City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. We're going to go ahead and get started with our successor agency to the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency regular meeting. Oh, it was canceled. Never mind. It just says it's canceled. We're not going to do that one. We're going to go right in. Sorry. All right. Before we get started with our meeting, I have a lovely script that I'm going to begin and read with you. I'd like to share some information regarding the new government code regulation that most California cities must comply with for all city council meetings. Effective July 1st, government code section 54953.4 requires cities to implement two-way audiovisual and telephonic services to all city council meetings. As such, tonight's meeting will be ran slightly different to include Zoom participants. In-person individuals will continue to submit a speaker card to the Sergeant of Arms. Individuals participating in the meeting virtually through Zoom will need to raise their virtual hand if they wish to speak on consent calendar or other items on the agenda under public comments once I ask if anyone wishes to speak on that item. Callers will be muted until it's their turn to speak and muted after they speak. When I ask if there's anyone wishing to speak, this is the time for individuals using Zoom to raise their virtual hand. If using a Zoom app or a website, there is a feature that allows participants to raise their hand. And if calling by phone, press star 9 to raise your hand. Each person will have three minutes to speak. Only one comment per person per item is allowed. And no one may transfer their time to others. In-person individuals will be heard first, followed by virtual speakers. And always please be respectful of all in attendance by following the rules of decorum that are posted above. With that, I'll officially call tonight's meeting of August 4th, 2026 of the City Council to order. This evening, we are honored to welcome Dr. Joy Clement Daniel of Rock of the Nations Church to lead tonight's invocation. Dr. Daniel has faithfully served as pastor for more than 11 years here in the City of Norwalk. We are also pleased to welcome Girl Scout Troop 566 to tonight's City Council meeting to lead our Pledge of Allegiance. Troop 566 is made up of nine girls entering the third and fourth grade. Over the past year, they have demonstrated a strong commitment to serving their community by assembling 35 blessing bags for individuals experiencing homelessness. They've served alongside St. John of God during the Thanksgiving season. And they had an outstanding Girl Scout cookie season with, as a team, they sold more than $8,000 in cookies. That is through teamwork and dedication. We are so proud of Troop 566 and we recognize you as young leaders in our community. They are here tonight and they'll be achieving their civic leader badge for their patches, so congratulations.

With that, yes.

With that, Dr. Clement Daniel and Girl Scout Troop 566, please come forward to lead us in the invocation, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. And if I can ask everyone to please stand.

Let's close our eyes and look unto the Lord in prayer. Almighty God, we come before you today with the gratitude for the opportunity to serve this city, Norwalk. We recognize that leadership is a sacred trust, and we seek your wisdom. Just divide it well, oh God. As we begin this council meeting, we especially Lift up our mayor, council members, and city officials, those entrusted with the weight of governance and vision for our community's future. Grant them clarity, O God, courage to lead, and compassion to minister well. May the lead not with the fear or favor, but with justice, humility, and heart to serve all people of this city. Bless this council with unity in purpose. Let our discussions be marked by respect, our decisions by righteousness, and our actions by love. We pray for every resident of this city this evening, from the youngest child to the eldest neighbor. May our work today reflect your heart for mercy, equity, and peace. Guide us, O Lord, that this meeting may be fruitful and that your awesome presence may dwell among us throughout this meeting. In your Son and our Savior, Jesus' name, we offer this prayer and everyone may say, Amen. Amen. Thank you, Mayor and the Council, for this opportunity.

Put your hand on, put your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republics for which it stands, one nation under God, individual liberty and justice for all.

All right ladies, we have some certificates for them. This is Miss Otto Deluna.

I don't think she's here in London. Mariah Rose, Scarlett Rose, and Miss Neva Walker.

All right, why don't we all put those together.

And you're gonna go over here too. There we go.

There we go. Yeah. Ready, ready?

All right, right here, everybody. Ready, one, two, three. One more right here.

One, two, three. Thank you.

All right, good evening once again, everyone, and welcome to our meeting. Theresa, can we have a roll call, please?

Council Members Ramirez? Here. And Valencia? Vice Mayor Rios? Mayor Perez?

Here. And Arnold, can we have a closed session report?

Thank you very much, Madam Mayor, members of the City Council. The record should reflect the City Council recess into closed session after announcing the one item that is listed on the agenda, that the four members that are present tonight were in closed session to receive a briefing on one item of anticipated litigation on that item the council received a briefing from city staff there was no action taken that is required to be reported at this time and that concludes my report from closed session it is appropriate to continue with the open portion of the meeting

thank you so much and welcome everyone good evening once again welcome to august um it is the coolest time of the year let's be honest if we think cool we will be cool that's what i'm it's my story and i'm sticking to it um before we get started with our city council comments i would like to recognize and welcome former mayor mr bob arthur is in the audience tonight Not gonna lie, he was here to see his granddaughter say the Pledge of Allegiance. So very, very proud moment. All right, so moving on, we'll go ahead and start with our city council comments. And tonight we'll go ahead and start to my left, Council Member Ramirez, Rick.

Yes, Madam Mayor, thank you so much. I just, again, like to welcome everyone here tonight. I know that the crowd's a little thin, it's predominantly staff and a few vendors, but again, we're here to serve you, we're proud to serve you. If you have any questions, you know how to reach us through email, cell number, or open door policy. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's National Night Out event at our Norwalk Park, so I encourage not only our residents but our staff to get out there and force and enjoy great camaraderie, great entertainment, and just to get out there and meet your neighbors. I'd like to welcome our Director of our Chamber of Commerce, Karen. There you go, give her a hand, guys. Other than that, Madam Mayor, that's all I have this evening. As the summer progresses, there's cooling centers. I know we're probably expecting a very, very, very hot August, probably September, October, maybe even into December. Probably gonna have a Hawaiian Christmas. But again, our senior center, we're still having the cooling centers, correct? Both the Alondra as well as the senior, or just the senior center? Just a senior center located on San Antonio So we have a lot in store coming up a lot of exciting projects as you guys can see We're in the midst of construction here on the City Hall lawn with the walk That's moving pretty quickly as you can see buildings are up and a lot of movement 24 hours Well, not 24 hours, but seven days a week pretty much. I saw them here on a weekend working So we're trying to get these projects done in a timely manner so we can move on to the next great big thing So that's all I have this evening. Thank You madam mayor

Thank you, Rick. And now to Councilwoman Anna Valencia. Anna?

Thank you, Mayor. Just a couple of things. Again, welcome, everyone. It's great to see some familiar faces and some new faces here. And what I'd like to report on is the last summer CONCERT THAT WE HAD WAS A LOT OF FUN, LOTS OF REALLY GOOD MUSIC AND LOTS OF PEOPLE OUT THERE, VENDORS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS AND REALLY GOOD INFORMATION. AND OF COURSE TOMORROW IS OUR NATIONAL NIGHT OUT SO WE'RE GOING TO HAVE, WE'RE GOING TO BE LEARNING A LOT ABOUT OUR LAW ENFORCEMENT AND THEY'RE GOING TO BE OUT THERE TO GREET AND TO ANSWER QUESTIONS AS WELL AT OUR SUMMER CONCERT TOMORROW AT NORWALK PARK. I BELIEVE FROM 5 Karen, 5 o'clock till 9 p.m. And then, of course, we'll also have a band. It's an all-female band. And then I think they're going to play half of the night, and then the other half is another band, right? So I invite you all to come on down and have some fun and relax. And, you know, Norwalk Park always has a really nice breeze coming through, and it's so much fun. to be able to sit and enjoy some good music, get some good information, and then talk to some of our law enforcement people. And of course, I'm going to be there, and I'm sure my colleagues, city managers are always there too as well. So I invite you all to do that. And then this Thursday, the Director of Public Services and I are going to attend the southeastern water coalition and this time norwalk is not hosting the new um host and the new chair is going to be cerritos so we will be attending that meeting at the cerritos sheriff's station right mr mendoza okay so and so um you know we always get really good information and i like reporting on those things too That's it for me. Oh, and then I know that some schools are gonna be starting soon. Some districts have already started, my God. I'm a teacher and I actually wanted, this will be my last year in education. yeah yeah it's so this is I'm going on my 31st year in teaching I can't believe I'm even saying that when I was you know 30 something and be like oh retirement that's a long way from now they're like oh it comes it creeps up on you it's crept up on me so this year i'm going to start making my plans and everything but really happy love teaching so i want to congratulate and welcome back to school a lot of the students that are already starting and those that are starting soon we start next week at la unified all right thank you mayor thank you anna congratulations and here's to your final year in the classroom thank you next to vice mayor rios margarita

Yes, thank you, Mayor, and welcome, everyone, to our City Council meeting this evening. As I mentioned before, summer is my favorite time of the year, so I've been trying to make the most of it by making some fun memories, but I also, staying busy with different activities throughout the city, wanted to share just some of those. I wanna thank our public safety here in the city, along with part of our park and rec staff who coordinated a cleanup on Front Street. And that was, there was volunteers by our TAP and summer workers, if I'm not mistaken. There was quite a bit of them there. Jose and I did come and participate in the cleanup. And so I wanna thank you for coordinating that. I'm sure that by now you've thanked those youth volunteers who showed up on a Saturday morning at 7 a.m. in the hot weather to come and work towards beautifying our community. So it was actually fun participating with them. That same day, I moved over to Hoxie Park for Bark and Brew. Thank you to our Allen and our park and rec also for coordinating an event. It was nicely attended. It's always fun to see pet owners with their pets come out and enjoy the dog park, have some morning coffee and win some fun prizes and learn about the city, particularly our dog licensing here in the city. So thank you. That was also, that was fun. It was a warm day, but it was fun. That same day, I moved on and attended the Dream Big scholarship event. Dream Big is an organization here in the city. And that day, they awarded thousands of dollars to our youth who have aspirations to move on to college. And so they went through an application process, and they were submitted. They submitted, they were vetted, and they received $1,000 scholarships towards their dreams and aspirations for higher education. So that was definitely a busy Saturday, but very well worth it. Also, I recently, through our Norwalk Santa Fe Springs Optimist International, Corridor Mania, that was a lot of fun. Again, raising funds for some of the programs that we support and people that we support here in our very own community. So busy time, but a fun summer. Just have to keep that balance. Remember to keep that balance of work and play. I do want to remind everyone that tomorrow at 1 p.m. is Ice Cream with the Cop. at target 12051 imperial highway so one o'clock tomorrow ice cream with the cop that's gonna be fun um so some tasty refreshments and good company so hopefully that um some of you can attend that tomorrow as well as our national night out that was also already mentioned um during uh the last time i gave a shout out to uh monte's here in the city of norwalk again very very important to support our local businesses and they henry the owner there gives back and he's just he's really kind and and so i love to support him so tonight though i'm going to give a shout out to milagro cinema If you have not gone to Milagro Cinema in the Norwalk Square, you are missing out. It's a beautiful theater, and they recently celebrated some of the screenings, the movie screenings, and they had some pretty famous people there, which they've had famous people there in the past, including Edward James Olmos, and this last screening event they had, Lou Diamond Phillips. You guys know who Lou Diamond Phillips is, right, from La Bamba? Yes. So shout out, Milagro Cinema, great movies. You get out of the heat, get some popcorn and drinks. And again, I just love the fact that this business is bringing some positive recognition to our community. And some of these big players, you know, actors are here in our very own town. So hope that you continue to enjoy your summer. And that's all I have, Mayor. Thank you.

»» Thank you, Margarita. So just a few things for myself. I did attend the annual JPIA Board of Directors meeting a couple weeks ago. We meet once a year just to share how our cities are pooling their resources together to mitigate risk. So it was a great meeting. We had a wonderful time at the Soroptimist Quartermania event. We've mentioned National Night Out. We had a ribbon cutting for Sal's psychiatry and mental health last week. It's a wonderful resource here in the city. So definitely reach out to our chamber if you know anybody that needs assistance. Karen would be more than happy to point you in the right direction. It is bulletin season. So our Norwalk Now came out. There's a huge front cover. tips tricks and information in regards to back to school safety so please make sure it's already reached all of your homes if you have not gotten it you can get one here at city hall i counted between the social services and the senior center in the month of august there's seven dances Seven, seven dances. You know here in the city of Norwalk, we like to have a good time. It's all in the air condition. So whether it's the senior center or the social services, go. There's a lot of information here, my friends. We have a woman equality day coming up, senior citizen day, end of summer dance and barbecue. There's a blood drive being held at the social services center all in the month of August. So information is out there. Please make sure you take a look at it and get that information as soon as you can so you can stay informed. I also wanted to share with our community that after a great deal of reflection, I myself have decided that I will not be seeking reelection in November. I hope you all pick up your chins now from the floor. But it was definitely a very, very hard decision to make. But I want to say right now, this very second, this is not goodbye. And for those of you that know me, know that I don't stop. So all of our city team, our employees, our family, get ready. Because the next few months, we're going to go at a hyper speed. And we're going to make sure there's a lot done here in the City of Norwalk. I've shared with my colleagues here at the dais tonight the news. But again, this is not goodbye. It's not even a step back. I'm still here and I will continue working alongside each and every one of you exactly as I always have right until the very last moment. There's still a lot of work to do. i intend to do it i intend to keep going and i'd like to say this really was not an easy decision but it's one that i made with a full heart i thought a lot about it and a more enormous amount of gratitude for the past nine and a half years it has been the honor of my life to serve this community It's residents, it's families, it's businesses, our first responders, and the incredible City of Norbach team. And I look back and I am so excited with where the City of Norwalk is going, which makes it a complete circle to make the decision that I did. So if, like I said from the very beginning, if you know me, and most of you all in the room do, get ready. There's a lot more to do between now and the end of the year. So to my colleagues, I want to thank you for your trust and your respect. But this is the right time for me. And I appreciate everything that we have done and that we will do in the next couple months. And all that is going to continue to grow here in the city of Norwalk. With that, we have a meeting to move on to. Like I said, let's go right into our city manager comments and I'm gonna stop talking and turn it right over to Mr. Gomez, Jesus.

First of all, congratulations. I think you've served the city well. We have been on a journey that's been what I call explosive in terms of development, and you can experience that every day as a council member and as a community member and as a city employee here. So we are grateful to have you as a council member, a mayor, and you will be missed. Next, we have a new member of the community team, and it's my pleasure this evening to welcome our newly selected captain, Camacho, back to the city of Norwalk. Listen to what I said, back to the city of Norwalk. big, big deal in making that selection. He previously served in Norwalk for nine years as a training officer and member of the Norwalk Enforcement Team, the NET Team. During his 26 year career with our Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, he earned numerous honors, including Deputy of the Year, a certificate of congressional recognition from Congresswoman Grace Napolitano, recognition from the County of Los Angeles, and multiple commendations for outstanding performance and leadership. Before his promotion to captain, he served in several key assignments, including executive aid to the assistant sheriff, where he helped lead major projects and strategic planning efforts. His experience also includes leadership roles in the Homicide Bureau, Internal Affairs Bureau, Lakewood Station, Century Station, and the Narcotics Bureau. Throughout his career as an investigator, watch commander, field supervisor, and training officer, Captain Camacho has focused on reducing violent crime while building strong communities. Captain Camacho understands Norwalk's community policing model and believes strong partnerships between law enforcement and residents are essential to preventing crime and building trust. His focus is also mentoring youth in various activities. Captain Camacho studied at Trudeau College and at the California State University, Long Beach. He also earned a supervisory certificate through California's Peace Officers Standards and Training Program and has extensive experience managing critical incidents. Outside of Norwalk, or outside of work, Captain Camacho enjoys staying active and spending time with his family and friends in the Norwalk community. So please welcome Captain Camacho.

Thank you for that warm welcome. Again, I am humbled and honored to be here, to be the captain of Norwalk Station. You mentioned I had been here previously, and that's something that I'm very proud of. I worked here for almost 10 years, nine and a couple months to be exact. But during that time, I was a training officer, I worked detectives for a bit, and I was part of the Norwalk enforcement team as a NET Team Deputy. During that time, I took great pride in interacting with the community and building those relationships. I truly believe I had the trust of the community and having those partnerships with them as well is something that I also wanna do now that I'm back as a captain. I hope to have those relationships as well with you all, and especially with public safety, with the public safety director Rita Reese. We'll definitely be working hand in hand to continue working together, and I do want everybody to know, especially the residents of Norwalk, that safety is my top priority. There was also a mention earlier about the National Night Out event. It's a great event where my deputies, including our service area lieutenant, will be there. We're gonna be out there being able to communicate with all our residents if they're able to make it, so we highly encourage people to be out there. And let's have that conversation, guys. I really wanna earn your trust. I want you guys to know that we're out here to serve the community. And again, thank you very much.

And Captain, I hear that you're gonna have lots of equipment out there for the community to touch, feel, and play with so that they can experience also the equipment you use.

Yes, we'll have part of our tactical team out there from SCB. We'll have aerial bureau out there, so there'll be a helicopter. I could see some horses being out there from the mountain enforcement detail. And there'll be many other things there as well for people to enjoy. And again, for them to come out, talk to us, and ask us questions.

And captain Camacho if I can add it was an honor to to be a part of the panel In the selection for the captain station the captain of our station alongside the city manager and the mayor of the city of La Mirada and a representative from the county I've been so like to represent the unincorporated area of Whittier I mean you were a star and we all knew it was unanimous right away that you were the best fit for our station and it's because of not only your your lineage and your experience but your heart showed through for our communities and that's really what is what's important for us here in our city in the city of norwalk so welcome to norwalk and we look forward to all of those great things together

Thank you very much. And if I may, real quick, just wanna say for my residents that speak Spanish. Buenas tardes, soy el Capitano Mark Camacho. Tengo el gran honor de estar aquí con ustedes y tener la oportunidad de servir esta ciudad. Quiero escuchar sus voces y también trabajar junto con ustedes para la seguridad de nuestra comunidad. a También tengo que me dan el trust de estar aquí con ustedes, de dirigir esta estación de Norwalk. Mañana hay un evento que es National Night Out. Por favor, si tienen tiempo, salir, hablar con nosotros, con nuestros alguaciles, y tener esa conversación. Ojalá que puedan ir y llegar, y ahí los vemos. Muchas gracias.

Bienvenido Capitan. Bienvenido. Thank you for offering that to our community in both languages. And I'm really looking forward to our strong partnership. You really have hit the jackpot with this assignment. I think that you're gonna, you already know so much about the community and we've made such significant strides when it comes to community policing and our crime rate and just our strong partnership that we have with our sworn and non-sworn personnel. I think that you're going to be very well pleased to, as you learn and realize what we have been able to do, and I look forward to, again, a strong partnership to see where you take us even further as we work on making this one of the safest cities in the region. Thank you, Captain.

Thank you, ma'am.

Very good, thank you and welcome, welcome again. Thank you. Next, keeping on the theme of safety, public safety, we do have schools that are beginning next week and the following week, so we wanted to just provide additional information this is kind of a follow-up as we did our last City Council meeting and wanted to provide additional information as the school begins very very soon next week so Director of Public Safety Rita Ruiz will present just a brief presentation to give you an update related to the school openings here in

Thank you, Jesus. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of the City Council. Tonight I'm pleased to provide an update on our back to school safety initiatives and our proactive efforts along with Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. And since my last presentation, I wanted to prepare more information for you, so we'll get right into it. So our objective, again, is to have a safe and secure return to school. Our strategy is, excuse me, sorry, over the past several weeks, our team has continued to work closely with the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District, ABC School District, Little Lake, our private schools, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, our local schools and community partners to strengthen school and safety and address the ongoing traffic and pedestrian challenges that occur around our campuses each year. In addition to these partnerships, we have expanded our outreach to residents, parents, and the community through a safety education, school engagement, social media messaging, and pedestrian awareness campaigns. Our goal is not only to increase enforcement, but to encourage shared responsibility by reminding motorists, parents, students of the important role each of us plays in keeping our school zones safe. Again, this is a coordinated safety partnership. Like I mentioned, our local schools, ABC School District, Norwalk La Mirada, St. John of God, St. Linus, a total of 32 schools were contacted. In that, our public safety quadrant officers and along with our motor deputies visited schools, which I'll briefly show a quick video on it. But in addition to that, our coordinated safety partnership, we handed out flyers. Also with the OTS grant, which you guys will see on the agenda, we were able to provide signage, lawn signs, and hand them out and give them out to schools across the city. So next. We'll just play a quick video on our efforts.

Hey, Norwalk. I'm Officer Swanson.

And I'm Officer Arcee.

As the new school year kicks off, we're reminding everyone to slow down and stay alert around our schools.

We have placed safety signs and distributed flyers to every school in Norwalk to help keep students and parents informed.

Jodi Gardner-Milbourne, the proud principal of New River Elementary here in Norwalk. And I'm here to say thank you so much, Officer Swanson and the entire Norwalk Public Safety Department. We are so excited to partner with you and we look forward to a great 26-27 school year. Way to go, Norwalk Public Safety Department and way to go, City of Norwalk. Thank you for partnering with us.

Let's have a safe school year.

Thank you. So like I mentioned, if we handed out flyers, the lawn signs, in partnership with the rest of the schools, and our call to action is that we continue to encourage the community to be aware and continue to follow the laws. If you would like to participate in our school safety efforts, schedule a safety presentation, report a concern, or collaborate on traffic and pedestrian safety initiatives, please contact our Public Safety Department, our , and also our Sheriff's Department will be happy to go out there and expand this partnership through education, partnership, excuse me, and shared responsibility. We can create a safer school zone and ensure every student arrives at school and returns home safely. Thank you.

Rita, thank you, and creating awareness, I think, is the beginning, and to be able to let everyone to drive safe, to keep our students safe as they come back and return to school. The next item that we'd like to share with you and provide you with an update is the Youth Advisory Board and formerly known as the Commission the Youth Commission and I only say formerly because this is an idea that we want to bring to the City Council this provides a slight change in the Commission Since it's a younger age group, we wanted to change Ada a little bit to address the needs of the youth. And with that, we have Sonia Batres who will present the update, and we look forward to your feedback.

Good evening, Mayor and city council members. I'll be presenting regarding the Norwalk Youth Advisory Board. A little bit of history on the Youth Commission. On September 15, 2020, City Council adopted resolution number 20-61 to reestablish the Norwalk Youth Commission. The past criteria included that the commissioners were between the ages of 13 and 18 years of age. that the commissioners lived in Norwalk who are currently in high school or recently graduated from various grade levels in schools, made up of 15 members with each council member appointing three representatives each, and it was a two-year term. Some of the prior challenges in speaking with staff were absences. Participants were regularly removed from the commission due to missed meetings. Number two, retention, participants would leave before their full term. And lastly, participation, participants were not engaged or as involved due to conflicting extracurricular activities. The board will provide, we would like to recommend developing the Norwalk Youth Advisory Board in lieu of a commission. The board will provide guidance and recommendations to the Norwalk City Council and to the Recreation and Park Services Department in the following areas. Number one, our teen alliance program or TAP. Number two, our summer youth leadership program. Number three, teen center operations and programs. Number four, youth and government education and engagement, which would be something new for the city. And number five, city events and programs related to youth development. The new advisory board format would consist of the following. Number one, 10 members. Participants would be ages 13 through 18. They must be a resident of the city of Norwalk. They must attend a middle or high school in a public school district, private institution, or home school that serves Norwalk residents. It would also be a two-year term from January 1st to December 31st. And this is preferred and not required, but if they complete 50 hours of volunteer service in TAP would be obviously preferred, but not required. Application requirements. The following would be required to participate as a Youth Advisory Board member. They would need to complete an online application, and if they're under 18, a parent or legal guardian must sign a parental consent form for their participation. Provide two letters of recommendation, one personal and one professional, and when I say professional, it could be from their school. If selected, they would participate in an in-person interview with Recreation and Park Services staff. Then the list of qualifying candidates, up to 20, will be shared with city council members to make final selections. Each council member would select two candidates for representation on the Youth Advisory Board. And we would also create the criteria to evaluate the interviews, application, and materials that they would submit. The attendance guidelines, to promote retention and participation, new guidelines would be as follows per the two-year term. Number one, up to two excused absences, which would include sickness, medical dental appointments, which both would require a doctor's note, a family emergency with parental note, and a sports game or tournament with a parental or school note, if you're a parent. You understand we're trying to make it that they could have extracurricular activities, but also participate in the Youth Advisory Board. Number two, they would have up to two unexcused absences. Participants would be removed from the board if they have more than two unexcused absences. And lastly, a quorum majority would still be required to hold meetings. On the screen, you'll see our application deadline and timeline. Our application deadline would be Tuesday, October 20th. The application timeline is as follows. So from September 8th through the 30th, so after Labor Day, we would have our marketing period where we would go to the schools, back to school nights, make sure that everyone is aware, all the principals and everyone is aware that the Youth Advisory Board is starting. October 1st to the 20th would be our application period. with October 21st through the 31st would be our review of all applications. November 2nd through the 5th applicant interviews would take place once again by Recreation and Park Services staff. November 9th through the 13th we would contact selected applicants. December 7th through the 11th we would be onboarding And then December 11th through the 15th of 2027, we would purchase board member shirts and name tags, getting it all ready for them so that they could attend their first meeting for the Youth Advisory Board on January 27th, 2027. And their term would go through December 31st, 2028. That concludes my presentation. Do you have any questions?

I do, Madam Mayor. Rick. Okay, I'm just, just a clarification. In your opening statement, you mentioned 15, but as we progressed, it went down to 10. Are we firm at 15 or 10?

15 was the original number for the past criteria, so we are recommending 10. Thank you. Two per council member.

And I just would like to add, I like that this is a little bit more on our youth. There's a more in-depth participation application. I like the idea of the recommendation letters and coming to support this youth in our community. I love the education aspect of informing them and guiding them more on government policies, principles, and what happens in this building basically instead of just all the fun stuff that happens outside. I like that we're looking at this a little bit differently, and I think it's really going to take shape. and really not just be an addition or another type of TAP or another resource similar to what we already have. So thank you for brainstorming this and coming forward with something that is different but still a resource for our youth. So thank you for that.

»» Thank you.

»» Margarita first and then we'll go to Anna.

um yes thank you for the presentation um i also i do agree that i like the concept of giving these youth more exposure to civic engagement and them actually understanding um you know about their leadership here in the city you know their government body who is it why what do they do I really like that idea. Just because with the TAP program, I think they're already very well exposed to all the fun stuff, how to plan events, how to volunteer, how to be engaged in the community, but I think this would, I'm hoping, take it to the next level to give them that much more experience and grow their leadership capacity. I'm wondering if maybe there was any thought on identifying some alternates, just because, you know, someone may not complete their term, maybe someone may have to be removed. I mean, I don't know, that's something that you, you know, would have to discuss amongst your team, but just so that there's backup. in case so that you do have a quorum so that there is some consistency in the membership, the advisory body and that they all at least end up with a minimum of 10 moving forward. May not be the original 10 is I guess what I'm getting at is so just contingency for that so that you have a full advisory group.

We can definitely take that into consideration. Thank you. Thank you.

I think that's a great idea, Margarita, because you can take the original people that apply. You can have your advisory board meetings like we do here. But those that apply can participate in the meeting and attend. We can still communicate with them, still keep them engaged. And then have those that, you know, have still applied and are engaging may not be on the advisory board at the moment. But there's always time and continued education. Great idea. Anna?

Thank you, Mayor. This is very exciting. It really is. And I like the fact that the age is, that you've gone kind of down on it. Because I think there might be, you know, some interest. I've talked to quite a few 10, 11 and 12 year olds who are like asking me really hard questions about the city and really good questions. So I love that. It's very exciting. And so yes, Marguerite, I also agree that that's a good idea for the alternates. Did I miss it? Or was there a time for the meetings?

We're looking to do, I believe, the last Monday of the month, January 27th. Last Monday of the month. Okay. And then what time are we looking at? We're looking to do something after school right now tentatively. I believe it would be 6 to 7. It's similar to when we do our TAP meetings and those tend to work.

Okay.

All right.

Okay. And... Let me see, what was the other thing? Parental consent.

Parental consent Wednesdays.

Oh, they're Wednesdays, not Mondays.

Yeah, the 27th, I believe, is a Wednesday.

Okay, Wednesday, and we're saying January 27th? Yes. Is that the first one?

Yes.

Thank you. And parental consent forms, all that other good stuff, it would all apply. Yes. OK. Thank you so much. I look forward to this. And as soon as, I guess, we're given the go ahead to start looking at young people to be our new and future leaders of this city. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Rick, you look like you're pondering another question.

I'm sorry. And we may already do this. I'm not sure if it's part of our HR hiring process, but making sure that we're working with young youth, that the staff that are engaged are either live scanned and vetted just for protection of not only them, priority, but also liability to the city. So I'm not sure if we're doing that now.

yes that that will be the case because they we are life scan as employees so it'll be employees leading the the commission and all the activities thank you thank you sonia so this is um sort of timely because we'll begin as school begins we'll begin to advertise and be able to recruit those individuals that would like to apply be part of and we could we could get them involved So the next item is the bi-weekly review. We have a video for you for all those exciting activities that have happened in the past two weeks, and we'd like to share that with you and the community, and we have many more. National Night Out was mentioned, and that's tomorrow, but we wanna show you what has happened, and we hope that you continue to be involved.

On July 22nd, the Norwalk Public Safety Department held a coffee with a cop event at the senior center. During the meeting, public safety officers and Norwalk Sheriff's deputies met with seniors to discuss safety and security issues in the area. Later that same day, the Norwalk Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual business expo in conjunction with the Norwalk Summer Concert Series at Norwalk Park. Local businesses and educational organizations came together to showcase their products and services to the community.

We're at the business expo. We do it every year. There's a great turnout all the time and we love getting to know the community of Norwalk.

Norwalk came together to make a difference on July 25th as public safety officers, recreation and park services staff, and students from Norwalk High School joined forces for a community cleanup. Together, they helped clean up Front Street while supporting the city's ongoing commitment to creating cleaner, healthier, and safer spaces for everyone who calls Norwalk home. That same day, the Recreation and Park Services Department brought bark and bruise back to Robert White Dog Park for its second year. Residents enjoyed a fun day at the park with their four-legged best friends, complete with coffee from Cafe Tumbado, local pet vendors, and convenient on-site dog licensing. On July 29th, the City of Norwalk and Norwalk Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Sal's Psychiatry Services. City officials, state representatives, and Norwalk residents welcomed South Psychiatry Services to their new location on San Antonio Drive. Later that same day, Mayor Jennifer Perez and Councilmember Tony Ayala attended the USA Track and Field Junior Olympics Opening Ceremony at Cerritos College. Congratulations to all of our Junior Olympians.

And that Junior Olympians, they came from all over the nation, 15 regions, and they all were introduced at the opening ceremony. So it was great to watch all the youth with all of that energy, lots and lots of energy. My last item will be the immigration update. Since last city council meeting, no request for immigration-related information or assistance. have been received through the city's community preparedness resource hotline. The social services department continues to make informational resources available to residents. Know your rights red cards remain available at both the social services center and the senior center. Inventory was recently replenished with an additional 1,000 cards in English and Spanish, and cards are also available in Arabic, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Chinese, and Korean. The Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights, CHIRLA, is scheduled to provide resource information at the Social Services Center on Tuesday, August 18th, and at the Senior Center on Wednesday, August 19th, In addition, Community Legal Aid SoCal continues to offer legal assistance by appointment for naturalization and other eligible immigration-related legal matters. Mayor and members of the City Council, that concludes my City Manager comments. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Jesus. Before we go to the consent calendar, Teresa, can we please play the video?

Good evening. Following are the rules of decorum for the meeting. Please be respectful of everyone in attendance while speaking. Individuals will not be allowed to continue speaking if any of the following occurs. Any conduct that disrupts or disturbs the meeting. any conduct that interferes with or disrupts persons who are addressing City Council or City Council members while they are speaking, or attacks of a personal nature on City Council members, City staff, or other speakers. Each individual is allotted three minutes to speak, may only speak once per item, and may not transfer their time to others. Comments must be addressed to the City Council. Thank you.

Thank you, Teresa. And before we go on with the consent calendar, do we have anybody wishing to speak on any of the consent calendar items, item number 1 through item number 9? Anybody on Zoom, please raise your hand if you wish to speak on 1 through 9.

I see two individuals in the meeting room, but nobody has raised their hand. So I'm going to say there are nobody wishing to speak on Zoom.

Thank you. All right, going to the consent calendar, can I get a motion, please? So moved.

If there's no objections, I'll second.

We have a first by Anna, a second by Rick. Can we have the roll call, please?

Council Members Ramirez? Aye. Valencia? Aye. Vice Mayor Rios? Aye. And Mayor Perez?

Aye. And I abstain on the list of items that I gave to the city clerk. Thank you. Moving on to appointments. Item number 10. Anybody have any appointments for this evening?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay. Go ahead, Anna.

I'd like to reappoint Maria Carvajal to the Parks and Recreation Commission. And she was unable to be here. But you have her information, Teresa. And we can do it.

I'll go ahead and second that for you. And Teresa, can we get a roll call, please?

Council Members Ramirez? Oh, sorry. Council Member Valencia? Aye. Vice Mayor Rios? Aye. And Mayor Perez?

Aye. Thank you. All right, moving on to item number 11, and that's project number 7941, Accept Work for Community Development Block Grant, Concrete Americans with Disabilities Act Improvements 2026. And we have the engineer's report for number 26-34. Jesus?

Yes, mayor and members of the city council. Tonight we'd like to not only accept but highlight the work that has been done to continue to connect our community with handicap accessible walkways and corners so that it's safer for those that are crossing the street and need assistance. So with that, we will have Mr. Albert Mendoza present.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Gomez. Good evening, Madam Mayor, Vice Mayor Rios, and members of the City Council. Item number 11 on the agenda tonight is to accept work for project number 7941, a community development block grant-funded project. Like Mr. Gomez mentioned, it's 88 improvements of 2026. Brief background, on February 3rd, 2026, City Council awarded a construction contract to Towel Enterprise for project number 7941, a community development block grant funded project for the concrete improvements 2026. Scope of work included removal and replacement of ADA curb ramps, installation of cast and plate truncated domes, and incidental asphalt work. Project started in March 2026 and was completed satisfactorily in June 26, 2026. City staff has completed a final inspection of the project and determined that the work has been satisfactorily completed in accordance with the approved plan specifications and contract requirements. Accordingly, staff recommend acceptance of the project as complete. Here is the map citywide where we, indicating all the zones that curb ramps were reconstructed. A total of 10 zones and 155 curb ramps were reconstructed. Some of the before and after photos. Our fiscal impact project has an approved construction budget of $844,950, which also includes a 40% contingency, fully funded by CDBG funds through fiscal year 2526. Total construction costs was $840,215. No general fund monies were used to fund the construction of this project. Our recommended action is the staff recommend city council accept the work performed by Total Enterprise in the amount of 840,215 for project number 7941, a community development block funded project for the ADA Concord improvements 2026 and release retention payment in the amount of 42,410 to Total Enterprise 35 days after the recordation of the notice of completion. That concludes my presentation. Be happy to take any questions should there be any.

Thank you. I just want to say that on my surface, the report says concrete Americans. So I looked at it as like we're putting statues. So that's why I had to second guess and read it twice because it says it read a little differently for me. So I apologize for my stuttered-ness there. Council, do we have any comments or questions? Okay, go ahead.

Albert, I just have a question just to clarify. So as part of these installs for the handicap access, there is a red curb or line that is then also subsequently installed. I'd like some clarification on exactly where that red line starts and where it ends, just because I've seen two different scenarios out there. And I'm hoping you can clarify that for me now.

Yeah, so that's part of the new daylight law that was passed last year. So essentially what the engineers do, there's no There's no specific requirements of where it should start, just as by the intersection or every stop. So what engineering does, they take where the top of where it flares down, backwards. So essentially right where the tangent ends, and it's 20 feet from there. So, but what we're doing is not every intersection is the same, not every curb run is the same because of geometry, every street is different. So we try to take that initial quarter and then we go backwards 20 feet.

Do you have a, can you pull up one of the slides with the pictures? So, okay, so you see this picture on my left? You see where that red starts?

Yes.

OK, so what I've seen, and this is primarily in residential neighborhoods, not so much intersections. And I'll tell you why that's significant is because we're pretty much eliminating a parking space. And in certain neighborhoods, I've seen those red curbs start either as shown here or where the cone is. which obviously is a matter of a few feet, but when it's someone's parking spot in front of their home, there's a little problem, right? And that's what I've been encountering. So that's the clarification I'm looking for.

Right, and what we're trying to do is we try to push as much as we can towards where it starts sloping, that way we can allow more space for parking.

Okay, so I've seen both.

Right, right. Yeah, we're in the process of correcting some of these. Oh, wonderful, wonderful.

Okay, now, yeah, thanks for that educational piece, though.

Yeah, and just to clarify it, whether or not there's red curve or no red curve, they can still enforce it. We just want to make sure that it's, you know, we're following the law and we're implementing this red curving or daylight law with our residential rehab projects.

Yeah, consistency is good, though. Okay, thank you.

yeah it's that that unfunded mandate where we're going to pass the law but we're not going to give you any money to paint the curbs correct so i appreciate that thank you um i'll go ahead and move the item i'll second three second we have a roll call please no she can take it i agree to ask the question council members ramirez aye Valencia aye vice mayor Rios mayor Perez aye All right moving on to item number 12 and that's award contract for citywide tree maintenance services Jesus Yes mayor members of the City Council we have mr. Albert Mendoza that will present the staff report

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Gomez. Good evening again, Madam Mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Council members. Item 12 on the agenda addresses the award of contract for citywide freight maintenance services. In April 2026, the city released an invitation for bid for citywide treatment and services. Scope of work includes providing all labor materials and equipment necessary for treatment and operations. So essentially, we do our great pruning that it's a level of quality that is compatible with international site of agriculture standards, the American National Standards Institute criteria. And that's to perform for the health and safety of the trees. Also includes the removal of specific branches to improve tree structure, remove dead or diseased wood limbs, and promote healthy growth. I want to give you an example of what a great prune is. You have an Australian willow, to your left it's before and the other after, which is more dense than before and then obviously much thinner after it's been pruned. Some additional scope of services that that it's part of this contract. It's the supervision so we They do have an is a Certified tree worker or also as an arborist on staff at all times to supervise all the treatment and services Their workforce is a crew of three employees a chipper and a truck an aerial truck and And our tower truck and also all necessary hand tools for each applicable job task. Database, they provide a web based record keeping system for the city's tree inventory. Also traffic control that has to be in accordance with the California manual uniform traffic control devices also known as MUTCD or the watch handbook. So six firms responded to the invitation for bid with the following results. North Star Care was the low responsive, responsible bidder with $530,000 in a range all the way to a million. SGD Enterprise, DBEA for seasoned landscaping. Like I mentioned, North Star Landcare of Downey, they have a state license board. It's number was 103-4669, was the lowest responsive responsible bidder, possessing all the licenses required from the bid. Staff checked the references, the City of Commerce, El Monte, Hawthorne, Linwood, and also Little Lake City School District in the city of Santa Fe Springs, which currently have active contracts or have contracts with those agencies. They all indicated a high level of satisfaction with the scope of work performed, adherence to safety guidelines, field operations and communications and community engagement. Additional highlights of North Star, they can mobilize within 10 working days of a word of contract or as to be determined by the city. Notifications notify city staff on their work schedule daily and on a weekly basis. Notification to residents 72 hours in advance prior to restricting any street parking or access to the work area. They have a dedicated tree removal crews available citywide for removals and also tree stump removals within 48 hours. Regularly scheduled updates with city to address trees whose regrowth rate outpaces the scheduled grid pruning cycle, also known as cycle busters. They also can perform community outreach efforts. They can participate at city events that promote long-term value to our urban forestry. Educational outreach efforts relating to the city's green canopy and engagement through planting and community cleanup efforts. This is our grid pruning map, which the city is divided in 10 districts, and each district gets pruned every three years. We start in the middle of the city, and we go around counterclockwise. Our physical impact, this 26-27 adopted budget includes continued funding for citywide treatment and services, Staff will return annually to request approval of funding for these services as part of the city's budget adoption process. Staff recommends City Council award a contract to North Star Landcare to provide citywide treatment and services for initial term of six years. Effective date of the contract through June 30th, 2022 with the option to extend for two additional three year periods and authorize the city manager to execute the contract and any amendment provided there is funding in the budget and it's within the city manager's signing authority on behalf of the city in a form approved by the city attorney. That concludes my presentation. Be happy to answer any questions should there be any.

Thank you.

Thank you for that, Albert. Before we go to council for questions, I do have one person that would like to speak. Mr. Tony Martinez, if you'd like to come forward. So I know you filled out a speaker card, but are you representing the company that is presenting or being offered the contract today?

Yes, that's correct.

Okay. So I don't think we need to do the three-time limit since you're representing the company that we're going to be contracting with and not necessarily just a public speaker card.

It'll be brief.

Thank you.

Well good evening Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of City Council. My name is Tony Martinez and I am the founder of North Star Landcare. Before I thank you for tonight's recommendation, I'd like to share something very personal. When I was a little boy, my father introduced me to the tree care industry. I never imagined early mornings would become a lifelong career for me. More than 43 years later, I still wake up with the same purpose, to help cities protect their people, preserve their trees, and leave every community a little better than we found it. Tonight, I simply want to leave you with three thoughts. First, thank you. Thank you to the city council and city staff for the recommendation for us at North Star Landcare. We are honored by your confidence, truly, truly honored. And if approved tonight, we will work every day to earn it. I also want to congratulate the city of Norwalk on completing its urban forest master plan. That plan reflects a vision for future generations, and we look forward to helping implement it, from tree planting, species selection to risk management, community outreach, and preserving Norwalk's beautiful urban forest. Second, confidence. Northstar is not new to municipal tree care. We currently manage contracts of this size with experienced personnel, certified arborists, and modern equipment. We stand behind our proposal and we are ready to serve Norwalk on day one. Third, partnership. Communities are built by people. We wanna hire qualified Norwalk residents, offer opportunities to employees affected by this transition, and create entry-level union careers for those looking to build the future in our industry. Because we believe caring for Norwalk's trees begin with investing in Norwalk's people. Thank you again for your confidence. We look forward to becoming a trusted partner to the city of Norwalk for many years to come. Thank you.

Thank you, Tony. All right, bringing it back to the dais, any questions for either Albert or for Tony? Okay, Rick.

First of all, I want to commend staff. I know we had an issue last meeting when there was an item pulled by a member of this council for more in-depth study, correct? So I'm glad you were able to bring forward that data this time around. because it makes our job a lot easier knowing that we see the same information that you see and that you were able to gather and present to us. You outlined all the different entities that RFP'd. You also indicated a lot of the, sorry, as well as the cost to us. I know this item was brought to us during our annual budget sessions and we were looking at cutting services and that led to us moving forward on a new, possible a new vendor to come out and help us with that budget gap and to provide the quality service that one of my colleagues has a very good passion, big strong passion about urban forestry. Again, applaud staff for bringing that information and thank you ASUS for directing it. And it's good to hear a vendor come up and speak about their company, a lifelong story, a personal touch, but what got me the thinking is that you're willing to employ Norwalk residents. The economy's tough, there's a lot of people in the job market, and the fact that you are truly dedicated in being a true community partner, a community benefit to Norwalk, speaks volumes. Because most of the time vendors come here, they take advantage of just the service, they don't put back in the community and and move on and they take our community for granted but again i want to thank the vendor for coming out and speaking on behalf of your your leadership and we will hold you if it's selected tonight we will hold you to not only that budget amount but also your commitment to being that community partner with the city of norwalk moving forward because we have high standards and we have very very very high expectations of our quality of work in the services that that provide that to our residents but in the city and overall thank you thank you margarita

Thank you, Mayor. I also want to thank the vendor for being here. I know that whenever we have a potential contract on our agenda, one of my requests is that when possible, well, not necessarily when possible, but it's a must. I think that if a vendor comes before this council for business and a contract, they should definitely be in the audience. So thank you for being present today. And I do have a couple of questions, but I also, I mean, I want to echo some of the comments from Rick in as far as we expect nothing but excellence. And there are some things that are very, very important to me, a number of things, but one of them being our urban forestry. Just because of the significance that it has on our climate, on our environment, on our city as a whole, on our people, on our future, for future generations. So if selected this evening, I definitely am one that has very, very high expectations. And so I'm wondering, one of my questions is, what do you do with your tree, when you cut a tree, what do they call it, the branches, the trimmings, the shavings, what do you call those actual, I know it's wood. What do you do with that, Tony?

So we do the grit pruning. Essentially, you're taking away all of the diseased branches, the limbs, any dead. And it's not aesthetics, that's tree trimming. But I mean, we have the expert here, so perhaps maybe he can explain a little bit more in detail. But that's really the difference.

I guess I'm wondering, just because recycle, repurpose, is that part of any of that?

Yes, it's green waste and it is all recycled. Assembly Bill 939 demands that we all have to recycle, reduce, reuse, repurpose. That's exactly what we do. We get involved with community nonprofit organizations and we give back to farms, small farms within urban communities and we always find a way to donate the excess mulch. We grind a lot of it and we try to divert it from landfills for sure.

Okay, that's wonderful to hear. I hope that one of those options is actually giving the opportunity for our residents for maybe some of their plant bedding, gardens, whatever it is that we may have here in the city that could be of use to some of our green thumbs out there.

Yeah, we're actually one of the first companies to actually start messing around with inoculating a lot of the mulch to create the mycelium effect that then helps regenerate a lot of gardens, vegetable gardens in the community.

Okay, wonderful. My second question is the recommendation on three-year pruning cycle. Tell me a little bit more about that.

Right, so we'll continue with the cycle that you guys had going. We'll work with staff.

But what are your thoughts on it?

My personal thoughts is that we have to, We have to do our due diligence because of litigation. We have to show prudence that we've done our due diligence as far as timelines go. But it's also species specific. I'm big on species specific pre-pruning. We have to address it from a risk mitigation standpoint. And that's one of the things that separates our company from other companies is that we address risk. First and foremost, yes, we wanna be able to cover your areas per grids, per fiscal year, but we also wanna make sure that we're addressing the higher risk trees, especially in times where the budget may be challenged. We wanna make sure that we're going after the high riskier trees to make sure that there's a defense in the event of an event that we can help city attorneys actually cover the city.

Okay, well, yes, I understand that, but I just, my question really is more on the idea that some trees, and I think you alluded to that, need trimming on a more consistent or sooner basis than three years, and so I just want to make sure that what I'm hearing is that your company is aware of it being species-specific and other criteria that you look at as well.

yeah so so vice mayor and tony um i i think you call them cycle busters yes so they refer to those trees that grow faster than than the three-year cycle cycle buster so maybe you can address that i see what you mean so let's take uh chinese elms for instance that will not last three years uh the most i've seen it go is 18 months

And those are the ones that we have to address. Those are your tree cycle busters. They will not wait for us or anybody else for that tree cycle to come back around. Whereas a camphor, a slow growing magnolia, a crape myrtle can actually skip one or two cycles. We can use those funds to better address the higher tree cycle busting trees.

Exactly, and that's where I was hoping you would go with that because I'm not necessarily a tree expert, I love trees, I'm not an expert, I'm learning, but I firmly believe that some of the issues that we've had with our trees in the community have been because they weren't on the proper cycle. And so I'm hoping that we can fix that. By you being aware of it, I think that'll be very helpful.

100%, as an arborist, I'm willing and I'm ready to work with city staff to be able to address all these issues.

Okay, and then as you mentioned, working with city staff, we have our tree maintenance employees department here who do a very, very good job. And so I'd like to hear what your thoughts are on working with those individuals, you know, collaborating to make sure that you're on the same page, there's no friction, you know, we all have jobs to do, we just gotta work together to get it done. What do you think?

Yeah, absolutely. I think they're a very necessary part of the city to have in-house crews to be able to respond to emergencies, not just for trees, but for other assets that may need attention. And there's always a way for us to collaborate with city staff and we always seem to do that very seamlessly.

okay thank you tony thank you my final question is for albert um if this vendor is approved what i would like to see and i'm hoping that you'll work with the vendor with or for is to actually a report some type of analysis where they're going to go out immediately and survey if they haven't already what we have in place for our tree canopy our urban forest management plan those goals etc so that they can provide you and the council a very comprehensive report on what they see, what they've noted, and where we're going with it.

Sure, absolutely. Thank you. Thank you.

Madam Mayor, if I may, just one more.

Yes. Let's go to Anna first, because you've already jumped in there.

All right. Albert, I just wanted to know, Minister Martinez spoke about hiring from within the community, what have you. So that kind of prompted me to think, well, how many how big is the company, how many employees, whatnot, and then how many are going to be targeted for dedicated, thank you, for our city work, because that's what we do, right? Our trees that we have, the city trees, what have you, that's what this contract is for. Right, right. Okay, so can you answer that?

Tony?

Or Mr. Martinez? By the way, as a side note, I was just looking at the, I had missed something like this, and I love hip hop, right? And your initials are J-A-M, Jam. Just wanted to put that out there. Just noticed that.

Yes, so your city has approximately about 16,000 trees, and we're broken into a three to four year cycle. So if we take that, you're looking at about three, 3,500, 4,000, no more than 4,000 trees. To do something like that doesn't require much more than a five-man crew really all year round. So you would have a present year round in your city to be able to handle that. In the event that you have emergencies or a tree removal list or a tree planting project, then we bring supplemental crews to be able to handle that as well.

And then when we have those, we have those Santa Ana winds, we have some kind of natural disasters, what have you, and sometimes they're not disasters, but they do have some things that happen to that. So in those cases, you'd have to kind of change it around a little bit.

Yeah, so we're prepared for emergencies as well. So we're able to supplement crews 24-7. That's one of the things that we sign up as a vendor when we come into a city is that we will protect you in the event of any Santa Ana winds or any emergencies. We'll have crews and our equipment on site within an hour.

Great, thank you so much. Rick.

Okay, and then lastly, piggybacking on Council Vice Mayor Rios had mentioned a report. I'd like to see possibly a program where we phase out certain species that are short term and look at longevity, maybe replacing those that have a longer lifespan or farther trimming cycle. Because we know we've planted trees that have fallen within a year or two, but I would like to see longevity. Maybe bringing up some very hardy species that can withstand some of the future climate changes, but also help us in the long term if we become budget challenged in the future. So if we can bring a plan where we can maybe think about phasing out those short-term species.

Thank you. And just my final comments, thank you, Albert, for the detail in the staff report as well as including North Star's RFP. Because that actually gives us a really good insight on to the entire company and to the team. And just looking at your breakdown and the team that you have listed in the RFP, you can tell it's a very focused and family-orientated company, which I think is what Norwalk is. And I believe the tools that we have and the team that we have within our public services division will instantly be able to transfer that over and make it smooth from day one. So with that, I'll go ahead and move this item.

I'll second.

Can we have a roll call, please? council members ramirez aye and valencia aye vice mayor rios aye mayor perez aye all right moving on to our oral communications um as a reminder um our rules of decorum are listed and we each speaker would have three minutes we will start with in person speakers And the first speaker is Ms. Cynthia Clemente. And can we have the microphone taken up to Cynthia to make it easier for her? Cynthia, we're going to come to you. Thank you. Remember to hold the microphone up so we can hear you.

Good evening Mayor Perez, City Council members and all those who are here. I'm here to discuss the promises that were made for the Norwalk Senior Center. Instead of activity rooms are being converted to rooms for the staff members, instead of Danny Abrego, manager, looking for activities to give us to utilize these rooms, they're not being utilized by seniors. They're mostly being utilized by the staff members. Also, all these promises that have been made to us, I don't know who, Who's gonna make sure these promises get, you know, made? They're promising this and that. And we'll do this activity. We'll buy this for that. And you know what? I haven't seen nothing in seven months. I've talked to Ayala. I've talked to Ozzy Ramos. I've talked to Regalado, who's a director, to Manager Danny Abrego. Recently, I found out our commissioner meetings are being canceled. But yet, they don't tell us why. And they're every other month. In our activity rooms, we don't. I was told that our fitness room, they were going to remove the ping pong tables. Well, those ping pong tables are still there. And that's been two, three months ago. And it doesn't cost anything to remove the ping pong tables because that fitness room was made for seniors, not for ping pong players that aren't even from our city. Non-city members are playing ping pong in there. What happens to the residents of Norwalk? We're pushed out of these rooms and nobody speaks up for us. Nobody helps us out. So I'm hoping you guys can help us out one way or another. I don't know. I don't know who to ask anymore. I don't know who to go up to. Do I need to take a step further because our city council members and mayor can't do anything for us? Do you guys ever think of I'm inviting all of you to come down and see how horrible it is. We're like sardines in the recreation room. The TV room is not even welcoming. There's nothing there for seniors. And let alone for disabled seniors, there's nothing there for me. I go sit there and I work on puzzle books. People are playing just dominoes and cards. There's no activities. When is he going to be held responsible to put actual activities there for the seniors? Good night.

Thank you. All right, our next speaker is Andy. Following Andy will be Jesse Flores.

Hello. I know I usually come and speak about immigration-related matters, and those are still very important. There is still incidents happening as recently as last week that should be addressed, but I'll let others speak on that today. I wanna speak on something a little different that hasn't really been brought up And I think it's a very pressing issue and that's rent stabilization or rent control. Norwalk is undergoing a lot of development. The walk is happening. There's gonna be over 300 residence units that are gonna be built in. There's the transit village on Bloomfield that's gonna be you know, resulting in countless more residence units as well as the hotel possibly now. And then I know there's other more private developments going around the city, which is, you know, needed. It's great. I know California has quotas. They say, you know, this many housing units need to be built and these need to get built. However, with that comes increased in the market values, increasing in rents. And I think the residents of Norwalk that live here are going to get left behind. There is rent control laws that are city by city. We have the statewide law, which caps at 10%, which we're very close to. I think last I saw with the inflation numbers were like between eight and 9%. that rent can go up year over year as it stands, while other places like LA County, unincorporated areas have it as low as I think three or 4%, Baldwin Park, Cunnington Park, all these places have it below 5%, which means that the residents there can afford to stay and continue to live there. This may not have been as pressing for Norwalk. I know Norwalk is a little bit lower in terms of the renters that live here and the percentages compared with the rest of LA County, but with all these development, that number is going to grow and this is gonna be a lot more pressing. The development, there's lots of great ideas. I know you wanna make it a lively place, but what's the point if it's gonna be pushing out those that live here, those that call Norwalk home? We need to make sure that it's an affordable place, that it doesn't push out those that live here. I love welcoming new neighbors, but I don't want to lose the old ones. I don't want to lose the home as well. So I ask that you look into similar residences like our neighboring cities that have those rent controls, see what would be fair, what would be helpful to keep residents here. and study those. Do you have your city staff? You have lots of people here that can pull those reports for you. So I hope that that is something that gets discussed soon because development is going on, but we also need to make sure we're taking care of the residents here as well. Thank you.

Thank you. Jesse Flores and following Jesse will be Sarah.

Hello, my name is Jesse, Executive Director of Norwalk-Juñitez, and I'm here today joined by members of our Norwalk Tenants Union to urge the City Council to consider two actions. First, pass rent control, and the second action being enforce the smoke-free multifamily housing ordinance, specifically at Belcourt Apartments. Regarding rent control, it's something we've been advocating for since 2023, and the council has failed to do so, a lot can happen in three years. Members of our Norwalk Tenants Union have been priced out. Martha Mess has been priced out. I've been priced out. I saw myself living here in Norwalk, potentially even running for council, but I can't do that anymore. So, you know, I think the economics of it all didn't pencil out. And so please, let's not wait another three years, and let's get rent control passed soon, because sooner or later, you're just gonna have a whole bunch of folks continuing to be priced out, so. Second, regarding the enforcement of smoke-free multifamily housing, yeah, it's needed because it's just a compounding health issue on top of rent increases. And so one of these individuals that is one of our former Norwalk Tans union members that has been dealing with this is Margarita. And so she has come before in the past to really express her concerns and issues with the secondhand smoke at Belcor Apartments. And now just, it wasn't being enforced, something that we've also been pushing for with Martha Meza, but now Margarita, she just had to leave. So she no longer lives in Norwalk, and I think it's something that is going to continue happening, as I've just mentioned. And so... Yeah, I think it's definitely something that I hope we can address, considering, as our previous speaker was mentioning, that we're going to have an influx of new residents, and it's gonna continue to put pressure on rents, and so I think rent control makes sense. Other cities have done it, Bell Gardens, Maywood, and so I think, with that in mind, the urgency is now. So, yeah, thanks.

Thank you. Sarah, and following Sarah is Hassan.

Good evening. I had a couple different things that I wanted to speak on tonight. First thing is I heard the contractor say earlier that the urban forestry plan has already been completed, and I know that the community input survey just ended a couple days ago, so I was just hoping someone could clarify at some point what the community survey is gonna be used for and how that input will be used if it's already been completed. The second thing I want to talk about is the upkeep of Norwalk Park's restrooms. My son plays in different Norwalk leagues, and just last week we were at a park for a Norwalk Park Center Park League event, and there was no soap in any of the restrooms. The week before that, there was no toilet paper. I've talked to other families, other parents, they said this is common in Norwalk. We go to other parks to play in other cities. That's not an issue. So I'm hoping that the council can help out with that and talk to someone from Parks and Rec. I was unable to find anyone when I was there to see if that can be something that is kept in mind if you're having Norwalk sponsored events for safety and cleanliness issues. The last thing is, like other speakers have said, I wanted to express my concern about increasing rent and cost of living in Norwalk. I understand the cost of living has gone up everywhere, but with the new developments that are happening here, just right outside these doors and others, I'm worried that the costs will push residents that are already here out. And like someone else said, you guys are creating this big space, right, for lots of people to come, but if you don't have any people who live here to come here, what's the point? So other cities nearby have passed rent ordinances, so I know if they can do it, so can you guys? And since I have a little more time, I want just one more clarification. I know that the state passed laws recently for council meetings and that's why you have the rules of decorum, but I was wondering if there was a particular reason why now when you watch it online that you can't see speakers' faces and it's just the rules of decorum. I tried searching online, I don't see that as a new law, and I see other cities not doing that, so I'm not sure if it's something the city of Norwalk is specifically doing. So again, if anyone could get some clarification, that would be great. Thank you.

Thank you. And I'd ask Albert or Alan, please reach out, get some information specifically on which parks. All right, Hassan is our next speaker.

Good evening, I'm here speaking in support of Margarita, an elderly Norwalk community member who was priced out of their apartment and had to move. They had a fixed income in an apartment complex that kept increasing rent. They are part of a demographic group who are considered to be vulnerable to homelessness. This is only one person who was willing to share their struggle, but many community members of all ages are facing the financial burden of rising rent due to greedy landlords who exploit the working class of Norwalk. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Norwalk is $2,130, according to Google, which I find pretty outrageous. And as the cost of living increases and wages remain stagnant, you can see the issue. Working-class Norwalkians are being priced out of their own community. Everyone loves to complain about unhoused folks within our community, but does anybody know what the number one cause of homelessness is? It's lack of affordable housing. Furthermore, the unhoused folks that are visible, the ones that we see in the streets, those are the folks in the most extreme case of homelessness. There are many more unhoused folks that are living out of their car and still work, but those community members are not as easily visible. What folks need to understand is that there is not a whole lot that separates working people from the unhoused. Between 57 and 67% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, which means folks are one financial crisis away from losing their financial security. Furthermore, with ICE still roaming Norwalk and kidnapping the primary providers of households, our undocumented neighbors are also finding it difficult to keep a roof over their head. But there is a way to mitigate the housing crisis that we are experiencing. I'm calling on the Norwalk City Council to pass a rent control ordinance, especially now that there are more housing projects that are being developed in the city. Those housing units being built must be affordable and should go to Norwalk community members first. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Paki. Paki.

Oh, you know, there was a real Tongan empire in the Pacific Ocean. People did not know that. You know, we saved the Indian country of India, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, all those Asian countries, we saved them. They called the empire Ahom Empire. 17 times we defeat Kyrgyz Khan, warrior, from the south. What do you think of that story? You know the story, they claim it, Chinese, Indian, they all claim the same story. But let me tell you, remember the story of alarm? You take M off, take it, move it, you have ala means son of God, or God the Son. So aho moved to ma'em. Aho is the son of God. In Tongan, the king today was called aho, named after the son of God. What do you think of that, eh? What do you think of it? Only 9,000 Tongan was in that area. They kicked out Genghis Khan warrior 17 times. 9,000. What do you think? We saved India, Cambodia, Thailand. A lot of them claim the land today. Oh, it was us. The Chinese claim it. The Indians claim it. That's a false story. They don't have a god called Al, right? It's the same name as Alom. Alom means son of God. Aho is his name. Aho really mean gay. The Mayan writing here was a child with three son. It was told, we were told that when he was born, he will be, the sign will be three days of light, no darkness. The Pope just told us they were the one who killed the Son of God. There was a free darkness when Jesus died. The Roman soldier reported, they have a report for that. The Pope come out with Pope Leo. Oh, he died in three days of darkness. Well, we know now what happened. And that's all I can tell you. The miracle of the Tongan. We are greater than the British Islands, small island of the British. We are descendants of Joseph and Ishmael, great warrior, Ishmael. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Paki. Teresa, do we have anybody wishing to speak on Zoom or on the phone?

I don't see any hands up at this moment. We do have one person still in the queue, but no hands up.

Okay, with that, we'll see you all at National Night Out tomorrow, and this meeting is adjourned.