City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. We're going to go ahead and get started with the successor agency to the Norwok Redevelopment Agency meeting of April 7th, 2026. Resa, can we have a roll call, please? Agency members Ayella here, Valencia here, Vice Chair Rios here, and Chair Perez here. Moving on to a consent calendar. Can I get a motion, please? Second. Can we have a roll call? Agency member Ayella. Hi. Valencia. I. Vice Chair Rios. Hi. And Chair Perez. Hi. Do we have an executive director's report this evening? Not today. Chair,

thank you. Do we have any oral communications for the re the successor agency? No, there is not.

Thank you very much. With that, we'll adjourn this meeting. We're going to go right into our Norwok city council meeting of April 7, 2026. Good evening, everyone. Welcome. Welcome to quarter two. Um we we do have a great meeting for you all tonight. I I hope you are ready. Um, we are going to get started tonight with, as we always do, our invocation and our pledge to our flag. This evening, we are honored to welcome Pastor Danny Kasus, who has faithfully served the Norwok community since 2017 as the lead pastor of Remnant Church. While he is not a Norwok resident, we've been working on that for several years now. Pastor Kasus has built a deep connection to our city through his ministry and service with a passion for writing and running. He is most inspired by being a part of a church that brings healing and growth to the people of Norwok. We are also pleased to welcome Ricky Ramirez, an 11-year-old sixth grader at New Harvest Christian School back to lead us in the flag salute. He plays baseball with Norwok Pony and he's also involved in band and piano showing his dedication to his school and the Norwok community. If everybody could please stand and join us for the invocation and the pledge.

Thank you, Mayor Perez. Um every head bowed. Most heavenly father, we thank you for the privilege of life and we pray for your peace and prosperity over the residents of Norwok. We pray for all our first responders, our sheriffs, law enforcement, and also Lord, our teachers in our community. We pray for our seniors and also our unsheltered population. For your strength, prosperity, insight and direction. We pray for protection over all the councilmen, council woman, and also over our mayor and vice mayor. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Ready? Begin. I pledge algiance to the republic for it stands. One nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Please join us in the front. How are you? Such a great hair.

All right, pastor. Please join us. Three, two, one. Do one more. Three, two, one. Congresswoman, did you want to

Thank you guys. All right. Good evening and welcome once again to the city of Norwok council meeting. Let's welcome our congresswoman who's with us tonight. Miss Congresswoman Linda Sanchez. Wait, we'll we'll get to why she's here later, which is pretty exciting. U going on to our meeting. Teresa, can we have a roll call, please? Council members Zella and Valencia

here, Vice Mayor Rios here, and Mayor Perez here. Um, Arnold, can we have a close session report?

Yes. Thank you very much, Madame Mayor. members of the city council. The record should reflect that this evening uh uh for close session the city council with all the four members that are present uh this evening uh announced the one item for discussion in close session. Uh they recessed into close session for the conference with legal council anticipated litigation one matter uh briefing was provided to the city council but there was no action taken and nothing required to be reported tonight. That concludes my report from close session. It's appropriate to continue with the open portion of the meeting. Thank you. All right, we're moving on to council comments. I'm going to get started tonight. Um, I just have a few things that I'd like to celebrate and mention, things that have been happening here in our city. Um, we had our mayor's clergy meeting a couple weeks ago. We had a great turnout. It really was a great afternoon bringing in all of the faith leaders in our community. Um, we had presentations from our social services director and our director of public safety. Great dialogue, great conversations. It really was a wonderful afternoon. Um we celebrated some great accomplishments and women in the month of March and we had um two uh strong women leaders in our city that were recognized as women of the year from both Assemblywoman Blanca Pacheco and Senator Bob Archeletta and that was Angela Traser and Lydia Sanchez. So a huge congratulations to them. Um, we also had an opportunity to attend a huge ribbon cutting. It was the best one ever and it smelled like roses and that was the Athens Services uh Murf ribbon cutting. It was a great turnout and let me tell you, if you want to talk about technology in trash, this is a facility that you really need to see. I I seriously was blown away um what they do with our recyclable items and how they

um siphon it out and separate it. It really is remarkable and whoever came up with and engineered that plan to recycle um hats off to them because that's they're way smarter than I am. Um also a huge congratulations to our ABC uh unified school district. We had outstanding adult school awards recently. Um, and these students, um, are raising their families. They are working full-time jobs. They're taking care of family members. And there was over 30 students to be recognized. And it really was a great, great evening to celebrate them. And we had an extravagant egg hunt here in the city of Norwok this past weekend. We had a great turnout at Hollyfield Park. Huge thank you to our park and recreation services department, public services, public safety, our sheriff's department, all of our sponsors, everybody that really made this event special for our residents. I wasn't happy with how hot it was, but it was beautiful, let me tell you that. Um, so those are my comments for this evening. We are just going into Q2, which means we are gearing up for the summer, and we all know what it's like here in the city of Norwok when it comes to activities. So, be prepared. Get ready. All of our bulletins have come out. I didn't have them with me today. I forgot them at home. Um, but make sure you're following all of our social media pages for any of the upcoming events. Um, with that, we're going to go ahead and go on next to Vice Mayor Margarita Rios.

Thank you, Mayor, and welcome everyone. Uh, I do want to also um mention a special thank you to our to all the staff that um contributed and made our extravagant uh egg hunt festival a success, but especially to our public services department because I have the opportunity to um visit Hollyfield regularly. I walk there probably twice a day every day and I I see these men and women um working so hard uh to get ready for the event. They you know they're um not the ones that are always seen or visible, but behind the scenes they're the ones bringing all the heavy equipment, setting up everything that's possible for these festivals. So um please uh team thank our Albert thank our um public services team members for the great work that they do every day. Um, also I uh last week at the council of government's um meeting sometimes the director will share a success story and there's actually been a couple of success stories uh recently regarding individuals who were experiencing housing insecurity who were specific to the city of Norwok and um the director takes the opportunity to share the success story which brings that indiv individual from facing housing insecurity, uh, unemployment, uh, etc. to actually, um, having them find employment, expand their opportunities for education, higher education if that's what they choose, find housing. And what's been really neat about that is the last success cases or stories have been from individuals that originated or were here um from the city of Norwok. And so they also mentioned our social

services department and working with them, you know, with with the team. So, thank you for everything that you guys are doing to help those individuals. That really does mean a lot. And it does circle back, the information does circle back to us to let us know, you know, what happened to this individual, were we able to help them? How are they doing? How is he or she doing? Right. Um, I also had an opportunity to attend the community breakfast which was held at Junglland High School and that was really neat. It was open to the community and it was an opportunity for the students there to showcase their um programs. This is Junglland High School Eagles along with Southeast Academy cadetses. So, they did a great job highlighting their programs, their athletics, um their school culture. So, that was really, really neat to see the community come together uh for the community breakfast. Thank you for everyone that participated and and was able to make that possible. Um on March 25th, I did have a chance to stop by to the public safety uh wellness day. uh Rita, Azie, Jesus, and other members were there. Thank you. Um I hope that other departments are considering something similar or maybe you already have. But it was a really great day to remind everyone about um the cohesion, teamwork, how important also social, emotional, mental, physical wellness. you know, the the fact that we as a city and as a community, we emphasize that, but we also give our employees the opportunity to, you know, take those those take action those things. We all know how important wellness is. So, I really um it was nice to be able to be there and see them, you know, the camaraderie and just be able to take a little breather because if they're well, then we know

our city is being taken care of. We are well. That's what we all strive for. So, thank you Rita and your team for that. And lastly, um so the Norwalk Columbia Unified School District um kicked off a leadership academy and in the leadership academy, so our mayor is actually part of that too. She's a presenter. She's actually holding one of the sessions for for this cohort. But what they also did was um and these were they had to go through an application process. employees had to apply to be part of this first cohort which is um the inaugural leadership academy and then they partner you with other leaders uh members of the community. So, I was I was lucky to have been asked and and I said yes. And so, I have a partner, a fellow leader that's uh an employee of the district. And we are there's many things we're working on, but one of the things I want to mention because it's just so timely is a prom boutique. We are initiating a prom boutique at John Glenn High School. Um, and this is absolutely complimentary for the young ladies and young men to come and select their prom getup. And we were fortunate to have a generous donation of brand new dresses, beautiful dresses. Um, again, this is for Junglin High School, Southeast Academy. Uh, depending on how we how well we do, next week is our kickoff week. Once the students get back to school, we'll, you know, open it up to other other schools if uh, you know, we still have some items that can be um, shared with other students. But I do want to give a shout out to um, Illusion Bridal. This is a business in the city of Whittier, but it originated here in the city of Norwok. So her mom um, had this business here for over 30

years. She was on on Rose Crants. Um and uh it was a bridal boutique here for over 30 years. Um they finally made a change and and now they are in the city of Whittier. But the owner is an actual Junglin High School alumni. And so when she saw that we were looking for donations, prom dresses, he donated a lot of dresses, brand new dresses to our prom boutique. So hopefully you all help me get the word out. If you know of a family, student that's going to prom, a senior, or even a special occasion, or even graduation, you know, something nice to wear under there, right? So, um it's been a very exciting time, a busy time, a lot of great things happening in Norwok. And, um, happy spring to everybody.

Thank you, Margarita. Uh, next, uh, we're going to go to Council Member Tony Ayella. Tony.

Thank you, Mayor. I have one item. I'd like to on behalf of Soropamus International of Norwok and Santa Fe Springs invite the community to an awards lunchon which is a salute to women living their dreams. again as a Serupamus International. And uh the event will be Sunday, April 19th, 2026 from 1 to 4:00 p.m. at Santa Fe Springs Town Center, 11740 Telegraph Road, Santa Fe Springs. And be sure to save the date. Donate any size diapers for women in transition with babies, toddlers to receive prize entry. If you have any other questions, you can contact Karen Ayala at 562547 3733. If you've never been to this this event, it's really great event. It's it's really inspirational and uh you know, it's it it really is very motivating, very uh you walk away very impressed with all the ladies that participate and and all the ladies that put it on. So, I'd encourage you to attend for sure. That's all.

Thank you, Tony. And finally, Councilwoman Anna Valencia. Anna.

Okay, Tony. I'm convinced. I'll go. I'll get some tickets. It's great to be a member of the Drop Optimus as well as uh our colleagues, Mayor uh Jennifer and Vice Mayor Margarita Rios. So, um we always see these events because they are so wonderful. um planned way in advance, organized, and just, you know, the camaraderie and really the the uplifting that you feel um with these young women who are given second chances, some of them third chances, but they're doing something with it and their lives. And it's it's really a great thing to see and to continue to. So, I plan on being there. Um couple of things that I did. Um, it was on spring break. That was nice being able to relax a little bit. Um, but Friday, March 20th, I did get a chance to go to Artastic, Alan Perdomo, director of public of parks and wreck. That was a fantastic event as always and and then some. It it it was just fabulous. The artwork, the entertainment, the vendors, the booths. um our very own uh city clerk was there at the booth and making sure that people had all these this information. The fact that we have uh passport services highlighted as well as so many other things and um it's always one of my favorite things to do here um as well as making sure that our students um get those awards and those checks for their artwork. Um lots of great talent, lots of good times and um our city manager was there, lots of people from the community. Um wonderful event. So thank

you. Uh that evening also I got to kind of and and Levy, where's Levy? Levy, you and I were bouncing back and forth, but and thank you for that. Thank you for your help. Um, we got to go to the Elks um, lodge across the street from that event um, for a fundraiser for um, these two young cadetses that um, their father passed away. And so they were holding a fundraiser. they were holding um uh all kinds of different um uh auctions and whatnot, but they did collect over $3,000 with our support. And and I from what I understand, um our social services director, Gabriel Regalado, thank you for assisting and um for uh helping those young ladies and the families because when some when things like that happen, it's tough. It's tough. but we pull together. Our Norwok is definitely a connected community and we connect each other with the right resources. Um and and you know I I know that they're going to be okay in God's hands. Thank you. Um the other thing is uh last Thursday, April 2nd, I was uh at the Southeast Water Coalition meeting. Very good information. I um I was approached by um someone from the uh water district and said that it was their pleasure to assist in writing a letter of support for our water. And I of course thank them profusely because those things um you know again connectedness having those relationships and fostering them um always a plus. So, I look forward to um that project and all the other things that come with it um to be in its fruition. All right. Thank you, Mayor. That's all I have.

I'm sorry, mayor. I almost forgot. I I don't want to forget this, but um I would ask that we close in memory of Joe Ruben Varos. Um his he was born on February 10th, 2003. Um passed away on March 17, 2026. very young life. Um he was a a graduate of Junglin High School and he uh played football um after after high school I believe he was recruited and um was a successful um athlete. So Joe Ruben Baros. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, moving on to our special presentations. Tonight we are proud to recognize April as fair housing month. The city of Norvok is committed to fair housing, ensuring every resident has equal access to housing opportunities without discrimination. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the federal free housing act of 1968, which continues to protect individuals in the sale reent and financing of housing. This month of April, we will serve as an important reminder of our responsibility to promote inclusive communities and equal housing opportunities for all residents. On behalf of the Norwok City Council, we encourage residents to support and participate in programs that encourage fair housing awareness. At this time, we invite representatives from the Fair Housing Foundation and Community Development Team to come forward and receive their proclamation. Council, please join me in front as we congratulate the

You're welcome. Three, two, one. One more. Three, two, one. All right, we are going to go right into city manager comments. We have six items here. Jesus, lot of good news, a lot of good information. and we're going to turn it right over to you.

Great. Thank you, mayor, members of the city council. Um I'd like to first um begin by congratulating and welcoming Alex Hamilton as an employee and not a consultant as a deputy city manager for the city of Norwok. Um, as you may experience, uh, as you were walking into city hall, we have these major projects. Uh, this is just one of probably five major projects in the city and, uh, he has been, uh, the lead on the projects uh, since coming on as a consultant. And, uh, he was retired and I, um, asked him to come help and, uh, slowly but surely I asked him to be an employee. So, uh, Alex, thank you very much for for taking that on and, uh, lots lots of things, uh, to accomplish here and in a very, um, a short amount of time. So, thank you for and and welcome most of all. Thank you. Um the next item is uh Congresswoman Sanchez will be presenting a a check for the Hollyfield Parking uh project. So with that, Congressman, Congresswoman, thank you and good evening the council and to the residents that are here tonight. Um, it's an honor to be um back in California in beautiful California sunshine as the DC winter has been a long and brutally cold one. Um, but I'm here tonight with good news. This is one of the favorite parts of my job and it is to present the city of Norwok with a $500,000 check and federal funding that I was able to secure in this year's

government funding bill. Um, this is the latest investment for Holoffield Park to build a new lot with 74 parking spaces just south of the park. And it may sound like something very simple, big deal, a parking structure, but more parking means that it's going to make the park more accessible for people. More folks can visit the park, spend time with their families, enjoy the green space. And essentially, this is how government should work. listening to the community, listening council members, and delivering results that actually matter for the residents. It shows that when local and federal officials work together, we can make projects like this a reality. So, I want to thank the city council, the city staff, and the residents who supported this project. Your input is what made this project possible, and I'm proud to do my part to help bring it to life. So this time I would love to present this jumbosized check to the city council. You guys would join me and I will mention Congresswoman Sanchez that uh this will help make it safer for families to attend the park because right now they park across the street and have to cross the major Bloomfield. So thank you very much. It's really appreciated. Three, two, one.

Thank you. And my next item is um Iso Nakasato who who is a senior government affairs director at Athens disposal. And she is going to uh provide us with information on the annual community cleanup so that we can all attend, take our trash, and make more room at our homes. How's that?

For more stuff, city manager. Right. For more stuff. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for having me here and I'm going to use this little clicker. First and foremost, I want to go ahead and introduce your team. So, I have one of your amazing team members and we have Ailen and she's going to introduce herself. My name is Ailen. I'm an I am a municipal account manager. I handle all business accounts here within the city. answer all questions business related within their service helping uh right sizing uh these businesses with proper source separating as well as providing training to these businesses as well as multif family communities here uh I will be providing some of my cards as well uh an amazing resources we have here for all of your businesses so for example if and when um let's just say one of your small businesses need to train up their staff on how to separate their organics from the plate to how does it get to the trash can to the correct green container in the back. Ailen is there to help. If you would like to go to the athenservices uh.com website, we have also information there that is printable that you could just print for your employees, for your classrooms, for your home. Because some of you guys, I mean, I watch your trash. you guys are all doing a really good job. So, thank you for that because I do watch that. Um, but this is an amazing resource because why? Why do we do this whole source separating? How annoying. Well, really, it's for the Earth and this is April and it's Earth month. So, in the spirit of Earth month, I wanted to give you a few fun facts. All right, so Earth month is April 22nd. All right. And it was founded in 1970, so it's been around for

a while now. And the purpose is to raise awareness and support of environmental protection. And we can all stand behind that and kind of understand why we should really honor Earth Month and Earth Day, right? 11 million tons of plastic enter the ocean day annually. That's a lot. And when you think about that, that's why we need to recycle and take it away from and then reuse it and do something else with that plastic. 30 to 40% of US food is wasted. That means it was going to the landfill. That's why it's important for us to separate that food, put it in your green container. We pick it up and we go ahead and churn it and make it in a couple weeks. We make compost out of your food. What an amazing system. So landfills are the third largest resource of methane emissions in California. What does that mean? So people some people believe in global warming, some people don't. Hey, that is up to you. But the facts are facts and it releases gases and it goes up in the air. We can believe what we want. But when things decompose, it creates gas, right? over a million people in over 190 countries go ahead and recognize Earth Day. So I think that's really important and I know that Norwok does recognize Earth Day. There are some major US laws that have helped um Earth Day and kind of support all that. So one is the clean water act, the other one is the formation of the EPA and another one is Senate bill 1383 here in California which is Senate Bill 1383 is a shortlived climate pollutant reduction law. So basically this is where we have to separate the food, put it in your green container and that green green container we pick it up and we go ahead and make compost out of it.

So the key goal of that is to reduce the organic waste. So what is organic waste? Your food, your tree clippings, those lovely roses that hopefully you buy yourself and you love on yourself. You put that in your green container. So we want to reduce that from going into that hole in the ground, that landfill. Don't want to do that. We want to go ahead and process it and turn it and give you something different. So what sets why do we do that? Well, and what sets Athens services apart is that we do recycling. We do organic diversion. We do solid waste collection. We do special waste. We do CN D, street sweeping and porter service. Athens services is all about, you know, trying to take care of the environment as much as we can. The mayor mentioned that we do we just had a ribbon cutting ceremony a couple weeks ago and we have a brand new facility. Our owners is we are still a family-owned company and our owners did not buy landfills. Athens does not own landfills, but we do own um different um facilities and buildings to take things out of the trash. And as we take things out of the trash, we go ahead and recycle things so that less and less things go the landfill. Right? All right. social impact. One thing that our owners really do believe in is giving back to the community. So when you are in Athens city, we give back. We give back not just to the city staff and as much as we can, we give to the Kuanas, we give to the Lions of the Serptus, we give to like the Norwok 5K and of course we are member of your amazing Norwok Chamber. So that compost um and we do cleanups. So, this Saturday, rain or shine, rain

or shine, we will be at Holyfield Park. Um, we will collect your bulky items. Please come down. Join us in the rain. It's going to be nice and warm. It's going to be that warm rain. It'll be fine. Rain won't kill you. It's going to be great. Come on down. Bring your stuff from 800 a.m. to noon. Holyfield Park. You'll see us there. You can't miss us. And if you don't want to see us there, then come to our compost giveaway. Our compost giveaway will be May 16th, same location, Holyville Park. And if you have any questions, if you want to learn more about Athens services, please contact our customer service or go to Athens services on so any social media, we are there. Happy to take any questions, but if not, I will leave some flyers here in the back for everyone that's here. and then um we will see you this Saturday. Thank you.

Thank you, Eso. Next, um we'd like to share some great news with the community. Norwok Transit System Rodeo Competition wins again. And I will have Mr. Jim Parker uh present the the um the slides here, but Norwok wins again. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Gomez, uh Mayor Perez, and members of the city council. On Saturday, March 28th, the fivestar bus rodeo took place at Long Beach Transit uh busy yard in Long Beach, California. yard was transformed into an obstacle course and provided uh an approving ground for our individuals who were to demonstrate precision, skill and pride as professional bus operators. So this rodeo chorus involved eight local transit agencies including Commerce Transit, Culver City Bus, Torrance Transit, Gardina Bus Lines, Long Beach Transit, Montabella Bus Lines, Santa Monica Big Blue Bus, and of course Norwok Transit. the uh these folks brought their best in uh competitors each and every uh agency to compete uh in this high energ high energy and high level competition. You'll see some of the various obstacles and uh diminishing barrels. You'll see serpentine turns. You'll see uh how uh bus operators have to do these type of maneuvers. There was backing maneuvers. 11 various obstacles that they were judged on and had to perform. Um all of these stations were were very difficult to achieve. But beyond the competition, the day was full of uh community celebration. Families were there, colleagues were there, supporters lined the course to uh root on their their agency. Last year in 2025, Noro Transit took home the top honor. This year the goal was simply show up and represent.

However, instead Norwok Transit rose to the occasion and once again earning backto back championships for city of Norwok. So we are very proud of our team and all of the support staff that was there to get us there to that accomplishment. very proud of our our folks and we just wanted to share that moment with everyone this evening. Thank you.

Thank you, Jim. And the one thing that um Transit is known is for their safety and their training. So, I think this demonstrates uh the investment. You invest and you win. Thank you, Jim. Appreciate it. Um, our next item would be the opening day 2026 recap video. And for those who were not able to attend, just look at these little ones.

Happy opening day, Norwok. Let's have a great season. Hi, I'm council member Anna Valencia and we're here at Norwok Pony Baseball opening day. Very exciting. Here you go. Play ball. Spring is here and Norwok is ready to play ball. Our opening day celebrations kicked off with Norwok girls fast pitch at Lowe's Alisos Middle School on March 7th, followed by Norwok Little League at Gertie Park and Norwok Pony baseball at Holyfield Park on March 14th. Each league hosted a banner contest with every team proudly walking their banners around the field to show off to council members, commissioners, and league representatives. From team banner contests to first pitches and pledges, our young athletes brought the energy at each opening day. A big thanks to everyone who helped make these opening days a home run. Here's to a season full of teamwork, excitement, and unforgettable moments. Future Dodgers for sure. Thank you for that. Um, our next video is the Artastic 2026 recap video. Very, very talented artist. Can we show the video?

Norwok's 15th annual Artastic brought an evening of creativity, color, and community to the cultural art center. Guests explored student and community art exhibits, visited artwalk vendors and enjoyed a variety of interactive art activities. The night also featured a chalk art contest. The tea looks well, but we got pretty burnt out because of the tea, but um we were trying to go for an optical illusion. Most of us have a combination of art one classes under our belt, but you know, with the team effort, it I think it came out pretty decent. The adults kids doing art and I mean our our art club slogan is art can save your life. So draw and live entertainment that kept the creativity flowing throughout the evening. Families were also able to experience the sensory room helping ensure the event was welcoming and inclusive for everyone. Artastic continues to showcase the incredible talent in our community while bringing residents together to celebrate creativity and the arts in Norwok. Thank you to everyone who joined us for this year's Artastic. We look forward to seeing you again next year. And so now we have the bi-weekly update video and this all of the events that we've had in the past two weeks. Let's play.

On March 18th, Mayor Jennifer Perez hosted the city's annual mayor's clergy meeting, bringing together local clergy members. This event offered a platform for city directors to share important updates with faith leaders in attendance. The city of Norwok partnered with the Red Cross to host a blood drive on March 25th. Thank you to everyone who came out to donate and help make a difference in our community. On the same day, the Santa Fe High School cross country team presented a special thank you plaque and support last year. In honor of Women's History Month, the Social Services Center hosted an inspiring panel on March 26th featuring women leaders from the city of Norwok. Attendees heard from Norwok directors as they shared their journeys, challenges, and leadership experiences throughout their careers. We're connecting our community. Um the last item I have is the U immigration update. Uh we have had no immigration related services that were directly requested. However, we continue to have know your rights um and red cards. Uh we have some um sessions that are coming up April 22nd at the senior center 9 to 12:00 p.m. and then every every Thursday every third Thursday we have um cheerila at social services. So if you'd like information please um call social services um andor administration and we could uh direct you to those services. With that that conclude my city manager comments. Thank you very much. Thank you, Jesus. Moving on to our consent calendar.

Mayor, I'd like to have a report on uh number eight, number 11, please. Eight and 11. All right, let's go ahead and hear the report first for item number eight.

Yes. And Mr. Albert Mendoza will present. Yeah. Good evening, madame mayor, vice mayor, members of the city council. This item is for project number 3302, award of contract citywide for sidewalk and concrete repair and replacement for fiscal year 2025 and 2026. So on January 15, 2026, staff solicited construction bids for citywide sidewalk and concrete repairs and replacement for fiscal year 2526, project number 3302. Scope of work includes the remove and replacement of sidewalks, curbing gutters, and curb ramps. On February 11th, 2026, the city received 17 bids which were publicly open. 11 bids were found to be nonresponsive. The lowest apparent bidder was CJ Concrete Construction in the amount of $3550. Staff conducted a bid analysis including checks to the contractor state state licensing department of industrial relations registration, state and federal department list and reference checks. As a result, staff recommend awarding the contract or the project to the lowest responsible bidder CJ concrete construction. The following is an estimated cost breakdown of the total project cost that includes 305,50 for construction. Extra work and contingency 183,000 subtotal 488 with an administration and inspection fee of 5% totaling 513 $262,000

from the issuance of the notice to proceed. The pro the projected start date is late April 2026 and will continue through June 30th 2026. Our f fiscal impact project expenditures are funded through our fiscal year 2526 measure R and our transportation development article 3 funds. No general funds will be used for this project. Recommendation staff recommends city council order a contract to CJ Construction Inc. in the amount of 30550,000 including a 60% contingency for unforeseen conditions and for additional work in the amount of $183,671 for project 3302 uh fiscal year 2526 and authorize the city manager to execute the contract with any amendments within the contingency on behalf of the city in a form approved by the city attorney.

Thank you. No, there's a Sorry,

uh, Mr. Gomez, there's there's a high interest from the community about these projects. We get, as council members, we get a lot of calls about dripping falls on sidewalks, on torn up gutters, and uh, and whatnot. And, uh, this is such an important infrastructure thing that we do. I think every time it comes up, it needs to be a report because people need to know what we're doing. You know, right now, you know, there's there's street projects going on on the street up and down Studebaker and uh I think Norwok Boulevard. Uh and people ask me, you know, what are they doing? You know, what are they doing out there? These are the things that people can see that we are involved in managing, doing ourselves, and so on and so forth. So, we got to make sure that people know what it is that we're doing, explain those projects because in some of those projects, frustrating for myself because when you get there at a, you know, at a traffic period and it it goes down to one lane, uh, it's tricky. But if our residents can see in advance what the project was and see the value in the project, they're not going to be quite as upset that they're getting held up. So, let's let's get the residents on the same team that we're on so that they understand what it is we're trying to do and that we're maintaining vital infrastructure for their safety and for the way that their their house their house presents. I mean, because if you got blown up sidewalks and blowing up curb and gutter and you got a nice house, it just kind of blows the whole thing out. So I think this is a really important thing to emphasize and I hope in the future that we will we will see that. But uh thank you Albert. But I

would like uh something on number 11.

Yeah. Thank you council member. Item 11 is award a contract for safety and tenant improvements to the security office at the Norwok Santa Fe Springs Transit Center also known as the metro link station. The security office located at the pedestrian bridge of the Norwok Santa Fe bricks transit center metro link station needs critical safety and tenative improvements due to ongoing deficiencies and aging such as water intrusion, aging air conditioning unit, deteriorated ceiling tiles, outdated lighting, inadequate insulation, just to name a few. On March 4th, 2026, at the request of staff, Genesis Builders submitted a proposal for $59,71 to perform the necessary safety and tenant improvements to this office. Scope of work includes but is not limited to roof modifications to to address the water intrusion, replacement of ceiling tiles, upgrades to the heating and ventilation, air conditioning, also known as the HVAC unit, installation of new lighting fixtures, new laminated flooring, patching and painting. Our fiscal impact sufficient funding is included in the approved fiscal year 2526 budget under the public services and the budget is as follows. The proposal was for 59,71. We're adding a contingency of 25% or 14,927 for a total of 6 74,676. Staff recommends the city council award a contract to Gen Genesis Builders in accordance with the Norwok Municipal Code for public works competitive requirements level one projects. These are projects under 75,000 for the term of April 7, 2026 through October 21st, 2026 in an amount not to exceed 74,626

to make improvements to the security office at the Norwalk Santa Fe Springs Transit Center and authorize the city manager to execute the contract and any necessary amendments provided there is sufficient funding in the budget and it is within the city manager signing authority in a form approved by the city attorney. That concludes my presentation. Okay, I'll I'll move the consent calendar then. Second. Thank you. Thank you, Albert. We have a first and a second. Teresa, can we have a roll call? Council member Zella, I. Valencia, I. Vice Mayor Rios, I. Mayor Perez,

I. And I gave a list of items in commercial demands that I am state. All right, moving on to appointments. Um, I do have one appointment this evening. I would like to nominate Phyllis Bar to the Senior Citizen Commission. She is not here today. So, if we can get that information to her. Can we have a roll call, please? Council member Zella. Hi. Valencia. Vice Mayor Rios. Hi. And Mayor Perez. Hi. Thank you. Were there any other appointments? No.

Thank you. Okay, moving on to item number 13 and that's to approve the installation of athletic netting system for Zimmerman Park. Jesus, can we have the staff report, please?

Yes, Mr. Alan Purdomo will present. Mayor Council, the item for your consideration this evening is a netting installation for Silverman Park, particular field number one. A little bit background. Since 1992, Silverman Park has been the site for youth and baseball leagues year round. In 2023, the recreational services department received multiple reports from a local resident concerning balls landing in their backyard adjacent to the park. The department went ahead and did a couple of safety measures to try to remedy those issues. In June and July of 2024, we moved the basis 10 ft back to the uh batter cage. The infield was uh was fenced off and permits were only granted for out outside use. We then proceeded to install an additional 1300 square f feet of additional netting above that above the batters box and that was a cost of 18,500. We then reopened the field and we allowed our youth sports organizations to conduct batting practices towards the outfield only to try to limit balls from going into the adjacent homes. In November of that same year, signage was posted at field one directing players towards the outfield and away from residential homes. The next slide shows a couple of the images of kind of that progression that I just described. Despite all of these measures that we did, uh we still received numerous concerns from the adjacent neighbors that balls were continuing to land in their properties. Um, so a request for qualifications of RFQ26-5101-6 was released on February 26 of this year. The RFQ requested bids for the installation of poles and a netting system behind the existing fence along the baseline of home plate um and first base plus the replacement of the bottom 10 ft of chainlink fence of the entire

back stop on field one of Silverman Park. The department received a total of six responses. After evaluating all the responses, the department selected Judge Netting as the most responsive bidder for RFQ26-5101-6. The following picture shows an image um and I think this image particular image on the right um as you can see the current the current chain link fence from the ground to the highest peak is only 30 feet. So we this particular installation of this net will add an additional 25 ft of netting above the highest peak at 30 bringing total coverage to a total of 55 ft. We do believe this will trap every ball. Um we cannot guarantee balls from not going 100% but I do believe this would um get us close to that 100% number of reduction of fall balls going into the adjacent homes. And the picture on the left kind of gives you a viv a visual of how that netting system will look like. The project timeline, the department will work with the proposed bidder to streamline and schedule the work for the installation between mid to late June, I mean late mid to late May of this year. uh normally about one or two week period for agreement execution uh procurement of steel and scheduling four to six weeks and then about a one or two week installation for the actual work. The fiscal impact uh the fiscal impact will be funded by the park renovation account uh 743-30-5813-2080. And the recommended action, staff recommends city council approve an agreement with judge netting for an amount not to exceed $84,800 and authorize the city manager to execute the agreement and any amendments provided there is funding in the budget and it is within signing authority in a

form approved by the city attorney. And that concludes my presentation. I'm available for any questions city council may have. Thank you Alan. Um before we go to council comments, I do have somebody wishing to speak on this item. Andy, you Oh, I'm sorry. Never mind. Wrong item. All right. Any any questions from from council? I'll move it.

M. Uh, so I want to start by thanking staff. I know I've seen the correspondence from the resident about the concerns of the balls flying into their property. I know you said um this should help alleviate um I'm just I guess I know it sounds like it's there's no guarantee necessarily um I know it's $84,800. So, um, is there anything else that you you can add, Alan, that would maybe be more of an assurance or more I mean, is it more likely than not that this is I mean, is this going to help?

Yeah, I mean, I can't say it's going to stop 100% of the balls. I think um it would be lying if I said that, but I think this is going to get 99. Um, unless I think the only way to prevent balls from going into the adjacent home is if I put an entire netting system in the infield, but then every time there's a fall ball, it's going to touch the net and then you won't be able to play baseball. So, I think this will address it because it's it's very if 55 ft is is as tall as the lighting system, it should trap almost every single ball.

Okay. Thank you. it. Can we just maybe put some additional signage about no batting practice in the outfield? Um because I think what has happened in the past is you'll get stations during baseball practice and you'll have a hitting station on the green grass because they're running drills from base to base and you have them hitting from the grass towards the houses. So whether it's a social media post on what not to do, um if it's signage at the park that says no batting practice in in the outfield, um I think we need to have some additional communication that's posted out there on a regular basis when we as staff or public safety are not there. And then I would also add this to all of the um communication that we send out to our that utilize the field.

We do. All right. We do have a first. I'll second the item. We have a roll call, please. Council member Zyella, I. Valencia, I. Vice Mayor Rios, I. Mayor Perez, I. All right. Moving on to item number 14, and that's authorization to approve an exclusive negotiating agreement for the real property located within the Norvok Transit Village specific plan planning area number one. Jesus. Yes. Um, Mr. Alex Hamilton will present on this item.

Yes, honorable mayor and city council. The item before you tonight um is um an exclusive negotiation agreement. There is a bit of background that I will have to cover um as it is very prescriptive. On November 19th, 2024, the city council approved the Norwok transit village specific plan which envisions opportunities for new economic development within the former CYA site as we call it. That's the Southern California Youth Correctional Reception Center, approximately 30 acres at located at 13,200 Bloomfield. The transit village plan was approved for with a total of eight planning areas intended to promote orderly and contextsensitive growth to create a unique community connected by a robust network of pedestrian, bike, and vehicular linkages. Project area one within the Norwok Transit Village is zoned mixeduse commercial MUC and is located along Bloomfield Avenue's frontage. A variety of commercial uses are envisioned in this planning area including hospitality uses. On December 3rd, 2024, the city council adopted resolution number 2461 approving the purchase and sale agreement buy and between the state of California and the city for the subject site. On December 17th, city council adopted resolution number 2462, declaring the subject site exempt surplus land pursuant to government code section 54221F1 and approved a disposition and development agreement DDA buy and between the city and Lewis land developers known as the developer. On April 15, 2025, a development agreement was adopted by the city council by and between the city and the developer with

the intent to coordinate and facilitate the successful and timely completion of all necessary improvements public and private uh identified in the Norwok Transit Village specific plan. As it relates to the item before you tonight, which is an exclusive negotiation agreement, U. Cosmont Partners did a market analysis and concluded that Norwok because of its suitable location in the region, including its multimmodal connection to major transportation networks and regional attractions, could benefit from additional branded hotel keys. However, there are unique challenges in this current economy to locating, financing, constructing, and operating hotels regardless of the brand or the market demand. To build greater certainty into the contemplated hotel development, the city is considering an exclusive negotiation agreement, we call it an ENA, with Dual Brands LLC. Dual Brand, that is the name uh that is corrected from the staff report. uh that is the entity that will be moving forward with this project should you approve it. Uh to facilitate the entitlement, construction and management of a major branded hotel of a minimum of 150 rooms to be in the planning area number one of the Norwok Transit Village. A few of the key terms the ENA um identifies that dual brand will be solely responsible for all costs associated with consultants retained uh for performing dual brands obligations under the ENA including entitlements and any project design feasibility or engineering costs. The ENA requires the cooperation of parties. Both parties will mutually cooperate and coordinate the development of all studies or documents needed to uh perfect the design of the project.

In addition, the negotiation period is set for 24 months with a 12-month automatic extension provided certain conditions are met plus two additional extension periods subject to the party's mutual consent. The securing of the brand within six months of the execution of the ENA dual brand will secure the brand rights from Hilton Worldwide. The due diligence includes entitlements, financial feasibility, and approval and execution of a hotel development, construction management, operations, management, and maintenance agreement to occur during the negotiation period as extended pursuant to the terms of the ENA. The approval of the ENA is exempt under the California Environmental Quality Act pursuant to state Cal SQA guideline section 14061B3, the common sense exemption because approval of this ENA does not have the potential for creating a significant effect on the environment and is therefore not a project as defined by SQA guidelines section 15378A. Furthermore, the ENA does not involve a physical change to the environment as and is strictly administrative and it's an administrative activity under the previously certified Norwok transit village specific plan. At this time, there are some recommended actions for the city council to consider. First off, we find that the city council would find that approval of the exclusive negotiating agreement is exempt pursuant to SQUA um and the guidelines that I mentioned um as set forth previously. The second action, recommended action is that you authorize the city manager to

execute the exclusive negotiating agreement with dual brand hotels LLC for the real property with the Norark Transit Village specific plan planning area number one located at 13,200 Bloomfield Avenue along with amendments and any other ancillary documents in a form approved by the city attorney. As I stated, this is an update from Hotel to Suites 2 LLC to Dual Brands LLC. Be more than happy to answer any questions should you have.

Thank you, Alex. Um, and I do apologize for the mixup last time. We do have one speaker card. Andy would like to speak on this item. Andy, as noted, you have three minutes. Andy

at the end. Um, but that's fine. So, I'm cur first of all, I'm curious why Hilton was chosen as the party to enter into agreement with to build a hotel here in Norwok. Um, and not just any Hilton brand, but um, home to Sweets brand. Um, this is incredibly concerning because that brand has been found to collaborate with Ice and house them. A quick Google search will yield multiple stories of home to sweet hotels harboring ICE kidnappers in the community. Not only is Hilton complicit in this as the owner of that brand, but they actively promote and seek eyes business. In Minnesota, a hotel owner refused to allow eyes to stay as is his right as a private, you know, businessman. And Hilton responded by cutting ties with that um with that hotel. So, they not only just allow to stay, but they actively seek and court them, I believe. Um, which I think that was a valid response by that hotel owner after committee members were publicly executed by the federal government there in in Minnesota. Um, something that this council has never even blinked about. Um, in allowing them to open hotel here, you're opening the door to having agents not only out kidnapping and roaming in the day, but now staying in our city at night and allowing them to harbor here at night. How do you think this will make the community members who at risk feel knowing that there's ICE agents staying here in the city? Um, equally easy to find online is the community response to these hotels that were harboring ice in Minnesota, in Long Beach, and even at this very franchise owners hotel in Montabelloo. I believe um, Home Sue Suites is still the franchise. It uh, there's no dual brands found on the California LLC search. So, I'm not sure if this is a new offshoot if they're trying to hide who they actually are. Um, but I'm going to assume that this is a very franchise owner. um the community will not allow agents to stay in peace and you should expect a similar response if this project moves forward and ICE agents are found to be harbored there. You cannot

claim to not know about these connections um like when you hire cities attorneys who are investigated by the DAs or fired from previous cities. So your decisions from here will tell residents all they need to know about where you stand.

Thank you council. Any comments or questions? Right. I'll go ahead and make a motion. I'll second. We have a roll call, please. Council member Zella. I. Valencia. Hi. Vice Mayor Rios. Hi. Mayor Perez. Hi. U moving on to item number 15 and that's the May 2026 meeting schedule.

Yes. Mayor, members of the city council. Um as you know, uh we are traveling to a couple of conferences. um in May and they come conflict with the uh May meeting dates. And uh tonight we are requesting that we adjourn the May 18th meeting to the May 26 um and not have a meeting for the uh not have a meeting on May 19th uh due to the travels of the majority of the council and uh some of our staff including myself. make that recommendation uh to you, mayor, vice mayor, and the city council. I'll move it. I'll second.

Council member Zayella. Hi, Valencia. Hi, Vice Mayor Rios. Hi, Mayor Perez. Hi. All right, moving on to oral communications. Um, our first speaker is Mr. Anthony Tabaris. Following Anthony is Jose R.

Hello. Got three minutes. I feel like an auctioneer at the city of Noroko auction. You know, when you guys took this position, you guys decided to be professionals about everything that you guys do speak about and you guys have the all your positions, your tax, your plaques in front of you and uh everything's professional here. Same thing I did when I changed my life and when I came out of prison and out of Skid Row 20 years ago. I'm a business owner now, so I take everything professional. I expect the same from you guys. Margarita Rios, I appreciate I know we have our differences, but I appreciate you as a professional, as a assistant vice mayor, a mayor, and your position that you have as your work and what you represent. I truly appreciate Rios. If and indeed you have city meetings, city council meetings, any kind of meetings, be professional about your meetings. Don't bring drug users, homeless individuals that put hands on the community. If and indeed you go that route, let us know. We'll stay to the side and we'll speak as adults. Your husband is there. He could speak to me, speak to whoever. But you as a professional, please don't bring drug addicts, homeless individuals to meetings like this. When we had our last meeting, this individual snatched the mic out of me and he kept on putting his hands on me. Now, I know I I get it. You probably expecting me for me to snap and go do what I used to do before, but see, I'm professional now. I understand. I'm a

business owner. So please, Rios, next time you decide to go attend our Vio meetings, our community meetings, and you want to bring these individuals along, your your entourage or whatever you want to call it. Let us know. We'll put everything to the side and we'll speak like adults. That was disrespectful. I left angry and I didn't have a chance to speak to the individuals to the community regarding the lawyers that we wanted to hire. That costed me a lot of money, taxpayer money. I don't have grants to give here, but I have my heart and my free time that I always donate. So, I appreciate you guys. If you guys are up there taking the seats, taking the vows, speaking on this, speaking on that, be professional about it. Dog gone it. If I'm professional about my business and where I come from, hey, Norwok is in my heart. The people and the safety of this community should be first for you guys, just like it is for me. Gracias. Right. Our next speaker is Jose R, followed by Patty Delgado. So, um, given that, um, a current council member has expressed concerns as well about artificial turf being at Hermasio Park, um, I was just wondering if the community could also receive a verbal agreement from at least two other current city council members that they'd attend at San Elementary School. Um I think it's very important for you guys using those facilities obligations work.

Can you speak closer into the microphone? Sorry.

Other events that they have to attend to and um I think it would be very important for the community to see other members of the council as well attend those meetings given that there's been a ton of concerns regarding the artificial turf being installed there. And um yeah, so one of the things that I also wanted to mention is um just in regards to banquet hall, um what are those operating hours going to look like? Um will alcohol be allowed to be served at that venue? And uh how has the surrounding community's safety been looked at when um addressing those decisions as well? Um and uh yeah, last thing that I have is just um can we get an official date on when a decision will be made in regards to artificial turfers grass cuz um that is a huge decision that's going to be affecting a lot of grandmothers, aunts that pick their children up from school right across the street. That's going to affect picnic times. That's going to affect people just being able to lounge on the grass when it's a hot summer day outside. When it's 100 degrees outside, that turf gets up to 115 degrees. Nobody wants to sit on that in the middle of the day. And that's going to be affecting people for the duration of the time that that's that that artificial turf is installed there. And I know it's a little bit less of an upfront cost, but it's more maintenance cost uh throughout the duration of that park being maintained. But um I do feel like the community has voiced their concerns regarding that. And I just would like to know how are those concerns being voiced at at this level as well cuz I don't know if that's being pulled from those meetings to here. But it is something that nobody is happy with. Nobody wants in the community. And if you just attend one of those meetings like current other council members have, which we really do appreciate, uh you'd quickly find out that nobody wants artificial turf and that's a community park. It's a state community park. And if you guys want to develop uh a sports complex, I think

Hollyfield is a perfect location for it given its centralized location, easy accessibility, and now we have more more funding for a parking lot. So, it even makes more sense cuz just with how small the community is around Hermaceio Park, the current traffic that is there after school is only going to accumulate even more as more things get added on there, as more tournaments start being sprout sprouted up there, and as more practices start getting involved there as well. So, uh, appreciate you guys' time. Thank you so much. And looking forward to hearing what you guys decision is regarding that. Thank you. Thank you, Patty. And following Patty will be Pocky.

Hello. Good evening. Um, the Herosio uh residents held a community meeting March 18th. Over the past few months, I've made this council aware of the anger and frustrations residents feel. Uh, at these meetings, tensions are high. Um, tempers flare. They get very heated. Uh, Margarita, you came to our last meeting. The residents welcomed you. They were very respectful towards you. However, you came with your own personal agenda. Margarita, you decided it would be a great idea to bring your friend Hugo in Ceso. Why you would bring him? Yes. The owner and president of the soccer league along with your friend Steve. He didn't come to speak to the community or to try to find middle ground. She came to disrupt and antagonize. And that's exactly what you did. Hugo, a non-resident of Norwok, had no business there. You brought him there thinking it would help you clear your name, but it did the opposite. You brought Steve to sit next to Anthony the whole time antagonizing him, hoping he'd react. You know, everyone here has worked hard. Jesus, Azie, Allen, everybody who comes to these meetings see every how every community member feels. What you did shows lack of leadership and total disrespect for an entire community.

You don't deserve to have that seat. Your actions were reckless at minimum trying to antagonize a community member. Even though these meetings get heated, we appreciate the efforts of everyone involved. We really do appreciate everything you guys do. Herio, the Hermosio Park family is not asking for again any of the amenities it didn't have. We're just asking for what we had back. I know that currently Allan is working hard to try to fund try to find funds. However, we know that the council members can make it happen. Margarita, your your actions were truly unbecoming of a council member. Your not so subtle attacks on Anthony is just not attack on Anthony. It's an attack on our entire community and just shows a total utter disrespect for you to bring these people there. You could have came on your own. Everybody welcomed you there. Thank you. So our next speaker is Pocky. You know, let me remind you, we are descendant of Joseph from Egypt. First born of Joseph Manasse. We are descendant also of Ishmael.

They come to America 600 before Christ. 600 years. You know, let me tell you, we are related to all those Middle East people. But you know, let me tell you, you have one man, uh, Muhammad, their prophet. But if you go around the islands in the Pacific Ocean, they have all kind of story about God. We knew about God long before the European come around. But we are descending from those people over there. But my story today, there was no beginning. So what happened with the word uh of there's no beginning alpha and the omega well it come from the word tangata mean the image picture of the serpent the beginning the end the other that's why Jesus was called in the bible son of man you know Adam god created Adam and Eve from Adam and the children of Eve come from Adam by one man all come from him and that's what God trying to tell us by me alone God Almighty all my children all their spirit come from me including their mom if there is a mom all of them come from me that's what the Bible is trying to point to us by one man the whole universe there There was no creation until our own kind and our own likeness create. There was nothing out there.

And Jesus said, "Let us create man in our image and likeness." What do you think of that? Eh, our own kind. Jesus told him in the Bible in the beginning say that you are God and the word cannot be broken. Right? This is what Jesus tried to tell us. By one God Almighty, all our spirit come from all of us. Think of it beautiful idea. That's why I'm trying to tell you we come from the Middle East and no question that we know about God a lot more than the European and a lot of people. We have all of them all over here in America. The knowledge of God. Thank you. Thank you. And we're going to go ahead and journ our meeting tonight. Margarita, I apologize. I for my paper.

Please remind me the name. Yes. So, we'll be adjourning tonight's uh meeting in on in memory of Joe Ruben Varos. Thank you very much. Have a good evening. This meeting's adjourned.