City Council - Regular Meeting

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Oh, I know that one. Randy video's on.

All right, we're going to call this meeting to order and we'll start with the land acknowledgement. We would like to acknowledge that the land we inhabit today was once known as Tovangar, the home of the Gabalinial Tomba people. We show our respect to the Gabalinial Tonva people as well as all indigenous people past, present, and future and honor their labor as original caretakers of this land. We commit to uplifting the Gabalinial Tomba people, invite you to acknowledge the history, and join us in caring for this land. Now, everyone, please rise for the flag salute, which will be done by the Monterey Park Police Explorers. Please put your right hand over your heart. Ready? 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. You may be seated.

Madame clerk, may we have a roll call, please? Council member Go, present. Council member Wong. Council member Sanchez present. Mayor Promlow here. Mayor Yang present. We have a qu. Thank you. Um any agenda revisions or additions? Madame Mayor, um would like to request to move up presentation items before staff communication because we have um guests in the in the audience tonight. So, if we can do that, that'd be much appreciated.

All right. Sounds good. Everyone's good with that. All right, we'll move up presentation after uh public communications. So, we have two public speakers tonight. First one is Don Rock. Good evening, mayor, council members, and dedicated staff. My name is Don Rock, and first of all, I'd like to congratulate the Marble High School and Garfield High School academic decathlon teams for a successful school year. Congratulations. [applause] On behalf of the Monterey Park Historical Society, I would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to you, the sta city staff, and the volunteers for a successful cherry blossom festival. And although I don't recall anyone here with a new membership to the Monterey Park Historical Society or Museum, we did receive a few new memberships this weekend. We didn't give away all of our jars of Laura Scutter peanut butter. However, the outreach was fun and enjoyable. And right next door to the Historical Society booth was the Align with Purpose booth, or AWP for short. AWP is a new nonprofit organization committed to strengthening our community's health and well-being, starting with the restoration of the Barnes Park Pool. Thanks to the incredible turnout at the Cherry Blossom Festival, we had the opportunity to share our mission, raise awareness, and connect with so many people who believe in our cause. Align with Purpose is a nonprofit rooted in community, connection, and care. We

believe that when people come together with intention and heart, meaningful change is possible. As a long as longtime residents of Monterey Park, many of us as former Manoray and Markeel swim team competitors, Monterey Park city lifeguards, and some of us current parents and grandparents of swimmers came together to build the Barnes to rebuild the Barnes Park pool. We look forward to working collaboratively with all entities wanting to achieve the same goal. Our officers include Paula Kurich who is our president, the longtime resident of Monterey Park, student of Inz and Markebell High School, swim team member of both Manoray and Markebell High School and great granddaughter of Bugamier uh Mr. Bergammy of Bergammy Library. Jenna Martin who had just passed out the the goodies for you. Um she's our treasurer, longtime resident of Monterey Park, student at Rapedto and High School uh Markele High School graduate, member of both Manoray and Markele swim teams. And Debbie Yamamoto, secretary, long-term resident of Monterey Park, Brightwood and Alhamra High School graduate, Moner Park lifeguard, and mom of Markeell High School water polo swim team member and current Monterey Park City lifeguard. Our co-founders are um Armando Ing, a longtime resident of Monterey Park. He is also president of the MK aquatic boosters and dad of a current Markeel High School swim team member. And I'm also a co-founder, longtime resident of Marupell um Monterey Park uh Hillrest Garvey, Markele graduate, swim team member of both Monoray and Markeel and lifeguard for the city of Monterey Park. This was our first event, the first of many, and I'm happy to announce that so

far we raised through inind and monetary donations a total of $2,97.60, which is a great start. All monetary donations are taxdeductible. Yay. Happy tax day to everybody. [laughter] And we'll go towards the rebuilding of Barnes Park Aquatic Center. One of our giveaways was a customized bookmark um that you were given designed to educate parents about water safety while inspiring children to discover the joy and importance of learning to swim. The QR code directs readers to our website where they can find a link to the Monterey Park and neighboring communities recreation pages for information on water safety and swim lessons. If you weren't able to attend, you can still be part of the movement. Please v visit our website at www.savebns to save Barnespark pool.org to learn more and join us in bringing our pool back to life as always. Thank you for your time, your service, and your continued support. Thank you. [applause] Thank you, Don. Next speaker is Hiro Amy. Uh, good evening, mayor, council, staff, and community. My name is Haido G, and I am an outreach associate with active SGV, a nonprofit supporting a more sustainable, equitable, and livable San Gabriel Valley. Um, I'd like to take some time to accomplish two things. First, I would like to talk about our go SGV electric bike share program where, um, I primarily focus my time. Uh our electric bike share program differs from ones that you may be more familiar with where uh we actually allow people to rent out our bikes for months long uh monthlong periods at a time as opposed to like daily or hourly rentals they may

be more familiar with. This means that participants can take the bikes home and use them as they see fit to their needs. Uh whether it's active, you know, commuting, uh errands, or just for fun. Um, I'm pleased to share that uh residents of Mterrey Park are actually eligible for a discounted rate of $75 for a rental for one year for $75 or just $6.26 per month along with a refundable deposit. For those looking to actually purchase a bike, we are also actually working with the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments to support the distribution of a $2,000 voucher towards a purchase of a cargo bike again available to residents of Monterey Park. Um both the rental program's discounted rate and the voucher program are uh largely supported by Metro's Express Lanes net toll revenue program and the great support and administration from the San Gabrio Valley Council of Governments. So having shared a little bit about that program and if I just might editorialize a little bit, it's a really great program that a lot of people should get in on. Um I'm hoping to have some of your support tonight in getting the word out. Um, we've put together a really simple and easy to use toolkit with graphics and blurbs that you can put out on either your personal communication channels or uh even better on official city uh newsletters and communications. So, if you have any questions about the program or are ready to help us get the word out, you can reach out to myself or my colleagues by emailing us at info@gosgv.com. And for your convenience, I've also had uh my business card shared with you. Um, thank you for your time and your attention on this and I hope to be back here delivering bikes soon enough. Thank you. [applause]

Thank you, Hyram. Mayor, just to confirm, I think we have been promoting this program. If we haven't, if we can. Yes, we have. We've sent it out on social media and it's uh also available on our web page. Great information.

Whatever we can do to continue that, that'd be great. All right. So, now we're going to go into our three presentations starting with item 8A, Los Angeles as a Astronomical Society's 100th anniversary recognition. Madame Mayor and members of the council, tonight we have um two members from the Astronomical Society. We have Keith Armstrong and Tim Thompson. if you'd like to join us at the front podium here. Um, for the community's benefit, we do have a partnership with the LA um, Astronomical Society who runs our G Garvey um, ranch observatory. So, thank you again for your partnership. And tonight we're um, honoring the society for their 100th year anniversary. I understand you have a celebration this weekend if you'd like to uh, share with the community about that.

Absolutely. Um, thank you, mayor and council members for sharing your time with us. Um, we do have uh our our actual um celebration that we're doing at Griffith Observatory that I understand that you will be attending, which I am grateful for. Um, will be happening on April 25th rather than this weekend. You scared the heck out of me when you said it was this weekend. I'm not ready for that. [laughter] So, thank you for that. Um, my pulse is slowly settling. Um, Uh despite the honor of being able to speak in front of you all today, I feel it best to defer um this time spent uh to uh Tim Thompson who has been the president of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society for uh a lot longer than I have been and he has a deeper uh connection with the community and uh the earth in general, I would say. [laughter] So with no further ado, Tim Thompson,

thank you. Thank you for honoring our centennial. We appreciate it very much. The Los Angeles Astronomical Society has been operating the observatory in Garvey Ranch Park since 1987. The observatory itself was opened in 1965. The building is older than that. So, we've been serving the community for 60 years. I've been there since 1975. This is my 51st year at the observatory. and I was the last president of the Monterey Park Astronomical Society, which was founded in part by Leonard Normand, who was the city's director of parks and recreation back in the 70s. Um, I've been president of the society several times. I'm technically currently the director of the Garvey Observatory, but there are so many of us who do that, it doesn't matter. me, but we are open every Wednesday night. So, unfortunately, we're open when you're meeting, but we're open until 10:00 and the park is open until 10:30. So, when you get out of this meeting, you're welcome to come to the observatory and see what we're doing for your community. I appreciate very much. And with your permission, we're going to go back there now and we will be there waiting for you when you get there. Thank you. Yes.

Well, we have a uh certificate from the city to celebrate your centennial celebration. So, council's going to come down, present it to you, and we can take a picture. And there's so many students here tonight so they can all join you after they get their certificates. That's right. Head over to the observatory. Also, I've been to the observatory, and actually one night while you guys open, I saw Saturn. I mean, a blurry, but it was Saturn nonetheless.

Oh, hey up on stage. I'll get you a picture. Congratulations. Congratulations. And madame mayor, if I may, um, for those of you guys who are in the audience and have not had the privilege of going to the observatory, I highly recommend, uh, you visit. It's one of the local treasures here in Monterey Park to have our own observatory that's open every Wednesday. Um, but right next door is also the um, historical society and museum. So, and I know there's some people here. So, you and you can double dip there. And we have an amazing uh park at at Garvey Ranch that my daughters love going to as well if you have young ones. So, thank you so much for everything that you do for being there every Wednesday. I know my daughters really enjoy going and visiting. It's a little late, but we we do stop by here and there, but Henry and I will definitely try to make it afterwards.

No, actually, we did we did go one time and we saw Saturn. Yeah, we could we could arrange a special session. You're important. [laughter] All right, let's we we'll definitely talk. Thank you so much for being here. [applause]

Okay, next item is 8B, Markeell High School Academic Decathlon Team. [applause] Does anyone want to Does the coach want to say a few words? I'm a little shy, but I'll say [laughter] I thank you so much for this recognition, Mayor Yang, Mayor Prom Henry Lo, council members, uh especially Councilman Jose Sanchez, also known as our Hamra Coach.

Okay. And especially uh uh we have some dignitaries. My my boss, the principal of Mark Keo, a graduate of Mark Keell. Please stand up, Miss Perez. Okay. And uh we also have u parents uh from um they've sort of adopted the team. Um Mr. and Mrs. Mata and um Mr. Mata and I are graduates of another park, Huntington Park High School, LA Unified. Uh we had a very successful year and um it is not just due to one effort of the coach. Uh the team itself is actually um well a conglomeration of all the efforts of the whole class the whole um school community. And we re received tremendous support from Marquo um uh PTSA Alliance and um all the taxpayers. Okay. [laughter] And um yeah, we definitely couldn't do it alone. And um the funny thing is um in I work closely with uh Jose and helping the new San Gabriel coach uh along and our results are always very similar. And uh I think when we're when we go to state, they always know that we're going to be the near the top. And I want to also congratulate uh coach Sanchez and he uh he pulled a royal flush on us at at county and I'll never forgive him for those three points [laughter] but uh we we did okay at state and um but we always consider ourselves uh and me especially u privileged to work in this community. Uh, I live in Diamond

Bar and I have friends across the country when I tell them I I work in Monterey Park and they ask, "Oh, is that sort of like uh near Beverly Hills?" Because they think LA, they think Beverly Hills. I go, "Well, it's the Beverly Hills of uh [snorts] for the Chinese." No. [laughter] And um it's a privilege to uh work here for 16 years at INZ and then uh the remaining years at Keell and especially with uh my awesome um principal, Miss Perez. In terms of my team, um they kicked butt. They did the best they could. And uh we didn't win county, we didn't win state, but I always emphasize to them, you're not going to win all the time, but you must conduct yourself as winners.

Thank you. [applause]

Thank you, coach. So,

Madame Mayor, if I can just also add because I think Coach TR's being a little modest. um he uh his team did exceptionally well and I I do want to share that um their high score was uh extremely high this year. Um they scored um among the top um not just in the county but throughout the state with a overall score of 49,044. Um and they had the two highest scores um in uh in the county u and I know they're here so I want to recognize them as well. Ivanlu, who was the number one scorer in LA County with [applause] uh with 9,190 points. So, congratulations, Ivan. And the third highest score in LA County, Amber Quo, uh with 8,877. [applause] Just wanted to make sure that they were recognized. And of course, that would not have been possible without an amazing coach that Coach Tren is. And I and in fact I take a lot of credit to that because um coach Tran uh not to his success but to my success because [laughter] because coach Strand uh really helped me uh develop as a coach as well. So um that's what great coaches do. So thank you. [applause]

Well, thank you to both coaches and uh we have certificates to recognize all the students here today. Okay. So, congratulations on earning second place at the LA County Academic Decathlon and thank you for representing Markeo High School. Congratulations all. [applause]

Line up by scores. [laughter] Congratulations.

He's my assistant. Super expectation. [applause] [applause] Thanks again.

You guys welcome to stay, but I'm hungry.

All right. And we have another decathlon team to recognize here, the Garfield High School academic decathlon team. [cheering and applause] Is there a coach from the Garfield High School team who would like to say a few words? [applause]

Hello. Um my test. Okay. Hello, Mayor. Um, council members, um, I was not expecting to speak, so um, I'm kind of just, uh, you know, um, nervous, but, um, for anyone here who doesn't know what academic decathlon is, uh, pretty much we study 10 different subjects ranging from math to social science, um, English, uh, to speeches and interviews. And I think one of the big things that goes um uh unheard of for a lot of academic decathlon teams is not just the competition and not just the studying but I think it's a lot of the family bonds that are formed uh between uh the team members as well as the coaches. Um, we've have spent months preparing for these exams and preparing for speeches and interviews and I think that really changes a lot of the perspectives that students have um about studying but also about family. I think um especially for uh coming uh with these students coming from East LA um family means a lot to them. I think the community means a lot to them and I think um not only have they performed exceptionally well. In fact, this is our first time um winning first place at our regional competition. Uh but also I think it this means a lot to the community as a whole. I think for a bunch of students who have been in a very disadvantageous position, not only because of the community but also because of the circumstances surrounding them. Um I think this is their one outlet to show that they can indeed compete with the best of the best and they have performed exceptionally well. um I believe getting 15th out of the entire state competition which is exceptionally well for um a bunch of people who um I think throughout their lives were told that they would not

amount to much u sorry um I think they've proven themselves time and time again. I think we've uh definitely had our struggles over the past several years and I think they've not only overcome those struggles and those trials and tribulations but have performed exceptionally well this year and um I want to thank them. um they've uh basically are a second family to me and I think um they found a second family within the team as well and so um I think there's a lot of emotions and feelings that go through that's beyond just testing and beyond competition that goes unsaid and um I think um this is a a weird occasion. I feel like a lot of us have never been in a uh a situation to be able to present uh in front of such esteemed people and I think um a lot for a lot of them it's the first experience for me it's also my first experience just being in front of a chamber like this and um I think it can be overwhelming but I think it's also a nod to what they are capable of and I I hope that moving forward from here they can take this experience and continue doing great things in the future. Uh thank you

[applause]

Well, Madame Mayor, if I can just also add, um, uh, I'm I'm very proud because in in Monterey Park, we have four different school districts that, um, serve our city. Um, LUSD is is one of them. Um, and LUSD is particularly um, in the district that I serve on in Monterey Park. Um, and I know a lot of my neighbors go to Garfield High School. Uh, so I wanted to make sure when I saw the news and saw that you guys had won, it made me extremely proud um as a representative of um, you know, extended to Garfield High School. Um, and I wanted to highlight um, that Garfield High School, this is your first championship, right? Uh, so congratulations on that and for making your community and Monterey Park in extension proud of of your accomplishment. But I also want to acknowledge their their overall score high score um was the highest in uh LUSD at 44,336 points. So congratulations [applause] and and I also wanted to highlight that they had the third highest score in LA USD. Joseph via can you can you stand up? Is Joseph here [applause] with 8,267 points. So good job guys. And I think we have certificates for them, right? Yes, we definitely do have certificates and amazing speech coach. It's so heartwarming to hear the struggles you guys have overcome and the successes you guys have accomplished and the family that you guys have created out of this ordeal. So, congratulations and we'll come and pass out certificates. Please come up. [applause] mic on.

That was a very unexpected.

Yes. That's [laughter] one more. [laughter] Congratulations. [applause] You're not funny.

Good night. All right. Now we go back to staff communications 7A city manager's office. Good evening, Madame Mayor and Council. Diana Garcia, assistant city manager. Um, this evening, I'd like to highlight a few surveys and events that we've got going on across the city. Uh, the first will be the monthly compost giveaway that's going to be taking place on the 18th in Garvey Ranch Park. Uh, free compost is available to all of our Monterey Park residents, first come, first served, and limit of two bags per customer during the first hour. That's a monthly event. And the next one is going to be uh on the 18th. The following will be uh May 9th. Um, we've also mentioned this, but we wanted to give everybody another opportunity to take the wear disposal customer satisfaction survey. Uh, this survey is available in English, Spanish, and Chinese. uh using the QR code here. And this survey will be open through the end of the month. So, we'd like to please uh have residents participate so that we can understand what's going well and what needs to be improved. Additionally, residents can vote for the second annual community choice awards. Nominations are already open and they'll close at the end of May and the winners will be announced at the state of the city event uh on June 9th. uh residents and non-residents can vote for favorite restaurant, retail, service provider,

and nonprofit. So, please get in and nominate your favorites now. And then finally, uh this survey ends on the 19th of April. This is our communication survey. The city is conducting this survey to better understand how the public receives city information, what topics they're interested in, um and will shape our citywide communications. So, this is open to all of our residents, people who work in Monterey Park, business owners in Monterey Park. Uh, please, this is your last chance to get those thoughts in. And it's also available in English, Spanish, and Chinese. And just wanted to give a shout out to S Laali Tahera. She is our civic spark fellow who's been working on uh citywide communications. So, please give her your feedback. That [snorts] concludes my presentation. Thank you.

Thank you, Diana. Any questions, comments? No. All right. Thank you for all that information. Lots of surveys for the community to complete and give feedback. Uh, next up we have recreation and community services.

Uh, good evening, mayor, mayor prom, city council members. Robert, director of recreation and community services. Uh, here just to share a few uh, updates of upcoming programs and events. So, just want to first start off by thanking everyone that came out to our Sherry Boston Festival this past weekend. Super successful event. Want to give a special shout out to our event committee of volunteers, but also want to highlight the amazing work that our uh recreation team did. uh especially our recreation manager Christina Alator, uh recreation supervisors Orlando Muro, Memo Chavez, also our um recreation coordinators, uh Alejandra Suaza, Shannon Rodriguez, Scott Imazoomi, and also our recreation uh leader or sorry, recreation specialist Chen Lim and also Michelle Chin and Christina Garcia. I wanted to name them all just because they did such an exceptional job and did so many countless hours of hard work. And this event, this year's event was so smooth, so successful, massive crowd, lots of booths out there. And just at the end of the day, tons of happy, enjoyable times, and people really had a good time. So, just wanted to make sure I shouted them out. Also want to do a special thank you to all the other city departments that helped make this event successful because it although the rec department is leading that event, it definitely is uh a whole team effort to make it successful. So, thank you. Uh next slide, please. Also want to invite everyone out. We have our annual um happy birthday Monterey Park Playdays Carnival coming up May 7th through the 10th. That'll kick off on May 7th with our Cinco de Mayo uh celebration which will have our mariach with also some uh a band sreva that will be playing some dancing music right after. So come out to kick off on that. On that Friday we'll have an 80s band and then on that Saturday we'll have a 90s band and then on Sunday we'll we'll final final kick it uh finalize the event with our AAPI

Heritage Month uh entertainment on that Sunday. So we're looking forward to that. You can get pre-sale tickets uh for the carnival currently on the city's website at monary park.ca.gov uh playdays. And if you get your pre-sale tickets now, you can save up to $8 on each of those uh all you can ride wristbands. So encourage everyone to get those get those savings uh now. Um next slide, please. do want to share that our first annual MPK campout uh actually sold out in the first 30 minutes of release. So this is an exciting event. This is our first one. Uh so we have over 200 participants that'll be coming out to that uh campout event and um you know we're starting out. We want to make sure that this event runs well and in in future years we do expect expect to expand it but we do want to make sure this first year has a great experience for all that come out and then we will continue to grow this event. Uh we definitely see that there are is an interest and so we've uh we're looking forward to uh providing a memorable uh evening for our residents. Um and then also wanted just to highlight we are going to be starting registration for our kid ventures summer camp. So, if you're a parent that's looking for some activities for this summer, we do have weekly uh camps. Get your signups now at monterey park.ca.gov kid venture camp and get those signups now because we will fill up as well. So, just want to encourage people to sign up. Uh our activities are wellliked and they are staff does an amazing job. So always pay attention to our social media city's website for all the upcoming activities, events. Um and as mentioned, get in early because uh things are popular. So thank you. And that completes my presentation. I'm real for any questions.

Uh may I mayor uh Robert, I want to congrat you guys for cherry blossom. Not because of the work that was done, but the work behind the scene that wasn't done. because I remember going up there Thursday, seeing you and I preparing for the storm that was coming all of Saturday and Sunday, but luckily that storm only came in a very small period on Sunday morning, which the event wasn't even open. But just to know that you guys prepped and prepared for the inevitable. Absolutely. That tells me how well prepared we were for the event. And God willing, beautiful sunshine both days. So, congrats on great event.

Thank you.

I'll just echo uh the council members kudos on cherry blossom festival. So, I think every year, at least the years I've been on council, it gets bigger and better every year. So, really appreciate uh the work from the city staff team, but also the cherry blossom committee. Uh I want to make sure they get a shout out or some sort of appreciation as well. Otherwise, Travis will get mad at me. But, uh want to make sure appreciate them and the volunteers. I know there's a whole volunteer team that helps put the programming together and everything as well. So, great event, great turnout. Uh, on Saturday, a lot of people. I think the rain and the muddyish fields may have deterred a few people on Sunday, but still great turnout when I came by. Um, and people were supporting local businesses and the food vendors. Uh, and really being able to enjoy Barnes Park and and the city of Mari Park in our celebration of of culture was great to see and great to see that these events are the camp out obviously this event playdays uh everything has for years been a great draw for the community and great opportunity for the community to come together. So appreciate all the work that

parks and community services are do. Robert, I'm going to echo this the same thing. very um I'm always very impressed how well um your team does um with a lot of these really large events. Uh so and and and like council member Wong said, you know, just keeps growing and becomes really great. My daughters look forward to it every year. In fact, on Saturday, we came like three times. Uh [laughter] it's just so good. But uh we went home and they're like, "Can we go back?" And we did three times. So anyhow, uh very appreciative of that. I I did have questions about the campout. Um I'm not sure if you can share now just a little bit about what the camp out will look like in terms of

uh so so folks will be expected to bring their own own camping equipment. There will be spots uh laid out throughout Barnes Park. Uh we'll also be showing there will be a Hawaiian theme uh to the to the evening. We'll also be showing a movie that night with Lilo and Stitch. Uh so there will be arts and crafts activities. Uh also Chick-fil-A will be sponsoring the dinner uh that evening. Um, and then so we have a number of activities. Uh, our fire department is also going to be doing s'mores uh with the kids in in the in the park. And so, yeah, there'll be activities all the way until about 10 o'clock. Then we'll do lights out and then in the morning we'll have a breakfast as well. Yeah. Oh, that sounds amazing. All right. Thank you for sharing that.

Yeah. Um, you know, I I think it's a it's a testament to um how famous our cherry blossom event is because I think during the weekend I had friends texting me who don't live in a moni park who were asking me like oh hours and and and also again kudos for just promoting the event so well because I think I was driving in my car and I listen to uh Coast FM radio and they announced the Trail Blossom Festival on radio. Awesome. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah, we actually had a few uh cities from out uh east that actually brought some of their seniors out on a senior excursion to the festival. So, I thought that was really cool.

Yeah, amazing job. Great performances, tons of vendors, bigger every year, and really grateful that the uh weather cooperated all weekend and the camp out. I'm I'm like so excited that it's sold out in 30 minutes. Did you say 200 families will be attending? Uh 200 folks. So about 40 about 40 families. Yeah. Okay. Got it. Got it. And then we'll continue to grow that year after year. Yeah. Yeah. I hope it's a big success. Absolutely. Yeah. Thanks for the great events. Thank you.

All right. Next is our consent calendar. Um we have a speaker on uh 10F. So we'll pull 10F. Any other ones that need to be pulled? Uh just 10g for me for uh just a quick report from or just a report from the staff. 10g. Okay, I'll move consent. Council member W moves. I'll second.

Council member Sanchez second. Let's vote. approved unanimously.

All right. Uh so public speaker on 10F, Michelle E. We didn't expect you to pull it, so I was just going to do a public comment. [laughter] We'll have to get ready. Um, I just wanted to say so as I near the end of my term and celebrate my very last municipal clerk's week with you, I wanted to take this opportunity to recognize the hard work of our city clerk staff, Cindy, Helen, Michelle, and Gabby. You guys are amazing. We're so lucky to have you. um your professionalism, your skill, your patience and your support um without a doubt has been tested over the last few months and you have rose to the occasion. Um we're so lucky to have you as a city and I just wanted everyone to know and I wanted to thank you on behalf of all the residents in the city of Monterey Park um for your service. You are the backbone of this show and so you do that effortlessly every two weeks and you represent the very best of this profession. So thank you and we wish you the very happiest of municipal clerk's week. Thank you. [applause]

All right. Should we have a motion to approve 10F? I'll move to motion. All right. I'll second. Let's vote. Approved unanimously.

Thank you. Uh now 10g. Good evening, mayor, mayor prom, members of the city council. Kristen Olive, city librarian. This evening you have in front of you a draft resolution um proclaiming April 19th through 25th National Library Week um in Monterey Park. Uh the Monterey Park Bookmar Library is celebrating National Library Week, which is celebrated nationwide annually in uh April to highlight the valuable role libraries, librarians, and library workers play in transforming lives and strengthening our communities. This year's theme, find your joy, is an invitation for people of all backgrounds to explore and discover what sparks joy in them at the library. To help individuals find their joy at the library, library passports will be available during National Library Week. Visitors can pick up a passport at any service desk, then complete the listed activities to receive a small prize. And so tonight, we are asking that you adopt a resolution declaring the week of April 19th through 25th, 2026 to be National Library Week in Monterey Park and taking such additional related action that may be desirable. I'm happy to answer any questions. Here, thank you, Kristen, for that great report. Uh I was just at the library the week during spring break for AUSD and I still saw kids in there but more importantly I saw adults in there. So that library is utilized from a capacity standpoint. Everyone comes not only our residents but surrounding communities as well. So you guys have been a great resource not only for our city but for surrounding communities and I want to say thank you for being part of that.

Um I just also want to add um how important libraries are particularly here in Monterey Park. Um I always say that we have the best library in the San Gabriel Valley and I truly mean that. Um I know that a lot of our students make a lot of use of the libraries but not just students, community members and it just the wealth of workshops um and resources that we offer in the library that has usually not been traditional for libraries. I think growing up in the library, growing up and going to the libraries, I I can't I don't remember seeing any of those types of workshops uh that we currently offer today and just the amount of um stuff that we do. Even even the toddler program, every time I go, it's just so full of kids. Uh as a matter of fact, a lot of my Oh High School kids come to the library and they like coming here, too. So, I really appreciate that as well. Um it's a great place to to meet and to do. But I also wanted to I know that every day for National Library Week has a different theme. Um and I I did want to mention that on the Thursday it's um take action day. Um and I know that throughout the country and not just libraries but schools as well have seen a lot of attack on a lot of our uh the literature that and and we're lucky that in Monterey Park that's not happening um or in our community at least. But um but in other communities that is happening. So, just wanted to I I appreciate every time that I go to the library um that you're always highlighting um different um authors, uh different ethnic groups, um and the importance of highlighting a lot of those voices and amplifying them, I really appreciate it. So, um whatever we can do to help take action on that Thursday, um please let us know. Even if it's just reading a book, but oh, and then one last thing, there's two books that I haven't turned in that I just got a notice about. I promise promise I'm turning them in this week. Thank you. Don't worry, we're fine. Free, [laughter]

madame mayor. So, uh, you know, I um uh I think I think for me um what I like to highlight um about I think how incredibly important uh this library is um is uh the weekend after the mass shooting in 2023. Um I still remember uh uh the library I know internally there discussions about do we still continue the free legal clinic uh um given the tragedy that occurred and I think that you know uh you know it was very courageous for library to continue and and and and and I what I remember I think all of us who went to library that weekend was that um there was still a long line of community people either from Mon Park or outside Mon Park still in line waiting to sign up for proonal services and and and and I think that that if anything even in light of tragedy is that the library still continued its duty and the community at um still showed up not just for service but to also I think support I think in many ways is also supporting Monterey Park at that dark moment and so again to me I you know that is that is something that I always remember and and and say often about our library so

thank you yeah it's amazing how many events our library has and also on the hot days you guys act as cooling centers too so community really appreciates that um anyone I'd like to make the motion. All right. Council member Go moves. Second. Council member Sanchez seconds. Let's vote. Approved unanimously.

And if I may, I wanted to um give you a sneak peek of the special edition library card that will be available for the month of May um to celebrate the city's birthday. pass that along, Amy. Um, so this, um, limited edition library card, um, includes the greeting tour, greetings tour mural, um, on it. And so we will have that available beginning in May. And you are the first to see it. And that's for new members only, right? No. Or well, there is a $3 replacement fee for a new library card. So anybody who

I think I just lost mine. [laughter] Wow, the design looks really amazing. Thank you. Thank you very much.

All right, that's all for our consent agenda. Moving on to new business. 12A, amendment to city council protocols pursuant to Senate Bill 707. Yes, we have one public speaker, uh, Michelle E. Hello again. Um, good evening neighbors. Long time no see or speak. Um, actually, it's a perfect time for me to speak because that's actually what I came up here to talk about. Um, for those of you who aren't aware, this item is discussing whether to limit the speaking time again. And so what I'd like to ask, as you could see, I'm the only one here. There is no fear of public speakers. It is so rare that we actually have public speakers. This should not be a major concern. It takes so much courage and so much commitment to show up here and to speak in front of you and to speak in front of everyone in this room. Why do we want to hinder that, prohibit it, limit it? You just did. Only a few months ago in changing the rules, you limited speaking by limiting people from commenting on each item. And now the speaking time is combined in addition to not allowing people to share time. So that was already one reduction. And now tonight potentially there's another reduction. There's no reason for it. There's nobody here. Don't be afraid. It's all right. Just let them speak. Even when we had all the speakers, they barely took 2

minutes each. There's no reason to fear allowing the people to talk and be heard. So I ask you to please consider that when deciding on how you want to proceed. Um if it's absolutely necessary to create some kind of rule in regards to the time. Um I forgive me I can't remember what city it was but there was one city that made the restriction in regards to the number of people in the audience which I think is fair and that makes sense in those extreme circumstances that makes sense but you already had that ability to do it before so it's not really something new but if that's the case that's what I would recommend only doing it when there's an extreme circumstance in all other cases there's no need to change it you've already changed it. Why take more time away from the people? Let them be heard, please. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh let's proceed with the presentation.

Thank you, Mayor Mayor, member of the city council. My name is Cindy Train and I'm the deputy city clerk and I will be presenting an overview of the amendment um to the city council protocols pursuant to Senate Bill 707 referred to SB77. So the legislature has made significant amendments to the Ralph M. Brown, excuse me, Brown Act, including through SP77 authored by State Senator Dazzo. The city council has revised its policies and procedures several time including delays revision in 2021 with the implement implementation of the mandated SB77 requirements. There is a need to consolidate and modern modernize meeting rules into a single um framework. Next slide please. So SB707 amends the city's legislative bodies in two folds. The first phase affects all legislative bodies including boards and commissions and it takes effective January 1st 2026. The second phase of affect the city council as the legislative the eligible legislation body and it takes effective July 1st 2026. Next slide. So phase one requirements include the following. Members may participate via teleconference as an ADA re reasonable accommodation. The public may record reings using any devices. The presiding officers uh officers may remove remote participation after a warning of actual disruption of meetings. The optional just cause teleconferencing is allowed but not required. the remote participation for just cause reasons condition on full two-way remote p

public participation and finally agenda must explain how to request reasonable ADA accommodations which we are already doing. Next slide please. Phase two requirements required um agenda must be translated and posted in applicable language languages. The city have the translated agenda. The city will have the translated agendas in Spanish and Chinese and made available online and physically uh posted. Um, the SB77 also require mandatory remote public access through a two-way audio audio visual and or two-way phonatic um telephonic sorry service. So, the city is planning on using the Zoom webinar for the two-way audiovisisual platform. Disruption policy technology failures. The proposed revised rules of procedures include procedures for addressing remote access disruption where if the remote access was disrupt uh disrupted, the city council must recess for at least an hour to try to restore service. Next slide, please. Oh, sorry. Can you back up? And finally, um support and outreach. The city is already using wordly app and will be using Zoom to provide captions and translation to assist the public obtaining interpretation. Next slide. The public comments uh comment procedure. Part of the proposed update is seeking guidance for public participation. Currently, speakers may speak up to five minutes for public comment, a total of five minutes for other items on the agenda, and five minutes for public hearing. In surveying surrounding

cities, most city cities generally allow three minutes or a com a combination thereof and written communications are recorded but not read into the records. The most efficient means to effectively monitor speakers through different means such as in person, virtual and telephonic which is all going to be required by um July 1st, 2026. Providing the public comment on all matters for the agenda at the beginning of the meeting is desired. Public hearing items allow the public comments during those agenda items. Next slide, please. So, it is recommended that the city city council consider adopting the resolution revising the rules and of procedures, providing guidance on public participation guidelines, and authorizing the city manager to execute a fourth amendment with Civic Plus LLC. This concludes my report. Um, staff and city attorney will be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Any questions? I have a question. I I um when you said you did the survey from the surrounding cities, their average time is approximately did I hear three minutes? Almost all the city that I surveyed, I personally did the survey, right? Uh it's a three three minutes and then there there's a combination of different formula. three minutes for 30 minutes and then everybody else can be taken at the end and they've given five minutes. There's three minutes per categories. There's three minutes for everything. So, it's it's up to the council how you want to approach this.

And I just want to point out that the results from the survey are attached to the staff report and then also available on this slide. And it's a little bit small, but we're happy to answer any questions on that. I'm going to let uh my colleagues have questions first. Uh thank you. I appreciate all the work that went into this. I know SP77 compliance is extraordinarily complex and I think every city is struggling to figure out how to comply with this in the short timeline that we've all had. Uh and I know that once we compliance requirement is to come into compliance with this by July 1st, which has come up very fast. Uh, I know part of our city council chamber remodel is going to be helping to integrate technology to help make that integration of these requirements easier for staff and for people from the public to be able to engage in our council meetings going forward. Uh, so I appreciate that. I know that we're trying to line all this up. Obviously, the city council chambers won't be ready for that completely by July 1st. Uh but I know that there will be hiccups for probably at least the first few months of us transitioning to allowing u virtual participation right back to the I wasn't on council during the beginning of the pandemic. So maybe council member Low or Mayor Promlo can share some insight into that in terms of how how that worked and any lessons learned. And I know the staff were very I'm sure we learned a lot of lessons from having to be able to engage or having the public be able to engage virtually in in a hybrid mode uh for our city council meetings. I know I know that not only us but every city had challenges with that uh and we'll probably have continue to have challenges which is why we have gotten rid of uh virtual participation in a lot of our meetings because of a lot of those challenges that still

exist. Um so my questions are one how ready are we for virtual and hybrid participation in our meetings? What challenges do you anticipate we should be thinking through? I know some of the thought of preparing for that are here in terms of recommend or at least the analysis that's been done and you're looking for some guidance from the council on how we want to proceed to address these challenges um at the outset more proactively. I agree. We should we we need to make these rules clear and the guidance for speakers and participation clear as clear as possible for the public uh upfront so that we're not changing them during the meeting uh if these things happen. So, it's important to have this discussion now and to make sure that these are in place before July 1st uh so that we can be clear once we have to now that we will have to allow uh virtual participation in our meetings. We just I just I think it's important appreciate the staff work that has gone into this to get us to a point where we can make these policies and this guidance a lot clearer for those who want to participate in a different way than we've allowed the last few years. Uh with that just any other additional kind of thoughts that have been given from or that have been part of the mix in this conversation and discussion on the staff level that we should be wary of and we should just be mindful of on the council end as we're trying to decide where we want to go with time limits and other things here if if there's any additional color to add.

I can take that question. Um, and thank you for for the uh recognition of the the difficulty of implementing SB77. Um, this has been something that we've been working on for probably about the b past 6 months and we've been keeping an eye on the legislation as it worked itself through the the uh legislature last year. Um, you're right. A lot of this is very ownorous technically to um to apply to all of our procedures in in running the meeting. Um, as you could tell by our technical difficulties earlier in the meeting, we're already sort of keeping a lot of balls up in the air to broadcast the meetings and to make sure that they're able to be seen and participated by uh participated during by uh members of the public. Um, a few things that we've and we've been working on this uh a lot in the past couple months. We've brought on new technologies. Um, as you can tell, the translation and the captioning part of it. Um, it definitely takes some time. Um there are a lot of different kind of platforms operating at the same time in terms of our cable broadcasting, our zoom, our YouTube streaming. Uh and then allowing people to participate remotely as well is going to be a bit of a challenge. Um, you know, I think one of the things that I wanted to mention about um the challenges of hosting in person as well as virtual participation is um as some of you remember it can be a little bit tricky to having people online. Um but now we're going to not only have people online, we're going to have people in the room. Um so handling public comment for that. Uh hence the recommendation to do all public comment at the beginning of the meeting even public comment on specific items. Um and we would also recommend a cuto off time uh for people to register public comment by because we then have to note who's in

the room, who has their hand raised on Zoom um and who wants to comment on each particular item. So we'll have to make a list of that. And then because we're using Zoom webinar to try to minimize Zoom bombing and distractions, we will have to uh unmute people individually to allow them to call call their name, unmute them, and then allow them to talk and then turn off their mic too. So um it's going to be a lot of a lot of moving parts. We're definitely going to have at least one additional staff member up here at the deis just to make sure that Zoom is running properly. And not only people uh not only will we have people participating uh on video on Zoom on their computers, they can also call in. So there are a lot of layers happening. There are a lot of kind of programs that are going to be running at the same time. Um, and there's a lot of different technology that we're making sure that we we integrate in a way that uh that works. So, I I appreciate that and I appreciate the opportunity to kind of share with you some of the the practical challenges that we've been facing.

Thanks. And I say this half jokingly, Carl. It sounds like this is a state mandate that is un unfunded. So, I don't know if that's something to push back on, but that's that's correct. and hence the ask for the uh additional uh funding for Civic Plus. We we're sounds like it should come from the states. We are spending a lot of money to implement this. Yes. Just just tongue and cheek. Uh but also have serious and then just to be clear this so we're only required to abide by SB77 requirements for right hybrid virtual participation for council. This doesn't extend to commission meetings for commissioners.

That's correct. Um and we'd be good to make sure we work out all the potential challenges before we even think about extending this potentially to other other forums. Um and I believe the requirement here is to SB part the other part of SB7 is to translate agendas into languages. So we will I don't think we do that. I don't we definitely don't translate the entire agenda. Is that going forward we're going to have to translate even the staff reports or

So uh the the requirements of SB77 is just that the agenda is translated. Um and that threshold depends on the the census numbers that we've gotten back for uh percentages that speak one language and then speak another language less than well. Um, so for us that uh includes Chinese in our um community, but we will we will be doing them in both Spanish and Chinese. Um, and I I want to note that we actually have already uh kind of turned this on in complying with some of the um ADA requirements under federal law that are due at the end of this month in April. Um, we now have a program called Doc Access that's a plugin to the website that will automatically uh translate PDFs. So the next time you go on the website, you take a look at the agenda portal, you will see that you can translate that into probably 200 different languages. So one of the um requirements under CES SB77 is that it's translated available online, that it's also posted physically. So our staff will have to be printing that and posting it in the locations that we already post it. And uh there's another requirement that we provide space for the community to post any translations that they have also come up with. So there's a lot going on there.

We're figuring all that out and we'll have that. Yes, we're we're ready for that. Absolutely. Uh and then I in the staff report also on this slide, right? In terms of disruption, we experienced uh disruption in terms of our streaming today even. Um right, we have to recess up to an hour for to try to bring back online access. Uh I don't I'm just commenting on the challenge of this and how that can will very easily elongate our meetings. Yes. Uh

and the requirement is to recess for at least an hour. So if there is a technological interruption, we will have to recess for at least an hour and then if after an hour we haven't been able to resolve that after we've started um then we can we can continue but we it's at least an hour. Yeah. So just I'm trying to think of other

potential cleanups to this uh as I'm sure many cities will experience challenges. Uh and then we are was part of the was one of the questions whether we want to allow uh council member teleconferencing or virtual participation potentially or is that something we're already staff is recommending already. That's so for that item the just cause item uh beginning in July the council would be able to participate remotely for just cause reasons.

Okay. We're not getting rid of that and there's no limit now with SB 717. Right. We the current state laws restrict how many times you can use the council members can use that. Right. Correct. And that that loosens some of those requirements. There's uh for just cause, sorry, I was um checking in with our city attorney. For just cause uh absences, it's up to three times a year. And then are we I mean how you not an absence of remote participation it's for three times a year for just cause reasons. Yes.

Remote participation. Correct. Uh childcare emergency. Correct.

Uh on the I've lost my question. So I mean you noted uh some of the challenge in terms of managing in person virtual same time uh a cue for comments and things like that. How are we going to manage that? I know part of our I think I I think I believe we approved moving towards a system that manages digitally comments comment requests like LA County and other jurisdictions have. We have not implemented that yet. How will we manage online comment requests and inerson comment requests? Someone's just going to take the the yellow slips and online hands raised.

Yeah, we've taken a look at some some different platforms that are available. Um, right now there's not one platform that allows you to do absolutely everything at the same time. Hence, it's kind of a mismash of a lot of different technologies. There is one um platform, one product out there that's working on sort of putting all of these things together in one uh program that would allow you to take uh online comments easily, allow for translation, close captions easily, um and would go away from a Zoom platform, but would be its own type of Zoom, but built in and that would allow us to do it really easily. right now they're not they're not totally there but we are keeping an eye on that. So, you're right. The the procedure in the council chambers is going to be the yellow slips from people that are in person and then it will be, you know, a procedure where the city clerk says, you know, if you're on Zoom and you'd like to u make a public comment, please raise your hand. And so then we will have to um get their names and what item they'd like to comment on. And we'll have to have probably a cut off time then for people to do that, right? because we don't want them necessarily raising their hand throughout the meeting and then having to go back and try to figure out if they've already talked or you know how much time they've used. So hence the recommendation to to try to do all the public comment for all the items bar except for the um uh public hearings up at the the front of the meeting.

Great. Sounds like it might be challenging. So logistically it will be a little bit challenging because we are monitoring the the virtual and the telephone as well right and so if we are able to call all the speaker at the beginning then that would eliminate in between there somebody out of the blue would raise their hand and want to speak on an item and then now we got to go back and pivot back and you know uh adjust for that and and constantly constantly monitoring it. Whereas if we are able to take all the public comments at the beginning that would take care of all the public comments then we can continue with business and then that also um eliminate the potential maybe zoom bombing which is you know I'm speaking with other cities everybody's concerned about zoom bombing and we have some

as we we should be as well we've you know experience uh yes okay and I generally support uh making sure we're adjusting all of this to make sure our meetings are workable. And I I think we have to balance uh making sure we are accessible and that the public has an opportunity to be able to engage with us, but also that our meetings don't go till 1212 a.m. which I would argue is also unaccessible for people who have to work the next day um and work at night as well and have to manage all that. And so want to find that right balance here in terms of some of the recommendation for what's what's been laid out in the staff report. Um I'll stop here and come back to the conversation after the other council members have a chance.

Sure. Thank you. Um I also want to thank you for all of the work that's been uh going into preparing for this. Um I assume that once we roll this out, there's going to be a lot of kinks we're going to have to work out and so I think we're going to have to manage those as we as we get through them. Um, I serve on the Metro Service Council and and I know the Mer um in the Metro Service Council we um already take um phone um communications um and they um in terms of timing allow two up to two minutes and the the process that they use is they allow um pe in-person people to go first and then they uh check in the Zoom rooms to see who's available and then they um take those calls as well. Um, and so far in my months that I've been there, it's worked um, pretty well actually. Um, I do like that um, this new um, medium would allow for a lot more participation, especially from people that will that cannot come to directly to our council meeting. Um but also for council members um who might be sick and have to be at home um or or might be at a conference and um might allow them to participate in the in a council meeting uh whereas in the past they wouldn't have been able to. So uh really like that aspect of of SB77. Um I I do want to um also uh talk about the time length. I I appreciate the research that went into uh surveying all of the neighboring cities in terms of how much time is allowed. Um I I do want to um re reiterate what uh Council Member Wong said in terms of uh being able to find a balance uh so that we we understand that we're all human and we have families to go to as well in the evenings and sometimes uh you know 1:00 a.m. and and I I I don't mind staying uh that late. Um but I know that uh a lot of people have stayed in the past um

especially last council meetings uh very late um and so want to make sure that we find a and strike a balance in terms of being able to conduct our business as a city um in a u timely fashion. So, uh I am very interested in in revisiting uh the time uh changes in terms of uh um and looking in some of the other cities in terms of what they're doing. And and I know it's really hard to kind of see in there, but I believe the second city there is Alhamra. Is that correct? Our neighboring city. And Alhamra allows for Does that say three minutes?

Uh three minutes for public comment. uh they do 30 minutes uh at the beginning and then the remaining speakers if there are more than take uh if they take up more than 30 minutes if there are remaining speakers left then that is taken at the end of the meeting. Okay. Um I don't know how the council feels about that. Is that something we're trying to decide today or is it just more of a discussion? Um are you looking for guidance on this particular item now? Yes, we are. Okay. I actually wrote some wrote down some ideas, but I want you guys to kind of share your thoughts first and then I'll I'll pitch the idea and see where this goes.

Sure, madame. Yeah. Thank you. Um as um the council member on this currently count who was present when we had to switch to virtual meeting. Um I I actually do want to take this opportunity to thank the staff and of course everyone at our clerk's office for dealing with what was very challenging times and and um what I will say I remember um I think uh yeah like with all systems um you know there were probably um trial and error and I think one of the things that I remember we learned from I think our first few meetings was for example to um prohibit I guess cuz we there were people who I guess instead of speaking in during Zoom they had an automated like auto robotic voice and it was being a machine and I and and we we we prohibited that right that that if you did speak you had to be the actual person right so so so and again you know maybe that's the whole issue of zoom bombing and and and I suppose since 2020 technology has also advanced and so that now with AI it's probably even more hard to distinguish when a person's calling if it's an actual person or if it's just a machine you know and and I suppose that's maybe one of the um unforeseen uh issues but I think that uh you know certainly the world changed in 2020 with the pandemic and I think that you know prior to pandemic a lot of people were envisioning what we're doing tonight what is now prescribed by law as something that was like in the far future like maybe something in 2030 and yet here we are. Well, we we have been doing it for many years now. Um I just had one question to ask and again maybe it has not been an issue with us when we did do virtual meetings or it's never been brought up but um um as more

and more government agencies adopted the Zoom platform um and and and and I bring it up because um I guess our plan for the two-way communication is to use the Zoom webinar was that um it was brought to my attention that um sometimes when people use do use the Zoom platform to do the uh the two-way communication. There were concerns or complaints about the phone numbers because some of the phones were not toll-free and and and so uh I just bring that up um because especially if we're encouraging well I know we're being mandated by law but at the same time as my colleagues have all said and we all agree we want to be able to use technology to make the people more able to access their city government. So my question is um are we going to make sure that if we're going to use Zoom as a platform for people to call in that we will be using the tollfree numbers that are offered by Zoom. I know there's a cost I know there's a cost that we would incur but I imagine that um people may may question that are we creating a unnecessary barrier if we if they have to use the toll numbers when they call in.

We will have uh toll-free numbers. So, when you make the Zoom invite, it lists probably 10 different phone numbers that you can use and one of them is a toll-free number. Okay. Um, so if you're just calling in to the Zoom webinar on your telephone, on your home telephone, you can call in or you can uh access via your your cell phone, you can access remotely with your video, with your cell phone, with your computer. There are a lot of different options. Okay. Well, no, thank you. I just just that's the one that comes to mind um because it's been brought up not by not at our means but by other agencies where residents have complained about having to dial a toll number. So yeah, thank you.

Yeah. Well, I I also want to thank you for all the hard work you guys put in the last six months trying to figure out this new process and doing all the research and preparation behind it. Um I have one question which is um they they're saying that if we have a tech issue we have to recess for one hour. What is the reasoning behind that? Do you guys know to try to restore um service so that the remote um you know the caller or uh the remoting in may participate continue to participate.

Yeah. Yeah, but like like earlier today we had a tech issue so it was resolved in like 5 10 minutes and then we were able to resume. So if it it was a tech issue that got resolved in 5 10 minutes we would still have to wait the full 60 minutes to return to the meeting. If service is restored then we we continue with the meeting. Oh okay. It's when you cannot restore uh you have to give it a full hour to try to restore service before you can say, you know, uh we're going to take a roll call and we're going to continue the meeting.

Got it. Okay, that makes sense. Um and in regards to the um speaker time, um I think um I looked at all the different cities that were researched. I um I heard uh Michelle's comments as well. I I personally think Arcadius is a good um method because like if we don't have any people like like today then you know let's say there's less than five speakers they each speak the um five minutes like they're speaking now that's 25 minutes is not that much time and if we have six to 20 um speakers 3 minutes each let's say it's 20 speakers that's an hour of public comment that's very reasonable too 50 speakers 2 minutes, maximum that's 100 minutes, and then 50 plus speakers, one a minute each. Um, I know that with the uh Zoom meetings, there's probably going to be a lot more speakers because they don't have to come in. They don't have to make the drive. They can just call in wherever they are in the world. Um, so there's a lot more speakers. So, it makes sense that we're reducing the time and not just having the five minutes that we've been giving. But I think having that um you know step by step based on how many speakers makes sense in my opinion but I would love to hear everyone else's opinions.

Right.

So I actually studied the map and I came up with kind of a little process procedure. Maybe it'll work for you guys. Um like to pitch the idea. I mean, bottom line is this is trying to be more efficient, allowing for community engagement. So, what I wrote down was a couple of rules here. Uh, I like the threeminut rule. So, what I like to to do is maybe pitch three minutes if it's less than 20 speakers, 2 minutes between 20 and 40 speakers, and then if it's more than 40 speakers to infinity, then it's one minute per speaker. caption that with the all the speakers should be speaking up front whether they're in person or in Zoom all the speakers will go up front that's kind of like addenda one addenda two is 60 minutes of public session in the beginning so if it's going to be 20 speakers at 30 minutes the first 60 minutes we're done with that if there's another five speakers they can speak at the at the back end so 60 minutes of public communications up front. Anything will come at the back end. So, we'll stay, we'll listen, but you'll speak at the back end so that we can continue the official business with the city. um set a cut off time so that 15 minutes before the start of council meeting if you want to speak either in person or on Zoom get your card get your email to the queue line so you can speak 15 minutes before the meeting starts so you can fit within the first hour and then after that you can still submit it but you speak at the back end of the meeting. uh we talked about the translations um at the back end of the meeting. So for example, we may have considerably a lot more people after they hear the first 60 minutes they want to speak

more. We will allow them to speak at the back end and then I maybe some leave something open where we allow the mayor to have the ability to extend additional speakers based on that one minute time frame at the back end of the meeting. So that if you want to speak, we're here to listen, but you're not holding everyone else hostage here in the beginning of the speaking uh in the session so that we're all listening to the same topic, same arguments back and forth because we all witness that. And I think part of my concern here is in in terms of being efficient is we've had meetings where we had 80 speakers, 90 speakers, but it's the same information from talking points and that goes on and on. So we're asking people, the speakers in person and online to be more efficient because really more is less, right? The more you speak is the less information they get out. So we're asking you to be more efficient because brevity is wit. The less you say, the more important it is. And that way we can communicate better and understand better. Um I I know um council member Sanchez also me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me mentioned Alhhamra which is splitting it up in the beginning and the rest at the end of the meeting but I think there's some issues with that right is like hard to determine which who goes first or who goes last was there some some kind of complication surrounding that madame mayor from my understanding Uh the city of Alhamra um probably registers public comment by uh order, right? So whoever comes in, they take in their public comment cards. They hear um a certain time frame, they allow public comment at the beginning. If they they don't get through all the public uh

speakers, then the remaining ones uh are taken at the end of the agenda is the way uh my understanding works. So I believe those are by registered um like like first come first serve, right? they receive their comment card and [snorts] then they're put in the queue. So section gets heard up front and then if there's still remaining speakers they um have that at the end of their agenda.

And I'll point out as well um Alhamra does this, Monrovia, Montabelloo and I believe South Pasadena all do it that way where they have an allotted time at the beginning of the meeting and if they can't get through all the speakers then they will do the remaining speakers at the end of the meeting. So it's not um unique to Alhhamra. is something that's more not uncommonly done. Okay. So, there's no issues with implementing that kind of split up.

Madame Mayor, I believe the uh request or the guidance that the the staff is also seeking is just um the regist uh the registration of public speaking cards. So currently um even when an item is being heard um speakers have been able to continue to fill out those speaker cards and present them uh during an item. And so those types of uh guidances would be helpful for us uh from a staff's perspective if they're trying to um put individuals in a queue and then be able to call them. Uh having a a cut off point for when you're receiving comment cards or speaker cards could be helpful just from an organizational standpoint to keep the meeting running uh smoothly so that you're not uh confused on um speaker items coming in while you're managing the queue on Zoom or on the phone and in person. There are several cities that are doing that right before the the item or even before the council meeting they would stop taking um you know request to speak and like uh city manager say you know we're talking about an item and then there's lifts that just keep coming and coming and coming and so where do you draw the line and that's really hard when it comes to also monitoring what's on you know your Zoom and you know they're going to keep raising hand too and so where do we stop? So basically like setting a time limit for when we stop taking public

it would be very helpful and that would be required as well if we if councils wish to um set the time for speakers depending on the number of speakers right because if there's not a cuto off time we don't know how many total speakers there will be and we wouldn't know what to set that time at that makes sense madame mayor sorry

oh that's why I went up with 15 minutes is 15 minutes sufficient time for you guys to kind of gather and and then get the queue line up or is do you need half an hour? Do you need five minutes or I threw it 15 minutes because I think that's probably a good chunk of time for you to gather and say got to get that in 15 minutes and then in 15 minutes you can sort it and figure out I got 10 here, I got 15 on Zoom or I got 50 here, I got 50 in Zoom. So you can plan that out.

No, I think 15 minutes is sufficient. If I can just um recap, council member go your recommendations. So it was uh uh 20 speakers or less would be three minutes per speaker. Uh between 21 and 40 speakers would be 2 minutes per speaker and then 41 and over would be one minute per speaker. 60 minutes of public comment at the beginning. Um and then the rest of the public comment at the end of the meeting and then uh the cuto off to submit public comment would be 15 minutes before the council meeting started. Was that correct? Or 15 minutes after we started?

Uh 15 minutes before we start. Otherwise, you would be running around figuring out how to get the comments in. So that one could be a little bit hard because we could have people showing up right on the dot. So, we may have to maybe figure that out, go on a 6 months trial to see how that works. And I'm I'm looking at the survey of the different cities and a lot of the cities only do 30 minutes. I think we we want to hear from our residents from our speakers. So, an hour is probably a little bit more than what's up there.

Uh I would just ask the city attorney, is there any issue for cutting off uh oral communications 15 minutes before the meeting starts? Seeing a Madam Mayor, members of the council, there's no legal issue with that. The Brown Act requires public comment before action is taken, and as long as that's provided, uh, you're in the clear.

So, if we had 60 minutes prior and 60 minutes after, would we be able to take action in between the two 60 minutes? Because wouldn't we have to hear all of public comment before taking action? It is, madame mayor, it is not uncommon for cities to have one block of public comment for the entire agenda other than public hearings. Public hearings are a little bit different because those are quasi judicial proceedings and so you have a separate set of rules for those types of public hearings. But for the regular business items, it's quite frequent to have either half an hour or 60 minutes or whatever it is ahead of time where someone can get up and use their aotted time to speak on every single item on the agenda. Uh which means that there are no speakers for individual agenda items as you move through the agenda. It's all heard at the beginning or if you run out of time, you hear it at the end.

And if you hear at the end, it would be already after we took action. That's true. But you've heard the individual and and you've heard their particular concerns, interests, whatever it might be. But it's it's obviously up to the city council how you want to structure your your agenda. Uh I'm here to tell you what the law says.

Yeah. I I guess I guess that you bring up a good point and and Mayor Mayor Yang, I I think what you're concerned is we we make a decision on stuff that's not heard, but if this is done correctly and based on my gut instinct and based on our experience here, we know certain items that will go longer. It's probably the same item that will have more than 40, well, let's just say more than an hour. So more than the limited time, it's going to be that same topic. And what we can do is at that point in time, the clerk's office would say, "We've got 20 more speakers and they're going to be on this topic." Then what we can do is we can say, "Well, we're going to vote on everything else other than this topic because that topic or that item will have another 10 or 20 speakers at the end." and we can take our time to listen to all those comments before we make an a decision on that topic or that item.

And madame mayor, members of the council, if I may, there are jurisdictions that have different coded uh public comment cards. So green or yellow or whatever they might be and that way you have piles of people who are in a in favor of or opposition to and I've seen it also where the the presiding usually the mayor the the president for the meeting will ask the audience how many are agree with that particular sentiment please raise your hand and you've fulfilled the obligation because I think to to an earlier point many of these things are talking points that are sent out certainly on social media or email or whatever it might be and you're hearing the exact same comments. And the idea behind the Brown Act is you're supposed to hear comments in order to help you craft your decision on a particular item. But that doesn't mean that it needs to be repetitive. It's if it's the same comment, uh remember these are business meetings and and they're intended to move along the business of the city. So, as long as there is public comment and meaningful public comment and you've received the information that you need to in order to make informed decisions, that's what the Brown Act is there to to facilitate. Got it. So that's what the the law says. But I I personally would want to hear all the public commenters before making a decision. I feel like if we have public comment after we've made an action, then the public comment is, you know, not taken into consideration.

Madame Mayor, if I may, there is um some examples of cities that the um agendized public speaker cards, right? Those are the items that are being heard uh in advance of the um uh of the item. So if there isn't time at the beginning of the meeting to hear non-aggenda items, then oftentimes those sometimes are pushed to the back of the agenda um or to the end of of the um uh the meeting. Um if there's not if they're not if that speaker is not uh present to speak on a specific item that's on the agenda. So Oh, okay. Okay. So, like they're making public comment that we can't take an action on anyways, then save those to the end.

That's an option. Um, again, I know this is a lot of uh discussion and we don't have the technology in place just yet, especially when there's going to be remote access um to consider. So, just as a reminder for council, uh any uh items that are being considered tonight or adjustments that are being considered tonight, the city council will be able to make further adjustments if they see fit, if something isn't working as we anticipate or we're seeing additional need for an adjustment. So, um, even if you give direction tonight, the city council may make adjustments to whatever's recommended, um, as we go, understanding that we're still testing and, um, we expect the remote participation is going to begin in July. And so, we understand that by then things can change. We're we're still demoing other types of products to try to make um, the the meetings flow as smoothly as possible as possible. Um there's not a perfect module out there yet, but we have a feeling that things will be designed and are in the works of being designed. So hopefully there will be some adjustments that will um help queuing a little easier as well.

Madame Mayor. Oh, I'm sorry. Do you have any Okay. Um I guess as we're having and this is actually Thank you all for a very robust conversation about this. You know, I think at least for me at this moment, given all the processes that we will have to be engaged in in order to implement the provisions of this new mandate from Sacramento and and again, thank you for doing the work and spend the resources even though Sacramento has not given us any resource to do so. I I think that at the same time we want to make it as easy as possible for staff in implementing and therefore I'm going to say that I think that we should keep we should be mindful of that especially you know as addressing this issue. Um and I and I do agree with some discussion we've had is that um to me it is an issue of I think fairness above all else. And when I mean fairness, I mean is that and and yes, we've heard people who have come in the past on items of passion interest that people have stayed very late even though they have worked the next day or some people have actually gone home because it was so prolonged. And so I think for me uh what I think would be my guiding priority is to make sure then that everyone has an opportunity to speak and in that sense um I mean again for example I I do like how for example with Arcadia it depends on how many speakers. So for example, it's five speakers or less. It's still five minutes like we have now. And then it is the time is then measured based on how many speakers. I I think I think um it is important to hear every person's opinion, you know, before we take action

on an item. Um and also I would also ask a question that I I know some I I know some cities have a cut off of of of turning in speaker cards as an item is being discussed. So my question is this um if we were to say adopt that policy then I also want to make sure then that people are had enough time and and so my question then is like is is are we only going to accept requests to speak um you know like prior to a council meeting or will we have a system where we'll say let's say you know um you know our agenda is post on Thursday typically for the following week and therefore does that mean we will then give the public advanced notice to put in requests so that they're not cut off. In other words, I I can see a situation where where maybe someone just find out the meeting and then they say and they show up but but it but then we're told, oh, you can't submit a request anymore because the meeting just started. And I want to make sure that whatever system we adopt, we make sure that anyone that we want once requests to speak is given adequate time to make that request.

I um I I hear uh I hear what you're saying. I think what we can do it's it's definitely up to the council to provide their feedback on what that cutoff is going to be in order to implement a system like Arcadia. We would need a cutoff. Okay. Um but it doesn't have to be 15 minutes before the meeting starts. It could be you know possibly 10 minutes after the meeting starts because we we will do call to order. We will do flag salute. We will do presentations, staff communications. Um and then we can do public comment. So it would just depend on on council's preference and how we organize the agenda.

And and again again I I do have some experience in that because when I served on the Garvey school board we actually had a policy that yes once the meeting starts and the item is being discussed then we do cut off um at that point. So, so no and that makes sense because again you're trying to also as I said give everyone a fair amount of time to speak and so therefore at least that does in that sense it does make sense that once the item is discussed and we yes we do stop taking any more cards because then this allows us to calculate time having said that though is that yes I would I I would definitely want us to make sure that then either it's an hour before a council meeting starts or I don't even know if long I just think that if we're going to have a policy where we cut off submissions and I need to make sure that everyone has enough sufficient time to submit such a request so no one feels that we you know cut them off and and and of course I I think it's important that we also remind the public about these rules because so that people can't say well I didn't know

yeah certainly uh so all the public um comment procedure is always printed on the agenda and we will do a campaign to let people know that SB77 is being implemented and there are being changes made. I think to your point, council member Low, having a cut off after the council starts, after the council meeting starts is probably preferable because that will allow us also if people know that they're going to be joining in person, they may know that in advance. But if people are joining on Zoom and they are not joining early, uh then they may not have an opportunity to submit uh a request for public comment if we cut that off before the meeting starts. So, um, if we wanted to, we could, you know, set that at what the council would like. Um, and if we want to give people more time to submit that public comment request, um, we could even move staff communications before if we wanted to sort of give enough time before we have to start taking public communications.

Okay. And we have two time limits. one for the folks on Zoom and then one for folks who actually come in in person. I believe that has to be the same. That has to be the same regardless of the way that they're participating. Okay. Well, I I would want something after the meeting started like 10 15 minutes later. I think 15 minutes.

Ma madame mayor, if I may. Um so as a reminder so if there's um a public hearing uh on the agenda for instance tonight we don't have a public hearing but if there's a public hearing uh listed um those comments um those speakers are going to be allowed to speak right um on that item. So, if the council is setting a time frame to say after the 10 or 15 minutes after the council meeting starts, um we're going to hear, you know, we're going to that's going to be our cutoff for general uh comments or comments on all the other agenda items. Public hearings, you can still direct us to accept that up until the public hearing because that item is separate. So, there's still going to be an allowance for another speaker card if there's a public hearing on the agenda. So what we're I know we're discussing kind of a large just um overall um examples but the public hearings would would be allowed um the additional time. Right. So there would be uh time to register those other comments as well

even if it's after 10 15 minutes. Correct. Right. Because uh if we if we're not moving that item up on the agenda it gives time for people to register their comments for the public hearing. Yeah. So, logistically, we're still trying to figure out if, let's say, somebody's calling in. I'm not sure how we're going to find out which item they want to speak on. Um, we're playing around with maybe putting them in the waiting room and then, you know, unmute them, ask them which item they want to talk, I mean, which item they're interested in speaking on. But

then if the meeting is going to start and then we're still taking 15 minutes later, we're still trying to figure out. So we're getting some guidance from the council and see how we can figure out.

The other the other item that, as I mentioned, we're evaluating there. There is digital cues where people could, you know, um, type in that they'd like to speak on an item. That works if you're at a computer and at a desk and at home, but if you're calling from a phone, we know that that can be a challenge. So that's why the raise hand feature is still an option to try to coordinate, you know, the queue. So definitely we're still evaluating if there's other potential digital CQ cues that uh systems might be able to have. We just don't we just don't have that yet in place. I

I have a follow question. Um, did we also double check and I know we we we look at neighboring municipalities, but did we also double check how the c the county's processes? And the reason why I bring it up is because the county for a while has had a system where you can do um in person as well as telephonic. And I'm what I'm trying to remember is and and because I I' I've called it myself. I'm trying to remember. Does the county alternate or do they do inperson first then switch to telephonic or do they alternate? You know, um um because that's probably again you imagine even on a quotequote light day for the county, they will always have a large turn of people and you can imagine for the county, they also be able to be able to give everyone a fair sh um um um to to speak as well. And so I am curious if we can just double check how the county again do they alternate between inerson and telephonic or do they just do all inerson but then switch to telephonic you know because that also may help us have an idea of again how to manage when we may have a large volume of speakers on an issue. So on the county level I am not sure but on the city level some of them that are offering uh zoom right now

they are taking in person first and then the zoom after. Okay I would just say double check with the county as well. I again maybe that makes sense. No no I guess makes sense in sense in that you know someone is calling in you know either they're in their office or at home and so therefore it's a little more convenient for them as opposed to someone who has to drive down and come to our council. So in that sense if that's how some states are doing it I would say then we should probably follow again out of fairness that yeah if you make the effort to come to the chamber then perhaps you should be given precedence first then those who call in either telephonically or through a zoom webinar.

So I don't [clears throat] know if at this point we have to come up with all these items right now. Um, I'm wondering if maybe it might be more prudent to have a maybe a couple of choices to choose from if staff came back with, well, we heard what you said and um, maybe you we have option A, B, and C we can choose from or or or choose from some of the options. I because what I'm thinking is I I I think what I'm hearing is is everyone wants to hear if people showing up, we want to make sure that everyone is heard. Um, but we also want to be mindful of time. Um, so and we want to make sure that whatever whatever process we take that it's also manageable for you guys to be able to uh process all of these people in a timely fashion but also so it's not so stressful and and convoluted and uh and that the and for me at least if if I were a speaker coming here um I'd want the rules to be pretty clear and straightforward um and and not so confusing. So, uh I think whatever we decide to do um it should be pretty clear and straightforward and manageable for us um on our end um and also give the opportunity for everyone to speak whether whether in the front or back end.

So we would prefer feedback tonight so that we can uh adopt the resolution and start practicing for implementation because that is going to be coming up very soon. Um there are certain things logistically on the back end that staff will, you know, have to figure out given council's direction, but in terms of what we're looking from uh looking for from council tonight is how they would like to handle the time for public comment. Those things are going to be really important to us. And then you let staff handle the logistics of how we do that. So, um, you know, what I heard from council member Go is less than 20 speakers, 3 minutes a piece. I heard from most of the council that they did like Arcadia system. Um, council member Go said less than 20 speakers, 3 minutes a piece. Between 21 and 40, 2 minutes a piece. Uh, more than 41 1 minute a piece. It seems like everybody is in agreement with that. Um, in terms of whether we want to do a public comment period at the beginning and one at the end, I'm hearing some different things. I think if we implement council member Go's suggestion, um, even if we take all public comment at the beginning of the meeting, if there are a lot of speakers, we're hopefully not going to get too too long at the beginning of the meeting. if we have, you know, uh, 60 speakers, it would only be technically one hour of public comment. Um, I think we've had 60 to 80 speakers at some of our really well attended meetings. So, if you want to do that math, that's probably, let's say, about an hour and a half, which I think is manageable uh, for staff. Um so if we adopt those time limits uh if you wanted to do that we could do all public comment at the beginning with the exception of the um public hearing

because those are taken under slightly different rules um procedurally. Um and then I'm hearing the cut off for registering um speakers would be 15 minutes after the council meeting starts. And I I think that if I can kind of wrap that all together, I think that's what I'm hearing. That's a good summary.

I think that's a good summary. Also, um I don't mind having five minutes if it's five speakers or less like tonight. Um because if we have so few speakers, um five minutes each is only 25 minutes of public comment. Anyways, I agree with that. Um, but I I think if we have more, we need to adapt to how many speakers we have.

And I think you need to set that up now. I mean, I I'm fine with five minutes if it's five speakers. You can add that layer and say fi five speakers or less. Five minutes and then three minutes if it's between five and 20. Diana, you can just add that in there. My my point is not my point is to make sure we stir within an hour of public comments in the beginning so we can get more efficient. We want people to be heard but we need to be efficient so we don't go all night hearing the same thing.

Understood. And um so we can add five speakers or less 5 minutes a piece um six to 20 speakers 3 minutes a piece and so on and so forth. And I will also note that the mayor has the opportunity to to change these if we see circumstances at other meetings that we'd like to sort of adjust for. Um and as um city manager Alvarez noted, uh we can always adapt these as we go on with our meetings and we find out that we may need to make some changes depending on the conditions that we're seeing at those meetings. We can always come back and make revisions to this resolution.

Sounds good. All right. So, based on Diana's summary, so I'll make that motion. Okay. Council member Burggo makes that motion. I'll second. Council member Sanchez second. All in favor, please vote. Approved unanimously. All right. Thank you so much for all the answers to our many questions.

Thank you. Um, all right. And, uh, next item will be 12B. Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of the council. Uh, the responsibility for this item lays with me. The council previously appointed me as the negotiator for the city manager's contract. Uh, the outline of the contract is within the written staff report. I am required by the government code to give you an overview of it in addition to the written comments. Uh in some the city council authorized me to negotiate a three-year initial term to extend the city manager's agreement. As you recall, uh Miss Alvarez was appointed as city manager in November 2023, and her her three-year term is coming up. Uh the city council asked that the term be adjusted so that instead of it happening on a calendar year, it instead occurred on a fiscal year. So that the new anniversary date if the council approves this contract would the term would end on June 30th and then renew on July 1st of each year of each of these three-year terms. In addition, there are two options for extending the term. So there would be a total potentially of five years to this particular contract. The city council can exercise those options at the end of the initial three-year term and those options could either be for exercising a one-year ter extension or a two-year extension, whichever the council chose. In the event that the council took no action, the contract would go to a month-to-month basis. The baseline salary that was approved by the city council is $315,731.60. Uh that would begin on July 1st, 2026.

And uh over the 3-year initial term, the total compensation package is approximately 1,40,838. Uh obviously if the the options were exercised that would add on to the total cost. The fringe benefits are generally associated with what other executives uh would be approved for by the city council and any subsequent increases in base salary would also be linked to what the city council were to approve uh for any executives. Executives being the department directors. There's also a $600 uh monthly car allowance involved with that. I'm happy to answer any questions for any specifics on this. Uh other than those major substantive changes, the underlying contract remains the same as was approved by the city council uh back in 2023. Happy to answer any questions.

Uh thank you Carl. Appreciate that. Uh just to confirm our philosophy in terms of pay in the city has been in with this council in particular since I can only speak to this council that I've been on has been to pay to the median. Uh and just to if you can confirm right the this number was not pulled out of nowhere in terms of what the salaries being uh recommended here. This is the median uh in terms of comparing to the the our comparable cities list that we utilize for negotiations with our labor unions as well. And so we're we're aligning our right the city council has direct authority in terms of hiring, firing, and employment uh for only two people in this room and at city hall right city attorney and the not directly city but city attorney's firm uh and the city manager. Uh and we have we're exercising our negotiation right philosophy in terms of pay and compensation uh with the city manager just as we have with the the barian units here at city hall with the city hall workers to pay to the median. Uh and this is our adjustment uh for the city manager especi as we are coming up on uh extending her contract. And I'd also note before I get too far ahead of myself and forget uh that this is in conjunction with uh a performance evaluation which not to get into close session since that's performance evaluations are in close session but I would note clearly I'm happy at least with our city manager's performance uh and excited and want to continue to keep her here as our city manager uh hence this agreement uh employment agreement and this extension of the contract for our city manager. I want to give her her due kudos uh for leading the city over the last few years as our city manager. Look forward to many more years, at least the next three years uh of continuing to lead the city uh and the city staff here, the wonderful city

staff here and getting a lot of things done for our community and getting uh results uh that our residents expect uh and businesses here as well and visitors expect here in the city of Mario Park. so much in store, so much uh work to do still and look forward to having uh extraordinarily competent and uh hands leading uh our city. Uh can't ask for anyone anyone else to to be doing it. Uh excited to continue this. I know this interests on our city manager part as well to continue this uh so this work. So really appreciate that she's willing and interested in continuing to stay here in Mari Park as well. Uh and appreciate all her work. Uh but back to my point um just to confirm with your with a quick response Carl that this is this number is based on the median of our surveyed uh cities uh and that's that's what we pay to and that's what our our compensation philosophy has been for at least the last few years.

Uh yes.

Perfect. Thank you. So I I support this and look forward to other comments if there are any. Um, I'm just going to add very briefly um that um today we passed actually a California city's week resolution um to honor the staff that worked very diligently and very hard to make our cities run and particularly our city. And um I think um and today and I I want to re I want to um echo what council member Wong said that uh many of us are very uh extremely satisfied and I I think the word satisfied is not um appropriate term here but or word here but we are uh very proud not just of the work that you are doing and as but um in helping lead our city and I think how well our departments and our city function um is directly connected with how well um of a leader you are in terms of leading our city and all of our departments. So, I am very eager uh and I support this um keeping in as at least for three years if not more um and and making sure that she continues to lead our city. I can't really I know there's a lot of amazing department heads here and and the chair but you've done an amazing job and and I do want to say that everywhere that I go uh people always comment not just about our city manager but really about our city and how amazing staff we have here. Um, in fact, um, maybe I shouldn't say this, but, uh, our superintendent, uh, oh unified said, uh, she's like, you know, I'm not sure if you realize this, but you have a really special team in in the city of Monterey Park. Um, and and I see it everywhere. Um, people always comment about how great um, the city staff is here and how approachable you guys are. So, I I really thank you for being amazing ambassadors to our city. Um, you guys make our city look great. You make all of us look great, too. But uh really

appreciate all the work that you do. Um and as and so I um I also um wish um well I I also will will um support item 12b and ensure that we keep here um because she's doing an amazing job. So thank you.

Madame Mayor. So, you know, I um uh I just wanted to also just share in the conversation um and praise really of our city manager um um having worked with her for six years now and um um you know having her as the face of DC administration uh during our you know moments of crisis as well our moments of of triumph and um it's not an easy job and and I know that um Uh although yes, you know, we sit here on a desk, we we vote and make policy decisions and and and we all try to make ourselves as accessible as possible to our constituents, the public, but really when a phone rings from the public and it's to the city manager's office, usually the first person is the city manager. And um I know that um you know, certainly in the past, you know, we've had um u meetings where people have come up thinking that they know how to do the job city manager and have blasted city manager and said, you know, you should resign. And frankly, you know, I would challenge anyone to spend a day in our city manager's shoes, any city manager's shoes, and and you will realize how challenging the job is because not just the administration of the city and services, but you know, this city manager also has to do with five elected officials, you know, and and and actually no, no, I take it. No, seven elected officials, you know, um um you know, including council, clerk, and treasur. And and and if you think about it, you know, I did the math like like city manager, you know, makes a point to meet with each council member to discuss weekly items. Um and if you assume that she spends an hour with each council member, then that alone is five hours a day. I'm sorry, five, yeah, five hours in one day was spread out during a week, you know, and and and and again, that's on top of doing everything else. And so I do want to just emphasize how, you know, um um the job is a hard job. um and and and sometimes feels thankless,

you know, but I I I would like to hope that certainly um um in wanting to recognize how hard the work is that when it does come to um the employment agreement that we not only are recognizing the hard work, but I think also empowering you to make sure that you can do the work that you're doing. That's why I'm also supporting the um item as well.

Yeah. And I am also supporting the item because I've been working with our city manager for about a year and a half now and she's made the transition so smooth explaining so many processes and um every week we get dozens of residents coming to us with complaints and issues and I feel them all to the city manager and they're all resolved and answered. Um, and she's accessible on weekends, on evenings, you know, even when she's out of town, supposedly on vacation, but always making herself accessible. So, I I can't imagine how she handles my constituents. And then times five and then the staff on top of that, all the managers. Um, so it's it's a lot of work. So, yeah, I'd love to move to approve item 12B.

I'll make the motion. You make a motion. Okay. and uh council member Wong seconds. Then let's vote. Approved unanimously. [applause] Madame Mayor, if I may. Yes.

So, I just wanted to take a moment to express my uh gratitude, appreciation to the city council for their continued uh trust and support. Um I'm honored to serve this um in this important capacity. Um, I don't take this responsibility lightly. Um, it is a tough job. Uh, there's definite days where um, it it's it's a challenge. Um, I'm very proud of the work that all of our city employees are doing on a day-to-day basis. Um, they keep me motivated and energized to serve alongside side with them. They're doing great things in our community. Um, I definitely wouldn't be able to do this job without um, my colleagues support and collaboration. And so I want to take a moment to say thank you to our assistant city manager, our city attorney, and the executive team for all their continued support. Um without the the team, I said it before, the city manager does not run the city by the by themselves. It doesn't matter who it is. There's just no way um that anybody can be, you know, doing this job uh solely. So I have a great support system and a team and everybody has been doing amazing work. Um, we have plenty of work to in front of us, but uh I'm I'm um proud of all the work that the uh staff continues to do for our Monterey Park community. I think we've we've done some good things. Um, but we always have more things to do. Uh, and again, I just want to take a moment to say um uh I appreciate uh being here and I hope to stay for many more years. Thank you so much.

[applause]

That concludes our meeting. Any city communications? Well, I'll start first. Uh, we already talked about cherry blossom, so we already gave half the city of the entire city the kudos for doing all that great work plus the weather. One thing [snorts] we didn't mention was we also celebrated for the first time Arbor Day. So, public works director Sean, good job on that being, uh, my park is now a tree city. Uh, and we have made the commitment and we will continue to make the commitment that for every tree that goes down in our city, we will replant two more and we look for a greener city of Marray Park in the future. Uh, the week prior, a few of us attended the Congresswoman Judy Truz's woman of the year. This year we have a candidate uh in Cindy Cool known as Mrs. Wong. She has been serving our community for 40 plus years. So congratulations Mrs. Wong as well as Mr. or Dr. Wong for being uh being the awardee for Congresswoman's woman of the year. That's it for me. Uh did that appreciate all the staff work uh and the recent community events as well. Just wish everyone a happy tax day as well. You've got a couple hours to to get that in.

All right. I just uh wanted to share a couple of Metro items because I just came back from my Metro Service Council meeting this past Monday. Um I I did want to address uh because I know uh Mayor Yang for um and the city manager forwarded um request um or question regarding metro bikes um which is something that I I did ask about um at our metro service council meeting. Um the addition of metro bikes um could potentially be added um anywhere in our city. Um but it would have to be in conjunction it would have to be like a joint effort. Um I was uh informed between the city and metro as a shared cost um in terms of maintaining and establishing and uh putting the the bike racks. But that's something that we can continue to dialogue about. But I know that there was a resident who was interested in potentially seeing metro bikes at the um Eline station in East LA and Atlantic. Uh that could potentially connect our city um particularly probably the Elac area I think the email said or something like that. Um but also wanted to share that um next week uh April 23rd um is Earth Day and uh all metro um will be free uh transit all metro transit including rail, ebikes um and what am I missing? Uh buses, right? um if you are interested in writing um and um making our air cleaner and participating in um in public transport. And then lastly uh wanted to share that the Dline extension um is finally happening um and there will be um in the west side. Uh the Dline extension um ribbon cutting is taking place on Friday, May 8th um at

the Peterson Automotive Museum. I don't know. I have to find out. [laughter] I hope so. But uh anyhow, and then there is a lot of um a lot of preparation happening in terms of um of um the World Cup in preparation for the World Cup and the um and the uh Olympics. Uh and then lastly, um the Metro Service Council is very interested to hear um any developments. I know in the last council meeting we discussed uh the creation of a committee um with our neighboring cities regarding the BRT potential lane with conjunction with the SGV COG and their SGV forward uh plan. So um whatever developments happen there uh they'd like to be apprised as well um because they did approve uh funding for that project. And that's it for me. Thank you.

Thank And for me, um, I also want to extend my congratulations to our Mon Park resident Cindy Quo, who was being recognized by Congresswoman Judy Chu. Um, and also the work that her husband Ed Wong does in our community. Um, longtime residents. Uh, I also attended uh, uh, with my colleagues um, the Chinese American Uni Alliance dinner um, uh, last week um, for Luna New Year. Yes, it still is Luna New Year and it's still still being celebrated even though it's April. Um and um uh the Uni Alliance um the um uh head of this organization are actually two very involved residents of Monterey Park, Dererick and Daisy Ma. So again, thank you for the work they do in our community. Um also um again kudos to our staff for a successful cherry blossom festival. Um also um attended with my colleagues uh on Sunday uh the lunar yes lunar new year celebration for the uh American Chinese Cambodian friendship association um which has a headquarters based in Monterey Park. And again it's wonderful that um you know for for us who live in this community we get to celebrate so many cultures and so many holidays throughout the year. It just means throughout the year it's always one big celebration here in Monterey Park.

Yeah. lots of celebrations and events. I wanted to thank uh Crystal Palace and also our staff for hosting another wonderful meetup with the mayor last Thursday. And a lot of development too. We had um Deerfield Center. They did a community meeting last Thursday on April 2nd. Um I heard that was well attended. And uh there's also a community meeting for Celadon on Tuesday, April 28th at 5:30 p.m. And this Friday, April 17th, ELAC is having a ribbon cutting grand opening for their new center for leadership at 10:00 a.m. in the morning. And with that, we will uh also be having a special meeting on Monday, April 20th for the data center. So we'll see everyone then. And anything else? No. All right. Meeting adjourned at 9:05.

[laughter] Yeah. Come back.