarify that that this  does not solve that issue. Thank you. Thank you.

WD It's my last card. Good evening. I have been a resident of  Monrovia since 1947. Uh my grandfather and   my father are Monrovians or were and I'm a second  generation Californian. I'm also a property owner   in Monrovia. I have rental property and as  we all know those uh expenses that I incur   are passed on to my tenants. So I asked them if  they would like to pay more rent to pay for this   uh I guess lighting and parks uh whatever. Uh you  know what their answer was? No. That's my answer,   too. As a retired citizen, I looked forward to uh  uh having Prop 13 helped me to afford to stay in   my home. This is simply a way to get around Prop  13, to get more money out of property owners.   I think if you ask each property owner if  they want to increase their taxes for this,   I think in these times now, I would say we  have pri higher priorities. My tenants are more   concerned with putting food on the table, buying  gas, and surviving in these economic times. I'm  

really surprised that you come up with something  like this. I vote no. Thank you. Thank you. That is our last speaker card. Is there  anyone else wanting to address us? Please,   if if you want to speak, could you come up, state  your name, and I see another gentleman coming up.   Eric Vaughn. I'm I'm a double property owner here.  My only question was in the in the wording for   what you're going to count the ballots, it's  it said that the yays outweigh the naysay,   then it passes. That's a 50/50 simple majority.  What I read in on the computer for Prop 218,   it has to be a twothirds majority vote. So,  I don't know what that deal is on that. I'm   going to take all the public comment and then  we'll address the the questions. Thank you. Good evening, uh, Madame Mayor, council members,  and city staff. Thank you for your time this   evening. After reviewing the engineer report,  I do see a need for reassessment for our city   lighting and landscaping and park maintenance  assessment. I'm not here to oppose that. I   am happy to pay my fair share to support the  services that make Monrovia safe, beautiful,   and functional. My focus tonight though is how  we spend those funds and whether or not we're   doing so that builds a long-term value for our  community. This report defines in section 2.1   the quote unquote improvements as maintenance  and operation servicing the public street   lighting facilities including all the works and  improvements used and useful for the lighting in   public places including ornamental standards,  luminires, poles, supports, tunnels, manholes,   etc. etc. within the boundaries of the district.  That reads like a catalog of maintenance tasks,   not a plan for upgrades that reduce costs  or improve systems of performance. And  

that's reflected in the financials. The utility  spend projections below show the utility spend   projections show steady increases in fiscal year  2026 to 2027. It shows an increase of $857,000. And then in eight uh fiscal year 30 to 31, it's  $965,000. Those rising figures are consistent with   maintaining the current load and obligations, not  with realizing any energy savings. Additionally,   there are excess maintenance savings on doing an  upgrade that are not in this assessment. If we are   not investing in the efficiency and improvements,  it's makes it makes sense that we are not seeing   those savings. But that also means we're not  locking in higher operate that we are lock   locking in higher operating costs for the future  and missing an opportunity to stretch every dollar   further. That's why I respectfully ask the  council to consider tableabling this measure   briefly requesting and requesting three additions  to this report. A clear baseline of the current   annual energy and operating and maintenance cost  and a five-year projection with with and without   the proposed work. a life cycle cost comparison  for major asset asset groups showing expected   service life and replacement frequency and a total  cost over the 10 and 20-year periods. A short   comparison of the current delivery model versus  an energy performance contract, including examples   of guaranteed savings and risk transfer. I want  to emphasize the last point. Energy performance   contracting is a pro proven model used by cities  and school districts across the country. It ties   payment to delivered results. It allows upgrades  to be financed through future savings. And it   shifts performance risk away from the city. It's  even if it's not the right fit for this measure,   I believe it is a tool that Monrovia should  have in its tools kit, especially as we plan for  

long-term resilience and fiscal responsibility.  I'm not here with any financial interest. I'm   here because I care about the city and I'm happy  to volunteer my time and experience in whatever   capacity is helpful. Whether it's that's reviewing  numbers, helping evaluate delivery models,   or simply supporting staff and council and  helping make Monrovia the best place possible in   the valley to live. Thank you again for your time  and consideration to the service of our community.   And sir, can we have your name for the record?  My name is Jason Sammy Willie. Thank Thank you. Good evening. Could you please state your name for  the record? Thank you. Hi there. Good evening. My   name is Wesley with Sagical Energy Solutions. Um  I've had the opportunity to speak with uh city   manager Dylan and I'm excited and actually very  uh encouraged and uh how much commitment he has   towards the city and the conversations we've  had about this prop. Um I understand this has   been developed thoughtfully with the citizens  in mind over the last I think seven years you   mentioned which is um you know a lot of time  and effort you guys have put in to make this   something that you know makes sense and works  for the citizens and allows you guys to to move   forward with what you're trying to get done.  Um Energy Solutions has a strong background in   helping cities modernize their facilities and  your utilities in a strategic cost-effective   way and helps reduce pressure on your general  fund. Um, I would appreciate the opportunity to   meet with the city and see how we can complement  the goals of this prop and generate additional   savings and lessen the financial impacts on your  citizens over the the time of this loan. Um,   I'll leave my business card with you after  the meeting and I appreciate your time and   thank you for your service to the community.  Thank you. Anyone else wanting to address   the city council at this time, please come  forward and state your name for the record.

Hi, good evening city council and neighbors. My  name is Alan and I'm a resident for over 30 years   in Monrovia. And during that time, I've seen  my income tax or property tax more than double.   And I would remind the council that we're still  paying for the uh paving and all the road work   that was done, which is a long-term commitment  that comes out of our property tax. My question   is, with all the new construction that's going on  here around the metro line and the buildings being   built, is there not new revenue coming into  the city that would help with these expenses?   Where is that property tax and money going that  could help the residents that are on fixed income   and are basically as some of the uh neighbors  said before that they're struggling just to   pay for their fuel, their gas, and they're maybe  even some of them still have mortgages that are   active. Um I just challenge the city to think  about it again. I agree that we should sit back   and maybe wait and talk about this proposal over  a longer period of time. Thank you. Thank you. Again, anyone wanting to speak to the council  on this item? Okay. Um, but before I I close   the public hearing, um, may we have a Wait, did  I get No, excuse me. I I went a little too fast   here. Um, I want to announce a final opportunity  to submit, withdraw, or change assessment ballots.   And as uh Miss Bowman explained, we have  there's a table out there if anyone wants to  

um submit their ballot. if they want to  change their ballot, withdraw their ballot,   whatever they want to do with their ballot  out there. Um, and because there are no, we   don't have anyone else here, um, further persons  wishing to testify, this is the final opportunity,   and could you please provide your name, please?  Yes. My name is Martha Razo, and I'm here as a   representative for my father, Roelio Raso,  who owns three properties in Monrovia. He's   been a resident here since 1960. And I've been a  resident here all my life. And couple things I had   questions on that a lot of these people have  really answered for me, which is great. One,   um, you talk about all the workshops that you did  that you put information out there for us to know,   but I never got anything. You say you  put it into the the thing for the water,   but if you're paperless, you won't get it. And  so, how am I supposed to know about the workshops   to come and ask and find out? And then you say  you put on the website, dedicate a phone number,   but you don't put out that information. You  didn't mail out anything to the property owners   specifically for this. So, how am I supposed to  find out? Except when you mailed out the ballot,   which is a few months, a month before we have to  vote. Second, it doesn't have a time frame of when   this committee ends. It says it won't end and it  won't end until there's a vote from you guys to   end it or reassess it again. And then the million  dollars you're going to save in four years that   you're subsidizing, where's that going to go  afterwards? You guys are going to put it into   something else that's not going to help us and  it's going to increase the property tax again.  

So, I just had questions on that because I  didn't, again, I get the mail all the time.   Three properties, three chances, and I didn't  get any of the information. So, it would have   been nice to know, maybe get there, listen to what  it is. But, it's just a lot. And especially you   guys do it right now during Christmas holidays and  everything that's going on. And I don't understand   why it wasn't on the ballot on November 4th. It  would have been so easy. Everybody would have   known. But like the gentleman said, you get that  it just looks fake. You just rip it up and throw   it away. Why would you waste time looking at it?  And I don't know if any of you are involved or,   you know, with all these people that are supposed  to be helping us. NBS, I mean, I don't know them.   I don't have any information on them. So, I mean,  I really hope that it doesn't pass because like   the other gentleman said, the other two companies  are doing really good for the last how many years   since 1991. Why change now? They're fixing all  the lighting. Everything's better. So, what's the   point of it now? We needed that 30 years ago. Not  now. But I just needed to speak by piece because   again he's on a fixed income and that's a lot of  money for three properties. Thank you. Thank you Edie. Thank you. My name is Edie Ramirez. Um,  just real quick, I have a problem with the fact   that my vote is only for one vote while somebody  who has a property that's four times larger than   mine gets four votes. I don't think that's fair  at all. I agree with the lady who just spoke. Um,  

a lot of people who get their water bill, um, who  don't get a water bill, it's done automatically.   They had no idea this was coming. This is  something I agree with the other gentlemen. This   is something that should have been done with the  general election. Um it's just something that's   just thrown upon us with no advance. Well, we  had some advanced notice, yes, but just something   this this big that affects so many people in  such a adverse way. It's just something that   we need more time with. We need to have a better  system. It's just it's a bad effect on a lot of   people. It's not fair the way it's being graded  and I just don't like it. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, one last time. Any anyone else wanting to  provide public input? Yes, please come forward.   If anyone else wants to, if you maybe you  could sit right here in this front row and   we'll bring you up if anyone else wants to after  this gentleman. Yeah, thank you council and thank   you neighbors. Um, your name please. Oh, my name  is Brian Lint and I've been here for 10 years. So,   I agree with with a lot of what the neighbors  said. Um, there are also a few things that   I found is really strange. You guys hire an NBS  engineering firm doing the study for this property   tax increase but at the same time they are also  the one helping you guys to count tomorrow's   ballot. I see there's a conflict of interest.  Very clear. Super clear. Okay. And number two,   okay, you guys maybe should start auditing the  park department and the lighting department to  

see if there are any waste, fraud, and abuse.  that's been going on or if if there's nothing   it's even better you can give assurance to all the  citizens that's paying you guys. Okay. And another   thing would be someone mentioned about whatever  the KG KGM TV station whatever that is and you   guys mentioned there's an audit report released  already. If it's a order report, you should be   putting on your website, not asking people to  pull your teeth to give to people. Just like   the public company you see in the New York Stock  Exchange, NASDAQ, their public report is all can   be downloaded. So if you guys ever did any audit,  it should be on your website. Period. We shouldn't   be asking you guys to pull your teeth and send us  email, whatever. That's what I think. Okay? And   one last thing, if you guys live in Monrovia, if  you look at your property tax, there's a special   line for 0.13 tax already for city of Monrovia.  Where does that money go? Why can those money   not being spent on these lighting taxes, park  taxes? If you look at the Arcadia property tax,   Dati property tax, they do not have a specific  line for that city except for Monrovia, which I   found it very interesting. So if you can think  about all these and maybe just like one of the   neighbor says have some kind of Elon Musk doing  a magic to you know doing audits. So thank you. Okay. Uh again this is a last call for your  submitting your ballot or withdrawing your   ballot. again, whatever you want to do with  your ballot with the um the ladies that are   outside from NBS. Um you could also, if you want,  you could even bring your ballot up here to the  

front here with Alice and she will be glad to  take it. Um after I close the officially close   the the hear public hearing, you will not be able  to submit a a ballot and they will not be counted.   So, I'm not seeing any movement here. So, I  could cast a ballot. You can cast if you you   deliver it to you must get up right now. Go out  to the B and anyone that needs to deliver their   ballot. Please get up now and go to either  the back of the room or you can bring it   up here to Alice. So, if you need to actually  submit your ballot, please do it at this time or you can give it you can  give it to Alice here as well. I'm looking for any further movement again. Yes,  sir. Can you give me an answer before the end? You   you'll you will just Okay, I'm not seeing anyone  else move last time. If you need to submit your   ballot, please do so now. Okay, I I am now Raise  the hand. Yes. If we wanted to see a balance sheet   for the city of Monroia, where can we find that?  I bet Well, we'll address that in just a second.   Right now I want to make sure everyone who needs  to submit their ballot has done so. Okay. Then   I am going to uh close the public hearing at  this time. Um and or before I close the public   hearing then we have an announcement regarding the  tabulation of the ballots and Miss Bowman if you  

could please do that. Of course. So, due to the  large number of assessment ballots that have been   submitted, the ballot tabulation will not take  place this evening. The tabulation will occur   tomorrow, November 19th, starting at 9:00 a.m.  If necessary, the ballot tabulation will continue   on to the following day, November 20th. Again,  starting at 9:00 a.m. The tabulation will occur   here in the city council chambers. Um the city  council has designated the city clerk together   with the assistance of city staff and NBS working  under the direction of the city clerk to tabulate   the assessment ballots. All interested persons  may be present during the tabulation and monitor   the accuracy of the tabulation process. Okay. Um  and then and that is an open process. So again,   you can come and watch them count the ballots um  if you so choose. And that's tomorrow at 900 a.m.   here in the these council chambers. Okay. The  public hearing is now closed and I want to go   back. I know you were taking lots of notes, Mr.  Fe. Um if you could please address some of the   questions that were posed in the public comment.  Um, I think the uh I think the approach we're   going to take is I'm going to start with uh city  attorney addressing some of the legal questions   and implications. I'll see if Rey and I will  kind of tag team the staff side. We're going to   refer to some of the attachments and the documents  that are part of the public hearing agenda packet   which a lot of the answers can be found there and  we'll start that way and if there's anything that   we miss, we'll just ask council to draw that out.  So start with Mr. Steel. Uh thank you uh mayor,   members of council. Um, starting with the  last question that was just asked a minute ago   about I think the word I think the question was  balance sheet and I'm I'm not an accountant. So,   um, I'll just point out that all of the city's um,  financial reports are available on the website.  

I'm looking at the website right now under  the administrative services tab. We've got   um, budgets as well as historical budgets going  back probably eight or 10 years. um the annual   financial reports, the quarterly updates that are  prep prepared and presented publicly to the city   council. Um so anybody who wants to see any of  the financials, including the financials that are   um done for the accounts that are paid for by  the existing assessment, those are on the city's   website. They're they've always been on the city's  website. Um so anybody who wants to take a look   at that, it's available um as we speak. I'm I've  got it up in front of me. Um, city attorney, some   of those are audited reports, right? Pardon me.  Some of those are audited reports as well. Yeah,   the annual financial reports are all audited.  Okay. Um, and there's an audit every year and   there's a public presentation every year of the  city's annual um financial audit. The city um has   gotten award from the government finance officers  association for financial reporting for over 10   years um consecutively. I think it's longer than  that. Right. Right. But that's a public process   um that's presented to the city council in a  meeting like this every year. And again, those   are available on the website. In terms of the um  questions related to kind of roughly defined as   property taxes um and and a question regarding  this being some uh sort of effort to get around   Prop 13. I I think some history is necessary. Um,  Prop 13 was adopted by the and and was a pushed   forward by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association  in the 70s and that was a proposition that solely  

related to the percentage tax rate for property  taxes um in the state. Prop 218 was a follow-on   also qualified and pushed by the Howard Jarvis  Taxpayers Association in the 90s which was   expressly designed to break out different kinds  of government charges. This process that we're   undertaking now is required by Prop 218. It  was intended to be separate from the property   tax process by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers  Association, the folks who wrote Prop 13. So   this process is not an attempt to circumvent  Prop 13. It is exactly the process that the   Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the voters  who adopted Prop 218 required. The difference is   Prop 13 relates to property taxes and that's  just a straight rate based on valuation. It's   called an ad valorum rate that everybody pays  based on the value of their property. Um by   definition in Prop 218, an assessment like  this one um is not a property tax. It is an   assessment based on benefits that are applicable  to particular properties as the engineers report   um provides for. In this case, the engineer went  through and determined that there are general   benefits from these kinds of facilities that are  applicable across the city and to everybody who   visits the city. And I think that was about a 19  or 20% of the total expenditure that's excluded   from the assessment. And then it went through and  determined special benefits which are essentially  

the benefits that apply to each parcel of property  from having street lights, well-maintained parks,   etc. That's in the engineers report. We have not  received any um objections or comments that really   um substantively question that methodology  or the percentages that were determined in   the engineers report. Um so there was a question  about why a twothirds vote doesn't apply. That's   because the twothirds vote in Prop 13 and Prop 218  apply to special taxes, special property taxes.   So folks may know that they pay, for example,  a property tax for the library project   um that was imposed by the voters many years  ago that went through an election that required   a twothirds vote because it's a property tax  by definition under Prop 218. There's also a   tax for the Hillside Wilderness Preserve that  was adopted by the voters. It's because it's a   a special tax as defined in Prop 13 and in Prop  218. and the the election vote was required. A   vote at a general election is not required  for an assessment district. That's just the   law. We're just we we don't decide that. The  voters decided that when they adopted Prop 218.   We have to follow that process. There also was a  couple of comments about introducing a new system   uh that that this is somehow a new concept. This  is not a new concept. As other speakers noted,   these assessments have been around for 30 years.  We went through this process in the '9s to   um impose these assessments at the time.  Unfortunately, they were imposed in a way   that doesn't keep up with the increasing  costs of providing these services. And the  

city council has been informed for years that  the costs were increasing while the assessment   amounts were staying the same. And that's just  an unsustainable obviously um model. But there   is no new model. There is no new concept here.  These these assessments exist. People who've   lived here and own property here any time between  now and the '9s have paid these assessments and   they've had those assessments on their um  property tax bill throughout that time. Um and the just to reiterate the last the last um  question that I wanted to again answer there were   there were questions about whether there have been  audits of the park department or the public works   department. The answer to that is yes. There's an  audit of the city every single year. Um and that's   a public process. That document is published. It's  available to anybody who wants to look at it. Um,   those are the questions that I had notes of that I  thought should be um, responded to. I'll address a   couple items that I made note of. One, timeline.  The city began the process for consideration   of a change to the assessment district long  ago and and as we've been working with NBS,   which the city entered into a contract with NBS  uh I believe it was last year uh to really help   us take us through and up until this point part  of the contracted services agreement is that   they will actually help us conduct the actual uh  tabulation and calculation in a space here. As we   was mentioned earlier, um there was no intent of  us to, you know, distract or do it during in the   middle of a holiday season. Um, we simply had  to provide notice to every parcel affected. Um,   so in addition, the city has had multiple public  meetings and hearings over the course of the year.   We've shared this information regularly in  the Monrovia today in the weekly city manager   updates and all city formal communications,  including the parcel specific mailers that  

were mailed out to every um homeowner. We've  tried to do our very best to communicate. Um,   and the purpose for setting a date 45 days ahead  of that mailer that goes to parcels is to give   everyone a chance and a public notice that this  is the date that we're going to hold the meeting,   which um, per the law is, you know, one of the  last steps before we actually start counting   the ballot. So, we've done our very best to try  to um, notify the public as best as we can. Um,   we've even updated the website. We even created  what I thought was quite unique. It was a a   property specific map where people could look at  current um assessments and even what the 5-year   implementation would be for their property. That  was something that NBS did at our request and I I   think it was a very helpful tool in understanding  um what uh how property owners should be impacted. One addition with regard to NBS, there was a  question raised about a conflict of interest.   Um, and just to be clear about that, NBS has a  contract to prepare the engineers report to help   prepare the notice that went out to the public  and to tabulate the ballots. NBS does not have   a contract to provide any of the work that would  be paid for by this assessment. And they don't   get paid more or less based on the result of the  assessment. They're they're doing the work that   was contracted for. That was a public session that  approved that contract. The contract is out there   for anybody to want to see if they want to, but  they don't get anything more or less depending on   the result of the assessment uh vote. So, there  is no conflict of interest. Mr. Fe, I did I have   a couple that that weren't covered unless you had  I've got more. Okay, good. Got a list. Got a long   list. Okay. Um there was a comment made about  ballots. You know, why is it it's the comment was   it's not fair that I get one vote and my neighbor  might get four if they have a bigger property.   The way that the ballots are actually counted  is a is weighted based on the dollar amount  

of the assessment that was predetermined. Um some  properties based on the the calculate calculation   methodology that's applied evenly across the  board does account for parcel size. So if a   property owner has a larger parcel or receives  a greater benefit from the assessment district,   their property tax assessment could be greater.  And so they factor in a a weight to that ballot.   So it's not a he gets four votes. It's still one  vote, but that vote is just weighted differently. Um in reviewing the costs of the assessment  district, there's a there's a chart that Ray had   showed earlier. Um today, as of today, the city  is subsidizing significantly. Um but at the end   of five years based on our current projections of  costs we expect the the city will be subsidizing   uh not just one over one million today but  $4 million. The largest cost drivers in the   assessment district are first electricity um  which we've Edison has increased rates which   apply to the city also five times in 2025 alone.  The current methodologies for the assessment   district do not account for that. And so we  can't keep up with just the cost of electricity,   but we also have to account for labor  costs, equipment costs, um uh water costs,   and a variety of other factors that all go into  maintaining our streetscapes and our parks. Mr.   Fig, then the question was uh that this assessment  will not help our situation. I I think that's a   matter of subjectivity to the person who made the  comment. What the what the city did not prepare as   part of the proposed assessment is a significant  increase in upfront capital needs to make energy   retrofits or upgrades. So, for example, um the  project that Edison recently undertook to retrofit   um about 60% of the city street lights um was done  because those were one Edison owned facilities.  

they own all the equipment and the city agreed  to basically freeze the cost that we pay for   the lights. Um, so the energy savings would  be reduced, but we would continue to pay the   same dollar amount which would cover the cost to  put in the lights. It's about a 15-year payback,   but the result is new modernized lighting, um,  more energy efficient lighting, and it did not   increase the city's budget and kind of locks in  our our bill for the next while. If the city were   to do that to the 40% of the city street lights  which are ours that we're solely responsible for,   um the city would have to find capital cost to in  invest in the in that to do our 1400 lights would   probably be a million dollars plus the labor cost  to put them in. So, it's a pretty sizable what we   did not do as part of the proposed assessment was  build in that upfront capital cost to make energy   savings retrofits. The city is always considering  cost savings, energy efficiency. We've done a lot   of work with with upgrading LED lighting in  city facilities, water efficiency measures at   all of our city facilities and parks, as well as  a variety of other things. I have a question. Yes,   sir. If this assessment district passes, do  we have built in into the calculations that   say in 10 years we won't be in the same  situation? In other words, the cost will   increased to such a degree that they'll have  to do something again to keep up with cost. The the challenge that's a that's a very  hypothetical question, very hard to explain.   What what you're asking is, do I predict that  however many years, 10 years from now, do I   think we have enough revenue to cover the costs?  Well, we're making some serious assumptions. Um,   just like residents costs are going up, the cost  to run the city, the cost to keep the street  

lights on, the cost to maintain parks and streets  is also going up. Um, what I would say is because   the process to update the assessment district is  this difficult and takes this amount of time. Um,   it it doesn't happen very often, which is  why we haven't done this in over 30 years,   the city of Monrovia. Um, which is also why we  haven't addressed this deficit, which if you add   up a million dollar deficit each year over the  last 30 years, it adds up. And we're projecting   that to grow exponentially greater. Um, and we're  going to have to consider funding sources or,   you know, I I don't think it's practical that  we just start turning out street lights. We'll   have to find sources of revenue elsewhere. Um,  and I and I don't think it goes without saying   that we're not trying to do that. We're trying  to do that right now to minimize the deficit. Um,   but what we are currently projecting is that  in 5 years alone, if we do nothing, it's a   $4 million deficit, which is significant. That's  almost 10% of our general fund. Um, I I think I   could go into a whole variety of tangential things  that we're doing to try to manage the city's   finances in a responsible manner. Um, but but  the city has needs outside of keeping the lights   on and maintaining streets and parks. We have  facilities. We have personnel that have to run   our programs. We have a jail that's old. We have  a whole variety and a long list of things where   we're having to try to balance all these competing  priorities. Um and the city's fiscal resiliency   plan is is based on this premise that um we try  to identify funding sources and vehicles to take   care of those services that they provide. So in  this case, the assessment district is is trying   to cover the cost to provide those specific types  of service. Um, a key component to this proposal   is because we haven't done anything in the last  30 years to get us to where we need to be is a  

big it's it's a it's a big impact. The council  had talked about phasing it in over 5 years,   but still it's a big impact. Um, what we have  tried to do is phase it in the best we can.   um bring us up to a point where we can sustain it  and maintain it. And what it does include is an   inflationary factor with a cap up to 4%. Um just  a reminder of council, it was only three year two   and three years ago that we were seeing CPI of 8  and 9%. All I mean the whole community was feeling   it. But from a from operating a city, we feel it  too and it was impacting the city's budget which   again is why the deficit continues to grow. The  point is we've tried to build in what we thought   were reasonable um practical ways to try to get us  where we needed to be and help us moving forward.   Um and I think that's my my hope is that that  answers the question the best it can. Um Dylan,   can I just Yes, of course. ask I think  there was a slide here and it I think that   you mentioned it but it may was got confusing  to me when you said it though but the current   proposed assessment at least on this slide here  is estimated to fully cover costs by fiscal year   3031 correct yes correct so we will no longer  be subsidizing this by 3031 correct correct um I spoke about notices um energy efficiency  upgrade trades. I kind of spoke to them,   but I just I just want to point out that typically  um as we look to ways to reduce costs to be more   efficient or in ways of like improving uh energy  efficiency, um typically what comes with that is   uh we identify particular projects. Sometimes it's  upfront capital. The city has to front money to   make upgrades. Sometimes there's a mechanism  where um we can partner with someone to make  

the improvements upfront, performance-based  contracting. um and the city basically sees   the savings over time. Sometimes there's bonded  financing. There's a variety of mechanisms. Um   what what the we'll certainly continue to explore  as options to reduce our costs, but I'll I'll   as I've said before um the number one driver is  Edison electricity and and the distribution side   is what is going up. Um and that's not something  we can control. Um, let's see. Transparency. Um,   you know, there's a comment made about why doesn't  the city just provide documents on the website?   Um, the city, one of the things that we do is  we produce a lot of paperwork. Um, hundreds of   thousands of documents every year that, you know,  city clerk's office has to maintain in such a a   professional way. Um, but it would just simply  be too burdensome to put every single document   on the city website. um and you'd have trouble  finding it if you can even find certain documents   already that are posted on the website. Um there's  just a voluminous amount of information that's out   there. So I just want to be very clear there  is absolutely zero intent that the city ever,   you know, tries to hide. Cities are are,  you know, we try to operate as transparent   as possible. And so part of the reason why, you  know, I give out my personal cell phone number   is if you're looking for a document or you want  to know something, call us, reach out. It may be   available online or you might just know someone  to call where you can get that information. So   there's zero intent that we're trying to hide  something or bury something. We want the public   to have access to information of their city  government. Um there's just a a practical way   to do it and it it would be overly burdensome  to try to put everything out available online.   Um I think those are the primary comments that I  had on my sheet. Are there any additional Yeah,   if you have any additional I've got three of them.  Measure K, why not? And there was a small there is   a small percentage on your property tax bill and  that goes to fund public retirement fund. I don't  

know if that's what the gentleman was talking  about, but if you maybe could expand a little   bit on that that small percentage on the property  tax for that purpose. And then new construction.   Why aren't we getting enough re revenue from  the new construction? Oh, thank you, Becky. Um,   measure K, measure K, local option sales tax.  It began being collected in April of 2020. The   reason that was approved was as a general  purpose tax measure. The city has collected   um up until this point a considerable amount of  money. We treat it as a separate pot of money. Um,   this money is paid through sales taxes. So, um,  not only residents, but people who primarily buy   vehicles in the city of Monrovia. um including  those who you know buy vehicles elsewhere and   register them in the city of Monrovia primarily  pay the sales tax of in this city. Um the number   one the the top five categories of sales taxpayers  are vehicle um businesses um including the lease   portion and the purchase portion. Um that money  is collected and set aside into a separate pot   of money. The city council has approved spending  plans for that. Um, this was primarily projects   related to either building the city's financial  reserves during the last 5 years of pandemic and   multiple recessions and three natural disasters,  making sure that we had the reserves to be able to   address Canyon Park repairs or um fund necessary  improvements uh at a time where you know quite   honestly there's just a lot going on in the world.  Um the other components, the council has approved   several projects, including some projects to  assist seniors in need, making sure that we're not   displacing seniors from housing, providing meal  and senior programming at the community center.   They have funded almost $5.5 million for repairs  to Mountain Avenue and Peek Road. If you haven't   been on Peek Road recently, it's about as smooth  as it's ever been. Um and that project has been in  

dire need of repair for some time. the city. Um,  while we made much progress on the Monroe View   renewal and brought our roads up to among the best  in the state, we also had significant needs still   of roads that were unfunded and difficult to do.  One of the challenges with bonding $57.5 million   worth of public improvements is that your bonding  capacity and your ability to pay is kind of tied   up for the next 40 years. So, as we look to future  improvements and how we do these things, you know,   the city was is left with very little residual  income to do large large projects like that.   Um there are other projects in measure K including  the um excuse me the um the study and the   engineering for the community center uh renovation  project. Um we also have set aside money for the   library enhancement project. Um there are several  other projects smaller in scale um that the   council has set money aside for and in the near  future the city will be considering a project to   um renovate the community center. Um, this is  our largest, most significant public facility.   It that serves the most members of the public.  Um, it is probably somewhere between 30 and a   $35 million project. Um, but it is a 35 to 50year  long project and whether the city bonds for it,   pays cash for it, um, money like measure K is also  identified as funding sources for other needs in   the city too. Um, one of the things I see quite  often is why can't measure K go for this? Um, the   city has competing needs and interests across the  board. Um, and I think one of the challenges that   the city has um that the city council specifically  is you're in charge of the budget and so you're   constantly being tasked with trying to weight  these competing priorities. And we make sure that   we try to be as fiscally prudent and wise as we  can. We try to do that in a way we're coming and   having public meetings. The city council since the  beginning of the pandemic has had quarterly budget   meetings. You all probably know the municipal  budget better than any other elected officials  

in the San Gabriel Valley because we spend more  time going over the budget. And I think that's   just really important to note. So if people feel  like they um don't know or don't have answers or   would like to know more, reach out and ask us.  We can share a whole variety of information, get   them involved so that they can learn more. Public  retirement. Um, Monrovia is is one of, I believe,   five cities in the state of California that  back in the 1950s, residents voted on a specific   specific parcel tax measure that would had to be  dedicated to pensions. Um, this was done at a time   where I think public sentiment around pensions  was favorable and the city um and the residents   wanted to ensure that we had adequate funding for  um public employees who would serve the community.   Um again, this is a very very rare and unique um  parcel tax that will show up on people's annual   property tax bill. um when cities across the  state are are grappling with how do they fund   increasing pension costs for first responders  and public employees. Um while Monrovia has still   asked those same questions and has still made  tremendous efforts and made a lot of decisions to   be fiscally prudent like asking our employees to  contribute more for pension conser contributions   reducing their retirement benefits. We have made  um significant steps in asking employees to reduce   um their benefits and increase their costs.  We also have the specific partial tax which   uh make us the envy of many cities across  the state of California. Right. It doesn't   it doesn't cover everything, but it doesn't it  doesn't cover everything, but but what it does do   is it provides a significant significant impact  to the city's bottom line, which quite honestly   if we didn't have um we would be in a world of  hurt, much like other cities. Um finally, the new   construction around um Station Square and Gold  Line. The city is very cognizant of the impact  

of new construction on the community. Excuse me.  We will see increased economics for the community   through the cost of you know building permit fees,  property tax increases, sales taxes if they sell   something or or t we'll see the the the workers,  hundreds of workers at a time will be shopping,   whining, dining, staying at hotels here in the  community. We'll see property tax evaluations go   up which have helped. Um but but we also task them  with significant public improvements at the time   the projects are improved. We require them to make  any necessary upgrades to public utility systems,   to the roadways. They contribute to our parks and  open spaces and public art programs. Um we we task   them all. Any project with more than five units  pays a 50% premium on their water and sewer rates.   Um, and we we also um because they're all  being built with new construction codes, they   use about a fifth of the water as your average  single family home in the city of Monrovia. So,   we force them to be very very water conscious.  Um, these projects um are also impacted by the   assessment district. one property that I can  think of um or that I'm specifically thinking of   um currently has an annual um assessment of  $2,900 a year. Under this assessment methodology,   their fair share is $30,000 a year, which is  what's proposed. So, we have even made sure   to uh address what I think are um you know uh  what I think is an unfair assessment and trying   to correct those as well. Making sure they pay  the same fair share as your your single family   homeowner. Any Did I I think I answered all your  back. Are there any other any other questions? If I can look across the way at Ray Ray, did  you have any notes on anything that I missed?  

I I think you covered a lot, but um one of the  things one of the comments um mentioned this   evening was um the the notion that even if  this proposed assessment district does pass,   that uh the city will still have a deficit because  it still has to pay something. And I think it was   around $800,000. I just wanted to clarify that  that figure is the city's general benefit, which   Prop 218 requires us to separate general benefit  from special benefit. And that general benefit,   that estimated $800,000 is the responsibility of  the city. I think that was it. Thank you. And um   you're good. Yeah. Okay. Our our next steps, Miss  Bowman, would you please uh inform us then about   our next steps and we will be coming back here on  December 2nd. Of course. Thank you so much. So,   the next steps include the ballot tabulation,  which again will occur here in council chambers   tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. And upon the completion  of the tabulation of assessment ballots,   the city clerk, with the assistance of NBS,  will determine if a majority protest against   the proposed assessment exists. A majority  protest will exist if the assessment ballots   submitted and not withdrawn in opposition to the  proposed assessment exceeds the ballots submitted   and not withdrawn in favor of the proposed  assessment. In making this determination,   each assessment ballot will be weighted by the  amount of the assessment for the property for   which the ballot is submitted. If there is  a majority protest, the city council cannot   impose the assessment. After the tabulation of  assessment ballots is complete, the city council   may consider resolution number 2025-58 adopting  written responses to the timely submitted written   objections. In the absence of a majority  protest, the city council may also consider   a resolution forming the district and levying the  assessment for fiscal year 2627. The city council  

is tentatively scheduled to consider both of  these resolutions at its meeting on December 2nd,   2025. Great. Thank you. Um then uh at the close of  this um matter we have accepted and considered all   oral and written testimony, objections and written  responses to timely submitted written objections.   We held our public hearing close the same and  direct staff have directed staff to tabulate   the assessment ballots at the de designated time,  dates and place. And then we will come back here   then on December 2nd to consider the actual  res find out what the tabulation is and the   um in fact did you want to comment on the  actual announcement of the tabulation? I don't know what it is. Well I know you don't  but I mean the process of of do we have to wait   until December? So so thank you. I'm teasing. Um  one one I I just you know Yeah. Um the answer to   your question is um tomorrow when we begin the  count um we will be here and anyone is welcome   to come as mentioned earlier um we'll we'll work  with NBS uh for when they not only co collect and   count the ballots but also we'll probably want  them just to verify. So there'll probably be a   verification process as soon as we know we'll  we'll share that information. The meeting on   the 2nd is kind of the formal step in the process  where we'll bring that back to city council for   the formal presentation of the information. But  I I see no reason why if the city has information   available that we couldn't share that. Um  the other there was another comment I was um the other thing I wanted to mention that wasn't  brought up today is um based on the observations   that we had made with just with the the totes  that we have here at city hall for the ballots   um the city we we estimate somewhere between  3 to 4,000 ballots that were received. So,  

one thing I do want to just I I feel very  confident in saying when we reached out   with as much outreach as we did do, we did  receive a considerable response. I think that   number of ballots was was very surprising to  us. We're very grateful that we reached that   many people regardless of what the outcome  is. But we'll share those results as soon   as we can. Okay. U Mr. Steel, do we have to  have an actual motion to do what I just said   about accepting and considering all the oral and  written testimony? No, you've actually considered   it. They that consideration occurred in the  public public hearing. Thank thank you very   much and I want to thank everyone for being here  this evening and for your input on this matter   and please stay tuned and by all means come back  on December 2nd when we will consider the actual   uh resolution. Um so with that uh we are moving  on then to another public hearing uh PH2 which   is amendment to title 17 zoning code of the  Monrovi municipal code to add section 17.12.070 and amendment to sections 17.04.080 080 and 17  point oh there are a lot of codes there uh re   it's relating to bungalow court development  introduction and first reading of ordinance   number 2025-11 and who is going to Mr. Mayor  be myself. Thank you. And good evening, mayor,   member members of the city council. Um, a recent  bungalow court project in Monrovia um has showed   us how important these small open air features are  uh in creating this authentic courtyard feel. Uh,   and this ordinance gives us a clear way to  support them in future projects. Tonight,   I'll walk through what uh what has prompted  this ordinance, what it does, and how it  

supports Manurvia's long tradition of bungalow  court housing. Uh one of the city's uh most   distinctive and beloved housing types. Uh bungalow  courts are really part of Monrovia's DNA. Um,   they first appeared in across Southern California  in the early 1900s uh as a way to provide modest   uh affordable homes that still felt like single  family homes uh single family cottages. In these   courtyard style developments, the homes all faced  a shared landscape courtyard which gave residents   a sense of privacy but also uh created a real  sense of community. And so in today's terms,   these developments are considered u early  examples of of the uh missing middle housing. Our historic context statement also describes  bungalow courts as providing the privacy of   a small dwelling in a shared semi private  landscape. The photo here shows Myrtle Court,   uh one of Monrovia's historic examples. Another  one is Harding Court on on Foothill Boulevard,   which we just saw a historic uh image of that  in the previous slide, built in 1920. Um these   developments really help define the charm and  scale of our older communities community. Uh fast   forward to today, uh there's been a renewed  interest in this traditional housing style.   In 2022, the development review committee approved  a bungalow court at 732 Mountain View Avenue,   which was modeled after uh Pasadena's historic  guards court. Uh the plan at 732 Mountain View   features four cottages and two ADUs all around a  central courtyard uh that was very well received   by the city council and also the preservation  community. In fact, it even earned a mention from   the Monrovia Old House Group as the right balance  between housing supply and neighborhood character.

So, during construction of that 732 Mountain View  project, the developer installed a a decorative   arbor to mark the uh courtyard entry. It looked  great. Uh but we discovered that the arbor is   technically not allowed in the front yard uh  under the way our code is written today. Our   zoning code treats arbors and trelluses  the same as storage buildings and sheds   and garages. They're just not permitted in the  front yard. So that meant there was no clear way   to approve a simple open air decorative feature  like this one. So this experience showed us that   there's a small gap in our code that we could  fix to better support bungalow court design.   So, the purpose of this ordinance tonight is  just to fill that gap. It adds a new section to   the zoning code, incentives for bungalow court  development, and updates our minor exception   section. It also formally defines what a bungalow  court is for the first time in the zoning code.   And it gives the development review committee  the authority to grant a minor exception for   small open air non-habitable features like  these these arbors and trelluses and pergolas   uh when they enhance a shared courtyard or or  entry experience. So in simple terms um here's   what the ordinance does. It it encourages bungalow  court development while protecting neighborhood   character. It allows limited flexibility  for small courtyard design features and   it sets very clear limits uh so that they stay  modest and pedestrian scaled. So each request   will still need to go through a minor exception  process so that the development review committee   uh can review its design placement and safety  um and having some flexibility with oversight. This ordinance is also fully consistent with  our general plan land use policies 9.3 and   9.4 which call for monitoring residential uh  development standards to maintain compatibility  

and refining design guidelines for new multifamily  housing. It also supports contextsensitive infill   and keeps Monrovia's small town scale intact.  Under SQA, this action is also exempt because   uh state law allows exemptions for minor land  use adjustments like these. And it also doesn't   change the density or land use. It simply  allows decorative non-habitable structures   uh within carefully limited dimensions. And  so just to summarize, this ordinance is just   a small practical update to our zoning code.  It preserves the look and feel of Monrovia's   historic bungalow courts while allowing today's  builders to include some small design touches   that make them special. The planning commission  also reviewed uh the ordinance on October 15th.   Uh they asked some thoughtful questions about  its application uh but unanimously uh recommended   approval and staff recommends that the city  council introduced introduce read by title   only and wave further reading of ordinance number  25-11. This concludes my presentation. I'm happy   to answer any questions of the council. Any  questions from council? Not hearing any. Um,   thank you, John. This is a public hearing and so  I will open the public hearing and ask is there   anyone wanting to speak on behalf or against uh  this item? Not seeing anyone then I will close   the public hearing and come back to council and  ask I I think it's they're wonderful the the the   um eads I'm it's too late and my mind just  bungalow courts they're fantastic and this little   added element or the option for that added element  uh is great. So with that um I would like to read  

Go ahead. Okay. I would like to read by title  only and wave further reading of ordinance   number 2025-11. I'll second. We have a motion and  a second. Could we please have a roll call vote?   Council members Beldin. Yes. Jimenez. Yes. Spicer.  Yes. Mayor Prom. Dr. Kelly. Yes. And Mayor Yes.   Great. Thank you very much. And that's ordinance  number 2025-11. an ordinance of the city council   of the city of Monrovia, California, adding  section 17.12.070 to the Monrovia municipal   code and amending Monrovia Municipal Code  sections 17.04.080 and 17.52.110 to create   incentives for the development of bungalow  courts and finding adoption of the ordinance   to be categorically exempt from review under the  California Environmental Quality Act. Thank you   very much. And then with that then we will move  on to reports of city manager and staff and RCM1   city council directives update. Mr. Fe. Thank  you madam mayor. The city sent a letter to the   governor and the state attorney general regarding  the death investigation of Carlos Montoya Valdez.   Um, we I I did speak with one of the attorneys  from the governor's office who was, you know,   as as I could have expected, it's not going to be  a quick process for them to do investigation. Um,   he also couldn't provide any information on  whether we'd actually get any information. Um,   I I think just the sensitivity around these types  of investigations um are serious, but he was one   of the prosecutors in the governor's office  who called me directly once they received our   letter. So, we can continue to assure the public  that we've sent the letters. Um but in this type   of investigation, we've we've spoken with our  state representatives, even our congress members   know the city's interest. Um but you know, whether  they provide the city of Monrovia any information,  

we don't we just don't know. Um the upper  San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District   executive director has said that he will be able  to attend a meeting on December 2nd to provide an   update on the state of our water supply, but also  the quaga muscle uh per your request. Um and the   uh we were asked to uh provide a Samson the hot  tub bear to Assembly Member Herbedian after uh   our joint meeting with him last month. The books  arrived the other day. We also have to get him a   plaque. Uh we noticed that he was not he did not  have a city Monroia plaque on his office wall. We   want to make sure that our plaque is just slightly  larger than everybody else's. City manager fe they   have the plaque. They do have the plaque. Perfect.  All right. Thank you, Alice. You gave it to   Adriana. Oh, good. Um if the public is not aware  um we have shared that unfortunately we have to   cancel the thankful and grateful holiday gathering  due to the inclement weather. We do expect it to   be quite rainy but that also allows us time to  you know spend more energy and effort preparing   for the Thanksgiving holiday with our families and  then one week after that we're going to have our   annual holiday parade. Parade information and  registration went out recently. We're looking   forward to another banner year. Last year I think  was our record. We hope we we can break that this   year. Um, two final items. Um, tomorrow night the  Monrova Unified School District will be receiving   a presentation from the superintendent about  um the state of their middle school discussions   and consolidation. Um, I was talking with the  superintendent the other day. Um, and she uh   asked if the city of Monrovia would con uh would  would hear some information once they make their   presentation. They'd like us to they they're going  to send us the information. They they'd like me to   distribute it to each one of you. And as part of  as part of a larger discussion about collaboration   between the city and the school, um uh the  district is of the opinion that it would be wise   for the city and the school district to discuss  what's the status of the school that is closed.  

Um the the term that they use is consolidation,  but I think it's such a serious and significant um   decision that they have to make and they want our  opinion and their input. um they probably are in   the best position to weigh in on um which school  to close and why, but what happens afterward is   very much an important public discussion. And so  we've talked about other collaborative efforts we   have from partnering with the one city, one story  event to working together for the the to fix the   high school pool to opening up the five elementary  schools after hours um for public use. So there's   a lot of other activities. We've even talked  again about been asking for a while for a joint   meeting. So, I'd even expect there to be a joint  meeting here in the near future. Um, but I'll   bring an item to the city council including that  presentation um at your December 2nd meeting. Um,   and last but not least, last week um the Municipal  Management Association of Southern California,   which is a very old organization of um government  professionals uh in Southern California recognized   the city of Monrovia uh for a 2025 organizational  excellence award. Um we had staff who are very   active in this organization um attend the meeting.  Um what they noted was the city's efforts to   um go to provide information on vision, mission  and values to our employees from the newest   employee to our employee of the year awards. But  we also specifically drew attention to our close   your ears, Craig, our annual council campout  um which continues to be a very um very unique   extremely unique um program where the city council  staff you know it's a it's a fun unique event. Um   but the city's repeated efforts to build culture  and to bring community, you know, city officials,   city leaders um together to work together to  solve problems was recognized by MMSC. So we're  

very very excited for that award. I'll make sure  that the award is displayed here at city hall,   but I just wanted to share that information.  We'll include additional information in the   city manager update this week. Um that's my report  this evening. Thank you. Any questions of Dylan?   Thank you very much. Um then RCM2 installation  of historic Route 66 signage along South Shamrock   Avenue between Foothill Boulevard and Huntington  Drive. Absolutely. And Foothill Boulevard between   Fifth Avenue and Shamrock uh Avenue and  replacement of existing Route 66 signage   along Huntington Drive between Fifth Avenue and  Mountain Avenue. and Jocelyn Casus. Um, our senior   management analysts will present this report.  Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Shlin and members   of the city council. Thank you for your time this  evening. My name is Jocelyn and tonight I will be   presenting on Manurva's historic Route 66 signage.  As council is aware, the city has been preparing   for the centennial anniversary of this historic  route. Earlier this year, the Art and Public   Places Committee unveiled its newest installation  on Huntington Drive, a mural highlighting key   elements of Anrovia and notably highlighting the  street significance to Route 66. In September,   our partners at KM Studios also presented their  feature film, An Ode to an Old Road, a Route 66   story. This evening, I will be providing a brief  recap of the history of Route 66, provide an   overview of current signage, and present the  opportunity to update those existing signs   and install new signage along the historic route.  Established in 1926, US Route 66 or US Highway 66,   also known as the Mother Road, is one of the  original highways in the United States. The route   travels from Illinois all the way to California.  The route travels from Sanernardino County,   LA County to Santa Monica and goes right here  through our very own Monroia. From 1926 to 1934,  

the route originally ran through Shamrock and  onto Foothill Boulevard. But in 1934, the route   was realigned onto Huntington Drive as a result  of population growth. The change was thought to be   helpful in eliminating sharp turns and improving  traffic flow. By 1984, the two-lane Route 66 had   been replaced by four-lane interstates, ensuring  travel time and bypass small towns. In 1984,   the signs came down and the official designation  Route 66 was reassigned to a highway outside of   Washington DC. But in 1990, the Sanernardino  Tourism Development Council requested cities   in Southern California to designate the route in  an effort of historical preservation. The goal was   actually to boost tourism right here in Southern  California. Monroe became the first city in   California to install official signs on Huntington  Drive after other cities in Missouri, Oklahoma,   and Arizona were already beginning to do the same  installation. Signs were not placed on Shamrock   and Foothill at this time. Today, the current  signage only exists on Huntington Drive. There are   currently six signs along Huntington Drive that  can be found between Fifth Avenue and the 2-10   offramp, between Highway Essenade and Mayflower,  on the northeast corner of Myrtle, the northwest   corner of California, the northwest corner of  Shamrock, and the northwest corner of Mountain. Several months ago, the historical society  approached the city about the possibility of   refreshing existing signage. Signage was approved  and installed in 1990 and it's unclear if those   signs have become refreshed since. Signage  has become normal faded from normal aging and   weathering. The images here show three different  signs along Huntington Drive that become have   become difficult to see. The image on the left  hand corner is a sign placed on the corner of   Shamrock and Huntington. As you can see, signs a  little faded. The image in the center is a sign of  

the is a sign on the corner of California. Again,  a little difficult to see. And the last image can   be found between Mayflower and Highway Essenade.  You can see some of the original brown tones,   but again has become faded. Additionally,  signage currently only exists on the   north side of the street, so they're only  visible to travelers traveling westbound. Tonight, we are proposing to not  only update the existing six signs,   but to also approve the installation of  eight more signs on Huntington Drive. Six   signs to be installed on the south side of  the street for travelers heading eastbound.   Two signs on Huntington and Shamrock to  direct travelers to the historic route on   Shamrock and Foothill. And a bypass route sign  for those who wish to only travel the historic   route on Foothill. Um it's important to  note that these are only a mockup and   the signs order will follow the California  manual on uniform traffic control devices. In addition to those signs, a recommendation to  add signs along Foothill is also being proposed.   12 signs would be added to mimic the 12 signs on  Huntington. Proposed locations include Madison,   Violet, Mayflower, between South Ela Vista and  South Magnolia in front of the Astic Hotel,   Myrtle, and Canyon. At the intersection of  Shamrock and Foothill, directional signage to   the proposed to similar to the one proposed  on Huntington Drive is being recommended. Lastly, four signs are also being recommended  to be installed onto Shamron Avenue. Two to   go on the corner of Colorado, one in front  of Fred's Museum and one across the street   near the park. Two more to go in Walnut, one  in front of the old Flying Jay's gas station,   and the second to go across the street. To  recap, a total of 35 signs are being proposed   tonight. Public Works recently received  a quote for the signage to cost nearly  

$3,040. This includes the design, print, and tax.  Two signs are also in included in this quote for   Oldtown Monrovia. A recommendation this evening  is to approve the purchase of the sign and to   continue to prepare for the upcoming Route 66  anniversary. This concludes my presentation.   I will answer any questions you may have at this  time. Any questions of Joselyn? Yeah, Joselyn. Um,   the one you said for Oldtown, where would it be  positioned at? Um, so we're we're currently just   ordering the sign right now and then we'll go  back and look at where we can place this sign.   Great report. Thank you. Can I have one in my  house? Only if you buy it. Oh, I have a I have a   suggestion. The signs that are being retired, the  Route 66 signs, maybe those can be in the museum.   in the museum or maybe at some public event. Uh,  raffle it off an authentic Monrovia Route 66 sign.   The first signs that any city in California put  up for Route 66. It's just a suggestion because   that's significant. They were the first ones in  California, correct? Yeah, those in 199. Yeah,   the museum. The ones that are currently installed  aren't the original. They're the ones that were   reinstalled in 1990. 19 What? 90. Still in the  90s. Early 90s. Old. Hey, be careful. Sergio   wants to buy them at an auction. Saying, how many  of those signs are are left? There's six of them   on Honey Drive. All right. Great. Just curious,  what was the wording on the top? So, is there   looks like there's an extra little date sign  that we're putting on the view of the Yeah. So,   the ones that are being proposed to go on Foothill  and Shamrock, those say the original route   um dates from 1924 to 1930, 1926 to 1934. Oh,  okay. For just the Shamrock portion. Shamrock  

and Fel. Correct. Thank you. Great. Uh this is a  receive and file report. Great report, U Jocelyn.   and uh it is received and it shall be filed.  Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Jos. Okay. Um then that um does it with our  reports of city manager and staff. Moving   on now to reports of city council members and  subcommittees. And our clock hasn't changed.   It's actually only 5 minutes after 10. just to  just to let you know we and we feels like 12,   right? And we do have an agenda item after this,  but uh I will uh start off by um Mr. Beldin. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Uh we have quite a bit  that went on in the past few weeks um since we   didn't have our last uh city council meeting which  was uh around the the vote time and beginning of   November. Um so a lot did happen. I'll just pull  out a couple items that I was uh really had an   honor to attend I think with many of you. uh the  the ceremony to recognize all the amazing work our   police force does and the uh award ceremony that  was at USC by u by our fellow Southern California   Associations of uh police officers and great to  see our team getting the props that they deserve.   Um the it was also just outstanding to join many  of you at the uh immigration resource center gala   that they hosted at our Monrovia Historical Museum  and just uh I understand they had a lot of support   that night and they do a lot of great work and  I'm sure Dr. Kelly will bring it up a little later  

too. So thank you for all your service on that  group. Um, uh, Veterans Day was a really important   event just recently that we host at, uh, yeah, or  Valentine's Day as some people might call it, um,   for their love of all our fellow veterans. Um,  including our fellow veterans that are up here   with us today. Uh, but, uh, an honor to go out  and recognize them, and of course, I'll just add,   uh, thank you to my dad that served as well.  Um, and I'll bring it up at the next one,   but I have something I'll talk a little bit  more about. Um, just some people discussed   uh um ways we can remember folks that have uh um  there was a world day of remembrance for um road   traffic victims that just happened on Sunday, but  I'll I'll bring it up at the next uh meeting. So,   thank you very much. That's it for me today. Oh,  actually, sorry, just one more thing. Uhhuh. All   right. Um just a a little comment just I know  we didn't really have a chance to speak to folks   tonight uh about the uh assessment district but I  this not unique to me. I think we all share these   values that and we all feel the same pain that  everyone in our community is feeling in terms of   inflation and a lot of this as we just summarized  in in probably one statement from our city manager   is a chance for this district to catch up uh and  then address inflation that we're all feeling. And   that's really what this is. Um, but we definitely  understand and I I definitely understand at least   myself, uh, people's concerns about the cost  of living and trying to address that. And I   think we always encourage and I always encourage  everyone encourages us and I know our staff works   really hard to try to, um, keep costs down and  use our funds wisely. So, I appreciate that you   guys do that every day. So, thank you. Um, Mr.  Spicer. Okay. Um, I did all a lot of the things   that Edward talked about. The immigration  um gala, the Monroia Darty Black Alumni,  

they had a gala um for the dream team. There  was um gentlemans that played for the Dodgers,   played for some of the um um my cousin Farah  Hooker who played for the Cleveland Browns.   Um, a lot of these guys were graduates of  Monovia High School and Darti High School. Also,   um, I think that's about it in regards to all  the different functions we had going on. Um,   the holiday parade will be held in Oldtown  Monrovia on Thursday, December the 4th at   700 p.m. Parade applications are now available  online or at the community center. Come be a part   of this festive occasion. We'll see you there. In  addition, the holiday home decorating applications   are now available. We invite the entire community  to share their holiday spirit. Decorate your home   and be a part of this community tradition. I've  already put up my Christmas lights and stuff.   All entries will be included in the holiday home  decorating map and the winners will be recognized   at the December 16 council meeting. Um, regarding  the discussion tonight, I understand also, you   know, the concern with the um the people in the  community with all the terrorists that's going on,   the price hikes in the food, and um it's just  hard. But, you know, it's been a while since   we brought things to where they need to be. And  I just believe that this would help us to bring   to get in line with where we need to be regarding  the um how much we should be um charging for the  

you know, the money that we'll be taking in for  the district. So, um, I myself, the staff did   an excellent job. Craig explained a lot of the  things that, um, the citizens brought up in the   community. Dylan did a great job explaining.  So, I'm going shut up and that's it. Okay, Mr. Jimenez. Thank you, Madame Mayor. I want to  also address the lighting landscape district. Um,   30 years is a long time to wait. uh to to catch  up to where we need to be. I agree that something   should have been done years ago, but it wasn't.  So, it's our job uh to look at the options,   what's available. The most important thing is  that we're letting the voters decide. It's not the   council that's up here. The voters are going to  decide. The property owners who are most directly   impacted are going to make that decision. And  I think that's the most important thing that we   could do. Uh, and that's what we did. So, we'll  find out soon the results and then we'll decide   from there where we go. That's right. Um, I want  to talk a little bit about the Christmas season,   our annual Monrovia Christmas ornament. I think  that we have uh uh some there we have some great   images. Let me tell you why this is a great idea.  Um, this ornament comes from the Art and Public   Places Committee. That's the same committee that's  approved the murals. That's the neighborhood   treasures and so much artwork around Monrovia. But  now here's an opportunity for people to actually   own art that they can hold in their p in the  palm of their hands. It's a great holiday gift.   It's a collector's item. The Monrovia Christmas  ornament. They've only made 120 total quantity.   U that makes it a rare collectible. It's only $17  plus tax. It's $1879. Um, it is actually uh got  

the name of the artist in the back. I'm holding  one up right now. Um, you can see right here,   Santin is reindeer. Yes, it's very iconic.  Monrovia. Uh, it takes into consideration   that everybody knows that fountain and that  library that lives in the St. Gabriel Valley,   but now it's the holiday season. So, you see Santa  and his sleigh flying above it. Even if it didn't   say Monrovia, you know that's Monroia and you know  it's Christmas time. So this is the opportunity to   share in the Christmas joy here in Monrovia and  give these out as Christmas gifts. If you would   like to purchase one, you can purchase them right  here at city hall. Come right up to the counter   or go to Monroviac.gov or better yet go to city of  Monroviatore.org and you can purchase one. I know   I'm going to purchase some to give away to family  members. So, I want to thank the art and public   places committee for doing such a great job. And  it wasn't just one artist. It was a large number   of artists stiff competition and the result is a  great Christmas ornament. I wanted to talk about   some of the other events. The Veterans Day event  in Monrovia, I think Larry, what do you think?   Was it the big best attended? It's It was a lot of  people. It gets better every year. it get I think   we had the largest number of people that I've  seen since I've been attending them for several   years. Um, and I wanted to thank the Allied  Veterans Council, the Monrovia VFW Post 2070 ALA,   the Monrovia High School band that played  patriotic music that really you got emotional when   you were there. Um, seeing the the veterans and  um, the World War There was one World War II vet,   one surviving World War II veteran. And I want to  thank also Lieutenant Colonel Brenda Threat. She   was a keynote speaker. She did a great uh just  a wonderful job. Um and the League of California  

Cities Conference, I I just wanted to say that  uh the topics there were uh timely including   um how other cities are dealing with homelessness.  Um coordinating emergency response, proactive   wildfire preparations. We had an aspiring keynote  speaker was Aaron Brochovich. We've all heard of   her if not have not seen the movie. Um and also I  wanted to talk about Make a Difference Day. We had   Macy and members of the volunteer center of St.  Gabriel Valley which includes Larry who's very   active uh uh not just uh for make a difference day  but he's he's active uh with the volunteer center.   Um it was I think the biggest number of volunteers  400 over 400 volunteers that we had. Um and just   special thanks to the leadership of Macy Gracia  the executive director. She did a great job. And   finally um it was wonderful to attend the Manurva  Black Alumni Association scholarship uh gala.   They the theme uh was um one celebrating the not  just the students who received scholarships but   the Monrovians and also Dwwardians who went on  to professional sports. I had no idea how that   many were. NBAA players, uh, uh, professional, uh,  baseball players. Uh, there was a lot of them. Uh,   and I think that, uh, Sheila Spicer, Batist  did a great job organizing the event. It was   a full house. I think this one was the biggest  one I've seen. There was no more room. I mean,   we were we were we were the city council members  were tucked at a little corner. There was no empty   tables. There was not even partially empty tables.  Very successful event. So, I want to congratulate   them on that. That concludes my report. Thank you,  Madame Mayor. You're welcome. Um Dr. Kelly, thank   you so much. Um as with my coun fellow council  members, we had a ve a very busy um month um of  

just being able to celebrate and connect uh with  community. Um one of my favorite events that I had   an opportunity to go to uh was the Halloween bash.  I just love that. um so many Monrovians come out   to that and we just want to give a great big good  job to community services because there's a lot of   work that goes into it and also uh the businesses  that participate. A lot of you I'm not sure if   you know that Monrovia we we purchase candy for  participating businesses so that they can give   out just so that we can support our businesses  and just to foster a community um atmosphere.   here and I had an opportunity to just walk down  the street and just see families and uh just   different individuals just enjoying the community.  And I just thought, you know, this is what it's   all about, just being able to get outside of our  four walls and connect in community. So, I really   enjoyed uh being able to do that. Um the other  thing I wanted to uh make mention of concerning uh   the assessment district I want to agree with all  my colleagues but I want to agree with um with uh   what is your name again? Sergio. Yeah, Sergio, as  it relates to uh it's in the hands of the voters   and I think that is uh very comforted comforting  in knowing that the voters will will decide on uh   this um item. What is my next one? Oh, Dart's uh  mayor prayer breakfast. We have our prayer bre Oh,   I'm not going to announce that. Our mayor's going  to announce that. Isn't that on yours? Yeah, you   can. Well, the mayor prayer breakfast is coming  up on Friday. It's too late to buy a ticket,   but if you are going to uh uh be there, please be  there early. It's going to be a wonderful time of  

community. It is sold out. Sold out, I think, for  the second year in a row. So, that's good news on   that. 188 people registered. And last but not  least, oh, it's not last. I have a whole thing,   but we went were able to go to the Dohy Mayor  prayer breakfast and in a just a show of uh of   connection and camaraderie. Uh myself, um Council  Member Larry, uh Mayor Becky was there and we had   an opportunity just to connect with our colleagues  in Dwardy and we had an o a great opportunity,   a very good breakfast. So glad to be a part of  that. And lastly, we are gearing up for the annual   City of Monrovia holiday parade. And we invite you  to be a part of the special dignitary gathering.   Please join us Thursday, December the 4th at 5:00  p.m. for a holiday dinner. I don't know if this is   supposed to be for everyone, but this is what I  was given. A holiday dinner, festive music, and   some fellowship before heading out to the parade.  While we are missing our time together at Thankful   and Grateful Holiday Gathering, the holiday  parade is a perfect alternative. We look forward   to celebrating with you all. And if you have any  questions, please feel free to call the community   services department, but we look forward to seeing  you all for the holiday parade on December what's   what's the date on that? December the 4th. So,  please show up early, get your spots December 4th.   Dylan Fe, our city manager, has some wonderful  candies that he's going to be giving out. And I   think he said he's gonna He's going to be throwing  them out. No, he's going to be throwing them out.   So, please wear a helmet. I think he said that  he's bought a bar for every child in the city  

of Monroia. Am I Is that right? Did you not hear  that, Craig? I think that was right. Thank you. That's all I have. They'll be the little mini  ones. Thank you very much. Yes, it has been   there's a whirlwind of all sorts of activities uh  going on. Um and in light of also our discussions   for the 218 process and budget and things like  that, both city budgets and personal budgets,   it's always a a it's a hard conversation. And  as you know, I also am a part of the LA County   uh executive committee on regional housing  alignment. And we're talking about our   spending plan for um measure A funds. And it's  a depressing conversation because there are so   many programs that were uh funded with one  and only time funding. Uh and so there were   very large cuts that were required. Um, but  measure A isn't everything. There are other   things that are being funded through other  funding streams, but state and federal funds   in general are a lot of them are being cut.  But good things do happen. And I did go to   um it was the celebration through the St. Gabriel  Valley Regional Housing Trust and there was a 90   uh homes affordable. All 90 were affordable  for families, individuals, and veterans.   This is in Pomona and it was really neat and  what was unique about it uh is that they also   have an onsite um mental health clinic and they  also had uh community rooms for learning centers   and things like that. And the the regional housing  trust did donate um $1 million in total funding to   help make that uh project uh possible. It had  a lot of subsidies in order to make that one  

work. But we also I also attended the five-year uh  anniversary for house the our San Gabriel Valley   Regional Housing Trust and they're just this  organization is so awesome in what they've been   able to do in five years and our regional housing  trust has 25 members and in that five years they   have funded 927 units of affordable housing, 130  units of interim shel and 130 units of interim   shelter. And also in June of 2025, the Regional  Housing Trust launched an affiliated nonprofit um   house um uh GV. It's a land trust. And so we look  forward to being able to do things like like that   and people that donate their their land to the um  trust. And in total, like I said, 927 units. They   haven't all been built, but the funding has  been made possible at totaling $39,963,030. So, that's really um awesome. Uh I have an ongoing  uh dialogue about Lacasa under measure A and so   far u I know they've just been in they've been  in existence for a while but hopefully that is   going to pick up because that a large amount of  that funding is supposed to go to housing. Um,   at any rate, uh, and Empower had their great  event up at the Canyon Park and, um, um, Gio,   he had there was a spider that actually formed a  little web on one of the wine bottles that they   were serving from. And he was he was demonstrating  the bringing around and showing everyone the   spider. They were literally serving wine as  the spiders dangling from this wine bottle.  

But it was a great event. Uh nice to see how you  can use that venue. Um and Taste of Oldtown that   Quantis brought back. Uh that was a great success.  Look forward to that in years to come. And the SGB   care award. And I want and I asked Dylan if we  could maybe have a presentation because SGV care   is entered into a 2.0 program and so there are  some additional um opportunities there under   that program. Monrovia still is hitting it out  of the park under that program and that does not   get funded with measure A. Um there are there's  another source and it's uh funded through 2028.   Um it was an original $8 million grant. At any  rate, um and let me see here. Oh, I went to a   Foothill Transit uh association. Well, no, it was  a California Transit Association conference. Pete   Buddha Judge was one of the featured speakers. Um,  and on Thursday, November 6th, I had a pleasant   surprise. I was there representing Foothill  Transit and the Women's Transportation Seminar   International LA chapter um was had their  annual uh awards dinner. And at any rate,   all of a sudden, Alex Tiki comes up and says,  "Hi to me." And I said, 'What are you doing   here? Well, our very own Sophia Sosa is earning  and she's currently earning a master's degree in   urban planning with a concentration in mobility  and transportation at USC. there. She is on the   executive board of mentorship for an accessible um  for an accessible price and a recent member. Okay,   I I think I have a typo there, but at any  rate, and she's a recent member of the  

school's Institute for Transportation Engineers  chapter. Currently, Sophia is a management   analyst for city of Monrovia and overseas city's  transportation programs. and she um was awarded   um it was a Myra F uh L.Frank Memorial Graduate  Scholarship and it was the top award $10,000.   So congratulations. Please tell her. We said  congratulations. We're so proud of her. That   was a a real highlight of the of the evening  and got to meet her uh fiance as well. Um, so,   uh, at any rate, and then the native plant sale  that was on Saturday the 8th and John going to   John Herbedian's office. Um, Edward was there  as well. But, um, at any rate, that's from Oh,   and I just want to say happy Thanksgiving to  everyone. And about our assessment and Mr. Steel,   if you will please um, confirm for me,  I want to be totally transparent here.   our options. Should the um should the vote be  yes? What are our options as a council? You were   explaining today this evening. Can I can I go at  it a different way? Yes. Question. Yes. As as as   we said in the staff report, if the vote is no,  the city council may not impose the assessment   and the existing assessments stay in effect. If  the vote is yes, then the city council can decide   whether or not to impose the assessment. Um, and  if the council acts to impose the new assessment,   the old ones will go away. And I just wanted to  make that tr transparent on on that. Madame mayor,  

I forgot to uh just say um that nove Saturday,  November the 29th is shop small Saturday in   Oldtown. And I forgot to mention that. So on the  29th please after right after thanksgiving that   Saturday after Thanksgiving and again the our  prayer breakfast is this Friday and we have a   we are a resilient uh community and our theme  is resiliency um through faith um and December   18 is this prematures actually uh Miss Kevin  Mcmanis whispered in my ear he says I'll be   back on the 18th for the ugly sweater contest 16th  16th. Oh, okay. I got it. But that's Tuesday. T So, uh, at the second meeting in December,  we will have the ugly sweater contest. So,   get prepared. Um, okay. Again,  happy Thanksgiving to everyone.   Um and we will move on then to our  administrative reports at AR1 public   safety critical communications center  infrastructure upgrade and uh migration   to the inter agency communications inoperability  ICI system in an amount not to exceed 790,44744. So anyway, um, yes. Good evening, Madame  Mayor. Thank you. That was quite a mouthful,   wasn't it? Well, it even went on, but So, I'll  just refer to it as our dispatch upgrade project   to keep it simple. That sounds good to  me. Uh, council members, madame mayor,   thank you. City officials, thank you  for giving me this opportunity. Uh,   I would be remiss if I didn't point out that I  am presenting on behalf of Captain Kovar Rubius,   who couldn't be here tonight, but has been  working on this project for more than four years   and pres and prepared the report from which I'm  presenting. So, thanks to her for her hard work.  

Um, so I would like to just go through the  reason for the project, the need for the project,   and what it will hopefully accomplish for us.  So, our police dispatch operation is a 247   operation. We never close down. We are currently  staffed by eight full-time dispatchers and four   part-time dispatchers. This ensures that at all  times in our dispatch center, we have a person   dedicated to taking telephone calls and another  dedicated to operating our radios at all times.   Our dispatch center, our communication center  enters approximately 80 calls for service a day,   resulting in approximately 25,000 calls for  service each calendar year. However, uh that   just means that those are calls for service that  have been opened that require another employee,   a police officer, community service officer, or  someone else to respond. We actually receive more   than 300 calls a day, sometimes spiking even  higher than that. Uh in 23 and 24, the city   successfully lobbied for federal grant assistance  to help us implement this project. However,   neither of those uh grant processes were approved  and effectively did not proceed. We had to table   this project for several years, several times. Uh  here is a current picture of uh what our dispatch   center looks like. I mean, put this in here so you  can see what an array of screens and electronics   and things that our dispatchers have to monitor.  Uh, all of which will be streamlined to an extent   by this upgrade project. The project itself uh is  about 17 years uh after our last upgrade which was   in 2008. Uh, as of this time, uh, the Monrovia  Police Department's dispatch center is the only   dispatch center in the county of Los Angeles  still operating on an analog system. All of the   other police dispatch and communication centers  are operating on an digital encryption system.  

This makes it very difficult and at times  impossible for us to communicate with other   agencies when we have multi-jurisdictional issues,  when we have critical incidents, critical events.   Uh there are sometimes workarounds for that  difficulty and sometimes there simply aren't. Uh   our lack of digital encryption unfortunately means  that not only do we have trouble communicating   with other agencies at times, it means that we  are now no longer meeting all federal and DOJ   standards for radio communications as outlined  in DOG bulletin DOJ bulletin uh 2009 CGIS. Um and   that relates to criminal justice information  systems or restricted information systems.   We do know that over the next few years there  are a number of large-scale events occurring not   necessarily within Monrovia but within our region  that will impact Monrovia including FIFA 2026,   the summer Olympics and parolympics in 2028  and there are a number of other incidents   uh in the next few coming years that will  make our entry into the ISIS the intercom   inter agency communications interoperability  system not just a good idea but mandatory. We have explored other options for how we can  meet our needs and unfortunately at this time   we found they're not workable. We have run  into issues with supplies. Um most of the   equipment they were that we are using new  uh replacement equipment is no longer being   manufactured. When we've had failures, we've had  to do things like call around to other agencies,   see if they have old stock. We've gone so far as  to search online and places like eBay at times   um to see if we can find our parts. We find that  technicians are now having trouble not just fixing   the problems but even initially identifying  what the problem might be because they're used   to working on the digital systems and it takes  some time either to make telephone calls to even  

at times retired technicians to ask what what the  problem might be and how to resolve it. So we have   uh older and discontinued software and hardware.  We have uh software systems that are no longer   being supported. And so that again just makes  the upgrade project that much more important   and mandatory. Uh taking these funds and and  pushing this project forward is really the only   option remaining to us which will ensure that we  can continue to effectively service not just the   city of Monrovia but also the the greater region  in general and ensure public safety. We did go   through a full bid process with all the potential  vendors for all of the hardware, software and   associated items. And after consideration of all  the products, we have decided to go with Motorola   solutions as sole source. Our current CAD and  RMS system is built on out of a Motorola systems   uh template. Uh the ISIS system itself was built  on a Motorola systems platform which means the   interoperability with any Motorola systems that  we purchase and install would be immediate. Uh as a result of bringing in new hardware um  we will have to also redesign the furniture, the   storage and the ergonomics of our communication  center for which we received three bids uh as   listed up here. We did uh site walkthroughs with  some of these companies. We did um extended uh   telephone conferences, teleconferences and  we have determined to proceed with Watson.   Uh they are not just the lower bid but they  also have provided us in great detail what   we really need out of this the communication  center. They offer better ergonomic designs,   better functionality, and they are more responsive  to our needs if we at some point need to replace,   repair, or uh simply change up what we have  going on inside. This is a breakdown of the  

total cost for the hardware, so to speak,  the actual consoles, console, the routers,   and the associated peripherals. We're looking at  about $733,000. Uh we are going to be replacing   and in time at in some places combining some of  our equipment for our uh CCTVs and our CAD systems   and we are going to be uh migrating our 911 lines  and radios during the upgrade which unfortunately   does have an associated cost. We will be moving  our dispatchers out of the communication center   and into a temporary communication center  in our building. Uh but it will require some   infrastructure upgrades to make that possible.  Uh we do have some recurring costs with uh the   Spectrum fiber installation there being $500.  Again, the console furniture quote is there. Um   and we are asking for a 10% contingency on to  account for things such as increases in costs   between now and termination of the project,  tariffs, uh things like that, overruns. And so   with the contingency listed there, we're looking  at a total project cost of just under $870,000. These are uh just quick uh artist renderings of  what the new center will look like. On the left is   the uh three dispatch consoles. What we're hoping  is uh as you can see, you're consolidating some   of the many computer screens and control boards  that we saw on the earlier photograph. That'll   be on the left. And then the overhead there on  the right. Um what the new room will look like. This is our recommendation to staff that  we approve the purchase of the equipment,   furniture, and migration to the ICI system for  the communication center upgrade for $790,4474 and approve a 10% contingency in the amount  of $79,000 $79,44.70 and authorize city   manager to execute the necessary documents  in a form acceptable to the city attorney.  

And because I knew I was going to be last, I  kept it as blissfully short as I could for you   guys. Thank Thank you very much. And we didn't  identify you. This is Captain John uh Don. So,   thank you for filling in uh this evening. Great uh  report. Any questions of the captain? Thank you. I   think it's uh sounds long overdue. Yeah. I I feel  bad. I mean, that's not something that you want   to be known as the last one, you know. Well, we  we've made it work, but we this project has been a   long time coming and we are all very happy behind  the scenes that we've made tangible progress to   getting it done. Well, thank you for being so  fiscally responsible. I did have a a question   though that always drives me crazy when Okay, the  high bid was 96 uh,986 and the one we accepted was   39,254. Why did the top guy just not want it  or something? Toilet. What's that? It didn't   come with the gold toilet. Uh my understanding  from having spoken to our communications manager   is that amongst other things, Watson is a newer  company and probably in the process of trying to   establish themselves and they're a local company  which is what makes them more responsive. Okay.   All right. Yeah. When you see that disparity  sometimes you kind of yikes. Are we getting the   sale? Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Right. Well, any  way I'm I'm glad we're getting this uh fixed, but   we do need a motion. I'll make a motion to approve  the public safety critical communication center   infrastructure upgrade and migration to the inter  agency communication interoperability ICI system   in an amount not to exceed $790,4474 and approve  a 10% contingency in the amount of $79,44.70 and authorize the city manager to execute the  necessary documents in a form acceptable to the   city attorney. I'd like to second it, but I also  just like to point out when people asked earlier  

today, where are we going to spend all the other  money that we have, right? This is one of the This   is a very good example of things. AB: Absolutely.  Absolutely. Okay. Can we have a roll call vote,   please? Council members Beldin, yes. Himenez,  yes. Spicer, yes. Mayor Prom. Dr. Kelly,   yes. And Mayor Shlin, yes. And um thank  you. Thank you very much again. Thank   you very much. Thank you. And then um our next  scheduled meeting then is on Tuesday, December   2nd at 7:30 p.m. in these council chambers. Uh  and again, that will be the time that we are   um discussing the resolution on the 218 vote. And  not having any further business, we are going to   adjourn this evening's meeting in memory of  Melinda Franson. France Francen, a longtime   Monrovia resident and Edgar Bourne Jr. Oh, a  longtime Monrovia resident. I did not know that.   Um and our hearts and prayers go out to their  families uh especially during this holiday season.   So keep them in your hearts and prayers. And with  that, we are adjourned at 10:39 p.m. Thank you.