City Council - Regular Meeting

THERE WE GO. GOOD EVENING, EVERYBODY, AND WELCOME TO A MEETING OF THE ONTARIO CITY COUNCIL. FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS, MADAM CITY CLERK, IS A ROLL CALL.

SO LET'S BEGIN WITH A PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE, WHICH WILL BE LED BY COUNCILMEMBER BOWMAN.

WOULD YOU PLEASE JOIN ME IN A PLEDGE FOR FLAG? READY?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Our invocation tonight will be led by Senior Pastor Gressler Thomas from Ontario Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Thank you. So I'm going to take privilege as the mayor and the agenda. I'm gonna move straight. We're gonna take up public comment after we take up the item that is listed tonight. So, we'll move straight over to council matters, then we'll come back to public comment.

I object any discussion or action under the agenda description boards and committees, which usually apply to citizens boards and commissions and appointments. Agenda provided no staff report, no resolution attachment, list of affected offices, identification of current representatives, proposed replacements, effective dates or explanation that the mayor intends to remove and replace existing city council appointees. Had a staff report. been provided and backup material included, it would have included the following information that the public had a right to know. I noticed that the council did

Mr. Wapner, all you have the right to do... The point of order is not debatable. The point of order... The point of order is not debatable.

Mr. City Attorney, can you please explain... Let's take a recess. I'm sorry. See, we can't even get the progress of the meeting right now because he won't... Because I want to file... It's enough. It's enough. Okay. Thank you, Kizzy. But we need to... Don't do that to him. Please. All we need to do right now is take a recess, and let's go back in the back and talk about what he's doing, because we haven't even taken up the issue.

He's already making comments about us making a decision on these. We're not going to. We have to bring it up now in order to make that decision in two weeks or to discuss it in two weeks.

Thank you. Hold on just a moment, please, so that we can have a point of order here. Okay, thank you. Good evening, everybody. It's good to see you all again. Enrique, good to see you. So after consulting with our city attorney, I feel correct. I'm correct. I did not recognize Mr. Wapner. He didn't ask for my recognition. He just took off. But as far as I'm concerned at this point, Since we've already crossed the barrier, I'm going to go ahead and recognize him that he might make all of his comments right now. The reason for this evening is that we can have the conversation to put it on two we

I don't need recognition by the chair. I appreciate you doing me a favor to obey the state law.

So as I was saying, the only backup material is this memo written by the mayor to the council and was not available to the public. So the public didn't know exactly what was going to be discussed tonight. All you see is boards and commissions. That could mean anything to anybody. So that is not an appropriate posting for the... formal of the Brown Act. The agenda didn't provide any staff report resolution, list of offices, any replacement for city council appointees. There was no staff report or backup. There had been some backup that would include the fact that I was appointed by the city to

There is no second. You haven't been recognized either, Ms. Macias. But I'm overruling his motion and everything. He said everything that he can say in two weeks from now, which is why we bring it forward now in council comments just like we always do. This isn't anything different. Mr. Mayor, can we not accept a motion in a second? Yes.

That it might be his opinion of a point of order, but I don't believe it's in a timely manner. It doesn't follow our history of what we've done, and it's premature by all means. I felt it would be magnanimous to give him the opportunity to tell everybody he does everything. But beyond that, it's just a matter of the process that we go through. And when I overrule him, he doesn't have the opportunity to ask for a second and a vote on whether he should be taken, but at the same time, I think that it might not be bad to go ahead and take that vote.

Continue the meeting until it's properly posted.

All right. Okay. So that's due process for you folks. Now, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Mr. Barrett.

Another point of order. I just want to make sure for the record I review and preserve my exception.

You are once again taking exception to the rule. I didn't recognize you to be speaking right now. I know you're the mayor and I know you want to do this. Yeah, that's right. You're not in charge. I do have a right to state my opinion. You do, but you have to do it in proper order. And you already saw that I gave you- You obviously don't know the order.

You don't know Robert's Rules of Law. No, you don't. Gentlemen. You don't.

You're the one violating, not me. It's just like this whole thing.

Okay, but what I'm demanding, and you're right, thank you, I am the mayor. So you really need to act within Robert's rules and ask for recognition. You keep not doing that out of disrespect as it was brought up out of the audience. So I'm more than happy to hear what you have to say, but you have to do it correctly, okay? So now I recognize you to speak.

For the record, I want to renew and preserve my objection under Government Code Section 954.2. My participation in this discussion does not waive that objection. I request that the clerk record my objection and precise motion made concerning the appointment, the legal authority assorted, and each council member's vote. Thank you.

All right, you know what, there is a question I have to ask Mr. City Attorney. I see that we have a ton of public comment, and not really, because they don't always describe what it's about. And so I have to ask the public, if you filled out a blue slip, how many of you filled out a blue slip believing you were going to be speaking to this issue? Yeah, because it's not agendized as, like he said, as an item that you could say item six, whatever. And so rather than hear all of the public comments at this time, right, could I adjust and say, if you think this is what you wanted to speak to, come

So as I call your name, if you believe that this was the item you wanted to speak to instead of just general public comment, I'd like to, before I make my statement about why we're doing this, because it's not personal, it's not personal. It's about taking care of the city. So Chris Robles.

Thank you, Chris. Kizzy, did you want to speak to this issue?

All right, thank you. Gianna Morrison. Okay, not this issue, Michael Rios.

I think you should just wait for the three-minute public comment. Buffy Gutierrez, are you speaking about this issue? Would you like to? Okay.

Okay. Marty Binney? This issue or different? Okay. Brad Newman? Okay. Martha Aragon? This issue or another? Okay, wait. Then, next. Marty McBride? Okay. Matt Munson?

All right, thank you. Luis Suarez? Yeah, yeah. Javier Hernandez? Tommy Muschigan? Not here? But make sure, is he going to speak to this or something different? Okay, we'll call him up for public comment. Andrea Galvan. Andrea Galvan. Karen May.

Marianne and Andrew? Marianne and Andrew? Oh, hi. This issue or public comment? Yes.

Okay, so those are- Those are all the speakers to this item. So I'm going to go ahead and address some things that are going on here because folks, the point of tonight and where it is on the agenda is to prepare for an upcoming agenda. That's the process. We have to bring it up now and I can actually unilaterally, uh, ask for something to go on the agenda in a, in a Typical council meeting during council comments, somebody would ask for an item to go on the agenda and a vote to see if that would be okay. So I just wanna make it clear, this wasn't about making any decisions tonight. This was a

Good evening everybody. So here we go. So the FBI executed search warrants at council members' residence and served subpoenas at this city and the Ontario airport. Those are significant events that have understandably raised questions throughout our community. While the investigation continues, it is our responsibility to determine what's in the best interest of the city and the public institutions that we represent. Board and committee assignments are not personal entitlements. They are appointments made by this Council to represent the City of Ontario. When circumstances change, it is our re

Mr. Bowman? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I totally agree. This is a coveted position of trust, and it's very easy to lose that trust. Anytime there's a cloud that's this serious that's put upon trust in general of an organization or one individual of an organization, it's important to take a pause, let everything settle, see what the final result is. If it's one of innocence, it's one of innocence. If it's one of guilt, then let the system take upon itself the legal ramifications for that. But in the meantime, until that is all codified and presented to us, we need to act like professionals and do wh

Thank you. Given that, I don't have to, as the mayor, I can set this as an agendized item before you tonight, given the situation, and for the next meeting. That's all this has been about.

You have to ask. I didn't want to ask you if you didn't want to say anything.

I'll let you finish your statement. No, no, no.

There's a difference between government and policy. The only reason why they want to remove this man out of his seats is because the FBI is involved. If anybody is responsible for him being on these boards for so long, it's you guys. Now, because the FBI is quote unquote involved, you want to remove him from his seats? Your job is to protect the city, and that is my job, and you have not done a good job at it. So now it's your turn to also go.

Mr. Bowman made a motion. Okay. Ms. Ferrata make the second.

I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor, is there a discussion prior to the vote? Yes. Thank you, and I'm gonna, I appreciate you continuing the meeting, sorry, the issue, and I'll hold back most of my comments. I just wanna make a couple corrections. The mayor stated that I was requested to resign, yet the memo to us says that I should be removed, and I think the difference between being resigned and being removed. Also, it says that I'm a subject of an investigation. I've never been named a suspect, a subject, a target of any investigation. They did search the house. We don't know what they were searching for

Yeah. So we'll take the vote. Let's just get on with it. Let's take the vote. Let's put it on the agenda. Okay, so we will have this on the next agenda. I hope you all come again. So I'm gonna move all the way back over to public comment now. And our first speaker is Chris Robles. Mr. Robles, all good things come to those who wait.

All right, Mr. Kizzee, it's now time for your public comment.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Joanna Morrison.

Mr. Leonard, I'll ask our city manager to assign somebody to speak with you about this. Sure, I'm sure you can speak to Captain Carrillo. Back there, right now. Okay, thank you. Thank you for coming forward. Yeah. Our next speaker is Marty Binney.

All right. Thank you, Marty. Brad Newman.

All right. Thank you. Thank you. Marty McBride.

Okay, folks, thank you. We really don't do that here. Javier Hernandez.

Yeah. Right. Thank you. Tommy Mushigan. Not here. Andrea Galvan. Oh, there he is. Uh-huh.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Stephanie. Claudia.

Because you should have been doing it during your time.

That's enough, okay? It's an issue of fairness. We need to go and do this in a- Absolutely. Because you took off and didn't even allow us, you went very fast, you didn't allow us to even tell you to take a minute so we could get a translator. You don't do it your way. You do it our way. And our way is for you to say something. That's okay. Stephanie, love you, but you've got to sit down. Thank you. So we're going to move on to the next issue here. Well, do what you've got to do. And, you know, also remind everybody you're running for office, so that's okay. We'll go ahead and we'll, Mr. Bowman. Mr. Van Wehle. Yeah, we're going to get that.

Okay. We have one more speaker that is called in. So let's hear what she has to say. Tina Silva.

So folks, this is a new system. And if you're, it's like when, Don, when they were on the radio, you would say, turn your radio off, right? Because there's a delay, and that's what's going on. We're trying to get Tina on, but if it isn't gonna work, we're just gonna move on. So we have finished with the public comments. And Mr. Bowman has something to express. And then after that, we're probably gonna just finish.

Yes, well, thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I'm gonna ask, I'm gonna surprise the city attorney if he would read a letter. Because repeatedly I've heard Michigan, others come up and accuse me of something. And I've never responded because it has no, no validity here, but it's something they get great pleasure in doing, and generally there's somebody that puts it up because they think it's funny.

I wanna remind everybody why he's doing that. This is Ontario Night Out. We're actually supposed to be out visiting people in their home parties, so I'm going to see if we can finish this up pretty quick.

I just want to get that perfectly clear for the record. I've listened to this for years. It's put out there for political reasons, of course. unforgettable situation that happened. It was a medical situation. It had nothing to do with alcohol. In fact, the police department did what they had to do at the time and they took four tests in the field that couldn't produce anything. I went to the hospital down the street. Like I said, it was a medical problem. They did the same thing and there was nothing. All of that is submitted under their control, to the hospital, to the district attorney's off

All right. Well, It's my opinion enough has been shared and we do need to get on to this whole thing going on. So without exception, I'd like to thank you for participating in our meeting. Our next regularly scheduled meeting will be on August 18th, 2026. Thank you for attending everybody.