Read the October 6 meeting.

Madam Clerk, Mayor Pulido here.

Thank you, Mayor.

We have a quorum. If you want to start, could start with roll call when you're ready.

Yes, go ahead.

Councilmember Becerra? Here. Councilmember Mendoza?

Councilmember Peñalosa? Here. Council Member Sarmiento?

Here.

Council Member Solorio?

Here.

Mayor Plotem-Viegas?

Here.

And Mayor Pulido?

Here.

Thank you, Mayor.

With that, do you want to make the announcement? Well, first, let me ask the city attorney, is there anything, excuse me, to report out of close session, please?

Mayor, Council members, we have one item of reportable action. The action is that the Council unanimously authorized the filing of litigation against the Sunland Motel to alleviate nuisance conditions on the property. That's all the reportable action I have.

Anything on the other item that I think is going to be continued, or should I take that up later?

Staff will recommend that we pull consent calendar item, giving you the number, pursuant to direction provided to the city attorney in closed session. 55B, the recommendation is to pull item 55B, pursuant to direction given to the city attorney. Also by unanimous vote.

Okay. Thank you for that. So with that, Madam Clerk, can you see who from the public wants to address us today and take comment, please?

I'm sorry, Mayor. So we're beginning with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Okay, everybody please stand.

Ready to begin.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under all, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you for that. Heather Riley, our police chaplain, are you present and can you give us our invocation, please?

Absolutely, sir. Holy God, we come to you today asking for your guidance, wisdom, and support as we begin this meeting. Help the council members to engage in meaningful discussion and allow an opportunity to grow closer as a group and nurture the bonds of community. Would you fill each one with your grace as they serve our community? May the city of Santa Ana's resources be used wisely and well. Additionally, may they be used to fairly represent all members of our community. Let this council make decisions that promote the common good. As trusted servants, we seek blessings on our deliberations and on our efforts here today.

In your name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Thank you for that. Now I want to turn our attention through three proclamations. And I want to ask Mayor Prodem to assist me on this one. I know he sits on the Fire Authority Board of Directors. and my proclamation or presentation basically names the week of October 4th through 10th as fire prevention week and especially especially at these times when we're seeing you know 10,000 fire strikes I mean lightning strikes and so many fires up and down California in particular that

um you know the the sun doesn't even shine on many days and you know we can't even uh you know breathe the air because the quality is is so atrocious i think we have to thank our our our firefighters for all the great work that they do uh and also very importantly you know fire prevention and this is this week that we're proclamating right now or proclaiming is fire prevention week. So whether it's different forest management or having fire breaks and here at home,

fortunately we haven't had a major structural fire in many years. But fire sprinklers and materials on roofs and all those different elements. So I'd like to offer the fire chief an opportunity to speak, But before that, Mayor Pro Tem, because you're on that fire authority, would you like to say a few words, please?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And yes, I'd like to add to the fire prevention week that a lot of fires start within the kitchen here in Orange County. There have been 87 fires, and they started in the kitchen. 17 of them were in the oven. Fire is something that we don't like to play with. We have to take it very serious. We have to be very responsible. It affects everyone. We want to make sure that we educate our families to be cautious in the kitchen and with any other kind of open flame actions that we might be taking,

like barbecuing or a fire pit. And we just want to make sure we use common sense and good judgment when we're doing that. We have Fire Chief Jim Henry here from OCFA who will say a couple of words. Chief. Thank you, Mayor and Honorable Counsel, for this opportunity to accept the proclamation declaring October 4th through the 10th National Fire Prevention Week. Just like everybody has said, we're seeing an unprecedented number of fires that have occurred in the state. And this year, we've exceeded our number of acres burned. Last year, it was 2 million.

This year, we're at 4 million with over 30 lives lost, including a couple of firefighters. So thank you. And if we can remind the public to check your smoke detectors, make sure they work. And if you don't have a smoke detector, you can reach out to us, and we'll provide one to your home at no cost. and just remember a number of cause of fires is usually unattended. So thank you again and accept this proclamation. Thank you. Thank you, Chief Henry. We appreciate your leadership here in the City of Santa Ana. And on behalf of the City of Santa Ana, thank you for accepting the proclamation for Fire Prevention Week.

And, Mr. Mayor, if I can continue the next proclamation.

Go ahead. Go ahead, Mayor Prodem. Yeah, I'm going to have the next proclamation.

Thank you. The next proclamation is going to be presented by Councilmember Peñalosa.

David PenalozaItem —

Thank you, Mr. Mayor Pro Tem. And I'd like to present this following proclamation to, in recognition of Code Enforcement Officer Appreciation Week, on behalf of Mayor Pro Tem Villegas, the mayor, and the rest of the city council, and the residents, really, of the city of Santa Ana, because we all know how appreciative and necessary code enforcement is in our city. I'd like to recognize the team here at the city. Very short-staffed, personally, but, you know, they do so much with the limited resources they have, and I'm very proud of them.

David PenalozaItem —

Code enforcement officers provide for the safety, health, and welfare of citizens and communities through the state of California. Through the enforcement of laws and ordinances dealing with various issues of building, zoning, housing, animal control, environmental, health, and life safety, code enforcement is able to keep our community safe. The job of a code enforcement officer is challenging and demanding, and often they do not receive recognition for the roles they play within the community, improving the quality of life for both residents and businesses.

David PenalozaItem —

Code enforcement officers are dedicated highly qualified and highly trained professionals who share the goals of preventing neighborhood deterioration, enhancing communities, ensuring safety and preserving property values. Today the City of Santa Ana recognizes and honors the code enforcement officers that serve our community and acknowledge their roles in leading the way to improve the quality of life within our community.

David PenalozaItem —

and and here at the city of Santa Ana our code enforcement operations follow under the planning and building department and the code enforcement team is led by Alvaro who does a phenomenal job again at running his department and of course you know at the direction of of our executive director of planning and building mintai and Christine Ridge the city manager and I know that the last month or two, our code enforcement officers have been out in our community engaging them as part of the CARES team, providing PPE equipment, rental assistance, bill assistance,

David PenalozaItem —

utilities, and all kinds of different assistance. And they're out there meeting our residents and and really helping them so um i'd like to invite the executive director of planning and building mintai and the code enforcement manager alvaro to say a few words thank you councilman penelosa

and thank you mayor pro tem and mayor and the entire city council i just want to say i'm very proud to work with such a hard working team a code enforcement officer in elvaro i would have to say without a doubt is the best code enforcement division i've ever worked with in in my career i call them the swiss army knife of city hall whatever you need elro is there whatever you need elro is going to do whether it's at night on the weekend their team is always there so i'm very proud to be a part of this team and to accept this on their behalf because they are a very hard

working team so thank you just thank you thank you for that i believe we have uh one more

presentation councilman becerra please and thank you gentlemen and for understanding on the social

David PenalozaItem —

distancing so thank you everyone yeah really quick i just want to point out that i can't emphasize how hard working our code enforcement department is i get you know our a lot of them live in Santa Ana which is always appreciated and I get phone calls on Saturday at like 10 p.m. and it's like hey Councilman Penaloza I you know I drove past that commercial building you made reference to and I drove and I'm like why are you doing this on a Saturday like why aren't you off aren't you don't you have a family like well yeah but I went to the grocery store and you know stopped by

David PenalozaItem —

and and that is how committed our code enforcement officers are and I'm appreciate it so thank you

Phil BacerraItem —

counselor Becerra please thank you mr. mayor I believe that the proclamation that I gave out was actually done via video a couple days earlier well done

You're raising the bar.

I told you this Filipino-American history. Filipino-Americans make up one of the largest Asian-American ethnic groups here in the United States today. The contributions of Filipino-Americans have enhanced the freedom, prosperity, and greatness that America continues to enjoy. Filipino-Americans worked in the fields of the Central Valley and later collaborated with their Mexican colleagues to form United Farm Workers. There, they fought for better wages and working conditions for all farm workers. During World War II, more than 260,000 Filipino and Filipino-American soldiers answered the

call to duty and bravely fought for and defended our country. Many Filipino-Americans paid the ultimate sacrifice defending America. In December 2016, the Filipino Veterans of World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act was unanimously passed by Congress and later signed into law. Filipino Americans have also made wonderful contributions to America's culinary power, whether it's adobo, panced, sinigang, or my favorite, lumpia. Now, I appreciate this opportunity to highlight Filipino Americans and their significance here in the United States and locally.

As the first person of Filipino heritage to be elected to the Santa Ana City Council, it is an honor to have this opportunity to present this proclamation to Joseph Joseph, the president of the filipino american chamber of commerce right here in orange county and this proclamation is on behalf of the city of san anna recognizing october as filipino american history thank you

is that presentation over or

Council member?

Yes, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Madam Clerk, now let's go to comments from the general public. I think that's the next item on the agenda. So if you could please conduct that.

Yes, thank you, Mayor and Council members. There are speakers ready to provide their comments. Before unmuting the callers in the order received, I'll report out the following summary of emails provided as of today. We had received four Santa Ana residents and one residency not disclosed for 19D in support.

55B, closed session, 1C and 1D, rescinding the resolution provided by one public comment in opposition for voting participation due to conflict of interest. And then we received non-agenda vote no on Prop 16, five residency not disclosed. And then one Santa Ana resident requesting for better energy sources for consumers. And one Santa Ana business requesting to extend commercial eviction moratorium through March 2021. And that's all of the emails that we received.

caller with the last three numbers or chase russell please dial star six to unmute yourself and you may be you may begin

hey Daisy I just want to confirm did you say that 55b was taken off of the agenda for tonight that is correct gotcha well I guess don't have much to

say them. Thank you. Caller with the last three numbers, 655. Dial star six to unmute yourself,

and you may begin to speak. Yeah, my name is Venancio Chavez.

the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the country, the

the community, but serve the community. For example, the señor Solorio no trabaja

in projects of construction, but wants to bring more buildings for people rich, knowing that Santana is one of the cities that more population has per square mile. The señor Solorio no le interesa terminar with the drug addiction, but facilitar the the dispensary of marijuana. Adivine what, Mr. Sororio, those who buy legal or illegal marijuana, no they fuman in their privacity of their houses, but in the streets of our residents, and the majority are menores of age. During the time that they have been sent in

these sillas, they have increased the assaults to houses, and to work vehicles. of work. The crisis of the amparados is going to be a aumento. For último, drogadictos and mental health care people are going to go through our vecindario without any restriction. The señor Solorio is not interested in the housing accessible because in his political proposal, he talked about that. The señor Solorio is not interested in the security of the community and mient at saying that during his time as concejal, he has reduced the time of wait for when one calls 911. And if you think, the last 3rd of October,

like at 12th of the midday, my son called 911 because the same subject that hit me in the past was going to attack me again. And what do you think? The police presented five hours later. For the community, the community is not a tony. And a good candidate, or better than,

the least the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the

Su tiempo acabado. Gracias.

Our interpreter, we only have one other caller. And while our interpreter is walking, coming to the council chamber so we can unmute the next caller, that is John Landis. You have three minutes. You may proceed to speak.

hi I'm I'm speaking in regards to the commercial housing moratorium with the city prior to the end of last month the city had in place both residential and commercial eviction moratoriums to protect both residents and businesses from being evicted for failure to pay rent during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic that's something that also had been passed on the state level and has currently been extended for residential and also the state has approved for cities and counties to extend it for commercial and I would just like to speak in

support of the city considering extending the commercial housing moratorium because businesses are still unfortunately affected as our residents by the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated economic impacts also impacts in terms of getting build build outs done construction work planning permitting all of those have been adversely affected as a result of the of COVID-19 and unfortunately as we all know as we are on a zoom call currently rather than to gathering in person COVID-19 is unfortunately still with us and I hope obviously we all hope that that will

that we will have a vaccine or you know better better options for dealing with the pandemic or better you know better policies maybe in place on some on some levels but until that's the case we're still dealing with and I would just like to say that you know for any business including businesses that I work with that have you know are in a situation where they're only unable to operate unable to generate revenue unable to be doing what they would normally be doing because

of the pandemic um you know the the ability to not be evicted if if we can't um economically pay rent during this period is very helpful and also protects tenants from abusive landlords or landlords trying to profiteer off a global pandemic by trying to evict tenants and possibly take over their businesses or otherwise adversely negatively impact their tenants to exploit this terrible tragedy that we're all dealing with so I would just like to recommend that the city

consider as the state has allowed cities to continue doing to potentially extend that moratorium a little further until we have a better situation hopefully county city county state nationally with regards to COVID-19. Thank you so much. Thank you. Okay, Mayor, that is all

the, oh, I'm sorry. Cesar's here to interpret the last caller. Good afternoon, members of the City

Council and Mayor. My name is Venancio Chavez, and I'm surprised by all the political proposals that are out there from the politicians. They promise well-being and safety for the community, and many people are just demagogues and politicians. They're just vying for the mayorship and they are just seeking for their own power. And an example of this is Mr. Solorio who does not want to serve the community but he wants to serve himself by the community. He doesn't want more construction projects but he wants more rich people to come into our city.

and he doesn't understand that Santa Ana's population is the largest per square mile and he doesn't want to end the drug use. He wants to increase the dispensaries and I'll have you know that buyers who buy marijuana do not go into the safety and privacy of their homes and smoke. They smoke in our streets and our neighborhoods. And now crime has increased, robberies and theft and homelessness has increased. The drug users are up and the drug users are walking our streets.

Mr. Solorio doesn't want more affordable housing. He says he wants safety for our community. Mr. Solorio says that the 911 response time is reduced. But as an example, last Saturday my son called 911 because the person that attacked me a few months ago came back to attack me, and the 911 response was five hours later. The community is not dumb. We just want the lesser of the evils.

We just want people who do not hurt our community and people who are not taking money from the police. So go out and vote this November 3rd.

Okay, Mayor, that was the last comment.

All right. I'm now going to direct our attention to the consent calendar. And I have, out of an abundance of caution, I will not be voting on item 25B. It's a contract with Illumination Foundation. I may be on their board in the future and I don't want to have any appearance of a conflict. so any other items that council members want to pull or mr. mayor I'd like to pull out of 25 a 25 a yeah let's note that any other items mr. mayor I'd like

David PenalozaItem —

to this is customer penna loza I'd like to pull item 20 e and 55 B please note

that madam clerk any other items may also 55b has been continued to the next meeting thank you

correct okay so please thank you for that clarification mr mr mayor if there's no more

items i'll entertain a motion on the balance make a move a motion to approve the balance actually

Phil BacerraItem —

real quick mr mayor uh this is council member becerra i'm gonna join councilman paloza and asking that we pull item 20-E.

20-what, Council Member? E. As an elephant. Got it. Yes. Thank you. So with that, I have a motion on the balance. Is there a second? Second. Roll call vote, please, Madam Clerk.

Council Member Becerra?

Phil BacerraItem —

Yes.

Council Member Mendoza?

Yes. Yes. Councilmember Peñalosa?

Yes.

Councilmember Sarmiento?

Aye.

Councilmember Solorio?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tempe-Viegas?

Yes.

And Mayor Pulido?

Yes.

Motion carries.

What was the first item pulled, Madam Clerk?

20-E.

thank you by council member ben yalosa and council member becerra go ahead you guys decide who goes

Phil BacerraItem —

first uh mr mayor council member becerra here um i just wanted to ask staff in regards to this item so well first i just want to say it's always nice to see us increase funding towards you know things that a city government is actually supposed to be doing, such as sidewalk repair.

Phil BacerraItem —

On this particular item, I just want to get a little clarification. So I know during the budget process, we were able to allocate an additional $500,000 towards sidewalk repair. So I just wanted to understand, so this $275,000 that we're carrying over from the special gas tax, I'm looking at it, maybe I'm not seeing the math correctly, but it looks like we're increasing or it's an increase up to 600,000 for the contract with this particular contractor. I wanted to understand that the 500,000 was a part of this calculation.

Yes, thank you, Council Member. It is a part of the calculation and I will also defer to Executive Director Nabil Saba if he wants to add any more. But if you do look in the staff report in the fiscal impact, you can see where the special gas tax of 250 is added with the general fund

Phil BacerraItem —

dollars so so just to be clear then so the 500,000 was what we allocated during the budget process that was that additional 500,000 yes that's correct okay so the the overall then total then with the 500,000 plus the 250 we're carrying over and then it looks like another additional hundred thousand so

we're at the 850 that's correct okay there is additional 500,000 that will second phase of this we have a million dollars this is the first 500,000 followed by another 500,000 come in once this phase is complete okay so it brings us up to 1.5 that's correct okay and

Phil BacerraItem —

then i also see in this uh the attachment here looks like we in order to really get our sidewalks up to a respectable condition we would need to as we go forward look at at least a million five for the next five years that is correct okay perfect all right well that's all

David PenalozaItem —

the questions I have thank you you have a motion really quick mr. mayor I just

wanted a comment I just wanted to go ahead it's okay I just wanted to thank

David PenalozaItem —

staff for for working on this and bringing this forward and thank my colleague councilmember Becerra for his efforts during the budget process in in in trying to get, you know, as much funding allocated to this much needed area of the city that, you know, we often overlook. I know that just over the last month or two, I've personally seen a lot of the work being done and completed along our city, throughout our city. You know, most of the recent concrete work was completed in the Henninger and French Park neighborhoods, which is in my district. So I'm very appreciative of that.

David PenalozaItem —

I know that there was also work completed in Memorial Park, and there's some coming to Windsor Park and the Windsor neighborhood, as well as Thornton Park and Fairbridge Square, which is very important to make sure that we highlight this work that's going into our crumbling sidewalks, because they really are crumbling. and everywhere I churn, I feel like it's just worse and worse. We are an aging and old city, so any dollar that we could invest towards these areas is much appreciated. Just to put it into perspective,

David PenalozaItem —

I know that the total cost of all the sidewalk repairs needed in the city is upwards of $8 million. Is that correct, Madam City Manager?

You are correct, sir.

David PenalozaItem —

So, you know, when you look at this, you know, this is only $850,000 we're moving. You know, it's an eighth of the amount of work, less than an eighth, needed to assure that all of our sidewalks are addressed. so moving forward as a city like my colleague mentioned you know this is something when you when you think of what a local government a city is is responsible for is to you know make sure that our residents have a good street to drive on a good sidewalk to walk on some good parks to run in you know when and

David PenalozaItem —

those are the basics and public safety so it's important that we focus on on our infrastructure which I'm happy to see happy to see more items like this I hope we see more of them as as we go on I know that's gonna come at you know during the budgeting process and grants and gas taxes and whatnot but I'm happy to see this so with that I'll make a motion to approve item 20E and I'll

second that mr. mayor I'll call vote unless there's more comments mr. mayor I

have some brief comments I want to go ahead I want to commend our staff city manager's office and Public Works for putting this together I think the idea of regular reviews to see if there are Public Works dollars you know some of them are use it or lose it or sometimes there's neighboring work that you can do while a contractor still there so I appreciate when staff does come back at mid-year points for things like this it's awesome also I appreciate and want to continue to encourage when we could do street and water projects together because you know sometimes we need to rip up a street for a water or sewer

project and if we could team that with a transportation project that's even better and then third sometimes making these improvements even on sidewalks I mean we're talking about you know several hundreds of thousand dollars here but sometimes they save us millions in liability you know reduction because we we have you know one or two big lawsuits a year where somebody trips on a sidewalk or gets hurt on a sidewalk and then we're paying legal bills sometimes in the hundreds of thousands or millions per case so I see this as a you know very good risk management practice related but unrelated I know

that the city is starting to look at improvements towards South Main Street pretty major construction it's well needed because I think it was since I last representative word one that we gave South Main Street a good improvement including colored sidewalks and additional trees etc but I do worry that too much construction all at once given kovat and given how fragile a lot of our small businesses are we ought to think really hard about maybe adding more community outreach support either through the city or through the contractor to coordinate really well with those small businesses because I

know when work was being done on rate Street you know we were all getting you know very panic calls from residents but I can't get in and out and Southman is also a very tight area particularly for the small businesses and their immediacy to the residential area so didn't want to share that as well but thank you staff for bringing this at it forward any other comment if not roll

Call vote.

Councilmember Becerra?

Phil BacerraItem —

Yes.

Councilmember Mendoza?

Yes. Councilmember Peñalosa?

Yes.

Councilmember Sarmiento?

Yes.

Councilmember Solorio?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Viegas?

Yes.

Mayor Pulido?

Yes.

Motion carries.

Next item, please, Madam Clerk.

item 25b pulled by council member salario i'm sorry 25a my apologies

thank you i'll speak to that i wanted to compliment staff for bringing this item forward you know we're in the midst of covid still obviously definitely there's public health concerns but we're also starting to see very uh you know big economic uh impacts not just to businesses but really residents and workers as well you know Santa Ana really has a strong workforce and that means that times like this a lot of our residents need extra help and training or retraining so here we have you know a two million dollar program with funds from federal state and county dollars

and you know we have our work center we have other related programs and I just want to compliment the staff for bringing this forward at a critical time and either through a press release or through social media postings I think to let our residents know about these job training and work opportunities is is very important and very useful I did ask staff during a break of the list of eligible training areas whether those opportunities to attend others or add others to the list and apparently there's quite a bit of flexibility on that so 25A has a good listing of all the job training sites and opportunities

but there could be more it's very resident focused again two million dollars for you know workforce training for our local residents and this is fantastic thank you so much it's well needed in the community with that I'll

move any other common council members I'll second go ahead by Salonio

Roll call vote, Madam Clerk.

Councilmember Becerra?

Yes.

Councilmember Mendoza?

Yes. Councilmember Piñalosa?

David PenalozaItem —

Yes.

Councilmember Sarmiento?

Yes.

Councilmember Solorio?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tempe Vegas?

Yes.

Mayor Pulido?

Yes.

Motion carries 7-0.

Next item, Madam Clerk.

Item 65A, it's a report item.

In this particular item.

Madam City Manager, would you like to take the lead on this?

Certainly, sir. Mayor and Council Members, this item before you is just to conduct a public meeting. This is as a result of the adoption of the resolution declaring the city's intent to establish a tourism marking district. This is the next step that is needed. There is no council action to be taken tonight. It's just an opportunity for any public testimony on the establishment of the Santa Ana Tourism Marketing District and the levy of assessments pursuant to the 1994 Act.

Do we have any public comment on this item?

No, we do not. And we didn't receive any written communication.

Council members, would you like to make comment?

Is there any comment from anybody?

None.

Not seeing any comment here, sir.

All right, so seeing no comment, then do we just receive them file, Madam City Manager? What do you recommend?

There's just no action for you to take. It's really for the public to have an opportunity to comment.

So we've already done it then by amyant.

You have.

So let's go to item 85A then. Councilor Mendoza, please.

Councilor Mendoza.

Yes, here I am. On the 85A is the request for our staff to do a research on the request to oppose large trucks coming through our city and damaging our roads. As you heard earlier, we take good care of our streets, our residential streets, our main arterial fairways. and we need to take extra care of that.

The large semis or other incredibly big and heavy vehicles do not come across the city but rather take the alternate routes. So the proclamation, if my colleagues support it, would be in opposing such regulations, the truckers attempting to go through cities such as ours in Santa Ana.

So I'd like to ask them to join me and our sister cities in signing this proclamation in support of such opposition for heavy trucks to come to our city.

Council Member Mendoza.

Any questions from Council Members or comment from staff? If not, I have some questions, but any Council Members or questions? Go ahead, Madam Clerk.

Mayor, if I may, Council Member Mendoza, if you have any other devices on, if you would please mute the other devices so we don't receive any feedback.

Thank you.

I have just, oh, you've got it? Okay. There's some noise in the background. Go ahead, Mr. Mayor. Still? Is it the fan?

I think that's...

Just mute the phone when you're not speaking. Okay.

Good, I think that's better.

Questions or thoughts, members of the city council?

If not, I've got a couple questions.

Let me just ask, this is basically suggesting we oppose federal legislation that would allow heavier or longer trucks on U.S. highways. Are we talking about the Santa Ana Freeway, the 405? What are we talking about, Madam City Manager? Do you know?

Certainly, Mayor. The information I do know about that is there's a coalition against bigger trucks that has reached out to local elected officials to get them to join in to adopting a resolution to ban the lengthening of semis with the length of trailers attached to them. I believe their mission is it's a safety issue of a vehicle that large, and they're appealing to the local officials because those same trucks could move through local streets. But the initial focus is on federal legislation that would permit the longer trucks on federal highways.

Wouldn't the Department of Transportation check all that out or the Public Utilities Commission? I know they spend a lot of time on breaks and safety in general. I'm just wondering what is the effect of this going to be? Is it our jurisdiction and, you know, aren't others going to be taking a lead on that? Any thoughts on that, please?

Mayor, I can't speak to what the federal agencies are doing or not doing. we certainly as staff could do further research for you if you desire well I

won't be on the council much longer but others may I just want to understand what we're getting into and what it means it sounds good but it'd be good to have solid information as to as to what does this really mean who are we impacting and how and what that's potentially going to be in terms of an impact to our city and our community maybe they're I don't know maybe somebody's trying to bring in longer trucks to supply some of our you know stores our target stores or or what you know Walmart or whatever

the case I I just don't know enough to say let's just do it I want to understand that's all

Mr. Mayor?

Yes.

Hi, this is a councilman Sarmiento. So yeah, just a question I think for the council member and maybe for staff as well. I also think that it's probably a good idea for maybe staff to brief the council with some additional background. I think I understand the premise of what the council member I believe is trying to do. I know that I've seen some of the discussion in other jurisdictions where they're, you know where they see that there is you know already heavy trucks that damage and deteriorate residential streets when sometimes you have some of these sites that go right through a very um

common passive street versus a major arterial so i see that that you know there is some benefit in looking at that as well but to the extent it could impede commerce it could limit some of the um ability to do business for many of our light industrial and heavy industrial stakeholders, you know, that is something that we would have to consider and balance. But I know that where some communities have done it well is that they're able to try to reduce the impact to some of the neighborhood or residential streets where the trucks do really, you know, impact and make road repair a lot more difficult. because as we know here in the city,

having a lot of heavy industrial right up against neighborhoods, you see that impact. So I would simply just ask staff if they could just provide us some additional information. I think we probably need more than what we have before us to make an informed decision. So that would be something I would request. So thank you.

Thank you for that. I think it concurs with my comments. Additional thoughts, council members?

If not, why doesn't staff take that as input and maybe come back with a memo or something, and then, you know, we can decide how to proceed? Why don't we go to item 85B, if we can? Councilman Peñaloza, if you could please take this one. Go ahead.

David PenalozaItem —

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This item 85B, to discuss and consider requesting the city clerk to analyze and prepare a phase plan to return to normal City Council meetings including a potential timeline for implementation the reason I place this item on the agenda was not necessarily to say you know what we need to have in-person meetings you know next time around or in the next month but it's because I think we you know we need to all kind of discuss what we want the city clerk to do moving forward whether that's a month from now or three months from now or six months from now.

David PenalozaItem —

I think just something as simple as giving the okay and the blessing to the city clerk to obviously follow the governor's guidelines because that is the first area that we should follow is anything that the governor's guidelines set forth. I know just in the last week they've changed and they're kind of scaling back again, but when I first decided to put this on I was thinking okay movie theaters are are starting to open and of course we want to have all safety precautions in place but we need to start having a plan like I said whether that's a month from

David PenalozaItem —

now or six months from now I don't know but we should start looking at because I know that when we initially had that in-person meeting in June it was a disaster there was confusion there was there was so I don't want to get you know get an email from from somebody on a week before the council meeting say hey we're having in-person meeting next week and it's like wait a minute you know we gotta really lay out the the plan and the way we want to eventually start having in-person meetings again so that's why I wanted to put this forward

David PenalozaItem —

I don't know if my colleagues have any thoughts or comments on this, on what the best course for our city clerk to take. Like I said, this could be a month from now or it could be six months from now. Who knows? but the fact that we should have something in place to start implementing as soon as the governor gives a green light and we start seeing the restrictions be reduced. And those are my comments. That's really why I placed it on here. And that is it. Not sure if any of my colleagues want to say anything.

David PenalozaItem —

I know that the makeup of the council is going to change in two months, so there's that also you know it's it's that we want to just wait um but just in in the way that we could start having that conversation and laying out a plan um that would be my my desire

thank you for that council member i i think uh you said it well it'll really be up to the governor and when in-person meetings with the proper protection and numbers of people and all those guidelines. But certainly it's something that the clerk ought to be keeping an eye on. And I would suggest that it'll probably be for a new council just because the trends go up and down. And right now there's the beginning of a potential curve going the other way. certainly in other parts of the country that's the case and the weather right now has been really

helping but uh when it begins to cool down i think unfortunately there might be a a resurgence and we i have to say i think are doing really really well uh you know we passed out i think close to approaching 200 000 masks i hope we we we get uh you know more than the city population and and we're seeing them everywhere, and it's making a difference. Our numbers are growing, but not at the same rate. So I think this is helpful you put this on there, but I would suggest just continue to monitor it and thank you for bringing it to our attention. Other comments on this by other council members, please.

Yes, Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a quick comment. Thank you, Council Member Pinalosa for bringing it up. Yeah, it is something to think about. Not sure when we're going to have meetings here, in-person meetings, because I guess we'll have to wait for a vaccine. And when the vaccine is here, then they're going to have to distribute it. That's going to be a little while. But it is a good idea to kind of start thinking and keep an eye on a plan of how we're going to do it. And I thank him for bringing this up. And that's my comment, Mr. Mayor. Thank you.

Thank you. Additional comment? If not, we'll go towards the end of the meeting and maybe get a chance to go home a little bit earlier once in a while here.

Hold on one second. There's no more comment? Mr. Mayor, I do have a comment. This is Council Member. Please, go ahead.

Yes, go ahead, please.

I want to thank the Council Member for putting this on. I think he's simply asking for, you know, some thought about next steps. I don't think he's saying let's do anything, you know, next week. I think it's good for staff and the rest of us to start considering maybe not the public coming back, but maybe the council members themselves coming back and how we do that. I think, you know, what was unfortunate and I think the confusion here is that as soon as we start thinking that we're having some success, we get a display of what happened this weekend, you know, at the White House.

and the debacle that's going on there and the confusion that lends itself to communities like ours. So I think that we need to set a good example of how we can come back safely as a body. And I'll reiterate what I had said earlier, and I know other agencies are doing this, as they bring back their deliberative bodies, putting plexiglass between us and making sure that we protect staff as well and maybe ensuring that they aren't exposed to the extent that they have to be there we want to make sure that they do that but there are just things that staff can start considering

as we take these next steps and opening up and opening up safely i think we want to do that with this little harm and as little impact to people that work and clean um you know the council chambers and um then we can start talking about bringing the public back but we can't do that until we start realizing how we can bring back the council and yes many of us are probably not not gonna be on this council and it'll be new council members, but to the extent that they can come onto this council and sit at the dais safely and make sure that they protect themselves and they protect the staff that is there, I think it's prudent for us

to start thinking about it. I don't think there's any reason why we can't give that some thought and maybe have the staff come back to us with some suggestions. And I think that's simply all that's being asked and I'm very supportive of having that conversation with staff so um thank you council member penial listen and thank you councilmember thank you

David PenalozaItem —

and uh mr mayor comes from mr minto that was that was basically it i mean i'm i'm in the council chambers now uh i have been present uh there's very limited people here and and we're very far apart but even the the for example the public uh microphone that the public uses to comment there's no pexilas there and and i'm just saying that we need to have this conversation so that we're not scrambling the week before you know when the council i mean governor newsom could wake up tomorrow and i don't think he will but i'm just saying you know what you know it's not you know

David PenalozaItem —

where we're whatever zone color i don't forget what color he's using for for being open but um you know you could return to in-person meeting but we're gonna scramble because nothing is set up in the council chambers for in-person meetings so that's kind of where I'm needing to is start this you know having this conversation among staff city clerk and risk management of what kind of precautions we could you know additionally do here in the council chambers and take for that when we do move that direction we're ready and we're not caught scrambling and we're

David PenalozaItem —

not making decisions on the Thursday before the council meeting like we did in June which sent the community into an uproar because that's not what we also well it's not what we want so that is that is it that is basically just what what I want is some some precautions start me to be taken and you know start being implemented and I want the city clerk to not also you know be caught off guard and and as soon as the governor says hey it's okay i don't want her to come back to us and kind of chase all of us down to see what we want to do it's you know giving her the

David PenalozaItem —

authority to say hey you know what as soon as as you know these um precautions are reduced you know you can move forward but that that's basically it you know mr mr mr mayor mr mayor mr mayor i want

to add to that because i think let me hear more of this discussion i think there's really two conversations one is about when we open up and how we do that the other very important point is there are some best practices we know about already that with or without regulations we should be doing some of these things whether having a hand sanitizer by the mic here or those little napkins or a plexiglass and really not just in the chamber but at all our public facilities where we engage with the public just with the availability of PPEs or plexiglass or

or doors open, whatever it may be, because COVID is going to be around much longer than anybody thinks. And regardless of the regulations that change almost on a daily basis, getting the best practices down and starting to use them, I think, makes sense.

Thank you for that. Look, since everybody's talking, let me add something now to the comment. I know that there's a lot of new technology coming in. There's ways of sanitizing rooms very quickly through ultraviolet radiation, for example. I also know that now in schools, they're going to start implementing these air circulators because the virus is mainly transferred in the air from people to people in a live situation. So there's these indoor filters, if you will,

that inside have the ability to neutralize and destroy any virus. So simply by having some of these around the city council chambers, we know that if somebody's sick, chances are that when the air goes through the recirculation system, it will be neutralized. And I think, you know, that type of technology we ought to, you know, contemplate as well. So with that, let's go on to the next item, if I may. And that is the Housing Authority agenda.

So I'm going to reset the Pity Council meeting and convene the Housing Authority agenda. And Madam Clerk, would you please conduct a roll call for the Housing Authority, please?

Authority Member Becerra.

Here.

Authority member Mendoza? Here. Authority member Peñalosa?

David PenalozaItem —

Here.

Authority member Sarmiento?

David PenalozaItem —

Here.

Authority member Solorio?

Here.

Vice chair Villegas?

Here.

Chair Pulido?

I am here as well. So now I will entertain a motion on consent calendar items one through three. So moved. Second.

Any comment on the motion?

Hear no comment. Can you please take a roll call vote?

Authority Member Becerra. Madam Clerk. Yes. Authority Member Mendoza. Yes. Authority Member Peñalosa.

David PenalozaItem —

Yes.

Authority Member Sarmiento?

David PenalozaItem —

Yes.

Authority Member Solorio?

Yes.

Vice Chair Villegas?

Yes.

Chair Pulido?

Yes.

Okay, motion carries 7-0.

So that's the end of our consent calendar. Now I believe you want me, or it's called that we call into order the successor agency. So can we have a roll call vote for members of the successor agency, please?

Council Member Becerra?

Phil BacerraItem —

Here.

Council Member Mendoza? Here. Council Member Peñalosa?

David PenalozaItem —

Here.

Council Member Sarmiento?

David PenalozaItem —

Here.

Council Member Solorio?

Here.

Mayor Pro Tempe Vegas?

Here.

Mayor Pulido?

Here. So now I believe we have public comment. I assume there are none. Is that a correct assumption?

I do have one public comment. Manny Escamilla? Go ahead.

Manny?

Yes. Oh yeah. Can you hear me? Yes. Oh, perfect. So sorry. I was actually trying to comment in on the housing authority. So I hope I can still comment, even though it might be a little out

of order. Yes, go ahead, man. You can do so. Go ahead. Okay. Thank you. No, I just wanted to,

you know, thank you all for being here and just hoping to have an early night as well. But I just wanted to bring an assembly bill to your attention and to staff. So it's assembly bill 3308 that's going to be allowing for preferential housing construction for school district employees and as I kind of read the statute it's actually fairly forgiving and allows for classified staff as well as teachers and I know that a lot of our classified staff that serve on the or that work for the school district also have students and are kind of part

of the groups of folks that we definitely want to provide affordable housing for so I just wanted to to kind of put that on staff's radar, trying to see how we might be able to partner with the school district and hopefully getting some support for our local school district employees in order to have a stable housing. Cause I think as your council member Villegas, sorry, Mayor Pro Temp Villegas has stated before, it's really hard to construct affordable housing and still have it for our own local residents. I think this is one way we might be able to do that. So I just wanna make sure we're geared up and ready

when the law goes into effect in January.

That's it. Have a good night. Thank you. So with that was our only speaker correct madam clerk? That's correct. Okay so then I believe we have a motion is in order for the consent calendar for this agency. I would entertain a motion. So moved. Second.

Second.

Any comment? If not, roll call vote, please.

Councilmember Becerra? Yes. Councilmember Mendoza? Yes. Councilmember Peñalosa? Yes. Councilmember Sarmiento?

Yes.

Councilmember Solorio?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tempegas?

Yes.

Mayor Pulido?

Yes.

Okay, motion carries 7-0.

Now I believe I adjourn those entities and reconvene the city council meeting and go to city manager comments.

Thank you, Mayor. Just a couple items for you. As requested, I wanted to always give you a Santa Ana CARES update. Since we first started receiving the state CARES funding towards the end of July, we have been extremely busy. and at the request of city council to increase testing we have added additional hours and spots and it has resulted in a 200 percent increase in the number of testing that we have administered. We also have seen an uptick in our positive test rate. We're currently at 6.13. The mobile resource center includes stops at 76 neighborhoods and 16 parks across the city.

This week we are also conducting testing on the Maple Bike Trail, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. If you look on your screen, this is a map of our entire city, and the shaded light blue areas shows the coverage that we will have when we are done visiting 100 different sites with our mobile resource center. We have a lot of coverage throughout the city. Each of the blue areas represents about a half a mile from one of our outreach locations. The bright blue dots indicate where those outreach locations have already taken place or are going to be conducted.

We are doing testing seven days a week with drive-to testing available at Santa Ana College four days a week, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 2.30 to 6.30, and Saturdays and Sundays from 9.00 to 4.00. We also are providing testing for vulnerable populations in the city, including testing at our senior centers on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and we are providing testing to our homeless residents on Fridays as well. Today, we launched our partnership with the Santa Ana Unified School District to provide testing for student athletes and all Santa Ana residents of Santa Ana USD school sites.

This service is available all month on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 to 7. To achieve all of this, we have hired 41 part-time employees. Some of those are helping us with our call center, and a large chunk of them, 27 of them, are working out in the field. Of those, we were able to rehire back five former city employees. And we have created several public service announcements that if you entertain me, I would like to show one of our public service announcements. We are airing them on our TV channel, on YouTube, and social media to help spread the word about our wonderful Santa Ana Cares program.

So this is a preview of the PSA for you.

Are you struggling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic? Well, the City of Santa Ana wants to help. The new Santa Ana Cares program includes free coronavirus testing for Santa Ana residents, rental assistance, help with past due utility bills, child care payment assistance for workers, grants for businesses, nonprofits, and artists, and much more. We are also bringing these resources directly to dozens of Santa Ana neighborhoods.

These mobile resource centers will make it easy to get connected with the services and programs you may need during this difficult time. You will see this notice hanging on your door the day before we will be in your neighborhood to let you know we are coming. This free service is available for Santa Ana residents only, and all participants must wear a face covering when attending. To learn more about Santa Ana Cares, please visit www.santa-ana.org slash cares or call the Cares hotline at 714-667-CARE.

And just two more quick items. I want to update you on a partnership with the Santa Ana Unified School District called the Student Success Library Card program It's a program that provides every student in the school district access to physical library materials and online resources such as downloadable ebooks Students are not charged fine on any materials they check out with their Student Success Library card We will be waiving those fees and it is a partnership and it's a first step in improving our library access to many underserved students in Santa Ana. Another exciting program that we are doing is partnering with the Cube,

and on this one we plan to roll out a play-and-learn Go Pass, where Santa Ana residents will have the opportunity to check out from the library a designated number of free passes to visit the Discovery Science Center, and then we will do additional library programming in conjunction with the programs that they see at the discovery science center if students are interested in learning more about any particular topic and that's all i have sir thank you for that why don't we move on to council member

Phil BacerraItem —

comments council member becerra please thank you mr mayor if anybody need any further proof that 2020 was a challenging year you had to didn't have to look much further than the loss of john mendez John was a very caring, generous individual here in our community. He faced some major health challenges, and he kept fighting on. He dedicated himself to helping the youth of our community, all the way down to even my last conversation with John, where he was pitching me on helping out with a couple of the programs here in Santa Ana, which I was happy to contribute to.

Phil BacerraItem —

So I appreciate that tonight we're adjourning the meeting in his honor, or his memory, excuse me. And one question I had for staff, it was my understanding that a federal judge has ordered the 2020 census to continue through the end of October. Is that correct?

David PenalozaItem —

Yes, it is.

I believe, sir, I did read that as well, but I would like to double check before I answer definitively.

Phil BacerraItem —

well I would just say while we can just everybody not to steal my colleagues thunder but we need to overly emphasize we need to fill out the census it's very important that we do that so I just wanted to if we have that clarification to provide that to the community but mr. mayor that's all my comments this evening thank you thank you

counselor Mendoza please yes thank you mayor Pulido I have three short comments uh the first one is i would like to welcome our newest chaplains uh from the santa ana police department uh it's uh a husband and wife team um as you heard tonight um it's uh mrs keller and it is uh bob and um i apologize i didn't catch uh mrs keller's name but we do have those two new Santa Ana Police Department Chaplains. So welcome and thank you for the invocation tonight.

And number two, I wanted to inform our public out there that the city of Santa Ana has launched its sixth annual Youth Water Poster Contest. And it's really exciting because the poster contest is where students residing in Santa Ana will compete for a chance to win prizes, ranging from gift certificates to Nintendo Switch systems and iPads. And one of the grand prize winners and two finalists will be selected in each age category. So there's three age categories. This year's contest theme is Trust the Tap.

And as you know, Santa Ana has really good water, so that's why I want to promote this among our residents. And the contest is designed to raise student awareness about the safety of their drinking water through creative expression. It also educates students on how Santa Ana tap water is protected from viruses, including the coronavirus, and safeguarded by the City of Santa Ana Water Resources Division during this pandemic. make. So our poster contest is on the web page at the SantaAnnaWater.org forward slash contest.

And if students cannot afford the art materials, you may contact this name that I'm going to give you and to obtain some materials, Robert Hernandez at 714-647-3341. And the deadline for this contest is January 29th of 2020 January 29th 2021 that's a mouthful and then lastly I would also like to commend our Public Works executive director Nabil Saba and

our project manager Christy Kending the the city received smart energy Decisions Innovation Award recently and this is a smart energy decision organization who recently recognized the city of Santa Ana Public Works Agency for temporary use and implementation of innovative technology and progressive practices among large electric power users that reflect new approaches to energy procurement and management the city's public work agency received this award for their

great work that they did at city hall in inner for energy retro commissioning and retrofitting the city hall building they they used cutting edge technology to improve the building's energy performance through new lighting new smart window shades and improved heating ventilation and cooling controls this project was funded by a grant from the california energy commission so i just wanted to let the public that we are energy conscious and that we have very safe water and i give credit to our wonderful santa ana news newspaper called the santa ana green

that is this that is it mr mayor thank you very much thank you for that now

let's go on to councilor peña loza please thank you mr. mayor I just wanted

David PenalozaItem —

to start off by saying that on third this Thursday I have I will be at the I have my TCA board meeting at 9 a.m. sharp for those that are interested in tuning in represent our city on that board so that we have our monthly board meeting this Thursday and also wanted to remind everybody about the 2020 census if you haven't already done so please please I encourage you all to fill it out tell your neighbor tell your family members of how important it is at by

David PenalozaItem —

going to www.my2020census.gov. In the year 2000, the city of Santa Ana was at a 78% response rate. In the year 2010, it actually went down to 71% of households in Santa Ana filling out the census. This year, 2020, we are actually below that. So we should be going the other way, especially now with the internet and how active we've been promoting the internet online it should be going the other direction unfortunately with the administration

David PenalozaItem —

and the rhetoric that's been out there I know people are scared I want to show everybody that it's safe no one can share anything with with any immigration agency or tax agency and it's 100% confidential and it will take you less than 10 minutes and have a very huge effect in for the next 10 years here in your community so I encourage everybody to do so I know that the mayor and I have been talking about and these last-minute ideas of how we could promote the census in the city and and advertise it and I am very I agree we should do something

David PenalozaItem —

big madam city manager and Daisy if you're listening wherever you are who's been doing a great job, by the way, the last year in pushing out census information and educating the public. But one of the ideas that we had is draping the water tower in a giant census form. That sounds crazy, but I know that it would get people's attention, and that's the goal here. And I don't know if the mayor wanted to talk a little bit about it. I'll let him talk about it. Mr. Mayor are you there?

Yes, I'm right here. Let me just tell folks that we need to do something. And I think this could really get people's attention. So just, you know, what we're talking about is just a giant sign on the water tower, you know, draping mainly or, you know, so that it can be seen, you know, from the freeway side. and I was even suggesting leaving it blank and then you know having the city attorney draw up a

huge indemnity agreement and having somebody potentially you know strap themselves on the water tower rappel down and fill out the form I bet you we would get you know people watching and you know, TV coverage and bring attention to the census. You know, it is just so much money at stake. You know, if we need to stand on our head, we should stand on our head, meaning it can be the difference in the next decade as to whether we realize a lot of dreams or not.

And as I'm leaving the council and those that have served here for a while, we know the importance of the census so as I've been talking to Councillor Penaloza we're not talking about a lot of money you know a big banner is not gonna you know be that expensive but if it results in a few more thousand people filling out the census because they go it's okay yeah let's fill it out if we done it it'll be worth our time so you know maybe we don't have much time left is there any opposition? I know it's not a motion or anything,

but does anybody think it's the worst idea ever? Because if not, I'd like to work with any of you and have a councilor Pena Loza lead it. He's been chairing the census. And I just talked to him about this idea because I think it could get some attention. It's a publicity stunt, no doubt about it, but it could be a good one. And it could get our residents and others. and that's okay but i mainly focused on san anna residents and getting our numbers up uh any any

David PenalozaItem —

brief thought from any council member and just to add to that really quick mr mayor just to clarify uh when it comes to cost um we we did appropriate uh uh several uh thousand dollars to census outreach uh earlier in the year and the year before that uh during the last budget cycle that has not been spent because of a lot of it was going to be on the ground events and community events so all of those due to COVID were canceled so there is some funding available that we already appropriated for census outreach just putting that out there I've confirmed that

David PenalozaItem —

that is still the case so yeah that that's with that said I think Councilman thank you for that I think councilmember Solorio wanted a comment yeah mr. mayor I go ahead I know I know this is

not customary but we're having a short meeting and this is an important subject councilman

Solorio go ahead please thank you and you know what I'll do I'll include it with my council comments because I think we're kind of that section anyway so yeah I agree that you know one last push on the census would be good and in addition to thinking about the idea of the water tower maybe something on the discovery cube also that's a very nice flat surface they haven't had much activity so they have extra space and now that we have a regional signage program with them the city does have rights to space there and very visible very flat and it may be easier and more

cost-effective to do it or maybe you do it on both places but just wanted to share that. I also wanted to thank, and maybe via our staff, a letter would be nice to the firefighters that serve Santa Ana. We had a recent fairly big fire at the creek, and actually that week there were three or four fires throughout the city. It was kind of sad, and it was not long after the statewide fires, but they did a fantastic job responding fairly quickly. There was just very minor damages to one of the sheds you know we lost some trees and bushes in the creek but on the whole the neighborhood was fairly well protected

because of the strong and quick response I've attended a few cares relief team events now in the various parks and do want to compliment the staff very well executed and done finally a kudos to a public works I'm starting to see more and more median improvement projects on different streets and they're starting to fill in nicely and i think we're going to learn you know which ones grow out easier or better than others but they're looking good and it's nice seeing a variety so thank you to public works and our city

manager on that that's all thank you thank you councillor sarmiento i apologize the way this evolved we uh jumped over you but it was not intentional please go ahead councilmember no

worries i didn't know how to respond to that idea about somebody filling out their form hanging from the water tower so that was still trying to get an image in my head for that it'll get your

attention it'll be interesting we may lose the money we get out there on some uh you know scrap them on that it'd be very interesting i'm kidding i'm gonna say it and i'm running i don't want to

lose anybody as we're trying to garner some money from this we may have to lose it in uh in a payout for the risk loss involved. But look, I think it's a good idea to just maybe use some of those funds that were referenced that we set aside for this very effort. And, you know, I like the idea of maybe bringing some of our part-timers as part of that team. I think as the city manager was speaking about the CARES Act being implemented and the testing and all the information being provided and her bringing back part-timers and some full-timers for that effort. And it's been really successful.

I know our numbers aren't as robust as we would have liked, but it looks like we're figuring it out. I think the park sites are working really well. So anything that we can do to bring back our employees and I just simply want to thank them because I see them really motivated and excited about helping and providing the service. So thank you to them because we know So it's also a dangerous thing to go knock on somebody's door and to also be providing service and having close contact. So good work on their part. And your part as well, Madam City Manager.

I did want to ask you because I know that we had an offer for some free Wi-Fi spots. And I wanted to just ask and see how that was going. And I know that that's probably in the works. Any updates on that?

Sorry, sir. I don't have an update for you tonight, but I will get one for you very shortly. Maybe tomorrow I can reach out to you.

That's great, and thank you. That's good news. I know that one of the contractors and vendors for the school district offered us some free Wi-Fi spots, and so that's a real blessing for not just our students but our families who also need them as there are still many sheltering in place and still bound at home. And that's free of cost as well. So that's a really good thing. The final thing I wanted to say is, you know, we've already started receiving, many of us have started receiving our ballots to vote by mail. One of the things I think that we may want to consider doing is maybe our communication staff

could put together an instructional video in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese and basically walk folks through how they fill out correctly a ballot if they're not going to be able to go to their normal polling place and mailing it in. I know that there's some very tricky ways that a ballot can be disqualified, and that's the last thing we want to see. So to the extent we can do something instructional, not just put it on Nixle, but maybe put it on Channel 3 and have it circulate there with the map of where the voting centers are, the drop boxes are.

you know we should all remember and I think maybe the mayor and I will remember this when they put armed guards at polling places to suppress the vote what we want to do is just the opposite we want to make it as simple and as easy for as many people to vote as possible and you know we became infamous for that for having armed guards here intimidating many of our residents from voting and we certainly don't want that to happen again I don't put anything past you know this

unfortunately I'll have folks that don't want to see many of us vote. So to the extent we can push back on that as much as possible, I'd certainly welcome the effort. But with that, those are my comments, and I hope everybody has a good night.

Thank you. I believe we're to Mayor Prodem.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to thank our men and women of the OCFA for all their hard work and dedication, keeping us safe when it comes to the fires. and many of them have been called out to help with the wildfires in California. You have to remember, folks, that when you're outside and you feel the heat and it's a little tough on you sometimes, you have to remember we have men and women in uniform that are out there fighting these wildfires, and it takes a toll on them, and they fight day and night. And it's a lot of work, and we wish them well.

We want them to come home safe to their families and along for our police officers also who have to wear all their gear that they carry and their protective vest and all that stuff. You know, it's not easy being out in the street working, even holding a perimeter or just doing your normal work with all your gear on. And then the weather's not helping, whether it's really cold or raining or if it's hot. We wish them well. We want them to take care and for them to be home safely with their families.

And I want to thank all the staff from the city manager's office and all of our staff here at the city for the great work they've been doing. We're almost through this COVID, I hope. And I appreciate their dedication to the residents of Santa Ana. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, and I believe we have two.

Thank you, Mayor.

I believe we have two adjournments this evening. Go ahead. Go ahead, Mr. Mayor. I think you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I am. I am. Thank you, sir.

First adjournment in memory of John Mendez that was mentioned earlier by Council Member Becerra. He brought it to my attention and requested we put this on the agenda, and it is as far our formal agenda. Let me just say a couple things about John. He was just a wonderful human being. He was very active with our Santa Police Athletic and Activities League, otherwise known as PAL. He had a long battle with cancer and unfortunately passed away on September 24th.

He partnered recently with a few council members on donation requests to support PAL's summer programming. And also, you know, even though he had cancer and he's working so hard on many things, he also helped raise money for an upcoming Thanksgiving food drive that we're going to have. You know, he was active in that as well. So I think just a wonderful human being, somebody we should all remember fondly.

And talking about reminding people fondly, I also want to bring to attention another Santa Ana supporter and former employee, and that's Lieutenant Mike Foote. He, you know, left us recently. He was in the police department, I think, almost, you know, 25 plus years. he was active in the early days of you know police of you know community oriented policing

he in particular worked the south part of town that south coast metro area was his focus and he you know has been part of so many people that have made the sand police department just such a class a department and before I adjourn I have one more thought but before I do that I want to call on councilor Peña Loza I think you have something real quick you want to mention about John go ahead please yes mr.

David PenalozaItem —

mayor thank you I just wanted to quickly reiterate how much of a force John was in Santa Ana and how much of his heart was in our community nine days before he passed away he called me and was so passionate about helping our community once again for Thanksgiving to provide meals for our many of our of our families here in Santa Ana and he mentioned briefly oh I'm just happy to be home from the hospital and and that was it you know never quickly made it about what he wanted to do and sounded so passionate about doing it so

David PenalozaItem —

it's definitely a huge loss to our community uh my heart and and and condolences go out to his family and his friends you know and and the helping hand Santa Ana family as well I mean this year has like Councilmember Becerra said has been a tough one I you know just you know he he's he's uh in good company he was a hero here in Santa Ana and he's in good company with you know ruth bader ginsburg and kobe bryant and you know that just the the that is the the how large of a loss this city and community uh has with him so um with that said thank you mr mayor

David PenalozaItem —

for adjourning this meeting in his honor you're welcome and thank you for a question along with

counselor uh mascara uh let me um just close by saying that i just want to warn us all that right now we've been doing a great job we need to get more masks out there need to keep working harder numbers are down but you know we have 283 deaths here in the city uh you know since this all began kind of late february early march the good news is that the numbers are down and the current infection rate is being reflected in less people hospitalized and less people dying

but you know we're leading the county in a category nobody wants to lead we're about uh you know 1200 cases above anaheim and and way above everybody else it's like there's two supernovas in the county and it's us in anaheim and and and we're bigger than they are in these categories so i just want to warn everybody you know please don't let your guard down already we're seeing other parts of the world where they kind of had it be you know now you know paris for example all the cafes are closed all the restaurants are closed they had it under

control and now they're playing the french open and you know where they have hundreds of thousands of people now they're only letting a thousand in a day and you know thank god we have tv and a lot of us can enjoy it remotely but you know the pandemic is is is is weakened but not dead so let's just stay aggressive stay on it because our city and our county you know depend on our efforts and there's a lot we can do as leaders to continue to keep the issue at the forefront so with that I'm going to go ahead and adjourn this meeting to our next meeting

actually don't we have a special meeting coming up madam clerk on the 16th or so

we currently are looking to schedule a special meeting on october 16th that's correct all right

but i'll adjourn this meeting to our next regularly scheduled meeting which will be held on october 20th so let me leave it at that if we schedule a special meeting for whatever we'll do that separately. So with that let's all have a good evening and and you know we can go home and it's 8 31. So this is pretty good we did a lot of business and had a long close session and and I just want to thank the council for everybody caring and everybody you know pushing you know in the right direction here for our beloved city. So with that this meeting is adjourned.