City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay, good evening. It is September 8th, 2026, and I'd like to call 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 will go ahead and take verbal roll call. Council Member Kelly. Council Member Reich.

Here.

Council Member Vasquez. Here. Mayor Pro Tem Goodell. Present. And I am also present. Okay, so I don't believe there's any closed session. Mr. City Attorney, can you confirm that for us?

Correct. There are no items on the closed session agenda.

Okay. With that in mind, we'll go ahead and recess and come back for our meeting at 6 o'clock. Good evening. I am calling to order the session of the Mission Viejo City Council. And it is September 8, 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 see that we have all of our council members here. We did not have any closed session. If you could please confirm that, Mr. City Attorney.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. That is correct. As listed on the agenda, there were no closed session items this evening.

Okay, thank you very much. So we'll go ahead and have Council Member Reich do the invocation and Council Member Vasquez do the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. If you all rise with me. Almighty God, we thank you for bringing us together tonight to serve our city. Grant us this council wisdom, discernment, and clear focus as we discuss the business of our community. Give our leaders listening hearts, patience, and the courage to make fair decisions. Help us put aside our personal differences and work together for the peace, safety, and well-being of all our residents. In your name, amen.

In honor of all of those who died on September 11th, including my family, We're colleagues. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, at this point we have a few presentations, so I'm gonna go down to the podium, and then colleagues will be ready for some pictures. Okay. First up, we're going to have Shane Maul, if you could come on up. And you are the Assistant Chief of EMS Operations Training and Promotions. I believe that is your current, your new title. Is that correct? Yes. And we're going to present you a proclamation on wildfire awareness.

So thank you for being here.

This is a proclamation from the city of Mission Viejo on wildfire awareness and prevention season. In 2020, California experienced a record-breaking wildfire season with over 4 million acres burned across the state. And in 2024, the state faced... 8,024 wildfires that burned approximately just over a million acres, reflecting a significant increase from the previous year. The recent wildfires in Los Angeles County, including the Eaton and the Palisades fires in early January 25, resulted in at least 29 fatalities and destroyed over 16,000 structures. The economic impact of these fires is profound, and with tragic death tolls and inestimated damages and economic losses reaching up to $250 billion. Whereas extreme fires are a growing threat to public health and safety, homes, air quality, and climate goals, approximately 25% of California's population lives in areas identified as high or very high fire hazard severity zones. Sudden and intense wildfires may swiftly emerge, transversing vast distances and penetrating urban zones far from their origin. thereby detrimentally affecting public health and diminishing overall quality of life. Every citizen has a key role in preventing destructive wildfires from occurring. Public education and up-to-date regional emergency planning are key to making our communities more resilient to the impacts of wildfire and other extreme weather events. Orange County residents can learn about Ready, Set, Go to prepare for wildfire season and help prevent loss of life and property at OCFA.org. So now, therefore, I, Wendy Bucknam, by the 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 proclaim the height of wildfire season, beginning in mid-summer and running through early autumn as wildfire awareness and prevention season. And I encourage everyone to do their part to raise public awareness, take steps to protect your own homes and businesses, to prevent sparking a wildfire. One less spark means one less wildfire. Thank you for being here. Appreciate that.

Would you like to say a few words?

Always take a microphone. Thank you very much, Mayor, City Council, City staff. Appreciate it. And thank you to everyone for being here and just hearing all that. Obviously, as you're all very aware, we live in a beautiful, beautiful place. But fire season here in California is truly year-round. We're coming into kind of the peak of it right now, as everybody's aware. You know, September, October, you start getting the Santa Ana winds. But you've seen it. Fire happens year-round. Just last week, I'm sure you all saw on the news, we had the Gibby Fire, which burned up 230 acres just off Ortega with no winds. So everything is definitely very ready to burn, even with that little bit of rain. And so just know that from the OCFA side, we are prepared to respond. And just like we did on the Gibby fire, we sent a huge response from the ground and the air. We are here to do that. But we really need your help. This is a team effort. Please, if you go to our website, like the mayor mentioned, OCFA.org, it's right in the front. It's ready, set, go. We want everybody to get the information they can. And right, that will take you into our program that will teach you how to protect your homes. Because it's not typically, it's not always the flaming fire front that's going to light the homes on fire. It's the little tiny flying embers that will get into your eaves or up into your attics or into a pile of stuff that we have next to our houses. And that will be what truly sets the fire to your home. And it's a really sad thing when you lose homes that are nowhere near the brush. But little embers get in there. And there's a ton of stuff that you can do that absolutely protect your home. We've seen it over and over again on these fires. So if you go to the website, it'll give you a whole slew of information, more information than you probably want, but of ways that you can protect your home. And the other thing I would highly recommend is on there, there's a link that you can schedule a free home assessment. And one of our inspectors will come out, and they'll come out with a clipboard, and they'll inspect your entire property. front to back, all the way to your property lines. And they'll give you a punch list of everything you can do to protect your home. And it's a free service. A lot of people have really utilized that over the last few years. And I'd really recommend it for you. And please take advantage of it. But please, thank you for partnering with us. And thank you for recognizing wildfire season.

Hang on. We're going to get a picture. All right. Come on down. OK, next I'd like to ask Malia Carey, Director of Government Affairs and Community Relations at Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County. And is Kristin with you? OK, thank you. And she is the Director of Food and Nutrition at Capo Unified School District to come to the podium. And I'm going to present this proclamation for you. Thank you for coming. Appreciate it. Okay, so this is a proclamation for Hunger Action Month. Several of us are wearing orange again, so thank you. We had this last month, too, so we're so glad to be able to support this. And that is the Second Harvest Food Bank's colors. I know that because I've been there a few times. It's a great effort to be able to come and do that. So for Hunger Action Month, we're recognizing this for the month of September. Hunger and poverty are issues of vital concern in California, where approximately 22% of California households and 27% of households with children experience food insecurity. Everyone needs nutritious food to thrive, and people are working hard to provide for themselves and their families. Yet over 387,000 individuals, including 112,000 children, that's one in six children here in Orange County, are food insecure. Whereas the City of Mission Viejo is committed to taking steps to combat hunger in every part of our community and to provide additional resources that those in the City of Mission Viejo need. And whereas the City of Mission Viejo is committed to working with the OC Hunger Alliance and educating people about the role and importance of food banks and the charitable food system. in addressing hunger, raising awareness of the need to devote more resources and attention to hunger issues, and working collaboratively to optimize the food system and address food insecurity as a symptom of poverty. In 2025, the Orange County Food Bank and Second Harvest Food Bank collectively recorded an average of 808, roughly, thousand individual food distribution visits per month from our community members facing food insecurity and distributed almost 73,000 pounds of food through their partner networks of food pantries at senior centers, schools, colleges, university, houses of worship, soup kitchens, shelters, and other community organizations. Abound Food Care helps to facilitate the recovery of over 25 million pounds of excess edible food in Orange County each year. reducing food waste and providing that food to those who need it. Whereas 211 Orange County received 15,563 calls from Orange County residents seeking food assistance and were connected by 37,962 referrals to food pantries in the past year. And whereas Meals on Wheels Orange County prepared and delivered 1,272,000 meals in 2025, providing older adults and vulnerable neighbors with vital nutrition, compassionate support, and services promoting health independence and dignity. And whereas the month of September has been designated Hunger Action Month in order to bring attention to food insecurity in our communities and to enlist the public in the movement to end hunger by taking action, including volunteering, donating and advocating to ensure every community and everybody in it has the food that they need to survive. Whereas food banks and other organizations across the country, including Members of the OC Hunger Alliance will host events throughout the month of September to bring awareness and help end food insecurity in our local community. So now, therefore, I, Wendy Buckton, by the virtue of the authority vested in me as the mayor of the city of Mission Viejo, and on behalf of the whole city council, do hereby recognize September 2026 as Hunger Action Month in the city of Mission Viejo.

Here you go. Would you like to say a few words? I would. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mayor Bucknam. Thank you, Council. Thank you to the city of Mission Viejo. I'm a little taller. There we go. September is Hunger Action Month. As the mayor mentioned, orange is not only the color of Second Harvest, but it's also the color of hunger awareness. So we go out to all 34 cities who have officially declared September as Hunger Action Month. So we appreciate the entire county's support to help us spread awareness. The mayor so eloquently read all of those statistics for us. We have a lot of work to do in Orange County. We're a very fortunate county, a very lovely county. I love living here. But there's one in six kids are still experiencing what we call food insecurity. So I work at Second Harvest Food Bank. There are two food banks in the county. There's us. There's Orange County Food Bank up in Garden Grove. We are part of the OC Hunger Alliance, which is a wonderful group of anti-hunger nonprofits, 211, Meals on Wheels, We all work together in the county to kind of help spread awareness and address food insecurity. So September, we encourage you, you know, learn about food insecurity in our county. Get involved. Come volunteer with us. We love our volunteers. Help spread awareness to those that you know and what you've learned here tonight. You can visit us on our website, feedoc.org slash ham for Hunger Action Month. And we have a bunch of events going on in September. Like I said, come out and volunteer with us and get involved and just help us spread the word. All right. Thank you so much for having me.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Okay, last, we have a special recognition for the Oso Creek Golf Course. And I'd like to have Khalid, general manager of the Oso Creek course, come to the podium. And anybody else you'd like to have come with you. And just, we're going to have you say a few words, and I want to present this to you. We are commemorating contributions of the community to the American story during the semi-quincentennial anniversary. 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. as our nation celebrates 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. Local businesses are vital to our community's economy, and they embody the American spirit. Local businesses also contribute significantly to the character and prosperity of Mission Viejo. Whereas this 250th milestone is an opportunity to recognize the role of local businesses and citizens in shaping our nation's values and future, and whereas we encourage everyone to support local businesses in celebrating our heritage and inspiring future generations. Whereas in acknowledgment of the exemplary leadership and unwavering commitment displayed in the successful revitalization of this distinguished Mission Viejo asset, and through your dedicated efforts and steadfast stewardship, you have significantly enhanced the legacy and value of the Oso Creek Golf Course. thereby enriching the recreational opportunities and the quality of life for the citizens of Mission Viejo. Your contribution stands as a testament to the spirit of community pride and excellence deserving of the highest commendation and sincere appreciation. Now, therefore, I, Wendy Buckton, by the virtue of the authority vested in me as the mayor of the city of Mission Viejo and on behalf of the entire Mission Viejo City Council, do hereby recognize the contributions of the Oso Creek Golf Course in the city of Mission Viejo.

Thank you.

Good evening, everybody. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

City Council and everyone here tonight. When we first started this journey at Oslo Creek, the city had a vision for what this facility could become. And our job as a team was just to take that vision and execute it. We wanted Oslo Creek to be more than just a golf course. We wanted it to be a place where our community could come together, whether it's for golf, special events, dinner with family, or just having the best hot dogs in town. With the vision, with the support of the city, and work hard with dedication and incredible team at Also Creep, we have been able to turn that vision into something very special, something our community can enjoy and something we can all be proud of and brag about. I am very grateful for this recognition tonight, but I share it with the entire team. I am proud to have how far we have become, and I'm more excited about where it's going to be. Unfortunately, our chef, Ricardo, was not able to come tonight, but he is the main reason for this success. I just wanted to throw that out there. Thank you, Jerry, for all your support and city council.

Thank you, guys.

Thank you very much. Okay, we are now at the point for public comments. 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 calling in, please use the raise hand function to be added to the speaker queue. Those wishing to address the City 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 in-person speakers and then move to remote speakers. When ready, Madam Clerk, please state the number of public comments we have tonight and call up our first speaker.

Thank you, Mayor. So tonight we have 17 in-person speakers, and we do have one person requesting to speak via Zoom. The first speaker this evening is going to be Faith Fernston, and then it's going to be followed by a group of six individuals, and I'll call their name after Faith speaks.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members. My name is Faith Fursten and I live at 22921 Via Santa Maria in Mission Viejo, next door to the corridor of 22931 Via Santa Maria. To date, the City has not obtained a warrant to clear up the property. It has been two weeks. Why has it taken this long? He has gotten more stuff and added more stuff to the mess. That property is a safety and a fire hazard. Also, I wanted to speak about, I did speak to the animal services department a while back about the gentleman who lives at the hoarder house. He has a 180-pound dog, and he allows him to poop in the backyard, which is not great. Sunday morning, I go out to get my paper, and the smell is in the street. When I spoke to the animal services, they said they couldn't do anything unless it was egregious. Now, I don't know what their limit of egregious is, but mine is every single day. Especially now the heat is happening, it is every day. So I would like something to be done with that. I would appreciate your cooperation, and also I'd like to know when the city is going to take action about the hoarder and with the abatement warrant. Thank you.

Is there a city attorney?

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I have an update. As of this afternoon, the abatement warrant has been issued by the court. It was issued this afternoon. And the city will be moving forthwith to abate the nuisance.

Thank you. Next speakers.

The next speakers are going to be a group of six individuals by the name of Mel, Fari, Jocelyn, Grant, John, and Audrey.

I guess I'm going to be short.

All right, I will be the first to speak for this contingent of table tennis participants. This is a small group. And then we have a larger group here, just to show you our numbers and our influence. You have a copy. of a petition that Fari has put together and we have all signed. And I'm going to go ahead and read it so we all get a feel of what our sentiments are. We, the undersigned residents and senior citizens of Mission Viejo, respectfully request that the city provide more days and larger rooms for senior table tennis activities at our community facilities. Table tennis is much more than a recreation for older adults. Scientific research attached to this petition demonstrates playing table tennis can help promote motor coordination, mental alertness, and short-term memory. All of these are important aspects of healthy aging and maintaining independence. Unfortunately, Mission Viejo currently offers only two part days per week in a room, too small to accommodate the growing number of participants. At times, there will be 15 to 20 people waiting to play. This makes it too difficult for adequate playing time. Nearby communities such as Laguna Niguel and Lake Forest provide rooms that hold four tables and more days of play. We've always been very proud of our city and all the amenities it offers. We hope this modest investment we're asking would provide us a healthier aging process.

Thank you.

Hello.

This is I'm a clinical psychologist. And this is the second time that I'm presenting this scientific research to the city of Mission Viejo for getting ping pong. I'm going to read to you, and then you can have the copy of the scientific research that promotes playing ping pong. And it calls the ultimate brain sport. It is the single one sport that promotes short-term memory, hippocampus brain mechanics, neuroplasticity changes, coordinated brain activities, neurodegenerative disease prevention, Alzheimer's therapy, Parkinson's support, and many more cognitive enhancement. So we are pleading with you. We've asked several times to the staff where we play. We've been ignored many times, sometimes very loudly and very angrily. because it's too small a room that we have, and it's too hot. We have had many people that were tripped and fell. I don't know if anyone has sued you, but it's possible that they will. There are more people who want to speak. Thank you so much for letting me speak.

Good evening. My name is Mel Vivalda. I just wanted to reiterate some of the items that Joslyn, the first presenter, spoke about. In comparing some of the other adjacent communities and cities, Mission Viejo has two tables and, like they said, only two half days of activity available. The room, as they mentioned, is too small. It's very prone to injury. The people waiting On the sidelines in their chairs have often been bumped into the cabinetry in the room has been bumped into and people bang their backs and ankles on that So it's it's not safe in addition to It just isn't conducive to playing table tennis. The ceilings are only eight feet high and Areas like Lake Forest and some of the other adjoining cities have up to four tables. Some, as many as five days a week, offer opportunities to play table tennis in rooms that are designed more conducively to play table tennis. Adequate space, ceiling height, et cetera. That's all I had to say.

Thank you. Good evening. My name is Grant Chambers. I live in Mission Viejo. I'm a veteran and ping pong player. The best exercise in the world for people with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's is ping pong. It has reached national attention, and there are cities and chapters nationwide that are being funded because of the fast-moving attention to the ball that ping pong brings. The brain synapses that occur with the quick decisions that have to be made in milliseconds is both healthy and healing and competitive advantage. For seniors, you wouldn't believe what's going on in that room. There is nothing but loud screaming, laughing, It's fun, it's sociable, and it's the greatest exercise in the world. I get my 10,000 steps in a three hour period of playing ping pong. For seniors with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, it's life enhancing and enriching. One of our members, Tom, You don't want him as your brain surgeon because of the tremble in his hands, but you want him on your ping pong team. It is unbelievable, this fast flick of the wrist that he can send the ball by you before you can even move to it. So that's it. I'll repeat the opening. The best exercise in the world for people with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's is ping pong. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Audrey Locke, and I'm here to support my colleagues in requesting consideration to our petition. I'd love a show of hands for people who are here tonight. And this is just a very, very small portion. So please consider all of the wonderful benefits that a very small change could make to all of us. Thank you so much.

Our next speaker is going to be Yusuf Cameron, followed by Tom Moore.

Hi, my name is Yosef Qamran. I go to Mission Viejo High School as a sophomore in 10th grade. I am part of the community of character committee, and I would like to introduce the character trait for September, which is responsibility. Responsibility is the quality of being able to fulfill duties or tasks. Responsibility involves knowing what is expected of you and doing it. Often the tasks are specific requirements, such as requests from parents, employers, or teachers. But responsibility also involves having an intuition or a sense of what needs to be done and then taking the initiative to do it. The word response means answer. Thus, to be responsible means to be able to answer. Responsibility also includes being trustworthy, dependable, reliable, proactive, and being able to plan ahead. Responsibility is a life skill which does not come naturally, but can be taught and instilled in children through training and practice. When we train our children to become responsible, we're helping them towards maturity. Responsibility isn't just completing a task, is also an attitude, the idea of taking action and being proud of doing it yourself. One way I have shown responsibility in my life is completing all assignments on time rather than procrastinating it. I'd like to end my speech with a quote about responsibility by Booker T. Washington. He states, few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him and to let him know that you trust him. Thank you and have a good evening.

Tom Moore, followed by Connie Lazisera.

Tom Moore, resident of Mission Viejo. First a request and then a comment. I'd like to encourage the residents of Mission Viejo to familiarize themselves with the history and intent of the state of California state housing element law enacted in 1967. This was AB 1952. It was actually written by Pete Wilson. And then the comment. At noon on the 11th of September, in remembrance of those who died and those who continue to be affected by this terrible event, I will walk from the pocket park south of Oslo Creek Trail along Marguerite Parkway to the Peace Memorial on the west side of the Oslo Creek Trail. That's it for this evening.

Connie Lazacera, followed by Andy Lafey.

Good evening, Council. Connie Lanzacera of Mission Viejo. At the April 8, 2025 City Council meeting, Mayor Reich told the public that the flock safety ALPR system had been discussed during prior City Council meetings, alleging that the public had time to review and speak about this surveillance system. I have scoured all City Council agendas from January 1, 24, through April 8, 25, and not have found one single time the FLOC APLR system was agendized. allowing the public to speak of the surveillance system. I believe the allegations presented by the city council that the system was discussed by the council is false. I have subsequently filed a public records request for any and all agenda items that have taken place between January 24 and April 8, 25. Maybe I missed something in my research, and I will await the city's response to my inquiry. I am not talking about random discussions that were brought up by people here. I am talking about agendized items. Insight Quotation 0228-296950 that became a contract details 44 Falcon ALPR fixed cameras and 10 Condor PTZ video cameras. During Paul Kasamenis' April 8, 25 presentation on the contract, he never mentioned the 10 PTZ video cameras. He only mentioned the 44 fixed ALPRs. This is a gross misrepresentation of the contract that the council approved. PTZ video cameras are live streaming and track people's movements in real time. The cameras also have audio capabilities that listen to and record conversations. This camera has nothing to do with reading license plates, as it is not focused on a choke point. This is pure surveillance of innocent people going about their daily lives. On January 12, 2021 and January 9, 2024, during Trish Kelly's goals for her new year as mayor, Trish stated that public safety was one of her top priorities. In her speeches, she mentioned that she would partner with the then current chief of police services to hold public safety town hall meetings to focus on crime trends and combating crime. I issued a public records request asking for the dates and subject of all town hall meetings beginning in 21 and to current. The response to my request was this. No applicable record is on file. I have not found one town hall meeting. Again, prove me wrong. Trish also stated on January 9, 2024, that she was pleased to say that she would be acquiring the ALPL system. I wonder how she knew on January 9, 2024, that we would soon be buying this system in the not-too-merry future. Please summarize. OK. The bottom line is this. I want these contracts canceled. I do not want to live in a surveillance state, city, that constantly records my everyday movements. It is none of your business where I go, what I do, and what I say.

Next speaker is Andy Laffey, followed by Laura Locco.

Good evening, city council members. My name is Andy, District 1. We must ask ourselves why flock cameras and data centers are rapidly on the rise, why the urgency to usher in a massive AI surveillance system. A surge, however, in terminating flock camera contracts have begun over privacy internal misuse audits, and federal access concerns in over 100 US cities. San Francisco and LA found improper federal agency data queries after audits, where the LAPD had allowed its contract to expire in July 26. For many, it is evident that privacy is a concern. Others who remain indifferent or in favor of giving away one's vehicle fingerprint for safety to private tech companies and geofence brokers profiting off your data might think otherwise. While many argue ALPR cameras can legally view a public road, it is rather how data is collected and often shared. Primarily, lack of safeguards to prevent hacking and misuse, like selling data to neural networks, the ones which collect and share our personal information and our data to the hands of geolocation brokers. FLAC's selling point is that these cameras only track license plates, not people. But in FLAC's contract, it states that it can upgrade their cameras any time, meaning facial recognition and phone tracking are at play. Flock uses a code called Associates. The upgrade code is for Flock's new AI investigation system. Police not only can search vehicles, color, make, or model, but on behavior. Behavioral AI investigations have become the cause of many unwarranted arrests. A woman drove in her own neighborhood too many times, became a suspect, and was falsely arrested for stealing a package off of someone's porch. It took her car's dash count to provide her innocence. As for the city of LA, there was a 32% misread rate in two months, with 160 false felony stops. All of these false reads suggest that artificial intelligence is the new sheriff in town, indicting innocent citizens. We've become a person of interest, associated to crime by adding AI to the equation of flux network logging. Surveillance has always been the end goal, where system network upgrades will accelerate the control grid, which subjects innocent citizens. The new system must properly be fed. AI requires enormous amounts of data and computing power to identify patterns and predict behavior. The more we let computation of our data build, the more sophisticated models can reach their end goal. Our compliance is needed for developing this grim future. It's my opinion that FLOC is a dystopian violation of our rights. With this, I respectfully ask the Council to review its contract with FLOC and kindly add it to the agenda to allow further discussion. Thank you.

Laura Locco, followed by Anthony Elia.

Good evening council. I'm Laura Lacko. I live in Mission Viejo. I would like to discuss just a couple of things first I would like to support council members suggestion of Updating the city's integrated pest management program guidelines I support that and I think that it's very smart and it's good for the environment it's good for the children in the community and it could help pretty much everywhere with the pest control and and water and the access that it gets to into our water supply. Next, I would like to suggest that the Oso Creek vision plan be put on hold just because we've got new members that are going to be coming in in the next year, in the next few months. And so I would like to say that those people should be put into the decision-making when it comes to the Oso plan, the Oso vision plan. and the Tribugo Wetlands Habitat. That's a good idea. We've needed to do that because it was a mess-up from the city that didn't do it correctly in the first place. So I'm glad that's being addressed, but I would also like to suggest that there are groups at colleges, like landscape... students who possibly could come in and be in there as a volunteer to do the abatement of some of the invasive plants. I know my daughter is a landscape architect student at USC, and they do these sorts of projects where they join in with cities and go in and get the experience of what they're learning about hands on. It's an option to be able to reduce the cost to the city. It's just a thought. And finally, I would like to say, as somebody who is... Okay, who am I? I'm on the Hunger Council of Feeding America. I am also a supporter of L.A. Food Bank and... Oh my gosh, what's it called? Second Harvest. I'm so sorry, you guys, my brain. It is kind of ironic to me that there are several people in this room that vote for people and support people who have taken food away from children and take funding away from food for children. So I would like people to recognize that when they're doing these things like supporting Second Harvest, which is great. I love it. But it's kind of a hypocrisy. Thank you so much.

Anthony Ilia, followed by Wiley Varon.

Thank you, Mayor and City Council, for the opportunity to speak tonight. Some good news. My name is Anthony Ilia. As I said, I live in Corcubian in Mission Viejo. And after the Eaton and Palisades fire, I happened to see a television documentary about some of the causes and some of the effects. And one of the things that struck me was that we live in Mission Viejo, which the mayor mentioned is also an area where we can have fires whether we want them or not. And so I picked up the phone and I called the water department. And I already knew the answer. But I said, can you tell me the last time The fire hydrants were inspected. Can you tell me the last time that the underground water valves were inspected? 2019. And I said, can you tell me why that program stopped? Because it was supposed to happen every two years. And I already knew the answer, but I wanted to hear the water company tell me that due to public opinion about wasting water during the drought, we just quit doing it. We quit doing it. I'm a volunteer advisor to the Oso Valley Homeowners Association, 6,800 homes, which I mentioned that to the water department. And I said, we would very much like you to start your program again. And I called back two weeks later. And I gave the city clerk the information about Ben, who you can contact by email or by telephone. whoever is responsible at the city for infrastructure, get them to put the entire city on a schedule to have the hydrants inspected and the water valves inspected. So we found out that a number of hydrants needed to be refurbished. But even more important, under our feet, the infrastructure, and you can tell I was in commercial real estate for 40 years, so I know about this stuff, the water valves have an on-off component. And this is what it looks like. And the fire department or the water department sticks a tool in there to turn it on and off. Well, guess what? They're all out around. So in our neighborhood, they were all replaced. And it was done the day before I called back two weeks later. And I went out on the street, and there are all these chalk marks. and an area about this big where the asphalt was dug up and the guys replaced the water valves. So who's going to do it at the city? Who's going to pick up the phone and ask the water department to finish the job? You got my phone number. You got my email address. I want to hear from you. I want to know that this city is safe. My time is just about up. The last thing I want to tell you is that All over Southern California. We're from Ohio originally. We've been here since 1990. But I'm just stunned at the lack of fire prevention in building homes around here. No closed eaves. The biggest thing you can do in any area for single family homes, close the eaves. Thank you. And put a smoke arrester on top of the chimney.

Thank you. Sir, the microphone's been turned off. We're going to our next speaker. Please go ahead and hand that to the clerk, and we'll get an answer to you. Thank you so much. Thanks for your time. Thank you.

Our next speaker is going to be Wiley Ferron, followed by Jill Schindler.

I hope this doesn't cut into my time. Howdy there. I am back again, Wiley Farren, fan and resident of Mission Viejo. If you're here for another Flock Camera Smackdown, I think I came on a little too strong last time. Costa Mesa police stalking, data breaches. Sorry, I got a little too passionate. So today I thought I would try a new angle that's a little less divisive, a little less provocative. Racism. Let's have the white man talk about racism real quick. Are we racist? Are we the people of Mission Viejo racist? They don't look too racist to me. But if you were to take a look at where our flock cameras are located, someone might think otherwise. The reason I say that is because there are three flock cameras located in the Home Depot parking lot on Hillcrest, three flock cameras specifically targeting Hispanic and Latino day laborers who are just trying to do an honest day's work. They're not the people who are coming from South America to attack us in gangs. They're just honest people trying to make money to provide for their families. I see that I'm losing you guys a little bit. Let me change the angles. I don't know why I thought racism would be a good topic to lead with. Let me change angles. Perfect. Now I can talk to these lovely people and the camera. So let's try a new angle, the root of all evil, money. The members of this council are not stupid. In fact, you guys have some serious financial acumen. Self-starting entrepreneurs, small-time business owners, and Mission Viejo has run a budget surplus for the last couple of years. Great job, gang. So I trust you guys' financial intuition and financial judgment. And so I trust you guys when you look at the placement of these flock cameras to not spend money frivolously and waste it on these high-tech cameras that aren't going to be monitoring anything valuable, just monitoring dead spots. So it's a little weird that there are two flock cameras monitoring Fair Haven Memorial Service on Center Drive, monitoring corpses and mourners going to funerals. Maybe there's some crime statistics I'm not aware of. Maybe mourners are out committing carjackings and stealing catalytic converters. Maybe there's a rising zombie crime. Or maybe it's because Fairhaven Memorial Service is about a football field away from the Home Depot on Hillcrest. Yep, we're bringing it back to racism. You know, I got a little ahead of myself. The chief of police, Jason, I think he's here, spoke last week and said, quote, these cameras are deployed at the main entrances to the city, and cameras are deployed throughout busy intersections in the city. I think that may have been a lie, because last I checked, the parking lot of a Home Depot is not really a major artery for traffic in Mission Viejo. Another thing, there's about 50 cameras in Mission Viejo. That means 10% of all Mission Viejo cameras are located in this single parking lot. I hope this parking lot's a hotbed for criminal activity, because otherwise it looks like we're either racist, bad with money, or don't really care about protecting the people of Mission Viejo. Please remove the flock cameras. Thank you.

Our next speaker is going to be Kathy Palmer, followed by Carolyn Gatto.

I think you missed somebody who had mentioned... She had come up to speak with me, so she's going to go later on.

Oh, okay. Excuse me. Thank you. A lot of tall people were here before me.

Hi, I'm Kathy Palmer, a longtime resident of Mission Viejo. And I'm here to ask that our public safety officials give a public service announcement about cooling centers for vulnerable populations. When I came to the city council meeting tonight, according to my car, it was 99 degrees out at 6 o'clock. That heat wave is lasting at least through Thursday, perhaps through Friday. I'm lucky. I can afford to run my air conditioning. I have the means to come to cooling centers, but there are people who don't have that luxury. And I would like the city to do some outreach to make sure people know that there are places they can go, especially at night, to stay cool. Thank you.

Carolyn Gatto.

Good evening. My name is Carolyn Gatto, and I live in Mission Viejo. As you know, we are 56 days away from the midterm elections. As many as five city council seats have the potential to be turned over to new members. Anyone who is new to the council should not be expected to carry the potential burden of overseeing projects or administering expenditures that were decided on in the closing weeks before the election, projects and expenditures that they may fundamentally disagree with. For that reason, I propose an immediate moratorium on approval of capital expense projects until after the new council members have been seated next year. Let's call it the Mitch McConnell rule. You know how that works. Once election day draws too close, the status quo should take precedence. If he can do it, so can you. Thank you.

That is our last in-person request to speak for non-agenda items. It looks like the one speaker we had on Zoom is no longer raising their hand, so that's all I have. Thank you.

I just want to address just a couple of things really quickly. I would like our chief to address if there are cameras on properties that do not belong to the city, is that a possibility?

Yes, Mayor, thank you, and good evening, city council members. It was brought up, Home Depot having LPR cameras. Those are not city-owned LPR cameras. Home Depot privately purchased LPR cameras as well as Lowe's, and the reasoning behind that was the amount of theft that was taking place at Home Depot on a monthly basis that the organization itself privately purchased LPR cameras for their businesses.

Also, can you advise if HOAs can purchase? I know there was a question about a camera that was located off of one of our main areas. Can you advise if HOAs are purchasing these as well?

Yeah, correct. HOAs are purchasing them. Gated communities are purchasing them. Private neighborhoods are also purchasing them. So although they may be off the main streets and out of our main entrances and exits, private businesses are actively purchasing flock cameras for their neighborhoods.

OK, thank you. I just wanted to clarify that. And then also, I appreciate the comment on the cooling centers. I know that that information does go out. And staff, could you advise if you have put any notifications out or if there's a plan to do more?

Yeah, in fact, I just confirmed with Robert. Robert, do you want to touch on what we have done?

Yes, thank you. We have posted that a few times, and we certainly can do so again.

OK, thank you. Appreciate that. Let's do that ASAP. It was hot driving, and I can attest to that. OK, next up we have the consent calendar. Does any city clerk, are there any requests to speak for any items that are on the consent calendar?

I received no in-person requests, and I don't see any via Zoom.

Thank you. Colleagues, is anybody interested in pulling anything? If not, I'll take a motion. I move approval of the consent calendar.

Second.

Thank you. Any further comment? Go ahead and register your votes.

Not yet.

Thank you. OK, that is unanimous. Next up we have for new business. We have the Third Amendment to the Employment Agreement for Assistant City Manager, Director of Public Services, Jerry Hill. Are there any requests to speak from our public? Not on this item, no. Thank you. Can I get a staff report?

Good evening Madam Mayor and Council Members. My name is Monique Goetz and I'm the HR Manager with the City of Mission Viejo and I'll be giving the staff report on this subject tonight. On June 25th of 2024, the City Council appointed Mr. Jerry Hill to the position of Assistant City Manager and also the dual position of Director of Public Services. For the remainder of this report, I'm going to refer to the title as Assistant City Manager just for brevity. On December 9th of 2025, the council approved the first amendment to Mr. Hill's employment agreement. And then on January 27th of 2026, the council approved a second amendment to Mr. Hill's employment agreement. Pursuant to Section 7 of that employment agreement, the City Council may increase the Assistant City Manager's annual base salary and or benefits following an annual evaluation performed by the City Manager. The City Manager has concluded the fiscal year 25-26 evaluation process for the Assistant City Manager and has made suggestions to the Council. On August 25th of 2026, council gave direction to staff during closed session to make proposed amendments to Mr. Hill's employment agreement and to bring a third amendment to a future council meeting. That is the agreement that you have in front of you tonight to discuss and to vote on. The third amendment in front of you reflects a base salary increase in the amount of 4% to be effective back to July 1st of 2026 and a one-time lump sum discretionary bonus in the amount of $2,607.89 that would be payable to Mr. Hill on December 11th of 2026. The 4% salary increase will change Mr. Hill's annual salary from $260,789 to $271,220, which is an increase of $10,432. All other items and conditions of employment remain the same. There are sufficient resources in the fiscal year 26-27 adopted budget to absorb the proposed additional personnel costs. And then as for formality, on August 10th of 2011, California Code of Regulations Title II, Section 570.05 was enacted and amendments were made TO SECTION 571, SUBDIVISION B. THESE MODIFICATIONS REQUIRE THE CITY TO ADOPT A PUBLICLY AVAILABLE PAY SCHEDULE THAT IDENTIFIES THE POSITION, TITLE, PAY RATE FOR ALL CITY OF MISSION VIEJO EMPLOYEES. Pay schedules must not reference another document in lieu of disclosing the pay rate. The current salary schedule adopted by the council on May 26th of 2026 with an effective date of July 1st of 2026 provides sufficient movement in the assistant city manager salary range to accommodate the recommended base salary increase. Therefore, I don't have a revised salary schedule in front of you tonight. That concludes my oral report, and I am here to answer any questions you might have. Thank you.

Colleagues, any questions, comments? Okay, thank you. Council Member Kelly.

Yes. Thank you for the report. And I'd just like to take the opportunity to let our residents know how fortunate we are to have Mr. Hill working with us here in Mission Viejo. He comes with a lot of experience, a lot of talent. I don't know if you noticed, but he wears two hats. He's doing two positions. And so I'm very appreciative of Mr. Hill and the work he does with us here in Mission Viejo, and I will move the recommended action.

I'll second it.

Any further comments?

Go ahead and register your vote.

Okay, that is unanimous. Thank you, Jerry, for all your hard work. We appreciate it. Okay, next we have the Tribuco Wetlands Rehabilitation. Do we have any public comments on this one?

We do have one request to speak from someone in person by the name of Kathy Palmer. Okay.

Hi, I'm still Kathy Palmer. And before starting, I just want to remind the council members that if any of you have taken campaign contributions from the Nieves Landscaping Company or the Bisline Engineering Company, since you filed your last reports, that you need to recuse yourself from this agenda item. I'm going to speak in support of it, but I'm also going to use this time to support Cynthia Vasquez agenda item 8 to update our integrated pest management program the use of toxic Pesticides and herbicides is becoming more and more of an issue. We have children with very rare cancers, a cluster in Ladera Ranch. And many of those can often be attributed to environmental factors. I also want to strongly oppose council members Goodell's Proposal to lock a new camp council in to carrying out a six-year plan that they may or may not agree with as far as agenda item six goes I am all in favor of any and all of wetland habitat rehabilitation. I love watching the birds in Oso Creek, the water birds, even though I'm really not a water bird person, but I like seeing them. But I also just want to point out the irony of being required to spend at least $500,000 for the project because of the highway construction debris that was hauled in to create Lower Curtis Park, which, again, Councilmember Goodell, in particular, promoted as a free use To create a park which we're not even sure if that will ever happen So as it turns out this free park is going to cost it sounds like the city taxpayers at least 250,000 and the golf course another 250,000 so sometimes free is not so free but I am all in favor of any and all wetland mitigation that can be done. Thank you.

Okay. Can we get a staff report, please?

Yeah, our Public Works Director, Rich Schlesinger, will give us...

Good evening, Madam Mayor and members of the Council. As part of the requirement to grade and import soil into Lower Curtis Park, the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are requiring the city to perform habitat environmental restoration on a parcel of land owned by the County of Orange located in the Royal Tribuco just north of the Royal Tribuco Golf Club as mitigation to compensate for the loss of wetlands within Lower Curtis Park. The restoration work consists of removal of non-native vegetation, minor grading, and the planting of native vegetation. In addition, due to the fact that there was a delay in obtaining authorization from the County of Orange to perform the restoration work, the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board is also requiring the city to perform additional habitat environmental restoration at the Oso Creek Golf Course as mitigation for the habitat temporal loss. The proposed work at the Osa Creek Golf Course consists of removing an existing low-flow concrete channel, dredging one of the existing ponds, minor grading, and planting to establish wetland and riparian habitat. The proposed improvements at the Osa Creek Golf Course will not affect the playable areas of the golf course. The improvements are anticipated to enhance habitat functions and improve the visual aesthetics of the area within the golf course. Work on the Arroyo-Turbico restoration site is already underway. And the work at the Osa Creek Golf Course restoration site is ready to begin. The approval of these agreements and the amount of $280,000 to Nevis Landscape and $180,000 to Beislein Engineering is necessary to provide funding to complete these projects. That concludes my report, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Colleagues, do we have any comments or questions on this? OK. Mayor Pro Tem Goodell?

I'll just comment that this Some of these requirements were created due to something that was unforeseen in the Lower Curtis Park, and that was a rise in the water table of 20 feet. And that rise in the water, which we still don't know where that water came from, but it rose from the time we started the project till the time we stopped the project, where it is, because that rise in the water table caused some of the earth to slip, to move a little bit. So in the interest of safety, we had to put in hydroggers to drain that site. And that created a situation on the border with the county's property. and created this situation where we had to mitigate those impacts on an offsite location. So some things you just can't foresee. And that's the risk you take when you go forward with projects that you never know what can happen. So I'll leave it with that. Thank you. Did you want to make a motion? I don't see any other comments. Sure. I'll move the recommended action. OK. Second.

OK. I don't see any other comments. So go ahead and register your votes. That is unanimous. Thank you very much. OK. Alright, next we have committee reports, etc. I don't see anything in the packet. City Manager, do you have anything you'd like to report on?

Yeah, I would just like to mention, and it sort of ties into our first presentation tonight, that it looks very much like we have been successful and getting wildfire mitigation funding on the order of about $850,000. So we are very excited. And we'll put that to good use.

Did you want to know where it came from? Oh, yes.

Excuse me. That came through Senator Blake Spear's office.

And so we thank her very much for that. That is very good. Thank you. Okay. And is anything further, Madam City Manager? That's it for me. Thank you. Thank you. And then next we have our city attorney. Do you have anything you'd like to report?

I'll briefly expand on the Santa Maria abatement warrant. So the court gave the city two weeks to effectuate the warrant, which adds some extra urgency to the city getting it done.

Okay. Great. Thank you. Okay, next we have our council member comments. We'll start with council member and also just double checking your AB 1234 reports. We'll have council member Kelly go first.

Thank you. I haven't been as busy the last couple of weeks. I think things have slowed down now that school has started and life is getting a little bit back to normal. I did attend a Cal City's Orange County Division meeting and board of directors election on August 27. I am a member of that board and did represent the city at that event. I also attended on August 28th the Capo Valley High School opening season football game, which took place in the brand new stadium. It was beautiful and very good to be there to support one of our Mission Viejo schools. I see that there are quite a few events coming up the next couple of weeks, and gosh, three or four of them coming up right on Saturday, September 12th. There is a repair cafe event from 8.30 to 1 at the Norman P. Murray Community Center, and this is a time when you may bring things to that event to help to get them repaired. Also on September 12, there is Ales and Tails at 2 o'clock in the Celebration Garden, which is on the Oso Creek Trail. Also on September 12th, there is a movie in the park at Cordova Park. It's Goat, and that is at 5 o'clock. There are two other movies in the park events coming up, so I just encourage you to check your calendar. Also this Friday, September 11th, there will be at Mission Viejo High School a mission for heroes game football game and this is a time when the high school recognizes our first responders and honors them and also honors our military men and women and we will They will be honoring 10 of our current active-duty Marines. I attended a Marine Adoption Committee meeting today and learned that there will be 10 of our active-duty Marines here at that game, and they will be honored as well as some of our firefighters and law enforcement police services officers. That concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you.

Council Member Reich.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Much like Council Member Kelly, a rather brief report in terms of things. I do have to report today I was at the Chamber of Commerce, and they have said they'll be issuing an email campaign that on October the 15th there'll be a candidate forum. At Norman P. Murray, there'll be more information to come out. I think it starts at 7 o'clock. So look for that. That'd be kind of an interesting time to meet all the people running for office. I'm very curious about table tennis. I was wondering if we could get kind of an extended report on that. I mean, they've talked about they've got a room. It sounds like they need more. A lot of excitement there. So if we could get some information, maybe from community services, just a little bit about what they do, I'd look forward to that. And if they could get back to us at a later date. One last thing, Madam Mayor. I think the flock camera issue is obviously of great concern to many of our residents. And I was hoping that we could get a more extended report on that. And I'm thinking some of the things are understanding what cameras that we have, the type, their capability. I mean, I'm hearing... We can read license plates, but I'm also hearing they can read people, they can hear us. Just to be able to understand what is and isn't I think would be really good. I'd like to understand our costs, the length of the contract, and certainly the successes and the failures. But I think I'd like to know, if we can, from our police services, some of the successes, because I think everything has weight, and I'm really interested in that. The last thing I wrote down was data acquisition, and I think that would fit in with capabilities as well. So if we could get back to us with that. My other question, I think it was well answered, is there seems a proliferation of cameras. But yeah, if they're on private property, they generally belong to Those people the Home Depot ones I happen to know because I know the company that makes them And that's just their private business But for the things that we do our public wants to know and I really would like to be able to have that With that that's it. Thank you.

Thank you next we have councilmember Vasquez and you have a potential update to the city's integrated pest management program guidelines and

Yes, so I will go ahead and read the agenda report. In response to recent information regarding cancer clusters in Ladera Ranch, I have received inquiries about the City of Mission Viejo's use and management of pesticides. While pesticide use may be necessary in certain circumstances to effectively manage public spaces and address specific health, safety, and maintenance concerns, we should continue looking for ways to reduce unnecessary exposure and strengthen protections for the health and safety of our residents. The City of Irvine's comprehensive approach to pesticide management provides a strong model and standard for consideration. I have had the opportunity to compare Mission Viejo's integrated pest management program guidelines with Irvine's, and I'd like to have Mission Viejo's guidelines updated to provide residents with stronger protections, greater transparency, and clear safeguards regarding pesticide use. For brevity, below is a high-level overview of the requested updates. A more comprehensive outline of the requested updates is also attached. Codify the city's website guidance that pesticides are not applied in park turf grass, athletic fields, playgrounds, or other areas where people, particularly children, recreate. Strengthen the organic pesticide requirement by changing whenever fiscally practical and proven to be the most effective to use organic pesticides first when pesticides are needed. Add Water Quality Act, Clean Water Act allowed pesticides as an intermediate tier before EPA level three pesticides. Strengthen monitoring and record keeping by requiring regular monitoring and monthly records documenting pest activity treatment options considered, effectiveness and costs. Require an annual IPM report to the city council summarizing pesticide use and related information. Add public notice requirements like Irvine's including advanced notice posting after applications and temporary barriers when appropriate. Strengthen application documentation and approve requirements including the pesticide concentration, application rate, reentry time, and site specific schedule. required documentation that non-chemical alternatives were considered before pesticide use. I'm not asking the city to adopt an organic pesticide policy. I'm asking for a stronger, more transparent IPM policy that prioritizes public health and safety, reduces unnecessary pesticide exposure, establishes clear safeguards for pesticide use, and gives residents greater visibility into when, where, and why pesticides are being used. I believe these updates would strengthen public safety, provide greater transparency and accountability, and give our residents stronger protections while allowing the city to effectively manage our public spaces. Thank you.

Thank you. And I apologize. I did not ask for a public comment before you gave that report. So do we have public comment on this item? Sorry about that.

We do.

Okay.

We received three public comment requests for this specific item. The first one is going to be Michael Rotcher.

Good evening. I'm Michael Rocher, longtime Mission Viejo resident, Madam Mayor, council members. I just want to say that I think the reforms that Councilmember Vasquez has put forth in her resolution are well-written, straightforward, and quite reasonable. I listened with interest at the last meeting when, I think it was the last meeting. They kind of run together after a while. I don't know if you guys feel that way. I believe it was Mr. Hill, perhaps, that gave an overview on our present policies. And I came away feeling pretty good about how we are handling our pesticide use. But that doesn't mean that we can't or shouldn't try to do even better. Irvine has set a fine example with their program. And I think anything we can do to emulate that would be to our credit. I think this one's a no-brainer, and I urge you to vote in favor. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Nicholas Valencia, followed by Bogdan Stokja.

Good evening, Madam Mayor, members of the council, and dear neighbors. You'll have to forgive me. I have a newborn at home, and I'm running on caffeine and lack of sleep.

So I have a little something to share with you today.

I spend a massive amount of time on our city's parks, and they're usually the only place where my toddler son can burn enough energy to take a nap. My family's life revolves around these public spaces, and if you have children or grandchildren of your own, probably yours too. We usually joke that a little dirt builds the immune system, but the recent news about cancer clusters in our neighboring Ladera Ranch changed how we look at these public spaces. It was a stark reminder that we cannot wait for a tragedy on our own backyard before choosing to act. This is exactly why I'm here, to fully support Councilwoman Vasquez's proposal. This proposal is about preventive safety and basic transparency. We shouldn't have to play a guessing game or scour a municipal website to know if the fields our kids roll around are safe. To our council members, the decision you make tonight extends far beyond routine. and directly impacts the health of our children and our grandchildren. You have the opportunity to shape the legacy of the city, choosing proactive protection or reactive regret. And to my fellow neighbors, thank you for being here tonight. Remember that elections are coming up, and our actions do matter. Thank you.

Bogdan Stoica.

Good evening. My name is Bogdan Stoica, and I'm a resident of Mission Viejo. First of all, thank you for the opportunity to speak here today. I've never been to one of these. And to be honest, I never thought I would, maybe in my early 30s. I was thinking maybe another decade or two. But I'm glad I'm here because I think it's for an important reason. So I'm just here to echo the support of the proposal brought forward by Councilmember Cynthia Vasquez. Like Nicholas before me, I have a toddler and an infant at home. Basically, our weeks revolve around the parks here in Mission Viejo. Whether we're pushing strollers or sitting out on the grass, we're spending an enormous amount of time at these public spaces. They're basically our backyard. Hearing about the health concerns in nearby towns naturally made me pause as a parent of young children. We know it takes a lot of hard work to maintain our city. We're just simply asking for a few common sense changes outlined in the proposal. Trying natural maintenance options first, guaranteeing playgrounds stay chemical free, and just giving folks a heads up when spraying does happen. These are small tweaks to the rules, but for those of us raising kids, it really makes a world's difference. It's a simple, proactive step to keep our parks safe, transparent, and enjoyable for everyone. Thank you for listening, and thank you for your service to our city.

That was the last in-person speaker request, and I don't see any on Zoom. Thank you very much.

Okay. Colleagues, do you have any questions? I would ask staff. I know that we had a speaker that came to the last meeting and I had asked for anything that could be done in response to what she requested. Any updates that you've been able to make as a result of her comments?

Yes, Madam Mayor. We did hear the comments last week. And as I recall, one of her major comments was that she wanted public notification so they could make choices of if we're applying a pesticide in a given park, maybe they could have the opportunity to go to a different park. So what we've done is public services staff worked with our IT department and our community relations department and we now have on the internet, on the public services webpage, the ability to go to our IPM program and you can click on pesticides use And that will show you what's happening or what will happen in the next couple days in any given location at a park that we may be applying pesticides. And Corey, who's our operations manager, I think, are we committed to a 48-hour notice?

Good evening, Councilman. Thank you, Jerry. Yes, we try to strive for 72 hours. It depends on when we get the records from our landscape contractors, but the goal is 72, but sometimes it will definitely be 48 hours before.

Thank you. Thank you. And then we're also, we've approved signage, our on-site signage that the landscapers will begin using, too. We've approved their verbiage, how that's going to read in the field.

Thank you. And when you say pesticide, I know that in our areas where people recreate, when did we put into place the use of organic materials in those areas? Can you give an estimate? For the folks that were concerned, I think it would be good for them to know how many years ago this older city council approved that.

We worked, I want to say 2013 or 2016, I want to say 2016, so a decade ago, we worked with the University of California Cooperative Extension PhDs at the South Coast Field Station in Irvine to put together our policy and our guidelines, pesticide IPM guidelines. And they did the same thing with the city of Irvine. It's the same people helped both of us put our policy together. Some very scientific-based group folks that I have a whole lot of respect for, always have. They were really good to work with. So that's how it came about into what it is today. And it's an industry standard. You always use the least toxic, be it organic or synthetic. Organic can be toxic as well. And the opposite can be true for synthetics. But you always start with the least toxic pesticide or approach and then work your way up as needed. We don't spray any pesticides in the grass areas nor around the playgrounds. In the guidelines, Cynthia or Councilwoman Vasquez, you mentioned to codify the guidelines. I would just say that there are guidelines for a reason. We need a little flexibility as a professional staff. Things come up. If we need to get in the grass and treat for red imported fire ants, We'll do that, but to codify that and just say, you know, no pesticides in the turf grass all the time, that's just not how a good maintenance program works, in my professional opinion. We need a little flexibility.

Right, and I understand that, but that's not what this agenda item says. I'll give you an example. On the city's website, it says, the city does not apply pesticides in park, turf, grass, athletic fields, playgrounds, or other areas where people, especially children, recreate. But then if you look at the actual guidelines, the language is different. So that's why I'm asking for that to be included and to be rewritten to say something along the lines of use of organic pesticides should be included and considered as the primary source for controlling pests in parks, turf grass areas, sports fields, and playgrounds whenever fiscally practical and proven to be the most effective. So, actually, I'm sorry. That is the current language. And so the other one is to change it to use organic pesticides first when pesticides are needed. So that would then indicate, hey, we're going to try the organics kind first, and then if we need to use the other one, then we will. But right now, the way that it reads is just saying, well... We might use it if it's fiscally practical, which doesn't sit well, especially with public safety.

Okay. Well, I think it reads fine the way I wrote it and read it. But I'll give you an example of fiscal being responsible. We have a couple nasty weeds on the front slopes of the Civic Center right now facing Marguerite Parkway. It's growing within our broadleaf ground cover. There's some nasty nutsedge and Bermuda grass in there. Organic herbicides are non-selective. Whatever it hits, it kills. but also they don't translocate. It's a contact kill. So it only kills what you see above ground, whereas the synthetics have the ability to be selective, depending on the herbicide. So we can go in and spray for a grass in a broadleaf environment, and the grass will be our target kill, whereas it won't harm the plant that we want to save. So that's really important. Otherwise, we'd be out there hand-pulling weeds, which we were last week, And we were not winning the battle. So that was our first choice of an organic approach, a cultural approach, to try to get on top of the weeds. But it's just not being effective.

Right. And I'm not saying that we can't use pesticides. I'm just saying that to add the language where it says that we will use organic pesticides first. So we did that. That didn't work. So then we moved on to something stronger. So that's what I'm saying.

Well, how it's worded, I mean, it's literally, is when pesticides are needed, use the following prioritized approach.

But it, well, it's the first step, and that doesn't work, then you move on to something else.

Correct.

Yes.

That's, well, are we in agreement?

Well, but the thing is, is that that's not included in the language in the guidelines right now.

Well, I kind of think it is, but I'm reading them right now. It says, when pesticides are needed, use the following prioritization approach. Organic pesticides level three caution, EPA level caution labeled pesticides only when deemed necessary to protect public health and economic impact by a licensed pest control advisor. That's under the category of park, dirt grasses, sports fields, and playgrounds.

Right. So right now I'm just going with the very first part of this. So page one, section A, that part where it starts with use of organic pesticides, et cetera. That's the language that I'm specifically talking about right now. And then as far as the level three, we can move on to that in a moment. So the first part is, again, page one, section A, and revising that language so that it clearly states that organics will be tried first when pesticides are needed instead of the current language.

I mean, the current language is the use of organic pesticides should be included and considered as a primary source of controlling pests in parks, turfgrass areas, sports fields, and playgrounds, whenever fiscally practical and proven to be the most effective.

Right. And that is the issue, is whenever fiscally practical, which gives the public the impression that, If it's too expensive, we're not going to use it, and we're going to use something else. So that's why I'm making the suggested change that would remove that type of language.

I totally understand that, but we do have a budget that we need to operate within.

Yeah, but we have a lot of money to be spending on other projects, and I think that public safety is really important to spend a little bit on this too.

Well, regardless of whether it's an organic or synthetic, we're going to keep the public in mind, safety speaking.

OK. And I think the one way that we can start is by updating this language.

OK. I'll take that as your comment.

OK. OK. So the next person that I have speaking is Trish Kelly.

Yes, thank you. I have nine grandchildren, and we do spend a lot of time in our city parks and on our city sports fields and our city facilities. So I think everyone is concerned about safety. I just had a couple of questions, though, for Mr. Hill. Our guidelines are close to the city of Irvine's. How are they different? What are the differences?

There's not a whole lot of difference, to be honest with you. I've read them and reread them. I'll offer this. In their 2025 annual report, the City of Irvine, which is on their website, Some of the excerpts include they have 61 parks and the Great Park. The use of pesticides was necessary to keep up effective pest control in the parks. Synthetics are used to control weeds. So I understand the stigma of Irvine being organic, but Irvine also recognizes that, you know what, sometimes we need another tool in the toolbox. So they're not entirely organic. I just want to make that clear.

Okay. She's using Irvine as the example that we want to follow. So I was just curious about exactly what the differences are there. I had a couple of other questions. What do... Let's see, you answered one, how long we've had a pesticide policy, and it looks like it's been about 10 years or so. That's correct?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay. The contractors and city employees or those who apply the pesticides and evaluate, are they trained?

Yes, to answer your question. Before a pesticide is applied to any city property or any government property, you have to have a licensed pest control advisor write what some people refer to as a prescription to address a specific problem. Okay, so you're going after, you have a weed problem. So you're going to have to have a trained individual, licensed individual, write you a recommendation on how to solve it. And then that comes to the public agency. We look at it and approve it or not. And then what happens after that? Then the contractor gets the go-ahead to apply and he has to have licensed pest control applicators oversee the application of the pesticide use. So there's quite a process. And on top of that, there's a slew of reporting involved. We get monthly reports from our contractors of every chemical used in the city turned in with their invoices. They're also required to report it to the Department of Pesticide Regulations. Everything they apply through their company wide And we also supply an annual report to for the NPDES permit that we have through the county of all the pesticides applied on city properties annually Okay, so part of the training is

that the contractors go through, does that involve looking at what alternatives we might have? Or is that something that you look at? What alternatives that we have? And how are those decisions made?

Yes, and those decisions are made both by staff and the contractors. The contractors will give recommendations to city staff, and city staff knowing the individual locations, and we may evaluate a park gets more closely analyzed than a median along the roadway would be, because it's two different, obviously, landscape purposes. Parks get prioritized because that's where people recreate, so we take extra caution to One, see if it's do we really need to apply anything or are we happy with a certain degree of population of weeds or weeds that can be taken care of via mechanical means over time or whatever. Is it an emergency? Probably not. So those are the type of priorities that we think about.

Okay. I think you mentioned also that some of the organic products are actually detrimental

Some of them can be the vinegar products and some of the citrus products, depending on the label. It's mainly for the applicator because he's dealing with the concentrated form. But by the time it hits the field, it's not such a severe worry. But yes, some of them can be more caustic than the synthetics.

Okay. Now, providing the information live on the website, as you've been doing, do you know if we're getting a lot of hits on that? Has there been a lot of interest?

I think we just put it out today, Corey. It just came live today.

Okay. That's great that that information is available. I guess I'm having trouble seeing... what the difference is here, what this would actually do that's different than what we are already doing.

Well, let me just jump in there, Trish, because if you look at page... Let me double check.

Let me just make sure Trish is done.

Yeah, this is going to be helpful. Okay. Yeah. You all set, Trish? Okay. Okay. Thank you. So if you look at page three and four of the agenda item, you'll see that it actually fleshes out the requested updates and these updates that I'm proposing were all pulled every single one was pulled from what the city of Irvine is currently doing so it's just filling in some of the gaps of our guidelines that's all it's doing Not more, just it puts us on par with what Irvine is doing. So all of these requested updates are the things that are not included in our program right now, or they're just slight tweaks to the guidelines to make it more essentially the same as what Irvine offers.

OK, I'm going to just kick back to Mr. Hill then. How do you see these as different than what we do?

Well, on page three, as you mentioned, Councilwoman Vasquez, so you're recommending taking out the financial end of that? Is that what you're doing there?

Let's see. Where are you looking?

Well, you guided me to page, I think, three of your separate work.

Right, so page three. So we're starting from the top. So let's see. The first one was to just get clarification there. So codify the city's existing website guidance regarding recreational areas. Add language stating the city does not apply pesticides in parks, turf grass, athletic fields, playgrounds, or other areas where people, especially children, recreate. This should be incorporated directly into the adopted guidelines rather than appearing only on the city's website. And that would strengthen the organic pesticide requirement and revising the language on page one, section A, from use of organic pesticides should be included and considered as the primary source for controlling pests in parks, turf grass areas, sports fields, and playgrounds whenever fiscally practical and proven to be the most effective. Two, use... Use organic pesticides first when pesticides are needed this removes the qualifiers whenever fiscally practical and Proven to be most effective which gives the city broad discretion to move away from organic pesticides The policy should establish a clear health and safety first preference for organic pesticides So that's the first one and that was just something that honestly when I was looking at the website and I was looking at our policy and That actually is one of the first things that caught my eye was that the website says, hey, we don't use this stuff, but then in the policy, it says something different. I just want to reconcile that and just make that clear as far as where we stand. And the rest of these updates are directly related to what Irvine currently provides in their IPM program guidelines.

My only comment there is, like I said, I think staff needs some flexibility. Yes, in our guidelines, it gives us wiggle room to use whatever responsibly we determine is necessary. And as you stated on the website, yes, currently we don't use any pesticides in the grass areas or the athletic fields or the playground areas. That's what it says. I totally agree with you. But three months from now, something may happen, and we may need to adjust that. And the guidelines give us the flexibility to do that.

Yeah, but this does too. I mean, it's not, again, it's not saying, hey, we're only going to be using organic. It just means that's the first line of defense. And again, the first line of defense doesn't work. You move on to something stronger. That's what it's saying. That's what I'm asking for. And again, everything else, all of these other updates are directly from what Irvine is doing right now that we are not currently providing.

Right. Okay. Well, it's awful hard to do this on the fly, right?

Okay, well then how about this? How about this? Can we have staff come back with a red line modification to our policies based on input from this and based on what is going to be practicable for staff at our next meeting? Sure. Or as much time as you need.

Yeah, that would be relevant.

Would that be helpful?

I would appreciate that.

So how much time are we talking here?

I think we can get back at the next meeting, yes.

If not, they'll be in communication with us. But I would think it could come back by the next meeting.

Yeah, I mean, honestly, I just, you know, again, this is, I think we all know that I'm very well-researched, and that's why this all came from Irvine. No, we don't dispute that. No, no, no, I'm just saying that it's, You know, I appreciate having the information on the website. I think that's a great start. But, you know, there's definitely other things that we need to shore up. And it just, you know, I know that this is... We agree. It's more work. And I get that. And I totally appreciate that. But this is just it's a matter of public safety. I mean, you know, actually, it's funny. It's like both of my kids, even the old one, older one still likes to go to the park. So I, you know, I get where they're coming from. I mean, it's just one of those things that, you know, let's try and prevent things before, you know, something could potentially happen.

Okay, well, I think 10 years ago, that's exactly what we did. And I agree with improving it so that it's perfectly clear and transparent. And I would ask that staff come back with a red line version of our policy so that we can not do it on the fly.

Yeah, that's fine.

Okay.

And I would like that these changes be incorporated into that document as well.

Staff will look at what you're proposing, and then we'll come back with what staff would propose.

Okay, so we're going to table this until the next meeting.

I wasn't quite through, Madam Mayor. Okay, I'm sorry.

I didn't see your name up there.

Yes, I had one more point that I had wanted to make, so let me just revisit back to that. Okay. I think that I like the idea of having the staff take a look at this and see what kind of red line improvements they might be able to make. But I want to be very careful that in whatever our policy is that we don't tie the hands of the staff. Our staff members are dads and grandpas, and they're very concerned about safety as well. The example that Mr. Hill gave was if there is an outbreak of red fire ants, That's a danger to our children and may need to be addressed immediately and may need staff to use their discretion on how to handle the red fire ants. So I just want to be careful that we don't tie the hands of the staff and that we're not adding an extra layer of government on our process. Thank you.

Okay. Last comment.

Council Member Vasquez, then Council Member Reich.

Yeah, and I mean, Trish, I agree with you. But as far as we're not... As far as adding another level of government, we're not asking for things like vlog cameras. We're asking for just stronger protections for our residents, including children who are within proximity closer to the ground right which puts them closer to these pesticides uh... so it's just you know it's helpful for everyone helpful for your pets i mean it's uh... we all we all benefit from something like this and i know again i know that it's you know can be considered a hassle but it's definitely worthwhile because we need to think about our future generations and and And how they are, you know a part of this community and we want to continue to see it drop see it thrive Thanks Councilmember reach Thank You madam mayor, mr. Hill Do we use vector for fire ants or do we take care of that ourselves?

Vector does most of the fire ants. Yeah, that's what I thought. Thank you It didn't used to be that way way way back then but now they do nowadays.

I

Okay, so from a process standpoint, do we need to go ahead and table this in a motion?

Yeah, Madam Mayor, I recommend a motion be made to direct staff as stated on the record, and the staff will come back at the next meeting with the proposed provisions.

Great, and I'll make that motion.

Okay, I'll second. All in favor, go ahead and cast your votes. Okay, that's unanimous. Thank you very much. And just a reminder, we have safe playgrounds and recreation spaces as they're being cared for right now, so I don't want to have anybody have fear over our current process, bottom line. And we will make it even better as far as notices go that are on the website as well as in our policy. So thank you. Okay, next we have Mayor Pro Tem Goodell. I'll go ahead and ask for public comments. Do we have any? We do.

We have four requests to speak on this item. The first one is Tom Moore, followed by Carolyn Gatto.

Yeah, Tom Moore, Mission Viejo for 54 years. Yeah, one of the things that I want to avoid, I mean, I can see, I've had conversations with people up here before on this. I can see something a lot more enhanced than what's being proposed. Mean much more enhanced, but my problem is here we go again on The village center plan right the lid venture. We're gonna make this thing fantastic and great But it doesn't involve any of the residential properties So now we're proposing to to take essentially parking lot and All this stuff for the country club and the Natadores and the Marguerite Rec Center. And it's up away from downtown area, but it's still part of, I guess, the vision plan for Oso Creek. I can't support this. Now, I can support it when I see something down the road that incorporates and integrates everything from Oso Parkway up to Alicia Parkway and everything east of Marguerite Parkway and up to and including the Oso Creek riparian area. I have no idea what the city plans for all this. And I think the residential property owners deserve some kind of an understanding with the city of what's being proposed. What does this area look like in 20 years? Who knows? We keep on jumping from whatever this is across the street to the Natadores. And I do support this. Nats have been around. I moved here in 74. They were here, right? They were here long before that, too. And I support that. They've been long-term good for the community. But I can't support this the way it's presented. And I read Mike Schlesinger's comments. I listened to Cassie Palmer's comments. And I have to support what they're saying. We're not there yet. I think these are all good things. But I don't see anything other than this city jumping from project to project to project and no support in the long run. I don't see a 20-year plan. I have never seen anything from the city that says, this is what we're proposing for this area in 20 years. over the course of the lifetime in this area. And I would jump to the other side of Marguerite Parkway, include the ridge from Geronimo down to Oso Creek along La Paz and over La Paz. That is what is the city of Mission Viejo. That is the business community. All the stuff down at the south end, there's all that down there. But this is the community right here. This is where it happens. And I'll leave it at that.

Carolyn Gatto, followed by Michael Rocher.

My name is Carolyn Gatto, and I live in Mission Viejo. Economic development was included on the specific list of city priorities on the year-end closeout 2024-2025 budget and mentioned at the council meeting last May 26. While development of a four to six year vision plan for the Oso Creek golf facilities could be expected to, by some, to lead to economic development, I believe the council's time, energy, and priorities are misplaced. Instead of spending taxpayers' money on a public-private partnership feasibility study that's for a facility that only rich people will be able to afford to use, and that was proposed by a council member who is terming out, I suggest you get back to basics and figure out what to do with the pathetic looking shopping area in the center of town. The core area vision plan, rather than the Oso Creek vision plan, deserves the council's immediate attention because it will be used by far more residents and visitors than a golf course, clubhouse, or banquet space ever will. While I appreciate the efforts the council is making to prevent Mission Viejo from meeting the unfortunate fiscal fate of some other Orange County cities by anticipating revenue reductions and making changes to balance the budget, I fail to understand why creating a fancier playground for the city's most affluent residents could be considered a priority. Any feasibility study and further discussion of the Oso Creek Golf and Banquet facilities for rich people should be tabled until realistic solutions for Mission Viejo's core area have been developed and implemented for the rest of us. Thank you.

Michael Roger, followed by Jill Scheindler.

Hello, Michael Roger. As I think about the improvements the council is considering making to the golf course, it occurs to me that these upgrades will primarily benefit the well-to-do. Now, don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with that. But I can't help but wonder, given the budget cuts that have been implemented in various departments, is this really a good time? We have other projects that are being delayed that could benefit more residents. And given that many families are struggling right now, Might that money be better spent on programs that could help those members of our community? I would recommend that we take a step back and consider all of our options. Let's not be too quick to implement a good idea at the wrong time. Thank you.

Jill Schindler.

Thank you. Jill Schindler, Mission Viejo resident. I want to just echo what my fellow residents have said. This board has done a really good job of maintaining fiscal responsibility. You've worked really hard, but you had to make some unfortunate cuts. You made cuts to seniors. You deferred maintenance for parks. And then to turn around and say to our families, your park's not going to get an upgrade, but we got some money for the golf course. Your seniors, your grandma, she's going to have fewer rides to her doctor's appointment, but we got money to check on a private partnership. I'm having a hard time stomaching cuts to our vulnerable groups while we're supporting money for public-private partnerships and improving core vision plans. Again, echoing earlier comments while I look across the street at a Steinmart building that's been sitting empty for a long time. Thank you.

That was our last request to speak, and I don't see any on Zoom.

Thank you. Okay. Mayor Pro Tem Goodell, would you like to present your topic? Yes.

Thank you.

Okay.

Okay. I've got a PowerPoint, and we'll just put up the first slide. Before I go into the other slides, which we'll go through really quickly, I do want to go back to the November 9, 2021, council meeting and the agenda report for the vision plan that was created. over the course of time from 2019 to 2021. That was a previous council to this council that did that. We created a two to six year plan that we voted on at that time. And I'm just going to paraphrase some of this. I don't want to go into all the details just for brevity sake, but I'll try to hit the important points. So the 18-hole par 60 executive course was built in 1970 and includes a 5,400 square foot clubhouse facility with a large covered outdoor terrace. As stated by the city council, the purpose for purchasing the property was to preserve both the golf course and public space areas and control future development of the facility in a manner that enhances the golf course facility, best serves the city's residents, and establishes a more sustainable operation, both environmentally and economically, well into the future. Shortly after purchasing the course, the city began making improvements to the course and upgrades at the clubhouse, including hiring a new chef and revamping the restaurant, the Terrace on the Green, and all the improvements to date have been funded with golf course revenues. And it's been very successful, by the way. That's my personal ad. In the spring of 2020, as directed by the city council, the city issued a request for proposals to qualified consultants to assist the city in preparing a vision plan for the Oso Creek Golf Course and related public space. Ten proposals were received, and after multiple interviews, MR Profund was selected as the most qualified consultant and hired on July 14, 2020. The primary purpose for the vision plan was to explore future use and operation of the site, including potential complementary uses such as hospitality or other recreational uses that would serve to enhance and sustain the existing golf course facility. In addition to the golf course, the visioning effort includes potential future use of an approximately five-acre undeveloped city-owned site located west of the 35-acre open space parcel and southeast of existing city-owned Marguerite Recreation Center, as well as the future concepts at the recreation center itself. By the way, that five acre piece is the piece that we are currently working on to develop the new parking lot for the aquatic center and the YMCA and the tennis center. The vision plan process, the critical first step of the vision plan process was a comprehensive community outreach effort to fully understand the needs and desires of the city's residents. This began with a community-wide telephone survey conducted by True North Research in June and July of 2020 that showed strong resident support for creating new trails, preserving open space, enlarging the existing clubhouse, and creating space for recreational activities such as pickleball or bocce ball. The survey also showed support for complementary revenue generating uses such as banquet facilities and an upscale restaurant as part of the clubhouse expansion. Now, I remind you all at this time in July of 2020, what was happening in the world? COVID, right? So we did a survey out to all our residents, and it was the most popular and responded to telephone survey in history of Mission Viejo. Because everyone was stuck at home, and they were happy someone called them to talk to them about what they wanted in our city. Just that's a little aside from me. OK. In November of 2020, MR Profund consultant team led several stakeholder listening sessions, including online meetings with surrounding residential neighborhood representatives and user groups of both the golf course and the Marguerite Recreation Center facilities. And on March 11th, 2021, prior to consultant preparation of the draft vision plan, the city conducted an advertised online public workshop attended by 125 members of the public. A second online public workshop was advertised and held on July 27th of 2021 to share with the residents the concepts proposed in the draft vision plan. The second workshop was attended by 86 people. Based on the public input received during the city's extensive outreach, the consultant prepared both short-term action items and longer-term concepts for future consideration. The short-term improvements are grouped into two phases, two to four years and four to six years, to coincide with the city's two-year budget process and ensure adequate funding is identified for the priority golf course projects. The long-term concepts presented in the draft vision plan are offered as food for thought ideas for the community to consider beyond the short-term six-year time frame. I'm going to go now to the minutes of that meeting. Just a couple of points from the minutes of that meeting. Mayor Pro Tem Bucknam made a motion to receive and file the report to adopt the two to four year plan and continue to look at the four to six year plan. She is in support of the parking and modifications on Casa del Sol, which she shall leave to the capable hands of staff and engineers to work out, and potentially paying for that through development fees. However, she does not support moving forward with the remainder of the vision plan. And I remind you, if you don't remember, You weren't part of it. The remainder of the vision plan beyond six years had all kinds of things in it that people were kind of a little bit put off by. Some things might have been, I don't know. A lot of things.

A lot of things. Okay. Okay.

Then it said, Mayor Kelly asked to clarify the recommended action and reiterated that the motion is to receive and file the report, but only the part of the report that goes up to six years and approve the near-term two- to four-year plan and four- to six-year plan. Councilmember Goodell says he's in support of the motion, blah, blah, blah. Okay. Then Mayor Bucknam reiterated her motion. Two- to four-year plan plus keep looking at that four- to six-year plan, the options, but not moving forward past anything beyond six years. After further discussion, Sachs joined in, and anyhow, it turned out that the motion carried four to one. I was the no vote because I didn't believe in bifurcating the plan. I thought we should accept the plan or not accept the plan. But anyhow, that was my opinion at the time, just so you know. Okay, so now, tonight we have before us, we are in year six since we created the plan and adopted the plan. And the four to six years is slipping away. Okay, and that's why I am pushing for this to be considered tonight. Before I leave this council, I would like to see us complete what we started and not let it slip away. So the recommended action tonight is to one, adopt resolution 2646 directing staff to advance the Oso Creek vision plan into the four to six year phase and to initiate a public private partnership feasibility process. Two, initiate a public private partnership feasibility study. for a new golf course clubhouse, banquet event venue, food and beverage operations, potential for hospitality, and additional parking that may be required. And three, return to council within 60 days with a feasibility report, fiscal analysis, procurement strategy, and draft PPP term sheet. PPP is public-private partnership. Okay, so that is the action item. So here we have our strategic roadmap detailing the purpose. If we go to page two, these are the objective tonight is to obtain the council approval to move forward with the feasibility study to pursue PPP and expand the Oso Creek Golf Course Clubhouse. as I just said, with enhanced food and beverage services, expand parking pursuant to Oso Creek Golf Course, and the public space vision plan, specifically your four to six improvements as recommended by the council in 2021. Challenges. Budget. Enter into exclusive negotiating agreement with a qualified developer following an RFQ RFP process who will, they will, invest their capital to fund the feasibility studies. Similar to Site 3, the TrueMark exclusive negotiating agreement we entered into earlier this year for the affordable housing site, Site 3, and the current MART negotiations where we are negotiating an exclusive negotiating agreement with a developer for that site, just following the same plan, same format. Other challenge, Surplus Land Act. Our city attorney has examined this and worked on it with the state and found that it's not required to go through the Surplus Land Act if we don't change the uses on the site. If we're just updating and enhancing and intensifying the uses, there's no Surplus Land Act implications. If we do change the use and we add hospitality, which means a hotel, then all bets are off. We may have to go through that Surplus Land Act process. But that doesn't mean it kills the project. Okay, next page please. Previous concerns raised at our last meeting on May 12th, 2026. The priorities that we established during our April 9th, 2024 council workshop on the budget. Group one projects included site three with a exclusive negotiating agreement entered with TrueMark Homes to develop partial affordable homes development. The builder has terminated that process. due to project infeasibility because of site work costs, environmental, and market factors. That one's dead. Number two. Oh, my numbering system didn't come out quite right on this. It changed. Annual park playground rehabilitation. That is ongoing. We're currently doing Barbadanes Park. Three. Sierra Rec Center rehabilitation. Started today. Underway. Okay. Number four. Number three up there on the board. North Oso Creek Trail Bike Pedestrian Trailhead. That is ongoing. We have designed it and we're awaiting the grant funding that has been committed but not received yet. Correct? Okay. So that's going forward. Cordillera School site project. Saddleback Valley Unified School District is still using the site. It's a dead deal for now, as far as the city's concerned. It's their property, and they're using it. Six, La Mancha Playground Project.

I put dead deal for now. I don't know if there's anything happening. I don't think there's anything happening with La Mancha right now.

Correct? Okay. So La Mancha is not... moving forward. Group two projects were Los Osos project. We know that we decided that what we had planned there is infeasible, plus we have a lawsuit that's really limiting our ability to move forward. And we have an RFQ and exclusive negotiating agreement negotiations with the developer to buy the mart. So that's going forward in that capacity. The Performing Arts Center, determined to be infeasible due to cost. The golf course parking structure, standalone. That died, but is included in this particular project, potentially. And then there were a couple other projects. Lower Curtis pad project, we've already talked about that tonight. Currently on hold due to groundwater problems and ground movement, and then the consequential things that have happened because of that. And then the America 250 parade was on the list. And that is done, and it was a raging success. Okay, so that's where we are with those priorities. Next slide, please. Okay, the operational gap, community demand. When we did all our surveys and our community meetings, upscale dining and food and beverage offerings were in high demand by the public. Dedicated banquet facilities for large-scale private and civic events were also under high demand. And expand our recreational spaces, including pickleball courts and trail extensions. So those are things that this project would help facilitate.

Next page, please.

The six-year phasing strategy requires a shift in funding. We did years two to four near-term enhancements using money out of the golf operations for the most part by operational cash flow. Four to six, we're going to have to think differently. We're moving forward with third-party capital is going to be required. That's why a PPP is important. The city maintains ownership. We bring in a partner. They spend the money. They do the studies. They present them to us. We approve them. We create a partnership deal going forward, and we split the revenues coming out of it under some formula that is yet to be determined. So that's how this works. Next page, please. Okay, key development zones. This was something from way back in 2021. This doesn't necessarily hold true anymore, but I just put this in to show you that this is the site where the clubhouse is currently located at Oso Creek with the parking lot, and it would include a number of things that would still need to be determined through this process and negotiations. Next slide, please. And why a public-private partnership? Again, the city brings our prime municipal land. We have long-term civic vision. We have entitlement control over the property. And we have community trust, hopefully. And then the private partner brings substantial capital investment, commercial operational expertise, and assumption of financial and construction risk. So everyone who's worried about us spending money and taking it away from other people need to realize that our partner brings the money. This is how we leverage an asset that we have in the community to get something more than we have now and still have a sustainable future with a property that we own in perpetuity and protect for the future generations. Next slide, please. And I think this one was supposed to come out, so let's just go to the next one, because that one's just a little too complicated. And here's sort of the pathway. We come up with a scope. Economic Development Committee works with staff to come up with the RFQ, RFP. We go out to the RFQ, FRP, and then we decide who's the best partner to team up with and execute a 90-day exclusive negotiating agreement with the selected finalists to move into the planning phase and then come up with a disposition and development agreement for the 3P or PPP project going forward. I see this happening sometime in the first quarter of next year with the new council. So we are not locking them into anything. They will be in complete charge of this process going forward. We're just teeing it up. A big victory for the next council to come in, the way I see it. And I don't know that we really need to look at any more of these slides. They're just more about the PPP process. I guess we'll go to the last one. And we'll talk about the Mission Viejo legacy. There's two more just to go ahead of. One more. Here we go. A properly executed public-private partnership will transform Oso Creek into a premier destination. By adhering to a transparent, legally sound procurement process, Mission Viejo will deliver the world-class amenities the community demands and deserves without compromising the city's financial future. And that is my presentation.

OK. Any comments? Staff, do you have anything to add to this?

Madam Mayor, I have some brief comment on the Surplus Lands Act discussion, if that would be helpful for the City Council.

Please.

Sure. Thank you. We had two separate meetings with HCD. That is City Manager Lister, Community Services Director Logan Ecker, and myself with HCD staff. We submitted a question to them in writing, posing, in essence, what is being planned. Council Member... Goodell discussed, they got back to it. They called on a second meeting, after their first meeting, put it in writing. They opined that as proposed, not including the hotel, what was proposed, the expansion and rehabilitation of the clubhouse, improvement of restaurant facilities, potential expansion or enlargement of parking opportunities, including a parking structure, would be exempt under the Surplus Lands Act under the mixed use exemption. However, they were unequivocal in that any type of hotel use, anything other than a temporary event, one day event, two day event, would be subject to the Surplus Lands Act, provided that the lease for the underlying property is over 15 years, which this type of lease, ground lease, certainly would be. They have not, however, provided us that opinion in writing. So this is an oral opinion given to us by HCD staff. So it is not in writing. So take that for what it is worth. But that is the sum and substance of our conversations with HCD.

Okay. I'm happy to answer any questions. I may have some comments at the end, but nothing now.

Okay. Thank you. I have a question on what you showed on the screen, Brian, and what your recommendation is, which is to initiate a public-private partnership study and initiate a feasibility process. Are you saying none of that is going to have a cost associated with it?

No, I'm not saying that. I think there would be some staff time, clearly. There would be some legal time with the city attorney to do that process, to prepare it. But the rest of it would be a burden on the partners the way I see it going forward, any kind of planning.

But if we're doing a feasibility study, we don't want the people that are going to do the...

It's a feasibility study on doing a PPP. It's not on doing the whole project.

Okay.

We're not going to design it and cost it and then go find a partner to do it. That's not the way I see it. I see us doing a, just as we did with TrueMark, where we did an RFQ and they responded, they were selected, and then they went in and they did their own feasibility studies. Same thing with what's happening now with the MART. with our potential partner there on an ENA going forward. They're spending their money.

Okay, so does staff have the capacity to generate this RFQ?

We would probably need some help with that, similar to what we did with the Mart building. Oh, okay. I mean, I have a little bit of a different idea with process, but I think there's different ways to do it. But we would need some help, I think, making sure we go out to the right people. I don't know who all potential developers would be, so we would definitely want some assistance with that, similar to what we did with the MART RFQ.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. It looks like Council Member Vasquez.

All right, so I think the plan is it's a really great idea, right? But my concern is that we are living beyond our means. And as a city, in its retirement years, we need to plan for the long term and spend, save, and invest wisely. If, for example, if we're struggling to pay utility bills, reducing our reserves, cutting department budgets, and spending $6 million in a parking lot without a quantifiable need or an established plan for how it will operate, how can we justify spending more taxpayer dollars to study a public-private partnership for a new golf course clubhouse, the banquet, event venue, food and beverage operations, possible hospitality uses, and additional parking? So here's what I'm thinking is that before we take on any more major projects, I think that we need to take a step back and look at the big picture. And first and foremost, resolve the now defunct core area vision plan before we jump into another vision plan. And I appreciate that this vision plan wouldn't be designed first and then peddled around to potential developers, so that's a great thing, but I think that the timing isn't right. Like I said, we've already made cuts department wide, you know, we're already spending a lot of money on this other big project. I mean, it's, you know, I think that, and I appreciate that, you know, it's coming up on year six and you want to see this through. And I totally get that. But again, Sometimes it's we have to think about is this a need or is it a want? And sometimes, you know, even though you have this thing on your checklist, sometimes we're not going to be able to check that box. And the other concern I have is that the little, you know, little thing called Scope Creek. Scope Creek.

Creep.

I can't even talk. that you start out with this project and then you start adding things to it like a hotel like a parking structure like a you know I don't know like additional bathrooms or pickleball courts or whatever it is and it just keeps it keeps going so for me personally I think that it is in everyone's best interest in the community for us to put this on hold indefinitely and leave it for Another time, because right now I think the timing isn't right. And regarding the item number five, that was on our prioritization list. As far as I know, it's still on the prioritization list, which is the La Mancha Park Playground Project. I consider it still on the prioritization list until we have another prioritization meeting to discuss additional priorities. Thank you.

I'm not seeing any other comments. Council Member Kelly.

Yes. Council Member Vasquez. brought up a question, is this a need or a want? And I'm going to ask Mayor Pro Tem Goodell to talk about what the needs are as far as kind of what is driving you on this, not only the fact that it was part of a plan and we are conceivably at the next steps, but what do you see as the need?

Well, I believe that we have a need to create a sustainable economic engine in our community, engines, let's say, and that this is one of the assets that we have currently that can do that. It's currently successful as it is. We do plow the money back into it that we earn on it, but it's revenue neutral. But if we were to expand the food and beverage service, for example, and create a banquet facility where weddings could be held, I mean, we have a small wedding venue there now with the little glass barn, but we do have a parking problem with that glass barn and that thing. But if we were to increase that, you know, that would be more than double that capacity. It would be, I think, if we talked about a 500-room banquet facility versus I think we're limited to no more than 200 in the barn. Is that right? About 200. Jerry?

150 actually. 150. Inside.

OK. So it'd be four times bigger almost. And you could book that every weekend for a wedding. We could turn that thing into a revenue generating machine. That's an asset that we have. It's something that we can use to pay for a lot of things in this city that currently we don't have revenues being generated for. So that's the way I see it. I think there's a huge opportunity, huge upside, and places where they've done this, such as the ranch in Laguna or Ben Brown's golf courses, has done a phenomenal amount of upside with not only their hotel rooms but also their banquets, their weddings, and just the revenue from the restaurant itself. It's a very popular place to go, and they're making a lot of money, I don't know off the top of my head how much more, but it's something in the order of five to ten times more money than they were before they upgraded that space. So it's a giant revenue generator for them.

Okay. I do know that parking over there is a nightmare, and especially if there is an event like a wedding or a banquet. A couple of questions. First of all, I did want to clarify, there was a comment made earlier that the city's financial position has caused us to stop renovating parks, and that is not true. We are currently renovating Barbadine's Park And we are also renovating Sierra Recreation Center. So I just want to make sure the public knows that we're not axing park renovations or neglecting our facilities. Question. Mr. Mayor Pro Tem, you state that the developer would pay for the feasibility study, but it sounds like from the city manager there would be a cost to the city to hire a consultant to help to prepare the feasibility study. Is that correct?

I think Mayor Pro Tem, he's sort of proposing an approach that's probably a little different from the approach I would propose. I would suggest doing our own. If this is a path you want to go down, then we do our own feasibility study. It's not going to be a huge cost in the larger scheme of things. And I think it would just give the city more control to do it that way. And then you would take that, depending on what you got back, and go out and solicit partners. Similarly, again, to what we did across the street. But I think there's different ways to do it. I just personally feel that way would give you a little more control. Now, any other studies, raising capital, et cetera, then yes, that would then be on whatever partner was ultimately selected or potential partner.

Yeah, I'll just add on to that. I think city manager is correct that if you had the partner lead the feasibility study and pay for the feasibility, they're going to lead you the direction they want to go. There's no doubt about that. And I've done that before when I worked at Santa Margarita Company and we developed Rancho Santa Margarita with partners that did that. But the projects turned out great. I had nothing bad to say about them other than that's the approach we took. We brought the partner in and they paid for it and they They led the charrettes, if you want to call it that, where they put everything up on the walls, and everyone kind of throws all their ideas up, and they have the public come in and make their comments. Mr. Moore, I'm sure, will be at all those meetings. And it's a very dynamic process, but that's one way to do it. Another way to do it would be for us to go into a room and say, this is what we want. Now you come in and bring your money and help us get it done. we're going to have more limited ideas and creativity, in my opinion, if we do it that way as opposed to have them lead the process because that's what they do. That's what they're really good at. And if we wanted to look at the difference between, let's say we wanted hospitality or not hospitality, right? So... That means going into the SLA, the Surplus Land Act, potentially. And what are the risks and rewards of doing that versus avoiding that? If we're fearful of whatever that outcome could be, I think that maybe it's a matter of how you define what's in the... reuse area. I mean, we're still going to have the golf course. We're still going to have parking. We're still going to have a lot of the things we have already, food and beverage. But if you throw in some hotel rooms, then that piece of it. And we would need the legal staff's help to determine what the risk is of doing that if we decided to do that. The potential upside is way higher, I would say, with the hospitality approach in terms of the revenues long term.

but There could be some pain there could even be some danger at the start with with how we have to deal with the state on that issue Okay, I just have one more question and you've actually already answered this but I want to hear it again is Doing a feasibility study as you've proposed is that going to bind to the future council into a decision?

No, I don't believe it would. I don't believe it would bind anyone into anything. I think what it is is information that they can use to make decisions and go forward if they choose to, if they think it's in the best interest of the city at the time with the budget that they have and whatever the constraints are. Nothing gets finalized until... until you go through this process. And so you have to go through it to find out what the answers are that you need to know in order to make the final decision. So I don't think it binds anyone. I think it just tees it up so that they don't have to wait. And we've got a bunch of new council members come in and kind of getting their feet wet in terms of just the normal mechanics of city government. And then, you know, for anyone to take on a very large initiative like this could be daunting. So we tee it up and then it's a lot easier for them to make decisions and decide what to do going forward.

Okay, so it's providing a resource, a tool for a future council to take a look at and make their own decision on whether this is something they wish to pursue.

I think that's right. I don't think at this point in time with three months left in the year, basically, I don't think there's any way this gets done before the new council is seated and they take charge and make the decisions. I really don't.

Thank you. Council Member Reich.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. This bodes a lot of thought. I think to some of the initial things that the public wanted, they wanted a more upscale restaurant. I think we've accomplished that. They wanted other public meeting centers. And in our own way, we've sort of accomplished that as well. I'm not smart enough to know the feasibility of the project. expanding or rebuilding the clubhouse. Yeah, absolutely. I see that as a need. I know the kitchen is undersized for what we currently do. So I see that as something coming up soon that's necessary. A greater event space or parking structure or hotel. Again, I'm not smart enough to say that there's the need for that right now, but I'm concerned in the economic situation. Do we need a larger event space? We're trying to deal with our parking, which, by the way, I think in a future council meeting, we'll be able to see how it's going to monetize itself. I'm kind of excited for the way I'm hearing it. It's not just a cost. I think it's going to be recoverable. And the hotel, while, yeah, it sounds great and we need a hotel, I'm very concerned. I've written down Costa del Sol residents about four times on this piece of paper. And I would never go anywhere without at least engaging the public in something like this. So there's a lot of reservations, but but means everything else doesn't matter what I just said, and now we're really going to talk about what I do, which is, yeah, it probably would bode us well to understand that the feasibility moving forward, economics turn, is this something that could be profitable at some side, but I'm concerned it's a larger project than... really we need right now. And Council Member Vasquez, something you said does resonate is we've got a number of projects going on right now. Maybe we want to finish one of those first, unless this thing can prove to be an economic windfall, and then that'll fund other things. So moving forward with the feasibility study, As long as it's reasonable, I could see that. Moving beyond that, no. Right now, I couldn't see that at all. I'm just not wise enough to be able to say that's a huge need, which means I've gone in a big circle. But I guess I'd be concerned if it's reasonable what that study would look like to be able to give a future council a head start on all the projects, including that.

Councilmember Vasquez Yeah, I still think we're better off holding Just holding the project again You know, we're basing all of this off of something that was done in 2021. It's 2026 and then you know with New council it doesn't make any sense. I mean I can appreciate you know giving you know at least a partial new council a heads up our assistance sort of a leg up if you will with With this kind of a project, but I think that in the long run we would just be better off to let you know the new council decide if they even want to do a feasibility study in the first place so there's that and also so just to sort of bring it back to you know what we're already undertaking that you know in november of 2025 you know there was it was voted to establish a two million dollar um capital improvement project for the six million dollar parking expansion right And unfortunately, there was no plan at the time to how we were going to fund the remaining $4 million. And so how we were able to make this happen, in other words, where the $2 million came from, was the city used the fiscal year 2025-2026 general fund resources and reduced the economic uncertainty reserve by $900,000. $800,000 for interdepartmental utility costs. So to me, what this means is that we reduced our reserves because we were having difficulty covering utility expenses, while at the same time establishing a $6 million parking project without a plan for how we were going to pay for the remaining $4 million. And then five months later, in May of 2026, There was a vote, again, to use the remaining $4 million in bonds intended for the now defunct core area vision plan to fund the parking lot. So we're spending all of this money, and at the same time, we're still saddled with that debt for all of the bonds that were issued. And we have this empty building. So, again, I think that we just, you know, I can appreciate, Brian, where you're coming from as far as wanting to see this through. But I really just don't think that it's the right time and it's best to let the future council decide on how they want to proceed with this project. Thank you.

Council Member Goodell? I thought I saw your name on.

Yeah, thank you. In terms of your questions, Council Member Reich, I just would say that this was the first project that we started working on before the other ones came up and joined the priority list, okay? And that when council switched over, those projects came up, elevated higher. But now many of those have gone away or are being handled. But this one has never gone away. It's still just there. And sure, you could wait 10 years and do it in 10 years. It's going to be 10 more years before you get any increase revenues off it if you wait 10 years. Right now, it's like a no harm situation. The golf course is doing great. It's just paying for itself and everyone seems to be very happy with the golf course just the way it is. But we could generate so much more revenue for our city and for other projects if we were to have a little more vision and say, hey, this is an asset that we can really, I guess, boost here and get a lot more revenue coming into our city to help sustain things. As we all know, the prices and costs of everything are going up, particularly our big items. Our men in green and blue in the back of the room and women, that's expensive, that public safety element for our city. And it's something that we have to bear. And we have to think about how are we going to do it? How are we going to keep doing this for the next 20 to 50 years, 100 years? We've got to think a little bit more out of the box, in my opinion, and say let's take advantage of assets that we can monetize. And I think this is the best one that we have.

to do that.

Thank you.

Council Member Reich?

Mr. Pro Tem, that bodes the question how long it takes government to do anything. We just completed a traffic light at the lake that I started as a planning commissioner. So I respect what you're saying there. And the reality is sometimes you have to have vision. We certainly do. We can't act no matter how excited we are about anything. It takes time to do every government project. So yeah, a feasibility study, maybe more than one as economics move along, I think, bode well. And I do lean towards the fact that, yeah, I think you've identified something that has more potential, but it just isn't going to happen tomorrow. So we do need to look at that. realizing that no matter what we do, it may go into two councils. It may not be this one. It may be the next one or the one beyond that.

Make a motion, please.

I move for a cost feasibility study. Second.

OK. The recommended action?

Yes, the recommended action. Thank you.

Oh, OK. Thank you. OK. I heard a motion, and I heard a second.

Let me, before we go any further, though, let me ask staff again. As I understood in my notes, the majority of this will be able to do in-house. Is that correct?

Yeah, Lane's got her. She wants to speak.

Yeah, I guess it's there.

No, that's not correct. Well, there's two things. You talked about the recommended action, so I just need clarification. We also talked about the city staff hiring a consultant to do a fiscal and feasibility study. There's going to be a little bit of cost, probably in the order for about $45,000 to do it that way, but it definitely gives you more control. You sort of control the study more. I just want to point that out.

So we've got an estimated $45,000 cost, correct?

Correct.

Okay. And this study doesn't lock us in with any partnership. It's just a study to give us additional information moving forward.

Correct. It would be the first part, and then the second part would then to go out and look for partners.

Assuming we wanted to go further that made sense and that would I Guess that's the part that needs to move it seems like public sentiment is it needs to move into the next council rather than obligating ourselves all right, so the the dollar amounts 45,000 It'll give us a Look at a clubhouse an event space and I'm not real excited about a parking structure or hotel, but at least I think it'll give us some numbers. But if it gives us the clubhouse itself and what that'll do, I think that in itself will probably pay for itself. So I move forward with my recommendation, my motion.

So that includes initiating a public-private partnership feasibility study as well as Yes. Okay. Sorry. Because there's two items here.

Okay. Well, let's bifurcate this thing.

True. Three items. So I just want to be clear what your motion is. Is it all three of these items? That's what I heard initially.

I see three. Okay. Well, we don't know what a public-private partnership would look like unless we find out what it is. So yes, all three items.

Okay. Council Member Kelly.

I think City Manager Lister kind of answered my question in her comments. I do support this. I think it's good to get this information and to move forward with looking at what the possibilities are. So I do support it. Thank you.

Council Member Vasquez. Yes.

Well, again, I don't think that it's wise to spend money when you're going to have at least three new council members in the new year. I mean, it just seems that, you know, it's kind of a nice gesture, but it's just one of those things that I think that's better decided when the time comes. I mean, you never know. The priorities could completely shift. And it's funny that Bob mentioned Casa del Sol because that's what I had also written down as far as I'm sure that the residents of Casa del Sol will not be happy with having all of this development around them. Again, I think it's a great idea. I think that, yes, we absolutely need to find more ways to generate new revenue. Absolutely. But again, doing some kind of a feasibility study just for the sake of doing it just seems a little unnecessary to me at this time. Again, we still have the Steinmart building. We still have the $6 million parking lot, which, you know, that money could potentially be spent on renovating five to six parks. I mean, I know that we have the funds for Barbadanes, and we have the funds for the Sierra Rec Center, and that's really great, but what happens after that? I mean, that's what we currently do not have funding for. So, you know, again... I think that we may be biting off more than we can chew. And these are really great ideas. And I think in the future, something like this would be wonderful. But I think for the time being, we are best leaving that money Those those city funds alone. I know it's not a ton of money and I get that but I mean we could also say well then we could that let's say that $45,000 could fund half of the You know the senior ride program that we cut right? I mean you could use it for something like that instead so again I think we're just better off just, you know, letting this one go, letting this one, letting other people make that decision in the future. Thank you. Thank you.

Council Member Reich, and then I'll make a final comment.

Great. Yeah, I only have one thing to say, and it's been brought up here before that it seems like as a council we shouldn't do anything anymore. Well, then why are we here? But why are we here? The point is I think we're still in active council for the next three months. Otherwise, we might as well just go home and say everybody come back in January. That does bother me. Otherwise, why am I doing what I'm doing? I think there's three and a half years and somewhere there's 20 years worth of experience sitting here. Are you always going to make the right decisions? Time will tell. But if you make no decisions, you know what the result is, nothing. So I'm not comfortable with always waiting for a new council. Thank you.

Thank you. OK, so I just want to make a comment that I feel I was very sensitive to this. I feel that it was that I told Councilmember Goodell that I'm not comfortable saddling another council with a large decision on what's going to be done there. In other words, I don't believe that we should be doing anything without the input of the surrounding community. This does not do that. This is a feasibility study to know what we could even talk to the surrounding community about. That's why this part of it makes sense for me. And I'm going to go ahead and call the question now.

I had one more comment.

No, I'm calling the question. We've said the same thing over and over. I'd like to call the question.

May I ask for clarification on the motion? Is the motion to just direct staff to look into hiring a consultant to enter into a feasibility study? Or is the motion also to approve the resolution?

It's the action.

Yes. OK. So I made a motion to call for the question, which needs a second. And then we need to vote on that to end comments, correct? So is that correct, Mr. City Attorney?

Correct. And just to clarify once again for the record, so the motion is items 1, 2, and 3 of the recommended action. Correct. Is that correct? Okay. Thank you.

And if I could just chime in, too, on the third action, we will endeavor for 60 days, but if we're hiring a consultant, I can't guarantee that.

That's fine. Just report back to us. Okay. Are you fine with that? Okay. Okay, so I'm calling for the question. Say yes if you want to call for the question. That's what this vote is for.

Simply to call for the question. That's this vote.

Did you vote in Lockett? OK, that passes.

I would like to make a comment about my vote.

It was a call to question. It wasn't to approve, but you can make the comment after the next vote. Great. Is that correct? That is correct. Thank you. OK, now we're going to call for the question on the motion. We're going to vote on that motion. There we go. OK, Council Member Vasquez, go ahead. You can make your statement.

So it's not a matter of stopping work of this council. It's just a matter of making smart decisions. And again, it's just one of those things, looking at the bigger picture, giving a new council the opportunity to make that decision. Again, it's nice to provide that information, but again, It's just better off being left to the next council.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we do make smart decisions up here, all of us. Thank you very much for that comment. Okay, now it's my opportunity to speak. Thank you. Okay. I had the opportunity to have a meeting with Congresswoman Young Kim with all the mayors in her district. That was held in Villa Park, and it was a really good conversation. And I just wanted to report that to the community, talked about some of the things that Congresswoman Young Kim has been able to provide as far as funding goes for our community, and it was an opportunity to thank her. And then I also wanted to highlight some things coming up. Councilmember Kelly mentioned the event that is happening on 9-11. And it's really also a tribute for the whole community to attend. There's going to be a band that's playing, and it's going to be a 9-11 tribute over at Mission Viejo High School. Not only are we honoring some great people, but I want to encourage people to please come to that to honor 9-11. And then I'm going to go ahead and adjourn the meeting. And I have two very special people to adjourn the meeting in honor of and in memory of. And the first one is my father. passed away the morning after the last council meeting, somewhat suddenly. And he had an illness, but it definitely escalated faster than we anticipated. His name is Doug Burke, and he was born in Buffalo, New York, and he worked at Bethlehem Steel for 30 years, and then did some contract work for the military because he was an expert at environmental safety, and he was in charge of closing down Bethlehem steel mills at the end of his career. I learned a lot about hard work from him, and he is the last of six brothers in the Burke family. My grandmother had six boys, bless her heart. And he was the last one. His brother, one of my favorite uncles, passed away just three months before him. So we close in memory of him. It would be number one for me. And then, of course, right there, right behind him is our dear friend and commissioner, Mission Viejo City Commissioner, Joe Blum, who passed away a week ago Sunday, August 30th. And Joe, I know Brian had a very heartfelt prayer at the last meeting, and Joe unfortunately succumbed to some significant illnesses with a double pneumonia and was taken very good care of at Mission Hospital, but he just couldn't overcome the challenges that he faced. So he was a longtime Mission Viejo resident. I think he came here at a similar time as you, Brian. 1970s, just so after you. Went to high school at Mission Viejo High School. His family was very involved in the development of a lot of Rancho Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, I believe Ladera Ranch, even a bit of Mission Viejo, as well as Rancho Mission Viejo. Christopher Park is named after his brother, who died at a very young age. So the Blum family is a Amazing family and part of our heritage of Mission VAO. And Joe was a good friend to anybody he met. And I know that Brian and Joe went to high school together, and Brian has long stories of lots of shenanigans that you got into. But his services are going to be held at St. Killian's next Thursday, the 17th. at 10 a.m., and I know there will be many in the Mission Viejo community. I know people are flying in for that to honor Joe and honor Paula. You may have noticed that our city flags were at half-staffed beyond the Dolly Parton half staff, and that was in honor of Joe, Joe Blum, and the legacy that he has left for the city of Mission Viejo. So in memory of those two fine men, I adjourn the meeting until September 27th.