City Council - Special Meeting

This is a closed session. And at this time, I would like to call the meeting to order. So roll call, please.

Thank you. Mayor Nguyen.

I'm here.

Vice Mayor Monzo. I'm here. District 1, Councilwoman Fan West. Yeah, that worked. District 3, Councilmember Nguyen.

Here.

District 4, Councilmember Nguyen. Mayor, you have a quorum with District 1, Councilwoman Fan West, and District 4, Councilmember Nguyen absent.

Thank you very much. Next is oral communication for closed session. I just want to remind you, this is a closed section, so you can only speak on the closed section items. At this time here, we would like to open up for the oral communication for item one, two, and three, please.

Thank you, Mayor. We have quite a few speakers today. We'll start with Dao Tran, followed by Gigi Vo. When I call your name, please step to the podium. Starting with Daltran.

Good evening, mayor and city councils. My name is Dao Tran, and I am a retired employee of Westminster School District. I'm here tonight, I want to talk about two items. Item one, about the two council members who disrupted all the meeting. I remember a few months ago, every time when the city had the meeting, I have the feeling that the council completely disabled by this two council. So right now, I know that council member Nam Quan already accept his is wrongdoing, but Council Member Van West does not accept that, and she wants the meeting, the court going on. So I think she should go to the meeting, to the court, and accept what she had done for the city. and about all the item about the gate. So we know that Little Saigon or Westminster is the capital of the Vietnamese refugee against the communists. So every people who come to visit everybody from all over the country, all over the world, when they come to Southern California, they want to visit Little Saigon. That is why former OC Supervisor Andrew Doe has funded $1 million for the city to make the welcome gate to Little Saigon. It will attract the visitors and the tourists to come to Little Saigon. to enjoy our culture and enjoy our food, and it will bring the revenue for the city. So there is no reason that Supervisor Janet Nguyen asked the money back. No, it is ridiculous. I asked the city to keep the money, never give it back to her.

Your three minutes time is up. Thank you very much.

Our next speaker is Gigi Vo followed by Min.

Before she speak, we can hear you very clear up here. I think I got the message saying that we need to crank up the volume a little bit for me because they can hear clearly loud there.

We can't hear any of us.

Oh, can you hear me? Better now? So maybe you have to crank up the volume a little bit more. Thank you very much. Next speaker, please. .

Today, I want to share from my heart about the 1st and 3rd process. About the 1st process, the two congressmen have destroyed the meetings for nearly 2 years. I ask the City Council not to withdraw the petition. Their actions have wasted the tax money of the people, harming the reputation of the city and offending the residents. Let the court decide. Let this become a reminder to all voters to serve with sincerity, morality, and respect for the law, above and below the law. The mayor is doing his best to guide the meeting and everyone according to his rules. Regarding the third session, Cam District is asking for 1 million USD . . . . . . . . . . . And I believe the contract is still valid. It is now only the year 2025. There is no reason to break this agreement. The gate is not only a building, but also a symbol of the 50 years of hard work, success and contribution of the Vietnamese community in Cam District. It will bring pride and attract tourists everywhere. I urge you to continue to build this building. I speak not only for myself, but for many residents who want a better future for Westminster. Thank you.

Good evening mayors, vice mayor, and city council members. My name is Gigi Vaugh and I have been a proud resident of Little Saigon for many years. Today I want to speak from my heart about agenda item one and three. regarding item number one, the lawsuit against two council members who have disrupted meeting for almost two years now. Please do not drop this case. Their actions have wasted tax money, damaged the city reputations, and disrespected our residents. Let the court decide. Let this become a message to an elected official. You must serve with integrity, ethics, and respect. There is a luxury in this council body. The mayor who lead the rest of the city council member who follow the lead. There cannot be too many chefs cooked in the kitchen. About item number three. Orange County is demanding to take back the one million that was given to build the Little Saigon Gateway. I find this action deeply disappointed and unfair. This pledge was made public during the 35th anniversary of Little Saigon in Asian Garden Mall at the city council meeting, and the contract is still valid, I believe. It is only 2025 and the city has already gotten a head start in this project. There is no excuse for breaking that agreement. The Gateway is not just a structure, it's a symbol of 50 years of Vietnamese American perseverance, success, and contribution to Orange County. It will bring pride to our community and attract visitors from everywhere. I urge you, Mr. Mayor and all council members, stand firm and build it. I speak not just for myself, but for many in the community who want a better future for Westminster. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Min Thich, followed by Chin Dim. Min?

M-I-N-H? Chin?

I would like to say hello everybody in this room for this evening. I am a resident of Santa Ana, Orange County, but I always support the spirit for Westminster because of the bad things that happened. I am a citizen and I want to say that the fact that the city got back 1 million from the city of Westminster, I do not agree and I will never give it back because that amount of money will make the city bright and beautiful. More than half of this year is a 50-year anniversary of the city of Westminster. This is to commemorate the victims of the Vietnamese Communists who died in 1975. All those who have done these things are sacrifices. I want to say that the lives of people I have to have the truth and do the right thing. I don't need any party or anything. I am a citizen. I don't need any party. I am a citizen. I support the right things. I can see it from my soul, and I have to open my eyes to see it. I want to tell the truth. I don't want to pretend to speak in this city. I don't want to hear it. I have to know what I'm doing. I have a head. So I want to tell the truth. Today, I also thank the city for letting me come here to tell the truth that I have seen for so long. Now I can speak. Today, I hope that the city will think and do what I say is the truth. I do not agree to take back 1 million for the city of Westminster to make a door, do anything for the city to be bright. I don't think so. What you do, you have to fix and you have to do something right. This is a meaningful job and you can't ignore it. Because you have to do it for a bright future, not for a dark future. Today, I want to talk about such things to let you know that you have to fix yourself and I have to do things right. The truth and the truth are always the truth. Okay, thank you.

I am a resident of Santa Ana, but I always support for Westminster City. And first of all, I want to talk about the $1 million that Orange County Supervisor Andrew Doe has funded for the city. to build the welcome gate to Little Saigon. And this year we celebrate 50 years the fall of Saigon. So we need that money. to make the welcome gate that not only to mark the presence of the Vietnamese refugee against the communists here, but also bring back the revenue from the visitors and tourists here. And the second item is about council member Phan Nguyen. So you already did very wrong with the city few months ago. So you have to get the consequence what you did. That is what. I want to tell you. And I also remind everybody that I'm not belong to this party or other party. I just talk with my conscience. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Nat Lynn, followed by Monique Nguyen.

Ladies and gentlemen of the City Council, I am Nhật Linh, a resident of Westminster. I would like to present two items 1 and 3 in today's City Council meeting. First of all, I want to talk about item 3. I object to Orange County demanding $1 million from the U.S. Department of State to build the Lido-Saigon Bridge, which the district has supported with a contract until 2026. I can say that the department has destroyed this contract because of former supervisor Andrew Do, who was sentenced to prison. I don't think it's right for the supervisor to replace the old man and ask for the money back. Because if the former supervisor is wrong, he will be punished there. And the donation of 1 million USD to help West Inter build Little Saigon Bridge is not wrong at all. It is also a meaningful and meaningful work. and fair with historical contributions to a 50-year-old Vietnamese communist refugee community, and chose Orange County, California as his homeland. It is impossible for a former government official to regret and reject all the achievements that he dedicated to his country. And it is even more impossible for the former government official to blame Westminster for this. Orange County regained 1 million USD, which is incompatible with the residents of Westminster and the Vietnamese community in Little Saigon. I object. Thứ hai, tôi nói về item one. Vụ việc hội đồng thành phố kiện hai nghị viên bất xứng vô đạo đức, quậy phá các cuộc họp, gây tổn hại sức khỏe cho nhiều người, tổn hại ngân quỹ của thành phố, xúc phạm nhân phẩm từ viên chức chính phủ đến cư dân. Trong đó có tôi. I will never forget the two congressmen, Amy Van West and Nam Quang Nguyen, who deliberately instigated and destroyed the happiness of my family and the family of the mayor. These two said in a meeting of the city council, I am a honey, I am a lover of the mayor. They were heartbroken just because they opposed the mayor, but they spoke irresponsibly despite the logic. Tôi sẽ chống đối hai nghị viên này cho đến khi họ phải xin lỗi tôi công khai trong cuộc họp của thành phố như khi họ xúc phạm tôi trong cuộc họp thành phố. Thành phố không nên can thiệp bãi nại hay hãy để cho tòa án ra án lệnh làm tiêu chí cho tất cả những nghị viên sau này về trách nhiệm và đạo đức dân cử.

Good late afternoon and maybe early evenings. My name is Thanh Dang and I will translate what Nhat Linh has said so far.

So here's go. To the honorable Westminster Mayor, city council, and city staff. My name is Nhat Linh, a resident of Westminster. I wish to address two items on today's city council agendas. One, agenda item number three, opposition to Orange County attempt to reclaim one million already allocated for the Little Saigon Gateway project. I strongly oppose Orange County effort to take back the one million is grant to the city of Westminster for the construction of the Little Saigon Gateway pursuant to a contract that remain in effect until 2026. The justification for terminating disagreements appear to stem from the criminal conviction of former supervisor Andrew Doe. However, any personal wrongdoing by Mr. Doe must be addressed individually and separately. The one million allocation for the gateway projects was entirely lawful, justified, and meaningful. A recognition of the historic contribution of the Vietnamese refugee community, which this year marked 50 years of making Orange County, California, its home. The mistake of a former public official cannot erase the lawful and positive contribution he made, nor should they cause the city of Westminster to suffer collateral harm. Orange County action to reclaim this $1 million is unfair to Westminster residents and to the Vietnamese American community in Little Saigon. I firmly oppose it. Regarding agenda item number one on the lawsuit involving two council members who have acts without decorum or integrity. Council member Amy Fang West. and have repeatedly disrupt city council meeting, cause harm to the health and well-being of others, waste taxpayer funds, and insult the dignity of city official and residents, myself included. Specifically, during official city council meeting, they propagate and publicly excuse me of being the honeys and lover of the mayor, a baseless and malicious attack intent solely to discredit the mayor. This statement would be offensive, defamatory, and damaging to my reputation, my family, and the mayor's family. I will continue to oppose these two council members until they issue a public apology to me at a city council meeting just as they publicly insulted me in several council meetings and YouTube channels. The city should not dismiss this case. It should be resolved in court. creating a clear legal precedent for- Thank you very much, your time, sir.

Thank you very much.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Monique Nguyen, followed by Chin Dim. Next speaker, Monique, followed by Chin.

Am I supposed to go first? Monique first, and then she'll... Yeah, thank you. Sorry. Good evening, honorable mayors, vice mayor, and Westminster City Council, city staff, and all present here today. My name is Monique Nguyen, someone who cares deeply about our city and has devoted time and effort to contributing to Westminster's wellbeing. I am always happy to see The council adopt useful initiative, but I also feel saddened by council meeting become unproductive, contentious, and disorderly. Today I am here to address two important matters. Regarding agenda item number one, the lawsuit involving two city council member Amy and Nam Quan. I believe this matter should be decided by the court in accordance with the law. As elected official, council member must uphold the law and be adhered to ethical standards. It is unacceptable to use elected office to turn council meeting into scenes of chaos to disregard the presiding officer or to insult the dignity of the personal integrity of the mayors, city managers, city staff, and residents. I myself have been a victim of such insult from these two council members. Therefore, I urge the council to preserve decorum and orders, not only now, but for the future of Westminster governance. Regarding item number three, Orange County demand to reclaim one million allocated for the Little Saigon Gateway Project. In my view, the city action is unlawful as the contract remain valid. If the former District 1 supervisor committed personal wrongdoing, he must answer to the law. However, action taken within the law cannot simply be erased. The City of Westminster did not violate any terms of this agreement. Therefore, the County has no basis to unilaterally break the contract and demand the return of the one million intended for the gateway project. As I understand, the city has already taken the initiative to move on with the outway project. I urge the city to uphold the contract through 2026 to move forward promptly with construction of the gateway to showcase the strength and achievement of our Vietnamese community after 15 years in Orange County, California. Thank you very much.

Next speaker, Chim, followed by Nan Nguyen.

Mr. Mayor and members of the City Council, My name is Chinh Dinh, a resident of Westminster for more than 40 years. Today, I would like to give my opinion on the 3rd and 1st procedures. First, about the issue of the Orange District demanding $1 million to build the Lido Saigon Bridge. I find it too unfair and unreasonable. This money was given to the city in advance and is not related to the personal mistakes of the former supervisor. This is the right amount of support, the right purpose, has been signed, so there is no reason to violate the contract. I suggest that the city council continue to carry out the project. protecting the rights of the residents of Westminster and the Little Saigon area. Secondly, regarding the case of two members of the city, Amy Fanquet and Nam Quang Nguyen, in my opinion, the court should make a decision. The court's decision will be an order to ban immoral acts and to maintain the authority of the government. Honorable Mayor and city council members, my name is Jing Ding and I have been a resident of Westminster for over 40 years. Today I would like

two comments on agenda item three and one. First, regarding item three, where Orange County demand to reclaim the one million allocated for building the Little Saigon Gateway. I find this action extremely unfair and unreasonable. This funding was granted to the city long ago and it is unrelated to the former supervisor personal misconduct. It was a legitimate allocation for its intended purpose, already agreed upon. And there is no reason for this county to violate that agreement. I urge the city council to move forward with the project and protect the rights of our residents in Westminster and Little Saigon District. Second, regarding item number one, the lawsuit against two city council member, Amy West and Nam Quan Nguyen. In my opinion, this matter should be left for the court to decide. The court decision would serve as a precedent to deter unethical behavior and uphold the integrity of our local government. If the lawsuit is dismissed, it will open the door to similar problem in the future. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Non Nguyen followed by Strong Nguyen.

Good afternoon Mayor Nguyen and Vice Mayor Menzo and all council members. My name is Nga Nguyen. I have lived in Orange County for over 40 years and was among the very first Vietnamese immigrants. To settle here after the fall of Saigon, I have witnessed the incredible growth and contribution of our community to the region. And I have always been proud to call Orange County my home. Just over a year ago, we were overjoyed to hear that the Orange County had approved one million in funding to support the construction of the Little Saigon Gateway in Westminster, a long-awaited project that means so much to our community. community. We look forward to the grand opening day with pride and excitement, imagining visitors from all over coming to experience the heart of Vietnamese culture in America. That's why I was so shocked and deeply disappointed to learn that the Orange County's attempt to reclaim the one million already allocated for the Little Saigon Gateway project of the city of Westminster. To us, this is more than just a financial decision. It feels like a rejection of our history, our identity, and our communities. long standing contribution to Orange County. I respectfully urge the county to reconsider this action. I respectfully urge the city council to fight for the city of Westminster and do what is right for the residents. This decision goes beyond politics or disputes. It speaks to how elected officials honor their commitment to all communities, especially immigrant and minority groups. It is a matter not only of governments, but of integrity, equity, and moral responsibility. The Little Saigon Gateway is more than It is a symbol of survival, resilience, and hope for the generation of Vietnamese Americans who have made Orange County their home. As for the ongoing lawsuit between the city of Westminster and two council members, Amy West and Nam Quang Nguyen, I believe it should be resolved through the proper legal process. Each elected officer must be held accountable for their actions.

Your time is up. Thank you.

But that should not be used at the ground or punish the broader community.

Your time is up, ma'am. Your time is up. Thank you. You have three minutes. Thank you for listening. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Strong Nguyen, followed by Ting Dang.

Hello, everyone. I am a 25-year-old businessman working at Westminster on Bolsa Street. I heard that there was a bank loan from Orange County to the city, but I want to get it back. Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, the honorable mayors, city council members, and city staff. My name is Strong Nguyen. I'm the business owner for the Little Saigon Business District for the last 25 years. So acknowledging that the county has reclaimed back the $1 million for the Little Saigon Gateway, projects, so I came to oppose the Orange County attempt to reclaim the $1 million already allocated for Yosegon Artway projects. And we hope that the city is going to move forward with the projects and make it happen so that it can revitalize the business and also transform the city to another level. So thank you very much for all the time. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Tang Dang, followed by Andy Nguyen.

Yeah, good afternoon, honorable mayors, council members, and city staff. My name is Tang Dang, a long time resident of the city of Westminster. And I guess I welcome everybody to Road Center. It looks a little bit nice around here with the clock. At least I know how much time I have to speak before I have to go beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, and gone, right? I came here to speak on two items on a closed session, item number one and number three. So let me start quick with number three. I oppose the county to reclaim back the $1 million. The last time we spoke, I know the seat already initiate some kind of study or some kind of due diligence to get the little Saigon Artway project going. And I also understand that with the design-build process, it's going to be quick. So really, we all hope to see this project moving forward. And I'm urging the city council to be strong. and oppose that $1 million reclaimed back from the Orange County. If you have anything, I want to send a message to the county that maybe you should give Little Saigon, especially the Sea of Westminster specifically, a little bit more money so we can do it faster and quicker and make it happen and now put a landmark on our city is long overdue. And I also know the history that back in 2006, we start something, but we now finish it. So this time, let make it happen. Let make the city of Westminster matter again, as I always spoke about. Real quick on item number one, regarding to the two city council members. Whatever happened with the court, all I hope is in the spirit of collaboration, You guys still have one year left. Let's collaborate. Let's make the city moving forward. And you have promised during your last election cycle that you want to bring the future to the seat of Westminster. And next year is another election cycle, 2026. So keep your word in the spirit of collaborations. We still have time, plenty of time. One year can make a lot of difference. So thank you for all your time, and let's be strong. Let's make City of Westminster matter again with many things to come. Thank you so much for your time.

Our next speaker is Andy Nguyen, followed by our final speaker, Terry Raines.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen in this room. I'd like to make a short one. I'm the city of Westminster resident. I am living here over 30 years. Also the business in Westminster over 40 years. And I know that it's very important for the economy. If we have the trademark, the logo for the city of Westminster, I believe a lot of travelers around the world, they come over here, they spend, they live, they stay, a lot of money. So big avenue for the city. So if our city have a lot of money, I think the residents would be better. And the logo for that is just like the culture of our country, is the hat. The person who have, most of the women wear the hat, like when they were a student and they get old, 70, 80, 90, they also wear the hat. The art at the gate, at the top, is the hat of our culture. So all the Vietnamese around the world, when they see that, they know the trademark of Little Saigon. So I suggest city not to repunt the money. We need the money to build our city. We need to make our city stronger, better, beautiful. So the day I leave here, I will have a city To the last day of my breath, I will do what I can to make this city better, stronger, healthier, happier. And that's what I demand. So I hope it's going to be you guys help us to make it happen, not to refund the money to them. Thank you very much for listening.

And our final speaker, Terry Raines.

Hello, item one, I was present at the last hearing for this case where the judge denied Amy's motion to strike in its entirety. I provided you a copy of that ruling, but I forgot it at home. It'll be later. Key takeaway is the video submitted by the city showed numerous instances where it appears the defendant is speaking out of turn despite warnings from the mayor. The evidence is sufficient to satisfy the city's burden on the first cause of action and in light of the above, the court finds that the city has met its burden as to the second cause of action as well. Therefore, the motion is denied in its entirety. Trial is set July 27, 2026. The city was directed to give notice but didn't attach the ruling so had to file a notice of errata. Today's discussion had better be for the attorneys to update you with this information and it better not be in any way shape or form to dismiss this case. The city has already prevailed by way of the default judgment against Nam Quan, but he was only assessed a measly $200 and change to pay. City Attorney, why weren't prorated 50% attorney fees not assessed through the date of the judgment? Mr. Mayor, some believe you wish to dismiss this case as a quid pro quo to regain Amy and Nam Quan's support for your various legacy fantasies. That better not be the case. You report to us, the residents, and we are the ones harmed by their egregious behavior. The complaint should have been much stronger, but fired City Attorney Bettenhausen was the one who framed the case and selected the firm to represent the city, figures. The vote today, if there is one, should be to take this case all the way to trial next year. Let Amy fight this case to the death. The city has already incurred likely $100,000 or more so far in attorney fees and based on this ruling and the judgment against Namquan, it is probable the city will prevail and Amy will be on the hook for her own attorney fees already sitting at around $50,000 plus 100% of the city's as well. Item three, the county is now resurrecting their demand that the city must return $1 million sent to the wrong city attorney. We were under the impression the county had dropped the matter given the money was from convicted felon supervisor, former supervisor, Andrew Doe, who begins his five years in prison this week. I believe the city already spent some of those funds toward an early feasibility study and design. Your mayor is out there holding town halls in Vietnamese, bragging about the archway project, showing designs that the council hasn't approved, to my knowledge, and alluding to this million dollars as a way to partially pay for the project. Vice Mayor Manzo first proposed the idea of a little Saigon archway years ago, when it would have been much cheaper to construct, but the idea never took up. Now the mayor's implying it's all his idea and the Mexican on the council just approved it. The city cannot afford another lawsuit, but I also do not believe the city should return any money to the county. Oh, I've got 20, I've got time left. Well, let me keep talking. Mr. Mayor Charlie, this is directed directly to you because of the rumors that I've heard. Do not dismiss the case against Amy and Nam Quan. Let it go to trial. It is already set for trial. City Attorney Porter, please report to the council everything, the tentative ruling or the ruling. that happened at the hearing, provide them a copy, explain to them exactly what this means. That they feel that the city has a good chance of- Your time is up. Thank you.

Mayor, we have no further speakers. No further speakers.

All right, thank you very much. At this time, I would like to close the oral communication for closed session.

Before we recess, I would like to point out, so we do have the one item of the three items that are in closed session. Yes. One involves council members Nam Quan, Amy Fan West, and they will not be participating in that particular discussion. But they are entitled to, and I expect that they will participate in the other two items. So they will recuse themselves from that one item.

All right, before we recess for closed session, I would like for the city clerk to go ahead and read the item that we are going to discuss about.

Thank you, Mayor. The City Council will recess to a closed session for the following purpose. Conference with legal counsel existing litigation pursuant to government code section 54956.91, existing litigation case, City of Westminster v. Amy Phan West et al., OC Superior Court Case 30-2024-01443472-CU-MC-CJC. second item conference with real property negotiators property 15550 beach boulevard westminster california 92683 city negotiators christine cordone city manager and adolfo zeta assistant city manager negotiating party orange host infinity owner dennis lynn under negotiations price in terms of payment And last, conference with legal counsel anticipated litigation, significant exposure to litigation pursuant to government code 54956.92, number of potential cases one.

Thank you very much. At this time, the city council recess for closed session, and we'll be back here at 6 o'clock. Thank you for coming out, and if you could be back here. Westminster City was called out specifically, they introduced me, but I'm not really care about it. What I care is they mentioned Westminster City, so our city is on the map. to everyone out there. So I really want to thank them for their recognition and at the same time, they are here today. So I'm very happy to present them with the certificate of recognition for Westminster Chorus for recent annual show. Under the direction of Dr. Wessler, the Westminster Chorus is the 2009 choir of the world of poverty trophy winner and international course gold medalist of the barbara harmony society for years in 2007 2010 2015 2019 and 2024. On behalf of the city council, I'd like to congratulate you on your successful 2025 annual show, and in recognition of your commitment to preserving and advancing the arts in our community. And at this time, I would like to invite council member to join me in front here, and I would like to invite you to come up for the trophy, for the plaque of appreciation.

Amen.

Applause.

One, two, three. One, two, three.

One, two, three.

All right. Thank you. Once again, thank you very much, and if you want to continue to stay here to attend the meeting, you are welcome, but you don't have to. Thank you very much. In part of the special presentation today, I would like to introduce city manager, Kristen Corden, to present the introduction to new city park rangers. So, Madam City Manager.

Thank you, Mayor, members of the City Council. So very proud to talk about this, about park rangers. So about two years ago in a conversation between myself and Chief Lanier while I was driving down the freeway, we were discussing how we could better serve our parks, issues in our parks, and just overall how we can better serve our community and respond more proactively to these issues. Chief Lanier was tasked to explore the feasibility of park rangers and with the council's approval of much needed funding and support, I'm happy to announce that we will have two park rangers who will be monitoring our parks and providing services to augment our police, public services, and community services departments. Our park rangers will be our eyes and ears in the park, taking note of issues and making referrals to the necessary parties. They'll be providing assistance to visitors at the park and just being a part of making improvements and providing quality customer service. So Chief Lanier, if you'd like to introduce your park rangers, talk a little bit about them. Chief Lanier.

sure thank you city manager and appreciate the collaboration too with uh us coming up with that idea you you actually came up with that idea and then of course the council's approval and support in initiating that idea into reality i'd like to introduce both our park rangers who will be patrolling our 25 parks in our jurisdiction First, I'll introduce Park Ranger Johnson. He has a bachelor's of arts degree and is a graduate from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Security Officer Academy. He previously worked for the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau and was also a prior employee for our city as a community preservation unit employee, a CPU employee. Please welcome Ranger Johnson to our team. And next, I'd like to introduce you to his partner, Park Ranger Albera. Also has a Bachelor of Arts degree. Sorry for slaughtering your name. He previously worked as a community services officer for a city in Los Angeles County and as a school safety assistant. Please welcome our new Ranger team. Thank you. And I'd like to just, it's our first ranger program ever in the city due to out of the box thinking. And we have, they wear an arm patch similar to the police officer's arm patch, but it goes in a different color, comes in a different color to match their uniform and their vehicle. So I wanted to pass that out to the council.

All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. Once again, welcome. Thank you very much.

Welcome. Thank you. Thank you.

Alright. Moving on at this time, I would like to open for oral communication concerning the agenda item only. So I want to make sure that you understand that this is the open communication for agenda item only. So if you talk anything outside of agenda item, we can wait for non-agenda item later on tonight. So Madam Clerk, would you please go ahead and read the instruction for the record?

Thank you, Mayor. This is the time of the meeting that members of the public may address the City Council regarding any items on the agenda, except public hearing items. Members of the public wishing to address public hearing items shall do so at the time of the public hearing. Unless otherwise extended by a majority vote of the City Council, comments shall be limited to three minutes per speaker. Any person wishing to address the city council in person should complete a green speaker slip, which are provided at both the entrance to the theater and public podium, and submit the card to a city clerk department staff member. When your name is called, please step to the podium at that time, state your name and city of residence for the record. I have two speaker cards, one with Michael Varengia and Terry Raines.

Good evening, it's been a while since I've been here. It's good to see the people, the audience and up there. For my agenda items, item 3.3, I'm not sure if that's going to go tonight or not, but that'd be fun to have some rock concerts in the Rose Center here. And there's plenty of local tribute rock bands that you could sell this place out for two or concerts with no problem at all. That'd be a nice income for the city. Item 3.5, I'd like to see them increase the personnel for the police department. We can use the extra SROs. Those are always good. 3.7, I'd like to see you make sure you approve the movies in the park down at Bolsa Chica Park. These are really a lot of fun. We have them here at the Civic Center and it's just a really nice community activity. Down to legislative items. 6.1, you're gonna be voting on a delegate and an alternate. The delegate will be a voting delegate and an alternate for the California Cities Conference. Please make sure you have two good individuals that represent this city. There's a couple of them sitting up there that you probably don't want them representing our city. Especially since one of them just recently had a court case that they wound up with having to do community service and a fine. And for some reason, they feel that they were vindicated. But when you get punished, that's not a vindication. Also, along those same lines, please make sure the city continues with the lawsuit. Do not drop this thing for any reason whatsoever. It's important for the city to hold their ground on this and to make sure that everybody, both residents and council members, are held to the same criteria when it comes to disruption of city council meetings. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Donald Link, followed by our final speaker, Terry Raines.

Okay, I have a strong concern with a couple of our city council members who have constantly chosen not to attend staff review meetings prior to city council meetings. They then come to these meetings and ask staff questions over and over because they don't know, go to the review meetings and are not knowledgeable about what is contained in the agendas. They give the reason they are asking endless nonsense questions that they are informing their constituents, of which I am one, about what is going on in the city council meetings. I call BS.

Excuse me. What's about agendas? Can we stop?

Can we do it later?

Are we talking about any specific item that you're talking about?

How about our agendas?

What agenda item that you're talking about? If you are not speaking on the agenda item, which we have right now, then we can wait until later. Would you please?

That was my question, okay.

Thank you very much.

Anyway, I would like to take this time to endorse and recommend approval of agenda items 3.4, 3.5, 3.7, and 4.1. Thank you. Thank you. Our final speaker, Terry Raines.

Hello, it's exciting to see the city's park ranger program kick off. Welcome rangers, the community is counting on you to help us police our parks and transform them back into pleasant places to recreate with family and friends. Item 3-1, Lake Communications, you're welcome. 3-3, there's a stark difference in communications and transparencies in the city's handling of this theater's feasibility study versus Blakey Parks. The latter seemingly clouded in secrecy. 34, how does the firm compare to the current provider who apparently didn't even make the first cut? 35, will a city hire two new sworn officers to provide to WSD at their expense or to replace those assigned? 37, wouldn't a memo to the council with the date change for Laura Rose's approved special event be enough? 310, Chief, could you please provide real world examples of multiple crime stats from a single case in the new reporting? 312, why wasn't this project completed in seven weeks since the last council meeting? Staff, please provide a description of the work being done. Hope tonight goes better than the planning commission did in the AB room. Initially, zero audio recorded on YouTube until the very end of my public comments. 51, don't pay for Amy to go to this conference. She's still sanctioned. When she attended past conferences, she took her children for a free vacation and didn't attend most sessions. Lest we forget the embarrassing image of Amy with her dirty feet up on a chair lounging in the back of a session playing on her phone. Stop rewarding bad behavior. 5-2 Mayor Wynn, two months and you only have three applications, well, one late one. for your new foundation. No surprise after what this council did to WCF. No one wants to volunteer for another foundation in this city because of this council. If the committee really wants to raise funds for the Tet Parade, it should happen organically without politicians. Worse, Mayor and Vice Mayor on the board sends a clear message. This foundation is political. Maybe if you hadn't insulted and argued with WCF volunteers, we wouldn't even need a new Vietnamese-only foundation. Looks like you've destroyed this idea before it ever got off the ground. 6-1, delegate Mayor Nguyen, alternate Vice Mayor Manzo, or better yet, vice versa. 6-2, shady. And possibly illegal government code 658, 58 states the legislative body shall not adopt or extend an interim ordinance pursuant to this section unless the ordinance contains legislative findings that there is a current and immediate threat to the public safety, health and welfare. And that the approval of additional subdivisions, use permits, variances, building permits, or any other applicable entitlement for use, which is required in order to comply with the zoning ordinance, would result in a threat to public health, safety, or welfare. This ordinance does not meet that criteria, city attorney. 7-2, William Beleze looks to be the most qualified. Seriously, enough with the signs, enough with the flags, enough with the Vietnamization of Westminster, because united we stand, divided we fall. Thank you.

We have no further speakers, Mayor.

All right, thank you very much. Thank you for coming out. Excuse me. Thank you for coming out and express your opinions. At this time, I would like to close for the public comment for the closed session. No, public comment for the agenda items. And moving on to consent calendar. All matters listed under the consent calendar are considered routine and may be approved by a single motion followed by a roll call vote. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless members of city council or staff request that specific items be removed from the consent calendar for separate action or discussion. I will go ahead and ask to approve item Item 3.9 and 3.10 for further discuss. Is there any motion or any item that the council want to approve?

I second it.

There's no.

No.

Is there a motion to approve the rest?

Motion to approve with the exception of 3.9, 3.10, and the amendments to 3.1 and 6, and also to pull item 3.3. Okay. Remove 3.3 from the consent calendar.

That's already removed by the staff, so 3.2 you don't need to. All right. I second it. I second the motion and second to approve the rest except for item 3.9 and 3.10.

Thank you. I have a motion made by Vice Mayor Monzo, seconded by District 3, Council Member Nguyen. This is to approve the consent calendar with the removal of 3.9 and 3.10 for separate discussion. Noting that 3.3 has been removed by staff to be heard at a later meeting, and 3.6 has been pulled and will now be heard as 5.3. I'll go to call roll. District 1, Councilman Fan West. Fan West, yes. District 3, Council Member Nguyen. Yes. District 4, Council Member Nguyen. Yes. Vice Mayor Monzo. Yes. And Mayor Nguyen. Yes. Motion carried 5-0.

3.9, a second quarter report from Homeless Outreach. May I ask for the presentation please?

Good evening, Mayor, Council. So as you're aware, we do the quarterly homeless liaison officer statistics to keep the council and the community informed in the activity levels of our homeless liaison team. We're happy to report the numbers that are on the screen and will be on the screen in front of you in just a moment. And I can't see from, are the numbers up there? Yep, thank you. Those are the numbers. As you can see, our homeless liaison team, also known as HLOs, have been hard at work. They are very, very sought after by community members. We get many complaints from community members. I would like to add, too, that many of our complaints, in fact, we just fielded one earlier today, the complaints are not our jurisdiction. And I'll give an example of flood control. Flood control is not the city's, it's not our jurisdiction. We can't go in there and enforce municipal code violations because it's not Westminster, nor is it a good idea for us to do so on several other different levels. But we do put those complaints in contact with the Sheriff's Department or other entities that do patrol those areas and do have jurisdiction. But as you can see by the numbers on the screen, They're busy in our jurisdiction doing their job. And I'm available for any questions.

Is there any question from the city council?

Yes, Mayor. Thank you, Chief, for the report. Do you have any reports out of the navigation center as far as beds filled, any incidents that required extra service from local PD? Things of that nature.

Yes, and I am hearing comments from the audience on they can't see the slide. So I'm just gonna go over some numbers real quick for the audience. And that's in this quarter, the HLO team conducted 547 outreach visits. And just to give that context, that number of context, I'd like to inform everyone that we have four specialized officers, HLOs, and two caseworkers. So for a six-person unit, that's a lot of work in a quarter. So that's what some of the numbers are. They made 24 referrals to shelters, and not just our shelter. But other shelters, sometimes our shelter is full. It is to capacity right now. So we try to find other shelters throughout the county for those referrals. And I think that would answer your question.

Yeah, I mean, are the beds at the Navigation Center full?

Yes, they are all currently full.

And any incidents at the Navigation Center?

This quarter, I haven't heard of any major incidents. I do know it's probably pretty, especially with it being full, probably lively, but as far as an incident occurring there, I'm not aware of any.

Good reports out of there then.

Yes, sir.

Thank you. That's all I got, Mayor.

All right, thank you. with the navigation center and also with the aggressive help from your department. I can see the second quarter statistic here. There are a number of things that you accomplish or achieve. Do you think that the homeless issues is getting better and better in our city or is still a concern for us?

Well, I do think the homeless issue, as those numbers kind of show, it still keeps our staff heavily engaged. They are one of the busiest units in the department. So I'm going to say it's still an issue. I wouldn't say it's getting worse, but I wouldn't say it's getting better either. I would like to add that one of the tools that council approved for us earlier this year was the ability to site for people camping or sleeping in public. And that has greatly helped. In fact, I think to date we've written 80 some odd citations for it. So when an individual refuses services, they're bothering people that live around that area or business owners and they won't take our advice to find somewhere else to sleep or camp. We now have an enforcement arm that we now can do and unfortunately, In the last quarter we've had about 80 something citations issued for that.

Would you please clarify, I understand, I hear you loud and clear that you're saying that the homelessness is not improved and is not reduced either way. So it's still the same. And there are a number of things that you do here, let's say 68 encampments. the encampments are clear from the CPU and also the number of arrests that you made and citation and everything. Do you think that all of those work that you did or your department do nothing and does not make any difference or people still moving in or how? I don't see that.

No, I would say it does make a difference. And again, people can't see the slide. So I'll go over those numbers. I already mentioned the 547 homeless contacted. We also had 24 successful street exits. So that's a difference for 24 individuals right there who were able to get off the street. We made 56 arrests and that's our last resort. We try to get them off the street. We try to get them whatever help they need, whether it's in a shelter for homelessness or if They're struggling with dependent issues, either on alcohol and or drugs. That's after all those referrals are made, arrests are a last resort. They wrote 54 citations. 23 businesses were contacted regarding the homeless issues by our homeless liaison team. 68 encampments were cleared with the help of CPU. So when you talk about making a difference, I'd say that's 68 locations that would be lack of a better word, disgusting. If we didn't move in, clear it out, clean it up, rodents in the area, that kind of thing, because of the filth. And again, we are at full capacity at our shelter.

All right. Thank you very much for that report.

Mayor, if I could just add to that real quick. Yes, please. So for our first meeting in September, we will actually have our Navigation Center operator who will be coming and making a brief presentation. So you'll have more information about the progress of the Navigation Center as well as just a recap of our first year of service. It did celebrate its first year anniversary back in June. So we will be having a report to update the council on that.

All right. Thank you very much. Is there any other question from the council? Okay, if not, then we're moving on to item. Motion to approve.

I need a motion for approve. Receive a file. Yes, I motion to approve.

Second. Okay, motion to approve. Motion and second on the floor.

Thank you. I have a motion made by District 1, Councilman Fan West, seconded by Vice Mayor Monzo. This is to receive in file. I'll call roll. District 1, Councilman Fan West.

Fan West, yes.

District 3, Councilmember Nguyen. Yes. District 4, Councilmember Nguyen. Yes. Vice Mayor Monzo. Yes. And Mayor Nguyen.

Yes.

Motion carried 5-0.

3.10, CDO for Submission of Crime Statistics and Second Quarter Comparison for 2024 and 2025. May I ask for a stop report, please?

Good evening again, Mayor, Council. Some good news on our crime statistics. I feel like I've been the bearer of bad news for years on our crime statistics. But this time around, I get to actually report that crime is down nearly 21%. for quarter two in 2025 compared to quarter two in 2024. So the same time last year compared to the same time this year, we're down 21% overall. The stats are up on the screen in front of you should you have any questions. We did have some explanations in the agenda report on why some of the numbers were a little higher. But other than that, everything is down overall.

I'm glad to see that the statistic changed. A number of them are reduced, grams reduced. But there are two areas, the area of Rep and Austin increased a big amount. Do you have any idea of why? And I saw in the report that you say that the ocean is also included with the fire, car fires. Are they intentionally do that or

So yes, those were arson related. Arson was up. Arson is someone intentionally starting a fire. Those numbers were up. And the reason we dug into that number, because it's not, it wasn't coinciding with our trend of everything moving down this quarter, which I'd like to point out too, nationally, crime is down. So we are basically mirroring the rest of the country in less crime. The reason for those two categories that were up, arson being one of them, was that recently we went to a new crime reporting system that was mandated by the federal government some years ago, and it's called the National Incident-Based Reporting System. That system, in the old days, if you charged somebody with a number of crimes, it would still only count as one crime. So for simplicity reasons, I'll just say like murder. Well, if you also went assault with a deadly weapon and assault, that's three different crimes. But that reporting would be one crime. NIBRS actually takes the crime. each one of them. So really, if we looked at this the same way as we did our old stats under the Uniform Crime Reporting Act, it wouldn't be up. So it's not as high as it appears. It's because of the way we're reporting. But it is a federal mandate, the way we report. And as much as I can spend a lot of time on this subject, it's really not worth it because as soon as we have a full year of data under NIBRS, we'll be comparing apples to apples and we won't have any more confusion on it. But this is a leftover byproduct of us switching to a new reporting system.

I will have one more follow up and then we'll open up for Castle to ask questions. I want to congratulate for reducing number of crimes in the city here. But the area that we just mentioned, especially grape, is 27% and the other one is 75%. I'm pretty sure that you probably have come up with some kind of measure to attack that, right? Or do you have anything else?

We do, and once again, it is a byproduct of the NIBRS reporting is with sexual assaults, if the most serious crime was rape, the charge would be rape. But then it might, under that, would be sexual assault, and then under that, forced oral compilation and under that it might be sodomy and so forth. They'll count that as each individual crime versus the old system where that would be one sexual assault crime. So it looks a little higher than it actually is as far as true crime reporting. But again, we don't have a choice. These are federal mandates the way we report crimes and that's the way the federal government wants us to report crimes and stat crimes.

Again, thank you very much. If not, I will entertain if there's a motion.

Motion to approve. I second it. And thank you, Chief, for your report. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Motion and second on the floor.

Thank you. I have a motion made by Vice Mayor Monzo, seconded by District 1, Councilwoman Fan West. This is to receive in file. I'll go ahead and call roll. District 1, Councilwoman Fan West.

Fan West, yes.

District 3, Councilmember Nguyen. Yes. District 4, Councilmember Nguyen.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Monzo. Yes. And Mayor Nguyen. Yes. Motion carried 5-0.

That will lead us right into the public hearing. Would you please read the instruction in the record for public hearing, please?

Yes, anyone wishing to speak on an open public hearing may speak in person. Speakers during public hearing comments will each have three minutes to speak on each public hearing item. Any person wishing to address the city council in person should complete a green speaker slip, which are provided at both the entrance to the theater and public podium and submit the card to a city clerk department staff member. When your name is called, please step to the podium at that time and state your name and city of residence for the record.

All right, 4.1, public hearing, first reading of case number 2025-0113, a request to amend section 17.230, industrial zoning districts of the Westminster Municipal Code. And at this time, would please have the staff report.

Thank you, Vice Mayor, or Mayor, Vice Mayor, and council members. So we're here regarding case 25-00, or 0113, and that is a request to amend section 17.230, industrial zoning districts in Westminster Municipal Code. So for background, staff has recently received several inquiries regarding uses in industrial zones, which are not clearly spelled out as either a listed use in the code, but could be allowed through other permitted uses or possibly should not be allowed in.

While we're pausing I just want the members of the public to know the PowerPoint has been printed and it's available where Daisy is seated so if you would like a PowerPoint please feel free to grab one.

Yes, please continue.

So for background, staff has recently received several inquiries regarding uses in industrial zones which are either not a listed use but could be allowed through other permitted uses or which should not be permitted in industrial zones. The zoning code amendment was initiated by the Planning Commission on May 7th of this year, and the Planning Commission then held a public hearing and recommended approval of this item on July 2nd of this year. So Section 17.230.010 of the Westminster Municipal Code shows permitted and conditional new uses in industrial zones within the city. Staff had two goals with this. Our first was to clarify permitted uses. We are not adding any uses to the table which could not have otherwise been allowed, but this makes it clear to potential business owners in Westminster what is allowed. And second, we wanted to remove uses that do not support the city's industrial goals. Our key additions to the table are brewery, distillery, and cidery. Those already could have been permitted through, because alcohol sales is allowed in industrial zones. Restaurants weren't allowed in industrial zones. So we could have permitted these anyways. It's just providing clarity for anybody who wants, wishes to open a business like that in the city. Beverage production wasn't clearly listed. We wanted to make sure that was expressly stated as a use. And we've also had a number of inquiries about commercial kitchens and bakeries. So we included those in the table. Key removals, and these are uses that we didn't think belonged in the industrial zoning. We removed self-storage from industrial zones. We removed full-service restaurants. We are still allowing restaurants with 10 or less seats, but we didn't see a reason to have full restaurants in industrial zones when we have vacant commercial property in the city. We removed general retail stores. Again, we have vacant commercial properties in the city. There's no reason to use up industrial space, which is fairly limited in the city, with these kinds of stores. And lastly, we removed unscreened cellular sites. We'll still allow cellular sites. These will just have to be screened in the future if anybody wants to put one in an industrial zone. The proposed zoning code amendment is not a project per CEQA. And with that, staff and the Planning Commission recommend that the Council introduce the ordinance for first reading, read by title only, and wait for the reading. With that, I'm available for any questions.

All right, thank you for the report. At this time, I would like to open up for Mayor and City Council question for staff, if there's any.

I have one question.

Yes, yes, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor. When you mentioned a general retail, can you describe a little bit more in detail what that means? I'll give you an example of something that I've personally been to, to a warehouse where they're typically distribution. But once, I think, once a month or something like that, they have just like a one-day sale open to the public. Would that be prohibited when you say general retail?

No, that would still be, the main use for that would be the warehousing. The sale would be an accessory use. We wouldn't be going after that. What we're looking to eliminate is our code is very unclear about what general retail is. But currently, per our code, if somebody wanted to come in and open a men's clothing store in an industrial zone, that's a permitted use. When we have empty commercial properties in the city, there just isn't a need for that. We have limited industrial space that should be protected. So when we say general retail, we're talking about clothing stores, home goods stores, just kind of The shops you'd more use on a regular basis, not specialty like warehouse stores or electronics, like Walters Electricity. That would still mean a loud use in the zone. Okay, thank you.

Anything else from the council? Yes, Council Member Warren.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm just glad we're finally doing this to provide clarification to the code, so I'm in full support of it.

All right, let's move on to public comments. At this time, I open the public comment, if there's any.

Yes, we have two speakers. We'll go with Donald Link followed by Terry Raines. Okay, we will go with Terry Raines.

Good evening, Terry Raines. I didn't have time to prepare comments for this public hearing, but I did already give extensive comments during the Planning Commission on this same item. The problem I had is, well, I had a couple of concerns about the table, which is not presented in the handout that I just got, couldn't see the screen. But I thought it was policy, City Attorney and Principal Planner, that whenever we revise code that at the same time we're revising that code, we're gonna clean up that code. And there were a number of issues that I had with the things in the table that weren't expressly key additions or key removals, but they were conflicting or they needed further clarity, et cetera. And that was not done in this case. All that was done is that they added a few things and took out a few things. One thing is that they left, I believe, and this is off of memory, I don't have it in front of me, that they left convenience stores in the industrial as being okay. To me, that's kind of the cross of, you know, it's retail. And I think we have a billion convenience stores throughout the city. I don't think we need them in our industrial zone. If I'm wrong on that memory, because again, I'm going back seven weeks or so since this was discussed. But I think I'm glad we're cleaning up the code. And I'm glad that we're making that effort, but we need to each time, every other attorneys, when they do this, they clean up that section of whatever they're revising. So we should make sure that all of our codes are compliant with state law. And that they, when we take the effort, the time to revise them, to add or remove things, we should also make clarifications and really look, study the code before making the changes. I'm sorry again that I don't have the details with me. Potentially I could email them to you all. Again, the Planning Commission heard all of them. I provided copies to staff. And they basically said that was not this project. This project is only to add or remove uses in the industrial. It's a table within the code. It has a list of what uses are permitted in what areas, etc. And I think we should have cleaned that up entirely when we did this. So thank you.

I have no further speakers, Mayor.

All right, and then I will close the public comment for the public hearing. Moving on to mayor, council member discussion and council action. Anything from the mayor, from the council? If not, I will entertain for a motion.

Yes, go ahead. Yes, under that comment, can you address that comment as far as I see on here that liquor stores under M1 and M2 is not prohibited? I mean, it's prohibited, sorry. Is that correct?

Correct. We did leave convenience store in because we could see a use for a convenience store in industrial area. Your people in a warehouse going out on break wanting to grab a drink or something and not wanting to drive halfway across town. That one made sense to us, but general retail, we didn't see a place for that in industrial zones.

A liquor store is prohibited in M1 and M2?

Again, we have liquor stores in commercial areas. We didn't think that was something where somebody needed to step out on lunch and grab a quick beer, so we did take that out.

That's all I got. Thank you.

Is there anything else? I think it's always good that we look at our code or update our city code so that it can be in line with state requirements and all that. I appreciate that you stopped looking to this. And with that, I move to approve this item. Second.

Thank you, I have a motion made by Mayor Nguyen, seconded by Vice Mayor Monzo. This is to introduce for first reading an ordinance entitled, An Ordinance of the Mayor and City Council of the City of Westminster, California, approving a zoning text amendment, case number 2025-0113, amending Title 17 of the Westminster Municipal Code, Chapter 17.230, Industrial Zoning Districts. Read by title only and waive further reading. I'll go ahead and call roll. District 1, Councilwoman Fan West.

Fan West, yes.

District 3, Councilmember Nguyen. Yes. District 4, Councilmember Nguyen. Yes. Vice Mayor Monzo. Yes. Mayor Nguyen. Yes. Motion carried 5-0.

Then we go that lead us into regular business and 5.1 approval of hour of state travel for council members to attend the Association of California Cities, Orange County, a provision as ACC.OC, 2025 Washington DC evocation trip from October 20 to 23, 2025. I will start out with this. I was there last year and I can tell you that it was a very productive trip because we have a chance to meet with different departments. It will be a busy day for whoever attending from early in the morning until late in the evening. But it's very, very productive for us to learn and from what we can actually ask for the funding for the city. I know that we were there the last year of the administration and the funding is not there anymore. But I learned that there are many, many opportunities for us to go directly for the funding instead of going through the county or the state. This time, I believe that it's going to be different personnel, different people, because it's different administration. So I don't doubt that there will be different bodies in different departments. It's also a beginning of the new administration, so I think it's very useful for us. to be there, to talk to them, to make connections so that we can bring, hopefully that we can bring the revenue back to the city. So at this point here, I would like to open up for any council idea or input. Mayor? Yes, Vice Mayor.

Thank you. Well, I mean- I see here that on the staff report, you are interested in attending and I think it's only, I think it's justified since you're the mayor that you go. So I think it's a good look for our city to have our mayor there. and you know as far i think last time last year you and the vice mayor ho was the ones who attended so i think it just makes sense that both you and the current vice mayor myself attend so that's my my input on that all right thank you any any other input um mr mayor

So I think this is important. Like you were saying, Mr. Mayor, this is the new administration. It's nice for us to go as a council of this body, government body locally to come there, that we can make relationship, that we bring funding support back to Westminster. Like you said, Mr. Mayor. And I think that's important. And I believe that all of us have different gifts and talents that we can reach different people, different departments to get what we need back to the city to benefit for the people of Westminster. So I think this is great opportunity for each of us to get involved. Those who can make it, I think it's beneficial for the city, Mr. Mayor. So with that, I yield back.

Okay, is there any other comments, input or recommendations?

Well, that's the case.

I would like to ask staff, do we have the budget for, I understand from the staff report there are four of us want to attend, and I don't know that we are budgeted for that amount. Like I said, the trip is very, you know, is helpful, very helpful for staff, but at the same time, we have to understand that we have limited budget. I understand that too. I want to thank Vice Mayor that mentioned Last time I was there, almost every mayor is hard there. So it's very important for the people who talk to the mayor. If the council choose not to have me, then I will respect you. But I understand that it's very important for the mayor to be at this kind of meetings. to meet with the people, and I'll be your voice over there. Last time it's only me, but if this time we can elect two, I think it's better to have two, and if budget permitted, then we can do more. But if we have to go for two, then maybe I don't know what other methods of doing this besides that we have to do the drawing and something like that for the lottery for the winner. So I don't know. I want to throw it out so you can discuss. So back to the city manager. are we budgeted or is there a limitation for all of us to attend?

So the way that we allocate your training and meetings budget is in our budget we allocate $25,000 and that covers any conferences, meetings, trips such as this for your entire fiscal year for all five of you. And so we do take into account some of these conferences, etc. Obviously costs increase every year and we don't always know what the cost is when we're doing our budget allocation. So you have $25,000 minus whatever's been expended so far for upcoming events such as the league conference, et cetera. If you opt to whatever you decide to spend, whether it's to send one person or spend four people, or for council members rather, it's gonna come out of this budget. That just means that you have less money to use for upcoming trainings and meetings for the rest of this fiscal year.

Oh, I understand when you say, you know, we have less money to use. We still have, you know, we're in August, so we have until the end of the year, which is we just... We're just barely getting started with this fiscal year. And where are we right now from the budget? We are less, but, you know, like after this, we are broke or we still have a dollar left. That's the difference.

Yes. So this trip is going to cost about $3,400 estimating. So that includes the $3,250-ish cost that takes into account airfare. And then you get a $50 per diem per day. And so do the math on that. It's a big amount of your total annual budget. If the council decides that you wanna allocate more, it has to come from somewhere else. So something else has to give in order for you to increase that amount. And that's really at the discretion of the council.

Okay, with that, I hear there are three different ideas from Vice Mayor Menzo. He recommended that the mayor and the vice mayor are going to be there. I think it's also a good recommendation. There's another recommendation that because it was a good recommendation to advocate for the city, then Council Member West recommend that we are going, except for Council Member Mark Nguyen, he doesn't want to, he doesn't have time to do that.

Mr. Mayor, I'm not going. Give me finish.

And the second one, the third one is to have drawing if we need to. So I just summarize, there are three different recommendations. Now let me go back to, before I ask Council Member Nguyen to speak, I believe that Council Member West wanted to speak, right?

I just want to verify with city manager. So what other event we have toward the end of this year besides this trip to Washington DC? Are there other trip that we need to take?

Well, so this budget, so as far as trips go, The League of California Cities Conference, that's gonna be taken into account. Registration for that is usually around the $600 range, but you're not having to fly because it's in Long Beach this year, so take into account that. Any of those state of the cities that you attend, other events that you get invited to that you attend, meetings, trainings, Those all come into play, but generally for the council, it's generally the lead California cities and a lot of the offshoot individual events. So as of right now, we only have one.

I'm sorry. We only have one more left, right?

Well, that's the only one that we know of right now. Some of the events don't come into play. In the spring, there's usually the ACCOC Sacramento advocacy trip. So that one is accounted for in this budget as well. So keep that one in mind. I don't have the cost off the top of my head for that. What else is there? Oh, and the new council member and mayor conference that happens at the league, but I don't think that one's happening this year.

Okay, so basically for this year, because every year that 35,000 reset, is that correct in January?

Yeah, it's 25,000 and it actually is fiscal year, so it started this July. So you do have to take into account everything that's happening through June 30th of next year. And so some of those things we don't know until we're invited.

Okay. And then, okay, so that's what I wanted to know. Okay, thank you.

Council Member Nguyen, please.

What did you say?

I said that I'm not going to go. Okay, so you guys can use the budget for whatever that you guys want.

Okay, so what do you want to say? Okay. And Mr. Mayor, I want to add something too. Withdrawal from initial recommendation.

So Mr. Mayor, I want to add something too. If it helps to save money, we have, you know, other way that we don't need a city to pay for rooming and boarding. I mean, that we can take care of it. If that's going to save some money for you guys.

I don't think that's the case. I believe that the city manager have a reason for it.

So just to add to that, sorry, Mr. Mayor, the registration, I want to say, does include their lodging, but it doesn't include their airfare. I think that's the way it plays out. I don't have it in front of me, the information yet. It's not updated on their website. Let me take a look here. It is. Oh yeah, the price of registration does not include airfare or transportation, but it does include the lodging, which is where the airfare is accounted into that $3,200.

Okay, so $3,200 without council member Nam Quang?

No, it's $3,200 per council member. And that's with our estimate for what airfare would look like based on if we were to book your airfare now. The registration for the actual event itself is $2,250. So it's... it's a generally rough estimate. So it just depends what airline you take and when you fly out, that cost could be less, it actually could be more.

I just want to mention that last time I was there, I don't think that any city have three council members there. I'm talking about some mayors and city council. But it's up to the city council want to have three people represent the city for stronger voice, then be it.

May I, Mayor? Yes, please. So since Council Member Nam Quang Nguyen opted to not, he's not currently not interested anymore. And then we also have a Council Member Mark Nguyen who indicated he's not interested. And then we have a Council Member West, which I believe we have sanctions as far as having her be able to represent our city outside of our city, if you remember. So that, I think that only leaves two of us, so.

I just want to clarify this before you motion. I just want to clarify. I understand that the censure that we have against Council Member West was applicable for all the function that she represent. Is it apply for this one, City Attorney?

So for clarification, it was only for outside government agencies that she served as a representative from the city of Westminster.

I understand. Thank you for clarifying that. Again, back to my original comment. I think it's, like I said, you should be there if you're a mayor. And I, like myself, because I'm vice mayor, and I think if two are gonna go, those are the two that should go. So unless Councilmember Marquand doesn't have any input, that is my motion for mayor and vice mayor to attend.

Mr. Mayor, last comment. I just really appreciate how you have that experience last year and you know firsthand how beneficial it is and how it will help the city and help all of us if we do go, those who could go. And I think bottom line is we want the best for our city. And I think we always will have the funding for it if it's benefiting the city. And with that, I would love to have that experience, Mr. Mayor, and how we can help bring back what needs for the city from funding to maybe support for the city. I think it's very important from what your experience, you think it's very beneficial. So I would love to experience that. So what your, is there- My motion is since there's only three of us, if three of us can be approved to go. And if we need to, I mean, I can have rooming, you guys don't have to pay for my rooming, and that would be fine.

Well, please, it is for the council to be discussed, please. Okay, so there's another motion. We haven't got a second for anything yet. It's very difficult, a very difficult decision to make. I understand that every council have the right to request to attend, to represent the city in different functions. And this is, like I said earlier, it's very important. It's very important for the mayor and the vice mayor to attend. However, there is a third person from the council. If we have Council Member McEwen continue to insist to going, then I think that we have to limit it. But for this one, I kind of open up for the three to go. It is, like I said, I don't want to give up my position because I know that I can be effective to be there to represent the city. Because they look around to see whether the mayor is there or not. I can tell you that for the fact. So I don't know whether I should give up my seat for you two. The only thing I think is if you really insist on that, then we go ahead and see if we can, all three of us are going.

Mr. Mayor, can I speak?

Yes, Council Member Quang Nguyen.

Yeah, you know what, there's no doubt that, you know, you and as a mayor, you know, should go and, you know, Vice Mayor Manzo should go also. But I think, you know, what is the difficult, how much that we going to spend for to open up one more position, one more seat for the rest of the council to join you guys.

And I just feel like I will contribute more than what the cost will be for me flying there. I think the outcome will weigh more and more value to us as the council, local government here, to the mayor, but also to the city. So I think weighing it out, I think it will benefit us more.

I don't think that the case, as I said earlier, because once you go with the city function, then the city is responsible for that. Otherwise, it will involve liability. So therefore, either you go or you don't go. You can't be paying part of it. Okay. One thing that I have to let you know that if you represent the city and at that function, it has to be for the city. Anything that you speak on behalf of the city can't be on the personal level.

Absolutely.

It is very, very, be careful about that because it can't be at the personal level, but for the city and for the city only. So with that, I don't mind to second you for the three people to go.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm your second. Oh, you're my second, okay.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So is there any other suggestion or motion on this?

Well, I already made a motion, but I guess I can make a substitute motion. My substitute motion is to have you, the mayor, and myself go. As you can see, we have to stretch our dollars out to last us the whole fiscal year. And I really don't see the need for three members of the council to be there. So... As you've mentioned, I'm sure it's pretty typical for the mayor and vice mayor there's going to be two that those two positions go. I just I'm trying to be fiscally responsible here. One other suggestion for any future I know last year there was a local one here in Long Beach and one or two members of the council elected to have the expense of a hotel room when the event was local. not taking into account the fiscal responsibility that we have to stretch the dollars out too, that's one way to, one example of, you know, not looking out for the best interest so if in any future we need to be conscious about that if it's local at least we can drive there you know drive to the location um but for this one i think it's the fiscal thing to responsibility to do is to have two members go so that's my sub substitute motion is to have yourself, the mayor and vice mayor, which this year is myself. Next year it can be somebody, another member of the council would be vice mayor. So that to me, that's the responsible thing to do is to have two. So that's how I feel. So that's my substitute motion. Hopefully there's a second, we'll see.

Ms. Vice Mayor, I really appreciate your opinion of fiscal responsibility because that's so important for the mayor. I know that for the fact and for all of us on here on the dais. It is super important as we have increased the 1% at 1.5 now in the city. But the thing is that Mr. Mayor, I know you are a great investor. And when you know, when you invest a seed money into something that you have experienced, and upon this council board here, that each of us have different gifts and skills. And I know with that seed money for me to go, I know we can bring back for you, Mr. Mayor, and also for the city of Westminster. And I know with me coming, I know I can give a different aspect and I can help with that, Mr. Mayor. And that's how I see it more in addition, not a subtraction for the city of Westminster. So Mr. Mayor and Ms. Vice Mayor, I really would appreciate you guys consider that.

Usually I would support this, but this is the beginning of the fiscal year. We only have $25,000. There's going to be other conferences, so I'm going to second Vice Mayor Monzo's motion.

Okay, so was that a substantive motion? Yes. Okay, before we call the vote. Mr. Mayor, can I?

Yes, Council Member Nguyen. Thank you, Mayor. I remember last time that when we came across something like this, I think it's exactly the same thing. That you are willing to give up your seat for Council Member Carlos at the time. and vice-mayor Hall, and you are willing to pay up the pocket for the trip yourself, right? So we appreciate that, but then I think the city manager came up and said, noticed us because of the liability. Correct. And so we voted to put you back on the three people on the trip. So with that, I think, How come we don't add a little extra money to help a new member, a new council member to gain the experience to help the city out? That's all I need to know, I want to say.

Okay, I hear you. I hear each and every one of you. I know that it's a very difficult decision to make. At this time here, I know that the Council Member West insists on going. And we have the motion, the substantive motion to have two people going, which is for the Mayor and the Vice Mayor. That motion will go first, and then we'll go for the second motion, motion by Council Member West and seconded by me. So why don't we go ahead if there's no further.

Is there a way for us to find out How much we spent on the trip last year? I don't know. I don't know if it's a difficult thing to do.

Are you asking about the trip or the budget in general?

Well, I guess both. Did we go over budget last year or did we stay under the total?

I think our finance director should be able to pull up the, well, she'll be able to pull up what we spent last year in total. I don't know how quickly we can, with what we have right now, pull up what was spent last year. I think last year registration on that particular event was slightly less.

I want to say it was... Just to clarify, you're talking about the trip with the three people or the last trip for me?

I think last year was in which you and the vice mayor attended the Washington, D.C. trip. I just want to put something out there for clarification. I just want to be, you know, how do you say this, transparent and open with my comments and just want people to understand. I really don't, I wouldn't like, Council Member Nam Kong-Wen stated in his comments, and he makes sense about the, how we made an exception for three members of council to attend the vegas icsc trip um so yeah he he is correct in that that observation but the reason i i'm objecting i guess i am objecting to council member west attending this type of this type of um trip is not it's basically it's based i'm out front it's on past actions on her conduct um her conduct when we're out in in public when we're out in other events she has proven over and over again that her um Her agenda is not the city. I've been on trips before and her effort is not there. And if it was, I'd be your advocate. But it's not.

Can you show me proof where my action...

I'm not going to get in a debate with you. Because if you don't show proof, you're accusing me. And I don't like to be accused. And it's been observed by... myself, others on this council and other members who attended these other events who have asked about your presence, why aren't you there? Aren't you supposed to be there? And so I don't want to get into that debate. I'm just being open and honest with my comments. I have no problem advocating for you if that was if your actions have proven to be just the cause for the benefit of this community, but your actions prove that it's not. So that is why, like I said, Council Member Namkwan Nguyen, observation was correct when we made an exception for three members to attend that particular event. We needed that third Council Member that was very helpful. It was a lot to do at the event and a lot of ground to cover. So three members made, having that extra member made all the difference in the world. That is why. I personally, I feel again that the mayor needs to be there. And just as last year, the vice mayor was there. That was Vice Mayor Kimberly Ho at the time. This year, I happen to be the vice mayor. Next year, it's gonna be somebody else. If you go next year, I'm going to suggest that the mayor go and whoever the vice mayor is next year, they go. So that's how I feel. All right.

Are we clear on everything?

Mr. Mayor, I really appreciate that.

Why don't we go with you first? Me, Mr. Mayor? Yes.

Okay, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Vice Mayor, I respect you. But when you accused another colleague of action, please prove it with facts. I never would accuse you that you misrepresent or you're out there for yourself. I think that's really selfish and demeaning. for another colleague who's selected by the people. I know your supporter are out here on the audience here, and they will repeat what you say. But for many of my District 1 people, and also people I know at different events who see me, I represent the city of Westminster. So I think it's important, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Vice Mayor, if I offend you in any way, I'm more than happy to apologize if I offend you. But the thing is that, Mr. Vice Mayor, please, Like, don't accuse your colleague, you know, of not representing the city when we work all really hard to fight for the city. And I know you, Mr. Vice Mayor, you work really hard to fight for your city and your district. Likewise for me and Mr. Mayor as well for the whole city. And so Mr. Mayor, with that, I hope you guys understand. I think it's important. I think it's more giving back to you, the council here than the mayor and also for the city. And I know it will be more beneficial if you, I don't think it costs much money, but the outcome, the return for the investment in the city, I think for this trip, it will be more beneficial than the latter.

Thank you. Thank you. I believe the staff have some comment. Right? Okay.

She's coming up.

All right, so good evening. I'm having a little bit of, I can't sign in, so I can't get you the total cost for last year, but I do have the total spent on training from the council budget last year was $34,600, so it actually went over. We were able to transfer some money from some other accounts with savings, but it did go over last year.

Okay, thank you.

Is that for that trip department?

No, I can't get the detail. I'm not able to sign in for that particular trip, but that is the total training and meeting cost in the city council program for the 24-25 fiscal year. Okay.

Sorry, I have an old invoice or information from last year that the total fee for registration, including the hotel rooms for both yourself, Mayor Nguyen, and Vice Mayor Ho, was $3,700. But I can't verify if that included the airfare, and I don't believe it did.

Okay. Okay. All right, we have subject motion on the floor and the motion, I think at this point, I think we hear enough. And each council, I respect that you have your decision to make. And I know that you will make your decision based on the best for the city. So why don't we go ahead and call for the vote for the subject motion.

Thank you, Mayor. We have a substitute motion made by Vice Mayor Monzo, seconded by District Three, Council Member Nguyen. This is to approve Mayor Nguyen and Vice Mayor Monzo to travel to Washington, D.C. for the 2025 ACCOC Advocacy Trip from October 20 to 23, 2025, and provide direction to staff, but yes. So I'll go ahead and call roll for the substitute motion. District One, Councilman Fan West.

Um, Fan West saying no.

District 3, Council Member Nguyen.

Yes.

District 4, Council Member Nguyen.

Um, I want to say something, yeah, before I vote. Um, with respect to Mr. Mayor and, uh, Vice Mayor Carlos Manso, I, I want to vote yes for this. But then because I really want you guys to include one extra members of the city council on the trip, so I have to vote no. No.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Monzo.

Yes.

Mayor Nguyen.

No.

Substitute motion failed, two, three. I'll go to the original motion.

Please.

I'll go to the original motion on the floor, which motion was made by District 1, Councilwoman Fan West, seconded by Mayor Nguyen. This is to approve Mayor Nguyen, Vice Mayor Monzo, and District 1, Councilwoman Fan West, to travel to Washington, D.C. for the 2025 ACC-OC Advocacy Trip from October 20 to 23, 2025. I'll go to call roll. District 1, Councilwoman Fan West.

Fan West, yes.

District 3, Councilmember Nguyen.

No.

District 4, Council Member Nguyen.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Monzo. No. Mayor Nguyen.

I wanted to say before I vote. I understand that, hold on please. Your turn to speak already done. It's my turn now, please. With the city, with almost 100 residents here, I think with the amount that we're talking about, it's not that much to spend. If we know that the investment that we are going to invest in, that will pay back. At this point here, I understand you and I also have the past that we live in and I want to make sure that if And I saw your action before too from various meetings or seminar that sometimes you don't represent the city business. And sometimes that you are going on a personal level. And that's the reason why I've said that if you represent the city, you have to truly represent the city because we don't want to spend money for you to be there and represent yourself or make a case for yourself or make connection for yourself, but for the city. However, I think that if you are insisting doing that, I think that we will try to invest in you to see if there is any difference in that. And I don't mind if there are four people going, then I will not approve this. But with the three people, I think we can live with that for now, so that we can see what the outcome is. I know that this costs money, it's physical responsibility, just like Vice Mayor mentioned about. But if we live the past and we don't look into the future, And we continue to go that route. We can ever, ever work together on this council to move the city forward. I am willing to do this this time, and I hope that you are working with the city council to make it better for the city of Westminster. So my vote is yes.

Motion carried, 3-2. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

All right, we can move on to item 5.2, appointment to the Westminster State Parade Foundation. So I understand that we have several people apply for this, so we can go ahead and appoint people.

Yes, just for clarification, we received four applications. One of the applications was received to my office after the posting of the agenda, which was included in the late communication memo. But we did receive a total of four.

Yes. So I'm looking for direction on who you- We have four people applying for this, so we're still missing one, right? Correct. I don't know what we can go with the fall, because I believe that the time is running out. We are in the middle of August now, and I believe that the state parade is on the 17th of February of next year, right? So we don't have that much time to establish the commission in order for them to run and do the fundraising. And we don't want to fall into the same thing as the last year, that we don't have any additional money to subsidize the TID. So I think that we should move forward with appointing four, and then hopefully that by next meeting we will have the fifth one. All right, go ahead and call for it. Can I? Yeah, council member.

Each of us is going to make our nomination?

Yes.

Okay, if I'm allowed.

Yes, please, Vice Mayor Manzo.

My nomination is going to be Johnny Nguyen. Johnny Nguyen.

Before we do that, let's say that the person that we have not received the application, can the council appoint today?

That's up to the council's discretion.

Okay, okay. So if council representative, you can appoint one based on your selection. And if you don't have the person today, for whatever reason, you can appoint the person that you think that they are going to accept the responsibility, then we can vote on that too. So yes, start with Vice Mayor Benson. John? Johnny. Johnny Nguyen. Johnny Nguyen. Okay, what happened to Council Member McQueen?

Well, my nomination is Susan Pham.

Okay, how about Council Member Nam Quang Nguyen? Let's go with Council Member- West. Yeah.

Do you mind circling back to me? Can you go back to me, Mr. Mayor?

Yes, okay. Do you have anyone that you want to?

There are four members applying already. Okay.

I look at them all, and I think that they all qualify. They are very good, you know, based on the application.

Mr. Mayor, there are five of us, and then four people applied.

But do you have anyone that you want to choose?

Yeah, can you circle back to me?

I have no one to circle back.

Okay, I'll go, Mr. Mayor. It's okay. You know, I was looking at this briefly. I didn't get a chance to call like I would love to call. But looking at their description and their experience and expertise, I'm really impressed with Andy Lack. And I would appoint Andy Lack for this foundation.

All right, and now. Yeah, I'll pick Susan, Susan Pham. Say that again, please. That applicant was already selected. Susan, okay. She's already picked?

Yes, the only application that has not been selected is Monique Nguyen.

I will select Monique Nguyen.

Okay, so then all the applications that are on file have been selected.

So do we have four now?

Yes, we have four appointments based off of the four applications received. So we don't have any further applications. If Council Member Nguyen would like to make an appointment without an application, you could do so at the Council's discretion.

I'll pick someone else next time.

Okay. All right. We can defer it to the next meeting. So we have four nomination and I can read right here. I think we have based on this Andy Lack. Susan Queen Home Farm, Johnny Hill Wing, and then Monique. Yes. So I guess that we can go with a slate. So my motion is motion to approve.

Second. I second it.

I think, I believe that's the Vice Mayor. We're second on that.

Yeah, and if I may say a couple- Yes, please. Thank you, Mayor. This really for the sake of saving taxpayer dollars as far as this big event that we hold every year here in Westminster. I hope that this foundation is a success and we make sure we don't do anything to get in the way of that success and we help them achieve this success. For that sake, I wish this foundation well, so hopefully we can get something done.

I will second Vice Mayor Manzo. And the whole purpose for this one is to make sure that we have, if not all, then we have money to subsidize for the tit parade. And these are the volunteers, and I want to thank them. for taking the time to volunteers into the committees. And I'm pretty sure that they have to work hard in order to, raise funds for the tip parade, and I hope that we'll be successful. That's my hope. So I would ask you from staff, from council, from staff, and everyone here to support the committees so that they can do their job. So with that, we have seconded motion on the floor. Would you please call the roll call?

Thank you, I have a motion made by Mayor Nguyen, seconded by Vice Mayor Monzo. This is to appoint the following members to the Westminster Tet Parade Foundation. Mayor Nguyen appointment, Monique Nguyen. Vice Mayor Monzo's appointment, Johnny Nguyen. District one, Councilwoman Fan West's appointment, Andy Lack. District three, Councilmember Nguyen's appointment, Susan Pham. District four, Councilmember Nguyen's appointment will be deferred to the next meeting. I'll go to call roll. District one, Councilwoman Fan West.

Fan West, yes.

District 3, Council Member Nguyen.

Yes.

District 4, Council Member Nguyen. Yes. Vice Mayor Monzo.

Yes.

Mayor Nguyen. Yes. Motion carried 5-0. That lead us into 6.1 designation of- Sorry, we moved an item from the consent calendar to now be heard as 5.3. So now we have a 5.3 on the agenda.

5.3. All right, so we have late communication, and that's move 5.3, which is acceptance of the State of California Jobs First Regional Investment Initiative grant administered by Charitable Ventures on behalf of the Orange County Business Council. Would you please clarify on this, please?

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and members of Westminster City Council. The item before you, as mentioned, is the acceptance of the Jobs First grant award. And to provide a little background on the grant itself or prior to the grant is I want to talk about the Little Saigon Blueprint for Investment. So this was a study that was commissioned in 2020 by the city council regarding Little Saigon. The purpose of the study was to develop engagement around what the community wanted to see in Westminster's Little Saigon area. The consultant was directed to focus on developing implementable strategies, focus on economic vitality, and boosting regional tourism, as well as really paying attention to the cultural significance of the area. After the study concluded in 2021 and was presented and approved by Council, the team at Street Sense along with Council and the community identified implementable strategies. On this graphic that you see in front of you, those are the nine strategies that the study determined would be implementable strategies in order to improve the Little Saigon area. The items that have the green dots are items that related to the jobs first grant. Items with the blue dots did not relate or we did not receive enough funding to fund those items. Those items that are in the green circles include appointing the outreach leader, develop district branding and marketing tactics, pilot a soap and water program for the Little Saigon businesses, and then implement possible street furniture and landscape along Bolsa Avenue. So then going to the grant, staff became aware of the jobs first grant, which is a state initiative. Funds were regionally allocated to Orange County. And Orange County had 4.6 million available in funding in this round. It was important to note that the Orange County region focused on specific areas. Their concerns were to create high paying jobs, which is considered a full time job making at least $48,000 a year. They also focused on specific sectors, including tourism, healthcare, construction, education, and then ultimately their goal was to build equitable and sustainable economies. So we applied and the title of our grant application was Westminster's Little Saigon Blueprint for Economic Vitality and Quality of Place. It married the four components that were applicable from the blueprint into the grant specifications. We were successful and received or were awarded $250,000 in these four project areas. I can describe the amounts that were allocated to each. It's also included in your staff report. So staff is recommending a variety of actions that are, some of them are administrative and related to things that need to change. For example, signing of the contract, changing the Little Saigon outreach leader position from a part-time position to a full-time position, which is fully grant funded. And then because that position moved from part-time to full-time, it became necessary to adopt resolutions adjusting the part-time salary schedule and then also adjusting the administrative full-time schedule as well. And then we would, because the budget has already been adopted this year, we would need to make an amendment to the budget to include the revenue of the $250,000 from the grant and then assign the 250,000 in the various areas within the city manager's department to execute the grant. And this concludes my report. Myself and our economic development manager are both here to answer any questions you may have.

All right. Myself, I have a chance to meet with staff to go over this item. during staff and council meeting, myself and staff only. I can understand it very well right now. I don't have any problem with that. So with that, I will move to approve. But at the same time, you know, if you have any questions, by all means, go ahead and, you know, Raise the questions.

I'll second it. And I just have a question, Mayor.

Yes, please, Vice Mayor.

On one of the bullet points that are in the blue, which is the established civic arts program, I understand you said it's not covered under this grant. Is that something that we can... Is there an avenue for that through the Arts Commission to look into that?

Yes, if it's the council's direction, we can absolutely look into that, though it's not covered under the grant, which is what we're specifically talking about.

All right, all right. I think that you make a valid point on that, so I will second if you want to.

Yeah, if you want to amend it, give him direction to work on this, on the civic arts program.

With the condition that's going on right now, Everyone know about it that the million dollars is being asked. I think that this is very important for us to get ready on that too. So I second him instead of my motion.

Mr. Mayor, I think in order to clarify a little bit, I know that we were in the meeting with staff regarding this. And I think this is she explained it because I didn't quite understand as well. City Manager, when you talk about the water, the pilot soap and water program, maybe you can explain that a little bit, the beautifying part, because I think this is more in Councilman Nam Quang's district. So I just want, if you can elaborate on that, what you told us.

If you don't mind, I'll take that question. Please. Okay. So we met with Public Works to talk about what this might look like. Soap and water, it's a pilot program, so a soap and water program might look like power washing of exteriors. It might look like power washing of sidewalks, it might look like window cleaning, things of that nature that the city might, would likely contract, but maybe have staff do, depending on the cost. But those are some of the items that might be included, but most importantly, we're gonna hear from the community and hear what they want and what they believe a soap and water program might look like, and then with the help of the outreach worker and our public works department, the ideas, we would implement that.

And can you also add in there of the funding, Mr. Mayor brought it up, that is it Wells Fargo Bank that donate $26,000 that will go toward this to help us? So if you can elaborate on that, that would be great.

Sure, absolutely. So actually part of the grant had, there was an opportunity for us to indicate what matching funds the city had available, and so that Wells Fargo money was indicated in the grant application as part of the matching funds. for the position in order to convert that position from part-time to full-time, and then that's a fully burdened position.

Perfect, thank you.

Anything else from the City Council? If not, we'll call a roll call for the vote, please.

Thank you, can I just get clarification for the record on your amendment, Vice Mayor? It's to include working on civic art programs?

It was a question of if our arts commission can kind of take, because that's not covered under this grant. So I had the question was, can they work on that part of it?

And you want to include that in your motion?

Yes, we can allocate some of the money for that.

Yeah, because Shauna said that with our direction, correct? Yes. Yeah, so...

Okay, thank you. So I have a motion made by Mayor Nguyen, seconded by Vice Mayor Monzo.

It's turned back. He make the modification, so he is the motion maker and I would appreciate a second.

Okay, so I have a motion made by Vice Mayor Monzo, seconded by Mayor Nguyen. This is to approve the acceptance of the 2025 Jobs First Grant Award of $250,000 and authorize the city manager to execute the agreement on behalf of the city and convert the Little Saigon Outreach Coordinator class specification from a 20-hour part-time position to a full-time grant-funded position during the implementation of the Jobs First Grant and adopt a resolution entitled, A Resolution of the Mayor and City Council of the City of Westminster, California, revising resolution number 5311, amending the salary schedule for the management, administrative, and confidential employee for the period of July 1, 2023 through and including June 30, 2026, and adopt a resolution entitled a resolution of the mayor and city council of the city of Westminster, California, revising resolution number 5289, amending the salary schedule for the part-time employees of the city of Westminster for the period of July 1, 2023 through and including June 30, 2026, and amend the adopted fiscal year 2025-2026 budget by designating grant revenues of $250,000 and increasing budget expenditures in the City Manager's Department funds by $250,000 toward implementation of the grant funded project and direct staff to work with the Cultural Arts Center for engagement with civic arts. I'll go to call roll. District 1, Councilwoman Fan West.

Fan West, yes.

District 3, Councilmember Nguyen. Yes. District 4, Councilmember Nguyen. Yes. Vice Mayor Monzo.

Yes.

Mayor Nguyen. Yes. Motion carried 5-0.

6.1 designation of voting delegates and alternate. Can be two for 2025 annual Lit of California Cities conference to be held in Long Beach, California. I will be attending, so I guess that I will be delegate for that. So we probably have to look for the first or second alternate, if you will. Am I correct? Okay.

I'll be attending as well. I can be either first or second. Okay.

So we have Vice Mayor Manzo is going to volunteer for the first alternate. Is there a second alternate?

I can be the second alternate.

Okay. We have a councilwoman. Wes is going to be a second. Is there anything else from the council? If not, call for a vote.

Can I get a motion and a second, please?

Motion to approve. I second it.

Thank you. I have a motion made by District 4, Council Member Nguyen, seconded by District 1, Councilwoman Van West. This is to designate Mayor Nguyen as the delegate and Vice Mayor Monzo as the first alternate and District 1, Councilwoman Van West as the second alternate for voting purposes at the 2025 League of California Cities Annual Conference in Long Beach, California. I'll go to call roll. District 1, Councilwoman Van West.

Van West, yes.

District 3, Council Member Nguyen.

Yes.

District 4, Council Member Nguyen.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Monzo. Yes. Mayor Nguyen. Yes. Motion carried 5-0.

6.2, consideration of an urgency ordinance placing the moratorium on the approval of any housing development project in the housing overlay, which is less than 30 drawing units per net acre. Case number 2025-0166. Staff report, please.

Thank you, Mayor, members of the City Council. I'm Sheri VanderDusen, I'm the Interim Director of Community Development. The city council adopted mixed use zoning for many areas with the city back in 2022. These zones allow a maximum of 36 or 40 dwelling units per acre. The council also adopted a housing overlay that covers many of the properties in the mixed use districts. The overlay requires a minimum density of 20 dwelling units per acre. On this map, the light blue sites are within the mixed use 36 zone. The darker blue sites are within the mixed use 40 zone. And the housing overlay is depicted with the red hash marks. And I'm sorry it's so hard to see so far away. When the housing element was adopted in March of 2023, the city was required to identify sites where housing could occur to meet our share of the regional housing needs allocation. Many of these sites are within the housing overlay. The sites in the mixed use zone were assumed to develop at 85% of the maximum density or 31 to 34 units per acre. The city has received inquiries about developing properties within the housing overlay at densities closer to 18 or 20 units per acre, which is less than 60% of the maximum density. If properties within the housing overlay are allowed to develop at densities this low, there will be a substantial shortfall of housing inventory sites to accommodate the city's portion of the regional housing needs allocation. The housing overlay sites are all within the mixed use 36 and 40 zones. The council may recall that efforts are underway to increase the permitted densities in these districts. The anticipated density increase is further justification to establish a higher minimum density standard in this zone. To ensure that the housing inventory sites are developed at a density closer to what was anticipated in the housing element, staff is recommending that the mayor and city council adopt an urgency ordinance that will impose a moratorium on approving any housing development of less than 30 dwelling units an acre. in the housing overlay. An urgency ordinance is recommended because changes in housing law provide the ability to vest a project at the development standards in place on the day that a preliminary application is filed. It's necessary to immediately prevent lower density projects in the housing overlay sites. Meanwhile, staff is already preparing a draft ordinance formally amending the zoning code to increase the minimum density from 20 to 30 dwelling units an acre in the overlay. This draft ordinance will be presented to the Planning Commission next week on August 20th, and you'll see it at the city council on September 10th. If it's approved by the council after a second reading, the permanent ordinance will be effective at the end of October. It's important to note that no minimum density requirements would be placed on sites outside the housing overlay. Some of the sites excluded from the overlay are still within the mixed use districts. Properties covered by specific plans and within the residential zones, R1 through R5, are also outside the housing overlay. Adoption of this urgency ordinance will still leave ample opportunity for all types of development throughout the community. Adoption of this moratorium is categorically exempt from CEQA under the common sense exemption. The ordinance doesn't provide for any change in development capacity beyond that which currently exists and was already identified in prior EIRs. Because an urgency ordinance will take effect immediately, adoption requires a four fifths vote. Staff recommends that the council adopt the ordinance attached to the staff report. At the recommendation of the city attorney, I would like to propose that the council include additional findings that were distributed to you by the city clerk. These findings are also available at the speaker's table. I'd like to read the additional findings into the record. These would go at the bottom of page two of the proposed ordinance. Whereas city staff have received inquiries from at least three different parties, which have indicated that they are strongly considering developing some of the properties that are subject to this ordinance at densities below 30 dwelling units per acre. And whereas state law has been amended such that in general, an application for a housing development project locks in the laws which are in place at the time that an application for a housing development project is submitted. And whereas absent a moratorium, the city would not have the ability to prevent housing development projects that are between 20 and 30 dwelling units per acre. And the city would forever lose the ability to have a high density housing project, which would assist the city in being able to provide more housing in the city to better allow the city to meet its RENA requirements. And whereas for all of the above reasons, the city council finds that there is a current and immediate threat to the public health, safety and welfare if the identified properties are developed with housing, which is not at least 30 dwelling units per acre. and that the approval of additional subdivisions, use permits, variances, building permits, or other applicable entitlement for use, which is required in order to comply with the zoning ordinance, would result in that threat to public health, safety, or welfare. This concludes my presentation, and I'd be happy to respond to any questions the Mayor and Council may have.

Thank you very much. And this time, I would like to open up for the City Council comments. Anything from the Council?

I have a question. Yes, please. This housing overlay, is there a low-income housing component in there?

There is not.

There is not? Is that something that we should have in there? Can we do that?

I'm sorry, I didn't hear the last part.

Can we have a low housing component and requirement in there?

As part of the housing element, the city council did not decide to impose a low income housing or an inclusionary housing requirement. That doesn't preclude the council from considering such in the future.

Okay, I don't know how much low income housing do we have in the city? Do we meet our numbers that we should have?

If you're interested in pursuing an inclusionary housing requirement, generally you need to do an economic study. It's not something we could just impose arbitrarily. We would need to look at doing some sort of study that would justify a percentage that we would be imposing.

How long would something like that take?

I could call around to other cities and find out what they have done, how long it's taken, and get back to you on that.

So if I may, as far as the studies required, so she is right that an economic study is mandatory if a city decides to impose greater than 15% affordable housing. It's not mandatory that you have a study. However, a number of cities do do a study because there's always the concern that if you impose that requirement, you might end up deterring the production of housing, which is sort of the opposite of what you're trying to accomplish.

No, I get that. I just get that. But we also have members of the community who need low-income housing. Okay, I think something that we need to look at though.

Yes, I believe that, I don't have any question on this one, but I believe that the urgency ordinance that require for fifth vote in order to have the pass today, that I saw it in the presentation. So I want to make sure that the council understand that.

Yes.

With that, I motion to approve.

I second it.

Thank you.

Yes, Council Member Mok, we have a question for you.

So the moratorium is only on the housing overlay, right?

It only applies to the housing overlay, that's correct. This is an indefinite moratorium? The moratorium is governed by state law, and it would apply for a specific period of time, but given that we are already in process of doing a formal zoning code amendment that would be in place by the end of October, the moratorium would only be in effect until the formal ordinance would be adopted and effective. All right, thank you.

All right, we have a motion and second on the floor. Rupert, please.

Thank you. I have a motion made by Mayor Nguyen, seconded by District 1, Councilwoman Fan West. This is to adopt an urgency ordinance entitled, An Urgency Ordinance of the Mayor and City Council of the City of Westminster, California, amending section 17.250.035, of the Westminster Municipal Code to amend the minimum density requirement for the housing overlay to 30 dwelling units per net acre and finding the ordinance to be exempt from CEQA under the common sense exemption of CEQA guidelines section 15061B3, read by title only and waive further reading. I'll go to call roll. District 1, Councilman Fan West.

Fan West, yes.

District 3, Councilmember Nguyen. Yes. District 4, Councilmember Nguyen. Yes. Vice Mayor Monzo. Yes. Mayor Nguyen. Yes. Motion carried 5-0.

All right. 7.1, appointments of members to the youth committees. I can go first on this. It is really surprising to me that we have a number, many, many people, or many youth that apply and volunteers in the committees. 31 applications were received and unfortunately we only choose 13 of that. Practically half of that. And what I see is that six of them are not, from the sub-report, six of them are not willing to go for the interview. So we are not talking about those six. But I'm talking about the 25 that we have. I see that we actually elect 11 out of 13 from the previous committee. There are only two new members addition to this time around. My question for you is, One is, how long is this committee, what is the duration or the term of this commission?

Their term is their full school year. But I can go ahead and invite either Vanessa Johnson or Gina to the podium to provide more context. But their full term is the full school year.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. Sorry, this is a little low for me. Yes, their term is September 1st through June 30th of the following year, so it falls in line with the school year.

I know it's good to have the previous members to come back and help us continue, but having 11 out of 13, I want to know that how many of these people have been serving more than once before?

So the 11 that are being proposed for reappointment have been on the committee for at least one year. Several of them have been serving for several years. And that's been the past practice, that if they're interested in serving, they reapply and are reappointed.

I'm all for the youth and young adult to volunteer in the committee, but to exclude a number of new members, I feel like we are kicking them away and we don't give them a chance. Is there any how that we can get them into different committees so that we can, it's hard to have the youth and young people to volunteer in a public,

Absolutely, so even though they are not officially appointed to the youth committee, we do invite them to participate in meetings, come to the events. So those that are interested in applying in the future that aren't appointed tonight, we encourage them to take part in the meetings, see how it works, come to the events. And then reapply next year with a little bit more experience and show them that they're interested still.

How successful that your encouragement have them come back?

If they're not appointed their first year? Mm-hm. We have most of them reapply, yeah. And they do attend when they can. They're very busy kids. These are the best of the students we have in Westminster. So when they are available, they do like to participate with the youth committee.

Yeah, so I don't have any doubt on your selection of the 13 here, but I just want to, you know, hopefully that you pay attention to see if we can get them involved somehow or give them the opportunity to, you know,

Absolutely. And typically what happens is those students graduate out of the youth committee. It just happened this year. There was only two seniors, which we recognized them back in June at the council meeting. So I believe there's... six that are going to be seniors this year who will open up six vacancies next year. And we try to stagger those years knowing that we don't want them all graduating and moving on. So we try to stagger those graduation years as well.

All right, thank you very much. I don't have any other questions, but I move to approve, but I still want to open up for the council to make questions, to ask questions.

I have a question. Yes, please. On the mayor's points, is it wise, or can we increase the number from 13 to, I mean, is it something we can do or should do? What do you think?

That's council direction. This is a very good working number. It allows for us to meet a quorum, to have meetings. They work well together at this capacity, but if the council's desire is to do that, it is possible.

I mean, you've been doing this for a while, so you best would know. I just thought I'd ask if increasing it is beneficiary.

Well, if that's the case, I would like to revise my motion to add two more. And also giving the staff liberty to choose the two best out of those that you have. I second that.

If I could just clarify, the membership of the committee is actually set by resolution. So we would have to bring a resolution back to amend the amount of members.

I will say in the past, we had an interesting membership makeup where we had... full members and then we had these alternate members and it became a little bit confusing at times. And so, you know, this is a great problem to have is having our youth very involved and very engaged. Certainly, I don't know that we would recommend expanding right now, especially since the school year is starting, but we can take a look at different things like maybe subcommittees that maybe work with some commissions or specialized projects, but they can certainly be invited and maybe we look at this the following year if there's still that desire to increase the membership.

Yeah, that's just like you said, a great problem. That's a great problem. So I guess, I guess, you know, I don't want, I don't want to wait any longer on this one. So we just move as is today. And then, you know, like the City Manager, if you can find, you know, some of the area that they can work on, they can help, you know, involve them any way that you can. So, go back. I second that. Back to original. Move to approve as is. Second.

Okay, thank you. I have a motion made by Mayor Nguyen, seconded by Vice Mayor Monzo, which is to approve appointing 13 members to serve on the Youth Committee for a term expiring June 30, 2026. This is to appoint Dylan Adong, Allen Dowell, Conlon Donahue, Jonier Gabrelli, Carla Lynn Huynh, Abigail Lizama, Andrew Rosette, Michelle Shim, Claire Tran, Mai Tran, Genevieve Valencia, Julian Arreola, and Fatima Khan. I'll go ahead and call roll. District 1, Councilwoman Fen West.

Fen West, yes.

District 3, Councilmember Nguyen. Yes. District 4, Councilmember Nguyen. Yes. Vice Mayor Monzo. Yes. And Mayor Nguyen. Yes. Motion carried 5-0.

Okay, appointments to Cultural Arts Commission. Consider the applications and appoint one member, may I appointee, to the Cultural Arts Commission to fill the unscheduled vacancy for term ending December 2027. This applies to me. I have a chance to review the application that the candidate turn in. Some of them already on either this committee or the other committee, and some of them are not. And they are qualified, they are good people to be appointed to the Cultural Arts Commission. No doubt it's difficult for me to choose the best candidate. But I would think that it is my thinking that somebody already under another commission then let have other have a chance to serve the city. So with that, I want to thank you all for applying. And my selection is I would like to choose and win, appoint and win to the Cultural Arts Commission. Is there a second to that? Second. Okay.

Thank you. I have a motion made by Mayor Nguyen, seconded by Vice Mayor Monzo. This is to appoint Ann Nguyen as Mayor Nguyen's appointee to the Cultural Arts Commission to fill the unscheduled vacancy for a term ending December 2027. I'll go ahead and call roll. District 1, Councilwoman Van West.

Van West, yes.

District 3, Council Member Nguyen. Yes. District 4, Council Member Nguyen. Yes. Vice Mayor Monzo. Yes. Mayor Nguyen. Yes. Motion carried 5-0.

We are at 8.30, so hopefully that we can end this meeting before we don't have to extend the meeting and be on the 10 o'clock, right? So at this point, I would like to open up for oral communication concerning the non-agenda items. So Madam Clerk, would you please read the instruction in the record?

Thank you. This is the time of the meeting. Members of the public may address the City Council regarding any non-agenda items that are within the subject matter jurisdiction. Unless otherwise extended by a majority vote of the City Council, comments shall be limited to three minutes per speaker. Any person wishing to address the city council in person should complete a yellow speaker slip, which are provided at both the entrance to the theater and public podium, and submit the card to a city clerk department staff member. When your name is called, please step to that podium at the time and state your name and city of residence for the record. Our first speaker is Michael Varengia, followed by Michael Trelessi. First is Michael Varengia, and then second is Michael Trelesi.

Thank you. Real quickly, If members of the council, when they participate in any ceremonies when there's going to be a flag raising, the United States flag takes precedence over every other flag in the rest of the world. Every one of them, and especially a flag that does not represent an existing country. Please remember that, pass that along to whoever's hosting this, that the US flag takes precedence and the US flag should actually be raised higher than any other country's flag. My second topic, I'm really distressed sitting up here and listening to the discussion about appointing people to represent this city back in Washington DC and here in Long Beach. This individual sitting up on that dais with you, all of the nasty, vile, disgusting comments that she made to her fellow council members. members of the public, and anybody that disagreed with her. But yet, you let her be appointed to go with you. She's been being sued, she's been censured, she's been restricted from representing the city for any other functions. And yet, we sat here and listened to her whining about going, and she got her way. I imagine if she didn't get her way, she would have held her breath till she fell off the dais or something. I don't know. Was it really necessary to actually include her with the two primary members of this council, the mayor and the vice mayor? That should have been it. Mr. Manzo clearly stated next year it's gonna be two different people possibly. We may have the same mayor, but obviously we're gonna have a different vice mayor. So why was she allowed to whine and get her way? What good is the lawsuit or is the city gonna drop the lawsuit? Like I said, all of the crappy stuff that we had to put up with as residents of this city, only to see her get rewarded. And I'm sorry, Mayor, if you're upset with me, but I'm just being upfront with you. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Michael Tilleslie. And then followed by Donald Link. Okay. After Michael is Terry Raines.

Good evening. My name is Michael Tilsley. I live on Benton Avenue in Westminster. And I've been here since 1995. You may remember me a couple of years ago when I spoke at the other city hall where we were talking about some stupid memorial, another Vietnamese memorial. And I said, well, I'm from England. I understand why you guys are homesick. Well, I'm homesick. So I'd like a castle. And I'm still wanting to know whatever happened with that castle, Carlos.

I'm working on it.

You're working on it? Okay, fair enough. And I noticed the mayor's going to I want to talk about this flag raising last week as well. Anybody who lives in this country that knows policy, that knows flag decorum, that served in the military, which some of us have done all of it, everybody knows you raise the American flag first. This is not Vietnam. This ain't nothing to do with Vietnam. This city was named after a city in my home country, Westminster, London. And if you'll notice, you can see all the buildings around Westminster. They all have the Tudor wood on the gable ends of the property. That is a typical thing in London, Westminster. That's what this city was named after. Not Ho Chi Minh City or wherever the hell you come from. It's nothing to do with that. Everybody's allowed in this country. I'm an immigrant, but I don't come here and force all my stuff on you lot. I never have done it and I never will. This whole dais, apart from Vice Mayor Manzo, should resign. You were the worst shareholder I have seen, made worse tonight, made worse tonight by you took half an hour. And the mayor, who has no gumption, no decision-making qualities, And by the way, Mayor, I don't know whether you heard what I've been talking about, why you went and took your little nappy break, but the point I was talking about was raising the flag a couple of weeks back. You were there. You hosted it. Do you know the American flag has to go up first? Are you aware of that? And if you're not aware of it, you should be as mayor of this city. And if you are aware of it and you allowed that other flag to be raised, you need to resign right now. And I call for your resignation right now. You are a disgrace to America. You're a disgrace to this city. And the only one who should be sitting in that seat is Vice President Manzo.

Thank you. Your time is up. And let me respond briefly on this, instead of waiting until the end. I would like for you to look up again before you can make a comment on that. Because I was with the police, WPD, talking about this already at one of their event. And they finally agree with me that the flag going first, the whole city is going to be last. Please, please, I'm not going to argue with you. Please, I'm not going to argue with you. I'm asking you to take a look at that. Next, please.

Our final speaker is Terry Raines.

Seven weeks since we met, so much has happened. August 2nd, the Mayor and Councilman Mark Nguyen presided over a disrespectful flag raising event across the street violating the US flag code section 7F. July 19th, the Mayor and Mark present held a Vietnamese language only town hall discussing official city business excluding the majority of constituents who don't speak Vietnamese. The Mayor misled his own people. He spoke about tearing down the Civic Center as if it's a planned project, false. Council ranked the Civic Center near the bottom of mixed use sites. He showed an archway design not approved by this council and said it was passed by the city and would be done by May, 2026, false. He referred to Westminster as our Vietnam, grossly insulting and false. He said he secured one acre of land to build his Vietnamese center, false. The historical society and the city jointly owned one half undivided interest each of the site. You need their approval to do anything, Charlie. He claimed the center will cost six to $8 million, false. No approved designer plans, so no estimate. He stated city taxpayer dollars would fund these projects in part. False. Council only approved a Blakey Park title report and archway study. He stated the Mexicans agree with him. False. He alluded to another secret project but wouldn't divulge the details. What's that about, Charlie? July 9th, Amy's motion to dismiss the case against her and Nam Kwan denied. Trial set for July 27, 2026. July 1st, the judge ruled victims shall be heard before a trial judge. August 11th, Amy was ordered to complete 20 hours of community service, pay $500 to a victim charity, $500 in fees, and to not violate any law during the one-year diversion, and attend another AB 123 ethics course where she bragged publicly that she learned she can't accept bribes, but she forgot to learn she can't imply or offer them. Amy deleted her courthouse post with a screenshot from my private Facebook group, a picture of her courthouse fans, most not from Westminster, and said, it's clear that a certain activist is desperate to take me down. She hates me because I speak out and fight for our families, our freedom, and our way of life. Newsflash, Amy, you just described an activist as yourself. I had nothing to do with you being charged. She also wrote, the case has been dropped. No criminal record, no crime committed. I've been vindicated. Newsflash, Amy, you were charged. Diversion is not vindication or innocence. It's an opportunity to rehabilitate yourself in exchange for no trial, no conviction, and case dismissal after one year only if you comply. Amy said the judge simply asked her to do things. You were ordered to, Amy. And they try to charge me on a bribery case because in the report there's no bribery committed that's politically motivated to drain me and my family emotionally, physically, and financially. Typical narcissistic twat wobble behavior, blaming others for her bad behavior. Amy, you're under court-ordered microscope for one year. The DA and judge may interpret these comments as disrespectful and lack of gratitude for the court's leniency through diversion and that you have no plans to change your evil ways. A formal public apology and 24 hours in the Women's Central Jail just might help that. Diverted criminal goes to DC. That's the tag tonight.

We have no further speakers, Mayor. We have no further speakers, Mayor.

Mr. Mayor. All right, thank you very much.

Mr. Mayor. Yes, Council Member West.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Brief comment please. Brief, yes. So it's interesting that someone who don't understand what diversion mean and also when it's dropped and the requirement to appease everyone. And with something that I'm already doing, AB123 is what every elected official get training every two years. Now I'm taking the same class again this year. So what's wrong with that? There's nothing hurting unless the judge say, if I want to continue, it will cost the taxpayer money and all and time. And I don't want to do that. We want to be resourceful. And that's what it is. And this is a witch hunt, and it needs to be stopped. So there's no, if it's dropped, because there's nothing in it. The only person who see the report is not you, Terry Ray. It is, then request a full report from the DA. If you report it, you should see.

Hold on, Council Member West, please.

But none of you guys see it except for.

Council Member West, please. Hold on. At this time, council comments, you have a chance to speak. We quietly wait to listen to you. So please right now, please right now, I'm asking you, I'm asking you politely, please let the council present themselves. Speak their mind and answer your questions. Okay, council member West, go ahead.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I really appreciate your leadership. So basically, you know, I do encourage you guys to go get the report, the full report from the DA's office and then make that decision for yourself. Because until then, then you have all the evidence and what is in it. There's no proof of bribery in that case. That's why it's dropped.

All right, okay, just briefly, if you can, please.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Okay, anything else from any council? Okay, then I will have a brief comment. You know the way that, how I am, I want to present it the way that from, because I know that the truth, I know what I'm doing. And if I, when I don't, then I will listen, and I will admit if I'm wrong. But when I'm right, I will stand up and firmly convey you by saying that firmly. And some of you might think that I am getting angry, be it. But I want to make sure that you understand. about what you mentioned. I have worked with PDs, I have worked with a lot of organizations, I have worked with staff. We actually look into this matter to see who is right, who is wrong. Because if you go out there, you can see a number of organizations, when they raise the flag, they raise their flag first before they raise the hosting country. And that's what it is. If I do it reverse, that means I am not respecting. I am doing this because I am respecting the rule, the law that, well, say whatever you want to say. All I ask is, please, let's work with each other. My office is open. If you want to, please come by. We can talk about it. We can iron it out. If you are right, I will... But if I'm right, you have to accept the truth. So that's all I have right now. So at this time, I would like to close the public comment. Business matters from city, council, and agency members. 9.1, cultural street name signs at four intersections in Little Saigon. For this item here, I believe that the staff clearly defined it in the staff report. I don't have it right here. Can I borrow somebody? I believe I took it out. I do have it. Okay, and it's clearly spelled out here in the in the stop report that that we received the feedback that the signs are currently hard to read. And the additional sign of the four key intersection of Little Saigon, we would like to make another sign. Of course, it's going to be additional cost, but not to the city, to the organization that they are funding it. And so at this time here, if you read the report, the cost for the new site, they are not doing all the site for all three streets, just only a few sites at the big intersection. So with that, they have which is on at Moran Street. And the as Magnolia Street on Bursa Street and then Broker Street at Bishop Place. And the cost for new site will be funded by non-profit organization without any cost to the city of the resident. At this point here, I know that they already have the check to the city for the $3,500. At the same time, the site is not, we're still going through that approval process. We're also talking about making the size. But the organization, the non-profit organization, they are willing to fund this for the cost of the new site. So at this point here, I would like to ask council to To approve, please approve this as you already approved the name of the street. This is nothing else besides we're adding more, adding the sign that is readable, clear to the people who travel at that intersection.

Mr. Mayor, I second you and I want to say as I read this report that you are very responsible that you make sure that there's funding for this and you're not costing the city anything and I applaud you for that. And since this is a name that already on the signs out there that's approved by the council, I think this is just something that will just a little nice touch to the community around there. So I think the community will really appreciate that. So with that, I motion to approve.

Okay, is there any second to this?

I second it. I have a couple comments.

Yes, please, Vice Mayor.

First question I have is for staff. You said the cost, I understand it's nonprofit is providing the funding, but does that include the labor to install the signs?

So thank you for asking that question, Vice Mayor. The city has a traffic signal maintenance contractor that visits the site once a month for liability purposes and maintenance. So we have worked with the mayor and not have any expectations of a special trip to install these signs. They're gonna be installed while the technicians up there troubleshooting or double checking our CCTV cameras, which is kind of a monthly occurrence.

It's part of their monthly fee.

They're gonna be there anyway, and they're gonna go and put up the sign. I did wanna mention, and it's mentioned in the staff report, that these are reflective signs, meaning headlights will help you see it at night. In our city, we have internally illuminated street name signs. These are not. If they were, we would be looking at it much more, a higher dollar amount.

Okay, thank you. Second question. Do we know how is there an industry standard that that we are cities under I mean how many I'm sure there's others. I can think of a couple other streets in the city that have an alternate name on the bottom, what about those signs.

So those local, every street name sign in the city, with the help of an energy grant from the Obama administration many years ago, we swapped out.

I have worked with PDs. You know, to make another science.

Of course, it's going to.

Approve this as you already approved the name of the street. This is nothing else beside with adding more, adding the sign that is readable, clear to the people who travel on that intersection.

Mr. Mayor, I second you and I want to say as I read. setting this theater up for us to have the meeting. And thank you for the community to come out to voice your concerns and opinions. And your expertise is what keep the city flowing. And thank you. And also, we had a great police night out. It was amazing to see everyone out. And also just the things that you guys do to show us in the community what you guys do and that partnership, you know, between the community and you guys. And then also, staff, thank you for setting up with the H-Mark grand opening. It is an amazing store. We have one in Garden Grove. My family go there all the time. And we use this Bobby Approve app, and it tells us why it's approved, what ingredient. If it doesn't approve, it tells you the ingredient that's in it that's bad for your health. And so I use that and they have a lot of good Bobby approved product at H-mark. So if you guys wanna go, that's a place. Also Grocery Outlet, they have tremendous good and healthy food for our bodies and our health. And those are the places we go to. So with that, I wanna say thank you staff and mayor for voting, for allowing me to come go to Washington to help be a part of the voice of Westminster and helping to bring funding back to the city of Westminster and also connection. And I think you guys won't be disappointed. It is gonna be a great thing and that's what we need. And with all of our different skills, I know we can do that task and bring it back to the city. So with that in mind, I want to say thank you. And also as my prayer earlier, I just want to make sure you guys know as a city here, we do care for you guys. If you guys need anything, we are here for the people. And I know there's a lot of people out there hurting. You can always reach the mayor and the council here. We're here to answer your call through phone calls or emails. So we're here for you guys. And thank you for being a part of Westminster. God bless you guys.

Thank you, Council Member Amy Fran West. Next is Council Member Mark, I mean, please. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

It's been a long time that we have a very productive City Council meeting. I'm very glad. We can't disagree on certain issues. But we can get it resolved in a peaceful, meaningful, and respectful way. So I think all the things that happened in the past, I already said this, I apologize for what I did that I feel like I did wrong in the past. But tonight, I publicly say sorry for what I've done that you think that I did wrong. But to be honest, I'm very glad that we finally find find a way that we resolve everything in a peaceful way. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Nam Quang Nguyen. Next is Council Member Mark Nguyen.

First off, I just want to say thank you to our wonderful staff. I know you do a tremendous job. I was really happy about the recent grant, the job first, especially turning the part-time position to a full-time position. That's great news for the city. And also, I attended the Cal Optima event, and it was a lot of people. I mean, I've never seen so many people. I thought it was at a concert. And I attended the movie night out and the national night out. I wanted to attend the concert but at the last minute I had food poisoning so I had to go to urgent care so I couldn't make it. But I heard it was really good. Thank you staff and PD and fire for all your work. And I was very impressed with the grand opening of H Mart. So far, I've attended three grand opening and three business grand opening, H Mart, Baskin-Robbins, and Happy Lamb, and they're in District 3. So it's looking very good. Thank you, staff, for working so hard to make this happen.

I hope that you didn't choose District 3 to attend only. All right, thank you very much. Before I make my comments, I would like to remind all council members we still have a closed session to go over after this meeting. We were able to go over the first item, but we still have the two items left that we have to resolve tonight. So please don't go away. I mentioned it before, I want to thank you staff for all the work that they do. It's a lot of effort. I know that from Parks and Recs, they've been working night and day to get the event together. along with public works and our WPDs and all the departments. To keep our WPD, keep us from public safety is ever, ever number one important in my mind. And I appreciate very, very much for all the hard work that they put in. Even though that we have one month, the city council go dark, but I, along with city staff, we've been working really hard to get the things going. We use that as a time that we can catch up on some of the items that we've been left behind. And so we appreciate for that time off in order to catch up some of the items. I want to make it official too. If I be firm in my way of responding to you, I want to apologize for that, but that's how I am. I want to be, as a leader, I have to be strong in what I feel it's the right thing to do. Maybe it's not going the way that you want it to be. I can be softened, but softened doesn't mean that you are a strong leader. I don't mean that being like that is a strong leader, but I think it's very important as a leader, I need to convey the message in a way of convincing to the people that I am responding to. And just take that as a way that I'm responding in convincing way instead of getting mad at you or screaming or yelling at me. That's not what I want to do. So with that, I think that we still have a code section that we have to go through. I just want to. end the meeting here with a request from Council Member West that I would like to end this meeting in memory of Samantha Scorsese-Lick. I believe she already mentioned it earlier at the beginning where she do the prayer. So the next regular meeting will be held probably here again on Wednesday, August 27, 2025 at 6 p.m. meeting adjourned.

Thank you.