City Council - Regular Meeting

Council, February 17th at 700 p.m. May we have the roll call, please? Yes, Mayor. Council member Chavez. Sorry. I'm sorry I didn't hear you. Council member Chavez here. Council member Chen here. Council member Yu here. Mayor Proen Man here. Mayor Sternquist here. Excuse me. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. Um I'd like to call on Pastor Ky from Community of Chi Christ Church who will be providing the invocation this evening. Welcome pastor. our heavenly creator who is the source of all things good. We a few of your children would come into your presence today to ask that this council be open to your spirit that would allow them to open their minds to that spirit and for them to do a better able job to do those things for this city to benefit this city and make it a better place for all of us. We would also pray for those of the staff that they need my support in wisdom their individual tasks that they do with due diligence that would allow them to make this a better city through the support of this council and other staff members making this a better city. And two, we would pray for all those here gathered in the audience that they too through their individual efforts and their corporate efforts will leave this a city a better place than it is for future generations. We look with eager joy, dear creator, to a better city, a better community, a better time for all of us. Amen.

Amen. Thank you, Pastor William. Would you mind next? Sure. Please place the flag. Put your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin.

I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Ceremonial matters. Tonight we have the pleasure. There you are. I would looked back there and you're all up here. Okay. The pleasure of honoring Benjamin Schwarz. And Captain, would you like to introduce him? Well, first off, thank you very much, Mayor uh Council, for inviting me here tonight. Uh, you know, I'm truly honored to be here tonight, especially uh an opportunity to recognize one of our outstanding deputies from Temple Sheriff's Station. Um, there's so much I can say about Benjamin Schwarz, but I'm going to try to keep this short. Uh, he first arrived at Temple Station in February of 2022. Uh, since that time, he's consistently demonstrated some strong work ethic and, uh, and professionalism. Uh, in April 2023, he was first assigned to to the city, working in a crime car before he transitioned to a traffic car. and uh he quickly made a strong impression uh with his work ethic, his his proactive policing and his uh community engagement. Uh because of his strong work ethic, uh he was selected to uh be a member of our summer enforcement team,

which is a highly coveted spot at our station. Um last year alone in 2025, he made more than 71 arrests for various crimes by himself. Um and last summer he was selected to serve as a full-time member of the Temple Temple City special assignment team. Uh he's uh you know he has demon he's he's been a great team player and he's worked closely with our city officials you know with city manager uh Brian Cook with Jose um in addressing a lot of the qual life issues and crime issues that are impacting uh the city. uh he is well respected uh amongst his peers, his supervisors and if there's something that we needed done, we can always count on Benjamin to to handle it. Um, you know, he is a Deputy Schwarz is a outstanding uh representative both the sheriff's department and the city. And I'm so proud of him, of the person he's become, the deputy he's become, and I want to thank you guys again for taking the time to uh to recognize him for this outstanding award. Uh he's uh he's deserving of it just like the the rest of the team, but today it's going to be Benjamin's uh Benjamin's day. So, thank you again for uh for this day and for inviting me here to be part of this uh special event. All right.

Thank you. Have council follow me so we can take a picture. I'm going to present you guys time. You saying we're old or something or just a little. Okay. Benjamin, come on up.

This is for you. Thank you.

So in thank you in recognition and appreciation in appreciation of your contribution to the city of Temple City. The tireless effort and devotion you have provided does not go unnoticed. The city of Temple City greatly appreciates your time and dedication. Congratulations on being honored as the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy of the Year. Very exciting. Thank you so much. Have you come take a picture? What an honor. Oh, it's just is genuinely a nice guy since the moment I met him. very

Thank you very much.

So nice. They're going to leave you. They're going to They're going to leave you to work. Should send What's that? There you go. Thank you for what you do. Now stay here. Oh my goodness. That's funny. It was really a wonderful honor and so welld deserved. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Public comments on items not listed on the agendas. Do we have any? Seeing none, gonna close public comment. There there is. Oh,

there's a question. Yes, there is from West San Gabriel Valley Realtors. But there's no name. Excuse me. Welcome.

Hi, good evening everybody. My name is Cecilia. I'm the member of the West Angore Valley Realtors and this year as I'm the the member of the com legislative committee and assigned as the liaison to the city of Temple City. So that's why today uh I bring the letter of introduction about you know what the uh board doing and what is my job. My job is to bring anything relates to real estate information to the board and that let all the realtors knowing about that the improvement and will bring or maybe many business for all the members over there.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Look forward to working with you. Okay. I'm going to Is that That's it. Close public comment. We move to the consent calendar. All consent calendar items may be approved in a single motion as recommended unless removed for further discussion. I'll move to approve. Second. Okay, it's been moved and seconded. May we have a roll call, please? Council member Chavez. Yes. Council member Chen, yes. Council member Yu, yes. Mayor Pen Man, yes. Mayor Sternquist. Yes.

Okay. Thank you. We have no public hearing this evening, no unfinished business, and no new business. And we have an update from our city manager.

Thank you, Mayor Inquis, and members of the council. A couple pieces of good news to uh deliver to you tonight. Um uh we learned late last week, uh that the city did receive from the California Parks and Recreation Society one of its highest honors. um that is the park planning award of excellence for live oak park playground. Um this is one of the recognitions that the parks department and parks in general throughout the state of California look towards as exemplifying great planning, great integration with with the community in terms of their needs and um just fascinating and interesting design. and SWA architects um did an amazing job. Uh the use of the park is outstanding. When we did a post, a social media post uh last week um it blew up. Um I I'm getting old so I don't know what the proper term is for uh social media going wild, but it blew up. Uh so congratulations to the entire council. This was a and to the community as well. We went through a very extensive community engagement process in developing this. I know the entire council as well was very engaged in this process as well. And the product you see today is the accumulation and the total effort of everybody working together. And even when it's raining a little bit, I passed by it today. Even when it's raining a little bit, still safe, but you still see people out there. It's pretty amazing. So, congratulations. Congratulations to the to everybody involved in receiving this uh prestigious award from the California Parks and Recreation Society. So, the other piece of good news is that um we received a call, the mayor received a call from Congresswoman Judy Chu uh

letting her letting us know that she will be we we will be receiving a little over $800,000 to repave Lower Isuza. Loruza is one of our major arterials, but one of the challenges that we have there is funding funding that we don't have enough funding for all of our roads. So, we were able to get $800,000, which is really um greatly appreciated, but still it's a multi-million dollar project we're going to have to find additional funding for as well. So we'll be looking towards things like our measure M, measure R, and depending on what happens on Tuesday, March 3rd, what happens with measure TC as well. Uh, so where we're thankful.

How about city of Elmani? The city of Elmani will be working with us as well to um the there's a kind of a it's almost like a jigsaw puzzle of where the city boundaries are and the uh uh city of Temple City boundaries are and the city of Temple uh Elmanis are. So they'll be working. We're we're they already knew they've already aware that we were contemplating this project. So we have communication between our staffs and their staffs about how to coordinate this. Did they also receive receive a grant? Not that I'm aware of. I don't Yeah, that would also be that would also be great. So we'll we'll be pulling that together, but thank you to Congresswoman Chu. Yes.

For this has been uh I think the third time we've submitted that application and she's come through. So, thank you to her. Is there is there a sunset period on how we when we have to use that money? Generally speaking, for that kind of funding, there is. What it is, I'm not sure. Is it five years or I'm not sure what that sunset date is, but generally speaking, there will be, but we'll be finding that out soon. We'll be finding that out soon. I hate to lose it if we don't use it, I guess.

And um we had reserved some Prop C funding for that as well in years past. So, we'll pull it together, but the cost escalation has gone up so much with roads that we're we're going to have to piece together funding. So, um but I think we'll be able to achieve that. Last but not least, uh this upcoming weekend, just check the weather. Weather should be good for a very successful Chamilleia Festival Friday 10:00 a.m. for the parade. Um looking forward to working. Thank you to Kathy Burrough and Don Taran uh who work the co- festival directors who work very well with our team. Thank you to Jose Taran. Thank you to our dedicated team who does a lot of the planning along with our parks and recreation department as well and along with many many volunteers at our Lunar New Year festival. I put in one report to you. I think we were at 25 almost 30 volunteers for Lunar New Year which was great. we can't do it's hard for us to do those events without those volunteers are just makes it run a lot more smoothly. So um thank you to all the volunteers that are going to come out the volunteers of the Chameleia Festival that just put in countless hours. So we appreciate it and keep our fingers crossed on good weather.

Okay, that's it for me, mayor. Thank you. All right, thank you. Updates from our city attorney, Greg. I just want to say happy new year to everyone and may the year of the horse be prosperous for you. Uh in light of that and it being Marty GR as well, I'll have uh three items for you at your next meeting. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. We move to item 13, council reports regarding ad hoc or standing committee meetings. Do we have any? Nope. Okay. Council items separate from the city manager's regular agenda. Council member Chavez.

Thank you. just uh reiterate what our city attorney, happy new year, Chinese New Year to everyone. Year of the horse. I was born year of the horse. It was another year of the horse. But uh is that 1954? 1954. 54. Oh, that's right. You're older than

I'm an old guy. But uh yeah, so it's got a got a good meaning. Um, since you mentioned the um the roads and stuff like that, I just want can can you do me a favor? I should have brought it to your attention earlier, but I'll give it to you now so I don't forget. There is a a pretty big pothole. It looks like it's probably maybe from the rain on Rosemeat Boulevard just below Longden. I noticed that coming home today and I think it's uh caused by this recent rains that we're getting. Looks like it's a kind of a little sinkhole there. So, maybe check it out. Check it out. Yeah, we'll do. Yeah, Rosem Rose Boulevard. Yeah. Yeah. Which is kind of unusual, I was surprised. Rosemary is coming of age. Yeah,

it is. Yeah, right. It will need repaving at it will need repaving pretty soon. Yeah. Yeah. And look forward to the Camila Festival this weekend. It's supposed to be sunny. Well, cloudy, but sunny. There's some really good entertainment. Yeah, there is some good entertainment. Bruno Mars. Yeah. Look, Bruno Mars. It's a a tribute bad. I was say we moved up in we moved up in the world. That should be pretty entertaining. And some other really good I'm hoping to bring my granddaughter this weekend her first Chameleia parade for our festival. So that's it. Mayor, thank you. Council member Chen,

I just want to echo the congratulations to our deputy of the year, Deputy Schwarz. I remember um another deputy sheriff uh Deputy Erskin. Uh, and both deputy Schwarz are just I mean very very intelligent um young deputies when they came to Temple Station and I'm so happy that he is on our Temple City special assignment team because I think Deputy Schwarz really come exhibits um not only just that proactiv proactive enforcement but also that customer service that we oftentimes so appreciate in Temple City. Um, in several instances I' I've seen Deputy Shores just um above and beyond um being helpful uh to residents that called. Um he just really exhibited that professionalism. Uh that's the best of the LA County Sheriff's Department. So really um happy that he's recognized and he uh I know he's spent a short time on the county uh special assignment team before coming to us and I'm very glad that we we have him. So, and looking forward to Camila Festival this weekend.

Council member Yu. Thank you, Mayor. I echo everything that's been said. Congratulations, Deputy Schwarz. And of course, um, happy new year, everyone. And, uh, also thank you to staff uh, city manager and the Chinese couple city Chinese association for putting up the, uh, event for us. is very successful in my opinion. Yeah. Okay. Mayor Prom.

Thank you, Mayor. Quite a few things uh has been happening. So, I I do want to share a couple of uh events, but I I do want to also again congratulate Deputy Schwarz. I think I appreciate council member Chen sharing more from his perspective because I think for us we perhaps see you in a more limited capacity and perspective but that in no way diminishes our our view of you. You've been the utmost professional and your service here is greatly and deeply appreciated by by us all. So so thank you and and uh the Lunar New Year uh festival. Yes, I agree. It was a seemed like a resounding success. I I almost want to say there were more I haven't seen that many people attend that event

in in in a number of years. And I don't know, maybe it's the food cuz there was a lot of people crowding around lining up to um buy buy food and snacks there at least right when I was when I was leaving the festival. So, was it the food? Wasn't Weren were we giving out food? We were giving out the samples. Yes, free samples. Food. I thought they There were some There was some adjacent. Yeah, the ones adjacent to Yeah, there was the food. We We were giving out some food. Yeah, we were giving out free food, but I was talking about the the ones that were being sued. Yeah, there was quite a quite a quite a line there. So, I was pretty impressed.

And Lucy Lou gets a lot of credit for developing that program. She brings in a very uh you know family centric programming that I think brings out a lot of the community. So thank you to Lucy and thank you to Tim as well. But Lucy Lucy gets all the gets credit for the producing component of and Brian. Can we have her come to a meeting? Yeah, they just couldn't come today. They were they were but they were but we'll we'll have them at a future meeting. Thank you. Yeah, that that's a good idea. Yeah,

I'm glad you you brought that up. Yeah. So, great appreciation to the Temple City Chinese American Association. Lucy's always been fantastic. And and I do want to say I was pretty impressed with um the group Tai Tai Men. Um I I don't recall if they've performed at our event before. I I don't think so, but um I thought they were very inclusive and they had a very good spokesperson that kind of tied everything together with with our city and of course their members and their participants who did all the performances were were also fantastic. So that that was a great excellent choice. Uh secondly, over the weekend I had a chance to stop by a groundbreaking at 6119 Temple City Boulevard and uh that that was quite well attended and to my surprise and I think a few of us who who came by probably felt the same way. Uh but nevertheless, it it was exciting to see so much um pomp and circumstance surrounding an 18 unit condo. Uh and and and perhaps that's a sign of things to come is, you know, we we look at, you know, the general plan is not really the the sexiest or popular most popular thing to talk about, but when it comes to upzoning and the strategy we took, we we took a lot of care into preserving what we thought was a key character of our city and making sure that where the highdensity places were placed were placed strategically and in the right locations. Um and so and it was also good to be reminded that part of that development also contained affordable housing units uh which is something that sometimes gets lost in the conversation and in the midst of all the luxury apartments and etc. So that that was really good to

see. Um, next I I know council member you and and council member Chavez, we we had a chance to be a part of the uh PTA founders awards ceremony uh which was at Temple City High School just this past Friday. Was it Friday? Friday. So, uh, it was always nice to be able to kind of interface with our colleagues at the district and to see so many of the parents and volunteers that give so much time and energy to our to our students. And I know the district gets a lot of credit, but that what I liked about the ceremony was that it shifted the focal point and really acknowledged and honors many of those who had been working behind the scenes for so many years um to help propel a lot of our high school students to excellence. Uh and we also got a a sneak peek at the completed uh baseball and softball field. So that was kind of cool.

Yeah, we even took batting practice in the cages. Just kidding. We could have if we wanted to. And you know that they're also I'm sorry to interrupt, but they also have used the softball field already. Oh yeah, they had played one game. They won. Okay.

I still can't understand though, and I have to go see it. Maybe you know more about it than I do. There's no dirt on the infield. It's It's artificial turf. How you slide on that. I'm just like, "Okay, I guess you can, but I have to see it to believe it." And even with steel spikes on, they're going to be sliding on that basically rubberized surface. I I found that a little different, but I guess they wouldn't have done it if they couldn't use it. Are you talking about the green turf? No, the the green turf, the grass is green. That's turf. Okay. But like the infield dirt normally is dirt area. It's also a turf. artificial turf. Yeah, it's like a rubberized surface.

Yeah. How do you not tear that? You assured me that they can slide on it no problem. So, we'll see. Actually, when we saw it, I couldn't tell that it was just used for a game. No, you couldn't. Well, so yeah. So, interesting. I would expect there be some signs. Very first rate. I congratulate them for I'm glad you brought that up. It was a very very nice uh project that Yeah. And it looks like they're almost close to if not wrapped up with most of their facility upgrades. So the whole area is pretty much

Yeah. So definitely congratulations to their partners at the school district. I know it's it's been quite quite a project from the beginning to now that they're nearing full completion. And one last note about their facilities. this this idea of um having a dedicated sports science kind of facility was kind is really impressive cuz I don't think a lot of other schools really have that kind of uh not just the facility but also the in-house expertise for sports medicine. So that was good to see. They actually have a classroom set up specifically for sports medicine. Yeah. Which probably rivals small colleges I would imagine. Yeah. Very nice. Yes.

And then uh lastly, I do want to mention the mayor's um public safety summit that was earlier today. Uh thank thank you for putting that together. I know that's something you you feel is very important. The last time you were mayor, you also did that. And so today was no different. Uh I was very impressed with the panelists that consists consisted of um current as well as former retired police chiefs, fire chiefs, and and uh the county head of the county office of emergency management. So, it was uh I think my main takeaway from that is I I think it's a good reminder for us as a city to kind of really look at what what we have in place for from from an emergency preparedness standpoint and to help better clarify and understand sort of the elected officials role in a particular emergency versus public safety's role versus staff's role. And so that one of the comments from the panelists was you can't wait for the emergency to prepare because then it's too late. You got to prepare now so that when it happens everyone knows where they need to be and what they need to do and it's just kind of like this welloiled machine. So so that that I appreciate and it's a good reminder for us to um make sure we we have that in place.

I never saw anything who actually was on the panel that gave the presentation. Do you know? Yeah, I sent I didn't I didn't get the names. I didn't I didn't get that. When did you send that out? Because our phones don't connect. I guess not. Yeah.

Uh the county's uh uh director of emergency operations um OEM Kevin McGawan, chief of uh San Marino uh Fire Department, Mario UA, and retired chief uh deputy chief of LAPD Mike Hillman. And then uh the moderator was the former chief of the city of Coina and now current director of public safety for Foothill Transit, John Curley.

Foothill Transit. That must sound like a little connection. There is there was a lot of a lot of experience in that room and a lot of um both police officers and deputies and

yeah I think that the takeaway is that um Brian and I briefly just talked about that as we were leaving is that we need to do more and um continue to work on improving our own emergency plans so that we do know what our roles are. And I think that was what was a big takeaway for me is that elected officials have a role, but it wasn't exactly the role I thought we had. And they were very, you know, specific that we need to let and when there is an emergency, let the first responders do their jobs and we don't interfere with them. So, I think it was it was really I I got quite a few emails and there were probably 10 cities that were represented with um elected officials from different cities. So, it was great. Thank you for coming, William.

Sure. And working. I would have been there. I know you were. Sorry. And of course, uh looking forward to the Chameleia Festival. I got the wristbands for the for my kids. So, I'm ready. All three days. They're ready. They're Oh, yes. You're ready. Well, I got to be ready to make sure they don't disappear off in the sun. So, so bundle up for Friday, I think, is going to be the chilliest evening, but then it's going to get better Saturday. And although Ed and I will be elsewhere on Friday evening, unfortunately, is that a baseball game of the opening day of Temple City Nationals?

It's always the same Friday as the opening of I don't know why. Have to have a talk with M council member Chen there and see what influence he can do. Anything else, William? Okay. Um, I think that pretty much sums it up for me. So, um, we're going to move to item 15, additional public comments on items not listed on the agenda. Anyone? Okay. Close public comments. And we are now adjourned.