City Council - Regular Meeting

This microphone needs to, oh, there we go.

Awesome, thank you. Good afternoon, everybody. I hereby call the Santa Ana City Council meeting to order. This meeting is taking place with in-person attendance and by teleconference via Zoom. The public may access the meeting via the Santa Ana YouTube channel or the city's website. Please bear with us as the technology may disrupt the flow of the meeting. Madam Clerk, please conduct the roll call.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Are there any additions or deletions to the closed session agenda?

Do any council members need to announce their abstentions on closed session items?

I do. I will be recused from this closed session item as the property owner, Caribou Industries, is a client of my employer, Rattan and Tucker. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Phan. Madam Clerk, do we have any speakers for closed session?

Sylvia, can we get Council Member Hernandez back in here, please? Thank you, Council Member Hernandez.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. We will now recess this portion of the meeting to consider the items listed on the closed session agenda. Thank you.

Mayor, you're ready. All right, let's get this meeting started. I hereby call the Santa Ana City Council meeting to order. I'm clear.

Madam Clerk, please conduct the roll call, please.

Thank you. Before we proceed to the Pledge of Allegiance with the Mayor Pro Temo leaders, I'd like us to begin this meeting in a moment of silence, recognizing September 11th and all those lives that we lost on that day. I know it's not September 11th today, but we do want to recognize them and always acknowledge those that lost their lives on September 11th. Please, thank you. Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem, will you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, please?

Absolutely, Mayor. I'd be honored to. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would please rise with me and face our flag. Place your right hand over your heart and follow along. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you so very much. At this time, the words of inspiration by Pastor Jeff Schindler from Cross of Grace in Santa Ana.

Thank you, Pastor Jeff. Madam Clerk, are there any additions or deletions to the City Council agenda?

Thank you very much. Ceremony presentations at this time. Presentations by Council Member Phan and Council Member Vasquez, recognizing Sebel USA for outstanding contributions to the community. Can you come forward, please?

THANK YOU SO MUCH. WE HAVE THREE COUNCIL MEMBERS UP HERE BECAUSE WE WERE TRIPPING OVER EACH OTHER TO SAY WHO WOULD HONOR SEBILLE AND DO THE WORK AND TYVIA ALLOWED US TO JOIN HER. IT'S IN HER WARD SO I APPRECIATE HER. The work that we saw, we all saw Cebelle do. Tonight I'm honored to recognize Cebelle USA for its outstanding contributions to our community and its continued commitment to uplifting individuals and families throughout Orange County. Since founding in 2012, Cebelle USA has worked to create a community of support for immigrants, refugees and other underserved populations by providi

SABIL distributes more than 756,000 pounds of food annually to families in need and holds a major food distribution every third Sunday of the month. SABIL USA's commitment to service is also reflected in the countless volunteers, community partners, donors, and staff members who give their time and their resources to make this work possible. Today, Seville USA proudly calls the city of Santa Ana home, where its 6,200 square foot facility allows the organization to expand its operations and continue to serve thousands of our residents and folks in Orange County. Thank you for enriching Santa An

Oh, what else can we say? There's actually a lot of talking points because Summer and Sahar Aziz are just incredible women. I met them today. I got to tour the facility today. And I'm just so grateful that you chose Ward 1 to be your permanent home. Dr. Summer Aziz is a pharmacist and executive director of Sabil USA. She co-founded the organization in 2012 with her twin sister, Sahar, who does all the accounting and treasury work. That's the hard part, I think. I can't do math. They immigrated to the United States and came to learn firsthand the challenges of building a new life in an unfamili

About the Sunday event, what time is it?

All right, thank you very much. Madam City Attorney, do you have anything to report out of closed session?

This is the time of the meeting for the City Council to receive comments from the public on agenda and non-agenda items. Madam City Clerk, please explain the public comment procedures and call the first speakers, and they'll be given three minutes, please.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. All right, at this time, we're going to the consent calendar items two through 23 are before us. Council members, please announce. I'm sorry, let me go through this, please. Please announce any items that you'll be abstaining from due to conflict. If there are any requests to pull an item from the consent calendar for further discussion. Do I have a motion and a second to approve the remainder of the consent calendar once we go through the items being pulled? Councilman Hernandez?

Yes, I'll make a motion to move those items, Madam.

Thank you so much. Can I get a second, please? I'll second. Thank you, Councilman Becerra. Madam Clerk, sorry, here we go. Items pulled, Councilmember Hernandez? Councilman Becerra? None. Councilmember Fann?

Not pulling anything, but just announcing my recusal for items 14, 15, and 21 as AAA Oil or AAA Oil, Newport Beach, Iteris, and Think Together are clients of my employer, Rattan and Tucker. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Councilmember Vasquez?

Thank you. Councilmember Lopez? 19. Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem? Thank you, and I have no items. All right, here we go. Let's go to item 19. Mayor, if we could take the vote, please. I'm so sorry. Go ahead. I apologize.

It's not popping up. Madam Clerk, go ahead and do a roll call.

And the first item pulled for separate discussion is item 19 by Council Member Lopez.

Yes, thank you so much. I'm obviously very supportive of this item. I want to thank city staff, the CMO's office, Public Works. This is something that we've been working on for many, many months in partnership with the Cabrillo Park families. And so if you grew up in the area, you know that these were really, really old restrooms. They didn't even have doors at one point. So again, thank you so much for taking those concerns into consideration. I would like to make an amendment to the agreement because when we did tour the park, we noticed that there is a white wall there. And one of the thing

Councillor Lopez, can I ask you if you'd make an amendment to have a local artist or some more kids?

Yes, actually, thank you for that recommendation. It should be a Santa Ana-based artist based off of the RFP.

I'll second your motion. Or some of our youth, if that's possible. Perfect, all right. There's a motion and a second. I'll second the motion.

Yes, thank you. Item number 24 is an ordinance to extend the paid military leave benefit. Does the City Council need a presentation? Did you review the...

I'll make a motion to move the item, Madam Mayor.

That's right, we support our veterans. So there's a motion by Councilman Hernandez, a second by the Mayor. Sorry, Mayor Pro Tem, I'm going to take that one. Let's do a roll call, please, Madam Clerk. Yes, thank you.

Thank you. Item 26 is regarding outside employment, regarding civil immigration enforcement. Do we need a staff presentation?

No, Madam. I'll make a motion to move this item.

I'll second. Are there any questions or comments? Seeing none.

Thank you. Item 28 is regarding community meeting, noticing format and transparency requirements for certain developmental projects. Do we need a staff presentation?

Mayor, I'll go ahead and make a motion, but I'd like to amend it just a tiny bit. And that is on the item, this is from what I believe staff is just to clarify that we want a physical notice posted on the property. I'd like to add language that talks about an 11 by 17 yellow poster board with text at the top that says public hearing notice in three and a half inches at the top, similar to what the city of LA does. Because right now what ends up happening is they put out an eight and a half by 11, black and white, and some people assume it's trash. They don't even know it's a notice. So I like

I'm sorry, before he does that, Councillor Hernandez, I'd like to also add that it be presented in Spanish, English, and Vietnamese.

So the, I guess just to be clear, so what, I think what the mayor's asking for, I agree with, it should be multi-language, but it would be the eight and a half by 11 and whatever radius map or whatever you guys require would be affixed to an 11 by 17 yellow fluorescent board.

Go ahead. There's no other comments. Go ahead. Council Member Lopez. Yes, Mayor. I would like for you to consider also adding Chimer to that since we have the language Chimer. Since we've heard from our Cambodian constituents that they would like to also see that language reflected in city notifications. And I just wanted to thank city staff because this is a cleanup item. And I really appreciate you bringing this forward. This is something that You know, you could have just let it slide, but this is something that was caught, and I appreciate this type of transparency. And again, it's just a

Yeah, Council Member Farrell wants to say something. I'm sure it's not you, but I'm sure it's just the city manager here. Go ahead.

Yeah, just for the city manager, I just have some clarification question for Council Member Lopez. So I definitely support Khmer being a language added, but are we talking about all notices? I'm sorry if I'm confused.

My understanding is that would be a separate request, a standalone request from one of our offices, because we've actually discussed this, right? Okay. About the need for them to be able to understand what is happening in the city, and they have expressed multiple times that they're unable to, because we don't make our notices available in that language.

Any other questions, Madam City Attorney?

Yeah, I think giving you flexibility, you want to make them larger.

Great. I think we're all clear. Is there a motion?

Thank you, we are now ending the business calendar going to public hearings. Before hearing public hearing item number 29, Madam Clerk, please provide instructions to the public who would like to make a comment on this public hearing item only.

Thank you. Item number 29 is a public hearing regarding the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act for 1,200 main apartments. Mr. City Manager, there's a staff presentation if we need it. I'm sorry, Assistant City Manager.

That's okay. So any council members, let's move on to this. Are there any questions by the council? I'm now open to the public hearing from members of the public that would like to provide their comments in person or virtually. Madam Clerk, do we have any speakers?

With no further comments, I hereby close the public hearing. Do any council members have any comments or questions? Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, she'd have to call you, sir, so please. Sir, can you hold on a second? Madam Clerk?

Sir, you didn't fill out a comment card. I don't have a problem with it. Go ahead, sir. But next time, you need to follow the procedures that we have in place. Go ahead. I'm allowing you, but you do need to follow the procedure, please.

Thank you very much. We're going to close here at the public comments at this time, and I remind everybody, if you want to speak on an item, you need to fill out the proper form, please. Okay, at this time, it's time for Councilmember comments. I have a couple comments. I don't know if any other Councilmember wants to start. Councilmember Lopez? Yes, do we know how long the review will take?

I really wasn't gonna ask you to come up, but since the door was opened, wanna make it as fair, right? So the comment was that they're in contact with you or they're working, is that accurate, sir?

I think you're talking about predatory labor practices, is that correct?

Perfect, thank you so much. Those are all the questions I have, and I'm a no vote, so any other comments?

Council Member Becerra. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you to folks from the Carpenters for coming out tonight and for sharing with us this information. This is very serious. I mean, wage theft, exploitation, I mean, definitely gives us pause up here, at least gives me pause. To our staff, I think when I look at this and I see 1,200 Maine GP LLC, that seems pretty benign. And I know that this has been an issue in the past with other projects where understanding who's applying for these items. And this is pretty vague, 1,200 Maine. And it's not to say that we haven't done this before. I get it.

So I appreciate you guys, thank you. Mr. City Manager, I just want to piggyback on what Council Member Becerra was saying here. So this project, it needs to have local legislative body support, is that correct? Or Madam City Attorney? And I know there's a, I did a lot of research on this item, as we all do with the gender reviews, and so I just want to be really clear on that.

And thank you for sharing that. I understand. I'm not speaking for the college. I'm speaking for myself as the mayor. I understand we're a pass-through, but I'm concerned as well, and I was digging into some stuff here. And so I'm very concerned. So whether we're a pass-through or not, we're the legislative body who votes yes or no. So I just want to be really clear on that. And I want to thank the Carpenters for coming out and sharing tonight because one thing I hope I can speak on behalf of this council is that we're very We are very proud of the fact that we try to take very good care of ou

Yes, thank you, Madam Mayor. I'll be brief. I want to thank the members of the community on both sides who came out today to share your comments. It's very important for us to be able to hear from you, so thank you for that. I want to thank the workers for sharing your experiences, your concerns. You guys are the guys who build these projects. You are the experts. Those are very serious concerns for us here when it comes to exploitation of workers, workers being paid under the table. We know that those are all things that happen to circumvent paying workers what they're worth, paying them the

Councilor Hernandez, would you be willing to take it to 60 at this time? Yeah. Because the carpenters on both sides have time to work on it.

Absolutely, Madam Mayor. I'll adjust it to 60 days. I'll put a motion on the floor for this item to come back within the next 60 days.

Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to thank the Carpenters for coming out and speaking on this tonight. And as we've seen in the past, anytime there's an LLC used to basically cover up the real identity behind the applicant, you know, it's questionable because we've had some issues in the past. And then knowing what we know now, it's important that we push back because as Councilmember Hernandez said, I couldn't have said it better. we you know this is a city and a city council that prides itself on supporting uh good you know construction jobs in the city and when there's an entity before us tha

Thank you. May I put it to Council Member Fan?

Thank you. Thank you to everybody who came out. I do have a quick question. And my apologies, I only got this information today. So how long have the parties been discussing this issue? Yes. Can you come up, sir, please, and ask her up here at the microphone. Specifically to this project, because I'm unfortunately not concerned with others that are not in Santa Ana.

Okay, I really wish. Can you stay close in case there's another question? Yeah, I really wish that this conversation happened before we had the public hearing, just because I think that that's always the most fruitful conversation, right? Yes. Because then we wouldn't have had a staff meeting

Okay, and then Madam City Attorney, if you can just help clarify for me, because this is a discretionary item, right, we don't have to make any particular findings to deny the tougher hearing, correct?

Right. I guess I just wanted to make clear that the city council is not required to approve this. It's purely discretionary. It is a benefit that the city and many public agencies provide to developers. And I want to make clear that this project sounds like a great project to me. I've stayed on the record many times that I will support anything that will build more housing, that will get people into housing, that will keep people in housing. So, yes, I think... we all have stated that we do support labor. I think that it's important that whatever these allegations are, they get addressed. I al

Okay, so I would like to see a 30-day return of this project. I think that we all know this is at, I believe, 60% affordability, right, for the county. That is generally better than the vast majority of, quote, affordable housing that we've built here, right? We do have a variety, but this is also in our downtown area, which is a really great location. I mean, I've seen prices at the Rafferty. I've seen prices at, you know, Artist Village. I've seen prices at these other developments, and I think this could be a really great project, but it can only be a really great project that's realized if

Can I suggest 45 days if that's going to be an issue where our colleagues don't agree?

We don't have the first meeting in November, so it's either going to be late November or late October.

Because if we can bring it back by then, and if they're still not in conversation or things are not moving along, well, then that might be a different conversation. But let's get this back. Let's get everyone at the table and let's make this happen. I think we can do that here.

So there's a motion and then there's a friendly amendment. What do you got, Jennifer? I'm sorry.

30. Or I can make a sub motion. That's fine too.

It doesn't matter to me. I just want to be really clear that I appreciate the comments about housing and affordable housing, and I'm supportive as well. However, the issues that the carpenters have brought up are very serious. And so when we say we delay it for 30 days, My expectation is that in 30 days, we'll hear there was some conversation, some agreement, and they're working with the carpenters, and they've addressed whatever issues they may have. Allegedly, the issues that, I mean, I can show what I've pulled up and things that I've learned about this project, this company. And so I'm ver

Yeah, I'll pull my measure 60. I don't, go back to 30. That's fine. Because no matter what, it's going to be taken care of. And we are the legislative body. I want to be clear again that we approve it or not. And then it can go to the county or school district. And I'm sure they'll have the same discussion there as well.

I just would like to suggest that whatever meeting was going to happen in a week or two, that that happens this week. Because as you've seen, time is of the essence. So 30 days puts you in a short window. So I hope something is cleared up and arranged and agreed upon quickly.

So before we go forward, Madam Clerk, I apologize. Council Member Lopez, you wanted to say something?

Oh, I was. Similar concerns, comments as my colleagues. Councilwoman Fann asked some of the questions that I had. And so, you know, happy to proceed with roll call. Thank you. Councilmember Vasquez.

Thank you. And, you know, many times often I said my dad raised his family as a laborer, as a union member. Four kids now, a few grandchildren are in the teacher union. which I represent, I'm the Vice President of the Santa Ana Educators Association. That being said, I'm also a victim, I was a victim of wage theft in my junior year. I went to a construction site and was hired to do work under the table, cash, never paid for months of work. So this is real and how people are affected and their time and their dignity is taken from them. So we wanna make sure that we do right by the workers here

Yes, and the expectation is they come back with some news.

Great, thank you very much. All right, next item, Madam Clerk. Public hearing item number 30. Number 30, before hearing item, Hearing public item number 30, Madam Clerk, please provide instructions to the public who'd like to make a comment on this public hearing item only.

Thank you very much. Item 30 is a public hearing regarding the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act regarding core departments. Does the Council need a presentation? Seeing none, are there any questions by the Council? I now open the public hearing for members of the public that would like to provide their comments in person or virtually. Madam City Clerk, do we have any speakers?

Thank you. With no further comments, I hereby close the public hearing. Any council members have comments or questions?

I'll make a motion to move the item, Madam Mayor.

It is moved by Council Member Becerra, seconded by Council Member Hernandez. Madam Clerk?

Great, thank you. Now we're going to, before hearing public item number 31, Madam Clerk, please provide instructions to the public who'd like to make a comment on this public hearing item only, please.

Thank you. Item number 31 is a public hearing regarding the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report for fiscal year 25-26. Do we need a staff presentation, Council? Seeing none, are there any questions by Council? I now open the public hearing for members of the public that would like to provide their comments in person and virtually. Madam City Clerk, do we have any speakers?

With no further comments, I hereby close the public hearing. Again, any comments by council members?

I'll make a motion to move the item, Madam Mayor.

I'll second the motion. Madam City Clerk.

Great, thank you. This time item number 32. I close this here. The end of public hearing. Councilmember requested items at this time. Item number 32 was requested by Councilmember Lopez. Councilmember Lopez, the floor is yours.

Thank you. I'd like to begin by thanking staff for meeting with me on this request. I'd also like to note that this request was placed prior to the most recent actions by Planning Commission. If anyone's been keeping up to date with that, then you know why that would be relevant to this. Planning Commission requested did move language in regards to data centers on the six to one votes. And originally, just for context, this came forward because of some of the confusion that had happened where there was a discussion where commissioners were asking for clear language to be implemented or moved f

Thank you, Council Member Lopez. Council Member Becerra, please.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. So data centers, they are attracting a lot of attention lately, especially in places that happen to have a lot of open land. Mr. City Manager, could I have our Executive Director of Planning and Building to the podium? I have a couple of questions I'd like to ask him. Hi, Ali. Thank you for stepping up. So the standard size for the data centers that are attracting a lot of this attention tend to measure around 100,000 square feet. Do you know right now, as we speak, how many data centers are within Santa Ana today that are 100,000 square feet or larger?

Okay, great, so you answered my next question, which is how many do we have regardless of size? So we have three. So a typical full-scale data center roughly occupies 40 acres of land, and that's needed to house the cooling and the power equipment that they need. The site of the Bristol-related project site is 41 acres, is that correct? Okay, are there any sites similar to that size that you're aware of in Santa Ana that are available to be developed?

Perfect. Thank you for that. And so often the shopping centers, like I'm trying to think of some of the bigger ones, like maybe 17th and Tustin, maybe even Northwest corner of Grand and 17th. Would you say that those kind of range in size from about 15 to 25 acres?

Okay, and so has the city received any new applications for data centers? Zero. Okay. So, and if one were to submit one, so let's just say tomorrow morning, someone waltzed into the counter, submitted, or went to the planner and said, I want to open up a data center. Can you clarify, would they just get an over-the-counter permit, or would they need some sort of discretionary permit, like a conditional use permit?

And so with it going to the planning commission, again, thinking about person walks into the counter tomorrow morning, would that person get through the initial review, environmental review, agendized for a planning commission meeting, noticing a decision, appeal period exhausted, could that all be done in 45 days?

Say no. Okay, perfect. Ollie, thank you for all that. You can go ahead and sit down. So I think with just what we talked about right now, we satisfied number two and Council Member Lopez's item as far as the request for information. Madam City Attorney, she left. I guess you're on the hot seat. So from what Ali just told us, our cities receive no applications for permits for a new data center. And even if we did, it would take more than 45 days to process the application. So can we even legally adopt a moratorium? Because from based on what I just heard, I don't know that we could make the fin

Can you speak in the microphone, please?

I mean just focusing on the moratorium the fact that 45 days we have no pending applications you know it sounded like from our executive director of planning and building didn't seem like he was anticipating any so I guess just thinking about a moratorium you know could be legally challenged we've had moratoriums challenged in the city on land use issues would you wouldn't feel confident bringing this forward then and having it be legally defensible. I'm saying for what was being proposed in the signing.

Well the director, our executive director said that basically, they would have to apply for a conditional use permit. That conditional use permit process would take them beyond 45 days. The proposal before us is a moratorium for 45 days.

So we have the zoning code update coming to us, Mr. State Manager, on October 6th. Is that correct?

and the industrial land use section, that's not gonna be omitted. That will be part of the all-inclusive zoning code update, correct? Okay, so and that's coming out on October 6th. I'm not a mathematician, but that's less than 45 days, is that correct? Okay, so I'm just, I guess one other question for staff is, did Councilmember Lopez meet with the city manager and city attorney about this item?

Okay, so you don't have to disclose what you guys talked about, but I just feel like this back and forth I just had with our Executive Director of Planning and Building kind of flushed out the lack of need for this item because it's not that I don't have concerns about the data centers, but the fact of the matter is we're literally gonna deal with this in two weeks. THERE'S NO NEED FOR A MORATORIUM BECAUSE, AGAIN, PUSHING THIS OUT 45 DAYS, GIVEN THE FACT THAT OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF PLANNING AND BUILDING JUST CONFIRMED, THERE'S NO WAY A DATA CENTER COULD BE APPROVED IN 45 DAYS EVEN IF SOMEBO

Thank you. Councilman Hernandez, do you have a speaker?

Yes, Madam Mayor. I'm supportive of this item coming back. Thank you.

Any, Council Member Vasquez, is that, you wanna speak? Yes, please, I'm supportive of this item. When we get our new updates, we don't know how long we're gonna speak to it or push it forward, and there's a problem of anything getting passed, and we can extend it, like the city attorney said, to 115 days, so this is just a precautionary, that it is precautionary, it's a moratorium, so I'm gonna say I'm with it. Mayor Pro Tem.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to say that I'm supportive of this item already from the Planning Commission's actions coming before us to have this conversation. It's definitely a problem that we are seeing increase throughout, not just here, but around the world of these data centers getting built and whatnot and the usage of water, the amount of water they're using and the stress on our electrical grid. So whatever, I don't even think a moratorium goes that far. I mean, I think there's room to go further and to potentially ban just the outright ban here in the city. So those conversat

Thank you. Mr. City Manager, I have a question regarding water use. So who would you like me to ask that to? Is that you or Cesar, Rudy?

Armando's not here either. Rudy, come on up, Rudy.

Just a quick question. People talk about water use and our water bills going up. I know that there was a vote, Mr. City Manager, several months back that we did not increase our water bills. But can you talk a little bit about the data centers? So we have three data centers that Ali made clear in our city. I don't think they're large. I think they're small size data centers. Have you seen an increase in water usage? And what are you seeing?

No, I'm not a fan of our water bill increasing either. So has there been an increase in our water bill? Because I believe that this council did not support that. Yes, you can laugh, Mr. City Manager. It was a topic. We did not support that.

Okay, so three years. So we have not increased our water bill? Okay, I just want to make sure. Yeah, I just wanted to clarify that because, you know, when we say the water's increasing, I want to make sure that it's not accurate. If it is accurate, we'd all like to know. So, Council Member Phan?

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you to my colleagues for bringing this issue forward, but I, as of right now, the way it's written, I am not supportive of this item. I'd rather staff just bring this information to us with the zoning code update. And the reason for that is there's no definition, The word data center is so broad. That's like saying industrial building. Data centers exist because there are many businesses, office buildings, that need to have off-site servers that store data so they can process it faster than going to a mega data center off-site in another state. These are necessary for t

Thank you. Ali, I have one more question. And then I think we're done. Council Member Lopez, were you going to speak again?

Sorry, I should have asked when you were up here.

Can you tell us where the three are located? I know one of them is on Grand Street and it's a county property, correct?

I'm sorry, say that again. It's a data center that serves the county on county property. Correct. Got it.

So I have a Verizon phone used by my phone company, right? All right, thank you, that's what I wanted to know. Thank you very much, Ali. Council Member Lopez.

Yeah, thank you. And thank you, Mayor, for the question about water. Again, I can't make that correlation because I don't have that information. None of us have that information here. But my job is to uplift the questions that are being asked by my constituents who are noticing something different about in their monthly bill. And so, again, thank you for the clarification. I think that they're gonna appreciate hearing that tonight. And I agree also with Council Member Phan regarding the definition. It's why we did not include a definition in my report, which I hope the public reads. because th

No, thank you, Madam City Attorney. That's very, very important because I'm with Council Member Fan. I can't support this item at this time. I'm looking forward to the zoning project coming forward, the report coming back to us, and I'm sure it'll address this if need be. So, Mayor Pro Tem.

Yeah, Mayor, thank you. I just wanted to offer some clarity on what the public might be seeing or think they're seeing reflected on their water bills, any potential increases. I think there's also the known concern um fact that earlier this year four members of the city council including council member lopez tried to raise water rates by 55 through a prop 218 notice so thankfully unfortunately we were able to pull that uh thank you city manager for reading the room but i think that's important that we also stay on top of so uh ali and if you're working with public works i mean it's important t

Thank you, I thought you were gonna be the final, but Council Member Fans over here kicking me under the table. Go ahead, Council Member.

Yes, the quick clarification is that it is not a water bill. It is the utility bill, which includes basic service charge, water, utility user tax, refuse, sanitation, sewer, So let's be clear. It is not the Santa Ana water bill. It's a utility bill. And if there are changes, it is possible that is from other agencies and not the city of Santa Ana. Thank you. Thank you for that clarification.

Thank you for being honest. I call it the water bill all the time. But you're right. I know. You always tell me that. It's the utility bill. It has everything in there. Water and sewage. Water, sewage, trash, everything that you mentioned. And then some more, I'm sure. So thank you for clarifying that. I think, Mr. City Manager, you have direction. Madam City Clerk, you said you need a four-fifths of a vote, and I think we're coming back with the zoning anyway, so we don't have to worry about it.

Because there's at least two of us, if not three of us up here that are not supportive of this item. All right, let's move on. Okay. Go to, sorry, council comments at this time. City manager comments? Yes, go ahead, Madam Clerk.

I'm going to do that right now. Oh, okay. Comments on the item we just discussed or his comments? His comments. Yeah, I'm going to do that right now.

Sometimes I forget him and he makes a face at me. Mr. City Manager, do you have any comments? Yes, you do. You want to tell all of us it's Kat's birthday today. Catherine Downs. Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Kat. Happy birthday to you.

all right mr city manager i saved you on that one all right let's go to council member comments at this time council member vasquez oh he's not here okay we passed that council member lopez yeah i want to thank city staff for a wonderful weekend celebrating um a few of patriots here in the city of santana today is the 15th a lot of latino american cities celebrate independence today and i want to thank our community for being out there and just experiencing joy and really sharing so much of themselves with us. Earlier this month, we also celebrated Labor Day, which recognizes the workers of ou

Thank you. Let me go back to Council Member Vasquez. He was out of the room. Go ahead, Council Member Vasquez.

Thank you so much. I want to end this meeting by dedicating it to Scott Sink. I'm deeply saddened by the loss of my friend Scott Sink, who passed peacefully with his friends and family by his side on August 15th. Scott is a long time high school teacher and community organizer. He was also a creative, releasing work under the name Scott Celtic Knot. Scott lived with both an extraordinary curiosity about the world and an equally extraordinary commitment to making it better. He was a tireless advocate for justice, the arts, and the environment. He encouraged people to think more critically, care

Thank you, Council Member Vasquez. And Council Member Phan, please.

Wow, it's been a really long break since our last council meeting. I kind of forgot how all this runs.

First off, thank you so much to Parks and Rec, our staff, our city team for Chicano Heritage Festival. just so hot, but so wonderful, and Fiestas Patrias, which was just, it's always my favorite event every year because it's just so wonderful to see everybody out and be so proud to be both Latino and American. We had a lot of events this time, even though there were no council meetings, just to name a few. We officially did the ribbon cutting for Palomino Elementary, so I'm looking forward to Palomino Park. We did the graduation for Goodwill of OC's EVSE program, which is the Electric Vehicle

Thank you. Council Member Serra, please.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Just to echo the sentiments of my colleagues, I want to thank staff for putting on a wonderful Fiestas Patrias. That was a great event from the grito to the parade to just the entire celebration. It was wonderful to see the community out there. So thank you, both city manager's office, Parks and Rec, and all the staff that helped out on that. Saturday, October 3rd, I'll be hosting my monthly community office hours at Segerstrom Triangle Park over there on Segerstrom and Shelton, just across the street from Saddleback High School. And for my Ward 4 residents, we're getti

October 23rd, that's wonderful, great. Thank you for that update, Ali, and I'll end on that good note. Good night, everybody. Thank you, Mayor Pretem.

Thank you, Mayor Mesquite. Maybe we could purchase some snacks from Sprouts for our grand opening the next day at Memorial Park, which is still on track for October 24th, correct, Mr. City Manager?

Wonderful, yeah, I heard. Okay, thank you just everybody, all of the city staff, Public Works, Police, Parks and Rec, City Manager's Office for all your work that you did over the last weekend. Over the entire weekend, it was, again, Fiestas Patrias, one of our most beautiful events in the city where we get to gather and celebrate our culture. And it was a little bittersweet for me because it's my last Fiestas Patrias event. You know, here as a city council member representing the city. So it was bittersweet for me to be there and participate in these events, but I was so happy to be there. I

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I want to thank the residents and the city staff for their hard work in putting this council meeting together. I want to thank all the residents who took time out of their day to comment and show up. Today is September 15th. We are celebrating Fiestas Patrias. On September 16, 1810, Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rang his church bell in Dolores. This was a call to arms. He gave a speech known as Grito de Dolores, urging people to rise up against Spanish rule. The result of that was an 11-year war that saw Mexico finally win its independence in 1821. Today is

Thank you, Council Member Hernandez. So Fiesta Patria's weekend, I won't say too much about my colleagues. Thank you so much to all the staff. It was wonderful. And then on Friday, we were at the Grito with the Mexican concert. That was at the Bowers Museum. That was also a great thing. So it was a fun weekend, and it wouldn't happen without the city staff. So I want to thank everybody that participated and everybody that came from our community and from surrounding communities. We are the second largest community Fiesta this weekend, I think LA's first or something like that, and we're second

So if there's a problem or there's an issue that comes up, the council and myself should go to who? Me. To you, right? Yes. And so not publicly, you know... raise your voice or direct or point your finger or just treat them poorly because you're not happy with what happened at a celebration or you're not happy with what's going on, that is not something we should be doing as the mayor and the council. And so I would hope that it's a reminder to everybody up here that there's only three people who work for us. Everybody else works for the city manager. This is a city manager run city. city mana

You're right. I was going to get to that.

No, and I was going to get to that. I mean, when there's a lot of activities, and I really want to thank the city staff and the city manager, his office, his staff, I mean, Paul, everybody, Sue, everybody out there, you know, everybody's out there. Because it was hot, there's a lot going on, police department's out there, you know, everybody's out there, public works. So things are going to go wrong. or there's going to be miscommunication, or you're not going to get what you want. And so we don't yell at city staff. We don't demean them publicly, ever. We deal with the city manager. So, and a