City Council - Regular Meeting

I AM CALLING THE GOOD EVENING. IT IS AUGUST 25, 2026. I WOULD LIKE TO CALL TO ORDER THE MEETING OF THE MICHIGAN VALLEY CITY COUNCIL, THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FINANCING AUTHORITY, THE SUCCESSOR AGENCY OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AGENCY, THE HOUSING AUTHORITY AND THE LIBRARY BOARD OF We're going to take a verbal roll call, and we'll be doing verbal votes tonight as well with Councilmember Reich being remote and participating via Zoom. So Councilmember Kelly is running a bit late, so she will join us directly in closed session. Councilmember Reich?

Aye.

Thank you. That's difficult to hear. Councilmember Reich, will you say that again?

Council Member Reich is here.

Thank you. Now I can hear you. Council Member Vasquez?

Here.

Council Member Goodell? Present. Sorry, Mayor Pro Tem Goodell. And Mayor Wendy Bucknum, I am present as well. Okay, Mr. City Attorney, are there any items for closed session tonight? If you would please share with us.

Yes, Madam Mayor, we have three items on the closed session calendar. The first item is Conference of Legal Counsel existing litigation, and that is under Government Code section 54956.9, subsection D, subsection 1. That's the existing litigation of Janet Cronin Gath versus the city. The second item is Conference of Legal Counsel anticipation of litigation, one case under the same government code with subsection D2, potential litigation. THE THIRD ITEM IS THE ANNUAL PUBLIC AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION UNDER GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 54957B1 ON THE TITLE OF THE APPLOYEE IS THE ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER AND THAT IS OUR CLOSED SESSION FOR THIS EVENING.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH. OKAY. WE WILL GO AHEAD AND ADJOURN AND RECESS TO CLOSE NOT ADJOURN BUT RECESS TO CLOSE SESSION AND WE'LL RETURN AT 6 P.M. OR SHORTLY THEREAFTER. SEE YOU SOON.

Good evening.

It is August 25th, 2026, and we're calling to order the meeting of the Mission Viejo City Council, the Community Development Financing Authority, the successor agency of the Community Development Agency, the Housing Authority, and the Library Board of Trustees. I'm doing a verbal roll call this evening because we have Councilmember Reich participating remotely this evening. And I will start with Councilmember Kelly. Councilmember Reich. Thank you. Council Member Vasquez. Here. And Mayor Pro Tem Goodell. Present. And myself am present. Mr. City Attorney, do we have anything to report out of closed session?

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

We do have a closed session report.

AS LISTED ON THE CLOSED SESSION AGENDA, CITY COUNCIL MET FOR THREE ITEMS IN CLOSED SESSION. THOSE ITEMS WERE CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNCIL, EXISTING LITIGATION, ONE CASE, JENNIFER GATH AT ALL VERSUS THE CITY OF MISSION VIEJO. SECOND ITEM WAS CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNCIL, ANTICIPATIONAL LITIGATION. One case, potential litigation. The third matter was annual public employee performance evaluation. One matter, and that is the assistant city manager. All city council members were present in closed session. While in closed session, the city council took no reportable action. And that concludes the closed session report.

Thank you. Tonight, we're going to have the invocation by Mayor Pro Tem Goodell and the Pledge of Allegiance by Council Member Vasquez.

Please join me in prayer. Lord, we ask you to watch over our proceedings tonight. We ask you that we all do our best effort to hear each other, to understand the issues, and to come to reasonable and proper outcomes for our community. We thank you so much for the beautiful place that we have to live and work in, and we thank you for the opportunity to represent the people of this beautiful place here in this council. Tonight, Lord, I ask for a special prayer of protection and healing for, excuse me, for one of our planning commissioners and one of our very best friends, Joe Blum. He's fighting for his life tonight at Mission Hospital. And we just ask you, Lord, to strengthen him, to strengthen his lungs and his heart, to overcome the pneumonia that brought him down. We ask this in your name. Amen.

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Ready, begin.

One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

Okay, I'm gonna go down to the podium. We have a presentation this evening and I'll meet you down there.

And you'll all be ready for pictures here.

Okay. Tonight we have the unique opportunity to recognize the Sports and Events Tourism Committee. And I'd like to, we have a lot of people here. The reason we're wearing orange is you're gonna discover in a moment why. I'd like to ask Mayor Pro Tem Brian Goodell, who is the chairperson of the Sports and Events Tourism Committee, we call it SET, Brian Goodell, to come on down to the podium and present the proclamation. and perhaps say a few words. And we do have multiple proclamations here. I'm going to read it once, the main part, and then we'll customize for the actual team or member that we're presenting the proclamation to. Brian, go ahead.

Okay. Okay. Well, thank you, Mayor. So we started this committee several years ago, about eight years ago, I believe it was, maybe nine. And when the Olympics were announced to be coming to Los Angeles in 2028, several people in the community asked us to try to get some events here in Mission Viejo. We found out quite quickly that the organizing committee wouldn't allow any events to happen outside of LA proper, at least that's what they were stating at the time. And so we decided to market our city as a training center for many of the nations that are coming to LA for the games. And I just want to mention a couple of names. Jerry Henberger was the first one I remember asking us to do this. OF COURSE, BOB AND MANY OTHERS ASKED FOR THAT. SO WE CREATED A PROGRAM THAT WE NOW CALL OUR SPORTS AND ECONOMIC TOURISM COMMITTEE IN THE CITY OF MISSION VIEJO. WE CALLED OUR COMMUNITY PARTNERS. WE CALLED THE COLLEGE, THE SCHOOL DISTRICTS, THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. our natadors at the lake. And we put Mr. Nix in charge of all of it. And he's done a great job. So Mark Nix and his team have done a wonderful job in coordinating this over the years. And we've created a very strong partnership with all our community partners to help us in meeting the needs of these teams that will be coming and staying here embedded in Mission Viejo to train for the games. They'll stay in our hotels. They'll eat at our restaurants. So it's an economic tourism benefit, as well as the fact that we all get to participate and get to see the folks out there wearing uniforms like my shirt here and other uniforms from teams around the world. We pulled in some professionals to help us, and these guys have done a great job. Greg Harney, former managing director of the USOC, is over here, and Gary Moy. Raise your hand, you guys. Wave for the crowd. They've done a phenomenal job bringing all of these National Olympic committees here to Mission Viejo. And of course, I don't want to... Failed to mention my co-chair, Dr. Michelle Mitchell, the managing director of the Mission Viejo Nata Dorries, or executive director, I'm not sure. Anyhow, two-time Olympic silver medalist in diving. She's been phenomenal as well. So together as a team, we've worked really well together. So let's talk about some of the things we've done. First off, I'll just mention we've created a vision statement from our team to promote our local economy by positioning Mission Viejo as a premier destination to experience and participate in athletic events. And our mission statement, we are dedicated to providing world-class sporting events, venues, and training opportunities to inspire our youth, increase local business revenues, and elevate our profile as a sports mecca and hub for sports and events tourism. So I think we're doing a good job of meeting those goals. Okay, to date. to date, I'm gonna read this before I get our proclamations here. Our confirmed countries and contracts, and many of these teams have already started training here in Mission Viejo, in fact, the Australian para swim team was in the pool today in Mission Viejo, and they've been for the last week, yep. Doing a great job over there. They're training for the Pan Pacific Games, which are happening up at Mt. SAC College in Walnut next week. So here we have. We have the Dutch National Olympic and Paralympic teams. And committees have already started coming and training their track and field. They came before the World Cup in Eugene, Oregon about a week ago or two weeks ago. They trained at Saddleback College and stayed at one of our hotels. the Australian Dive and Paraswim Federations, the British Swim Federation, the Canadian Dive Federation, the French Dive Federation, the German Dive Federation, the Japan Swim Federation, The New Zealand Swim Federation was here a week ago, Polish Swim Federation and Para Weightlifting, and our USA diving team is also going to be doing their training here before the games in 2028. So those are all big successes. Good job, you guys. We also have some pending countries that are exploring some pre-game training sites here in Mission Viejo, including Slovakia, China, the Czech Republic, Finland, Spain, and the USA Paralympic Swim Federation. And we keep getting more inquiries. So the program is working very well, and we're creating a lot of success. So far, some of those successes include a million dollar commitment from the Dutch, and they've already submitted $300,000 to the city to help cover all their expenses while they're here, including their hotels and meals. $100,000 from Supervisor Wagner's office. YEAH, OUR ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS NOTICED WHAT WE WERE DOING, AND WE ASKED THEM TO HELP US WITH SOME OF THEIR DISCRETIONARY FUNDS, AND WE GOT A $100,000 GRANT. SUPERVISOR WAGNER GAVE THAT CHECK TO OUR MAYOR AT THE SYMPHONY LAST WEEK. SO THAT WAS AWESOME. Then the Dutch athletic team, just their last one week visit, we calculated $44,000 into our local economy for one week of visit from that team. So that's the type of economic tourism we're talking about. People coming here, taking part in our community, and spending money here to do that. So anyhow, we have other community engagement opportunities we're looking ahead towards. We've submitted applications of interest in hosting several of these, including we volunteered our city for the Olympic torch run. That'll be fun. I got to carry the torch once in 1996 down in Capo Beach and that was amazing. The cauldron event where the torch ends and starts along the route, the cultural Olympiad and official viewing zone, fan zone here in Mission Viejo for the Olympics. So we're working on all of those.

So everyone should be very excited about what's going to happen over the next two years here in our city as the Olympics get closer and closer.

And we also plan to have several Meet the Athlete events where the public can come and meet these athletes. Especially our kids can come and see them and watch them and learn about the commitment level that it takes to be an Olympic athlete. So it's a citywide effort, and we couldn't have done it without our great partners. So I've got some proclamations here for some of them that have helped us. And this one.

Oh, this one's for me. Do you want me to read it?

OK, you read it.

OK.

It says, commemorating the contributions of the community to the American story during the semi-quincentennial anniversary of the United States. So whereas on July 4th, 1776, the United States of America was founded on the bold ideas and enduring convictions of liberty, justice, and the pursuit of happiness, truths that continue to guide our republic. And whereas our nation approaches, or has approached, Its 250th anniversary in 2026, known as the semi-quincentennial or America 250, communities are encouraged to reflect on our history, honor all Americans' contributions, and look to the future. Mission Viejo is renowned for a distinguished Olympic history, from hosting cycling races in 84, to the torch that emblazons the city seal, to being a longtime home and training ground for Olympians. Hosting high-performing athletes builds a strong community, encouraging volunteerism and inspiring residents of all abilities and ages. Community partners are essential to building and uplifting a strong community fabric, fostering community engagement, a sense of civic pride among residents, and playing a crucial role in supporting local efforts for the betterment of the community and offering unique experiences for our residents. The Mission Viejo Sports and Events Committee is a collaborative group of community partners dedicated to attracting major athletic and special events that boost local businesses, showcase the city's world-class facilities, and create unique engagement opportunities for residents. Through coordinated efforts with schools, colleges, local organizations, and sports leaders, the committee has been successful in welcoming multiple international Olympic teams to conduct pre-game training in Mission Viejo ahead of the LA 28 Olympics and global championship events. This growing momentum reinforces the city's role as a vibrant hub for international sports and community pride. So now I, therefore, Wendy Buckton, by virtue of the authority vested in me as the mayor of the city of Mission Viejo, and on behalf of the city council, do hereby recognize the contributions of the Mission Viejo Sports and Events Committee, which is made up of many people, which we're going to mention here in just a moment. But Brian, you've led the way. This was your vision that started a long time ago. along with other people, but it takes somebody that wore that gold medal, has the passion, and frankly put Mission Viejo on the map in the 76 Olympics to really carry that out, and that's you. So this is for you. Thank you. Thank you so much. So the rest, I'm going to let you read.

Is it the same proclamation?

So it's the same proclamation. So I'm going to have you start reading here. So this one is for the Saddleback College. And this should be given to Dr. Lynn. Oh, I'm sorry. The video needed to run first. OK, please. Oh, that's right.

We forgot to introduce the video. Got carried away. Couldn't wait to get the proclamations. Okay, so we have a short video here. Please turn your attention to the viewing screen.

In preparation for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, the city of Mission Viejo is hosting members of the Netherlands Olympic team who will be training at various facilities throughout the city. And today, the Dutch U-20 national team is training right here at Saddleback College.

It's awesome. It really is awesome. We experienced it this week. Our track and field team, our junior team, they were the first ones that came here and experienced the really lovely facilities that you have here. And it really has been a very good first experience. But we already knew. We have been here for two years. We visited the town. We visited, we met the people. So yes, we feel very honored that we can be part of the Olympic preparations here at Mission Viejo.

It's been great. It's been a great week. Super facilities, super friendly people welcoming us and making us feel at home. But also if we have different standards than a college has, anything we want, they make happen for us. So we feel really welcome here.

A multi-year partnership with Team NL had been in negotiation for several years, and now the city and its residents will not only gain the novelty of hosting an Olympic team, but also the benefits of the team using the city's facilities and working with local businesses.

Being successful in elite sport, a big part of it is prepare yourself. Don't be surprised by the circumstances. Prepare. So that's what we did two years ago. We came here with some of our colleagues. We visited half of California. And we came here and we added up all the pluses and minuses. And in the end, we were very convinced, Mission Viejo, Orange County, that has to be the place where we're going to prepare for the Olympics and Paralympics.

For sure. I mean, it's an amazing opportunity not only for the city of Mission Viejo, but for Saddleback College as well. We have amazing facilities, amazing staff and employees that are just looking forward to this partnership. I think for us specifically, we take great care of our facilities. You know, being able to highlight what we do showcase is just wonderful. And for the team Netherlands, we're just hoping for their success. Their success is our success in a way. So we'll be watching very closely and looking at other ways to partner and see how we can support.

You know, we have spent a lot of time in the last couple of years knowing full well that this was going to come to fruition. The businesses are really, really excited. We're really concentrating right now on the restaurants because we know a lot of trainers, trainees are coming. for training and they're looking for food. And so we're setting up a conduit so they can understand where they can access really, really good food.

Mission Viejo has had a proud history with the Olympics dating back to the 1984 L.A. Games when the city hosted the men's and women's cycling road race.

It's something that our residents have talked about for many years. Remember 84? Well, now they're going to say, remember 2028. And that's going to be an exciting part all over our city. We'll see Orange. We'll see the other competitors as well. And the Olympic movement will once again be here back in Mission Viejo. And I think it's here to stay.

The way that we envision Mission Viejo as we were approaching, you know, many years of age, we really saw that we needed to invest in our facilities. And we did that many years ago, as has Saddleback College. as have our high schools, as have many of our businesses. And that is a situation where if you build it and you are prepared, they will come. And that is exactly what happened. And we are so proud that we were forward thinking that the people, even the I'm not even myself, but those before us who had the vision for what Mission Viejo is. And we've stayed on that. We are an Olympic city and we have a sports economy that we're embracing and building upon and the world is seeing that and it's being showcased to the world and we're just so proud of the partnership with Saddleback, our school districts, our businesses and the city.

The Olympic exposure reaches beyond the facilities and local businesses. It also connects with the students here in Mission Viejo as well.

It's very exciting that Kids will be able to see Olympic athletes and be able to see what's going on. And it's also a huge community spirit builder because we all come together and we're able to see this and to build on our Olympic foundation, our Olympic history and heritage. So it's very exciting.

We're so proud to be part of this partnership with the City of Mission Viejo and to provide our students with an opportunity to meet with Olympic athletes and train alongside them and really see if they dedicate themselves to their sport and really dedicate and have the discipline to continue to succeed further what they could truly accomplish if that was something that they wanted to be able to do.

You know, Saddleback does a really great job with partnering with our local high schools in regards to dual enrollment. And so what a great way to advertise and really promote what we do here at Saddleback for students who may want to come here in the future, athletes as well as, you know, those pursuing academics. I think that for our student population that are here now, just the pride. I think they were already proud to be a Saddleback student, but this is just gonna take it to the next level. And what a thing to get to brag about to your family and your friends. And just excited for the students that are coming in to say, you know, we're gonna be attending a school where we hosted the Olympics, some Olympics teams, specifically the Netherlands. So I think just positivity all around.

With world-class facilities and beautiful weather, we're hoping Team Netherlands enjoys their time and training right here in the city of Mission Viejo as they prepare for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Reporting for MVTV News, I'm Garth Wyckoff.

Mission Viejo!

Hi, I'm Fire Captain and PIO Augie Romo. Welcome to the OCFA's quarterly size-up.

Dr. Cordova and Sean Revell from Saddleback College, will you please join us up here? It's our new president from Saddleback College, Dr. Cordova. Sean's been a member of our committee for several years, and he's six years already. Wow. And he handles all of the nuts and bolts of all of the negotiations and contracting for all of the facilities at Saddleback. So it's quite an intricate process. Are we going to do a picture?

Okay, here, let's hold that. Do you want the council members?

We're going to do a big one at the end with everybody.

Okay, yeah, I'm gonna read a little bit of this.

You heard most of it already, but. Whereas Saddleback College is home to world-class athletic facilities, including its premier stadium, track, and the newly developed Thrower's Park, making it one of Southern California's strongest training environments for elite athletes. These top-tier venues were a major factor in Team NL's decision to select Mission Viejo as its official LA-28 pre-games training base. Most recently, Team NL's U-20 Athletic Squad completed intensive training camp at Saddleback Track and Thrower's Park as they prepared for the U-20 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon. The college's high-performance infrastructure continues to position Mission Viejo as a trusted home for international Olympic preparation. And now I, Wendy Bucknum, by virtue of the authority vested in me, on behalf of Wendy Bucknum, the mayor of Mission Viejo, and on behalf of the city council, I recognize the contributions of Saddleback College in the community.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay, we'll get everybody up here, and we'll do a group photo at the end.

Okay, so next is Alicia Folker, our principal from Tribuca Hills, and Carlos Leon? I think it's just me.

Just you, okay. I'm playing a football game tonight. Oh, okay.

All right, well, that's important. Hello. Hi. All right. So also, Tribuca Hills High School has great facilities, and they have bent over backwards accommodating people who show up and all of a sudden say, hey, can we get a workout in? Can we lift weights today? And that happened recently. And Mr. Nix was touring them, and he just made a quick phone call. I said, bring them on over to Tribuca Hills High School. You can get right in. So whereas Tribuca Hills High School and the Saddleback Valley Unified School District offer excellent athletic facilities, including a high quality track and well-equipped weight room, that have become trusted training sites for elite international teams. Their flexibility, hospitality, and genuine excitement in welcoming Olympic athletes created red carpet experience that strongly influenced Team NL's decision to select Mission Viejo as its LA 28 pre-games training hub. I think you guys get the rest of it, so we'll just condense it there.

Thank you.

Okay, next, our great partners at the Mission Viejo Naradores. Dr. Michelle Mitchell, would you please join us up here at the podium? And whereas the Marguerite Aquatic Complex, home of the renowned Mission Viejo Natadores, is one of the nation's premier aquatic venues and a centerpiece of the city's international sports reputation, the Natadores have played an invaluable role in helping the city recruit and welcome high-performance teams from around the world, most recently hosting delegations from Japan, Argentina, Great Britain, and Australia. Their deep expertise in working with Olympic-level athletes combined with their flexibility, enthusiasm, and collaborative spirit has made the complex a trusted training site for global teams. This partnership showcases what Mission Viejo can achieve through thoughtful planning, community pride, and world-class facilities. We have our Director of our Chamber of Commerce, Doug Zalasko. Come on up, Doug. Whereas the Mission Viejo Chamber of Commerce plays a key role in strengthening the connection between local businesses and the city's growing sports tourism efforts, as an active member of the Sports and Events Tourism Committee, the Chamber has helped mobilize and engage the business community around Mission Viejo's LA28 Pregames Training Initiative. Their involvement ensures that local shops, restaurants, and service providers benefit from the influx of international teams while contributing to a welcoming community-wide experience. This partnership highlights how coordinated civic and business engagement can elevate Mission Viejo's profile on the global sports stage.

Thank you, Doug. Appreciate that.

and Supervisor Don Wagner's office. We have our field representative Saga Conray and one of our commissioners. Whereas OC Supervisor, Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner has been a key partner in advancing Mission Viejo sports and events tourism efforts, offering leadership and support that strengthens the city's ability to host world-class athletic programs. His office's $100,000 contribution provides essential resources to ensure Mission Viejo can deliver high quality training venues, reliable transportation, and meaningful community engagement opportunities as part of the LA 28 pre-games training initiative. This investment helps prepare the greater Mission Viejo area to welcome international teams with excellence and professionalism. Supervisor Wagner's involvement underscores the regional commitment to elevating Mission Viejo as a premier Olympic training destination.

So thank you.

We have Capital Unified School District trustee Judy Boulikas. Whereas Capistrano Unified School District, led by Capo Valley High School, offers strong athletic facilities that have become an important part of Mission Viejo's growing sports tourism network, the district's openness, flexibility, and team-oriented approach have offered to make their venues readily available for international training and they are eager to connect their students with visiting high-performance athletes. This collaborative spirit played a meaningful role in Team NL's decision to select Mission Viejo as its 2028 pre-games training base. Their partnership demonstrates how shared community enthusiasm can help elevate the city as a global training destination.

Thank you, Judy.

Last but not least,

Lake Mission Viejo, Andrew Como. Whereas Lake Mission Viejo has quickly become one of the most sought after training venues for international teams preparing for the LA 28 games, thanks to its scenic environment, versatile waterfront facilities, and exceptional hospitality, the red carpet treatment has made visiting national Olympic committees feel at home and confident that the lake can support high performance training needs. The Lake Association's partnership is invaluable. This summer alone, or was invaluable this summer alone, they welcomed teams from Team NL, the Netherlands, Slovakia, and other national Olympic committees exploring Mission Viejo as their pre-games base. Their support, friendliness, and commitment to excellence have significantly strengthened Mission Viejo's appeal as a premier international training hub. So they're looking, in many cases, at the canoeing and kayaking in the lake as a training base. And beach volleyball, too. And the concerts ain't bad either. We're going to do a group photo with this group. OK.

How come I have two of them here? One's for the whole committee, and one's for Team NL. Okay. I don't know. Okay.

Thank you. Thank you. All right, so thanks you guys so much.

And I noticed that we didn't have some of our other partners that have made a major contribution, and I just want to mention them briefly. And that would be the hotels here in town. The hotels have really gone out of their way to make a very hospitable environment for our visitors and have rolled out the red carpet in a way that we've never seen before. So we're very thankful we only have three hotels in town and a couple just down over the border. But they've gone way out of their way to make this a very successful initiative. So OK, thank you, everyone.

So now you know why we're wearing the orange shirts. Okay. Next we have public comments. So persons wishing to address the council on city business that is not listed on the agenda must do so at this time. Members of the public who are present in the chamber and wish to speak should see the city clerk now. For those joining us remotely by Zoom or call-in, please use the raise hand function to be added to the speaker queue. Those wishing to address the council on any item that is listed on the agenda should request to speak before the item is called. Once the public comment period is closed for each item, no additional speakers are permitted in the queue. Each speaker may be allotted three minutes When called, please state your name and city of residence. We will start with our in-person speakers and then move to remote speakers. And when Madam Clerk is ready, please state the number of the public comments we have tonight.

We have received 10 in-person requests and no requests electronically.

Thank you. Would you please proceed with calling the speakers? Thank you.

The first speaker this evening is going to be Mark Alessandro, followed by Noah Zolo.

Okay. Mark Alessandro with Mission Viejo. Thank you, Wendy and Brian, for an excellent talk there.

Looking for the Olympians here.

Okay. I wanted to make you aware of the fatal accident on August 8th. It happened at the intersection of Glenwood Drive and Pacific Crest and Pacific Hills. It was at 9.19 in the evening. It was dark. A speeder was coming up Glenwood Drive and shortcut that intersection. A lady was walking across the street with her husband right behind her, only two and a half feet behind her with a dog. She was halfway through. The driver hit her, knocked her 10 feet, cracked her skull wide open. Doctors couldn't do anything. She died that following evening at 5.30. Very sad. Bring us to your attention. Perhaps you can help us do something to expedite this. We know in the past there's been several incidents. They had put stop signs up. They removed those. They put yield signs up. But nothing is stopping these speeders. The only thing we could think of is some physical deterrence like a speed bump or even cameras or something. So I don't know how many people here on the council were aware of this fatal accident. Anybody? Okay, that's great. The mayor was, and the mayor pro tem was here. I do appreciate that. So we have sent letters to the sheriff, to our homeowners association. We're walking around with the homeowners association in a few weeks to just look at the area and see what they can do. And we have contacted the sheriff, and I sent around a letter that we sent to the sheriff to do something. But it's a very sad and tragic event, so we hope you can help expedite this so something can be done. This is, go ahead.

No, who's the other meetings we're going to very shortly?

Oh, there's a traffic meeting on October 8th that we'll present this to. So thank you so much. Thank you, Wendy.

People cut through our neighborhood to get from Marguerite all the way over to La Paz. And by doing that, it presents a huge amount of traffic. You can't see around our corners because they're round. I mean, they're oval. You can't see. And the lighting is bad. The overgrowth is bad. When we come to that corner to walk our dogs or whatever, we look twice or we look three times before we go ahead because there's been accidents there before. We did... get a yield sign years ago, and it's there, but at night with the lighting and with everything we have, it's a challenge, and we need your help.

Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anything you can do to help us?

Right now, we take your comments, and we will speak at our time to speak. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Wendy. Thank you for coming. Thank you, Council. Thank you.

Noah Zolo followed by Michael Rocher.

Good morning, sorry, good evening members of the City Council of Mission Viejo. My name is Noah Zolo. I am a freshman at Capo Valley High School and I am with the Community of Character Committee. During this time, I would like to introduce this month's character trait, self-control. To quote our papers, the sage philosopher Senesca once stated, most powerful is he who has himself in his own power. These insightful words reveal the wisdom of the one who learns that self-control is a character value developed through mental discipline. For nearly 20 years, millions of kids throughout America have learned how to practice mental discipline that leads to self-control through being taught the STAR process. What is the STAR process? It is a character development decision-making tool that the Jefferson Center of Character Education developed to help young people become kids of character. It has been taught to over 6 million kids in 6,000 classrooms throughout the U.S. It is a character-building winner. STAR stands for Stop, Think, Act, Review, and success through accepting responsibility. As a decision-making tool, the STAR process teaches young people the four important steps to essential decision-making that builds discipline leading to self-control. As a personal example, there are many times in my life where I have definitely thought about saying something in front of a crowd that would have not appreciated it. But by thinking of these processes and controlling myself, I can practice self-control. I think about the consequences of my actions, which affect my judgment and my future. Thank you for listening.

MICHAEL ROCHER FOLLOWED BY FAITH FERNSTON.

GOOD EVENING, MAYOR, COUNCIL MEMBERS. I'M MIKE ROCHER, LONGTIME MISSION VIEJO RESIDENT. NOW, YOU GUYS KNOW I'M ONE OF THOSE PROTESTERS. AS A GENERAL RULE, WE TEND TO BE SOMEWHAT ANTI-AUTHORITARIAN BY NATURE. AS SUCH, IT MAY SURPRISE YOU TO HEAR ME SAY HOW PERSONALLY IMPRESSED I AM WITH CAPTAIN LARSON, YOUR NEW HEAD OF THE CITY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT. KIND OF SURPRISES ME, TOO. I have found him to be open and honest, fair and knowledgeable, always willing to listen and share and generous with his time. He made a good choice with him and I hope he'll stick around for a long time. We've been asking him a lot of questions lately about the surveillance cameras we see around our city and I find him very forthcoming about about their uses, capabilities, as well as some of the misconceptions that are out there. You should know that I actually do trust him to do his utmost to follow the laws and enforce the safeguards that have been put in place to uphold the delicate balance between public safety and personal privacy and to instill that in his deputies. All that being said, I have concerns, and I think you should have some concerns as well. I want law enforcement to catch bad guys, and that's no easy job. And if we all had cameras on us 24-7, no doubt that job would be easier. But at what cost? So where is the appropriate balance? These are not just cameras, but a national interactive network of shareable, coordinated technology whose surveillance capabilities are only now being understood. You've no doubt seen or heard about the abuses that have occurred around the country, and many right here in California. While we may be insulated from those misuses here in our city, thanks to the diligence and guidance of Captain Larson, we must realize that we are only a part of a national system that frankly seems to exhibit some gaping holes in its administration. Add to that the possibility of accessing and hacking of sensitive information compounded by the rapid evolution of AI systems that make that easier, if not inevitable. But my biggest concern is the overall concept that history and the very nature of human beings and governments show that if you build a mass surveillance apparatus, even with the best of intentions and regardless of protections and fail-safes, eventually someone or some entity will come along and misuse it. And with a network as comprehensive as this, our democracy could lose total control over it. What happens when our captain retires? When our council changes? When state laws are modified? or when our leaders no longer respect our constitution or system of checks and balances. Many people around the country are asking their city councils to pull out of their contracts and that these cameras be banned altogether. Some are calling for searches of these databases to be subject to judicial warrants. I believe that a discussion of these issues is crucial on all levels, city council, staff, and residents. Thank you.

Faith Thurston, followed by Bill Moorhead.

Hello, Mayor and City Council members. My name is Faith Thurston. I live at 22921 Via Santa Maria in Mission Viejo. I live next door to the hoarder that lives at 22931 Via Santa Maria. I attended the hearing on August the 5th. I was surprised the only issues Code Enforcement was talking about were the trash cans, the trailer, and stuff, not fire or safety hazards. The officer did not seem very knowledgeable about the case, even though she said she has been on it for three years. He has gotten many extensions. I would like to be informed if the warrant was obtained and when it will be acted upon. He has collected more stuff. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Bucknam and Council. Most of you know who I am. I'm Bill Moorhead. I'm a resident of 27022 Preciados Drive here in Mission Viejo. I've been a resident for 33 years, also a member of the Presbyterian Church up the street. and I also sit on the Board of Directors at Moulton-Lagal Water District and also Lake Mission Viejo. But I'm not here to talk about water, okay? But I'm here as a thank you to the City Council and staff and specifically Mr. Robert Bruton and Dave Lekness, who were the drivers behind the Parade 250. And I was very proud to be invited to that parade as part of the Moulton-LeGault Water District, people that are elected officials here in the city. But I also wanted to call out others. Now, Mark Nix told me not to call him out, but he's not here, so I am gonna call, oh, there he is. But there's a lot of people that were involved in this parade, 250, and I wanted to make sure that both Dave, Robert, and Mark got called out on what a great job they did. And on a little bit more of a personal note, I was raised in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. And Gettysburg is known for lots of parades, and it's very nostalgic for me to be invited to be in this parade. I do remember as a grade school student from one through six, we would take flowers through the town, all the grades, and we'd put flowers on the graves of the war dead, both Confederate and Union soldiers. And that meant a lot to me. It was a big part of my life as far as parades. So being involved in the Mission Viejo 250 parade was a big honor for me and made me very nostalgic. So I might be so bold to suggest future parades. celebrating our country's birthday, say parade 251 or 252, but let's not get too anxious, but I think 255 might be a good one to focus on. And if the city does decide to do parades in the future, celebrating the Fourth of July, I would be honored to be part of that parade, and I would certainly be a volunteer. And in conclusion, again, Most importantly for me, speaking tonight, I want to thank again both Dave Leknes and Robert Breton for the work they did on this parade. I was very proud to be part of it. I think you guys did a great job. With that, thank you very much for listening to me, and I'll see you sometime in the future, I'm sure. Thank you very much.

Wiley Faron, followed by David Smurr.

Howdy there. I'm Wiley Farrin, fan and resident of Mission Viejo, and I'm here because I'm upset. Why am I upset? Great question, Mayor. Flock cameras. They're everywhere these days. They're in the news. They're in all of Mission Viejo. I probably pass by 10 of them on my way to work every single day. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I think it's a little creepy. I think it's a little invasive. And I don't really feel comfortable being watched all the time by the government or by the police. And I didn't even know about these things until six months ago. That's my bad. You guys voted on this last April in 2025. I was behind the times. I'm sorry. I'm here now. I want to get rid of these cameras. At that April 8, 2025 meeting, it sounded like some of the members of the council were scared, scared of roving bands from South America coming up here and committing property violence against the people of Mission Viejo. Particular emphasis was placed on car crimes and property damage. In particular, one of you even mentioned that you'd been the victim of catalytic converter theft multiple times. When the police commander who was here wove a stirring narrative of flock cameras being able to save a little old lady from a carjacking, thank you, and a little old lady from a carjacking or being able to track catalytic converters with the cameras, where was, how could you not get the cameras? It made sense. I mean, exchange the populace's privacy for safety. We all want safety, right? But who's providing the safety? The commander here that day, he mentioned misuse and just kind of brushed it aside, if I'm being honest. But right over in Costa Mesa, a police officer stalked his wife, stalked his mistress. Are they safer? I don't think they are. That's just one bad officer though, right? One bad apple. You all know the phrase. The whole phrase is one bad apple spoils the bunch. And I don't really feel comfortable with anyone in that bunch having access to where I'm going. In particular, the company that controls this data, Flock, what are their credentials? Where were they like 10 years ago? What kind of security system do they have in place that Facebook, Equifax, Chase Bank have that they don't? All those three companies I just listed have had data breaches with catastrophic consequences for the public. and you're telling me that Flock has some magic security that will prevent these data breaches? If this data gets out, who knows who could get access to this? Gangs, terrorists, knowing where we go at every moment of the day? That seems way worse. I think I'm running low on time. How much time do I got left? Does it say? 27 seconds. Perfect. Let's keep going then. Catalytic converter theft. This all started because of that, if we're boiling it down to brass tacks. And I don't think these car crimes are so omnipresent where we need to be monitored at all times. And even if they are, I think there's a simpler solution than monitoring the entire public. We could just put serial numbers on the catalytic converters, turn it into a more controlled thing, similar to cars. You have to have a, you have to, oh, I'm out of time. I'll be back here next week. Thank you. Get rid of me, she'll be outside.

David Smurr, followed by Angela Ponticelli.

Madam Mayor, City Council, my name is David Smurr. I'm a longtime resident of Mission Viejo, and I live with my back up against the Muirelands International Speedway. So since Muirlands has been adopted as the route from La Paz to the freeway or whatever freeway access, La Paz has turned into a speed, Now, within the last 10 days there was an accident. Within the last month there was another accident, both of which happened right behind my house. Now, there are a couple of speed signs on the street. But I've called police before and asked for help. I've asked for any kind of advice or any kind of furthering of information to maybe help with us that live in that speed zone. The accidents have gotten worse. The one just a few days ago bounced across the street Two sides of the street ended up on a curb. The one prior to that took out trees. It was late at night, took out trees, and then it was a hit and run. They disappeared. Police did finally capture them. So all I'm saying is, That street has turned very, very violent and very fast. And it wasn't like that when I moved in here. Now, I get it, progress, et cetera, et cetera. But all I ask is that we put up some additional speed limit signs or perhaps a flashing sign that says, hey, you're doing 70 miles an hour. The way the street is designed, there are blind spots coming up and over the top of the hill and coming bottom up over the top of the hill either way. So motorcycles and trucks haul down that street. And a lot of it's because of the detour from the freeway. So again, as a longtime resident, I just ask for some help from you guys and maybe to address it or look into it and see what we can do. I've been told that it was too expensive to put a sign up that flashes and says, you're doing 35 or you're doing 65. That's what the police told me. I don't know if that's the case. I don't know if anybody's looked into that. But I would think that that would be a small price to pay to prevent impending doom for the next person who's walking across the street or driving across the street and getting clipped by somebody doing 70. Thank you.

Angela Ponicelli, followed by Tom Moore.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. My name is Angela Ponticelli, and I'm a mother of three young, active children with another baby on the way. Praise God. And I have been a resident of Mission Viejo for the better part of my life, approximately 23 years. I also have the honor of speaking tonight on behalf of the Creek team. I was motivated to speak after learning about the deeply concerning cancer cases reported in Ladera Ranch and the questions that have been raised regarding a potential connection to pesticide exposure. As a mother, this has caused me to think very carefully about the environments where our children spend so much of their time. I was very pleased to learn that the approximately three weeks ago the city of Mission Viejo implemented an integrated pest management or IPM guideline. I appreciate the city choosing to be proactive and taking steps to reduce unnecessary pesticide exposure while responsibly maintaining our public spaces. Tonight, I am respectfully asking the city to consider one additional step that would work naturally alongside these new guidelines. Updating the city's current public notification practices to residents so we can clearly be informed when pesticides have been applied to specific public areas. This would include parks, turf, grass areas, playgrounds, surrounding areas, athletic fields, and sports parks throughout Mission Viejo. My children regularly play in parks and participate in football and soccer throughout the city, like many parents. I simply want the ability to make an informed decision about when and where my children play following a pesticide application. This is not a request to prevent the city from properly maintaining its parks. It is a request for greater transparency and communication. Clear signage or another easily accessible notification system identifying what was applied, where it was applied, and when it was applied would give parents and residents the information they need to make their own informed choices. I am grateful that Mission Viejo has already taken an important step through its new IPM guidelines, and I respectfully ask the council to build upon that progress by strengthening the public notification requirements. Thank you for your time, your service to our community, and for considering the concerns of Mission Viejo families.

Thank you. And the final speakers, I'm sorry. Tom Moore. Is that correct? There's two more. Oh, sorry. Sorry, Tom. You're not the final one.

Tom Moore followed by Alex Guess.

Good evening. Tom Moore. Bear with me. I'm going to read an article. This is out of Thursday, 6 August, 26, New York Times. Adam Crafton writes for the Athletic, which is a subsidiary, I think, of the New York Times. Comment is, host cities claim FIFA still owes them money. adam crafton atlantic u.s host cities for the 2026 world cup are chasing fifa for millions of dollars they believe they were promised by soccer's governing body which has so far gone unpaid before the club world cup in 2025 held in the united states fifa's president johnny infantino my favorite person announced that FIFA would make a contribution of a million dollars to each of the 11 cities across the country who were hosting matches during the club tournament. This was described as a legacy contribution. He said the funds would be used to build many fields and support social projects. After Infantino's announcement, the U.S. city's schedule to host games in 2026 asked if they would receive the same $1 million contribution for the more substantial and costly role of hosting multiple games across 39 days during the World Cup. According to four executives at U.S. host city committees, all of whom asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships, FIFA management repeatedly assured the cities they would receive the same $1 million contribution toward legacy, despite no public statements ever being made by the organization. The World Cup host cities in the United States were Seattle, you know who they are. The four executives said this promise was made verbally by members of the FIFA senior management. I'm reading this because not too long ago, there were questions about the contracts. for the Olympics in the 28. I want to thank Councilmember Vasquez for asking questions, actually asking questions and verifying that these things are closed. We have good contracts and strong contracts. I didn't hear anything in that meeting that assured me that these contracts are closed and good. So I just want to say this stuff happens all the time. We go in, everybody wants to have a party, But then when the party's over, all of a sudden there's a few people left holding the bag. And I don't want the residents of Mission Viejo holding the bag. So just I want to thank Council Member Vasquez for her comments and questions. Thank you.

Alex Guess.

Good evening, distinguished mayor and city council members and Mission Viejo residents. My name is Alex Guess, and I'm here representing 827 Orange County residents who have signed a petition demanding e-bike safety reform. E-bikes are everywhere in our community, fast, heavy, and almost completely unregulated. They can hit 25 miles per hour with no age restrictions, no speed controls, and no licensing, and they're injuring people regularly. I started this petition because I believe we can fix this. 34 cities in California have passed local e-bike safety ordinances. We can, too. We're asking for five things. First, a minimum rider age of 16 years old. Second, mandatory speedometers on all e-bikes. Third, a county-issued e-bike license with rules on the road safety test so the county knows who's illegally or legally riding. A $160 fine for illegal or unsafe riding directed the parents so the parents can actually know the effect of the damage that's happening in our communities. And fifth, diverting those funds into a city-held youth e-bike safety fund to fund infrastructure for bike lanes and e-bike safety research. These aren't radical, they're practical, and 827 Orange County residents agree. Residents from every corner of our county, including many from Mission Viejo, who understand this safety issue that affects all of us. A Laguna Niguel City Council member has already endorsed this petition. A national e-bike safety expert, Beth Black of the Belmont Project, has praised us in an op-ed in the voice of OC. I'm asking Mission Viejo to join us, endorse the petition, draft a resolution supporting e-bike safety. Let's show that when young people stand up for our communities, cities listen and act. Thank you.

Thank you. Very well done, sir. Well done. Will you give that information to our city clerk? Thank you so much.

That is our last in person speaker.

Thank you so much. Okay, and I would like to just have staff address one of the items, and then I'm going to, well, actually two of the items. If you could just quickly address the protocols that we put into place regarding pesticides. That was actually done more than three weeks ago, but thank you for noticing. If you could just give a timeline of that, because we understand the importance of that, and we understood it a long time ago before this happened. ALL THIS STUFF HAS COME UP. SO, JERRY, IF YOU COULD DO THAT. AND THEN ALSO, I WOULD LIKE ON THE, WHEN WE, I'M GOING TO MOVE UP SOMETHING ON THE AGENDA. CAN YOU ADDRESS THE E-BIKE? I KNOW THAT THERE'S AN ORDINANCE THAT YOU'RE THINKING OF BRINGING FORTH. THANK YOU.

GOOD EVENING, MADAM MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL. Yes, in regards to our pesticide policy, our integrated pest management program, we've actually had it in place for over a decade officially. Prior to that, 20 years prior to that, we were actually practicing it, but we put it to paper a little over a decade ago. An IPM program, I don't know if everybody knows what that is, but it's a sponsored program created by the University of California Cooperative Extension scientists, implemented throughout the state of California. And it's science-based, and it's not just all about spraying a pesticide. It's about looking at the whole program of how you manage your landscapes and your property. Before a pesticide is even considered to be used, be it organic or synthetic, whatever, staff goes out and monitors the situation, finds out what the pest might be, and then decides whether it's worth acting on. Some pest thresholds, they're okay. They're natural. Plant selection is a biggie. I'll give you an example, like a pest on a California pepper tree. Everybody probably knows what that is. It gets a psyllid. Well, it grows through it, it disfigures the leaf a little bit, but the plant sustains itself. So we choose not to treat that plant. There's a lot of other things when it comes to rodents and insects and whatnot. Making sure your buildings have weather stripping, really simple things, but it's all part of a very effective program. Keeping your plants healthy, fertilizing your plants, like your body. You keep your plant healthy and it can ward off pests. You keep the area clean. Molts, organic mulch is a wonderful tool, wonderful tool that has many benefits, be it water conservation or weed control. We use that extensively throughout the city. Crucial habits, like I said, the appropriate plant material in the right places. We've changed our plant palette over the years in Mission Viejo many, many times. Certain melodies come down the pike of different insects from around the world. So we could choose to keep a particular plant because we like it, but to keep that plant healthy would require a lot of pesticides. So examples are like the oleanders used to be all over our slopes. Beautiful plant, but there was a cute little insect called a glassy-winged sharpshooter that decided to be a vector to vector a very ugly disease, Xylella fastidiosa, which is known as the oleander disease. So we don't plant that plant anymore. Same with the Meyerporum ground cover you used to see all over the slopes. That had a little thrip. We treated it for a while, but realized that, you know, that's really not the responsible thing to do. And there's other plants. There's hibiscus that we loved, but it gets a terrible whitefly, along with other plants. So that's just an example about being responsible up front, rather than being reactionary in the rears, trying to catch up and fight a battle that probably shouldn't even be fought. So that's kind of examples up front. We always evaluate a situation when we need to apply pesticides. We always go through the least toxic pesticide first. Most of the herbicides we use are in the level three category, which is caution, which is very safe. It's practically nothing you can't buy at Home Depot. to be honest with you. Our city staff, we have pest control advisors licensed by the state of California. We have qualified applicators on staff. Our contractors are all licensed to apply pesticides. They're heavily regulated. All the pesticides are going through the process of EPA regulations. Department of Pesticide Regulations and the County Ag Commissioner oversees all the implementation of the chemicals, pesticides. They do do reporting. Our contractors are required to report monthly reports to the state. We require them to report monthly applications to us as well so we know what's going on on our property. We have no governance over the HOAs. There's over 60 HOAs in this town with a lot of landscape. We have no oversight over them. We can only do oversight on our own property. We don't spray any chemicals on the grass areas where the people recreate. We stay away from playground areas. We focus on ground cover areas, slopes, planters, things like that, where people aren't supposed to be walking through. But that's just a close, just a short little snippet of our program. We take it very seriously. We're very responsible with what we do. So anyways, just share that.

Thank you very much. And then I just want to say to the folks that were asking about, I think they've left. Excuse me. There was a. Sorry. Oh, sure.

I had something to add. Okay. I just wanted everyone to know that I'm actually adding an agenda item to the September 8th meeting, which will essentially direct the staff to update the current IPM program guidelines. And that will include things like codifying the city's website guidance, strengthening the organic pesticide requirement, a few other things. And it does include adding a public notice requirement. So just keep that in mind. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. And so what I'd like to do is I'd like to just add for the folks that shared with us the tragic accident that that issue is coming to the Traffic Committee. Staff is already looking into it, so hopefully they'll hear this and listen to this after the meeting, but Elaine alerted me to that, so thank you. And then I'd like to do a reorder of the agenda at this point and move the public safety report that Chief Larson was already set to give, which I think will speak to some of these other items that have come up, and have him move that up to prior to the consent calendar. So with that... Madam Mayor.

YES, PLEASE. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO GIVE A PRESENTATION ON THE SANTA ANA MATTER, SORRY, THE SANTA MARIA ABATEMENT CASE NOW OR WAIT UNTIL ATTORNEY REPORTS AT THE END OF THE AGENDA?

I'M SORRY.

THE HOARDING CASE.

YES, WHY DON'T YOU. THANK YOU FOR THAT REMINDER. APPRECIATE THAT.

So I just wanted to let the city know, the residents know, that following the expiration of, after the public hearing on the abatement matter, following the expiration of the resident's opportunity to cure the violation, my office was in court filing for the abatement warrant we were in this past Friday. We filed the request for the abatement warrant this past Friday. We were in court again on Monday waiting for the return of that abatement order. We were in court again today waiting for the return of that abatement order. And we were told to come back tomorrow to await the return of the abatement order. So we will stay in court as long as it takes to receive the abatement order, hopefully be issued. And the city can then proceed with actually performing the abatement itself. That is my report.

Thank you very much. Okay, moving on now to a report from our chief of police. If you could please proceed.

Good evening, mayor and city council and city staff. Last council meeting, you asked me to prepare on the Orange County Sheriff's blotter and as to why it is no longer on our website. We had an issue, cyber incident that took place within the county that had us cut that server ties, which housed our taggers database. It housed like the who's in jail and as well as the blotter. Once we got rid of the blotter, we realized that it was a well sought after thing throughout all of our contract cities. And our department partnered with, it's called crimemapping.com, which actually lays out a longer period of time versus just those calls that are in service at that moment. So you can actually go back 30 days and see the crimes that are reported through our contract cities and kind of do your own mapping through that area. In regards to the e-bikes, the Sheriff's Department has taken a very proactive approach, especially in our southeast and southwest operation divisions, partnering with our traffic office. We're going through different city municipal codes, looking at Carlsbad Police Department, Huntington Beach Police Department, who have had several issues with e-bikes. And we're in the process of creating an e-bike municipal code that's going to encompass a lot of our contract cities. And it includes a lot of the topics that were brought up of a 16-year-old riding an e-bike that they're not supposed to and different laws that we can enforce throughout our city parks and sidewalks and roadways that we're hindered doing right now where we're forced just to rely on the vehicle code. And that program also is a diversion program as well as, as you'll see in the future, a lot of these community education events that we're gonna host where parents can come out with the kids and do e-bike classes and put on an eight-hour e-bike safety class throughout different jurisdictions throughout the county. That's gonna help us a lot in teaching the younger kids the rules of the road as well as getting them to school safely. We've also partnered with Saddleback Valley and Capital Valley school districts to conduct e-bike inspections at the campus to allow those legal e-bikes and the kids that pass their written tests related to e-bike safety will be able to then ride their bikes to school with the certain sticker that the school district provides them. So we are taking a proactive approach, working with city staff on an e-bike municipal code for the city. That's gonna encompass a lot of those concerns that we're seeing throughout our community right now. The last topic that the council and the mayor wanted to discuss was related to flock. I'LL GO THROUGH KIND OF THE HISTORY OF FLOCK, OUR DATA PRIVACY LAWS, AS WELL AS OUR POLICIES, STATE LAWS THAT WE ABIDE BY, AS WELL AS SHARE SOME SUCCESS STORIES RELATED TO OUR FLOCK CAMERA SYSTEM THAT WE CURRENTLY HAVE IN PLACE THROUGHOUT THE CITY. So a little background history, April 21st, 2025, the city of Mission Viejo entered a contract with Flock Safety to implement both automated license plate reader technology and Pantel Zoom cameras throughout the city. These cameras are deployed at the main entrances to the city and PTZ cameras are deployed throughout busy intersections in the city. These technologies provide Mission VO deputies with additional investigative tools to enhance public safety, improve officer safety, and assist in solving crimes while maintaining strong privacy protections. ALPR technology captures images of the vehicle and uses optical character recognition to identify license plate numbers. It is an investigative tool designed to generate leads during criminal investigations, assist in locating stolen vehicles and missing persons, and support investigations involving crimes such as residential burglaries and organized theft. More importantly, the use of ALPR technology enhances the location of abducted children and the rapid location of suspects involved in crimes within our city. The system is not designed to provide continuous surveillance or track the movements of individuals, and it does not photograph drivers or vehicle occupants. Its purpose is to identify vehicles, not the people inside of them. Mission View retains ALPR data for one year, allowing investigators to develop leads in both current and long-term criminal investigation. PTZ camera footage is only retained for 10 days and is primarily used to provide deputies with real-time situational awareness during active incidents. Mission VO deputies work in partnership with Orange County Sheriff's Department Real-Time Operations Center, which serves as a force multiplier by providing real-time crime monitoring, investigative support, body-worn camera live streaming, and access to investigative databases. This partnership allows Mission VO deputies to respond more effectively to crimes in progress, locate suspects and missing persons, recover stolen vehicles, and enhance overall safety, officer safety. Since January 2026, the Real-Time Operations Center has provided direct operational support with Mission Viejo deputies on 56 incidents related to ALPR data. When it comes to privacy, security, and accountability, protecting the privacy and civil liberties of the community is a fundamental component of the city's public safety technology program. The use of ALPR and PTZ camera technology is governed by California law and comprehensive Orange County Sheriff's Department policy that establish strict requirements regarding access, retention, auditing, and data sharing. California Civil Code Section 1798.90.5 through 1798.90.55, which is commonly referred to as California's ALPR Privacy Law, requires law enforcement agencies to adopt public usage and privacy policies, implement reasonable security measures to safeguard ALPR information, maintain audit logs documenting all system access, conduct regular audits, and ensure the technology is used only for legitimate law enforcement purposes. ALPR information serves as an investigative lead only and must be independently verified through traditional investigation methods before enforcement action is actually taken. In addition to these requirements, Orange County Sheriff's Department policy provides additional safeguards. Cameras are deployed only in public locations where there's no reasonable expectation of privacy, and department policy expressly prohibits the use of facial recognition and biometric identification technology. The technology may not be used for arbitrary, discriminatory, or unauthorized monitoring of individuals. It may not be used to monitor First Amendment activities except when necessary to address a legitimate public safety concern. Access to ALPR data and camera systems is restricted to authorized department personnel who have completed department-approved training. Every ALPR search requires a documented law enforcement justification, such as a call number or a case number, before information can even be accessed. User authentication and audit logs document who accessed the system, when it was accessed, and the investigative purpose for search, ensuring transparency and accountability. California law also plays strict limitations on how ALPR information may be shared under that California Civil Code section. ALPR information cannot be sold, shared, or transferred except to another public agency and only as otherwise permitted by law. In accordance with California law, OCSD does not use ALPR information for any immigration enforcement purposes. and does not share ALPR data with any federal agency, especially those involved in immigration enforcement. Additionally, ALPR data is not shared with private entities or out-of-state law enforcement agencies, and any authorized sharing with California public agencies requires a written request, a legitimate law enforcement purpose, and overall department approval. To ensure accountability, ALPR usage is audited monthly by supervisory personnel, while the public safety video system undergoes an annual audit by our real-time operations lieutenant. These audits review user access, camera usage, and compliance with department policy, and any unauthorized access or misuse of the system may result in revocation of the system access, disciplinary action, and potential criminal prosecution. Here in the city of Missin Viejo, Sergeant Sandler conducts a monthly audit related to our ALPR usage by our deputies. To share some success stories related to flock usage within the city, Mission VO deputies investigated a felony hit and run involving an e-bike rider using our flock ALPR technology and PTZ cameras at the nearby intersection. Deputies identified a suspect vehicle with damage consistent with the collision. Eventually, deputies obtained a search warrant. The vehicle was seized as evidence, and the registered owner was arrested for felony hit and run. Another incident, a victim reported that another driver pointed a handgun at them during a road rage incident. Mission Vieira deputies used Flock technology to identify a possible suspect vehicle, ultimately located the suspect, positively identified him, and arrested him for multiple felony offenses. Another incident involved deputies investigating a sexual assault, used flock to identify the suspect's vehicle. A nearby PTZ camera located the vehicle at a gas station, allowing deputies to safely conduct a high-risk stop and take the suspect into custody without incident. Another one's related to a stolen vehicle entering the city. A flock alert notified deputies that were on duty of a stolen U-Haul that had entered the city of Mission Viejo. Deputies quickly located the vehicle and safely detained both occupants without incident. Another relates to a vandalism graffiti taking place underneath one of our freeway overpasses. PTZ cameras and flock technology were used to identify the suspect vehicle, obtain its license plate, and preserve video evidence that was used during the criminal investigation. Mission VO deputies routinely use the city's PTZ cameras during domestic violence incidents, robberies, traffic collision, welfare checks, and suspicious person calls, and any other critical incident. Real-time camera views provide deputies with valuable situational awareness before arriving on scene. And in several cases, camera observation confirmed that emergency responders were already on scene or that a situation had stabilized, allowing our deputies to reduce lights and siren code three response, reducing the risk to the deputies as well as the public. City of Mission Viejo investment in the flock technology has provided Mission Viejo deputies with modern investigative tools and enhanced public safety while maintaining strong privacy protections. Since implementation, the technology has helped deputies identify suspects, solve serious crimes, recover stolen vehicles, locate missing persons, preserve critical evidence, and improve overall officer safety through the real-time information. Mission View's investment in Flock demonstrates that effective policing and strong privacy protections can coexist. The technology has helped deputies solve serious crimes, locate missing persons, and improve officer safety while operating under strict legal safeguards. California law, Orange County Sheriff's Department policy, documented search justifications, comprehensive audit requirements, restricted user access, and carefully limited data sharing practices ensure the technology is used responsibly, transparently, and only for legitimate public safety purposes. Overall, while protecting the constitutional rights and civil liberties of the Mission Viejo community.

Thank you. Okay, and I plan on agendizing a presentation in the future on this as things progress or any updates are in place. So I will be doing that as well. Thank you. Okay, moving on to the consent calendar. Do we have any requests to speak on the consent calendar? We do. Okay. Okay, we do. And I would ask if any council members would like to pull any other items besides items number 17 and 18, which I plan to pull. If not, I will move the remainder. I'm waiting. Okay. I was waiting because I wasn't sure if you were done, Brian. You're good. Okay. So I got a motion and a second. We have to do verbal votes tonight because Council Member Reich is... Oh, do we have to take the public comment first?

Yes, we would need to because it's for item number 14.

Okay, pardon me. So for item number 14, we have a- Al Burke?

If you want to come up and speak, this is your time.

Thank you.

Good evening, my name is . And I'm a resident of Mission Viejo. My resident property sits directly behind Barbadanes Park. at 26462 Barbadines. While I understand the city's desire to renovate the park, the current scope of the project introduces critical noise, safety, and nuisance liabilities that directly threatens the quality of life, peace, and security of the immediate perimeter residents. We already face ongoing documented nighttime intrusions, late night loitering, and severe noise disruption that frequently interrupts our sleep and requires intervention from the Orange County Sheriff Department. The proposed layout changes and lighting additions will severely amplify these existing problems unless strict design medications are implemented immediately. As an directly impacted homeowner, I formally request that the city integrate the following binding modification into Barbadine's park renovation project blueprint before final approval. Number one is establish stricter area park hours, changing it from 11 p.m. to 9 p.m. And number two is mandatory automatic lighting timer. And then number three is illuminated enforceable rule signage at the entrance to the park and also at the basketball court. And then careful placement of the water stations. And number five is acoustic buffering for the basketball court. Because our properties share a direct boundary with this public space, we bear the entire burden of these design decisions. I request that my comments be added to the official public records. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Appreciate it. Okay, we have a motion and a second for the remainder of the items. So I will go ahead and call the vote. Council Member Kelley. Mayor Pro Tem Goodell?

Yes.

Council Member Reich?

Yes.

Council Member Vasquez? Yes. And I am also a yes.

Thank you.

And I just kind of went in the order here. Okay. Could I get a staff report on item 17? And I'm really doing this to bring, just to shine a light on this particular issue that has been a real challenge for us. And I think we answered it very well. So if I could get a staff report.

Yes, hi, Madam Mayor. Larry Longacre, our Community Development Director, will give a brief report.

Thank you.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Bucknum and members of council. So this is... The City of Mission Viejo's response to the 2025-2026 County Grand Jury Report titled, California Housing Mandates, the Unintended Reshaping of Orange County Neighborhoods. And just briefly, the Grand Jury Report examines the role and responsibilities of the State Department of Housing and Community Development, or HCD, in determining the number of new housing units that the state of California should plan for every eight years and across various income levels, and assigning a fair share portion of the statewide housing need to each of the metropolitan planning agencies in the state. This is known as the Regional Housing Needs Assessment, or RHNA. The grand jury explores the sixth cycle 2020 RHNA planning process and examines how RHNA and other prescriptive housing mandates have placed substantial pressure on Orange County jurisdictions to plan for significantly greater levels of housing capacity. Based on the challenges and constraints observed, the Orange County grand jury determined that the impacts of the state's housing mandates are of concern and cannot be ignored. The report outlines 22 findings and 20 recommendations to improve Orange County's role in promoting greater equity, transparency, and public understanding of the RHNA process. And the city's responses largely agree with the grand jury's findings. Staff is seeking council's authorization for the mayor to sign and for staff to transmit the city's proposed response for the grand jury report as presented in the first attachment exhibit A to the staff report. And that concludes our presentation.

Thank you. I just wanted to highlight that because MUCH OF WHAT THEY THOUGHT SHOULD BE DONE, THE CITY OF MICHIGAN VIA WAS ACTUALLY DOING. AND I DON'T KNOW HOW MANY OF YOU REMEMBER, BUT I WAS DOING A REPORT AT EVERY SINGLE MEETING ON REPORTING OUT OF SCAG AND OUT OF THE RENA PROCESS. AND I WAS REPORTING THAT THE STATE DETERMINED THAT THE REGION NEEDED 1,341,827 UNITS JUST FOR THE SCAG REGION, THAT SIX COUNTIES, ORANGE COUNTY BEING ONE OF THEM. And Mission Viejo was assigned 2,217. And the one thing that we asked was, where did you get, Orange County was assigned 183,861. Sorry, I left that out. We just asked simply, where did you get the 1,341,827? And that was never really answered. And so talk about transparency. That is so much, it's really required of us by the state, but the transparency that we were getting from the state was not there. And so we've actually are pushing for legislation and regulations that require just that out of HCD. So I hope that we get that for your sake. After December, I'm off the city council, but I'll still be advocating as a resident. You better believe it. So with that, if anybody has any questions or comments, I'll move the item and I'll gladly sign the letter. Okay. We're going to do a roll call vote. Council Member Kelly. Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Goodell.

Yes.

Council Member Reich. Yes. Council Member Vasquez. Yes. And I am also a yes, thank you. And then just wanted to bring this one to light. This is a fun one, item number 18. Could I get a staff report on the resident block party program?

Thank you, Mayor. As we get adjusted back here, I brought Community Services Supervisor Marcelo Dario with me, who worked with the commission on this, so I'd like him to present the initial report.

Okay. Good evening, Mayor and fellow council members. At the October 21st Community Services Commission meeting, Commissioner Creer and Commissioner Pam Smith were brought on to an ad hoc and Commissioner... CONROY WERE APPOINTED ON TO THIS BLOCK PARTY AD HOC COMMITTEE WHERE WE MET FOR SEVERAL MONTHS IN REGARDS TO A BLOCK PARTY PROGRAM FOR OUR RESIDENTS. AND THIS PROGRAM BASICALLY WE CAME UP WITH TWO OPTIONS AND OPTION A WAS A BIN DELIVERY PROGRAM IN WHICH THE BINS ARE CONTAINING SUPPLIES THAT ARE RESERVED BY THE RESIDENTS AND DELIVERED DIRECTLY TO THEIR HOMES BY CITY STAFF OR AN OPTION B WHERE THE BINS CAN BE RESERVED BY RESIDENTS AND PICKED UP AT A DESIGNATED CITY LOCATION. the commissioners came up with a lot of ideas in regards to how this benefits the community and promoting community togetherness and also A community survey was conducted in addition to this in which 47 residents that attended a mission activities springtime Paris Boutique and April Spring Madness weeknight night market agreed with yes and two residents saying no and those residents lived in a gated community. Commissioner Kerr is also here if you'd like to ask any questions in regards to our program.

I JUST WANTED THE RESIDENTS TO KNOW THAT THIS IS SOMETHING THAT IS GOING TO BE, CAN YOU GIVE US AN IDEA OF WHAT THE COST WILL BE FOR RESIDENTS?

Yes, so you are looking at, with $100 refundable deposit, you could rent the bins for $45, which is their special event permit fee with that. In these bins will be anything you need, or basically games, party equipment, traffic control, tables, chairs.

Great. Okay. So think like, because over the 4th of July, there's many different people. That's just one example. This happens at other times. There's a lot of neighborhoods that have little bike parades, and some of them are larger than little. So this is a great opportunity for those folks to HAVE A RESOURCE FOR THOSE TYPES OF EVENTS, AND HAVE CONTACT WITH CITY STAFF, AND YOU'RE MAKING IT REALLY EASY FOR THEM, AND I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE WE HIGHLIGHTED THAT FOR PEOPLE AS YOU PLAN FOR THE EVENTS THAT ARE COMING UP. I THINK PROBABLY THE NEXT BIG ONE IS Halloween seems like that happens. And then also some people have Labor Day barbecues and block parties. So that will be available. And I'm guessing that you'll be ready to go once this is approved, correct?

Yes.

Okay. Terrific. That was a yes. All right. So any questions on this, colleagues, since I pulled it? Okay.

I'll go ahead and move the item.

Thank you. We'll go ahead. Were there any comments? I guess we probably handled that at the very beginning. Thank you. That's correct. Thank you. Council Member Kelly? Yes? Maybe? No?

Yes. Sorry. I'm calling for the vote. Should have said that.

Mayor Pro Tem Goodell? Yes. Council Member Reich?

Yes.

Council Member Vasquez?

Yes.

And then I am a yes as well. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Next, we have public hearings. And this first one, item number 20, is a public hearing to consider all objections to the proposed abatement of weeds on parcels less than one acre for the annual weed abatement program, 2026. So any members that would like to speak on this item would need to request to speak with the clerk or raise your hand in the Zoom at this time. We have no request for this item. Okay, thank you so much. So should I, at this point, we'll consider the public hearing open and then we have no comments or no speakers. So do we consider it closed at this point or do we wait for the staff report, et cetera? Okay. Sorry. Okay. I'll ask for a staff report now. Thank you.

I'll ask Corey Gagne, our public services operations manager, for the report.

Thank you, Jerry. Good evening, city council. This report is for the public hearing to consider all objections to the proposed abatement of weeds on parcels less than one acre for the annual weed abatement program for 2026. The recommended action is to instruct the public services department to proceed and perform the removal of weeds in accordance with sections 39568 through 39588 of the government code. On June 23, 2026, City Council adopted Resolution 26-33 that required notification of certain property owners to remove weeds from properties designated and set the date of August 25, 2026 for a public hearing to hear and consider all objections to the proposed removal of weeds by the City of Mission Viejo. On June 25th, 2026, city staff mailed notices to all properties as designated in Resolution 26-33, Exhibit A. In the past, the majority of properties notified cleared the weeds by the due date. Staff recommends the City Council, after hearing all objections for the proposed removal of weeds on parcels less than one acre, overrule any objections in accordance with Sections 39568 through 39588 of the Government Code and order the Public Services Department to abate weeds in accordance with sections 39568 through 39588 of the government code on the remaining properties noticed in Exhibit B. When we brought this to City Council on June 23rd, 2026, there were four residents on the noncompliant list. There are now currently three. One was able to become in compliance. And that is the report.

Thank you. So at this point is the point where I'm officially opening the public hearing, and I'm confirming we still do not have any requests to speak. Thank you. I will go ahead and close the public hearing at this point. Colleagues, is there any discussion on this? seen none. We do this every year, so thank you for that. And I do highlight there was only three and one came into compliance. So with that, we will need, I'll ask for a motion for the staff recommendation.

I move.

Second. Thank you. That is to instruct the Public Services Department to proceed and perform the removal of the weeds in accordance with sections 39568 and 39588 of the government code. Through. Through. Yes. Excuse me. Through.

Thank you for that. Appreciate that. Thank you.

Okay. Seeing no further comment, I'll go ahead and call for the vote. Council Member Kelly. Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Goodell. Yes. Council Member Reich.

Yes.

Council Member Vasquez. Yes. And I am also a yes. Thank you. THE NEXT PUBLIC HEARING THAT WE HAVE IS A GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT, ZONE MAP AMENDMENT, AND DEVELOPMENT CODE AMENDMENT, WHICH IS A PETITION FOR CITY INITIATED PETITION FOR CONSIDERATION OF AN AMENDMENT TO TITLE IX OF THE MISSION VIEJO MUNICIPAL CODE TO ESTABLISH DEVELOPMENT CODE AMENDMENTS TO IMPLEMENT PROGRAM FOR REPLACEMENT HOUSING. and program 13 development code amendments as identified in the housing plan of the city's sixth cycle, which is 2021 through 29 housing element and to comply with state housing law. A general plan amendment and zoning map amendment for the zone change are proposed to create a low barrier navigation center overlay zone and an emergency rec shelter residential overlay zone as identified in the program 13 of the housing element so for members of the public who wish to speak on this item please submit a request to speak with the clerk or raise your hand in the zoom can i please get a staff report yeah laurie you want to take it away thank you again mayor bucknam and members of council and i'll ask if we can pull up the presentation

As you mentioned, Mayor, the Housing Element Development Code Amendments before you this evening implement two programs in the Housing Element. Programs 4 and 13 of the city's adopted and certified general plan housing element. And these programs and the actions being taken tonight are all in compliance with and as required by state housing law. The code updates are primarily text changes. There are general plan and zoning map revisions as well to add the two overlays that, again, as you mentioned, Mayor Bucknum, for the low barrier navigation center and the emergency center overlays, all of which we will go over this evening. This effort is funded by a state grant that was awarded to the city called Regional Early Action Planning, or REAP 2.0 grant program. The grant is awarded through SCAG and OCOG, and it was OCOG who selected InterWest Consulting Group to help draft these amendments, with Kurt Pringle and Associates assisting with the public outreach. Housing consultant Nick Pergakis with InterWest is here tonight and will review the proposed code amendments. But before we get into those details, just for another minute, I want to just briefly point out how one of the actions that is proposed this evening also addresses the city's RHNA accommodation and no net loss regulations, which stipulate that the city must always be able to accommodate its remaining RHNA obligation. So related to tonight's actions, state law requires that on properties where emergency shelters are permitted, the city also has to permit development of residential It's proposed on two specific sites and we'll review those in just a moment. But this will result in additional RHNA capacity that helps the city meet its no net loss requirements. I want to emphasize this point because additional RHNA capacity is now needed based on the city's recent approval, the Planning Commission's approval of the Burlington site housing project. As advocates for affordable housing, the city initially relied on a long-standing policy to require for that project a minimum 15% of the units as affordable to lower-income households. However, the applicant offered only 5% affordability, citing SB 330 state law provisions and claiming the city cannot enforce its 15% policy. The applicant further asked that the State Department of Housing and Community Development, HCD, weigh in on the issue. And unfortunately, HCD agreed with the applicant and sent the city an advisory, stating that it could not enforce its longstanding policy because it was not formally written and adopted prior to the application submittal for that project. That housing project was therefore approved with only 5% affordable units, leaving the city with a greater RHNA shortfall for its affordable units than it would otherwise have. The good news is, fortunately, the RHNA capacity that would be added by tonight's actions would cover the shortfall from that Burlington project, as well as provide capacity for potential future projects. So if there are no questions on that issue, then I'll ask Nick to take over the presentation.

Nick?

GOOD EVENING, MAYOR BUCKNAM AND CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS. MY NAME IS NICK WITH INTERWEST CONSULTING GROUP AND I'VE BEEN THE PROJECT MANAGER ON THE ZONING CODE AMENDMENTS EFFORT FOR THE PAST AROUND NINE MONTHS OR SO. AND TONIGHT FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION, OUR CITY INITIATED ZONING AMENDMENTS TO IMPLEMENT PROGRAMS 4 AND 13 OF THE CITY CERTIFIED 2021 TO 2029 HOUSING ELEMENT. and to also ensure compliance with recent changes in state housing laws. The amendments also support the city's ongoing efforts to address housing needs within the community. As part of this effort, the city conducted a community outreach program to gather input from a variety of stakeholders. Outreach activities included stakeholder interviews conducted in early March, focus group meetings held in mid-March with local housing advocates, nonprofit organizations, and the development community, such as the Building Industry Association, BIA, and specific developers who have worked in South Orange County. A community workshop was hosted in April. It was an online workshop, and feedback received through these efforts was considered during the development of the proposed zoning amendments. In addition, the city also made social media announcements, created a city webpage describing the proposed amendments, and sent notices to the paper, affected properties, and stakeholders.

Next slide.

So the first set of amendments was to address program four, the housing element. On February 8th, 2024, the California Department of Housing and Community Development certified the city's housing element as being in substantial compliance with state housing element law. The amendments ensure that new housing developments do not reduce the total number of existing housing units and do not reduce the number of dwellings, housing lower income persons as required by program four of the housing element and state law. Next slide. This slide shows code amendments and the following slides after this that are under program 13 of the housing element, and this is regarding low barrier navigation centers. Just for the general public, what that means is temporary service-enriched shelters designed to quickly transition individuals experiencing homelessness into permanent housing. They remove traditional obstacles to shelters such as bands, on pets and connect residents directly to intensive on-site case management and public benefits. State law requires that cities allow development of low barrier navigation center by right in areas zoned for mixed uses and commercial zones, industrial zones permitting multifamily uses if the facility meets specified requirements such as a coordinated entry system and a system for entering client information. State law applies statutory timelines for review and approval of low barrier navigation centers. The intent of state law is to provide for low barrier navigation centers as a tool for alleviating the homelessness crisis in your community in Orange County and at large. Next slide. The city is proposing to update the existing emergency shelter provisions that are currently in the code with a new overlay district. This would include establishing an emergency shelter overlay in the business park zone with revised development and operational standards, the updated development standards and reduced development constraints such as parking and separation requirements, as required by program 13 of the housing element state law so two properties were identified in the housing element to have an overlay for emergency shelters which are shown here on this map on the screen in an area close to the border of laguna hills and the properties are 26941 cabot road and 27194 camino capistrano

Next slide.

Supportive housing. Supportive housing includes long-term affordable rental housing with support services for people who need extra support, such as mental health care or job training. The amendments will permit supportive housing developments of 50 units or fewer in applicable multifamily zones in the city, which is RPD 14, 30, 50, and 80, as required by state law in the housing element. A new parking standard for supportive housing has also been added to the development code for this. Employee housing was also addressed. Employee housing is privately in housing that houses five or more employees. And per state law, employee housing for six or fewer persons shall be permitted as a single family residential use. And we updated definitions of employee housing and added it as a permitted use in all residential districts. We also address residential care facilities and reasonable accommodations. So the amendments differentiate between small and large residential care facilities, allowing small facilities by right and large facilities with a conditional use permit that's subject to objective design standards as required by program 13 of the housing element and also state law. The city will update its rules for review of disability-related housing requests by removing certain findings that are no longer allowed under state law and federal law, making the process clearer and more fair. In terms of senior housing, next slide, the senior housing overlay, these amendments assure that the senior housing would be treated similarly to multifamily housing by removing the conditional use permit requirement, retaining that senior housing overlay to avoid nonconforming properties and reducing parking requirements to encourage future development. consistent again with program 13 of the housing element. These revisions to the development code include the following, RPD 14, 30, 30A, 50, and 80, and the five sites in the senior housing overlay will allow senior housing and congregate care by right with a planned development permit required for the structure. It will also refine and update development standards for congregate care senior housing within residential and commercial zones in the city.

Next slide.

The development code, we had to address SB 35, or streamlining of certain projects, particularly multifamily projects that developers propose and applicants. And this requires the city to establish procedures to implement SB 35 eligible projects. And the revisions to the code include stating the city has objective design standards for the review of qualified multifamily housing, and that has recently been adopted and amended. The applicability of the standards application review process and approval authority for the ministerial review of qualifying multifamily housing projects under SP 35 has been added to section 9 of the development code.

Next slide.

The code update also addresses SP9, which allows the splitting of lots into two parcels, one property into two parcels. And this has the city doing amendments to implement SP9 requirements for urban lot splits and duplex development consistent, again, with state law, and also helps provide technical assistance to property owners in case they're interested in doing so. And then the last set of development standards includes adjustments to height limits for multi-family residential zones. And that includes an RPD 30 zone updating the height limit from 35 to 40 feet and from two stories to three stories. also allows or recommends RPD 50, updating the height limit five feet from 50 to 55 feet. And then the RPD 80 zone is updating the height limit from 65 to 84 feet, which is a property zone, which is the Mission Viejo mall site. So that's where that would be allowed. So with that, I'm gonna turn it back, turn over to Cliff Jones to talk about the recommended actions for this evening.

Thank you, Nick. So the recommended action from staff is that you find the project to be exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act based on staff determination and pursuant to state CEQA guidelines section 15060, section 15061, and section 15378. AND ADOPT RESOLUTION FOR APPROVAL OF THE GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT AND ZONING MAP AMENDMENT AND DEVELOPMENT CODE AMENDMENT AND INTRODUCE THAT ORDINANCE. STAFF AND THE CONSULTANT ARE AVAILABLE TO RESPOND TO ANY QUESTIONS THAT YOU MAY HAVE. THANK YOU.

OKAY. DO YOU WANT TO MAKE AN ANNOUNCEMENT? I DO. MR. CITY ATTORNEY.

THANK YOU. Mayor Bucknam has recused herself from this item. She will not be hearing this item, and she's not on the dais. Apparently, Mayor Bucknam, out of abundance of caution, a source of income to her, Kurt Pringle, is a consultant or otherwise involved in this process. And therefore, Mayor Bucknam, out of abundance of caution, has recused herself from this item. That is my report.

All right. Okay. Just for the public's knowledge, that's a new position for her, so it was sort of like just happened. Kind of went, oops. Correct. She had to leave the dais here because of the potential conflict or perception of conflict of interest, okay? Nothing major, just a procedural issue. Okay, so is there any, let's see, any requests to speak? We do have some?

We do. We have two. The first one's going to be from Jim Petkin, and the second one's Sal Faso.

Okay. Good evening, Mr. Petkin.

Good morning, y'all. First of all, my prayers are for Joe Baum. I did not know about that. I love him. I'm from Ballpark Pizza Team on Los Alisos. I'm one of those units that were put in that thing. Ten days ago, we got the letter, and both Sal and I said, what the hell's going on? So thanks to Elaine and Larry for being very responsive to my questions. It was very informative. I was able to read all that and another 64 pages. Understanding this, that we have been layered as commercial, then we've been overlaid as a residential, and now we're being overlaid as another temporary or homeless housing, whatever that may be. I see that as what you're doing for the state as requirements. I get that. But I have to ask these questions because being the owner in the center, there are no buses. There are no places for people to go and get their health stuff or get any kind of groceries in our area. You have to walk down the street. If you're talking about temporary housing, you're talking about somebody that has to move, be mobile, have to do things. And it's a mile down the street or even more. We're a destination location with a reputation of great food and community service, and why would we be looking to change our business to house or do temporary housing? I am 71 years old, and I want to pay off my SBA loan, and I want my daughter for the next 30 years to run my restaurant. So that puts me out of the picture, okay? I'm gone. But we're here to support the community. We always have been, and we will continue to. Why would they rezone this building? I don't get it. It's sort of missing a few elements, and I don't know how we met the criteria. Again, I have to compliment your staff on what you've done. I appreciate your forthrightness in getting back to me. obviously this is something that uh you know we're right across from palmea and uh that's one of our um biggest residential areas in in the city so um thank you for your time good night thank you jim sal faso

Since Jim said good morning, I want to come at night.

Councilman, women, managers, and clerks, thank you for your time. Not that I'm here in the same line of Jim. Don't understand how the decision was made or how the picks were made. I could have picked different locations in Mission Viejo. Not sure how that one got picked. If that happens, I'll sell the building and I'll leave. I can't find a place in the world where you live comfortable next to what you guys want to do here to us. Not sure how the decision came about. You guys should think about it pretty well. Grants are all good, but I don't take all the business because some business isn't good business. And I don't know what else to add. A few words are all you need to say. Thank you for your time and have a nice evening. I think so.

Any more comments?

No. No more in person and none online.

Okay. So shall we close the public hearing at this point?

Close the public hearing and return for deliberation.

Yes. Okay. So we'll close the public hearing and then go to discussion. Any discussion by council members? Yes. Okay, please.

I would like to, I would also like to know how the sites were chosen. Maybe you could walk us through that a little bit.

I'm going to look to Larry and his staff to give us an explanation. Sure.

Thank you for the question. So with regard to low barrier navigation centers specifically, the law allows properties that are zoned commercial, which these gentlemen's property is, but allows housing development. By state law, a low barrier navigation center could be established there and operated there. We also, by state law, have the state requires that we update our zoning code to reflect that, but the state law already provides for it, and the state law trumps local development codes. There is nothing, let me be very clear, this is required by state law to allow this use. There is nothing to compel the ownership to do anything different than what they're doing now. We have to add this overlay just to allow it should a property owner want to establish and operate a low barrier navigation center. In terms of sort of intensity of these uses throughout the county. I think there's a handful, maybe Anaheim, Santa Ana. In South Orange County, there might be one in Laguna Beach. There's an emergency shelter in Laguna Beach. Nothing else in South Orange County, even though all of those counties, if they have properties that are zoned commercial and allow residential, that use could be established.

Okay, let's bring it back up here to the council. We'll bring it back here to the council. Where's that coming from? Oh, Bob. Hold on a second, Bob. Hold on.

I appreciate what you're saying, but can you... I mean, I would imagine that there are additional sites similar to the ones that were talked about this evening. And so I guess I'm just trying to get a better idea of how this or these particular sites were selected. versus another one that's maybe a block away.

Certainly. So when we prepared the 2000 and, sorry, 2021 through the 2029 housing, the six cycle housing element update, a number of sites that were selected to accommodate the RHNA were zoned commercial. And rather than rezone those sites completely to residential, we added an overlay. So it didn't disrupt the conforming commercial retail uses, but it did allow, if a property owner wanted to, they could develop residential in the future. An example of that is the Burlington site that was zoned commercial but had an overlay added to it. that I mentioned just earlier this evening has now been approved for a residential project. So state law allows all of those sites, not just this property, but all of essentially all of the city's housing sites and the addresses are listed here on this slide. All of these properties are zoned for a commercial use, but allow residential development. And that is where the state allows establishment of a low barrier navigation center.

Okay, so I think I've got it. Thank you. So I just want to be sure that I clearly understand this. So all of the sites similar to the ones that is for the owners that is here tonight, there are only seven of them in the city. Is that correct? And they're all listed here.

That's correct.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, Mr. Reich.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Mike, my sole question is, should a load barrier navigation center be requested in any of those seven sites? What oversight, if any, does the city still have?

The use itself is permitted by right, but there are specific development standards that must be adhered to. And those are listed in the attachment in the ordinance. We can find the page number for you.

If I could just add to that, Larry. I just want to emphasize the point that the property owner controls the situation. So, for example, when... the two properties with the gentleman in the audience. they were given the option of, at the time, are you interested in residential? Do you want a straight residential zoning or do you want to be commercial with an overlay? So there were some choices. And I think at the time, as I recall, they preferred the overlay because that kept their commercial zoning intact, which is a good thing. It just gives more options. But again, the main point, as I see it, is that they control the situation if they don't want to sell or it just gives them options down the line, I suppose.

OK, Council Member Kelly.

Yes, a couple of my questions were already answered, but I just want to clarify, verify that what this means, just as City Manager Lister just said, that this would allow the property owner that option but would not mandate it. Can we bring them back up? Okay.

If I can interject for a second, Council Member Kelly. My understanding is there were two members of the public that wished to speak on this item. Hold on one second, please. My understanding is there are two members of the public who wished to speak, but were not actually called up. So I would request that the City Council, City Clerk announce the names, and then Council call them up to speak before Council engages in further deliberation.

But they did come up. Two persons before.

Is that correct, Madam Clerk?

Yes. These two individuals were speakers that put in requests to speak on this item.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. That's counsel discretion to have them come back up.

Okay. Because I'm seeing them waving their arms and trying to – so come up, Sal.

Okay. The city made a lot of money on home taxes on all those units.

There's about 200 units back there. They left all the expense of the front half to me, Jim, and ROIC. ROIC now left. They sold it to BlackRock. BlackRock put it on the market for $5 million because it's unsustainable. that they can do that. So they're going to take the money, they're going to turn it into whatever they can. And if you guys allow this, that's what they're going to do. So ROC will have two buildings with homeless, and me and Jim will be selling nothing in between them. We'll sell absolutely nothing. Maybe we could sell water to them if you guys give them food stamps. I mean, I don't know what you guys are thinking. I honestly don't. The story in that center isn't like any other center. It was a big center. Now we have all that street front that we have to maintain of the trees. It goes all the way from the Los Alisas apartment to the hotel. Before, it was two of us. And you know how much our common area there is now? $1.50. You let them two do that overlay, and then me and Jim will be paying. We have to leave. It's already costing a ton of money. If you guys put in homeless there, I don't know who's going to pay the expense besides me and Jim. That's the truth.

That's the truth.

This is Diane, my wife, and she owns everything that I own.

This is a family-run business. It's ours. It is our livelihood, and we have been, Jim is a La Paz Intermediate graduate, 1968, okay? He's lived here, he's put his heart and soul into this community. He loves Mission Viejo. This is just heartbreaking for us. That's all I can say. I don't think he can even speak. I do.

I can speak.

But Sal says it's so true. There's a lot more going on than just what they're presenting.

I do want to address the information. You do not have those other two properties on that page. thing, it's only Sal's and mine. So those other two properties addresses are different, because they're owned by ROSC, but now Black, whoever owns our center now. So they're not on that, it's only ours. So that's a question that comes up, why are those two entities sitting there that have like two different leased pieces of property, and we keep that parking lot, we keep that whole mainstay, we keep everything going, we get the city involved. That's why it doesn't make any sense to me. I know they're selling it. Sal, we've been keeping an eye on what's going on. And we don't understand. That's why we both came here tonight. Because we just don't get it. It didn't make sense to either of us. And we both have been businessmen for our whole lives.

And in such a large master plan communities, it's difficult to find a small building that somebody could not only available to buy, but we had to borrow against our house in order to get that building. We have one restaurant. We're not big business people. It's just us. Anyway, thank you. Thank you for listening to us. We do appreciate it.

Yeah, and I understand you guys just celebrated your 50th anniversary. Congratulations.

And I think I still have the floor. Okay, that kind of sheds a different... light that I didn't know. And you guys keep saying, what were we thinking of? We didn't think of this. We didn't pick these spots. We are learning, as you are, what the requirements are and what we are in a position that the state has put us in that we need to fulfill these these housing mandates I do have a so that that is a concern that the so the business that they mentioned the ROI ROI okay so okay so this business that just sold could develop housing are they part are they in that overlay

Laurie's going to have to answer that. I don't know the zoning.

Yeah, that whole block is in a housing overlay, has been since the housing element was adopted. So it could be developed as housing. It also could be developed as a low barrier navigation center. Now, that's not a profit-making type of business to run. Nonprofits come in, and they cost a lot of money to build and to operate. And that's why there aren't a lot of them in the county. So it's not very likely that that's what ROIC is going to sell their property to develop it for, but potentially it could be.

Okay. And then the other addresses here, could we see again the two of them on Marguerite Parkway and one on Crown Valley Parkway? actually three on Marguerite Parkway and one on Crown Valley.

We can pull up an exhibit. Actually, is it?

You showed us the map with the Cabot Road and the Camino Cabot.

Those are for, so this exhibit is emergency shelters and there's two sites. The sites that are listed in the addresses there are essentially all of the city's housing element sites where an overlay created the ability to develop housing there.

Are these the sites we saw?

These are sites that were through the housing element update process were selected. The 12 sites or the 13, 12 or 13 sites that we... Ultimately, it was 10 sites. We had to remove some sites. But yes, there's a couple of shopping centers down on the west side of Marguerite Parkway. I think College Center is one of them. Those are the ones with the Marguerite address there. They are zoned commercial, but they have the housing overlay. So state law allows establishment of a low barrier navigation center in those properties as well.

Okay, so they're properties that we already looked at when we approved the 12 or 13 sites that have now been redistributed.

None of these properties are we newly adding the housing overlay. This is just allowing low barrier navigation centers on those properties that an overlay was previously applied to during the housing element update process.

And this is required by law?

It's required by law. It's included in the city's adopted and certified housing element as one of its implementation programs. It's already allowed by state law. If we were to not adopt this overlay, that would be in conflict with what HCD is expecting us to do in implementing our housing element.

which would put us in jeopardy of having our housing element decertified and have builder's remedy come in?

I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE NEXT STEP WOULD BE, BUT THEY WOULD, I'M SURE, BRING TO OUR ATTENTION. WE REPORT ANNUALLY ON PROGRESS TOWARDS IMPLEMENTING THE HOUSING ELEMENT AND HCD HAS A HOUSING ACCOUNTABILITY UNIT THAT IS LOOKING AT ALL THE CITY'S PROGRESS AND THEY'RE SENDING ADVISORY LETTERS AND POINTING OUT WHEN CITIES ARE RUNNING BEHIND ON IMPLEMENTING THEIR HOUSING ELEMENT PROGRAMS OR POINTING OUT IF THEY ARE DOING SOMETHING DIFFERENT THAN WHAT THE HOUSING ELEMENT CALLS FOR. SO WE WOULD PROBABLY GET ONE OF THOSE LETTERS AND THEN WE'D HAVE TO DECIDE WHAT TO DO.

OKAY. I'LL LET SOMEONE ELSE ASK QUESTIONS. THANK YOU.

OKAY. DID YOU HAVE MORE QUESTIONS?

Yeah, I have an additional question. The property owners here mentioned that these two other sites that aren't on this list, are those two other sites that they were referring to the same zoned the same way?

They're zoned the same way. We haven't identified as assessor parcel numbers, too. There might just be an error in this slide. We'd have to research that. But those properties are included in that same zoning. And so state law already allows for those properties establishment of a low barrier navigation center.

Got it. Thanks.

OK.

So I think we learned some things, some new things we weren't aware of that's going on in your center there with your neighbors and the costs that you're bearing in terms of the maintenance of the parking lots and the landscape and everything like that. and the fact that there's been ownership changes. Typically what this would do would be considered by property owners as an up zone. Someday some slick real estate developer is going to come in with a caseload of money to you and say, Jim, I want your property because I can build housing here. I can build up and it's way more valuable than your pizza parlor. No, not typically. We can talk later about that. In general, that's the way at least I think that we look at it. You don't have to do anything. You can keep it the way you have it forever. but the two other properties may impact you. I understand. Okay, so I'm in favor in this case because of their particular situation. I'm thinking of a continuance so that we can, and make sure we're not causing damage to existing property owners. And I want to know from staff if there is an urgency to getting this done, or is this just normal course of business so that we can stay in compliance with the housing element?

I don't think there's a time urgency, is there, Larry?

Well, there is a timing mechanism for all of the housing element programs, and we are behind. Part of that is a result of establishing a lot of these programs when we initially adopted the housing element in 2021, but then not getting state certification for a couple years after that. AS WE WERE WORKING WITH THE STATE, WE ONLY CHANGED THE THINGS THAT WE HAD TO. SO SOME OF THE HOUSING ELEMENT PROGRAMS WERE LATE THE DAY THAT IT WAS ADOPTED IN 2024. SO WE ARE BEHIND.

THAT WASN'T OUR FAULT.

THE STATE DELAYED IT, RIGHT? WELL, IT DEPENDS ON WHO YOU TALK TO. Have a good story for why we are just now getting to where we are these this implementation. Having said that, we are. We do have to report at the end of each year. We have to report the previous year's progress to the state, so this will be a red flag if it's if it's not resolved by the end of the year.

OK, so. Did you want to speak again? No, you're good. Mr. Rich, do you have anything else to add?

Other than an agreement in agreement with you, I'm very worried about us jeopardizing some of our business community. I would certainly like to be able to look a little deeper into this, including the properties that potentially are for sale now and the implications that this would be for the entire area.

Great. I agree with you. And so do you want to make the motion, or do you want me to do it?

I'll make it. OK. Do I have a second?

Second. Can you restate your motion, please? What's the motion?

The motion is to postpone any decision on this resolution until we have further information, particularly on the other properties located and how they fit into this and the, and what may, what, what, I'M LOST FOR WORDS HERE, HOW IT WILL AFFECT THE BUSINESSES THAT ARE CURRENTLY OPERATING.

OKAY. YES, PLEASE.

I WAS JUST WONDERING, IT MIGHT BE BETTER IN SOME WAYS TO CONTINUE IT TO DATE CERTAIN TO THE NEXT MEETING. YES, PLEASE. WHICH WOULD BE SEPTEMBER 8TH.

YEAH, I'D LIKE TO CONTINUE IT TO SEPTEMBER 8TH. YOU OKAY WITH THIS, BOB? I'm in agreement. And then I'm going to suggest that we have a meeting with these gentlemen and their families about this situation to understand their concerns fully and to make sure that what we are doing is not impacting their businesses in a negative way.

Okay. Just for the record, this is a three-part item. We have the resolution, the CEQA exemption, the resolution, and the municipal code amendment. So I just want to clarify the record that this public hearing is going to be continued to the date certain and that the public hearing will remain open to take further comment from the public prior to the council decision, correct?

Yes.

Okay.

You good with that, Bob? AGREED. EVERYBODY? OKAY. SO WE HAVE A MOTION. ELAINE, PLEASE.

MAYOR PRO TEMP, IT MIGHT NOT BE A BAD IDEA TO CHECK WITH THE PLANNERS TO SEE IF THAT REALISTICALLY GIVES THEM ENOUGH TIME. SEPTEMBER 8TH, THE MORE I THINK ABOUT IT, IT'S GOING TO COME UP PRETTY QUICKLY, MAYBE SEPTEMBER 22ND.

WHAT DO YOU GUYS FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH?

I GUESS WE'LL GO WITH THE MORE CONSERVATIVE SEPTEMBER 22ND JUST TO ENSURE AN ADEQUATE AMOUNT OF TIME. ALL RIGHT.

THAT'S A GOOD SUGGESTION. OKAY. THANK YOU. SO WE'LL SORRY, BOB. WE'RE DOING SURGERY ON YOUR MOTION HERE.

NO, I'M VERY MUCH IN AGREEMENT WITH THAT. BASED ON WHAT I HEARD, WE REALLY HAVE TO THE END OF THE YEAR. WE DON'T WANT TO PUSH IT THAT FAR.

YEAH.

DEFINITELY WANT TO BE VERY THOROUGH WHEN WE DO MAKE A DECISION ON THIS.

OKAY. SO WE'LL PUSH IT TO SEPTEMBER 22ND MEETING. WE WILL HAVE MEETINGS WITH THE PROPERTY OWNERS BEFORE THEN. WE WILL UNDERSTAND THEIR CONCERNS. WE'LL MAKE SURE THAT WHAT WE'RE DOING ISN'T IMPACTING THEM NEGATIVELY LONG TERM. I MEAN, THEY'VE INVESTED THEIR WHOLE LIVELIHOOD, THEIR WHOLE FAMILIES INTO THIS. We will continue the public hearing until the 22nd of September.

So one more thing. I'm also wondering if we're having meetings with these two property owners, if we should consider including the other property owners of some of these other sites as well.

I think that was part of my my motion was getting an understanding of all the property owners in that parcel. In that center, yeah, correct center, yes, yeah.

But not necessarily the other seven sites, right?

She was talking about the other addresses.

Yeah, I'm talking about the other sites. Oh. Because, I mean, I don't know. We don't know the ownership. Well, I don't know the ownership of these other sites. But if they do happen to be owned by individuals rather than a corporation, I would imagine that they would have a similar effect on their livelihoods as well.

If I could suggest, we might want to hold a workshop and invite all of the owners of these seven different properties to attend that workshop to discuss this specific issue.

Great idea. Yeah. That'd be perfect. Okay. So, do you want a second? Anyone want to say?

I think you're second. Cynthia is second.

Cynthia already second. Okay.

Bob made the motion and you second. All right.

So I'm going to do the voice vote here, please. Okay. So Council Member Kelly.

Yes.

Council Member Vasquez. Yes. Council Member Reich.

Aye.

And I vote aye as well. So we will defer this, continue it until September 22nd, and we look forward to airing it all out before then. Thank you guys. Thanks for coming. Appreciate it. Okay. Next item. I think the mayor's coming back in now.

OK. OK, resuming, I'm assuming that got explained why I exited unbeknownst to me, so out of an abundance of caution. Thank you for explaining it. OK, number item number 22. For any members of the public who wish to speak on this item, please submit a request to speak with the clerk or raise your hand. Can we get a staff report on this please? I believe, are you gonna be giving it Miss? Monique, yes, thank you.

Good evening Madam Mayor and Council Members. My name is Monique Goetz and I'm the Human Resources Manager and I'm gonna be giving you the oral report for tonight. On May 28th, 2024, the City Council appointed Miss Elaine Lister to the position of City Manager with an effective date of her employment agreement as June 6th, 2024. Since then, the council has approved two amendments to the city manager's employment agreement. Pursuant to section six of the employment agreement, the city council shall evaluate Ms. Lister's performance annually. In conjunction with the performance review process, Ms. Lister's annual base salary shall be reviewed to determine whether Ms. Lister shall receive an increase in the annual base salary for that year. The City Council concluded Ms. Lister's fiscal year 2526 performance evaluation on July 14th, 2026. At the same time, council gave direction to staff during closed session to make proposed amendments to Ms. Lister's employment agreement and to bring a third amendment to her agreement at a future council meeting for discussion. So before you tonight is a proposed third amendment to the employment agreement for city manager Elaine Lister. which reflects a 4% salary increase to be effective July 1st, 2026, as well as a one-time lump sum discretionary bonus in the amount of $3,052.35, payable on December 11th, 2026. The 4% salary base will increase the annual salary from $305,235 to $317,444, which is an increase of $12,209. All other terms and conditions of the employment agreement will remain the same. The policy of the council for employee compensation is to be our salary be set at the medium of our comparator agencies and the actions that you would be approving tonight would bring Ms. Lister's total compensation to that median goal. There are sufficient resources in the fiscal year 26-27 adopted budget to absorb the proposed additional personnel costs. Therefore, there's no additional appropriation being requested of you tonight. Just for background, on August 10, 2011, California Code of Regulations Title II, Section 570.05 was enacted, and amendments were made CCR 571 Subdivision B. These modifications require the city to adopt a publicly available pay schedule that identifies the position title and pay rate for all City of Mission Viejo employees. The pay schedules must not reference another document in lieu of disclosing the pay rate. So we cannot say see contract. The current salary schedule adopted by the council on May 26th of 2026 with an effective date of July 1st, 2026 provides sufficient movement in the salary manager salary range to accommodate the recommended base salary increase. So I do not have a revised salary schedule before you tonight. I just have the revised employment agreement to allow for the third agreement. And that concludes my oral report, but I'm here to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.

Do we have any public comments on this item? We do not. Colleagues, any questions, comments? I move the recommended action. Okay.

Second.

Thank you. Seeing no other comments, go ahead and call for the question, or the vote, excuse me. Council Member Kelly? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Goodell? Yes. Council Member Reich?

Aye.

Council Member Vasquez? Yes. And yes for myself. Thank you. Okay, we are now down to the Southern California Association of Governments SCAG report. That is a written report, which is included in the agenda, so we'll leave it at that. Next, we have the City Manager's report.

Nothing from this evening, thank you.

Thank you. City Attorney's report.

Very briefly, in addition to what I've already said this evening, I just want to clear up a sort of very common misconception about public hearings. So a public hearing for an item that needs to be required, required to be a public hearing, for example, introduction of a zoning code amendment, which requires a public hearing. A public hearing takes place once the item is called. We commonly call it opening the public hearing when we ask the public to speak, but very technically, All we're doing is opening the public comment portion when we're asking the public to speak and then closing the public comment portion when we ask the public, when public comment ends, then bring it back to deliberation and city council. But from a legal perspective, the entire action is the public hearing. So I just want to clarify some terms that are sort of commonly used, but it's actually the entire action is the public hearing itself. That ends my report.

Thank you. Appreciate that.

It does feel a little clunky when we do it because it's treated somewhat differently than the rest of the items.

Yeah, it's a little odd, but it works.

Thank you for that. Okay, we have one potential safety report from Chief Mull. Do you have anything you would like to share?

Yes, thank you. I think, is there a video? I did a video for this. We have a quarterly size up just to kind of give you a little look of what's been happening around the county, if it works.

Welcome to the OCFA Quarterly Size-Up.

Serving Orange County from the canyons to the coast. The OCFA is your all-hazard fire department, and this is the Quarterly Size-Up.

Over the past quarter, OCFA personnel responded to 46,091 emergency calls for service, including 653 fires, 12,923 all hazard incidents, and 32,515 emergency medical responses. In this size-up, we'll revisit just a few of these incidents that highlight the OCFA's all-hazard operational excellence. On May 9th, OCFA's firefighters responded to a vegetation fire in San Clemente, where first arriving crews found the fire burning towards high-voltage power lines. As engine companies and hand crew firefighters worked to contain the blaze, OCFA air operations provided critical support both in the form of water drops and drone work that assisted in identifying hotspots. These collaborative efforts contained the fire to just one acre, marking one of more than a dozen wildfires in our service region this quarter that resulted in no injuries or damage. On May 21st, OCFA firefighters responded to a hazard materials incident in Garden Grove. First arriving crews identified an active leak from a large industrial holding tank and made decisions that would later prove critical to a safe and successful outcome. Over the next four days, and in unified command with several partners, the OCFA led the second largest evacuation in Orange County history. communicating critical updates via 32 billion media impressions, successfully mitigated the threat to life and property, and repopulated 50,000 people across six cities without a single injury. For their heroic efforts, the IMT leadership received challenge coins and a hand-signed letter from the President of the United States. On June 17th, the OCFA celebrated the graduation of Academy 63. These recruits demonstrated resilience, discipline, and a commitment to serving others while preparing for the challenges of the fire service. Welcome to the Orange County Fire Authority Academy 63. On June 23rd, OCFA firefighters responded to a third-alarm industrial structure fire in Santa Ana. First arriving crews were met with heavy smoke coming from the roof, quickly confirming the need for a large-scale OCFA response. Our coordinated efforts and decisive actions help contain the fire and prevent it from spreading beyond the building of origin. On July 23rd, OCFA firefighters arrived at a residential fire in Laguna Hills in just five minutes, knocking it down in under 13 minutes and sparing the attached residents. The quick and coordinated response also resulted in all residents escaping and no injuries reported. And finally, that brings us to the community corner. During this quarter, OCFA personnel led 520 community events throughout Orange County. One of those events was our annual Heroes Supporting Heroes event in the city of Lake Forest, where the OCFA partnered with the Orange County Sheriff's Department to serve alongside Special Olympic athletes from Orange County. It was a meaningful opportunity to strengthen community partnerships and support an incredible organization. These moments reflect the relationships we build every day, helping create safer, stronger, and more connected communities. This concludes this edition of the OCFA Quarterly Size-Up. See you next quarter.

Thank you, Mayor, for letting me kind of show a video.

Very good.

It's always good to just kind of show the all-hazard response throughout the county. So it's been a pretty busy quarter throughout the county. In Mission Viejo, it's been busy as well, 2,381 calls just in the last three months, which is very busy, about 26 calls within the city per day. 10 fires within the city, 1,744 medical aides, obviously that's the biggest part of what we do, and then 627 other incidents. As far as major incidents, fortunately in Mission Viejo it's been a decent three months without any super major incidents. We did have a little veg fire at the very end of April. down by a road to a golf course, as you guys remember that. Fortunately, it was held to a quarter acre. Then in July, you probably saw the smoke come over the city from the fire. We had two fires actually in Ladera Ranch. There has been a good amount of small vegetation fires already that have started this year within Orange County. Fortunately, they've all been held nice and small. I think the biggest was out in Rancho Mission Viejo on the backside of San Clemente. We had one at about 15 acres, but that's pretty much the biggest we've had. Right. We're coming in a really hot week this week. We are upstaffing multiple resources and a strike team, all our helicopters, for the next three days. This is going to be our first real hot and dry heat wave. So we will be ready. And I just wanted to say that this will probably be my last report here with the city as I am promoting to an assistant chief with the OCFA middle of next month. So I think this will be the last time I get to do this. But it's been such an honor and a pleasure to serve Mark Backoff. He'll be a division chief who's getting promoted behind me. He is incredible. So I'll definitely bring him around to meet everybody. But it's been an honor to serve here. So thank you very much.

Well, it's been great having you. Thank you. Congratulations.

Thank you very much.

Have they announced the new chief?

The process is still going for that.

Okay. I wasn't sure.

Yeah, it's probably within the next couple months. Hopefully we'll know that.

Okay, awesome. Okay, let's go ahead and move into the AB 1234 council member report of your events. Double check, make sure you've got it, everything's noted and make any modifications that are necessary for the city clerk. And with that, we'll start with council member Kelly and we'll ask for your comments.

Thank you. Yes, it's been a really busy summer, so I'll try to fly through just some of the highlights from my past few weeks. I did attend one of our concerts on the Green on July 17th. That was very well done, and it included a... Expo by the Chamber of Commerce, lots of booths and information there on our community businesses. We had a night market on July 18th. These night markets are very, very popular. This one had a patriotic America 250 theme. I attended a ribbon cutting for Morning Star Senior Living of Mission Viejo on July 21st. On July 30th, I attended the ACCOC summer reception, and I also attended the National Night Out, and I wanted to commend our Chief Larson and our Police Services Department for putting on a Really an outstanding national night out again. That was at the Youth Athletic Park and had a great turnout. I also attended another concert on the Green on July 31st, and this one was to benefit the Relay for Life. We heard from the band Common Sense that evening. On August 1st, I attended the press conference with the Dutch at Saddlebatten College. Also on the 1st, I attended a cardboard boat derby, which was interesting to think about cardboard boats that are built and paddle across the swimming pool. On August 2nd, we had our annual Marine Adoption Committee Boots, Beer, and Barbecue event. And this is a fundraiser that our Marine Adoption Committee does each year to raise funds to support our adopted Marine Headquarters Battalion. Again, another really good job by our committee and staff. I attended on August 6th a ribbon cutting at Soul Movement Pilates. On August 8th was probably the highlight of our entire year in the city of Mission Viejo, and that was our Symphony in the Cities and Prelude in the Park, where we get to come and hear the pacific symphony for free in oso viejo park just a wonderful event every year and this was was again just just beautiful amazing on um On August 11th, I attended the Moulton-Nagel Water District Public Safety Appreciation Event, which is a lunch that the water district puts on every year to show appreciation to our first responders. On August 15th, we had another night market, and it was Petapalooza. There were lots of pets there, lots of dogs, and the animal shelter brought over some puppies from the animal shelter. I attended another ribbon cutting, so I think we had three of them this summer, and I attended each one of them. This one was at Cali Curry House right across the street from us here. I attended the jewelry sale, second time around jewelry sale at the Murray Center, which was put on by our senior services and our community center staff. Huge, huge turnout. There was a line around the building. So I'm sure we'll wait and hear how much money was raised by that, but it was very successful. I also attended on August 19th an OCTA roundtable, and this was a good opportunity to hear from Orange County Transportation Authority projects and on the expenditure of the measure M and M2 funds and to also provide input for what our city would like to see out of those programs and on the 22nd I attended the paddle for the battle which was a charity pickleball tournament at Philippe recreation center, and that was to benefit the American Cancer Society. And in conclusion, I just want to congratulate our fire chief, Shane Maul, and he has been a wonderful division chief for us here, our Mission Viejo fire chief, and he's been promoted to assistant chief of EMS and training, which is a really big deal. a really big deal very very much an honor so we congratulate you and we do welcome chief mark backoff who will be coming in in your place chief maul so that concludes my comments thank you thank you very much councilmember rich would you like to share some comments okay

All right, thank you for joining us tonight. Council Member Vasquez.

I attended the, on July 22nd, I attended the Mission Viejo Activities Committee volunteer reception party. It was very well attended. It's always amazing to see how many volunteers the animal shelter gets. I also, later that same day, I also went to Paint the Trail Purple. um it was for the relay for life and that was that was a wonderful turnout and i went to that weekend i went to the coronado family picnic which is held at the in the coronado neighborhood off of avery parkway and let's see what else did i do I went to the ACCOC annual meeting that they have at Wild Rivers. It's the one that my kids always bug me to take them to. So this was pretty much the fourth year that we've done it. Let's see. What else? Let's see. I was not at the ceremony on August 1st. My family and I actually traveled to go see my father-in-law who had been in the hospital. So I did miss out on quite a few things while we were away, but he is doing a lot better and he's actually in better shape than he was before he went in. So that's a very positive thing considering he's also 92. Good. Let's see. What else did I do? Oh, Symphony in the City, again, a wonderful time. The staff and volunteers did an outstanding job, as usual. I also went to the, let's see, the night market, the Petpalooza. And I love little dogs, especially in strollers and costumes. So that was really fun to see them here and there. Let's see, I went to the... Oh, Viejo had an elementary school. They had a back-to-school event that I went to. I also went to another elementary school event that same weekend for the start of school. Capo USD is back in. Let's see. What else? I know. It's a big thing. Fifth grade. That's where we are. Um, let's see. I went to the second time around jewelry sale. And from what I was told, if I have the information correct, that they raised approximately $47,000, which is incredible. And they had at least, I don't know, like 4,000 people. I mean, I stopped by and wow, parking, good luck. But People were there, lots and lots of people, so I applaud their patience waiting, especially in the heat. And I also made a stop over at the Paddle for the Battle, the ACS charity pickleball tournament. And let's see. I don't know. I guess that's it for now. Thanks.

Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem Goodell, please share what you've been up to.

Well, I didn't do very many of those things that you guys talked about because I just had my knee replaced a few weeks ago. That's big. So I had a total knee replacement. So I graduated off of my walker after three days, and now I just graduated off of my cane. So anyhow, rehab's going great, and I'll be back out in about shortly. So anyhow, I only have one thing on my list of things I did in the last month because I was recuperating. So anyhow, I'll leave it at that.

Thanks. That's understandable. Yep. Thank you. Okay, so as you can see, even though we take a break on the meetings, we do a lot of other things, and we were very busy. So I'll just highlight a couple of things. I think the theme of the whole summer really was really celebrating 250 years of America. It was infused in everything American. that we hosted and had. And that even includes the press conference that we had with the Dutch at Saddleback College. I mean, that was very much talking about the legacy and the history of the Olympics and Mission Viejo and our involvement in the Olympics going back. And a lot of people go back to 1984, which is true because we had an event here. But you really have to go all the way back to 1976 when this person right here, Brian Goodell, represented Mission Viejo to the world at the Olympics. And that is where I think the Mission Viejo Olympic story really starts. So that was really a great thing to have the Dutch. And they presented us with a countdown clock to the L.A. 28. And where is that placed? Do you know? I think they were placing it. Jerry, where is it?

It's across the street for right now. We don't have it set up right now currently.

It's going to be set up somewhere, so look for it. But we'll do a social media post so that the community knows. Concerts on the Greens were absolutely fantastic this year, and we've had a really hot summer, but somehow we've had huge crowds today. at these events. And I want to give a special shout-out to the Tijuana Dogs who came for the concert on the 17th. They have a following and a group of people. It was so amazing to see the crowd there. And they're such a great band with great family stories, and it was an honor to have them here. And that goes for all the bands that play here. They love playing in Mission Viejo, including the Pacific Symphony. who love to play in Mission Viejo. And it's so wonderful to see the amazing spread that is put out afterwards for kind of the after gathering, if you will. And it's really for the performers. And we're just there to be supportive of them. But they come in, they bring their instruments, and they're sitting down for a long time enjoying food and conversation with Mission Viejo residents. And it's the most amazing, relaxed event, and staff and volunteers do such a great job putting it on. So I just want to give a huge shout out to that. And look, we had our own reflecting pool in the prelude to the park for that. I don't know if anybody noticed it, but it was very blue and very clean. So it was fantastic, all the replicas that were in there. It was beautiful to just walk around. I want to remind everybody of some things that are coming up, and that is we have two football games this Friday. The new stadium for Capo Valley is having their first game on Friday, and And that is going to be a great celebration for their brand new stadium. So if anybody's interested, the tickets are not very much to go to your football games at your local high schools. It really helps the programs. You're gonna see a beautiful new stadium down at Capo. So if you are so inclined, go support that program, go to the game, and go see their first game. There's going to be a lot of pride, a lot of students that are so proud to be in this new stadium that they waited so long for. And then there's also a big football game at Mission this Friday, but on September 11th. We usually do a Patriots Day ceremony, and we've kind of done different things over the years. This year, it's going to be at Mission Viejo High School as part of honoring heroes. And there's going to be a band, and there's going to be a community celebration. So... On 9-11 at Mission View High School, there is going to be a football game that's a tribute to not only our public safety officers, fire and police, but also military, et cetera. So please consider going to that. I think it's called, is it Redneck Rodeo? That's the band that's playing. So it's rather popular around here. So keep that in mind. So it's going to be an all-American kind of Friday night on September 11th. And then I feel like we've addressed, you know, most of the things that came up for people that they spoke earlier. And there's one, isn't there a movie in the park on this Saturday, if I'm not mistaken? But I don't have it on my calendar, so I don't know which park it's in. But there's a movie in one of the parks. Does staff have that? Hmm, all right. There is, keep an eye on social media for Mission VAO. September 12th. Okay, so I had the wrong Saturday. Sorry. September 12th, there's a movie in the park. What park is it, Trish? Cordova Park. So those movies in the park are great because they have lots of treats. Bring your blankets, lawn chairs, watch the movie with your families. All ages are welcome. You don't have to have kids. Go to the movies. So come on down and enjoy one of our great parks. It's called Goat? The movie is called Goat. Right, greatest of all time. All right, with that, we covered a lot today. So I'm going to go ahead and adjourn the meeting and keeping Joe Blum in our thoughts as he gets through this. An important commissioner who understands a lot of things, technical things that we have to do. So Joe, we're a shout out to you and wishing you the very best. And with that, I'll adjourn the meeting. Thank you.