City Council - Regular Meeting

We'll just take a moment and see how our tech team is doing.

Okay, I think we're on. Thank you. So just checking, do we have any public comments on this?

Okay. We go ahead and invite them to speak now or we want to wait until after? It's your... Let's have...

Okay. So I'd like to invite up the police chief. Welcome.

I have a question on this slide. Looking at the personal expenses line, it goes from looking at column 1, 2, and 3, it goes from 41 to 44 and then jumps to 50. Is that really going to happen or is that assuming all positions are filled or how does it jump so much in one year?

Yeah, thank you to Chief Burks. I appreciate the presentation. We also greatly appreciate you, Chief Ferreira, and many of the Fountain Valley Police Department staff here in the chambers. And so now I'd like to open up to questions from council. Who wants to go first? I think we were remiss in not letting the public know that we do have Councilwoman Constantine. She is with us through the power of technology through Zoom.

Welcome. Maybe we should just do a test. Councilwoman Constantine, are you there? I have to let her unmute. Hold on. Okay. There you go.

Yes, I am. Thank you. Great to be with you all. Great presentation, too.

No, there's nobody here. I'm in San Diego for ICSC Western by myself.

Thank you. Okay, great. Open up to comments, questions from council. Councilman Grandes.

Yeah, great report, Chief. Appreciate all the effort that went into this. I know it took a long time to get to where we are today. One thing I really didn't see and hear in the report, and it's probably in there somewhere, and I'm hoping you could touch on it. One of the most important things to me, besides just staffing levels, is the safety of the officers and the equipment and how safe they are. Does it say in the report what level we are in terms of equipment? Do we have the best to make sure that they get to go home every night?

They will pay dividends in risk management and potential litigation down the road I appreciate the answers, but I still don't think it answers the question. I'm trying to get at Staffing I totally get that cameras that's protection and lawsuits it's evidence etc when I say equipment I mean do we have the best bulletproof vests do we have the best utility belts that are the lightest weight or I mean I don't know what is required but I haven't heard anything yet to make sure that everything that they have is the best and latest equipment in terms of their self-safety.

I do have one other item on the staffing levels. I understand the importance of all the staffing levels, but we still, and I've been harping on this in the last few meetings, is we're still understaffed. right you know we want need more positions but we got to fill what we have and we talked a little bit about this i spoke with you and the hr director about a challenge to get five laterals within the next six months to help get the staffing levels where we need to be We try to be in the midpoint of range in the county, which means there's many cities that are lower paying. There are people in

Yeah, but as we talked about, that's going to take a year or so by the time everybody goes through that, goes through probation, goes through everything. And at the same time, there's always the chance that we're going to lose officers to retirement and other things. So I still think even with that, the need's going to be there. So I'm glad you accept the challenge.

Any other council members? Vice Mayor Harper.

Thank you. Thank you for the report. I want to say thanks to all the officers and police department personnel that are here. We appreciate it. It's great to see everybody together, but who's in charge over there? No, but thanks for all your great work on behalf of the city. We really appreciate it. I had a question about the school resource officer in the report it said that we had one for Garden Grove Unified School District but I thought we also had one at Fountain Valley High School is that not correct because my kids go to school there

But did we used to have one and now we don't have one anymore? Because I remember seeing somebody there.

No, I understand. So you're saying it hasn't been a budgeted position, but when you had extra people, they would go over there? Or maybe I thought I saw somebody, but it was not a dedicated person. Right.

yeah I think the the positions in here are I would agree that they are priority positions so you know based on the based on the study based on especially the court liaison I know there's a lot of key I don't know How we got 1,800 cases, does that include everything from traffic tickets to burglaries and everything, or is it specific types of cases?

Okay, so we had 1,800 of those in one year. That seems like a lot.

Are we having, does that mean we're having more, I guess, commissions of the crimes or just greater enforcement or accommodation or can you?

Well, I think, you know, one of the reputations that Fountain Valley has is, you know, a very safe place to be. And, you know, I think from the residents, you know, I've heard a lot of positive comments about the police and their feelings about safety. And so, you know, that reflects well on everybody in the department. So on behalf of the residents, I want to thank you guys for keeping us safe. And, you know, I support the recommendations in the report. Thank you.

thank you sir it's just a quick follow-up so each report or each 1800 that doesn't represent necessarily 1800 crimes is there like multiple times they have to go for one crime or is that 1800 separate crimes those would be 1800 separate crimes but not all of those crimes have a victim

Thank you. And that does not also, does it also include the traffic, you know, for the officer has to go to court if, you know, the defendant, you know, decide to fight the ticket? Does that include that in that statistic or no?

Great. You mentioned earlier identifying the five full-time employees, whether it's a need or a want. So here you have identified five of them. I totally understand the need for the lieutenant, the two dispatchers, and the court liaison. But in your own assessment, because I'm hearing that we do have someone that handles the property and evidence technicians. And I could see the court liaison, how beneficial that would release a lot of the officer of their time, you know, prepare the documents with court and all that. I could see the needs of that. But the property liaison, do you think there'

Okay. The only reason why I point that out, because I do agree with my colleague here, is bring the lateral, five of them, up to speed, so the department needs money. And if we can use it temporarily, use that and focus on the money and try to get those lateral coming over, because we may have to increase the bonus.

Yeah, a majority of the five laterals are already funded. It's just they're not hired.

Okay. I want to check with Councilwoman Constantine if she had any comments, questions.

Sure. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Yes. I mean, I completely agree with the assessment. It was a great presentation. I'm fully on board. with the physicians that we need to get some great staff hired for. And just like Council Member Grandis said, we do need to bring in some other officers, some new officers sooner rather than later. And just keep going from there. Thank you again.

Chief, I'm curious, can you explain the relationship between our IT department and some of the IT matters that the police department deal with? What's the relationship?

Sure. I'm kind of looking for any potential redundancy, any kind of efficiency, those sorts of things.

Yeah, and I think part of it is, and I'm learning too a lot about, as cyber security and protecting the physical world now are running in parallel, we're all looking at ways to stop the bad guys. And they always are looking for ways to get in that we're not ready for. So I just want to point out that there is a partnership, there is a collaboration with our IT department and law enforcement. And I think as a council, we've been always mindful of supporting IT. And with supporting IT, we're also supporting our police department because they are intertwined. couple of thank you thank you Scott s

to verify with absolutely yes yeah there's no there's no doubt uh i mean uh you know a safe community you know first responders you know do a great job you know and you're part of that first responders so we need you know the law enforcement as well as fire department to have a great community yeah and and of course we're mindful on on the expenses uh but we're also confident with economic development and some of the ideas coming up

That's where we need to be pushing and figuring out ways to finance some of this. But we're in a position right now where how can we not move forward with this and still expect Fountain Valley to be a great place? So any other comments from council? I think we got what we needed.

Great. Thanks so much, Chief, and thanks to everyone here in the chambers for supporting. All right.

Okay, our next study session item is the sister city advisory delegation trip presentation by Scott Smith, Public Works Director. Welcome.

I thought you were here to fix the squeaky door. I do it all. Whatever.

Yeah, maybe we'll just take a moment. Councilman Bowie just stepped out for a second.

Wish I could be there, everybody. Miss you guys.

I'm sorry, I didn't know you were waiting for me.

And let me start the conversation. How about the first question to answer is whether one or two council members? Maybe we can start there and sort of... Great.

Before I ask questions, City Manager, can you clarify, so 3,500, that's 3,500, and that's 3,500 for who?

Perfect. That's why I wanted the clarification. So from the city standpoint, it's $10,000 for staff, whoever is going. And the other request is coming from the state of the city for the advisory committee. Okay. I just want to clarify. What's the ask?

and those are from sponsorship from the city of the city but the city have a lot to do a lot of work to get the sponsorship thank you and then also just to clarify so the ten thousand dollars that's budgeted that's for all sister city activities for the fiscal year right so that's kind of a not so much this trip it's that's really the full budget for all activities yes and um

Okay, so maybe we can talk about the first question, which is what's the pleasure of the Council? Is there a desire for two members or is there a desire for one? Or Curtain 3? Other? Yeah.

I'll just go back to our last meeting. And I believe Council Member Kim Constantine definitely wants to go to Japan trip. And then at that point, I think there was a discussion whether I or Council Member Guinness was going to be the second person to go. Now, to answer to your question is, me personally, I think that one should be sufficient to go to the trip because my reason is, Once again, we go here, hopefully we'll strike a deal with whichever city in Japan that we'll be working with. We don't know. So to me, that's an unknown factor. Therefore, if it's an unknown factor, I think only one

Okay, that's a good starting point. So any other feedback from council? One council member or two on this upcoming trip?

Yeah, I would say, go ahead, Council Member Constantine, if you'd like to.

Okay, so my feeling is I think either one or two would work. Having been on, I don't know, trips on the city behalf, whether they're local or have to go somewhere, my feeling is if the city council member is willing to put in the time to do the trip, it's beneficial. There's networking opportunities. You forge connections. bonds with people. There's just a lot of good that comes from going on a trip. So I would support, too, if there was another council member that was interested in going, either Council Member Grandis or Council Member Bowie. But if the consensus is just one Council Member Co

Sure. You know, I have to say I really support, too, and just in going in the order that we have as far as the rotation goes, the very set order that we have would be myself serving as mayor this coming end of year, you know, December, and then Councilmember Grandis currently, you know, would be the vice mayor. And, of course, if I weren't reelected, I mean, we have to be realistic. Councilmember Grandis at this point would be the mayor. So that's why it's beneficial for two. I'm here currently at ICSC Western, the big retailer. It was now called Innovating Commerce Serving Communities, the sh

Okay. Well, we've got one, one, one or two, two. And Councilman Grandes, you seem to be the siding factor.

I think either one or two would work. This trip, part of it sounds like this wonderful, exciting, get to go see the world. Based on the last one I went on, I was really wondering, do I really want to do this again? It's a big effort. It's a huge effort. I know my wife was stating to me, she was like, you're going to do that again? Because it was running from train to train to meeting to meeting. It wasn't social, really, other than seeing some of the stuff and visiting the one town that I went to that was north of Tokyo, Sakura City. Where I got to meet the mayor I was the only council member

No, it's good. That's why I wanted to start with this question first, because it's sort of the determining issue, one or two.

Yeah, our last trip was extremely hot and humid, and it was crazy. Got lost a few times, but still made it. And it's a Yeah, it's not a social thing. It's a very fast pace. And I really would hope we would have to think that's my boy.

So, one or two, you know, either way will work, but giving the, you know, the expense on the second round, and we don't have assurance that we could, you know, which city we're gonna sign with. So I'm more lean toward one person. to be really fiscally responsible of the general funds and the fund from the state of the city. If it doesn't materialize, that means we've got to do it again. We've got to travel again. So if you don't have a concrete deal, just like anyone on the business world, if you don't have a business deal, you don't travel that far and spend that much money until you know you

Okay, that's great. Just for clarifications, so she is the daughter of the mayor, and does she hold any position in the city? And since coming back, has the mayor himself or staff have emailed you in the progress of that discussion?

Herself. That's one, no? No, the mayor is a female. The mayor is a female.

Yeah, and to layer on, Councilman Bui, I think, so the intent of hosting Kiko Kiyoke, the daughter of Mayor Kiyoki Koke, is, you know, it's more of a goodwill gesture. I think you raise a good point, you know, what's the process for solidifying a friendship and you know, really a sister city agreement. And it does have a sort of a contractual nature to it. So there is going to be a, you know, a meeting of the minds, a moment of probably ceremonial handshake, but more than that, you know, there is going to be signing of documents with commitments that behind those commitments are financial, but

Agree. So in other words, we go there, just like you said, courtships, to figure out which city would be best fit for our city. And in their token, they're going to find out if we're best fit for them as well. So to me, it's not a sure thing. So I think having only one council member should be sufficient with the city managers along with all the advisory committee. I think that's more sufficient. I don't really think we need to bring the entire team just to find out which city is going to work for us and which city is going to work for them. And if you all recall last year, I always remember t

So I think electing one person is sufficient. I understand that Council Member Constantine mentioned that I want to go, but my humble opinion is I think we should appoint Glenn Grandis, and here's where I'm going with this. Not say she's not going to get elected. But what happens if she doesn't get elected? Would you send someone who's not going to be here next year to give any input? And I have concern. Glenn Grandis has done a tremendous good job doing reporting in any community he belongs to. So I think he'll come back with a great report. As an alternate, then, you know, let's put Kim Cons

Okay. So council member Bowie, you know, please don't count me out. And like I said, in the last meeting, I want to be a part of this and I will be a part of this in the future, no matter what. And at this point, you know, as far as reporting goes, I'm extremely thorough. Seriously. I question maybe at this point, do we need to have a rep from Cal state Fullerton and even the community foundation? I question that at this point. And, um, I really wouldn't have a problem with being the only council member on the trip. So, I mean, ideally I'd like to have two. I think really it would be better fo

I just want to respond real quick on what you just said. I never say that you gave a bad reporting. I'm just saying that if Council Member Garandis ought to go, he will come back with a great report. So there's really no need for a second person. That was my point.

I think either one of us are very we're very well versed in reporting when need be okay so

My gut is telling me that it's important to have the mayor there. And unfortunately, our current mayor cannot do it. So really, I think then it's really important to have next year's mayor there. I think that's critically important. And as we sit here right now, we don't know if it's Councilmember Constantine or myself who will be mayor next year. All depends on the outcome of the election. I am able to go. I will be going from Chicago. I have a meeting in Chicago. That's why I wasn't sure. But the meeting, just like last time, I was traveling and the meeting ends on the date that everyone's t

I want to make sure I understand that. What do you mean by refundable if she gets elected? Because the election doesn't happen until...

When is the date of the trip? It's Thanksgiving week.

Are we able to get the refund? I don't know.

It's a small, you get a refundable ticket. You would just buy a refundable ticket. I don't think, Council Member Concer, you haven't purchased a ticket yet, have you? Okay, so then we can cancel the hotel, if that doesn't, and then this way we're guaranteed to have a mayor there.

I think that's a good compromise, and that is spending the city money wisely. Yeah, I'm okay with that.

And it's meeting the objectives of the sister city advisory committee, which is to have representation of decision makers and those that can influence. Great. Thank you. Councilman Grandis? Every now and then I come up with a good one. Okay. So I think we've given direction?

Fantastic. All right. Okay, so we'll move into our next study session item. It's Presentation on Political Sign Regulations and Campaigning on City Property. Presentation by City Clerk Rick Miller and City Attorney Colin Burns. Sorry, with the City Attorney.

I'm sorry. I don't mean to interrupt. I just want to make sure I understand that. So when you say residential zone, that's one house?

No, please. I think we have to nuance this and make sure we understand it. So when you say 100 feet of arterial street frontage, if it's a shopping center, you cannot have two signs within 100 feet of each other.

That's not what this says. No, that's not what that says.

a little bit more specific that's the last slide okay okay that's why I'm asking yes it's okay so they could have so within a hundred feet I'm trying to think how big is a hundred feet so that that's pretty significant space third or third of a football field Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm just trying to visualize that. So you could have up to four signs within 100 feet of each other. Correct.

Okay. Sorry. Can you go? I just want clarity on all this. So number five, maximum height. Oh, that's how high you can hang it. Not the size of the sign. Okay. I'm with you now. Nevermind.

That's the height of the sign, not the size of the sign. Correct. Okay. I just want to clarify that. Thank you.

Would an easy up, would that be considered a sign? Or would that fall under something different?

And if they have two people there, then it could be 32 square feet. Okay. I was just going to say, three people. So they have a bunch of people in the booth they could have as big as they want. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.

Colin, just to go back to, so number four seems to be kind of written for a rally or maybe a moment where you've got actual folks holding signs. I kind of think of like Main Street and PCH where there's a lot of large signs, but they're personally attended. And so that allows in the moment for that? Yes.

But the key distinction is personally attended by the holder of that.

Vice Mayor Harper? You're going to the mailbag, huh? Yes.

I think even the conversation we had in the last study session talked about people running for office and not. So it's going to happen.

One thing we didn't cover and I think was an issue, and maybe you did and I just didn't catch it, is we have different events that the city puts on that get sponsored. And the way I understood to this point, and I have nothing in this one way or the other, Incumbents were not allowed to do it, non-incumbents were allowed to do it. How do we even the playing field, or do we?

That didn't answer my question. So I understand a non-incumbent, can an incumbent do it too?

So everybody's on a even playing field? Yes. Okay, that's good, okay. City Manager Lee.

Basically, the city attorney is saying that when you have an event that is, we call it private, which is closed, you can control.

Understood. Understood. I think the way it was done this year is, at least what I was told, is non-incumbents can and incumbents cannot. But we're saying that's not the case.

I'm okay with it. I just wanted to make sure we clarify it.

But I think what we're hearing is that right now the person, the candidate, doesn't even need a sponsorship. If they want to go out there with signs and an easy up, they can without a sponsorship.

I want clarity to what city manager just said because I don't want to go down the wrong path and then later on we have to backtrack. Basically you're saying that the city can control Where they will allow or not. That's what you just said a closed event. That's right. The key was it has to be a closed event You gotta make sure that you're it's a clue that not an open event You cannot make a policy an open event because you're gonna hit on the First Amendment right on sponsorships to Free no, it's open to public. I that's not the question if it's not the sponsorship You know, it depends who con

Concerts in the park. It's a city event. I'm not saying I'm with it or against it.

If it's concert in the park, it's a city event, but it's open to the public.

So we're saying we could put up an easy up if we want, and we don't need to even pay a sponsorship.

Unless it's an event and you close it. But if it's open to the public, you'll walk right into the First Amendment. So you've got to be careful.

I guess we could probably control easy ups, though. Somebody could still campaign. But if every person brought an easy up, that wouldn't work either. Okay. So they can campaign, they just cannot set up an ESEA.

At the end of the day, to your point, and I really like what you raise up, is that it has to be a plan field, whether you're incumbent or a candidate. But to me, if you start putting a lot of restrictions, it's actually a disadvantage for any candidate who wants to run. Because we sit on this council, we make rules, make it very difficult for them to come in.

Whatever it is, whatever we decide, either way, I'm good. Just make it equal.

We don't make rules just because they're candidates. Then we block their opportunity to come in.

Mr. Mayor, I would like some clarification, please.

Sure. So, Attorney Collin, if you could, so when you say closed events, you know, National Night Out, movies in the park, they're not closed as in fenced off. When you say closed, do you mean fenced off like Summerfest is? I think we need that point of clarification. Okay. So with that being said, sponsorship packets... At some point, not tonight, but we do need to have something, and that would go for whether incumbents or somebody new running for whatever office. And I do think that's something we need to look into. It's not hard to do this. We just need to get a policy in place about what we're going to allow for sponsorship.

Can you explain what do you mean, what happened? You said public safety engagement. What safety, what's the issue?

I know, I know, but you're saying that there was some concern about public safety.

Okay, I thought you meant there's something happened. Okay, thank you.

Yeah, so a couple of things. Getting back to the four per hundred feet, we have nine candidates running. Does that mean that the first four who run and get there, it's theirs? Can the same person put all four in their spot and not allow anybody else to do it?

So one thing I'd like to see in the future, not this election, obviously it's too late. We have a requirement that there must be approval from the landowner. And the Sakyoka Farms, that's the one that's right outside Costco, that big farm area, they make you get written permission. You have to submit it in writing, and it has to be approved in writing. i would like to see that the anybody who puts a sign up on private property gets signed permission from the right person because like in a shopping center for example there might be 30 stores 20 stores whatever it is And one of the shop owners m

Well, go ahead. That's a great question. I'm going to chime in on this one. Well, here's another problem that you'll come across. The property owners, you know what? The city have no duty to know who I am, whether I approve or not, because that's their right. They don't have to respond to it, because I did ask that question to some of the property owners. Hey, are you okay with this? No, I don't want to respond. I don't have to. Well, then you shouldn't put a sign up there. We can't move on. Well, it's their right. You've got to be careful. They do whatever they want. They are tax holders. The

You trump over their right? Well, we have rights on signs, and we have rights that tell shopping centers what they can and can't do, and this is one of them. If you want to allow political signs, you're welcome to, but you must fill out a form.

So that's one aspect from the landlord of the land. So now on certain property, now you have tenants. And if you ever look at the lease contract on the commercial side, there's no language that prohibits the tenant from exercising his right, who he or she wants to support. So when you're telling the landlord, of the property will cite you, but his lease with the tenant, when the tenant lease that, he has a certain right on that land as users. So therefore, you can't really prohibit the tenant of the store who's on lease because as he's exercised his right, who he or she wants to support. So it

Yeah, but the tenant doesn't have the right to the street, to the 100 feet. That's shared amongst many. The tenant can put a sign up in their window if they want to. That's different. You get a business, put it up in the window.

There's great argument unless that language is written in the lease.

and that's between at least reading you can't tell them where to put i disagree i think we can tell them what to do because we have a policy within the city and just like you know they can't put the flapper banners up of you know the guy who falls over and does all the crazy stuff we control that too we we don't allow that we don't allow banners so You can't talk because it's disrupting. Sorry. Anyway, I lost my train of thought.

Flappers, yeah. So I think the city can't – I don't know. I don't think this is to be decided tonight, but I think we should look into all these things when we bring this back.

Yeah, so, you know, a couple of things here. I do want to say I do know of a center because there was an issue a few years ago. One specific center does have something in the lease as far as, you know, what signs are placed in windows. And in this particular center, they don't allow it. But in general speaking, if a business wants to put a sign in the window, that's totally fine. There is nobody who should ever place signs in the ground, you know, like on street corners or in shopping centers without permission, without proper permission. And for Attorney Collin, if I could please get some cla

maybe if they had questions or signage going awry you know multiple signs not within that distance of 100 feet so to speak you know whenever a little bit what would somebody do would they contact code enforcement do they contact the city clerk i'll ask city clerk councilmember constantine they could reach out to myself or code enforcement uh for to to inspect the property and the signs in question And then what about the issue of signs up the electrical poles? I know we have a couple now, and we've had a few in the past.

Because if the signs aren't removed from the utility poles, it's my understanding that the city cannot because of potential liability in removing the signs.

Right. Absolutely. So it is a big deal. And it is a big deal for our staff, whether it's you, the city clerk, or whether it's our code enforcement staff. There's a lot of labor, a lot of headache, a lot of just keep a knock with the aesthetics of the city. And, you know, when people run for city council or even any other office, you know, well, of course, people that run for our city council, those candidates have to sign off with you, Rick, the city clerk. Other potentials that are running, you know, for other offices of, you know, whatever the other elected offices are, they don't, you know,

And just the last thing I want to say, you know, we hear a lot here in the city. I think a lot of us do. And to me, we just should not have any signage inappropriately, especially with people running for city council. It really, I mean, I don't want to go on, but it's just so detrimental in so many ways. Thank you.

one last comment I would say to all candidates running in the city of Fountain Valley is we have a sign ordinance and there's a spirit of the rule as well as the actual rule and I would encourage any candidate you have control of your own signs you know other people may put them up for you or you may hire a service or whatever but it's up to you as a candidate when you run your campaign to control what people do for you and to monitor it if there's a concern or a complaint and it's it's not according to the rules or the spirit of the rule then do excuse me then do the right thing because quite

And that's not directed at anybody. That's everybody, no matter what you're running for. We'll start looking like Westminster and Huntington. Vice Mayor Harper.

Yeah, I'd like to express a different viewpoint on this. I think that the signs that show up for 30 or 60 days every two years or whenever there's an election are – we already have pretty restrictive sign rules in Fountain Valley, and we're much – have fewer signs than other cities so I really don't have a problem with the signs that are up or have been up in other elections throughout the city. I do think that candidates should be mindful and use professional discretion but at the same time I think our sign rules are fine and I don't want to discourage candidate from putting up signs because

And I have to agree with, you know, our vice mayor. I mean, it's not the first time we're doing this. And at the end of the day, you have to look. All these candidates cried out loud. Like the vice mayor just said, they just want to get the name out, right? And second, they're doing this for what? Volunteer their time to this community at the end of the day. It's volunteerism, that's what they're doing. And you want to make it more difficult for people who want to volunteer? It doesn't make sense. If we get paid six figures behind these diets, I get it. But we're all volunteers. And the candid

Mr. Mayor, may I make another comment, please?

So, you know, we tend to think of Fenton Valley City Council candidates, however many there are in any given election year, there's higher office, there's propositions, there's the potential for, you know, others putting signs in our communities, like we're seeing some of our people putting in other communities. I'm just saying we have an ordinance. I like our temporary non-commercial speech signage ordinance aka campaign signage ordinance no matter what we need to follow that that is what we need to follow and in doing that one can effectively get the name out and just abide by our current or

Well, I believe like Rick just said earlier, so if you find that anybody who is violating, the ordinance is there, Rick has said it, he will reach out to the candidate or the elected official. It is there. It doesn't stop from you. If you want to reach out to them with a city personal email to them, you can do it too. No one's stopping you. Basically, we have mechanism in place, and Rick says he's there. And then you mentioned for those who seek higher office or currently it's higher office and they want to get reelected. You know, their email is on the website. No one's stopping you.

Council Member Bowie, I know how to make contact. I'm just talking about when I was saying this, I was talking about the potential volume of signage. That's what I was talking about. We don't want to be in anything go city. We have an amazing policy plan.

Which is great. I agree with you. We don't want it to be like L.A. It's horrible. But like I say, basically, we have a mechanism. We have a Rick Miller. It's there. Once you see something, you notify our city clerk and yourself. If you want to reach out, let them know, hey, we have an ordinance. That's it. That's the end of that.

Absolutely. And, you know, There needs to be citations and notices before that. Absolutely. I take it seriously. Thank you.

So thank you to City Attorney Burns and City Clerk Miller for a very... You got more slides? Oh, we're not done. The last slide. Okay, all right.

Okay, we've got a public comment. Thank you. Welcome, Libby.

Okay, great. Thank you so much for the presentation from City Clerk Miller and City Attorney Burns. We will take a recess until 6 p.m. Be back in 10. Thank you.

order at 6 0 8 p.m. welcome to the next fat Valley City Council meeting September 15 2026 as always we'll start with our invocation I'd like to welcome up pastor Brent Wagner welcome back if you could all please rise

Well, if everybody would join me. It looks like everybody's standing. You're able. And salute the symbol of our great nation.

Thank you, Councilman Grannis. Okay, next is City Council's successor agency, Housing Authority. Roll call.

Here. All members are present. Thank you. Announcement of supplemental communications.

Thanks so much. Next, we'll move into city manager update. City Manager Maggie Lee.

For the mayor's update. So the strategic planning session on Thursday, September 17th at 9 a.m. to noon at the Fountain Valley Recreation Center. So please join the city council and city staff at our next six-month strategic planning session at the Fountain Valley Recreation Center. This will start about 9 a.m. and generally goes one, a little bit after lunch. And the meeting is open to the public. What are you doing Saturday morning? You wanna join me for my next mile with the mayor? This will be the third and hopefully we'll be able to do another one. But this time we're gonna meet at the Re

And Mr. Mayor, is there color preference on that day?

So good thing you mentioned that. Please wear orange to recognize September as the Hunger Action Month in Fount Valley. Hunger Action Month is a national effort to raise awareness of food and nutritional insecurity in our community. We want to inspire members of our community to take action when they can to support hunger issues in Fount Valley and all of Orange County. No reservations are needed. All are welcome. We hope to see you there as we take steps toward a healthier and more connected community. The Fountain Valley Chamber of Commerce legislative update on September 23rd will be at 8.3

Thank you, Mayor. And I want to add something about the Hyundai 5K. So my colleague, Council Member Granitz, is always there every year. So if you want to go out there and throw colors at him, he's ready.

Actually, I'm on vacation that day. Sorry, I didn't know that.

But you're there every year throwing colors.

Yes, I am. Great. So a lot's going on, and that concludes the Mayor's update. Okay, next we'll move into council items for future consideration. Are there any council members that have an item for future consideration? Okay, hearing none, we will move into presentations. We have one presentation tonight. And so tonight we're going to focus on hunger action month proclamation. So what I'd like to do is come down to the podium and I'll read some of the proclamation. And the proclamation is going to be accepted tonight by Liz Andrade. Liz is with 211 OC, which is actually part of what's called th

Thank you so much. Okay, next is First City Council Successor Agency Housing Authority public comments on unscheduled matters. Do we have any requests to speak?

You know, Mr. Mayor, I'm going to give my AB 1234 report because we have the same two people who show up to every meeting. They don't live in the city. They're not part of OCPA. And I feel like it's important that I give the AB 1234. We're going to be just a minute. Comment now instead of when much later when maybe people aren't listening. So I attended three meetings this last month, official meetings with first on Wednesday, September 9th, the OCPA credit facility and CEA tariff briefing. On Thursday, September 10th, I attended the cost of service project briefing. The cost of service has no

Okay. Public comments on scheduled matters only. Do we have any requests to speak? I have no requests to speak on scheduled matters. Okay. We'll move into consent calendar. Consent calendar items one through five will be approved simultaneously with one motion.

Let's make that six. Consent calendar items one through six will be approved simultaneously with one motion under separate action and or discussion if requested. Does anyone wish to move an item?

Next we'll move into public hearings. Each person will have up to three minutes to speak on each public hearing. Item 7, Public Hearing, Fiscal Year 2025-2026, Community Development Block Grant Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report, presentation by our Neighborhood Improvement Manager, Ashlyn Newman. Welcome.

Great. Hold that thought, Ashlyn. I'm going to open the public hearing. Are there any requests to speak? We have no request to speak. Okay. I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing. And now open to questions from council. Yes. Councilman Buoy.

Ashlyn, thank you for the report. I've been hearing that the grant, and there's five throughout the year, there's five, I'm going to say non-profit organizations that continuously apply. And I've been hearing that the grant is so small. And so that's why there's not too many others that want to apply because of all of the work that they have to go through, the process, the administrations. So is there a way to increase that grant? I'm just curious.

Got it. Okay. All right. That makes sense.

And the allocation is designed by the populations? What's the formula?

Any other questions from Council? Well I also want to echo appreciation for really a banner year you know you set goals and a lot of those were exceeded by far so fantastic work also I would like to express our appreciation to the Housing Community Development Advisory Board for all the work that they do as a team you know helping to kind of move these forward as well so great work and thanks so much and okay so I'll call for a motion on the item make a motion to approve item number seven all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed item number seven passes five zero thank you thank you so

Great, thanks so much. Any questions from Council? Councilman Granis?

Yeah, so for those who aren't aware, we're taking all the ambulance calls now as a city versus contracting that out. I assume the revenue associated with the additional revenue from the ambulance program will more than offset the costs.

Okay. Yeah, we kind of know that, but I want to make sure the public knows when we're spending an additional $116,000 Y, and this is, I couldn't support it more. So great job, everyone. Thank you.

I had a question just from a procurement question. It says here it was advertised as a request for bid. Is that the same as a request for proposal or is it different?

Okay, so when we do, like, the sort of the road work, because those are all requests for bid?

I just want to check with Councilwoman Constantine. Any comments or questions?

No, I'm good. Good with this. Thank you.

All right. Well, thanks so much for the presentation. I'll go ahead. Thank you. I'll move the item. First, from Councilman Grandes. Second, from Councilman Bowie. Any other discussion? Public comment. Do you have some card that's still open?

Are there any other requests to speak? I'm seeing none. Okay.

Item number eight passes 5-0. Great. Thanks so much. Now we'll move into appointments. Item nine, appointments to the Cultural, Arts, Recreation, Sports, and Seniors Advisory Committee. We're naming this CARS for simplicity. And introduction by City Clerk Rick Miller.

Well, you know, since we discussed this, I want to say in our last meeting, I've given it some thought. And quite frankly, I'm not prepared to pick somebody, to be very honest with you. It needs to obviously be somebody that, you know, we're considering. And then, of course, you know, we need to talk to that person, be sure they're, you know, they're okay. By the bigger picture, though, It just doesn't feel right to me to do this. I wasn't really crazy to pick citizens for our ad hoc committee either without people doing the applications and interviews. But again, I did. I think it should have

Thank you I'm okay with the direct appointments but I'm not prepared to appoint tonight I didn't realize that we were gonna do it tonight so I haven't really had time to talk to and vet any candidates but I would be prepared by the next meeting to do a direct appointment

Okay. I am prepared to appoint somebody this evening. I'm going to appoint Regina Huebner to it. So I'm good to go, but whatever the pleasure of counsel is fine with me.

I'm also prepared to appoint for tonight as we know that this agenda was coming up but I understand you know tax season is coming up so I know you're busy so you probably didn't have a chance to talk to the community which you totally understand and thank you for saying that you'll appoint someone for the next meeting I'm going to look at the entire, you know, going back, how did this start? So the CARS community really started at our last strategic budget planning. And all of us, including some members of the public that was present, we have to identify three top priorities moving forward for

Okay. Yeah, you know, kind of the larger background on this committee is, We have a lot of big decisions to make specifically regarding the parks master plan. We've got a brand new document. There are a number of items in there that really need a wide discussion. So we think one of the The value and benefits of a CARS committee would be to bring the Parks Master Plan in front of that committee and talk about, well, what are some ideas? We've got a lot of data, and so that's kind of a heavy lift that we think would be an effective use of that committee. I think, as Councilmember Bui mentioned,

Yeah, let me suggest that you guys go ahead and make your appointments tonight. I'll do my next meeting. I don't know. The first meeting, I think, is sometime in October.

No, I mean what's the first CARS meeting? Have we set a time for it?

Okay. So if we appoint October 6th, he'll be in time for the first CARS meeting. That was my point, yeah.

Okay. I appreciate that. That sounds reasonable.

And I'm appointing Ms. Fikan. She's here in the room as well. So I'm appointing her.

I'm sorry, but I didn't hear Councilmember Louie's choice. I will write it down.

Okay. Also, Mr. Mayor, if I may, I'm going to go ahead then and put this out on social media, and I'll get some response and can make a selection. However, it is important for me to know, too, when are these meetings going to be? Is it evening, day, weekend? How many meetings are we talking about? I mean, you know, it's because if I talk to people, they're going to ask me, and I do need to get the answers, please. Thank you.

Okay, so, but see, that's the thing. And again, I'm not trying to be sticky about this. I totally respect, and that's why I'm asking. So the first meeting will be in October. but like what, I mean, you know, people work in things.

Yeah. Jenny, would you like to come up and maybe shed some light on the structure of when meetings might be possibly planned in October and every quarter?

And typically the committees meet in the kind of early evening, late afternoon, is that?

What time does the advisory committee is at six, six, six. So probably weeknight at six.

And maybe we might be able to have a zoom option just in case.

Sure, I'll be prepared next meeting, October 6th. Thank you.

So Council Member Constance was taking note, asking who I'm appointing. So actually, her American name is actually Connie, without help, because I was like, you say who? So she got that Connie.

And thank you, Connie, for being here in the chambers tonight. I really appreciate that. Okay. Well, this is new for us, so we're forming it, putting it together, and we appreciate the response.

yeah just want to get qualification there's no particular if the individual is a resident or business and you just appoint whoever you would want to appoint on the committee I think the speaking at least from my vision of what this committee can do it is it's a little bit broader than just our city boundaries because we're talking about Recreation that is regional we're talking about cultural and arts That come from you know from Little Saigon to honey from Huntington Beach from other parts of our County I just don't want to be limiting and not miss you know, I want to miss some opportunities

So Mr. Mayor, if I may, may I please ask if the three that have been selected are residents just for my notes?

Yes. I want to elaborate a little bit to the Mayor's point. I thought that was a really good answer. Here's the reason for this. Keep in mind, we're not the only one in this game. We have Santa Ana involved here. We also have Garden Grove. Those are the partners as well. We're not the only one here. So this is a... I'm sorry, let me take it back. It's different. Well, I'm thinking of the expansion of the other one. Yeah, yeah.

And just to clarify, so my selection, Dr. Wu lives in Huntington Beach, but has businesses here. He probably spends more time in Fountain Valley, I would say, than Huntington Beach. Chamber of Commerce, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I got to say. I do agree with the public speaker. And I mean, you know, we're going to hear about this. And I agree. I agree. The committee members do need to reside in Fountain Valley. And of course, reach out to all the resources and everywhere, of course, to make this extremely successful. Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, I move that we table this to the next meeting. I don't think we should appoint three and two later. Let's just table the whole thing to the next meeting, and we can appoint all at once.

OK. A work in progress. I support that. And so we're going to table this. We'll continue to a future item. I'll still take public comments if we're. It's the last item on our agenda.

One thing I'd like to add, if you want to speak, you just bring a speaker card. Yeah. One thing I wanted to add, we have different committee in this city, and some of the members are not resident of Five Valley. So should we all expel them out?

For example, Debbie Kelly is some of the committee, and she's not resident of Fallon Valley.

Which committee? I'm sorry. I don't know who that is.

Let me find out. I can remember. And there's a few others that are on the committee. I'm sorry. Not cultural. They're not cultural. This is new. This is new. Okay.

Yes, I want to reiterate my desire and very much hope that this committee be for Fountain Valley residents as we do the planning commission and as we do the housing and community development. I'm going to read this paragraph from the staff report. Staff recommends thoughtful consideration for the direct appointments as the committee looks to represent the diverse population and demographics which make up our community. As the city looks towards implementing the Parks and Community Services Master Plan, it is imperative that these spaces, programs, and community events are tailored to our curre

So, Mr. Mayor, again, let's table this at the next meeting. And the way I feel about it, just real quick, is if there's a policy that says it must be Fountain Valley residents, then it must be Fountain Valley residents. If there's not a policy, so maybe the attorney for the city at the next meeting, you could let us know for sure. If not, then it's not. Okay.

Thank you So mr. Mayor at this point, do I need to come prepared next time with a name or no?

Yes Yeah, that was the purpose of tonight and so it's still important to have that at least in mind I think That's what the rest of us have been trying to do. I

Well, I understand that at the same time, though, I did bring up this concern, and the only place I could bring it up would be in this meeting. I mean, you know, we can't, you know, because of the Brown Act.

If you're going to appoint a Fountain Valley resident, I'm sure that would qualify, you know, under whatever policy we have. Unless you're thinking of appointing somebody that's not.

Yeah, let's go to the bring it back, please. No, I'm not.

I'm just wondering, have we made the determination at this point that do our selections need to be found value residents?

We haven't determined that. I don't think we've made that determination.

We're going to move that to the subsequent meeting.

Cool. Okay. City Council, successor agency, housing authority, public comments on unscheduled matters only. Are there any requests to speak?

Okay. Let's see. We'll move into City Council's Accessory Agency Housing Authority AB 1234 General Comments. Why don't we start with Councilwoman Constantine?

I knew it. Thank you. I'm good. Thank you. I'm ready. Yeah, so I want to say I wish I could be here in person with you guys, but I am here in San Diego representing the city at the ICSC Western, which is also known as the Innovating Commerce Serving Communities. And it's a smaller event here in San Diego, but very, very busy and good nevertheless. And I'm trying to read. I have low light in my room here. I'm here also in San Diego, not in my room, but elsewhere. Two great staffers. who are stellar in our city's economic development, and they are Omar Databoy, our community development director

Thank you, Councilwoman Constantine. And also, thank you for your work down there in San Diego at the ICSC conference. We're going to shake it up a little bit, go to Vice Mayor Harper.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. On September 8th, I attended OCTA Regional Transportation Planning Committee. And at that meeting, we are issuing the call for projects for road capacity projects increasing and also signal synchronization. And what happens is those projects go out once a year and cities bid for money that's available. They put in competitive bids. And we've been The city of Fountain Valley has been successful in getting money from OCTA for those projects in the past, so hopefully we'll get some this year. Also, on September 8th, attended the Sister City Advisory Committee meet

Thank you, Vice Mayor Harper. I'll move over to Councilman Bowie.

Mayors, I would love to give the report, but I'm going to have to submit it in because my phone just died.

Yeah, no worries. We know you're out and about.

I just want to know, Councilman, is that the equivalent of the dog ate my homework? just kidding counseling gratis okay i'll be brief um saturday september 5th i attended the kelly osborne golf tournament um dave osborne puts this on every year for this i think it was the 30th year And we played golf at David Baker in the morning and then we had a really nice outing over at Heritage Park afterwards. Dave has done this in memory of his daughter who unfortunately over 30 years ago passed away in a DUI car accident. So please don't drink and drive. But he raises a ton of money for scholarships an

7 p.m. Thursday, 7 p.m. Sorry, 7 o'clock at night, Thursday night. Great. That's p.m. night.

Thank you, Councilman Grandes. And my activities since our last meeting included the following. On September 3rd, I participated in the Monthly Government Advisory Committee, or GAC meeting, where we were updated by our legislative leaders. and staff on various bills in Sacramento and their potential effects to us locally. On September 11th, they attended the 9-11 Remembrance Ceremony for Patriot Day at our Veterans Park. Thank you to our Fountain Valley Fire and Police Departments for organizing and performing this powerful memorial event where we reflected on the horrific tragedies and the s