City Council - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call the May 20 May, I'm sorry, May 5th, 2026 regular city council meeting to order. Let the record reflect that all council members are present tonight. Votes this evening will be recorded using the city's electronic voting system. We move on to public session. At this time, the city council will convene to consider public matters. If you wish to speak, please fill out a blue speaker card and provide it to the city clerk. If you wish to submit any written materials, please provide those to the city clerk. They will be distributed to the city council. And as required by law, when speaking on an item listed on the agenda, limit your comments to that subject of that item. If you wish to speak on a subject not listed on the agenda, you may speak under the public comment portion of the meeting. Finally, please address your comments to the city council. staff will only respond to questions from the city council, not from public speakers. We will now move on to the invocation. So, tonight's invocation will be provided by Arnold Granados from Centro Cristiano International. forch. Forest.

Are you Foresting. Come to Amen. Amen.

Thank you, Mayor. Gracias.

Thank you so much. We'll move on to the pledge of allegiance. The pledge of allegiance to the flag of our country will be led by Girl Scout Troop 8621 and 1525. Please stand. Place the flag. Place your right hand over your heart. Left hand by your side. Ready? Begin. United States of America to the republic stands one nation under God indivisible.

[applause]

All right, we'll move on to the student liaison. A report will be provided by Ethan Barrow, student liaison from El Toro High School. The month of April marked the final stretch of our school year with everyone preparing for finals, AP tests, and the end of the year activities. This year seems closer to the end by the day and our school has been packed with events such as softball, baseball, and girls lacrosse games, track events, and our El Toro coralistics and choir concert. El Toro was also named a 2025 school of excellence by the American College Application Campaign. This award is given to schools that submit a large number of college applications in a single year. At the beginning of the month, El Toro counselors put on the mental health fair to raise awareness within the school about the dangers and possible solutions to mental health issues. Our school held its final choir concerts of the year and they were amazing. Sound station and coralistics put on great performances all three nights. Softball had a very successful season making it to CIF and they currently have a 8 10 or 10 8 and1 record as they are third in league. Girls lacrosse currently has a 13-8 record and is making a run in CIF that places them in the quarterfinals as we speak. Baseball finished it season with a 124 and1 record and narrowly missed the CIF playoffs. Finally for sports, track and field will begin CIF this week with many individuals from our school making it to the playoffs for various events. Also, just last week, students were met with the heartbreaking news that our beloved substitute teacher, Mr. Ashman, tragically passed away. He was truly an amazing sub, and he will be missed by our school. This month was extremely eventful and full of ups and downs as we head into the final month of school. But despite this, everyone is excited to be finishing up their AP testing in their classes as summer approaches. Also, since this is the last meeting I will be speaking at and I'm the last city council liaison as they're not bringing the position back next year at our school. I want to thank the city council

for having me this year and for this great opportunity that I've been given to have this position at these meetings. Thank you and go Chargers.

Thank you. Ethan, can you come up so we can give you a certificate and a gift? So, Ethan, um I know a couple months ago I uh I we I talked to you about how impressed I was with you. So, I'm gonna give you an opportunity to bypass Utah and join the Marine Corps. [laughter] So, um but no, uh thank you for for everything you've done. Um it means a lot and you've done such a great job that they canled the job because nobody competed. So, we have a couple of gifts for you. A certificate And then we also have um a shopping bag for you. [laughter]

Thank you. I appreciate it. Now go ahead and open it up. So Mr. Barrow is going to be a Utah ute. Let's give him a hand. [applause] Ethan, thank you. All right. So, I know you spoke, but uh we we all wish you luck in your future and uh you've already shown that you're already ahead of all all your peers. So, thank you for everything. Thank you. Appreciate it. Say something. We're going to miss you.

[applause]

So, we're going to move on to presentations. Do I have a motion to consider a proven presentation? Presentations. Second. All right, let's vote. And that motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Madam city clerk, please read the title of item number one. The title of item number one is the proclamation supporting drowning prevention and awareness season. Okay. Madam city manager, please introduce this item.

Thank you, mayor. Tonight we have division chief Reed Gibson and community relations and education specialist Milton Niera from the Orange County Fire Authority who are going to come up to the podium and provide a few words. [clears throat] Good evening, mayor and council. Uh as we've met before, Reed Gibson, your division chief for division 5 of the Orange County Fire Authority. I want to introduce uh Milton Nera who is uh the community educator for division 5. Uh he's going to be able to explain to you all the um items that he has for education for uh division 5. And right now we're going to be working on uh drowning prevention, but he also does u different items like uh car seat installations, wildfire prevention, and uh he also runs our our social media that we have for OCFA Division 5. doing a shameless plug right there for everybody to go ahead and follow, but you get some really good information on that as well. Uh you guys are going to really enjoy listening to him and uh seeing what he has to say. Thank you.

Thank you, Chief. Appreciate it. Thank you. Good afternoon, everybody. Ladies and gentlemen, uh I do want to bring up a couple things to uh to uh our attention, and this is for everybody, and of course, we work really hard for the community. So total incidents last year to 2025 uh we had 94 uh drownings 30 of them fatal 56 non-fatal uh oftentimes we think that uh it affects uh newborns or at least babies or kids or children but I do want to bring up to everybody's attention that we had uh under five years old 27 and over 50 years old we had 30 drownings so it's not just the kids that are being affected by this obviously and we do want to encourage everybody to please follow us um on online. Very important, but also to follow our what we call our ABCs of water safety. So, if I may, I'm just going to go and read them out loud really quickly. A, active adult supervision. So, if I can have everybody just with me, please just say adult supervision, please. Adult supervision, right? That's a B, right? It stands for barriers. Everybody say barriers, please. Barriers, right? Very important. And C stands for classes. Uh for a lot of you, obviously, that means CPR classes, CR classes. because I know the the city does support that program as well. And then of course maybe um a a swimming and or get the little ones early on on on how to do of course how to swim and how to stay away from the water and be safe obviously. Um we do have also a water watcher tags which I'm going to leave some here with you guys and also flyers uh in addition to uh we have flyers in multiple languages. So please go to our website. We have them um probably about 12 languages already. So if you have any questions let us know and we thank you for your time as well. Thank you.

Thank you, chief. Um, madame city clerk, are there any questions? Colleagues, do you have any questions for Okay, madam city clerk, are there any request to speak on this item? No request to speak, mayor. Right. Thank you, gentlemen. Oh, do we have a certificate for us? We do. Come on out. Thank you.

So, you want to hold that in the center in the middle. Right. Well, thanks gentlemen. I don't have a whole lot to say when we spoke, but thank you for all you do. This this is actually the ABCs are going to help people and I think it's it's a it's a good thing that maybe we do a splash pad or a pool in the city so we can teach people to swim. [laughter] So, thank you.

Thank you very much. [applause] All right. Before we go to public comment, I'd like to ask Captain Pulse, Chief of Police Service for Lake Forest Police Services to come up and uh provide a quick statement. Good evening, mayor, members of the city council. Uh every year the city puts on a bike safety event. All the police service cities do, but this year uh working together with all the cities on the east side of the freeway. So Rancho Santa Margarita, Mission Viejo, Lake Forest, and our unincorporated area are going to have a bike safety event called Bike X and Helmets at Saddleback Church in the upper parking lot. This will be Saturday, May 9th from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. It's going to feature bike registration, a bike obstacle course, bike inspections, helmet fittings, and giveaways. And we'll also have a BMX bike show going on. So, I just wanted to let everyone know and invite everybody to come. Thank you, Kevin. So, that takes us to public comment. If you would like to make a comment, please fill out a blue speaker card and give it to the city clerk, and your name will be called. Comments are limited to three minutes per person. The council and staff will not respond to questions or comments during the public comment period. If you leave your contact

information, staff may con contact you to address issues raised during your comment. When you're called to speak, come up to the podium. You have three your three minutes will begin when the green light is on. The green light will remain on for two minutes. When the light changes from green to yellow, speakers will have one minute left to conclude their comments. When the light changes from yellow to red, your comment time is concluded and please return your seat. The timer is not displayed on the screen. Madame city clerk, have we request have we received any request to speak?

We have, mayor. And our first public commenter is Katherine Cosber. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Katherine Cosber. I'm 19 years old and I've lived in Lake Forest my whole life. I've been driving by myself since July of 2024. Even though I had got my license a year prior, I did not drive for a year because of anxiety over all the unknown situations that I could find myself in while operating a vehicle that weighs multiple tons. Still today, if I were to come across an individual on some sort of electric transportation, an ebike, e- motorcycle, or e scooter, acting recklessly in front of me or following me as I drive, I would not know what to do. I have heard stories of individuals being egged by middle or high school students on ebikes while they drive near Town Center. Because of these brazen acts by teenagers only slightly younger than myself, it makes me apprehensive to drive to Town Center by myself outside of school hours. However, I know it's not just in and around Town Center, as there have been instances of these teens wreaking havoc on Serrano just outside my neighborhood. What would happen if they threw something at my windshield and I'm unable to see where I drive? Would I end up with my car wrapped around a tree or a street light or hitting a pedestrian? What would happen if they were cutting through traffic and I end up hitting one of them? What would happen if they began to follow me wherever I'm going? People with more driving experience than me find difficulty dealing with these situations? How should new drivers such as me deal with the situations that we could be put in by these teenagers feeling that they can do whatever they please? I shouldn't have to deal with that. As a history major, the things that I have learned can be sum up by a

quote by an American journalist, Sydney J. Harris. History repeats itself, but in such cunning disguise that we never detect the resemblance until the damage is done. We are currently in a period similar to that of when cars were introduced. Road deaths began to be recorded in 1913 with 33.8 deaths per 10,000 cars that year alone. and the first traffic signal was introduced in Cleveland in 1914. However, with an upward trend in roadway fatalities leading into the 60s with peaks in 1969 and 1972, it took seat belts being required and more enforcement against drunk driving in the 80s to bring down road deaths. Today, 110 years later, with all safety regulations in place, a 95% decrease in deaths has occurred. Regulations on ebikes, e- motorcycles, and e- scooters are slow to react to the change in technology. The accident that took Mr. Ed Ashman's life was preventable. We should work to prevent history from repeating itself in a cunning disguise by honoring him with new regulations and greater enforcement of those regulations in order to make everyone safer. My condolences to Mr. Ashman's family and friends. And to the city council and community, I implore you all to enforce the laws that have been put in place for safety. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. [applause]

Our next public commenter is Sean Fletcher.

My name is Sean Fletcher and I'm a 24-year resident of this community. On August 19th, 2025, I addressed this council and urged you to prohibit the use of class 2 ebikes on our city parks and to restrict their use to individuals aged 16 and older. Since then, you have heard from many ne members of our community who share similar concerns, namely that some ebike riders are not following the rules of the road, are engaging in reckless behavior, and are putting others at risk. At the conclusion of my previous remarks, I ask that you partner with our state assembly woman Diane Dixon to pursue meaningful updates to ebike regulations. It increasingly clear that current laws have not kept pace with rapidly evolving technology. On April 16th, while walking home from serving as a substitute teacher at El Toro, Ed Ashman, a beloved and respected member of our community, was struck by a teenager riding an illegal e- motorcycle. Mr. Ashman suffered severe injuries and tragically passed away last week. While this incident involved an e- motorcycle rather than an ebike, many in our community have witnessed similar unsafe behaviors involving youth on ebikes. At 20 miles an hour, a 140lb rider on a 70 pound ebike can generate over 1,900 pounds of force. For context, this is comparable to the impact delivered by an elite NFL safety and far exceeds the approximately 900 lb of force required to fracture a healthy human femur. Some may be quick to blame the city. I do not share that view. What we need is not a patchwork of inconsistent local regulations, but a coordinated and unified approach. Over the past week, I've spoken with Mrs. Ashman, who shares that Ed would have wanted something positive to come from this tragedy. I urge the council to work collaboratively with neighboring cities, law enforcement, and state officials to strengthen and modernize ebike regulations. First, I ask that you support limiting the use of class 2 ebikes to individuals with a driver's license. Second, penalties for illegal ebike modifications must be substantially increased to discourage

this behavior. And finally, I encourage the city to continue evaluating ways to make our city's streets safer for responsible bicyclists because of the end because at the end of the day, this is not just about policy. It's about people. It's about ensuring that what happened to Ed Ashman does not happen to another family member in our community. We have an opportunity and a responsibility to act before the next tragedy. I ask you to take that step. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you for your comments. Our next public commenter is Jenna Minnik Bull.

Good evening, mayor and members of the city council. I am Jenna Minnik Bull, director of South Coast Conservatory, serving our community for the last 35 years. We are a performing arts institution that has served currently a thousand students, but over 20,000 in those 35 years. And in the past few months, SEC has in seen incredible growth. This past March, we recently expanded to add the second location, a partnership with VNT Classical Dance Academy in Laguna Hills. And to support this growth, we have entered a strategic partnership with Momentum Youth Brands, a national network focused on youth development. Furthermore, our nonprofit, the Golden State Dance Foundation, is being renamed South Coast Conservatory Alliance, and our mission remains focused on workforce development, ensuring that performing artists have the training resources to secure living wave wage jobs in Orange County. We bridge the gap between elite training and sustainable employment by transforming dancers into versatile educators, performers, and administrators. The heart of our summer is the summer festival June 6th through the 20th. A vibrant celebration featuring over 700 performers and 4,000 attendees. We invite the council and the public to join us for these headline events such as June 6th and 7th at the Hop. It's a high energy aerial arts showcase. June 15th, the classical production of Cinderella, the ballet, and June 16th through the 20th, Wonderland, our massive multidisciplinary production involving every program from musical theater to commercial dance. And our final show is June 20th, Emergence, a showcase of our pre-professional students entering into their college and careers. We're more than just a

performing arts school. We're a pipeline for professional success. Our alumni have reached prestigious institutions like Giuliard, Boston Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet. Beyond the stage, we remain committed to accessibility to the arts. Over the last eight years, we have awarded more than 350,000 in scholarships to local families, and we have provided highquality training and career opportunities for instructors. We're actively strengthening the cultural and economic fabric of South Orange County. We invite the Lake Forest community to experience the power of the arts this June. Details are in our press release and you can find the full schedule and tickets at sconervatory.com. We want to thank you for your continued support of local arts, youth creativity, and the future of performing arts here in our region. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Our next public commenter is Mark Hermanson.

Good evening everyone. Last week a video was posted of the mayor being accosted at a city cleanup. Um then there was a second video of Mr. Okconor acting like a victim who was threatened. I find it amazing that after his latest stunt, he's chosen not to be here tonight. So let's get some facts straight. Multiple people reported that Mr. Okconor drove by multiple times and any deputy back there will tell you that is suspicious. Mr. Okconor was there for about 18 minutes and there was like a three-minute video. Mr. Okconor approached the mayor with his cell phone rolling, obviously hoping for a reaction and not just to ask questions. Normal people don't do this. Mr. Okconor was asked to step back repeatedly and he kept approaching. This video was either done to get the mayor mad and get a reaction to use against him or if he backs up he gets called a coward or he responds and the video gets edited. Instead, he called a sheriff's dispatch and let them deal with it. Why would a mayor respond to someone who was a known issue outside of an official recorded meeting? So, let's look at Mr. Okconor's history since some of the sickopants on social media and keyboard just social justice warriors wanted to chime in. This year alone, he has filed an ethics complaint against our city attorney. It went nowhere, but he is harassing the guy time and time again. We have all seen how he treats our city attorney, our city manager, and especially you, Councilman U. He basically seems to get his rocks off treating people bad, then playing a victim. I have heard reports Mr. Okconor being outside of city council members' homes videotaping their houses and their cars. I would ask, would anybody here tolerate this? Uh, I've also been told by multiple people he's uninvited from his own HOA meetings because he doesn't know how to behave like an adult. Mr. Ro Connor has followed the Cosmot gentleman outside berating him. Last meeting, if you were here, he went back and stood by the safety of the sheriffs and then chewed the guy out again. We have all seen

meetings where he has even bered people from the fire department. Even online, Mr. Okconor has asked if he is that guy from the meetings. He constantly comes here upset the mission Viejo gave him a certificate, but his own city hasn't. I don't know what's going on with him, but if he yells any louder, maybe one day his own daddy issues will hear him. People have I've asked people to be respectful in meetings and myself have dealt with stupidity. Sorry, I will not match their disrespect and I'm happy to show where it ends. The truth is Mr. Okconor is not a dumb man. He is intelligent and could be a benefit to the city. Instead, he has chosen to be a detriment. Our city manager is basically a CEO and we all enjoying a clean, well-run and safe city. Our city attorney, even when he corrected me in the past, I find him to be a quality person. And I may not always agree with the five of you, but I respect the job that you do. Surprisingly, when you treat people with respect, you have a tendency to get further. So for the people who said our mayor was afraid, he is a twice decorated sheriff and a combat veteran. I doubt he is afraid. Thank you for your comments. And our last public commenter is Brian McMillan.

Good evening. My name is Brian McMillan. I'm an advocate for the uh uh small businesses in the city of Lake Forest. uh back to uh August 19th, 2025 when you all passed the urgency ordinance establishing this this moratorum. I just want to say in voting for this resolution, you have knowingly and maliciously engaged in slander, liel, which is written because it this is all posted and interference of business and by doing so have financially doesn't damaged dozens if not hundreds of business owners in Lake Forest. You have knowingly and intentionally misinterpreted your own laws to shut down entire industries. That's a violation of the 14th amendment, the of the constitution that I watch you guys pledge allegiance to each meeting. According to the moratorium ordinance, you are attempting to violate the constitutional rights of business and property owners in the city. the rights expressed in the same forget that uh through your votes and established policies you have instructed the the city to continually you're still doing it knowingly and intentionally violate the business owner's constitutional rights to pursue their livelihoods. You do this even though you're well aware of these violations and their consequences. The reason you're well aware of it is because I come up here and tell you I've instructed unfortunately I've instructed my attorney to file an omnibus lawsuit addressing many of these violations and will demand reimbursements for damages to the people who are trying to run legitimate businesses. And here's the irony.

This could all go away instantly. All you have to do is instruct Madame City Manager to do her job to tell the code enforcement department how to mitigate these problems, these alleged problems. Nothing has ever been proven. There is no prostitution in Lake Forest. There is no child uh uh uh you know endangerment. Um, and all you have to do is cancel this stupid ordinance and ask the city manager to do her job, which is to tell the um code enforcement department uh how to uh do their job. If you need any help in uh in educating the code enforcement department, they just need to read the code, Lake Forest Municipal Code. It's you can e easily look it up. It's on your own website. you look up uh mit uh nuisance mitigation and it's step by step by step and it does not include holding property managers responsible.

Thank you for your comments. That's it, mayor. Okay. Thank you. We'll move on to the consent calendar. All matters listed under the consent calendar are considered routine and will be enacted by one vote. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless members of the city council or staff request specific items to be removed from the consent calendars for separate action. Have there been any request to remove any items from the consent calendars? We do have public comment on consent calendar item number six. Okay. I'll make a motion that we um vote on the remaining.

I'll second that motion. And I'd like to make a statement. Um, there are warrants on the register for the county of Orange. I'm employee of the county of Orange, but I do not work for the departments that generate these warrants. Because the county of Orange is a public agency, and because I do not work for the departments in question, I have determined I have a non-interest in these warrants, and I will be voting on the item. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. So, we'll take our speaker for item number five. Oh, we need a vote. There you go. I heard Mark over there saying, I'm sorry, item number six. And the motion for the remainder passes. And the

classes

title for item number six is the quarterly treasures report for the quarter ended March 31, 2026. And the public commenter on that is Becky Keane. Hello. Um, good day, gentlemen. Um, I just wanted to say, uh, I'm not meaning to slow it down. I hope this matches the the right area. Uh, look through the treasures report. Looks like we're up a million dollars for the quarter. All good. We like going up, but pretty much stable. Um, but the one thing I was interested in, I don't know if it's feasible, but being a nerd, I like these things. Um, the treasures report shows the amount of investments at the beginning in the end. The warrant register shows the $10 million going out for the quarter or for the month. and we get these every month, but would it be possible on a quarterly basis to see more of a summary of inflows and outflows? And I don't know if it would be a cash basis. Um, what the appropriate way is to do it for a city or if it would be full Gazsby reports, but I I think everybody would like to see, okay, we're doing really good. This is the source of the money as well as this is where the money is going. So that's all I was looking for. So thank you gentlemen. The finances are wellrun.

Well, thank you for your comments. I'll take a motion for item number six. I'll second that motion. Okay, let's vote.

That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. So now we'll move on to the public hearing item number 12. I would like to open the public hearing. Madame City clerk, please read the title of item number 12. The title of item number 12 is the community development block grant program for fiscal year 2026 annual action plan. Madam city manager, can you please introduce this item?

Thank you, mayor. Tonight, we'll have a presentation by our economic development and housing manager, Adrien Grahalva. Thank you, city manager Rose. Good evening, mayor and members of the city council. Tonight, I have a very brief presentation on the community development block grant fiscal year 202627 annual action plan. The city receives federal community development block grant monies on an annual basis. CDBG funding is primarily for individuals and families with low to moderate incomes. The annual action plan outlines how CDBG funds will be spent to address the goals and objectives outlined in the city's consolidated plan and is required to be submitted to HUD by May 15th of every year. On March 17th, 2026, the city council approved the draft annual action plan and directed staff to post it online and make it available at the front counter for its required 30-day public uh review period. No public comments were received. Staff anticipates a total budget of $582,610 for next fiscal year. The draft action plan divides this total into four separate categories. Housing rehabilitation which includes the housing rehab loan and paint grant programs. A CIP project which will be uh ADA program administration and public services. The draft action plan also breaks down funding based on the following table. This is for public services. Staff arrived at these recommended

funding levels based on the public service agency funding request, prior year funding amount, and annual performance. At this time, staff recommend the city council conduct a public hearing on the draft fiscal year 202627 CDBG program annual action plan, close the public hearing, and direct staff to submit the annual action plan to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. That concludes my presentation. I'm available for any questions. Thank you.

Okay. Um, a second. Uh, do we have any council members have any questions?

U, thank you for the presentation. Can you go back a couple of slides? I think it's two. Uh, one more there. Uh, yeah. Um, the percentage for public services, and I know there's a lot of time and energy spent trying to sus out the various groups that seek some funding from us. Just curious to get staff's initial thoughts around whether that's something we should consider trying to see if that can be changed, that percentage cap. And I realize it's probably a very heavy lift, but I'm just going to ask it anyway. Um, what would be your initial thoughts around whether that's a a worthy endeavor to try and increase the amount of public services funding available, increase that percentage essentially?

Um, thank you for the question, council member. It certainly would be a tall order. Uh the city does have a rep that we're in communication with all throughout the program year. So it's certainly something that I could bring to her attention. Um this is a federal program and these are the regulations for the entire country. Y um but yeah that certainly that is something that we kind of have internal discussions on at the staff level of we really wish that it could be a a higher cap a higher percentage.

Well it starts with one and that could be here tonight. I think it's worth trying to explore that with your counterparts and other cities, even in Orange counties, to see if there's an appetite to continue to elevate the conversation to see if that could be increased because I think there's a lot of need for community benefits in that space. And the 15% cap, we appreciate the money, but it'd be nice to maybe see it get elevated a little bit. So, I realize it's going to come out of something else, but just food for thought. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Thanks, Mayor. Thanks, Adrian, for the report. Just on this slide here, just help me understand the difference between the total and the funds and the total expenditure being a different amount by about $13,000.

I I apologize that is a typo. Um our expenditures should certainly match our our total up in the the funds. The 582610 that is what the city is expected to receive the 595 600. I apologize about that. Okay. I don't know if there's a carryover or something from previous years or anything. Those those figures should match. Correct. Is that right? Correct. Okay. And it looks like we were looking at a possible obstacle a year or so ago based on the current administration and the budget, whatnot, but it seems like is your assessment that things are in pretty good shape and we can kind of count on this for the foreseeable future to continue along the same path as far as we know.

Okay. All right. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for the report. Um, obviously this is something that we get with federal funds and do a great job in helping agencies that actually help our people. Um, did we have a decline of what we got from last year and was there any leftover roll? That was my question because of the the different numbers there. Was there any leftover from last year?

Yeah, so every program year there are additional funds that are left over. those funds are just kind of carry forwarded into the next um action plan year. So all those funds have been allocated to specific projects and programs. Um so what we're seeing here is is actually an increase in the CDBG entitlement grant from last year. Last year we received I believe around $528,000 and then this year or excuse me next year uh HUD announced allocations and the city set to receive 557,000. So of the 557 that's shown here doesn't include the rollover.

That is correct. Okay. Um my my main question was the difference in the total and the total of the actual grants coming in. So, thank you for your um presentation. Thanks for the good job you do that helping us utilize this the best way we can.

Hey, Adrian. So, can you go to slide number four? So, one of the things I think about is uh because moni grant there's a lot of admin to to track everything, right? You have to basically go to the letter of what it says. So, a lot of uh nonprofits decide that they're not even going to put in for it because the money they get for the CBDG fund is almost matched for the the amount that they pay whoever to manage it. Um so, and I see that Wise Place is a new uh a new a new um nonprofit that's getting this. I mean, is there a way that we can just I mean, people put in for them and I know we have a nonprofit like South County Outreach. They just don't want to put in for it because it costs too much money. But like for Age Well, Boys Club, Camino, Camino Health, can we just say that's the only three we're going to give to or do we have do we have to give to everybody that uh requests the money?

No, certainly not. that is at the city council's discretion how you would like to allocate the funds whether you want to go ahead and award funds to all applicants or if you want to select a handful of applicants in order to give them some uh additional funding right so the reason I'm asking is because I know for a a fact and that age well boys and girls club and commamino health are here in the city and they they they help so for families forward family assistance ministry and wise places is a new place like how do we know that Wise Place is helping Lake Forest residents?

So, on a quarterly basis, all of the subreients are required to submit um updates and staff and our consultant will review all of those um updates for compliance with HUD guidelines and ensure that they're servicing the number of folks, Lake Forest residents specifically, that they indicated on their application they would service. We make sure that they're hitting those quotas. Okay, that's just something I mean when we when we look at it again next year, I know these al this allocations are already out there, but I mean I would see I would like to see age get more money because I know um like that everything's going up. Our prices are going up so for next year when we talk about this something that we can consider. Um do we have any public comments on this?

We do not, mayor. Okay. Anybody else? All right. Um, let me see here. I guess I'll close the hearing and we'll move on to discussion items. Madam, thank you. Make a motion to Yeah, there you go. Second, I don't know what it is, Mark. [laughter] Okay, let's vote.

I do need one more vote. Thank you. And that motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Now we'll move on to the discussion items. Madam city clerk, can you please read the title of item number 13? The title of item number 13 is the Etnne skate park of Lake Forest final cons concept design. Okay. Madam city manager, please introduce this item. Thank you, mayor. Tonight we are going to have a presentation by our recreation manager, Laura Hunter.

Good evening, Mayor Peno and fellow council members. Tonight I am here to bring the ancape park of Lake Forest strategic business plan and capital improvement plan project 243. But first, let's talk about our skatepark history. Since the skate park opened in 20 2003 with intermediate to advanced features, the park was originally designed for advanced level and professional skaters in mind. In 2011, the skate park expansion and redesigned for additional advanced skate terrain and signature cradle was created. That's that photo there at the top with the beautiful sunset in the background. Since then, the skate park community is trending to a more beginner and intermediate level user. And you you could see our skatepark history. We have the been the recipient of the OC parenting magazine's best skate park award since 2007. Those are some of our skaters from our skate camps, our everyday users, our private lessons, and that's our average attendance each year. Now, our project vision. In October 2025, the city was awarded an agreement the city awarded an agreement with Action Sports Design to gather feedback from community outreach meetings and provide a conceptual design based on the input received. Three meetings were held on December 18th, January 22nd, and February 12th with over 63 participants attending along with an online survey with 37 contributors. And those are some photos from those meetings there. the outreach results. Now, you may be wondering what these outreach results produced. They identified four major findings. The renovation of the street areas to modernize those existing existing street plaza and the street lanes to better accommodate those novice and intermediate skill levels. And

there's a picture of the an overhead of the skate park where you can see those street plazas and the street lanes. And that's a nice photo of some uh roller skaters that we've had in the past. Number two, the park feature alignment to align the features that we have based off of the feedback that we see received. Reconfigure some of the specialized park features to align those contemporary users. The removal of the cradle to improve the flow bowl access and level up the clover and the mini bowls. That's a that's an example of the design with the cradle removed with an island in its place. And then number three, to transition to an all-wheel park to expand the park to include BMX scooters and inline and quad skaters in response to the strong feedback that we received. It's not just a skate park for skaters. Skaters also do other things as well. And those are the other vehicles that they utilize. And number four, the construction of a pump track to develop a high demand looped riding feature designed for multi-use vehicles. Pump tracks are engineered to allow riders to generate and maintain momentum coordinated with body movement rather than pedaling or pushing. The pump track if created and construction would be a potentially increase the size of the skatepark to once again put us back on the map to be the largest skatepark in California. Now, I would like to introduce Mitch Jensen, the senior associate with Action Sports Design to present all the details leading up to the concept design.

Thank you, Laura. Uh, thank you, Mayor Peno, and members of the city council. Uh, my name is Mitch Jensen. I am the project manager and senior designer for Action Sports Design. Um, representing us as we talk through the process we went through for Etnne Skate Park of Lake Forest. Um, not present today, but also part of the project team is our founder and president, Mike McIntyre. Mike was involved in the original design um, back in 2003 and the phase 2 renovation. We also have Tanner and Sawyer as some of our technical producers um, as well as working on the BMX side of things. So, like [clears throat] Chlora prefaced, since opening the skatepark in 2003, the demand for beginner and intermediate level skate features has increased relative to the demand for professional level elements. Back in the late 90s and early 2000s, skateboarding was still considered counterculture, oftentimes illegal. Um, and it was done in the streets in the city. There were no citys sanctioned spaces and once they were starting to get developed, they were often designed by professionals for those skateboarders who had already honed their skills elsewhere. Um, with the immense [clears throat] growth and popularity of skateboarding over the last 20 years across all genders, all age ranges, and all skill levels, with the inclusion of skateboarding in the Olympics, now we're starting to see the need for a lot more of these intermediate and beginner level features to really act as a training facility for skateboarding as a sport. Um, so with that in mind, the goal for this renovation uh was to update the current concept and design and provide more of these beginner friendly elements based specifically on feedback from the Lake Forest community. Uh, our concept design process identified those four categories that Laura mentioned. Um, first being the renovation of the existing street

plaza and street lanes with smoother, more consistent surfaces for beginner and intermediate users. features that better align with the skill levels of these new contemporary users. The transition from an all-wheel park or excuse me to an all-wheel park that would support skateboards, BMX, inline skates, and scooters, and the construction of a pump track that can serve as a modern trademark feature for all ages and skill levels. Uh the design reflects a strong community feedback and support for these proposed changes that's going to promote an active lifestyle for all ages. Um, one of the main uh four uh design guidelines that I just discussed was the transition from a skate park only or skate only facility to an all-wheel facility. And while this is kind of happening behind behind the scenes and may not be reflected in any feature or material changes in the skate park, everything we're designing going forward will be considered for all wheel use. At the beginning of the process, um, we like to hold a series of in-person public input meetings accompanied with an online survey that's open to the public for feedback. Uh, we had tremendous turnout uh, in both median or mediums with over 60 people attending the in-person meetings and 37 online responses. The first thing we always ask at that initial public meeting is, "What do you want to see in the park? What are your most preferred features?" And we do that with this exercise that you can see on the right called the sticker dot exercise. This is where we basically just put up precedent photos of similar features that we've designed in the past and we invite users to come up with stickers and place them on what they'd like to see in the park. Um when we see, you know, a strong congregation of stickers on one specific feature, we know that's pretty much a good starting point. Uh and just to run

through a couple of quick examples that we got from that first meeting. Uh we saw the want for flat rails, handrails, up down rails, stepups, bank to curbs, ledges, pyramid spines. Um well, you might not be familiar with what any or all of these look like. That's okay. We're going to look at some 3D examples later. Um but it's just a starting point for us as designers. Uh, one thing I do want to point out, if you can see on the bottom right corner of that top image, there's a blank space there, uh, that says other. Uh, that's used for anyone that wants to come up and sketch in a new idea or a feature that we weren't thinking of. Um, and at our first meeting, someone came up and in all caps wrote bikes. And I thought that was pretty cool because even though that's a subset of the action sports community here in Lake Forest that's not currently allowed to use the skate park, they still showed up and voiced their opinion and made it be known that [clears throat] they want this to succeed just as much as we all do. Um, real quickly before we go on, let's look at the demographic response we got from the online survey as well. You can see on the top left there, we had over 48% of respondents indicate that they were between 31 and 50 years old. And that might surprise some of you, but I think if we look a little bit deeper, it kind of starts to make sense here. Um, most of those respondents probably were teenagers or kids themselves when this park first opened, you know, 20 plus years ago. And it's pretty cool to see that they're still involved and still passionate and want the next generation to have the same, you know, wonderful skatepark that they grew up with. Uh, next up, we can see that we had a pretty even split on the ability. Um, 43% advanced, 52% beginner intermediate. So, this just kind of further tells us that we're we're going along the right path where we've got this increasing

population of beginner and intermediate skaters and action sport users. Um, [clears throat] the main or the first and main question we ask um in that initial survey and at our public meetings is what do you like about the existing skatepark? Um, and I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea. This is not a a full gut renovation job. This is a really solid skatepark with good bones as it is. It's got great features and we saw that in the feedback. You know, they they really enjoy the different sized obstacles. There's a good balance of street versus flow. Um nice bowls, specifically the pools, a great flat ground section, and even aside from the the technical features, we saw a lot of feedback that really applauded the programming and the staff at the skatepark. It's a a very safe place to ride. um you know good policies, a lot of opportunity to learn and have workshops. So between the awesome staff and the awesome community um I think this has the potential to be a really good third phase of this project. Um the [clears throat] next question we asked was what do you dislike about the existing skate park design? I think as I we go through some of these answers you'll see a common thread here. The big bowl is too crowded. Big walls drops in the street course. too much large transition, uh, too much advanced and intermediate terrain along with deteriorating concrete and some outdated obstacles. So, big, tall, large, over and over again. And on the other side, um, what type of feature do you hope to see in the renovated skate park? Similar similarly to the last question, we'll see a common thread here. smaller beginner level features in the street lane, low impact features and ledges, smaller uh beginner stair set, uh better flat bars, flat bars of varying heights. So again, we can see um we've got a lot of requests

for some of these more intermediary and beginner level style features. Once we got through that initial meeting, uh we put together this heat map that shows areas of potential redesign. Uh, our most recommended areas highlighted in green include the street lane uh to the north and to the right or the east of the park, the skate park entrance right off the turnaround in parking lot, the mini bowl and mini street lane, and the clover bowl. Uh, we also have somewhat recommended areas in yellow, which include the street plaza, the bowl terrace, and the flow bowl. Once we analyzed that heat map, uh we put together two different concept directions. And while both of these concepts are similar in nature, there are a few key differences. Um I won't spend time walking through every feature, but you can see the light gray concrete on the plan view rendering is existing and the darker gray charcoal color would be the new proposed features. Um a couple things I just want to highlight here. Uh, if we start on the very right hand side on the bottom, uh, and I'll go clockwise, we have mellow quarter pipes, a flat rail, a banked hip at three-foot height, um, a revised street lane with a forair, a reconstructed mini bull with mellow transitions, beginner level street lane, um, reconstructed deep end of bull to raise the max depth. So over and over again, you can kind of see how we've taken that feedback that we got during the initial meetings and uh and brought it into something tactile to look at here. Here's a 3D perspective showing um that design. Hopefully this kind of gives a little bit better sense of scale. And here is conceptual design direction B. Um like I said, pretty similar to

concept A. Uh I think the the two big things to note that have changed here is right below um the top edge of the park where it says revised street lane. Uh where on concept A we had that forest air and the elevation change, we've kept it all entirely flat in this option. Uh that's going to give a nice wide open area for any beginner to learn how to push around on their board, turn around, practice ollies and flat ground tricks. um and really just have a nice safe separated area away from some of the higher speed street lanes. Um the other thing, if we continue around to the left, you see that really long dark gray rectangle that says multi-directional multi-directional pump ribbon. Uh throughout the feedback process, we had a lot of requests for some sort of pump track or pump ribbon feature. Uh, and like Laura mentioned before, a pump track is basically an undulating surface that allows users to ride back and forth without having to push or pedal or get off their board and restart. Um, so we designed this one in here at the expense of the existing uh mini street lane. and we like how it works, but the the more we looked at it, we just decided that it probably was trying to squeeze a little bit too much into too small of a space and at the detriment of some of the areas around it even. So, uh I have a slide in a few slides to touch on that, but just keep that in mind. And here is that perspective of option B. Um, one thing I wanted to zoom in again on is the uh, flow bowl area. This is probably the biggest wholesale change that we're proposing in the park. Um, if you remember back to Laura's first slide with the cradle feature. Um, the one that looks like the cereal bowl kind of tilted on its side. This is what or that is what currently exists in the middle

of that bowl where we now have the uh island taking its place. By removing that cradle and putting in this this island plateau in the middle, we're opening up this bowl which already is pretty tight in there. And uh that's going to do a couple things for us. It's going to increase our sight lines for riders, which is going to help mitigate any potential collisions or conflicts if there's multiple people going in there. Um, and it's also going to allow uh some of the more beginner and intermediate users that don't know how to carve or pump the transitions as well to maintain their speed and just have a better experience overall in there. In addition, we're revising the entrance to the flowable, making it easier to get in and out of. And we're revising the hip, making it open up a little bit wider, so that when you do get into the entrance of the flowable, you have more options to figure out, do you want to go left or right or over the island? So, like I mentioned just before, um, after [clears throat] playing around with that pump ribbon design and deciding overall it probably wasn't the best idea, uh, we had a few internal discussions with the project team and became aware that the easternmost edge of the site, highlighted in red here, could potentially be available to include a closed loop pump track feature that was connected to the skate park. Um, and like Laura mentioned before, uh, the addition of this pump track, which could be up to 8,000 square feet in size, would then once again make Etnne skatepark the largest skatepark in California. Here's a quick reminder and a couple sample photos to just further illustrate what is possible in that space. Um, pump tracks can come in all different shapes and sizes with varying heights and and loops and corners. Um, but overall this kind of paints the picture. Um, it's it would be a full circuit closed loop. So

you could start and just keep going round and round and round if you want or change directions and come back. Um, but whether you're an expert rider or a beginner rider, um, everyone could use it from day one. Uh, obviously at different skill levels, but it promotes progression and could be fun for all users. Finally, we're just going to look at a couple final 3D renderings. Uh, so this is looking northeast from the southwest corner. Yep. Um, and here again, you can see the light gray concrete is existing and anything that has that brown or charcoal color would be a new feature. And you can also see at the very top right corner in red, that is that potential closed circuit pump track. Here are a couple zoomed in uh perspectives. On the top left, we have a view looking from the flow bowl back towards the uh beginner street lane. Um so a couple of the main feature requests we had from that initial meeting were heights or ledges of varying heights and slappy curbs. And those are the three items you see right there. You can also see the revised deep end of the existing clover bowl, which would bring that max depth up a couple of feet to about 5 and a half feet. Uh next to that, we have a view looking down the new beginner straight lane from concept A. Uh that would be the forest air with multiple handrails of different heights. Uh the bottom left shows that pump track uh looking back towards the skate park with the street lane behind it. And then finally on the bottom right, we have one more view of that internal uh street plaza. Uh lastly, we put together a potential cost sheet um and broke out each individual section into its own line

item. Um you can see all of the associated costs there, but total all-in cost that we're looking at right now is about 2.1 million. And this cost includes a 15% contingency to account for potential inflation and increasing material cost over the next couple years as this plan hopefully gets implemented. And that is my presentation. If anyone has any questions, I would be happy to answer. Okay, before we do that, do we have any request to speak on this item? We do not, mayor.

Okay, colleagues, go ahead, Scott. Mitch, thank you for coming out. Um I'm excited. It's beautiful. But but um if you go back to um page number 25, two pages back. Yep. Okay. If you look at the top right there where the um pump track will be. Is that light concrete? There's no concrete back there now, is there? No, you're right. I apologize. That should be the the brown color as well. So that's that's that's a whole new section for us. Yep. if you can kind of make out that line um in between the two areas right by the light pole. That would be the where the fence currently is. Yes. So So that that would be just an addition to what we have making us the largest in California. Correct. Yeah. So that's about 8,000 square feet.

Mhm.

Okay. So, um I I've been on the council for a long time and one one of the things we had we used to have BMX bikes grind and ride the u the bowls and that but um their their pegs were detrimental to the concrete and we had um you had said concrete um dilapitated concrete. What do we keep the BMX bikes as they're coming back which I support. I I I was sad to see them leave because they were so passionate about what they do and the fact that um I want my my my park to have as many users as we can very rarity of advanced skill left and also um vehicles. So the bikes got kind of booted out. But how do we keep the concrete on the ridges um good with the BMX bikes coming back?

Yeah, it's it's a tough problem to solve. There's a few ways I've seen it done. One would be, you know, not allowing pegs. I've seen a lot of skateparks institute that rule and especially being a gated skatep park, that's probably something you could enforce a lot easier than a, you know, open to the public park. Um, the other would be um, you know, increased metal to those features. They have these things called BMX plates that go behind the the metal that is currently out there. So, it would be a wider section of metal. So if you do have that peg grinding on it, at least it's not scraping the concrete. Is that is that considered in the bid?

Yeah, that So we haven't got that far into a detailed design, but that would be lumped in as part of those material costs from this sheet here. So um as someone who rides around in wheels all the time, I I like the idea of taking my chair to the pump track and so um it's going to be a lot of fun. I've been out there for some of the events that we've had out there. And they keep wanting me to go off one of the one into one of the pools. And when I get to the edge there, it's kind of steep there. I'm thinking, "No, [laughter] but I want that beginner pool." So, I will be out there with you guys when you guys are the ribbon cutting. So, I hope you enjoy your stay here. Thank you so much. It's a beautiful presentation. It's beautiful park. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Mitch. Tell me about your experience. these other projects you work with and you make these kind of amenities which they're really great you know for our community the kids have such a great time every time we go out there I'm glad we see got Kevin here who also runs that facility and creates a fun environment there and I guess from the information that we have just for the folks and know there there's anywhere from what 40 to 80 kids per day that are taking advantage of this so with these new amenities is your experience other projects that more are attracted then to come to these and And do we have a plan to kind of make sure that we don't have too many people's or a maximum capacity that you have a recommendation for on these kind of projects?

Yeah, I think immediately following any renovation or brand new skate park or or anything like that, there's obviously going to be a huge uptick in attendance, which is awesome to see. Um, I wish I could speak a little bit more on what the plan is as far as programming goes, but I can't imagine they'll have any trouble, um, you know, with the addition of skatable space, too. Um, and sort of the reconstruction of some of these elements, I think it'll help to spread out where everyone's actively skating as well. Um, as currently there's some unused space and, you know, that empty corner. But, um, yeah, I would imagine there's going to be plenty more visitors for sure.

Okay. Well, thanks for the great list of the things that they like now and what they want to see and getting all this wonderful feedback and you know I know that you highlighted the safety elements and I'm really encouraged to hear you highlighted that too because you know other parks you know if you've got BMX riders and they're really violent or they're aggressive that that just turns into a vicious cycle. So thank you. Yeah. All right. Thank you mayor. Uh first of all, how we address the parking here because we have additional palm tread. That is a great question. Laura, do we have any things to say about parking? The parking situation. I can probably chime in on that, council member. You

Thank you. So, unfortunately, the site is constrained. You know, we're literally landlocked here. We don't have any room to add parking uh with the existing layout. Now, we do have overflow parking that's available along Rancho Parkway. And not a lot of people know that, just kind of right off hand. Um, a firsttime park visitor would likely drive through the circle, get out, find out where they need to park, drop their kids off, etc., etc., and then our staff can direct them if needed to the overflow parking that's over on Rancho Parkway. So, we already have signage up along Rancho Parkway uh so that we can accommodate more parking and we just we we we don't run in that problem often now, even on some of our busiest days. Um so, but you're right, parking here is a challenge and um we've just kind of made do with what we have and so far that's been okay.

Um but there's no parking upgrades included in this plan. Understood. And second, because we're going to transition to the Alville Park, I just wonder is there any cause of increase for the insurance because it's public park. So we have spoke with our insurance broker and we know that getting the insurance is possible. Um we don't have final numbers on if that would have any upward costs on our current insurance rates, but we can look into that and get back to it at at another time. All right. Thank you.

Thank you, mayor. Um, so with these four different groups of um, writers that would be going on, are they there at the same time or are they there at different times? So, we're going to have sort of a partitioning going on. Yeah, I think from my discussions with Kevin and, you know, Scott and the internal team, it would be separated by, you know, what sport are you actively participating in? I don't know what the breakdown would be, but that's the they're not there all at the same time as No, I don't think so. free-for-all. Um, and then I appreciate the idea that we need to go maybe back toward a more beginner intermediate from this, which was maybe considered more advanced.

I guess the only potential risk is we go too far and then we start to lose people at the other end who said, "I enjoyed it because it was challenging and now it's not." Do have we struck the right balance in your judgment in terms of trying to be more accommodating but not at great risk to losing those that we have?

Yeah, I I think we have kind of perfectly. Um, it's hard to put, you know, estimate numbers to the the breakdown of advanced versus beginner that's out there right now. Um, but I think, you know, bringing it back somewhat close to 50/50 split is the right move. And one thing to note, too, is any beginner or intermediate feature that we design out there is also going to be enjoyed by the expert level rider to a much higher degree of difficulty. But let's just say, for example, we put in a a 12-in tall ledge. both the beginner and the expert are going to be able to use that ledge. Whereas if we design a 12- foot tall quarter pipe for the expert, there's no chance that the beginner will. So even though we are putting in more beginner level features, it's still, you know, raising the the skatable quality for everyone regardless of skill level.

Great. Thank you. Yep. Hang on. So, uh, going back to parking, is the the circle going to have signs that says additional parking on Rancho or is it going to be just Kevin and Scott saying, "Hey, there's additional parking." I mean, are we at least going to have signs up? Are there signs now?

We're going to bring back. So when we so when we reopen this park after the construction process and propose those programmatic changes that are going to allow for BMX bikes and other wheeled um vehicles to this park, we can have a thorough e a a thorough explanation on how we're going to deal with the potential increase in parking and that could include signs. Um we're going to make it as obvious as possible that there's parking at other locations other than right there on site. Okay. So yeah, we will work on that. All right. And this question is for Kevin. You guys going to have tush cushions for the people 50 and over.

Well, I I I already rented once, but um Scott, go ahead. Um obviously going out there um you've got some pretty deep bowls or pools. Are are we shallowing those or keeping those deep for more advanced than more courageous wheelchair riders? Yep. If you see um all the bulls depths are staying the same except for the one highlighted in blue on this screen, the clover bowl. Um the proposed renovation is to raise the max depth of that um from about 7 and 1/2 ft deep up to about 5 and 1/2 ft deep.

Um that was my only question. Thank you so much. which I'm excited for what it's going to do because the fact is that growing up in the 80s and early 90s skateboarding was pretty prevalent and highly [snorts] used and people were using them everywhere but it's kind of died off because it no place to go and this is going to bring back some excitement being in that lower level introduction. It's going to be a great park. Congratulations guys. Thank you Mitch. Thank you. So this is receiving file. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we'll move on to the next one is madam. Mr. Mayor, there's actually a um recommended action to approve the proposed final concept plan. Move staff recommendation. Excitedly. Man, I'm not paying attention tonight.

I excited about it. Strike three. You're out. Yeah. Take over, Doug. And that motion passes unanimously. Okay. Now we'll move on to item number 14. Madam city clerk, please read the title to item number 14. The title of item number 14 is the adoption of a resolution of intention to abandon Whispering Hills Park site pursuant to the municipal park abandonment law government code section 38501 at seek. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Madam city manager, please introduce this item.

Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to invite our housing and economic development manager, Adrien Graava, back to the podium to provide a presentation. Good evening, mayor and members of the city council. Tonight, I have a presentation regarding the municipal park abandonment law. Did you throw that in my face, Adrian?

The city owns an approximately 6 and a half acre park commonly referred to as Whispering Hills located along the east side of Lake Forest Drive between Vintage Woods Road and Dimension Drive. Pending city council approval, the parcel would be split and a deed restriction placed on a 1acre portion of the property for park space. Included in the city's strategic plan is strategic initiative number 13, Whispering Hills Affordable Housing Development. The initiative aims to identify an affordable housing development partner to develop the parcel into affordable housing dedicated to seniors, parking, and a park site. This initiative is structured into two phases. Phase one consisted of a public outreach process. Postcards were sent to over 800 addresses and two community meetings were held. Each resident that attended the public meetings are being notified via email of each item that is coming before the city council. Phase two contemplates advancement of the development process subject to city council authorization. Phase two begins with the municipal park abandonment law. Under the MPAL process, the city council would first consider adoption of a resolution of intention expressing the city's intent to abandon the site for development purposes, which is what we're doing this evening. Following adoption, the resolution of intention would be published once per week for three consecutive weeks as required by state law. Upon completion of the publication period, the city council would then conduct a public hearing and consider adoption of a final resolution to formally abandon the park designation subject to applicable findings. In coordination with the MPA process, the city would be required to comply

with the Surplus Land Act. This process would begin with the city council declaring the property as surplus and staff issuing a notice of availability to HCD and other eligible entities. Following issuance of the notice of availability, interested parties would have a 60-day period to notify the city of their interest in the property. If interest is received, the city would be required to engage in good faith negotiations for a minimum of 90 days to determine acceptable terms, including price and development parameters. If no agreement is reached during the negotiation period, the city may proceed with disposition of the property subject to HCD's review and confirmation that the city complied with all SLA requirements. Upon completion of the solicitation and negotiation processes, staff would submit a report to HCD documenting compliance. HCD would then have 30 days to review the submitt and notify the city if a violation of the Surplus Land Act occurred. In the event of a violation, the city would then have 60 days to remedy the issue. A preliminary timeline illustrating how the MPAL and SLA processes could be coordinated is provided on screen. The timeline is intended for planning purposes only and may be adjusted based on city council direction, public input, or other procedural requirements. At this time, staff recommends that the city council find the proposed action is not a project under SQA. adopt resolution entitled a resolution of the city council of the city of Lake Forest, California, declaring its intention to abandon real property and setting the date for a meeting to consider the abandonment of property pursuant to the municipal park abandonment law of 1939.

set a public hearing date of June 16, 2026 to consider adoption of a final resolution ordering abandonment of the park designation and direct staff to publish and post required notices in accordance with state law. That concludes my presentation. I'm available for any questions. Thank you. Okay, before we start asking any questions, madam city clerk, are there any requests to speak on this item? There have been none, mayor.

Okay. Thank you, colleagues. Uh, thank you, mayor. Um, Adrienne, if you go back to slide five, please. So, in the second bullet, second sentence says interested parties have 60 days. Who are the interested parties?

Um, so there's a a list on um the state website of developers that can sign up and be notified anytime a site in the state of California is being declared as surplus property. But more specifically, are these affordable housing entities? Yeah. I just want to be clear for the community. This isn't mean it's not gonna it's going to be an affordable housing notification process to those of the interested parties. Just want to clarify. That is correct. Uh thank you.

So of the interested parties, do we have it declared as we move forward? Is this um for just low-income housing? I thought we had talked about senior affordable housing. Is that going to be declared? That is correct. We would include that in our notice of availability. Okay. And then um it's the site's 6.5 acres. Um we got one acre for park. Um is that is that a even split because of the the embankment of the slope behind it?

Uh no. So it's certainly not an even 5050 split. The deed restriction we're placing on the property would be one acre, but that would kind of be the the minimum size of a of a park. The total size of the park would need to be uh further vetted once we have a developer on board. Okay. Um parking. Um would would this be a city park or would it be a facility park? Uh staff is aiming for this to be a public park but would be maintained by the developer. So parking um if a senior citizen or a family want to just go some quiet time at a park, they could park at the senior affordable living.

Yes. Okay. Um and there's there's been no outrageous um calls from the community above.

Uh what I'm sorry, what do you mean? Well, the last time we brought this up, there was a big debate on, you know, we we've gone over this a long time. That's why I'm kind of excited to be able to push this forward because it it's gone back and forth. You know, a arena soccer, pickle ball. Um there's been a lot to talk about this and so to move forward and get half of half of it a park and the other for senior affordable living um is a win for the city, especially when the developer is going to pay for the park. Um so but there has been obviously nobody's here to speak on it tonight. So that's why I'm saying there there's not a lot of push back on the community.

Um I would say after you know hosting the two community meetings feedback was generally positive. Um there were certainly some concerns related to the the uh project. But overall it was positive and as I mentioned in the report and in my presentation everybody that attended those meetings has been notified. Um, so they're more than welcome to to come and attend these these meetings. Well, right now we consider it the Lake Forest Dust Bowl. So, it's going to be a great improvement on that chain link fence that goes along Lake Forest Drive. Thank you.

Anybody else? Okay, I got a couple things. One, um, it's not semantics. When you use the term low income opposed to affordable housing, there's a difference. could probably sit could could live in affordable housing. That could be somebody that's still working that is a nurse somewhere or a CNA a certified nursing assistant or any other profession that this this can help them. So, but when you when there's a stigma when you use the word lowinccome there's this this is not what this is. We have Mountain View, we have uh the Meadows, we have Iron Ridge. And none of those communities are talk when it comes to parking, right? For senior affordable, the seniors, they don't own three, four cars, right? Usually they have one or two and there's going to be plenty of parking. What's the ratio of parking? Have we figured that out?

Not yet. Okay. Yeah, but it's going to be it's going to be whatever the the Yes. That'll be during the design process and going through development services.

Okay. So, as far as parking and if you think about it, I I walk 12 13 miles a day. I got to tell you that if I lived there, I would not walk to Austra Park. Okay, that that's ridiculous. So, nobody's going to be affected adversely by the parking that that happens here. Uh, and I did hear last time that, you know, the the the business right next to it, right, where the Starbucks and a little taste of uh, goodness is, they're worried about it. Well, if somebody parks there overnight, the the the the property owner can have that vehicle towed and it'll happen one time and one time only. But every one of our affordable housing has no issues with parking. So, I'd like to make that clear just so we don't start making people panic and say, "Oh, the parking, it's not going to be an issue." And uh it's it's been proven, like I said, with Mountain View, with um the Meadows, and with Iron Ridge. I mean, have you heard anything from yours? How about yours? And I certainly haven't heard. And you know, there was there was some people saying that once we got the Mountain View apartment or U housing project there that people started parking at the post office. Well, that's a post office issue. And it's none of the people that lived in Mountain View. And Mountain View is not obligated to let all those other eightplexes, forplexes that are in the area, they're not they're not they're not supposed or they're not there to to give them parking. So, I I'm making a big deal about this because sometimes things are said that spark people and I don't want that happening. I think Senior Affordable is is a is a good choice and whatever developer comes, they're going to do they're going to build a park that people want. So, um I'll I'll entertain a motion.

I'll make a motion. A second. Okay, let's vote. And that motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Um we'll move on to item number 15. Madame city clerk, could you please read title to item number 15? The title of item number 15 is the fifth amendment to the agreement with Orange County Yellow Management LLC for senior taxi transportation services. Thank you. Madame City Manager, please introduce this item.

I'd like to invite Courtney Wisaki, our senior recreation supervisor, up to the podium to talk about this program.

Good evening, Mayor Peno and city council. I'm here tonight to present on the fifth amendment to the agreement with Orange County Yellow Management LLC for senior taxi transportation services. So, what is the senior mobility program and measure M2 funds? So funding for the senior mobility program, also known as SMP, comes from Measure M2, Orange County's half cent sales tax for transportation improvements. 1% of Measure M2's net revenue is allocated to senior programs, and OCTA manages the SMPPS with Orange County Cities. Participating cities receive a yearly grant amount based on the number of seniors aged 60 and up who reside in their city. And cities who receive grant funding must contribute a 20% match. Lake Forest began their age well bus and OCY taxi transportation in 2010 using SMP funding and SMP funding is set to expire in 2041. To be eligible for the S&P program, you must be 60 years of age or better, a Lake Force resident, and either do not own or drive a vehicle. So, currently with the city of Lake Force, we offer two senior ridership programs. The first one is our age bus service, which uh recreation manager Vicky Blethan will be speaking on in the next presentation and showing how the M2 funds are uh impacting this program as well. And then we have our Orange County yellow cooperative taxi program which is 247 and wheelchair accessible. So these are the current one-way costs and the locations of where the seniors can go to. So as of right now they can go free to the clubhouse in the Lake Forest Sports Park. $2 anywhere in the city of Lake Forest and then there are other

nominal fees for surrounding cities and uh other locations. So, for the OCY taxi transportation total rides in fiscal year 2023 2024, we had 1,089 rides. In fiscal year 2024 2025, we had uh over 5,700 rides. And then in fiscal year 2025 2026, we are estimated to have over 8,000 rides. At the end of fiscal year 2023 2024, the city's S&P fund balance was approximately 226,000 with the majority accumulated during the CO 19 pandemic. To reduce the accumulated fund balance and maintain long-term compliance with measure M2 requirements, staff implemented strategic plan initiative number 43, which expanded the taxi program. a significant increase in writership resulting from the taxi program expansion in fiscal year 2024 2025 and now in fiscal year 2025 2026 together with higher fair rates authorized under the third amendment resulted in higher program expenditures as the city enters fiscal year 2026 2027 the excess SMP fund balance is expected to be fully exhausted a condition also being experienced by other cities in the region that received receive SMP funding. To ensure long-term sustainability, annual program expenditures must now be aligned with the projected OCTA funding levels, which is why it's necessary to stabilize and return to pre-expansion service levels. So, as you can see here, the OCY taxi transportation total costs in fiscal year 2023 2024, we spent a little over

17,000. in fiscal year 2024 2025. That's when we expanded the program and spent over $110,000. And then for this fiscal year uh 2025 2026 from July to December 2025, we have already spent over $96,000. Uh so one other thing that did impact us as well uh you can see the um graph on the right hand side for the OCY current costs per miles. Um so most of our rides from the seniors range between the 4.1 to 12 miles. So you can see that cities are our city is incurring costs uh roughly $26 to $42 one way per ride. So, if we continue going the path we're going down, uh, for fiscal year 2026 2027, we are projected to spend over $312,000 combined with the age well senior services and uh, OCY taxi program. Uh, like I had mentioned before, to ensure long-term sustainability, annual program expenditures must now be aligned with the projected OCTA funding levels. So for fiscal year 2026 2027 our S&P M2 funds is $111,443. So that is combined total with the Agewell and the OCY program. So $72,000 will be uh allocated to the Agewell program bus program and then $39,443 for uh OCY. So, like I'd mentioned earlier, the current agreement for our one-way costs and locations, um, like I'd mentioned, free to the clubhouse, $2, uh, within Lake Forest, and then the other nominal fees. Uh, what we are proposing for the

new agreement as of July 1st to stabilize the program is the seniors were uh will only be able to be transported to the clubhouse and back to their Lake Forest residents for a one-way cost of $5. Uh we will also be limiting the total rides per month for total pro uh for limit total rides per month for the total program and then also implement a co-pay with age senior services bus pro program to offset SMP costs which Vicki uh will be speaking about that in the next presentation as well. Uh the proposed OCY current cost per miles will be exactly the same um as it is in the current agreement. And then also uh like I had mentioned earlier, there are Orange County cities that are affected by the S&P funds as well. So I do currently show all of our neighboring cities and then I added in your Belinda as well because they are complimentary in size uh like the city of Lake Forest. So you can see most of these neighboring cities are charging one-way costs as well as uh implementing rides per month per person. Okay.

Uh so if there um are seniors uh that need additional rides that are outside of the clubhouse, there are additional ride share options um that are listed here. We have the A12 senior services non-emergency medical transportation, butterfly transportation which is a federally funded program, OCTA access paratransit service, transportation services covered through individual health insurance providers and then ride share options such as gogo grandparent, lift and Uber. So, pending this does get approved, we do have a letter already drafted uh for our seniors that will um go out to explain these changes as well as these ride share options. So, they do have time to uh contact these companies to um get signed up with them as well. So, what we're recommending is to receive and file the staff report, approve the fifth amendment to the agreement to Orange County Yellow Management LLC with a compensation amount of $45,54362 for senior taxi transportation services and authorized the mayor to sign and the city clerk to attest the fifth amendment to the agreement with Orange County Yellow Management LLC. and thank you so much for allowing me to present tonight and I'm open to answer any questions.

Okay, before we do that, madam city clerk, are there any request to speak on this item? There is one public commenter and that is Mark Hermanson.

The promised be much nicer this time. Uh I spoke on this before and it's a program that I really support. Um, I was gonna say that's because my wife is getting ready to turn 60, but I don't want her to kill me overnight, so I'm not going to say that. Yeah, I know. The logistics I can see are going to be tough and it's a lot of money. But two of the things we can tell about our city is how we treat the kids and how we treat our senior citizens. And I get the irony of me speaking about senior citizens if they're older, but in my defense, in my I still think it's 1989. Uh, I like to see programs like this and the one with the bus so we can make sure our seniors are getting out. They're not locked in the houses and that we take care of them. So hopefully you guys will be able to do the things you need to do to make sure this goes through. Thank you.

Yeah, thanks for the presentation. Um, and obviously we love our seniors. Um, but if you go back a few slides to the surrounding cities, you what? Yes, right there. Okay. Um, so these are the current costs for the surrounding cities. Correct. So, um, Rancho San Margarita offers free within the city of Rancho San Margarita. San Clemeni the same. Correct. Um, so what would ours be with a senior from Ridgeout and Rockfield to come to the clubhouse? So regardless of where they live in the city of Lake Forest, it would still just be the $5 one-way cost. So that they $10 for both ways. $10. Yeah. For a round trip.

We couldn't give them a discount for if they get two-way because So the issue is is that we're only allocated so many funds for the OCY program. And so, uh, as you can see, like the current costs per mileage, how expensive these rides would be. Um, so at least for us, if we have these one-way costs, those expenses help help offset the overall cost, which allows us to offer more rides as a whole, which is really what we're trying to do. Um, so we want to stabilize the program, but we want to try and offer as many rides as well.

Okay. My second question, um, the mayor and I were asked earlier, is the 40543,62 cents, is that a one-year contract with yellow? No, that's the full contract over the five years. That's the full contract over five years. So, um, what is the one-year cost of the added year? So, the one-year cost, the whole S&P fund isund $111,000443, but only $39,443 will go to the OCY program.

And let's let's talk um where the the money is now coming from the not all solely forest money, the M2 money. Go over how we get the money to Sure. offer these programs. So, it's not with general fund. It's only with the M2 fund, the M2 grant. And so funding comes from measure M2 and it is a halfsent sales tax for transportation improvements. And so does the city get reimbursed that whole amount.

What do you mean? Well, we we're putting for for the taxi service for the one year coming up, it's 11144 443,000. Is that all M2 money or is that 20% city money?

No, that's all the S&P fund. So on a monthly basis I have to report um the invoices that I receive from OCY and Agewell Senior Services and those are just the direct costs of those um one-way rides and then on top of it uh I have to do the 20% uh portion of what uh staff are doing for planning um the staff that go let's say like on the mini excursions with our Agewell us uh any type of reporting time I have to do or Caleb and finance has to do any type of meetings that we may have internally uh for these SMP programs. So that's what's used for the 20% um but that's not included in that $111,000.

So of the of the M2 grant money that comes into the city um do we is there a cap on how much money the city uses with your filing? So we have to use those S&P funds. If not, we have to pay them back. And so then we have to meet that 20% because we do uh internally for us uh I meet with OCTA every year to uh go through the audit and that could be either financials or um requests that they're needing for like maintenance on the vehicles. And so that's showing that our 20% is matching the total S&P funds that they're giving us for that year.

Okay. So the 100 that's $111,000 to taxi. But what about the A12? So the total S&P amount as a whole is the $111,443. $72,000 of that is going to the A12 program and then $39,443 is going to the OCY taxi program. Okay? Because it's written up that it's one 400 the whole amount is going to yellow taxi. So the 405,000 that's the agreement as a whole over the past five years. Yes. Okay. All right. Thank you so much. I'm sorry.

No, you're fine. So, Courtney, the the reason the your numbers skyrocketed is because you and uh Vicki have a great senior center. We do. So, um but as far as the I know we're having to to to to raise the rates for to for to ride and not I'm not trying to create more paperwork for you, but some of our seniors are on a on a fixed income. Sure. that you know they come how many times a week? A few times. It depends, right?

Is there a way that we could figure out a scholarship program for those that qualify for a certain amount? Because, you know, if we if we're taking $10 and they come four times a week, that's 40 bucks a week. Sure. And over the year, that's a lot of money for a senior who's on I mean, can we look at maybe uh when we when this comes back that we implement some or at least look at a scholarship program? Yeah, we can internally speak with our team and see if that's an option for us. Okay. And that's that's just a thought. I mean, if it's a no, it's a no. I I know we we have to to uh to keep this afloat somehow.

Yes. Um, but uh I I don't think that's that's a lot, but for somebody that's like for for me, I could do that. Sure. Uh, but for somebody that's I don't know. I mean, if we can just look at that and so um I don't have any other questions, colleagues. All right, I'll I'll end. Yeah, go ahead.

Thank you. So just to maybe summarize this and again we we love our seniors and this has been a great amenity and at this point now for us to sustain this to keep this service going we're essentially subsidizing $200,000 a year. Is that the difference the 111 and the three something? No, we're we're just saying that if we were continuing the same rate that we were doing already with being so overly successful, this the 312,000 would be our projected costs. So, right. So, we're subsidizing a couple hundred,000 based on those projections. Yes.

So, it's still a great benefit for our seniors and and we're covering that 20% plus a lot more to make sure this program stays viable for our seniors. But there is going to be this slight increase for for them and I appreciate the mayor's comments about maybe some kind of a scholarship program for those people maybe qualify for a certain threshold. So thanks for providing that information to us so we can manage and make a decision that's appropriate to make sure this program stays viable. Thank you. Thank you madam city manager.

I just want to clarify the city is not subsidizing the grant funds are subsidizing each ride. So while a senior may be paying $5, the cost of the ride is $25. So the grant is what's subsidizing that. Now, if the city were to entertain a scholarship program, you'd be talking about using general fund monies to do that. So something to keep in mind, we can talk about this during the budget process, but that's what it would mean. We only have so much grant funding. And so the option for a senior, if the taxi was too much to come to the senior center, they would have the option to take the AgeWell bus, which is the next um presentation you're going to get, which is at at a lower cost. Oh, well, there you have it. There you go. All right. Well, I'll entertain her. I'll

if you may. Um, Mr. City Manager, what what is the max that we can get through the grants? Um, it's by formula. So, um, whatever our dollar amount is per year is, it's not by how many people come to our wonderful clubhouse. No, no, it's a formula through measure M. Okay.

I'll take it. Second. Yeah. Move. Move the item. Staff recommendation. Thank you so much. Keep up the good work. I came the other night and the it was a party going on there. I had to go look in the window. It was a crazy party that was going on. I already second. Okay. So, we got a first and a second. Let's vote, please. And that motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. Um we'll move on to the next item. Madam city clerk, please read the title of item number 16. Title of item number 16 is the second amendment to the agreement with A1 Senior Services Incorporated for senior bus transportation services. Madam City Manager, please introduce this item. Okay, so our final speaker tonight is our recreation manager, Vicky Blethan. Since she's the final item, I told her she had to have lots of energy. So, here we go.

I know Nidia is normally the final one, right? So, that's that's going to be hard to get an Nidia, but I do have the energy. You all know that. So, good evening, mayor and council members. Tonight, I will be providing an overview of the proposed second amendment to the agreement with Agewell Senior Services, Inc. for senior bus services. So, a little bit about the program. Some of the some of which you uh heard from Courtney who did a great job in her presentation. Um the criteria for the senior bus service users is similar to the taxi program. You must be six years of age or better. You must live in Lake Forest and each potential user is required to apply for the bus program. So we take information about their that verifies their age and residency of the applicants and that's because this is a grant program. The senior bus service provides cur curb curve transportation on a fully accessible 14 passenger bus. You can see it in the pictures on the top. Um under the current agreement with AgeWell, there are two components to the senior bus program. So we have our first component is the daily program that service is offered Monday through Thursday when the facility is open and it takes participants to the clubhouse and back. And then our second component is our really popular mini excursions and that we have those twice a month and they take our seniors to lots of locations around Orange County to the beach to museums and uh also to shopping which they all love. So there um there's approximately 400 trips per month with this. Obviously we have uh 14 seat passenger bus. So it's not you don't have as many taxis as we would. It's one it's one bus. Um and there is currently no charge for either the daily bus service or the mini excursions. So a big portion of this part of the program the um is the senior bus program is the

socialization. I can say um I was a walker to school kid, but I really looked forward to going on the bus when we got to go on field trips. So, anybody here that took the school bus to school knows that a part of your day was being on that bus. And I can tell you that the seniors love coming on the bus. They come in, they're all happy. They like to go home on the bus. And it's a it's a time for them to be able to talk to their friends. that the beginning pickup starts probably 8:30, 9:00 in the morning. Then they go from one side of the city up to the other side of the city picking them all up. So that's a good amount of time for them to sit on the bus and socialize. It's a huge part of this program, which is what we really emphasize at the clubhouse as well. On a key note on uh the bus service in comparison to other cities, Lake Force is the only local city that has both a bus program and a taxi program as part of their S&P program. So, a little bit about the funding very same funding as Courtney spoke about um 80 80% of the funding comes from that grant that we get from OCTA. The 20% cost is from the city. When I say the city, it's inind. The inind comes from our staff time that we take to administrate that program. It takes from the time even from the point of taking a phone call about what the program is about to staff that's organizing and filling out helping them fill out the forms to uh even finance signing off on the forms themselves. Sean has a piece in that signing off on that. So that 20% comes from that. that it's that we have never had money come from the general fund in the time period that we've had this program. So that's always a good thing as well. Um both the senior taxi program and the senior bus program sha share the same pool of M2 grant money which is really

important to think about and both are really being affected by the fact that the taxi program h has increased cost that's are associated with the OCY and obviously yes we want to be successful with the taxi program which we were very successful which is great as the city enters the fiscal year 2026 27 the S&P fund balance is expected to be fully exhausted. Just as Courtney said, this is the condition that is experienced by those other local cities. Um, but a little different in our city than in other cities is that because we have that dual program that we're accelerating to getting to that point even quicker than our surrounding cities are. So, when we've called and talked to them, yes, they are getting there, but we're getting there much quicker. And once again, as Courtney mentioned, to ensure that longterm sustainability for the annual uh for this pro for all these programs, we need to make some adjustments into how we're offering these services um to our seniors. Uh the service adjustment that we're looking at for the second amendment will aid in that alignment now with the projected OCTA funding levels moving forward. So, let's look now what we're looking at for that second amendment. very uh normal terms here. We're extending the term of the contract to June 30th, 2027. There is an increase in the CPI, which we knew would happen and increase cost for staffing, increased cost for gas, but it's is in with our CPI. It does add that additional $72,000 in compensation. Once again, that $72,000 is coming from the M2 funding, not from our general fund. It adds new language to the compensation, which this is in the taxi program as well. Um, and I'm just going to read this real quick. To ensure the long-term sustainability of the program, the city may direct the contractor to collect a fee from users to offset the overall program of cost. The bus service did have an a nominal

fee back in the day when we started, and it was 50 cents one way and 50 cents the other way. Now, mind you, that was in 2010. So, let's put our inflation hats on to that. So, let's we can now compare what the current agreement is and how the changes are in the proposed agreement. The daily drop off at the clubhouse will be the same. 10 o'clock. They'll get to the doors at 10. Uh, and we'll be ready to have them come on in. Uh, the daily pickup time at the clubhouse to go home will be it's now it's 2 p.m. It's going to go to three. The 3pm time will assist some of those people who would normally be taking the taxi because they want to stay till the clubhouse closes, which it closes at 3. We also have a very important program that goes on that ends at 3. That's our ESL class. Lots of seniors take that class and they were not able to take the bus because the bus came at 2. So now they are able to take the bus home if they would like to and uh they can uh instead of taking the taxi. the daily trip types, the Monday through Thursday, uh there'll be no change to that service, still Monday through Thursday. The mini excursions will still be twice a month and there'll be no char uh no charge for that as well. Um there is no fee uh currently charged for the mini excursions and there will be no fee charged for the uh mini excursions moving forward. And I missed one, I could tell the daily trip fee. No fee is currently charged. Um, like I said, it was 50 cents at one point in time. Uh, now it'll be $2 one way or $4 round trip. And the little asterisks next to that are that the fee can be adjusted in the future. So, what we'll be looking at is how is the money going to be adjusted with the taxi program with the reduction in the number of people taking the taxi. the the reduction in the amount those bills will be each month will help us to be able to

possibly adjust this fee moving forward. We'll be looking at that as we get into that first quarter and into that second quarter. So, I know that was a question about the scholarship or something like that. We're hopeful that we'll be able to adjust some of this moving into the next fiscal year as we start seeing how this is all going to weigh out. And that's my uh presentation except for the receive and file this report. Please approve the staff's recommendation to approve the second amendment to the agreement with Agewell Senior Services for Senior Bus Service and authorize the mayor to sign and the city clerk to attest the second amendment to the agreement with Agewell Senior Services. And I'm very happy to answer any questions about our great programs.

Before we do that, madam city clerk, do we have any requests to speak on this item? We do not, mayor. Thank you, colleagues. Um Vicki, thank you for the great program you put on and you are active one. I call you the energizing bunny because you're always going going. Um so we have one 14 foot bus. Yes. What's the maximum [snorts] capacity of that one? Oh, it's for it's a 14 seat passenger bus. So it's No. So it's not that's 14 people. That's not Yeah. 14 people. So, is that maxed out now? Because it seems like you may be getting

Some days it's maxed, some days it's not. Uh, our busiest day, I'd say, would be the Thursday day. That's normally the max. But when I when I say not max, I see sometimes we have 12 people and sometimes we have 14. So, it's there's empty seats, but not there's not five people riding the bus. It's usually pretty full. So because of the escalating cost of the taxi drive, you may have taxi participants that now want to ride the bus. Correct. So we don't have much room for many.

We can we will be able to work with the t with the bus service to see how some people can fit in some I I I think we'll have we'll be fine. I think we'll have enough space moving forward. We've also looked at in the future because this is the end this is the last year of this contract. This is the last year of the uh the taxi contract. So, we'll be going out for an RFP for both of these services moving forward. We've also looked at the possibility of adding another bus in the future. Okay. Be just because as the mayor said that you many of our seniors are living on on a fixed income.

So, um with those escalating costs for taxi um the bus is looking much more affordable. So, um, I know that we'll be creative to we want all our seniors to be able to join you and all the other seniors at the clubhouse and have such a great time. So, I know you'll be working hard to figure that out. So, I have nothing further. Thank you for all you do. You're welcome. Vicki, I got a question. Mini trip. What's a What's a mini trip?

So, a mini trip is a trip that goes either uh it goes twice a month. They get on the 14 seat passenger bus and they go to the Spectrum. They go to a couple different shopping locations. The shopping locations they can do their shopping if they need to do shopping. They we take them to museums. We take them to Dana Point. Has to be in Orange County. And it's usually places that they wouldn't normally be going during a weekday or may not some people don't even have a way to get to these places on the weekends. So, it's it's basically what we're saying a mini excursion is that they're going offsite to go someplace else to visit.

Okay. Because I saw that it was like $2 one way. I was like, well, they only have two bucks. They're stuck wherever you drop them. Oh, well, the mini excursions we will not be charging for. Okay. So, those will still to remain to be free, but for the Well, they won't be charging on the bus. Some of the locations do charge a nominal fee, but to get on that bus to go to a mini excursion, you're still free to go. Okay. Um, so I'll entertain a motion. I'll move staff recommendation. Okay, let's vote. Thank you, Vicki. Thank you. Thank you.

And that motion passes unanimously. Thank you. That takes us to the city manager report. Madam city manager, do you have anything to report? No, nothing further this evening. Thank you. Council comments. Uh, council member Tedmer. Nothing tonight. Thank you.

Council member Weights. I went to a grand opening um of something we broke ground for a year ago and it's a very high-tech new business in Lake Forest. It's I am imi. They do valves for um um nuclear power and water. It's like most of the valves at the Orange County sanitation, Orange County water departments use valves that are made by imi which will be made here in Lake Forest and so it's a great great honor to have them in our city. So it was a great celebration. They were very excited. It's a very high-tech building and it's got great employees. Many of them living here in Lake Forest. You know we have a saying live, work and play in Lake Forest and many of the employees at imi live here in Lake Forest. Nothing further.

Right. Thank you, council member. You I have nothing further. All right. Uh Mayor Prom Serbo.

Thank you, Mayor. First of all, I'd like to thank all the folks that come to our meetings and provide input for us as as council members, for our community, things that we need to know about, things you need to be aware of, things that you want to highlight, things you want to bring to our attention. So, we appreciate that that interaction and a lot of good comments there uh tonight. For those of those um folks in our community that are looking to get involved and to make our community uh a helpful place, I just want to highlight that there's an event called Kids Feeding Kids on May the 19th at Terteranova Church. This is an incredible gift to people around the world that are are hunger uh situated. So uh if you want more details about that, Tteranova uh church is the one right here in actually in Irvine, but they do a lot of things with the city as well. So encourage people if you want to get involved and want to support that that's a great way uh to do that. I think that is it except we have a patriotic thing coming up here I think with the mayor. So I just wanted to make sure that everybody knows that there are no knockknock jokes about America because freedom rings. And with that mayor off to you

I don't know if I can follow that. Sure you can.

Okay. So on this day in history, May 5th, 1776, the fourth uh this 4th of July marks the 250th birthday of this a truly historic milestone. As we build towards a celebration and we and this special editions planned alongside our annual parade, we thought it'd be meaningful to step back and reflect on our nation. So, one of those moments took place on May 5th, 1776 when the American colonies stood on the edge of something extraordinary. Independence was not yet declared, but the path toward it was becoming clearer with each passing day. Williamsburg, the fifth Virginia Convention assembled, bringing together leaders who would soon take a bold step forward. This gathering would ultimately lead to a historic decision to urge the Continental Congress to pursue independence from Great Britain at the time. At the same time, across the colonies, tensions were rising. The Continental Congress adopted what became known as the Tory Act, empowering local communities to disarm and detain those loyal to the British crown. It was a clear signal that neutrality was no longer an option. These were not easy decisions. They were moments of uncertainty, uncertainty, risk, and determination. Mayor Prom Serbo, can you share a bit more about what these what else was unfolding during this pivotal time? Yeah, thank you, Mayor. And we're going to highlight some of these historical moments through our council meetings all the way up to the 4th of July. So, for all the uh patriots in our community, you know, while the leaders were making these bold decisions, communities across the colonies were also preparing for what lay ahead. American forces were strengthening their defenses as the British ships advanced and the reality of this conflict was becoming unavoidable. At the same time, momentum for the independence in our country was building quickly. On May the 4th, Rhode

Island had declared independence, setting the tone for what would soon become a united movement. So what makes this moment in history so powerful is that it was not defined by a single event but by a series of courageous choices made by individuals and communities who believed in something greater than themselves. Mayor I'll turn it back over to you.

Thank you Mayor Pro Tim. As we prepare to celebrate the 4th of July, let us remember that history was not only made by great figures but by everyday people who chose the cou courage over comfort. This story is now our story and just as they helped shape the future of the nation, each of us has a role in shaping what comes next. Thank you. And I attended the imi uh ribbon cutting also. Um and I presented a certificate to discount mattress lady for the business of the month. And I attended uh Cindy's art gallery uh ribbon cutting. And with that, we'll adjourn.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I was so excited. Uh so uh I want to close the meeting out tonight in memoriam of Ed Ashman. He was an 81-year-old retired Marine Corps ch captain, Vietnam War veteran who served as a pilot and a longtime resident of the city of Lake Forest. He later continued to serve his community by becoming the beloved substitute teacher at El Toro High School in Lake Forest. We'll close in his honor. Thank you. It's late for you. Still a very well done meeting. Thank you.