City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. We're going to go ahead and get started. Today's June 9th meeting here at City Council. Roll call, please.

Councilmember Lara.

Present.

Lutz.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Sanchez. Here. Mayor Camacho.

Here.

Present.

Great. And we did get notification from Councilmember Garcia. He's out sick, so he's excused. And we'll go on to our invocation. We're joined by Pastor Jude. Lead us in the invocation. Please rise.

Thank you for everything that you give us. May we be a grateful, thankful people. Father, I pray your protection over the CITY MANAGER AND THE CITY MAYOR AND ALL THE COUNCIL PEOPLE AND JUST THE STAFF, FATHER, PROTECT US, HELP US, FATHER, TO BE SLOW TO SPEAK AND QUICK TO LISTEN TO YOUR GUIDANCE AND DIRECTION. IN JESUS' PRECIOUS NAME I PRAY, AMEN.

AMEN. THANK YOU, PASTOR DREW, FOR JOINING US IN THE INVITATION AND THANK YOU FOR JOINING US AT THE MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY AS WELL FOR OUR and all the things you do as well with the community of Pico de Vera. I appreciate you being here. Thank you. I'd like to also lead us in the flag salute. We have our trustee for Rio Hondo Community College, Yaris Marocha, that will lead us on our pledge.

Thank you, everyone. Please stand.

I'll put your right hand over your heart.

Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,

THANK YOU FOR THAT. THANK YOU FOR THAT. THANK YOU FOR THAT. AND WE DON'T HAVE ANY SPECIAL AND WE DON'T HAVE ANY SPECIAL AND WE DON'T HAVE ANY SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS THIS EVENING. PRESENTATIONS THIS EVENING. PRESENTATIONS THIS EVENING. THEY HAVE BEEN CONTINUED THEY HAVE BEEN CONTINUED THEY HAVE BEEN CONTINUED TO OUR NEXT MEETING. TO OUR NEXT MEETING. TO OUR NEXT MEETING. SO JUST WANT TO RECOGNIZE SO JUST WANT TO RECOGNIZE SO JUST WANT TO RECOGNIZE OUR COMMISSIONERS HERE TODAY. OUR COMMISSIONERS HERE TODAY. OUR COMMISSIONERS HERE TODAY. WE HAVE OUR PLANNING COMMISSIONER, WE HAVE OUR PLANNING COMMISSIONER, WE HAVE OUR PLANNING COMMISSIONER, ALSO OUR TRUSTEE. ALSO OUR TR ONE, TWO, THREE, AND FOUR HEARINGS STARTING OFF WITH OUR FIRST ONE IS THE FISCAL YEAR 2026-27 PRELIMINARY BUDGET. MR. CITY MANAGER.

YES, MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL. TONIGHT WE'LL BE RECEIVING A PRESENTATION FOR THE FISCAL 2026-27 PRELIMINARY BUDGET. AS THE COUNCIL KNOWS, THIS BUDGET REPRESENTS THE SECOND YEAR OF OUR BIANNUAL BUDGET CYCLE AND REFLECTS THE CITY'S CONTINUED COMMITMENT TO FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY, LONG-TERM PLANNING AND INVESTMENT AND COMMUNITY PRIORITIES. DESPITE ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY AND ONGOING COST PRESSURE, STAFF HAS DEVELOPED A BALANCED BUDGET THAT MAINTAINS ESSENTIAL SERVICES, SUPPORTS PUBLIC SAFETY, CONTINUES SIGNIFICANT INVESTMENTS IN INFRASTRUCTURE, AND POSITIONS THE CITY FOR LONG-TERM SUSTAINABILITY. AT THIS TIME, I'LL TURN IT OVER TO OUR DIRECTOR OF ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE, JANE GUO, FOR THE PRESENTATION.

Thank you. So good evening, Honorable Mayor and members of the City Council. Jane Guo, Director of Administrative Services, is here tonight to present the fiscal year 26-27 preliminary budget. It is the second year of the fiscal year 25-27 biannual budget, which was adopted and approved on June 24, 2025. First, I would like to thank everybody across the organization and the executive team for their time, collaboration, and patience throughout this year's budget development process. Sorry. Yeah, thank you. Sorry. Let me see this way. OK. For fiscal year 26-27, the budget focuses on the city council's strategic priorities by supporting essential services, infrastructure improvements, and long-term financial stability to proactively address future challenges. We'll continue to serve the community and invest in Pico River's future. While the revenue growth is expected to remain relatively flat, operating expenditures are expected to continue increasing. Despite these physical challenges, the City remains committed to invest in critical capital improvement projects. So during the budget development process, staff aligned all aspects of the budget with the city's strategic priorities and goals to build a lean and balanced budget. Staff also followed three key guidelines. One-time money should only be used for one-time costs, live within our existing revenue streams, maintain sustainable funding to support essential community services. So here is the timeline and schedule for delivering this budget. We began in January. In February, we provide the mid-year report. On May 5th, Public Works presented the second year of the city's five-year CIP. During that presentation, the city council raised several questions and identified several items for further consideration. The budget being presented tonight incorporate updates that address some of those requests. We will discuss them those revisions in more detail later in the presentation. So today we are holding the public hearing and we will have the adoption on June 23rd. So, the city accomplished a lot in fiscal year 25-26. Here are a few highlights of the department's accomplishment that go beyond numbers. To name a few. Public Works complete the dog park project ahead of schedule and within budget. Parks and Recreation successfully hosted the grand opening of the dog park and unveiled the Purple Heart Monument. Public Works successfully completed several street pavement project and the council chamber renovation. When the SNAP program was temporarily paused due to delays in federal budget approval, CED partnered with the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank to host the Pico Rivera food distribution event and provide assistance to residents in need. CED also brought forward a comprehensive modernization of the city's zoning code as well as smoke-free multi-unit housing ordinance to the city council for consideration and approval. The city successfully implemented its AI policy, establishing a framework for the responsible use of emerging technologies. The city earned the prestigious Tree City USA designation in recognition of its commitment to urban forestry and environmental stewardship. Last but not least the city successfully completed the dissolution of the successor agency marking a significant milestone in its long-term financial and administrative efforts. So now we're on to the budget focusing on the general fund and enterprise funds. To start the conversation, here is an update on the latest economic information obtained from UCLA Anderson School, Beacon Economics, HDL and other well-known sources. We will also discuss the economic impacts in greater detail later for the budget assumptions. Nationwide economy continues to grow at a modest pace with GDP projected at approximately 2.1% down from 2.2% in 2025. The national economic has been supported by a stable labor market. Inflation remains elevated, with rates projected to range between approximately 3.4% and 3.8%. Consumer spending patterns continue to shift from goods towards services, which may impact sales tax and other economically sensitive revenues. State of California unemployment rate is projected to remain relatively stable at approximately 5.5% in 2026 with modest improvement to 5.1 in 2027. Housing market continue to face challenges. related to higher borrowing costs, slower sales activity, and elevated construction costs. So locally, the revenues continue to follow broader national and statewide economic trends. The local housing market has shown signs of moderation, with medium home prices declining approximately 2.6% between March 2025 and March 2026, as well as slower sales activity. So with this economic conditions, we made some assumptions for the fiscal year 26-27 preliminary budget. Sales tax revenue are projected to decline as consumers continue reducing discretionary purchases in response to higher price and ongoing inflationary pressures. Property tax revenues are projected to increase by approximately 10% despite signs of a slowing housing market. Thank goodness the city successfully dissolved the successor agency early. As a result, the city is expected to receive an additional $955,000 annually in property tax revenues. Had it not been for that, property tax growth would have been limited to the approximately 2% annual increase permitted under Proposition 13. Business license tax revenues are projected to increase due to improved compliance with Measure AB and enhanced collection efforts. For utility user taxes, the city has proactively monitoring legal developments regarding the taxation of streaming services as consumer behavior shifts from traditional cable subscriptions to streaming platforms. Other revenues are projected to increase modestly.

Yes. This is regarding the sales tax item. I know that sales tax is our largest revenue. Yes. It's projected right now that the ER ballot measure has more votes towards yes, meaning that the sales tax will go up half cent. Will that be the so for Pico Rivera as well or do we stay at the current cap? AND WILL THAT, I'M ASSUMING THAT WILL NEGATIVELY IMPACT BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE THINKING SALES TAX GOES UP SO THEY'RE NOT GOING TO BUY MORE THINGS, BUT WILL THAT DIRECTLY IMPACT US OR IS OUR SALES TAX CAP STAYING THE SAME? GO AHEAD, JEAN.

YEAH, SO THE CITY'S CAP CANNOT INCREASE. SO ADDITIONAL 50 CENTS WILL GO TO THE COUNTY. YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT THAT IF PEOPLE HAVE A FIXED AMOUNT OF, YOU KNOW, MONEY TO SPEND, then that means they will get less, right? And we think the impact for the city will be minimal, but it's, you know, we will see, we will see. It's kind of hard to predict at this moment, but we are very conservative with our estimate.

Do we have, maybe this is toward the end, but do we have any suggestions, contingency plans where we can help adjust that if our sales tax continues to decrease in our future projections?

Yeah, so we will touch on it later, right? So, you know, sales tax as the biggest revenue source for the city has been monitored very closely. That's why, you know, like the city managers really advocated for Measure AB, right? And, you know, we tried so hard to dissolve the successor agency. So those two increase the business license revenues and property tax. So, you know, we are trying to find ways remedies for the anticipation of declining sales tax. Thank you. Thank you.

Just a point of clarification that I have on measure ER. Assuming that it does pass, as you know, I actually looked at the numbers today. I thought it was done. Yeah. Right. Um, but it's, um, I was reading that it still has to go before the state legislature. Um, they have to vote on it to allow for the increase to occur. And then after, if they should choose to do that, then it goes to the desk of the governor who has indicated some signs that he's probably prone not to sign off on the bill. just given potential aspirations that he may have. And so there's still a few hurdles that need to be jumped through in order for us to fill the effects of Measure ER.

Yeah, I heard the same assessment from a lobbyist in Sacramento today. Okay, okay.

Yes, I mean, Measure ER just, the county Measure ER just crossed the first hurdle, but you're right, it still needs legislative approval, which seems to be highly probable on how that is, the legislators look at it. But the signing of the governor is definitely out there. And again, just to add to that Measure ER that we're all going to, IT'S NOT THE SIMPLE MAJORITY AS IT WAS ESTABLISHED WASN'T ACCEPTABLE BECAUSE IT OPENS IT WITH THAT MONEY IS JUST USED IN A GENERAL SENSE THAT CAN BE GRABBED AND USED FOR WHATEVER VERSUS WHAT IT'S PURPOSE INTEND, HENCE IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A MUCH DIFFERENT SCENARIO, BUT WE'LL DEAL WITH IT NONETHELESS. THANK YOU FOR THE QUESTION.

And Mayor Pro Tem, we actually, in anticipation, because sales tax is one of our biggest revenue generators, that's why collectively we all took the initiative to move on to Measure AB to diversify that bucket even more so we are not so reliant on sales tax alone. And we'll continue to do that.

Thank you. Great. Thank you. Okay, so for the expenditures assumptions, the salary and the benefits include 3% COLA for fiscal year 26-27. Pension, the cost for the general fund are projected to increase by approximately $144,000 due to increases in CalPERS rates. General Fund OPEB costs are projected to increase by approximately $54,900, or 13%, driven mainly by higher projected health insurance costs for current retirees. The group health insurance also increased by approximately $419,600, or 10.7%. Maintenance and operation budget include a 3% CPI related increase in operational expenditures for contracts, supplies, etc. We also have two categories with higher increases. Number one, we increased the utility budget to align with the actual expenditures. Number two, insurance premiums for general liabilities, workers' compensation, properties, cyber, et cetera, are projected to increase by approximately 28 percent due to global insurance market pricing. So throughout the budget process, staff reviewed service levels within the administration and administrative departments and realigned costs to the enterprise funds to better reflect actual service provided. This result in realigning approximately $710,000 in salaries and benefit and $460,000 in maintenance and operation costs, reducing pressures on the general fund. Next, we are looking into the numbers. Based on the assumptions discussed earlier, staff is proposing a balanced general fund budget that include a 7% contribution to CIP. This contribution totals $4.5 million, consisting of $3 million for PMP projects and $1.5 million for the Smith Park Aquatic Center. Compared to neighboring cities and other cities I have been involved with, a contribution of this magnitude is rare. It reflects the city's strong commitment to investing in and enhancing its infrastructure while maintaining a balanced general fund budget. We're now moving on to the revenues. Based on the revenue assumptions we discussed earlier, we're proposing $65 million for fiscal year 26-27. That means a 2.5 percent compared to the fiscal year 25-26 adopted budget and a 0.8 percent increase from the fiscal year 26-27 approved budget. Here we have the general fund revenue charts for fiscal year 26-27 and fiscal year 22-23. In 26-27, as you can see, sales tax accounts for the largest share of the revenue at 41% and is highly sensitive to economic conditions and consumer confidence. When the economy slows down, this category tends to decline. Property tax is the second largest source, followed by business license revenue. Since the implementation of Measure AB, business license revenue has increased, enabling the transfer of $3 million for the PMP projects. This shift has improved revenue diversification and reduced the risk of revenue concentration. COMPARED TO FISCAL YEAR 22-23, THE COMPOSITION OF GENERAL FUND REVENUES HAS CHANGED. SALES TAX NOW REPRESENT A SMALLER PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL REVENUES WHILE PROPERTY TAX AND BUSINESS LICENSE TAX ACCOUNT FOR LARGER SHARE. With all we discussed so far, here is a visual summary of the city's revenue trends over the past several years. General fund revenues have grown from $56.9 million to $63.2 million, representing an increase of approximately 11%, with average annual growth exceeding 2%. As shown in the bars, business license revenue in purple has increased significantly due to Measure AB. Property tax revenue in orange is projected to increase approximately 10% in 26-27, driven primarily by the city's successful dissolution of the successor agency. We are now moving on to expenditures. As you can see, we're proposing 65 million expenditures for fiscal year 26-27. The major categories of increases are public safety, parks and recreation, public works, and capital outlay transfer. In the next few slides, we will show you the types of cost that support the increases. This slide provides overview of how general fund appropriations are allocated across departments for 2627. You can see that we have a dedicated public safety force and programs in the city. So it's natural that public safety is the largest piece of the pie. Here is a snapshot of the expenditure components by category. Compared to fiscal year 25-26, the operating expenditures are projected to decrease by 1.6 percent in 26-27, Total general fund expenditures, including transfers to capital improvement projects, are projected to increase by 0.8% in fiscal year 26-27. This reflects a decrease of approximately $965,000 in operating expenditures, partially offset by a $1.5 million increase and transfer out to CIP projects. We will go over the changes in slides that follow. Here are the citywide full-time position. Proposed staff adjustments result in a net increase of two positions within Public Works to provide better street maintenance. Several reclassifications in administration, administrative services, community and economic development, and public works engineering are articulated in the agenda report. Overall, the general fund impact of the position changes is approximately $39,000. Next, we will discuss the summary changes to general fund salaries and benefits from the fiscal year 26-27 approved budget. Despite continued increases in pension, OPEB, and health care costs, the city has maintained a lean and cost-effective staffing structure to help manage long-term personnel costs. Full-time position changes increase the general fund budget by $39,000. The part-time position changes are for two additional part-time staff at the senior center, totaling $77,000. The city's OPIP obligation increased by approximately $97,000 based on the latest actuary valuation, with roughly $55,000 impacting the general fund. A citywide labor distribution review resulted in the realignment of portions of general fund costs to the water and prime funds, reducing general fund salary and benefit cost by more than $710,000 and helping offset rising pension, OPEB, and health care costs. The realignments are one-time adjustment for fiscal year 26-27. Overall, general fund salaries and benefit expenditures in 26-27 proposed budget are projected to decrease by 463,000 or 1.7%. Here are the summary changes to the general fund maintenance and operation from the 26-27 approved budget. This budget includes the final payment of approximately $63,000 under the city's sales tax sharing agreement. The proposed budget also include additional funding for utilities and equipment replacement to address higher operational demand, rate increases, and rising replacement costs for vehicles and equipment. Staff also identified several offsetting measures, including reclassifying 391,000 grant-related expenditures out of the general fund and reducing departmental M&O expenditures by approximately 539,000. Overall, general fund M&O expenditures in 26-7 proposed budget are projected to decrease by approximately 502,000, or 1.4%, reflecting continued efforts to managing operating costs while maintaining core city services. Next, we want to show you the second year of the five-year CIP budget, including funded and unfunded projects, totaling $222.7 million. The numbers in blue contains projects that are partially or fully unfunded. More details on the next slide. So here are the unfunded capital project needs. Following the CIP budget study session on May 5th, staff made a few minor changes to the CIP project with information available and now the unfunded amount is approximately 13.2 million dollars. The table does not include the Pickle Boys field project as Public Works and Parks and Rec are still working on the estimates. Next, we will review the enterprise funds which operate with fee-for-service structures. The water fund is supported by previously approved rate adjustments, which continue to fund critical capital projects, including the PFAS water treatment system and ongoing water main improvements. In a highly dynamic energy market, Prime continues to balance rate stability and long-term sustainability. Recent rate adjustments approved by the City Council help maintain financial stability will continue to provide competitive energy prices to the community. Due to the upcoming Whittier-Larrows Dam project, the fiscal year 26-27 golf course and sports arena budgets have been adjusted to reflect lower projected revenues and expenditures. The sports arena maintains an accumulative fund balance that is sufficient to offset projected budget deficit for fiscal year 26-27. So here are our recommended action items. Receive and file this budget and provide direction to staff. The next steps, staff will update the budget based on further discussion at the June 23rd meeting. We will provide the final adjusted numbers with any clean up items identified between now and then. We will also provide a five year general fund forecast for the budget adoption. On July 1st, the new fiscal year begins. So that concludes my presentation. We're happy to answer any of the questions.

Thank you, Director. I appreciate it. Thank you. Very comprehensive. Everybody should be excited with this presentation.

You know, we are very conservative, but at the same time, we look so good in front of other cities that present deficit, you know. Not only we don't have a deficit, we are able to find $1.5 million for the Smith Park Aquatic Center.

As you mentioned that we've done some work as to being able to have a balanced budget, but we invest in our community and to see the unfunded project versus the funded projects. The funding projects, having most of them being grant funded, says a lot. So definitely in comparison to many other cities, we are fiscally strong and it's great to be fiscally prudent because we just don't know. But to be fiscally prudent and still be investing in our community, it says a lot about our budget and what we're doing here in the city. Questions? Yes, Mayor Pro Temp.

Thank you. My first question is, I have two questions. One is you had an item on the staffing and there were negative in the HR section. There were four. So those got moved to administration? Yes. Correct. So they weren't eliminated. They were just moved to a different department.

Yeah, we just moved them out.

Okay. My second question is for the golf course projected to be closed in October for after 2027, the remaining four years, 2027 through 31, seems so far off. What is, do we project zero on those, zero revenue? What is the expenditure going to be for those pending a closure?

For 26-27, we projected ordinary operating expenditures for three months. And for the other nine months, we projected expenditures to maintain the facility. And for the future, same thing. Even if we don't have operating expenditures, we will budget the expenditures for maintenance of the facility. So make sure, you know, yeah, it's still good.

So how does that work for us? We are basically not able to operate and generate any revenue, but we still have to maintain the golf course. Will the federal government reimburse us for that? Or is that what we're negotiating year by year right now, every federal budget, every federal year?

No, they won't reimburse us. It's their property that we lease from them. However, we're still requesting mitigation dollars in hopes that we get it from the federal government. In addition, we're exploring other opportunities like maybe leasing it to them for the Army Corps, the contractor, to see if we could generate revenue to offset some of our M&O on the operation. AFTER IT'S CONCLUDED, WE'LL GET SOME LAND BACK. WE'RE NOT SURE HOW WE'RE GOING TO REPURPOSE THAT, BUT AT THAT POINT, WE'LL DECIDE IF THE GOLF COURSE IS STILL VIABLE OR NOT.

OKAY. THANK YOU. THANK YOU, MAYOR POTAM.

ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? COUNCILMEMBER? YEAH, THANK YOU. THANK YOU FOR THE PRESENTATION. THANK YOU TO STAFF FOR ALL THE HARD WORK. HOW MANY EMPLOYEES ARE WE AT CURRENTLY?

Yeah, we're at 164. We added two positions this budget, primarily to assist with the water operations because of our PFAS systems. But I don't think we've added any positions for the past three budgets. Yeah, two budgets. Okay, thank you. That's it.

Thank you, Councilmember. Any other questions, comments? Director, thank you for the presentation to your team. You guys are doing a great job, so I appreciate all of you. Thank you. I'd like to entertain a motion to approve. So move. Second. We got a first and a second. Roll call vote, please.

Council members, Lara?

Yes.

Lutz?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem, Dr. Sanchez? Yes. Mayor Camacho?

Yes.

Motion passes 4-0.

Thank you. Moving on to item, public hearing item number two, resolutions related to the landscape and lighting assessment district. Number one, for fiscal year 26-27, I'd like to open up this public hearing. Any memos, Mr. City Manager?

None, Mayor.

Any written communications?

There were none received.

Oral communications?

None.

I'd like to close this public hearing and entertain a motion. Motion to approve.

Second.

And the second, I will call vote, please.

Council Members Lara.

Yes.

Lutz?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem, Dr. Sanchez? Yes. Mayor Camacho?

Yes.

Motion passes 4-0.

Thank you. Moving on to item number three, public hearing resolution related to the Paramount Mines Landscape Maintenance Assessment District for fiscal year 26-27. I'd like to open up this public hearing. Any memos, Mr. City Manager? None, Mayor. Rating communications? There were none received. Oro?

There were none.

I'd like to close this public hearing and entertain a motion. Motion to approve. You got a first? Second. And a second. Roll call vote, please.

Council members Lara?

Yes.

Lutz?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Dr. Sanchez? Yes. Mayor Camacho?

Yes.

Motion passes 4-0.

Thank you. Moving on to public hearing number four, status update on job vacancies in compliance with assembly bill 2561. local public employees. I'd like to open up this public hearing. Memo, Mr. City Manager. None, Mayor. Rated communications.

There were none received.

Oral communications.

There were none.

I'd like to close this public hearing and entertain a motion. Motion to approve. We have first. Second. And a second. Roll call vote, please.

Council Members Lara.

Yes.

Lutz.

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem, Dr. Sanchez. Yes. Mayor Camacho. Yes. Motion passes 4-0.

Thank you. That leads us into public comments. We have... A FEW GREEN CARDS HERE AND A WRITTEN PUBLIC COMMENT SENT INTO US. WE WILL START OFF WITH ERIC DIAZ REGARDING ITEM NUMBER NINE.

GOOD EVENING, MAYOR CAMACHO AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL. MY NAME IS ERIC DIAZ AND I'M HERE TONIGHT ON BEHALF OF WEST COAST ARBORIS. WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE THE CITY OF PICO HERRERA AS A TREE MAINTENANCE CONTRACTOR AND APPRECIATE THE PARTNERSHIP WE HAVE BUILT OVER THE YEARS. WE LOOK FORWARD TO CONTINUING TO PROVIDE QUALITY SERVICE AND MAKING A POSITIVE CONTRIBUTION TO THE COMMUNITY. I JUST WANT TO NOTE THAT I ALONG WITH MY COLLEAGUE GONZALO REGALADO WHO OVERSEES THE CONTRACT DIRECTLY ARE PRESENT SHOULD THE COUNCIL HAVE ANY QUESTIONS FOR US. THANK YOU.

Next speaker is Jonathan Grayson, regarding smoke-free multi-unit housing.

Good evening, council members and community members of Pico Rivera. My name is Jonathan Grayson, and I work with Helpline Youth Counseling, a nonprofit organization with the mission of helping build individual family community health. We are aligned with our coalition, the Southeast Community Alliance, also known as SICA. On May 12th, the Community Health Alliance Coalition, better known as CHA, requested for additional protections to the residents within multi-housing units of Pico Rivera. Our organization want to express our gratitude to the mayor and council members of Pico Rivera for approving the request for the smoke-free multi-unit housing initiative. We have continuously witnessed Pico Rivera being a role model for many other communities to follow, just as the city has received an additional award this year for the Southern California Association of Government Sustainability Awards as a reflection to the city's climate action and adaptation plan led by Victor. The leaders of the Pico Rivera have shown the opportunities for growth do not have to come at the expense of the residents by doing their part to protect those at Pico Rivera from the dangers of activities that produce secondhand smoke. You're also improving the environment, community wellness, and developing better, sustainable outcomes within Pico Rivera. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you to you and your team for bringing this forward. And again, thank you to our Mayor Pro Tem for leading this effort here in the city. Next is Lauren Talbot. Library updates.

Good evening, honorable mayor and members of the city council. My name is Lauren Talbot and I'm the community library manager at the Pico Rivera Library and the Rivera Library. Here are the updates for June. Adults are invited to our barbecue pork char siu cooking demonstration at the Pico Rivera Library on Wednesday, June 10th, tomorrow at 6 p.m. Acclaimed chef Phoebe Chow will talk about the culture and history behind this delicious dish and prepare samples for the audience to enjoy. Parents and babies are invited to our baby yoga program on Friday, June 12th at 3 p.m. at the Pico Rivera Library where they will enjoy gentle music and learn the benefits of exercising with their baby. The Pico Rivera Library will be closed on Friday, June 19th for the Juneteenth holiday. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for those updates. And then lastly, the written public comments submitted by Robert Vieira. It's in regards to the overnight parking at Lowe's and Ultra Beauty. I will submit this for the record. And Mr. City Manager, if we can address that issue. I know we've had problems with RVs and vans and overnight parking around that particular area. If we can go and check it out again through our court enforcement. Thank you. THAT CONCLUDES OUR PUBLIC COMMENT. BEFORE WE CONTINUE TO OUR CONSENT CALENDAR, I DO WANT TO MENTION A FEW UPDATE ON OUR LEGISLATIVE. AS YOU WELL KNOW, WE HAVE A LEGISLATIVE STAFF HERE THAT WE ENGAGE IN LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITIES, PARTICULARLY SACRAMENTO, THE COUNTY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS POSITIONED US TO REALLY UNDERSTAND AND BE and the forefront of funding and just being either opposing or supporting legislation that is going on in Sacramento. We're specific to items that we approve within our legislative platform. We go through a lot of... LEGISLATIVE BILLS FROM EITHER COMING OUT OF THE ASSEMBLY OR THE SENATE, AND IT WOULD BE VERY DIFFICULT FOR ME TO READ EVERY SINGLE ONE WE OPPOSE AND WE SUPPORT, BUT I JUST WANT TO DO A QUICK SUMMARY, THANKS TO JESSE GARCIA, OUR LEGISLATIVE MANAGER THAT HELPS WITHIN THIS REALM, SOMETHING THAT OUR CITY MANAGER BROUGHT TO THE TABLE TO HAVE THIS EFFORT, SO JUST BEAR WITH ME. I'LL UPDATE YOU ON SOME OF THE LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITIES THAT RELATES TO PICO RIVERA. So we continue to actively engage our federal partners regarding the Winter Narrows Dam Safety Modification Project. Staff recently conducted detailed briefings with the office of Senator Padilla and Senator Schiff as we work towards identifying resources and policy solutions to address impacts in our community. On the state legislative front, the city has submitted more than 50 position letters this year so far consistent with our adopted legislative platform. REFLECTING OUR COMMITMENT REFLECTING OUR COMMITMENT REFLECTING OUR COMMITMENT TO BEING PROACTIVE TO BEING PROACTIVE TO BEING PROACTIVE IN SHAPING POLICIES IN SHAPING POLICIES IN SHAPING POLICIES THAT AFFECT PICURRETA. THAT AFFECT PICURRETA. THAT AFFECT PICURRETA. AS YOU KNOW, 50 POSITION LETTERS. AS YOU KNOW, 50 POSITION LETTERS. AS YOU KNOW, 50 POSITION LETTERS. WE WOULD HAVE A WHOLE MEETING WE WOULD HAVE A WHOLE MEETING WE WOULD HAVE A WHOLE MEETING JUST ON READING JUST ON READING JUST ON READING EACH ONE OF THEM. EACH ONE OF THEM. EACH ONE OF THEM. BUT WE HAVE OPPOSED LEGISLATION BUT WE HAVE OPP ALLOWABLE CODES THAT IS BROUGHT FORTH BY THE STATE, SO A LOT IS CHANGING ON US BEING ABLE TO CONTROL THAT, BUT IT'S THE NATURE OF WHAT WHERE WE LIVE HERE IN CALIFORNIA AS IT RELATES TO THIS LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY, BUT NEVERTHELESS, WE'LL CONTINUE TO OPPOSE THOSE ITEMS, THOSE LEGISLATIVE LAWS THAT HINDER OUR ABILITY TO PROVIDE SERVICE TO OUR COMMUNITY. We have also supported legislation that aligns with our priorities, including measures to enhance public safety by increasing penalties for repeat DUI offenders, reckless driving, and street takeovers. Additionally, we continue to advocate for funding and policy solutions that support housing, PFAS water treatment and maintenance, implementation of Proposition 36, climate and emergency response funding for cities, and efforts to keep energy costs affordable for residents and businesses. Staff have remained engaged with the California Office of Grants and Local Services by submitting formal comments and reviews of draft grant guidelines. We continue to advocate for full implementation of priority funding language the city successfully included in Prop 4 as approved by the voters. And so we remain committed to ensuring Pico de Vera's voice is heard at every level of government and we'll continue advocating for policies that protect our community and advance our priorities. So just a summary of the activities that the city has been DOING WITH STAFF, CITY COUNCIL DIRECTION, BASED ON THE LATEST LEADER PROP FORM, WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE ON THE FIRST FRONT OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES, BUT ALSO MAKING SURE THAT THE STATE LISTENS TO US AS IT RELATES TO PROVIDING THE SERVICES THAT WE NEED TO PROVIDE TO OUR COMMUNITY WITHOUT TIEING OUR HANDS, BECAUSE THAT HAS CHANGED A LOT OVER THE COURSE OF THE LAST 10 YEARS, AND SO... Just a quick update. So with that, thank you for indulging me on that summary. We'll lead us now into our consent calendar items. We have items five through 14. I'd like to, any particular items to?

Yes, Mayor, I need to pull, I would like to pull item number nine, please.

Pulling item number nine. Yes, please. Discussion. Discussion. HEARING NO OTHERS, I'D LIKE TO ENTERTAIN A MOTION TO APPROVE ITEMS FIVE THROUGH 14, EXCEPT NINE.

MOTION TO APPROVE FIVE THROUGH 19. SECOND.

SECOND. THE FIRST AND THE SECOND. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR, SAY AYE. AYE.

AYE.

OR DOES IT WORK? AYE. HEARING NO OPPOSITION, THE ITEMS PASS. AND LET'S GO ON TO ITEM NUMBER NINE. MAYOR POTAM.

Yes, Mayor, I have a concern regarding this item just because I feel that we could do further due diligence. This item, although it is not set to expire for a couple months, I think we have, correct? So I just felt that the, although West Coast Arborist, I went on a tour and I think it was a great facility. The proposal, the current proposal was based off of one city, the city of Rosemead. And I didn't find information of how that city is similar or different to Pico Rivera. And I thought, in all due diligence, perhaps we need to open it up to an RFP. AND I KNOW IT'S GOING TO CREATE A LITTLE MORE WORK FOR OUR STAFF AND OUR VENDORS, BUT I THINK THAT THAT WOULD BE THE BEST WAY THAT WE COULD MOVE FORWARD WITH FURTHER GREATER TRANSPARENCY FOR THE CITY. AND THE LAST TIME I BELIEVE IN THE REPORT WE WENT TO AN RFP WAS IN 2020 REGARDING THIS ITEM AND A LOT HAS CHANGED SINCE THEN. So those were just two of the main concerns that I felt with this. So I don't think we should approve the city manager to go forward with this without doing our due diligence. I would like to actually make a motion if possible to direct our city manager to move this forward with an RFP. If I could get a second.

Could I just address a couple of things on the piggyback? It was a piggyback off of Rosemead's contract. Rosemead did an RFP. They selected approximately eight vendors to participate. West Coast was selected as the most responsive bidder. After piggybacking on that contract, I think, correct me if I'm wrong, Noe, that represents a 2% less pricing if we piggyback off of Rosemead's.

WHAT WAS THE PERCENTAGE AGAIN? YEAH, IT'S A LITTLE BIT LESS. AS YOU CAN SEE IN THE REPORT, IT VARIES BETWEEN .7 TO 1.1 AND A HALF PERCENT DIFFERENCE. SO WE LINED UP ALL OF OUR ITEMS IN TERMS OF WHAT WE HAVE IN THE CITY FOR SERVICES VERSUS THEIRS. AND WE LOOKED AT SEVERAL DIFFERENT PIGGYBACK OPTIONS. WE LOOKED AT FIVE DIFFERENT ONES FROM VARIOUS NEIGHBORS. AND WE THOUGHT THAT THE CITY OF ROSEMADES IS ONE THAT BEST ALIGNED WITH OUR CITY.

IF I MAY, I'D LIKE TO PROVIDE A SECOND TO THE REQUEST. JUST, YOU KNOW, I THINK THE MAYOR BRINGS OUT SOME GOOD POINTS. OUR LAST TIME WE WENT OUT FOR RFP WAS IN 2021. When you take a look at the estimate given to Rosemead in 2025, there were eight estimates. I think just doing due diligence and just putting it out there and just seeing what we get. And hopefully West Coast Arborist does come back and we can proceed. But I just think it's just putting the community first.

Understood. Okay. There's a motion and a second. Roll call vote, please.

JUST TO CLARIFY, THIS IS A MOTION, THIS IS A ROLL CALL VOTE TO DIRECT THE CITY MANAGER TO PUT THIS ITEM OUT TO RFP FOR THE WEST COAST ARBORIST. OH, IT'S NOT WEST COAST ARBORIST, FOR THE CONTRACT, FOR THE CURRENT TREE TRIMMING CONTRACT.

AND IF I MAY, I'LL JUST DEFER REAL QUICK TO OUR CITY ATTORNEY AS IT RELATES TO THE MOTION TO GO OFF TO RFP VERSUS DENYING THE RECOMMENDATION. I JUST WANT TO BE CLEAR, I BELIEVE THE MOTION IS CORRECT.

Mr. Mayor, members of the City Council, and I want a clarification because we have an existing contract. Is there a desire to continue working with West Coast Arborist while the RFP process continues?

Correct. This current contract, that is fine. My knowledge is that this correct contract will go through August 10th, so we have a couple months. However, rather than renew the contract based off of Rhodes Meads' proposal to bid that out to RFP.

And... I'm not sure that all of that process would be completed by August 10th, but if, you know, if it's not, then is contained within the motion to continue to work possibly on a month-to-month basis with West Coast Harbors.

Correct. Is that in the current contract?

That is subject to agreement with West Coast if they're open to that.

Okay. So the motion is correct.

Yes, so it's to refer the matter out to RFP, to continue working with West Coast Arborist at the present time, and to, if the RFP is not returned back to the City Council by the August 1st, August 10th, I'm sorry, 2026 timeline, then to continue to try to work with West Coast Arborist on a month-to-month basis.

Is that correct? Yes. Very well. So there's a motion and a second on the item that was just clarified by our city attorney. Roll call vote, please.

Council members Lara? Yes. Lutz?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Dr. Sanchez? Yes. Mayor Camacho?

Yes.

Motion passes 4-0. Okay.

Mayor, I just want to do a point of clarification for the consent calendar items 5 through 14. I did a motion to approve and I incorrectly stated 5 through 19. I WANT TO CLARIFY 5 THROUGH 14 MOTION TO APPROVE.

IT'S CORRECTED. THANK YOU, COUNCILMEMBER. MAY I? IF YOU COULD PLEASE EXCUSE ME. OKAY. THANK YOU. ALL RIGHTY. SO WE HAVE ITEMS OF CONSENT THAT HAVE BEEN APPROVED. AND SO WE HAVE NO REGULAR AGENDA ITEMS. CITY MANAGERS, STAFF REPORTS.

Yes, Mayor, just a quick update. So I'll turn it over to Noe Negrete for a couple of updates on a couple of our projects.

Thank you. Thank you, City Manager. Just two projects I wanted to update the Council on is we're working on the groundbreaking for the Aquatic Center at Smith Park. We're looking at an early July groundbreaking. We are finalizing our coordination and our dates with our dignitaries. And so once we solidify that date, we will share that with the council. Again, that one is going to start on July 6th with the first day of work that the contractor will start working. The second one is our roadway rehabilitation project. Citywide is currently out to bid. The bids will be received on June 30th. and we are anticipating to bring back the award of contract at the July 14th council meeting. And again, we did put into our specifications that the first two streets that are to be done is on La Colina and Balfour to try to get that in as soon as we can so that we can get that before the school starts. And that concludes my report.

THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR.

THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR. THANK VERY WELL. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR, FOR THAT.

THAT WILL LEAD US INTO THE GOOD OF THE ORDER. I'LL START TO MY RIGHT, COUNCILMEMBER LUTZ.

THANK YOU, MAYOR. I WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT WE HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO RECEIVE A DELEGATION FROM Fujian Province, China, specifically the mayor of Changting County last week. And it was nice. It was, I would call, the preliminary stages of exploring sister cities across the world. Now, we have sister cities, four total, in Mexico, and we're very proud of that. And I think it's time now to look in the opportunities of exploring sister cities in other continents. And so we had them come out and we gave them a tour of City Hall. We gave them a tour next door at the high school. And we had the El Rancho choir do two quick songs, the alma mater song and a couple of others. And then we bussed them over to the WRD. So all in all, it was a great opportunity to explore cross-cultural experiences and hopes of adding another sister city in the future. And they did offer and extend to us the opportunity to go visit their city, their county at the end of the month. So it's something that I'd like to share with the public. Yeah. Yeah. And the other item, I'd also like to state that the 250th anniversary of our wonderful country is coming around the corner. And I would think that we put in a lot of effort and a lot of festivities throughout the city. And there are some restrictions on doing fireworks. So I would ask the staff if we can allocate some time in creating a some type of video acknowledging and embracing the 250th anniversary where all of us, the entire Council, collectively we can create a video celebrating our wonderful 250th anniversary of our wonderful country. So if I can get a second on that to allocate some time. I've actually been working on that on the side myself. So I think it would be a great project that we can work as a team. Sure, I'll second that. Rightly so, we are a team.

City Manager, can we coordinate all that?

We'll do our best. We have a lot of activities going on, especially planning for the World Spirit Festival. It could be challenging. I'll have to talk to Pam after just to make sure. I think it's worthy of it.

If not, we'll have Eric's already producing it, so we might as well...

Yeah. And that concludes my comments. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Councilmember. Mayor Pro Tem.

Yes, thank you. I wanted to share that I was invited to be the commencement speaker at Rio Hondo College. So thank you to our trustee, Yarisma Rocha, as well as our board president and trustees. There were over 185 graduates, including their families. And I myself attended Rio Hondo College, as well as Yarisma, even our city clerk as well. So many of us are Rio Hondo College alumni. And so it was really exciting. And secondly, I also attended and was a commencement speaker at Vail High School at their graduation. That's the continuation school for Montebello Unified District. And although it might be to some considered just like Salazar, they might think it's for bad kids it is not it is sometimes students that fell behind on their units or maybe they have life circumstances they like they need to work a full-time job or support families or have children and they have alternative courses that are taken so i really had a great time speaking to these students because i myself was a young mother and i shared with them my experience so i want to say congratulations to all of the graduates whether MIDDLE SCHOOL, KINDER, HIGH SCHOOL, ALL THE WAY TO COLLEGE. SO CONGRATULATION TO GRADUATES. AND I MYSELF TRULY FEEL THAT EDUCATION IS VERY IMPORTANT, SOMETHING THAT CAN NEVER BE TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU. SO I WANT TO SAY CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYBODY. AND I THINK THAT'S IT FOR ME.

THANK YOU, MA'AM. OTHER THAN TWO ITEMS, ONE, OUR GO-GETTER SOFTBALL.

YES, I FORGOT ABOUT THAT.

OUR GO-GETTERS CITY SOFTBALL GAME THAT WE WON THIS TIME. NO THANKS TO ME OR TO ANY OF THE CITY COUNCIL HERE. WE WERE ON THE INJURY LIST. AND SO BUT I THINK THAT WAS PROBABLY A GOOD THING BECAUSE OUR STAFF DEFINITELY CAME UP. THE GO-GETTERS DID BRING THEIR A TEAM. I MEAN, IT'S LIKE THEY JUST RECRUITED OR SOMETHING. We'll take the wins and win. But it was great to get together with them annually. And they always say we should do it more than one year. But for those of us who are not practicing often, I'm okay with once a year. But I'll leave it up to everybody else if you want to do it more often. But it's fun nonetheless. Go-Getters is a great softball league for seniors that it just keeps going and just keeps many others.

And where is the trophy? Where does it stay? In the Senior Center? Did they keep it and not give it back?

We took pictures. We took pictures. We took pictures that day. I carried it like I was mine.

Captain, can we investigate where the trophies are?

The go-getters aren't giving it back. I think it should be displayed in the senior center regardless of who wins because I think that's a good place for it.

We could blow through.

Yes, yes, let's take it on a tour.

It'll be a tour. Yeah, so that was great. And so lastly, speaking of awards and recognitions, I did attend the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Long Beach last week. And in addition to being my first time attending this mayor's conference here locally, it was great that the city of Pico Rivera, I say the city of Pico Rivera, even though it was called the Mayor's Climate Award, YOU KNOW, IT'S JUST, I KNOW OUR DIRECTOR, FEDERIC, FROM OUR SUSTAINABILITY OFFICE SUBMITTED THE APPLICATION. AND FROM MY UNDERSTANDING, OUT OF A THOUSAND CITIES THAT SUBMITTED THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY, ONLY FIVE RECEIVED THE SMALL BUSINESS AWARD, AND WE WERE ONE OF THEM. SO IT JUST SHOWS, AND WE TALKED ABOUT THE AWARDS THAT THE OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY AND MANY OTHER AWARDS THAT THE DEPARTMENTS ARE GETTING. THIS ONE IS ANOTHER TRIBUTE TO THE CITY OF PICO TO BE ABLE TO AWARD. It's in my office. I was going to run back there and get it, but I'll bring it later. But it was nice to. And it's in my office.

There you go.

You were supposed to say, come on.

We should have brought it. I took a picture.

We'll bring both next meeting, all right? But again, it was a great conference that had a lot of pieces of conversation that relates to policy, public safety, economic development. AI, AGAIN, IT'S GETTING MORE OUT THERE. BUT TO BE ABLE TO RECEIVE THAT RECOGNITION AMONGST MAYORS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY AND BEING HIGHLIGHTED IN THE CITY OF PICO RIVERA WAS AGAIN AN ATTRIBUTE TO WHAT WE'RE DOING HERE IN THE CITY. SO WE CONTINUE TO DO THAT. THAT WILL END. REPORT, AND SO WITH THAT, WE HAVE NO CLOSED SESSION ITEM. BEFORE I CLOSE AND ADJOURN THIS MEETING, I'D LIKE TO ADJOURN IN MEMORY OF RON COLOSIMO. RON COLOSIMO WAS A LONGTIME EDUCATOR AT BERKSTEIN ACADEMY. MR. COLOSIMO WAS KNOWN AS ONE OF THE BEST PE EDUCATORS AND TOP MANY STUDENTS AFTER SCHOOL SPORTS ACTIVITIES. MAY HE REST IN PEACE, AND WE'LL ADJOURN IN HONOR OF RON COLOSIMO. Thank you everybody for coming and meeting is adjourned.