Read the November 16 meeting.

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Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Let me go ahead and call this regular and special housing authority meeting to order for November 16, 2021. And we are going to be going into closed session soon, so I'm going to go ahead and just make some opening remarks as usual. The meeting is taking place with in-person attendance and by teleconference via Zoom. The public can access the meeting by the Santa Ana YouTube channel and the city's website. Please bear with us as the technology may disrupt the flow. So I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to the clerk so she can call roll call.

Council Member Becerra?

Here.

Council Member Hernandez?

Council Member Lopez? Here. Council Member Mendoza? Here. Council Member Fan? Here. Mayor Potempo-Panaloza?

Here.

And Mayor Sarmiento?

Here. Madam Clerk, well, let me go ahead and call on the council if there's any items they wish to abstain on in closed session. Seeing none, hearing none. Madam Clerk, do we have any members of the public wishing to address us on any closed session items?

No, we do not, Mayor.

Great. So why don't we go ahead and recess this portion of meeting into closed session and we'll reconvene in a bit for public. Thanks.

Mayor, our meeting can be started. We're recording.

Good evening, everybody. Let me go ahead and reconvene this regular session of the city council meeting for November 16th, 2021. Let me go ahead and just make a few housekeeping remarks before we get started. This meeting is taking place with in-person attendance and via teleconference via Zoom. The public can access the meeting via the Santa Ana YouTube channel or the city's website. And once again, please bear with us as the technology may disrupt the meeting. I'm gonna go ahead and turn it over to the clerk to call roll.

Councilmember Becerra?

Here.

Councilmember Hernandez? Here. Councilmember Lopez? Here. Councilmember Mendoza? Here. Councilmember Fan? Here. Mayor Pro Tempeñalosa?

Here.

Mayor Sarmiento?

Here. Before we start with the Pledge of Allegiance, Madam Clerk, I'll go ahead and turn it over to you to make your remarks.

Thank you, Mayor. To request to speak on any agenda or non-agenda items within the city's jurisdiction, with the exception of public hearing items 28 and 29, please dial star nine from your phone or click the button labeled Raise Hand from Zoom now. For public hearing items 28 and 29, please hold your comments until the mayor opens the public hearing schedule to be heard. Please announce your name and ward or neighborhood you reside in within the city of Santa Ana for the record. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to the Mayor Pro Tem so he can lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

David PenalozaItem —

Thank you, Mayor Sarmiento. If you could all please join me in rising for our flag, facing our flag, and I'll put your right hand over your heart and repeat after me. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, everybody. If you'll please remain standing as I turn it over to the police chaplain, Rupert Vega, to lead us in the invocation for tonight.

If you could please bow your heads.

Gracious Heavenly Father, we come before you today, giving you honor, glory, and praise. Lord, you are the source of all that is good, and we are grateful for all the blessings you have bestowed upon us. We thank you for our wonderful City of Santa Ana, our Honorable Mayor, City Council, Chief of Police, courageous police officers and staff. Lord, we thank you for our freedom and the opportunity to unite and gather together this day. We ask for your hand of blessings to be upon tonight's meeting and proceedings. We thank you for your grace, unending love and wisdom.

And we ask that you would guide and direct tonight's meeting and that it be of sound wisdom, that it be productive with integrity, accountability, and with respect towards one another. Thank you, Lord, for helping us to accomplish our work and our goals this day. City of Santa Ana, I leave you with a scripture found in the book of Numbers, chapter 6, verse 24 through 26.

It says, life. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you.

Thank you, Police Chaplain. Let me go ahead and move on to the next section of our meeting, which is a ceremonial presentation, and let me start with Council Member Becerra, who's going to be presenting a Certificate of Recognition to the Pacific Symphony for their outstanding contributions to the arts and culture.

Thank you.

Phil BacerraItem 1

of recognizing the Pacific Symphony for their outstanding contributions to the arts and culture here in Santa Ana. Here I am joined tonight with Susan, right? Susan's here on behalf of the Pacific Symphony, which is led by music director Carl St. Clair, and it's currently in its 41st season here in Orange County. The Pacific Symphony is the largest orchestra formed in the United States in the last 50 years. And it's recognized for its outstanding ensemble that makes strides on both national and international scene,

Phil BacerraItem 1

as well as right here in Orange County. Recently they launched the Symphony on the Go program back in the summer of this year. and Diane Pritchett over at the South Coast Metro Alliance had put out a nice release talking about this program and the first thing I said was so where's it gonna be in Santa Ana so of course after contacting staff and our staff reaching out we were able to get five performances here in Santa Ana one of course in Thornton Park down on the on the south side so what are these concerts these symphony on the go. They're concerts that are free outdoor

Phil BacerraItem 1

events for our community. They're led by and they feature the Pacific Symphony musicians that typically feature a string quartet or a woodwind or brass quintet on a pop-up mobile stage and it's really neat. They bring it right into the park. People are out there in their blankets and just enjoying a wonderful show and it's just such a wonderful experience. My wife and our puppy were out there and it was just a great great experience and so many of our community were out there enjoying it as well so the mobile stage itself that was a gift from philanthropists and symphony lovers Jerry and Terry Cole in addition to the

Phil BacerraItem 1

symphony on the go the Pacific Symphony has served Santa Ana through long standing partnerships and initiatives including 26 years of serving Santa Ana elementary schools through the partnership program known as class act 20 years of providing financial support for Santa Ana students to attend the symphony's life-changing residential arts immersion camp Arts Express. 10 years of violin instruction and mentorship for elementary and middle school students provided through the Santa Ana strings. And then 15 years of providing free tickets and transportation to Santa Ana residents through the HeartString program.

Phil BacerraItem 1

And there's so many things that you guys do for our community, and it's wonderful because you're exposing our residents and our children to the wonders of the symphony and the music that the beautiful music that you guys provide. So what I wanted to do is on behalf of the City of Santa Ana provide present you with the certificate in recognition of all your contributions to our arts and culture here in Santa Ana.

Thank you so much.

Phil BacerraItem 1

Would you like to say a few words?

Thank you so much, Councilmember Becerra, and thank you all so much for welcoming me on behalf of Pacific Symphony here this evening. I'm Susan Miller-Cossus, I'm Vice President of Education and Community Engagement with Pacific Symphony, and it is my and my team's honor and privilege to partner with your community members and to share musical moments together. I know Santa Ana has a rich cultural history and current cultural legacy and we're thrilled to be part of that amazing fabric of arts and culture in Santa Ana and look forward to many more

opportunities to partner with you and your organizations and your schools and your puppies. Yeah. I was very happy to hear that your puppy enjoyed the concert. He did. He did.

Phil BacerraItem 1

He actually behaved. Yes.

Well, that's excellent because music soothes the savage beast. That's true.

Phil BacerraItem 1

That is true.

So thank you so much to you all and I hope you have a wonderful evening and we look forward to many many more wonderful decades of partnership together. Now before you leave, will we see the

Phil BacerraItem 1

symphony on the go next year? Yes. That's great. Yes there will be symphony on the go. Thank you

Thank you very much. Thank you so much, council members. Thank you.

Phil BacerraItem 1

Perfect.

Thank you for that presentation. Let me go ahead and call on Council Member Hernandez, who's going to be presenting a proclamation to Pat Vegas, Redbone, and PJ Vegas, representing the Yoemi Tribe, and declaring November 2021 as Native American Heritage Month. The floor is yours, Council Member.

Thank you very much.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

Thank you. Is the Vegas family here? They're not here yet. Okay, so...

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

Yes, please. Thank you. So they'll be joining us in a minute.

So here's the time when you get to do some stand-up.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

All right, so let me think of a good joke here. I'm just kidding. I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

Since I'm up here, I'm going to have to tell a joke, I think.

All right.

After this we'll also have Council Member Mendoza doing our last presentation. She'll be presenting a proclamation to Sergeant Salvador Lujan posthumously for his outstanding service for our community.

Council member, what do you think? If maybe we do council member Mendoza. That'll be okay.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

Yeah, let's move forward with council member Mendoza.

Is that okay, council member? Yes. Let's do that and that way we can give the family some time to make their way up.

Good evening. May I have Ms. Cindy Lujan please come up to accept the award.

Friends and colleagues, public, and other city officials.

This is my sis here, Cindy Lujan. We're sisters in, not blood sisters, but we're sisters in humanity. This award is going to a very special person who I hold very dear to my heart. I don't share much about my own father because he died pretty young, and so I had that void of not having a male role model in my life. Maybe that's one of the reasons that I joined the military. There was a lot of role models,

male role models, who really made a difference in my life in becoming the strong, confident, and successful woman that I am. And when I served my country and I was discharged honorably, by the way.

I continued to be involved with the military, and we were very much involved with the military community. And so when I met this very special person, Sergeant Salvador Lujan, They were just in the middle of beginning a brand new nonprofit organization in the city of Santa Ana, and that is the United Mexican American Veterans Association, UMava for short. And he was one of the first whom I met, so he was an original founder of this organization,

which has been in existence now as long as I knew him. and that would have been in I met him in 2002 so that's 19 years and so he became a role model a father figure advising me guiding me accompanying me and just being another father and through him I met Cindy and the other sisters and we just became like an adopted family because it was just that kind of closeness and bond.

And unfortunately we lost our dear father in this January, not to COVID, I might say. He was still strong as an ox at 90 years old, but it was just that his time on earth was done and he He just passed away in his sleep and strong as ever. And so he left a legacy that is just incredible. And so it was people such as this that I want to honor. And because it was Veterans Day last week, I wanted to honor him for that part of his life,

of being an incredible veteran, for loving his country, for being civic minded, and for raising an incredible family, and also for raising me for the last 19 years. So Salvador Lujan was born January 10, 1931, and he was raised right here in our very own Delhi neighborhood. At the young age of 17 years old, he joined the United States Army, where he earned the rank of Sergeant. He served in the Korean War, and I have a little story about the Korean War. He saw the enemy right in the eye, and it was really within close range.

That night, it should have been his last night on Earth, but God was good. God had something else in mind for Sergeant Lohan. Would you believe that the trigger in the enemy's gun blocked and it misfired? Missed him by just milliseconds, millimeters.

Sergeant Lohan took his machine gun, picked it up, and ran back as fast as he could because the American soldiers were retreating because they were overcome. by the enemy and there was just not enough American soldiers to keep the line to protect the line and

He was not a coward He was an incredible brave soldier and as soon as he could he stopped he put his his gun down again and he's and he started firing and that night was a very memorable one because his life was spared in order that he may save lives of his comrades.

And his unit was able to regroup with his valor in stopping, even though the bullets were flying past him, and continuing to fight as soon as he could regroup. And I just love that story about him because it was a very special time when he came back with PTSD. And he was a grouchy old man, wasn't he? Very grouchy.

But, you know, as he spoke about his experiences and our interaction about how he felt that he should not have run. But, you know, I pointed out that he was just regrouping, getting upset. And he came right back to do what he joined the service for, and that is to protect our freedom. him, he started mowing out. He was able to speak about his experiences. And so, during

his last final years, he was coming out of that PTSD and getting back to being the strong, compassionate, loving father that he was prior to the war.

After serving in the Korean War, Sergeant Lujan got a job working in a men's tailor shop called the Carrot Store. This store was next to a variety store where his future wife, Stella Edroso, worked. After admiring her beauty through the window, he eventually got enough courage to ask Stella out on a date. They eventually married and raised five children, and that's Yvonne, Sal Jr., Julia, Frank, and my beautiful sister here, Cindy. He lovingly earned the nickname of Barracuda,

and that was because his hobbies were scuba diving, spearfishing, and snorkeling. He also loved animals, dogs, cats, and horses, and I think it's one of the reasons that my sis here, Cindy, is now a very professional equestrian and owns some incredible beauties. He always told his children, when you take on a pet, you take care of them for the rest of their life. And what does that tell you about his heart and his compassion for every little creature?

Sergeant Lujan taught his children to respect our servicemen and our veterans. He was involved with the organization that I mentioned earlier, UMava, the United Mexican-American Veterans Association, the American Legion, and he engaged in the various military outreach programs that we had. He loved speaking to teenagers about the Korean War. He was actually a guest speaker at my class. I teach for the Santa Ana Unified District at the high school level. And he came out to speak to my classes on several occasions.

And he had such great guidance and motivation and compassion for our youth. And I bet you that many of them on that day learned what it's like to be an American hero, what it's like for someone to risk their life for their freedom to be there in that classroom and to be in school.

His legacy was dedicated to service to the military, and his love for his community will never be forgotten.

Let's all follow the advice he would always give his children. Live every day as if it were your last, because tomorrow is not promised to anyone. Please give a big round of applause to my dad and America's hero, Sergeant Salvador Lujan.

I'd like to thank the city of Santa Ana for having me receive this for my father.

I'm not a good speaker, but he was a good man. And all she wanted to see towards the end of his age was peace. for everyone to get along. Life is too short. Love each other. Don't hate each other because freedom is not free. I believe in Christmas. I believe in God. And I'm not afraid to say Merry Christmas to anybody. So everybody, please have a safe Thanksgiving, a Merry Christmas, and a safe New Year. Let's move forward and be strong. We are American citizens.

We deserve the right to have freedom. Thank you

Thank you, Councilmember, for that presentation. We're very sorry for the loss of Sergeant Lujan. So let me go back to the presentation that was delayed a little bit, and that's the proclamation by Councilmember Hernandez, and I believe that the Vegas family is here. If they'll join us up here at the podium.

And this is for Native American Heritage Month.

Thank you.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

All right. All right. Well, what an exciting, powerful group of people we have up here. I want to stand amongst you, lie in front of you.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

Okay.

So, all right.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

Today we are declaring November as Native American Heritage Month. Joining us today to accept this proclamation are PJ Vegas, representing the Uemi tribe, and Pat Vegas of Redbone, also representing the Uemi tribe. PJ Vegas is an award winning singer, songwriter, and sound curator from Los Angeles, California, best known for his sultry vocals and gritty content. He won an MTV VMA for Best Video with a Message and helped produce Indigenous Peoples Day events in 2018 and in 2019.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

While carving out his own lane in music, he has become the voice of a new generation of Indigenous Native artists reclaiming their space in mainstream music. Patrick. Pat Vegas, PJ's father, is a founding member of Redbone, a Native American rock group that originated in the 1970s, along with his brother, Wally Vegas. They reached the top five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1974 with their hit single, Come and Get Your Love.

Come and get your love. There you go.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

I think it's only fitting that I do that.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

There you go, there you go.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

We'll do the chorus together.

Sound good?

Everyone, Pat Vegas of Redbone.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

We had to give you all a little sample, a little sample of how special Native American Heritage Month is to us in the city of Santa Ana. Redbone has been spreading the message of love for over 40 years, and Pat is keeping that legacy alive, still touring and releasing new praise music to the creator. Today, the city of Santa Ana declares November as Native American Heritage Month and recognizes the value and many contributions made to our community through Native American Indian culture, traditions, music, crafts, dance, and concepts of life. Before I want to thank you guys, I do want to acknowledge that we are on stolen land.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

And it's important that we acknowledge those that came before us. Those that continue to stay here and those that continue to remind us of the excellence that exists within the Native American culture. Thank you, PJ and Pat, for honoring us with your presence as we call upon public officials, educators, businesses, communities, volunteers, and people of Santa Ana to observe this month with us. As we learn more about the people who first called this nation home, as we pause to reflect on their past, present, and future, I urge my neighboring cities to do the same and proclaim November Native American Heritage Month. Congratulations.

So real quick, so y'all can take your pictures. I'm Nally Legaspie. Nally Maya Turtle Heart Legaspie, say that ten times fast. I'm your personnel commissioner, one of the members. I'm also the director of the American Indian Movement, and I'm presenting t-shirts from the American Indian Movement for Orange County to PJ Vegas and Pat Vegas, our honorary members.

just so you all know now you know who come and get your love is the OG so now we're going to turn it over to them in behalf of Redbone my son and myself I want to thank everybody for being here and it's a great honor and I really really really sincerely hope that everything works out the way we want it to work out because I've been doing this for so many years now and fighting for our Indian heritage and our Indian rights and and it's it's a constant battle it'll be going on

forever it seems like but we're dedicated and we're going to follow through with us. I thank you for being here. God bless you and I love you.

Hello everyone. Yeah, like my father said, thank you guys so much for this great honor. I feel like as indigenous people and a people of color and of all of all people, if we just lead with love and lead with understanding and really just pay homage when it's necessary and when it's due, everything will be great. And I love to see everyone here from all different mixed backgrounds coming together to Unify to get stuff done in their own communities So it's great to see thanks again, and thank you to councilmember Hernandez and everyone sitting here It's an honor for us to be here with you guys. Thank you so much

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

Make some noise one more time for them, please it is an absolute honor. Thank you guys

Thank you.

Yes, we did. Yes, we did. Yes, we did. Yes, we did. Yes, we did. Yes, we did. Yes, we did. Yes, we did. Yes, we did. Yes, we did.

Thank you for that, Council Member Hernandez. Now we all know where that song came from, because I think all of us can recall that. Just next council meeting, you guys have to come back for the second verse, right? All right. All right. That's all I'm saying. All right. Let me go ahead and turn it over to staff for the update on people experiencing homelessness, and I'll turn it over to the city manager to give us an update on that.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor and members of the City Council. Today is the first of the requested monthly update on homelessness and homeless services provided by the City of Santa Ana. As you know, homelessness is a complex and regional issue that affects all of Orange County, the state of California, and the cities across the U.S. We do know that there are several root causes of homelessness, and we are working hard to address homelessness to ensure a better quality of life for all of our residents. Considering that this is the first of a series of monthly updates to City Council, today's

presentation is going to touch on a couple of handful of topics and a little bit of history information. Going forward, each monthly update will focus on specific tenets of homelessness, and I certainly look forward to your input on those areas that you would like to hear about in the future. So for tonight, I really want to talk about the items up here on the overview. I want to talk about the Orange County Continuum of Care. That is basically the regional body that oversees services to homelessness that we fall under. Talk about the city's existing four-point homeless plan.

Talk about the point-in-time count that happens every two years. Talk about the homeless services that we provide at the city of Santa Ana. And then our homeless services data dashboard.

So starting with the Orange County Continuum of Care. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development initiated continuums of care which span across all 50 states and 6 US territories. Here in California, our cities are disproportionately affected by homelessness. There was a study done a few years ago that indicated that California has 22% of the nation's homeless while we only make up 12% of the nation's population.

For the continuum of care, California is divided into 14 continuums. Each continuum consists of a wide range of representatives from public and private entities that include civic groups, educational institutions, faith-based organizations, health and mental health care providers, local government, and non-profit agencies. Orange County's continuum of care is administered at the county level.

The Orange County Continuum of Care works together to promote community wide commitment for the goal of ending homelessness, provide funding for efforts by nonprofit providers and state and local governments to quickly rehouse homeless individuals and families while minimizing the trauma and dislocation caused to homeless individuals, families and communities by homelessness. Promote the use of mainstream programs by homeless individuals and families and optimize self-sufficiency. The city does work very closely with the continuum of care, which in fact is a requirement for specific grant funding.

There are meetings that are held monthly. They're open to the public. And currently they've been being conducted virtually. In Santa Ana, we recognize homeless services don't stop at the county level. The city recognizes that there is a gap in homeless services in Orange County. As such, this body, the council has continued to make ending homelessness a priority. To that end, in 2019, the city developed a four-point homeless strategic plan to reduce the negative impacts to the community, ensuring Santa Ana is clean and safe, persistent in our contact with anyone experiencing homelessness,

and by reducing the number of unsheltered individuals in Santa Ana. So the four-point homeless strategic plan, it was adopted. I began working for the city of Santa Ana in May of 2019. So this came shortly after that. It's a pretty simple plan. It's four points, clean outreach, housing, and communication. And this is our roadmap for the services that we provide for those homeless in Santa Ana. And those are the four core strategies around it.

the point in time count so the US Department of Housing and Urban Development requires that all continuums of care create a biannual unsheltered count and an annual sheltered count of all individuals experience homelessness on a single point in time during the last 10 days of January the last point in time count in Orange County took place on January 22nd 2019. We are due for our next count this January 2022.

You might ask, well, that's not biannual. Why are you doing it 2022? It was because it's one year later because of COVID. So the next table on your screen depicts the homeless counts for 2017, 2018, and 2019. The 2017 and the 2019 counts were the official point-in-time counts, but the city on its own conducted a 2018 count. If you look at the 2019 point-in-time count it shows that there were 1,769 people experiencing homelessness in Santa Ana. 939 of those were sheltered and 830

of those were unsheltered. The county of Orange's homeless count found 6,860 people experiencing homelessness. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic point-in-time counts and the city administered homeless counts were not conducted in 2021 and as mentioned before we will be doing one and we participate with the county in that in January of 2022. On the bottom half of the slide the second table shows you how Santa Ana compares to other cities in the central service planning area from the 2019. Approximately 53% of all individuals experiencing homelessness were found to be in Santa

Anna. So homelessness affects the quality of life of all of Santa Ana residents and visitors. It's a complex and challenging problem that has grown over the decades. Through collaboration and coordination among the city, state, and federal governments, community groups, nonprofits, faith-based organizations, businesses, and residents, we are working towards providing relief to the homeless and those that are risk of homelessness, as well as for the residents and the visitors who share Santa Ana's public spaces. Homeless still remains a growing crisis and experts agree that the crisis does center around the lack of permanent

supportive housing compounded by a lack of job training and supportive services to treat mental illness, substance abuse, or domestic violence. Santa Ana is on the forefront in providing housing options for individuals experiencing homelessness. Currently the city utilizes both the Salvation Army Hospitality House and the Link on Commonwealth to provide emergency shelter beds with complete wraparound services and these two facilities are being utilized until we have the grand opening of Carnegie which will be a full navigation center. As of today the Salvation Army Hospitality

House has 52 residents leaving 23 beds available while the Link on Commonwealth has 67 residents leaving 33 beds available. The Santa Ana Homeless Navigation Center, currently called Carnegie, remains in construction and will initially provide 200 beds, but has the capacity for 300 beds. Construction is progressing and we hope to have it open the doors in mid-January. As further demonstration of Santa Ana's commitment to the homeless crisis, we are proud of the 227 current permanent supportive housing units located within five sites in our

city and additional 207 units are currently in the pipeline at five additional locations within the city in total the city will very soon have a total of 437 permanent supportive housing units through the use of HUD's emergency solutions grant rental assistance funding for individuals experiencing or at risk of becoming homeless remain in place Santa Ana is typically awarded about a half a million dollars for this program each year. Funds are used for homeless prevention, rapid rehousing, shelter, as well as data and street outreach. Funds for homeless prevention and rapid rehousing include

short-term rental lease payments as well as utility and security assistance to help an individual through any temporary situation. Housing vouchers are issued through the Santa Ana Housing Authority and currently there are vouchers set aside specifically for individuals experiencing homelessness. To date, 452 vouchers have been issued.

Our outreach and our enforcement efforts. During the month of September, the Quality of Life team contacted 139 individuals, issued 54 citations, and arrested 21 individuals. Of this number, 63 individuals had ties to Santa Ana, while 76 others did not. Only 10 individuals contacted accepted shelter. During the month of October, so you have the Quality of Life team, which I believe you guys are familiar with. It's a cross-departmental team of individuals, and then in 2019 we supplemented services by bringing in a nonprofit service provider, CityNets.

During the month of October, CityNet Outreach contacted 367 individuals, engaged in formal case management with 58 individuals, and exited 42 individuals off the streets. Of the 42 individuals, 37 exited two emergency shelters, two were permanently housed with a family, one was hospitalized, and one was relocated, and one entered a substance abuse treatment center. And recently you approved a program, a pilot program that we're going to try that will further remove police involvement from homeless services.

So beginning on December 1st, sitting at six-month enhanced outreach engagement pilot program, we're calling it MDIRT, Multidisciplinary Response Team, will begin. This program is modeled after other cities who have implemented this program and what it will do is it's going to transition the homeless related calls for service that come to Santa Ana police or fire not requiring an emergency response they will be and that would be determined by subject matter experts who are trained in their profession of homeless services the the calls will be diverted these teams will be able to offer crisis intervention mental health

addiction and medical services in order to provide the best response for those in need. Further, these response teams rely on trauma informed techniques to de-escalate situations and bring these circumstances to non-violent resolutions. Over the course of the next six months, we will be returning to you with metrics for evaluation of the program's success. These metrics will include the number of outreach contacts, phone calls dispatched to the team, freeing up other city resources, case management assignments, and all types of street exits.

If you want to learn more about what we've been doing, what the availability of beds in our city have been, what the capacity has been, we do have readily available a homeless dashboard. So in the spirit of openness, we regularly update this homeless services dashboard to share the outcomes of the homeless services that we provide. For example, the homeless fact sheet is the first page of the dashboard and it provides an overview of the number of emergency beds, supportive housing, and the point in time counts.

Another page available gathers the information from the shelters. It talks about when we first opened the temporary link in 2018 to its closure and transition to the other link. It tells how many individuals were referred to the shelter, how many found housing placements, and then the graph also shows how many of the previously housed guests moved to permanent supportive housing. The highest enrollment that we've ever had at the link was 191 individuals. With the upcoming opening of the Homeless Navigation Center, which we currently call Carnegie, the homeless

dashboard will be reconstructed to include those new performance indicators to track our progress. Also on the dashboard there is an update on the progress of the construction of the new homeless navigation center including photos. Once complete this new shelter will replace the city's interim homeless shelter and the site will initially provide 200 beds with capacity for 300 beds for Santa Ana residents experiencing homelessness. The homeless navigation center will include a commercial kitchen, men and women's, couples, flex, and family dorms, offices for case management, medical services,

an outdoor area for participants and their pets. Adhering to the principles of Housing First, guests will be admitted with low barrier requirements through approved referral agencies. All guests will be transported in and out of the shelter as no walk-in traffic is allowed. During the stay, the guests will be offered a robust package of supportive services to transition to permanent housing and to cope with underlying issues causing them to cycle through the system. Illumination Foundation, the selected operator of the shelter will partner with the Clark Lou Medical Corps to provide medical and mental health care services

exclusive of substance use counseling for clients on site at the shelter. And the next slide is just different pictures depicting the stage of construction of the shelter. New photos get uploaded each week. The site is expected as mentioned before to be opened in mid-January. So be sure to check out the dashboard if you want to see some updated pictures of that. So I plan to do another homeless update on your meeting on Tuesday, December 21st. And for now, staff and myself are available should you have any questions.

Great. Thank you for that presentation, Madam City Manager. Let me go ahead and bring it back to the Council to see if there are any questions or comments on that update. Council Member Fan.

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

first thank you so much madam city manager for such a thorough update and you know letting us know what the city has been up to i know a lot of residents are are frustrated because i think sometimes it's difficult because it is a sometimes intractable problem right it's a wicked problem and it requires a lot of coordination with a lot of different groups with a lot of sensitive topics but i think it's really great to hear the process that we've made or the progress that we've made

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

Also, I think, you know, I look forward to these updates because that way the community can know all the incredible work that our staff is doing and that our departments are doing to address this issue. I do, you know, I guess invite folks to email me if there's particular information that you want to know. We're providing this so that the community is aware of the work and where the funding is going and I'm excited for Carnegie to be open. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember. Any other questions or comments? Councilmember Lopez.

Jessie LopezItem 4

Thank you, City Manager. I really do appreciate the PowerPoint presentation. I think it's important for people to have factual information about the efforts of the city. And one of the things that stuck out to me when you were letting us know about the outreach and enforcement is that, you know, out of almost 400 people that the Quality of Life team made contact with, almost 80 of them, 76, did not have any ties to the city of Santa Ana. And so I always get questions like, how can I help you? And, you know, to be very blunt, I always tell people, if you're going to email me about this issue,

Jessie LopezItem 4

you should also be emailing your supervisor at the county level because it's very clear that this is not a Santa Ana issue. As I always say, it's a county issue. And I also know that, you know, speaking about the county, there was an agenda item that they discussed today, or maybe not even discussed, that was placed on the agenda and was not really discussed. Can you please give us an update on that?

Certainly, Council Members. So the Board of Supervisors had an item on their business agenda approving an agreement with the Volunteers of America to open up the Santa Ana Armory for a cold weather shelter that serves during the winter months basically as a nighttime shelter. The board did unanimously approve it. The city did submit a letter of opposition against having the armory open in Santa Ana.

Thank you, Council Member Lopez. Any other questions or comments from Council Member Mendoza?

Yes, I would just like to mention that there is a lot of misinformation out there, and the public should go on the website, the presentation that you received today, check the dashboard to get up-to-date, true information and facts. The council, the city, and all our staff are working on this homeless issue, and it would really help us to help you if you had the correct information and were not relying on propaganda or rumors. So come straight to our city webpage and get the information there.

Feel free to ask any of us about the information if you don't find it on the website. But please don't rely on any of the rumors or the information that you get from other places. We are trying to work on this issue as soon as possible. but you know the homeless issue has been around for as long as I can remember, so it's going to take some time for us to resolve the issues, but be assured that we are working on it, and your words and your comments and your involvement are not ignored. We are taking everything into consideration,

and we are doing our diligent duty in representing the City of Santa Ana on this homeless issue.

Thank you, Councilmember. Councilmember Lopez, did you have anything else?

Jessie LopezItem 4

Yeah, you know, I had a request. For Ward 3, we're somewhat in a unique situation because we border the City of Orange, and with the creek issues, they are an entity that I want us to engage with, and the county as well. I always tell people, you know, the City of Sanana is not the only jurisdiction that's responsible for the creek. I think it's Caltrans, it's Orange, it's the county. And I do think that it's time that we have some sort of task force in place that is gonna hold everyone that is responsible for that area responsible.

Jessie LopezItem 4

And really it's not fair for the residents of War III to continue going through what they've been going through. So I want us to engage with them. Thank you.

Great, thank you for those comments. Any other questions or comments from the council on this? Mayor Pro Tem.

David PenalozaItem 4

Thank you Mayor Sarmiento and thank you City Manager for that update and report. It is very appreciated because as I've heard hundreds of times over the last three to four years that this is the number one concern that our neighborhoods and residents and schools have in this city is just the never ending problem that this is causing our neighborhoods

David PenalozaItem 4

And, you know, it is just from driving around and seeing it myself, this isn't, I want to make sure that we are also reminded that this isn't just people that are living, that are homeless, that don't have a home. there is a huge concentration and amount of people of these people living on the streets that are suffering from severe drug addiction that will do whatever they can to get their next fix and that is hurting our neighborhoods it's hurting our homes there there it's a lot of the crime is

David PenalozaItem 4

is through the roof because of this never-ending problem and I want to make sure that we're addressing this from the housing side from drug addiction side from a crime side and from a mental health side because there are numerous factors that are feeding into this and not just people living without home I'm pretty sure it's a it's a smaller percentage of all the people living on our streets that are just down on their luck and and can't afford a place to live I also want to echo what my colleague Councilmember Lopez said is that there is a

David PenalozaItem 4

orchestrated effort by the County of Orange and I would take a wild guess to think that every city in this county to keep this problem centered and just in Santa Ana it's been like that for years and it's unfortunate because it we keep getting the short end of the stick so madam City Manager as well as as these reports are appreciated. I would also ask that between our staff, Terry or Steven or I'm not sure exactly who, maybe Ken, we could as well as doing these monthly reports and updates, we could do a town hall tour in the city amongst the

David PenalozaItem 4

six wards of what exactly is happening, where we're at, what the city is doing to try to combat the situation and really get down to the neighborhoods and update our residents of what's going on. Because one thing is also that I know we are doing a lot of what we can, but it's not that information is getting out to our residents. So I'd appreciate if that could happen.

David PenalozaItem 4

And yeah, that's basically it. So thank you. Thank you for those comments. Councilmember Becerra.

Phil BacerraItem 4

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, Madam City Manager, so just to repeat for everybody, the county approved what this morning?

Opening up the Santa Ana Armory for a cold weather shelter.

Phil BacerraItem 4

And at a capacity of what?

They indicated they would serve 80 individuals.

Phil BacerraItem 4

And the county currently operates a shelter in Santa Ana known as Yale Street, correct? Correct. And how many beds does that have?

They're currently only utilizing 250 but it has the capacity of 400.

Phil BacerraItem 4

So capacity of 400 plus the cold weather armory and the county had the ability to place that emergency armory, emergency shelter that was at the armory. They could have opened that in another location. They weren't, in other words the Santa Ana Armory isn't so unique that it had to be opened there, correct?

No, that's correct. And in fact, during COVID, they used a different location when they opened it.

Phil BacerraItem 4

Okay. And I just want to let everybody know, at least from my standpoint, I hear you loud and clear, and I see it every day, and the impacts that homelessness has on our community. And I know this council, I've been a part of some of the efforts that we've done through legal channels to try to mitigate some of the impacts, but as we all know, it's not enough. And so what I'm asking each and every one of you to do is reach out to your county, your state, and federal representatives, because we need to stand up, we need to speak out.

Phil BacerraItem 4

Other cities do it. Other cities have flooded the Board of Supervisors meetings. We need to do the same. I get reports about encampments off of the freeway, which is Caltrans property. City staff cannot enter that property. we need your help to report those. We need your help to go to our fellow elected officials at the higher levels and implore them that this is an important issue to you. For all of us here we know it is, but they need to hear it from you as well. And I appreciate each and every one of you reaching out to me and my colleagues to let us know where things are happening and some

Phil BacerraItem 4

helpful suggestions on what we can do. But again I implore you we need your help to communicate to these other folks because right now they've turned a deaf fear to us and they continue to open up more and more in Santa Ana and it's an undue burden that we in this community do not deserve. We've done more than our fair share and again I just ask your help because together we will be strong and we can stand up to these folks. Thank you. Great. I think everybody had a

chance to speak on this. First of all thank you for the presentation Madam City Manager and I'm glad it's going to be a recurring agenda item for us to you know, monitor. I do want to remind everybody that we're still going to have a COVID update, right, that's going to alternate with this as well, because we know that still hasn't gone a ways. But, you know, I think this is important to have, you know, periodic updates on what is happening, what we're doing. We have obviously active litigation on this. We have resources. We have different efforts to try to address, you know, this problem. And it's a very complex problem

that we need to all be vigilant about. I agree with everything that was said by members of the council on this, especially Council Member Lopez's point where we really do need to have everybody understand that as municipal government, we're not the agency vested with the responsibility to deal with these problems. That's what county resources are for. that's what counties do and throughout the state they're supposed to be dealing with these issues and unfortunately as the county seat where many of the services are located it tends to be

shouldered by us disproportionately and I think many of us I guess are demonstrating our frustration because we think that our children and families are just as important as anybody else's in the county and they shouldn't be having to deal with the consequences of this and we're being obviously very sympathetic to the community that is experiencing homelessness because we know that for various reasons nobody wants to be on the street nobody wants to be living in those conditions but nonetheless we certainly have a balancing act to do because we have to you know deal with

those interests as well as the interests of our families that also deserve a high quality of life and unfortunately where you see homelessness is in communities of color. And you see them in low-income communities, and it seems to be concentrated there. And I just think that that's not fair, given the wealth in our county, given the open space that there are in other communities where there could be resources built. So that's something that I hope we can continue to pursue. One of the suggestions I was going to make, Madam City Manager, on the four-point strategic plan is maybe to add a bullet point regarding prevention.

Because I think we are and have taken efforts to make sure that those families that are on the cusp, living paycheck to paycheck, you know, can fall into homelessness. And, you know, we have made efforts, and, you know, one of the items tonight is going to be exactly for that to try to prevent people from falling into that unfortunate circumstance. The other one was you said the CityNet Homeless Outreach Team that is going to be sort of a diversion of 911 phone calls when it has to do with health and welfare checks,

that's something that is going to have an acronym of MDIRT. So maybe we work on that acronym and we can come up with something a little bit more. I'll try to come up with something better for you, sir. Less, I don't know, MDIRT doesn't. But I'm really excited about that because I think that, you know, respective of the acronym, the effort will be one that is being handled by professional staff. civilian staff, and qualified staff. And I think with all due respect to our police officers, unfortunately they don't have the training to be able to handle some of those situations.

And we are expecting them to address matters that really they aren't equipped for. So to the extent that we can couple that with civilian professionals that will hopefully be able to address this, I think it's going to work out well. So I think everybody has had a chance to comment on this, so I'll go ahead and move along. Thank you for the presentation. Let me go ahead and go to the city attorney to see if there's anything that she needs to report at a closed session.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 4

Thank you, Mayor, members of the council, members of the public. We had one closed session item. We do not have any reportable action.

Great. Thank you for that. So let me go ahead and move to the public comments section of our meeting. this is a time and place for the City Council to receive comments from members of the public on agenda and non-agenda items and pursuant to the Brown Act the City Council may not enter into any discussion during these public comment sections we'll now hear from members of the public that are physically present here in the room and we're also going to hear from members of the public that are going to be joining us via zoom or on conference call and I should remind

you if you could please limit your comments to three minutes there will be a timer that you will see and I'll go ahead and handle the in-person comments that I have, cards that I've received from you and then I'll hand it over to the clerk who will be taking the comments via Zoom and conference calls. So Madam Clerk, I've received a stack from you but do you want to go ahead and make your remarks right now before we start calling on people?

Yes, thank you. For those who are joining us by way of Zoom or conference call, if you would like to provide to comment please dial star 9 from your phone or select the raise hand feature. Thank you.

Thank you Madam Clerk. Let me go ahead and start off with Kelly Rowe followed by Jennifer Daly followed by Jason Wildman and just for you know just Kelly's luck he stepped out of the room right as I called him so I'll call him when he comes back how about Jennifer day Jennifer Jennifer Daly followed by followed by Kelly Rowe he's back in the

room if not Jason Wildman hi counsel yeah my name is Jennifer Daly I'm a filmmaker from Los Angeles I'm I'm speaking on something that's not it's totally off-topic from anything you guys are talking about though I didn't really enjoy your defund the police point that you were making. I'm here to address an injustice committed against Jason Wildman by the Santa Ana Police Department and by your committee. Jason served seven years in prison for a crime he did not commit. He was released one year ago and has been trying very hard to be heard about this injustice that destroyed his life. I met him in April. I

became interested in making a documentary series about him and other people who have been wrongly convicted. Before being in prison, Jason was a homeless person, very topical right now, and an activist who was outspoken and looking for answers after his mother died as a homeless woman in Orange County. He wanted to change the system and defend helpless people, so he showed up to talk to officials at City Hall. Police officers and council members knew who he was, he was around all the time, he was also an easy person to dismiss, being homeless without any money or any ability to legally defend himself.

He was attacked by SAPD, unlawfully charged, and even with witnesses on your council who stated he committed no crime, he was put in prison for seven years. There is no denying the economic inequality in our country and right here in our neighborhoods. with an undeniable homeless crisis that is clearly affecting everyone. It's a big topic tonight. The ease in which the police force and justice system can railroad these people and take away their lives with zero consequences is really horrifying. I want to have Jason speak after me to address his case, but I am right now working with a production company on a docu-series to bring his

STORY TO LIGHT. I HOPE THAT YOU GIVE HIM A FAIR CHANCE AND LISTEN TO HIS STORY. HE DESERVES THAT. THANK YOU.

THANK YOU. LET ME JUST REMIND EVERYBODY IF THEY CAN STATE WHERE THEY RESIDED. IF THEY LIVE IN SANTA ANA, THE NEIGHBORHOOD AT THE WARD, WE DON'T NEED TO KNOW YOUR ADDRESS. AND IF YOU DON'T RESID IN THE CITY, PLEASE LET US KNOW THAT AS WELL. JASON WILDMAN, FOLLOWED BY CHAD KROGER, FOLLOWED BY J.T. PAR.

I DON'T KNOW IF YOU REMEMBER ME, BUT YOU WERE ONE OF THE PEOPLE THAT WAS LISTED AS A VICTIM THAT I THREATENED TO KILL YOU, ALL THE MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL, THE MAYOR, THE CHIEF OF POLICE, THE CITY MANAGER, THE CITY MANAGER'S ASSISTANT, AND I WAS AN ACTIVIST IN ORANGE COUNTY OUT OF SANTA ANA. MY NAME IS JASON WILDMAN. I WAS A HOMELESS ACTIVIST FOR ABOUT TWO AND A HALF YEARS OUT OF SANTA ANA. I WAS ARRESTED ULTIMATELY FOR CRIMINAL THREATS. I WAS SENT TO PRISON FOR SEVEN YEARS FOR CRIME I DID NOT COMMIT. AND NOW THAT I'M NO LONGER ON PAROLE, I'M ALLOWED TO COME HERE.

I DO NOT LIVE IN THE CITY OF SANTA ANA. I LIVE IN TUSTIN.

I'M HERE TO SPEAK DIRECTLY TO YOU, MR. MAYOR. YOU ARE LISTED AS ONE OF THE VICTIMS IN MY POLICE REPORTS. I WAS SET UP BY CITY ATTORNEY LAURA A. ROSSINI WAS ONE OF THEM. SANTA ANA OFFICER BADGE NUMBER 3200 MARIA ORZOCO LOPEZ WAS ANOTHER. and retired Deputy Chief Ken Kaminsky, who was at the time the commander for the Santa Ana Civic Center region. I am, basically what I'm saying is they conspired together to file false reports and had me arrested in the city for filing false records with the court.

All the evidence that was used against me to hurt me can now be used against the city of Santa Ana and the Santa Ana Police Department. EARLIER TODAY, I SUBMITTED A CLAIM TO THE EIGHTH FLOOR, TO THE CITY HALL. I'M ASKING FOR A LITTLE OVER $2.5 MILLION. I CAN PROVE EITHER THROUGH MY CLAIM, IF YOU GUYS TAKE IT SERIOUSLY, OR THROUGH FEDERAL COURT. I HAVE THE RIGHT TO TAKE THIS TO A JURY TRIAL AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL. I AM ACCUSING OFFICER MARISA LOPEZ OF FILING FALSE POLICE REPORTS.

I AM ACCUSING CITY ATTORNEY LAURA A. ROZZINI FOR FILING FALSE REPORTS WITH THE COURT. I HAVE BEEN FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO GET A FILMMAKER OUT OF LOS ANGELES WHO IS EXPERIENCED. SHE IS GOING TO HELP ME TELL MY STORY. THE STORY IS BAD. IT IS ACTUALLY REALLY BAD. THE POLICE WERE INVOLVED IN SOMETHING THAT THEY WERE ABLE TO GET AWAY WITH AND THEY WERE ABLE TO SEND ME TO PRISON FOR SEVEN YEARS AND I AM WEARING THIS RIDICULOUS SHIRT JUST BECAUSE AND YOU GUYS ARE ALL WEARING ORANGE TONIGHT SO THANK YOU. I WAS TRYING TO BE UNIQUE.

BUT WHAT I'M ASKING OF YOU IS TO LOOK AT MY CLAIM AND TO INVESTIGATE. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Thank you. Chad Kroger followed by J.T. Parr followed by Oscar Rodriguez.

What up, counsel? My name is Chad Kroger. What up? Yeah, good to see you. Yeah, so recently we visited Santa Barbara to help solve the cliff erosion problem that's threatening their house parties. and we gathered the best and brightest students to come up with a solution. And after much deliberation, we decided that the best course of action was to perform a record-breaking beer bong from the cliffs down to the beach. It was sick. And it's a feat so legendary that it forces the powers that be to formally recognize Isla Vissa as a place of historic interest.

and this will assure the cliffs survival for eternity which is means forever which is like a crazy concept you guys think about it um also the beer bong itself was like so tight so yeah JT JT will fill you guys in as I'm sure you're

excited to hear so thank you thank you JT Parr followed by Oscar Rodriguez followed by Vern Nelson

What up, council? I am J.T. Parr. I did not volunteer to be the chugger. I was picked by an esteemed group, not unlike this one.

There were some moments when I didn't know if it would work. The science had to be exact, and we had to adapt when it wasn't. Foam was a concern, so an expert pour was necessary.

As the chugger, I had moments of harrowing self-doubt and I had to rely on the words of a dank legend to steal my nerves. Being surrounded by environmentalists, I chugged with raw intensity and it went down without a hitch, totally smooth.

I did throw up, but it still counts, and so now the cliffs will be protected forever.

Thank you.

Thank you JT. Oscar Rodriguez, Vern Nelson, and then John Murphy.

Mine won't be funny, but so good evening Mayor Sarmiento, Council members and staff. My name is Oscar Rodriguez and I'm a resident of Huntington Beach. However, I do spend a lot of time in the city of Santa Ana as my office is down the street. In addition, I also patronize a lot of the downtown small businesses here. I'm here as a concerned resident of Orange County, particularly focused on the proposed Poseidon desalination facility in Huntington Beach. Poseidon is backed by private multinational corporate corporation that wants to convert seawater to freshwater and while this may sound like a great

idea especially as we begin having more and more conversations about drought Poseidon is not the answer the current price tag for this facility is 1.4 billion dollars and although it will it will be built in Huntington Beach working-class people in cities like Santa Ana and Anaheim will feel the impacts of increasing water rates if built this facility would actually be the second facility in Southern California from Poseidon so there's actually extensive research on how expensive water can get and just to give you a perspective in 2010 the average water bill in house per household in

San Diego was $885 per year in 2015 the Poseidon went operational by 2018 the AVERAGE WATER BILL IN SAN DIEGO HAD SKYROCKETED TO $1,400 PER YEAR. SINCE THE EARLY 2000, POSEDON HAS INVESTED THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS AND DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES LIKE MANY, LIKE OURS WHERE WE LIVE, DON'T HAVE ACCESS TO THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS FOR THIS PROJECT AS THEY LACK MONEY TO CONDUCT THE INTENSE HIGH-LEVEL LOBBYING POSEDON HAS ENGAGED IN. AND I BELIEVE THIS IS ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS WHY PEOPLE OUTSIDE OF HUNTINGTON BEACH ARE NOT AWARE OF THE PROJECT.

There are also many concerns regarding our environment ranging from increasing solidity in our ocean and high energy consumption It is estimated that Poseidon carbon footprint consumption would be equivalent to 35,000 homes per day So I do I do watch Santa Ana City Council meetings quite frequently and I was happy to hear that Council member brought up the concern of increasing water rates during the rent control discussion I HOPE THAT THIS HAS SPARKED SOME INTEREST IN SOME WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM FROM ALL COUNCIL MEMBERS.

SO I'LL BE EMAILING YOU, EACH AND EVERYONE, AND HOPEFULLY WE CAN GET SOME DISCUSSION GOING TO WRITE A RESOLUTION AGAINST THIS PROPOSED FACILITY. SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH, AND HAVE A GREAT EVENING.

THANK YOU, OSCAR. JOHN MURPHY, FOLLOWED BY FLAIR BRAVERN. OH, YOU KNOW WHAT? VERN, I PASSED YOU UP. HEY, IS KELLY STILL HERE?

Kelly went home. He's an impatient man.

Got it. Go ahead.

Buenos Aires, Mayor, Council, people of Santa Ana. I'm Vern Nelson from the Anna Drive Barrio of Anaheim. First, I want to congratulate Santaneros and Santaneras for managing to elect such a progressive and honest mayor and council. I just wish we could do that in Anaheim. I'm here to speak about the terrible Poseidon desalination plant, something I've been fighting for 20 years. I'm not sure if everyone here knows this project will affect all of central North County, you'll be forced to buy its water whether you need it or not and it'll affect

Santana worse than any other city. First thing you need to know is that the Poseidon desal plant is not needed. In this part of the county, we're blessed to live on top of the Santa Ana aquifer. Droughts will come and go, but there are many much more affordable solutions to our water needs. More groundwater replenishment, rainwater capture, conservation, and more. Desalination is the most expensive method known to mankind. The Metropolitan Water District determined a few years ago that we We have all the water we need until at least 2035, and that's as far as they look.

There's no reason to forcibly raise the water bills of people who are already having trouble getting by just so the Canadian billionaires who want Poseidon can make more billions. There's a definition of corruption. When a person or company sneaks a little bit of money from everybody so they can get an amazing amount of money, and when they pay off the government officials and the building trade unions to help make them happen, that's even more corrupt. And that's Poseidon. A few years ago they used to say, oh, our plant will only raise each person's water bill about $6. It's like a Starbucks drink once a month.

I don't know about you, but I never spent $6 on a Starbucks drink. But it's also a lie, especially in Santa Ana, it will raise your water bills and your taxes a lot more than that. Kelly Rowe was going to tell you about this. I'll try to squeeze it in my three minutes. Twenty large two-acre injection wells will need to be built and dug to pump the expensive desol water into the ground, and most of those will have to be in Santa Ana. displacing many families permanently from the city. I didn't even know that. And the city will also have to construct several new supply wells at the cost to Santa Ana taxpayers of at least $10 million.

You don't need this. We don't need this. By the way, Mayor Vince is a great mayor, and I was talking to him when he was running because he'd been on the water board for years, and it was hard to tell if he was for or against this boondoggle. He told me, Don't worry, Vern Poseidon will never happen. I'm not going to approve any water project unless it's revenue neutral, and Poseidon will never be revenue neutral. And I said, That's not good enough. If a project with so much money behind it is not going to just go away from us ignoring it, we have to actively oppose and fight it. There's a word called incrementalization,

where things just happen slowly and gradually until it's too late to stop them. The Greek storyteller Aesop illustrated this as a camel's nose in the tent. And before you know it, the entire camel is in there with you breathing up all your air. That's how things like Poseidon get through. So Vince promises that once he was mayor, you all would agendize a talk about Poseidon here, and we're asking you to agendize two things. A powerful resolution from the great city of Santana opposing Poseidon as the Coastal Commission hearing approaches.

And also clearly instruct your fine water board member, Nelita Mendoza, to oppose and speak against Poseidon whenever it comes up at the O.C. Water District. And I have more to say, but I'm out of time. Thanks for listening and please agendize this. Thank you. Coastal Commission hearing is coming up.

Thank you. John Murphy followed by Claire Braeburn followed by Ceci Rueda.

GOOD EVENING, COUNCIL. FIRST ON BEHALF OF SMART LOCAL 170 AND THE WORKERS AT KINGSPAN LIGHT AND AIR IN THE DELAHI NEIGHBORHOOD, I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU ALL FOR SENDING LETTERS TO KINGSPAN. EVERYBODY TOOK ACTION AND WE APPRECIATE THAT. The workers at Kingspan have noticed. They've heard your words of support and your words of inquiry, and it means a lot to them.

The company has also noticed, and unfortunately the company didn't listen to creating a fair process for the workers to decide whether or not to join a union. I came here today, one, to thank you all, but then two, to let you also know that Kingspan has started an anti-union campaign. I just passed out a leaflet that they passed out today, hot off the presses, where they accused the union of just wanting dues and just wanting just like a business, which is kind of strange because they are a business and so are they insinuating businesses or not to be trusted. I'm not sure what that line is all about.

But, you know, we want to make sure that the workers have a fair process to decide whether or not to join a union. And the reason why they need that is because this company has ran anti-union campaigns multiple times in the past and is doing so right now. So just as they muddy the waters in the Delhi neighborhood, they're muddying the waters for the workers in making a decision whether or not to join a union. So tonight I'll be sending you some more information about the Cal OSHA complaint, the Cal EPA complaint, and about what the union is asking for, what the workers are asking for. And thank you for your time.

Thank you, John. Claire Braburn, Ceci Rivera, followed by Ed Ed Lopez.

Good evening, Mayor Sarmento and honorable council members. My name is Claire Braburn. I am the executive director and co-founder of America on Track. We're a locally based nonprofit organization just across the street here in Santa Ana. So I work here and I live here more often than not, but I don't technically live in Santa Ana. And I'm here to talk to you about item number 30 this evening. So first off, I really commend you for taking swift action to protect young people from a lifetime of nicotine addiction. Because we know that most teens report that the first tobacco product that they have ever used was a flavored product.

And because the Surgeon General has declared youth vaping an epidemic. And because menthol and cigarettes make smoking more appealing to young and beginning smokers, it's more important than ever that cities do everything they can to reduce youth access to tobacco. The most effective way to reduce the use of mentholated and flavored products is to adopt and implement an ordinance that ends the sale of those products in your city. The good news is Santa Ana already has a really strong tobacco retail license in place, and this is an ideal opportunity to enhance it to further protect the youth of Santa Ana.

I want to share a few statistics with you to highlight why it's so important that you wisely include ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including hookah and cigars, for all tobacco retailers in your ordinance, and why it's important to keep that language in the ordinance. So the hookah industry representatives may report that youth don't use hookah, but the data shows that this is absolutely not true. Hookah is actually the second most popular flavored tobacco product among California youth. The most common user of hookah is now between the ages of 18 and 24. The product is popular with teens as well.

Since 2016, the rate of hookah use among California high school students surpassed cigarette smoking.

Unfortunately, today's hookah comes in flavors like cherry limeade, orange cream, and red gummy bear. These flavors clearly exist to attract youth and young adults. Nearly 80% of the kids who use hookah say they use it because it comes in flavors that they like. There's absolutely no public health justification for allowing continued sales of flavored hookah. Hookah smoking is addictive and deadly. Hookah users inhale as much smoke in one session as a cigarette smoker would inhale in 100 cigarettes. That's five packs of cigarettes in one session.

On top of this, hookah smoke has more nicotine, carbon monoxide, tar, and cancer-causing chemicals than cigarettes. Hookah smoking is dangerous as the water cools the smoke and allows it to penetrate more deeply into the lungs. So I urge you to end the sale of all flavors and all tobacco products at all locations with no exemption. It's a wonderful opportunity to protect the youth of Santa Ana. Thank you for considering this.

Thank you, Claire. Thank you for everything you do. Ceci Riera followed by Edda Lopez, followed by Hugo, followed by Daniela Hernandez.

Good evening, Mayor Sarmiento, Mayor Pro Tempanalosa, and City Council members. My name is Ceci Rivera. I am a 16-year-old high school student at Middle College. I live here in Santa Ana, and I'm here to talk to you about the negative effects of flavored tobacco products in Santa Ana. As a member of the youth community, I'm here to speak about the real dangers of harm, the real dangers of flavored tobacco products. These powerful tobacco companies don't have our health interests in mind. I want to protect my brother and my sister, Because we, as part of the Latino community, and me as a first generation student,

we are most vulnerable to falling into substance abuse. We don't have outlets sometimes to deal with negative emotions, and a lot of youth turn to substance abuse. It only takes one hit, one taste to get addicted. It is evident that tobacco products marketed with flavors such as cotton candy and fruit punch are clearly directed towards the youth. I urge you to think about the very real harm that these products are doing to our community and the kids of Santa Ana. I feel it is my duty to use my voice to protect my brothers and my sisters. I have witnessed very, I have witnessed a

lot of my classmates fall prey to these products. Very bright students, very, very nice friends that I've had and it only takes, like I said, one hit and they fall and pray and there's not going back so so many young lives have been wasted because these tobacco these tobacco companies target specifically the youth in low-income areas so I urge you to think about this and to make change today protect our youth I feel responsible because I have a voice and I can protect my community thank you thank you for those comments

Ed Lopez followed by Hugo followed by Daniela Hernandez if you guys can maybe GET READY TO SPEAK AND MAYBE LINE UP THAT WAY WE CAN GET YOU ALL IN AND OUT QUICK. THANK YOU.

HI, THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING ME HERE TO SPEAK TO YOU. HONORABLE MARY SAIMENTO, MAYOR PRO TEM PENALGOZA, AND CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS, MY NAME IS ADER LOPES, AND I AM A SANTA ANA RESIDENT. I LIVE IN WARD V, AND I VOLUNTEER WITH AMERICA ON TRACK, AND I STRONGLY URGE YOU TO END THE SALE OF flavored tobacco in Santa Ana because it's really important to me. I want to help the youth in my community like my brother and his friends and my friends. My brother goes to Mendez and he tells me all the time about smelling con candy flavored tobacco and e-cigarettes

all the time. He tells me how people offer them and how common it is and how people are very susceptible to them. They're targeting us, people like us, just because we're low income and because we're minorities. I want to help them and I don't want them to be urged to take a hit because they don't have any other outlooks. So I want to help them and prevent them from becoming lifetime addicts from such a young age. They don't deserve to be targeted. They don't deserve any of what's coming at them. So I believe Santa Santa Ana kids and families deserve to be protected. And it's important that we end the sale of all flavors,

all products, and all locations, no exemptions. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for those comments. Hugo followed by Daniela Hernandez followed by Sonia.

Honorable Mayor Saramanto and City Council members. My name is Hugo Cota and I'm a Santa Ana resident. I LIVE IN WARD 4, I AM 14 YEARS OLD. I ATTEND MIDDLE COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL AND I VOLUNTEER WITH AMERICA ON TRACK. I STRONGLY URGE YOU TO END THE SELL OF FLAVORED TOBACO IN SANTA ANA. THIS IS SUCH AN IMPORTANT ISSUE TO ME BECAUSE AT SCHOOL AND MANY OTHER PLACES I SEE MANY KIDS MY AGE FALL INTO SMOKING BECAUSE OF FLAVORING TOBACO. I'VE BEEN OFFERED MULTIPLE TIMES AND ALL THEY TELL ME IS DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT.

It tastes just like candy. I believe Santa Ana kids and families deserve to be protected. It's important to make sure that we end the sale of all flavors, all products, all locations, no exemptions. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Talia Lardinandez, followed by Sonia, followed by Catalina Iniestra.

Hello, Honorable Mayor Sarmiento, Mayor Pro Tempenezuela, and City Council members. My name is Daniela Hernandez and I am a Santa Ana resident and I live in Ward 2. I'm 17 years old and I attend Sacred Storm High School. I volunteer with America on Track and I strongly urge you to end the sale of flavored tobacco in Santa Ana. This is such an important issue to me because I've seen the addiction happen firsthand when I first was a freshman at Sacred from high school. We were all 14 years old and I overheard a conversation between two girls.

She was talking about her addiction that started in middle school. So an 11, 12 year old girl already having that state of an addiction is horrifying to hear. I now know that I can do something about it. I can speak up against it and make change in our community. And that's why it's important to me now. A few years later my sister is a freshman and she's 14 years old, Sigurdsson High School also. I see her with her friends, I see her with her peers and classmates and to think that they might also be going through the same thing it's you know it's really sad and

saddening to hear. Daniela maybe get a little closer to the microphone there you go. And it's

really sad to hear that so that's why I believe Santa Ana kids and families deserve to be protected it's important to make sure that we all end the sale of flavors all products all locations no exemptions thank you Sonia followed by

Catalina Iniesta followed by Veronica Garcia followed by Tony Vita Montez

Good evening, Honorable Alcalde Sarmiento and Councilors. My name is Sonia and I am a resident of Santa Ana. I live in the district number 6. I am a volunteer from America Untrack. And I encourage you to make a point to the sale of Tabacos in Santa Ana. This is a very important issue for me because I have three children and I don't want to be exposed to the tobacco of sabores. And to protect the young people of Santa Ana.

The tobacco companies want to exploit people vulnerable to create new addicts clients. I believe the children and families of Santa Ana deserve to be protected. Hills is important a a second I'm not the terminal a venta de todo los sabores todo los productos toda la sufica Sionis see a step Sionis gracias

good evening honorable mayor Samiento council members my name is Sonia I'm a Santa Ana resident of Ward 6. I'm a volunteer with America on Track, and I urge you to end the sale of flavored tobacco in Santa Ana. This is important to me because I have three children, and I don't want them to be exposed to flavored tobacco. We need to protect the youth of Santa Ana. The tobacco companies exploit the vulnerable young people, and they offer these flavored products. we need to protect the children we need to protect the families we need to end

the sale of all flavors all products all locations no exceptions

I don't think all of us not just on our other Caldas Armento you can say Hales so resident is on Tana for mother it is in co-anness me when a list ito tres so I am a volunteer at America Antras. I ask you to put the end of the tabacos in Santana. This is a very important issue for me, because I also have two adolescents, which we have been suffering for more than 15 years, because we are living in a place where we live. We are constantly with pain and we are prone to asthma.

So,

the tobacco mata. The aromatized products like the cigarettes make it easier to stop smoking. I think the children and families of Santana are protected. It is important to ensure that families

are protected by all this type of productos it all those it all as we can see the section case and a mini nada's de este de esta ciudad gracias que tengan una bendecida noche

good evening honorable mayor Sarmiento council members I'm a resident of Santa Ana for over 25 years I live in that Ward 3 I'm a volunteer with America on track and I ask you to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products in Santa Ana this is important to me because I have two teenagers and for over 15 years we've been suffering from this the neighbors smoking we suffer from headaches are suffering from asthma and tobacco kills people and flavored

tobacco is harder to give up, to stop using. So we need to protect the children and the families of Santa Ana from these products from all locations to stop the sale of all these products in Santa Ana. Have a blessed night.

Veronica Garcia followed by Tony Viramontes followed by Victor Mendez.

Good evening, Mayor of the Council. Addiction a la nicotina. Los niños y familias de Santa Ana merecen estar protegidos. Es importante y necesario asegurarnos de terminar con la venta de todos los sabores y todos los productos. Y también las ubicaciones sin excepciones. Gracias. Buenas noches.

Gracias.

Good evening, honorable mayor and councilmembers. My name is Veronica Garcia. I'm a resident of Ward 3. I'm a volunteer with America on track and I ask you to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products This is important to me because children deserve to live in a smoke-free environment and so that they don't think that this is a normal way of life and

We need to stop this the sale we need to protect the children of Santa Ana We need to end the sale of all products all flavors all products all locations no exceptions

Tony Vitamontes followed by Victor Mendez followed by Apolonia Cortes.

Hi, good evening. I'm Tony Vitamontes, Santana resident. I live in the Floral Park neighborhood. I'm also the director of health programs at the LGBTQ Center OC, which is housed here in Santana.

So it's not just my job, it's my mission to advocate for the health and well-being of my community. LGBTQ individuals face a very unique set of stressors. Coming out of the closet is typically accompanied by discrimination, stigma, harassment, displacement, homelessness, rejection from loved ones. Because of this a lot of members of my community look for coping mechanisms. I'm also here to advocate for the youth because it's really important to keep them in mind because youth also have a vary on top of all of these levels of stress, their levels of stress are heightened in high

school settings. The California Healthy Kids survey found that 36.3% of LGBTQ youth report being victims of bullying in high school settings. This includes verbal abuse and physical abuse. It also found that 4% of lesbian gay and bisexual youth don't go to school because they're scared and they feel unsafe. This is doubled for transgender youth. It's a big discrepancy when compared to non-LGBTQ kids who are only 1% report not going to school because they feel unsafe.

When it comes to tobacco use, the use of tobacco products among LGBTQ youth, 19% of lesbian, gay and bisexual youth in high school report using tobacco products. This is two times greater than their non-LGB peers. When we talk about transgender youth, this is three times higher than their peers. So I just come to say that I feel we can do better and we should do better. Thank you.

Thank you. Victor Mendez, followed by Apolonio Cortez, followed by Jeffrey Barber, who is our last speaker, in-person speaker.

I'll be brief.

We need a longer microphone or something that will accommodate everybody. Thank you, Victor. Go ahead.

Give me a second to organize myself.

John Wooden once said, adversity is an asset. If that were the case, I'd probably have a greater net worth than Elon Musk. I'm here to support Item 26. What I'm not here to support is the bureaucratic indifference that is being levied at 600 senior citizens, many who were handicapped, dying, and then fixed income.

The program under Item 26 excludes these residents for the mere fact that they moved in after the data had been set for 2020. That's all. We would qualify otherwise in this program and can definitely need it.

There's nothing that's come to my attention that says this program cannot be modified to include those vulnerable senior citizens, including myself. But I don't speak for myself. I speak for other people.

And e plurus unum, yes, for many come one. one, and that one today is me because people can't get out here. Let me make it simple for you in a simple dichotomy.

This is data versus the human condition. I'll talk about the human condition. Ms. Ridge can talk about data.

You can decide what you think is best. Data, regulations, or helping with the human condition. That's your call. This is about values versus technocratic expertise. I speak to values. Ms. Ridge speaks to technocratic expertise. This is about making a difference versus indifference. I'm trying to make a difference. Ms. Ridge is being indifferent. This is about fairness versus informal rules. There is no rule that says you can't change this program and expand it tonight.

There are vulnerable senior citizens, and we are all low-income. We have physical limitations.

But we also understand very much when someone cares and someone doesn't give a crap. This is your choice tonight.

I speak to all your council members including you Ms. Lopez, these are your constituents that are at risk.

We will vote in November, we will organize and we will take our voice out there to show that we need to be counted.

This is what this council is one of the most progressive councils in Santa Ana history. Please try to demonstrate that tonight. The choice is yours. Thank you.

Thank you, Victor.

And just so you have the record, because I know I've been lobbied some pejoratives by staff, but I am handicapped.

Thank you, Victor. Apolonio Cortez, followed by Jeffrey Barber.

more. Hoy quiero hablar acerca de la ordenanza, de la adición que le están haciendo. Creemos que estas enmiendas son importantes y necesarias. Y quiero agradecer a la concejal Jessy López por tomar este liderazgo. Y es algo muy importante que se está ampliando, por ejemplo, la notificación, que era una distancia muy corta, ahora se está ampliando y creo que es algo muy importante. and the notifications of the agenda are from four days to seven days.

This is very important to be able to know a little bit about the issues that they are talking about.

But I think there is something that is still missing. And I'm sorry for not having done it before. Well, it was possible. I think the part that we need is the committee of vigilance, which is necessary. I think that this will help us a little bit to see that the ordinance is fully fulfilled. or sit plenamente y esto obviamente y queremos que también podamos participar la comunidad

este con personal personas que ustedes puedan nombrar que esto nos va a ayudar un poco a este a transparentar más aún aparte de lo que se ha logrado creemos que esto es importante

gracias buenas noches gracias

Good evening, Mayor, Council Members, and staff of the City of Santa Ana. My name is Apolonio Cortez. I'm a resident of Santa Ana for over 25 years. And I'd like to speak about the ordinance, and this is important that you're bringing this. And I want to thank Council Member Jessie Lopez for her leadership on this. It's important to have the notification about the agenda to be changed from four to seven days this way we can be better informed and but I think this is good but I think that something is missing and this is an oversight Commission Commission or

committee so that we can be sure that the ordinance can be fulfilled completely and and we the community wants to be involved maybe you can choose people from the community and this is going to create better transparency and this is important for us. Thank you and good evening. Jeffrey Barber. We'll call on

Jeffrey if he comes back in the room. If not, that was our last card for an in-person comment. I'll go ahead and turn it over to the clerk to go ahead and call on people who are online or on conference call. Thank you, Mayor. Speakers on the

queue may provide their comments on agenda and non-agenda items within the City's jurisdiction with the exception of public hearing items 28 and 29. When unmuted, please announce your name, ward or neighborhood that you reside in within the City of Santa Ana for the record. Again to request to speak, dial star 9 from your phone or select raise hand from Zoom now. Before unmuting callers, I'd like to begin by reporting the following summary of emails provided as of today.

One Santa Ana resident on a non-agenda item commented in regards to the rent stabilization ordinance referendum efforts. One non-Santa Ana resident in support of the climate change resolution. One Santa Ana resident comment on requesting for a presentation on the rent stabilization and just cause ordinances. For item 23, one Santa Ana resident commented on updating information on the website if events under the First Amendment do not require permits. Item 26, the ARPA stimulus, one Santa Ana resident provided a comment to use these funds to repair playgrounds and stadium seats.

Three Santa Ana resident organizations in support.

Oh, my apologies, that's for public hearing item. Item 30, introducing the ordinance to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products. One non-Santa Ana resident provided information to provide an informed decision. And four various organizations in support of the item. And with that, Zoom ID, Gemma Suarez, please select the microphone icon on your device to unmute your call.

Zoom ID, thank you.

Hello? Hello. I want to say item 28.

Oh, thank you.

We will go ahead and put you on the speaker queue until that item is heard. Thank you.

zoom id nicole turksen if you would please select the microphone icon on your device to unmute your call

good evening santa ana city council and mayor my name is nicole turksen i am not a santa ana resident however I am a member of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council and we are an organization that advocates across the state of California and across the country specifically for African Americans and African immigrant communities who have been left out of life-saving public health legislations as it concerns flavored tobacco products specifically menthol cigarettes. For some background the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act

prohibited the sale of all flavored cigarettes with the exemption of menthol. And this was problematic because 85% of Black smokers use menthol cigarettes, and this is not an accident. The Black community was actually targeted by the tobacco industry using tactics like product giveaways, discounted products, and infusing hip-hop and jazz culture into their marketing strategies.

So at the end of the day, the black community and other vulnerable communities of color and marginalized groups, including Hispanic Latino Americans, the LGBT community, youth and more have too much access and are too targeted with these products. menthol in particular is especially addictive and problematic it makes it easier to start using tobacco and harder to quit because it provides a numbing sensation to the throat and also makes the harsh taste of tobacco much less irritating so 45 000 african americans die each year from preventable tobacco related disease and menthol is the main factor of this in our communities

So it's really a health equity issue and a social justice issue. And I appreciate the council's leadership in taking on this issue as a topic of discussion and encourage them to prioritize lives of our nation's most vulnerable people over the profits of the tobacco industry. Thank you.

Thank you.

Zoom ID, Tim Gibbs, if you would please select the microphone icon to unmute your call.

Yeah, thank you. My name is Tim Gibbs, and I'm with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. And I wanted to thank the council for considering this life-saving issue. One thing I think that's important to think about is who is against a policy that would prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco products. You know, the big tobacco companies have spent nearly $60 million since 2017, just in California, fighting flavored tobacco policies. That's $60 million, $60 million just in California, just in the last couple of years.

These are the same companies that were found guilty of racketeering and lying to the public for decades about the death and disease that their products caused. R.J. Reynolds and Altria, also known as Philip Morris, are actively spending millions to defeat these policies throughout California. Joule, who left the state in disgrace and is largely responsible for the teenage vaping epidemic, is also actively opposing his policies. In fact, Joule spent $20 million in the Just One City to keep candy-flavored vapes on the shelves. So why have they spent such an obscene amount of money to fight these policies?

It's because they know that prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products means less tobacco sold and less lifelong customers who got addicted to tobacco as youth so as this policy is considered by the council i urge you to keep in mind who is behind the opposition thank you and we look forward to working with you to pass a flavor tobacco policy that includes all flavor

tobacco products in all locations thank you thank you uh zoom id laurie bremer if you would please select the microphone icon thank you you may proceed with your comment good evening honorable

mayor and city council members my name is laurie brebner and i'm the california grassroots manager for parents against vaping e-cigarettes pave i appreciate the opportunity to bring the parent voice to this conversation i'm also a mom of three i'm a cancer survivor and i lost my dad to tobacco related illness so this is very personal for me as it is for every parent who's trying to navigate through the vaping epidemic, all fueled by flavored tobacco. We hear heartbreaking stories from parents across the country, including here in Santa Ana, and parents need help, which is what you're poised to provide tonight.

I'd like to dispel some of the myths that you will hear from the tobacco retailers and the industry's lobbyists. One myth is that if Santa Ana joins more than a hundred other municipalities by ending the sale of flavored tobacco, the kids will just buy it online. A recent state law, SB 39, made it virtually impossible for kids to buy tobacco products online. As of January 1st, 2020, tobacco online orders are handled like alcohol, with required age verification at delivery and signature of an adult. Another myth you will hear, that the retailers will go out of business if they can't sell flavored tobacco.

in the industry's own data from the National Association of Convenience Stores, they state that only 17% of customers enter the store for anything other than food or drink. So the number of customers who enter for tobacco is only some portion of that 17%. And the customers who enter for flavored tobacco is just some portion of that portion of that 17%. So their argument that they'd go out of business is disingenuous. And we would like to see them make even more money by selling a healthy product that's good for our community. Another myth you'll hear is that the retailers never sell to youth.

Well, the store owners who contact you may not themselves sell to youth, but it only takes one unethical clerk to addict an entire neighborhood of kids. The kids know where they can buy. And one of the really scary things is that there are no good treatments to help these kids quit. that's why it's so important that we prevent them from starting in the first place a Kaiser pediatrician broke down with a motion telling us about sitting around with her colleagues trying to figure out how to dose nicotine patches for children as young as 12 years old please be bold in your action tonight

support ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products at all locations where

they're sold. Thank you. Thank you. Zoom ID Jason Hall if you would please select them. Thank you. You may proceed with your comment. Good evening Santa Ana City

Council members. My name is Jason Hall. I do not live in Santa Ana but I do live in Orange County and work in health care and I'm also a board member of the American Heart Association of Orange County. I want to thank you for your leadership in working to keep tobacco products out of the hands of our kids. This issue is in part important to me because I'm a former smoker myself who started smoking in my teens, and I know how difficult it is to quit. It took me years of trying, even though I knew it's dangerous, and some people are never successful. Today, the easy availability of flavored tobacco products has

contributed to sky-high rates of youth tobacco use. It's no accident that tobacco companies have flooded the market with kid-friendly flavors like watermelon mint, mango, pink cotton candy, and menthol. Flavors draw kids to tobacco products and play a key role in luring children into a lifetime of nicotine addiction. In fact, 70% of youth cite flavors as a key reason for using tobacco products. Flavored e-cigarettes are the most commonly used flavored tobacco product among students, but kids are also becoming hooked on menthol cigarettes, flavored hookah, cigars, and smokeless tobacco.

Each one of these products are incredibly addicting, alluring to kids, and deadly, which is why the American Heart Association supports ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products without exemptions. If this policy will only work as well as it's enforced, Strengthening the city's tobacco retail license program by adding annual compliance checks on all tobacco retailers is also key to ensuring local stores are not selling tobacco to kids. Over 100 communities across California have decided to protect their kids from nicotine addiction by ending the sale of flavored tobacco products.

We believe Santa Ana kids deserve these same protections. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Zoom ID, Linda Barber, if you would please select your microphone icon. Thank you. You may proceed with your comment.

Good evening, Mayor Sarmiento and honorable council members. I'm speaking on item 30. My name is Linda Barber and I represent the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. We've worked with our public health partners and state and federal representatives for 30 years or more to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products without loopholes and exemptions. Exemptions have led to the electronic cigarette use epidemic that we all have seen with our youth. When in 2009, the act that was passed did reduce youth smoking, but unfortunately, it increased the probability that youth smokers used menthol cigarettes by 45 percent.

And this was because that law allowed menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products. After these products were officially removed by this act, the tobacco industry developed electronic smoking devices and e-juices in fruit and candy flavored because they could. They created the epidemic of electronic cigarette use that we see. In the absence of a comprehensive flavor restriction on all flavors in all products, youth smokers substituted menthol cigarettes or other flavored tobacco products like little cigars because the statutory flavor prohibition didn't apply.

Tobacco companies have a long history of marketing to marginalized communities, populations, and they target youth with imagery and by marketing appealing flavors. Actions taken now at the local level can help encourage a generation of tobacco-free kids, potentially saving them from a lifetime of addiction and the deadly consequences of tobacco use. The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network urges you to direct staff to work with public health advocates to draft a policy that ends the sale of all flavored tobacco products in all locations with no exemptions. Thank you. We look forward to working with you.

Thank you. Thank you. Zoom ID, Daisy, if you would please select the microphone icon.

Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Thank you. You may proceed with your comment.

Thank you. I was going to comment on item 29.

Oh, thank you. I will go ahead and put you back on the speaker queue.

zoom id carl benninger if you would please select the microphone icon to unmute your device

uh good evening evening council and uh people present um i'm sorry i couldn't be there this evening to enjoy this or to talk i i liked a couple two issues i'd like to address tonight One, I do support the ban on flavored tobacco. In my life, I tried smoking a pipe and even back in the seventies, the flavors were very addictive at that time. And so I can see, I see it very addictive for the youth of Santa Ana. And so I do support this band. Second issue I wanna talk about is the, the on true facts that I heard tonight talking about water desolatization.

I was very fortunate when the mayor put me on a citizen's review panel a few years ago. And the amount of water that you'd have to take off, take out of the sea to affect the salt level, nowhere are we anywhere near that, number one. Number two, the fish kill. Very easily showed in Oceanside how they could resolve that. Number three, when you don't have water, at least this gives you some water, it's just a better way of going. And I'll point out countries like Israel, even the state of Florida, that generate most of their water through desolitization.

It's a safe process. And the person who talked about carbon footprint, that can be solved with solar power. That was one area that we were coming up. The only thing I would ask is could we build this plant ourselves and not be pinned on Poseidon because of the cost? It was more costly to desalzate than what it is to pump out of the ground. But again, if we can use newer technology, solar power, build this ourselves, we could probably do that much better. So I'm very much support of desolation and I would be against any resolution against it. Thank you. Thank you.

Zoom ID, Carla Juarez, if you please select the microphone icon to unmute your device and announce if you want to speak on any items on the agenda or non-agenda item.

I guess thank you. My name is Carla Juarez. I am a community resident, community organizer, and long-time resident. I would also like to be in solidarity with all the youth that are trying to raise their voices against the flavor of tobacco.

And also in regards to the Sunshine Ordinance, I believe, as another member mentioned, I believe there should be an oversight for the Sunshine Ordinance. and I do have a comment for number 28, but, and I will wait, but before I do, I also want like the council to acknowledge the lies that are being said by the opposing canvassers trying to collect signatures for rent control, knowing quite well the rent control already passed. And I just want the council to also invite everyone

to show up tomorrow so they can listen and hear and have their answers either questions answered in regards to rent control but know very well the rent control has already passed and the canvassers collecting signatures to reveal it thank you for my time thank you i will put you back on the speaker

queue for item 28. zoom id esperanza corona if you would please select the microphone icon on your

device? I wait for the comment for the 29A. Is that okay? Yes. Okay. Thank you. I'll put you back on the speaker queue. Zoom ID, Emily Gloria Bada.

conference call with the last three numbers 528 if you would please select star

six to unmute your call thank you hi good evening good evening mayor and city council members my

My name is Ana Urzua and I'm calling on item 27. I'm resident of Santana and I'm also director of Cooperacion Santana. It's a project dedicated to supporting worker cooperatives and our local economy. I'm calling in support of item 27 on the Sunshine Ordinance. Like folks who have spoken before, I believe the Sunshine Ordinance to have been an important win and victory for many residents that got involved to see broader participation, greater transparency and more accountability in the city of Santana.

And increasing the meetings available for proposed development projects will ensure that people are informed and active in the decisions that are gonna affect their lives, especially as we had seen development projects come forward and get passed with little participation and even when there was opposition with little without being heard and so we have seen with the Sunshine Ordnance in the last almost 10 years that that has changed tremendously and we think that the second meeting

is going to be really powerful as well. In addition to the increased notifications and the that lobbying registration. And I echo the requests of resident leaders to see an oversight commission. So that's one addition we urge the council to consider and in order to have like monitoring of the ordinance. I believe there was language for that as well in the proposed ordinance of 2012. I also wanna thank council member Lopez for her leadership as well as city staff who have worked on this.

And I thank you for your time. I also want to speak on item 28, if I can place them on the queue for that.

Yes. Thank you, Karina. Thank you. Yes, I will put you back on the speaker queue for that.

Zoom ID, Jaime Rojas Jr., if you would please select the microphone icon. Thank you.

Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and Council members. My name is Jaime Rojas with the National Association of Tobacco Outlets. I wanted to speak on item 30 in regards to the flavor ban. I wanted to let, as the Council already knows, tobacco products are the most highly regulated industry in the United States. The tobacco control in the state of California receives half a billion dollars annually from tobacco excise tax in order to do a variety of things, from compliance checks, which is sting operations throughout the state, as well as education outreach.

I've counted thus far five organizations who receive dollars from this fund of the half a billion dollars who lobby versus educate youth that are being impacted with the vape epidemic. One of the things that we ask is for the council before moving forward is to bring in like many cities throughout California, webinars and or in-person meetings with retailers to see where the middle ground is in order to be able to find ordinances that would make sense.

In the past four years, we've had a variety of different flavor bands have passed, but you hear nothing from tobacco control to saying if they've been successful or not. In the past few months, three universities, including Yale, have followed one of the oldest ones that passed, which was San Francisco, about four years ago, indicating that the flavor band has not worked. What it's done is an opposite effect, and it's pushed kids to use incombustible cigarettes. In the FDA's website on FDA.gov, anyone can go on there and check year by year cities throughout the United States.

I've checked Santa Ana from 2017 of November to this year, 2021 of November 1st. And out of the sting operations that the FDA and the state of California have done, there's a 93% success rate of these compliance. And we ask that the city council bring together the retailers who are following jurors and regulations, not selling to anyone under the age of 21, which is already illegal, and find ways to either increase penalties and or take tobacco licenses away for those who are selling to youth. Thank you for consideration.

Thank you.

Zoom ID, Emily Gloria Para.

If you would please select the microphone icon to unmute your device.

Do I begin to speak?

Yes, you may speak now. Thank you.

All right. So, hello, my name is Emily Para Diaz. I am a ninth grader at middle college high school. And so I've always heard adults tell me, say no to drugs. The message is a great one. However, what I do not appreciate is that schools do not go into depth about what e-cigarettes can do to you. I believe we should focus on giving students who are our future reasons as to why you shouldn't do drugs. If we want to create a future where neighborhoods who are people of color are not being targeted by advertisements for vaping, drugs, for vapes, drugs, etc. I think I believe that we should start with us the present right now.

You say we're the future. I believe you help us get there in good health. I thank you in advance for considering this issue tonight to eliminate the sale of all flavors from all tobacco products. do not exempt any flavors or products leaving loopholes that the industry can use to target me. Thank you.

Okay Mayor that was the last caller. Thank you for that and thank you to all

the speakers that addressed this tonight. Let me go ahead and move this along to the consent calendar section of the meeting and let me just read something on an item that is on the consent calendar as well. So for item number 25 pursuant to government code section 549-531, I'm taking this oral report that item number 25 on the agenda is a resolution reflecting a positive performance evaluation conducted on October 19, 2021 and approving an amended annual salary for the city manager in accordance with the existing employment agreement. With that I'm now going to ask the members of the council

if there's any items they wish to recuse themselves from or pull from the consent calendar item, and then we'll go ahead and take a motion for the balance of what's remaining.

Mayor Pro Tem.

David PenalozaItem 5

Thank you, Mayor. I would like to pull item 16, please. And I have a general comment, but I'll wait until the consent, the balance.

Great. Item 16. Anybody else? Council Member Hernandez. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Item 23, please.

Thank you for that. Any other items? Seeing none, anybody wish to abstain from any of the items? Seeing none, okay, I'll entertain a motion for the balance. I'll move the balance. I'll second. I'll second with comment. Great. We have a motion by Council Member Becerra, second by Mayor Pro Tem. And do you want to make your comment now or after the vote?

David PenalozaItem 5

Oh, I'll make it now.

Go ahead.

David PenalozaItem 5

I just wanted to show my appreciation for Public Works Director and Nabil Sava and our City Manager. I noticed that all the Public Works staff reports have the history on all the different contractors we're awarding contracts to within the staff report. And that is greatly appreciated because it just adds to the level of transparency that we always aspire to. So thank you.

Good stuff. All right, everybody, let's vote.

Thank you.

Motion carries 7-0 with Councilmembers Becerra Hernandez, Lopez, Mendoza, Fan, Mayor Pro Tempeñalosa, and Mayor Sarmiento voting yes.

Great. Thank you for that. Moving on to item number 16, which was pulled by Mayor Pro Tem. Go ahead, Mayor Pro Tem.

David PenalozaItem 16

Thank you, Mayor Sarmiento. So I pulled item 16, which is an agreement with Patrol Solutions, LLC for Security Guard Services for downtown Santa Ana and Civic Center area. I just wanted to ask the city manager if the scope of this contract could stretch out to also include Birch Park and the Santa Ana Senior Center as part of this larger scope in the downtown district and Civic Center.

David PenalozaItem 16

And the reason why I bring that forward is because lately I've just been seeing an increase in just, you know, individuals lawyering for long periods of time and doing other extracurricular activities outside of the Santa Ana Senior Center and at Birch Park all night long. and I know we have Park Patrol and we have Downtown Patrol and we have the Police Department but any angle that we could also just add to the level of support that could address this issue because I hate having to every time there's an issue at Birch Park we fence it off and we cut it off to the to the

David PenalozaItem 16

general public for for any type of recreational use so I want to keep us away from doing that because fencing, although it's a very tacky and temporary solution to the issues we're having, but it'd be nice to have the park usable as well by our senior citizens, by the residents that live in downtown. And so I just want to see if that is possible.

Certainly, Mayor Pro Tem, it's not included in the scope of services before you tonight, but should you approve the agreement we can certainly reach out to the vendor and see what the pricing would be to do an amendment and identify a source of

David PenalozaItem 16

funding for you in return. Okay I would appreciate that I mean I didn't think it would be much just adding an extra block that you have to patrol and walk through or drive through whatever their means of transportation is going to be so I don't think that that should be a substantial increase but I would appreciate if we look at that as we move forward. One thing that I also want to recommend as well as I have the same recommendation when we contracted Allied Universal for our parks is that we whatever I feel that our community and

David PenalozaItem 16

our residents have more of a respect to to our city versus a private security Guard, so maybe branding so that they know that they have the city's blessing in being there in downtown and patrolling the area.

David PenalozaItem 16

That's really all I had. I'll make a motion to approve the item, but I just wanted to make sure those things were taken into consideration.

Phil BacerraItem 16

I'll second with a comment and question.

Great. We have a motion by Mayor Pro Tem and a second by Becerra. So after Council Member Becerra, Councilwoman Lopez.

Phil BacerraItem 16

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Mayor Pro Tem, for pulling this. Madam City Manager, what are the boundaries currently for the item before us? I know it says downtown Civic Center, but to Mayor Pro Tem's point, Birch Park is downtown. So how are we stopping at Birch? Are we stopping at Ross, or where is it stopping?

Excellent question, Council Member. I'm gonna defer to the Assistant City Manager. I believe the footprint is what we refer to as the Civic Center, which is overseen by the Civic Center Authority. But I'm sure he can provide you more details.

Yes, it actually stops right across the street from the Senior Center. It goes into our parking structure and then heads back around. But we don't foresee a problem in adding that area to their walking responsibilities. So currently it does not include Birch Park.

Phil BacerraItem 16

But it would if we go ahead and approve this amendment.

Yeah, we have a little extra money in the account that was approved in the revive. We have about $50,000 extra. So it would go over to Ross, correct? It would come all the way to Ross, yes.

Phil BacerraItem 16

And then, so is Ross the overall western boundary of the scope of services? Correct. So it wouldn't come and encompass the city hall complex?

No, no. But coincidentally, Nabil's team is piggybacking on this to provide security during the ice rink.

Phil BacerraItem 16

During the ice rink. Okay. Okay, and then modes of transportation for these folks. Are they only, are they just walking? Are they in cars? Are they in bikes? I mean, because I think what I'd like to see is if they're in cars, they're just driving through and they're going to miss a lot. I think a lot of us miss a lot. But if you're walking or riding your bicycle through, you tend to see more. And there's a lot of little places where folks tend to kind of carve out an itch and you don't notice if you're going by at 20, 30 miles per hour through downtown. So are they only going to be in cars? They will be walking and golf carting.

Phil BacerraItem 16

Golf carting. Okay. That's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilwoman Lopez.

Jessie LopezItem 16

Yes. So I know how important the public purses to everyone on here. So I do want a final report on what that dollar amount is going to be via email or if it comes back again on the agenda, I'm fine with that. Supportive of the item, I do hope that in the future, the near future, I get to see something similar for Parks and Travel having people on the ground there. Thank you.

Thank you for that comment. Seeing no other comments. THE ONLY GO AHEAD COUNCIL I'M SORRY COUNCIL MEMBER MENDOZA AND THEN MAYOR PRO TEM.

MY QUESTION IS REGARDING THE OPTION OF THE TWO ONE-YEAR EXTENSIONS. HOW WILL THE COMPANY BE EVALUATED TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE EXTENSIONS WILL BE GRANTED?

STAFF WILL BE LOOKING AT THE PERFORMANCE OVER THE YEAR AND ALSO THE INTERACTION WITH the downtown groups and the downtown businesses.

And it doesn't need to come back to council. It's something that is either the city manager or yourself approved?

Correct.

All right, thank you.

David PenalozaItem 16

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Thank you, Mayor Sarmiento. I know that the part of the information in the contract was that the security guard would be supplied with smartphones so that they could keep track and photographic evidence of what's going on in numerous areas of our Civic Center. I would highly recommend that as part of that we encourage them to use the My Santa Ana app as well as anyone who's at home or in this chamber listening, download it on those phones and that anything that is seen in downtown is is reported via the app as well.

David PenalozaItem 16

And that's it. And I just, Councilwoman Mendoza brought up an excellent point in regards to the two-year extensions. Where would those be funded if we were using Revive dollars for the current funding source?

Well, if you recall, Revive dollars have up until a date in the future to be spent. So certainly there would be revived dollars available for a portion of those options to extend.

Okay. Thank you. That's it, Mr. Mayor. Great. Thank you for that comment. Seeing no other comments, the only question I have is I see on the schedule that there's a note here that says that the hours are subject to change. So I think right now what we have is hours normally starting at 9 a.m. during the week and then on the weekend it's 10 a.m. And I think they go from either 10 p.m. or midnight on some hours. So, you know, maybe if that schedule could be tied, as opposed to expanding the hours, maybe seeing how those hours can be adjusted based on the calls for service. I would think that as people are leaving

some of our, you know, nighttime places that close at 1.30 or 2 in the morning, you know, maybe there is more of a, you know, some consistency with those hours where there seems to be a little bit more need for having somebody present. But just a question, I'm sure it's already embedded in hearing this report I just want to make sure we just revisit that. Thank you. Seeing no other comments I think we're ready to vote there's a motion in a second on the floor.

Council Member Fan, please provide your vote.

Okay, motion carries 7-0 with Councilmembers Becerra, Hernandez, Lopez, Mendoza, Fan, Mayor Potempeñalosa, and Mayor Sarmiento Vodinhas.

Great, thank you. Moving along to item number 23, and I believe that one was pulled by Councilmember Hernandez.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 23

Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to thank Parks and Recreation staff for creating this staff report. I had a couple of questions regarding the proposed events permit policy. Let me open up this document here.

We also do have a presentation if you would like one, sir.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 23

Yeah, that would be great. I'd like to see the presentation. I'm going to jump into my question before. Let me open up the actual, or actually if we can get the presentation first, I think that would be helpful.

Okay. Okay, Executive Director Lisa Rudloff.

Thank you. Give me one second, please.

Okay, thank you very much. GOOD EVENING, MAYOR, MAYOR, PRO TEM, AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL. TONIGHT YOU HAVE BEFORE YOU A REQUEST TO ADOPT A RESOLUTION FOR A PROPOSED EVENT POLICY.

AND THIS POLICY IS REALLY A FRAMEWORK TO GUIDE THE USE OF OUR CITY FACILITIES AS IT RELATES TO OUR PARK FACILITY PERMITS, OUR FILM PERMITS, OUR LAND USE CERTIFICATES, AND SPECIAL EVENT permits and really nothing has changed with our with anything we've just put this in a policy and we've developed a guide so the community can understand it and it was just kind of a past practice and everything's kind of solidified into a policy it also provides equitable and reasonable access to city public facilities and it governs all city properties and supporting amenities the

The benefits of this policy includes aligning with our city's core mission, vision, and values. We will have equitable pricing and access, and the pricing will come back to you at a future meeting. And then we want to make sure that we operate in a fiscally responsible manner, and we want to support our health, safety, and that provides a vibrant community. So some of the proposed policy has user classifications that include if you look on your report on page two, there's different priorities. Priorities one through six.

And some of them include priority one, for example, is any kind of city sponsored activities. Priority two is residents and nonprofits, nonprofit organizations for special events. High school or college students are also in priority to, and that's specific to film permits, and so on and so forth. So we have six priority classifications, and then we have four types of permits. The first permit is a park facility permit. We also have a film permit, a land use certificate, and a special event permit. And also it discusses the fees and insurance

THAT'S REQUIRED FOR THESE PERMITS. WE ALSO PRODUCED A GUIDE AND WE'LL ALSO HAVE THAT TRANSLATED AND PUT ON OUR WEBSITE AND IT CORRESPONDS WITH THE POLICY AND IT REALLY OUTLINES THE PERMIT PROCEDURES AND REQUIREMENTS. SO TONIGHT WE'RE ASKING YOU TO ADOPT A RESOLUTION FOR THE EVENTS PERMIT POLICY AND IN THE FUTURE WE'LL COME BACK TO YOU TO AMEND THE MISCELLAINEOUS fee schedule and the implementation of this policy and fees would be January 1st 2022. And that's the end of the presentation. I'd be happy to answer your questions.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 23

Fantastic job, Director Rudloff. My question pertains to, or it's more of a suggestion, I'd like to see under the event permit priority, there's six different priorities. Priority number Number one is city sponsored special event serving Santa Ana residents. Priority two is resident nonprofit organization special events, high school or college students resident and non-resident, parentheses film. Priority three is resident private party or business. Priority four is resident private party or business for profit making. Priority five is non-resident private party or business.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 23

Priority number six is non-resident, private party, or business for profit making. I'd like to see us add to the priorities, and I think this should be amongst the top three, holiday and cultural celebrations. I know that the city is always changing, and I think cultural competency is important because we do have a very large Vietnamese community. I know that there's the Tet holiday, I know there's a Vietnamese New Year's, there's Indigenous Peoples Day in the city of Santa Ana, Juneteenth, the Day of the Debt Festival, Dia de los Muertos.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 23

So I'd want to be inclusive and more welcoming to those holidays, and I think that those are things we should prioritize.

Okay, we could certainly look into that. we could also potentially have some type of MOU or partnership with those entities but let us yeah let us take a look at that to make sure they're

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 23

inclusive included in this wonderful when can we expect a response within a couple weeks okay I can wonderful and lastly the second question I had was in relation to equitable pricing but you did answer that question already that that's being worked on right yes okay perfect that concludes my questions okay

thank you very much thank you councilmember councilmember Lopez yeah hi

Jessie LopezItem 23

Lisa so on the fees so I did hear you it's coming to us at a later time I I guess suggestion for or I guess just a comment I would have loved for it to be part of this so people understand the fee pricing for whatever events. I think it's hard to say yes when I don't really know what that looks like. And then I did have a question. I did see that there was a section about public safety and PD and those standards will be left up to the police department?

Jessie LopezItem 23

Correct.

And so normally now, what does that look like? For the land use certificate and the special event permit, that is facilitated by primarily the Santa Ana Police Department. However, there's other departments involved also.

Jessie LopezItem 23

And so I know one of the things we talk about often, or I kind of look at is, and I mentioned this during the budget discussion, And so that's why I'm asking, does the CPD say we're going to assign five to ten officers to an event? So I wanted to see a more structured standard and not necessarily let's leave it up to whatever department or entity decide how many people are going to be assigned to an event. Because I think that can also vary depending on the type of event. And so I think that's important to keep in mind as well.

Jessie LopezItem 23

And another question that I had for you, if anybody just wants to film, not necessarily like a movie, but just casually do an interview at a park, do those folks have to request a permit now?

It depends on who they are. If it's a student, then they just need to connect with us. And they would be a priority too. If it's just a family or, sorry, they don't need to request any type of permit, family pictures, things of that nature.

Jessie LopezItem 23

Okay. And then I saw that there was a 90-day minimum requirement. And then earlier this week, a couple of us got an email about some sort of celebration here. It was a small thing. But keeping that in mind, that was not within the 90-day requested limit. So I'm thinking if I approve this, how do future events in short notice for small businesses here in the city are going to be impacted?

Right. Absolutely. If you look on our park facility permit categories, there's like major, moderate, and minor events. So major events with 1,001 people and up, we're requiring 90 business days to one year prior to the event, so we can plan and schedule for that. Moderate events are 100 to 1,000 people, and that's 45 business days and six months prior to the event. Also for the minor event, which is up to 100 people. So any kind of last minute event request, we will try to accommodate those,

but then there's going to be a premium fee that's also assigned to that.

Jessie LopezItem 23

I don't know if I love the premium fee, but can we do something like an exempt category for really low-key events, last-minute events that are on the smaller scale?

Right. the Santa Ana Municipal Code up to 40 people you don't need a permit for that

for a gathering thank you for those questions and a lot of it was asked and answered already but I guess back to the question on the timing so we have the miscellaneous fee schedule still gonna come back and that's gonna maybe staggered to the next meeting or meetings coming before us. So yeah, I think sometimes adopting a resolution without the actual numbers is difficult because I think when you were in here, Madam City Manager, we had just a brief discussion on fees and we wanted to see about having those come back to us generally because somebody had told me that there's a space and a lot of labor

would use this space, I think, during Labor Day right behind the zoo. It's like this big open area and it's rented sometimes for Labor Day or something. And the fee was like $300 at one time, and now it's four times that, right? So I don't know. We understand costs go up, but four times that original amount seems excessive. So that's where I think we revisit it and just take a look at what it is that we approved and whether it makes sense, right? Is it staffing? And I did have the same question about the discretion on whether or not we're going to use police versus private patrol

because I know that for some events they're much more intense with respect to the activity, right? But, for example, like there's a Our Lady of Guadalupe does a nighttime event and it draws a lot of people to the church. Not really the most boisterous, but I know it's really cost prohibitive when you have PD involved and you're talking about maybe 1,000 to 1,500 people that will gather. So, you know, it's not an apples-to-apples sometimes comparison when it comes to events. Other events do draw, you know, a crowd when maybe alcohol is served or maybe something else.

But, you know, that's where I think I'm, I kind of also think that a one-size-fits-all makes it difficult. And I know, you know, that's, you know, those are two of my questions. Number one, the timing. Is it time-sensitive to adopt this resolution prior to the miscellaneous fee schedule that's going to come back to us? Number two, the discretion sometimes maybe there are some better ways for us to see how we can make it less cost prohibitive when the event doesn't warrant to having a lot of officers and incurring overtime.

Number three, on the park facility permit category, I know that I think there was a 30-day period that folks had to submit an application. So we increased it to 45 for both moderate and minor, or has it always been 45?

The park facility permit category is actually new. So it used to fall under the special event category. So for a major event, we're asking for longer time over, you know, over a month.

Understood. Those are larger gatherings. I mean, look, Fiestas Patrias says we would have over a quarter of a million people over a weekend, right? Big event. We need to plan over a year. Others maybe not as much when they involve maybe 100 people, right? 101 people. And it falls under the moderate. And a minor, you're saying 40 is exempt because anything 40 and less, let's say it's 50. So then you're going to be subject to a 45-day plan time. Or, again, is that... I guess are we going from 30 days to 45 days? And I'm trying to understand why.

I believe I have to check so the the 30-day requirement was not long enough so we went to a 45-day requirement and also in regards to some of the the fees what we're trying to do and what we will come back to you with is the same with the athletic facility allocation we didn't have any fees associated with those we're trying to make it less expensive for our residents and care the people who are non-residents carry the burden of the indirect and the direct cost. And so with these events we want to make sure that we have enough time, we want to make sure it's fairly priced,

and there's always going to be adjustments. There's always going to be a special circumstance that we

could always look into and be flexible with. I like the adjustments for and prioritizing the resident based events right so when a resident is is either doing the event we try to prioritize those so that makes sense to me so on the on the time sensitivity is there a time sensitivity on the adoption of this reso versus the waiting for the fee schedule no we we can certainly bring this back at the same time as the can we i mean i'm not sure if the council is opposed to maybe having both of those because it does seem like we're making a decision in a vacuum right not knowing

what it is. And I think in principle it sounds fine, but being able to attach it to some numbers. And we don't have that many venues in the city, so I think it would be a sense if that's okay. I don't know if there's a motion on the floor. Go ahead, Councilor Hernandez.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 23

I'll make a motion with a comment for us to bring this back with the costs as well. So my colleagues brought up two really vital points. And I think, like I mentioned prior, it's important that we add to the top three priorities, cultural celebrations and holidays, because I think that's where a lot of important memories are made for residents. I have an 11-year-old daughter, and some of the most impactful moments of our lives were the Dia de los Muertos celebrations in downtown. You know, my daughter grew up going to these celebrations all the time.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 23

And I know from the event organizers, they went through a number of challenges fiscally because of how expensive it was and especially the cost of police. So I wanted to place emphasis on this point, that there are certain cultural celebrations, such as Indigenous Peoples Day, where you have a community that polices and has peace officers within their own community already. These are people that oftentimes live on reservations.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 23

So if we did have an Indigenous Peoples Day celebration, I know for certain that they wouldn't want to have a police presence because they have their own peace officers that keep the peace within their spaces. And I would hate to see us enforce costs upon them when they are already doing that themselves. And oftentimes, too, that feeling of discomfort, I wouldn't want to see, you know, when it comes to cultural celebrations, like you mentioned, And if we have a cultural celebration with the church and it costs them several thousands of dollars to have officers when it's just their congregation,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 23

I think that that's going to be a challenge for us if we don't emphasize potential exemptions for that one criteria of cultural celebration slash holidays. So I think that that would be imperative. And the number two is related to costs. I would like to see so that we can be more supportive of students engaging in the arts. I would like to see there be an exemption for high school and college students in Santa Ana, so that way we're not having to charge them so that they can practice their skill that eventually will help them become breadwinners and help us generate revenue in the city.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 23

So I would like to see us have an exemption for students, whether it be through high school to college. I think that's important because oftentimes I get interviewed by students, they'll reach out and, you know, they stray away from meeting at a park or something and we do Zoom because they don't have a permit. And so I think it would be helpful for us to be inclusive of that so that students are more engaged and feel more inclined to engage in the arts and film and have their, you know, interviews in our parks and our recreational centers. So I think that'd be helpful.

I'm sorry you're saying if a fee exemption or just a I think if we could

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 23

have a fee exemption for students I mean still having them obtain a permit I think would be helpful just so the paperwork's there but having an exemption for them I think would be extremely helpful for for students especially you know high school through college Santa Ana College is a really good department for journalism and for film so to see those students be able to have more access to utilizing our public spaces I think is a win for everybody.

Absolutely and also just keep in mind that every event does not need police. They can you can provide your own security so that's all discussed during the pre meetings prior to their event. So police is not required for every single event over a certain amount of people. Okay so make sure those options

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 23

are available absolutely so for clarifying question so if there is a let's say vietnamese new year's eve festival and the organizers of that festival opt to have their own peace officers that is an option that we would respect and fulfill security officers yes security officers

security officers would be considered but we still want to have a conversation with sapd to make sure

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 23

we're all on the same page. Yes. Wonderful. Okay. Well, that concludes my comments. Thank you. I have a question. Was that it? Did you move? Yes. I did move it with a comment.

The motion to bring it back with the costs and everything together. And then Lisa, do you want to maybe give us an idea of how long the fee schedule would take to bring back to the council with maybe some of the suggestions and for us to consider. Nobody is going to adopt anything tonight, but if you incorporate maybe some of the suggestions you think are reasonable, bring it back to us for consideration with the fee schedule.

Absolutely. We were planning to bring this to second meeting in December. Okay. So we'll bring this back, and we should be just fine.

Thank you, Director Rudolf. So that's a motion by Council Member Hernandez to bring it back in mid-December, and I'll go ahead and second that, and just for discussion, Council Member Mendoza and then Mayor Pro Tem.

My question is regarding city liability and risk. We have police at these events. Is there something in there that is included? And I believe that it would be fine to have police presence when it requires due to large crowds, not only to keep, we have an obligation to keep our citizens safe, but it's good that our police officers see and learn and experience the cultural events, the Vietnamese New Year, the Mexican Independence Day, every culture. So it would be great to have

that something in there that protects the city from liability and to allow our officers to enjoy the cultural events themselves. Thank you, Councilmember, Mayor Proton. Thank you, Mayor Sarmiento.

David PenalozaItem 23

I want to thank Parks and Rec, Lisa, for working on this. I know it's been something that's been in the works for a while and that we have in place, just not formalizing the policy. I do want to say that I agree with Councilmember Hernandez in the idea of prioritizing or moving up the scale cultural events. I know I sat through numerous meetings over the summer with organizers from that wanted to put together a Fiestas Patrias events in September and that we were at about 60 days to 30 days out. I know the mayor had sat in some of those meetings and we tried to help

David PenalozaItem 23

them as much as we could and it just it was it was too long or short of a window for us to really formalize and help them out so I agree on that aspect the one aspect where I do disagree is that I do very supportive to having our police and fire departments because I know it's not just the police fire departments also involved public works is also involved when it comes to approving many of these events that we have in the city and that's just because of a public safety issue. Councilmember Mendoza said it best you know we do have an obligation to keep all our residents safe not just some participating in whatever the event

David PenalozaItem 23

could be. I know that if that if you know I went and knocked on a couple doors in some neighborhoods and asked hey are you okay if we close down this major street to have this event there aren't we don't expect you know police officers to be involved at all because the organizers are going to bring their own peace officers, you know, that residence, that neighborhood is also going to be on edge. Those neighbors are going to be on edge because they don't know who's going to be attending this event, you know, on their street. We also got to keep in mind that this is also going to cause an inconvenience when it comes to closing

David PenalozaItem 23

streets or parks or areas of the parks because these are facilities whether it's a park, whether it's a street, whether it's a sidewalk that are publicly funded by public tax dollars that our residents, you know, have the right to use whenever they'd like. And I know that if me, for example, over the summer when I had my community office hours at Memorial Park, if you remember Parks Director Ruloff, I was shut down by you. No, it wasn't bad, but you know I said hey, I'm gonna set up a little table and some chairs Next to the stage at Memorial Park and you said hey sorry, but that area there's it's been reserved by a resident

David PenalozaItem 23

Already and I was like oh well, it's fine. I'll move 50 feet over like you know The parks pretty big and it was nice to see there was a person out there They had ballet classes going on with little kids and they had a different kind of dances going on for about a three-hour window so it was great to see and I was happy to know that they You know went through the permitting process to reserve this spot in the park so it and I went and introduced myself and I believe that the Instructor didn't even speak English. So he was like yes That was great in helping me, you know reserve this area to teach these kids over the weekend dance

David PenalozaItem 23

So I was happy to see that and I was happy to know that I as a resident also just moved over and But, you know, I would hate to be a resident wanting to use a certain area. And I said, hey, you can't because somebody has reserved it without going through the permitting process or without paying the appropriate fees that are required to do so because these are public lands that are available to everybody. And it just worries me with the liability issue.

David PenalozaItem 23

I know that part of the reason why I also, I think last year we're approving some kind of UASI dollars that were coming in, or we were purchasing something with UASI dollars, and my questions were asking why are we moving down this road or why are we approving this? And, you know, it was brought up to me that we do have a city where, we are in a city where we have the federal courthouse, and we have close proximity to tourist attractions. And there is, unfortunately, in the time that we live in, there is a terrorism threat. So if I'm participating in a cultural event somewhere in the city,

David PenalozaItem 23

I would want to know that if something, God forbid, something were to happen, a mass shooting or whatnot, I know that Chief Henry could have a fire truck to me or an ambulance as quickly as possible, knowing different egresses and entrances and just an exit plan. I mean, that is really what our staff is there to do. I know that, and a lot of these things take money. And again, it's not just police, it's fire, it's public works, it's Parks and Rec that are, there are paid staff members that need to protect the public at the end of the day and making sure that any event is executed with the public safety in mind

David PenalozaItem 23

first and foremost so that there's no liability to the city so I'm I'll make a substitute motion to approve the resolution as is with the caveat that the fee schedule will come back to us in that first meeting in December to further look at and see if we need to amend

Phil BacerraItem 23

Mr. Mayor I'm not ready to second I just go ahead councilmember Becerra I I wanted to ask Director Woodlaw, first of all, thank you for putting this together, and I appreciate that you've been taking your expertise and standardizing all these processes, because I think it's just important that everybody's operating on the same equal playing field, no pun intended. But with that being said, as far as these events, as far as having these events, do we have existing rules in place today? In other words, I want to have an event, pick a category that you have in your proposed draft,

Phil BacerraItem 23

YES. DO WE HAVE, IN OTHER WORDS, AM I STILL GOING TO PROBABLY SIT DOWN WITH OFFICER McGovern, I'M GOING TO GO OVER ALL THE DIFFERENT THINGS THAT I NEED, YOUR STAFF, VARIOUS OTHER STAFF,

DEPARTMENTS? ABSOLUTELY. THERE IS AN EVALUATION PROCESS. WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE EVENT IS ABOUT, HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BE THERE, AND WHO, WHAT OTHER DEPARTMENTS WE NEED TO INVOLVE. AND SO WE'D HAVE TO TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THE SAFETY ISSUES AND THINGS THAT MAY COME UP. AND SO THERE IS A PROCESS THAT happens right now it will be the same process okay thank you and you know I

Phil BacerraItem 23

heard I think it was councilmember Hernandez talked about where you have groups where they have their own security whether it's a private security or in one of the instances mentioned like tribal security regardless of what type of security is going to be provided do we currently and then I'm hoping in these proposed standards do we have actual criteria for who it will be that that will satisfy the security component?

Yes, we rely on the police department, and I'm not sure if there's somebody here who could help me out here, but it has to be licensed security.

Phil BacerraItem 23

Okay, so in other words, it's not just someone showing up and got a plastic badge that says, here I am, I'm here to oversee the site, but these are folks that actually meet certain criteria. Correct. Okay, because I think, as some of my other colleagues mentioned, I would have a concern if I was near an event and it's just some Mickey Mouse sort of someone showing up saying, I'm here to secure the site, and they really don't have a clue what the heck they're doing. So I think it's important for the city's liability. I think it's important for the safety of those at the event and surrounding the event

Phil BacerraItem 23

that we have some sort of criteria. So those are my concerns at this point. If we don't approve it tonight, the actual draft, is there any concern at this point? In other words, if we were to punt it to when you do have the actual schedule of fees available for us to review, is there going to be any hiccups?

Nothing. It'll be perfectly fine. If someone wants to have an event tomorrow and they want to come in and talk to us, we'll continue to service them and make sure that they are provided what they need to move on with their event. So it's okay to come back on December 16th, I believe it is, or 18th, second meeting in December. with both of them, the policy and as well as the fees, and we should be fine.

Phil BacerraItem 23

Okay, I would have a concern if we were flying free without any sort of standards, but if we already at least have some in place for now, and I trust that what you're proposing is definitely tightening it up and standardizing it and making it more equitable. So I'm looking forward to us adopting those, but in the meantime, I'm okay with waiting until the schedule of fees is a part of the motion.

I'll withdraw the motion, Mayor. the substitute. Great, thank you. Thank you for those comments. Councilmember Lopez, did you?

Jessie LopezItem 23

Yeah, I have final comments. I don't know if people remember this, like it wasn't too long ago, but there was like, you know, sometimes they used to have the Women's March here, the LGBTQ Center of Orange County used to do, I think their Pride Festival here, and then there was like a trans event here as well. And there was, I think they had like said, you know, we don't feel necessarily comfortable with the entities that the city is forcing on them, you know, to be present at their events. And so I think, you know, it's

Jessie LopezItem 23

important for us to remember that while we may like or have personal preferences, those are not the same universally. And that's not what we're here to say, to say one glove fits all. We're here to say, how can we work with you? How can we make this process easier for Santa Ana residents? Why is it that I'm getting kicked out of the park because I don't have a permit to do an interview? Why is it that people tell me we used to have so many festivals and they've left?

Jessie LopezItem 23

I spoke to the business owner of the market and he said we left the city of Sanana because Irvine was so much easier to work with. And they're thriving in Irvine. And so I think when we're asking these questions, it's important to keep all of those things in mind. And I do think that for me, the final, I guess, request that I'll make is I think having a flow chart, a flow chart, a one pager, so that all of our residents understand the fees and the process and is important not just for them but for us clearly.

Jessie LopezItem 23

And so those are gonna be my comments, thank you.

Great, Councilmember Hernandez and then I just have some final comments and work cuz I think we're just gonna push it over so we can always have this conversation.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 23

My apologies, I'll be very brief. something that slipped my mind that I would like to see integrated into priority two is neighborhood associations I think that would be

important that concludes my comments great comments you know and I agree with a lot of what was said I think maybe if staff can kind of blend because I do agree with Councilmember Becerra there has to be some evaluation of the security staff my point was liability is obviously you know the security of those in attendance is the most important role that we play is to make sure that there is a conceptual map. We see where things are going to be placed. We talk with those agencies. I think there's an initial meeting that we have with everybody and we kind of just, you know, get a sense of whether

it's going to be, again, a major, a moderate, or a minor. I guess the only question is that, again, sometimes what I've seen are these events like the Women's March, the Pride Fair, they have left. And so, you know, why? I think they always felt really welcome in Santa Ana. They love the environment. They, you know, they come and spend money after the events. They stay for dinner. And if they're going to other communities, why is that happening? I don't think it's because they don't feel safe. I think it's becoming cost prohibitive. So if we can work with them to maybe blend PD hours with their private security staff, right?

And that might be a way to do it where, you know, we reduce the ratio of, you know, PD staff to their private staff, their private security. Something that I think will hopefully welcome them back. And we have a great downtown. Right now it's obviously under construction, but when it's done, people love to be in those small downtown grids because it's a really warm feeling for those marches. And they're great to have those here. It just makes the city feel alive. right and so to the extent we can get to that point that's I think what you're hearing from everybody a balanced you know safe way to do it but again maybe

not being so cost prohibitive for some of these nonprofits that are doing this so hopefully when you bring it back we'll have a chance to review it there if

Phil BacerraItem 23

I could just real quickly I want to wrap this up to when you do bring it back would you mind reaching out to some of these entities that have left the city and maybe the council we can all privately email you some of the groups and some of the events that we no longer have here in Santa Ana and as part of the report back to us when you bring it back just to give us an idea of what reasons they stated as to why they left because I think it's just important to understand I mean we're I think we've all kind of said the same thing we want to make it more welcoming and more easier for them to come and celebrate here in Santa Ana but

Phil BacerraItem 23

But let's understand why they left. Because I think we all have stories up here of different folks that have reached out to us that said, you know, we loved being in Santa Ana, but now we're in City X. And I want to make sure that we get them back from City X back here into Santa Ana. So if you could do that and just provide that as part of your report back to us, I would appreciate that.

Absolutely. We'll also ask for Santa Ana PD to be here to talk about the land use certificates and the special events. because they're in charge of those and Parks and Recreation is in charge of the other two, the film permits and the park facility permits. That's still Officer McGovern? Yes. Until he... Is he still here? He's still here. Okay. Thank you. Okay.

All right. So that was the longest discussion I ever heard on a continuance. So just to put it over for a couple... 30 days. But I think you got a lot of input. So why don't we go ahead and vote on the motion and the second that's on the floor.

Councilmember Lopez?

It's the wrong item.

Thank you. One second.

Catch, Councilmember.

Ready?

It was Sarmiento.

Yes, if council members can please re-vote on item 23.

I'm not seeing it, Daisy.

You want to do an oil?

I'm sorry. Yeah, we'll have to do it verbal. I think we got it. Go ahead. Okay. Council Member Becerra? Yes. Council Member Hernandez? Yes. Council Member Lopez? Yes. Council Member Mendoza? Yes. Council Member Fan?

Thai Viet PhanItem 23

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tempeñalosa? Yes. And Mayor Sarmiento?

Yes. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, everybody. Let's move along to the first business calendar item, item number 26, which is to consider the appropriation adjustment for the purchase order to prepaid USA in the amount of $6 million for the Revive Santa Ana resident stimulus program. I believe that CDAs matter, so I'll go ahead and turn it over to staff for presentation.

Thank you, Mayor and Councilmember. Remember this is a very exciting item. As you recall with our first tranche of our revived dollars, we set out our spending priorities. You requested a direct assistance program for residents and Daisy Perez and Sylvia Vasquez have been working behind the scenes to try to put together that assistance program and they've done a tremendous job. We do have a short presentation for you and it is something that we're excited of the timing. We think it's a great time to be able to have something like this roll out ahead of the holiday season. So with that, I'm going to first turn it over to Sylvia.

Take it away.

David PenalozaItem 26

I like this setup, by the way, Madam City Manager, of having your staff up here.

I agree. Although we do have one standing right now.

Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. Tonight I'm happy to present the Revive Santa Ana Resident Stimulus Program for your consideration. The Revive Resident Stimulus Program would provide direct economic support to residents via $300 prepaid visa cards to be distributed to 20,000 households for a total of $6 million in direct assistance to residents that have been impacted by the COVID pandemic. This would be federally funded by the American Rescue Plan.

As this is federally funding, the program eligibility is based on federal guidance from the coronavirus state and local fiscal recovery funds, which stipulates that funds may be used to respond to the public health emergency or its negative economic impacts by providing assistance to households. The city must demonstrate that the assistance is provided to households or populations that have experienced economic harms. for the interim final rule in assessing whether a household or population experienced harm as a result of the pandemic the city may presume that a

household or a population that is lower moderate income has experienced negative economic impacts resulting from the pandemic per the guidance this would include HUD's qualified census tracts and also areas with substantial rates of poverty for this program staff took a data-driven approach focusing on the disproportionate impact of the pandemic in areas of low income, high poverty, dense and overcrowded living conditions. The program would target renters in units located in HUD qualified census tracts in areas above the median poverty rate of 42% per the OC equity map.

The eligible areas map was created by staff and it brings together data from HUD's qualified census tracts and the poverty rates from the OC equity map. The areas outlined in orange demonstrate HUD's qualified census tracts. These are areas where 50% of the households are below 60% of the area median gross income. The areas in green and blue gradients are identifying those areas with poverty rates of 42% and above. The color gradients represent the levels of poverty in each census tract with the darkest demonstrating the highest rates of poverty.

These areas shown in the map meet the eligibility requirements established by the federal government.

Here is a larger view of the map. And the distribution efforts would be targeted to residents of rental housing units in those eligible areas.

The distribution would commence on December 4th in areas with the highest rates of poverty. it would be door-to-door distribution by city staff to heads of household households and arrangements would be made for households that are unavailable for the distribution.

The estimated program cost is $6.6 million. That's $6 million in direct assistance via the prepaid visa gift cards. These cards are valid for one year. They have no point-of-sale transaction fees and can be used at locations where visa is accepted as a form of payment. The administration is estimated at 10%, that's 600,000. That would include the distribution efforts, program administration, and any material and supplies that would be needed for the program.

Thank you, and we're open to questions.

Great. Thank you for that presentation, Sylvia, and thank you, staff, for bringing this to us. I'll go ahead and open it up to members of the council to go ahead and make any remarks or any questions. I just simply want to start by saying this is pretty incredible that we're able to do this and we are blessed because not many communities that have the need that we have are able to do this for the residents. In other words, I don't think I've ever seen this on my 14 years on the council where we could directly impact households and people's lives right this way.

And yeah, it's not a matter of $300 is going to change a person's life. But given where we are on the cost of fuel and gasoline and the cost of inflation increasing, those $300 to families that are living at or below the poverty line is really critical, especially going into the holidays and some of the help that was given by both state and federal government is now kind of going away. So we did intentionally, I think, hold back until the moment when we knew it was going to be most necessary.

And again, these cards are a stimulus to households, but let's not forget that what we're going to do is encourage people to redeem those cards here in Santa Ana. So they're an injection into commerce in the city as well. So hopefully that money circulates as people use those and redeem those. they can redeem those in businesses here in town. I know when I spoke to the president of the Chamber of Commerce, he was very excited because it will be like a double injection of stimulus to those households but also to those businesses that are going to see those cards being redeemed in their business.

So it's just very exciting because the whole spirit and premise of the rescue plan money that we call Revive Santa Ana was that there be a COVID nexus. I mean, that really was the baseline from when we received guidelines from the Treasury, is that whatever we spend these monies on, there has to be some relationship to a COVID consequence or some issues. And when you look at that QCT map, I mean, it really shows, I would say, that you could probably overlay where our positivity rates with COVID are probably the same, right? Those low-income families are probably the ones that were most hard hit

and probably the ones that are living in the most overcrowded conditions. So I think this is a direct response to that. So, you know, it's incredible work. I think that this is a first bundle. I think, you know, our line item in the ARPA for the first bundle was about $4 million. This is increasing it because we wanted to reach a broader number of households. So, you know, I just want to congratulate staff. Again, it is, you know, it is something that when people go to somebody's door, and you hand this off, I mean, for staff, I think it's going to be as moving for them as it will be for the families that are receiving that.

Because it's not often that we can do this. And this is their money. This is the public's money. And, you know, they are the ones that hopefully will be able to get it back and be able to expend it for things that I know that are going to be vitally important to them as they go into the holidays. So just with those comments, I wanted to go ahead and make those and open it up to the council. Councilmember Becerra.

Phil BacerraItem 26

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Phil BacerraItem 26

First of all, thank you staff for the presentation. I think this is a great thing for the community, especially for those that have been so impacted. But one thing that we've been hearing throughout is that this is gonna be an injection into the Santa Ana economy. But I just wanna make sure I understood correctly because I think I heard staff say that these cards will be accepted anywhere Visa is accepted. So does that include places outside of Santa Ana that accept Visa?

This would include anywhere where Visa is accepted. That is correct. However, we are also doing a push to really bring forward the shop local campaigns right around this time. And we're hopeful that with that push and those marketing efforts that the intent is for the residents to spend it within the community.

Phil BacerraItem 26

Okay. I appreciate that. Just to kind of further motivate them, is there a way that we could somehow maybe through like a zip code thing where if you spend it in a Santa Ana zip code, there isn't a fee, but if you spend it outside of Santa Ana and a non-Santa Ana zip code, maybe a small transaction fee is applied?

No, we don't have the ability to restrict the add fees or remove the fees based on zip codes.

Phil BacerraItem 26

Okay. I just would hope that there's a better, more stronger way to ensure that these cards are, or the funds on these cards are spent here in Santa Ana. A member of the community brought up helping seniors, and I want to start by saying I appreciate your data-driven approach. I think it, just with all the factors that we have to deal with from the U.S. Treasury and all the standards, obviously it's important that we follow those but as we you know look at the remaining funds that we're hoping to distribute is there a way that staff can bring back a program that looks at some

Phil BacerraItem 26

of our more vulnerable seniors and helps them in a way that you know again targets them because i think that what it looks like from the maps you know again i think as the mayor said you're looking at these areas where you can overlay where the highest rates of COVID were and and you probably pretty much nailed it as far as where the this aid is going but as we you know a lot of our seniors were impacted so is there a way maybe in a subsequent rollout that we could somehow target our seniors to

help them certainly sir so as you recall this is the first tranche and we have a second tranche coming so we can look into additional programs of direct assistance at different targeted audiences we definitely need to ensure that we comply fully with the regulations but we certainly can do that and I did receive concerns from a constituent on that very issue and I did indicate that to that gentleman as well that the programs are continuing to evolve and there's additional dollars coming so we would certainly provide the information to staff and as we're working on other rollouts of the items

THAT YOU REQUEST US TO DO, WE CAN CERTAINLY ADD THAT. THAT'S FANTASTIC. THANK YOU FOR THAT.

Phil BacerraItem 26

AND MY LAST COMMENT IS ACCORDING TO THE STAFF REPORT, THE CARDS ARE GOING TO BE DISTRIBUTED DOOR TO DOOR BY STAFF STARTING IN DECEMBER. SO I REALLY APPRECIATE THE TIMING OF THAT.

GIVEN THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY. WE'RE GOING TO NEED ALL OF YOUR HELP AS WELL.

Phil BacerraItem 26

WELL, AGAIN, I APPRECIATE THE TIMING. I THINK IT'S A GREAT CHRISTMAS PRESENT FOR SOME FOLKS. AGAIN, IT'S NOT, YOU KNOW, IT'S NOT THE END ALL, BUT IT'S GOING TO BE A NICE BOOST, especially as we get into the holiday season so thank you staff for that thank you for those

comments let me go to council member fan and then mayor pro tem hi thank you so much for the

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

presentation first a technical question on the eligible areas map in the south east right kind of let's see between grand and broadway south of ettinger there's a little light green area this census track is a qualifying census track and I'm a little confused because we did talk about

the gradation of color. I can answer that. So when looking at the HUD qualified census tracks they had poverty rates ranging from 40 something percent to about 80 percent. So the formula that goes into HUD's identification of the qualified census tracks includes additional variables besides poverty and so that's why you'll see some of the lighter areas also identified as

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

the QCTs. Okay yeah there's also one more on the far east side. Do you have any, can you just I guess outline a couple of those criteria? I can certainly pull up that staff report in a second just get that to you. Yeah I don't remember and we'll put the map back up. Unless it was like I wanted to echo Councilmember Becerra's, I guess, idea, and I would like for us in the next tranche to look into it. And it's to look at low-income seniors wherever they live.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

I know that in my ward, and as we've seen in previous meetings, we've had a lot of fixed-income, low-income seniors in mobile home parks. and while those are you know homes that maybe they're not paying for but they do pay land leases and so they are being affected just as much as a typical tenant in an apartment or elsewhere so I would like for us to look at that or if even possible in this program to do that I guess maybe not because we have a certain dollar amount already a budgeted but in the next challenge I would like

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

for us to see that. Also, I do also want to echo the concern regarding, because the census number, the census tract, I think based on the staff report is an older census numbers,

right? It's not the totally updated 2020 numbers. Correct. So the HUD QCTs, which are not just being used for this program, but are the basis of most of the Revive Santa Ana programs based on the guidelines include the 2010 census data. And I just wanted to point out information just to kind of give a little bit more background for our approach. So we had a very interesting challenge when coming up with the guidelines. Due to the federal restrictions, we could have developed some sort of application process, had residents provide, you know, documentation, and have a very bureaucratic process.

but this approach using these tools provided to us by the federal government allows us to streamline that, have these areas be considered a presumed benefit area, and that way we're able to execute these 20,000 households before the holiday season.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

And I think that's fantastic because I personally believe that sometimes with any program and that anything you do, you might get someone who slips in or whatever someone might say they didn't deserve it, they didn't need it, but for the vast majority who do, it's a lifeline. And I do want to say though for some out there $300 doesn't seem like a lot. $300 is six weeks to two months worth of gas. $300 is the difference between eating this month and not eating. My mom can stretch $200 in food stamps for over a month because that's how she's learned how to survive.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

So $300 is a huge difference for families out there, especially families on the edge. So I'm really excited to see a program like this. In the future I'd also like to see us look at other ways other than plastic gift cards. I am just personally very aware of the trash and the effect of just plastic all the time and we did pass a climate emergency resolution and so I would just like for us to consider other potential options I would also like to ask about the local businesses

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

because I didn't know the staff report said there was no one who responded who said they can do like a geo fencing or something like that with the use of

gift cards I don't know if I'm not sure councilmember if I understand your question. I know initially we thought about specific gift cards to Santa Ana businesses.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

Is that what your question pertains to? No, it's just I guess geofencing is more of a policing term where you look at public information and you start looking at like social media in a certain area to determine safety. But for example, geofence in which you can only use the cards in Santa Ana, although I heard at least when I read in the staff report no one responded with the ability to limit a Visa gift card to just Santa Ana, for example. But I guess the only response I have to that is maybe when producing or giving out the gift cards we also do maybe a short flyer with some local businesses, maybe some

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

that we've even highlighted with a proclamation or certificate of recognition here by the City Council because those are local businesses who have been doing really good work, businesses that have participated in our, I guess, mini park, like patio programs and things like that. I think those are all great businesses to highlight in the city. Thank you.

Certainly. We can do that, Council Member. One of the things, you know, we went back and forth. We thought about, well, maybe we should give a specific gift card for a grocery store chain that's located in Santa. But we decided we did not want to limit or prejudge what the individuals that are the recipients need the most. So that's why we went with the generic visa card. There also are controls that the banks could have placed on any of those cards as to the code, as to what the purchase was. And once again, we didn't want to limit that.

We want the individuals to be able to use their own judgment on what their assistance is that they need the most of.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

I agree. And I think it's really great that we're not patronizing our residents and telling them what they can and cannot use this money for. and programs that just provide the assistance have become more successful. But I just mean that to help encourage local businesses.

I'll definitely strongly encourage they keep their dollars in Santa Ana.

And I just wanted to add, if council approves this item tonight on the actual gift card themselves, there will be a message printed that their cards are valid at Santa Ana businesses and will also have additional marketing material that we distribute to encourage residents to shop local.

Excellent. Thank you for those comments and thank you from Steph. I just want to make one quick comment before I hand it over to Mayor Pro Tem.

So, you know, I was speaking with some of the folks at Northgate-Gonzalez and they do card delivery in other communities, and I asked them why not Santa Ana, but in any event they did it in some of the other communities where they have stores. Their redemption rate, because they use Visa as well, was like 95%. So, in other words, I think if we encourage them, I think the idea of highlighting some of our businesses, and maybe even, you know, look in the second bundle, say, if they redeem the card there, maybe you guys can match them to some degree, you know. But it's a way to just stimulate their business, stimulate economy,

stimulate interest in spending money here in the city. So, in any event, Mayor Pro Tem, and then Council Member Lopez.

David PenalozaItem 26

Thank you, Mayor Sarmiento, and thank you, staff, for this item. I mean, I can't say it any better than any of my colleagues have. This is great. This is a great thing for our city. I do just take a little bit of what Council Member Phan said. If we could look at other ways in the future, next time we do this, of moving away from a gift card. I had suggested to the mayor earlier in the night about maybe actually doing cash payments, but I realized that that could cause a safety issue to our staff, walking around neighborhoods with bundles of cash. So straight away from that. But happy to see this.

David PenalozaItem 26

I do have a couple questions because I myself have purchased Visa gift cards for gifts. I've received Visa gift cards for gifts. I know that some that I've personally received, to use them, you have to go online and register them and create an account with giftcardsomething.com. and it's an annoying process to really go through this tedious process online and I want to remind everybody that not everyone has easy access to internet.

David PenalozaItem 26

I want to make sure that the cards that we do purchase aren't some, our system might not be bureaucratic, but that card, you know, they probably now have to spend five, ten minutes online registering this card and creating a profile because I find that annoying when I've had to do that.

and is that something that will for security purposes there is an action that needs to be taken by the cardholder yes and they can do that right over the

phone it should only take a couple minutes and we will provide instructions in English Spanish and Vietnamese to households on how to do that and that's

David PenalozaItem 26

through that company or through the city they'll work with the vendor there's

instructions provided by the vendor on how to activate the cards over the phone

David PenalozaItem 26

Okay. And with regards to the shopping local and trying to make sure that most of that money stays in the city, I would recommend that as part of the marketing material that we deliver with each card, I'm sure there'll be a pamphlet or a flyer or something that we... And I'm going to use this area as an example because I'm trying to think of just major stores, but I wouldn't expect anybody in West Floral Park to get these gift cards. But let's say it's Bristol and 17th Street and someone is receiving the gift card in that area.

David PenalozaItem 26

Can we have a flyer that says, hey, use this card at the Target here and the Smart and Final and whatever other stores are there? just kind of just like a flyer like hey there's there's these stores here in your neighborhood that you could use it at along with the shop Santa Ana and shop locally to kind of just add a little bit more and kind of try to identify local stores in the in that neighboring community that we could kind of just suggest and be like hey here are these these this flyer of stores where you could use it at is that something that we could do as part of the marketing I

David PenalozaItem 26

They won't restrict what they could use it on, but just kind of as a suggestion and they naturally-

We certainly can look into that, just identifying merchants in the nearby area. We are in a pretty tight timetable because we do want to get started with it December 4th, but we'll see what we can come up with to serve that purpose.

David PenalozaItem 26

And that's basically it. Very happy to see this. I know it's going to be much needed these next couple of months. and yeah supportive of the item thank you thank you for those comments I think

Jessie LopezItem 26

it was councilmember Lopez and then Mendoza thank you mr. Vento well thank you staff for all the work that has gone into this I do want to echo some of the remarks regarding the next tranche of dollars if we can look at different areas because you know it's some of the data I do feel maybe for some areas of the city isn't as reflective and so us that live here and really walk our communities or engage with them really know what that impact is or what that need is but other than that I'm very

Jessie LopezItem 26

supportive of the item and I definitely volunteer to walk and help stuff out I expect to see not necessarily expect but I would love to see our executive directors out there as well getting to know the neighborhoods. And you know I also want to thank Mayor Sarmiento. I remember when this was first brought up there was you know not everyone loved it and it's very humbling to be able to be in a position where you can help people and when you look at the poverty rate here it really reinforces at least for me all of the good policy that we've been doing and centering Santa Ana

Jessie LopezItem 26

residents and so thank you for everything. Thank you Councilmember. Councilmember Mendoza.

Thank you. My question is about what if there are lost cards or cards that are not cashed within the year does that money come back into the coffers or do we lose that money?

Cards that are lost can be replaced by calling the company as long as they've been activated. If the cards aren't used by a year, they do expire within a year, we don't recoup those funds. However, any cards not distributed, we could return and receive those funds back. However, we don't anticipate having cards left.

Do you know if there's a fee to replace the card?

It's a minimal fee. I think I remember it being about $3 to $5.

That's covered by the city?

We would absorb the cost.

What was the administrative cost to manage this program?

We have estimated in the staff report 10%, so $600,000, and that would be for all of the door-to-door visits as well as all of the materials.

Seems high. Is there a way where we can reduce these administrative costs? I would be willing to walk with my colleague Lopez and anyone else to distribute and not charge a penny.

The distribution does make up a large portion of that. However, we do also want to consider costs that are going to be associated with all the questions that are going to be coming into the city due to questions regarding the program. Although there is a number on the card, we do foresee residents calling in. Additionally, if someone hasn't received their card, we are having methods of contacting them. So we are going to need additional staff power for the next couple of months to ensure that these cards go to all the residents and that they have access to staff that is then able to help them get those $300.

Thank you.

Great. Thank you for those comments. I think everybody spoke. Council Member Hernandez, you're good? Great. So with that, I think you need a motion from us, right? So I'll go ahead and move the item if you don't mind. Second by Council Member Fan. And let's see if our devices are working.

There we go. Vote.

Thank you. Motion passes 7-0 with Councilmembers Becerra, Hernandez, Lopez, Mendoza, Fan, Mayor Potempeñalosa, and Mayor Sarmiento voting yes. And I did want to remind the Council, when you are speaking, if you could please speak into the mic so that the video engineer doesn't have to keep modifying the volume and there isn't any heavy feedback. So if you can just speak into the mic, that would be really helpful. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. We'll make sure we do that. Let's move along to item number 27, which is the amendment to the Sunshine Ordinance on various items. I'll go ahead and turn it over

to the city manager. Thank you, Mayor. So Mayor and Council Member Daniel Soto from the city manager's office is going to give the presentation. This was a council member requested item to increase transparency. And at the end of the presentation, certainly the city clerk and the planning director who are probably the most pertinent to some of the items that you're going to hear about are available to answer any questions and with that I'll turn it over to Daniel.

Thank You Christine.

Good evening mayor and City Council we have a brief presentation tonight for you regarding proposed amendments to the Sunshine Ordinance. This request originally came to staff back in May 2021. What is the Sunshine Ordinance? Back in 2012, the City Council adopted the Sunshine Ordinance, a set of local laws aimed at increasing transparency. What the Sunshine Ordinance did was it required publishing City Council meeting agendas 96 hours in advance as opposed to the 72-hour requirement per state law. It required a community meeting for

certain development projects and the community meetings applied to the following types of development projects requiring discretionary approval that meet one or more of the following criteria one city sponsored development projects two new residential projects containing 25 or more units except that the director of planning and building may exempt a developer from the requirements if in the case of affordable housing the developer can show that it will be in jeopardy of losing tax credits. Three new non-residential projects of 10,000 square feet or more and which are in the determination of

the city subject to a negative declaration, mitigated negative declaration, or environmental impact report. And four development projects requiring a zone change, specific plan amendment, or general plan amendment. The Sunshine Ordinance also requires mailed notices for property owners and occupants for those community meetings for properties that are within 500 feet of the subject property, sharing requests for proposal documents and related documents and making them available on the city's website, sharing and posting

calendars of city officials, sharing FPPC forms on the city website. This includes recipient committee campaign statement form 460, behested payment report form 803 and statement of economic interests form 700. The Sunshine Ordinance also requires that the city create a five-year strategic plan and that the city hosts annual budget meetings. Tonight we are presenting an ordinance that would create four changes to the Sunshine Ordinance. The first is regarding community meetings for certain development projects. Specifically it

It would expand the number of community meetings for certain development projects from one to two. As proposed, the first community meeting would be required to be held within 20 days of submittal of an application for development project review. The second community meeting would take place no earlier than 10 days prior to the development project being resubmitted to the city after receipt of comments from staff.

The second proposed change is regarding noticing for the community meetings. Specifically, it would increase the radius of distributing noticing of those community meetings from 500 feet to 1,000 feet of the subject property. The noticing requirements would also apply to Planning Commission public hearings.

The third change to the Sunshine Ordinance is the creation of a lobbyist registration policy. This policy language was taken from the original 2012 proposal for the Sunshine Ordinance that was presented to the City Council. Changes were made to align some of the language with the language in the California Political Reform Act along with some policy recommendations from the Clerk of the Council.

To highlight the policy, the proposed policy defines lobbyists as a person or business entity that received $250 or more in a calendar year for communicating using any means with a city official or employee to influence current or future city legislation, administrative decisions, city council elections, or local initiative measures.

The policy would require that lobbyists register with the clerk of the council annually within 15 days of qualifying as a lobbyist. There are three exemptions. Any government official or employee acting in his or her official capacity. any tax-exempt organization that receives funding from any federal, state, or local government agency for the purpose of representing the interests of indigent persons and whose primary purpose is to provide direct services to those persons, and a newspaper or other regularly published periodical, radio, or television station or network

when, in the ordinary course of their business, publishes content which directly or indirectly attempts to influence city officials or employees. The proposed policy would require that lobbyists submit quarterly reports that disclose the following. The nature of the issues they are trying or try to influence through lobbying of city officials. Identifying each client and the amount of compensation received from each client for communicating with city officials to influence current or future city legislation, administrative decisions, city council elections, or

local initiative measures, all campaign contributions or gifts to elected city officials, all campaign contributions to a controlled committee of an elected city official, all fundraising activities conducted on behalf of elected city officials, all contributions or gifts to political campaigns, all contributions or gifts made at the behest of elected city officials, all contributions or gifts to political campaigns made at the behest of elected city officials. All contributions or gifts to registered domestic non-profit organizations made at the behest of elected city officials. All contributions or gifts to religious institutions

made at the behest of elected city officials. All payments received for services as a consultant to the city or any city agency and any compensated work done for a political campaign of an elected city official. The disclosures would be required to be reported for the preceding two-year period.

Additionally, the policy provides that the Clerk of the Council would post quarterly disclosure reports that are submitted to the Clerk of the Council on the City's website. The policy also provides that any person who violates the policy is guilty of a misdemeanor and would be prohibited from acting as a lobbyist in the City of Santa Ana for one year.

The fourth proposed change to the Sunshine Ordinance adjusts the timeline for publishing City Council meeting agendas for regularly scheduled meetings. Currently the Sunshine Ordinance provides that the City publish agendas four days in advance. As proposed, we would be required to publish the City Council meeting agendas seven days in advance.

Thank you. Thank you for that presentation, Daniel. Let me go ahead and bring it back to the council. Not sure if you want to go ahead and kick it off, Council Member Lopez, as it was your item.

Jessie LopezItem 27

And I guess I'm interested in hearing if anyone has any concerns or questions. But I do also want to thank staff for all of the work that has gone into it. I know that the planning city attorney's office, the city manager's office have all been working on this and staff also did let me know that they did research and comparing the models of the city of Irvine, San Diego and Anaheim to really bring something forth that is not only doable, but that other cities are actually doing and following as well.

Great thank you for that and thank you for bringing this forward let me go ahead and open it up to the rest of the council to go ahead and ask any questions or make any remarks. Councilmember Fan and then Councilmember Becerra.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Thank you. Madam City Manager I did ask in our agenda review regarding the community meeting requirements and SB 330. Maybe this might come to the city attorney. I don't think it applies but I just want to get clarification. You know, SB 330 under permit streamlining, we're supposed to only have five public hearings. I don't think a community meeting requirement technically falls under that, but if it does, I don't know if you've done any analysis on it or come to a conclusion or would it

affect the five hearings is what I'm asking. So I have not done any analysis on it, but I did present questions to our planning director. So Planning Director Mintai, do you want to speak to the impact of adding this additional community meeting with permit streamlining requirements?

So the community meeting would not be considered a public hearing. It is an outreach meeting in terms of whether or not it would impact the Permit Streamlining Act. The way the two meetings are structured, it's part of the process and the timeline when we review and deem the application complete. PERMIT STREAMLINING ACT DOESN'T COME INTO PLAY UNTIL AFTER THE APPLICATION COMPLETE.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

SO WE'RE SAYING IF YOU HAVEN'T DONE THESE COMMUNITY OUTREACH MEETINGS YOUR APPLICATION IS NOT COMPLETE.

IT'S PART OF THE APPLICATION PROCESS.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

OKAY, PERFECT. THAT'S GREAT. THE OTHER QUESTION THAT I HAD WAS REGARDING ACTUALLY YOU MIGHT WANT TO JUST SAY I'M NOT SURE. is regarding the cost associated, the city's cost associated to staffing these meetings. I do understand that sometimes, you know, we want to have a staff member there to make sure that, you know, everything is going well. They're actually providing accurate information to the community. Who pays for that staff time? So the meetings are conducted by the applicant

AND HOSTED BY THE APPLICANT. WE OFTEN HAVE STAFF THERE IN CASE WE NEED, WELL, FOR THE PURPOSE OF JUST UNDERSTANDING WHAT'S GOING ON AND HAVING KNOWLEDGE OF THE MEETING. THE TIME THAT STAFF SPENT THERE GENERALLY IS DONE AFTER HOURS. SOMETIMES THEY DO FLEX HOURS WHERE, YOU KNOW, THE CITY WOULD PAY FOR STAFF TIME, OBVIOUSLY, BUT THOSE HOURS ARE OFTEN FLEX. SO AT THE END OF THE DAY THERE'S NO COST TO CITY SOMETIME, ONLY WHEN WE HAVE TO PAY OVER TIME.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

well I do see that it is a cost to the city because now we're doubling the number of meetings that are required for any project right and if we're updating our general plan if we have these state mandates then I can potentially see more applications and so I know that with our application process we do require a deposit I would like to see that staff time whatever that billable time minutes if you will two hours three hours be charged to that deposit if

possible we can evaluate how that can be done but as I mentioned these are meetings hosted by developer our staff are sometimes there when just just so that we can be informal community issues and you know be a part of that process but we're not required to be there for those sunshine meetings okay well I

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

I would just like it to be considered.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

The other, so I actually am very supportive of the seven days. Personally I'd like to see two weeks but I know I do understand that it can be difficult. I wanted to get clarification on the, I think the way we said it was like a final agenda with the seven days.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

So, you know, I guess sometimes things come up. I guess it could be urgency, but, you know, it comes up the third day or the fourth day before. Is there room in here to, you know, allow for an amended agenda? If something does come up like that, say, you know, maybe I guess we can still do a special meeting,

But and it would fall into the special meeting or into the next regularly scheduled meeting It would be pushed back. Yeah, there's no room for Adding it within the four days or three days at the way this is written

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Okay, I just kind of wanted to put that out there because sometimes things do come up after the seven days and a special meeting can be, I think kind of also difficult because I guess Madam City Clerk, you know, I've only seen us do special meetings here before the actual meeting or after, you know, we don't really just slot it in at 9 p.m. or something like that, right? Correct. Yeah, so I just can see how an item might come up that we could put into the next agenda and not creating room for that, I think, is a little bit inflexible.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

So maybe also considering if, you know, an item is considered important enough, necessary enough, time sensitive, that it, according to the city manager, for example, so not something that I just said I wanted on the agenda, but if the city manager finds that it is important enough to put on the agenda that we do.

So adding it as a revised agenda within the Brown Act.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Yes, within the Brown Act, right?

Thank you, Council Member, for that. I know that our practice has been, we have allowed items to be added if we were outside of the 72 hour, but under the 96 hour. So I do think we would need that flexibility. It is not unusual. It's very similar to the Board of Supervisors who will add supplemental agenda if there is a time-sensitive issue that needs to be brought forward.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Yeah, so I would like to make that amendment to the draft ordinance. And the final thing I wanted to, I guess, ask about is the $250 amount. It does seem to me to seem quite low. I know the Secretary of State, it's $2,500 to register as a lobbyist. I think, you know, we're a city, so maybe we don't want to go up to $2,500. dollars, but I can see a resident, somebody, just, you know, getting paid for a one-time thing and it's, I don't know, it just seems like it would also, you know, we can find something in between 250 and 2,500 that might be, I think, a little bit more accommodating.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

So whether it's 500 or 1,000 dollars, that's something I'd be comfortable with. And actually, finally, the other thing is that the failure to register as a lobbyist is a misdemeanor for a one-year violation. I am personally, again, always about education, so I'd like to see some opportunity for a warning or, you know, that we don't immediately go to criminalizing someone. And so I know our municipal code does give the city attorney that option. So maybe not make it a mandatory thing that they are warned, but to encourage the flexibility in there.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Because I can imagine somebody, frankly, during an election season, in October, just choosing not to register in order to skirt the rule.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 27

Rather than making this a criminal violation, what you might want to consider is just making it a civil penalty or fine. If you don't want to criminalize the behavior, maybe the initial contact is a fine. because if there is no consequence to registering and it's a one-time issue, then I can warn them and then never come back, but they got away with not registering. So we could look at that to make it a fine to go along with the warning and education about our ordinance.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

So I'm not personally a fan of punishment that is fine only because that just means that if I'm wealthy enough, I can afford it. You know, $1,000 to someone who's being paid $300,000 a year to be a lobbyist is really a drop in the butt. You know, that's an expense. So I do think maybe it's a six-month warning, or not a six-month warning, but a prohibition, or even if it's just a one-year prohibition, you know, and then the fine later. I guess I don't really find that immediately going to a misdemeanor is a great thing.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 27

How about if we started with an infraction like we do with our other penalties? We've done that before where we say the first violation is an infraction. We'll just give you a citation.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Yeah, with no lobbying for a year. I'm fine with that. What's that kind of penalty? Okay. Yeah, that's fine by me. I just don't want someone to have a record because they screwed up somewhere. Thank you.

Thank you for those comments. I think Mayor Pro Tem and Councilmember Bessera.

David PenalozaItem 27

Thank you, Mayor Sarmiento. I still have a lot of, you know, I'm very supportive of increasing that radius from 500 to 1,000 feet. I think that's a good thing, as well as the additional community meetings for this.

David PenalozaItem 27

The seven-day window, though, for City Council agendas, I have concern. So I'm supportive of Council Member Phan's amendment to that section of the City Council meeting because I know that things come up all the time. And I would hate to be restricted to that seven-day firm window. So any flexibility that we could come up with there, I'm very supportive of. I was going to suggest, because I do have a lot of questions in regards to this lobbyist registration policy, I think that warrants its own, I don't know if it's a, if it's a chart. I know we tried to do it part of the charter amendments that we brought up last year.

David PenalozaItem 27

We tried to implement this into our city charter so that it could be very firm of what, you know, we should do when it came from, I don't know if you remember, Madam City Clerk. I know you worked closely with Daniel with that. And I don't want to maybe at the moment include this with, as part of this unsharmonious, because I have a lot of unanswered questions. One thing that I'm also concerned about, Madam City Clerk, is if we have the support staff to be able to handle this additional requirement in your office.

David PenalozaItem 27

and I just know that I know that I had brought up the questions of even looking at our city agenda. We haven't had any city minutes on our city council agenda since June was the last time we saw a city minutes or not the last time we saw them but we haven't approved any of the minutes for city past city council meetings for six months five months. So I know that there is a heavy workload in the city clerk's office. And I would hate to right now at this moment burden your office with additional just requirements and workload.

David PenalozaItem 27

So I would, as part of this, I'm comfortable with the adoption of one, if we were to bifurcate the lobbyist registration policy and bring it back at a future date where we could really have all these questions answered and have just additional information from staff on how this would work and how it would be supported at the staff level. Those are my comments, Mayor.

Thank you for those comments. Councilmember Becerra.

Phil BacerraItem 27

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Director Tai, if you can come up.

Phil BacerraItem 27

Councilmember Fan had asked earlier about the impact of having the additional community meeting and I got to tell you, I appreciate that we're having this discussion. Anything that we can do to increase transparency, the better. But I want to understand from your vantage point, as far as the state permit streamlining act, how would the time frame on the agendas, the seven days and the meetings, how would it impact that act, that state act?

The meeting, from our perspective, would not impact us significantly IN TERMS OF THE PERMIT STREAMLINING ACT AS I PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED THE PERMIT STREAMLINING ACT DOESN'T START UNTIL THE APPLICATION IS DEEMED COMPLETE THE TWO MEETING PROCESS IS GOING TO BE A PART OF THE APPLICATION BEING DEEMED COMPLETE PROCESS SO FROM THAT PERSPECTIVE IT DOESN'T HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT TO THAT TIMELINE PROCESS IN TERMS OF THE SEVEN DAYS YOU KNOW I THINK THE MAJORITY OF TIME IT PROBABLY WOULD NOT IMPACT DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IT WOULD TAKE IT BACK TO one meeting cycles our goal has always been is to try to take it within the two

meeting cycles it sometimes may push it back to a third meeting cycle so instead of being 30 days will be 45 days when we do run into a timeline issue one thing that the permits from an act does is that the applicant will have to provide the city with notice that they are going to invoke the act so we will be notified ahead of time whether or not we would run into that issue. So it's a little flexible there. We would work with the applicant if there's if we run up to a time limit issue is to ensure that both parties understand when the meeting day is going to be and provide the understanding of when

Phil BacerraItem 27

their decision could be made on the project. Okay, thank you for that. I guess I have concerns with the idea that we're punting it out another meeting cycle and i don't know that there's any advantage gained by that because for instance if a project was approved let's say at the last planning commission meeting it would probably if it needed to come to council would come to us probably closer to within 30 days right so you're we would be looking at the first meeting in december roughly right? Correct. So but now we would push that out a month and a half and you know again I want to

Phil BacerraItem 27

make sure that the community has all the opportunity to weigh in on the project but I just think for that there's that impact to consider. So thank you for that Mr. Tai. I as far as the whole idea of a supplemental agenda I think that kind of undermines what our intention is here. If We're looking at trying to increase the time that people have to view an agenda. And then we're saying, I know we said seven days, but we really are just going to operate like we always do at the Brown Act, and we're just going to do it three days out. This exercise is a complete waste of time. And I like what we're talking about here.

Phil BacerraItem 27

So I'm not saying that the topic is a waste of time. I just don't want to. I want to give it teeth. I want to make sure that it actually succeeds in what it's seeking to accomplish. So I have a concern with doing a supplemental agenda. I mean, the last thing I want to do is replicate what the county does. So having said that, as far as increasing the radius and keeping it inclusive of property owners and occupants, I think that's important, and I'm glad we're doing that. When I was on the Planning Commission, we had a couple of projects where you had residential up against industrial swaths of land,

Phil BacerraItem 27

and then you had residents just a little bit beyond that that weren't getting noticed. And so I think it's important that we do expand that radius a little bit. As far as the lobbyist registration section, I love that we're going down the path of looking into it. But one thing that I think of, and I think the law does, when we talk about a lobbyist, it's somebody that gets paid to engage decision makers. And to me, I don't care if you're with a business entity or another entity. The fact is, if you're being paid to engage city officials to sway our position on an item,

Phil BacerraItem 27

I believe you should have to register. So for me, I would want to see in the proposed section 2-906C, I'd want to see the term business stricken because I think it should just be a person or entity. Now, that doesn't prohibit somebody who is a local resident from coming in and engaging in their First Amendment rights because hopefully they're not being paid to come in and engage us. So to me, I think if you're being paid, and I don't have a problem with the $250 amount. I mean, that's a small amount, but at the same time, I think it's just important for the sake of transparency

Phil BacerraItem 27

that we know who, or the community knows who is engaging us and being paid to engage us. The other issue as far as the punishment goes, a lot of these consultants that are coming into lobbyists, they're not necessarily here for the long haul. They may only be here for one project. So if they're only here for one project, we can punish them all we want. They're not going to care. So I think that's something to consider that if we're going to engage in some sort of punishment, let's not think of it as, well, they're going to be here for the long haul. So if we stop the risk today, it's going to actually make a difference.

Phil BacerraItem 27

They don't care. If you said to somebody who's never going to lobby here again, you can't come back for a year, oh well, it's just not going to bother them. So that's really my comments at this point. I like where we're going with the lobbyist registration. I think if we're not going to be all inclusive of making sure that folks are all encompassed as far as lobbyists, then I don't think this is truly an exercise in transparency. Thank you.

Great. Thank you for those comments. Any other remarks or questions from the Council? So just a couple of things. I think, you know, first of all, I think I was the only one on the Council when the Sunshine Ordinance was first, you know, introduced to the City Council. There was a time when we didn't have, you know, a Sunshine Ordinance at all. So there was very little transparency. There was very little openness. So this is a natural extension to that. And I think others have spoken to, I think the effort to try to put this on as a charter amendment to really be a little bit more aggressive.

But I do want to thank the Council Member Lopez for putting this on because I think there are some things on here that are vitally important that are not difficult for us to do. And I think for me, making sure that renters and tenants are being noticed in addition to homeowners, that's just a very logical step for us to take, given that we have more than 50% of our residents that are being affected are tenants or renters. The increase in radius, I'm also very supportive of. I did have one change that I would suggest, or maybe it's

in addition to, it's the notifications on Nixle. Is there a way that we could have those notifications by text and I think one of the reasons why I think in the previous presentation on the stimulus you know Daisy Perez was talking about a phone number and how you can activate cards by phone versus going online it's such an easy thing to do for people who you know have cells and you know getting notices on your cell phone via text is just a much much more efficient and effective way in our city to do that. I do agree with Councilmember Fan on the period of time. I think

seven days is, I'm more, yeah, I worry that there's going to be things added on, supplementals that are added on, you know, at the end and we have staff scrambling. I remember when we used to have council meetings here on Mondays and we would have our staff reports given to us or our, yeah, our staff reports on a Friday. We'd have the weekend literally to read them and we'd have to come in on Monday and try to scramble. We pushed the meetings out to Tuesday specifically for that reason, and now we're at 96 hours, which is a day longer than what the state requires. I think finding some balance between maybe four days or seven days,

maybe something in between, whether it's five days, that gives us sufficient time. But what's really important is for us to understand and engage with staff when it comes to those staff reviews so we get all our questions asked and our meetings are shorter, hopefully. So that's really, I think, a goal that I think we're trying to achieve there. On the registry, I do believe it's necessary. I guess I'm a little flat-footed because I don't know what other cities do. And I'd like to be consistent with other cities that are our size. I do think that lobbyists serve a purpose.

I think that as we get staff reports and a review of an item by staff, it's important to get the other side of the argument as well, which is those proponents that are proposing projects and developments in the city, just to understand and make a well-informed decision. So I think they serve a role. It's not that they're all punitive. I think it's really more informing us so we can make a better decision. The concern I have is we cast this net so wide that we can get somebody who's talking to us about a community center or something, and they are considered a lobbyist, and then they get sanctioned.

And I agree, I don't want to be punitive on anybody and give them a record just for trying to talk to us about a project that they'd like to do in the city. So I wouldn't be opposed to maybe bringing that back, because I do think it's necessary to create a registry. I just don't know if it's, you know, number one, if there's, you know, whether it's a misdemeanor, whether it's an infraction, whether it's, you know, some ban on doing business in the city. But I just want to understand that a little bit better. But I think all the others are extremely effective. I think we're extremely necessary. And, you know, we're long overdue.

Some of the things that we're adding here tonight, to the extent that I've heard people are supportive of, are things that were included in the original Sunshine Ordinance that were stricken. So we are going to be embedding those in, and I think some of these, again, with respect to the lobbyists, I think should be part of the Charter. So it doesn't mean that they are only part of this ordinance, but they can also be part of the Charter as we go through that. So yes, Councilman, I'm sorry. Almost. But, you know, so I would, you know, agree with maybe segregating out that portion on the registry so we could bring it back.

And whether it becomes part of the charter, whether it becomes part of the Sunshine Ordinance, you know, maybe that's a decision for the council to make when it comes back with a little bit more detail. And maybe if you can include what other cities do, that would be helpful for me to see, you know, how these things are enforced and how they're done. The last thing on the additional meeting, I do think that it's important. I've gone to Sunshine meetings where they were done on July 3rd, right, when nobody is there. So I'm sitting there with staff and one person from the neighborhood that's being impacted.

And it's literally happened that way or the day before Thanksgiving. And so that is something we need to avoid because that is clear, you know, circumvention of what the process and what we're trying to do here. So those are just some of my comments. and so council member fan lopez and then basara so i would um i guess ask or move that we continue

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

the item but ask that staff when you bring it back to separate out the lobbying provisions anything relating to the lobbying provisions separate it from the other parts of the sunshine ordinance and listening to council member basara's comments and the mayor's comments you know if you do have somebody who's a lobbyist who comes in and they're only working for one giant project and they're a high-powered lobbyist or something like that and that's important because I want to hear their perspective, but at the same time that means they're a professional. So I'm not worried about them not knowing to check the process for lobbyist

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

registration. So I guess I would be more comfortable if, say, the limit is at $2,000 or $2,500 but that the punishment be much higher, which is a misdemeanor with a, you know, the, actually a fine, you know, whatever the fine can be, I guess it's $1,000, plus a year ban, right? And I think if we raise the limit, you kind of don't catch all the little fish who are just a community member or, you know, working with a community group or something.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

But you catch the big fish who should know better, who should have the experience, and who should be more used to filing this paperwork. So that would be my motion to separate it out. I did want to clarify that I am really comfortable with the seven days. I just would like flexibility. But if staff, you know, city clerk or staff feel that a special meeting is fine when things come up, then, you know, I'll leave it maybe leave it to you to let us know what you prefer.

If I can just chime in here, I do want to make sure that council is aware that essentially with a supplemental agenda, what we're doing is recreating a new agenda. So we're taking away staff from, so they're working on one agenda, we're done with that, publish it, and now we're working on a new agenda. Where typically what we're working on is other projects, other things. So I just want to make sure the council's aware of that. So I don't know what that implication's going to look like in my office yet, but once we start the ball rolling, we'll definitely have to read this out.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Yeah, maybe you can just let us know if you prefer just to if there is an urgent item that the city manager thinks important Then you know, we just call a special meeting and rather than have the special or supplemental agenda process You know, whatever works easier for the workflow. I just wanted to talk to the flexibility. Yeah, and I and I believe that a lot of the reason why the

96-hour Requirement came in was because of the alternating Fridays so we've been publishing our agenda consistently on Thursday so that way staff doesn't have to come in on their day off to publish. So one thing I could

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 27

just add as a suggestion as the mayor noted I actually worked on the original Sunshine Ordinance so brought back a lot of memories tonight as we've been talking about this but one of the things you could do in terms of the seven day requirement you could impose here in this ordinance that any items that were added had to follow the same guidelines that the Brown Act requires to add an item to the agenda. So if the city manager were going to add an item, she would have to demonstrate in her staff report that the item came up after the posting of the agenda and that there is a need to take immediate action. That way

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 27

you wouldn't have to be concerned about these willy-nilly exceptions breaking the rule, but that would still allow the flexibility to get city work done if there were a true emergency. Because even if you notice seven days in advance, the city manager can always come to the council meeting under the Brown Act and ask you to make those findings anyway only she may be doing that in advance so that may be a good way to allow some flexibility but have a standard so that

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

the exception doesn't eat up the rule I'd be comfortable with that and that way we also do publish the information in advance for the public so that they can look at it rather than you saying hey council just kidding we have another item that you've never seen before and we need you to decide tonight and with that I guess that's my motion to continue and for staff to bring back the two items separately regarding lobbying in the sunshine portion is there any way

we can maybe adopt things that we all agree on that because there are some that I heard that we're just pretty I mean the expansion of the radius I think Mayor Pro Temp spoke to some of those. I think the additional meeting, those things. I think where everybody was kind of stumbling maybe was on the registry.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

I guess, oh, I'm just saying whether the city attorney think that they have enough information to adopt that.

Does that make sense to staff?

My understanding, I believe we can do it. So the motion would be to approve the Sunshine Ordinance excluding the lobbyist registration component and making the minor amendment to the seven-day agenda whereby declaring a finding an item can be added if needed.

Right, and then the registry would come back, right?

The registry would come back with additional information on other amounts that cities are using and some of the other questions as to who it applies to.

So if that's your motion, Councilmember Biddy? That's my motion. Okay.

Phil BacerraItem 27

I'd like to make a substitute motion. I'd like to go ahead and approve expanding the number of community meetings, increasing the radius, and increasing the timeline to publish the meeting agendas from four to seven days with no exception other than emergency provision. Because to me, you're watering it down. If we're just gonna use the Brown Act, then let's just scrap it and use the Brown Act. So if we're not going to, if we're really serious about this and we really want to make it seven days, let's do it. Let's jump all the way in and do it.

Phil BacerraItem 27

So that would be my motion and then to bring back the lobbyist registration policy as a separate item.

Got it. Thank you. Is there a second?

Okay, there's a...

For which motion?

Well, there's a substitute motion that Council Member Becerra just made. Basically the difference is he wants to keep it at seven days with no Brown Act exception.

Phil BacerraItem 27

Yeah, same as Councilmember Fantz, just that addition.

Jessie LopezItem 27

Mayor Simons, can we get through comments before we vote?

Yes, no, we're not going to vote yet. She, I think, was just wanting to explain what the substitute motion was, and I'm still trying to figure out what the difference between the motion and the substitute was, because if you're agreeing with her, then it's the exact same motion she made.

Phil BacerraItem 27

No, you're saying you want an exception for the seven days, correct?

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

The only exception would be the same exception. So the Brown Act requires 72 hours publishing and notice. However, the city manager can bring an item as an exception to the Brown Act if there is an emergency or urgency with findings proven or shown. So I would use that same exception, except she won't have to bring it at the city council meeting. She could, you know, publish it two days before or three days before.

Phil BacerraItem 27

To that point, Madam City Attorney, even if we were to go with what I'm saying, the Brown Act would still supersede what we're doing locally. So in other words, it wouldn't take away Madam City Manager's ability to come in and bring us something under an urgency provision under the Brown Act, correct?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 27

Correct. Correct. It wouldn't prohibit her from doing that. The recommendation, however, would allow her to at least publish that early so that people wouldn't just find out about it when they arrive at the council meeting.

Phil BacerraItem 27

But if she wanted to bring an item as an urgency item, what prohibits her from publishing it early?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 27

Well, under the Brown Act, the way the agenda would work, there's really no way to amend that agenda unless you authorize her to amend that agenda. because the Brown Act simply says that she shows up at the City Council meeting and she presents it to you at the Council meeting. So if you wanted to allow her the authority to amend your agenda after your clerk publishes it, then you would need to at least authorize that.

Phil BacerraItem 27

But so she could just show up at the Council meeting, no notice, to bring us something.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 27

If she can convince you that the item came up after the posting and that there is a need to take immediate action and a super majority of you agree to that.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

That's what I was going to say. We would need five votes to even consider the item that she, you know, it's like she showed up right now, brought up an item we've never talked about and said this is a concern. All five of us have to vote to even decide to hear her item.

Phil BacerraItem 27

Well, that's an emergency item. I mean, that's not something where she goes, oh, I'd really like to speed this up because it would, you know, help out with the contract. I mean, when we're talking about getting five votes on an emergency item, there's something super pressing that's got to be done right away. So to me, again, my concern is if we're going to go through this exercise, let's push it out to seven days, other than whatever state law would supersede what we're proposing here. That's the difference between, I think, what you're describing, Council Member Fan, and what I'm describing.

Phil BacerraItem 27

I'm saying let's keep it to the seven days. if we're going to go down the path let's go ahead and make it pretty darn tough not to bring something forward unless it's an absolute emergency so the only reason why i would want to

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

allow her this flexibility is if city manager christine ridge finds out friday afternoon that there's this urgency item i want her to be able to publish the information to the public and to us so that we can all consider it, read it, figure it out, rather than her having to wait over the weekend and then to bring it on a Tuesday evening without any of us or anyone in the public having had the opportunity to even think about or consider it. That's, again, that's out of the ordinary circumstance. Again, it is not something that's going to happen all the time. The point is

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

just if she has an emergency that happens, I want her to be able to share it with the public and and have us consider it rather than just do it only at the meeting. But I guess that would be the difference.

Got it. So we have a difference in the motion and the substitute motion, and there's a second, I think, for both, correct? Or was there a second to the underlying motion?

No, I only have a motion by Council Member Becerra and seconded by Mendoza for the seven-day only and then the emergency.

I'll go ahead and second the underlying motion. But let's just have some more discussion before we vote on the substitute, because I know Council Member Lopez wanted to speak.

Jessie LopezItem 27

City Attorney, I have a question for you. Can you walk me through the difference, what would be, you know, I guess the impact of having the Sunshine Ordnance lobby registration be part of the Sunshine Ordnance or just like independently how some people are advocating for?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 27

There's no difference technically or legally by separating them. The lobbyist registration provisions would simply come back as an independent ordinance and we could either include it in the same chapter where a Sunshine Ordinance exists or we could put it in a different chapter if we thought that was a better place to put it. Okay, thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 27

So yeah, I guess I'm supportive of that. Even though this is a time for people to ask questions, if they don't want to, we can't force people to engage. So I hope that by the next time that this comes back, those questions are addressed. But, you know, I do think that we need it in our code sooner rather than later or than never. And I also do understand that this has to be implemented in our charter. And I guess one of the...

Jessie LopezItem 27

Well, yeah, okay, those are going to conclude my comments. Thank you.

David PenalozaItem 27

Great. Any other comments? Mayor Pro Tem. Thank you, Mayor Sarmiento. I want to say that I'm supportive of, I guess it's not voting yet, but with Council Member Fan's motion, I would hope that when that posting of that information is made on a Friday, for example, that through the City Manager and the City Clerk's Office, there would be a very bold and prominent disclaimer on that item that clearly states that that item could potentially be heard on Tuesday. It was brought as an emergency and it would require a supermajority to even consider the item and discuss it at that meeting

David PenalozaItem 27

because I don't want to also confuse the public and have them thinking, oh yeah, this is going to for sure be heard and voted on on Tuesday. So I would make sure that that distinction is made. And in regards to the radius, I did have one little radius question, supportive of it, 100% to extend it to a thousand. But I know that when we first discussed this item, one of the comments that I had, and I don't see that reflected in the overall ordinance and policy or in the staff report, is just for example, in the French Park neighborhood two years ago when the project in the Lacey neighborhood

David PenalozaItem 27

was approved, the affordable housing, the project that we just had at the ground breaking down couple months ago through Mercy House and the French Park neighborhood was upset because the 500 foot radius I think only extended to about two or three homes into what's considered the French Park neighborhood and those residents could care less of what was happening and tossed it away and nobody else in the French Park neighborhood found out about this project that was coming forward and they weren't happy about it so one thing that I would ask is that if

David PenalozaItem 27

I'm that last home on that 1,000 foot radius and my home is I'm in that last foot in that 999 foot I and I'm in the let's say Wilshire Square neighborhood I would want if now I'm that one home that's in the Walsh Square neighborhood that's been effect received the notice I would want that that entire neighborhood not not the the whole neighborhood but that at least at that neighborhood association if there is one receives notification that that house or this project is is is having a meeting is that something that is part

of this Madam City Manager I wasn't I don't believe it's currently in the radius but you have an excellent idea on notifying the neighborhood association if there is one, because that certainly will guarantee that the entire community of that neighborhood association would receive notice.

David PenalozaItem 27

Yeah, it would allow for, and it would have cost savings for everybody across the board. If that, like I said, if I'm that one home that just happens to be in this neighborhood and I'm at that cusp that that neighborhood association is notified, because that happened here with French Park and they weren't too happy, and rightfully so, that they weren't aware of that this was happening. So that's it. That's all I had, Mayor Sarmiento. Thank you.

Great, thank you. Why don't we go ahead and bring it back for a vote. We have a substitute motion on the floor, and I believe we have a second.

This is...

This is a substitute motion. Council Member Becerra motioned and Council Member Mendoza seconded. And this is on that seven-day.

The difference is the seven-day only.

Motion fails. I'm with Council Members Becerra and Mendoza voting yes. Council Members Hernandez, Lopez, Fan, Mayor Pro Tempe, and Mayor Sarmiento voting no.

Great. Thank you. Moving back to the original underlying motion that was made by Council Member Fan. I forget who the second was, it might have been me. So the only thing I wanted to see if it's okay to change was the, and you might have been outside the room, to include texting instead of Nixle or and or, if that makes sense.

Phil BacerraItem 27

Yes.

Phil BacerraItem 27

And that doesn't include the appropriation, right, because we're not doing the lobbyist registration. Right.

Right, this is outside.

All right, so we have a motion and a second on the underlying motion by Councilmember Phan.

.

Should we just do an oral?

I think so, sorry.

Councilmember Becerra? Yes. Councilmember Hernandez? Yes. Councilmember Lopez? Yes. Councilmember Mendoza? Yes. Councilmember Fan? Yes. Mayor Pro Tempeñalosa?

Yes.

And Mayor Sarmiento?

Yes. Great. Thank you, everybody. Listen, I hope I'm going to go ahead and ask for the Council's indulgence. I WANT TO ACCELERATE A MATTER BECAUSE WE HAVE SOME, I BELIEVE, SOME STUDENTS THAT MAY BE ON THE LINE WAITING FOR A COUNCIL REQUESTED ITEM, WHICH IS ITEM NO. 30 AND SHOULDN'T TAKE TOO MUCH TIME TO GO AHEAD AND TAKE CARE OF THAT. SO I'M GOING TO CALL ON COUNCIL MEMBER MENDOZA TO BRING UP THAT ITEM AND MAYBE WE CAN GO AHEAD AND HAVE SOME KIDS GO TO BED.

THANK YOU, MAYOR SARMENTO.

We're all elected here to protect the public, and one of those protections is to ensure that our students are protected from predators in trying to sell items that are dangerous to their health. We are in the midst of a youth tobacco use epidemic in which tobacco companies are luring kids into a lifetime of nicotine addiction through the sale and targeted marketing of candy-flavored tobacco.

As council members representing constituents of the city of Santa Ana, it is our responsibility to listen, learn, and implement thoughtful policy changes that will help improve the overall health and wellness of our residents, especially our youth. For too long, tobacco companies have preyed upon our youth, targeting our communities with misleading advertisements and offering candy-flavored tobacco. These products often mimic popular candies, drinks, or snacks in both packaging and flavor, including menthol, making them particularly appealing to youth.

Today, more than 2 million middle and high school students use e-cigarettes on a national level, And 70% of our youth, these youth e-cigarette users say they can use them because they come in the flavors that they like. And they do not realize the consequences of inhaling such harmful chemicals. Here in Santa Ana, it is time to fight back against those predatory practices and move to prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco.

More than 100 cities and counties in California have taken the steps to pass a flavor ban ordinance, including our neighbor, Buena Park. Our city already has a tobacco retail licensing ordinance in place. This simply makes it stronger and prohibits the sale of these products. Enforcement will solely be focused on the establishments that do not comply, not upon the individual who is using the products. I'm very excited to work with residents and the youth of Santa Ana community

and strongly urge this council and my colleagues to take a step in the right direction tonight and vote with me to take action now in protecting our youth. I'm asking our city staff to review the ordinance and bring it back to council for us to vote and pass this important policy to protect the health and wellness of our youth.

Thank you, Council Member Mendoza, for bringing this matter before us. Let me go ahead and turn it over to Mayor Pro Tempeñalosa.

David PenalozaItem 27

Thank you, Mayor Salmiento. I just want to thank Council Member Mendoza for bringing this forward and voice my support of seeing something come back to us at a future date. Thank you. Thank you for those comments. Council Member Hernandez.

Keep it brief. Same. That's it. Thank you for that. I love those comments. Councilmember Becerra?

Phil BacerraItem 27

I'm supportive.

And I'm supportive as well, and I think let's make it unanimous. I think Councilmember Lopez is out of the office, or out of the dais. So in any event, you have clear direction. Why don't we go ahead and move along? Thank you, Councilmember Mendoza. Let me thank Claire Braeburn from America On Track and John Hooper and all the young people that came and spoke before us, and tell them to go get some sleep. Thank you. And thank you, Council Members, for that indulgence in moving that item up. Let's go ahead and move along to item number 28. So this is a public hearing on item number 28.

Madam Clerk, I'm gonna see if you can go ahead and just read off your instructions before we start.

Thank you. Members of the public joining us by way of Zoom or a conference call and would like to make a comment for public hearing item 28 only, please dial star 9 from your phone or select raise hand from Zoom now. Thank you, Mayor.

Great. Thank you. So this is a time and place to open a public hearing. The public hearing is for recovery costs and expenditures in the amount of $39,000 incurred by the city for weed, rubbish, and garbage abatement within the private property located on Ross Street, which is known as El Centro Cultural de Mexico en el Condado de Orange.

Let me see if there's any, is there any presentation from staff on this?

We do have a brief presentation if you would like.

Great, why don't we go ahead and have that presentation, and then we'll go ahead and call on members of the public if there, I do see some cards here in front of me, and then we'll bring it back to council.

Thank you, Mayor.

The recommendation here tonight for this item is for the Council to adopt a resolution affirming the acceptance of the cost abatement report and confirm the code enforcement description for the recovery of costs associated with the execution of the inspection and abatement warrant that was conducted at 837 North Ross Street in the amount of $39,604.19.

The city has a program that in order to maintain private properties, maintenance free of weed rubbish when property owners do not address those issues upon notification is that the city has the ability to provide notice and execute the work in order to properly maintain and address any type of nuisance issue that has been identified. The City of Santa Ana received from April 22nd of 2020 through April 2021 approximately 179 complaints regarding unpermitted encampments and concern

associate with health and safety rubbish and garbage sanitation accumulation at the subject property the city in addition to working and providing notice to the property owner also provided the owner would assistant in an effort to gain voluntary compliance this included hosting of two outreach meetings events at the premises provided restroom wash station as well as counseling and mental health services as well as shelter assistance for some of the occupants of

the site. Unfortunately despite the assistance the owner was property owner was not able to abate the violations and bring the property into compliance requiring that the city code enforcement working with the city attorney's office seek inspection warrant through the Superior Court system in order for the city to if necessary take abatement at the 837 North Ross Street. On May 7th the city provided the posting of the inspection abatement warrant and advised

the property owner to on the final time to clean the premises ensuring that we provide the property due notice to the applicant of property owner as well. On Despite the posting the city had to on May 13, 2001 in collaboration with the code team, working with Public Works, City Attorney's Office, the Police Department, CDA, Park and Recreation, as well as our city contract, CityNet, the code enforcement, all as a team went onto the property to provide not only a cleanup but also working with the occupants of the site to provide the services to provide any types of

relocation and housing through that process in order for us to conduct and complete the abatement warrant as granted by the courts. This is a picture of the abatement posting that was done on May 7th. It also shows pictures of the condition of the properties and the encampments on site. This is on May 13th these pictures provide you know some level understanding of the type of issues and the visible trash and debris that are on site on the date of the

abatement inspection action. Some more pictures. This is a picture of our team during the cleanup as well as our contractor working with our team to provide assistance to the occupants of the site and this picture shows this is at the end of the day what the lot look like in the after condition so in summary the cost associated with the cleanup effort came to thirty nine thousand six hundred four dollars and nineteen cents this includes staff time city equipment

and contractor services expenditure by adopting the resolution tonight the City Council will enable staff to provide notice and of invoice to the property owners so that they can make arrangement for proper payments through the city clerk's office the property owner was advised of the public hearing on November 5th in addition to the city's attorney's office the property owners legal Council was advised of the public hearing as well and provided a link to the city's website regarding the report and exhibit of tonight's meeting. I'm sorry on November 10th, 2021.

Since the cleanup and since October 1st, 2021, some of the activities have started to reoccur. We have received 28 additional complaints regarding unpimited encampments and concern associated with health and safety rubbish, garbage and sanitation violation at the same property and the next several slides will show pictures taken down different dates of the some of the activities that are going on been occurring recently.

And that concludes staff's report on this matter. I'll be happy to answer the questions you may have.

Great. Thank you for that presentation. Let me go ahead and now open the public hearing. I'm going to call on members of the public that have submitted a request to speak form here in person. Then I'll hand it off to the clerk who will call on those that are either on a conference caller wanting to speak to us via zoom so let me start with Benjamín Vázquez Luis Sarmiento and

Nathaniel Greensides. Ben Vázquez from El Centro Cultural de México. The houses issues started began at El Centro when the pandemic started and we're still in a pandemic and it's in regular times The county had little no response for houselessness during the pandemic. We heard the city manager Give you a full report of the houseless issues here in Santana The county at the same time fenced its nearby lots then closed its shelter a few blocks away from its central during this time

The city in response provided a quarantine trailer as its response to COVID during for houseless issues during COVID and then they closed it during the pandemic during the 45 days the city also provided two fairs for houses not enough housing was provided we we would get house house centers coming in and they'd have three bad six the most was six beds never never 40.

not until after the abatement that the city come in with about 40 beds to provide for everybody

The federal government did provide room key service that has been used for homeless people in Long Beach and other cities across this country. For homeless people not to get COVID because they're susceptible to getting COVID if you're houseless. Council member Jonathan Hernandez brought it to the board. And about to take a vote, the city manager said there's no need for a vote. Just give me direction and we will use it. And I'm sure a few of you asked for direction to use it. It has been used for this purpose throughout this country.

And the room key project is fully refundable by FEMA and the federal government. It wouldn't cost us a thing. We didn't have to go into abatement. We did not have to go into abatement. The central did provide and hire two people to support the houseless people during this time. We did the best that we can. We did enter into good faith with the community, with the city. We did, at the same time, we managed to get $800,000 to give to families who are undocumented in the city as volunteer work. We manage improperly our upkeep.

Right now, our rooms that we rent upstairs are full. We have people like the Voice of OC, Thrive Sanana, Radio Sanana, Sacred, OC Justice Fund, UCI Law Center, UCI Community Resilience. and helping in their Senate Act of Streets, nuestras manos colectivo to Nancin. We handle our building right, correctly. We will maintain, but $40,000 is 10 months of our mortgage payment. Like every nonprofit, we're working month to month, grant to grant. We don't have big donors. Don't charge us those $40,000. Thank you.

Thank you for those comments. Luis Sarmiento, Nathaniel Greensides, Apolonio Cortez, and Jeffrey Barber.

Good evening, everyone. I will try to be brief and ask you to please vote no on item number 28. I'm not sure if city staff and council realize what $40,000 means to a small community organization like El Centro. the city has received based on calculations that one of our board members was doing just below a little bit less than $50 million,

specifically for addressing homelessness in Santana. And we have come time and time again to ask the city to use those resources to help folks that are on the street And still to this day, there are folks that are still on the street because the city programs are leaving people out. You know, people with severe mental health issues, see people with addiction issues are not allowed into the shelters. And as Ben mentioned, the courtyard shelter was

closed in February 2020 2021 sorry and just a few weeks after we were here at the City Council meeting talking about project room key and in which at that meeting many of the council members directed staff to use project room key even then a few days later the city was filing this abatement and at the same in time closing, closing the, the city's only shelter with available beds in the city. When people were removed from the encampment at the center,

they were forced to be sent to a shelter in Fullerton, which is also a categorical exclusion for a lot of people who rely on services in our city. So again, we're just asking you to vote no on item 28. It's not fair to come after a community group that has worked closely with the city to confront the realities of poverty and the realities of criminalization in our in our community. The center is also one of the original proponents of the Sunshine Ordinance that we so gladly just

celebrated. One of the organizers of the great cultural festivals that you all were happy about just a moment ago. And so we have always seen ourselves as partners in this community, in this city. And it's upsetting to think that the city would come after us for $40,000, which for us is a lot of money. And I know that for the city, like you all would say is a drop in the bucket.

Thank you. Thank you, Nathaniel Greensides, followed by Apolonio Cortez, followed by Jeffrey Barber.

Buenas noches nuevamente. Soy Apoloni Cortés.

Le brincaste a Nathaniel, pero está bien.

Parece que ya es otro día para mí. Bueno, nada más quería decir que realmente, como acaban de comentar, CRE renta allí en that space of the cultural center, and the truth has supported us and we believe that it is something unjust, especially right now with this problem that is still with people who do not have a house, not a house.

So, I think it's important to touch the base problem, because I think easily you can say that we don't want to here, the community is saying that the main problem is that people are without resources to pay their rent, because there is a lot of people, and the The truth is, I have a similar situation, but I think it is important, now yes, the

Center Cultural Aurel, now yes, it is really giving us good support and I think it is important to take in mind, please, the situation that we all are passing and I think this is unjust and I think you have received the resources from the government and I think they should try to eximir the cost that they are doing. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Apolónio Cortes. It feels like a different day now. I'm here to talk about the Centro Cultural. They have been helping us a lot. It's just an unjust, especially in what's going on now with these issues with the homeless people. We need to get to the root of the problem. Some people say that they don't want them here, but it's just that people can't pay the rent. and I'm in a similar situation myself and it's important to be here because

El Centro is supporting us and please consider this situation that we are all going through and I understand that you are getting money from the government and resources from the government so please forgive this charge thank you thank you go ahead Nathaniel Greensides Ward 5 resident homelessness to be without a home. Yet almost 2,000 houseless individuals in our community don't have a house in which they currently live, but they certainly can call Santa Ana their home. The fact of the matter is that we have far too many community members here in our city and county who don't have a roof over their

head when they go to sleep. Even one person who is houseless is too much. The four-point plan presented earlier of clean outreach, housing, and communication are out of order in my opinion. Number one should be housing, not cleanliness which centers the desires not needs of those who are housed and living in neighborhoods not close to El Centro which is pitted against the needs of those who are unhoused I applaud that our city does the most out of any other Orange County City for unhoused people you know one of my childhood heroes growing up once offered that it's better to compare oneself against the best not

just against the rest Santa Ana can do better and be the best with regards to unhoused community members. Some of the same people who have claimed that instituting just cause protections for tenants somehow constitutes an overreach of government are the same people sometimes quickly, who quickly bring in the quality of life team, which as was stated earlier, focuses on addressing improper use of public and private property when discussing houselessness in Santa Ana. At the end of the day, penalizing organizations and individuals who own property where unhoused individuals happen to take temporary residence is

unjust and it doesn't solve the main issue. Unhoused individuals need a roof over their head. The topic of substance abuse should not be limited to being a concern solely within conversations regarding unhoused people. To require the unhoused people be required to participate in programs as a barrier to having housing is unjust. No mortgage lender asks homeowners every month about their drug use status and that's not right. That people would be subjected to arbitrary barriers just to have a roof over their head while those who have money aren't. I spoke with an individual at the bus stop the other day who was

unhoused here in Santa Ana. He struck up a conversation with me after he asked me for a dollar specifically noting that it wasn't going to be used for alcohol or drugs. He just wanted to buy some water. He's a veteran who used to own a home and then lost in 2008 became divorced and estranged from his kids. He admitted to me that he has issues. I don't believe for one second that just because of those issues that he deserves to live on the streets or be subjected to continued scrutiny about the manners in which he copes with the fact that he literally has no roof over his head tonight. I believe that we are coming to a time

when we actually approach the issue of unhoused individuals with love and compassion instead of from a patronizing place. Mother Teresa once said if you judge people you have no time to love them. I pray that we may cease judgment AND DISCUSS ISSUES THAT OUR HOUSELESS RESIDENTS FACE WITH LOVE. PLEASE VOTE NO ON THIS MATTER. THANK YOU.

JEFFREY BARBER?

YOU MAY HAVE LEFT. SO THAT'S THE LAST IN-PERSON SPEAKER ON THIS. AND I BELIEVE WE HAVE SOME SPEAKERS ON THE LINE.

YES. THANK YOU, MAYOR.

MENICLEAR, HOW MANY SPEAKERS DO WE HAVE APPROXIMATELY?

WE HAVE FOUR.

GREAT. THANKS.

MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC JOINING US BY WAY OF ZOOM OR CONFERENCE CALL and would like to make a comment for only public hearing item 28, please dial star 9 from your phone or select raise hand from Zoom now. And before I start unmuting the callers, I would like to also announce that we did receive written communication for Santa Ana residents or organization in opposition to this item. And with that, Zoom ID Gemma Suarez, if you would please select the microphone icon on your device.

Hello, good evening. Can you hear me?

Yes, we could hear you. You may proceed with your comment. Thank you.

Okay. Good evening, Mayor and members of the council. My name is Gemma Suarez. I work at El Centro, which is located in Ward 5. I am an organizing coordinator for part of its programming and this included supporting more than 1000 families during the pandemic along with other volunteers and community members. I was recruited to the space when I was a young adult almost 15 years ago. So El Centro has impacted my life in many positive ways.

Although El Centro has distributed relief funds, El Centro is not a service organization. El Centro is much more than that. It is a space to make a connection with our traditions as well as cultivating community solidarity, especially with people who have been historically repressed. For those who may not know, El Centro is a nonprofit organization. The official description is that El Centro is an alternative space in Santana where the community can find cultural, educational, and artistic activities that strengthen their

identities, nurture their talent, and develop a sense of leadership in their community. Central has taken a stand to decriminalize houseless people earlier this year. This should not be reason to punish El Centro. Charging El Centro almost $40,000 is not helping anyone. On the contrary, it defeats the purpose of investing in preventative measures. El Centro fights desolation through cultural events. Healthlessness is partly due to desolation.

Furthermore, El Centro has a Health and Rights counselor who provides one-on-one consults to connect people with resources that they can qualify for. So I urge you to vote no on this item 28 and consider other ways to make up for the cause that does not put all the responsibility in one community organization. Thank you.

Thank you. Zoom ID, Carla Juarez, if you would please select the microphone icon to unmute your device.

Thank you, Carla Juarez, community organizer, long time resident of Santana, Ward 4, it used to be Ward 2. I am also I work with Thrive Santana just recently as a part-time staff and also as a part-time staff with Corporacion Santana and that's also quite recently as well for transparency. Letting you all know but I also live here for a long time. What were you item 28 does it resonates with me

as what Jim Crow did with the Black Panthers. They used the power that the government has against a community movement because they couldn't beat them any other way.

El Centro Cultural de Mexico is much more than just a community center.

If you haven't been there, then you wouldn't know and you wouldn't understand. But I believe you do, which is why you also want to charge El Centro $40,000. Knowing quite well that $40,000 is a lot of money.

Especially knowing that the revived money that you are using for downtown Santa Ana for Our security is way more money using, taking away from the community for downtown Santa Ana for security purposes, they are willing to charge $40,000 to El Centro. You said that you work with the community. Is this how it looks like working with community? We could have used the room key projects. We didn't have to go through an abatement. public funds should be used for public good.

Not charging $40,000 to the central that did the best that it could and not push our houseless neighbors away. I am very proud that the central stood underground and provided shelter. And it's not even a hotel like luxury home, but it's just space for houseless folks to be able to shelter themselves through the pandemic. and again y'all using revive money for downtown Santa Ana security you're all using revive money for something else revive money should be going for folks who struggle through the pandemic for

the benefit of the community and 40,000 could cover more than cover that amount 15 seconds left

I welcome, I welcome you all to take an opportunity to work with compassion just like the central did. Don't charge a central 40,000. Thank you for my time. Thank you.

Zoom ID Esperanza Corona. If you would please select the microphone icon. Thank you. You may I proceed with your comment.

Ya que ustedes tienen recursos que son para homeless, ocúpenlos. Sabemos que son personas que no entienden, son homeless y cómo se les puede correr de un lugar así. El Centro Cultural es un lugar de respeto para familiar, para toda la comunidad. Las personas que se quejaron deberían de asistir al Centro Cultural, aprender cómo ayudar a otros, escuchar a otros, tener más compasión para otros, en vez de estar atacando a un centro cultural donde lleva años compartiendo historia, compartiendo cultura para toda nuestra comunidad.

Sabemos que hicieron sus gastos y que ustedes apoyaron, pero enséñanos con personas capacitadas para que puedan sacar a esas personas.

hi good evening council members and uh mayor sirmento my name is sergio corona i live in the santa ana long time resident for about 10 over 10 years now i just want to share with you that for me it's unjust that you are uh you know thinking about uh charging uh almost 40 000 to el centro that money is money that won't go into the community. What El Centro did was to provide a small space for the people that are houseless

so that they won't feel harassed by anyone in the community. So they provided a space, they did the job that the county is supposed to do, they did the job that the city is supposed to do of providing them with a safe space so that they can sleep. So, you know, I urge you to vote no on this ordinance

and I hope that you can provide El Centro with those $40,000 so that they can put it into the community like they've been doing it for so long. Thank you. I voted no for this decision.

Thank you. Gracias.

Good evening to all. My name is Esperanza de Rosas and I'm a volunteer with El Centro for many years. And I want to talk to you a little bit about the history of El Centro. We've been providing a lot of cultural resources and music to Mexicans and non-Mexicans.

And this is, we are asking you not to charge us $40,000. I know you have resources for homeless people. Use them. Use them for this. Homeless people don't understand what's going on, but El Centro gives them respect, and El Centro brings families, and it helps the community. And to the people who presented the complaints, I invite them to visit El Centro and to learn and to hear from these people and to learn about compassion and not be attacking. We've worked with the community for years. We've taught history and culture and everything to all the community.

You are saying that you spent all this money, but I invite you to also help us by bringing professionals to help these people and not attacking people. And don't charge us the $40,000.

Zoom ID, Ana Charco. If you would please select the microphone icon to unmute your call.

Good evening, Mayor Sarmiento and Council Members. My name is Ana Charco and I'm here on behalf of Latino Health Access to speak on the proposed amendments to the Housing Opportunity Ordinance.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Beyond the disaster.

I'm going to go ahead and put you back on the speaker queue, and that's the next item after this one. This is for item 28. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Mayor, that was the last caller for this item.

Great. Thank you, Madam Clerk, and thank you for everybody who spoke. I'm going to go ahead and now close the public hearing and bring it back to the council. for any questions or comments.

Council Member Hernandez.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 28

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to start by just identifying that El Centro Cultural is a space that has provided a lot of memories for residents in the city of Santa Ana. My first introduction to them was in 2004. I was a student myself. The organization changed a lot over the years when I first met them. I know that their intentions were well. I know that their heart was in the right place.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 28

The only area where I want to express very clear concern is I wish that they would have been more communicative with me, especially given that their building is in my ward. I'm here at service to you all on my worst of days. So, you know, if we are ever in a position where we need to, you know, work together, please call on me. I'm here to be of service to you all. You guys have a building that offers so many important services to residents and students and children and families. And I would like to see you guys focus on all the things that you do extremely well.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 28

I understand that when the shelter closed last year at the beginning of the pandemic, It put a lot of residents in our community and especially the people that are experiencing homelessness in very vulnerable positions.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 28

I'm very well aware of what occurred last year. I know that El Centro did the best that they could to offer services. However, that's not their expertise, but I do know that they did what they could with their building, limited staff and capacity. as somebody that has seen a limit of community-based organizations, especially spaces that cater and provide services to migrant families in the city, I am not too open to seeing

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 28

us take away resources from organizations that are already very limited, regardless of the fact that it did cause a lot of discomfort for residents. I also understand that those people experiencing

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 28

houselessness, it's not ideal for them either. There's a number of challenges that we're currently still facing today with the County of Orange due to the fact that there are still shelters that are not open today. I think if we were in a different position as the city where we did have shelters, we did have a number of beds, we were utilizing Project Roomkey, I'd probably feel different about this, which is why I'm not open to penalizing a small community nonprofit. And that concludes my comments.

Thank you, council member, council member Fan, and then council member Lopez.

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

Thank you, mayor. So I know that there's a lot of information going around. I hadn't heard of El Centro before this entire incident, and obviously it has a lot of benefit and does really great things for the community. But that doesn't mean that El Centro didn't violate the municipal code. I'm very frustrated because, you know, you were not good neighbors. 170-something complaints in a year means we were getting complaints every other day from your neighbors. And I understand the policy goal of wanting to create a safe space or whatever the situation might be,

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

but as far as I understand it, staff said we will provide the beds. And so I'm really concerned that El Centro keeps saying there weren't any beds, but staff says we have beds at the time. So did we have available space for anyone who wanted one?

Yes, we did, and we provided shelter for a number of the individuals from El Centro.

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

So what it looked like to me was that certain individuals did not want the beds that were offered to them. I can't control that. But what I can work on is to say, look, you're not set up to provide homelessness services. You didn't open your building for restroom use. And so we had residents and families complaining about defecation in buckets in the alley. You did not throw away the trash and the debris as evidence in these photos.

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

And on top of that, when the city said, can we come in and provide additional services to individuals on the property, you said no. So to me, and it's perfectly fine to say we have a policy position of not wanting the city to come in and do whatever it is that you felt the city was doing. But at the same time, those choices have consequences. And the consequences are 170-plus complaints of safety, of people feeling attacked and endangered in their own neighborhood. And so it is the city's job to come in and clean up code violations.

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

That is literally in our code. That is what we're here to do. And the argument that because El Centro does good things culturally or socially for our community is trying to say, please forgive us for violating the law because you like us. And to me, that's wrong. We abate properties for individual homeowners throughout the city when they do not clean up. There's weed. There's trash. we saw a whole slide show last meeting with properties with those exact same problems.

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

And I guess I'm also really disheartened by the fact that it's still happening this morning. The fact that we still have photos of encampments on the property this morning and trash just a week ago that is still not being addressed. So to me, you know, the idea of let's just forgive it because you like what we do is not a fair argument because now the next property that comes along and says, well, forgive me because I'm, you know, a

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

senior who can't have, you know, can't afford this. And so I don't think imposing this fine is you know I wish we didn't have to but the city did expend time police time call team time you know city net time planning time code enforcement time to address the city attorney time to address this and we tried really hard multiple closed sessions to address this issue so to me you know I do like the fact that the resolution places the fine as a lien on the property right so we're

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

not asking for them to pay an invoice tomorrow but we're looking to record a lien for the approximately $40,000 that would be a part of the process the

first opportunity for us to provide notice in terms of the invoice is after if the rest if the approval is received tonight we would notify the owner of the cost and we can invoice the owner subsequently if we don't receive payment then we have options of recording a lien on the property and if there is a lien

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

there that means that there's no payment at the time and that it the payment would only occur if the property changes ownership and if the property is sold

that would be the case of course the owner can always anytime before that reconcile the amount with the city and the lien then can be removed as well right so I guess my point is that you know

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

there's a lot of concern that tomorrow El Centro is going to have to liquidate everything and pay this and the other option is that there's a lien on the property and you pay when you sell the property that happens you know when people refinance their house or they take out loans based on their equity, on their home all the time. And we actually did this exact same thing for, I believe, four or five properties a few meetings ago where we had to abate, correct?

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

Okay. And finally, I wanted to get some clarification regarding Project Roomkey. I know there's a lot of conversation about that. I understand that Project Roomkey wasn't just, oh, if you're homeless, we'll put you in a room. SO CAN YOU PLEASE EXPAND A LITTLE BIT MORE BECAUSE FOLKS HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT LONG BEACH IS DOING IT AND THIS OTHER CITY IS DOING IT AND WHY AREN'T YOU DOING IT?

I CAN. I WASN'T REALLY PREPARED TO TALK ABOUT PROJECT ROOM KEY BUT WE CAN GO BACK ON THE RECORD BECAUSE I DID EXPLAIN IT AT A PUBLIC MEETING. THERE WERE FEDERAL FUNDS AVAILABLE. THE COUNTY DID RECEIVE SOME OF THOSE AS WELL. And it was to place individuals in hotel rooms, and those individuals had to meet specific criteria. I recall the criteria. It was if they were highly susceptible, a weakened immune system. It was all relative to their COVID-associated risk. So when we were going through this process with El Centro, we did have hotel room keys, and it was at the request of Council Member Hernandez. So we had those available.

We worked with Family Forwards. We worked with a couple of the local hotels. We also had beds at the Yale shelter. And interesting enough, some of the individuals that we did outreach to at El Centro already had beds at Yale. They were just choosing to hang out at El Centro.

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

Right. So, you know, with all of these things in mind, again, it has nothing to do with whether I like what you do as a nonprofit. but it has everything to do with the choice to flout the law because you felt differently about it and as a public official it would be wrong of me to say no we're just going to forgive that the cost of that because i like what you do and so with that i would be in support of the resolution

and i would move to pass it thank you great thank you for those comments um councilmember LOPES AND MAYOR PRO TEM THEN COUNCILMEMBER MENDOZA. SO I GUESS I JUST WANT TO START OFF

Jessie LopezItem 28

WITH A QUESTION BECAUSE I SEE IN THE CHARGES THAT CITY NET IS ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE'RE BILLING THE CENTRAL FOR AND I GUESS I'M CURIOUS BECAUSE WHEN BUSINESSES WILL EMAIL US OR CALL US ABOUT HEY THERE ARE ENCAMPMENTS IN MY LAW YOU KNOW WE NEED TO SAY PED OUT HERE we need your help in removing the people and our property. Do we pass those charges on to the businesses as well?

The cost that is being passed on as part of this process and under the code is costs that are directly related to the cities in terms of abatement actions, and not necessarily the enforcement or providing in the course of providing service. to a business or a property owner. So this is the actual cost to the city as part of us or the city having to come in and clean up and remove and also work with the property occupants for relocation.

Jessie LopezItem 28

And under abatement processes, is it standard to have 12 SAPD officers present? Or what is the normal response?

I think every situation has a different needs and different response in this case based on the the situation of the property and the scope of the trash and debris and also the level of occupancy there was a need for the police personnel assistance that were required

Jessie LopezItem 28

Well, I mean, I don't know. I wasn't there, so I don't know if they were helping with the trash and debris. That's maybe something, I guess that's probably besides the point at this point. I guess the point that I'm trying to make is that seems excessive for an abatement or for any type of action that we're doing with, like, property ownership here in the city. because there was already so many other people on site. But again, that's probably beside the point now.

Jessie LopezItem 28

So I guess I want to know what are the options? Because I see the resolution and I see what staff is asking. Are those the only options that the council has?

I'll certainly defer to the city attorney, but I don't believe we can completely waive the fees and fines. This is a private property that the city did have to use the resources to do the abatement. As mentioned before, a lien can be filed, which doesn't require any payment being made from the nonprofit. We certainly could also work with a nonprofit for a payment type of a plan, but I'll defer to the city attorney if I misstated anything.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 28

Councilmember Lopez, I just went and looked at the ordinance again, our municipal code. There's nothing in our code that expressly authorizes the council to waive the fees. You can adjust the fees if you believe that any errors have been made in calculation or whether something was not appropriate or not. But the code doesn't say that we can waive them because they are actual expenditures of city funds.

Jessie LopezItem 28

So would it be considered, if the fees, you know, hypothetically were, or part of them were to be waived, would that be considered a gift of public funds?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 28

If you don't have a justification for it, i.e. it's an error or there's some additional public benefit that you're going to get, you know, maybe there's a negotiated payment plan or some type of negotiated use of the money that might come in, you will have to state some other type of public benefit if you wanted to go in that direction. And so

Jessie LopezItem 28

for this case it could be argued that the public benefit was essentially addressing this public issue, possibly? I mean I don't know that I'd want to

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 28

opine on that tonight if that's something we want to go back and look at. and we could take a look at it but what you're really looking at is real benefit with the money with them with the money that's otherwise not paid to you because it's an expenditure out of your out of your coffers so if you're not going to recoup that money you would need to have some public justification and say we are not recouping all of it there were no errors and we're not recouping all of it But here's why we're not recouping it.

Jessie LopezItem 28

Okay, thank you. So I guess I just want to closing thoughts here. I do, I understand the entire picture. I do think that it was almost like an element of all the things coming together that have not been working, right, with the county and all these other things could be pointed to. And I understand all of the work that El Centro has done, the history, the contributions. And on the other side, I understand that $40,000 would just, for any non-profit here in the city, would be devastating.

Jessie LopezItem 28

I've worked in non-profits before, so I get that. So, you know, I'm just, I think that's going to be great.

Great. Thank you for those comments. I think it was Mayor Pro Tem and then Council Member Mendoza.

David PenalozaItem 28

Thank you, Mayor Sarmiento. I just want to thank staff for bringing this forward. I'll second Council Member Van's motion. At the same time, comment. You know, it's unfortunate that we're here. It's unfortunate we have to do this with numerous properties across the city, regardless of who they are, because of these constant code enforcement issues that they cause to our neighborhoods. I mean, and it's just pure neglect. And I wanna point out something that I find it really comical when representatives from this organization come up here and they do great work for the cultural aspect of it.

David PenalozaItem 28

But they say that, you know, we provided shelter to these folks because the city did it. Definition of shelter is a place giving temporary protection from bad weather. Or, it could also be a verb, protect or shield from something harmful, especially bad weather. This organization did nothing to this group but create a public health hazard for their life and create a public health hazard for the neighborhood and the neighboring community. I got hundreds of complaints from kids at Osea,

David PenalozaItem 28

fearful of even walking a school, their families, because of this that was going on at El Centro Cultural de Mexico. I don't want us to look at this as just a non-profit, you know, that's begging for help. This is a non-profit that we're not going after the non-profits inside of the building, like Thrive Santana or Santa Ana Active Streets. their leasing space from their landlord, El Centro Cultural de Mexico, who, as public records show, purchased this building in 2016 for $1.2 million. If anyone's been paying attention to the market, you know, I'm pretty sure there's a good amount

David PenalozaItem 28

of equity in there that could easily be refinanced or even lower your mortgage payments and help pay back this money to the Santa Ana taxpayers. This was just a problem that could have been nipped from the very beginning. There was, you know, this congregation started with one person. They would have just been chewed away and directed to services that the city does provide or the county. It could have been avoided there. But it was allowed to grow, just pure property neglect. And that problem led to another. and the city, I remember that day when we had the resource fairs and a couple of individuals

David PenalozaItem 28

there had reservations at the Yale shelter, but they just chose not to be there because they'd rather be at this place where they were, it was a safe haven for them to do drugs and what other things they were doing there. So I'm supportive of this, supportive of the resolution. I want to thank staff for moving forward in this direction. Just know that the residents surrounding this building, thank you. The businesses, thank you. And the Santa and the taxpayers, thank you. Because this isn't anything new. We're not going after just, again, a mere nonprofit. This is a property owner that's in a building valued at over $1.3 million,

David PenalozaItem 28

according to this Home Property Snack website. And it's, you know, I don't like that rhetoric of coming in here and, oh, you know, help us. We don't have much because they do do good work. But, you know, they need to abide by the laws that every other resident in the city abides to. So that's all, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Thank you.

I think it was Council Member Mendoza and then Becerra.

This is a very tough issue for me. for several reasons. It's on a personal basis because I know the family that started El Centro Cultural personally. Our kids played soccer together, we worked together, and we have interacted over the last 30 years. And El Centro Cultural has provided cultural and arts programs that are beneficial to the community.

The founders are a great family, very interested in community benefit. The children have all participated in the El Centro Cultural board of directors. They've done a wonderful job over the last 30 years. I attended many of their, and continue to attend many of their events.

And so it's a very, very emotional and tough decision for me, because I know that financing is an issue, not just in this instance, but overall. I did hear that El Centro Cultural raised over $800,000 for homeless issues.

I feel that perhaps the Centro Cultural's mission is not being honored any longer. El Centro Cultural is not a licensed shelter.

Anyone who violates municipal code must be held accountable and responsible.

And I deeply regret what has occurred. However, it was preventable. You saw the pictures appear on the screen. And many of you have also seen it in person, as I have.

And to give you one more example of El Centro Cultural's lack of diligence in keeping the area clean and safe, not just for themselves, their staff, but for their neighbors. just this Saturday on my way to the Floral Park open house and tours, there were several fire trucks there already and several zooming by me to get over to that area there at El Centro Cultural. And I found out later there was more encampments being allowed, and the issue with the fire

and the paramedics personnel being there was that there was a probable overdose. So you can see that this issue is going to continue, and there may be more of this fines and penalties. We need El Centro Cultural to work with us. We need you to be honest and open with the public. This is not the city attacking you. These penalties must be enforced because of El Centro's lack of cooperation.

It was over a year that the city attempted to rectify the situation. El Centro allowed it to become even more dangerous and continues to do so. And for that reason, and at the risk of losing friendship, I must vote in support of the penalties. Please.

Thank you, Councilmember. Councilmember Becerra.

Phil BacerraItem 28

Thank you, Mayor.

Phil BacerraItem 28

Staff, so we keep hearing the word penalty, right? We're penalizing them. But clarify for me, we have the cost, we're doing a recovery of costs in the amount of $39,604. If I understand that correctly, we are recovering costs. In other words, this is a reimbursement. This isn't the schedule of penalties and the muni code and we said, aha, let's get him on that one, correct?

That is correct.

Phil BacerraItem 28

So this isn't a penalty. This is a reimbursement. And it's a reimbursement of services that the city rendered, correct?

Correct.

Phil BacerraItem 28

So I do take offense to the fact that the folks that came up tonight kept claiming that the city failed. We did what we did because the city failed. The item before us tonight is because of a reimbursement for services that the city rendered. This item is a reimbursement. It's not a penalty. And to keep saying that it's an arbitrary punishment is false. It's a reimbursement for what the city did. Now, El Centro started off as an organization that was, it's in the name, El Cultural, right? You guys are there to provide cultural services and education. You're not a shelter, you're not there to provide homeless services.

Phil BacerraItem 28

We all see things that we want to help out on and we want to do something about, but to try to go way above your limit, you endangered the surrounding community. That's what you did. Now again, I don't see this as a punishment. Again, it's reimbursement. And that's why I'm very comfortable supporting it. If El Centro had stuck to their original mission, if they had stuck to their original mission, we wouldn't be in this situation right now, and the community wouldn't be in danger. And what's frustrating is because this item is about reimbursement for services that were rendered back on May 13th of this year.

Phil BacerraItem 28

And as my colleagues have pointed out, there are still problems on the site. It's like you're not getting it. You're causing a problem for the community, and you're ill-equipped to address it. I hope that you finally will realize that you should be following the Muni code. You should be working with the city. Be truthful. Partner with folks that want to help. But if you don't want to, that's fine. Again, we have processes, and we'll dance this dance one more time down the road. But in the meantime, I'm going to be supporting the reimbursement of the cost that the city encumbered. Thank you. You're collaborating with the city.

Excuse me, we're going to have to call you. We can't speak this way and shout through the chamber. I think everybody's had an opportunity to speak and it's not going to help. So let me go ahead and I think just bring it back. I think there's a motion and a second on the floor. But I did want to ask the city attorney just a couple of questions. And I think we're bound at this point, just technically, that we can't waive anything. And I don't think that that would be dangerous to do because then it sets a bad precedent.

I think because my worry is that let's just say that Southern Pacific or whoever the railway is, you know, Union Pacific, or maybe it's even a property owner like Mike Harrah decides to go ahead and open his, you know, fence, and people start camping out, and he doesn't remove them. And then he comes back and says, well, look, you know, whatever recovery we want to receive from him, we say, well, he's given a public benefit by developments. I'm just using a very extreme case that if we waived anything here, we would have to waive in that case. And I know the community would be up in arms about that, and rightfully so.

But I do think that what concerns me is what's happening going forward is that there's still encampments and some isolated folks experiencing homelessness that feel like it's okay to be in that parking lot. And that's going to prevent the center from being able to fulfill its mission. And I remember that when we were looking at a settlement early on, We had some informal discussions. I think Council Member Lopez and I met with them on a Zoom call and they had, you know, members of the board and I think, you know, Ben and others were there. And I think we were reaching a point where we were going to be able to figure it out.

Problem was is that the lawyers entered into it, you know, and the lawyers on their side. So when they lawyered up, we couldn't continue talking at that point because, you know, you know, we were required to bring in, you know, the city attorney and then things kind of blew up. But we had a really, I think we had made some very good strides to resolve it really early on. And one of those things was the city advancing funds for fencing to prevent further encampments from going forward. And I think, you know, given what you said, Madam City Attorney, that, you know, there might be some errors,

there might be some ways that we can negotiate this, not waive, but at least look at some of these line items. And I do think, you know, when I was looking at the city attorney cost, I don't think the, you know, all due respect to the assistant city attorneys, they do great work, but there might be some room there for us to, you know, take a look at that. And, you know, again, we're not talking about waving, but we're talking about having good faith conversations about what is it that we can do. And maybe there's a way that some of this could be supplemented or, you know, some of these hours can be replaced for the cost of offense.

that will prevent this problem. Because if we continue seeing this problem, we're going to be back here again. And this amount is just going to, you know, it'll be $45,000, it'll be $50,000. And then we're, you know, and then it's just a never-ending problem. So I think that, you know, I know when we were finally breaking it down, some of the cost for the police, I remember the police were there, but I remember they didn't go in and break down the abatement. I think they were there like almost in polo shirts because I went out there a couple of times And we specifically gave direction that we didn't want the police involved.

We wanted all the other agencies, but the police were there sort of in the background. So I think we went through a real, real, and it was a pretty heated discussion, whether we should have our police get involved in breaking down that encampment there. And I know we did everything that we could not to, even though there was a public health problem because there were people getting sick. There was obviously not the resources for people to go in a sanitary way to the bathroom. And we had families that were calling us. And it wasn't institutional people. We had calls from, I think the DA has some offices behind there.

They certainly called. But what struck me is the calls that I received from people that live in the Willard neighborhood. And these were just people who wanted to get to and from the library and to and from the school. So my suggestion would be because we have this maybe becoming an encumbrance of some kind where it's not an invoice that has to be paid, maybe there's adjustments that can be made. Maybe going forward there's a fence that we can talk about to prevent this from continuing. And maybe there's just some conversations that can take place between your staff, Madam

City Attorney, and the El Centro staff, just to see how we can come to this. It'll probably evolve into an encumbrance of some kind that will just follow the title. And when it does change hands, it'll be recovered at that point. But one other thing I would suggest, I think it's a mistake to bundle the city up with the county. The county really did close the courtyard without any notice at that time. And I do think that that triggered a lot of problems in addition to this. Is there any way and maybe this is something that we can also talk about is how we can maybe try to

cost recover from them. Because we've done it before when we've had other expenses that we felt were the responsibility of the county. And maybe there's a way that this can be offset by that. I'm not saying it's, you know, it's automatic. But look, it's a claim. And I know there's a lot of monies that they're receiving for expenses that they've had to incur as a result of, you know, dealing with people experiencing homelessness. So let's see maybe if we can look at that as well. But that would be my, I don't know if it's a friendly amendment to what was made or on the floor.

If not, I'll do a substitute just to see if we can have that conversation. Again, not to waive, but see what we can do as we're talking about. this is probably not an invoice that we're going to expect that this property owner to pay, but to the extent that it becomes an encumbrance, maybe it's an encumbrance that has some fluidity in some of these line items that we have here. And again, going forward, I just don't want this thing to continue coming back to us. And if there's no fencing, if there's no way to prevent this from further happening, we're just going to be back here again, and it's going to be a never-ending

being Saga. So, you know, I'm not sure if that's something that we could include in the motion or if you want it to be a separate motion for clarity, I can do that as well.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 28

Yep, to the maker of the motion, they want to accept that from the amendment?

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

I would like it to be a separate motion because I'm actually surprised that there's only one attorney who worked on this because Madam City Attorney, typically the city attorney would also bill right for this so you know frankly the 225 an hour is extremely cheap and 102 hours is not unfathomable given that we had you know the negotiations multiple let's forgo the multiple citations but the negotiations multiple negotiations multiple meetings drafting the settlement agreement negotiating the settlement agreement going to court going to file I think an

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

abatement and then going back to try to settle it. So there were multiple hearings and court appearances and filings that had to take place for this. So I'm not comfortable with that amendment. Thank you.

No, thank you for that. I'll go ahead and make the substitute motion that we direct the city attorney to go back and review the invoice for the cost recovery on the expenses and to look at cost recovery from the county, look at maybe the inability to pay that would evolve into a lien or some sort of encumbrance and have all those conversations because we're still going to be back here if that isn't resolved and that's still going to be something that is not going to go away but can be at least discussed. So yes.

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

so maybe just a clarification regarding I guess I'm kind of seeing it as separate between what has happened and the costs that the city has incurred versus going forward and how to address it I am I feel like that potentially would be a separate item or discussion just because you know going forward how do we want to address helping maybe our nonprofits or things like that trying to deal with this issue or just properties in general because I know there potentially are other properties trying to you know deal with encampments. So I

think that there's something in the code that says if there's an error or omission or something that can be found and look I'm not sure maybe maybe it is right maybe this is you know maybe this is less than what you know was actually incurred but if there is an error maybe it could be you know scrubbed a little bit I don't know I mean I would just like us to exhaust that because again it It is something that is discretionary on our part to go ahead and request that you do. So I would simply just say, you know, just to be exhaustive on this, you know, let's make sure that these expenses are accurate and correct.

And I think to Tai's point, maybe it's less than what it is here. You know, maybe it comes out to be $45,000. But I would just like us to have that additional conversation. I don't think this is something that's going to go away. You know, it's not miraculously going to disappear. But I think again, maybe as part of that conversation, there are other things that we can talk about. Like I said, the fencing is what concerns me because we'll be right back here again if something isn't done. And maybe that's something that can be negotiated as well.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 28

Do you have a motion on the floor?

I do. That's my substitute motion.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 28

I'll second your motion.

David PenalozaItem 28

Yes. Quick question. I just also want to, I was thinking that to me $39,000 seems really less given the fact that it was over a year, about a year and recorded, I mean, notifications and fines to the negligent property owner. And given the skill of it, I always thought it'd be a lot more. So I was surprised to only see $39,000. One thing that I also, because we are concerned about setting a different precedent for somebody else in the community, I also don't want to set the precedent to another property owner thinking that the city is going to come in and provide a fence,

David PenalozaItem 28

you know, free of cost or absorbed into part of this payment. Because we're not, I mean, as we've seen with Parks and Rec, this fencing is extremely expensive. I know that I'm not a property owner in the city, but my employer, there was a lady that would come and try to camp in the specific area behind the generator on our property. And it took about a week of us constantly just, you know, pushing her out and telling her that that was private property and that she couldn't be there. and it wasn't until she had got aggressive that we called PD and Sergeant Montiel was there to,

David PenalozaItem 28

you know, I'm sure he'll remember what I'm talking about and guess what, she never came back again and that's what it's going to take. It takes the personal responsibility of a lot of these property owners to keep this problem from coming back into your property because it's not, it's about just being proactive and, you know, making sure that your property is free and clear. So I don't want to be careful of also setting precedent and thinking that we're going to be out there providing fencing for private property owners because that's not what we can do either.

David PenalozaItem 28

So I just wanted to make sure that we took that into consideration when we talk about this fencing.

So yeah, as I was mentioning that, it's not to gift a fence, it's to include as part of the negotiations because that was a provision of a settlement discussion that we had with them early on. If there was something provided, it's also part of that reimbursable cost that they would be subject to. So it wouldn't be a gift. If there's any other discussion, I think we can go ahead and take the vote on the substitute motion.

Okay, motion fills with Council Members Becerra. Mendoza fan mayor pro tem voting now and councilmember Hernandez Lopez and mayor Sarmiento voting yes

Great. Thank you going back to the original motion I think we've already exhausted that conversation so we can go ahead and vote on that

Vice is getting faster. It's working.

Second.

Who's frozen?

We're waiting on... Are you struggling to vote? Is it the machine?

Go ahead and call the vote.

Okay. Council Member Becerra? Yes. Council Member Hernandez?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 28

No.

Council Member Lopez?

That wasn't the machine. Oh, okay. My apologies.

Okay, Councilmember Mendoza. Yes. Councilmember Fan.

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tempeñaloza.

Thai Viet PhanItem 28

Yes.

And Mayor Sacramento. No.

Councilmember Lopez voted no. So motion passes for three with Councilmembers Becerra, Mendoza, Fan, and Mayor Pro Tem voting Yes, Council Members Hernandez, Lopez, and Mayor Sarmiento voting no.

Great, thanks everybody. Moving along to the next item, item number 29. So this is another public hearing.

Phil BacerraItem 28

Mr. Mayor, before I begin, before we open the public hearing on this item, we all received a letter in regards to a conflict of interest that took place at the Planning Commission meeting back on October 25th. I would like to ask my colleagues, because of the letter that we received that outlined that conflict that we return this item back to the Planning Commission for a recommendation that doesn't include that particular member so that the recommendation that comes back to the City Council is actually fair and impartial. I mean we have a person who you know inappropriately intervened in

Phil BacerraItem 28

translation to ad language on an item where she made the motion and it was a 4-3 vote in which she was a part of the four so she tipped the scales. I think it would just be appropriate because I think for this council out of an abundance of caution that we had on the rent stabilization ordinance when we were concerned about a Brown Act violation, you know, even though the Brown Act violation was never sustained, out of an abundance of caution the first reading was reintroduced so I'm asking my colleagues to consider the same thing here and returning it back to Planning Commission having to come back after

Phil BacerraItem 28

they've deliberated without that commissioner. If that's a motion I'll second.

Jessie LopezItem 28

No, I wouldn't be supporting that and I guess we should give our city attorney the opportunity to address that conflict of interest letter that was submitted and if we had any respond to that letter. So before we get there,

We haven't even opened the public hearing and started, so I'm not sure whether we can even do this out of that order. But give us some direction on how you think we should proceed.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 28

I would recommend you open up the public hearing. You ask your staff if they want to give you a report. If you want to tell staff to hold off on that report while you discuss this other issue, you can do that. But I would open up the public hearing.

Phil BacerraItem 28

If you're going to open it, then I'll be abstaining.

Very good. So let me go ahead and have Madam Clerk on item number 29, which is a public hearing to provide instructions of the public that wish to comment to us now. So I'll turn it over to you.

Thank you, Mayor. If there are any members of the public who have joined us by way of Zoom or conference call, please dial star nine or select raise hand feature from Zoom. and we did also receive in-person speaker cards and I will be providing that to you now.

Great, thank you. So this is the time and place to open up a public hearing on the Zoning Ordinance Amendment Number 202-103, an ordinance before the City Council to repeal and reenact in its entirety, each article of chapter 41 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code regarding the Housing Opportunity Ordinance. So let me go ahead and turn it over to staff to see if there's a presentation.

We do have a presentation.

All yours, Director Tai.

Thank you, Daniel. Thank you, Mayor. The item tonight is for City Council consideration and amendment to the Affordable Housing Opportunity Ordinance. It is proposed that the City Council consider an amendment to amend Chapter 41 of the San I Municipal Code, Article 18.1, and it's Zoning Ordinance Amendment 20-21-03, repealing the ordinance and replacing it in its entirety. In addition to that, you would be considering the recommendation made by the Planning Commission

and take one of the following options. The first is to consider approving the first reading of the ordinance as presented to the Planning Commission and that's in the report as attachment one. The second option is to approve the first reading of the ordinance incorporating the various changes recommended by the Planning Commission and that's included as attachment four to your report. An alternative option is to approve the first reading of the ordinance with incorporation of changes designed by the City Council. And that can be up to the City Council based on your discussion. A little bit of background on this.

beginning in November of 2011. This was when the ordinance was first adopted, known as the Housing Opportunity Ordinance, implementing the city's housing goal of providing affordable housing within the city. The ordinance was subsequently amended twice, in 2015 as well as in 2020. This was to provide clarity as well as implementation. A unique situation in 2020 is to react to the COVID pandemic by looking at reducing the fee for the in-lieu options from $15 to $5 per square foot.

Subsequent to that, in March 2nd of 2021, the City Council established the Housing Outer Hall Committee, and the Outer Hall Committee was charged with reviewing various housing issues, including potential changes to the WHO. The recommendations were discussed and were commented on by the City Council at the regular meetings of July 6, July 26, and September 7 of this year. The City Council also during this process provided a forum for receiving public input from both the community as well as stakeholders and various organizations both looking to

address issues related to affordable housing as well as other concerns related to construction. The Council also directed staff to reach out to various development and developers and businesses as well as labor organizations. On October 5th at the conclusion of the discussion the City Council directed staff to proceed with final drafting of the ordinance and proceed with the public hearing process. The Planning Commission initiated the public hearing process on the various changes desired by the Council on October 25th this year. The changes as

As discussed by the council included, looking at reverting the triggers and the in-lue fee amount to the pre-September 2020 ordinance and that will be discussed a little bit later on in the presentation. Council wanted to incentivize the incorporation of skill and train workforce as well as local hire, prioritizing production of housing for large families, looking at programs to not only provide opportunity for purchasing but also rental, prioritizing down payment assistance, looking at regulatory vesting and applicability of the proposed regulations to development projects that are already currently entitled,

looking at incentivizing on-site construction of the affordable housing, as well as any opportunity for reducing the costs of holding or carrying costs during construction by extending payment of the in-lieu fee over a period of time. And those were all part of some of the key amendments that were drafted as part of the ordinance and presented to the Planning Commission. Overall, changes to these specific sections, and as I mentioned we'll discuss a little

bit more in detail, addresses the goal and desire of the changes as discussed by the Council.

The Planning Commission, after reviewing the original ordinance, made three recommendations. They voted 4, 3, and 0 with three commissioners descending to approve the original ordinance with the incorporation of looking at increasing the minimum inclusionary percentage for all income categories by 5%, increasing the minimum floor or the starting dollar amount in the proposed in Luffy sliding scale to $10 instead of six where it is currently

proposed and then looking at permitting projects that have been approved or considered entitled by the city prior to the adoption days of the ordinance to vest the existing regulations and the provisions of the Howling Opportunity Ordinance that was approved under ordinance 2994 in September of 2020 the current ordinance that is in effect now. The next several slides will be a summary of the key amendments recommended by Planning Commission with their modifications. The first provision is the applicability of the

ordinance. It would apply to project that have not been issue of building permit or has not paid the in-lieu fee as of November 17, 2021. On this issue the Planning Commission recommended the council to consider vesting entitled project instead of a project that have not obtained building permit or pay their fee this would allow these types of project to vest the current regulations both in terms of the inclusion requirements or the options of paying the in-lieu fee and the current in-lieu fee as as currently

require is or allow is $5 per square foot. This provision will help to maintain the financial assumptions and the constructability of a project as relates to the time it was approved. And one other change that would be impacted to the currently draft ordinance if this change were to be approved by the Council and incorporated into the ordinance, we would also need to consider changing 411903 which addresses exempt project this section should be

clarified to provide ability to address vested project under the ordinance as exempt from the ordinance and to include a project vesting list outlining which projects are considered to be vested under the current ordinance we have found that by having this list it will provide clarity in implementation in the future should this ordinance be approved. Section also 411902 discusses the inclusion requirements. The current draft ordinance recommends 15% for low income,

10% for very low, 5% for extremely low, and to help promote the multi-blended income project on a singular site and the construction of that there's also a 10% requirement as drafted these would be require projects that trigger the who to consider one of those four options available the planning Commission's agrees with the proposed however the Commission recommended that the City Council add 5% to each income level changing low income to 20% so forth and

so on for the blended income it would increase to 15% the difference there is that the Commission recommended 5% 5% 5% for the various level instead of the 5 2 and 3 scale that was originally proposed so it would be 5% across the board for the blended income project.

One other thing that we wanted to share here is that prior to considering this proposed inclusionary change, it is recommended that additional analysis be evaluated on the potential impact of these changes to the constructability of the project as the increase in the percentage of various income level would impact the project. I think that should be fully understood before it is considered to be implemented as part of the ordinance.

Additional key changes, some of the drafting provision relating to the in-lue fee. The draft ordinance proposes to revise the in-lue fee as follows. It would increase the existing $5 per habitable square foot to a range of between $6 and $15 per square foot. It would apply to project as few as five units and anything above 20 or more units. And as you can see the scale there, it ranges anywhere between $6, $9, $12,

and 15 for the various project size the Planning Commission recommends that the floor of this scale of $6 be increased to $10 thereby and not change the ceiling of $15 thereby really having the effect of decreasing the steps in between but also increasing the fee for the smaller projects again this is an area where where additional analysis should be conducted to understand the impact of the cost changes to the constructability of a project as some of the changes could impact the smaller projects

and could be cost prohibitive to some of the smaller projects. So therefore, it is recommended that before looking and considering these changes is to conduct additional analysis on the constructability impact relating to the timing of payment this was one of the area that the council originally discussed about looking at when to allow the payment of the who fee currently the who fee is paid at the time of obtaining a building permit of issuance the proposed change will extend that to prior to occupancy and the reason for

that is to allow a lower carrying cost during the construction process thereby helping to make the payment of the fee less impactful for interest cost during the construction process the Planning Commission also discussed the need to provide clarity to this process currently the ordinance allows for projects that opt to construct affordable units as part of their construction in when a phase project is approved is to construct proportionally

the affordable units with each phase the Commission discussed that this should also be considered for payment as well as it does further the goal of decreasing carrying costs and is consistent with allowing projects to proportionally pay for the construction when a phased development project is approved. The next several slides will basically I'll go very quickly it's the summary of key amendments that were recommended by a commission as originally drafted without any changes some of these or changes were minister administrative in nature

there is a recommendation to update the affordable housing opportunity ordinance title so that it can be distinct from the previous versions section 4119 is going to expand the scope basically applying to projects that were triggers with the prior WHO the definition section was amended to address outdated definition and also to add a new definition for extremely low income as that was a priority income level for targeting and then also addressing the applicability of the WHO under section 411902 currently the WHO applies to

projects of 20 units or more they will also revert back to projects that are five or more instead of 20 or more and then also addressing any type of changes that allow for increase in density by going back all the way to November 28th of 2011. This would mean that any actions that were approved by the city to either provide a zone change or general plan amendment allowing for residential or increasing residential should a property owner in in those affected area up to exercise the development of those density right

the who would be trigger for those type of projects under section 41 1904 the in lieu fee option this really basically is a cleanup as the entitled residential project definition really only applies to projects during the pandemic and those applicability expire on October 1st of 2021 so it should be removed as October 21st 2021 has passed

and it no longer applies. Number six is really looking at incentivizing the incorporation of skill and trained labor as well as local hire as expressed by the council into projects that are either exercising the in-lue fee options or projects that receive use of fundings by the city under the WHO fund. This sliding scale incentive would start for projects at 15 or more housing units level and it has a scale back level of incentivization ranging from five to ten dollars per

square foot in reduction if there is an incorporation of skill and trained labor as shown on the slide here 30% incorporation with at minimum of two trades plus 35% local hire would qualify for ten dollars or a five dollar reduction incentive for ten dollars per square foot for projects that include 60% skilled training labor with three trades and 35% local hire it would qualify for $5 per square foot the inclusionary fund and use of that was also clarified to include additional priorities as directed by the council to

look at prioritizing assisting large families providing housing security and evictions prevention as well as legal assistance to residents in the city last but not least 41 1910 is really administrative change to allow City Council the option of reviewing the in-lue fee anytime as deemed necessary needed by the City Council this map here shows how the who fee or the who

applicable area looks like under the 2015 ordinance or in other words the pre 2020 ordinance the area in blues are the areas that would be triggering or projects when developing these area would be triggering the who potentially and it would applicable to those projects of five units or more I'm sorry 20 units or more under the current ordinance this is a map showing the potential area that would be applicable if this who ordinance would

to be adopted as you can see these areas correspond to the harbor corridor which is currently existing other existing area including the specific area for main place small however it also incorporates a few other areas that are part of the upcoming general plan update which are the focus area that would be allowing for residential density and residential development options.

Finally again the recommendation tonight is for the City Council to consider the recommendation by the Planning Commission and the three options that ARE AVAILABLE TO YOU IN REGARDS TO HOW YOU CAN CONDUCT THE FIRST READING IS OUTLINED AS SHOWN ON THIS SLIDE. AND THAT CONCLUDES THAT REPORT. I'LL BE HAPPY TO ANNUCE ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE.

GREAT. THANK YOU FOR THAT PRESENTATION. LET ME GO AHEAD AND OPEN UP THE PUBLIC HEARING FORMALLY AND BEGIN WITH CALLING ON SPEAKERS THAT ARE IN PERSON THAT WISH TO ADDRESS THE COUNCIL ON THIS PUBLIC HEARING ITEM. And I do believe we have some speakers that are online as well. So let me start with Adam Wood, Andrew Gonzalez, and Francisco Gomez.

Good morning to everybody.

Thai Viet PhanItem 29

We have to be here. You have to be here.

All right. Good morning, Mayor, Council, and Staff. Adam Wood with the Building Industry Association. THANKS FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK ON THIS. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, SANTA ANA IS ACTUALLY PRETTY GOOD AT AFFORDABLE HOUSING. IT'S NOT MY OPINION, IT'S YOURS. WE'VE GOT THE REPORT FROM YOU GUYS RIGHT HERE WITH THE STATE DATA THAT SHOWS YOUR PRODUCTION NUMBERS UNDER THE FIFTH CYCLE OF RHENA. ON YOUR VERY LOW, YOU DID OVER 700%. UNDER LOW, YOU DID OVER 1,600%. YOUR NUMBERS ARE ACTUALLY PRETTY GOOD. BUT WE KNOW THAT YOU DID THIS AT THE SAME TIME WHEN THE FEE WAS AT 15, ZERO NEW PROJECTS WERE ENTERING THE PIPELINE.

So, did you accomplish these targets because of the WHO or in spite of the WHO? What we're going to say and show you here is that the correlation of when projects are not entering the pipeline, we're losing out on dollars that could be coming in. The $15 rate is a non-starter. Second, tonight's hearing is the product of a flawed process. We've all seen that letter that came in. The organization that sent it establishes pretty clearly in this letter that the planning COMMISSION HEARING WAS NOT VALID AND UNDER GOVERNMENT CODE 658, 53, 54, YOU NEED AN ORDINANCE

TO GO TO YOUR PLANNING COMMISSION. WE NEED TO TAKE A MINUTE, LET'S TAKE A BREATH AND SEND THAT BACK THERE AND DO THE PROCESS CORRECTLY. THIRD, UNDER CALIFORNIA LAW, A FEE IS TO BE COLLECTED FOR A SPECIFIC PURPOSE. IF THE WHO IS A FEE, IT IS A FEE TO CREATE AFFORDABLE HOUSING. YOUR ORDINANCE AND THE LANGUAGE THAT WE'VE SEEN THAT WAS INCLUDED UP THERE, IT TALKS ABOUT THE WHO is going to be able to be used for items of quality of life and general health and safety activities. Where does the ordinance define these terms? How does general activities produce housing?

How does it produce it at an affordable level? What we're talking about here is not a fee anymore. We're talking about a general fund supplement. We're talking about creating a tax that has a very different approval structure under state law. Don't turn this into a tax. So to be short about THIS, WE HAVE A POLICY THAT SOUNDS GOOD, SURE, BUT IT IS A PRODUCT OF AN ILLEGIMENT PROCESS AND IT LACKS LEGAL DEFENSIBILITY. WE ARE ALSO VERY CONCERNED ABOUT THE SLIDING SCALE THAT HAS BEEN PROPOSED. WHERE ARE THE NUMBERS THAT SHOW WHAT DOES IT ACTUALLY COST TO USE THE SKILLED AND TRAINED

LABOR? IS THE SCALE A TRUE OFFSET? NO. SO IF IT IS NOT, WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO IS YOU ARE GOING to disincentivize the use of labor. There's a better way to approach this. We can address all of these problems pretty easily by sending this back to planning commission. Let's get this language right before it comes back to you guys. I think there's a lot of opportunity here, and it would be a shame if we let it slip past us. Thanks.

Thank you. Andrew Gonzalez, Francisco Gomez, and Ernesto Medrano.

Good morning, Mayor, Council, and staff. My name is Andrew Gonzalez with Smart Sheet Metal Workers Local 105 representing construction workers here in the city. I've spoken here for my third time speaking on this matter and unfortunately this time I'll need to speak out against the ordinance. This ordinance does not serve to satisfy the goals that are presented here today. It does not encourage the building of affordable housing. It only discourages the building of market rate housing and does very little to encourage the use of a skilled and trained workforce. Housing is a supply and demand issue. No matter what building you try,

whether it be market rate or affordable, it helps to solve the supply and demand problem. But this doesn't really encourage affordable housing. It just actually discourages the building of another type of housing, hoping to encourage it the other way. So by discouraging market rate, you only serve to limit the amount of development the city can have, further impacting the affordable housing crisis here in the city.

furthermore it doesn't really just encourage the like the gentleman before me does not really encourage the use of a locally hired skilled and trained workforce on the sliding scale is actually inadequate to provide for that and allows the developer to get away with using a token amount of skilled and trained workers to achieve the goal of increasing wages for people in the city which is the other half actually of the housing affordability crisis is not just how much the house costs but how much you could actually afford and by

raising wages and benefits for folks in the city, you actually increase, you might be looking forward more home.

Furthermore, in section 41.1909 number 5, when the developer receives a subsidy, once again, we find aspirational language of encouraged and should use or negotiate in good faith with the building trades on a skilled and trained workforce, but actually does not require it. And it's shocking to me that if the city would provide funds to build affordable housing in the city, that would trigger then prevailing wages, that the city would not want to hire or have hired a locally skilled and trained workforce. It's actually just shocking to me.

It makes it appear as if there are some members here that aren't actually encouraged in supporting a skilled and trained workforce in the city. And that's disappointing, if that's true. Finally, I don't really see this to be an issue because, like General Muformi said, other uses are included but not limited to a number of issues in here meaning basically the city could use it for all sorts of issues heck they could buy a cappuccino machine but honestly it would allow for the the housing inclusionary fund to be rated and support local nonprofits that won't build a

stitch of housing so this ordinance has a number of issues and a number of problems it does not serve the need of a building or creating affordable housing or any housing at all and request the staff send it back or the council send

back to staff for revision. Thank you. Thank you Francisco Gomez, Ernesto Medrano, and John Hanna.

Good morning. It's past 12. I just want to make a little suggestion my first 30 seconds. Maybe for some of us I have a newborn and I'm here because I want to be here. I'm here because I want you guys to hear me. Give us an option that you guys could take an iPad or something that we can say what we want to say here tonight, and you guys can push a button, cue us up on that screen up there, and you guys can hear us. And while maybe after 8 o'clock, after 9 o'clock, it will probably be like a person like me, a little easier to say what I need to say. You guys can hear me out if this drags on past midnight.

But the reason why I'm here for is that I'm here so you guys could add that skilled and trained workforce onto that. I am part of that skilled and trained. I've been a journeyman carpenter for 16 years and the most important thing is that what we have is scaffolding training scissor lift training and the most important one and I'm a big advocate about this is CPR training just this year I was on a job site where a person leaned over had a heart attack if it wasn't for the person next to him having that type of training who knows

what that person if would have still been alive today or the worst could ever happen. That's part of being skilled and trained. Obviously, I went through a four-year apprenticeship program and I am now a 16-year journeyman. And I do apologize if I'm starting. I'm just tired. Normally I have more enthusiastic. I was enthusiastic when I got here at 5 o'clock. but thank you for hearing me out and hopefully you guys add that on there and and everything goes good thank you and have a good night thank you Ernesto

Medrano followed by John Hanna I was gonna say good evening it's good morning

Mr. Mayor members of the council executive staff I pretty much concur with the comments of the two previous speakers my name is Ernesto Medrano with the Los Angeles and Orange County building and construction trades council We represent 140,000 hardworking men and women. First and foremost, let me thank the staff here who worked very well with us. Men, thank you very much. You and your team have been very, very gracious and had some good dialogue. Also, I want to recognize that you're doing a lot of what we're asking with the community workforce agreement.

You have local and veteran preference hire. You are getting a skilled and trained workforce. All we're asking is you extend some of these concepts over to under this housing ordinance. Yeah, I think this policy is flawed from what we've observed recently in the scene of this concern of what happened at the Planning Commission. I think you need to scrutinize that very, very well. I've heard a lot about transparency. I've heard a lot about integrity. And I think you really need to look at that and send it back to the Planning Commission. But more importantly, why skilled and trained workforce?

You know, it's pretty ironic that this is National Apprenticeship Week across the country, and yet here we are begging for the third time that you put the skilled and trained workforce as a requirement, not an aspirational language. Last year, out of the Planning Commission, the language was pretty good, pretty strong, and it really made it a requirement. Now it's gone back to being aspirational. That doesn't do much for us. You have an opportunity to create a workforce development concept here in the industry. We keep hearing from the industry saying, you know what, there's not enough skilled labor to build.

And here's an opportunity if you require the skilled and trained workforce, we can put apprentices through, we can turn them out at a journey level, graduate them, put them on the job set, create the demand, and get people from the community and bring them into our apprenticeship programs and keep that churning so we do have a skilled workforce, enhance that pool of skilled labor so we can put them to build more housing out there.

The En-Liu Fund, again, it's unfortunate that it was left aspirational. I think you really got to look at your fees. You need to incentivize the construction of housing. You got to reward good behavior in your business community here. You know, I've seen incentive programs where you really are able to enable them. as I said reward good behavior have them come in have them build more and allow to utilize the skilled and trained workforce so with that said either this policy we need to take a little more time sit down and try to hash it out and try to as we would say in earlier some of us were saying you know what the

cakes not ready to be taken out of Yemen needs a little more baking here so with that said we urge you to not not support the policy as it stands you just send it back to the planning commissioner send it back to staff and let's have some more CONVERSATION WITH THE STAKEHOLDERS. THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND HAVE A GOOD MORNING.

THANK YOU. JOHN HANNAH IS OUR LAST IN-PERSON SPEAKER AND THEN WE GO TO OUR SPEAKERS THAT ARE ONLINE.