City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I hereby call the regular meeting of City of Walnut Council to order. The time is 7 p.m. 700. Before we begin the meeting, I want to welcome all members. of the public who are here in person and are participating in this Zoom meeting. In order to avoid interference from our Zoom participants, all lines have been muted upon entry into the meeting. and will be muted if you request to speak during oral communication and or during the public hearing or council discussion items. Council Member Cahoolis will now lead us in the prison of religion.

Thank you, Mayor. Please follow me. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Please be seated. City Clerk, please call the roll.

Yes, Mayor. Mayor Wu?

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Tregaras? Here. Council Member Gajulis?

Here.

Council Member Friedman? Here. And Council Member Law? Here. Thank you.

Thank you. Now, I want to invite Pastor Lydia Sun from Warner United Methodist Church to lead us in the invocation. Thank you.

Yes, so happy to be here. Good evening, city leaders, wonderful residents of this lovely city. I am so honored to give this invocation. I'm the senior pastor of Walnut United Methodist Church just up the road. We are a cozy, intergenerational, interracial church. Come visit us anytime you want to. And I am honored to give the invocation for tonight's city council meeting. But before I say my words, let's just take a moment to take a few deep breaths. And just take a moment to arrive if you're like me, you just sped over here from something else, and after this meeting you're going to do something else so just take a few minutes few seconds just to take a moment to arrive in this place. With these people. As we join our hearts together for the well being of this Community that we serve. Holy and gracious God, we give thanks tonight for this city that we share, for the neighborhoods that shelter us, the schools and businesses that support us, and the parks and gathering places that bring us together. We give thanks especially for all of these city leaders, as they have chosen the work of public service, and for all those who give their time and their energy and care to this city. This evening grant us the ability to listen deeply, not only with our ears, but also with the eyes of our hearts. Give us wisdom and creativity as we listen to one another and seek faithful and creative ways forward. And when there are differing opinions, give us curiosity instead of contempt. And when the questions before us are complicated, give us patience. But most of all, give us love for the people we are called to serve. Because a city is more than its streets and buildings or its budgets. It's a web of neighbors, people whose lives are bound together. And when we live together and serve one another, then that is when we are most happy. So may the work be done in this room tonight to support this community and made the decisions here made help wanna become an ever more beautiful place, not just a place to live, but a place where everyone feels like they belong. Amen.

Amen.

Thank you, Pastor. Pastor, would you mind to have a picture with us before our presentation? Maybe we can go down. Do you mind we can picture together before we make a presentation? Take a picture. Can I have a council? Can I have a council?

Take a picture. Yep. No, no, no. No, that was a beautiful prayer. Okay. Yeah.

Well, this item is add-on, because we are three presentation. But since you are our local church pastor, it's very important to us. Thank you for coming here to the invocation. So we take a picture together. All right, thank you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Thank you Pastor. Next one, we have three presentation on the agenda this evening. And for the first presentation, we would like to recognize the Infinity Dragon Ball team for their bronze medal finish at the 2026 Long Beach Dragon Ball Festival. So let's welcome the team. Or we say something first? Welcome the team first, OK? Please.

Come on, come on, come on.

When I say the name, should we, let's go for the name first, okay? Okay.

Very good, very good.

Yeah. Oh, young lady, hi. Got a good one. Two more. How many we have? Okay, now. Are you taking picture? Okay. Well, we need to be formal a little bit. So I need to say your name. So because you are the member, your name is very important. Okay, tonight, okay. When I say your name, please accept the certificate here. We have a council member, Kelly Lo, right here.

Okay, let me come out. You want to come out a little bit?

Yeah, so. Okay, first we have Amy Ouyang. Is that Ouyang? Amy? Amy? Oh, okay. How do you pronounce your name? Ouyang? Ouyang? Ouyang, okay, Ouyang, okay, thank you. And we have Bailin Chen, Bailin Chen, okay. And we have Claudia Yu, is that, how do you say your name?

Claudia, okay, Claudia, okay, Claudia, okay.

And then we have Doris Jiang, Is that Chang Jiang Jiang or Jiang? Jiang, Chang Jiang Jiang, okay, all right. And then we have Elizabeth Wang. Good, very good. And we have Ariel Yao. Is that Yao or Yao? Yao, okay. And Fan Mo. Mo? Which last name, Mo? More, more, more, more. Okay, all right. And then we have Jiaqian Fan. Is that, Jiaqian Fan? Fan? Oh, he's not here, okay. And Julia Han.

Julia Han.

Is that Han? Okay, all right. Very good. And then we have Lee Tong Wang is not here. And then Marcus Huang.

Thank you.

And then next it's Maximon Ma is not here. And Oliver Zhang. Oliver. Okay, I saw your mom's there. Mom's there, yeah. Okay. Say hi to dad, okay? All right. Okay. And then we have Wesley Shen.

Wesley?

Not here? Okay. We have Ya Qi Lai. Is that Ya Qi? Ya Qi Lai? Okay. And then next we have Zen Hao Song.

Okay.

Okay. So and then we have Zilin Tian. Congratulations. Thank you. And then Rosie Bai is not here. OK. And then next is Debbie Zhen. Zhen? Zhen? Zhen? Zhen? Zhen Guo Fan and Zhen. OK. All right. And then we have next, Tim Lei. Tim Lei.

Coach, oh, okay, all right, coach is, all right, okay.

And then Gemini, is it Gemini? Jenny, Jenny Lee. And then Elisa. Oh, Elisa is the, oh, okay, okay. Elisa is the parent leader. And another parent leader is Hong Xu. Oh, oh, yeah, thank you. Well, now is the time we say a few words. It's starting for me. I'm proud of you guys. I took out one of the reports showing 2005, not 2005. 2005, I was the coach of the Dragon Ball, CAAW. Yeah, I was the coach 2005. That was a long time ago, 21 years ago. Yeah, I proud of the, I proud of myself and I proud of yourself, everybody here. The Dragon Ball is very important, you know, it's not easy. The teamwork is very important and also the, are you doing the steering? You do? It's not easy, right? Because the power, when they put into the water, it's shaking, right? Am I right? When they, when the, when the paddle down to the water, the whole ball is shaking. because it's not even not the same time and when they roll it's it's not the same time right yeah I was I was doing that so congratulations and we proud of you City of Warner proud of all of you and thank you for the effort the parents and and the coach you the are you the coach or are you the captain the coach Oh, the kid's the captain.

Who is the captain?

Oh, okay, oh, okay, all right. Very good. Oliver is one of our commissioner, user advisory commissioner, yeah, right? Yeah, okay, let me pass on to the Mayor Putnam.

Okay, I had a little experience with dragon boating. My son was on a dragon boat team many, many years ago. So I got to go watch the competitions and learn about the event. It's always very exciting and fun. And I actually got to be on a dragon boat with our supervisor, Hilda Solis. So some special event contests. So yes. So yeah, so a very enjoyable experience out there. Who's the drummer? That's the... Ah, he gets to sit while everyone else does the work. Yeah, he sits on the front and he gets to be the drummer while everybody else paddles. So it's a fun event. And it's a great event for kids and youth. And thank you for being the coach. Thanks for all the parent volunteers because without you there wouldn't be A team and thanks for all you guys. I hope you enjoyed it and congratulations on your medals and wish you the best in the future.

Thank you guys so much for being here. Congratulations. I see all the shiny medals around everyone's necks. Again, we're just really happy that you're here. I know it takes a lot of hard work from you guys practicing and all the parents bringing you guys to practice. It's a lot of time and so much dedication. So we're all very proud of you here from the city of Walnut. And thank you guys so much for being here tonight. We're so happy to celebrate you. And I'll be passing the mic to Council Member Freeman.

Well, I am so happy to have this mic right now. And I'm sorry, because I was actually at the race. And because I will have to say the parent from Kappa, Elisa, so graciously a year ago, I think it was less than a year ago, offered, hey, do you want to come on a dragon boat? And of course, I'm like, yeah, sure. I want to try a dragon boat. Who doesn't? and since then i have been out pretty pretty regularly we come every weekend these kids go to long beach every single weekend and are practicing and i will tell you um somebody who has done some team sports it requires the most precision from a team so in order for them to come in in third and i saw the race it's by seconds these these these races are are divided I mean, just by sometimes not even multiple seconds. It's so great to watch them. So it was a huge race. Great honor that you came in third place. It is just a fantastic experience. So I recommend anyone who has never tried dragon boat racing. to come out and try it. It is, first of all, one of the hardest things I've ever done. So I'm going to admit that right there. And then it is just such a team sport. So just really, I want to say congratulations to the coach. Congratulations to the kids. And thank you for bringing this to Walnut and to have the majority of kids be Walnut High School and just coming down and going to Long Beach every day to practice. It's just great. So congratulations. I was so happy to be there. It was a very exciting day.

Thank you again, I say congratulations guys you did a great work, you know i'm it's an awesome job winning that. bronze medal so keep up the good work great teamwork and keep up the wonderful spirit. Congrats again.

Thank you now. See if you were. Yes, please, Elisa, Elisa there.

My goal here is try to recruit everybody to come to Long Beach and race with us, okay? First of all, I brought Linda, and then Linda brought her husband. So I'm thinking of bringing Mayor Alan Wu coming next time to try out, and the rest of the council member, you are welcome to try out, it's fun. But when it's during the race, when it goes, Pedalers, are you ready? Go! Then you just have to give everything out. At that moment, you're talking about a minute or so. And it's so exciting. Of course, you're not going to win every single time. I think that's life. But I'm so glad that here, First of all, we are a youth team sponsored by Kappa. We are one of the Kappa youth team. We are so thankful to have Kappa all the way to support all the kids at one high school and nearby school. And also, I'm so thankful to have our team coach. He's not warrantier. He's a warrantier coach starting 2015. So it's already 11 years. Every single summer, he will be at the Long Beach and to coach all these kids. So I'm thinking about 11 years, you are doing a volunteer for the same thing. I'm so grateful that we have a very good coach here. I'm so thankful. And the parents, Hong, is helping us too. So without coach and the parents and the kids, we don't have a team. If your kids or the parents, if you're interested, come and talk to me. I can bring the parents to a year-round team as well. Not only the high school kid, we have year-round team. In fact, Linda is with me in a year-round team. It's a mixed team. Anybody over 14 years old and You can join and also my my coach my Captain he is the la PD 72 years old. yeah so it's no no cap no age cap as long as you have 14 about you're welcome to join, thank you.

Thank you Lisa coach, if you were. Please.

Well, we really appreciate all your help. And the ability to have support from the city council is huge because my goal with these kids is just to make sure that they have an experience, they bond together. And she was born into the coaching experience. So for me to be able to entrust my time with her, with these young adults is really big for me because they... She's now trying to emulate how they are. They're all responsible young adults, everyone. Some of them are going to college next year. It makes me sad because they're off doing their own things, but they need a support system from their own community here, and that's very important. And what I like to think of this experience as a core memory, it's further solidified by the city council, and I appreciate that.

Thank you, Coach Lei. Anyone? It's your time. You want to say a few words? Raise your hand. Anyone?

Oh, OK. Oliver, come on.

Oliver is one of the commissioner user advisors.

hi i'm oliver and i'm the co captain and. villain is my other co captain and I just want to say every summer we get together we go through these practices. we're not year round team, however, when we arrive at competition you bring it all, and I just want to say we are very um we're very happy with our results as. just for a summer team that does workouts every week or so, compared to these other teams that are funded by their school, that they have constant practices throughout the year. We're still able to achieve great results. And I also want to thank the city council for recognizing this. Yeah, that's it.

Thank you, Oliver. Anyone? Please.

Hi, guys. I'm Jolene, and I'm the captain of this team. I want to say that I'm so appreciative that you guys invited us here in this honors. And I'm thankful for all of my team members here. And some of them, they are the first time to doing the Dragon Mode. And they're willing to... gives me their full of the effort and 100% of energy each time we're practicing. And then we get the medals because of their efforts. So I want to thank them and also all of the parents that support us. They did a lot for us and coached him. This is the third year that I see him in this team. So he's doing a really great job each year. So really hard working for us, even though we didn't pay for him. okay so like i want to say that thank you guys and thank you all of the my members today and i hope you guys can enjoy the dragon boat thank you thank you jolene anyone anyone okay but one more thing i want to thank all the parents oh one more okay

Hi, guys. I'm Elizabeth Wang, and this is my first year in this Infinity Dragon Ball team. And I actually met a lot of people. They were all, like, really nice and hardworking. So I was, like, I'm really excited to meet them next year, hopefully. So, yeah, thank you, guys.

Thank you. Speak out is very important, too. Okay. And anyone? No more? Okay, I want to special thanks to all the parents here without your support. And the team won't be here. It's very important. Thanks to parents, all the parents. Okay. All right. And then we're going to have a group feature.

Yeah, we do need a second row.

All right, thank you.

Hmm.

You guys are coming, congratulations.

Can I see the medal?

It'll be good work. We'll see you guys next week.

Oh.

Thank you.

Okay, now we need to move on to second presentation. It's the Business Spotlight program, the Honest Tooth. Should we see the video? Is that video? Yes, thank you.

Hi, I'm Salma. Hi. Are you ready for your checkup today?

Yeah, wait, shouldn't we be switched?

All right, this is Salma, your business bestie. We're here today with Dr. Mark at The Honest Tooth. Tell us a little bit more about your business.

Yeah, so The Honest Tooth has been here for about 30 years now. It was first started by my dad. So he's been here for about 30 years. So I'm born and raised in Walnut, went to Walnut High School. But now we kind of just rebranded a little bit just to kind of give it a more modern feel.

Amazing. And tell us a little bit more about your involvement here in Walnut with the community.

Yeah. Yeah. So we try to give back as much as we can. Obviously, being from Walnut, I understand just how important the education here and kind of the school system here is, too. So we try to sponsor a lot of the football teams, the dance team as well, just to kind of see if people are into it and to pursue their passions. And also we have some students that come here to shadow if they are interested in dentistry as well.

Amazing. All right, Dr. Mark, I have one last question for you. If you were to give me one piece of, you know, daily routine life advice, what would you give?

I would say just follow your dreams, pursue your passions, work hard and you can achieve whatever you want.

So I was hoping, you know, something a little more related to dentistry stuff.

I see. I see. In that case, after you brush, don't rinse out your mouth with water. Just leave the toothpaste in there.

All right, good to know. You learn something new every day. Thank you so much, Dr. Mark, for sharing and for telling us a little bit more about your business.

Of course.

All right, Walnut, don't let your friends do your dental work. Leave it to Dr. Mark and his team. Come check out the Honest Tooth here in Walnut.

Oh, wait, my toothbrush.

All right, thank you, Honest Tooth. Next, we will now move on to our last presentation. I would like to invite LA County Fire Department Community Service Liaison Rosemary Vivero to the podium to introduce herself to the community. Thank you.

I'm going to introduce her if I may. Sure. So I know Rosemary has been working with us for six months. She comes with 24 years experience and she's been a part of my team or our team now. since the end of last year. So she's been working with Walnut for this time. And I know she's met all of you and I apologize for not formally introducing her up until this point. But I do wanna introduce Rosemary. Before I bring her up, just to say a few words, I do wanna, we are gonna be talking about public safety, a couple of the items on public safety at the next council meeting. We're going to talk about getting ready for El Nino. I want to put that on everybody's radar and the importance of being prepared for this coming winter. I also, in light of the heat, we're not thinking about El Nino right now, but we're experiencing the heat. I want to remind everybody to drink plenty of water during the day, especially for our elderly. and vulnerable population, it's really important to help avoid medical emergencies by making sure you're properly hydrated when it's this hot and humid. So I thank you for drinking, City Attorney. That's good. And without further ado, I'm going to bring up Rosemary Vivero.

Thank you.

Good evening, honorable mayor, city council, staff, and community. My name again is Rosemary Rivera. I've been doing this for 24 years. And prior to the fire department, I worked for the city of Commerce. I was there for 15 years. And one of the reasons the position that I have was created was because somehow the cities needed to be more involved with the community. Each community is very different, whether it's some people need assistance more with brush clearing, some communities want to educate their young children at the schools, some people want to be taught more fire prevention things. So I know you've heard about CERT, Community Emergency Response Teams, but I've also created a one-hour presentation. It's called Personal Emergency Preparedness Plan. It's a one-hour thing that I can teach at the senior places, HOAs, so that you are prepared. You don't have to dedicate 20 hours. If you do wanna be part of a CERT team, Please do that, I can do it on the weekends, on the holidays, on the evenings, because my biggest thing, whether it's El Nino or an earthquake, whatever it is, we need to be prepared for every emergency, personal, disaster, whatever it is, preparedness is gonna make us just be better people and we'll be more comfortable with whatever happens. So I am available to you. My cell number is 213-215-2193, because I want you to be able to reach me at any time. Please invite me if you have rotaries, optimist clubs, anything like that. I love to be part of that. So I also have some handouts in regards to sandbags and how to prepare for El Nino. You can go into our Division 8 Facebook and Instagram. We're always trying to promote the community and whatever programs are out there. So thank you for welcoming me into your community.

Thank you. Thank you for joining us. And thank you for being here tonight to make the presentation. Yeah, please.

Yeah, congratulations and welcome Rosemarie Walnut and we look forward to working with you and of course the firefighters for a safer community. Thank you.

And I want you to pay attention to my title, Community Services Liaison. So the community, I know it sounds terrible, but you come first. I mean terrible for my boss, not for you. So whatever your needs are always gonna come first and see what we can do to make things better. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other colleagues would like to say something?

Just welcome. I know you've been here a few months, but welcome to Walnut and look forward to continue working with you.

Thank you. And we're so excited to have you here in Walnut and we'll continue working with you. So thank you.

Hope that's not an emergency. But I already heard they're calling you to come help them out. But Rosemary, thank you very much for your enthusiasm and your willingness to help everybody in the community. So we're happy to have you on board. Thank you.

Thank you, Rosemary. Thanks. All right. This concludes our presentations for this evening. And we will now move on to Oral communication, City Clerk, please read the following statement.

Yes, Mayor. Under Government Code Section 54954.3, any person wishing to address any item or issue not on the agenda or any item on the consent calendar may do so under oral communications. The Council may listen but may not act on items that are not already on the agenda. For those who are present and wish to speak, please come up to the podium and state your name and limit your comments to three minutes. When you have finished, please return to your seat. If you are participating in this meeting via Zoom, please raise your hand in the Zoom application by pressing star nine on your phone. You will be recognized one at a time. When it is your turn to speak, you will receive a prompt and your line will be unmuted. Please state your name for the record and limit your comments to three minutes. Thank you.

Thank you, City Clerk. Do we have any email or comments received for the oral communication portion of this meeting?

No emails were received, Mayor.

Are there any members of the public wishing to address Council on oral communication? For those who are present and wish to speak, please come to the podium. State your name for the record and limit your time for three minutes. Thank you.

Hello, good evening council members. My name is Patrick Lord-Suwanrat and I'd like to speak, thank you for the timer. And I'm a Mt. SAC licensed realtor specializing in real estate law and property management. But tonight I'm speaking as a resident tenant in Walnut, not on behalf of any organization, because right now there's no renters association that speaks for us. That itself is part of the problem that I'm here to raise. My biggest concern here is simple. Tenants are being forced into long binding lease contracts through brute enforcement with no real transparency about what's actually legal and what isn't. Landlords tell tenants, sign today or the deposit goes up right now. Tenants sign not because they understand the terms, but because they're out of time and out of leverage. That's not informed consent. That's like coercion dressed up as paperwork and it gets worse when a tenant hits a real emergency. My father was in the middle of heart surgery and rent had to be paid in a different way than usual because of our circumstances. Instead of flexibility, our house was hit with an extra fee for not using the landlord's digital payment terminal. and banned from the service for three months. So we had to walk to the nearest convenience store, the 7-Eleven, and pay additional fees twice, despite being able to make rent in cash or online through Chase Bank right away. And some of you council members know my father. This isn't some hypothetical to me. I'm part of a family that's dealing with a medical emergency, and we were penalized for how we paid and not whether or not we paid because we had the money. That's the opposite of what a policy should do in that type of moment.

Thank you.

And on top of this, the carport, bike storage and areas across the property aren't sized or secured for how many tenants that actually live in these buildings. At the property where I live, randomly just out of the landlord's decision, they told us that we were going to cut and toss the bikes from the racks and unused alcoves within 48 hours. So I had to move every bike that was a part of my family's, my father's bike, my own bike, my younger brother's bike into our small two bedroom apartment. And that's been a sort of clutter ever since. So... My ask to this council is threefold. I would like to require plain language lease disclosures and a fair review period so tenants aren't pressured into signing a same-day price hike that they don't have time to understand. Two, I'd like to prohibit penalizing tenants for alternative payment methods used during documented emergencies or hardship so no family is fined for how they pay rent during a crisis like mine. And third, I'd like to at least require security or suggest security for standards for shared property areas like bike storage and car parts that actually match the number of residents that are living there. Of course, I understand the spirit of competition, that there's always other options in the market for us to look for other places to rent, but these are basic living necessities. I'm also asking this council to support tenants organizing a real renters association in the city. So the next person standing here isn't speaking alone like I am. I'm asking this council not to punish these landlords for running a business. I'm asking that we have clarity. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, City Council Members, City Staff and Community Members, L.V. Frazier, Library Manager of Walnut Library here to let you know what's going on at the library. So mark your calendars on September 18th. The Hello Kitty and Friends Fund begins at L.A. County Library. Stay tuned for all of the details on our social media that will be coming out. show off your creativity in our 47th annual bookmark contest so from now until october 17th aspiring artists in grades k through 12 can submit an original bookmark design inspired by reading books libraries or your own imagination and you guys honored the local winners last year So visit Walnut Library to pick up an entry form or download one from LA County Library website. We can't wait to see what you create. And coming up this Saturday, September 12, from 2 to 3, kids ages 5 to 12 are invited to join us in celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. by creating their own nicho box, a vibrant decorative box traditionally used in Latin America to honor loved ones or showcase religious imagery. On Thursday, September 24, from 2.30 to 4.30 PM, teens ages 12 to 17 can stop by the library for Adult 101 Time Management, where they'll learn time management tips and tools to help them prioritize, organize, and stay on top of things. And I want to remind everyone that the library is a cooling center. It's getting really hot. So in addition to the senior center during open hours, please drop by the library. Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr. Hanson, Creekside. I'm hoping the city recognizes Spanish Heritage Month. They have a propensity not to. I'm going to speak on the senior center. I had a chance to go through there. I'm there twice a week anyway. I noticed the carpet is pretty bad shape throughout the center. I could use some painting, a few little touch-ups, but not a full restoration. And if we decide to do that, I think it's... our responsibility to make sure at least 51% of the Walnut residents approve it, not 200 or 300, where you could manipulate, oh, we only got this many went out, so we have to go with these numbers we have. I think it's your responsibility as a council to make sure that if you spend the taxpayer money, at least 51% of the people should approve it. Some people, I mean, it's a nice center. It's doing real well. Some citizens say, well, one of you guys said, you want our center look like Diamond Bar Center, or we won't look like Diamond Bar. We don't look like Diamond Bar. We look like Walnut. Diamond Bar is faced with a real dilemma. They may be going under because of misappropriation of funds, I guess, or just bad spending. We're sovereign. We're doing a good job. And I'm sure Diamond Bar would like to look like Walnut right now because we're very solid. I'm hoping that when we decide to, redo the senior center that you have a artist rendering, but again, I'm only in favor of moving forward with 51% of people approving it. And I think it's just carpet painting. The stage really needs something done to the stage. The stage is really in bad shape. But as far as the tile floors, they're in very good shape. We're in good financial standing because of the city manager and the accountant making sure that we don't spend foolishly. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Manager, the National Hispanic Heritage Month celebration is starting from September 15 to October 15. So we prepare for something.

Noted, Mayor. We'll make sure we take care of that. Thank you. Thank you.

Thanks.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Council Members. Good evening, Warner residents. My name's Diana Zhao. Good to be here. I'm so glad to see that Infinity Dragon team got recognized tonight, as I was the previous president for CAPA. And I worked closely with the Infinity Dragon Ball team. I understand how hard it was when they practiced, but it was great fun as well. So I am pretty sure Linda has experienced that, because I did go by myself, and my son also participated in the team. And I want to bring two items to your attention. So the first one is the, you know, I understand that we have adjusted the, you know, the speeding, driving speeding in City of Walnut, but I still want to bring your attention that in some residential areas, we have the residents, you know, have the, the residents have the concerns of the speeding, even though it's like 40 or 35 miles per hour is still pretty fast, you know, consider it is in the residential area. And the second item is that from the east La Ponte to the Grand, there is a traffic lights and we used to have two left turn lanes but right now it's changed to one. So in the morning all the cars line up because people need to take the freeway 60 to work and now we only have one left lane left So it really caused a traffic jam in the morning. So hopefully we still remain two left turn lanes and we can add one more lane, probably the straight lane on the right side and people can go two lanes with the straight forward and one right turn. So thank you all for your hard work and taking care of Walnut and have a wonderful evening.

Meeting Administrator, do we have any person raising their hand, requesting to speak via Zoom on an item or issue, Not on the agenda or any item on the consent calendar.

No one via Zoom.

Thank you. All right. Thank you. At this time, I will close our oral communication. We will now move on to the minutes. We have one item for consideration. Do I have a motion to approve?

Move to approve item number one, minutes for August 12, 2026. Second.

We have motion by Councilmember Freeman and second by Councilmember Low. Let's take the vote.

Motion carries. There were three yes and two abstentions, one from Councilmember Long and one from Councilmember Kahulis. Thank you.

Thank you. There are no public hearing items scheduled this evening. We will move on to consent calendar item number two through five. Do any of my colleagues wish to pull any item for discussion?

Motion to approve consent calendar two to five. Second. Second.

I have a motion by Council Member Kahuli and second by Council Member Freeman. Let's take a vote.

Motion carries, five-zero.

Thank you. Now, we have two items under discussion transaction. City Manager could have the staff to make a presentation on the first item. It's item number six, thank you.

Item six, thank you, Mayor. Justin Carlson, Director of Administrative Services, will present.

Thank you, Tom. Council, good evening. The item before you tonight is in regard to keep the recording of closed sessions ongoing. Back in 2008, the council was facing some concerns regarding the closed sessions at the time and this year attorney requested a special session of the council in regards to the request to have the city clerk attend all meetings, create a minute book and also create audio recordings of each session. The council voted in minute record not in resolution, which doesn't comply with the current government code of not having an ordinance or a resolution regarding these closed session meetings. Therefore, the clerk's office has been storing, keeping these documents or these little tapes confidential for over 18 years. as of this time we have never had any uh courts requested him therefore the uh staff is requesting that the um these document these uh tapes be destroyed if they're older than three years and going forward until they are uh closing out and that we adopt a resolution um requesting that these audio recordings be ceased and the city attorney now attends all closed session meetings this concludes my report

Thank you, Justin. Silica, do we have any email comments received for this item?

No emails were received, Mayor.

Thank you. Are there any members of the public wishing to speak on this item? For those who present and wish to speak, please approach to the podium. No? Okay, meeting of the May Trader, do we have people raising their hands requesting to speak via Zoom on this item? No one via Zoom, thank you. Do any city council member have any question or comment?

I I do actually um since this is not a required uh any kind of requirement by law and there was a there was a resolution or there there is not so I'm curious why we even need to create a resolution can we not just not have the recordings and move forward and just continue closed sessions

You know, the council does not need to do this. If you would like to have this, the law does require that you do an ordinance or resolution for the recordings or create a minute book. We never did that. It was done by minutes, just by the council.

So there was never a resolution. And we don't need a resolution. Can I clarify? Yes.

The law does not require that the Council keep an official record of closed sessions. The ability of the authority under the Brown Act to meet in closed session is very limited. It has to be stated on the agenda in compliance with the Brown Act. We make an announcement. And then if there is a reportable action in accordance with the Brown Act, we make that when we come out of the recess of closed session. So the law doesn't require we keep an official record. City Council Chambers, i've been representing cities for over 30 years walnut is the only city i've ever represented that actually records closed sessions. City Council Chambers, The brown X says, you can do that, but if the Council chooses to record closed sessions, you have to adopt that requirement by ordinance or resolution which is justin said we never did. If the resolution before you that staff has presented would terminate the practice of recording closed sessions, but would still provide for an official record by way of a minute book that I would be required to maintain so. You kind of have multiple choices, if you want to continue the practice of recording we're asking that you. adopt a record destruction schedule so the city clerk doesn't have to hold 18 years of tapes. And if you choose to continue the practice of recording, you have to do that by resolution and you have to designate which officer or employee is in charge of that recording. Second choice is terminate the practice of recording, but require an official record in the form of a minute book. That would be my responsibility for including action items. That would also be a confidential document, not a public record, and be available only for review by a court in the event of a challenge or by a member of the city council. Third choice is stop the practice of recording. Don't adopt a resolution. and don't take the extra step of keeping an official record. So no minute book, no recording. And if that's the path you take, you don't need to adopt the resolution.

Thank you.

That make sense?

Yeah. Manager, do you want to say something?

No, I think the attorney was very clear on answering the question. I have nothing, but I will answer any questions if needed.

I have a question. If we have this minute book and one council's absent for the closed session, as you said, they can only be reused by court order or the council. Does that council member have a chance to look at it so they can basically see what they missed?

Yes, that would be available for a council member that was absent and missed a closed session. And what I envisioned by way of a minute book is the item and then Council direction not necessarily like verbatim minutes right.

direction versus this report election, we have to come out here and report yes yeah we don't have anything.

If we don't have to report it we're just giving direction that kind of documents, the direction, yes, is that your recommendation to do the minute book. I don't have a recommendation it's the preference of the Council. I believe that the recording is unnecessary, and I think it's a burden on the city clerk to maintain the confidentiality of these tapes, and I think it's also theoretically an attorney-client privilege risk, so I would recommend discontinuing the practice of recording. Whether or not you want an official record, I mean, as a practical matter, if a council member misses a closed session, They can always meet with me or the city manager. I don't have a preference. It's really the preference of the council and how comfortable you are moving forward. The law doesn't require you maintain an official record. So it's really up to you. And if you choose to do so, then you have to take the action of a resolution or an ordinance, and staff has recommended a resolution.

Thank you.

Any other comments?

Yes. Yes. Yeah, thank you for explaining it.

My question is for the written book.

So that will be our record just in case any future challenges, correct? If we're going to go to that route and remove the audio recording.

Yes.

And how long are we going to?

Yeah, that's another question.

We'll decide it too, right?

In my experience, and granted, I While I have many years of experience, there are 435 how many cities in the state? So I can't speak to the practice of every city. I am not familiar with another city keeping an official record of closed sessions.

So the audio recording, we can just destroy it if the council directions to destroy it now. We don't have to wait for the two years

You could destroy them all right now if you wanted.

Okay, thank you.

Just so I understand, we could either destroy them all now or wait how long for these three years? Or was that just a suggestion?

It was just a suggestion. The problem that we're facing right now is we've established a practice and when Justin said the city attorney, it was the former city attorney, so I can't speak to the specifics of the genesis of this. We've adopted a practice, we never adopted a resolution, and there's no end to the practice, so we have this accumulation of tapes that have never been requested to be listened to, and it's a security issue, and it's a storage issue. So at a minimum, We want to be able to destroy at least some, if not all of them. We suggested three years in case there was a preference of the council to continue some form of official record keeping.

Do my colleagues have any opinion or preference based on?

I don't think we need to record them any longer. And so I'm fine with destroying all of them.

That's my I am also fine with destroying all of them, but also not creating a resolution. We never had a resolution. So it's, I don't think that to continue forward, nothing's required us to create a resolution. So destroy the past tapes and move forward with no resolution and No recording? No recording. And our city attorney just said it's never been used for 20 years and it's not a practice used in other cities that she's familiar with, so I don't think we need a recording.

My input regarding this one, I would follow the staff recommendation, keep the three years, and also continue to the recording because I would say recording It will be a good way to guide our conversation in the closed session. I would say that. But anything before, I mean, the three years, we can destroy it. That's my input, but still. I mean, I'm open for any motion.

I guess I need clarification, Mayor. Are you saying that because there's a tape recorder on the table, your conversations are different?

Not conversation is different. I mean, we need then, well, I would say not conversation is different, but we should say what we should say, not what we should not say.

That's my job.

That's what I'm saying. I feel like right now, Because it is a closed session, I think that when we go into closed session, it is the opportunity for us to speak very clearly and very openly about whatever the topic is. And I think we do that. No law is requiring it for it to be recorded. I guess I'm still wondering why we would continue a practice. that we've never used in terms of referring back to them, and they're just sitting in a storage.

Just like right now, are we recording? Of course we're recording, because this is not a closed session. If we are recording, why not? I mean, closed session, we shouldn't, I mean, it should not be recording. It's the same thing.

They're different opinions. Right?

So, I mean, let's say, I mean, behave. I mean, during the call session, I mean, we should behave our language, right? Am I right?

I think we can always behave. I think people do behave.

So there is a distinction, I mean the brown act for anybody listening and then Council knows this, but. The California law, the Ralph brown act requires that the public's business take place in public, so that meetings have to be noticed. They have to be open, they have to allow for public participation and that's what we do in open session. Every meeting, every regular meeting, every study session, every special meeting. The Brown Act allows very narrow exceptions for the council to meet in what we call closed session or executive session. And those are things that the law acknowledges like real property negotiations where there would be a disadvantage if we had to discuss that publicly if we're negotiating to acquire property or sell property. City Council Chambers, litigation where there's a little you know there's a litigation strategy, or I mean those topics or personnel and there's a performance evaluation for the city manager for myself. City Council Chambers, Those are the kind of three most common very narrow exceptions, so when we and we put on the agenda, this is a permissible closed session item we recess into closed session. Those discussions are confidential. It is actually a violation of the law for a council member or any staff person that attends a closed session to disclose what happened in closed session. Those are confidential. So the tapes that we've been maintaining are confidential. They're not public records. If I keep a minute book, that's a confidential record. It's not a public record. It's only accessible to a council member or to a court of law in the event of a dispute. So yes, public sessions, of course, are recorded. It's part of the open, transparent, transaction of of the public's business the very narrow exceptions for closed session typically well in my experience well let me say it another way the law doesn't require they be recorded the law doesn't require there be an official record taking um the law requires that I keep you in line in the event the conversation started to sway, to go outside of the boundary of the closed session topic.

Okay, so a question to my colleagues, I think we can all come to some consensus that we don't need 18 years of tapes, especially because the city attorney said that might be an attorney client privilege issue. So before we start diving into whether we keep a minute book, don't keep a minute book or keep recording. Could I get some of my colleagues feedback on what tapes we do plan on destroying or keeping?

I'm okay to follow staff three years and then continue to your recording. That's me.

I think I made my comment stop the recording and destroy all the tapes.

stop the recording and destroy all the tapes stop the recording destroy all the tapes as well do i have a motion i think we need to decide whether we're what we're doing after that because i know our city attorney did suggest if we maintain a written minute book so

i'm in my understanding she's only she's only offering to do that, and again, it is not in any way unnecessary item that we have to have in any of the information that we've ever had in a closed session has never been. We do have our attorney there. To to. to have, yeah, witness, I guess, direct the conversation.

I still believe the language or discussion in the closed session need to be guided.

Our city attorney, I totally agree.

Yeah, I mean, especially the behave and then also the topic we are talking, we need to be... need to have a guideline to follow. I think recording is the one. Especially we have staff involved. When we have staff involved, the discussion always need to behave. That's my, that's my.

No, that's why we're here, to have the discussion, but I believe we all stated an opinion about the recordings. Now it's the discussion of whether we will have a noted notebook in the study session, closed session, sorry, not study session.

So we cannot, I mean, without a recording, it looks like the closed session is like an open space to say to do whatever we want.

Well, no, that would violate the law. We have to announce the authority to go into closed session. And the discussion has to be related only to that item in closed session. City Council Chambers, And the exception is you know hey it's someone's birthday you want to say happy birthday, but when it when it relates to city business, the conduct of city business has to take place in public and that's not the topic of closed session, except for those very limited exceptions that I outlined.

Mayor, if I may, I'm going to motion that we destroy all of the recordings of the city council's closed session meetings and adopt a resolution to discontinue the practices of audio recordings and designate the city attorney to attend each closed session meeting and maintain a confidential written minute book documenting the topics discussed.

We have motion. Any second? So your motion is to destroy everything?

The exact thing written on here, except without the three years. The exact staff recommendation, with the exception that not to keep the past three years.

So, City Attorney, the Brown Act does not require any recorded session. Just to reiterate what you said again, it's not by law.

By law? There is no requirement to keep an official record, audio or written, of closed session meetings. What is required is that it be properly announced on the agenda and that if certain actions are taken, the law specifies what actions are reportable. When we come out of closed session, we report the action taken. Sometime there is no reportable action because we're in the middle of something. Okay.

Thank you.

So your motion is the... Would you like me to restate my motion? Yes, please.

I motion to direct that audio recordings of closed session meetings for the past 18 years be destroyed and that future audio recordings of the City Council closed session meetings be discontinued and to adopt the resolution number 26-54 Discontinuing the practice of audio recorded closed sessions and designating the city attorney to attend each closed session and maintain a confidential written minute book documenting the topics discussed and decisions made consistent with government code section five four nine five seven point two We have motion any second

No second? One more time, any second? No second? All right, your motion failed.

I'd like to make a second motion that we destroy all previous tapes of the closed sessions and move forward without a resolution, performing our closed session in a professional and legal way through our city attorney.

In that part of it off, you also have to not have future.

It just is without a resolution.

We don't need a resolution if you're not going to keep an official record.

How about I make a substitute motion. Directed audio recordings of the closed session meetings all be destroyed, that no future audio recordings are taken, and that we do not do the minute book either, since none of that is required by the law.

Second.

What's the difference between this motion and the previous motion?

I don't know.

There's no reason. Any? Do I have a misunderstanding?

Mr. Mayor Pertin regards motion to be the same as Council Member Friedman's motion.

Except she did not say not to go forward with the meetings in the future. She didn't say that in her motion. She just said to destroy the tapes. But she did not say not to continue. She meant that.

I think her intention.

I think her intention was that, but she did not say that. So I'm just clarifying that because she didn't say that on there. And I don't think we have to worry about a resolution if we don't have the minute book. So I don't think we have to mention a resolution at all. So I'm just making it very clear and simple. Three things. Destroy all recordings. No future recordings. No minute book.

No resolution.

And we don't need a resolution. That's correct. And that's in compliance with state law. Yes, it is. And in my understanding, that's how most cities do it.

It's my experience.

And I've already seconded that motion. I already seconded it. What's different in this motion versus the Council Member Raul's motion?

Mine was the minute book. So theirs is without the minute book. Mine was with the minute book.

With the minute book.

Yeah, so their motion, the current motion on the table is that.

No minute book.

Is no minute book, correct.

No need to write down anything.

Correct.

So, and then.

We come out and report afterwards in open session. After every closed session, we come back out here. It's recorded. It's reported out if we have a reportable action or not. So that's our record. Our record is it's posted on the agenda what we're gonna do, which is very limited. The public has an opportunity to speak on closed items before we go into closed session to give their input because they know what the item is because it's listed on the agenda. And after closed session, we have to come out in an open recorded meeting and report any reportable action. So it's already taken care of. It's in compliance with the government code, and that's how any city that I know does it.

Can we take a vote on the motion that was moved and seconded?

Who's making motion?

Councilmember Trey, or Mayor Pro Tem Trey Gars made a motion, and I have seconded it.

Motion is seconded. Okay. It's a roll call? Okay.

Please vote. Motion carries, 3-2. There are two nos from Council Member Law and Mayor Wu. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Let's move on to the item number seven. Under the discussion and transaction, city manager, please have staff to make a report. Thank you.

Yes, Mayor David Gilbertson, city engineer, will present. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the Council. Before you tonight is a Lemon Avenue bike lane study which evaluates the feasibility of installing bicycle facilities along Lemon Avenue between Amar Road and La Pony Road. The purpose of this study was to look at the existing conditions along this corridor, understand the vehicle and bicycle activity, and evaluate potential bicycle facility options. Lemon Avenue is a challenging corridor for bicycle improvements. This section of roadway is curvilinear, has significant grades and carries relatively high vehicle speeds. Based on traffic data collected for our recently adopted speed survey, Lemon Avenue north of Creekside Drive carries approximately 7,000 vehicles a day, and the 85th percentile speed is 46 miles per hour. South of Creekside Drive, the volumes increase to approximately 15,000 cars per day, and the 85th percentile speed is 45 miles per hour in the northbound direction and 45 miles per hour in the southbound direction. Staff also recently conducted bicycle and e-bike counts of this roadway to better understand the level of bicycle activity along this corridor. Those results are summarized in attachment two in your staff report. We also analyzed both approaches on Amar Road and both approaches on La Puente Road to evaluate those bike counts as well. There are several classifications of bicycle facilities that are relevant to the study. There's a class one facility, which is a shared use path that is physically separated from motor vehicle traffic. A Class II facility is an on-street bike lane designated through pavement markings and signage, but without any physical separation. A Class III facility is a shared roadway where bicycles and vehicles use the same roadway space, typically the outside lane. And a Class IV facility is a physically separated bicycle facility, typically using a buffer, curb, delineators, or other form of separation. Staff first evaluated improvements that could be implemented with the existing roadway footprint. Under this approach, a combination of class four and class two facilities could be installed from Amar Road to La Puente Road. And I should add attachment four, sheet one designates, gives examples of each one of these classes of bike lanes. In segment one between Amar Road and Hunters Hill Drive, a class four facility could be accommodated with the existing roadway width. This would provide a five foot bicycle lane, a three foot wide buffer lane with vertical delineators separating the bicyclists from motor vehicle traffic. However, because of the available buffer is only three feet wide, a raised curb or more substantial physical barrier cannot be accommodated without widening the roadway. So while this would provide some separation, it would still be a relatively limited level of physical protection for the bicyclists. For segments two through four, which is from Hunters Hill Road to La Pony Road, segment two, I should add, segment two is from Hunters Hill to Creekside. Segment three is Creekside to Meadow Pass. Segment four is Meadow Pass to La Pony Road. So those segments two through four, they don't allow, the current roadway width doesn't allow for a class four, which we're recommending in the first segment. Instead, staff identified class two bicycle lanes that could be created through restriping of the entire roadway. These bicycle lanes would generally be five feet wide, but there would be no physical separation from motor vehicles. This distinction is important because these segments include relatively high vehicle speeds, higher volumes, and in some areas, sharp curves. And these type of bike lanes are predominant throughout the city of Walnut on La Puente Road and Amar Road and on Grand Avenue. There's also approximately 300 feet as you approach La Puente Road, where a designated bicycle facility cannot be accommodated whatsoever within the existing roadway. And that's mainly due to the turnpockets, the dedicated right turn lane and the three lanes. So therefore, bikes would therefore be needed to transition back into the roadway and share space with vehicles, which is similar to a class three. The estimated cost for the sign and stripe improvements across all of these four segments is estimated to be between 200,000 and 250,000. Staff also evaluated four alternatives that would provide a greater separation between bicycles and vehicles. The first alternative would widen Lemmon Avenue between Hunters Hill Drive and Creekside Drive, which is segment two. and that would accommodate the installation of a class four facility which has a buffer. We could, depends on the extent of the widening, we could do a three foot buffer similar to segment one or even larger with a better physical barrier. The second alternative would widen Lemon Avenue between Creekside Drive and approximately 200 feet south of Meadow Pass Road where the landscape median starts. This widening could potentially also address this segment near the fire station, the southerly 300 feet, where there's no facility that can be accommodated now. Both these alternatives would require significant improvements due to the widening, which potentially include cover gutter reconstruction, pavement widening, sidewalk modifications, extensive utility relocations, drainage improvements, traffic signal modifications, and potentially some retaining walls. The third alternative is particularly different from the on-street options mentioned previously. There's an existing equestrian trail that meanders generally along the west side of Lemon Avenue from Amar Road to Meadow Pass Road. As alternative 3A, I suggested that this trail could potentially be widened to approximately 20 feet in width. converted to a class one shared use facility for pedestrians, bicyclists, and equestrian users all combined. This would provide substantially greater physical separation from the vehicle traffic and would avoid placing bicyclists directly adjacent to vehicles traveling at the prevailing speeds on Lemon Avenue. However, this option would only extend southerly to Meadow Pass Road, because the existing equestrian trail diverges significantly away from Lemon Avenue, south of this point, kind of travels up the hill towards the development that's up there. And we don't feel that the bicyclists, they do like a straight pathway, they would not use that southerly segment if we were to improve that. So that's, I suggested another alternative for segment four, which would be a 12-foot wide concrete bidirectional bison facility along the west side of Lemon Avenue between Meadow Pass Road and La Puente Road. This would provide a physically separated bicycle route through segment four. However, because of the steep hillside along this portion of Lemon Avenue, this alternative could require a substantial retaining wall in addition to utility relocations, tree removal, and other construction costs. At this stage, reliable construction estimates have not been developed for these more extensive physical improvement alternatives because additional engineering and environmental review would be necessary in order to accomplish that. Based on the scope of work preliminary identified, staff anticipate that these alternatives could range anywhere from a million dollars to several million dollars. Again, depending on the alternatives that are selected in the actual extent of roadway widening, retaining walls, utility relocations, drainage improvements, tree removals, and other required work. There may be opportunities to pursue state and federal grant funding to offset some of these costs for the more substantial improvements. Including funding programs associated with the infrastructure investment and jobs act federal highway administration and active transportation Program. However, eligibility for these certain funding opportunities would require the city to first adopt a citywide bicycle master plan and a non-motorized transportation plan. Staff is currently out to bid with those two plans, and they anticipate bringing to council fairly shortly an estimated cost to complete those plans. Based on the study, staff is not recommending one specific bicycle facility this time. Rather, staff is requesting council provide direction regarding the city's preferred approach. There's essentially three paths available. First, the city could maintain the existing roadway conditions and not install bike facilities. Second, council could direct staff to proceed with the approximate 200,000 to 250,000 sign-in and striping improvements only. Or third, council could direct staff to advance one or more of the more substantial bicycle facility alternatives that would provide greater physical separation and protection. But again, would require specifically greater investment cost. If Council determines that more robust bicycle improvements are desired, staff would then return with a more detailed project scope, budget, and implementation schedule. And I'm happy to answer any questions that you have.

Thank you. Thank you, engineer. Silica, do we have any email or comment received for this item? No emails received. Is there any member probably wishing to speak on this item? Those who present and wish to speak, please approach the podium. Please limit your comment to three minutes and state your name for the record.

Mr. Harrison, I use limit quite a bit. And I'm of the mind that it's very dangerous, no doubt about that. And I don't believe any of the three plans will be acceptable because people don't drive 45 coming up or going down. They go pretty quick. We've had several fatal accidents coming down Lemon. I don't see how you can navigate Lemon by putting the bike lanes up. $250,000 for some paint, that's not acceptable. Then jumps up into maybe two, $3 million. It's just a very dangerous Situation I would suggest Leave it as is and let Bicyclers use the sidewalk. That's one place gonna be safe Other than that, it's actually waiting to happen. There's nothing you can do about it. It's just a bad Engineering project to start with there's no way you can widen it without Expensive cost and we just not in a position to be throwing money Into bike lanes for the most part though. I'm very much in favor of safety public safety is very important and That's why I said they need to let them ride the bike lane in Misawa or find a way in which they can use the horse trails. Bring horse trails through there. Use the horse trail on the west side. That goes all the way up. So you're doing, yeah, it goes all the way from Amar. Horse trail goes all the way down to La Ponte Road. You have to do a little cutting at most. So let the bikers use the horse trails coming and going. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, City Council. I'll keep mine short because I didn't even know this was on the agenda. I saw it and I got excited. I would love for city planning to consider investing more in this project, I guess. I am someone who likes to walk around the city a lot. It's very green. I've taken the public transit. I used to bike a lot in my old city when I commute to work. So this would be a really nice upgrade. I know people that like to ride bikes, but they don't do it in Walnut. They'll do it in other cities that do have those roads. So yeah, I know there's a lot of alternative plans. There's a lot to choose from. I don't have a suggestion because I'm still reading through the documentation, but I just wanted to give my support. Thank you so much.

Can you state your name?

Yes, sorry, I'm Ariana. Oh, okay, thank you. Do you need my first last? Is that okay?

Oh, no, thank you, thank you. Hello, I'm Mr. Patrick Lertz. I'm also a user experience researcher at UCLA, and as someone who has driven down Lemon Avenue myself, biked near the area, and also ride an e-bike at UCLA, I propose that we adopt a certain mindset of understanding each person's perspective. as a driver going down lemon avenue it's a downhill there's lots of curves lots of shade you want to try to a person driving is going to try to minimize their gas usage they're most likely going to be cruising or in neutral or in first or second going down so their speed is about going to be 34 miles per hour if you have a normal bicyclist going on the same lane as that that is a definitely cause for danger but an e-bike going at that same speed or a motorcycle going at the same speed would be fine In Boy Scouts, we were taught that if we're hiking anywhere, we're taking the sidewalk on the opposite lane and we can see any oncoming traffic and we're walking. If we're on a bike, of course, bike lanes, traditionally bikes would move around the same speed as cars. But here, since it's a downhill or cars are moving faster, I would suggest that the bikes use an equestrian trail or the bikes use the same side or the opposing side of the road. This is a novel idea, but as the opposing side of the road, as oncoming traffic, not to impede the pedestrians that are walking. And then those on a motorized vehicle, like an e-bike or a motorcycle or anything that could reach those high speeds can maintain their, with a license, can stay on the same side as a motorized driver. Those without a license, those driving on a skateboard, et cetera, can use the sidewalk or the bike lane on the opposing side. And that's my proposition. Thank you.

Thank you. Any person would like to state comments? Okay. Meeting administrator, do we have any people raising their hand requesting to speak via Zoom on this item? No one via Zoom, thank you. Okay, thank you. Do any council member have question or comments? Please.

this coming to us i did ask um for the for this item to be brought and studied because i do believe more and more people are using bikes throughout the city um i look at it when i first approached you as well and i understand you and i have had some different discussions regarding uh the idea of a bike lane on lemon specifically lemon is our only major thoroughfare within the city that we do not have a bike lane on we have one on amar We have one on Grand. We have one on La Puente. So if you are a bike rider in the city, which I am, I do ride, it's an e-bike, but I do ride a bike in the city. And so going down Amar, no problem. But from Creekside to try and get to Vons, there is no bike lane that allows me to go down Lemon. So the ideas of our comments where possibly we cross the road and go on the sidewalk, because there's also not a sidewalk from Creekside down to La Puente. There's no sidewalk. Help me on the east, what side? West side. On the west side of the street, no sidewalk. So as a bike rider coming anywhere from Amar and Lemon going down towards Vons or coming out of the Creekside neighborhood, there is no sidewalk and there is no bike lane. So as you're going that way, right, there's just no clear path for a bike. If the suggestions are to cross the road and go on the opposite side of traffic for a bike, that's actually not what our bike safety laws recommend. And also to be on the sidewalk, if you've ever walked around the Brookside property, that's not a large sidewalk. It's a curved sidewalk. That would be, I feel, almost more dangerous to have pedestrians and bicyclists on the same um pathway i think that would i think that would be more dangerous so what i am trying which i'm also kind of really disappointed in the fact that we've just re-striped this this street that we couldn't move this a little um earlier in the project because i would advocate for the striping and advocate for a bike lane on lemon between amar and la puente And as a driver, thinking coming down, whether it changes my speed or not, I'm still visually aware of, oh, there is a bike lane. There potentially could be bikers around this area. So I feel like when we talk about public safety, This is in our city's best interest to look at the striping and just the class, if I've got this correct, the class two striping, which would not require widening of the streets or building barriers or anything like that. It's really just in our main, Artery, the last main artery in the city, we need a bike lane. We need a bike lane because as we look at our engineer's reports, those bike numbers, they are going up. If you drive by on La Puente and drive by Walnut High School, they have now designated an entire area of their parking lot for bikes. From five years ago, that went from maybe one bike on the entire campus to now they have parking lot section designated for the bikes for our high schoolers. Those are not only coming off of the bike lane. Some of those are coming down Lemon. I'm pretty sure that one's not for me. So I'm just saying, I feel this as a bike rider that goes down that street, I feel like I have experienced it. I feel like it is something when I look at what we can do for public safety, I feel like it should be a priority. I feel like we should stripe with a bike lane from Amar to La Puente, both sides, and that is my proposal. I am happy to explain to anybody about riding a bike. I don't know how many of my colleagues are riding bikes down Lemon, but I am, and I feel like a bike path is important, and I understand, let me make sure I did, I did hear our public comments, so I just wanna make sure, because again, crossing the street and going opposite traffic gives me greater concern, and also riding a bike on the sidewalk with a pedestrian gives me a greater concern. I think that was the two.

Yes, thank you for responding to that. Of course, I totally understand that, you know, again, traditionally we're biking on the same side. We don't want bikers and pedestrians, if I may speak. Actually, can I?

That's the mayor's discretion, actually.

You want to speak?

Yes, Dr. Allen. Just a few minutes. So I understand that we can hold on to the letter. We can hold on to see what the original laws were of why we have to bike together and why bikes are separated from pedestrians. What I meant was we're not crossing to bike on the sidewalk. We're crossing to bike in that lane. But that's a very novel idea, and it goes against the letter of the law and what we're going. It might go with the spirit, but because it's against the letter, it's very difficult to integrate. So I understand that perspective. As a person myself who has been a bicyclist and has been told stories from my own father, like, oh, you know, in Thailand or in other countries, in other states, there's bike fatalities all the time. We only have striping and we don't have pylons. We as, you know, public citizens and, you know, law-abiding citizens, we drive safely. We are aware of things. But there are people, you know, late at night, they come home from a party, they're tired, they're drinking, they're doing all these things. And we're... counting on the fact that they can notice some painted lines instead of running into some pylons and they hear the that stops them from running into people like us. So I think Mr. Harrison here is concerned that, sure, the painting, it's great. It's great in an idea. We can get more bikers. I love biking myself, even without the e-bike. I like to work on my legs. But if we don't account for the members of the public that aren't law-abiding, the members of the public that you know, don't conform to our ideals, we might be doing more harm than good in the spirit of trying to do something good with good intentions. That is all.

Thank you.

Are we engaging in a debate right now, Mayor?

Because I have some comments.

No, no, no, no, no debate, okay. All right, all right. If you do have comments, then I can talk with you afterwards. I want to be fair. Okay, Mr. Harrison, you want to say something?

Only that we're ignoring the most safe route is we have a very wide horse trail. It runs from Amar all the way down to La Puente. Now, Mr. Gibbelson is telling me when you get to Meadow Pass that you have to go up the hill. Well, hell, if I'm going from La Puente to Amar, the whole damn thing is uphill. So that negates that. but I'm thinking that you can cut into the mountain, the slope, cut into the slope, the trail can be parallel to the street. Parallel to the street so you're on a horse trail all the way to La Puente. It makes a lot of sense. You can come and go horse trail all the way up, all the way down. Just cutting into the slope parallel to the street and it's solved. I think it's safer for pedestrians to don't forget the people behind How's it back up on to? Limit are complaining about the drag racing. They do a lot of racing down limit and we have to stop that yet Limits are very dangerous street. We got to understand that we you can't mitigate it if people going to speed but if you used a horse trail it's wide enough for uh east i'm sorry north and southbound traffic the only only problem you're going to have is when you get to metal pass you have to cut in to bring them to uh bring the road parallel to uh lemon thank you okay thank you let's go back to uh council and i'm sorry mayor i have to address some of these as we as we have this conversation and we talk about what is safe and what is not safe

Amar is not safe in terms of the speed limit. We've tried to lower the speed limit on Amar because we know there's unsafe drivers. We know there's unsafe drivers on Grand, and we know there's unsafe drivers on La Puente. But all of those streets have a bike lane that allow bikers to go there feeling that they have a designated area. To cut up into the horse trail going on the west side from Grand, Actually, AMAR all the way down, that seems like that would be forever a project and very, very expensive. So I'm just going back to the idea of thinking about a class two striping project. in a necessary throwaway in our city that is lacking, and when we talk about public safety, it's why I brought it up in the first place, and that's where we are. I don't know, Mayor, where you wanna go. You asked for your colleagues' opinions, so I'm giving you my opinion, and I don't know how.

Yes, thank you. Any other comment from the council?

Question for the city engineer. I'm hearing safety, safety, safety. Do you have an opinion on the safety of these extra... what Councilwoman Friedman's advocating there, we've got that, we've got, we do allow certain bikes on the horse trail now, not e-bikes or, okay, so.

Yeah, non-motorized bicycles, I believe.

Okay, so they can go on the horse trails now, right? Sorry, if I could. Certain ones can, but not the high speed ones, right?

We allow up to a class two on a horse trail. Excuse me? We allow up to a class two e-bike.

Up to a class two e-bike.

Correct.

On the horse trail. So that's already allowed. These stripes make it more safer.

Just clarification, there's no horse trail access from Creekside down to La Puente. Zero on either side. On either side. Yeah.

So there would be a horse trail that goes down adjacent to the horse arena rest area, comes back up to grade at Meadow Pass Heights, goes back along and meanders up along Lemon. So Council Member Friedman is correct.

It's not a straight way. You got to go back and out of your way.

There's no direct route.

Right.

Correct.

Yeah.

Any comment from our city engineer?

If you don't want to, you don't have to. You are the city engineer.

Give me the facts.

Give me the facts. That's what I want to hear. You don't have to give me any opinion. Just give me facts.

7,000 cars a day north of Creekside on Lemon. We have 15,000 cars a day south of Creekside on Lemon. The predominant speed, 85th percentile speed, which is where the majority of the vehicles, the speed that the majority of the vehicles travel is 45 miles per hour. Sometimes it goes up to 46, sometimes it goes down to 43, but just say 45. Majority, pretty much all of that segment, except for maybe Hunters Hill to Creekside, has a lot of curves to it and a lot of gray, a lot of S curves. So drivers, motorists need to be attentive when they use that roadway. I was not privy to the initial design of Lemon Avenue when that came out. I think it was done probably 45 years ago, 45 plus, and it was done in pieces. But maybe there was a reason then that they didn't put bike lanes on that roadway during that time. Yes, AMAR has flaws as well. The speeds are higher. The volumes are higher. There are segments of that that have a lot of curves to it and a lot of steep grades. So, you know, we have very similar situations there. And we've had a bike lane on those roadways ever since they were initially constructed. And those were 30, 35 years ago.

Good. Engineer, how many accidents every year from the bike on that section, segment? I mean, between the AMR and the middle pass?

Very few. I don't have an exact count for you, but if anything, it's one or two, maybe three a year. Any huge damage?

Nothing significant. Any huge one or anything?

Not that I'm aware of throughout the years.

Okay. What about financial impact? I mean, are we, this fiscal year, are we very, very tight?

So if you're asking how we could potentially fund a restriping of a bike lane.

Because restriping the bike lane, we are talking about quote a million dollars, right?

Yes. So it is, to clarify, and I'll let Dave speak to this, the $250,000 also included The segment at the north part of the segment from Amar to Hunter's Hill being that class four bike lane, which would have the delineators. What I heard from Council Member Friedman was a request for a class two bike lane, which would be without the delineators. So there would be a cost there. How much would be a cost to?

Less cost.

Less cost.

I would imagine it would be less of a cost. I'm going to back to Dave. He's the one who provided the cost estimate. I do want to say that we did slurry seal the northern segment and could accommodate the restriping there. We do have in this fiscal year an additional project to resurface Lemon Avenue from Meadow Pass down to La Puente Road. So we could accommodate that in that segment.

project just depends on timeline and council's pleasure what was the was the cost did we did you say you had the cost on that the cost to install the delineators and i had a 20 foot spacing on those uh it was about fifty thousand dollars so you're saying it would potentially be fifty thousand less with just the striping correct yeah if we just stripe the northerly segment as a class two which is what would be south of Hunters Hill, and it would match Grand and Amar and Nogales and La Pointe.

And you're saying that would cost $50,000?

$50,000 less if we eliminate the delineator. $50,000 less than what?

I'm sorry, I guess I'm, were we talking millions before?

No, so then it would be $150,000 to $200,000 in cost.

Okay, $150,000 to $200,000. Council Member Cavalli?

No, I was just wondering if you could show that in the attachment four, so we could... Are you able to present it?

I don't believe we have a slide of it tonight.

So we could, you know, the class two bike lane. I have it in my iPad. I just want to show to our council members and to the public what we're, you know, what we're envisioning.

So that would be a stand. We're talking about a class two bike lane, which would be what you see in Walnut along La Puente Road, along Grand Avenue and along Amar. So it does not have a physical barrier. It does not have delineators. It is a striped, solid bike lane.

Just the straight line and then say only bike.

Correct. Five feet in width.

What about sign?

It does have signs at the beginnings of the bike lane to be in compliance with California Vehicle Code.

So if we proceed in that direction, it will, yeah, as Council Member Trigg is saying, it will, the cost will be less.

Does our city right away has enough widths to provide this bike lane? So yes, but it's a five feet or six feet.

The minimum width is five feet for a bike lane. We do have width with the exception of 300 feet north of La Puente Road. At that point, a bicyclist would then have to re enter and the the vehicle traveling which is allowable and continue down Lemon Avenue.

So you say $50,000 between the Lapointe and the Middle Pass?

So to clarify, that $50,000 cost that Dave was referring to is for a delineator. That is the upright plastic piece that you see on the freeway.

Oh, you mean the bus divider?

Correct. Thank you. Thank you so much, Ray. I really appreciate that.

So which one is the $50,000?

The across form? Those white posts you see in the bottom right.

So council member Friedman was expressing an interest in only adding a class two bike lane, which would be the top right picture. Cost? Standard, just a white line. In the city engineer's budget that was presented this evening, the segment from Amar to Hunter's Hill- City Council Chambers, would include a class for the bottom right picture, which had the delineators if we only went the direction of Council member Friedman. City Council Chambers, Council members request this evening, we would be able to reduce that cost by the $50,000 so construction wise we're looking at 150 to $200,000 for striping.

I still a little bit confused. You say the $200,000, right? Is that $200,000 for the class four or for class two?

For all the striping improvements, for the first segment, which is a class four, which included the striping modifications and the delineators, and then for the next three segments, the class two, which is the upper right, just the striping, and there's obviously signage involved and pavement markings, that is estimated 200 to 250,000. If we eliminated the delineators in the bottom right, the cost estimate is then reduced to $150,000 to $200,000. So we have a cost savings of $50,000 by not installing those delineators.

You know what? For the class 4, I would say we're going to receive a lot of complaints.

Do you have some delineators around town? They do pose a maintenance issue.

Is that the first one we install in our city?

We do not have a class four bike lane in Walnut, no. We do have delineators around the Mt. SAC campus. I have them over at the public works yard and they do get knocked down quite often.

which I do find interesting that our city engineer decided to go with class four when there is no other class four within the city that we're talking about with this bike lane. So then that gives us this larger amount to work with. when the original request was a class two bike lane. So the numbers on a class two bike lane are less. I also heard our director of public work say that Lemon from Meadow Pass to La Puente will be resurfaced. And at that point, for a lesser amount. I'm sure we, I feel confident that we could install the bike lanes for less money. So this amount of a quarter million dollars, I do feel is misleading. It's misleading.

Mayor? Mayor? Yes, please. The striping, if we're going to go that route, are we able to get grants as well? Is that valid?

So not an active transportation type grant, which we were looking at for those large scale improvements. However, to be clear, it is an allowable expense for restricted funds, which is similar to how we fund our roadway projects. So we could use restricted funds for this improvement. But like I said, without that active transportation plan, which is what staff is working on currently, we wouldn't be eligible for those federal funds.

So does this project come as being premature to that plan being in place is that. Something we should look into prior.

So we do have an art we did bring a bicycle master plan to counsel for discussion previously. We have put it out to rfp we do not have the results of that, yet we are working on it, but like I said, the priority is is lemon with lemon avenue so we brought that back to counsel.

When we have the master plan, it would all be in there.

We will be creating a master plan should council approve that.

Do we have a time frame on that?

We expect bids back in the next month or so. The problem is with that wide scale, not only a bicycle master plan, but a non-motorized transportation plan, which is what we're looking at. The timeline is extensive. We're looking at a year before we're bringing back something to adopt to council. which is why this segment was segmented out.

Yeah, I remember.

Any further discussion on the council? Do you have a motion?

I'll make a motion. I move that we do a class two striping along Lemon Avenue beginning with from Amar down to Medipass, beginning with that striping on both sides. And then what is the projection of the resurfacing at that point, the time frame?

a little bit complicated. It is in the fiscal year budget for this fiscal year. We have budgeted for it. However, we do know that there's a potential development at Brookside. So we're talking about how to segment that out with a potential project coming. But staff, we are moving forward with resurfacing this.

Take what we can get here for the public safety. So at this point, I would do a motion to do a bike a class two bike lane from Lemon to Meadow Pass, both sides, with the idea that in the future after our development, or not after our development, that could take a very long time, after we see when the resurfacing schedule is set from Meadow Pass to La Puente. and add okay let me let me restart with the bike the class two bike lane from from lemon to meadow pass with revisiting meadow pass to la puente on a schedule as soon as possible without us spending redundant money to do a striping to have it torn up to do a resurfacing we can bring that timeline back to council shouldn't there be approval tonight okay well then that's my motion

But how much will that be now? That will be a different, that's not in our attachment right now.

I don't believe we have it broken down by segment.

No, we don't. It would be, yeah, there would be a cost savings because we're not doing the last segment. So we're doing 75%. 75%.

Without any delineation.

Yeah, class two bike lane.

Okay, we have motion. Any second?

Just to be clear, so what's, what are, if we're going to put this class to back lane, I know it's going to be, is it from Lemon Avenue, from AMAR to MediPath? That's how we want it to be.

The direction I've heard is that we would be installing it in a phased approach. The first phase focusing on from AMAR to MediPath.

AMAR to MediPath.

And then once we do the reconstruction of Lemon Avenue to continue that striping from Meadow Pass to La Puente Road with that project. So we wouldn't be restriping, focusing only on the northerly segments.

So that will save us money as well for the next phase, right?

City Council Chambers, Correct well, we would be installing striping regardless, so there would be a opportunity cost there, yes, Council Member Cahalas.

City Council Chambers, Sorry, I was just gonna say, I think that means we would just be spending it now, instead of a little bit later.

So since we do have to restripe when we resurface, we would be installing it with that striping and not doing it twice. We would just be doing what we've slurry sealed this fiscal year and then waiting until the reconstruction happens for the last segment four. Segments one, two, and three would be completed now.

OK. Well, since we already have a motion, I mean, any second for the motion? No? Okay, motion failed. You have something?

Like I say, yeah, I want to have more data on that Class 2 bike lane. Are we able to bring this again? to have more data also for the cost and what are the things that need to be done, that 75% project.

So the cost difference is provided in attachment, where the cost breakdown is provided in attachment three. It does give you an installation of thermoplastic striping for $5,385 linear feet at $2.25. And then $13,570 linear feet at $2.25. What's going to be taking... Coming off would be that item number four, installing the bike lane delineators at 20 foot spacing for 51,600. So we would still be completing the majority of these items. We could bring back a more refined cost estimate if council pleases.

I would suggest this one come back next year before the budget.

Or with a study, you're doing a whole study and that would be included in it, right?

So we are doing a full study, but like I just wanted the timeline of that is extensive. We will be including a non-motorized transportation plan, making the city eligible for federal funds in the future because we're adding that element and it's not just a bicycle master plan. It does extend the timeline. At that point, we would... be doing it you know we'd be doing it we could possibly get federal funding to pay for it yes if we were looking at one of those alternatives absolutely that's when we're looking at multi-million dollar improvements we do have to stripe the street in that lower segment with the resurfacing so we would be restriping regardless whether we're accommodating a bike lane we could talk about it at that project too that'd be up to council

Okay, so motion.

So at the time we're re-striping that, we can bring out the bike lane again and re-stripe it.

We could. We could take a segmented approach and do the north three segments now and then do the last segment with that project or we could bring it all back at that time. It's up to council.

Okay, so motion, no second. Second.

Wait, I need more information, like the data for the e-bikes and the bikes.

it's very low right just wondering when what's the duration how do we get that that data we did it over a five day period we we selected two uh days during the week and then a friday saturday sunday and we're 24 hour counts so we had video cameras out there for 24 hours counting uh all the bikes and e-bikes

That during school?

Yes.

We did wait until school was in session to have them completed. They were done by video detection. So we could count all the e-bikes regardless of their location on the sidewalk or on the trail or on the roadway.

So I guess if we put more this bike lane, if we're going to that lot, the striping, there could be potential more bikers. because it's safer for them or they have their own lane.

That most likely could be correct because right now, as a biker, I do not go down Lemon and I avoid Lemon.

But could it be safer for their community and...

As advocates of public safety and that we are prideful of the amount of public safety we invest in, I am surprised at the hesitancy of bringing something to our city that increases public safety.

Just to be clear on the phase one, the striping. and there's phase two, right? The phase two will be during our striping of the phase two, right? So this will be lesser, not just the item number four that will be deducted. Is that correct, Emma?

Correct. So if you'd like us to return with a more refined cost, we definitely can do that if we're looking at a phased approach to complete segments one, two, and three. with Council's direction, and then including segment four with the resurfacing of Lemon Avenue. So I'd be happy to bring that back to Council.

Yes, bring it back to Council.

I'm sorry, guys. Okay. Sorry, just to be clear. So if we just remove number four, the project goes on if we agree? It's the striping. But if there's a phase one and phase two, you need to bring it back to the council, but how long will that take? I know you mentioned something, I just wanna.

So the city engineer and I have been talking about how we, when we complete that project, it is budgeted for this fiscal year. So council, we do have it funded. I guess my only professional apprehension is the Brookside property and potential impacts of a large development on a brand new road. We could also obviously have the developer mitigate those impacts at that time. So we could do that. We are looking at moving forward with the project now.

I also would like to know the impact to the drivers because We have a huge population of the driver in our city. I really want to know, I mean, what's the impact? Because I really don't want to say, you know, we have majority of the residents, they are driving, and then if we build something, they say, why you guys build this? You know, that's the... That's something I want to know. I'm not saying that we build something is wrong, you know, but maybe it was right, but we got to know, I mean, what's the impact to the drivers.

Sure. I'll let the city engineer speak to the impact of the driver in the width of the traveling.

Because the city of Los Angeles, the downtown Los Angeles area, Their speed limit is very low. They are somewhere around 25 miles per hour. And then, I mean, look at the major street we have, we are 35 or 45, and if the casualty, I mean, if the accident or the case is very low, and then we build something, and then become the accident increase, then it will be, I need more information, so thank you. We have motion, and there's no second, right?

Second.

You second? OK. All right. Could you? Should we take a vote? A roll call? Take a vote.

What? Nothing.

A motion and a second. A motion by Councilmember Linda Freeman and second by Councilmember Richard Kahuli.

Okay, I have two yes from Council Member Cahoulis and Council Member Friedman, and two noes. Okay. One abstention.

Thank you. The reason I vote no is not I'm not supporting public safety. The reason I vote no is I need more information. What's the impact to the majority of the drivers? Thank you.

I think it's more information and maybe a timing issue too.

The exact same comments as my colleagues. I think if we could come back with something that lists out the phases by what months we're looking at, if that impacts everybody in school, or what that'll look like. If we could come back with some more information, I think that would make it a much easier decision.

Thank you. Thank you. If I can add on a little more clarification on phase, or on segment four, the Meadow Pass to La Pointe. Please. Melissa mentioned quite a few times that we're thinking of the Brickside Development Project. One of their conditions of approval is to resurface half Uh, the east half of Lemon Avenue from La Pointe to Meadow Pass and the south half of Meadow Pass from Lemon to the easterly limits of their project. We've had preliminary discussions with them on timing. Um, as this data is unclear of what kind of construction schedule they are going to adhere to. We know that they're in plan preparation space because they've asked a lot of questions of staff on plan formatting and issues like that. But we still don't have a clear picture for them and when they want to start construction. you know past practices as you're trying to avoid resurfacing roadways and then having these massive graders come out there and you know across the roadways um and then there have to be utility connections Um, so they're cutting up your new asphalt, uh, those kind of things. So, um, the reason we're so unclear on that last segment is we don't know what. Brookside actually is going to do yet. So. Yes, we're preparing plans to go to meadow pass. But as we get closer, we're gonna continue to reach out to the Brookside people and hopefully get a better idea of what their construction schedule is, because that obviously could have an impact to that segment of this project.

Thank you so much, engineer. Thank you, Marisa. So now we can move on to the announcement. Let's starting from the Mayor Patan, check us.

Yesterday, I think the city, we sponsored the coffee with the cop. I think we had many officers there. Thank them all for turning out, as well as our volunteers and the staff. It was a nice event. Once again, thank you for that.

Thank you. Council Member Low.

Thank you, Mayor. I attended California Contract City's fall seminar, which covered Measure G information to keep cities involved, binding arbitration, models for public safety and human services, and safety nets in crisis and mental health. So great information. I also attended a meeting with Supervisor Horvath's office in regard to Measure G implementation and how that will affect cities. I attended the Southern California Association of Governments Transportation Committee meeting. During this meeting, we reviewed the FTIP and Connect SoCal plans, which covered all the public review, public comment, and overall review of the projects and policies. I also attended the Cal Cities Roundtable talking about resources for cities and the statewide network. It provided great information about resources for cities to utilize. This past Tuesday, with our great partnership with the sheriff's dissertation, we did have our coffee with a cop and it was great seeing residents come out to that. I also attended a El Nino preparedness with the California Contract Cities Association. We heard from the fire department, sheriff's department, county CEO, office of emergency management, and the National Weather Service. So we don't know exactly what's happening yet because they can't predict everything, but it's always very good to stay prepared. So please, please sign up for our city emergency notifications on the city website. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Linda Freeman.

Yeah, I was able to attend a Foothill Transit meeting where they were talking about Cal Poly Transit Hub that will be finished and completed in the winter of 2028. Sheriff Luna was there and also spoke very, very seriously about being prepared for El Nino and El Nino, right? It's not El Nino, right? It's El Nino. There's two different ones. But talk very seriously about how he knows it's hot right now and the weather is hot, but we need to prepare for the rain that is coming. I was able to attend two events at Mt. SAC, both which were great. One was the home opener of Mt. SAC football game where all residents of Walnut had free attendance. So that was a fun night to attend with Dr. Wu. And also going to the Mt. SAC Parapan Pacific Swimming Championships. Just so impressive to watch athletes with disabilities go and just perform. Unbelievable. So that was great. I'm also able to attend just a fantastic tour with Council Member Kahoulis and the director, Melissa Barcelo, our public works director, and her team to West Coast Arborist, who take care of the trees in our area, which we have a lot of. But anyway, just seeing the background of it and what they do with the trees. Really, really impressive. Coffee with a cop at Love to Che, which is great because they also provided all the lovely churros. It's always nice. So that was a really good turnout, especially, you know, again, we can't thank our sheriffs enough for coming out and doing that. able to see the Walnut High School dance team get this great donation that will bring them over to the next nationals. And they are working hard to get their 40th national championship. The coaches and dancers there, they have included a culture of excellence that like it just continues that they will for sure um gain i i believe their 40th national championship this year and the last thing i do want to give out i'm glad he's still here to deputy ct mcdonnell who came today and did a another round of local government tour in Collegewood at second grade. It's always fun at back to school night, back to when the school year starts and we get to do this little tour. And it is, I cannot tell you what it's like to be his bodyguard on campus when I have to keep all the kids away from the deputy because they're so, they cannot get enough of them, so. I know he's over there with a serious face right now, but you need to see him in a second grade classroom because it's awesome. So I just want to say thank you for always doing that and always being willing to go to the classrooms in the community here. So, and that's it.

Thank you. Council Member Cajoles.

Mayor. Yeah, I attended the Colima Road Improvement Project last September 4. It was a ribbon cutting of . Also, I attended the Walnut High School, you know, the dance team getting a generous check. It will help them out for their dance competition this coming year. Also about Walnut High School, there will be a, Again, on Friday, September 11, Branding Iron. It will be, you know, if you can attend, of course, the Walnut Mustangs versus the Brahmas. And also, also attended the West Coast Sacrifice Tour with our director, Melissa Barcello, and council member, Linda Friedman. Yeah, you could see how they... They, how they recycle the wood that we had, like the tree that was, you know, it went down in Amar and Lemon, that tree that they repurpose it, they make it, you know, tables, they make it a sign. So it's not a waste, they recycle it. It's so good what they do and how they, show us the different kinds of species in walnut and how walnut is covered. Sorry, Melissa, how much percent are we covered for shading-wise in the walnut? We're in the top something.

Yeah, they highlighted our species count, our shade coverage. So I apologize. I don't know off the top of my head, but I can definitely bring back.

But we're up there, right, compared to the other cities. So Walnut is, you know, a green city, and our temperatures are, you know, our environment, we're protecting the environment. So that West Coast arborist tour was very educational. And that's it, ma'am.

Thank you. For me, August 27, I had the Mayor Advisory Committee meeting. And it's the first meeting. We don't have any item to report, but we initiate a lot of the item we're going to do. August 29, I also show up there at the Mount Set football game. It's the first time I visit the stadium. It's so-called the walnut night, not day. I was there almost the whole night because it's named Walnut Night. Because remember Linda Freeman was there too. Yeah. It's very important, very good. August 20, 30th, 3.30, that's Saturday, I attend the Boy Scouts, Scouts Pat 239. I have a talk with the kids about the ethic and unethic. topic. And September 4th, I attend the Cantonese Pioneers in California and also in the United States. They are part of the railroad development and railroad builder in the United States history. It's very important too. And September 2nd, I met I met with Father Francis of St. Lorenzo Church, and we had a very good talk, and also it's a welcome on the job, on the board. And September 8, I believe a lot of the council was there, the Warner High School Dancing Club, the donation, there's a check to donate $10,000 to support the team. I'll conclude my report. Okay. Next, there's no consulate business or cross-section items scheduled this evening. Our next regular scheduled meeting will be held on September 23rd, 2026 at 7 p.m. And please, this one is very important. I will now adjourn the meeting in memory of Retired Fire Station 61 Captain Eugene Gino Michael Katel Slager. Thank you. Thank you for the service. Thank you, and good night. I'll see you next meeting.