City Council - Regular Meeting

I would like to call up the regular members of the Housing Success Board. Roll call, please.

Council Member Martin.

Here.

Council Member Mora.

Here.

Council Member Rance. May I quote Tim Rodriguez? Here. And Mayor Zamora. Here.

In vocation, I would like to call upon the Assemblyman for a three-minute mission virtually today in vocation. You guys can please stand.

Heavenly Father, we come before you today grateful for the opportunity to gather as servants and members of this community. We ask for your wisdom, your decision, your clarity to shape every decision, and your unity to bring cooperation to those who lead. Bless our county members, staff, and citizens present here tonight. Grant them discernment, patience, and a spirit of fairness. May every choice made in this chamber promote the well-being, safety, and flourishing of the city. Grant wisdom to all members as they discuss matters that affect the lives of families, children, and every resident of this community. May your truth shape every decision. May your peace govern every heart in this room. Help us to listen well, speak with grace, and act with integrity. Holy Spirit, give clarity of thought, unity of purpose, humility of heart, Let every word spoken here honor you and reflect your character. May this meeting be marked by respect, humility, and a shared desire to serve the common good. We ask for your protection over our city, our families, and all who work to keep our community strong. In Jesus' wonderful name we pray, amen. Amen. Thank you, Pastor Kim.

I would like to call upon Kailin Singh to lead the Pledge of Allegiance, please. So if you guys can remain standing.

Put your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I think she just left. Kaylin, are you still here? I'm sorry. So if you don't mind, if you guys can share what school you go to, what grade you are, what activities are you involved with?

I go to Santa Fe High, and I am a junior, and I'm involved in color guard, choir, as well as theater, and I'm also part of, I'm the president of the club called CBA.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you for coming out. Presentations. We have Central Basin Municipal Water District. I would like to call upon President Mendez for a brief presentation.

Yes, good evening, Mayor, city council members. City Manager, City Attorney, residents, and all staff, it's a pleasure to be here on behalf of Central Basin Municipal Water District. I'm currently the Board President and represent Division 2, representing over seven cities through unincorporated areas. It's a pleasure and a privilege to be here. Indeed, I've represented the City of Santa Fe Springs now for over 26 years on various boards, and now I am the president of the Water District, which is really important to all us residents. With me here today is our interim general manager, Mr. Ray Trejo, and we have Dr. Granger, Sean Granger, who's our administrative services director. I think that was important. So I'd like to go to slide number one. It's kind of small, but I can tell you we recently adopted the this mission and vision this April. And it's been the first time in three years that we've done that. And as you can see, it's our mission to provide reliable, sustainable water supplies that meet the economic and public health needs of our diverse communities while ensuring fiscal responsibility, investment in regional and local water supplies through strategic partnerships. And our vision for the district is to be trusted, fiscally responsible, emphasis on fiscally responsible, and being a leader in water supply and adopting resilient resources. I go for the next slide. Next slide. Organization. Briefly, Central Basin is a water wholesaler and is one of 26 members of the larger Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. And Central Basin has on this board directors, four elected and four appointed, who are district purveyors, including people who represent cities. The next slide. The importance of Southeast Los Angeles water. So as you know, so we represent about 2 million people, 43 retailers, purveyors who buy our water to supply water to the region. We're probably one of the biggest water districts in the state of California that represents a very diverse community and people of color. And the importance of the water area is to provide infrastructure and sustainable water. Next slide. community and sectors in Central Basin. We serve water retailers, purveyors, cities, mutual benefit companies, aerospace, transportation, education districts, business and industrial sectors. Next slide. Demographics. Southeast LA demographics. We serve one of the most diverse, disadvantaged, low to moderate communities of color in the state of California. And that will become even more significant when we talk about funding. Next slide. Challenges local, regional water. So we have essentially three large challenges. One is the prolonged droughts that we all experience and the climate variability. We all are expecting El Nino coming in where we get dumped a lot of water, and it's been a challenge for water to be able to capture that and use that. Other areas, the aging water infrastructure. I'm sure everybody heard about it. West Hollywood and their main break. And that was due to a very aging, 100-year-old infrastructure, although we don't experience that here, that happened in LA. And also water affordability concerns. I know that comes down to the bottom line for people in the community is keeping it affordable. And we'll talk about how we're working to do that. Next slide. Challenges, again, local, regional. The Metropolitan provides potable water And it's a pass-through for us. So what the pass-through is is that Metropolitan provides water to us, we facilitate, and we deliver it to purveyors like the city of Santa Fe Springs. And Central Basin is recently conducting a water rate survey. And that's something that water districts really have to do at least every three years or as often as they could to be able to calculate what it costs to provide water, the overhead in the district, the administration, and also to be able to save for infrastructure. So what has occurred and over time is... Some cities, some purveyors kind of wait too long, and then they hit kind of sudden. We want to prevent that. We want to do at least a little bit of increases at a time. Another area is pure water. You're going to be hearing about that in the future, about pure water. I know it sounds, you heard in the 50s about how water was going to be and how crazy and radical, but we're at the point where we need to be as resourceful as possible. And you'll be hearing about pure water and how We're going to be using recycled water, cleaning it up even more to be able to provide for residents for drinking and irrigation. Next slide. This past year, I got to tell you that at Central Basin, as board president, is that we've taken several measures to be able to reduce the cost and administration overhead at Central Basin Municipal Water District. We're probably one of the smallest administrative-run districts in this area. For instance, WRD has 30, 40, maybe 50 employees. We have five to six full-time employees that administer our various programs. Water quality. Next slide. How do we get our water? Most people don't understand. You turn on the tap and it pours, but actually it's a whole lot more complicated than that. And there's essentially three sources of water that we get our water from. Number one is the Colorado River. Two, the State Water Project. And three is recycled water. The California Colorado River Aqueduct spans over 242 miles from Lake Havasu to L.A. And also, the Colorado River is about 1,400 miles long. So we tap into that source. The second source is the state water project. And the state of California captures water all the way from Shasta down to the Bay Delta to the Central Valley, and it comes to us. It picks up snowmelt, Sierra Mountain water, and it gets delivered to us. And that's essentially our potable drinking water. And recycled water also is something that Central Basin succeeds very well in, is being able to tap into the recycled water provided by the sanitation district that cities like yourself utilize for irrigation, irrigation of schools, parks, commercial and business entities. Next slide. About our sources, the water quality is we, again, get our source of water from Metropolitan, and it is the most tested and reliable water, free of chemicals, unlike groundwater sources. And as you can see, as a Metropolitan, as important as you can water and the quality is equal to or better than what is required by state and federal law. Metropolitan tests over and over again to ensure the quality of water that you get at home. In fact, Metropolitan won the gold medal in the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting Event for the best tasting drinking water.

Did you ever take a minute to really test your drinking water?

Chlorine, buddy. It actually won.

Sorry, I had to say it.

Yeah, well, chlorine is not always bad. It cleans water. I have a whole pool of chlorine. Don't drink your pool water. That's probably not a good idea. It's a little different. Sure, you can drink whatever you like. Don't let me.

Excuse me. Members of the public, please allow the presentation to go forward. This is not the time to debate him. This is not the time to debate the speaker. Go ahead, Mr. Bendis.

Tap water versus the bottle water that you buy at stores. Tap water costs about a cent a gallon. Bottle water, that premium stuff you buy from all the stores, costs about $10 a gallon when you kind of use that as a measurement. So the difference is large in cost. And it's also very variable and large in the quality of water you get. Bottle water is not always tested. Tap water is. We have to meet state and federal standards. And it's guaranteed that you're getting it from two sources. Northern California or the Colorado River. Next slide. Recycled water. Central Basin facilitates conservation efforts in order to be able to clean our water and provide that water for irrigation. Also, water conservation efforts. The state of California has been excellent in being able to conserve water, but the programs by the Metropolitan is we've been able to reduce a lot of our potable water, which can be expensive. And again, Metropolitan and Central Basin exceed in all expectations in water. Next slide. The city of Santa Fe Springs is our largest customer and has played a significant role in conservation by utilizing over 1,300 acre feet of recycled water for schools, parks, and industry. And that saves 50% on water, which you would pay for potable by using recycled water. You're saving 50%. So a lot of that saving goes down to the rate payers who are paying locally. Next slide. Water reliability. I emphasize how important it is to conserve water. And our main supplier, Metropolitan Water District, has announced a lot of efforts for programs locally to be able to conserve that water. And some of those are, for instance, if you go to BeWaterWise.com, it provides all the programs, grants, et cetera, from low-flow showerheads to water-efficient toilets, et cetera. Next slide. So we are essentially looking at three areas. It's maintaining the affordability so that the cost, any increase does not directly impact residents. Two is upgrading our infrastructure. The good thing about central basin infrastructure is that it's not as old as LA. It's fairly new. And so the pipes and the connections are young. And we are an envy of many other water districts who are experiencing serious age differences. The main cost that we have is in our pump maintenance. That costs money to be able to operate those things. And expanding service. The more service we expand and recycle water, the more it becomes cheaper for everybody else. So that's very important to us. Recently we went to Sacramento. And in Sacramento, we were talking to our legislators about how we could expand service in our area and infrastructure so that it's not passed down to you. We don't want to impact rate payers. We've reduced our administration. We're running on a lean and efficient operation. And the least thing that we want to do is to pass any additional cost, unnecessary cost down to you. But upgrading infrastructure is also very important. So in that Sacramento trip, I got to share with you is that we met with over eight legislators to talk about funding for expansion and to be able to keep our cost down, which keeps your cost down. And that is our pumps. Our four recycled water pumps can be expensive to fix. They go down often. And it's not that it's old, it's the technology wears out rather quickly. And it's unavoidable. We have to be able to do that. So we went up to Sacramento and talked to all our senators, including Senator Archuleta, who's one of our biggest advocates, and I'm sure one of yours as well. So we sat down with him. We talked about the cost of our pumps. the cost of expanding recycled water. And the first thing he said, what do I need to do in order to reduce the cost of repairs? And that's very refreshing to hear. And he, while sitting down with us, drafted a plan on how we can be able to grab some of the Prop 4 funding. So California voted on Prop 4 for water. And that funding is supposed to go down to diverse communities of color and disadvantaged communities. They're talking our language. In fact, that phrase alone is being used in all the funding, all the grants. They're using our profile, not necessarily the Central Basin, but our profile with those exact words that we're going to go after, and we're going to hunt them down, and we're going to make sure that we get funding here locally so that the water rate doesn't get passed on to you, and you don't pass those water rates on to your customers. I think that's very important, and that's A priority of ours is to be able to keep that down. I think through some of our efforts that we're going to be able to keep our administration costs down. We want to be realistic. We're not in the business of profit. We're in the business of breaking even. And that's the purpose of government, right? So we are working hard to do that. We want to work with the city of Santa Fe Springs. As you know, we wrote a letter of support for your sponsored bill recently. So we want to be able to do it. help you deliver services at an affordable rate to our water rate payers. And so with that, I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to be here and to give you a little report on Central Basin. I'll do it once a year at least to update you on that. If I'm open to questions, I'll finish with my presentation. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Mr. Mendez. Does anybody have any questions? Thank you. Nope. Thank you. Hearing no questions. Thank you. Retirement recognition for Battalion Chief Victor Marin. I would like to call upon Chief Michael Kozicki for your presentation, please.

Good evening. Good evening. I'd like to call upon Chief Marin and any fire rescue staff out in the hall to please come in. Really just focusing on Chief Marin here.

Yes, sir. He's over here to your right.

Hey, Chief, why don't we bring you up and fully get the full experience up here? Okay. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the city council, city staff, members of the Department of Fire and Rescue, residents, family, and friends. It is my honor tonight to recognize Battalion Chief Victor Marin as he prepares to retire after 30 years of dedicated service to the city of Santa Fe Springs. I'm gonna refer to him as Vic, I think, moving forward to make this a little easier. Vic's connection to the city of Santa Fe Springs goes well beyond his career with the city. He grew up on Roma Street, attended Jersey Avenue Elementary School, Lake Center Middle School, and graduated from Santa Fe High in 1988. Following that, Vic graduated from the Rio Hondo College Fire Academy in 1991 and earned an associate's degree in fire science. That same year, he began serving the Santa Fe Springs Department of Fire Rescue as a volunteer auxiliary firefighter. On September 1, 1996, Vic was hired as a full-time firefighter, which is perfectly fitting that we are recognizing him tonight, exactly 30 years to the date from his professional career with the city. During those 30 years, Vic became a firefighter paramedic and promoted through the ranks as fire engineer, fire captain, and ultimately battalion chief in 2017. He also continued his education, earning both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in emergency management. Throughout his career, Vic served the members of our department as a Type 1 hazardous materials response team member, a task force leader for our regional task force 2, urban search and rescue, and a strike team leader with our wildland response teams. He also became the department's most knowledgeable resource in regards to fire radio programming and communications. To put that in technical terms, he was our department's radio guru. Vic also dedicated more than 20 years to the Santa Fe Springs Firefighters Local 3507, serving as the treasurer, vice president, and president. Through the union, he supported his fellow firefighters and was deeply involved in charitable efforts benefiting the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Burn Quest, the Alicia and Ruth Burn Foundation, and St. Baldrick's. As impressive as these accomplishments are, they do not fully capture what Vic has meant to this department. Vic is someone who would do whatever was necessary to help a coworker, even when it meant putting his own needs aside. He cared about the people he worked with, and he continuously showed it through his actions. Over the past 30 years, Vic has served the city as a firefighter, firefighter paramedic, engineer, captain, battalion chief, technical specialist, union leader, mentor, and friend. He spent his career protecting the community that raised him, and Santa Fe Springs is better because of his service. So, let me wrap this up. Battalion Chief Marin, on behalf of the City of Santa Fe Springs and the entire Department of Fire Rescue, thank you for your loyal, dedicated service, your leadership, your friendship. It has been an honor to serve alongside you, and I wish you and your family happiness, good health, and many great years in retirement together. So I know it's extremely important for Chief Marin to introduce his family. And also, I want to give him a moment to say anything he'd like to add. But at the same time, we do have a brief snippet of a photo montage of his career. So I'd like to show that now if we could.

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go So make the best of this test and don't ask why It's not a question but a lesson learned in time It's something unpredictable and in the end is right I hope you had the time of your life So take the photographs and still frames in your mind. Hanging on a shelf in good health and good time. Tattoos and memories and dead skin on trial. For what it's worth, it was worth all the while. It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right. I hope you had the time of your life.

Okay, I know the mayor has something to give you, but would you like to come up and introduce your family real quick?

And also besides introducing your family, if you want to have something to say, you know, you can do it now too, please.

I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Honor to be here in front of the mayor, council, my fire family in the background. my family at home here, and members of the community, thank you so much for being here. I know sometimes you guys are handling business, you just happen to be here on the day, but I do appreciate all the uniformed members and even members off duty, appreciate the residents here in the city, appreciate the city leadership for what you do for us, and I do wanna say thank you to Chief Kozicki for BRINGING ME HERE TODAY. HONESTLY, I DIDN'T PLAN FOR THE TUESDAY CITY COUNCIL MEETING, BUT I DO APPRECIATE ALL THE EFFORTS THAT HE'S DONE FOR ME TODAY HERE AND OVER AT THE FIRE STATION AND THROUGHOUT MY CAREER. SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I DO HAVE MY FAMILY HERE, MY WIFE HEATHER. MY OLDEST 19-YEAR-OLD, CAMERON. My youngest 17-year-old, Abigail. As I watched those photos, and I don't believe he's here today, but many times, One of our individuals, Joe Walls, Assistant Chief Joe Walls, captures our moments together, as many of us tried to do when we were out in the field or at special events, but I thought they wouldn't have as many pictures as they did, but that did definitely take me down memory lane. and saw many of our personnel who are still with us today, and specifically one that's no longer with us. But I appreciate that photo montage, collage. It was awesome. I did enjoy that. And to see my family when they were much younger was awesome. So thank you for that. Just real quick, I didn't want to speak a whole long time, but I do appreciate everything city leaders council has done for myself personally, for our department. It's so important to have your support and your backing for what we do. And from my perspective, even as a union leader, a union board member, you guys took very good care of us and I think understood what it means to support the fire department not only in spirit but in financially as far as getting top of the line equipment and keeping us as progressive as possible. So thank you very much for doing that always throughout the years. I am homegrown. I do come from Santa Fe Springs. Heard mention of Boys Market. I know many of you remember Boys Market. That was my first job. And so I very much feel like I have been a part of this community. AND HAVE ENJOYED EVERY SINGLE MINUTE OF IT. AS MANY OF US HAVE, AS YOU KNOW, MANY OF US IN THE COMMUNITY HAVE GOTTEN HIRED BY THE CITY IN MANY DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS. I WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO BE PART OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT. BUT SANTA FE SPRINGS WILL ALWAYS BE MY HOME. I'VE FELT THIS WAY FOREVER. SO THANK YOU FOR THE TIME THAT YOU'VE ALLOWED ME TO BE HERE. Everybody in the background that came in on duty and off duty, thank you so much. Appreciate you. Love you guys. And like I said in the photo montage, we had a lot of events that we did throughout the years. And I just want to say thank you very much. I enjoyed my time here, my 30 years. Actually, 35, because I put in five years volunteer time. But it's been a good ride.

It's been a blast.

And I can't thank our people behind us in uniform and off duty. Thank you so much. A little shout out, I think I saw, was your PD here, possibly an officer? Thank you so much for being here. I know you're probably here, but I had an opportunity early on. Probably had to be here, but we need your support, right? Law enforcement. But I had an opportunity to work closely with a lot of the members of Whittier PD, and I've enjoyed those moments in time. So please share my thanks to all of the officers, please. Thank you, everybody, so much for doing this. Appreciate it.

So I'll make this part real quick. If you want to bring your family up here, Vic, You want to come up here? Because then I'm going to give everybody a chance to speak, because I know we've all built a friendship with you. So on behalf of the city of Santa Fe Springs and proudly serving 30 years of service, we'll scratch that off and put 35 years. I mean, it's up to you. But thank you for your support. I mean, thank you. I mean, I know when people say sometimes you do a job and when most people are running away from the fire. You're always running to it. And I just know that God's going to always bless you and, you know, your kids. Thank you for his time. I mean, so I'm still going to speak after this. We give everybody a chance, but I just wanted to give this key to the city. So whatever it opens, let me know.

Okay. I can't see past Mark.

All right. Three, two, one. I'm gonna take another one.

So we're going to have Battalion Chief Victor Marin stay up here, and we're going to go with who wants to start.

I'll start.

Okay. Okay.

Congratulations, Vic. I know 30 years, you probably look back and think, where the hell did the time go, right? And it's amazing you, and I think I've known you for the majority of that time. I can think I can call you my friend. We've worked together. We've had many, many, many discussions over various topics. And fortunately, most of them weren't about the city. They were just about our families and what we were doing. And I got to know you. I met your family before at different events. We've got to play golf together. I know you're an avid golfer and Now you're going to have more time to do that. But I just want to thank you for your 30 years plus five and enjoy retirement. Well-deserved, well-earned, and just don't be a stranger. Stay back. And you got my phone number. I know you have it in your phone. Give me a call and maybe we can meet up sometime on the course. So congratulations. Thank you for your service, sir.

All right. So congratulations once again on your 35 years. And we really, really did appreciate and we still do your service. You left an indelible mark, I'm sure, right here in this fire department. You've been a mentor to a lot of the young ones coming up. And I'm sure they really do appreciate it. But like the mayor said, there's danger. You guys run in it. We're on to it, all of you, and keeping everybody safe. So we really do appreciate your service. I know we're not going to be seeing you around the city as much, but we'll catch up at Bishop. We're still going to continue to do some fishing and occasionally, if I feel up to it, golf. But nonetheless, enjoy your next chapter in life, and we appreciate everything you've done for our city and our community as well. Thank you.

Thank you. Juanita?

Vic, I remember the boys market days. That's how far we go back. And I was a park and rec girl, and you were very starting off the fire. And we became friends. We became family here. And it's going to be weird not seeing Vic around. But you know what though? Thank your family. We thank you. Thank you so much for us having him 30 years. Girls, thank you for letting us have your father. for doing what you did for so many strangers. Thank you for always taking care of my dad. So many people here can thank you for what you did to so many families. And you did it day in and day out. So many people knew you by name. You weren't just Santa Fe Springs Fire, as many of you guys are. People know you by first name because the heart that you guys have. And that's what's so big about Santa Fe Springs Fire. Thank you for being a leader, a mentor to so many. And this will always be your home. Congratulations on your retirement.

Vic, I think that you are an amazing person. We go back as well. Even before I was on council and the interviews, you were always there. You're always around and I admired you then and I admire you now. And you're going to have an amazing time with your beautiful family. Thank you for letting us borrow him for this 35 years. And I still see you volunteering. And volunteering is the greatest gift that you can give. And you gave it. And I know that you're going to continue to give it. And I just want to say thank you for being my friend, too. Because every time we go to firefighter events, you're the first person I see. So thank you so much. And we're going to miss you. like everybody said, you're still going to be around. We hope to see you at many events. Thank you.

Thank you. Vic, I mean, I just hope you still stay around and still not only volunteer your time, but volunteer your thought process because your words of wisdom and guidance, I mean, look at everybody. It shows today the reflection of All your guys just showed up. I mean, it just, you know, your house showed up today. And that's a testament to you. I know that you've always treated me with dignity and respect. And I appreciate that. You know, whenever I had questions about certain things that were going on, you were happy to answer them. And it makes it easier because when we're voting on things, you know, sometimes people don't understand what's going on in the background. And you made it easy for us. And this is the sacrifice where these individuals, gentlemen, you know, firefighters that they make, you know, where they miss out on birthdays, anniversaries, key moments that you can't get back from your kids, brother. And and it's not just them. I mean, I know that there's individuals I know recently. I mean, I was at the firehouse and. Somebody wasn't there for a birthday party. And that's the thing that people don't realize, the sacrifices that these guys put in. I mean, their time when they're here, they're away from their family. They're away from memories. They're away from moments to dedicate their time to the city of Santa Fe Springs. And that's why throughout my whole time, I mean, I voted for In favor of everything you guys needed. You know what I mean? When it came to apparatus, you know, anything that you guys proposed up here, it was easy. You guys made it very easy because this is the part that people don't understand. The sacrifices you guys make. The memories you're never going to get back. The time away from your kids. I mean, I commend you on that. And you know what? I truly... you know, truly have the deepest respect for you because you are a true hero and testament of somebody from Santa Fe Springs. A kid from Santa Fe Springs, look at what he can do in 30 to 35 years and more years to come. So thank you. God bless you. And may God always bless your family. Thank you, sir. I don't know if anybody else has anything to say. That being said, thank you, sir. Okay, changes to the agenda. Mr. Robidia?

Yeah, Mr. Mayor, I have one change, and I'd like to take staff communications out of order, if I can do that now, please. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to call up Gus Fernandez. He's going to give us a presentation of community support that we give for sports in our community, and I just want to make this quick statement that we are extremely proud of our longstanding relationship with Metro Little League and Santa Fe Springs' commitment to youth sports. I know the council really admires and spends a lot of money and time to our youth in our community, more than I've ever seen in any community I've worked in. At the same time, we are also responsible for managing limited public fields fairly so they can serve as many members of our community as possible. So I'd like to have Gus kind of give the community a presentation of the council of how the field use works and how we support our youth in our community. So Gus.

the director of Parks and Recreation here in the city of Santa Fe Springs. And so over the past week or so, I have received a number of emails from parents, both from Metro Little League and Metro Baseball Academy. And so the purpose of this presentation is to provide clear factual information about how the city supports sports in our community. And how we allocate athletic field space like renee mentioned the city proudly supports youth sports adult sports and Community sports in Santa fe springs. We remain committed to providing opportunities for athletics for teamwork for recreation and for Community connection now our fields are in high demand, we have 11 ball fields in our city. And so the demand for our fields far exceeds the supply that we have. And so we recognize that these fields are community spaces. And as a staff, we need to ensure that space is distributed in a manner that is fair and equitable to the entire community. Next slide, please. So just a brief overview of some of the established partnerships that we have. So the city does have established partnerships. These are formal agreements that the city has in place with sports organizations. We currently have an agreement with AYSO, which produces soccer. We have an agreement with Major League Softball, which provides adult softball in our community. We have an agreement with Metro Little League, which provides youth baseball. We have an agreement with the Norwalk Santa Fe Spring Saints, which provides Pop Warner and cheer in our community. And we also have an agreement with the hitting zone, which is the operator of the batting cages. Metro Little League is one important partner within a larger community sports network. Now, these organizations have a formal agreement because they've been adopted by city council in formalizing that partnership. And I do want to state that we do also work with other organizations that don't have formal agreements with the city, but we do issue them regular permits, and those permit users are California Highway Patrol, CSI Electric, Heart and Hustle Baseball, the Lake Center Middle School Sports Program, the National Championship Sports, or NCS, Quad City Lightning Pony Baseball, Santa Fe High School. We provide various spaces for a lot of their sports teams. Santa Fe Springs Christian School, SoCal Blaze Soccer, and the Springs Baseball Academy. So all of these groups, like any other group in our city, can apply for use of field space through the city's field allocation policy. This policy was adopted in 2022. And so prior to having an allocation policy, the city did not have any formal method for distributing field space. And so the city adopted this policy to ensure that the field space is distributed in an equitable manner amongst all of the community groups. So in addition to balancing partnerships and permits, there's also an expectation from the community to be able to access park space for drop-in play and for pickup play. And we also have to manage maintenance of all our fields. So our fields are in extremely pristine condition. If you go to surrounding communities and you take a look at ball fields, park spaces in other communities, our fields are absolutely immaculate. We want to thank our staff for doing that, but that does come at a cost. Next slide, please. And so, excuse the small font there, but we do wanna recognize, first and foremost, Metro Little League and all of the volunteers for their hard work over the past couple of years to increase participation for Metro Little League. The city commends the league for its renewed focus. My kids play over at Metro Little League, and so they've done an outstanding job of really having this renewed focus for the league. But there is a distinction between Metro Little League and the Metro Baseball Academy, according to our agreements and according to the policy. Both organizations are nonprofits. They do have separate EIN numbers. But Metro Little League operates under a formal city agreement and Little League boundaries. So the relationship to the city, Metro Little League does have a formal agreement with the city, while Metro Baseball Academy is issued permits under the field allocation policy. When it comes to governing bodies, Metro Little League is sanctioned by Little League International, while Metro Baseball Academy is not sanctioned by Little League or a governing body. When it comes to player eligibility, players for Metro Little League do follow a boundary map that is set by Little League. And so we do recognize that primarily the children that play for Metro Little League are Santa Fe Springs residents, but they do also encompass parts of Downey, Norwalk, South Whittier, and Whittier. While Metro Baseball Academy, there is no boundaries, and that organization is open to any person in the surrounding community. As far as rosters are concerned, that's how we verify residency. And so Metro Little League does submit rosters to the city, and we can verify that over 80% of Metro Little League participants are residents, and there is a direct community benefit from Metro Little League. while Metro Baseball Academy has not submitted any rosters. So there's no way for us to verify residency of this academy. So we don't know who's coming to camps, to clinics, under the Metro Baseball Academy umbrella. When it comes to tournaments, Metro Little League does get priority use. However, for any exclusive tournaments, for example, any post-season tournaments like All Stars, Those tournaments, when there's a non-Metro Little League playing, so if you have a team from Downey and you have a team from Buena Park, for example, the city does charge for use of that field. While Metro Baseball Academy, they do pay fees according to the city's fee schedule.

So Gus, according to our fee schedule, if NBA was 60% Santa Fe Springs residents, they would qualify for a fee waiver, correct? Correct. So in the Little League model, the agreement allows them in a boundary, so you're in essence serving people from Norwalk, La Mirada, Whittier, I believe.

Potentially, yes. Whittier, South Whittier, Norwalk.

But when we deal with nonprofits or other entities that want to use our fields, if they want to use it for whatever purpose and get a fee waiver or get a discount from the rate, they have to meet this policy that was adopted in 2022.

So as far as fees, Metro Little League does have league registration fees. And so that league registration fees encompass everything that's under the agreement. While Metro Baseball Academy, the organization sets those program fees for the program and for the clinics. When it comes to field access, Metro Little League does get priority scheduling prior to any other organization while Metro Baseball Academy is issued permits based on availability and based on the allocation policy. Yes, sir.

I'd like to ask one question while you're on that screen right now. So I know that it looks like Metropolitan Little League has turn in their rosters. And it says here that no rosters have been submitted by MBA.

We have not received any rosters.

And how long has MBA been permitted on the field?

I believe permits from MBA started right around June or July, sometime this summer.

Okay. And when you collect fees from them or any other agencies or people that use the fields, when are the fees due?

The fees help offset maintenance. No, when are they due? When are they due? Yes. They are due at the time of the permit. When the first game is played, they're due.

Okay. Have any fees been paid by MBA?

Some fees have been paid. There is an outstanding balance right now. I can verify that amount, but according to what we looked up at, it was somewhere in the neighborhood of about $13,000.

$13,000 owed or paid?

Owed, but again, I do have to verify that information.

Okay.

Now, it is important to note that... Yes, sir.

If a team like Heart and Hustle... Pays a permit to rent our fields. They pay the fee up front. If not, they don't get to use the fields.

So again, just to reiterate, these are two separate organizations. That matters for our permitting process. It matters for liability to ensure that... We are able to identify who's the exact user of our fields. Public fields must remain accessible to the community. And our job is to ensure equitable access to everybody in our community.

So Gus, do we believe currently based on our reconnaissance that MBA has 60% of the kids participating in that program are from the city of Santa Fe Springs?

So based on PLACER AI data, and so that's a tool that we utilize that tells us how many people are in attendance, how many people are, where they're coming from. Right now we estimate, or the software estimates that it's approximately 20%. So.

I had a question. Yes. RCM said that another organization has to pay their fees before they can play?

That's correct. Everyone pays up front.

But you said MBA has monies owed.

So currently our software does show a balance owed. We do have some items that we need to clean up on the back end. And so I don't want to sit here and tell you that this is exactly how much they owe because I do need to verify that.

But why are they continuing to play if they have monies owed?

So we've been dealing with some accounting and personnel matters that we're addressing at the moment.

Okay.

Next slide, please. So this map is taken from the Little League website. And so this shows a boundary map of Metro Little League. And so to the north, the boundary is Beverly Boulevard, which extends to the city of Whittier. To the east, the boundary is Painter and Carmenita, which extends to parts of Whittier and parts of South Whittier. On the south, the boundary is Imperial Highway and the 5 Freeway, which extends to parts of Norwalk. And on the west end, the boundary extends to Paramount Boulevard, which encompasses parts of Downey and parts of Pico Rivera. Next slide, please.

Gus, one thing. I know that a lot of people don't even know this or realize it, but the boundary never went as far north as it did. But years ago, Pioneer Little League got in a bind and they couldn't participate. They didn't have any, I think Pioneer High School let them out of their lease or whatever they had. And so Metro was given permission by Little League Incorporated to increase the boundary. So that's why it's so far now. It never used to be that far when I was involved with it. So just a FYI, that's why it goes so far north.

did not know that piece of information. And so we do recognize that both organizations do have shared participants. And so it's no different than somebody attending the activity center, and one day they're participating in our boxing program, and the other day they're participating in a coed volleyball program. And so certain amenities are accessible during certain periods of time. And so it's important to note that Metro Little League and Metro Baseball Academy, although they share participants, their usage differentiates. One operates according to an agreement that's established by the city. The other operates under the allocation policy.

So Gus, quick question. Metro Baseball Academy, do they charge kids?

I believe they do.

Okay, when they rent the field for tournaments, do they charge teams? Do they vend on the field? Do they sell food?

There's concessions.

Do they generate revenue?

Do they sell alcohol on the premise? We've also allowed for permits for alcohol.

So on a tournament, they can generate anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000 a weekend, roughly?

Most tournaments roughly generate about that.

They probably have to pay for umpires and other stuff, but they do generate revenue.

Correct. If done correctly, they can generate revenue. Next slide, please. Next slide, please. And so we do recognize that the city does have a 65-year relationship with Metro Little League. The city supports Metro Little League. Our support for Metro Little League has not unwavered. Like I mentioned, my kids have played at Metro Little League. We commend the volunteers there. But the city does support Metro Little League and sports in our community. Currently, Metro Little League is issued permits on a pretty regular basis, sometimes five, sometimes six days per week during league play. And the city estimates that... APPROXIMATELY OVER $100,000 IS CONTRIBUTED EVERY YEAR ANNUALLY TOWARDS METRO LITTLE LEAGUE. AND SO HOW DOES THE CITY SUPPORT METRO LITTLE LEAGUE? FIRST AND FOREMOST, THE CITY PROVIDES PRIORITY SCHEDULING. THE CITY STAFF SUPPORT. WE PROVIDE ASSISTANCE DURING OPENING AND CLOSING CEREMONIES. WE PROVIDE MEETING SPACE FOR COACH MEETINGS, BOARD MEETINGS, WE PROVIDE SPACE FOR UMPIRE TRAININGS. WE ALSO PROVIDE A CONCESSION FACILITY, WHICH HAMBURGERS ARE VERY GOOD, BY THE WAY. BUT THAT IS ANOTHER FUNDRAISING OPPORTUNITY LIKE OUR CITY MANAGERS STATED. THERE'S AN ANNUAL CITY FACILITY USE FUNDRAISER WHERE THE LEAGUE GETS TO HAVE A FUNDRAISER FREE OF CHARGE AT TOWN CENTER HALL. And the city picks up the tab on all utilities that's electricity that's water and all maintenance costs associated with maintaining pristine fields. And so. Next slide please. And so the city does remain committed to providing athletics, opportunities for athletics, for teamwork, for recreation, for community connection. And the city certainly supports Metro Little League We do invite the community at large to join us on September 3rd, where we can do a deeper dive into how the city allocates athletic field use in Santa Fe Springs. And so to close on this part, I just wanna state that as a city, we do have a responsibility to ensure that public spaces are accessible and the distribution of those spaces is done in an equitable manner. And therefore we do follow the agreements and we do follow the field allocation policy that's established. Once again, we'll be out on Thursday, September 3rd at the Betty Wilson Center to talk more about athletic field use in Santa Fe Springs. Next slide, please.

Yes, can I ask a question? Yes. You said that there's fees, and there's two different groups. Who sets the prices for Little League? Who sets the prices for NBA? And who collects the money?

So the Metro Little League board handles all their finances. They set the fees for participants, and so they know what their costs are. So they set the registration prices, and The nonprofit Metro Baseball Academy, they set their own fees as well. The city does not dictate how much to charge for any participant. Okay. Finally, I do want to also invite the community to our next community meeting, which is a community garden update meeting, which will be held on Wednesday, September 9th. That will be at 6.30 p.m. at Town Center Hall. Current and future gardeners are invited to attend this meeting. Thank you very much.

Thank you. So now we'll move on to public comments on non-agenda and non-public hearing agenda items. Public comments are now open. The public may address the City Council on any item on the agenda or any other matter within the Council's jurisdiction. You will have an opportunity to speak for three minutes once the City Clerk announces your name. City Clerk, do we have any members of the public that wish to speak today?

Mayor, we do, but before we proceed, I want to note that the city clerk's office received two emails. Each council member has been provided with the printed copy of the emails. Copies are also available for public review in the city clerk's office. We do have seven speakers in attendance, and I will call up the first one, Anne Marie Marmolejo.

Good evening, mayor, city council, and city officials. My name is Anne Marie Marmolejo, a resident of Santa Fe Springs for 22 years and a community garden member for over seven years. I'm here tonight to speak publicly on the recent development for the community garden, the garden relocation, turning that into a parking lot where the current garden location is. I am here tonight also to ask actions that the City Council act upon primarily to fix the distrust and rebuild the manner of communication and consideration the Parks and Recreation Department gave to the gardeners because we just received notification on Monday, August 24th regarding this when we've been asking since April 2026 about any plans for the garden. So we were very shocked that we received a notification and a letter telling us to terminate our current contract and and then be out of the guardian by September 28th. Recent development has happened where city officials have stated that we can stay until December 31st. So I'm very thankful for that communication and the beginning of trying to rebuild that relationship. I do ask for specific things. First and foremost, the gardeners do not want to relocate. So I ask the city and council members to stop the relocation and to instead invest their effort on the current two-acre land to revitalize it and make it the prime urban garden. It can be. It has so much potential to be the prime urban garden of LA County. I ask that full transparency for the waiting list, there's a so-called waiting list, be made available to the public by September 8th, and that a survey be conducted to the residents and the business residents to garner the true data of how many people are interested in having a garden parcel because currently we just go through the city parks and rec saying that there's only 10 people on the waiting list, we never get information. I also ask that we also get a series of meetings scheduled besides the September 9th meeting because we need to discuss analysis, things that are important to the community gardens. And the most important thing is we don't want to be separated. We don't want to have separate gardens. We want one garden for the community because that's what it is, a community garden, which we need to have to be able to harvest together, have socialization, and not be separated into separate gardens. And so thank you for your time. And we will continue to come to the city council agendas. We want to be on the agenda. And we're going to be vocal and present to hopefully make you aware of the value of the community garden. And not downsize it, but invest in it.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Anne-Marie. Next speaker.

Next speaker, Odalis Valadares.

Hello, everyone. Sorry, I'm a little thrown back with some of the information I just heard right now. I'm going to introduce myself. My name is Odalis Valladares. I am the president of Metro Little League and also Metro Youth Academy. Before I get started, I want to address our city councilor manager, Renee Bobadilla. I know your name has been brought up quite a few times, and I want to personally apologize if it was brought up with a negative content, because that was never the intent. So I want to make that very clear. I also need to make it clear that it's been a very frustrating two years since I took over Metro Little League. And this is why we are where we are today. So I really hope that we could get some clarity here today. Okay, I would like to address the council at this time. I had a positive meeting yesterday with Arlene, Gus, and Rick. So I want to thank these three individuals for taking the time to meet with me. Based on our meeting, it seems that, well, I thought, I'm not sure right now, but I thought yesterday that it was a positive meeting and we would be able to work together to move forward with the programs. However, there were revisions that we discussed that were needed. One of them... I'm sorry, you guys, I'm... I'm a little upset right now, so let me just go back. There were some revisions that were needed. And the reason I wanna bring this forward to you guys is because I realized the council did not know what Metro Youth Academy was. I was not aware you guys did not know. Or the intent behind Metro Youth Academy. So today I'm here, I was only here to explain the program so that when it's time for you guys to vote on those revisions, you had a better idea on what you were voting on. I first want to talk about Metro Little League. I took over this league in October of 24. The league has 68 kids and was ready to fold. The league is now nearly at 300 kids. Throughout the last two years, we have sponsored over 100 kids, which equals a dollar amount of $22,500. Our league has also started a Metro store where we accept sports equipment.

I'm sorry, your time is up.

Oh.

If you'd like, you can submit your comments to the city clerk, and we can pass it out to the city council.

I mean, I know she started a little late, but, you know, and her timer went on. So it's up to you guys. I mean, all right. So John's letting me know he wants to give it more time. Anybody else? All right. Go ahead.

Thank you. is we started a Metro store to help families who couldn't afford equipment. This is also why we sponsored kids. The Metro store families are able to donate their kids' used equipment and then we provide it to the families that need it. I'm telling you this not only because I'm very proud of what we were able to do as Metro Little League, but also to explain the need that our families have in the community for affordability. This is why Metro Youth Academy was started and it was created. It was created for Metro Little League. It's a non-profit organization that is able to provide families with baseball at a very affordable cost. The dollar amount came up, we charge $10 a kid if they want to play or $10 a kid if they want to come out to our clinic. The reason we started this academy is because the Little League has boundaries and not everybody can come out. So if you have a child with a disability that cannot play in the Little League because they get overwhelmed with the noise or whatever the case might be, they can't come out to the clinic. Unless they're registered through Little League to play a game, they wouldn't be able to come out. But now through the Metro Youth Academy, they can come out and play. This also helps families that come from two different households. And maybe the parents cannot agree on signing up the child, but they can come to a clinic when it's possible for them. I can go on and on with the reasons why this is so important. But at the end of the day, the most important thing that we've done, we have made it affordable to the families in our community. And that's what our community needs. A lot of decisions are being made from behind a desk based on their own pocketbook looking at a contract. On making choices from the field. standing side by side with these parents, listening to their stories. I have a very different perspective than the ones that are actually making the decisions. Now, regarding the dollar amounts that came up, The $13,000 is not correct at all. Just like I was told that Metro Little League owed $20,000, I went in and I had to filter out the bills and it wasn't even a third of that. My coach, who's also on the board, went in twice to go pay a bill and the billing was not ready after he was told twice that it was ready. So thank you guys for letting us know that there is an accounting problem. Because I can guarantee you that $13,000 is not correct. Also, regarding the amount of money we make, we did our first tournament August 22nd. Now, we take in all players, not just the elite. So these travel ball organizations that are coming in, they only take the elite players. We take everybody. I don't care if they have a hearing aid. I don't care if they have autism. Those are all burgers. You want to come play, you're going to come play. It's $10, and this is why our program has blown up in three months, because everybody can afford it, and there is no child excluded. Now, that tournament that we did on August 22nd, we earned the negative $500, because we charged a team $120 to come out and play. where other organizations charge $800. That is a big difference. The difference that when we're negative, that money comes out of my pocket and one of my board members' pockets. We've been funding the entire program so that these kids can come out. And this is why it affects me so much when numbers are thrown out and they're not accurate. And nobody came and asked me for the correct numbers, bank account statements, or anything. And regarding the rosters, I was asked yesterday for the first time when I was sitting with Gus, Harleen, and Rick for the NBA roster. So no, that has not been turned in. I was asked for it for less than 24 hours ago. This is my invitation to the city to join me and the organization that we have created that is here for the community, not to make money off of it. We need to be able to keep our kids playing ball, playing sports, keep them off the street, keep them in a positive, controlled environment. The kids are our future, and if we don't take care of them now, what do we have tomorrow? Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Adalis. Next speaker, please.

Next speaker, Mayor, is Mary Flagg.

Hello. I am a gardener in our beautiful garden for about 15 years. And it is a joyful thing to do. Not only is it so much fun to grow your own vegetables, I love to take them home and share with neighbors. But the joy of being at the garden with other fellow gardeners, something I really didn't expect to encounter when I signed up for a garden that many years ago. But we enjoy the company of one another. We help each other. We share good ideas about gardening. We have a very special master gardener named Takako who is 90 years old and she comes regularly every week to the garden and she shares good ideas with us. We like to help each other. Two weeks ago today I had a pretty serious surgery and was not able to be at the garden and my fellow gardener Lupe and other people stepped up and watered and helped me out. So the garden is just a real joyful place to be. Um, we were greatly, greatly disappointed as Anne Marie said last Monday when we were given letters that the garden definitely was going to be closed down and that we were going to be given a new location. So going from that, the beautiful garden that we have tree line very very pretty place where there are 120 garden plots we were offered a another place that is stark small a stark small location and only has the the capacity now for 26 gardens and those gardens at this time are about half the size of what we presently have So it's a great disappointment for us. And we're thankful that a lot of the council members have shown interest in what we have to say in our disappointment. And just lastly, I know Santa Fe Springs has always been very proud to improve things within the city. And we don't consider, as gardeners, we don't consider this an improvement at all. to go from the beautiful place we are to this tiny little location is very, very disappointing to us. And we find that it is an inadequate place to relocate us. And our first preference is, obviously, to be able to keep the garden that we have. So thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mary. Next speaker, please.

May our next speaker is Lucy Puente-Reveles.

I've been a resident of this city since 1993. I didn't know I was going to be speaking until just when I got here. Gardening is a social activity and it's a mental relaxation for our residents and those who are able to have a space in it. We just have one community garden in this industrial city. This is a big industrial city and we just have one garden. And now they wanna get rid of it or make it a smaller space. I just don't see how that's gonna go with our residents. We need to keep it intact for our seniors as well as give the opportunity to new gardeners and to have a space on there. My daughter is 25 years old. She called and requested to be put on the waiting list September of 2025 and was not given an indication that she was on the list or received a follow-up phone call specifying or advising us of a timeline or outline or how it is approached on the waiting list. It would be great, I second what the lady said first, to have full transparency on the waiting list. It is needed along with an explanation of how it is approached or how we can do that how we can approach that better with being able to get a space on there. I think I heard someone said there's a lot of spaces and only so many gardeners. So why is there a waiting list to begin with? Also, I didn't even hear about the garden being turned into a parking space structure until just this weekend. I think it was you who I saw on there. So how is it that we residents don't know these things are happening until the very last minute? And then people think and say things on social media, like if it was a secret, just like this morning, I think my sister, who's also a resident of San Jose Springs, We have 30 seconds. and tell us how to be more involved, that would be appreciated. I will definitely get more involved going forward. I have not really been an active presence, but if I have guidance from anyone, I'll take it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Lucy. Next speaker, please.

Mayor, our next speaker is Linda Holbrook. Our next speaker, Jenny Hernandez.

Hello, good evening. I wasn't planning on speaking, but then the last minute, I thought I would just talk for a few minutes. Because a couple of you I do know, John Mora, he was there at the community garden since we moved to Santa Fe Springs in 94. He ran it for possibly 10 years. And he had great leadership. The garden flourished. We had all the spaces, beautiful. It was well maintained. And then I guess, you know, like recent, a lot has changed in that garden. I've been in that garden probably over 30 years. Not consistent, but about 30 years. And within the last, probably since COVID, they have like a waiting list. There has been no new gardeners probably since after COVID. So the garden has dilapidated over the years. because there has been no new members taking over parcels and we were told that they were going to rejuvenate the garden two years ago and that it was going to be beautiful and that then they will start the waiting list and giving new members garden spots and now that it's going away and they we were told that oh everybody got letters we've been living in the same address for 34 years and we didn't receive a letter I saw it on Facebook and then started communicating to the gardeners and then my husband saw the sign and So it was just like really, wow, we can't believe that everybody wants to be in Santa Fe Springs Garden from all around the cities. People were on that waiting list, maybe not anymore because No one's ever gotten a new one in years. But it was a standout community garden that everybody was proud of. And I'm sure the city members or council was proud of it back in the day. And for it to go away, it's really sad that it's been there for over 40 years. And it's community-based. So people in the community, it's important to them. So sometimes community may be more important than maybe money or, you know, other projects. Sometimes you have to really consider it because I've even seen Annette there with her family at the garden. So maybe, hopefully, if the city council can really rethink and maybe re-look at maybe not relocating it, I'm sure the residents and the community would really be happy with that. Thank you.

Thank you, Jenny. Next speaker.

Mayor, our next speaker is Tom Bingham.

Yeah, I'm Tom Bangle. I just want to say a few words, make it quick and forward. This one's for the city attorney. I've been looking at the, I don't know who is shutting down the garden, but I know before 86, the Clark estate owned that partial of property in the gardens. that was all tied together, and I have maps. If you look at the maps, it's part of the garden. If they want to shut down the garden, then they're going to have to shut down Clark State. And I don't think you want that. So in going forward with that, I would definitely look into that and find out. Because people want to keep the garden going. We don't need a parking lot. I've been there three or four years now. I've been here 40 years. I have friends all over the place. But that's just something that you need to look into because it was part of the Clark estate. You just can't shut one down and keep the other one open. I want to let you know that. So just something to look into to keep this thing open as long as we can because it's nice. The new plot, I went to the meeting last week. I looked at it. He had 10 by 20s. This is 10 by 11. I mean, I might as well just work in my backyard because it's so small. So to me, it's a waste. I mean, they're trying. I mean, they're probably trying for everybody. But when you go from 120 to 28 and you have 100 people, you're going to put them on a waiting list for the next 10 years? They might as well just walk away. And that's the problem. And that's why nobody wants to sign this paperwork saying that we want another spot. I don't think that's fair. If you're going to do something, do it right. This is the city of Santa Fe Springs. I mean, you've got so much money, so much stuff. You're the richest city in Southern California. Did you know that? That you are. I'm just letting you guys know, and I'm going to keep it straightforward. And there's so much more that I could talk about the garden, how great it is. And the people that I work with, there's 10 or 15 that I know that are great people, been here 20, 30 years. They've helped me so much in the garden. They don't want to lose it. They're not going to go over there in that little tiny section. I mean, have you guys seen it? You guys haven't probably seen the plots. Have you ever had a plot? That's another issue. People that don't know. can just sit there and assume anything they want to assume. And I don't think that's fair to us. Because we're the ones that care. We're the ones that work our butts off to keep the gardens up. You have to think about us. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. I can go on, but that's all.

Thank you, Tom. Next speaker, please.

Mayor, our next speaker is Janelle Gonzalez.

Good evening. My name is Janelle Gonzalez and I'm here tonight as a mother, a resident, and a baseball mom. I'm here because I want to speak up for Metro Baseball Academy and more importantly for the children in our community who benefit from what MBA provides. I want to start off by saying that I truly appreciate MBA and everything they have done for our kids. MBA has created a place where children can come together, learn baseball, improve their skills, build confidence, make friends, and create memories. The coaches and staff care about these kids. They care about their development, and you can see that when you watch these clinics. But one of the biggest things that makes MBAs so important to families like mine is that they are affordable. I am a travel ball baseball parent, and I know how expensive baseball can be. Travel baseball tournaments, uniforms, practices, Private lessons and additional training can become extremely expensive. Not every family can afford to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars every month. MBA gives families another option. It allows us to bring our kids throughout the week for additional training without paying the prices that any other organizations charge. And this isn't just about baseball. Our kids are getting outside. They're staying active. They're learning discipline, teamwork, and responsibility. They're building friendships. They're gaining confidence. And instead of sitting at home on electronics, they're outside doing something productive. That's what a community youth program should be. I also really appreciate the environment MBA has created. When our kids walk into an MBA clinic, it doesn't matter what team they play for. They're all treated like one family. There they learn to encourage each other and get better. So when I hear that the city may take away these clinics or increase the cost of fields to the point where MBA can't continue providing these questions, I honestly have to ask, why? Why would we take away that is directly benefiting the children in our community? I also have to ask the council a very simple question. Why raise the cost of fields for MBA? is the goal to generate more revenue from an organization that is providing affordable opportunities to our children. Because from where I stand as a parent, this should not be how much more money the city can make from these fields. This should be about our children and what is best for our community. You ran for office because you wanted to serve this community and make it better. You are trusted by the people of Santa Fe Springs to make decisions that benefit our residents. So I have a hard time understanding how taking away an affordable youth program or increasing the cost to the point where they can't continue helps our children. If the city has legitimate costs that require an adjustment for field fees, then I believe parents deserve transparency. Explain to us what those costs are. Explain why the increase is necessary. Because if the result of that MBA can no longer afford to provide these clinics, then the people who will ultimately lose are our children. And I don't believe that's what Santa Fe Springs stands for. I believe the city should be looking for ways to support youth sports, especially programs that make accessible to families who may not otherwise be able to afford them. MBA also brings families into Santa Fe Springs. Parents come from these clinics, spend time in our community, and support local businesses. These programs help make Santa Fe Springs a place where families want to be.

Thank you, Janelle. Next speaker, please.

Mayor, our next speaker is Andrew.

Good evening. My name is Andrew Hernandez. I'm the founder of MBA. I work alongside O'Dally's I oversee operations and help lead the team and help lead the team, powering our social media, our community outreach. We're strong. I had big nonprofits reach out, willing to come, hundreds of people deep, not to mention the 300 kids, their families, and we chose not to do that today. Metro and NBA want to continue our positive relations with the city. Metro Baseball Academy is only three months old, but its roots began right here in Metro Little League. We were coaches, volunteers, families, committed to serving our youth. When the Metro Little League season ended, our commitment to the children didn't, and that's how NBA was born. So we came together, we continued Metro Little League, We couldn't carry the name Metro Little League, so we began with Metro Baseball Academy. That's the inception of NBA. We continued with our Little League roots. We turn away no youth. We don't care where you come from. We don't refuse anybody. And of course, we put our kids at Santa Fe Springs first in everything we do. I would like to respectfully address some of the concerns that have been raised. First, our coaches, parents, everyone you see on that field, they're all volunteers. Some things that were mentioned earlier, There's no fee for anybody at Metro, at MBA, for our Metro kids. The only fees that come in are kids that come from the outside. We just didn't know how to turn them away. We refused to. They're free to all of our registered Metro political league players. Regarding field usage and payments, we've paid every fee that has ever been brought to us. Like Odalis mentioned, there was numerous times I had to take time off work. I come to pay, and for one reason or another, it's not ready. Our stuff is inputted incorrectly, and that was okay. We're happy to work with the city. We still are.

Your time is up.

If I could just make one last point.

The money thing hit hard when someone mentioned money. Because the financial burden MBA has put on my family is tough. We're about 5,000 in the red. I sent an email to some of the officials here asking for help. I told them I'd open up our books, full transparency. I pled. Coaches were coming together with pennies to pay those fees early on. These are your parents, people of our community, people giving time at those fields, Santa Fe Springs residents. Those rosters you're gonna see, they're our boys. I can't continue to fund MBA. And I can't ask these parents for any money. It's not in my heart. I encourage you to find that email. And we still open up our books. We've been taking heavy losses every Friday night, every tournament. We've only had one. And sadly, we're going to take another one this Saturday. We've never opened up concessions, Gus. That's not been the case. We haven't had that snack bar open one time for NBA. And that's not your guys' fault. It's ours. There is no revenue city. This program, even if you didn't want to shut it down, it wouldn't continue for very much longer anyways, to be really honest with you. Because I can't do it no more. Thank you.

Thank you, Andrew. Next speaker, please.

Mayor, next speaker is Erica James.

Hello, Council. I'm Juanita. I'm Maribel. I stand before you tonight as a mom who simply wants her son to play baseball, but most importantly, to play baseball in our community. My connection to the city goes way back many years. I've been heavily involved with the city since I was 10 years old, when my uncle, Joe Serrano, became my legal guardian, my dad, as I call him. During my high school years, I sat where you are today as a member of the Youth Leadership Committee. I was a part of the Young Ambassadors Committee Program, the Run Sister City Committee. I had an incredible opportunity to travel to Germany, Italy, and Czech Republic. I run for Miss Santa Fe Springs. I volunteered on the ALF every year for the ALF on the Christmas float. I continue to go to every city event. There are so much meaningful experiences I've had through the city that I could stand here all night and name them. The city gave me great opportunities. My son, Mason, he was born into baseball. I could easily take him somewhere else to play and not being biased, he's a great ball player. But after six years at Metro, he chose Metro because of the community. Because that's where he's more comfortable, that's where his friends are. I could have left a long time ago along with a lot of other people when it comes down to it. I have a lot to say. But bottom line, I'm a single mother. I have no help from his other parents, nothing. And how am I going to keep my son in the community that I love so much and raise him with these values that I got here if he's not able to improve without the clinics that MBA is offering? I can't afford it. I can't go to heart and hustle that we tried. We tried a lot of places and it's just unattainable. That's just the reality of the situation. And I don't want to take that from my son because He's going to play baseball. He's a baseball player. I don't want to get emotional, but I feel like I've just run out of options. I know the other programs that have come into the city that are similar to ours. We are very different in the fact that we just want to give these children a chance regardless of their financial situations. I have been helping with MBA. I check people in. I help out. That's what I do. I help the city. That's what I'm used to. The city is my family. But I don't know what to do anymore. And my son wants to play baseball, and I don't want to take him out of the community. This is our home. So that's about all I have to say, but thank you.

Thank you, Erica. Next speaker, please.

Mayor, our next speaker is Desiree Rabalero.

Hi. Good afternoon. Good evening. I'm a little nervous here. My son plays baseball for this organization. I think it's a great organization. It brings a lot of kids together. I come from a broken family where my dad couldn't afford a lot of stuff. There's a lot of travel ball organizations out there that take massive amount of money away from families. This organization has brought a lot to my son, and also when I was out there this past Friday, it reminded me of the Sandlot. where friends can come play on the playground. You're reuniting with friends from other organizations, brought in different teams from here or far. I just don't feel that we should be taken away and be from Santa Fe Springs. I think it's a great organization for these kids. And the cost is very low compared to Travel Ball. Travel Ball, you're paying about $400 or $500 a month Plus, sometimes you have to take your kids to different training camps. Those are over $150 per session or per hour. And I don't think it's fair for other families that can't afford that. So please, give these kids a chance. They deserve it, just like all the other players out there. Please give them this chance. Thank you.

Thank you, Desiree. Next speaker, please.

Mayor, we do have one more speaker that's joining us remotely. I'll let him in now. Julian Jackson. Julian, if you're there, you may speak.

Is it working? Hi there, can you hear me?

We can hear you.

Is it going through? Okay. If you happen to hear an echo, can you hear me? Hello?

Yes, we can hear you.

Oh, okay. Okay, awesome. That said, thank you, council, staff, for just giving the time for me to speak. As Maribola mentioned, my name is Julian Jackson. Oh, it's echoing from my laptop. My apologies. Let me mute that. Sorry. Okay, my bad. I'm trying to watch on YouTube and then the speak on here. Okay, my apologies. I'm so sorry. um before i do take a moment to speak though on the bread and butter of my comments uh to chief uh chief marin vic if you happen to still be in the chambers i doubt it thank you sir so much for your service and professionalism to the city of santa fe springs i really do want to echo what the council has stated earlier in the meeting that your sacrifice away from your time and from your family to make this city an extension of that family is greatly appreciated. I hope you enjoy your retirement. I wish you the very best in this next chapter of your life and your family's life of having you back in their lives. But as it relates to my comments, I want to briefly touch on the discussion of relocating our community garden. This space not only provides a positive mental stimulation for residents, but the act of gardening itself is found to lower stress and anxiety levels for residents that use it. This space offers and provides residents and guests the opportunity to grow their crops and help with food insecurities. And before staff continue with furthering their decisions to relocate, as council is able to prolong the end of their garden plots contract to the end of the year, I hope that you just continue to pause it indefinitely. Should these decisions proceed, though, I do ask for updates on the Jamboree residential development at the GVNC so that if these plans to relocate the plots are successful, what are those decisions that are going to be made for the new plots with Jamboree development if that is to continue? So lastly, let's just look into this space and develop walking paths. Let's develop nature-themed play areas for families with children and provide better parks for our community members and not simply parking lots. So thank you so much for your time and feel free to mute me if you can on your end, please.

Thank you, Julian. Next speaker, please.

Mayor, we don't have any more speakers.

All right, with that being said, thank you to all our speakers. I will now close public comments and move on to the next item.

You guys want to do them now or however you guys want to do it? It's up to you guys.

I think we should do them now.

It's up to you guys, whatever you want. Okay, so we're going to move up. Council comments? So with that being said, Are you guys okay with that, moving that up?

Audience, we're actually making our comments. Gardeners that are leaving, we're actually commenting on what you guys have to come and say if you guys want to stay.

They're still commenting. I was one of the many people, my name is Dominic, I've been living in the city for about 13 years now, and I've always enjoyed Santa Fe Springs. I always feel like we're neglected by the surrounding cities like Norwalk and Downey, but you know, I feel like we have such a tight-knit little community here that taking away the garden, I think just really kind of shows more of a wider national issue at hand where it feels like a lot of the more close-knit kind of quarter communities have been sort of wiped away and replaced with something that's more generic and bland and rather soulless. And I really couldn't express that better than an empty parking lot, not even a data center which could possibly bring in some funds. No, it's just a flat out empty parking lot. So even though I don't use the community garden myself, I know that many other residents and others that are into gardening that do not have the real estate space themselves to have this plot of land, they find that the garden is extremely useful. It's extremely dependable. And I mean, housing prices are already so expensive in California already. So taking away this as well is just... It's really confining them to a small, small little box. And I know that they're going to do a separate plot. But I'd like to give an example here. The Wells Fargo that used to be over there is now further down on Telegraph. But it definitely now feels completely separated from this part of the community. And I feel like a similar thing is going to be happening here with the garden. And as well, I would also like to talk about the plot of land that used to formally be the Christian Pits and Massage Parlor on Telegraph and Broadway, which was torn down and was supposed to be replaced with a veterinarian home. I'm sorry, not a veterinarian home. a home for the veterans. That happened about, the tear down happened about two years ago and it's still a completely empty lot and homeless have taken over and I know that they were just recently kicked out but I'm also curious as to exactly any updates regarding that because it really just stands out because Washington Boulevard is a very robust, very expansive city, street, city street and having that gone really just kind of doesn't really sit right with me, and I imagine doesn't sit right with a lot of other people here who thought that veterans were finally going to be given some housing. But apparently, no updates. Thank you. My apologies.

OK, I'm his grandma, and I've been here since 1948. And you know, it was all ranches, dirt roads. There's so much history to our city. But it's a beautiful community. We have wonderful people here. And I just love Santa Fe Springs. So thank you.

Thank you, Dominic and Grandma. I mean I didn't hear a name so sorry about that you know so thank you very much once again to all of our speakers and now I would like to close unless you guys want to speak let me close public comments and move on to the next item so with that being said we're gonna go to council comments and I'm gonna go to councilmember Rounds? And of course, since we're doing council comments, make sure you report out too. Yeah.

Okay, I'll go first. First of all, I'll be really brief. AB 1234, we have to report on conferences. I attended one this past weekend. It was Contract Cities. It was an educational conference. And I'll just say that it was very interesting, well taken in. and a lot of positive things about that. As far as, let me deal with the garden first. I just have to say that I sympathize and I understand the concerns of the gardeners. And that was some things not handled correctly? Absolutely. And we're trying to make up for that. And that's why everybody's got until the end of the year, the 31st December, to take care of their plots if you've planted something now. And I believe, well, I'd like to ask staff for something. First of all, and maybe direct staff to come up with a subcommittee to discuss an alternate to what is already proposed to come up with, to have a subcommittee of two council members, city staff, and Anne Marie from the garden, and we can meet together and come up and discuss maybe a possible alternative location for the garden.

So you would propose an ad hoc committee?

Yes. Mayor, if you're okay with that?

Yes. Okay. Second of all, Metropolitan. Can you guys select the two members now so that we can schedule this as soon as possible?

I can do it. I'd like to participate since I've been with the garden for many, many years. So if that's okay with you guys.

Well, that's up to the mayor.

No, that's fine with John. I know that. John's, was it father, right? Your dad and my grandfather started at that, the garden, you know, from the very beginning. And well, your dad also. I'm sorry about that. I wasn't trying to be rude. But other than that, you know, when it comes to that, I mean, it's great to see, you know, you guys show up, you know, so I just wanted to put that there. So John, I mean, I don't know if anybody else wants to...

And then if you need all of us to come in, we can go there.

Well, I don't mind joining you.

One is fine, right?

That's up to you guys. Well, we can't have three, but we can have one or two.

I don't mind joining John. It's perfectly fine if you don't, you know. Yeah? All right, then. I'll join him. It's okay. You know what I mean? So with that being said, we're going to go to the next speaker. I want to.

comment on uh the youth sports okay go for it so just so you know i mean i've been an athlete my entire year may not look like it now but i was um i was a part of metropolitan i was on the board of directors i was a coach uh when my children played there and also after they left And I was there for 10 years after my sons left Metropolitan. It's always had a great reputation, and it still does today. I know Dallas will confirm this, that now the robbery has always been La Mirada Little League, the two leagues. But I got to tell you, back in my day, Metro was top notch. I've always supported Little League. I always will. I think it's a great organization. And I want to just let everybody know, about a year ago, I didn't know who the president of Metropolitan Little O'Dellus was. I had an opportunity to meet her, and I talked to her for quite a while, and I congratulated her on the success, because it wasn't, she had already been doing it for two to maybe three years, and she built it up from, Less than 50 kids. I mean the league was ready to close She brought it back and I and I complimented her and I told her how great she was doing So I just wanted to bring that attention and Oh Dallas I still think that today for a metropolitan little league the issue right now is the Academy okay Didn't even know what that name was until last night when we went over the field. I think it's a great thing but as stated in Gus's Presentation we have a lot of youth sports that use our facilities and we do have Agreements with them so the the Academy isn't something different and is also stated that The city's fields, they're wanted by everybody. Every year, I know the Little League, they hold all-stars there. Why? Because we have the best fields in our area, in our region, District 29, correct? And then we even host additional tournaments. So it's not about Metropolitan Little League. I think the discussion tonight was more about the academy, which was brought up. And I don't have the issue. I was impressed seeing all those kids out there last night. It really warmed my heart to see them all. But to be fair to other youth sports, there's things that we have to deal with. And that's all we're asking for. And we understand you want to keep the cost down, but that's another issue. So I think we, as a council... And staff, I think we can work with you guys to see how we can make it better. And let's start off fresh. So that's where I stand. I love Santa Fe Springs. I love the youth sports programs. I would like to say I played at Metropolitan, but I actually played at the Baseball Association back in the day. So with that, thank you all, the Gardeners, Metropolitan Little League for being here tonight. bringing it to our attention. And I can tell you that this city council and the city is very supportive of all of your programs. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Rounds. Council Member Mora.

I need to report out also, we did attend a conference in Oceanside. Some of the topics that we discussed was Measure G. which is going to eventually affect each and every city in L.A. County. As you know, we have five supervisors. That's going to go to nine. And they're going to have an elected executive to be in charge of those nine supervisors. And this man's going to have power second to the governor, and it's going to affect us. Now, it's not going to change anything as far as cities making their own decisions, but we're going to just continue making our relationships with Executives like him, just like we do with our state senators and assemblymen. Also, they talked about several different measures to kind of look out for in coming up. Officer, well, Bonnie's the cop person, so I'll let her talk about Sheriff Luna. But we did have a grand opening for Zoomies, a doggy daycare here in our city. A lot better than PetSmart, in my opinion. So take your dog there. All right, now. Concerning I'll just encompass both of these I'm glad of what that Councilman rounds brought up, you know the ad hoc committee very proud to participate in that one We're gonna have open dialogue communication. We're gonna sit down and figure things out same thing with Metro Little League MBA We just got to come to the table and have a clear open Discussion what can be done what cannot be done and let's be complete transparent But we are willing to work. I speak for myself and probably the rest of our council. We're gonna make this work. We're gonna make this happen. I played Little League baseball myself tons of years ago. And I was not that good at it, but I played. So thank you for Little League allowing me in. But we will get down to work on this. Garden's not going away. Our baseball team's little league, they're not going to go away. We're going to work with it. And it's all for our kids. So we'll be working together. Thank you. And also, congrats to Vic. He's gone, but congratulations on his retirement. And have a, well, we're going to continue the meeting. Thank you.

Council Member Martin.

We all attended a... Okay, perfect. First and foremost for the garden members, I apologize. I have a new mic here. The day that the meeting that happened was bad timing. We were all at a conference. If they had been done better, most definitely. And we apologize for that, and I apologize for that. Like I said, John has a connection with the garden. Joanne Jo has a connection. We all have a connection. When my dad was with dementia, if he would get lost, I would find him in our plot. So I would always find my dad there. So being right next to that garden and living right next to it, it would hurt to see me getting removed. We are doing things, and our city is moving forward on a lot of plans and a lot of upgrading. But you know what? We can come together and figure something out. We can work together. Maybe we don't need to use all that as a parking lot or maybe we can do something else for it. Maybe we can use something smaller because it's sad to say, if you guys have your plot there more than 15 years ago, what it looks like today, it's very sad and very depressing. The memories that I have of my dad are gone because that's not the way it looked back then. Hopefully with this, we can revamp it. We can maybe redesign it. Maybe we can do something different about it. I don't have any distrust in John being on that board. John has all the heart for it and we can come together. I was at the garden yesterday and I met with Anne Marie there and I think we had a positive day. It was hotter than heck out there, but I hope that we helped you out and answered some questions that we had. We're not perfect up here and we don't have all the answers, but sometimes communication needs to get out there. Nancy, I've had delicious juices from you and I guarantee there's some from the garden. And everybody has a different connection with the garden, and we need to keep it that way. And us being up here, we can work together to do something and not shut it down completely and just work with each other on this. On the NBA, yesterday we were out there. It wasn't what I wanted it to be. We were going out there as a friendly thing to go out there and pass out flyers and give information out to make sure we can communicate with the players and the teams and to see what we can do with this. I was very disappointed of how some of the coaches, coach reacted. I was there to help out as well as my other colleagues, and it didn't turn out that way. I hope we can change that. Odellis, I told you something yesterday. You're not a volunteer. I told you you're a community servant for that. The same way we are community servants up here, you're the same thing with the Little League and with those players. And I hope we could have a communication. I hope we can have a relationship. so we don't have to have meetings like this? And can we move forward on this? There's no one here, and I can reassure you, I promised you yesterday that I would be here first thing in the morning to make sure that I have my city manager accounted for, accountable. And we did not find any emails. So I don't know where the communication went, but moving forward, we do have a great communication as of yesterday's meeting. And we're going to move forward on that. Were we lacking that? We were. But moving forward, let's make this program better. Let's get it to where we can have two programs, but let's do it the right way. I understand. I mean, I was a single mom. And I know how it is to do travel. I did volleyball. I didn't do baseball. And a program like this is very beneficial. And you do not get, there is no paycheck to what you guys do. but let's try to work it out with our staff, with our community as a whole to help you guys also financially to see what donors we can get to get that program going and get it and fix it so it's not a burden on you or your parents. We can do that, but we need to come together and not just not find out what that program is until it's already at the point where it's at now. So thank you parents for coming and speaking. We can make this happen. We can make it work. We're Santa Fe Springs.

We're based on volunteers and community servants.

and we can do this, but we need to come together and keep the communication open. I mean, it's not the kind of meetings we want. Our meetings are pretty positive, but I hope from this meeting we can continue and be out there and you can have our council out there at the academies and bring more positivity and also with the gardens. Oh, I was supposed to report out on the conference. So we did have a conference this weekend and I was there. I'm like the nerd of the council and took pages and pages of notes. There was a lot that was discussed we had partners in the park, which is pretty good. Azusa and Duarte came together because there was a lot of homeless issues in their area. And they actually got tired of waiting on supervisors and the county to help them out. So they actually banded together and themselves did a program and actually cleaned up a lot of the homelessness. But that just tells you about teamwork and cooperation within the cities. And it was really good arbitration. They're doing a lot of stuff right now with county employees and they actually want a lot of the cities to help out. for contracts regarding county employees. A lot of the, regarding deputies, firemen, all that, they have not had a contract in two years. So they're trying to get everybody together to help so they can, to find a contract, you know, find an agreement of pay and all that for that. A big thing that we had was mental health. We did a, it kind of opened our eyes up, and we already knew, I mean, how stressful sometimes our jobs can be up here, but we learned how to help help each other out with it and be a group. And I'm very happy and very proud to say that our council is very united. And we can count on each other here. And we come together as a group to help you guys out there in our community to make things happen. We're not perfect. We're far from perfect. But we can work together to make sure things get done the right way for our community, whether there's the gardeners or our kids, to make sure we get things done. The sheriff actually brought up a good point regarding all the street racing. Thank goodness we do not have that much involved. Thank you. We don't have that much here, but they're thinking about doing what the other states are. If there is any street racing or anything like that, they get the cars and crush them automatically. There is no 30-day. It's automatically get them and crush them, and the people lose their cars. I mean, I think it would get the message across really quick. A lot of things also, they're still working on the Men's Central Jail. We kind of don't want that shut because they're going to be released on the streets and coming over to our area. So they're still trying to do something. The bad part is that our supervisors are not listening to anybody. They're doing what they want to do right now and not really giving us any support. So, I mean, like I said, it was a very good conference. We were there all day from about 7.30 until 4.30 in the classroom, and it was very informative. So that's it. Thank you.

Mayor Pro Tem Rodriguez.

Come over here. Good evening, everybody. And they talked about the conference. It's AB 1234 and a lot of good topics, but they've already told you, so I'm just going to leave it. They did a great job. Thank you, Juanita. Thank you, John. Thank you, Bill. So I'm just going to go with the topics of what we have right now, which was the first off was the garden. And I love the garden, by the way. And I spend a lot of time there when they're cleaning up and having donuts and having lunch with the residents. I really like spending time with the residents on those days and to see how beautiful the garden is. It's been around for a long time. And we want to keep it. The garden isn't going anywhere. So we're here. bad people up here that want to take away something that everybody loves. Because I love it too. We all love it. And we already have our committee, so we're going to work on it. We're going to get this thing solved so that everybody meets in the middle. We're all going to come together, stay connected, and have transparency. And I apologize for the meeting that of course we weren't here. Like we said, it was bad timing. And Ann Marie, just by chance that we met up, I told her it was God's will that we met up and she had the flyer and I read it. We text each other in the evening and we are gonna work this out. So we're all working together, we're all a team. So that's what I wanted to say about The garden, it's going to be beautiful. Why? Because we are all in it together, and we all want the same thing. So we all deserve it. We're going to get there. As far as the Little League, I wanted to tell you that I love the Little League as well. I was a manager. I was a coach in the 1990s. I was that years old, okay? That's all I have to say. I was younger and I ran my own team. And I loved it. And my husband was there. It was a family affair. And I worked the snack shack. My husband worked the snack shack. I had the girls. They had some girl teams. They were bigger. They were teenagers called the Panthers. And even Bill Brown saw a picture of me back in the day when I was much younger running my team. And we didn't have a lot of money either. What you're saying, Odalis, that's weak. We went through it too. We seriously went through it We had to put a lot of our own money taking the kids out for pizza My girls were green and that meant that they were they didn't know how to play. I didn't have any pictures and I You follow protocol, but I didn't I said how can I get some pictures in my team because my girls have to win So I came to the City Council and Betty Putnam introduced me to the principal at Santa Fe High School and they got me a picture and Guess what? We won a game and that one game Felt so good like they want the other teams had already won but our team because we were We never won And that one game that we won was like we won the World Series. And I even got people at my job. If we win a game, your team's going to get $100. I looked. I searched. Just like what you said, Odalis. It's coming around full circle. It's just that I'm a little older, but I did it too. And I hustled because they mean the world to me. My daughter was also on the team. It was a family affair. My son was on the other team. We're going to get there. It takes a lot, what you're doing. I'm not saying it's easy, but we're going to get there. And the NBA, I'd like to know more about it. I'm glad that we were out there. And we may not have it all together right now, but we'll get there. But don't give up on us, because we're human up here, too. We're not doing something. We don't want to hurt anybody. And the league is not going away. We love the league. as at Little League. He's six years old. This is his second time that he's on Little League. Why would I want it to go away? I love it. And I love going to the snack shack. I love getting food and watching the games. And I walk around and I talk to people. So it's like I love the league. It is not going away. So if you hear that it's going away and the council is heartless please don't believe that that's why we were there yesterday we were passing out literature from the city letting people know what the city does for the residents the staff works very hard and we all have to come together and stop we don't want to spread rumors we don't want to say that you're doing something bad but in return please know that we love the city we love the league I want to get to know about NBA, where there's a will, there's a way, as long as we don't give up. The garden, we love the garden. We're not going to give it up, and we're going to work on the league, and I'm going to be there for the next game and every practice. So if you have something to say, too, please know all of you coaches, Ron was the coach, Mario, he's our coach right now, The city allowed us to use the teen room for our party. We had a great party. And we had pizza. We did a lot for the kids. So if you need to get a hold of me, I'll be at the league. I'll be wearing my red shirt. OK, so thank you very much. We all have to stick together. We love you. We really do. Thank you.

Thank you. With my comments, of course, I want to report out with contract cities. And when you look at Measure G, I know they brought it up, but it's giving a person a power that at any moment they can create this bill over anybody. And some of the questions afterwards, what people were asking about is why do we even have our supervisors, you know? What purpose are they really going to commit to our cities if whatever they say at any moment, that money can just be taken away? So it makes it very difficult because when you see those things, and of course they brought up the measures, the different measures that are coming up. They tell you to make sure you read them, pay attention to them, ask questions, and just do your homework. So when you guys see them, do your part when it comes to that. Did you need something? So when you look at, you know, once again, it's one of those things that, you know, you learn these things and it's great when it comes to the mental health part. You know, it's great to see that the mental health part, you know, you go there and this is not the first time this individual was there. This is actually her second time. And we learned a lot because you learn to actually be, you know, You learn something about yourself because they say this may be one of those things that we don't understand and it makes it difficult when you're up here. It makes it difficult when people are talking to you. And sometimes you may think that we know it all or that we have the information. We don't, you know, and that's the whole thing. Sometimes we don't get that information. And I know when it comes to Metro Little League, Odalis, you know, you talked to me. Was it Sunday? It was something new, and I had a chance to talk to Renee, and it was something that you said you've been having issues for two years now. And that's the part when it comes to the accountability of the staff, the transparency. And it's good that you came here and you spread light. You came and talked to us to make sure that we're aware of the things that are going on to better allow our kids to play ball. I mean, that's all it is. You know, from what I'm hearing, you just want our kids to play ball. So it's one of those things that, of course, I don't think anybody, you know, doesn't want our kids to play ball. It's something that we've all grown up doing. Baseball is just, you know, it's not only a pastime, but it's the present. And, you know, I was able to play at the association. And, you know, so Metro Little League, I think when I went to go play over there, that's where I met Council Member Rounds. He was a coach there. And the team I was on was on Frank Carrasco's team, so to go play on an all-star team. So you get to see these relationships that you guys build and that camaraderie that you guys have. So it's great to see that you guys were looking to be proactive instead of reactive. So I commend you for that when it comes to that. And when it comes to the garden, Having a young brother, now he's older, and that garden has meant so much to him. My father has always passed away, and that garden was something that my dad and my little brother were always there. And I was able to incorporate it into his program when it comes to the program that he goes to. And now you have more special needs in that garden with my little brother helping them out. They're watering. And my brother doesn't just take the time to water his lot. He's there watering other people's lot. He's there helping them. He's helping them dig. But it gives them that sense of purpose. It gives them that sense of purpose, especially when you haven't had a father around for him in over, what, 13, 15 years, whenever my dad passed away. So it's great to see that garden because it does give you mental stability. It gives you a social purpose to get up and to be active. So when we hear these kind of things, and to a lot of us, sometimes you hear new things. It makes it very difficult. And of course, we are all human, and we just want to make the best choice that's for all of you. Same way you're trying to make a choice for yourself, for your own mental being, or for your children, same thing that we all have to do. We all have to come together. Sometimes we gotta disagree to agree or agree to disagree. And you know, so it's something that we're gonna try to do. We have, I mean, right now we're gonna be having an opportunity to vote on different things to add to our community. And with that being said, I mean, we get to use those things to hopefully help subsidize our programs. And I know I'm looking at, you know, Brad out here. And, you know, so and it's something that we can do and we can all do it together. And, you know, when it comes to those things. So the staff. I know sometimes it can be thankless, and sometimes you guys get put in situations, but know this, that we're going to do our best to always support you guys in whatever solutions that we can come to. And that's the biggest thing, is just getting to a resolution, getting to a solution. And so I thank you guys for all coming out, for you guys to be here. I know it was difficult, and I just commend you on all that. So thank you very much. And with that being said, I would like to close my comments and go back to the... At this time, we always say we're family here, and it's someone's birthday.

And before we continue with business, we need to sing happy birthday to our council member. We don't want to come back to that?

All right. All right, so...

Yeah, all right.

I was actually going to do that after, so I cut that out.

Can we just start singing happy birthday?

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear John. Happy birthday to you.

and as you can see he put it out the covid way right yeah covid so everybody could have a slice yeah and um yeah chief there are not that many candles so we're we're okay yeah and priscilla thank you for remembering uh pie and not cake but thank you everybody i appreciate it yeah

And thank you guys for being patient with us. We had to shuffle a lot of different things around. I mean, when I came in, I was looking at it. I read a different agenda. And then Renee's like, hey, we're putting staff reporting. I go, right when I'm walking in here. And I was like, okay. So, you know, this is what we do in the city. We want to make sure that everybody's heard and that we can change or adapt. You know, so thank you very much. With that being said, I'm going to go back to public hearing. Yeah, introduction of ordinance number 1173, amending section 130.04, unlawful conduct within city facilities and city parks of title eight, general offenses of the Santa Fe Springs municipal code, or is that 13? Municipal code to support the safe and effective use of public spaces, including parks and facilities. Parks and recreation, it is recommended that the city council Do I have to read all that? No, no, no. All right, with that being said. Mr. Mayor, I would just open the public hearing at this point. Thank you. I was going to say, because I'm trying to follow this, and we have a new system, and we're getting used to our new system. Public hearing is now open. And anyone wishing to be heard, sign up at the kiosk. If you are participating by phone, please use the raise hand feature. City Clerk, do we have any speakers?

Mayor, we do not.

Okay, I would like to close the public hearing. If there are any discussion or a motion of the approval- I'll second. Of item number three, moved by Martin, second by Rounds. All members please vote.