City Council - Regular Meeting

My seat is really low today. I'm in a hole here. I'll fix it later. At any rate, good evening, everyone, and welcome to our... Thank you. Thank you, everyone, for joining us here this evening for our regular meeting of this 77th Monrovia City Council this Tuesday, May 19th, and I'm calling our meeting together at... 7.36 p.m. And I'd like to call upon, is Joel here? There he is, way in the back. Calling upon Pastor Joel Larson to provide the invocation this evening, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by Councilmember Dr. Tamela Kelly. Thank you. Amen.

Hello, everyone. How are you? Good. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for this evening and for the gift of the summer season approaching. Thank you for the warmth of the sun, the beauty of your creation, and the opportunities we have to gather as a community. We lift up our beloved city of Monrovia to you. We pray for our mayor and city council, city staff, and all who serve. Grant them wisdom, integrity, and unity as they lead us. We pray for our teachers, our school staff, our students as they finish the school year. We ask you to give them strength to finish well and refreshment during the summer months. We ask your protection over our city, our police officers, firefighters, paramedics, public works crews, and all first responders who faithfully serve our city each day. We pray for all the generations of our city. God, we are truly a local family here in Monrovia of all ages, and we pray for any who are lonely. or who are struggling to find meaning, those who are struggling with grief or loss or mental health challenges. We ask you to surround them with your comfort, your peace, and your care. And we pray that as the summer brings people together in our city, our parks, our downtown, and local businesses, we ask that you would strengthen our friendships and families and our sense of local community here. And as we enjoy this season, remind us to slow down and appreciate the beauty around us. Refresh our minds and our bodies. Guide our steps with your wisdom and help us be people marked by kindness, grace, mercy, and justice. And we ask all these things in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen.

Please rise. Put your right hand over your heart and begin.

Thank you. And can we please have roll call? Yes. Council Member Seldon?

Yes.

Dr. Kelly?

Here.

Spicer?

Present.

Mayor Pro Tem Jimenez?

Here.

And Mayor Sheflin? Here. Now, we did have a closed session this evening, and do we have a report out?

Yes, thank you, Mayor. Prior to the meeting this evening, the council met in closed session. Mayor Shevlin recused herself due to a conflict of interest with the negotiating partner. So we had four members of the council who met regarding the item on the posted agenda, gave direction to the city manager, but took no reportable action.

Thank you very much. Then moving right along to our presentations and proclamations, PR1, one of my favorites, Pasadena Humane Pet of the Month. And we have Kevin McManus here bringing his friend to share with us this evening.

Yes. Good evening, everyone. I brought my best friend at the moment, Zoe, who's a five-year-old Belgian Malinois. I've told a couple people this already. Zoe is perfect. She will be great in whatever home is lucky enough to land her. Already house-trained. has lived with other dogs, has met tons and tons of people, kids, and she's everybody's instant best friend. So why she's still at the shelter after several weeks, I will never know. But whoever gets her is going to be a lucky, lucky adopter. To make things a little bit even sweeter for her and all of the dogs in our care right now over six months, we've had a generous donor offer to pay the adoption fee for for any dog adopted from now until Sunday the 24th, I think. So if you're interested in a dog, please do check us out. You can look online at pictures of everybody. with multiple pictures now on our website, which is pretty cool. But if you're a cat or rabbit or turtle person, fear not. We have a free adoption event coming up on June 6th, and that is free for any adopted animal that day. So come on down and make a new family member.

Thank you, Kevin. Of course. We have to come down and take a picture with you.

Oh, for sure.

Oh, the floor is too red.

Thank you, Kevin, for bringing perfect Zoe.

Hopefully she'll get a new home very, very, very soon. Next step we have, it's kind of, this is a bittersweet. We have a recognition for our student government liaison, Elise. And so Elise, we do have a little something for you. We do have a certificate for you. for your year of outstanding in-depth reporting and commitment to excellence as student liaison to the city council 2025 to 2026 thank you thank you thank you for such a great job and we wish you all the luck going forward and uh how many days left five school days wow wow wow wow wow and um why don't we Go down and get a picture with Elise.

All right. Thank you. if you'd like you could go ahead and just do your report

And stay for the whole meeting.

Thank you, Mayor Shevlin, council members, and members of the community. Good evening to you all. First, our Mass Awards recently took place last night, recognizing the hard work and accomplishments of our Mass students. During the event, juniors presented their junior projects while seniors received recognition for their work and dedication to the program. These projects highlighted the dedication, creativity, and growth that students have demonstrated throughout the school year. In addition, our Humanities Awards took place tonight, celebrating students for their academic achievements and commitment to their excellence in coursework. It was a meaningful opportunity to recognize the effort and success of many students across different grade levels. We also completed our Sign on the Line celebrations today, which honored graduating seniors as they prepare for the next chapter after high school. This tradition allowed students, staff, and families to celebrate the accomplishments and future plans of the Class of 2026. Furthermore, Renaissance recently hosted a student recognition rally, which focused on celebrating positive student achievement and involvement on campus. Students were recognized for accomplishments such as strong attendance, academic performance, and positive work ethic. The rally served as an encouraging reminder of the importance of commitment, responsibility, and school involvement. Finally, as the year begins to come to an end, we are already preparing to welcome the incoming freshman class and begin planning for upcoming events of the next school year. Staff, student leaders, and administration are working together to ensure that future activities and events continue to create a positive and engaging environment for all students. Thank you all for your time, continued support, and dedication to our students and school community throughout this entire school year. On behalf of our school, we truly appreciate the support from our city officials, staff, and community members who continue to contribute to the success and growth of our students. Well, thank you, thank you so very much.

It's hard to believe a whole school year has gone by. But again, we wish you all the luck in the world and best of times through your college years and beyond. And again, as usual, you're more than welcome to stay. But we understand if you need to leave and you've got lots of things going on this close to graduation. But again, thank you. Did any of the rest of you want to? You didn't want to hog it all.

We're good. Enjoy college.

Okay. Then we are going to move on to PR3, and that is proclaiming June 2026. LGBTQ plus Pride Month and we have Amber Castellanos and she will be receiving the the proclamation she's on the board of the underdog bookstore correct but I will read the proclamation first and then if you'd like to make a some statements whereas since the founding of our nation america has continued to forge a more inclusive society living by the founding principle that all people are created equal and whereas president bill clinton on june second two thousand declared june as gay and lesbian pride month to commemorate the june nineteen sixty nine stonewall uprising in lower manhattan which was foundational in the civil rights movement for the LGBTQ plus community. And on June 7, 2009, President Barack Obama expanded the commemoration further by declaring June to be Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month. And whereas times and attitudes have changed and the language used to discuss sexual orientation and gender identity has also changed with the inclusion of queer and questioning among other sexual minorities and whereas the city of Monrovia recognizes the importance of equality and freedom and we must remain committed to combating discrimination against any person based on race ethnicity national origin religion gender sexual orientation disability age and citizenship status to ensure the growth and success of our city and whereas the city of monrovia is strengthened by and thrives upon the rich diversity of ethnic cultural racial gender and sexual identities of its residents all of which contribute to the vibrant character of the city and whereas june has become a symbolic month in which lesbian gay bisexual transgender queer questioning and other sexual minorities as well as their supporters come together in various celebrations of pride Now, therefore, I, Becky A. Shevlin, Mayor of the City of Monrovia, along with the entire City Council, do hereby proclaim the month of June 2026 as LGBTQ plus Pride Month and encourage all residents to celebrate our rich diversity, advance equity, and ensure opportunities for all, dated this 19th day of May 2026. And we're doing this in May because June 2nd, we don't have a council meeting. It's election day. So that's why in May. So if you were wondering, but Amber, thank you Becky.

Um, when we first started this journey as a nonprofit profit, we never imagined how much of an impact it would make on the lives of so many people or the impact that those people would have on us. It just goes to show that any small action can create a big change. As the youngest member of the board, I can truly say that Underdog has become a monumental part of my growth as an adult. The memories that we created and the beautiful and wonderful people that we've met and the friends that we've made is something to be cherished forever. And we're not done yet. I'm so excited to say that Underdog will be throwing a Pride Book Festival over at Library Park on June 20th. We are so thrilled and excited for this monumental milestone as a nonprofit. I am truly in shock that this event is happening, but not at all surprised that we were able to achieve it. Underdog is made up of so many determined and persistent individuals who refuse to quit and only Work harder when the going gets tough. I love my underdog community. I love my underdog family. Happy Pride Month, everybody.

Thank you very much. And we'll come down and we'll take a picture. Okay PR for proclaiming May 2026 as California Water Awareness Month and this evening we have dr. Anthony fellow with it with us from upper water district and We he will be receiving this proclamation, but I'm going to have our mayor per Tim Sergio Jimenez read the proclamation Thank You madam mayor

Whereas water is our most precious natural resource and a vital ingredient for California's economic vitality, environmental health, and high quality of life. And whereas California has a long history of promoting water conservation as a way of life, recognizing that water efficiency is a critical long-term strategy for sustaining our communities And whereas the City of Monrovia is committed to implementing water-wise programs, investing in infrastructure and providing efficient water delivery to our customers. And whereas Water Awareness Month in May serves as a crucial reminder for all residents, businesses, and industries to voluntarily reduce usage, improve water efficiency, and embrace sustainable landscaping practices, such as replacing turf and reducing irrigation. And whereas simple actions like repairing leaks, installing high efficiency fixtures, And watering landscapes only during recommended hours can save millions of gallons of water. And now, therefore, I, Becky A. Shevlin, Mayor of the City of Monrovia, California, along with the entire City Council, do hereby proclaim May 2026 as California Water Awareness Month and encourage all citizens to join in this effort. to use water wisely, dated this 19th day of May, 2026, Mayor Becky A. Shevlin.

Great. Tony, now the last time I think you were here, one of the last times you were showing us a painting. He's a painter as well.

The former councilwoman I miss very much. She was my friend. Your mayor is very interested in water. Perhaps of all the mayors in the San Gabriel Valley, she talks to me a lot about water and wants updates. And right now we're doing very well. We have the current key well, which you take note of all the time. It's at 263.5 feet, which is almost getting to a record. We're 32 feet shy of a historic high, which is very good. We have a lot of water in the basin. That's good. And it's excellent news. We still want people to conserve. And right now we have a lot of problems though. We have the Golden Mussel which has invaded the San Gabriel Valley and our USG3 where water comes to the valley from the state water project in Sacramento. And interestingly, we've been allocated 45% of that water, which is high. We thank Sacramento. The thing is, we can't pump it because the county said, you know, we're in charge and we don't want these quagga missiles invading everything. And so thanks to Assemblywoman Blanca Rubio, a bill's going through and will probably pass the state legislature that will allow upper district to release this water and stop other entities like the county, They think they're in charge of our things, and that's going to put an end to it. We also have some problems, as you know, on the Colorado. Every few years, we have to do a quantification agreement of the seven western states, and they all are fighting with each other. And Arizona's fighting with, we have the upper states, then we have the lower states. Arizona's fighting with everybody, because they want California to conserve more, and we have conserved a lot. And so what's going to happen, I think the President's going to have to step in. And he's allowed them to continue these talks by several weeks. It was supposed to be done on Valentine's Day. But very big problems. Our advisors at the Metropolitan Water District say this is the most horrible fight they've ever seen in water. And we may not be getting Colorado River water. That's the real problem too. And then we have the State Water Project, which some of you will be going on with me in June to explore. And that needs work. And we spent a lot of time this year in Sacramento trying to push the governor's trailer bill. I really thought the governor was the first governor who was going to get something done and have a tunnel done so that we can save the fish and get people in water here. And then Proposition 50 came up, and he just dropped us. And the legislature wouldn't go for it, and so that was a problem. But things are good. But the other thing I want to say, I want to leave with you tonight, is we have to start drinking tap water. Monrovia has great tap water. And quit drinking out of bottles, especially those of you that drink out of plastic bottles, and then you put it in your car and it gets heated. PFAS arises. And so I'm trying to, that's my campaign right now. But before I go, I have to congratulate, Larry Spicer, Councilman, you graduated too, I heard.

Yes.

From Well organization. Yes, sir. Now he's an expert in water and he's been on all my water trips. So I congratulate you and I congratulate your daughter. She just graduated law school, I heard. No, she just finished her second year. Second year, okay. One more to go. But she'll get it. But thank you very much and thank you for your interest.

Well, thank you. Yeah, it's really nice to have two experts, graduated experts here on our dais. Graduated, yes, but experts, no. Larry does not drink out of plastic at all. Yeah. Okay. Come on back. We want to...

We're giving you a let the experts go ahead. Thank you very much. Okay.

And since I, the student government report is next, but I let her go early. After that order of business, I do have a request from my colleagues. There was a matter that came up after our agenda was posted, and it is dealing with AB-7, One seven six eight and it has to do with the tax of allowing there'll be a vote to increase taxes and I want to bring that up for discussion under my Council report and so if we're okay with that do I have to do it an actual motion?

Yeah, we have to note for the record that you became aware of a vote happening in the next day or so after tonight's agenda was posted, and there's a need to take action before your next regular meeting, which is until the second meeting in June now. So that's the reason for the request to add it to the agenda, and we need a four-fifths vote of the council to add it to the agenda tonight.

I was actually notified by Senator Susan Rubio last night after 5 o'clock, and so obviously that was too late to add it to the agenda. So I'd like to bring it forward this evening. So can I make the motion? I make a motion that we add it to my council report.

I second it.

Okay, we have a motion and a second. Then do a roll call vote.

Council Member Spelman?

Yes.

Dr. Kelly? Yes. Spicer? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Jimenez?

Yes.

And Mayor Shevlin?

Yes. Thank you very much. And so I'll bring that up under my report. AB 1768. Okay. Then under our consent calendar, which are items CC1 through... cc20 um and then there is i want to point out there's under got this little black fly buzzing around uh under cc7 there is a correction it makes reference to uh reimbursement under 2024 state homeland security grant it should be 2023. And so with that correction, do we have a motion to approve our consent calendar? Again, CC1 through CC20, all considered routine in nature and can be enacted in one motion.

Motion to approve the consent calendar with corrections.

Second. Then without any further discussion or objection, then so approved. Thank you very much. Okay, then we are then moving on. That's a long consent calendar. 20. I understand that we have a birthday.

Oh, I forgot my birthday is today.

No, it's not your birthday. Craig, would you be having a birthday?

That's a good one.

All right. And we'll get to sing? Is it a sparkler? Okay, on the count of three. One, two, three. Happy birthday to you. Cha-cha-cha. Happy birthday to you. Cha-cha-cha.

Happy birthday, dear Craig.

Happy birthday to you and many more.

What did you wish for, that the council meeting end early?

Okay, now those are dangerous. They're so brightly colored and leave you with a colored. Let me see, I'll take a yellow one. Thank you.

I'll pass.

Okay.

No, thank you.

All right. Thank you very much, and happy birthday, Craig.

Happy birthday.

Okay, then we're moving along then to public input. And I want to thank everybody for coming this evening. This is your time to address the city council on any item not on the agenda. And you will be allowed three minutes to talk. And do we have anyone? I've already got Victor.

Anyone? Did I cut anybody off?

No, no, we do have cards, but since you're already there, I'm not going to send you back to your seat.

All right, all right. Well, I'll make this quick. I know I have three minutes, so I'll speak quickly. Good evening, mayor, council members, and members of the community. My name is Victor Benavidez, manager of government and community relations at City of Hope, and I'm here to share a milestone that reflects not just on our institution, but on the entire San Gabriel Valley, including the city of Monrovia. As you know, City of Hope is among the largest and most advanced cancer research and treatment institutions in the United States. For more than 110 years, we've been rooted in this community as your neighbor in Duarte and driven by a single mission, making hope a reality for all those touched by cancer and related serious diseases. Our national network delivers groundbreaking discoveries that reach patients across the country and around the world. But our home is here in the San Gabriel Valley, and we're proud of the deep ties we share with Monrovia and its residents. City of Hope is not only a treatment center, we are a research powerhouse. More than 1,300 researchers work on our Los Angeles campus focused on cancer and diabetes, and we also have two facilities here in the great city of Monrovia. More than 100 million people worldwide have benefited from discoveries made at City of Hope. We are the birthplace of synthetic human insulin, and our scientists developed the foundational technologies behind four of the most commonly used cancer drugs. This evening I want to provide you an update about our BMT bone marrow transplant program. City of Hope operates one of the largest bone marrow and stem cell transplant programs in the United States, headed by Dr. Stephen Vorman. Our program began in 1976, that's the 1900s for all the young people in here, and has grown into a national leader in treatments for blood cancers including leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. Today, we have performed more than 20,000 bone marrow transplants with exceptional survival rates. We continue to pioneer new treatments, expanding access to a wider variety of patients than ever before. On May 18, 1976, City of Hope performed its first bone marrow transplant. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the historic procedure. A bone marrow transplant is a treatment for certain blood cancers and blood disorders, including leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma, which I've already talked about. Each year, we host a BMT reunion and annual gathering of transplant survivors, their families, and the clinicians and staff who cared for them. It is one of the most meaningful events on our calendar and a powerful reminder of why this work matters. For five decades, City of Hope has given patients more tomorrows, more birthdays, more graduations, more moments with the people they love. Behind the research and the numbers are real people with extraordinary stories. There are patients in need whose lives were saved by the generosity and humanity of others they had never met. At this year's reunion, two leukemia survivors met their life saving stem cell donors for the first time. A resident of neighboring Alhambra and a two-time cancer survivor embraced her donor, Patrick Abood, who traveled from North Carolina. And Vaughn Wilson, a Los Angeles high school student, met Joanna Seager, who came all the way from Dusseldorf, Germany.

Oh my goodness.

These are the kind of moments that define City of Hope's mission. If you ever have a chance to come out to our campus for the BMT reunion, it's extremely moving and emotional. Council members, as your neighbors, City of Hope is deeply invested in the health and vitality of the San Gabriel Valley. We are grateful for the support this community has shown us over the decades, and we look forward to continuing the partnership for many years to come. Thank you for your time this evening and letting me share about this latest milestone at City of Hope.

Thank you very much, Victor. And I have a little story of my own. I don't know if I've ever shared this with you, but my son, who was in the military, he had signed up through the registry, a bone marrow registry, and he was a match. Yeah. And he had come back from – he had a couple of tours of duty over in Iraq and – Afghanistan at any rate. He was a match for a gentleman who was I think in his early 50s with leukemia and He had he donated bone marrow and that gentleman did did make it for many more birthdays I'm gonna say that that was probably around Oh 2004 or five ish. I'm not quite sure but at any rate just want to also remind people to to sign up to be a donor and

And your son is a hero in multiple ways there in just that one sentence there. And so God bless him in his giving heart.

And it was donated at the City of Hope.

Yes. Yeah, no, you didn't – I knew that, but it's important for everyone to hear that.

That's a great – that's a great – And is it true do they – can they do the donation through blood now instead of – or do they still harvest it through the –

I hope they can do through blood. I don't know, but I'll find that out. I'll come back and answer that question for you because otherwise, yeah, it's a little painful. Yeah.

Yeah. But thank you, and thank you to the City of Hope for giving many people more tomorrows.

And thank you for your son for giving that one tomorrow, that gentleman.

At the time, I don't know if he really realized just how special that was. He was in his 20s.

Well, you know, and I don't want to drone on, but people have the option when they sign up, when they finally get called to donate, they have the option to say, I don't want to do it anymore. practically nobody says no.

No.

So they're truly heroic people.

That's truly an opportunity to save someone's life. You don't pass up on that.

One to one.

Thank you.

And blood donation as well. Yes. Also one to one. Yes. So thank you all for your time today.

Thank you. Dr. Tony Fellow.

I have to tell you, I told the mayor a few weeks ago that I wanted to come today and speak, and I didn't know you were going to give me the water certificate then. But as a former councilman, I was a councilman for 12 years, so what I'm going to say is very important. I was so impressed with the Route 66 celebration that I think I had more fun we had a booth there I had more fun than anyone and I just wanted to thank Dylan for all his work on that and everyone in the city deserves credit and I was happy to be part of it in some of the planning meetings but I thought it was just the greatest thing I've ever seen a city they came together and And that night, Thursday night at the historical museum when I went, I was just so impressed. There must have been a thousand. I didn't expect many people there because I didn't see the publicity. I was so impressed that night in going through the historical society. I've never walked in there in my life. Now I'm a member and I'm going to probably volunteer. But I just wanted to thank the whole city. It was the most interesting event I've ever seen a city do. And everybody came together, and I had more fun than anyone. And I kicked it off because Betty Ravanes wanted me to go to Iron. Tide Iron. Tired Iron. Tired Iron. I've never been there, and I've been on that street my whole life. And I was so impressed that I'm having a party there for staff at Upper District in July. But I just wanted to come and say I was so excited, and I want to congratulate all of you and the whole city. This was the most outstanding thing I've seen.

Well, there were a lot of volunteers, and I know that Sergio put in a lot of hours and private businesses and sponsors. and our museum, and it was a lot of fun. It truly was.

I'm so proud to represent Monrovia.

Oh, well, you know, we'll get you moved over here someday, Tony.

We're going to do some work on that holiday party coming up in December. Thank you very much. Okay, thank you.

Sherry Lochner.

Sherry.

Good evening, Sherry.

Just getting my timer set up. Good evening everyone. I'm Sherry Lochner as I'm sure you're all well aware and I'm a resident of Monrovia. I grew up here in Monrovia and in Duarte. I am here this evening as always to continue to advocate for day laborers and other people who are immigrants targeted by ICE. At the last council meeting on the 5th of May I reported that there had been 67 deaths as a result of ICE actions including people who have died while in ICE custody. As of today There are now 68 people who have died. The latest death is a two-year-old little boy, Orlin Josue Hernandez Reyes. Orlin's mother, Wendy Hernandez, was detained by ICE, separating her from her son. She was deported to Honduras, and two months later, her baby boy was beaten to death. How did this happen? Wendy, Orlin's mother, was going to her job laying concrete foundations in Alabama when she and her sister were pulled over in early January for a traffic stop, and the sheriff turned them over to ICE. In Baldwin County, Alabama, law enforcement cooperate with ICE. ICE placed Orlin with an uncle-in-law without undertaking proper protocols of vetting ignoring their duty of care. Wendy knew this man was violent and informed Ice of her concerns. And now Ice are blaming her for the tragedy of what happened to her son Orlin. Orland's death, along with the deaths of other migrants, reflects not only the violent enforcement actions by ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, but also cruel and willful negligence with the people they arrest and place in detention centers. This evening, I reiterate the following requests of the Monrovia City Council. One, continue to pursue obtaining the report investigating the circumstances resulting in the death of Carlos Roberto Montoya Valdez. Two, adopt an ordinance declaring Monrovia a sanctuary city. And three, continue to work with us to establish a permanent memorial honoring Carlos Roberto Montoya Valdez. I and my colleagues have been attending these council meetings since last year after the death of Carlos Roberto. We will continue to be present at these council meetings to speak truth to power. When state-sanctioned violence and abuse of human rights are tolerated, we are all complicit. Immigration status should never strip someone of dignity, due process, or their life. And finally, I would like us to ponder the words of Roxane Gay, a writer and activist. And she says, all too often, when we see injustices, both great and small, we may think, that's terrible. But we do nothing. We say nothing. We let other people fight their own battles. We remain silent because silence is easier. When we say nothing, when we do nothing, we are consenting to these injustices. We will not be silent.

Martha Mack.

Good evening, Martha.

Good evening, Mayor, Council. I will be reading the first 36 of the people who have died in ICE custody or as a result of ICE actions. And many of these people, well, some of them were killed in the Adelanto Detention Center that is pretty close to where we are. Jose Manuel Sanchez Castro, Pankaj Karan Singkateria, Ramesh Amachand, Henry Donaldo Ruiz-Guyen, Sarawit Gezeheng Dehene, Maxim Cherniak, Juan Alexis Tineo Martinez, Brian Rayo Garzon, Non Noc Nguyen, Marie Ange Blaise, Abelardo Avellaneda Delgado, Jesus Molina Vella, Johnny Noviello, Isidro Perez, Tien Xuan Phan, Chow Feng Gay, Lorenzo Antonio Batres Vargas, Oscar Rascón Duarte, Santos Benegas Reyes, Ismael Ayala Uribe, norland guzman fuentes hua bing hsieh miguel angel garcia hernandez leo cruz silva hassan ali moed saleh gabriel garcia aviles kai yin wong francisco gaspar andres pete zumalo montejo shiraz fatehali sachwani Jean Wilson Brutus, Fawad Saeed Abdul Qadir, Delvin Francisco Rodriguez, Nenko Stanev Ganchev, Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres, Luis Beltran Yanez Cruz. Thank you.

Joseph King. Good evening.

Good evening. Yeah, so we have 32 more names to read into the record. So I'm going to go ahead and read those. Victor Manuel Diaz, Heber Sanchez-Dominguez, Herr Garcia-Hernandez, Laurith Sim, Julio Cesar Pena, Alberto Gutierrez-Reyes, Pejman Carcinas Najafabadi, Daffy Mitchell, Irvin Cruz-Nappe, Emmanuel Damas, Mohammed Nazir Paketewal, Royer Perez Jimenez, Jose Guadalupe Ramos Solano, Juan Vaibui, Alejandro Cabrera-Clemente, Aled Demian Carbonell Betancourt, Wael Tarabishi, Linda Davis, Jaime Alanis Garcia, Carlos Roberto Montoyo Valdez, Josue Castro Rivera, Ruben Ray Martinez, Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, Isaiah Sanchez Barbosa, Keith Porter Jr., Geraldo Lunas Campos, Renee Nicole Macklin-Good, Alex Jeffrey Pretty, Nurul Amin Shah Alam, Denny Adan Gonzalez, and finally, the two-year-old, Orlin Josue Hernandez-Reyes. Thank you.

That's all the speaker cards I have, Mayor. Anyone else wanting to address this? Yes, please, and state your name, please.

Hi, I'm Heidi Holden and I just came because I went to the public meeting with the Planning Commission this past week and I was concerned because they had sent out flyers asking for public comment and there was really not a lot mentioned that basically most of the time it was spent on SB 79 and SB 79 supposedly is the Abundant and Affordable Homes Near Transit Act. And it says that it covers projects that are within a half a mile. I've walked from like the house next to that house all the way to the train station. It is more than half a mile. And basically, the entire, I would say 90% of the meeting was talking about, oh, well, in the future, we could even put possibly 80 units on this project. Right now, they're just advertising 14, but they're saying, oh, in the future, you know, when this passes, we could do up to 80 units. And that's just really disturbing to me. Even the project that they have right now, which I did discuss at that time, it allows for 14 units with only spaces for 14 cars. So I don't know anybody who only has one car. I know there's a lot of people that do. I don't personally know any. But if that 14-unit project goes forward, And there's only 14 cars allowed on the property or made allowance for on the property. There's not enough room on our streets for the other 14 cars or any visitors that are going to come to visit these people. We have restricted parking two days of the week. We have, we're only, and if you come on a Monday morning or a Tuesday morning, all the way till noon, you'll see there's cars parked on one side. If we park on the other side, we'll get ticketed. So it's been a while since this, since the house has been acquired, and I feel like they might be losing focus, or I don't know. I would like maybe something to be mentioned at a later date as to why this particular project is looked at as being under this Senate bill because it is definitely more than half a mile away and our I mean, it was supposed to be a historical renovation project, but I don't see anything historical. It seems like they're keeping a few shingles and then they're gutting out the inside because they even talked about having it be a duplex. So how can you make a duplex out of something that only has one bathroom unless you totally gut out the inside? And just slapping a few old shingles on top is not really historical preservation. So if that could be something that's addressed And if possibly someone can do some kind of research as to how these extra cars are going to impact the rest of the city. And is it possible that they really, if they change the zone, they will someday have 80 units? That's really disturbing to me. So that was it.

Thank you. And as you know, this is public comment and input. We can't have a dialogue.

Oh, right.

Our planning director is at the back of the room, Sherry Bermejo, and she could meet you if you'd like to talk with her.

She was there, and we made public comments, and nothing was talked about.

Well, I think she could have further discussion with you that you might get some value of.

She actually encouraged me to come to the council meeting. So I don't know. Well, I'm offering.

I'm offering. I'm offering. Okay, anyone else? Not seeing anyone, then we will close that portion of our meeting and we will move on to, we have no public hearings this evening, so we will move on to our reports of city manager and staff, our CM1 city council directives update, Mr. Feek.

Thank you, Mayor. As I'm providing a few items related to the update, I'll ask if staff can move to the – I put together a presentation just to speak about an item related to the summer pool program. I think it will be interesting and important for the council to see some of the numbers. But on the directives update, I just want to highlight – thanks, Lauren – Highlight a couple items. On Thursday, we're going to be talking about Olympic plans. 2028 is going to be here before you know it, so we're excited about putting forth our best efforts to really make a wonderful event and activity here in our community. Also, at your next meeting on June 16th, we'll be providing some presentations to the City Council related to economic development activities in the community, a lot of interest in vacancies in Old Town. Code enforcement related issues, vacancies including a theater. We want to provide an update to council on vacancy rates and what some of the feedback is we're hearing from different brokers and realtors and businesses in Old Town. Also, we'd like to just share some really great information related to some communications work that the city's been doing. You'll probably speak a little bit to a big event we had this last weekend, but what's really interesting is to see some of the things that are happening on the back end of these events from marketing and promoting and how we're connecting with the community, not only the city manager's office, but across the organization. Presentation slides I'd like to share with you now are related to item CC-20, which is approved as a consent calendar item. We're really excited to be able to use the pool for some public programs, so I'm going to speak just a little bit to some portions of that agreement for the listening public at home.

If you'll excuse me, let me make sure. There we go.

Over the last couple months, we've been working with the school district as well as the Santa Anita Family YMCA to offer a summer pool program. We're referring to this as the 2026 Summer Pool Program, which will mirror both the YMCA and the school district's summer programs. So beginning on Monday, June 8th, And going through Friday, June 31st, we're going to be offering some public pool programs at the high school pool. And we'll do this in tandem with the school district and the YMCA as partners, all performing different actions and activities. We really established this arrangement, this agreement, in the same fashion that we've established the Monrovia Days Agreement with Center Stage and the school district. Part of this, the language of the agreement includes establishing a steering committee, which are myself, Rebecca Sandoval and community services, the school superintendent, as well as the director and the associate director for the Santa Anita YMCA. The pool program is going to operate during the week, Monday through Saturday. It will not be open at this time on Sundays. And the community and public use will be from Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. And I'll speak here in a moment about how we break those times up. This provides, by ending at 3.30, that gives us a little bit of time to break, to clean, and to allow the high school community to move into the pool for the afternoon and evening hours. Monday through Friday, the school district will use the pool, as they always do, for water polo and swim team practices. Additionally, there will be, from 1 o'clock until 3.30 on Saturdays, we'll be providing pool programming as well. This will be open swim, which you'll see here on the next slide. I apologize because this language may be difficult to read, but let me just speak to it, and it is part of your presentation slides you have. Starting on Monday, we'll have lap swim available to the public from 9 to 10 a.m., and then they'll be doing swim lessons in the pool. Now, it may be possible they can offer open swim or other swim programs and activities, but for right now we're just publishing swim lessons for the next couple hours. There will be a staff break for lunch and then open swim or recreation swim from 1 until 3.30 each day of the week.

And that's when school's out during the summer break?

This is when school's out. There's no summer programs and classes happening at this time. It's also a very hot part of the day. And so we wanted to make sure that that would be the most successful time of day when also the most students would be available to go to the pool. And then right around 4 o'clock is when we'll do the switch, and then it goes into use of the school programs. Similar, we'll do water fitness and lap swim on Tuesday from 9 to 9.45, a little bit of staff prep and then additional swim lessons. Wednesday will look similar to Monday. Thursday will look similar to Tuesday. And you can see the schedule here. The agreement spells out the obligations of each party. One of the city's obligations is we offer to help pay the cost for the increased pool usage. So the district is going to be covering operational costs for their use. There's also some fixed costs that they include from staff. Uh time and you know facility rental like a charge they would have done that they did not include This is really just chemicals and maintenance and cleaning Um, so it's a it's a sixteen thousand dollar bill and they've just asked if well if the city could pay half We'll pay the other half. We thought that was a very fair request um, we already there is already an aed at the mhs pool We had stated that if there is need of one, we can get them through the fire department. Is that the defibrillator? That's the, yep, artificial, I don't remember it, AED, but it's defibrillator. Automatic something, anyway. We'll also all together, each three, all three parties will all help publicize the summer pool program. We'll also participate in meetings of the committee. The district's obligations are they're going to organize and facilitate their own use of the pool during their operations. They're going to provide keys and access to the YMCA and the city, but specifically to the YMCA to open the pool and operate the pool through the term of the agreement. Um, they're also going to open up the boys and girls restrooms. This was an issue in the past where, um, a couple of years back, 2022 and 2023, um, access at certain times was not granted for the restroom usage, which isn't very conducive to family friendly activities. The district was willing to open up their facilities and allow, um, uh, them to be used by the public again, publication, participation and meeting. But they're also going to operate, maintain, repair the pool and its facility. It's going to always be under their control and their access, so they'll continue to monitor that. The YMCA obligations is they're going to help organize and deliver the actual programs and classes in the pool from the open swim, lap swim, and recreational use. They're going to provide the lifeguardings. The Department of Public Health requires one lifeguard for every 25 people in the pool. And so if we have 75 to 100 people, they'll have to increase their lifeguard. What's really nice is this is a great outside pool. They already have all the staffing for the lifeguards across their different YMCA facilities. And many of them want to go from indoor pools to outdoor pools. So there's a lot of excitement about being able to shift some of their staff over to Monrovia High School for the duration of the summer. They'll provide all the necessary pool equipment, like the flotation devices, lifeguarding chairs. If there's a need to help out and secure some of that stuff, we'll certainly work with them to do it. But they'll coordinate and arrange the calendar, help promote and market, as well as participate in meetings of the steering committee. Perhaps the best news of all, the recreation swim and the lap swim is going to be free of charge. Um, we, we felt, I think as we discussed it for an eight week program, we really wanted, um, something that families could do that kids could do. to keep them busy, to have fun. It's eight weeks. It's not going to be a significant cost to any of the parties. The YMCA is going to charge for the swim lessons because they bring in the instructors and these are consistent with their swim lesson costs at their current facility. Also, they have requested to their kind of parent YMCA if they can offer the same price for members and non-members at this pool. And so we're awaiting a decision on that here anytime. Currently, if you're doing two swim lessons per week over the course of the eight-week period, it's $135. For non-members, it's double. It's $270. And so they're requesting... And that's for a full eight weeks? That's for the full eight weeks. Wow.

That's a good deal.

All right, and that concludes my presentation. So they're ready to get started. The school board will be reviewing the agreement last week. I do want to highlight at the very end of last week as we were getting ready for Monrovia Day's parade, it occurred to me that we didn't have a meeting on June 2nd, and so the city's next meeting would have been on June 16th, and we did not want to miss those first few weeks of this possible pool season. So we reached out to the district, the YMCA. We finalized a few details. We've got the agreement that the city attorney has reviewed. All the other parties will be reviewing it and approving it this week. And so we're really excited to offer eight weeks of a free open swim to the community. And hopefully we'll get a chance for you all to come out and say hi to the staff that are working out there. The YMCA staff will work. The city staff. Hey, hey, we can get you your own flotation devices, and we'll get you out there if you'd like. But we appreciate your support and motivation. This is, again, just another extension of a great partnership where we can not only help fund the pool improvements, now provide added green space to our community, but now we're even providing additional programming.

Is it anticipated, if it goes well, that this is something that would be renewed each year or...?

Absolutely. The focus right now was to get us through the summer program, and so we really wrote this to mirror the summer programs. And so once they're back in session, hours would change, the agreement terms would change. But I do think the idea is we just found where it really is truly a sharing agreement. Let us use it when you guys aren't using it, and it's just been mutually beneficial.

And we got it just in time to get the information out, so I'm sure that will go into your – I'm not sure if it'll go out to the schools so that the families are aware of that. The other thing, I didn't notice an age. So for the swim lessons, is there an age limit or is it, where does it begin and when does it end?

Do you happen to know that? So they do swim lessons of all ages and they do them, they actually register them through the YMCA website because there's some different waivers and information. Part of the coordination will be, they're still going to use that same process for the registration because there's paperwork that needs to be submitted. but anyone can participate in the swim lesson program. So it's a register.

Everyone needs to go to the YMCA, not the city. So that information will be made clear when you put that in your city manager's report and flyers and that.

Exactly.

I'm sure we'll be getting a lot of phone calls in terms of people trying to register for swim lessons.

And we'll make sure all the websites reflect that, all of our communications reflect that, and it's all going to be direct links so people can just go directly to the link, register, and participate.

Sounds good.

It's great to have it this summer. Thank you.

One update to an item Dylan has reported on previously. As you know, we did make a Public Records Act request to the California Highway Patrol for all of the materials related to that unfortunate incident. It has now been extended. The response time has now been extended a second time by the Highway Patrol, another 30 days. So we'll continue to keep the council apprised of that. They do have, under the Public Records Act, the ability to do that. And so we'll let you know as we continue to hear from them.

Do they have any, is there any end of the extensions that they're allowed to have?

There is kind of a rule of reason that we'll push back on if we get extended again. Thanks.

Dylan, I also wanted to comment because there was a public comment made about the measurement under SB 79. And I know that that has not been totally settled. as yet, and it's as the crow flies. And so it's where you drop that pin to make that measurement, but it is not a walking path. It's not a driving path. It's as the crow flies. So it's a direct angle, but you have to drop that pin, and that's kind of what's still up in the air as to how you calculate where that pin It's pretty settled as to where for the property, the boundary, but where you start that at the station square is, you know, not quite determined yet. And if you wanted to add anything to that.

Well, I know the eagle flies on Friday. I don't know nothing about a crow.

The experience that we've had is we're looking at this legislation and kind of anticipating the development of a project like this, which is 222 East Cypress. The Planning Commission was reviewing the draft development standards for the site. New state legislation that looks at areas within a half mile radius of places like our metro stop are including language where no more minimum parking requirements or density requirements out the door, height requirements out the door. And I think that was one of the reasons why the city said, let's purchase this property as a historic resource. And with that, let's include a level of housing development that could be affordable. And so what's the right measure of development? I want to just be clear. The discussion about the development standards was not approving a project. They were about these are the draft guidelines. And because the city does own the site, the city does get to decide what project will ultimately move forward there. The number one priority for the city has been preserving. the 1892 Victorian. The second priority has been building affordable housing. The draft development standards allow up to 14 units. And as we prepare for soliciting proposals, I think there will be opportunity for potential partners to submit projects to us that could be up to 14 units. So if this project was not owned by the city and there was private development interest and they would be looking at SB 79 as a tool for development, they could be looking at far greater density with zero parking standards among a variety of other tools that state law affords them.

I just wanted to make sure because I know the statement had been made at that meeting that we hadn't done our math correctly and that half mile radius is still up to some debate as to how it's calculated, but it definitely is a straight line and not a walking path or a road. Yeah, if you put in Google and you put from address to address, it comes up as a mile. But that's not how it's calculated. Okay, anything else? No. Okay, then we are going to move on to RCM2, which is the library strategic plan update. And our library division manager, Carrie Vance, is here. to give the report. Yay, Gary.

Hello.

I saw you giggling back there. You're having a good time.

I always have a good time when I come to council. So thank you so much for having me here tonight. I did want to talk about our strategic plan update, which I actually started the city in May of 2016. And in June, we started working on the strategic plan. So I feel like this is my baby. So it's 10 years old this year. I'm very proud of it. But we have just kind of gotten past the point of it just being a five-year strategic plan into a real actual living document that really guides how we provide services to our community. So part of that is it's 10 years old. So Monrovia is different than it was 10 years ago. Society, the world is different than it was 10 years ago. So we really want to make sure that we're continuing to grow and evolve with our community's needs. So, that is a big part of why we are trying to look at how we can update the strategic plan and let it continue to grow with Monrovia. So, as I mentioned, we started working on the plan in 2016. We officially launched it in 2017. We had SMART goals that kind of guided us and worked through it. We had six main areas that we focused on, experiences, image, access, technology, partnerships, and staff. Those are kind of the pillars of the plan that will continue to move forward. well into the future, well after my retirement. And I will still be coming back here telling you excitedly about the plan though, as I will. But we do also want to kind of look at when we made a update last in 2021, that was right after COVID. So we were looking at virtual programming, diversity and equity programming, making sure we were serving the underserved, looking at job skills, helping people change their and update their job skills as well. So we felt like this is the perfect time now, five years later, to kind of look at, all right, now, what is the next steps for this plan? At this point, we have talked to the staff. We have a patron survey plan for June. Of course, we want to get your feedback, library board, and other key stakeholders. Just over the last five years, the growth for our library has been huge. Circulation has gone up 126% in the last five years. And we actually are doing almost three times the amount of outreach visits that we did five years ago. So we're doing a lot more. Staff is busy. They're always out in the community. We've served almost four times as many patrons during these outreach visits than we did five years ago. Library programming is the biggest jump with 193% increase in the programs offered in the last five years for 303% more participants. So that's four times the amount of people as five years ago. So definitely coming out of COVID, people have come back to the library. We're really enjoying providing more and more programming for more and more people. So, as I mentioned, I did start out meeting with every single staff member in March and April to get their feedback on the strategic plan and how they feel it should be going forward. We also are going to be, in addition to presenting to all of you tonight, I'm also going to be presenting at library board, sharing with some of our community partners. As I mentioned, we're going to be doing a patron survey in June. We will have an online and paper version to make sure we capture as many people as possible in English and in Spanish. And then I'm going to be pulling together all of that feedback and incorporate it into the plan in July so that we can kind of kick off the new fiscal year with our updated plan. So, based on feedback from the staff so far, these are kind of the six key themes, and I'll go through each one in a little more detail. The first one is technology and AI. That is definitely a big one in our community. We get a lot of questions about it from our patrons, a lot of questions about it from staff. So we definitely want to make sure that we're providing information because that is what a library does. We want to provide workshops for patrons to learn more about it, how to use it safely, how to understand information when you come across it or a photo that you may see that looks too good to be true. It is. Could be. So we definitely want to be leaning into that as well as just continuing to grow our own technology at the library. with our Wi-Fi printing scanning services Just continuing to make sure that we provide technology resources for our community members Community connection was the next really big one that came back from staff Library serving as kind of a third place within the community. So the first place is your home The second place is work or school And then the third place is where you come together to celebrate with your neighbors, to learn, to grow, to meet other people. We definitely see the library as obviously a gathering place for the community. So wanting to make sure that we continue to provide low pressure socialization programs for people so that you can meet your neighbors, that you can just come and sit and maybe knit with some other knitters that you never had met before, but now you are all lifelong friends. We've definitely seen this even with our monthly book club with adults, where We all know it's hard to make friends as an adult, but they have come together in this monthly book club and now meet together and have dinner and go out to breakfast and lunch and things like that. So they've built lifelong connections because of this program. So we just want to continue to be able to do that. We also want to be able to support our seniors and vulnerable populations. We have already really grown our outreach to our local senior facilities. Staff have been absolutely amazing providing monthly and weekly visits there. We also want to make sure that we are providing resources also for caregivers who are providing these resources for others. And then also sharing resources for the vulnerable or maybe people who may be struggling, so seeing sources that provide free tax assistance for low-income families, job support, things like that. Our collections and programs, we're just continuing, I mean, we're already gold star on this, but we wanna make sure that we're continuing to provide the very best for Monrovia. We already incorporate bilingual elements within our programs, but continuing to grow that, and our collections, just last year we introduced an adult Chinese language collection that has been very popular, and we're continuing to grow that. Our library of things is hugely popular, And we want to continue to grow that as well. And we actually, one of the staff members shared with me a story last January during the fires. Someone came in afterwards because they had been displaced and they were able to find a toolkit in our library of things and use it for something in their home because they said, I've lost all my tools in the fire. And they would just, it meant so much to them that they had just this little moment to be able to do a hobby that they enjoyed. after something so devastating. So we definitely want to continue to grow our library of things because it means so much to our community and it provides resources for people who may not be able to afford it or may not have access to it. And then finally, facility needs and flexible spaces. So we want to continue to make sure that our library is meeting the needs of all of these people who are coming in for all this programming. So we're working on the story room expansion, finding ways to maybe increase the number of study rooms, possibly working on the building across the street when recreation moves into the temporary location. So just looking for ways that we can be very flexible with our building to be able to continue to grow and change. So, basically what we're hearing overall is continue to focus on technology access and digital literacy, strengthen the library as kind of a community gathering place, and then finally supporting our existing community needs with flexible services and spaces. So, we want to make sure that this living document continues to grow with Monrovia through 19 or 2030. Or 2031 at this point, wow. So next steps in the process is continue gathering input, including from all of you. Launch the patron survey in June. So from June 1st through June 30th, we will have the survey at the library and online. And then also reviewing input and incorporating those ideas into the larger plan so it can continue to grow and evolve with Monrovia. Any questions?

Great job. Thank you.

Questions? I just have a comment. You guys are doing an exceptional job. And the way you and your team are able to continue to be creative and excited, I think your excitement transcends to your entire staff because everybody in the library is so excited about serving. I really love that. And I just want to ask you a quick question. How many registrants do you have right now of the reading program? Because I know that it's growing every year more and more.

So the reading program is going to start on June 1st. But last year we had just over 4,000. We got a lot. So it had grown, I think, 40% from the year before. I can't wait to see all of you June 1st at the library signed up to get your free book. Thank you very much. But yes, we definitely, we see it growing every summer as well. That's such a huge program for us.

Edward, do you have a question?

I just wanted to say, if I were to pick one word to describe what you're doing at the library, it's community. You've really built a sense of community. It's not a place where people go and check out books. They go to meet their neighbors and to make new friends. And it's not just confined to people that live in Monrovia. I know a lot of people from surrounding communities come there. You've created a community. So I just want to praise the library staff for that. Thank you.

Obviously, I echo those sentiments. Amazing work you all do over there, just like all the other folks here. But I mean, the library is really just a place that we all know is kind of one of the hearts of Monrovia. I also love your strategic plan. I think it's really great. I think it might be something that maybe some of our other departments might consider occasionally where appropriate. Not that you have to do it. And I know you guys are not going to miss this, but just curious where you think, like, is children and families, which is something you guys do such a great job already on, it's probably going to be, like, woven into all those different categories. I'm sure it's not going to get left off.

I promise you will not. I know. I will say that children's and family, that's probably about two-thirds of our circulation. Right. So we definitely are serving a lot of families within Monrovia and the local area at our library. So we won't forget, I promise.

Carrie, you guys are not just servicing the families in Monrovia. You're also servicing the veterans. Right. And so that's a big deal. So I really do appreciate all the work you're doing.

Thank you.

All right.

And I always bring up, I know that it's hard to always capture some of the data. But not that I don't want the other cities to come over and participate. But I mean, the news is out. And you guys have a reputation. But it would be nice to gather that info. to know how many are accessing the services from outside of the city of Monrovia just to have part of that data piece.

I definitely can follow up. I can tell you, I can follow up and send you cause I don't have the numbers off the top of my head. We do track, um, like our library card holders if it's a resident versus non-resident. So I can definitely give you those numbers. Um, and then some of the programming, we do try to track it to see, roughly where people are coming from. Even One City, One Story, we were tracking it to see who was residents. And honestly, I think like two-thirds to almost three-fourths of the people were Monrovia residents. So I think it's largely our community and maybe some from like Arcadia and Duarte, but it's largely Monrovians enjoying the library.

Well, you have a very good reputation out there. Thank you. Very, very proud. Thank you. Okay. If that's it, is there... Anything else on this? I did want to go back to Dylan's update. There was one item that we talked about that didn't get discussed tonight, and that was the bears, the bear cubs.

Last week, I apologize for omitting that, last week the bears were moved to a partial outdoor living space. We were told just the other day that thus far they've collected a little over $20,000, which goes a long way as a community helping support and fund the bears and their rehab activities. It's great. The report that they shared, which went out to all the followers on San Diego Humane's social media, shared that the bears are making significant progress. The concern when they came into the Humane Society was that they were already exhibiting behaviors of normalizing into a human environment. And what they're sharing now is it feels like the bears are actually moving back into doing what bears do. And so we're very optimistic and excited. We'll ask for additional updates. We're talking about next round of fundraising efforts as well. So we'll continue to ask for updates from them. We'll provide those periodically as they come in.

And I actually got that update. I got a newsletter. And so I don't know if it's possible for you to include the newsletter in your update. So I don't know if it's because I made a donation or if I signed up for a newsletter, but it came directly into my emails. And then I noticed then there was the post on Facebook and then on Instagram where But so that they have it on your through your update as well. And just a reminder of the opportunity to to give and that it's specifically for the Cubs. all right uh rcm3 parking enforcement update what we always love and for anybody that thinks that the mayor gets a good deal on parking no i've paid handsomely for my parking tickets good evening madam mayor and city council welcome

On that note, tonight I'll be providing an operational update on our parking enforcement program. Before getting into enforcement activity and challenges, I wanted to give you a quick overview of what our current team looks like. First, we have a full-time lead parking control officer and five part-time parking control officers who work three days a week, approximately six hours each day. Their assignments range from street sweeping and city maintenance parking enforcement, downtown business district time parking enforcement, and they also assist us in calls related to parking enforcement and for traffic control when we have a traffic collision, a crime scene, or a special event. So this slide highlights the purpose behind our parking regulations and enforcement efforts. First and foremost, these regulations allow the city to regularly clean and sweep public streets. They also allow us to improve neighborhood quality of life, improve public safety, enhance and improve traffic flow, and ensure effective use of city resources such as street sweeping and street maintenance. Some of the regular parking enforcement provides benefits, including the ability to find other vehicle violations while they're on their route, such as expired registration, parked stolen vehicles, abandoned vehicles, illegal RV parking, or parking in red zones. This enhances overall public safety and neighborhood quality, and it also ensures compliance with the MS4 storm water permit compliance. So basically cleaning the streets to make sure that it doesn't go into the storm drain. So our current enforcement model is that our parking control officers follow behind the street sweeper. And so they go through the route. for their assignment for that day. And this is a breakdown of some of the routes. In the next slide, you'll see more of the routes. But the parking control officers will issue citations to the vehicles parked obstructing the route and in violation of the posted signage. Here you'll see the map of the breakdown of all the city coverage. So Monday and Tuesday is everything south of Huntington. Tuesday and Wednesday is everything north of Foothill. And Thursdays and Fridays is between Huntington and Foothill. and you can access these maps on the city website. So with this current enforcement model, we are having some challenges. Over the years, residents have asked to park in posted no parking areas once the sweeper has passed. The city has said yes despite the posted signage. This has created confusion for residents and it's inconsistent application for our parking control officers when issuing citations. When the parking control officer loses visual contact of the street sweeper, the parking control officer then has to catch up and sometimes has to bypass other vehicles that are in violation. The sweeper route deviations, so sometimes the sweeper has to go empty the load of debris, which creates some coordination between the parking control officer and the street sweeper and that takes time. and some effort and takes our parking control officer off that route. We also get calls for service that can interrupt the enforcement. So if it's something that pulls the parking control officer away, it interrupts enforcement during that time. So these routes are not being completed all the time within the posted restriction times, which means we can't enforce it after the time that's listed on that sign. So moving forward, staff would like to modify street sweeping operations to provide clarity, efficiency, and consistency. This means staff will enforce the posted no parking hours per the signage. So even though the sweeper has passed, citations will be issued during the no parking time frame. This change allows the parking control officers to be more consistent and efficient when driving their daily routes, issuing citations and ensuring streets are swept. There are no changes proposed to the existed posted no parking signs. And the intent is not necessarily to increase enforcement, rather create a system that's more consistent and understandable and just more efficient for our staff. So with that, over the next several weeks, we will work with The city manager to include it in the update as well as have it posted on the city website and via social media to make sure everybody's aware of these changes Because it may come to shock to some so we want to make sure everybody's aware before we actually change the operations And with that, that concludes my presentation. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Questions for Sarah?

I have a question. I thought automatically that you could not park until after that hour. And in your presentation, you said city said that they're allowed to do that. I want to know. I didn't know that we were allowed to do that. So up until today, you could still park. If the street sweeper went by, you can still move your car and park on the street and not get a ticket.

So the way we've been doing it for about the last 10 years is the parking control officer follows the street sweeper. So once that passes, the parking control officer doesn't come back through. So a lot of residents either work from home or don't work or maybe are home all day for whatever reason. They see that and they'll know and they can move their car back in front.

So it wasn't official that they could do that. People were just doing that.

They've asked and we've allowed.

Oh, okay. Yeah.

Okay.

But you're saying then going forward, you're going to change that so you could get a ticket if it was within the posted time frames. Yes. Even though the sweeper had passed. Yes. Okay. Got you. Got you.

So we're anticipating a few folks that are used to that coming to our meetings and complaining.

Potentially, yes. But we're trying to get the information out and explain why. The reason why is to keep the streets clean and to make sure that we can do that effectively and then also use our resources wisely. So if our parking control officers are just waiting for the street super to come back, they're being paid to wait. So if we can use them in other ways downtown, or to check for other violations, there's a more effective way to use our resources.

Makes sense.

And to be clear, that I get down very well with the trash or the sweeper. I don't have a problem getting tickets in front of my house. It's when the timed ones... Downtown you get busy and you forget and we can't help you with that. I know I know but you'd be amazed You'd be amazed at how many people think that I get past that I don't get part of we know you get tickets So at any rate, but the only other question I have is a lot of time the street sweeper

is a dust bowl going down the street. And you have the parking enforcement person behind them. I mean, are they supposed to have on the water? Instead of creating all this dust? You know, we're complaining because the guy doesn't go over to the water hydrant, fill up his vehicle, and sweep the streets, right? And so the parking enforcement guy is right behind him getting all the dust. You would think they would say, hey, you know, you need to go and get some more water or something. I mean, am I wrong?

No, it's my understanding they're supposed to be using water. And so we'll follow up with Athens and Public Works to make sure that that's actually the case and that's happening.

Yeah, because there is a lot of times, and I tell Dylan about it, it's a dust bowl behind the sweepers, you know? Yes. But I'm in agreement with you. Take it everybody. I'm mad I didn't know about this. I'm paying for it on my taxes.

As long as we're talking about education, I don't, and this happened to me once and they did correct it, but where there is no parking or time parking or whatever. and the sign is behind you and you pull up and there's nothing in front of you, but you are parked in an area that's under that time zone. So I don't know how often we go and check our signs to make sure that there's signage in front of that last parking space because I've seen it more than once. where you pull up and there's no sign in front of you. You passed it. It's behind you.

But Public Works would be happy to come out and put up another sign.

I don't know how often those get checked.

Yeah, we've had signs put up on Peck Road.

So our parking control officer, part of their duties is to also report to the lead parking officer if they see that there's not appropriate signage or maybe tree covering a sign. Right, that happens too. And then that gets reported to Public Works for replacement.

The one that I had the problem with, it literally was inside a bush, and they had cut out around it, but it was behind. Are you talking about your ticket that you got? Yeah. Well, that was one of them.

My only comment is that I hope that we may, for some of those folks that are really tuned in, because there are people that are going to see the car go by or the sweeper go by and they're going to move their car, that I hope that we will be maybe leaning on that first one. Since for 10 years people have been doing it, it seems like a little bit much to just suddenly take it.

Absolutely. We're not trying to upset people. We want to educate them first and make sure everybody understands the reasoning behind it. Yeah.

Yes. Yeah. When does it go? Larry will give him a ticket. He'll drive on right behind you.

We haven't identified an update that it's going to go live, but before it does, there'll be plenty of information put out to let everybody know.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Sarah.

Thank you very much. Thank you for the update.

Okay, moving on then. Reports of City Council members. And I will start with Mr. Belden.

No.

Well, it's been exciting past two weeks. I had a great time with all of you that saw my read. I'm sure maybe you'll have more comments on that, some of you will. But it was a great event to see all the Minerva Reads that is, and thank you to all those that are involved in that so much. It's a great resource to our community, and we appreciate that tremendously. I wanted to say thanks, I think everyone will, to all the folks, all the staff. It seems like everyone that works for Monterey was working this weekend from every department. So thank you all. I had a great time at Monterey Days. And I think everyone in the community did, so it was a fantastic event. And it just is one of those things that makes Monrovia so special, and everyone kept saying that. I didn't actually ask them to say that or promote them. It's just people just walking up to me and like, this is just such a great community. So not many places where people feel comfortable like leaving their kids just hanging around the park anymore, so it's nice to see. Also tomorrow, tomorrow morning is a walk, bike, roll. So the city is helping to sponsor that with our MUSD partners, ActiveSGV, some of the local groups here in Monrovia. If any of you want to come out and join, it's at Library Park at 7 a.m. You can walk or bike with the groups. They're going to go to Monroe or Mayflower. and just remind folks that it's actually easy to get out of your house and get to school that way.

Is that the fountain?

Is that where they're... Is it breakfast afterwards?

Larry, we might bring some snacks for you. Larry, you can bring your e-bike. You totally can bring your e-bike. Yeah, of course. Exercise? It's bike. You can bike today.

Bike, rock and roll.

Yeah. So you can do either. You can walk or you can bike. Or you can roller skate. Just not car. And this is one of those ways we can also reduce some of that congestion you see a lot at every school. So people can just, the idea here is that also some of these create buses, like mobile buses, so you can have a walking bus and like your parent doesn't have to walk you to school, but a group can walk you to school so you can feel safe and you don't have to drive a kid necessarily when you're a busy parent. That's tomorrow starts at 7. I think it walk out at like a 730 on the routes and That's it for me. Thank you. Oh, I do have one more thing. Thanks, and this is courtesy of some great input and well thought Words from Larry because it's public works week. I probably should have Written something since I work in some of that field myself my day job But this is from Larry. I think he did a really good job here. I'll give him credit for it So public works exists to serve the community and everything does is grounded and rooted in that purpose this is what rooted in service means to me and Service is the foundation, not an afterthought. Just like roots anchor a tree, service anchors public works. It's the starting point for every decision, project repair, and improvement. Stability, reliability, and long-term commitment. Roots don't move, they hold firm. Public works is the same, steady, dependable, always there, even when people don't see the work happening, which is often, right? You just call it, report it, and then it just gets fixed in Monrovia. We'll talk about other communities. Growth that benefits the whole community. Healthy roots produce healthy branches. Public works, behind the scenes work. Streets, water, sewers, parks, facilities allows the entire city to thrive. Deep connection to the community, roots spread wide. Public works touch every household, every business, every neighborhood. The theme honors that deep everyday connection.

All right, thanks. All right, Mr. Spicer.

All right. I had the opportunity to attend the Cal Cities Leaders Summit, where some of the sessions, I'll just give you a little overview of some of them. AI and local government, securing our future water supplies, the California state budget, and one of the ones I really enjoyed was what California cities are doing to support our homeless. Also, I recently, like Dr. Fellows was saying, I recently graduated from the Well Academy, whose mission is to educate and train local, Latino, and elected officials in California water policy to promote timely and equitable actions that support a robust economy, healthy communities, and resilience. environment for all Californians. It was an honor to be pinned by my council member, Sergio Jimenez, and I'm proud to bring this knowledge back to Monrovia as we continue to strengthen our water stewardship, sustainability, and efforts. And the big grand finale, Monrovia Days. Thank you everyone who joined us this past weekend. Some of our parade winners was the, as follows, Best Float, Wild Rose School, Creative of Arts, Wild Rose School of Creative Arts, Best Musical Entry, Center Stage Dance Academy, Best Monrovia Day Spirit, Monrovia Elementary, The Judge's Award, Clifton Middle School, Marching Band and Color Guard, Most unique entry, No Drive and Low Rider Club. Those are the guys with the lifts and everything. Best overall entry, Monrovia High School Band and Color Guard. And also, Marine Gay Pie Eating Contest winners, the All-American City finalists. We're all here at the dais, the champions. Second place was the Smarty Maxxers. Third place was We the People. So everyone, please save the date for 2027, May 13th through the 16th, which will be our next Monrovia Days. So we'll be segueing into Summer Concerts in the Park. Our 12-week series kicks off this Sunday at Station Square from 7 to 8.30 p.m. And on Sunday, May 24th, Stone Soul Motown. Check out our city website for the rest of the lineup. You can also contact the community center. Also save the date for the 4th of July concert and fireworks show. Saturday, July 4th in Library Park. 7 p.m. concert featuring O.C. Groove. And at 9 o'clock we have that fantastic fireworks show. And finally, I just want to express my sincere appreciation to city staff, both the volunteers and community partners for delivering another successful Monrovia Day Parade and Carnival. Your hard work ensured a joyful, safe, and memorable celebration for families across our city. across our city. Events like this reminds us of spirit, unity, and pride that make Monrovia such a special place. And that concludes my report, Mayor.

Thank you very much, Larry.

And Dr. Kelly. Yes, thank you. Speaking of the library, we have some wonderful things that are happening at the library. need volunteer hours this summer, join the Teen Advisory Board and help with our summer reading program. The Monrovia Public Library's Teen Advisory Board, TAB, is a group of teens, 7th through 12th grade, committed to helping the library and community. During the summer, TAB members run a summer reading information booth in the library's lobby. Members meet the first available Monday of each month at 5 p.m., in the library's community room to help with planning and implementation of teen programs. Sign up for volunteer opportunities, recommend materials for the library to purchase, and talk about ways to make the teen library experience better. A volunteer orientation will be held on Friday, May 29th from 4 to 4.30. You must be signed up for TAB to join. So contact the library for more information or to sign up. 2026 summer reading kickoff celebration. Yay, yay, yay. Join us as we kick off summer reading. We will have arts and crafts, lawn games, video games, inflatables, a bubble dance party, a giant maze, and more. Sunday, June 6th from 12 to 3. Again, that's Sunday, June 6th from 12 to 3. and Library Park. All ages are welcome. And don't forget to sign up for the summer reading program. You will receive a free book when you sign up in June. And then fill out your passport throughout the months of June, July to earn prizes. Contact the library for more information. Concerning the Olympics, the SGV World Cup Well, Los Angeles World Cup is happening and there will be a fan zone in Duarte for the SUV World Cup. They're going to be sending information. So Dylan, please be looking out for that. They want to invite us to come over and take a look at that. So they are going to be hosting along with some other cities. But the nearest city to us will be Duarte. So they will be hosting fan zones for that. The Whittier Narrows are going to be hosting one from July the 9th through the 11th. And the Fairplex on July 14th through the 15th and July 18th through the 19th. It says world SGV World Cup fans zone. So maybe so maybe it will include that as well. I'm not sure. Okay, so that's concerning That and today I had a fun opportunity along with city manager Dylan we were at the high school for the humanities junior project, and we got an opportunity to judge some amazing teenagers. They did wonderful projects, really brought a lot of information out. I was really excited about what was going on there in the humanities department. And I told them, I said, you guys could have done my dissertation because you guys were doing such a great job. The topics varied. And so I just wanted to just bring attention to that wonderful event. I wonder who won. Did we get any word on that? It was happening while we were here, so I don't know who ended up winning the overall I also, along with my colleagues, had the opportunity to go to Sacramento. And what I love most about this particular conference is that it talks a lot about bills that we need to be watching for. So many times, there's so many bills that are going on that we can kind of get caught up and not really know how it's affecting our local communities. And we have a list of them, and I'm not going to take the time to go through each one. But I really love the fact that this conference allows us to have a heads up on bills that we should be watching out for and how it will affect our local community. And we're able to dialogue about that and give information to Dillon as needed concerning our city and how we can prepare. So that's all I have for that. Thank you. Thank you very much. And Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Sometimes people ask us why we travel to Sacramento for these League of California events like the City Leaders Summit. At one of the workshops, there was this quote that was just incredible. It really sets the tone, and I'm going to read it. A society grows great when old men and women plant trees in whose shadow they shall never sit. This is a Greek proverb. By us going... to further our knowledge as public servants, in this case the City Leaders Summit. We're touching the future and we're doing it right now and that's the importance of these events. Going to the meeting, yes, there was great workshops and I think that Larry mentioned some of them, but to me some of the most valuable things besides the legislation, yes, SB 79, the cleanup legislation for that, as well as 1135 on the wildlife coexistence. It was meeting with the mayors of South Pasadena, Claremont, and Sierra Madre and seeing how much we have in common on some of these same issues. And we don't always agree. You think that even though we have some of the same... um criteria like the foothills we have this wildlife that's here but we don't always agree but we share the same love of creating that future where we're going to make decisions that we're never going to see the benefit of we're going to plant those trees and create that that that shadow that will never benefit from. It was inspiring talking to them. We also met with John Harbedian. He along with the staff made time to actually meet with us and talk to us about legislation that's pertinent to Monrovia and the staff members from Senator Perez as well. So like I said, this is what makes these trip so significant. We get to touch the future now. We get to make Monrovia a better place now and in the future. I also had the privilege of being at the WELL graduation ceremony. Congratulations, Larry. I'm really proud of you. Just so you know how difficult, how challenging this is. The WELL program, it's seven months long. And that doesn't include the capstone project, which Larry still has to do, the legislative workshop. Well, we're all going to be there for you on that day, Larry, when you do the legislative workshop. But it is very challenging. Learning about water, I say, analogize it to learning a different language because it's that intense. You learn as much from the experts that are there as you do from your fellow council members from other cities who are there to do the same thing. They want to take this information back and... almost like an evangelist, to their own community about the importance. Now, Larry didn't just attend this program, which I think you get a certificate from UC Berkeley, I think it was UC Berkeley, the certificate that you got, Larry? Yes, Larry was chosen as the spokesperson, as the valedictorian of his graduating class. So that's impressive. So I throw out a challenge to the other members of the Minerva City Council to join the program. And we don't need one expert on the council or two. We need people to be knowledgeable, the whole council, on the importance of water and how it affects our daily lives. Water is life. So it was an honor to be there. And then finally, I wanted to... Just say thank you to everybody involved in the Monrovia Days. And first of all, the staff. Somebody mentioned on Public Works that somebody calls in for a request and it gets done. You don't see it get done. Well, it's the same with the work for the Monrovia Days. It didn't just happen. It took a lot of planning, a lot of work by community services, by the many volunteers, by the committee, and the partners. for things to run so smoothly. And it's a tradition. We're 140 years old. We're going to, God willing, be celebrating Monrovia Days until God comes for all of us. So thank you to the staff. Thank you to the volunteers and the partners that made Monrovia Days a wonderful birthday. Happy birthday, Monrovia. Thank you.

All right. All right. Got a long list here, but I'll start off with the one that I wanted to add to the calendar. And I did get, I mentioned that I received a call late on Monday from Susan Rubio, and she was talking about the calendar. It was coming up very, very, very, very quickly with the Senate. And AB 1786, 68, I keep on transposing, 1786, Uh, 68. Hold on one second here. I'm gonna... Yeah. And so, essentially, this doesn't actually put the, um, tax in place. But what it does do is it allows the County of Los Angeles and Contra Costa County, um, allows them to then go out to the voters to have a tax measure, sales tax measure, that will exceed the cap. the 2% cap. I know that many of us have heard about the County of Los Angeles talking about going out for a proposition to increase the sales tax by a half cent. And the idea in mind is to replace funding that at the federal level has cut. But there is no guarantee that should something like that pass that we would ever see a dime of that money. So at any rate, Susan, who is opposing this measure, encourages us to reach out to our electeds Sasha Perez being our our senator and to encourage her also to vote no and that would hope if in fact it was opposed or it didn't pass then there wouldn't be the ability for them to go out for this measure I was trying to find real quick here hold on she sent me Okay, Assembly Bill 1768 would authorize the voters of Los Angeles County and Contra Costa County to enact a transactions and use tax increase not to exceed 0.5 percent in the Los Angeles County and 0.625 percent in Contra Costa County. This proposal gives the counties if and only if voters agree the flexibility to stabilize critical health services devastated by HR1 cuts. But again, to my understanding, there's no guarantee that that's where the monies will be used.

It's actually to allow ER to keep going or make sure that if ER passes that they could do that. I think it's up to the voters. I don't think we need to get in the way of it, honestly.

People are going to vote on it. I hear you, but I also know that people are not always educated on these matters when it comes to taxes. I think... We're on a slippery slope here. We're already over the cap. And so that would add another half cent over that, and there's no guarantee whatsoever that those monies would be returned to us or a portion thereof. I should say that.

Becky?

Uh-huh.

But, you know, some people like myself, I have already voted.

No, no, no, no, no. This is legislation. Oh, I see what you're saying. This is legislation allowing that to work. I see what you're saying. Yeah. Well, in that case, it would be, I'm assuming that's why this is being done in such an expedited manner.

Yeah, I'm not saying that I voted yay or nay. I'm just saying I voted already.

I understand. This is for the actual enabling legislation. So I would like us to communicate with Senator Perez that it is our desire to have this not pass.

I would not support that.

Okay. All right. Did you have any other information, Craig? Well, I'm of the opinion then obviously we could individually, if we like, we could communicate with Senator Perez's office. I don't want to send a letter from this council unless it's unanimous. But if you'd like to comment, you can comment.

Okay.

We'll move on to the rest of my report. So if you are going to communicate with Senator Perez, I would suggest you do so either tonight or very early tomorrow morning. According to Senator Rubio, she thought it was going to be voted on tomorrow.

Wow.

Okay, going back this on the matters on our agenda. the City Leaders Summit. We also had the opportunity they provided, and it was unfortunate that they didn't have more, but the time limitation really dictated how effective this was going to be, but they had a gubernatorial candidate for them. They had Tony Thurman, Matt Mahan, Xavier Becerra, and Antonio Villaraigosa. And so that was interesting, and it was a one-on-one interviews. It wasn't like a debate. And then some of the sessions that I found interesting were highlighting the city's successes and communicating wins to the public. I also included in that we had kind of a roundtable, and I highlighted Dylan's weekly updated in how we communicate not only just our successes and things like that and just communicating to the public, but also when things like what we did during fires, during COVID. Things like that. So that was well received. Maintaining personal well-being and mental health and public leadership. And local government and immigration enforcement policy practice and community impact. And that was interesting as well, but my comment on that, and I've commented to others, I would like, it's very unfortunate that we talk a lot about ICE, but the true problems with immigration and the reforms that are needed, we're not having those conversations. And so everybody just kicks that can down the road and it keeps on being pushed and pushed. But that's a desperate conversation that we do need to have. One, the... Speaker at the end, it was a topic of his book, 13 Ways to Kill Your Community. And it was really interesting. One, forget the water, neglecting critical infrastructure. Two, don't attract business, failing to create a welcoming environment for commerce. Three, don't engage youth, ignoring the next generation of leaders. Four, deceive yourself, ignoring real problems and trends. Five, shop elsewhere, residents spending money outside the community. Six, don't paint, allowing the town to look run down and uninviting. Seven, don't cooperate, refusing to work with neighboring towns or local groups. Eight, live in the past, resisting necessary modernization. Nine, shut out your seniors, discarding the wisdom and value of older residents. Ten, reject everything new, innovation or external ideas. Eleven, Yeah, 11, ignore outsiders, being hostile towards new residents or visitors. 12, grow complacent, assuming the status quo is sustainable. And 13, don't take responsibility, blame external forces for local decline. So it was an entertaining presentation, and he did it with a lot of, he was funny. Oh, that was a keynote? Yeah, that was the keynote in the last one. And I don't know if I mentioned at the last, I was looking at my calendar to see when it was, but you were talking about, and we talk about youth, the MUSD has a program with the elementary schools, the femineers, and that's encouraging girls to get involved in STEM activities. topics and engineering and things like that. So it's really, really great to see the excitement in that boys can participate, but there are very few, and the majority of them, overwhelming majority, are the girls. And it's real exciting to see how they're getting involved in the STEM system and topics. And I went to Cisneros Congressman Cisneros. He presented a check that was on Wednesday the 6th, $1,092,000 for Encanto Water Park project. And so that was great to be a part of that. Veterans Appreciation Dinner, which, again, the library helped with that. That was a great event on May 6th as well. Larry and I were at the National Day of Prayer, and also some of our police officers and Dylan were there at National Day of Prayer, and we had it at the library park right there where all the flags are there in front of the the library. It was a very, very nice event. Monrovia Reads, So All May Read Gala, raised lots of money to do great things. And those really are, Monrovia Reads provides the building blocks for our kids, the reading. It's really, really important down in the Canyon Early Learning Center. We catch them when they're young. It's just so important. I can't say enough about how we work with the city and the library and volunteers. It's really just a great organization. Then I also had a really interesting meeting with a young man, Wilson Sherman, who is a student at UCLA. He's doing his doctorate on something to do with bear management. And he wanted to talk to... to a government official about, and my interaction with bears. And so we talked a lot about Blondie and her cubs and things like that, my personal experiences with bears, and talked to him about Samson the bear and whatnot. And so I sent him a bunch of information, but I said I'd really be interested in reading his paper once he's finished.

I hope he's not going to recommend noisemakers all day long.

No, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah, this is his doctorate. Yeah, yeah. Something to do with bear management. So very, very interesting. His grandmother lives in... arcadia i think it is uh real close by so at any rate and he saw something oh he was here for the he was he was he he was here for the little um the little walk that we did for the the bears and and so he saw me and that's how he reached out to me Fire department pancake breakfast for fire service day, thanks to all the firemen who did a great job, yummy pancakes. And several of us had the opportunity to go to Dylan's daughter's baptism, and that was an honor to be included in that. That was a very nice event. And Sports Clips Ribbon Cutting, a new business. It's for guys. I don't know. Maybe the gals could do it, but they give you a shave and they wrap your face and neck in a hot towel. They've got sporting events on screens, and yeah. And then I attended, and I've shared with many of you, I had the opportunity to be invited to the Exchange Club of San Gabriel Valley. It was at the time of the pie-eating contest, so that's why I wasn't there. But I was able to present an award to Peter Shee, who is a veterans resource officer and so it was very I was very proud to represent Monrovia for that did want to comment that on Monday for Memorial Day that is that is this coming Monday right next yeah is at Live Oak Cemetery at 10 a.m. is the Memorial Day celebration. I don't remember how many, what the annual one is. It's been there for many, many, many years. And then on this Saturday, though, is the L.A. County District 5. Catherine Barger will put on the memorial event for veterans. in families and that's at 10 o'clock is begins at 10 o'clock as well so with that oh my goodness uh i think that's i Oh, and you talk about public works. This Sunday I got a call from the pastor at the AMA church, Pastor Bell, and his building had been graffitied. I reached out to Dylan, and it was cleaned up before 12 o'clock, I think. Yeah, I got the text. Yeah, so that's wonderful. So thank you, thank you, thank you. And, yes, Dr. Fellow, we need to drink – tap water and also get used to the the recycled water they now called the the clean clean water project uh it had a different name but uh we're going to i'm not but there are there are a lot of programs too through the la county sanitation district relating to our water systems as well okay That's it for me. And thank you, thank you, but not the end of our agenda. Moving on to our administrative reports. AR1 calling for the November 3rd, 2026 general municipal election, requesting consolidation with the statewide general election to be conducted by the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters and providing regulations for candidates' adoption of resolution numbers 2026-14, 2026-15. 2016, and Sarah, our clerk tonight, and thank you for filling in for Alice, and she will be giving us the report.

Thank you, Mayor Shevlin. So tonight, yes, we are asking for the adoption of the three resolutions that you read to call for the November 3rd election, consolidate with the county, and set forth the regulations for the candidates. So I did want to note that this will be our first election on the November cycle. Prior to this, we were doing our March-June elections. And February of last year, council approved an ordinance changing the general municipal election date to align with the statewide general election. And I just mentioned this because we all know June 2nd is an election date. You will not see, you should have received your vote by mail ballots, and you will not see local Monrovia candidates there because we are now on November 3rd. Turn off my mic. There we go. So let's talk about the offices to be filled on November 3rd. We have one seat for mayor, which is a two-year term, two seats for city council members, four-year term, one seat for city treasurer, four-year term, and one seat for city council, which is a four-year term. City clerk. City clerk. Thank you. There we go. So I just want to go over some important dates. The nomination period will begin July 13th and run through August 7th. I do want to note that if an incumbent does not file for a seat, that extends five days to August 12th. We will be holding a pre-nomination information meeting on July 2nd. This will take place in the Monroe Room of the Community Center. And we go over a lot of important things like filing obligations, campaign regulations. And if you're planning on running, becoming a candidate, I highly recommend you attend this meeting. And we'll give you all the information you need. I will go over a few of the fees here. So we have a $25 filing fee. $100 campaign sign deposit if you choose to use campaign signs. There is an upfront $800 fee for a candidate statement. That's a written candidate statement, which isn't optional, but we do have an alternative to do an online candidate statement for less, which would be $270, and that would be instead of the printed statement. I do want to note that in April of last year, Council approved an ordinance imposing a new local campaign contribution limit of $1,000. Oops, mistake again. And then some more important dates. Your voter information guide, your sample ballot, is due to mail between September 24th and October 13th. And then all residents who are registered to vote still receive a vote-by-mail ballot, which is due to be mailed out October 5th. And I do want to point out that those dates overlap a little bit. We do have over 5 million registered voters in the County of Los Angeles, so sometimes Things take a while to get mailed to you. Your actual ballot might come before a sample ballot or maybe somebody in your household might get their ballot and you don't get yours. Just please be patient. They're probably working on it. But if you have any questions, LAVote.gov is a good resource. These do come from the county, but the city clerk's office is always here to help, too. So the last day to register to vote in this election will be October 19th. And that is if you want to receive all this information in the mail. You can still do same day voter registration at the polling places on November 3rd. That would be a conditional voter registration. And then the big day, election day, November 3rd. Mark your calendars. So vote centers open a full 10 days before the election day, so starting Saturday, October 24th. And our vote center is at the library community room. Some of them open the next Saturday on October 31st and stay open until November 3rd. The mail ballot drop-off location will be unlocked beginning October 5th, and our ballot drop-off box is in front of the community center, between the community center and the library on the library side. So they'll open that on October 5th, and they do pick up regularly, the county does. The official canvas begins November 5th and the completion of the official canvas will be December 3rd. The register is tentatively scheduled to certify the results on November 27th and of course once we receive the final results we will bring them to council as soon as possible. And just a quick plug for this upcoming June 2nd election. Like I said, we don't have our candidates on this ballot. But for the first time ever, we are hosting a mobile vote center from the county. And they will be at the Friday street fair on May 29th. from 5 to 10 near the food vendors. And remember that anybody in LA County can vote anywhere in LA County if you're a registered voter. So we can serve not only Monrovians, but anybody else who is at the street fair that night. So look out for that. And then if you have any questions regarding the election, you can always reach out to Alice, our city clerk, or myself. I'm the deputy city clerk, and here's our information here. And that concludes my report.

I'd be happy to answer your questions. Thank you.

Any questions of Sarah? No.

Thank you. If there are no questions or comments, then do we have a motion? Motion to approve.

Second.

Second.

We have a motion and a second to adopt the stated resolutions. Can we have a roll call vote, please? Yes.

Council Members Belden?

Yes.

Dr. Kelly? Yes. Spicer? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Jimenez? Yes.

And Mayor Sheflin? Yes. Thank you very much. And so moving on to AR2, preliminary proceedings related to the financing of capital improvement projects and potential refunding of existing bonds. including the establishment of financing parameters and authorization to engage financing professionals, resolution number 2026-24. And Ray Bowman is going to be presenting this evening.

Thank you so much. Good evening again, Mayor Shevlin and members of City Council. Thank you for your time this evening. The item before you is the preliminary proceedings related to the potential bond financing for several major capital improvement projects under Resolution No. 2026-24. So as background and as Council will recall, City Council previously reviewed unfunded capital priorities during study sessions between February and March of this year. During those study sessions, Council directed staff to evaluate financing options for approximately $76 million in projects encompassing proposed projects that include the community center renovations, recreation park improvements, Fire Station 102 renovations and lastly the City Hall renovations. The proposed resolution before you this evening authorizes preliminary proceedings related to the potential financing of these projects. Most notably, the resolution would establish specific parameters for the engagement, which includes a maximum principal amount of $76 million and maximum financing term of 20 years. It's important to note that approving the resolution this evening does not approve issuance of any bond or even all $76 million, but it does set certain ceilings, which is that $76 million under which the financing professionals will operate under. This resolution authorizes the engagement of financing professionals, namely Columbia Capital as municipal advisor and Nixon Peabody as both bond and disclosure counsel. Authorizing their involvement will allow staff and the financing team to begin evaluating financing structures and options for the city. The resolution also allows us to evaluate potential refunding opportunities for existing city bonds to see if there's any potential savings in doing so. As a note, any refunding opportunities would not extend existing bond maturity dates or modify any existing parcel tax structures. It's important to note what the proposed resolution does, but equally, too, is what it does not do. So the proposed resolution does not authorize the issuance of bonds. It doesn't obligate the city to proceed with financing or commit the city to issuing the full authorized amount of $76 million as any future bond issuances, including the final financing amount and structure, would return to city council for consideration and approval at a future meeting. City Council does retain full authority regarding whether to proceed with any future issuances and in what amount. So again, this resolution simply sets the parameters and sets the framework under which the financing engagement can operate under. We wanted to provide some detail about the financing professionals that are being engaged as part of this resolution. The proposed resolution would authorize engagement of Columbia Capital, again as municipal advisor, and their key responsibilities in this engagement include financial analysis, strategy, debt service scenarios, market evaluation, and repayment analysis. Nixon Peabody, as Bond and Disclosure Council, will be responsible for the legal documentation, disclosure requirements, and regulatory compliance of the bonds. The proposed fee for Columbia Capital's Municipal Advisory Services is $85,000. And the proposed fee for Nixon Peabody's bond and disclosure council services is $125,000 for the first issuance and $100,000 for a potential second issuance if we go in that direction. These costs would be paid from future bond proceeds following the issuance of those bonds. We wanted to include this table to provide a comparison of these professional costs in relation to the professional costs from the city's most recent bond issuance, which was the 2017 pension obligation bond. As shown on this table, the fees for the POB were $70,000 for municipal advisory costs and $117,000 for the Combined Bond and Disclosure Council. Given that these rates were from almost 10 years ago and given the size and complexity of the potential financing that we're looking at, along of course with inflation and the passage of time, the staff reviewed the proposed fees and determined them to be reasonable. As staff and the financing team continue evaluating financing options, several important financing considerations will continue to be reviewed. As Council is aware, Measure K revenues are anticipated to serve as the primary repayment source for debt service and staff in the financing team will evaluate the potential for multiple bond issuances, if Council so chooses. One potential scenario that has been previously discussed is a first bond issuance in the amount of $56 million, prioritizing the Community Centre, Recreation Park and Fire Station 102, and a second issuance for City Hall at a later time, once the Community Centre project is complete. Most important to note is that any future financing which includes the structure, the timing, and the issuance amount would return to City Council for consideration and approval. So in summary, the proposed resolution authorizes preliminary financing procedures for the potential capital project financing. It establishes financing parameters and engages the financing professionals for the engagement. It also allows staff to evaluate financing options, evaluate affordability and market conditions, and it does not authorize bond issuance or obligate the city to proceed. Any future financing approvals would need to return to City Council. So tonight, staff is proposing approval of resolution number 2026-24 for the preliminary proceedings of the financing. And with that, I'd like to thank you for your time. Happy to answer any questions you might have.

Questions?

What procedure, how was the council and the consultant picked?

Thank you for bringing that up. For such a highly specialized and technical service such as bond council and disclosure council, we really wanted to make sure that we leaned on the professionals who do this regularly and successfully. so that said we work with our municipal advisors who work in our fiduciary which means that they work in our best interest in tandem with our city attorney's office who actually used to have a bond council a business unit they no longer do to identify a potential firm that can serve both bond council and disclosure council successfully for this type of transaction given our legal team's familiarity with the city and the city's finances. And having those conversations with our municipal advisor along with our city attorney's office, Nixon Peabody was identified as the successful firm.

Thank you.

Of course.

Obviously, that's not who we used in 2017.

any any other questions like I guess for me the it seems like the route that this set one of those options is on the table here is looking at a first bond of 56 for community center rec park and fire station and of course I want City Hall to move forward but since it's not there yet we don't even know really that that's a It's a value that's unknown currently too. And we don't want to sit on $20 million that we might issue out that we can't use for a while. Like we don't want to pay interest on that. It seems logical to go with the 56 approach. And so I do wonder, I know that like the proposal has up to 76 currently in it. I wouldn't feel much more comfortable with just telling them 56 because I don't want to, you know, you give somebody a, you kind of tell them what the threshold is, they just go for it, right? I assume it'll just come back automatically from them that they'll say, hey, 76 is what you should do anyways. So I see no reason why we shouldn't just go to 56 on the document.

I'll suggest one reason that the framework is structured the way it is. Under the IRS regulations, Once the council adopts a resolution of intent for the list of projects and identifies a bond cap, then the city can be reimbursed for expenses from bond proceeds from that point forward. So even if City Hall is a second phase, a second bond issue, by the advantage to adopting a resolution, and again, you're not approving anything at all, you're just adopting a resolution for a cap, the advantage to the city is that expenses on the City Hall project, if that's gonna be phase two, can be reimbursed now from bond proceeds. As we sit here today, you can't reimburse whatever we spend between now and the next time you would adopt one of these resolutions. So that's the advantage of including the full list of projects and the full dollar amount, knowing that the council is not authorizing the issuance of those bonds as we sit here right now. All you're doing is putting the parameters in place, and the IRS requires that that resolution be adopted before spending any money that ultimately gets reimbursed from bond proceeds.

Right. We could spend money through Measure K or something else. You can spend your own money. You just can't be reimbursed.

Right, right, right. So that's the main reason that kind of the full package is in this resolution now.

But we still wouldn't necessarily, like, we wouldn't want to pull down $76 million. No.

I don't think the financial advisor would advise that.

We wouldn't recommend that at all.

Correct. And you're not approving that, just to be clear. You're not approving that in this.

I know, but the second you send it out one time, it somehow comes back the same number the next time.

I have worked very closely with... I've worked very closely with... Columbia capital for 35 years and that's not the way they have done business for this city or or any other Any other city in that time?

I Think not like the I know we're looking at also bringing financing as as the market gotten that much better on some of those other Bonds that we have out there that that's the only reason we'd look at it. I guess right now

Correct. So we would only approach a refunding of, I think there's three identified existing bonds on the resolution right now, if it will result in cost savings. Again, it won't increase the maturity on those existing bonds or change any of the parcel tax structures that are related to those bonds. It's purely if there are any cost savings and approving this resolution would give the financing team the authority to evaluate those options for us.

Maximum flexibility. Correct. No other questions. Do we have a motion?

I'd like to make a motion to adopt resolution number 2026-24. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Can we please have a roll call vote?

Council members Belden? Yes. Dr. Kelly?

Yes.

Spicer? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Jimenez? Yes. And Mayor Sheflin?

Yes. Thank you very much. And that does it for our agenda this evening. Then our next scheduled meeting will then be June 16th, 2026, 7.30 p.m. here in these council chambers. Thank you. And as June 2nd is an election date and we had decided some time ago not to have meetings on election evenings. So with that then, we are adjourning this evening in the name and memory of Ed Knoop, a long time Monrovia resident. Actually, Janet, was he born in Monrovia? But a long, long time Monrovia resident and neighbor of Janet Wall, and our hearts and prayers go out to his family, and we are sorry for your loss. And with that, then, we are adjourned at 9.56, and happy... It's not really happy Memorial Day, it's a blessed Memorial Day in memory of all those that gave the ultimate sacrifice. So, with that. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I think there needs to be a report. She's telling on herself.

They think that we all get a pass. No, I had someone call me. I was eating, and they said, Dr. Kelly, you're about to get towed. That was nice enough.

I thought you were going to say, can you fix my ticket? No, no, no.

I was eating and having breakfast, and I just...