City Council - Regular Meeting

Tuesday, October 6, 2026Official site

The Fountain Valley City Council received presentations regarding the Civic Center Ad Hoc Committee and Public Cable Television Authority, approved several consent items, updated fire response reimbursement policies, and established the CARS Advisory Committee appointments.

About this meeting

Government Body
City Council
Meeting Type
City Council
Location
Fountain Valley, CA
Meeting Date
October 6, 2026

Published excerpts

Only published remarks appear here. The full transcript is not published.

165 sections (from 169 segments)

2:11 – 2:25•Jim Cunneen

Good afternoon, everyone. We call our meeting to order at 5 o'clock. We'll begin with public comments on study session matters only. Are there any requests to speak?

2:28 – 2:45•Jim Cunneen

Okay, we'll move into first presentation. This is the Civic Center Plaza update, the ad hoc committee advisory program we've got. Presentation by community services manager, deputy city manager, Robert Frizzell. Welcome. Thank you, sir. Thank you, council.

17:00 – 17:19•Jim Cunneen

So before I open it up for questions, comments from council, just two quick things. Number one, I'm just curious, are there members of the public that are coming to these ad hoc committee meetings? We have. Because that was one of the intents was to give the public many opportunities to kind of come forward, maybe listen to what's happening, get some ideas out there.

17:32 – 17:56•Jim Cunneen

Sorry, Mr. Mayor. Just real quick. We have representation on the OC library. I actually sit on the library advisory board. And so we have a seat at the table. And Councilmember Constantine is the alternate on that. If that's helpful in any way, let us know how we facilitate that. And I'll pass it to you, Councilman Grandes.

17:57 – 18:08•Glenn Grandis

Yeah, sorry about that. I didn't mean to interrupt. I just wanted to clarify, members of the public, we've had maybe two or three per meeting. It has not been widely attended. I didn't want to mislead anybody there.

18:10•Jim Cunneen

But it is available. It is being advertised. There is access to those meetings. Okay. Great. Okay. I'll open it up for council comments. Sure.

18:20 – 18:54•Kim Constantine

If I may. So, yeah, being on the ad hoc committee is very nice. And actually, our next meeting is going to be on Monday, October 12th at 5 p.m. So once you go into City Hall, make a right. It's the big conference room facing Slater. And... I would be in favor of putting the library renovation on hold, and I think it would be in the best interest. And then also, too, so the Friends of the Fountain Valley Library would have some notice, too, that they can just continue on as is.

19:05•Jim Cunneen

Yeah, my sense is the design has progressed, and so, you know, this may be a surprise to them, so we kind of have to be ready for that.

19:19 – 20:08•Patrick Harper

Thanks. It sounds like you've done a great job gathering information about the properties and the leases and all the getting some good kind of, I'd call it the information gathering phase. So I think that's a good thing. I appreciate all the information you've shared tonight. What is the and so I guess? For today as far as direction with regards to the Boys and Girls Club I guess we just kind of wait until next meeting to hear the next step in the lease negotiations Yep, and for the library I guess if the committee feels that it's a good discussion to have with the county, then, you know, it s

20:56 – 21:20•Ted Bui

Well, Rob, thank you for the report. I think the only question I have is I want to thank you, Council Member Grandes, for sharing the information as to it was like two or three meetings. What is the consensus of the committee? Because it was, what, seven and four? So four members is the committee. What is the consensus on that?

22:23•Jim Cunneen

Thank you. Any other council questions, comments? Give Councilman Grandis an opportunity.

22:30 – 23:35•Glenn Grandis

Thank you. I appreciate you reaching out. I don't want to interrupt others as they're speaking. So, yeah, I mean, we just want to reach out to the library, see what the options are. I think the odds of us doing something with that building permanently is pretty slim, just based on the cost. But with The jamboree method of potentially purchasing and building property. It does at least give us potentially a way to do it and fund it. And 1 thing, I just want to be clear too, is that. The housing, if they were to purchase and we exchange. you know, and built housing on city property. We sell them

23:38 – 23:58•Jim Cunneen

Another question is the the triggering of the Surplus Property Act. And so I know we kind of dealt with that a few years ago, but how does that relate to even some of the ideas that we're thinking about? Does that become a factor in some of these options?

24:32 – 24:50•Jim Cunneen

Okay. Any last call? No? All right. Well, thank you so much, Deputy City Manager Frizzell, on the presentation. And did we give you any kind of? I've got everything I need. You did? Okay. I appreciate it. Okay. And Mayor. Yes. I can. City Manager Lee.

25:38 – 26:10•Jim Cunneen

Yeah, I think what makes the most sense to me is communication. And so if we have some thoughts, how are we as a city communicating that to the county, particularly the librarian and all those that are responsible for capital improvements? So I think that's probably a good starting point. I'm not sure when our next meetings, they're not scheduled. structured very yeah yeah I think I think the next one's this month but they're not they're not as patterned as most meetings are so

26:14 – 26:37•Jim Cunneen

Yeah, I think that might be a good first step is to have kind of a city communication thing. This sort of is the temperature, the thinking of the council. Yeah. Because I believe it's pretty far along in the design, and it's been budgeted. So we kind of want to see where we fit.

26:42 – 27:00•Jim Cunneen

It is our property. They are a tenant. I believe we have some leverage. But I think that first communication would be a good starting point. Terrific. We don't want them to read about it in an article. How's that? We want to do this directly. Correct.

27:01•Patrick Harper

We've got a reporter over here. We can read about it. No, I'm just kidding. Exactly.

27:09 – 27:20•Jim Cunneen

Thanks so much. Move on to our next presentation, update on public cable television authority PCTA. Presentation by management analyst Megan Wishner.

43:19 – 43:32•Jim Cunneen

Great. Thanks Megan. I'll open it up to counsel for Discussion and sort of direction on those three calls of questions Sure Councilwoman Constantine.

43:32•Kim Constantine

So currently, Megan, I forgot, who are currently the council members on PCT?

43:43 – 44:00•Kim Constantine

Oh, okay. So I do believe that we need to have a policy as to what is filmed. And that will alleviate some

44:28 – 44:51•Patrick Harper

specific policy yeah I mean I would like I mean other let's see how to say I hadn't formulated anything it could be dangerous um let's see well let me let me suggest maybe uh we before we formulate our own policy we can see if there's other cities have policies that they use and maybe copy copy theirs just as a suggestion Sure.

46:03 – 46:43•Kim Constantine

Yeah. I mean, personally, I would like to, well, first I want to say thank you very much for the video. If you, if that was your thought and you narrating and all, that was a really cool video. And I'd like to, I'll get a copy and I will share that, put that out there. Cause now I, cause I have a fire stick. Now I know what to use it for partly. So anyway, um, well personally, I would not like to see anything political or politically charged events with even the undertones of politics. Because sometimes, you know, we can get caught up and think that we have something for good intentions that's not really what we need to do.

46:48 – 47:13•Ted Bui

I think in the PCDA it's clearly always said that there's no political filming anyway. That's my understanding. I think you summed it very well, Danny, which is as long as it's governmental, as long as it's information to the public, that's it. I remember last time I checked with you and you said, no, we can't film anything political. It's already in there already, so I'm not sure why you're trying to go with this.

47:13 – 47:31•Kim Constantine

Well, Council Member Bowie, if I'm not mistaken, maybe I am mistaken, the – let's say, the potluck that was supposed to be where people eat their own food, but then was really a potluck in maybe breaking the Guinness Book of World Records, that was real political. I mean, there were candidates and signs and

47:33 – 47:46•Ted Bui

Well, we only control whether a parameter that was outside or a parameter, there's nothing there. If you're saying that, there were some candidate that runs here, they were campaigning, but that's nothing we could do.

47:47 – 47:59•Kim Constantine

Well, the bottom line is- There were exercises in the First Amendment. And I get all that about the amendments and the Constitution, but the thing is, I had given direction as far as when my input was asked, and that was a no.

48:01•Ted Bui

Well, I think at the end of the day, Danny clarified me, there was no filming of any moment of any elected official speaking or anything like that. Am I correct?

48:28 – 49:17•Ted Bui

That's great. So I hate to say this, but I'm not sure why you didn't like the potluck. That was not the intent of the entire program. I would, you know, welcome you to go speak to the community that formed that. That was not at all. And I do like what Vice Mayor Harper have said, you know, if you should look at other city, what they're doing. I think we have not, the city of family have not done anything wrong here. How they've been conducting the PCDA, the program. What you brought up, Megan, it was on point. If budgets shrink, spending shrink. That's been spending responsibly. And I really l

49:22 – 51:51•Glenn Grandis

Yeah, so I was the one who asked this to be brought back. And I was on PCTA Board for four years. I was treasurer, I think, for almost three years of it. So I was intimately involved with the numbers. And I would say that it's not just a 22 percent decrease. It's probably a 50, 60 percent decrease from five years ago. And I don't think we clarified why the numbers are going down and that is the money that comes in from this is those that subscribe to spectrum. And. People are changing from spectrum to streaming and therefore we're not getting the revenue anymore. Um. When I was there, when I l

53:42 – 55:53•Glenn Grandis

Yes. And when we just did the legislative breakfast, that probably cost a couple grand. What I would suggest going forward, if we want to videotape that, that we hold it in the council chambers going forward and that we always try to do all events in the council chambers unless we can't. Just to save money. My opinion is that PCTA eventually will be going away. The revenues continue to drastically decrease and it will continue to the point where we're not able to do any kind of remote type filming other than what we provide at City Council meetings. And we would have to provide that whether we

55:56•Ted Bui

Councilman Bowie. But before I start, I want to make sure Councilman Greenwich is done with his thought.

56:03•Glenn Grandis

Yeah, no, I assume you know the answer to that, so I defer to you.

56:07 – 56:51•Ted Bui

Okay, great. Thank you. I concur with what you said earlier. There's one thing that I kind of want to talk a little bit is the budget, which is the PEG. I think you projected for spending for what, next year, about $70,000, I think? $71,000. 71,000. And of that 71,000, you mentioned core government programming, and we saw those lists, and city and community program. And then you mentioned at the end is reference to different multi-language media outreach and all that. Of that peg, how much have you allocated the allocation for those type of programming? Have that been considered to those?

57:00 – 57:53•Ted Bui

Okay, I think it is worthwhile to look at other means of communicating to the public. For example, I'm going to speak to a different group in the community, and they do not look at some of the way how we give out information. That's probably why you don't have a different search of resident that engage because they don't watch that platform. so we should consider you know study what platform are they watching evaluate those and bring those back and present to us and we can look at it if it's worthwhile to implement those and of course keeping the budget that set forth moving forward so we're s

57:54 – 58:50•Glenn Grandis

Thank you. So we did a survey. We posted it. Again, I haven't been on the board for two years, but before I left, we tried to figure out how many people actually watch. We know people watch the meetings. A lot of people watch it online now versus even on Channel 3. And we offered gift cards. I think we bought 10 $100 gift cards. I forget what the exact amounts were. And we couldn't give them away because nobody, I think maybe one or two people, took the survey, which told me that we just don't have the viewership that we think we do. And we're spending, you know, in the past it was over $100,0

59:10•Glenn Grandis

Right, but we spent $160,000 out of PEG funds to set up the council chambers for...

59:20 – 59:42•Glenn Grandis

So we may not spend it all in one year, but we sure as heck spend it on equipment because if the chamber in the back of the room goes out or the equipment where Danny is on the side room goes out, that's very expensive. So, correct, I think that we have said, I just want to make sure it's clear to counsel that we don't have 70,000 to spend just on programming.

59:43 – 1:00:49•Ted Bui

Okay. Well, thank you, Council Member Granitz, for that clarification. But the methodology that you referenced, the survey, may not apply to a certain group of the populations because they're not into survey. That's number one. One of the biggest media, TV media, in Orange County is actually right here in the heart of Fountain Valley. And they have a viewership of 30,000. So the survey not saying it's right is wrong, but it's not the indications of the whole view of certain things. I could tell you that the different groups here, they are into radio, believe it or not, and that's how they list

1:00:49 – 1:01:29•Patrick Harper

Vice Mayor Harper? Let me suggest that we just give staff direction to try to determine the different ways viewership that people are viewing media and see if there's a way to kind of get a sense of how that is in Fountain Valley. If there's a segment that's not viewing PCTA, is it because we're not providing the media? Is it because they're not interested? Are they viewing on other opportunities, something like that? Maybe we try and we just can't determine it, but I think we'll leave that up to you.

1:01:32 – 1:01:56•Kim Constantine

Sure. So I would actually like everything to go through, Megan, as we do and we supposedly do. Do not overspend, please. I mean, just in general, in theory. And perhaps, too, the Fountain Valley Chamber of Commerce could be sought for funding. I mean, especially since there were no electives at the most recent event on September 23rd other than us. And that's it. Thank you.

1:01:56 – 1:02:28•Jim Cunneen

Yeah, I think to kind of wrap all this up, I think great ideas from those that know PCTA who are serving, representing our city. There's a couple of things we can do for budget management, perhaps when there's a request or a request is made of, let's say, the mayor. We could just take a look at the budget and see this is what we spent to date. This is kind of what's left for the year. Maybe make some good. prudent business decision or financial decisions based on that and Good shape for 2026 as there's only been five requests so far.

1:02:30 – 1:03:04•Jim Cunneen

Yeah, I think it's good Just just paint. Where are we in the you know, what's the budget? What's been spent? What's left to spend? That's an easy you do that in ten seconds or less. I And, you know, we've all been married now, and so we kind of know how the process works. And, you know, I really appreciate all that PCTA does. I want to make sure we emphasize that. Yeah, no, they're incredible. I have spectrum, and pretty much every night, you know, as I go from Channel 2 to Channel 3, we go right by it, and then, hey, there's something cool on it. Excellent.

1:03:05 – 1:03:51•Glenn Grandis

Can I make one last comment? Yes. so one thing that megan and i did and i think we need to get back to this is i used to do the weekly mayor's messages and it was basically megan holding a cell phone and videotaping it and that worked just great didn't cost anything other than megan's time which is precious i get that but i think we need to go back to you know less production still information but doing it in a more costly way to do it. And then just last comment from Councilman Buoy, I was in agreement with you. I was saying that on PCTA, they're not viewing it, not other. I think they are ge

1:05:10 – 1:05:22•Jim Cunneen

Great. Thank you so much, Megan. Thank you, Danny. Thank you. Okay, we're going to take just a quick recess. We'll start about 6.10. We'll be right back.

1:13:56 – 1:14:16•Jim Cunneen

Go ahead and call our meeting to order at 6.11 PM. Welcome, everyone, to Foud Valley City Council meeting Tuesday, October 6, 2026. We'd like to begin with an invocation, and we're very blessed to have Chaplain Chuck McElhinney here tonight. Please rise.

1:16:23•Jim Cunneen

Amen. Thank you, Chaplain Chuck. Next we'll have the salute to the flag by Council Member Kim Constantine.

1:16:31•Kim Constantine

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance to the

1:16:54•Jim Cunneen

Thank you, Councilwoman Constantine. Sure. Next, we'll move into City Council's successor agency housing authority roll call.

1:17:26•Glenn Grandis

My door is ajar, and there is nobody in the room with me.

1:17:44•Jim Cunneen

Thank you. Are there any supplemental communications?

1:17:50•Jim Cunneen

All right. Next we'll move into City Manager Update from City Manager Maggie Lee.

1:20:02 – 1:23:24•Jim Cunneen

Thank you, City Manager Lee. So for the mayor's update, Fire Department open house on October 10th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Residents of Fountain Valley are invited to attend this year's Fire Department open house on Saturday, October 10th. And this is at Fire Station 1 on Bouchard, across from Fountain Valley High School. This year's Fire Prevention Week campaign, Charge into Fire Safety, Safe charging is a superpower. Highlights the importance of safely charging and using lithium ion battery powered devices. Bring the whole family out for a fun and educational day at the fire station. Tour fir

1:23:25•Ted Bui

Mayor, I didn't know you could speak Spanish. That was good. Thank you. Thank you.

1:23:30•Jim Cunneen

Thank you. I think before we get into presentation, City Clerk Miller, do we want to open up public comments for unscheduled matters? Or should we move into presentations?

1:23:45•Jim Cunneen

Sorry. I always race past that. I do apologize. Are there any items for future consideration?

1:23:51 – 1:24:13•Kim Constantine

I have one. So I'm just going to throw this out there. We had our September 17th strategic planning meeting. Just that I'd throw it out there in case anybody wanted to make a second on the potential of exiting the contract we have with OCPA, which is the Orange County Power Authority. I may bring this up from time to time.

1:24:14•Patrick Harper

I'll second to bring that back to a future meeting.

1:24:20•Jim Cunneen

Are there any items for consideration? Okay. Hearing none, we'll move into

1:24:29•Jim Cunneen

I just want to give council one more opportunity. We do have council member Grandis in New York. Any? No?

1:24:37 – 1:24:50•Glenn Grandis

I just, I'm a little confused. We just went over it at strategic planning. We had the presentation. Why are we going to do another presentation on OCPA? This is getting to be old.

1:24:50 – 1:25:13•Kim Constantine

Well, it's not a presentation. I mean, in my mind, we want to know specifically the timeline. My whole concern with OCP, and we know that I was the one that voted against it, the thing is I just don't want the city to keep going and going, and then we're on the hook for millions of dollars. So we need to just be very clear, see where we're at, where we're headed. It is what it is.

1:25:14•Glenn Grandis

We need a clear idea. You voted after strategic planning. We didn't vote.

1:25:24 – 1:25:47•Glenn Grandis

Thank you. At the strategic planning, you voted four to one. We voted to continue to move on. We can't keep every meeting doing this. It's not fair to staff. It's not fair to OCPA. We've already gone through this already. Are we asking to bring this back for another strategic planning session?

1:25:49•Jim Cunneen

So we do have a first and a second on this item. We do need to move on. Are there any other items for consideration? City Manager Lee?

1:26:46 – 1:27:04•Kim Constantine

So Maggie, the thing is we need to be very concerned about spending as far as our taxpayer funds. The more we keep going with OCPA, and not starting the start date until April 1st or whenever, we will be on the hook for millions of dollars.

1:27:05 – 1:27:18•Jim Cunneen

As a point of order, the question has been presented by the city manager. I think she's seeking a specific answer. We need to provide that. So that's your motion. Can you provide that date to the city manager?

1:27:20•Kim Constantine

The date of what? When do I want it brought back?

1:27:25•Kim Constantine

October 20th is fine. The next meeting is fine. February, no. That's not going to work, unfortunately. It's too late.

1:27:34 – 1:27:52•Glenn Grandis

I need to make a clarification. Council Member Constantine does not pay attention during strategic planning sessions because it was brought up. It does not cost us millions of dollars. And to put that information out there is just blatantly false. And in my opinion, is politicking for the election.

1:27:52 – 1:28:04•Kim Constantine

You know, it's not. We have to get the upper hand on the contract. And for your information, I asked CEO Mosca of OCPA two questions, and I had to rein him in to get the answer to the second one. Thank you.

1:28:04 – 1:28:30•Glenn Grandis

And you voted yes to keep going forward. So to bring it back again, we cannot do this every meeting. Attorney Holland, we... I thought in order for somebody to bring something back, there has to be at least a majority to do that. That was our policy so that she wouldn't keep doing this. It has to be a three to two vote to bring it back.

1:29:45•Kim Constantine

And this is the first time I'm bringing this up. This has not been presented before. Thank you.

1:29:53•Jim Cunneen

Okay. Any other items for future consideration?

1:30:10•Jim Cunneen

Yes, I think that's the idea. Okay, great. Okay, now we'll move into public comments on unscheduled matters.

1:30:24•Jim Cunneen

OK. First is Advisory Committee for Persons with Disabilities Award Program. Presentation by Jenny Worsham, Community Services Manager, and John Borak.

1:36:43 – 1:40:26•Jim Cunneen

Great. Thank you, John. Next, we're going to move into a recognition of a very special award, just to kind of set the stage. We really like to celebrate Eagle Scouts, both girls and boy Scouts. It has personal significance for me. When I was young, I also was a Scout. I only got to Tenderfoot. I didn't get very far. But you know what? Once a Scout, always a Scout. So whenever there's a chance to celebrate an Eagle Scout in our community. We're going to try to do that. So tonight is one of those moments. So we're very excited to recognize Emerus Hay, who belongs to troop number one Eagle Scout,

1:40:42 – 1:41:08•Jim Cunneen

Okay, first of all on behalf of the city of Fountain Valley. The city of Fountain Valley proudly acknowledges your remarkable achievement in attaining the rank of Eagle Scout. This honor symbolizes perseverance, integrity, and a profound dedication to serving others. We commend you for this outstanding accomplishment and wish you all the best in future endeavors from us here at the council.

1:41:12 – 1:42:23•Jim Cunneen

And there's one more, Supervisor Janet Winn from District 1. She also sends her best, and so I'd just like to read this to you. This is her Certificate of Merit from the County of Orange, presented to Emerus Hay, Scout Troop 1. Has earned the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest honor awarded by Scouting America, by demonstrating exceptional leadership, character, and dedication to service. To achieve this distinction, you progress through the ranks of Scout, Tenderfoot, as far as I got. Second class, first class, star and life, earned at least 21 merit badges and led a meaningful service project

1:44:06 – 1:44:31•Ted Bui

Councilman Blay? So Emory, I have a question for you. How long did it take you to become an Eagle Scout? Because I know that there's hundreds of Boy Scout that goes through the rigorous discipline, I'm going to call it training, but not many of them make it.

1:44:32•Jim Cunneen

You can go up to the microphone, yeah, perfect.

1:44:41 – 1:44:53•Ted Bui

I was trying to get... Yeah, yeah. The question is, first of all, are you the first one in your family that has earned the Eagle Scout? Oh, no, I'm not the first, yeah. You're not the first? Okay. Yeah. So you have siblings that are Eagle Scouts?

1:45:00 – 1:45:19•Ted Bui

Wow, that's quite a bit. So the question is, how long did it take you to achieve the title of Eagle Scout? Because I know that there's hundreds of Boy Scouts that goes through it, but not too many make it all the way to the end to Eagle Scout.

1:45:39•Ted Bui

Okay. How about two years, three years, four years? How long did it take you personally?

1:45:46•Ted Bui

All right. I'm thinking for my son. I'm going to give him a challenge. Thank you.

1:45:51 – 1:46:09•Jim Cunneen

Thank you so much. Thank you. And you all don't have to stay. You're welcome to go home. I'm sure you've got homework. Okay, our last presentation will be Republic Services, an update on their services to the community. Presentation by Republic Services, Debbie Kelly. Welcome.

1:52:22•Ted Bui

I thought you were going to say what happened in Vegas stays in Vegas.

1:54:20 – 1:54:37•Jim Cunneen

I know that, yeah, a round of applause. I know that our household of seven, we generate a lot of bulky items, and that 40 items, 10 at a time, four times a year, is a huge benefit to the decluttering process that must always be taken into account.

1:54:41•Patrick Harper

A question. So do you offer a senior discount program for the seniors? We do, yes. And do the seniors have to apply for that? And if so, how do they go about getting that?

1:55:12•Patrick Harper

And second question, are there different size trash bins available or just the one standard size?

1:56:07•Patrick Harper

And how do you, if you want to exchange, because I, now that you mentioned it, one of my carts is cracked, so how do I?

1:56:23 – 1:56:46•Jim Cunneen

All right, thank you. Any other council comments? I do want to say that we really appreciate Republic Services. You are everywhere. And I think that says a lot about your commitment to our community. But just helping keep Valley clean, which keeps it a nice place to live.

1:57:00•Jim Cunneen

About a round of applause. Okay, we're going to move in.

1:57:16 – 1:57:35•Jim Cunneen

Great. Thanks, Dan. There will be a cleaning crew. Thanks so much. Speaking of clean, right? OK. Next is First City Council Successor Agency Housing Authority public comments on unscheduled matters. Do we have any requests to speak?

2:07:34•Ted Bui

Well, Dan, thank you for the invitations, but I'm going to be a very cheap date because I don't drink. Thank you.

2:10:32 – 2:11:06•Jim Cunneen

OK. That's it. OK. Public comments on scheduled matters only. Are there any requests to speak? We have one request to speak on item number four. Item number four. OK. I think we can probably move that to item four. OK, next we'll move into consent calendar. Consent calendar items one and two will be approved simultaneously with one motion, unless separate action and or discussion is requested. Does anyone wish to remove an item?

2:11:10•Kim Constantine

I move to approve the consent calendar of items one and two.

2:11:16•Jim Cunneen

Do I have a second? Council member Bowie?

2:11:36 – 2:11:53•Jim Cunneen

Okay, we'll move into administrative items. Item 3, adopt a resolution identifying the terms and conditions for Fount Valley Fire Department response away from official duty station and assigned to an emergency incident. Presentation by Fire Chief Chris Nigg. Welcome.

2:14:30•Jim Cunneen

Thank you, Chief. Are there any questions from council? Vice Mayor Harper.

2:14:36 – 2:14:56•Patrick Harper

Thanks. I appreciate you bringing this to the council. And definitely, you know, 2015, that's a long time. And I'm sure we've got some new classifications since then. The question is, do we have any staff that are out helping fires right now or anticipate any soon or?

2:15:25•Jim Cunneen

Okay, great. Thanks so much, Chief. There's no other council comments. I'll call for a motion on item three.

2:15:37•Jim Cunneen

I'll go ahead and second that. Any other discussion?

2:15:51 – 2:16:10•Jim Cunneen

OK, our last item is appointments. Appointments to the Cultural Arts, Recreation, Sports, and Seniors Advisory Committee. Report by Deputy City Manager, Community Services Director. I'm giving you a lead time. Rob Frazell. Welcome.

2:19:34•Jim Cunneen

I think if it's okay with the council we'd like to pause there and then open for public comments. Any requests to speak?

2:21:30•Jim Cunneen

Okay I'll open it up to City Council for comments. Who would like to go first?

2:21:36 – 2:22:56•Kim Constantine

So you know when I put this on social media actually several Fountain Valley residents were interested and so that's very nice. I'm totally against this. Now we're moving to a reasonable nexus. I mean come on what are we doing here? We need Fountain Valley residents. It's a Fountain Valley committee. We need to be careful who we place on our committees. Where we're being directed, input, I mean, I'm a little freaked out. I'm not going to lie. And it feels dirty to cherry pick. From the last meeting, I didn't have a name, and I was on Zoom because I was doing city business. So it was explained

2:22:57•Jim Cunneen

Any other requests to speak? Yeah. Vice Mayor Harper.

2:23:02 – 2:24:01•Patrick Harper

Yeah, I'll comment. I've had some time to sort of think this over, and I'm in agreement that it should be city residents. You know, if we start to allow non-residents, then the worst case scenario is we have five non-residents on the panel, which I think is a bad result. And while there could be a good argument that Dr. VanVu would be a valuable member to the committee, he's business owner in Fountain Valley, president of the Chamber of Commerce, certainly would be a valuable contributor. I think the most appropriate thing for the committee is for the five appointed to be city presidents. if w

2:24:03 – 2:26:30•Ted Bui

Councilman Bui? Thank you for sharing those thoughts, but I have a different perspective on looking at things. Basically, what you're saying, you're sending a message to the business owners in the city that your voice does not matter because you don't live in the city. So therefore, you cannot participate in any advisory committee. And keep in mind, this is a volunteer position. They don't get paid for this. But there, in my view, there are stakeholders of the city. And they contribute a lot of tax to the city. The successful for any city are the small business owners. Do they have contributio

2:27:01 – 2:27:45•Ted Bui

It's a combination, right? Yeah. Okay. To me, any city is going to be successful if we don't have some good business. They're not going to be successful. And to the Vice Mayor's point, we're not saying that we appoint everyone. Any one of us can appoint whoever he or she chooses to be. It's not because we leave that open, that means all the councils are going to pick non-resident. And you're reaching out, which is great, but any council can appoint anybody. If you choose to pick a resident, that's your choice. Great. If the mayors want to pick a person who is a business owner, that's great. Th

2:27:47 – 2:28:38•Kim Constantine

Mr. Mayor, may I? Yes, Councilwoman. Okay, so a couple things here. Nobody speaks for me except for me. Let's make that real clear. Measure HH committee members, with the exception of a business member where there's a specific category for that, then that's warranted as far as business. So Measure HH, our Civic Center Ad Hoc Committee, And HCD, they don't receive stipends, and we do need to have Fountain Valley residents. We do already have the forum for business forums. I've heard Maggie talk and others talk about that there's been business forums. I think the chamber even might have done som

2:28:40•Ted Bui

You just didn't like the answer you got from the Chamber of Commerce. That's not true. They already told you by several. Council Member Bowie, this is not your business.

2:28:48•Kim Constantine

Stay in your lane, Council Member Bowie. I'm telling you.

2:28:50 – 2:29:03•Jim Cunneen

I did not interrupt when you spoke. Stay in your lane. I'm going to interrupt. We have one public request to speak. I would request council to speak one at a time. Otherwise, you're going to get the gavel.

2:29:04 – 2:29:50•Ted Bui

Thank you, Mr. Chair. You came to the chambers, and you brought that same message as you're doing today, and the chamber has addressed to you, but you did not like the answer you got. So you're bitter about it, and you're very being divisive on these issues. Many other cities, such as Garden Grove, City of Orange, Anaheim, Westminster, have a point. you know volunteers individual on committee they don't even live in the city because they're business owners they can bring some value to the city So why are we exceptional hard stand on that? It's because, like I said, you're just not happy with t

2:29:50 – 2:30:12•Kim Constantine

So Councilmember Bowie and everybody, I am not bitter about anything. The Chamber has not said anything. They don't want to take responsibility or anything like that. They won't even acknowledge it. It has nothing to do with VanVu. You need to get over yourself here. Do not speak for me. It should be Fountain Valley residents only. Stop trying to mix other things in here. It's so inappropriate. Thank you.

2:30:14•Jim Cunneen

We have one request to speak. Yes. Dan Stewart.

2:31:54•Jim Cunneen

So, Mr. Hay, why don't we just, we'll pause your time. Let me just defer to the city attorney.

2:32:14•Jim Cunneen

Okay, based on city attorney advice, please proceed. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

2:34:54•Kim Constantine

Mr. Mayor, I have one last sentence, please.

2:34:58 – 2:35:22•Kim Constantine

So the endorsement on the candidate's website, the man who just spoke, it said, again, on the website. It was nothing on a personal anything on a Facebook page. It said VanVue Fountain Valley Chamber President. That was present from May 31st, at least, until September 3rd. So it was a Fountain Valley Chamber of Commerce endorsement collectively. Don't tell me no. Thank you.

2:35:27 – 2:35:52•Glenn Grandis

We have gone way off topic with all of this. I think what happened with the chamber that was immaterial, I think that I actually don't even want to discuss it. It has nothing to do with this topic, and I think we need to just stop talking about endorsements. We're getting so into campaigning that

2:35:54 – 2:36:26•Ted Bui

you know and i apologize to mr hay for interrupting him i thought he was going in a different direction um but again we're getting into campaigning here and i hate the whole thing i i concur with i concur with councilman grandus um and i apologize uh maybe i started it but i just wanted people to understand the bitterness that was behind the scene it's not really the business people the business people here will are the victim of it that's the way i looked at it She's just not happy about it.

2:36:27•Kim Constantine

Council Member Bowie, you cannot speak for me. Don't do it.

2:36:44•Jim Cunneen

Yeah, we are on item four, just for clarity. This is the Cars Geraldine Larson.

2:42:17 – 2:42:32•Kim Constantine

Okay, so I want to remind everybody, to include the last two speakers, we're talking about the CARS Committee. It stands for Cultural Arts, Recreation, Sports, and Seniors. It's an advisory committee. I don't recall we're going to do any business, but okay, thank you.

2:42:36 – 2:43:31•Ted Bui

Councilman Bowie? Well, when you say that there's no business in that portions, there can be business in that portions because they bring the expertise that can bring into those event. I'll give an example. Coach role, right? You can have a business owner that has a lot of experience in the coach role and they can bring their experience in there. That's an example. You could have someone who is, I'm going to give an example, Randy, who handles the UCI Health. He doesn't live in Valley, but he could bring a lot of his experience on the seniors at the hospital. That's the experience that they ha

2:43:32•Kim Constantine

So Council Member Bowie, I do understand what you said, but it's a different context. And I know I'm correct with what I said. Thank you.

2:43:40•Jim Cunneen

We have another request to speak. Sure do. Kristen Escona. Welcome.

2:44:34 – 2:44:58•Ted Bui

I have no more requests to speak. I just want to add one point to the speaker that just spoke. Jim, you were a past board of Tracy at Fountain Valley Unified School District. Can you share your thoughts on that process on that side, on the students and they don't live here? I saw that. I think you have some experience.

2:44:58 – 2:47:02•Jim Cunneen

Yeah, that's an interesting point because Fat Valley School District actually has three schools that are in Huntington Beach. The families really cross our borders continuously. There are probably close to 20% inter-district transfers. And to Councilman Bowie's point, there is non-residents who send their kids into our Fountain Valley within the city limits, within our schools. And so it again contributes to our city, the contributions of those students. I did want to make a mention just to kind of take us back to why we're here. And this really traces back to the springtime strategic planning

2:47:12 – 2:48:14•Ted Bui

This is, like I say, we're in a brand new charters, right, territory. I mean, why put restrictions, you know, on business people? That's the way I look at it. It's not because we don't put any, you know, restriction on business. It means that everyone on this council has got a point of person that lives outside the city. We pick someone that we think that will represent the city well. and do a good job, volunteerism. I think that's the bottom line. At the end of the day, there are the advisory committee to the council, what program the community wants, what the business wants, what the residen

2:48:18•Jim Cunneen

Councilman Grandis just wanted to open this up for you. What are your thoughts?

2:48:26 – 2:49:21•Glenn Grandis

don't like any of this to be honest i think this is just taking just a really bad turn i think the whole thing it's you know it's a quarterly committee that meets every three months for a culture or you know to try to be inclusive of the vietnamese community that's really where it started to try to get everybody to be on the same page and boy this did not It's not happening. There's nothing in here that talks about business, so I appreciate the chambers that came and spoke, but really, it's not regarding that. It's unfortunate that we're doing all this. And I feel like I'm in the middle right

2:49:21 – 2:49:58•Ted Bui

But the business part of that, those business are, you know, part of the cultural. I think that's what's happening here. Because the mayor appointed Dr. Van Voo, because he thought that he was, I think at his last meeting he thought he was going to bring some cultural experience. And the message that came constantly is excluding the business. That's got the business people upset. That's why they're here. And I guarantee you, I support more than 50. None of them have said no. This should be included.

2:49:59•Kim Constantine

Excuse me, Council Member Bowie. I don't want to put you on the spot. I personally read through the paperwork. And that's all I have to say. Thank you.

2:50:09 – 2:51:24•Patrick Harper

Thanks in the interest of moving this forward because I think it's important to get a cars committee seated I think other than the mayor I think all of us are appointing residents of Fountain Valley I think for this round of appointments which lasts through December 31st of 2028 I would be comfortable appointing the members that we have including Van Vu although my personal preference is that we should be appointing only residents I think for this round which again gets us going takes us through December 2028 I think we just appoint the people that we have right now And then, you know, for the

2:51:26 – 2:51:39•Jim Cunneen

Thank you, Vice Mayor Harper. So at this stage, why don't we present our appointments, our primary and our secondary? I think City Clerk Miller, you want to record that, and then we can vote on that. Excuse me.

2:51:39 – 2:52:20•Kim Constantine

I have something important here. Number six, it says, from our paperwork, the staff wrote, City Council members shall name a primary candidate and a secondary candidate for consideration. Should the primary candidate not be available to serve the committee? Last time we did not appoint anybody, some names were brought forth. There was nothing official there. Ideally, we should all be having two names. I have two names to found value residents names So instead of just settling for what we what some of you thought occurred last time with this one gentleman who lives in Huntington Beach There sho

2:52:42•Kim Constantine

Yeah, but if the primary, though, is not found value, but the alternate is, the alternate needs to be the primary. I'm not going to compromise here. On behalf of our residents.

2:52:59•Ted Bui

Well, that's your choice. Mr. Mayor? Will you appoint anybody?

2:53:07 – 2:54:17•Glenn Grandis

Yeah. I almost think that we should not make this a city commission. Let's just make it a group that gets together. It's not appointed by the city. I don't think this needs... be run by the city at this point it's basically like a non-profit group getting together um i i have a little bit of problem having a non-resident you know we can allow a non-resident for the planning commission and we can now a non-resident for hcd that's business related and what i had said at the beginning is whatever the policy that's in place that's what i would follow so know if if we other than hh have we ever had

2:54:21 – 2:55:09•Ted Bui

I'm going to have to disagree with that. It's because it's not going to be a good representation of each city council. I want a certain individual that I know well, that they're well connected in the community, and that will be my choice. And now, like Vice Mayor Harper said, we don't have a really policy. This is a new charter. And yeah, 2028, there's going to be new council. So you can make policy at that time. But on this round, I'm going to stick with my appointment I made last time. And I do have an alternate. When I saw the agenda that we have a second, I already have a second person in

2:55:13•Jim Cunneen

OK, so for clarity, the policy is being decided on. We're not actually putting forward names.

2:55:27 – 2:55:48•Patrick Harper

We're going forward with names. We have two names. Let's appoint them and then we can finish this issue. That's where we started. I just wanted to clarify. Not everybody's 100% happy about this, neither am I, but in the interest of getting the committee seated and going, I think we should just move ahead.

2:55:48•Jim Cunneen

City Clerk Miller, would you like to go to each council member and request those names? Absolutely.

2:55:56•Kim Constantine

Sure. Ann Bettinger, she's here tonight. And then also Tina Dubuque. Both are in our Citizens Academy this round.

2:56:10 – 2:56:33•Patrick Harper

thank you I'd like to point Kim To who's runs he's a business owner but also a resident of Fountain Valley on Vietface TV very happy to appoint him and also the alternate would be Kristin Azcona councilmember Bowie I point Nicole Tran and the alternate will be Dave Garofalo

2:56:39 – 2:57:06•Glenn Grandis

councilmember Grandis so we have a second non that my president mm-hmm okay uh I am gonna point Regina Huebner and I'll be honest I didn't have a second but I'll do based on her commitment to fill in from her mom when she's not available I'll go with Rudy Huebner as the alternate but I have to confirm with her first

2:57:10•Jim Cunneen

Yeah, I want to stick with Dr. Van Voo as my primary. And my alternate is Leo Trung.

2:57:24•Glenn Grandis

Mayor Kenean, I don't know who that is. Can you tell us who he is?

2:57:29•Jim Cunneen

Yeah, he's a local business owner. Lives in Fountain Valley. Thank you.

2:58:05 – 2:58:24•Jim Cunneen

Okay. Thanks, everyone. We'll move into public comments. Unscheduled matters only. One more request. I have none. Okay. All right. Next is City Council's successor agency, Housing Authority AB1234. General comments.

2:58:25 – 2:59:13•Ted Bui

Mr. Mayor? Yes. May I make a quick comment before the audience leave? I just want to thank you, the business that came out and here on this topic. Someone has been here since 6 o'clock. because when I share them the situations in the city, actually to be quite honest with you, quite a few of them were upset that the thought was to exclude them out from the process. So they were quite upset about that, so that's why some of them have showed up and some of them, You know, business owners are very hardworking people. Some of them have another job after their own business, so they couldn't be here

2:59:14•Jim Cunneen

Thank you. Thank you. Okay, with the AB123 reports, how about we'll go to the Big Apple, Councilman Glenn Grandis.

2:59:25•Glenn Grandis

No, it's almost 11 o'clock at night. I got up at 7 local time, which is 4 o'clock in the morning. Actually, 6.30, so 3.30. I'm going to skip that for tonight, and I'm going to go to bed.

2:59:43 – 3:01:49•Kim Constantine

Councilwoman Constantine. Sure. So on September 15th, I was still at ICSC Western in San Diego. And I have complete information in my AB1234 that I gave already to Rick. So I'll make this brief. Let's see here. Attended our strategic planning meeting on September 17th. Always happy to attend those. And been attending for many years. We had the courageous touch a truck and car show by the Fountain Valley Police and Fire Departments. That was really cool. The OC Sanitation District board member event. It was on Zoom. The Friends of the Library hosted a Don't Be a Victim, Be Aware of Fraud and Sc

3:01:51 – 3:05:11•Ted Bui

Thank you. I'll move over to Councilman Bui. Yes. On September 3rd, I attend the OC Park meeting. September 9, OC Sand meeting. On September 11, Lobster Fest. And then on September 16, PCTA board meeting. And then at the end, later on, I attend the PD batch pinning ceremony. That was amazing. And I'm Really proud of our finest officers that we have here in family, including the chief. The way how they prepared this year, it was very well done. I really enjoyed that painting ceremony and see new officer coming on board. So congratulations to all of them. And of course, those who got promoted as

3:05:15 – 3:07:35•Patrick Harper

Well, everybody's gone, but I want to thank everybody for coming out tonight and speaking. Really appreciate your input. And on September 16th, attended a PCTA meeting. Also later that day went to the police department badge ceremony. We had 11, 9, I think we had somewhere around, how many did we have? How many badge? I think it was, I'm going to say 11. So those are promotions or new recruits for the police department. And it was a great summer. The room was full over at the rec center, probably had over 150 people there. And it's a great tradition that we do to celebrate the accomplishments

3:07:38 – 3:11:50•Jim Cunneen

Great. So my activities since our last meeting included the following. On September 17th, I attended our city's semiannual strategic planning workshop at Miles Square Park Recreation Center. I want to thank Ryder and Morgan from Trapeze Smith for facilitating this important discussion and evaluation of our city vision, policies, and future roadmap for city success. Later that day, I joined City Manager Lee and other department leaders to celebrate her career excellence award at the Women's Leadership Conference held at the Pomona Mining Company Restaurant in L.A. County. We are very proud of C

3:11:51 – 3:12:37•Ted Bui

Yes, Mayor. I would like to add a comment. I would like to invite Council Member Grandes to... Council Member Grandes, I'm looking at you. Hello? Okay. I was wishing you'd pay attention. I would like to invite Council Member Grandes to join me for next year breaking the Guinness World Record. As you saw the event, it was not supposed to be political, and I agree with you 100% that some people took advantage of that. And we are not happy with that. So I would love to invite you to join next year with me, with others who are on the board, to break the Guinness World Record in 2027. If they decid

3:12:38•Glenn Grandis

Okay, thank you. So I'm going to bring my son Alex again. I'm in. Thank you.

3:12:44 – 3:13:02•Jim Cunneen

OK, I'd like to adjourn the meeting in honor and in the memory of former Fountain Valley Fire Chief Richard Jorgensen. So our next regular meeting of the Fountain Valley City Council will be here in the chambers Tuesday, October 20, 2026 at 6 PM. Have a good evening.

These excerpts are remarks by officials whose identity a person confirmed, from a transcript generated automatically from the official public meeting video and presented unedited. Accuracy may vary; view the original recording for reference.