Benjamin VazquezVoted no
4:49:37Moved to hold the reimbursement over a meeting so he could be briefed on a contract agreed before his time.
21February
2023
2023
Regular City Council Meeting · One key issue
The council told staff to reopen negotiations with the building trades on a community workforce agreement that lapsed last autumn, and to bring a draft back within thirty days.
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6.5 hours
29 agenda items
24 located in video
71% attributed to a named speaker
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What happened
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
- 01
Union representatives said the original made Santa Ana the first city in the county to have one, and that the trades dispatch local residents and veterans ahead of everyone else.
▶2:21:26Explore this issue
Related agenda item 25Open agenda item →Discussion and Announcement of Ad Hoc Committees for Crossing Guards and Sheltering Homeless Families – Mayor Amezcua
No named councilmember contribution could be reliably linked to this item.
- 02
Staff and patients of a nonprofit health centre returned for a second meeting to say a new zoning clause makes government funded and nonprofit medical offices get a permit that private ones do not need.
▶2:36:39Explore this issue
Related agenda item 26Open agenda item →Discuss and Consider Directing the City Manager to Direct Staff to Enter into Negotiations with the Los Angeles and Orange Counties…
No named councilmember contribution could be reliably linked to this item.
- 03
Their lawyer told the council the city attorney had been wrong a fortnight earlier, that the urgency ordinance expired on 3 February, and that their remodel application should be processed now.
▶2:42:28Explore this issue
Related agenda item 26Open agenda item →Discuss and Consider Directing the City Manager to Direct Staff to Enter into Negotiations with the Los Angeles and Orange Counties…
No named councilmember contribution could be reliably linked to this item.
- 04
Downtown merchants and residents packed the chamber for the clean and safe contract, which passed at up to $5,098,307 with Councilmember Bacerra also asking why downtown does not trust the city to do the same work.
▶3:23:10Explore this issue
Related agenda item 19Open agenda item →Agreement with DTSA Services for Downtown Santa Ana Clean & Safe Program
No named councilmember contribution could be reliably linked to this item.
- 05
A $13,000,000 reimbursement the city owes the Third and Broadway developer stalled twice on three to three votes, with Councilmember Phan recused, after Councilmember Vazquez asked to be briefed first.
▶4:54:29Explore this issue
Related agenda item 23Open agenda item →Fiscal Year 2022-23 Mid-Year Budget Update, Revive Spending Plan Update, Appropriation Requests and Workforce Changes
Member positions
Jessie LopezVoted no4:53:07Said it was unfair to frame a request for a briefing on $13,000,000 as refusing a contractual obligation.
Johnathan Ryan HernandezVoted no4:48:26Seconded, saying the newer members needed time with staff and he wanted hard deadlines in the project.
Valerie AmezcuaVoted yes4:55:15Said she had already been briefed at length by the city manager and so was ready to vote.
Phil BacerraVoted yes4:50:28Said the payment is a contractual obligation and offered a substitute motion to approve it with a report to follow.
David PenalozaVoted yes4:51:17Seconded the substitute motion after drawing out the history of the development agreement.
- 06
The whole mid-year budget update was then put off to March, over the trash hauler's donation, a proposed mayor's prayer breakfast, and moving money to implement the police union contract the council imposed in December.
▶6:13:25Explore this issue
Related agenda item 23Open agenda item →Fiscal Year 2022-23 Mid-Year Budget Update, Revive Spending Plan Update, Appropriation Requests and Workforce Changes
Member positions
Benjamin VazquezVoted no4:49:37Moved to hold the reimbursement over a meeting so he could be briefed on a contract agreed before his time.
Jessie LopezVoted no4:53:07Said it was unfair to frame a request for a briefing on $13,000,000 as refusing a contractual obligation.
Johnathan Ryan HernandezVoted no4:48:26Seconded, saying the newer members needed time with staff and he wanted hard deadlines in the project.
Valerie AmezcuaVoted yes4:55:15Said she had already been briefed at length by the city manager and so was ready to vote.
Phil BacerraVoted yes4:50:28Said the payment is a contractual obligation and offered a substitute motion to approve it with a report to follow.
David PenalozaVoted yes4:51:17Seconded the substitute motion after drawing out the history of the development agreement.
- 07
Mayor Amezcua named two ad hoc committees, one on sharing the cost of school crossing guards and one on shelter for homeless families.
▶6:13:42Explore this issue
Related agenda item 23Open agenda item →Fiscal Year 2022-23 Mid-Year Budget Update, Revive Spending Plan Update, Appropriation Requests and Workforce Changes
Member positions
Benjamin VazquezVoted no4:49:37Moved to hold the reimbursement over a meeting so he could be briefed on a contract agreed before his time.
Jessie LopezVoted no4:53:07Said it was unfair to frame a request for a briefing on $13,000,000 as refusing a contractual obligation.
Johnathan Ryan HernandezVoted no4:48:26Seconded, saying the newer members needed time with staff and he wanted hard deadlines in the project.
Valerie AmezcuaVoted yes4:55:15Said she had already been briefed at length by the city manager and so was ready to vote.
Phil BacerraVoted yes4:50:28Said the payment is a contractual obligation and offered a substitute motion to approve it with a report to follow.
David PenalozaVoted yes4:51:17Seconded the substitute motion after drawing out the history of the development agreement.
How this brief was made
The current summaries were prepared during an in-session review of the transcripts. This prototype shows only sentences with a timestamp citation. 0 uncited sentences were withheld from this page.
Focus
Where they differed
Splits in votes or reasoning
Two motions on the $13,000,000 Third and Broadway reimbursement each failed three votes to three with Councilmember Phan recused, so the council neither approved it nor formally held it over.
Moved to hold the reimbursement over a meeting so he could be briefed on a contract agreed before his time.
Said it was unfair to frame a request for a briefing on $13,000,000 as refusing a contractual obligation.
Seconded, saying the newer members needed time with staff and he wanted hard deadlines in the project.
Said she had already been briefed at length by the city manager and so was ready to vote.
Said the payment is a contractual obligation and offered a substitute motion to approve it with a report to follow.
Seconded the substitute motion after drawing out the history of the development agreement.
Whether the city should put $20,000 towards an annual mayor's prayer breakfast, given the federal and state bars on public money supporting religion.
Asked for a full briefing, noting other cities run these through a nonprofit and put no city money in.
Said she had questions about the breakfast and would not move the appropriations that night.
Said the event is about opening the city's doors to faith groups and that she would find sponsors rather than fight for the money.
Said that if the council would not fund it he would help organise it himself.
Voiced support in spite of the legal advice, recalling a city funded interfaith blessing in 2019.
Public voice
Recurring resident concerns
Repeated themes only
This section omits one-off remarks. It appears only when several separate public-comment voice tracks return to the same topic, or repeated comments connect a councilmember with criticism or calls for accountability. It is not a representative survey of residents.
Land use3 recurring voice tracks
Several public comments returned to land use.
…organization. To ask you to please make an amendment to the zoning ordinance, especially section 41313.5, and remove the recent requirement to obtain a conditional use permit for medical offices operated by government, government…
▶2:33:38…during that time, we had asked to have the language on the proposed zoning ordinance amendment number 2022-03 be revised to reconsider the definition of a medical office as it relates to zoning. During the last meeting, the city attorney provided…
▶2:36:39
Youth & education3 recurring voice tracks
Several public comments returned to youth & education.
…to continuing our relationship with the city on behalf of our student athletes, our students, athletes, coaches, and entire school administration, faculty, staff, and student body. I want to express our sincere gratitude for allowing us to…
▶2:31:12…number of council people and we're now able to meet again inside the school district so that means 30 of our neighborhoods can meet again and so this took a lot of effort and time on everyone's part we appreciate the help we've had along the way so…
▶2:35:39
How recurring concerns are selected
The prototype groups unidentified speech inside the general public-comment block by transcript voice track. A topic must recur across at least three tracks; criticism involving a named councilmember must recur across at least two. Voice tracks are an approximation and may include interpretation of another speaker, so excerpts remain linked to the recording.
Agenda
Every item
29 items in agenda order
Closed Session Items
Not located Closed-session labor negotiations with city employee organizations
Closed Session Items
▶5:55:14 Closed-session conference with legal counsel
- The council met privately about two lawsuits, one brought against the city by the charity Micah's Way and one the city brought against a property investor.22:02
Closed Session Items
Not located Closed-session public employee performance evaluation
- The council met privately to review the city attorney's performance.22:02
Ceremonial Presentations
Not located Proclamation presented by Mayor Amezcua to Olive Crest for 50 Years of Outstanding Contributions to the Community
- Mayor Amezcua presented a proclamation to Olive Crest, founded in Santa Ana fifty years ago, which says it has since helped 200,000 children and families.2:04:43
Ceremonial Presentations
▶5:55:14 Certificates of Recognition presented by Mayor Pro Tem Lopez and Councilmember Hernandez to Alexis “Lex” Rocha, John M. Raya and…
Staff Presentations
Not located Homelessness Update
- The first of the regular homelessness updates the mayor had asked staff to bring back.3:39:56
- In 2022 the outreach teams made 9,600 contacts, referred 583 people to shelter and recorded 984 moves into emergency accommodation.3:40:41
- The city's Carnegie shelter takes families and pets, runs a medical clinic on site and had 136 people in it against 200 beds.3:49:35
- Councilmember Bacerra pressed staff about the county run Yale shelter and learned that people there can come and go freely, which is what made the old downtown Courtyard unmanageable.3:55:15
- Councilmember Phan said the county's own presentation promised no walk-ons or walk-offs, so it is not keeping to its good neighbour policy.4:21:09
- Councilmember Penaloza asked the city to press the county through its new supervisor, saying residents were promised in 2019 that nobody would be walking out.3:58:00
- Mayor Pro Tem Lopez asked the county for mental health clinicians available around the clock rather than in office hours.3:59:50
- Mayor Amezcua asked what happens after the average stay of sixty seven days, and established that almost all of one state grant is going into running the shelter rather than into permanent housing.4:11:23
- Councilmember Bacerra also asked for enforcement against panhandling in the central reservations before somebody is killed.3:56:07
Staff Presentations
▶3:19:44 Diemer Treatment Plant Tour Opportunity
- Staff invited residents to apply for a tour of the Diemer plant, which treats Colorado River water for Orange County and coastal Los Angeles.4:28:20
- Councilmember Phan, who hosts the tour, said the point is to show young residents there are careers in water and that the city needs its own people at the table when supply is argued over.4:32:04
Consent Calendar
▶3:13:37 Excused Absences
- A routine item excusing members who missed earlier meetings, approved with the rest of the consent calendar.3:06:08
Consent Calendar
▶2:10:32 Appoint Amalia Mejia Nominated by Councilmember Vazquez as the Ward 2 Representative to the Community Development Commission for a…
- Amalia Mejia was appointed to the Community Development Commission as the Ward 2 representative.2:12:53
Consent Calendar
▶2:10:41 Appoint Darlene Perez Nominated by Councilmember Phan as the Ward 1 Representative to the Santa Ana 2018 Measure X Citizen Oversight…
Consent Calendar
▶2:11:07 Appoint Ronnie Harrell Nominated by Councilmember Bacerra as the Ward 4 Representative to the Police Oversight Commission for a…
- Councilmember Bacerra pulled his own nomination of Ronnie Harrell to the police oversight commission from consideration for the evening.2:11:07
Consent Calendar
▶3:13:37 Appoint Danny Vega Nominated by Mayor Amezcua as the Mayoral Representative to the Police Oversight Commission for a Full-Term…
- Danny Vega was appointed to the police oversight commission as the mayor's representative and sworn in with the other new commissioners.2:13:47
Consent Calendar
▶3:13:37 Receive and File Fiscal Year 2021-22 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, Related Audit Reports, and Measure X…
Consent Calendar
▶3:13:37 Award a Purchase Order in the Amount of $789,567 to Best Contracting Services, Inc. for Fire Station 72 Hose Tower Roof Repair and…
- A purchase order of up to $947,481 to Best Contracting Services for roof work at two fire stations.3:06:08
Consent Calendar
▶3:13:37 Award Purchase Order to National Auto Fleet Group for Six Chevrolet Bolt EVs and Two Chevrolet Traverse SUVs in the Amount of…
- A purchase order of up to $275,765 to National Auto Fleet Group for six electric Chevrolet Bolts and two Traverse vehicles.3:06:08
Consent Calendar
▶3:13:37 Award Purchase Orders to Acco Engineered Systems to Relocate and Replace Fan Coils at the Grand Central Art Center and the Santa Ana…
- Purchase orders of up to $2,400,000 to Acco Engineered Systems to replace fan coils at the Grand Central Art Center and the regional transportation centre.3:06:08
Consent Calendar
▶3:13:37 Approve Agreement with Robertson Industries, Inc. for Playground Rubber Resurfacing Citywide in an Amount Not to Exceed $451,205 for…
- An agreement of up to $451,205 with Robertson Industries to resurface playground rubber across the city.3:06:08
Consent Calendar
▶3:19:46 Approve an Agreement with Diversified Waterscape, Inc. for Lake Management Services at City Sites for a Five-Year Term for an Annual…
- A lake management agreement with Diversified Waterscape worth up to $887,860, pulled by Mayor Amezcua.3:06:29
- She said residents around Centennial Park complain about the smell and the mosquitoes, and asked the contractor to make a visible effort at all the city's lakes.3:06:50
- It passed without opposition.3:08:33
Consent Calendar
▶3:13:37 Approve an Agreement with Service 1st for Pool Maintenance Services at Five City Pools for a Three-Year Term for an Annual Amount…
Consent Calendar
▶4:36:19 Approve Cooperative Agreement to Fund Total Maximum Daily Load Programs and Related Activities in the Newport Bay Watershed
Consent Calendar
▶3:13:37 Blanket Order Agreement with C3 Technology Services for Purchase of Sharp Copiers and Managed Print Services in a Combined Annual…
- A three year agreement with C3 Technology Services for copiers and print services at up to $310,000 a year.3:06:08
Consent Calendar
▶3:20:02 Agreement with DTSA Services for Downtown Santa Ana Clean & Safe Program
- A three year agreement of up to $5,098,307 with DTSA Services for the downtown clean and safe programme.3:20:03
- Merchants, event organisers and residents filled the public comment period in support, describing daily street cleaning and security staff people know by name.2:51:29
- The downtown neighbourhood association president said it is what makes residents feel safe walking the streets.2:57:30
- Councilmember Bacerra established that without the contract the same work would fall to city staff, and that the money comes mostly from parking revenue topped up from the general fund.3:12:29
- He said the strength of feeling shows downtown does not trust the city to deliver basic services, and moved the contract for its initial three years only with staff to report back in six months on improving those services.3:12:10
- Councilmember Penaloza asked how free parking downtown could ever work when contracts like this lean on parking revenue.3:18:49
- Councilmember Hernandez said the contractor attended every meeting with businesses disrupted by the streetcar works.3:21:32
- It passed without opposition.3:23:10
Consent Calendar
▶3:36:11 Approve Memorandum of Understanding and Appropriation Adjustment Accepting the FY 2022 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance…
- A federal justice grant of $102,441 shared with the county, pulled by Mayor Amezcua so the police chief could explain what it pays for.3:23:40
- The chief said about $87,000 goes on gang enforcement and education overtime and $15,000 on the police athletic league.3:24:24
- Several members asked for the athletic league to be extended to other parts of the city, and the chief said it served 105 young people last year.3:27:44
- It passed without opposition.3:28:57
Consent Calendar
▶3:13:37 Teleconferencing for Meetings of City Council and All Boards, Committees, and Commissions Pursuant to the Provisions of Assembly…
- A resolution continuing remote participation in city meetings for another thirty days.3:06:08
Consent Calendar
▶3:40:38 Proposed Resolution Adopting City Council Actual and Necessary Expense Policy Pursuant to City Charter Section 402 and Approving…
- A resolution setting out when councilmembers may be reimbursed for expenses, together with a reimbursement of up to $1,500 for the mayor.3:29:02
- Mayor Amezcua explained she had paid for her own security after receiving a death threat, and said she would support any colleague in the same position.3:32:19
- The city attorney said the charter already requires the full council to approve anything outside the travel policy, and that this resolution restates that and settles the one request.3:36:51
- Councilmember Penaloza asked that the scope be drawn narrowly and that individual claims keep coming to the council in public.3:34:54
- Councilmember Hernandez supported it and asked that the council's supplies budget be raised by $1,500 in the next budget.3:31:17
- It passed without opposition.3:39:48
Business Calendar
▶4:34:40 Fiscal Year 2022-23 Mid-Year Budget Update, Revive Spending Plan Update, Appropriation Requests and Workforce Changes
- The mid-year budget update, a set of appropriations and two staffing resolutions, all of which the council ended up putting off to the second meeting in March.6:13:25
- Finance reported utility users tax about $3,000,000 above budget on gas prices, higher building plan check revenue, and $2,200,000 more in interest earnings.4:58:05
- One part of the item, a $13,000,000 reimbursement owed to the Third and Broadway developer, was taken first so Councilmember Phan could recuse herself.4:36:19
- Staff explained the developer is demolishing the old car park, replacing 211 public spaces, reopening Sycamore Street, and must repay the city with interest once the new garage is running.4:40:35
- Councilmember Vazquez asked to hold it over a meeting so the newer members could be briefed, and Councilmember Hernandez agreed.4:48:26
- Councilmember Bacerra said it is a contractual obligation and moved to approve it with a briefing to follow, which failed three votes to three.4:50:28
- The motion to hold it over then failed three to three as well, so no action was taken on it at all.4:54:29
- Mayor Pro Tem Lopez said it was unfair to frame a request for a briefing on $13,000,000 as refusing to meet an obligation only two sitting members had ever voted for.4:53:07
- On the wider report, Councilmember Hernandez objected to the trash hauler's $183,000 donation being routed to city departments rather than to community nonprofits as the contract intends.5:22:07
- Councilmember Phan and the city attorney questioned spending $20,000 on a mayor's prayer breakfast, the attorney advising the city avoid the words host, sponsor, prayer and blessing altogether.5:38:26
- Mayor Amezcua said the event is about opening the city's doors to faith groups, that the chamber of commerce would host it, and that she would find sponsors rather than fight for the money.6:05:23
- Councilmember Bacerra and Councilmember Penaloza refused to move $1,320,000 into departments to implement the contract the council imposed on the police union in December.5:34:35
Work Study Session
Not located Environmental Sanitation and Roadway Cleaning Fee Work Study Session
- The work study session on environmental sanitation and roadway cleaning fees was held over, staff confirming it was not time sensitive.6:13:42
Councilmember Requested Items
▶2:16:45 Discussion and Announcement of Ad Hoc Committees for Crossing Guards and Sheltering Homeless Families – Mayor Amezcua
- Mayor Amezcua announced two ad hoc committees, both to report back within ninety days.6:13:42
- The first, with Councilmember Bacerra and Councilmember Hernandez, will talk to the school district about sharing the cost of crossing guards, which the city pays for entirely.6:15:56
- The second, with Councilmember Penaloza and Councilmember Vazquez, will look at shelter for homeless families, which the city's existing low barrier shelters were not designed for.6:15:59
Councilmember Requested Items
▶2:24:25 Discuss and Consider Directing the City Manager to Direct Staff to Enter into Negotiations with the Los Angeles and Orange Counties…
- Councilmember Penaloza asked staff to reopen negotiations with the building trades council on the community workforce agreement that expired last autumn, and to bring back a draft within thirty days.2:24:25
- A representative of the trades council said Santa Ana was the first city in the county to sign one, and that the trades dispatch Santa Ana residents and veterans before anyone else.2:21:26
- A carpenters union representative said apprenticeships give young people a debt free route into work that pays enough to stay in the city they grew up in.2:17:57
- The county labour federation asked the council to renew the agreement on the old language.2:20:36
- Every member spoke in support, and Mayor Amezcua set the second meeting in March as the date to expect it back.2:29:07
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