City Council - Regular Meeting

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It's not you. It's the Zoom, right?

Technical difficulties. OK.

Try it again. Okay, I think we're okay. I think we fixed the technical issue. So I will now call the special meeting for the City Council of Temple City to order for July 7th, 2026. This special meeting is being conducted in a hybrid format with both in-person and remote participation available. Members of the public may participate in person through Zoom or by telephone. Instructions for participating were provided on the posted agenda. If you are participating virtually via Zoom and wish to provide public comment, please use the raise hand feature. If you are joining by telephone, please press star nine to raise your hand. Speakers will be recognized one at a time and invited to unmute. Once you are unmuted, please clearly state your name for the record before beginning your public comment. Now we'll have the roll call for the special meeting.

Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Chavez? Here. Council Member Sternquist? Here. Council Member Yu?

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Chen? Here. Mayor Mann?

Here. Next, we have public comments on items not listed on the agenda. Members of the public may speak in person or remotely. Speakers attending the meeting will be called to speak first. City Clerk, are there any requests to speak from the audience?

No, Mayor.

Okay, then I will close public comment. And so we have closed session item 4A, which I will ask our City Attorney to articulate. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We have one matter of existing litigation, which is the case of the general board of the church of the Nazarene versus the city of temple city. The case caption is listed on the agenda for the sake of the public. Um, and as I say, this is a existing litigation. Thank you.

Okay. So now the, so a question for city clerk for the additional public comments for this, this happens after closed session returns.

The additional public comment after, yes, thank you.

Okay, so we will go to closed session. Council has returned from closed session.

Is there a recording?

All right, we'll pause for, okay, we're good. So city council has returned from our closed session and I would ask our city attorney to report out.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, yes. So the council met in closed session regarding the one matter of existing litigation. The council gave unanimous direction to the city attorney's office to defend against the litigation and that defense will commence tomorrow. Thank you very much, that is my report.

Okay, thank you. And next, the last item on here is we do have additional public comments on items not listed on the agenda for the special meeting. City Clerk, are there any callers or remote participants?

No, Mayor.

Okay. Is there anyone in the audience who wishes to address the council?

Okay, we will close public comment.

We will adjourn our closed session. We'll take a five-minute break for some technical issues that we're going to address really quickly, and we will return shortly.

Thank you.

Good evening, everyone. I'd like to call to order the regular City Council meeting for the City of Temple City for July 7th, 2026. This regular meeting is being conducted in a hybrid format with both in-person and remote participation available. Members of the public may participate in person, through Zoom, or by telephone. Instructions for participating were provided on the posted agenda. For those joining remotely, you may use the raise hand feature on Zoom or press star nine if you are calling in by phone to request to speak. If you are participating virtually via Zoom and wish to provide public comment, please use the raise hand feature. If you are joining by telephone, Press star nine to raise your hand. Speakers will be recognized one at a time and invited to unmute. Once you are unmuted, please clearly state your name for the record before beginning your public comment. So first, we will have our roll call, please.

Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Chavez? Here. Council Member Sternquist? Here. Council Member Yoon? Here. Mayor Pro Tem Chen? Here. Mayor Mann?

First, we have our invocation. We have Jerry Jambazian, owner of Wonder Cleaners and Draperies located at 9136 Las Tunas Drive. Please rise for the invocation and please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you, Mayor and Council Members. Please bow with me as we give thanks to the Lord. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we come to you tonight to ask for your blessing upon tonight's City Council meeting. I pray that you would give wisdom and discernment to our elected officials. Thank you for their commitment to providing a safe environment for all families living in Temple City. As our country just celebrated their 250th anniversary of independence, we are reminded of the price that was paid for the freedoms we all enjoy today. Father, we continue to pray for those who protect and serve us daily. We especially pray for our sheriff's deputies, firefighters and paramedics, and our first responders and our very own public safety. I pray that you would put a hedge of protection around them. One of the items on the consent agenda tonight is our Temple City Relay for Life. Thank you for their commitment of raising over a half million dollars for cancer research through the years. Many in the audience are cancer survivors, including myself. After a brief pause because of COVID, this dedicated team is ready once again in November to help create more birthdays. We ask these things all in your precious name and for your glory. Amen. Amen.

Please face the flag. Put your right hand over your heart. Tonight we have a couple of special ceremonial matters. First, we have the oath of office for our city commissioners. So I would like to ask our city clerk to call our commissioners who are in attendance today to come forward and have her administer the oath of office. So commissioners, could you please step forward?

Thank you.

Without any mental reservation.

Or purpose of invitation. That I will.

Crystal and Tom, we also have certificates of appointment that we would like to present to you. So I invite our council to join me in presenting to both of our commissioners and getting a photo.

Next, we have a proclamation of Parks and Recreation Month.

Each July, communities across the nation celebrate Parks and Recreation Month, recognizing the vital role that parks, recreation programs, and dedicated professionals play in enhancing the quality of life for everyone. This year, the 2026 Park and Recreation Month theme, The Power Of, celebrates the incredible impact of parks and recreation and the people who make it all possible. Parks and Rec is where relationships grow, cultures meet, and communities bond. From playgrounds to programs to youth sports, play fuels creativity, joy, and lifelong learning. Our public spaces offer room for everyone to gather, celebrate, and heal. Welcoming parks and programs makes everyone feel valued and a part of our community. The power of... reminds us that Parks and Recreation has the power to strengthen our communities, improve health and wellness, protect our natural resources, and create spaces where people of all ages can connect, learn, and thrive. And most importantly, it recognizes the passionate staff, volunteers, and community partners whose commitment brings these opportunities to life every day. So I will read part of this proclamation. Whereas parks and recreation promotes health and wellness, improving the physical and mental health of people who live near parks. And whereas parks and recreation encourages physical activities by providing space for popular sports, outdoor exercise, community gatherings, and many other activities designed to promote active lifestyles. And whereas parks and recreation is a leading provider of healthy meals, nutrition services, and education. whereas parks and recreation is fundamental to the environmental well-being of our community, whereas the city of Temple City recognizes the benefits derived from parks and recreation resources. Therefore, I, William Mann, Mayor of Temple City, on behalf of the City Council, do hereby proclaim July 2026 to be Parks and Recreation Month here in Temple City, signed the seventh day of July 2026. So now I would like to invite our Parks and Rec commissioners to come and receive the proclamation on behalf of the city and community. I'd also like to invite our director of Parks and Rec, Adam Matsumoto.

I feel left out. Why don't you feel left out?

We'll have the whole council come up for a photo.

Nobody's left out.

Okay, next we have public comments on items not listed on the agenda. As I mentioned before, speakers can provide comments remotely. If you are remote, you may use the raise hand feature on Zoom or press star nine. First, I would like to ask our city clerk, are there any callers or remote participants?

There are no callers.

Okay. Is there anyone from the audience who wishes to address council on items not on the agenda? Okay, seeing none, I will close public comment. We move to consent calendar. All consent calendars may be approved in a single motion unless anyone on council wishes to remove an item for discussion.

Motion to approve consent calendar.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. Can we have a roll call vote please?

Council Member Chavez? Yes. Council Member Sternquist? Yes. Council Member Yoon? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Chen? Yes. Mayor Man?

Yes. Next, we move to item eight, public hearing. There is none. Nine, unfinished business. There is none. We move to item 10A, new business, animal control ordinance amendments for potentially dangerous and vicious dogs. So our city manager will start us.

Thank you, Mayor Mann. I will start off, and I'll turn it over to Director Remers. So as you know, we just transitioned from a long-term relationship with the San Gabriel Valley Humane Society, who was then absorbed and taken over by the Inland Valley Humane Society. And working with them, one of the things they noticed in looking at our ordinances was, for lack of a better term, the lack of clarity in terms of how to deal with vicious and dangerous dogs. And that was the impetus. So you'll remember, and Mr. Reimers will go over this, 2020, over the last 15 years or so, the council has made some clear amendments. But what we do, generally speaking, is align with the county's code when it comes to animal control. That is clear, vetted, and consistent across municipalities throughout LA County. This is one area where this was not as clear, and we did not adopt this wholeheartedly, in whole. In talking with Inland Empire and Inland Valley, they do this throughout the county. They are headquartered out of Pomona, so they use this ordinance to assist. In prior circumstances, what we would try to do with a dangerous dog is work with the property owner, because it is almost like a property taking when you're dealing with somebody's pet, if you're removing them or having to take other extreme measures. But we want to usually work with the property owner. So usually there's things like fencing, warnings, and also, too, depending on what the animal control officer on site and through their chain of command has determined how dangerous is that dog, what public safety and public health issues does that dog then present to the immediate community. We don't have a lot of these very often. A year or so, we've had two, I believe, that we've been dealing with. So to ask where was our process before, Our process, there was kind of an absence of that process. And we were trying to work with it in the sense of just what we thought were defensible practices. What this does now is codify that we adopt by reference LA County's code in concert with Inland Valley Humane Society. And it also gives the pet owner due process as well, so that they're not just slapped with, here's the things you need to do. There's a due process. And Scott will go over that a little bit as well, to kind of talk about that due process for the individual as well. So like I said, this doesn't come up very often. But again, in working with our transition with our new animal control provider, they thought this was important for them to have as a tool and a defensible legal tool so that they could take care of when there is an occasional dangerous animal.

Brian, it's pretty timely in light of the fact that there was just a lawsuit filed from the owners of the dog, Jameson, that was shot by the LAPD police officer. Do they follow LA City, not LA County's direction, correct?

I'm familiar with that just from what I've read in the news. I can't speak to the individual circumstances of that unfortunate event. But LA County, along with the 42 other contract cities and several of the cities that are full service cities that utilize, for example, Pasadena Humane Society with several of the contract cities and full service cities follow that standard as well.

So are there things in place with the new humane society that definitely say, this is what you do when you confront an animal? This one took place where they didn't have. It was an apartment building. So they did not have fencing that they could put up. or anything, so I'm wondering how in-depth do they get so that the sheriffs are protected, the city is protected from liability?

If it's okay, Merle, turn it over to Scott to start going through and answer some Councilmember Sternquist's questions.

Sure. If a dog is designated either potentially dangerous or vicious, the hearing officer or the court that applies that definition has the ability to place conditions on the keeping of that animal. There are some standard conditions that are in the code, but they have the ability to add additional conditions in place. Those conditions might be regarded to fences to keep the dog secure. But I'll go through the presentation and then I've got a slide that has a list of some of what the other conditions are.

Thank you.

So tonight's action is a bit different than we normally do. Normally, we have the public hearing on an ordinance, and then we have the first reading, and then we come back with a second reading that's on the consent calendar. Because we're adopting an ordinance by reference, the county's ordinance by reference, that's kind of backwards. So what we do tonight is we introduce the ordinance for first reading, and then you'll set a public hearing date. We're proposing July 21. And then that's when we'll have a public hearing on the ordinance. And that will be your last action on the ordinance, just to give you some background. Back in 2012, the city revamped its animal control ordinance. And at that time, there were a few pieces that the city did not adopt. And I'll go through that in just a second. But then in 2022, the city also amended the animal control ordinance to preclude cats from a microchipping. That brought us back in line with the county's rules, which don't require microchipping for cats. The county's current animal control ordinance, or our current animal control ordinance, references the county's ordinance. But when the council adopted that back in 2012, there were three things, or arguably two things, that it did not include. The council at the time did not include any reference to fees because this council wanted to have its own set of fees established by its own resolution. The other piece that was left out was the codes that are related to potentially dangerous dogs and vicious dogs. I went through the minutes. I went through the staff reports. I couldn't figure out why that section wasn't adopted. But it kind of left a hole in terms of practice and policy about how we should handle those cases. So that's why we're here to you tonight, to get a clear direction on what the process should be for these cases. First, we need to talk about some definitions. There's two major definitions that are in this section of the code. We can go into other definitions if you like. The first is potentially dangerous. And that's kind of a lower, if you think about it, that's a dog that's not as not as difficult to deal with. If a dog gets worse, then it gets moved up to that vicious level. So think about potentially dangerous as that lower level. That's when a dog that's unprovoked can either bite a person, causes a person to take a defensive action in order to avoid an injury, or attacks a domestic animal under some certain circumstances that I can go into if you want. But really, it's about if you provoke the dog, it will not be considered potentially dangerous. If you don't provoke it and it still comes at somebody and bites them, or if you have to take defensive action in order to keep from being injured, then that has the ability to be considered a potentially dangerous dog. Now, vicious is worse than that. And that's when a dog, when unprovoked, causes severe injury or even death to a person or has been previously found to be potentially dangerous and is continuing to behave in ways that it shouldn't or the owner is not caring for the dog as the either hearing officer or the court has told them to that they needed to behave. So those are the two definitions. So how does a case become initiated? These are usually the result of two different things. One is we get a complaint that a dog is acting in a threatening way. The second is when either the Inland Valley or the city becomes aware of somebody who was bitten by a dog. Those are the two initial things that really cause a case to be opened. What happens is once we get that complaint, we then send out animal control officers to go out and investigate the complaint. What were the circumstances of it? What's the setting? Did anybody provoke the dog? They look for videos, all that sort of stuff. Now, if the facts do support moving in that direction, then they will move the case forward to a hearing. And what we're proposing in our code and what the county code says is that that hearing can start with an administrative hearing officer or it can start with the superior court, but usually you start with administrative hearing officer and then the court becomes the appeal valve.

And who would that be in our city?

So we have a third party hearing officer that we use through Data Ticket. We use them for code enforcement cases as well.

Are they familiar with dog issues?

Yes. In fact, the last hearing that we had was actually held by someone who is very involved with animal control issues in the city of LA. So they're very aware of LA County codes and our code. So when the hearing happens, or if a hearing happens, there is that third neutral hearing officer. It's not a member of staff. That hearing officer kind of holds like a court. They take testimony. They take evidence. They listen to, they always start off with the complainant and the victim, and then they go back and take additional comments. So after they've taken all the evidence, then they typically will go back, review the evidence, and then make a decision. And then we make the parties aware of what that decision was.

How long will it take for the complaint to come in and then for the hearing to be held, generally?

Generally, if we're not having difficulty gathering evidence, it can occur within two to three weeks.

And what happens with the dog during that time period? Is it kept in custody or is it?

Depending on the report of the animal control officer, the dog can be taken in and held at the Humane Society if it's not safe. Or if they feel like the location is safe enough, the dog can be held on the property.

So, Mr. Rehm, are you describing a current situation with the hearing or are you describing what we're proposing?

Both, because what we've done in practice is to use the LA County ordinance as our policy, since we didn't have any direction from the code on what to do.

So you're saying that currently we are already doing this? It wasn't codified?

Without any codified direction, that was the practice that we used.

So we're basically already doing it? Yes. So this is to codify to make it more formalized?

Yes, sir. So at that hearing, the victim is welcome to come. The complainant is invited to come. The dog owner, the animal control officer will be there. They're all there to give testimony. If any of those people are not happy with the results, they can then appeal the case to superior court. That doesn't come to city council. It doesn't come to a commission. So at the end of the hearing, the hearing officer, if they find that the dog is potentially dangerous or is vicious, they can place conditions on ownership. They can require additional fencing. They can require certain materials, certain heights. They can require that there's a concrete pad under the fencing so that the dog can't dig its way out. They can require that there's a cover over the fence so that the dog can't get up and over the fence. They can require that warning signs be placed on the fence or on the property so that people who are coming onto the property know that there is a potentially dangerous dog on the property. They can require them to provide additional insurance so that if somebody does get hurt that they can get assistance. They can also require special leashing requirements, meaning that the dog can't be on a leash that's more than six feet long, that any time the dog leaves the property it must be on a leash, that the dog, if it leaves the property, has to be muzzled. They can require training, so that the dog has to go through training. So we've been through instances where these were some of the requirements that were placed on the animals.

This third-party hearing officer, where are these hearings conducted, in the city or somewhere else?

They're usually held at City Hall. So in terms of just analyzing this approach, we believe that this is a good approach as staff because we're already using the county code procedures and Inland Valley Humane Society is very familiar with the procedures. It's consistent with our existing approach and it tends to be used with our neighbors around us, San Gabriel, Rosemead, El Monte, they're all using the county's code by reference. And with that, the recommendation today is we're just requesting you to introduce for first reading and wait for the reading of the ordinance and then schedule the public hearing for July 21st.

All right, thank you. At this point, any council questions? Council Member Sternquist?

No, I think you answered the question when you said that if somebody feels that they're being threatened and their body takes defensive action, that that is... part of the ordinance, which I think is appreciated.

Council Member Chavez.

There are separate ordinances regarding putting a dog to sleep because of certain actions, aren't there? Is that not included? Let's say a dog, you know, I hate to say it, but kills somebody. Is that a separate ordinance, I think, having to what happens in those situations? Or is that, I don't think that's included in what we're talking about here.

No, I don't think that's included.

That is not included in what we're talking about in this ordinance.

And do we have, or is that, how is that governed? Is that the county, or do we need a local ordinance on that?

So, sorry, under the county's code, There are consequences of a vicious dog determination. It says a dog determined to be a vicious dog may be euthanized by the department when it is found after a hearing conducted under a certain government code that the release of the dog would create a significant threat to the public health, safety, and welfare.

So that's a separate code section than what we're talking about here. No, I'm sorry. That's within this code section.

Oh, that's in this code section as well. I can tell you after working with Humane Society for the last five, six years that euthanizing an animal is the last thing they want to do. They want to try to put as many conditions as possible on it to ensure that it's safety and try to work with training the animal so that it's not a threat to public safety. But there have been cases where the animal could not be they didn't feel comfortable with the animal being adopted by any other party. And then even dog trainers were unwilling to be in a space with the animal. So in that case, it had to be euthanized.

Thank you.

Council Member Yu?

No more questions. Thank you, Mayor.

Mayor Pro Tem Chen. I don't have any questions at the moment. So I will open the public comment. Is there anyone who wishes to address council at this time on this item? If there are none, I want to ask the city clerk if there are any remote participants.

There are none.

Okay. With that, I will close public comment, and I'll go to any final council comments before we entertain a motion. Council Member Sternquist?

I'm just very appreciative that we tightened this up. So it seems like we were doing it, but I've just heard some really good things with the new, what are they called? Inland? Inland Valley. Inland Valley, yeah.

Okay, that's good. Council Member Chavez? Not very close. Council Member Yu? No further questions.

No questions.

And I, too, appreciate you bringing this and making it formal and actually educating us and the public about the procedures and how this is handled, everyone, and its consistency with not just the county codes, but also some of our neighboring cities. So I think that brings a level of confidence that we know what we're doing. So thank you. At this time, may I have a motion for this item?

Mayor, I would make a motion that we introduce for first reading by title only. Wait for the reading of ordinance number 26-1089, amending chapter 6 of title 3 of the Temple City Municipal Code to revise the city's adoption by reference of title 10 of the Los Angeles County Code relating to animal control, including chapter 10.37, potentially dangerous and vicious dogs. and to clarify Animal Control Enforcement Administrative Citation Authority and to schedule a public hearing and second reading on July 21st, 2026 to consider the adoption of Ordinance Number 26-1089. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Unless there is any objections, a roll call vote, please.

Council Member Chavez? Yes. Council Member Sternquist? Yes. Council Member Yu? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Chen? Yes. Mayor Mann? Yes.

Yes. City Clerk, please read the title of the ordinance.

Thank you, Mayor. Ordinance number 26-1089, an ordinance of the City Council of Temple City, California, amending Chapter 6 of Title III of the Municipal Code to revise the city's adoption by reference of Title X of the Los Angeles County Code relating to animal control, including Chapter 10-10.37, potentially dangerous and vicious dogs, and to clarify animal control enforcement and administrative citation authority.

Okay, thank you. For our next item, I do want to refer back to a consent calendar item we approved earlier for Relay for Life. And I know we have some representatives here for Relay for Life. And I'd like to invite Janet Smith and anyone else who would like to speak on Relay if you wish. Part of my report. Well, that's part of your report. Okay, I'm stealing your report.

No, no, no. Allow them to do it.

Oh, I see. Okay.

Hi, council members. My name is Janet Smith, and I will be the lead for the Relay for Life this year, as you can see by our excited relay committee members. And there would have been more here, but these are the people who could come tonight that were really excited about bringing the relay back to our beautiful Temple City Park. It's tree-lined, it's safe for sun exposure, and we just have loved having it here. And I want to thank you for your support and your commitment to what's going to be called the Relay for Life of San Gabriel Valley. So we've joined with the Relay for Life of Santa Anita Park, and we're hoping that neighboring communities will also join us so that we can raise more money for the American Cancer Society. And the Relay for Life of Temple City has raised over $573,000 since 2012. And the Relay for Life of Santa Anita Park has raised over $372,000 since 2019. So if you put that together, and then our goal of raising $60,000 this year, that, if we can meet our goal, will mean that we've raised over a million dollars for the American Cancer Society. And their mission is to improve the lives of people with cancer and their families through advocacy, research, and patient support to ensure the opportunities to prevent, detect, and treat, and help people survive cancer. And this year is my sweet 16. I'm a 16-year cancer survivor. So thank you so much for your support. We're really looking forward to the event, and we hope you will join us. Thank you, Janet.

Thank you, Janet. And yeah, a shout out to all the great volunteers that make this possible. When Relay was hosted here at Temple City Park, what I found really powerful were just stories. Yeah. The stories that everyone shared, and I think that made it that much more powerful and resonated with so many people. You don't realize how many people are touched by cancer until you start hearing everyone's stories. Right. So I really appreciate that.

Yeah, when I've been reaching out to the people who've been involved in the relay in the past in Temple City, and everyone is so excited to come back. And we had a really small committee before we started joining the Santa Anita relay, but everyone's excited to bring it back and to take a job and make, you know, many hands make light work. So I think it's going to be great. Wonderful. Thank you guys.

And thank you for being here tonight. We appreciate you participating in the council meeting. Okay, with that, we will move to, I stole the city manager's thunder, apparently. No, no, no, no, no, not in the least, sir. Not in the least. But we will have your update on item 11.

Thank you, and thank you to Janet for providing that update on bringing Relay back to Temple City. It's a great event.

Janet, did you mention a date?

Oh, I'm sorry, it's going to be November 7th. Thank you. November 7th?

Okay. Okay, November 7th.

Okay, excellent. We'll make a note of that November 7. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor Mann and members of the council. Just one update, I want to thank our dedicated sheriff's team of Francis Bowie, Ignacio Felix, and Benjamin Swartz, and our community service officers, Steve Nolasco and Fernando, who did a great job over the 4th of July with fireworks enforcement. There were still illegal fireworks happening throughout, but we did have the fewest calls we've had. Only one minor event, somebody was lighting off sparklers, and part of the back part of their house burned, but it was less than $5,000 worth of damage, so it wasn't reported as a house fire, but everybody was safe and everybody was okay. No other reports of injuries or damage throughout the city.

No citations?

We, well, I'll get the, so far just two, but how shall I put this? People get tricky when they use illegal fireworks. So it can be challenging. So two thus far, but again, one of our lightest years in terms of just calls for service as well. So thank you to the team ahead of time.

I have a question on that. There's been some news articles, paper,

recently about some cities using drones to catch these unlawful fireworks.

Is that something that the city and the sheriff could look into in the future? I know that's not on the agenda item, but I just want to bring it to the attention and maybe that's something that could be possible moving into the future.

Sure, and I think we've talked about it in our law enforcement meeting as well. We have to take, first, there's two steps we could take, city and L.A. County, and what we do want to do in a tandem with the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, but DRONES ARE SOMETHING THAT ACTUALLY YOU HAVE BUDGETED FOR AS WELL IN YOUR 26, 27 BUDGET. SO THAT SHOULD BE FORTHCOMING TO YOU IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF MONTHS.

DOES HILLY COUNTY SHERIFF HAVE DRONES?

THEY DO. THEY'RE DOING A PILOT PROGRAM AT TWO STATIONS RIGHT NOW. I BELIEVE ONE IS WEST HOLLYWOOD. AND I CAN'T THE OTHER ONE IS ESCAPING ME RIGHT NOW. I THINK IT COULD BE CERRITOS, BUT I COULD BE WRONG. Thank you, Mayor. Okay.

Thank you. Next, we have any updates from our city attorney. Sure.

I was going to do one, but I'm actually going to add a second one at the end. The first is Senate Bill 707 made some significant changes to the work that a city clerk has to do to prepare the agenda for meetings and also the way meetings are held. So for the benefit of the public, the reason that we are hybrid tonight is because Senate Bill 707 has required hybrid meetings for all cities and counties over a certain size and Los Angeles County being the biggest is far over that size. There is a pending bill that would roll back many of the sections for smaller cities. While hybrid meetings do offer the opportunity for attendance from home, they also put a lot of burden for simple meetings, not a regular council meeting like this one, but straightforward meetings. special meetings it can entail a lot and it certainly entails a lot for the clerk's office so we're keeping an eye on that bill and if it does pass i think we will probably bring to you the idea that with it passed what kind of a hybrid system would the council want to employ if any would that new law apply your standing committee meeting today No, it does not apply to standing committee meetings, just meetings of the council. So also does not apply to a commission meeting.

It's just the full city council.

The second thing, which I just found interesting, for anyone who can find the LA Times, there was an article today about three or two cities in one area of Los Angeles that have built a whole bunch of new housing over the past decade. decade, two decades. And those areas were Playa Vista, Santa Clarita, and the Antelope Valley. And what I find interesting about that is we have all kinds of housing laws annually brought forth by our legislators trying to squeeze density into already built out places. where the LA Times, certainly no stranger to championing density and championing the need for housing, certainly there's a need, they recognize today that it's areas where land is cheap. Now, is land really cheap in Playa Vista? Well, not today, but when the Hughes Company was selling off hundreds of acres of land that it no longer needed, that land was certainly cheaper than any of the other land in that area. Santa Clarita Valley now is almost fully built out, but 20 years ago, land was cheap. The Antelope Valley land was cheap. So there's something to be said for the fact, or for the concept, I should say, that finding ways to stimulate jobs, community building in areas where land is cheap might be as effective as some of the housing bills we're seeing today. Just a little bit of opining from your lawyer. That's it, Mr. Mayor, back to you.

Okay, thank you very much. Next, we have council reports on ad hoc or standing committee meetings.

Do we have any?

No, okay. Seeing none, we move to items separate from the regular agenda. We'll start on this side with Council Member Sternquist.

Yes. On July the 3rd, I had the opportunity to go out to the city of San Dimas. They held a 250th anniversary celebration. I'm gonna estimate that there must have been 4,000 to 5,000 people.

Wait, wait. The city of San Dimas had a 250th? Oh, for the United States. For the United, yes. Not their city. No, no, no.

I was going to say, they've been around that long? Yes, for the United States. And they had a drone show. The drone show was incredible. And once I get the pictures from Greg's phone, I'll send them out to you so you could see some of the pictures. But it got my mind going as to, we have talked for a very long time about the possibility of doing something in our city on the 4th of July. When I saw this event, I thought, why haven't we been doing something on the 4th of July? And Tom, you've always said, thought and suggested that maybe we should do something that would eliminate fireworks and would be community building. I mean, the committee worked on this for two years. So it wasn't something that just happened overnight. But they had bans, the military, the Marine ban came out. They actually changed the date of their farmers market so that the farmers market people could be part of that event and they'd get a lot of people there to shop. They changed their concerts in the park date to whatever July 3rd was, Tuesday or what have you. so that they didn't have to spend more money for that. So they just moved that date, but it was already in the budget. It was just amazing. And that park, it's Civic Center Park, is in a residential area similar to our park. where there's housing around the whole event. Everything went so smoothly. I mean, just walking around, people were just saying, oh my gosh, this is just such a beautiful celebration where they really felt there was something that people needed to celebrate. So I thought if you, my council members, fellow council members, think it might be something to entertain, maybe, William, we can have an ad hoc committee and just see about what the possibilities might be for our city.

So my question would be then, are you looking to ban fireworks entirely and go to a drone show? Because I don't think San Dimas allows fireworks.

They don't. And honestly, I think that I didn't, I put my windows down so that when coming home I could hear. I didn't even see illegal fireworks in San Dimas. I think everybody was at the park.

I've never been to a drone show. Is there sound?

Yes, so there's sound. And for example, they first started and they said, Welcome to San Dimas, and it was all, there were 400 drones that did all the work. They had the Liberty Bell, and once the drones made the Liberty Bell, they actually made it go back and forth. It was incredible. People were just in awe. I can't recall the amount of money, but it was a lot less than you would think to do the drone show. I think it was comparable to if you had fireworks in the city. You know, Tom, I don't know that answer. I mean, we've always had the youth groups that we've tried to support, but their youth groups were all out in force selling food. They must have had 40 to 50 food booths. It was just really well done. And maybe it's just time to at least look at that. Does that event come with eliminating fireworks? I mean, doesn't it have to go back before the voters, Brian?

No.

That's a legislative action that a council can take.

As you know, I have always been a proponent of the fact that the fireworks booths basically exists because of the monies that those organizations make. If we could supplant that money in some other way, I can tell you, pretty surely tell you that most of these organizations would rather not sell fireworks because it's a lot of work for not a whole lot of money. And so I think that's the key, I think, and it always has been. At the end of the day, it comes down, and we've always said that we support these youth organizations because this is the one way they do make money. And that's one of the reasons why we continue to allow them. But other cities, as you've seen with San Dimas, and not only San Dimas, but other cities, we see that they're looking for a different way of doing that type of celebration, getting the community involved, and not having the city blow up, so to speak, every Fourth of July.

I believe the city of San Gabriel also has a drone show. Dodgers now do drone shows. And the Rose Bowl was a drone show.

It was incredible. And it was so well-suited to a small community like San Dimas or Temple City, where it was just incredible. And every so often, there would be something that said, San Dimas is the best, or would have everybody start screaming. It was just an amazing event. And Foothill Transit sponsored it. was a sponsor. So I, I think there are, um, opportunities for sponsorships to help pay for some of those events. If we should have an event on the 4th of July in our city. So if the school district involved at all, I don't know that, but we could definitely use, um, Doran Barnes, the CEO of federal transit was the chair of this committee. So we definitely could use his expertise and he could, you know, let us know how things worked out, what worked, what didn't, how it got started.

So the committee was not.

It wasn't a city committee.

Oh, interesting.

It wasn't a city committee. The council didn't really, from what I understood is it was a partnership initially with the chamber. the city and a group of community leaders that are, you know, do different things in the city, planning commission or whatever they might do. And then that the city council sort of just handed it off to this committee and said, you know, we'll sponsor the date and we can help with sponsorship, but they didn't really take a lead in putting on the event.

so i i would suggest that i think the city manager and city attorney has heard your comments for for us to establish any kind of committee i would think staff would need to have a baseline for us to operate from so there'd be some due diligence and follow-up and research that our city manager and his team would would have to look into so could adam possibly reach out to

Doran and that committee and see how things were put into place?

We can do some initial follow-up, yes.

Okay, and then from there, maybe if that seems to be a good idea, we can move forward.

Then I can report back to the council.

And one example of this working from a community standpoint, ever since we started having our Halloween event at Live Oak Park, We rarely get trick-or-treaters. I mean, very, very few throughout the city, which I think is safer for the kids from the standpoint of going to individual's houses to just walking on the streets at night. And that has been a community building event. We get, I don't know, Jerry, thousands of people there?

About 4,000.

4,000 people at Live Oak Park. Those are the community building events that you can do in a safe way.

All right. Anything else? No, that's it.

Thank you.

Council Member Chavez? No. Thank you to the staff, sheriff, deputies for out there patrolling. I would say that For whatever reason, this year seemed to be a little bit lighter, I guess you might say, than past years. It was long. There were people doing fireworks and mostly the illegal ones, of course, that you could hear for a number of hours. But overall, I have to say, we got through it. You know, it's just one of those things that I think seems to me like there are more cities that are going away from that type of tradition to other types of traditions. And so maybe that's something, as I said, we should take a look at in the future.

Because we've talked about it for so long.

Ever since I've been on council, we've been talking about that. So, you know, that's the way it goes. Thank you.

Council Member Ryu.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'll just second Council Member Chavez. And thank you, first of all, to staff and the Sheriff's Department for doing such a great job. It was calmer this year, and my house did not shake as many times. So it was good.

it's shook in alhambra trust me ed you know i don't know how that happens but alhambra every year i'm at my sister's house alhambra is just they have their own firework show everywhere every block has a firework show of illegal fireworks thank you mr mayor mayor pro tem chen uh i too um oh just

Given that the 4th of July is the topic of today, I'll find that a number of years as a Reserve Sheriff's Deputy, I work every July 4th with the team, and I know it's a very, very difficult job for the deputies because, I mean, they have to not only listen to the radio, monitor what's going on around them, but there's just so much activity in the streets, on their computer as they're going from call to call. It was just a very hazardous day for them. And again, I think as I have a family myself and establishing traditions of my own as well, and I would just have to say, yeah, we spent it with a bunch of baseball families in Temple City. We use Safe and Sane only. And whether... you know, the presence of legal fireworks have anything to do with our city's continued, I guess, allowing the safe and sane to be sold and to be operated here. I think given my own personal trajectory, I feel strongly both ways and I don't really have an answer right now. So I'm open to be educated, open to really think now that I'm in this position about what is best for our community going forward. I certainly see the benefits to both as I celebrated July 4th with my family as well as many others. and know that that kind of a tradition of gathering in people's homes, gathering in people's backyards, and establishing, making those memories, I think there's definitely some give and take, so I'll just add that part to the discussion tonight.

All right. Thank you. So on your note, I'm going to follow up your note when you were a reserve deputy. He actually nabbed someone on my block. Because we were out there. I will never forget this. We're out there, safe and sane. And then I see this black and white just kind of creep up to the, creep down like Encinitas. And then I'm looking down the block. And I'm going, oh, they're getting ready to set it off on the other side. I don't know them, actually. And then the moment it lit. bam, he hit the sirens, went down, and then he got them.

That's a July 4th I'll never forget.

So I appreciate what you mean when you say it's hard, because you have to literally be at the right place at the right time when they're lighting the illegal firework to be able to issue that citation. And the reflexes and everything, you've just got to have to fall in place for you to be able to even kind of make that. I'll make that citation. So thank you for doing that. And of course, that will be a future council item, I'm sure. So we will hear more down the line. I do want to mention just in the last couple of weeks, I know Mayor Pro Tem and I had a chance to attend the chamber. What do they call it? The Small Business Connects. It was hosted at 1T, just a couple blocks west. And we had a chance to meet, oh, I had a chance to finally meet the owner, a very nice gentleman. He was very particular about the customization or the particular care that he took towards making his tea. In fact, if you ever go in there, just kind of a short plug for him, he has a tea called the Camellia tea. And if you went by during the Camellia Festival, they had like a buy one, get one free special. And it's pretty good. So what I appreciate about him was that he knew what the significance of the camellia was in Temple City and made it a point to make that part of his flagship menu. So overall, it was a well-attended event. I do want to give a shout out to our chamber for keeping up with those events and engaging with our local business communities, making them a part of the events and getting people together.

William, thank you. I was unable to go to your, with the chamber.

Oh, yes.

When was that? That was... It was the same Friday as Foothill Transit meetings are. Yeah. Thank you. I heard it was very well received.

Well, I appreciate that. And I did have a lot of help from our staff who put together some really nice poster boards. Oh, nice. And, yeah, I appreciate everyone who attended. It was a good chance to go over... basically what the council approved in our budget, but I really just focused on what we're going to do with Measure TC, the work on the pavement side, the work on our public safety side, as well as our parks. So overall, it was a good opportunity to kind of share with everyone what's going on. So I want to thank the Chamber for inviting me to speak on that. I really appreciate it.

Okay.

Next, we move on to the final portion of additional public comments. First, I want to check with our city clerk if there are any callers or remote participants.

There are no callers.

Okay. Is there anyone from the audience who wishes to address the council at this time? Okay. Seeing none, then we are adjourned for the evening. Have a good night.

Thank you.