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Mayor, the meeting is being recorded.

Recording in progress.

Good afternoon, everybody. Let me go ahead and call this meeting to order. Welcome to all of you. This is the regular session of the Santa Ana City Council meeting for today, March 1st. We're already at the 1st of March on 2022. So let me go ahead and just let you know that this meeting is taking place in person and also by teleconference via Zoom. And the public can access this meeting via the Santa Ana YouTube channel and the city's website. And as usual, please bear with us as a technology. may interrupt the flow of the meeting, and I'll go ahead and turn it over to the clerk so she can call roll.

Thank you, Mayor. Council Member Hernandez?

Present.

Thank you. Council Member Lopez? Council Member Mendoza?

Present.

Council Member Peñalosa?

Present.

Council Member Fan?

Here.

Mayor Potembecerra? Here. And Mayor Sarmiento?

Here. So before we move along to the Pledge of Allegiance, I'm going to go ahead and have the clerk also take care of some housekeeping with her comments as well.

Thank you, Mayor. To request to speak on any agenda or non-agenda items within the city's jurisdiction, please dial star 9 from your phone or click on the button labeled Raise Hand from Zoom at this time. When unmuted, please announce your name and word or neighborhood that you reside in within the city of Santa Ana for the record. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. And I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to Councilmember Peñalosa to lead us in the pledge. And as we stand, I'm going to ask all of you if we could just have a moment of silence for all those that are suffering in Ukraine. this really unfortunate and devastating condition that they're facing by the incursion of the Russian troops into Ukraine so I am going to ask us if you'll please indulge me with a moment of silence in their memory for all those lives that are lost so if you please stand and remain in silence just for a few

Thank you. And later on in the public comment section, we're actually going to have one of our city family who is from Ukraine address us. And you'll maybe see that our water tower is lit up in blue and yellow in recognition of our unity with the country of Ukraine. And I normally don't wear a pocket square, but this is my personal way of saying that. I stand in solidarity with all Ukrainians who are unfortunately going through a very, very difficult moment right now. I'll turn it over to my colleague, Councilmember Peñalosa, for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you, Mayor Sarmiento. If you could all please join me in facing our flag and placing your right hand over your heart and follow along. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

If you'll all please remain standing. I'm going to turn it over to our Health, Diversity and Equity Chair here, Dr. Bernice Ramallah, to lead us in some words of inspiration as we begin our council meeting tonight. and welcome Dr. Rumala with her words of inspiration. Thank you.

Thank you, Honorable. Thank you so much for the invitation. I am Dr. Bernice B. Malaika Rumala. I am the co-founder of the Health Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Anti-Racism Task Force, also known as HEART. Because needed systems transformation starts from the HEART to inform change, It is a pleasure to have been invited to provide words of inspiration at today's City Council meeting. And please, I invite you to sit. These are words of inspiration. If you would like to sit, please do so for those who would like to sit.

As we go from Black History Month in February to now Women's History Month in March, I stand at the intersection of my identity as a black woman to share words of inspiration and a call to action. My voice follows the path of my ancestors who had to write coded messages on walls, carve survival narratives in clay pots so they are not forgotten.

These were shared narratives from generation to generation until the voices found full freedom to impact change.

This Women's History Month, I honor my mother, a strong leader who cleaned buildings as a member of the custodial staff for many years, whose voice was not heard. I stand to speak for her, and I stand to speak for myself, and I stand for the marginalized and oppressed communities I serve for the rights not only to survive, but to thrive in human dignity. I stand here to speak on the importance of each person's role

in ensuring that we can all live and thrive with dignity. Thriving is a human right that should not be limited to the privileged. This message is for those who feel forgotten. And I'm speaking to everyone here. Everyone who feels forgotten, this message is for the person working three jobs to make ends meet. This person is also for those who are struggling to get their next meal. This message is for those who are wondering where they will find shelter this evening.

This message is for those who have no access and no opportunity. I want you to know that you are seen. I see you. Know that you are heard. I hear you. Know that you are understood, I understand, because I have been through it. To the person living in daily fear, holding your breath in silence, waiting for the dawn of a new day, know that you matter. Know that your voice matters. People with lived experience matter. Your experience matters, and your voice matters as the source of solutions.

As a leader, I stand in the power of my ancestors who shared coded and uncoded language through the power of the arts. And so I am sharing my gift of the arts as a tool for systems transformation through a 2022 poem I authored called Rising Beyond. This is an aspirational message of the change that is possible. rising beyond from the deep trenches a colorful phoenix rising from the ashes of vulture oppression

as suited prison guards lurk the village speaks the tribe speaks of right to live to live with dignity and thrive of necessary transformation weaponized policy transformed to healing, hidden voices emerge. In unity beneath the mask, stripping plastered smiles, acts founded on truth by those most impacted. To dismantle inequities, building bridges of change,

from equity to thriving, rising beyond. So to everyone here, as a call to action that can start today as you are walking into your meetings and have your daily practices in your businesses, ask yourself, who is missing from the decision-making table? Are populations most impacted engaged at the table from the very beginning? So let us rise beyond to transform systems. Thank you. I am Dr. Rumala.

Thank you, Dr. Ramallah, for those beautiful words of inspiration.

Let me go ahead and move along to the ceremonial presentations and if Mr. Ron Ono will join me here up on this side of the podium.

So I have the distinct pleasure of recognizing Mr. Ron Ono for his 52 years of service to the city of Santa Ana. Is this on? There you go.

I just did that for effect, just so we'd get the... So when I came to the city about 15 years ago, Ron had already been here for about 37, right? And so I always told him, I said, Ron, you're not going to leave until I leave, so you've got to wait and hang on for a little bit. But one of the things that I've always admired about the city is that we've had so many members of the city family and staff and employees stay with us very long. And so that speaks to an organization, and I think it speaks to the fact that there's

loyalty, there's commitment, there's an environment hopefully where people feel like they're supported. And so with Ron, I think all of us saw somebody who excelled in his work. He did his work with enthusiasm, with love, with commitment. And we always knew that whatever he touched in Parks and Recs, designing, creating, was going to be a space that our families were going to enjoy. So he didn't take it as a task, I think, of work, hopefully as a task of love.

And so, you know, I wanted to, you know, just extend this proclamation to him on behalf of the entire city council, on behalf of the entire city staff and the city manager, but also on behalf of the residents who enjoy those assets that he's left. and it really is a legacy of work that you know that we can all you know enjoy for generations to come so let me tell you a little bit about Ron before we extend and give him the proclamation and give him some time to address us so Ron moved to East Los Angeles from Hawaii in 1962 he earned his associate of arts

degree at East LA College before transferring to Cal Poly Pomona where he earned his BA degree in landscape architecture. Ron started with the city of Santa Ana in 1969 has maintained a significant role in the city's growth from farmland to a major urban center. So Ron, you were probably here when we had orange groves, right? Maybe, I don't know, that was a long time ago. So he also served with Parks and Recs as a design manager and with the administrative staff services for manager FOR THE PARKS, RECS, AND COMMUNITY SERVICE AGENCY. THROUGH HIS CAREER, HE HAS OVERSEEN

THE ACQUISITION OF 34 PARKS, BUILT AND RENOVATED 12 RECREATION AND COMMUNITY CENTERS, AND WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN OBTAINING OVER $60 MILLION IN GRANT FUNDING FOR OUR PARKS SYSTEM. AND YOU KNOW, I WAS TALKING TO A COLLEAGUE OF MINE FROM THE CITY OF ANAHEIM, AND HE REMINDED ME THAT WE HAVE MORE COMMUNITY CENTERS HERE IN SANTA ANA THAN THEY DO IN ANAHEIM, and they have one public swimming pool. So sometimes we don't realize what assets we have and human assets, right, where we can bring our families, where they can have experiences and memories, and Ron had a lot to do with that. He negotiated numerous joint use and license agreements

with the Santa Ana Unified School District and Orange County Flood Control District to increase recreation opportunities and expand our trail system. Among his many achievements were the development of Centennial, Thornton, Santiago, Mariposa, and Pacific Electric Parks. Also, the beautiful Amazon's Edge and colors of the Amazon at the Santa Ana Zoo, just to name a few of Ron's achievements and assets that he designed. Ron was personally involved with many volunteer projects, community outreach, and is well-loved by all the residents in Santa Ana. And we want to congratulate Ron on a legendary career, not just a career,

but something that you know hopefully Ron your family understands how much you're gonna be missed because I think you spent as much time here with us as you have with them but I know you know Lisa and her team and Parks and Recs I think are enriched for all of the institutional history that you brought to them and all the care and love that you gave to everything that you impacted here in the city with respect to our park system, so So, look, on behalf of all of us and on behalf of the residents here in Santa Ana, on behalf of all the families and children that have enjoyed the spaces that you've created, I

just want to say thank you on their behalf to you for all your service to the city.

Thank you.

So there's too many whereas clauses to go through. I think we said it all in the background for Ron, but I just want to give this to Ron as just a symbolic gesture of the care and love that we have for him and the gratitude that we have for everything he's done here in the city. So, Ron, this is yours. Hopefully you won't forget to come and visit us and, you know, come and see us and, you know, let us know how you're doing because we certainly are going to miss you. But this is yours on behalf of all of us. Please.

As the mayor indicated, my love is Santa Ana. My wife has always indicated that I spend most of my time here in the city than I do at home, and that's probably true. When I'm at home, I'm doing projects for the city, and I just love it. I love the community. I love their involvement. I've seen some of our neighborhood leaders out there right now. There were some neighborhood leaders at my going away party on Saturday, and I really appreciate them coming to see me, send me off on the well. Thank you. I also want to thank everybody here.

My life here in Santa Ana has been really fun, easy, challenging, but if it wasn't for you, it would have been horrible, I think. SO I REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR HELP IN LETTING US KNOW WHAT WE NEED TO DO IN OUR PARK SYSTEM, WHAT FUNDING IS AVAILABLE, AND I APPRECIATE THE HELP OF COUNSEL IN SUPPORTING ALL THAT INVOLVEMENT AND FUNDING AND THE CITY MANAGER AND THE CITY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE AND ALL THE OTHER DEPARTMENTS THAT HELP PUT APPLICATIONS TOGETHER FOR US TO OBTAIN THE $60 MILLION. By the way, I was asking finance this. I said, of the $60 million, do I get a 10% rewards fee?

Smart. Yeah. No, all joking aside, my wife is here. Emiko is here. Emiko, can you stand up?

My daughter's here, Kimiko, my son-in-law, Toby, and my two grandkids, Casey and Tyler. So they're here to support this whole going away, and I really appreciate it so much.

So tell us what your favorite project was that you did before you came out.

Oh, boy, I think it's going to be a tough one. They're all favorites of mine. They're all like your children. Yeah, they're all like my children. You can't pick one. That's why you mentioned a whole bunch of them, and I really enjoy doing all of them. But if you had to pick one, the one that I would say is the Pacific Electric Park, and I'll tell you why. That was supposed to be, I think, six or seven residential homes. And the community came up and indicated to the city council that they would like to see a park. And it took a little while, I think several years, to get that going.

Finally, we were able to find the funding, put together. We bought the site. We even had to go to the National Park Service to identify that as one of our land conversion sites, but that's another long story that's going to take me 52 years to tell you. But as soon as we completed that park, like you all know, when you have a ribbon cutting, everybody comes out and uses the park site. But after a week or two weeks, you only see a few kids out there playing. But at the Pacific Electric Park, I've seen kids play out there almost every day for almost over a year and more. And that's my reward.

That's my appreciation that we did something positive and that the community actually uses it and enjoys it. That's what I like the most.

I want to say one more thing. The mayor here is very humble. We have another park, the standard and McFadden Park site. It was a vacant park site. The community wanted a park. He was able to go out there and get the developer to open up that vacant parcel until we would have sufficient funds to develop it. The community used it. we've had the developer provide funding to put in a synthetic turf soccer field that that field now is all worn down and and needs to be removed in the meantime

we went ahead and we were able to get grant money to develop it that project now is under design and hopefully be under construction in the near future so thank you again mayor for that

WITH THAT, I THINK I'M GOING TO HEAD AND LEAVE YOU, BUT I WILL BE BACK FOR THE RIBBON CUTTING, SO PLEASE INVITE ME BACK FOR THE RIBBON CUTTING.

YOU GOT TO COME BACK FOR THE RIBBON CUTTING.

Thanks.

I wish we could have given Ron so much more. You know, he deserves so much more for those 50 years, but thank you, Ron. Your legacy will live on with us forever. Let me go ahead and turn it over to Mayor Pro Tem Becerra and Council Member Mendoza, who are going to be making a presentation to the Orange County Soccer Club.

Phil BacerraItem 1

If I could go ahead and have Oliver Wyss, Michael Orozco, Eric Kubo-Torres, and Gnarly. Yes, I said Gnarly. Please do.

Phil BacerraItem 2

Gnarly yeah true story

Phil BacerraItem 2

So today we're going to recognize the Orange County Soccer Club So the Orange County Soccer Club was founded in 2010 and through the Orange County Soccer Club's Community Foundation, OC Soccer Club has been committed to providing opportunities for students within the Santa Ana Unified School District to grow as healthy individuals on the field and in the classroom with free soccer clinics designed by the club's world class technical staff. In October 2021, I had the opportunity to take part in the groundbreaking of the mini-pitch over at Delhi Park here in Santa Ana with Jeff Gartner from Orange County Soccer Club

Phil BacerraItem 2

and our Parks Director, Lisa Rudloff. That was a result of the collaboration between the Orange County Soccer Club and the City of Santa Ana. Now, the miniature outdoor hard service soccer court at Delhi is open to everyone and will be the site of frequent OC soccer club soccer programming including community clinics. Now, I don't think it's a surprise and it shouldn't be but the fact that a month after the groundbreaking at Delhi, what should happen? But the OC soccer club wins their first ever championship. No

Phil BacerraItem 2

coincidence of course, right? With two goals from their top scorer, Ronaldo Demos. So with their SIGHT SET ON REMAINING AS THE REINING USL CHAMPIONS, THEY CAME BACK TO SANTA ANA TO HOLD TRYOUTS OVER AT THE DAN YOUNG SOCCER PARK OVER AT CENTENNIAL. AND WITH THAT, I'LL TURN IT OVER TO COUNCIL MAYOR MENDOZA.

THANK YOU. YES, IT'S A GREAT HONOR TO PRESENT THIS AWARD IN RECOGNITION FOR THE WONDERFUL WORK THAT this organization does for our youth. We're a soccer family and so it's very dear to our family. Yeah, my kids have been playing since they were four or five. They're a tender age now of 36, so you can imagine. And actually I played soccer too in the women's league so I can relate to that. And thank you for bringing that service to our community. So in addition, the Orange County Soccer Club has added the Santa Ana United Soccer Youth Club to Orange

County Soccer Club's Youth Soccer Network which provides players, coaches, and families enhanced professional development and progression for the established soccer community in our city. Orange County Soccer Club continued to build and solidify itself as a trusted pathway to professional soccer for both men and women's elite players in Orange County and in the Santa Ana community. Fans not only experience competitive soccer atmosphere but also enjoy a family-friendly environment along with premier locally sourced entertainment and amenities such as food from the Orange County founded and Santa Ana

base Taqueria Hoy, the official taco of the Orange County Soccer Club. Orange County Soccer Club brings top-notch professional sports entertainment in close proximity to the citizens of Santa Ana to enjoy at affordable prices and to unify the city's diverse rich history in the sport. Orange County Soccer Club's positive commitments are growing with the community bringing together a diverse group of fans and supported the Orange County's own professional soccer team. Orange County Soccer Club seeks to defend

its title as the reigning United States, forgive me about that, not not quite United States yet but pretty soon right, as reigning United Soccer League champions with their home opener on March 19th at 7 p.m. versus the Rio Grande Valley Toros. Arriba, Orange County soccer team.

Phil BacerraItem 2

So with that, I get the opportunity of presenting this to you, this proclamation on behalf of the city of Santa Ana, in celebration of your championship and all the contributions that you and your team have done for the community. And I forgot to mention that we have a local product right here, the captain from Orange, correct? It's close enough. You're here. Yes. So with that, I wanted to go ahead and present this to you.

Thank you very much. Are we allowed to say one or two quick things?

Phil BacerraItem 2

Absolutely. Please. Please.

We'll be very quick. Obviously, thank you very much. This is a very proud moment for Orange County Soccer Club on behalf of the entire organization and two of our star players. Mr. Michael Orozco has represented the United States national team 29 times. He's had a fantastic career and our newest signing, Kubo Torres has played for Mexico's national team in Chivas de Guadalajara. I'm sure there's some Chivas de Guadalajara fans in this town here. Yes, absolutely. Please come on out. We're obviously there to win championships but also give opportunities to young players and to make a difference in the community.

We're very proud of the projects. We're already working with Santa Ana together. We want to obviously expand this as the future provides. So you're all part of this community. We're Orange County's professional soccer team. And it's built something that is special, meaningful for each one of you. So thank you again for having us. And we look forward to having one of our games very soon. Thank you.

We're good. We're good? All right. Yes. I promised him they wouldn't have to say anything. Oh.

Thank you.

Thank you for that presentation. Let me go ahead and turn it over to staff now to give us an update on the crisis with our homelessness or our homelessness status update.

Hi. Good evening, Honorable Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and Council members. This will be the third reoccurring monthly meeting that I've discussed about the services that the city is working hard at to address the homeless population within our city. As always, I do have a presentation to go through. I will ask Daniel to switch it over so you can see it. But tonight what I really want to talk about is our cult activities. I want to give you an update on the newly launched SMART program and share with you the activities for the point in time count and then summarize some of the other services that we provide

as well as give you an update on our navigation center. So starting with the quality of life team. and they remain very active and engaged in all areas of our city in January Colt continued its daily coordinated responses throughout the city they contacted 336 different individuals currently experiencing homelessness providing outreach services as well as enforcement action when necessary this was up from 251 in December 451 cleanups of various sizes occurred to perform

The cleanups are generally larger in scale and require more time to perform than your routine public works responses. This was also up from December by 307. There were 123 arrests or issued citations for various offenses, and this was up as well from December by 61. The good news is we were able to place and assist in the placement of 60 individuals into shelter.

So, as you are aware, the city of Santa Ana and the Union Pacific Railroad have been addressing trespassing and crimes of public disorder along the UP right-of-ways daily, Monday through Friday since January 19th. Since its inception, this cooperative activity has led to the UP contractors removing over 49 tons of trash and debris from their rights-of-way and ultimately from our city. Criminal activity along UP tracks has dropped dramatically, with only a small number of hotspots remaining. On Sunday, February 20th and on Monday, February 21st, enhanced outreach efforts were conducted

by the Santa Ana Police Department, the Quality of Life team, Public Works, and our contractor CityNet. This activity yielded 34 individuals being contacted, 6 individuals accepting shelter, and 19 individuals arrested for various misdemeanor and felony offenses.

Now the SMART team. team. Santa Ana began its enhanced partnership with CityNet on December 1st, the Santa Ana Municipal Disciplinary Response Team, or SMART for short. The newly formed SMART program, it's a pilot program between the city and CityNet. It's our newest effort to provide trauma-informed care services to address homelessness within the city. Santa Ana has had a strong and successful relationship with CityNet for several years, and through this program, the city expects to expand and enhance outreach efforts. Reports into MySanta app and a community call line go directly to the teams in the field.

The goal of SMART is to provide more effective outreach and engagement while better utilizing city resources through a diversion of homeless calls from the police department and the Orange County Fire Authority. COLT, along with code enforcement and public works, stands ready to assist on any homeless calls where additional support is needed. This frees up law enforcement to focus on calls that require a public safety response or involve criminal activity. SMART addresses all the non-emergency homeless calls in an effort to increase outreach focused

on providing services, addressing mental health, and helping more individuals transition out of homelessness. We do have readily available that you can find on our website. It's the weekly information of the SMART program, what it is performing in the field. This is a sample of what that looks like. It depicts the activity from the inception of the program through February 24th. As you can see by the red dots on this slide, it is active throughout the entire city. The SMART has responded to 1,804 dispatch calls, 309 of those from first responders. 250 were self-initiated proactive contacts.

170 came through us through our app, but the majority of them were from our community using the community line. In addition, SMART has contacted since its inception over 1,500 individuals, provided case management services to 492 individuals, and successfully exited 234 individuals off the street.

So as you know, we recently did the point-in-time count. This is a biannual requirement from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. And it's a shared annual count of all sheltered and individuals experiencing homelessness at a single point in time. The unsheltered point in time count for the central service planning area for which we're a part of was done last Tuesday on February 22nd. And the sheltered count was done on Monday, February 21st.

24 teams, 12 in the morning and 12 in the evening, were deployed to Canva, Santa Ana. Now the count is complete. The County of Orange will compile the data, analyze it, aggregate it, the unsheltered and sheltered numbers, and a final report should be available by June. The last count, which was done in 2019, did show that there were 1,769 people experiencing homelessness in Santa Ana and the breakdown was 939 sheltered and 830 unsheltered.

Homeless efforts, homelessness affects the quality of life of all of our residents and visitors. So we continue to collaborate and coordinate among state, city, federal governments, community groups, nonprofits, faith-based businesses and residents towards providing relief for those that are homeless and more importantly for those that are at risk of homelessness. Santa Ana continues to lead the way in providing housing options for individuals experiencing. As you know, we have the Salvation Army Hospitality House, which is a program that houses 75 beds.

We have the interim shelter at the Link on Commonwealth, which we have 100 beds. We have a family motel program. And we have the newest Carnegie is going to be opening very soon. And not only does that provide shelter beds for the homeless in our community, it provides complete wraparound services. In total, the city has provided shelter beds for 499 persons currently experiencing homelessness during the calendar year of 2021. As of today, of the 75 beds at Salvation, 65 are occupied. And at the link, it has 41 residents, leaving 59 beds that are available.

The new homeless navigation center remains in construction, almost completed, and it will provide 200 beds with the ability to expand to 300 beds. As a further demonstration of Santa Ana's commitment to the homeless crisis, we are proud of the 227 current permanent supportive housing units completed and located within five different sites in the city. An additional 207 units are currently in pre-development or under construction at five additional locations within the city. So in total, the city very soon will have 437 permanent supportive housing units.

And not to forget the housing vouchers that we have issued through our Santa Ana Housing Authority. We currently have vouchers that are set aside specifically for those experiencing homelessness. And to date, we've issued 422 of those vouchers. So to give you a brief update on the Homeless Navigation Center, you can see significant progress has been made since I shared a picture with you at the last update. The dorms are completed along with the restroom and an outdoor play area. The elevator was dropped in by a crane, and we are working hard to keeping it moving forward.

We fully anticipate to transition our customers and clients into the new facility this month.

And that will be transporting, so we will do it probably in phases, but there's about 115 individuals that we will have to transition to the new center. and I'm available if you have any questions or as always if there's additional topics that you want me to present at the next reoccurring I welcome

your input on that great thank you for that and that's exciting news that it will be opening soon and it's looking great so let me go ahead and bring it back to the council to see if there's any questions or comments councilmember

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

van first off thank you so much for that presentation I love seeing progress and what we've been doing. I walked the Union Pacific Railroad and I might have sent in some photos too because it does consistently get encampments. And if anybody's heard the news, the City of LA is dealing with massive UP railroad issues. People jumping on trains, stealing packages, all of that. So I really do appreciate staff's work because I do know it's been a long haul that began before I joined the council. One thing I would

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

like to see more of or just learn more about and for the public to learn more about are single room shelters or wraparound services because I do think transitional shelters, interim shelters, and emergency shelters are very important but part of our job and the county's job frankly is to help transition individuals from homelessness to permanent housing. And so I'd like to see, you know, where we are with that and, of course, work with our supervisor, our current supervisor, Katrina Foley, to try to get more resources for Santa Ana residents. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember. Any other questions or comments?

Jessie LopezItem 3

No comment. Yeah. Councilmember Lopez. I just want to thank staff and the residents that help with the point in time. I always appreciate seeing folks volunteer their personal time to help out, figure out the causes and solutions to the issues that we're having. So thank you.

Great. Thank you, council member Lopez. Let me go to council member Hernandez and then council member Mendoza.

Thank you, Mayor Sarmiento. I just wanted to thank our city manager for this report. I'm happy to see how fast things have came along. I too would like to see us have a report back on the success rate of us getting people from transitioning from being in a shelter into permanent supportive housing. I would like to see us, you know, have a higher success rate when it comes to that. And outside of that, thank you again, Madam City Manager.

Thank you, Council Member.

Councilmember Mendoza. My question is dealing with the homeless who were or the housing challenge who were being transported to Santa Ana and dropped off for us to take care of them from neighboring cities. Has that decreased? Is

that still an ongoing problem? As you know that that's an issue that we raised with the County of Orange and it's really two-part. A lot of it has to do more with the Sheriff's Department as individuals do get transported to where the county has their central jail but we are monitoring it and Sheriff Don Barnes did make some promises in terms of not discharging people from jail at midnight and then also engaging the services of a nonprofit to provide transportation services to those when released.

Great. Seeing no other questions or comments, thank you, Madam City Manager, for that presentation. And I think as was said to everybody who participated and volunteered on the point-in-time count, that's never an easy process, so hopefully we'll be getting the data back on that. Let me go ahead and now begin the public comment section of our meeting for agendized and non-agendized items and let you know that pursuant to the Brown Act, the City Council cannot enter into any discussion with respect to any of the public comments.

I'm sorry, Mayor, you do have one more presentation.

I'm sorry, we have one more. I'm sorry. Oh, you know what? I don't want to slight the Orange County Housing Finance Trust because they have the most exciting presentation for us today.

Good evening.

Is this on?

See if you maybe get a little closer to the mic.

Is this okay?

We can hear you, but the public may not be able to hear you.

Well, good evening, Mayor and Council. My name's Adam Eilson. I'm the manager of the Orange County Housing Finance Trust, and I'm excited to follow that nice segue of your update on the homeless so that I can provide you a little bit of update on what we're doing at the Orange County Housing Finance Trust. San Ann is a member of the Orange County Housing Finance Trust. In fact, your fellow colleague, David Penalosa, is one of our directors on our nine-member board. And so we're just so appreciative of his time, his volunteer efforts, helping our organization.

Okay. So the Orange County Housing Finance Trust is a joint powers authority. We were created three years ago. We have the majority of cities in the county as members of our trust, as well as the county of Orange. Our mission is to finance the development of affordable housing and bring new dollars into Orange County to be able to do that. We bring those dollars in from the state, we match dollars that we have locally, and we help finance the development of that housing.

So 23 cities are currently members of the Orange County Housing Finance Trust, plus the County of Orange, and that represents about 80% of the entire population of the county. We have a five-year strategic plan that we update annually. We have currently either committed funding or are in the process of committing $30 million worth of funding for the development of affordable and permanent supportive housing throughout the County of Orange. To date, we have funded 13 projects, totaling 901 affordable housing units in that three-year period.

We have a website that has a variety of information. We encourage the public to go onto our website and subscribe for information and notices about what our activities are. And we spend a lot of time reaching out to our developers, service providers, and cities to make sure that they are aware of what we're doing. Part of the effort tonight is to give you a report card. Since we were formed three years ago, you're a member. I felt it was important that I come to you and just let you know what exactly we're doing. I may not do that every year, but just want to be able to touch base.

You've got a great person on your council that can help you get any of the questions you have answered about what we're doing.

So we've had two notices of funding in that three-year period, And we have one notice of funding right now that is being actively advertised for our developers to apply for funding. We have, in addition to securing capital funding to build and finance that development, we've been successful at getting administrative grant funding to help run the organization. And we're thankful for the Orange County Council of Governments and SCAG, who have funded a grant to help with some of our administrative expenses so that the member cities, such as Santa Ana, don't have to contribute funds to help run that organization.

This is a screenshot from our website. I feel that it's really important that we're transparent and let people know what our accomplishments are. We have adopted at our board the same goal that the County of Orange adopted in 2018, which was to create 2,700 new permanent supportive housing by the year 2025. So what we've done on our website is to basically show where in the county all those projects since 2018 are located. It's an interactive map. You can go on the website, click on any of these pushpins, and a box will come up and tell you who the developer is, where it's located,

how many permanent supportive housing units there are, and what the status of the project is. a little bit more information as well. And then to the left of that map is kind of two different tables that all have the same numbers, but they're kind of presented in different ways. One is just showing the project status, whether they're complete or under construction or trying to get their last remaining funding. And then it shows where in the county they're distributed by service planning area.

I'm just really pleased to be here in Santa Ana to report that we have funded four projects in Santa Ana totaling seven million dollars of funding for your four projects so far. North Harbor Village is currently under construction. Our three other projects you see up there were a couple of those we are right now talking to the developers and all the different financing partners that are part of that capital stack to make affordable housing project work. We're on the closing calls to bring those projects to basically close on the construction

loan financing. Again, administrative funding, capital funding, just showing you a summary of what that is. Just kind of looking towards the future, we are reaching out to some of our non-member cities. We have a few still left, and we have two right now that are considering joining, and we're going to their council meetings very soon, and then we have other cities that we're in talks with. We're also right now currently working with our state legislative delegates here in Orange County and at Sacramento to secure a very large funding request. We've been working on this for quite some time.

We have a pipeline of projects that need funding all throughout the county. And this additional state funding request that we're doing is a general fund budget allocation directly to the trust. We're hoping to secure that funding before the end of this year. We'll continue to work on our goal of creating that 2700 permanent supportive housing by 2025.

We are about halfway there and we still have a few more years to go. The great thing about the Orange County Housing Finance Trust is it's a regional collaborative effort where no city should stand alone in their effort to create permanent supportive housing and affordable housing. And we bring this regional collaborative spirit to all of the different stakeholders involved in the homeless space and the affordable housing space. So we're working with service providers. We're working with nonprofits and the county and other cities to be able to talk solutions and bring those to fruition.

Here's the website at the bottom. You can see that. I encourage, again, all of you to go on the website and peek around on what we've got available. And I'm available to answer any questions.

Great. Thank you very much for that presentation. I appreciate the information. Let me go ahead and bring it back to the council. And let me turn it over to Council Member Peñalos. I'm sure he has maybe some comments and some questions as a representative to that board.

Thank you, Mayor Sarmiento. And thank you, Adam, for coming out and giving that presentation and update. I know our residents appreciate it. I just want to say that I remember the first meeting that we had three years ago. And one of the first things that came out of my mouth and made very clear, I want to make sure that Santa Ana continues to do their part that we've been doing for decades, but want to make sure that these funds, whatever we receive, is equally distributed throughout the county. because it should be a regional effort to house our homeless population and not just Santa Ana's or Anaheim.

So thank you for that. Thank you for really, you know, taking that clear. The map, I remember the first year, it was kind of, as you look at it, little by little, it's kind of spreading out throughout northern county, the coastal area, south county, but it wasn't like that initially. So appreciate all the hard work you're doing. And I'm available for any questions from my colleagues as well throughout this the next couple of months

But thank you and and just to add to what councilmember Penelosa said with his leadership and the board's leadership we actually changed the notice of funding to Require that the funds be equally distributed in each of the service planning areas If we don't get an application from a developer in a service planning area we have the option to move that funding to another area that may have an application. When we're looking at the state funding allocation that we're requesting right now, which is a very large amount, we plan on expanding the commitment of that funding in each of the service planning areas,

holding it there for a longer period of time to allow our developers to secure properties, get a little bit more time to do that. This is one of the things we've been talking to the legislators about and they share in that same passion that you mentioned councilmember

Great. Thank you both for those comments. Let me see if there's any other questions or comments from members of the council Seeing none. Thank you very much. And I'm sure the councilmember will be keeping us updated on any new development. So let me go ahead and before actually I begin and start with the public comment section Let me take a couple of items with the indulgence of members of the council out of order The first two will be item number six and number seven which are oaths of office for two new appointments by council member fans So council member do you want to go ahead and invite and introduce your new commissioners?

Yes Yes

Mayor and members of the council. Let's take let's take number six then first

I'll make a motion to six and seven and that way if you want a motion

Mayor I'll make a motion to approve item six and seven

Second.

All right. I think we have a motion for both of those. We can take those jointly, right?

Yes.

Clerk, colleagues, please vote.

Madam City Clerk, my vote is yes.

Thank you, Council Member Hernandez.

Council Member Lopez?

Thank you. A motion carries with 7-0. Councilmembers Hernandez, Lopez, Mendoza, Pena Loza, Fan, Mayor Pratim Becerra, and Mayor Sarmiento Vodinhas.

Great. Thank you. Now we can invite them up. Do they want to be sworn? Yes. If they're here.

If I can ask. Yes. Both Janelle Walker. Thank you.

I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States

and the Constitution of the State of California that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I'm about to enter. Congratulations. Thank you very much. Thank you. And this is true.

Thank you.

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

So I'm super excited because we have another Vietnamese American on a commission and also Amina you might be our only Cambodian resident serving on a commissioning committee. I'm not sure I didn't check but I'm very excited. I'm just really excited to have more young women of color representing us in the city. Thanks.

Thank you.

Congratulations to both of you. Thank you for serving the city.

So before I begin, and I think I've already recited some of the information for the public comments section, one thing I would recommend is that you all obviously state your name. You don't have to give us a specific address, but let us know if you do live in St. Anne at what ward you live in. That would be helpful. But I know we have about 51 people here to speak, and I believe they're here to speak on item number 27, which is the proposed ordinance on the prohibition of the sale of flavored tobacco here. So I hopefully again with the indulgence of the

members of the council, I'd like to maybe reduce the three minutes to two minutes so we can hear all of you and give you all an opportunity to speak. But I do want to take one speaker card at border because we do have some members of the public, Madam Clerk, that are online as well, right that want to address this so 51 is just the number that we have here in chambers that's not including those that are the 21 that we have virtually what's that 21 that we have 21 so we'll go ahead and you know limit the time reduce it to two minutes rather than three that way we can get a chance to

hear everybody and you know to the extent that you're speaking and somebody said what you said you could always say I agree with the previous speaker and we move it along a little bit quicker and we'll get the point. But I do want to take one public speaker out of order that I mentioned earlier today and that is Nadia Baluk who is a city employee who if she could join us here to give us her comments before we start. And she is

from Ukraine and she wanted to talk to us about what's happening in her homeland. And you'll see on the screen very soon a couple of links on ways you can help and ways we can all help to support those that are fighting in Ukraine for their sovereignty, their liberty, and their life. So to the extent that you all please will pay attention to those links. Also a way to communicate to NATO because I know one of the things that Ukraine has been asking all of us to do is to support their transition and their acceptance into NATO. So I don't know if that's something that we may want to consider. Hopefully this doesn't go on.

But to the extent that we do consider, maybe for the Council's review and consideration

is something that would not only condemn what's happening, but also to encourage our Congress representatives to support that as well. And I would certainly entertain that from any members of the council, or I would be willing to do it under my authority. So Nadia, let me go ahead and give you the floor to go ahead and address us on this, thank you.

Thank you. Dear council members, Mayor Pro Tem, Mayor Sarmiento, and everyone in the audience. Thank you in advance for your time. Thank you, Nabil, for inviting me to this council meeting. I am part of the city's family. I work for the city of Santana, specifically for the water quality division within the public works agency. I am Ukrainian. I was born in Ukraine and spent the first half of my life there. I have relatives in Ukraine and actually my uncle is fighting this war.

I remember the joy on the streets of Ukraine when the USSR broke apart. We finally had our freedom. We were finally able to openly be Ukrainians, speak our language, follow our traditions, celebrate our Ukrainian holidays. Ukraine got its independence in 1991, and ever since, Russia's politicians have not let it go. From undermining Ukraine's financial well-being to manipulating Ukraine's elections time after time,

Russia was always in the background, always putting roadblocks to Ukraine's true independence, to its ability to thrive as a country. What you see happening today is a master plan of Russia's political circle unraveling in front of everybody's eyes. Putin's hunger for never ending more, his mission to create a new version of USSR. There is a lot of misleading information out there that Ukrainian people somehow want to be a part of Russia. Please be careful in what you believe. I hope that the brave actions of Ukrainians speak for themselves.

Ukrainians who are fighting this uneven, unfair, unnecessary war. I cannot believe my eyes that in 21st century we are witnessing a peaceful country being completely obliterated by Russia, bombarded by aggression. It is hard to describe what Ukrainians are facing every minute, hour, and day ever since this war began last week. It's complete decimation and bloodshed. Yet Ukrainians are not giving up. Simple civilians are joining the Ukrainian army to fight this war.

So today, I ask my Santana's family for your help. Please, if possible, donate to the National Bank of Ukraine. They have a special fundraising account to support the armed forces of Ukraine. These funds are essential to the whole Ukraine in fighting this war. Also if you choose so, please sign a petition directed to NATO, specifically asking NATO to close the airspace over Ukraine and to send peacekeeping troops into the country.

There are over 800,000 people around the world who already signed this petition. We need to reach 1 million in about two days' time in order for NATO to consider this petition. We can all stand up for what is right with these actions and showed that this war is not in any way what we agree with. Thank you so much. Thank you, Nadia.

We all stand with you and everybody there that is fighting for their liberty and their right to exist.

Mayor? Go ahead. I'd just like to ask our PIO if we could maybe share those links on our social media accounts so that they're out there for the public. Thank you. Good idea.

Thank you. So I'm also going to, before I begin with the public comments section, and as I said, we have at least 50 speaker cards for those who are here in person to speak on item number 27. So I will be taking that out of order because I know we have a lot of young people that are here to speak on that, and that way we can get them back and hopefully back home so they can do homework as soon as they're done here. I know you didn't want to hear that, but part of the agreement. So let me go ahead and begin with Mary Obershaki.

I'm sorry if I butchered the name.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Councilmembers. My name is Mary Oberschleck. I'm employed in Ward 6 in an award-winning female-owned business. I'm here as a worker to urge the City Council to act in support of all the local businesses affected by the OCTA streetcar project. Those of us that work for downtown businesses need our jobs. We've witnessed the negative impact that the construction has created, and it's frightening to think what this means to our employers and our continuing employment. We were told the parking would be free Monday through Friday. That has not happened. But even if it does, it's not enough.

We need free parking for the duration of the construction project. We need clear signage of where people can park and that the businesses are open. We need the City Council and OCTA to work together to provide realistic and reasonable financial support for the businesses impacted by the streetcar construction. The proposed fund is a start, but it's not enough. Help us keep our jobs. Listen to our local business owners. Thank you.

Thank you, Mary.

Delilah Snell followed by Alexa Warman followed by Marklin Valdivios.

I'll take off one of my masks. Sorry. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Delilah Snell. Today, I did a Google search of what the the duties of a council member, and you serve on committees, you attend meetings like this tonight, and there's a lot of other duties, but one really struck out to me, and that is protect the public interest. Protect. To keep safe from harm and injury. All of you here today, we're elected to have our best interest to represent us and protect us, and in the past month, this downtown has not

been safe, and in fact, it's been harmed and injured. Many businesses have been vandalized, quite literally injured. I myself have had difficulty sleeping because I'm constantly on edge wondering when I'm going to get that call when my business has been injured even though I'm trying my best to protect it. Our parking structures are the first sign of a welcome and they're neglected, injured with tagging and trash and many people do not feel safe even being in them. This is if they manage to get to them because OCTA has still not addressed the signage issue.

Many people in downtown who are in this room are just barely managing to survive the harm of COVID and now they are met with harm again. Who is there to protect us? 1.5 million would be protection if this disaster of a project were already concluded. We could hopefully recuperate the damage from February. But this is clearly not going to last. We all know the work of Walsh and how little they have done in the past month. We must have five million dollars from the city surplus to protect us from further harm and that should be matched with OCTA. This downtown which should be the

center of Orange County to showcase to inspire other cities around us that's what it should be is left to survive on scraps and thrown in harm's way. Do what is just and fair that protects people who pay taxes, elect you, and want you to succeed because you are supposed to make us feel safe, protected, and able to succeed. Please fight for us, protect us, and lead. Thank you. Thank you.

Alexa Worman, followed by Marklin Valdovinos, followed by Alam Benjamin. Good evening, Councilmembers. My name is Alexa Worman, and I'm with the American Heart Association. I'm commenting on item number 27. Our organization urges you to pass option 1A and end the sale of all flavored tobacco products without exemptions. It's no accident that tobacco companies flooded the market with fruit, mint, and candy flavored products. These flavors are specifically designed to entice kids and communities of color, and that's exactly what happens.

All flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, menthol cigarettes, cigars, and hookah, come in kid-friendly flavors and are highly addicting. You may have heard from the hookah industry that their product is not a problem among kids, but data from the California Department of Public Health clearly disputes this. Hookah companies target new users with flavors like mango, red gummy bear, and horchata, which has made hookah use popular among youth and young adults, especially black and Hispanic high school students.

And just like other tobacco products, hookah has serious health consequences. In a single session, a hookah user inhales as much as 200 cigarettes worth of smoke. In fact, hookah users are twice as likely to become regular cigarette smokers. Ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products is about protecting local kids and marginalized communities from big tobacco's predatory practices. The tobacco industry will ask you to wait for the voters to decide on the state law, but this City Council can stand up to the tobacco industry tonight and say enough is enough. Don't delay in passing this life-saving

policy. The community cannot continue to wait. Please stand up to Big Tobacco and pass Option 1A. Thank you. Thank you. Marklin Valdovinos, followed by Alam Benjamin, followed by Thomas Moore.

Good evening, Council members. My name is Marklin Valdovinos, and I'm the Senior Community Impact Director for the American Heart Association in Orange County. We support Option 1A to end the sell of all flavored tobacco products without exemptions. Through my work in Santa Ana, I have heard from teachers, parents, and healthcare workers asking for help on how to stop this problem. At the American Heart Association, we have tools like curriculum, parent education, and programming to help combat this epidemic. But we need your help to reduce access to these deadly products at the

retail level. This policy is urgently needed. Although the state passed Senate Bill 793 restricting the sale of most flavored tobacco products in California, tobacco companies spent more than $20 million to place the law on hold until the next statewide general election. Tobacco representatives may ask you to wait for the state law to be decided, but Santa Ana residents cannot wait any longer. We have no guarantee that the state law will be upheld and Big Tobacco will spend millions more to keep this law off the books so that they can

continue to hook our kids with nicotine. In the meantime, every day that flavored tobacco products remain in Santa Ana shelves is another opportunity for Big Tobacco to addict more lifelong customers. We need you to protect the community now and prevent further youth tobacco use. Please pass this ordinance as written. Thank you. Thank you. Alam Benjamin followed by Thomas Mua followed

by Julie Wong. If the other speakers behind this one can maybe be ready that way we can do this a little quicker. So Thomas Mua and Julie Wong you guys are

on deck. Good evening, City Council, Mayor. I'm here. My name is Alham Benyamin. I'm here. I own Harbor West Mini Market, located on Ward 1. I'm here to oppose the total of tobacco-flavored pan. This proposed pan only serves to limit the product choices of adult customers, and if adult customers cannot buy their preferred product in our stores, they will just go outside of the city to make their purchases. While there they will also purchase gas, grocery items, and beverages. Worse yet, prohibiting this product could shift sales from law, abiding responsible retailer like us. So potentially illegal sources who don't

check ID, like shopping for vape online. They only have to do actually just to confirm your age is just to say yes I am over 21 without checking the ID. Thank Thank you.

Thank you. Thomas Mua followed by Julie Wong followed by Tim Gibbs.

Good evening. My name is Thomas Mua and I'm with Partners for Wellness. I want to start off with a personal story. The first time I was offered tobacco products I was 17 and I was offered by a trusted older friend. I declined the offer but this story is not unique. I think several queer teenagers out there are given products to try all the time, and they do not always say no, because the tobacco industry has flooded our community with aggressive messaging saying that tobacco is a part of LGBT culture. But it isn't. We want to protect our youth from tobacco products, but the existence of flavored products like

vapes and hookah make that harder to do. The California Student Tobacco Survey says that LGBT youth use tobacco at a rate two times their straight peers. This means that any flavored product still on the shelves continues to disproportionately affect our community. I ask for the council to please protect the health and well-being of our LGBT youth and community members. Thank you. Thank you. Julie Wong, followed by Tim Gibbs, followed by Guadalupe Olmos.

If you all can be ready to speak as soon as the previous speaker is done, we might be able to get through this quicker. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Julie Wong. Good evening, council member. I'm a mother of two daughters and I own my store for 30 years. I have a perfect compliance record. I train on my employee to check ID all the times. We treat our customers like family and we work hard to ensure that kids do not get tobacco. Please let Santa Ana retailer like me continue to be the one to check ID and care our communities. Banning flavored tobacco, including menthol cigarettes, won't end the sale of this product

in Santa Ana, it will simply encourage criminal network to fit the demand. And we do so without paying taxes, without checking ID, and without following any other rules and regulations. Thank you. Thank you, Jill. Tim Gibbs, followed by Guadalupe Olmos, followed by Valentin Martinez. Thank you. I'm Tim Gibbs with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and I want to thank the council for taking up this life-saving ordinance. We encourage the council to vote yes to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products tonight. I think it's worth reiterating who is for this policy and who is against it.

On the yes side, pushing for option 1A, which would pass a comprehensive ordinance tonight with no exemptions, you have organizations like the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, AmeriConTrack, latino health access first five orange county delhi center and many many others the organization spending millions and millions to defeat policies like this are the big tobacco companies in fact disgrace companies like jewel rj reynolds and altria have spent nearly 60 million dollars

since 2017 just in california trying to stop these policies and in fact there's another tobacco company engaged in santa ana called fumari who sell flavored shisha tobacco products like white gummy bear red gummy bear they have been trying to carve out a special exemption for themselves where the only flavored tobacco products that would appear on the shelves and that where they would be the only flavored tobacco products that would appear on the shelves in santa ana so while grape cigarillos menthol cigarettes and blue raz flavored e-juice would no longer be

available blueberry muffin flavored shisha would be sold in every 7-eleven and gas station in santa ana they are maneuvering to build a regulatory moat for themselves where they are the only flavored tobacco product in town and let's be clear option 1a does not ban hookah it creates correctly treats mint chocolate chill flavored shisha equally to mango vape flavors some have asked why we don't wait until the November election. But to that I would say this issue is urgent and let's protect Santa Ana kids tonight. Please vote yes on 1A. Thank you. Guadalupe Olmos followed by Valentin Martinez

followed by Ceci Rivera. Good evening council members and mayor. My name is Guadalupe and I'm the owner of a mini market store locator and work for. I am here to ask you to oppose the tobacco flavor ban. I am a mother of three kids. I have my business more than 25 years. I honestly care a lot about our community. I am concerned about this issue. I decided to close my stores already tonight to be here. I have never got a ticket. I am adding a new register to make it

so anyone who works in my store can scan IT regulations to keep tobacco products from getting into kids, hence make sense.

I thought I was going to say, but I forgot to. Take your time. I wrote another . Okay. I'm sorry. Retails are the first line of defense who it comes to prevent kids from pushing tobacco products. We take very serious responsibility in this issue.

My husband, me, and my daughter, we really take very serious responsibility asking for ID. Of course, no ID, no selling any tobacco products.

As a retailer, I think we always ask for ID, make sure also it's not a fake ID. I added that to my cash register just to try to do the right thing, refusing all those tobacco products. Another thing I wanted to say is, you know, our regulations to keep tobacco products or getting into king's hands make sense by banning the sale, I'm into cigarettes, favor cigarettes, and favor to for adults. Thank you. Thank you.

Valentin Martinez followed by Ceci Rivera followed by Lenis Baena.

Hola, buenas noches a todos. Mi nombre es Valentin Martinez, dueño de Ninos Brayron. Una tienda más que ha sido afectada por la construcción en la calle 4. Estoy aquí porque quisiera hacer varias peticiones. Primera, que se abran los baños públicos, los que ya están puestos, con una persona a cargo para un mejor cuidado de estos. Second, that we put cameras of security at each quarter, to make a better protection for people, cars and businesses that are victims of vandalism and graffiti. Third, that we can make a more soon as possible an economic aid to our businesses

since we started the construction almost a month and we still haven't solved anything. And our prices have reduced to 70% and 80% and we have to pay taxes, rentals,

water, food, food, and food. We all know that this is not a ephemeral construction, and we are worried about the future of our business. Thank you.

Hold on one second, they're going to do the translation

Good evening. My name is Valentin Martinez and I'm the owner of a bridal shop and we have been affected by the construction in 4th Street. And we are here to ask several things. First, that you open the public restrooms and have somebody that is watching there for the people to use it. and second, to have surveillance cameras so that they're watching over people and cars that are there, watching over our business because we have been victimized by vandalism.

And number three, to get some economic help for our business because since the construction started over a month ago, we haven't seen a lot of help. We haven't seen any help, and my sales are down 70% to 80%, and I still have to pay all my expenses and food, employees, etc. I have to renew my fictitious business license this year. So I'm wondering whether you're going to help us so I can figure out whether we stay or we close our business. Ceci Rivera, followed by Lenny Sbaena, followed by Cecilia Mora. Good evening, Honorable Mayor Sarmiento and Council Members.

My name is Ceci Rivera. I am 16 years old and live here in Santa Ana. I have been with the Merit contract for the past three years, and I am proof that the youth want this ordinance to be passed, because only good can come of banning tobacco products that target minorities like me. I have never fallen prey, luckily, to these products, but I know many people who use it as a coping method. A few people brought up the retailing concern, and of course we care about local retailers, but the truth is that the profits that they care about just don't justify the harm that these

products are doing to our kids. So take it from a youth member, I have sisters and brothers who I would never want them to fall prey to these products. So listen to the youth, they are here to show support and I hope that you take into action option 1A. Thank you. Thank you.

Lenice Baena followed by Cecilia Morra followed by Daniela Hernandez.

Good evening Mayor Sarmiento and City Council members. My name is Lenice and I'm a Santa Ana resident. I live in Ward 6. Tonight we are asking all the City Council members to stand up to Big tobacco and do what is right and vote for option 1a to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products in all locations with no exemption on an urgency basis take action and protect our Santa Ana youth thank you thank you

sometimes those short brief statements are more powerful Cecilia Mora followed by Daniela Hernandez followed by Hugo Cota Buenas noches, mi nombre es Cecilia y soy residente de Santana por más de 40 años. Vivo en el distrito número 6. Soy voluntaria de American Unchap y ponerle fin a la venta de tabacos de sabores en Santana. Es un tema muy importante para mí. Los jóvenes de Santana necesitan de nuestra ayuda contra las compañías del tabaco. This evening we ask all members of the Municipal Council to face the great tobacco and do what correct.

Vote for the option 1A to put the price of all products of tobacco with flavor in all places, without exception. With an urgent care. Thank you.

Good evening. Good evening. My name is Cecilia Mora and I am a resident of Santa Ana for over 40 years. I'm a resident of Ward 6 and I'm a volunteer with America on Track. I'm asking you to put an end to the sale flavored tobacco products. And in Santa Ana, this is important to protect our youth against the tobacco companies. We're asking the city council to stand up against the tobacco companies and vote for 1A and do what is right to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products, no exceptions, and do this as an urgency matter. Thank you. Thank you.

Daniela Hernandez, followed by Hugo Cota, followed by Jennifer Grajeda. Hello, honorable Mayor Sarimento and City Council members. My name is Daniela Hernandez. I live in Ward 2. I am a Santana resident. I am 17 years old and go to Sacred Storm High School. I volunteer with America on Track with the Youth Leadership Club and I strongly urge you to protect me, my siblings, and my friends from the big tobacco by adopting Option 1A, an urgency ordinance and the sale of all flavored tobacco products in all locations with no exemptions. This is such an important issue because the

tobacco industry has one thing in their mind and that is to make money from all of us and all the other youth in Santa Ana. The most common reason kids hear vape is because they're going through tough situations and need an escape. The stress and pressure from the things they are going through are too much, so they turn to products that the tobacco companies spend billions of dollars trying to convince them that will solve their problems. And that is obviously not true. We need your help to protect youth like myself by ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products in Santa Ana. Thank you. Thank you.

Hugo Cota followed by Jennifer Grajeda followed by Ryan Krautis.

Honorable Mayor Salimenta and City Council members, my name is Hugo Cota and I'm a San Nana resident. I live in Ward 4. I am 14 years old and I attend middle college high school. I volunteer with America on Tracks Youth Leadership Club and I strongly urge you to protect me and my friends from the tobacco by adopting option 1A, an urgency ordinance ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products in all locations with no exemptions. This is such an important issue to me and the community because the tobacco industry has one thing only on their mind, and that is to make money from all of us and all the other youth.

We need your help to protect the kids by ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products in Santa Ana. Thank you very much. Thank you. Jennifer Grajeda, Ryan Crowdis, followed by Maribel Gomez.

Good evening, Mayor Sarmiento and City Councilmembers. My name is Jennifer Grajeda, and I'm a Santana resident. I live on Ward 5. When you vote for Option 1A on this ordinance, you're protecting all the youth of Santana. You are making a statement to Big Tobacco that you care more about the health and the future of the youth than their profits for deadly products. vote tonight to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products, all locations, no exemptions. Thank you. Thank you. Ryan Crowdis, Maribel Gomez, followed by Marcela Prado. Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. I'm a resident of Ward 3 and also as an educator,

I've seen vaping change the culture on school campuses in many ways. I'm not going to go through them all, but one of the biggest illustrations of this is that there's so much vaping in school restrooms that students do not like to use, other students do not like to use the restrooms because they fear their health from inhaling the toxic fumes that permeate the restrooms. Some schools have even had to regulate traffic in and out of the bathrooms. All young people need support to make healthy decisions that could impact their lives for years. Think about the young people in your life and all the young people in this great city.

Don't you want to provide the best opportunities for them to be healthy and free from addiction? Listen to the youth here. They know these products target them and their friends. Profits are not worth the lives of our youths. I urge you to support the tobacco flavor ban from Santa Ana by voting yes on choice 1A today. Thank you. Maribel Gomez followed by Marcela Prado followed by Jessie Gomez. Buenas noches, queridos miembros del consejo. Mi nombre es Maribel Gómez. Soy del Salón Aries Biris Salón, negocio ubicado en el 320 Norsica Mor. Le escribo esto para mostrar

mi apoyo de 1.5 millones de fondos inmediatos, pero no la cantidad total necesaria para ayudar the businesses of the affected centers. For the construction of the train vía OC, this relief is temporal and the city of Santana and Octa should recognize and assign more relief. Use the city's excedent to alleviate this crisis, beyond the 1.5 million, as it is not enough compensation for rescuing the businesses of this damage. Atentamente, Maribel Gomez.

Esperamos, por favor, nos escuchen. Gracias.

Ahorita lo van a traducir. Good evening, members of the City Council. My name is Maribel Gomez. I have a Salon 320 North Sycamore. I say this because I am here to ask for the support support the help, the $1.5 million of financial help for the businesses in downtown, but I'm telling you that this is not enough to help, to help all the businesses in downtown that need help. This help is just temporary help for Santa Ana, and the city of Santa Ana and Okta needs to do more to support the businesses. The city needs to use the city surplus

to help to increase this more than the 1.5 million that are allocated. This is not enough to help all the businesses that are struggling. Sincerely, Maribel Gomez, and thank you for the help. Adelante, Marcela. Buenas noches. Good evening. My name is Marcela Prado Rodriguez. I own a business on 4th Street, Broadway and 4th. I come to you as the authorities and representatives of the city of Santa Ana, who have approved the OCTA street project, streetcar project. This project has brought huge losses to the merchants of downtown Santa Ana,

due to the street in front of our business being closed to traffic. We ask that the city, like OCTA, assume the losses that we are experiencing day by day. $1.5 million has so far been approved, I say, which is not enough. It would only alleviate the losses up to this moment. You are asked to use increased funds to exceed $1.5 million to something that is more sufficient to rescue businesses from this damage caused by you and the authorities allowing this project. Thank you. Jesse Gomez, followed by Logan Crow, followed by Bill Treck.

Jesse Gomez? Followed by Logan Crowe, followed by Bill Tretty.

1.5 million de ayuda inmediata, pero no como tal ayuda que se necesita para los negocios afectados por la construcción del OC Streetcar. Esta ayuda se considera temporal y más ayuda será necesaria. and has to be by the city of Santa Ana and Opta. Please, I ask you to use the funds to alleviate this crisis

more than 1.5 million. This amount is not enough to save the businesses for this damage caused.

Sinceramente y atentamente, Jesse Gomez. Muchas gracias.

Gracias.

Logan, just give me a second for the translation.

Good evening, dear members of the City Council. My name is Jesse Gomez. I'm from Audi Beauty Salon at 320 North Sycamore. And I'm here to show you and to show the support for the $1.5 million for immediate help, but I'm telling you that this is not enough to help all the businesses that are affected by the construction of the Orange County streetcar. This help is only temporary, and more help is needed by the City of Santa Ana and OCTA. Please, we're asking you to use the monies to help this crisis beyond the $1.5 million. This money is not enough to rescue the businesses

that have been damaged, affected by the construction. Sincerely, Jesse Gomez. Thank you. And Logan, right after you, Bill Tretti, Claire Braeburn, and Jennifer Noria. Go ahead, Logan. Good evening, honorable mayor Sarimento and esteemed council members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Logan Crow. I live and work in Ward 6, and I am the founder and executive director of the Frida Cinema on 4th Street. I'm speaking on item 21. Whereas I appreciate that the city of Santa Ana will be approving the Santa Ana Business Interruption Fund,

I feel it would be an injustice if OCTA did not display some due responsibility by matching at least this relief effort. Two weeks ago, I joined many members of my community in voicing our frustrations, pains, and concerns regarding the impact of the subpar conditions of OTCA's work. After stressing the urgent need for security, we listened as representatives promised to provide overnight security for the businesses on 4th Street. When you have a brightly lit street surrounded by businesses completely closed off the traffic, vandalism is essentially guaranteed.

yesterday morning I attended OCTA's board meeting and listened as members of my community continued to express their frustration notably about work continuing to start well into the late morning and finishing before 5 o'clock when the issue of lack of security was brought up OCTA assured us that guard service was already underway two nights ago my theater was just the latest downtown business to be broken into in just the last few weeks it was the first time since we opened that someone just brazenly walked up and smashed right through the door

I was there from 3 a.m. to 5.30 a.m. and I did not see one security guard anywhere on the street all night It's beyond me how the safety and welfare the businesses of 4th Street who you would think OCTA would want among the most vocal Advocates of its upcoming streetcar are being disregarded in this manner Basic 8 by 6 windscreen construction fencing cost $38 a stretch and would keep dust and debris from flying into businesses Yet even something as simple and common to construction sites as this isn't provided by OCTA

I ask my city leaders to leverage your relationships with OCTA and demand they take responsibility and immediately participate in the fiscal relief effort OCTA's inadequate infrastructure has caused this pain and distressed and the very least they can do is not lay the burden of providing relief to this community on its taxpayers Thank you

Thank you

Bill Tretti

Followed by Claire Braeburn followed by Jennifer Noria followed by Julia Castro Hello, everyone. The construction on 4th Street is really slow. It's painful to watch. I wish we could really hurry it up. And I've also noticed a lot of graffiti and a lot of violence. A lot of gangs have been coming to 4th Street. It's been a mess lately. So we really need to hurry it up and we need to help the businesses. So I hope that you all can help. All right. And also, I don't believe in the streetcar. I want to make that known.

Claire Braburn, followed by Jennifer Nodia, followed by Julia Castro, followed by Salvador.

Honorable Mayor and City Council members, my name is Claire Braburn. I'm the Executive Director and co-founder of America on Track. I'm here to talk about Agenda Item 27 regarding the ordinance to end the sale of flavored tobacco. Tonight, you have a wonderful opportunity to show the residents of Santa Ana, the people you are elected to support and protect, that you truly care about the health and future of the youth of Santa Ana. For several months, you've heard the testimony from dozens of youth and adult residents of Santa Ana that they strongly support ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products

at all locations with no exemptions. Tonight, I have a stack of 812 endorsements, and we won't take two minutes for each of them, I promise.

812 endorsements from Santa Ana residents who echo that support. All of these residents, nearly a thousand, are urging you to make the right choice and vote for option 1A tonight to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products with no exemptions. We know that no additional time is needed to discuss whether or not flavored tobacco of all kinds is harmful or addictive to children. All of us have conceded to that fact. We know tobacco is bad for kids. We know that the tobacco industry specifically targets youth with candied flavored products, even though they're not

legally able to purchase those products. So where's the problem? Is it the fact that big tobacco in the guise of small business, small local business, is saying that their businesses will be harmed? Tobacco flavored products will still be available, tobacco flavored, not candy flavored, tobacco flavored tobacco products will still be available for retailers to sell to their adult smokers. And tobacco isn't the primary reason that customers shop at convenience stores. A national industry report found that 49% go to purchase a drink, 35% to purchase food or snacks,

and only 17% for other reasons such as buying tobacco, accessing an ATM, or using the bathroom. And furthermore, convenience stores generate significantly more gross profit, more than double from food items than from tobacco. Or is the problem that the hookah industry is trying to confuse the issue for you and make it a cultural issue?

Claire, if you could begin wrapping up your time.

Voting for option 1A still allows for tobacco-flavored hookah, so those who truly use it as a cultural issue will have access to what they want and need. Thank you. So please vote for 1A. Thank you. Jennifer Noria, followed by Julia Castro, followed by Salvador, followed by Gustavo. Good evening, Mayor Sacramento and City Council members. I'm Jennifer Noria, I'm 15 years old and I attend Legacy College Prep. No, I'm a Santa Ana resident and I live in Ward 5, I'm 15 years old and I attend Legacy College Prep.

I'm here with America on Track Youth Club and I would like to speak about the impacts of flavored tobacco products. flavored tobacco products are a danger to youth like myself and there is nothing sweet about addiction. Prohibiting the sales of flavored tobacco products in Santa Ana will protect youth in our community. You can protect us by adopting option 1A and urgency ending sales of all flavored tobacco products in all locations with no exceptions. Thank you for giving me your time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Juliet Castro followed by Salvador followed by Gustavo followed by Rocio Guzmán

Buenas tardes. Estoy aquí presente como residente de Santana como negociante y como trabajadora Santana Consul Members. Necesito su ayuda para mantener mi negocio abierto. Trabajo todos los días, no tengo ningún día de descanso. Los siguientes seis meses de construcción serán rebastadores para mí y para todos mis compañeros de la calle 4 de Santana. Apenas son 28 días de construcción y he notado pérdidas de clientes y pérdidas financieras en mi negocio. Mi negocio está ubicado en el 222 West 4th Street Suite Up A. Mi negocio es pequeño y estoy ubicado en el segundo piso, el cual es más difícil

para los clientes encontrarme y hacerse su servicio.

for new clients also difficult to find the beauty salon I ask you to help inmediate as a business and working worker I have to pay my rent from the beauty salon I have to pay my rent from the beauty salon I have to pay my home, I have to pay my food, I have to pay for the employees I have to pay for the employees, I have to pay for the product to survive in the business and keep it open No pediré ninguna ayuda en esta pandemia por mi caso de migración que no fuera afectado. Los precios de mi salón no son comparados con los de Berbel y Gios.

Soy una mujer trabajadora, pero este cierre de la calle me está afectando y me afectará estos seis meses. No quiero imaginar si pierdo mis clientes. Como estilista, si no tengo clientes, no gano ni un dólar. I live from clients. The clients have been that hard to find parking. Some have been desperate and gone and I have stayed without that job. I have worked here in Santa Ana for more than 18 years. I exige your support to survive. I have paid my taxes and I ask these 5 million of help to help me and all the workers in Santa Ana. Thank you very much.

Salvador.

Salvador, there's no last name here. Salvador, followed by Gustavo.

Good evening, I'm here as a business owner in Santa Ana. I'm a resident of Santa Ana, a business owner and a worker here in Santa Ana. And Santa Ana City Council, we need your help to keep my business open. I work seven days a week, I get no rest. and this is affecting me. This is devastating for myself, for my business, and for my colleagues. For the 28 days that the construction has been going on, I have noticed a loss of business, loss of clientele. My business is at 222 West 4th Street. I have a small business.

It's on the second floor, so it's hard for my clients to find me. It's hard to get new clients as well. So we need this immediate help to help with rent for the beauty salon. I need to pay different things. I need to pay my rent and health insurance, my own housing, food, employees, beauty products to keep my business open. And we are asking for this help to help our businesses. I did not ask for help during the pandemic because I didn't want it to affect my immigration case.

My prices are not Beverly Hills prices, so I'm here to just surviving. And when we lose our business, I know that the next six months during the construction are going to be very difficult. And if I lose a client, that's business that I've lost. I live off my clients, and if my clients have told me that they cannot find parking and they have left, if I lose a client, I lose the business. I've been a business owner for over 18 years in Santa Ana, and I demand your support of the $5 million help. Thank you.

Salvador, followed by Gustavo, followed by Rocio Guzman, and then Catalina Iniesta. Good evening, Council Members. My name is Salvador. I have a travel business in a parking lot downtown. I've been impacted by the construction of OCTA. My business is over, my business is down over 75% due to the construction. My customers did not get through, my business did not get through. We need economic relief and we need it now. It's been over 30 days since our streets have been lifted. Our business has been affected. We need more signage, we need more advertising, we need more security. even as free parking is not enough.

1.5 million is not enough. Please don't nickel and dime us. Please be fair to us. Thank you. Gustavo followed by Rocio Guzman.

Rocio Guzman followed by Catalina Iniesta followed by Jasmine Torres.

Buenas noches, señor. Thank you, Mr. Alcaldes Sarmiento and members of the Council. My name is Rocio Guzmán and I have lived in the city of Santa Ana for approximately 20 years and I am a volunteer at American OnTrack. I am here with all of them, my colleagues, parents and young people who are in our struggle for the care of our youth, which is very vulnerable to all the products of the tobacco in special the tobacco of sabor, which no quita what is daño and more if they use the juca. We ask that please do what correct and vote for the option 1A.

Thank you for all your support and remember that our young people are our future. I'm a mother that has been representing a several mothers that maybe want to be here and not can do it, but we are representing those worried about these worried about this situation. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor Sarmiento, members of the City Council. My name is Rocio Guzman, and I have lived in Santana for about 20 years, and I'm a volunteer with America On Track, and I'm here with the organization, with other parents and other young people to support the youth because they're very vulnerable to the tobacco companies, especially when they're selling them flavored products and hookah and other products like that. I'm here to ask you to do the right thing and vote for option 1A. Thank you beforehand for your support and the youth are our future and

I'm here as a mom representing other moms who could not be here. So thank you for this, for your support. Catalina Iniesta followed by Jasmine Torres followed by Eder López, followed by Ann Nolly.

She has seen this. And I tell you this way because I have not been able to overcome it. I see my daughter as a zombie when she was a very happy girl, good in sports, and she always liked to participate since they were in preschool to the secondary, which is in high school now, but because of pressure, or because their parents didn't realize that they were going to see me. I realized I was going to see my sonambula and see her out of the bathroom, and to confront her and say what was happening when I saw all these things.

The sad and sad for me as a mother is to see her doing what the police do. and, unfortunately, I found my daughter three cigarettes in their inner parts. I have been so much, so I have been so much, because I was like, I have been so much, because I had a program of drugs, prevention of alcohol, but I still couldn't. Why? Because the industrial industry industriales están poniéndoselos enfrente de las escuelas,

donde no les dan oportunidad de ser ellos, sino que los involucran obligándolos. Y esto a mí me duele porque no seré la única que esté pasando esto. Habemos muchos más padres en esta situación y por eso yo les pido que voten por la 1A. Y que espero tomen conciencia esto, por favor. Gracias.

Gracias.

Good evening, Mayor Sarmiento, members of the City Council. My name is Catalina Iniestra. I'm a resident of Santa Ana for over 30 years. I'm a resident of Ward 3, and I volunteer with America on Track for over five years, and I'm here to ask you to end the sale of tobacco, flavored tobacco products in Santa Ana. I'm coming here in pain. I have two teenagers. One is involved in this, and I can't overcome this. This is painful for me to see one of my daughters just walking around like a zombie.

She is using this product and it's very hard for me to live the situation. She was a very happy girl. She used to be a very happy girl, a very strong girl from preschool all the way to junior high, but now she's in high school.

It's very hard for me to see my daughter walking out of the restroom like a zombie. I had to confront her. and it's very sad and painful for me. I had to do like the police do and check her and found on her three cigarettes hidden in her private parts. So this is very hard. As a mom, I thought this would never happen to me because I took them to all those programs and prevention programs, but the tobacco companies are very strong. They just put their products in front of them right outside of the school. They forced them to take this, and I know that I'm not the only one.

So I'm here to ask you to vote for 1A. Thank you. Jasmine Torres, followed by Eda Lopez, followed by Ann Nolly, followed by Maggie Acuna. Hi, good evening, council members and Mayor Zadmiento. My name is Jasmine. I'm a resident of Santa Ana. I live in Ward 1, and banning the sale of flavored tobacco products is a very important issue for me because I am also a parent, and the thought of having my 9-year-old son be tempted with these products just breaks my heart, just like every other parent here.

So tonight I'm asking you, council members, to please vote on option 1A and ban the sale of these flavored products. Thank you. Thank you.

Edder Lopez, Anne Nolly, Maggie Acuña, followed by Juan Dromo.

Hello, Honorable Mayor and City Council Members. My name is Edder Lopez, and I'm a Santa Ana resident in Ward 5. I'm 18 years old, and I volunteer with AmeriConTrack and the Youth Leadership Club. I really hope you will support our ordinance and end the sale of flavored tobacco in our communities. We have come here time and time again.

time and time again, and we will do so as long as it takes, because no one can put a price on our health, and I will continue to fight and protect my community from big tobacco, and as you can see, I'm not alone. You know, they may lose a few dollars, but if we let this continue, we may lose our lives. So please, I ask of you, take action and protect us. Adopt Option 1A, and on the sale of flavor tobacco. No exceptions. Thank you. Anne Nolly, followed by Maggie Acuna, followed by Juan Romo, followed by Ana Laura Padilla.

Okay. All righty.

You might want to get a little closer to the microphone.

Oh, right here?

No, the microphone to your left. Right here. There you go.

Okay. Hi, Anna Noll. I'm a business owner. First of all, good evening Mayor Sarmiento and council members. It's my first time doing this and anyway I am a business owner on 4th Street and I know fine art. I started my business in 2019. It was my dream to have a gallery and I'm an artist

and shortly thereafter I opened September 2019 then we had COVID in March and so things changed but I managed to keep the gallery open and in the fall of 2021 we opened up and things were great people were coming in to the gallery during the art walk. It was lovely, just lovely. And I think spirits were up and unfortunately I had to turn in my keys

last week. And I can honestly say it was the saddest day of my life since my father died in 2016. This is my life. And I'm a business owner and I am a single mother of a daughter I'm sending to college. And I think the construction, I'm asking for compensation. I'm probably a little late because I turned in my keys, but for the other business people, because you can't do business when you can't park the car.

And please, please, that's it. Thank you. Thank you.

Maggie Acuña, followed by Juan Romo, followed by Ana Laura Padilla, followed by Hermelindo Muñoz. Thank you, Mayor and Council. My name is Maggie Acuña. I am with ACS CAN. I'm here to ask you to, to urge you to eliminate the sale of flavored tobacco products, all flavored tobacco products in the city of Santa Ana. At the age of 30, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. The first question I asked of my doctor was, what did I do to cause this?

You see a lot of youth in this hall tonight who are urging you to help protect them so that they don't have a similar experience at some point in their life, asking a doctor what they did. You've heard from a lot of our members here who have shared lots of data points. I wanted to share two with you. 85% of smokers start by the age of, before the age of 18. 80% start with the flavored tobacco product. You have the opportunity by passing this ordinance 1A, option 1A, to protect the youth in Santa Ana. Thank you.

Thank you. Juan Romo, Ana Laura Padilla, followed by Hermelinda Munoz, and Jimena Silva.

Good afternoon, my name is Juan Manuel Romo. My business is called Santana Salón de Banquetes Familiares. I have been working since 2008 in the city, the 4th Street. Why I'm here is because the construction of the train is affecting. My clients are canceling the events because they're afraid that there are enough stations.

se mira muy depravado la calle y callejones llenos de grafite y personas emborrachándose en los callejones y peleando como este último sábado y la seguridad de la calle nunca aparece y prefieren ir a otra ciudad a hacer sus eventos familiares. This is what I'm trying to do with my rent and expenses that I have to keep my business ahead and maintain my responsibility as a family. Because of the emergency that we had from COVID-19, my business was closed for more than a year and I had perdues.

I'm trying to do my rent from the business, with the owner of the building, and I was just starting to pay this debt of more than $30,000 and other debt. and I have this construction of the train. And I have another problem. My clients are scared and they are canceled. I have several events. Please, concejales and alcalde, I have a money money for me and my colleagues from the 4th Street Street, since we have more than 80 businesses affected, since we work for 3 to 4 hours a day, and I think they pay 8 hours a day. And nobody supervise me. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Juan Manuel Romo. I'm the owner of Santa Ana Salon for Family Banquets. And I've been in downtown Santa Ana since 2018 on 4th Street. And the street car construction has affected my business a lot. My customers have canceled events. They're afraid that there will not be enough parking during their event. The conditions around there are deplorable. There's graffiti all over. There's drunk people fighting in the

alleyways and around the streets. And just like it happened this past weekend, and security is nowhere to be seen. And my clients, my customers prefer to go to other cities instead. I'm I'm falling behind in my rent and my other expenses for my business. And I can't support my family as a head of the household. And COVID affected me. I had to close due to COVID for over a year. So I had great losses. I fell behind in the rent and other expenses. My debt is up to about $30,000.

And now, because of the construction, I see that I'm still falling behind. My clients are canceling the events, so we need this financial help for myself and for the other businesses. There are over 80 businesses around downtown that are affected. The construction workers are there for three to four hours a day, and I think they're paid for eight. So there's no supervision. Thank you. Thank you. Ana Laura Padilla, followed by Hermelindo Munoz, followed by Jimena Silva, followed by Minerva Alvarez. Good evening, Mayor.

Sarmiento and members of the council. Today I read a quote that said, for many years almost for its very inception the city of Santa Ana has had a downtown shopping and business district known as 4th Street. It has a long cultural history and used to have a great atmosphere. Today this is 4th Street. I have some pictures that I can pass over later. Today this is also what happens at One of my servers got beat up at the parking structure after finishing his job at my restaurant.

There was no security. There was no police officers around to help him. We have to urgently take him to the emergency room ourselves when he gave us a call. It's becoming very hard to keep all security in downtown Santa Ana. Also, for the past two weeks, I have opened my office for members of business owners to help them with filing the application for the Orange County Microbusinesses Grant. Most of these businesses do not qualify due to they already have previous grants for COVID. So I urgently ask you for more funds for these businesses.

The questions I get asked every day is, Ana, how am I going to pay my rent? Ana, how am I going to survive this? and I don't have any answers for this. I have a very cold, more than 15 landlords to ask for a grace period to pay much rent for all these business owners, and this is just the beginning of the construction. I have no idea how we're going to survive for the next couple months. Thank you. Thank you. Hermelindo Munoz, followed by Jimena Silva.

Hermelindo Munoz.

Jimena Silva, followed by Minerva Alvarez.

Hello, good evening. My name is Jimena, I'm an employee here in Santa Ana. I work six days a week in this beautiful city. But recently, it's been sad to see how the city is becoming so insecure. I'm scared to finish work late at night and walk by myself into the parking due to multiple confrontations in the parking structure. In our work we need to walk into like in groups to the parking structure because we're scared that something can happen to us. And there is no security to make us feel safe. Friends of mine had come to visit downtown Santa Ana and got their cars broken into. This morning another

window broken into the parking and all my worries got worse when recently last Saturday one of my co-workers was walking with his boyfriend and a group of people beat them up and sprayed them with pepper spray just because they were part of the LGBT community. This happened in a street away from our job and there was no cops and no security that could provide any help or avoid the situation. When I come to work I rather pay more money in the meters and park my car in the structure even though I have a parking pass and the reason to this is because I don't know in what conditions I'm going to find my car after work. I am also

concerned economically wise for the business in Santa Ana. We have never been so slow in tax season. Clients cancel because they don't want to deal with all these closed streets and on safety parking. We have more than 90 cancellations since the construction started. We can hear the phone most of the times because of the loud noise that this construction causes. We come here and ask for help to keep this city and this culture safe and alive. So please help us. Thank you.

Minerva Álvarez, followed by María Pérez and Lucy Jaden.

no tenemos clientes. Estamos nuevamente aquí ante ustedes con el gran problema que tenemos en la calle 4. Las necesidades son muy grandes, no tan solo es la renta de nuestros negocios, es la comida, la gasolina, la renta de nuestros hogares y muchas otras necesidades. Necesitamos toda su ayuda que nos puedan dar. Yo tengo mucho tiempo en la calle 4 y siempre hemos contribuido.

Todos nosotros los comerciantes de la calle 4 merecemos ayuda.

I would like to say good evening, but there's nothing good about it, nothing to celebrate. It's sad that we are here. Our businesses are practically desolate. We have no clients. We have lots of problems in 4th Street. It's not only the issue with paying the rent. We can't pay our food, the gas, our home expenses. So we need all the financial help that you can give us. I've been on 4th Street for a long time, and it's very difficult now. And all the businesses are there. All the businesses need your help.

I remember that Mr. Sarmiento went to us and said to support with construction, to keep on with construction, and now we're asking that you help us. Thank you. Maria Perez, followed by Lucy Jaden, followed by Guadalupe Baragán. Buenas noches a todos. Los comerciantes de la calle 4 pedimos ayuda económica para pagar los servicios de nuestros negocios because in their construction project, they did not contemplate the great impact that causes the economy of the comerciants, which is coming down. We need to survive. It is very difficult to survive.

It was very difficult to survive in the pandemic, and now the effects of this work will be going to be and if we don't receive economic support, it will be impossible to stay until the project ends. In the website of Octa, it says that for the work they have with federal, state and local resources, and for $509 million, and in the section of questions, frequent, they indicate that the cost of the project is of $408 million. In mind these data, we can say that the resources of money that we are soliciting

no representan un porcentaje significativo de los recursos con los que OCTAC tiene disponible para el proyecto. ¿Qué vamos a hacer los dueños de negocios afectados sin apoyo económico? Este proyecto termina hasta el 2024. Esto es apenas el inicio de las afectaciones para los dueños de negocios y falta mucho para que la obra rinda fruto. Señores del Consejo, necesitamos tu ayuda. Gracias.

Good evening. I am a member, a business, a 4th Street business, and the 4th Street businesses need your help so we can pay for our services, we can get by. The construction has been very difficult for our businesses. We need to survive, and it's been hard to survive through the pandemic, and now our businesses businesses are about to sink. We don't have money. We need the help for the businesses

to pay for our services. And the OCTA website says that there are federal monies and local monies that go into this project. The frequently asked questions on the website says that this This project is about $408 million, so the resources that we're asking are not a significant percentage of the money to help the businesses. So the businesses need the help. This construction project is supposed to go until 2024, so this means that this project

is just starting and we are suffering here. So City Council, we need your help. Thank you. Lucy Jaden followed by Guadalupe Barragan followed by Erica Robles followed by Juan Plasencia. Good evening council members. My name is Lucy Jadao and I'm here to speak on behalf of the LGBTQ Center of Orange County which provides a safe space and advocacy for members of the LGBT community here in Santa Ana. As a member of the queer community myself, I've fallen victim to the candy-like flavors of tobacco that made me feel like I belonged when I otherwise felt like an outcast.

I began vaping as a teenager because it tasted good and because it helped me make friends and feel accepted. I had no understanding of the health risks of using tobacco or how addictive it was, and I never expected to still be struggling with the dependence over six years later. The fact is that 90% of smokers start in their teenage years, and those in the LGBTQ community start even younger. Flavored tobacco exists to fuel this statistic as it is designed to target the vulnerable palate of a younger demographic. topic. Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. The key word here is preventable.

Voting to ban the sale of flavored tobacco without exemptions in Santa Ana and remove it from your local drug stores is a monumental decision whose impact will stretch years into the future. You have the power to change the course of a generation of young lives in shielding them from a life of addiction, health complications, and ultimately premature death. I ask that you please consider the gravity of your role in fostering a safer, healthier future for your community and the world at large as you make this decision today. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Guadalupe Barragán, followed by Erika Robles, followed by Juan Plasencia, followed by María del Sol.

Buenas tardes nuevamente a los miembros del concilio.

the first time I came here they asked me if I was afraid of to present to the Mayor Vicente Sarmiento and I said I said no, because he is a human like me he has two hands, he has one head he has two feet, I respect as members of the Council and I thank you for focusing on your time and what they are doing with the indigenous, with the homeless everything they are doing We are very grateful to you, but the truth is that all the businessmen of the Calle 4 need their help urgently.

We don't know who invented that train, but we need their help. Another point I want to tell you is that the Mrs. Teresa Triza, who is the real name, who was the organizer of OCTA, is a woman who is a respectful, that was a very respectful that we sent to say that there was a joint in the street in Orange, and we didn't have a job in the front of the floor, which is an irresponsible that has no education. For education, we would have given to go to listen and we promised help, which we are not receiving. We need urgent help.

In my business, personally, we have six families that depend on all of us, y si somos afectados muchísimo. Necesitamos, señor Sarmiento y todos los miembros del Consejo, que tomen atención a nuestra necesidad. Muchísimas gracias. Gracias.

Good evening, members of the City Council. The first time I came here, somebody asked me, you're not afraid to go before the mayor, Sarmiento? And I said, no, I'm not afraid because he's a human being just like anyone. He has two hands, a head, and two feet. He's a respectful member of the city council. And we are here, and I commend you. I congratulate you on what you are doing with the homeless. We're very thankful to you. But all the 4th Street businesses need your help urgently. And I don't know who is the one who brought the streetcar.

but this Teresa Ortiz from OCTA, the OCTA organization is very disrespectful. She told us about a meeting on Main Street in Orange and that we were left outside. We were not invited to go in. She did not listen to what we went to say and they promised help and we are not getting any help. My business, six families depend on my business. So we, Mr. Sarmiento and the City Council, we need your support. We need your support on this issue right now. Thank you very much.

Erica Robles followed by Juan Plasencia followed by Maria del Sol and then Moises Vázquez. Good evening, Council Members and Mayor Sarmiento. I'm here with my team representative. I'm a founder of the United Across the Waters Foundation. and I just wanted to take the time and say thank you and I'm coming on number 17. I appreciate it for the time and I just wanted you guys to know that I wasn't born here. I was born in Morelos, Mexico and I'm going to represent this year. They're going to be working together and just want to let you guys know that I'm here for you guys and for the community and thank you for everything, guys.

Thank you. Thank you.

Juan Plasencia followed by Maria del Sol, Moises Vazquez, and then Riley Williams.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor and City Council. My name is Juan P Plasencia, or many know me as JP. I'm a resident of the Mid-City neighborhood in Ward 4, and I also work as an immigration outreach coordinator at the LGBTQ Center OC. Tonight, I'm here as both the resident of Santa Anna and as an LGBTQ member who is deeply concerned about the health of our youth and our community. Did you know in 2021 alone there were approximately 2.06 million youth from grades 6 through 12 that self-identified as being users of e-cigs. We need to understand how. How are youth and young adults perceiving

flavored products? Well research did establish that youth highly prefer sweet tastes and sweet odors which explains their appeal to the flavored products. But flavors, especially sweet and fruit flavors, do play a role in influencing tobacco use or experimentation in youth and young adults. Now, a closer look, the FDA's 2021 Annual National Youth Tobacco Survey, although done through a pandemic, distinguished that two in five youth use e-cigs frequently and one in four use daily. 85% of youth surveyed began, currently use and prefer flavored e-cigs. In the

LGB community it's one in five. These figures represent the users and fail to look at the causes or factors of why these numbers are so dangerously high. This topic hits home for me because I understand the effects. I have severe asthma as a result of my own father being a smoker. It took seeing his son intubated for a week in the hospital for him to realize and quit smoking. We want you all to know that there is an option available for all of you. As a tobacco product landscape continues to evolve, tonight we have the opportunity to make a change. Tonight we urge you to vote yes on an ordinance that prohibits the sale

of tobacco products in our city. Thank you for your time and attention from myself, members of the LGBTQ community, and the residents of Santa Ana. Thank you. Thank you. Maria del Sol, followed by Moises Vazquez, followed by Victor Mendez.

to all of you, but unfortunately, because of the construction that there is, our businesses have been affected, unfortunately, in a great way. We have lost many clients and that's why our income has been The construction of the streets is, as it says, the name is construction, but they look at the streets as a destruction, not as a construction. So, they come with the machines, They just destroy everything in one hour, but to put them as they were or as they were, they are taking too much. We have lost many clients and to recover those clients, it took a lot of time.

They have gone to other businesses, to other cities. For this reason, we ask that we help economically, to be able to sustain our business. Nosotros queremos seguir trabajando, como lo hemos hecho hasta ahora. Queremos seguir adelante, pero necesitamos ahora ayuda, y no sabemos cuándo va a terminar esta construcción. Lo necesitamos acciones, no palabras. Necesitamos lo más pronto posible. Gracias por escucharnos. Buenas noches. Gracias.

Good evening, Mayor Vicente Sarmiento and City Council members. I'm a business owner. My business is on 504 East 4th Street, and thank you for listening to us. And sadly, the construction of the Orange County streetcar is affecting us. We have lost lots of clients. Our income has gone down a lot. and the construction, well, they call it construction, but it looks more like destruction. The machines come and then destroy the street in about an hour, but it takes them much longer than that to build it back up. So we have lost lots of clients,

and it's going to take a long time to get those customers back. They're going to other cities, to other businesses. So we need your financial help for our businesses, and we want to stay here, we want to keep working, and we need your help. We don't know when this is going to end, and so we need actions, not words. And we need your help as soon as possible. Thank you. Moises Vazquez, followed by Riley Williams, followed by Victor Mendez, and then Anna Marson. Good evening. My name is Moises Vazquez. I'm a resident of Santa Ana. I live in Ward 2.

Growing up in Santa Ana, many of us experimented with tobacco. Some of us chose not to go down that path. Others became addicted and still today friends of mine that began abusing substances when we were kids have not been able to overcome their addictions. On the contrary, many of their addictions have escalated, but they all began their path to addiction by abusing tobacco. Telling our youth to stay away from abusing substances is not always enough. Drug awareness programs are not always enough. We must back that up by adopting policies and ordinances to protect them.

I urge you to vote on option 1A to prohibit the sale of all flavored tobacco products in Santa Ana. Thank you. Thank you. Riley Williams, followed by Victor Mendez, followed by Anna Marson.

Hi there, my name is Riley Williams. I am a resident of Ward 1 of Santa Ana, and I do want to acknowledge that it is very clear that the Council cares about our youth, as you have let us go forward today and push our items up to the front, as we find these very important. As I'm sure you're aware, as we all are, as we have heard many times tonight, is a growing epidemic among our youth and we find that one in five lesbian gay and bisexual individuals smoke and for trans individuals such as myself the closer estimate is one in three or over 30 percent at this point and the numbers continue to grow

the reason this becomes a santa anna issue though because a lot of my points were already said

But over time, we've seen more and more vendors move into Santa Ana. When you look at where they are located on that map, you see they're located near those schools, the middle schools, the high schools. When doing my own research and seeing in the Santa Ana School District, there is at least 17 vendors within a two-mile radius of each school. That is a walking distance. It is way too easy to walk into a 7-Eleven and view so many different flavors. And each day another one gets made. I may not like white gummy bear, but tomorrow do I like green gummy bear?

And every day they come back with another flavor, which is why tonight we need to push to just get them out of here. They will continue to push their new flavors on people like me, on people like my friends, and people like my little sister who had picked up vaping before she even finished high school. These temporary fixes that they tried to sell us are addiction in a little pod, and we know this because addiction smells like cotton candy now. Thank you.

Victor Mendez followed by Anna Marson followed by Brian Leon and our last speaker will be Alfonso Calderon our last in-person speaker. Mr. Mayor may I have my full three minutes because I have another item besides item 16 that I wish to speak on but I'll go ahead Victor. Okay, I'm coming to you with a personal appeal. I worked with both Mr. Hernandez and Councilmember Fan on trying to amend the current ERP program to include arrears. My assumption was that it would always be kind of a single award, the program be modified, and then you'd be awarding these new

grants to people who are in need for both their arrears and any prospective payments up to three months. Mr. Brown informed Councilmember Correa today, and I had talked to Lou directly about this, that this will be nothing but a sequential program. Until the arrears program is completed, in the view of Mr. Brown, then they'll award arrears, I'm sorry, prospective payments. I don't know how that works. Before, just one combined award is pretty simple. It seems like we're leaving a lot of money on the table for people like myself and others who could benefit by getting

both their arrears taken care of and get the prospective payments taken care of and move on with their lives through this very difficult period. So I'm asking the council to meet with Ms. Ridge and reset or determine and finalize this direction. It's been very confusing. I think Mr. Correa is very confused as well as to why you're going about it this way. And I'm frankly tired of going back and forth on emails. I just don't have that time. And I need to figure out my life as to how the city is going to be able to assist me in this particular time as I wait for a disability award. So I'll wait two weeks for this.

I've been more than patient with it. That would have been 90 days since this was awarded or approved by the council. And then I'll just have to go from there. But I'm asking the council directly to figure this out, communicate back as to what you're gonna do going forward, and I'm just not gonna engage in any more emails. It's just far too frustrating, because every time I get one, it's a new different problem or a new different issue from Mr. Brown. On relative to number 16, of course, I support that. MTA itself has, am I almost out of time? Was that my two minutes? Go ahead. You've got one more minute. Yeah, I'll finish it up.

Thank you. Anyway, so I did a little research. So MTA offers about $50,000 a year to impacted businesses along their corridor. They've been doing it for five years. They have awarded about $36 million over this period of time. It seems to be a good program. It seems to work. It seems to be keeping people where they need to be. I think what you're doing today is a good start. It's obviously it's not enough. You're going to have to find more funding. There's 150 businesses out there. I don't think that will last very long for these people. And I think we just have to figure out a way to get some more funding and also do better

mitigation. This particular contractor is simply just not proactive and just not thinking what they're doing out there. and these businesses are left to suffer for his errors and omissions. And that's just simply unfair. Thank you, Victor. Thank you. Anna Marson, followed by Brian Leon, followed by Alfonso Calderon.

Good evening, Mayor and Councilmembers. My name is Anna Marson. I work for the LGBTQ Center OC. As you heard tonight, the sale tobacco-flavored tobacco is harmful to our youth. And I'm here to ask you to please help us keep our youth, provide a safe environment for them. So please do what you can in keeping our youth safe and healthy. Thank you very much. Thank you. Brian Leon followed by Alfonso Calderon. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and council members. My name is Brian Leon.

Me and my family own a business here in 113th West 4th Street, and we've been very affected by the OC street cart. And also, yeah, our sales have gone down by like 80%. Also, we need security as well. This past week, twice we were robbed by homeless people. And we need help for all the businesses around us. Thank you. Thank you. Alfonso.

Welcome. Good evening, Mayor Sarmiento and Councilmembers. Buenas noches. Well, I'm here to give my comment. Our business is in Guadalajara, in the 4th Street. I'm here to support the cause and the struggle that we are carrying out, so that we can receive funds to help to continue working. I thank you very much for talking about a number of dollars, but it's not enough to resist so many months with the streets. cerradas. Por favor, les pedimos que midan la magnitud de esta situación y hagan la correcta para los negociantes del downtown. Y quiero

aprovechar para darles las gracias públicamente a las personas que con su dedicación y perseverancia levantaron su voz para ser escuchadas y de esa manera hicieron que todos nos uniéramos en un mismo sentir. Gracias. Gracias, Juan.

Good evening, members of the City Council. I'm here to comment on this. I'm representing Taquerías Guadalajara and 4th Street. And I'm here to support this fight that we're engaging on, to get the money, the financial support, to keep operating our businesses. I'm thankful and I thank you for the $1.5 million in this issue, but it's not enough. It's not enough to keep us going for so many months for when the streets are going to be closed.

So we are here and we need to support the businesses in downtown. And I'm here to thank publicly all the people who are coming here to raise their voice, to have their issue heard. and we are here standing in one voice. Thank you.

Thank you. So Alfonso was our last speaker. I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to the clerk of the council because I understand there's some members of the public that wish to address the council that are online or on the phone.

Thank you, Mayor. Before I'm meeting callers, I'd like to begin reporting the following summary of emails provided. We received two Santa Ana residents commented on lack of services provided by OC Animal Care as a non-agenda comment, And then item number three on the homeless update, one Santa Ana resident provided a comment on issues with response for reporting issues. Item 21, one Santa Ana business in support of the fund. Item 27, we received in support of the ordinance prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco.

There were 25 Santa Ana residents, 812 endorsements, 786 of them were Santa Ana residents, and 26 were non-Santa Ana residents, 9 non-Santa Ana residents or residency not disclosed. Then we had one Santa Ana business in support of option number 4. And with that, caller with the last three numbers, 477. if you would please dial star six from your phone or select the microphone icon.

Yeah, good evening, mayor and city council. This is Dale Heldig of ward three. I called tonight mainly to wish Ron Ono a happy farewell. He has been very instrumental in helping in Ana Ana and Park Santiago and Santiago Park. I hope he's able to join us for the grand opening of Santiago Park once all the reconstruction gets done. So best wishes to Ron. On item 20 for the Discovery Science Center memorandum of understanding, I support Discovery Cube doing something

with that property north of them. So hopefully they get their grant money and can go ahead and acquire that. I'd just like to ask that the city keep an open mind and maybe not only let them get the MOU and the grant money but do some kind of land swap with the city owned property to the north of Discovery and the property that they own to the east of it over at 2525. So that'd be nice. Also, if the city council can take a close look at the redistricting maps that I sent over the weekend,

as you know, the four maps that the city's looking at, they split up anywhere from three to six neighborhoods. And I don't think that's something that the city council wants to have happen. The map I submitted does have an issue as far as the percentage of being greater than 10%, but it also doesn't split up any neighborhoods. And I think that's more important than the 10% threshold. So I'm hoping that that works out. I'm also hoping that...

10 seconds left.

I'm also hoping that maybe 4th Street, they could work at night. So I don't know if that's been thought of at all, but consider it. And last thing is I wish the Ukrainian people All the best and hope at the end soon. Thanks.

Thank you. Zoom ID, Nathaniel Greensides, if you would please select the microphone icon on your device.

Nathaniel Greensides, you were able to unmute yourself successfully. You may proceed with your comment.

Hello.

Hey, can you hear me now?

Yes, we can hear you.

Sorry about that. So my name is Nathaniel Greensides. I'm a Ward 5 resident. Item 11 regarding new waste receptacles in our parks. And my opinion there is as long as we don't have to spend time, this same amount again in the next 10 years for the same thing. I think that $18.75 per waste receptacle is worthwhile. And I think there also needs to be messaging about what plastic products can actually be recycled in a blue bin. Items 12 and 13, glad to see that these much needed busy crossings will finally get some traffic signals, especially during non-peak times when some drivers treat our streets like freeways.

Item 18, I worry that mandating a monthly report of hate crimes might result in underreporting of hate crimes, in addition to all hate crimes that are actually committed as well as alleged. Item 20, Outdoor STEM Education Center for the Discovery Crew along the center. Excellent proposal in my opinion. item 26 i'm concerned about the origin of this ordinance and i submitted my written e-comment which can be viewed online and finally regarding the flavor tobacco van while i am for making these products less easily available in our city banning something doesn't mean everyone stops

using it if surrounding cities still sell it residents might still be able to get their hand whether they're youth or adults additionally if we are to ban these products altogether because as was stated previously these products have targeted specifically marginalized demographics of people for far too long, what assurance does this ban actually offer us that our law enforcement officers won't continue to target, marginalize, and criminalize the very same groups of people who have been targeted by the flavored tobacco industry if we are to enact, if these products

are to continue to exist in our neighborhoods? The youth who have appeared in support of this ban, I applaud you and I encourage continued activism for things you care about and to always question the powers that be. The big money that has come into Santa Ana and spent on this campaign definitely has its merits but will those same interests stick around after their ban is passed to ensure that you and your communities can continue to succeed have a good night thank you

zoom id linda barber if you would please select the microphone icon on your device

good afternoon good evening council and honorable mayor thank you for taking up time to consider this life-saving ordinance. I am with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and we urge you to vote tonight in support of the ordinance option 1A that ends the sale of menthol cigarettes and all other flavored tobacco products. I want to correct what the previous caller said. This policy will not criminalize the user should it be adopted. And we urge you to adopt it without delay. Every day about 18 California kids become daily smokers through flavored tobacco.

And for me, I started smoking at 16 through a flavored tobacco product, and it was harder to quit years later. And 45 years later, our youth are still being lured. We urge you to take immediate action and give Santa Ana youth that equal opportunity to live a healthy life by ending the sale of all flavored tobacco with your yes vote on option 1A. Thank you. Thank you.

Zoom ID, Lindsey Freitas, if you would please select the microphone icon on your device. Thank you. You may proceed with your comment.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members. I'm Lindsey Freitas with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. I would like to thank this Council for being a leader in tobacco control. We are in strong support policies that protect kids by ending the sale of flavored tobacco, including e-cigarettes, menthol cigarettes, and hookah. Prohibiting the sale of flavor tobacco products in all tobacco retailers is a critical step that will help protect children living in Santa Ana from the unrelenting efforts of the tobacco industry to hook them on a deadly product. Now without delay.

In California 9 out of 10 high school tobacco users report using flavored products and we can't let that continue. I ask for this council to end the sale of flavored tobacco product and vote yes on 1A. Thank you.

thank you zoom id oscar gonzalez if you would please select the microphone icon on your device

uh hello good evening can you hear me yes we can hear you may proceed with your comment

yes hello my name is oscar gonzalez i'm the owner of the golden hall price weekend and uh My comment goes to outside in the city of Santa Ana to tell them that please, number one, help us with a person of 25 million surplus that the city has, not 1.15 million, but at least $5 million.

Excuse me, Oscar, can you lower the volume on your surrounding sound? We're getting feedback. Thank you.

you can hear me better now yes we could hear you better now thank you all right uh can i go

all over again you may proceed with your comment all right uh well my comment is goes like to the city of santa anna and then all that uh that helped us with a portion of like 25 million of the surplus that city has of no what 1.5 million but at least five million dollars for uh for all the small business that has been affected question for all you guys

how are we gonna with that 10 grand for eight some long three months sorry sorry guys can i say

in spanish yes you may speak in spanish we have a translator okay sorry

how are we going to survive with the 10,000 dollars for 8, 12 million dollars, 12 months?

He left 10 seconds.

So, the...

Octa... Sorry, I'm very nervous, I can't speak.

Okay, okay.

The question at the end was how can we businesses survive with $10,000 for 12 months?

Zoom ID, Alex Winston, if you would please select the microphone icon to unmute your device.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. My name is Alex Winston. I'm with Parents Against Vaping E-Cigarettes, also known as PAVE, a national grassroots organization founded by parents in response to the youth vaping epidemic. In 2017, my son started vaping menthol nicotine products at his high school and still does three years later today at age 18. My husband, who was trying to quit, was vaping menthol and died at age 42 of a severe heart arigna with 500 milligrams levels of unregulated nicotine in his system, leaving me a single mother of four kids.

my husband was mixed race black and native american two of the highest risk populations to suffer from tobacco related health disparities and the predatory marketing of the menthol products by the tobacco industry his life mattered please vote in favor of the proposed flavored tobacco product ordinance including hookah menthol and e-cigarettes no person business or government should profit off people's lives. We were too late for my son who's already addicted and for my husband who is no longer with us. Let's not be too late for the next generation. Please vote for option 1A. Thank you for letting me share my story with you.

Have a good night.

Thank you. Zoom ID Mara M. If you would please select the microphone icon. Thank you. You may proceed with your comment.

Good evening, Santa Ana City Council members. My name is Mara Mars Bunny. I am a student at the Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana. I'm calling in tonight to express how important it is that Santa Ana prioritize kids health by ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products without exemptions. The tobacco industry markets their products in kid-friendly flavors like watermelon mint, mango, pink con candy and menthol that make them easier to start and harder to quit. Flavored e-cigarettes are the most commonly used flavored tobacco product among

students but my peers are also becoming hooked on menthol cigarettes, flavored hookah, cigars, and smokeless tobacco. All of these flavored tobacco products are incredibly addicting, alluring to youth, and deadly. We deserve to be protected from them. As a student and member of a minority group this issue is especially important to me because I don't want to see my fellow classmates and minorities like myself get hurt and fall prey to big tobacco the future is in the hands of my generation and we need healthy healthy youth to lead us we need you to pass this

policy tonight every single day that flavored tobacco products are sold in our community more middle and high school aged kids pick up their first tobacco product and potentially start a lifelong nicotine addiction so i urge the city council to stand up to big tobacco you have the power to go beyond the state and protect local youth from all flavored tobacco products option

1a is the right choice for Santa Ana thank you thank you zoom id Rima Corey if you would please

select the microphone icon on your device good evening Santa Ana City Council I'd like to speak on agenda item 27 my name is Rima Corey I'm general counsel for Fumari a premium hookah tobacco manufacturer. I'm also a founding member of the National Hookah Community Association, which was established to protect and preserve the rich cultural tradition of hookah. We support strict regulations that address youth access and usage of flavored tobacco products. We asked the city of Santa Ana to vote on option 2B and exempt hookah from the flavored tobacco ban.

The NHCA represents Middle Easterners, Armenians, Turks, Indians, Persians, North Africans, and other minority groups that fear engaging in the lawmaking process. That is why our organization is here, to give these people a united voice and to educate lawmakers and the public on what hookah is and what it is not. Hookah is greatly misunderstood. Hookahs are the centerpiece of social and celebratory events for these minority communities. It is offered as a sign of hospitality and respect. A traditional hookah is three feet tall and cannot be hidden in a backpack or pocket.

It takes 20 to 30 minutes to set up and cannot be set up and used in a school bathroom at recess. Hookahs are not being confiscated in schools. A hookah, along with its parts and components, costs over $200, which is cost prohibitive for most youth. Hookah tobacco comes in flavors. Therefore, a broad flavored tobacco ban would be a ban on hookah. Hookah usage amongst teens, according to the 2020 CDC survey, is one of the lowest at 2.7 nationally. This number has been going down over the past decade. In California, according to the California Youth Survey, it is even lower at 1.7%. According to the FDA April 2020 industry guidance,

although they cite a correlation between flavor tobacco and youth usage, the FDA does not see the same correlation with hookah because of its low prevalence with youth. It is important, please mirror SB 793 and vote for option to be, please protect the right of the Middle Eastern communities in Santa Ana. Thank you. Thank you.

Zoom ID, Nia, if you would please select the microphone icon on your device and proceed with your comment.

Good evening council. My name is Niav and I am here to thank you for your work on exempting hookah. I would like to thank our mayor for being a strong voice in our community. I applaud those here on the council who have come to realize that we need to be sensitive and fair while continuing to protect all communities. To our Mayor Tim, to our Mayor Pro Tem Phil, shame on you. You out of anyone on this council should take a seat and listen to the voices of those around you. Minority communities are becoming fed up with the virtue of signaling and white savior agenda you seem to want to push.

You as a white passing heterosexual male need to take that privilege life has dealt you and learn to listen and sit down and open those ears. The last meeting was an embarrassment because you couldn't even pretend to listen to the comments of the rest of the council and public. And instead, you tried to push an item through instead of taking the time and doing your due diligence to hear all sides. The fact that you want to openly mock Muslims and Arabs is sickening. I would also like to add that your disgusting behavior towards our city attorney did not go unnoticed. The fact

that you felt it was okay to publicly try to question if she had done her job and then to continue to speak over here over her was shocking. Councilwoman Lopez, thank you for not being afraid to call out the racist things our city has done in the past. Thank you for pointing out that it's okay to not understand others cultures, but also understanding that it's everyone's duty to protect cultural traditions. I agree with Councilwoman Fan and the others who have mentioned marijuana dispensaries. We can put restrictions on 21 and up smoke shops in the same way dispensaries are

required to conduct business. However, just because you aren't banning me from using a hookah at home, you would be prohibiting me from purchasing one of the key components for hookah, which is shisha, if this broad flavor ban were to pass. I would rather support local minority business owners than to have to buy from Amazon. Please save hookah. Thank you to the city of Santa Ana for supporting the Arab and Muslim community here. 15 seconds left.

Thank you.

Zoom ID, Nicole Turkson. If you would please select the microphone icon on your device and proceed with your comment.

Hello, can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you may proceed with your comment.

Wonderful. Good evening, mayor and city council members. My name is Nicole Turkson and I'm with the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council. We advocate for the African American community and all marginalized groups that have been targeted by the tobacco industry with menthol and other flavored tobacco products. I just want to thank the council for taking up this issue. The urgency should not be lost on us every day that we fail to restrict the access to these products. More and more people are targeted and hooked and African Americans and other communities of color suffer disproportionately because of it.

Hookah is also a growing concern in this community because of the way it's being marketed similarly to menthol cigarettes using cultural using cultural music hip-hop culture to market towards youth and communities of color so just want to thank the council once again for considering option 1a as the best option without any exemptions thank you and have a good evening thank you

Okay, Zoom ID, Fred Baxchouroun, if you would please select the microphone icon on your device.

Can you hear me now?

Yes, we could hear you. Thank you.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity, Mr. Mayor and Santa Ana City Council. My name is Fred Baxchouroun. I'm the owner of the Smoking Gift on Tustin Avenue. I've been in the business for the last 15 years. Because my own, myself and my staff, we're really proud of having such a policy to control who's coming to the store and who's not. I raised two kids of my own. They never smoke. I'm an owner of a smoke shop. I never smoked in my life.

but banning the flavor or banning that the mental sorry about sorry about that

banning the flavor from the city of sanana you gotta drive the people from the city of sanana to the surrounding city like orange and the city of tosset so you're not doing any good to the city of San Anam. I've been following the policy, myself and my staff, on a regular basis. We never have any citation. We never have any problem. We never sell anything to a minor since I opened the store 15 years ago. Before I opened the store, I used to be an operation manager for the Citibank and the U.S. Bank. So I know how to use the rule.

I know how to force it. and let my people, let my employees to follow the rules. So since 15 years, I didn't even have one ticket or one citation since I opened the store. So I urge you to oppose the flavor ban, please. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Zoom ID, Claudia Martinez. If you would please select the microphone icon on your device.

Zoom ID, Claudia Martinez. Thank you. You may proceed with your comment. Sorry about that. Good evening.

Yes, I am actually calling as a resident, as a mom, as a non-smoker. I'm completely, you know, against minor smoking, but I think there's a bigger picture here that, you know, people aren't paying attention to you know um there needs to be more education in the homes and at schools uh the retailers are already suffering from the pandemic and from the confusion of what is going on with the van um we're asking that or i'm asking that you know we could at least hopefully push the enforcement date to january 1st you know after the november vote which is

probably going to pass um it's only you know two months and it would allow retailers to find other ways to recover their losses if they need permits for anything like refrigeration or construction or you know everything's taking so long right now everything's on back order contractors are you know booked things like things like that and um these are families just like you know anyone else these are families and the employees families so they are looking at you know trying to figure things out in a very short amount of time so I urge that you know at least if nothing else

the enforcement date be pushed to January 1st to give them a little extra time to figure out

you know how to survive this thank you for your time thank you zoom id darren if you would please select the microphone icon on your device and proceed with your comment

Good evening. Can you hear me?

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

Okay. I'm a local customer of Mr. Baskatoon, Fred, the owner of Smoke and Gifts. And I just want to share a couple of quick thoughts. The banning of flavored tobaccos will most likely force the black market to prevail, no different than it did in the cannabis industry. So when the regulations on cannabis came into effect and the taxation and the rates that people were being charged, it quickly increased the black market. I think the bigger problem is the regulation.

There are plenty of upstanding businesses out there that follow the letter of the law and absolutely do not support in any way, shape or form the sale of product to minors. and I understand the issue at hand, but I think it really needs to go back to the enforcement and regulation of those businesses that obviously break the law and provide product to miners. This isn't going to do anything other than drive a black market or people to a neighboring city. And in doing so and in banning it altogether, it's gonna have a significant negative impact

on not only the local business owner, but the tax rate that the city enjoys as well. So I think there's a bigger issue here than just an outright ban on flavors or menthol products. And I would encourage the city to consider looking at those other bigger issues prior to enforcing a ban that's going to have a true negative impact on the local businesses and the taxes paid to the city. So thank you for the time and have a nice evening.

Thank you. Zoom ID, George Johnson, if you would please select the microphone icon on your device.

Hello, good evening, City Council. My name is George Johnson. I'm a member of the National Hookah Community Association. I also manufacture traditional wooden hookah pipes called Regal Hookah. We are a proud LGBT owned and operated business. So everybody today has been speaking up for the LGBT community, but they fail to realize how many LGBT people would lose their jobs. But that's, that's besides the point. I really appreciate everybody's concern. This has been a topic that's been going on for years since Juul became prevalent in youth usage. And you do not see the same usage rates of hookah amongst youth.

It's just not a problem. So, you know, please exempt hookah using the language of SB 793, which creates a robust system with 21 and over only establishments. And if the city of Santa Ana wants to impose regulations that would, you know, only allow 21 and up establishments, we're all for that. We support responsible retailers. Santa Ana has a really great compliance rate. neighboring Anaheim is one of the largest Palestinian communities in California.

And I just hope that we can come to a good understanding about what is the goal and what are the unintended consequences. The unintended consequences of banning flavors right now is that it pushes not just the black market, but the synthetics and untested, unregulated, non-FDA approved products that there could be some really serious blowback to that. Please exam Tuca using SB 793's language just as Irvine did. 15 seconds left. Pulver City part of you know Los Angeles for lounges.

Burbank, Glendale, San Diego County and many other municipalities that have listened to the community. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Zoom ID, Omid, if you would please select the microphone icon on your device.

Yes, can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you may proceed with your comment.

Hello, Mayor and all the councilmen. Thank you for taking the time to speak to me. I am a business owner in the city of Santa Ana for the past 15 years. I am actually, you know, talking to you guys in regards to item 27. I just kind of wanted to echo what Nathaniel, Fred, and George have said in regards to potentially losing customers to my business. If we were to ban these flavors, they would definitely be going elsewhere.

You know, it's kind of scary to think that, you know, we made it through 2008. We went into business in Santa Ana right before 2008, made it through that whole thing, made it through the tax hike that Santa Ana has and the pandemic and things are just kind of scarier. So to see one of, actually quite a few of our top 10 selling items drop out because of this ban, I don't know what we can do beyond that. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mayor. That was the last caller.

Great. Thank you to everybody who called in and who came in person. As I said, let me go ahead and take an item out of order because I know that many people came and spoke on item number 27 which is the ordinance proposed ordinances for prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products and See if there's anything from staff that they wish to Provide is this is this from the city manager's office and it is sir and we do have a brief presentation

If you would like to see it. I know this item has been before you earlier, but we'd more than happy to do a presentation.

You know, I think we kind of understand it. And maybe if you can walk us through the options. Certainly.

So can you put up the options?

So option one is an urgency ordinance. And you could do the urgency ordinance that prohibits the sale of flavored tobacco, including hookah products. Or you could do an urgency ordinance prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products, excluding hookah. Option two is to do a regular ordinance, so this would be the introduction. And once again, you have the same option of an ordinance prohibiting flavored tobacco products including hookah or excluding hookah. Option three, this was a request for staff to look into additional measures that we require of cannabis shops to ensure that no one under 21 purchases the product.

And staff did take a look at that. So, a part of the staff report tells you some of the enforcement and security measures that are required for cannabis. They are quite extensive. I'm not sure that they would work for smaller shops. It entails private security and cameras. Option four would be to take no action pending the how SB 793, which is going to the voters in November 2022, will result in. And we certainly can answer any questions.

Great. Thank you for that background. Let me go ahead and bring it back to the members of the council to see if there's any questions or comments And how they'd like to proceed so Are there any members that wish to address this councilmember Mendoza?

Thank You mayor Sarmiento and I want to thank all the people who came personally and all of those who sent in emails and the ones who Called in this is a very very difficult decision because we have a group here who is businesses and we are business friendly here in Santa Ana and we would like to For them to continue to be successful But it's profit and then on the other hand we have a health issue here for our youth in keeping them safe and and so I would like to make a few comments and in saying that

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 products. For too long, tobacco companies have preyed upon our youth targeting our communities with misleading advertisements and candy flavors. Today, more than 2 million middle and high school students use e-cigarettes and you've heard that as testimony from some of our callers that they have not been able to get rid of this horrible addiction.

Nationally, 70% of youth e-cigarette users say that they started with this addiction because they like the flavors that the tobacco comes in. So as council members here today representing the 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. There are various options before our City Council tonight and we must prioritize the health of our children. Waiting until the ballot measures in

November only allows big tobacco companies to target and hook our kids for an additional nine months, and it's not a guarantee that it will pass in November. More security and enforcement in establishments that already prohibit the sale of these products to children will simply not work. We must decide tonight to vote together as council members to end the sale of flavored tobacco products in all locations in our city. We have debated this item for many months, and it is time to take final action tonight. The ban will not prohibit these businesses from continuing to sale regular tobacco.

I support an ordinance that prohibits the sale of all flavored products at all locations in our city. It has been an honor to work with all our residents and to hear from you on your concerns and how we should make this a priority. We cannot delay any further. Our council needs to act tonight and therefore I make the motion that we adopt option 1A.

Phil BacerraItem 4

I'll second that with comment.

So we have a motion for option 1A, and we have a second on that. I'll go ahead and turn it over to Mayor Pro Tem.

Phil BacerraItem 4

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. To me, when this first came before us, it was obvious what we needed to do. This is an opportunity to take tobacco and limit its ability to get into the hands of our youth. And this does not prohibit those that are adults that want to use hookah. It doesn't prevent it. I have to admit, and I shouldn't say this, but I will, I was amused at the caller that called in talking about racism. And I find it ironic given the fact that you see the practices by the tobacco industry and targeting people of color. I mean, that isn't racist.

Phil BacerraItem 4

I seriously, what is? That is racist. And to hide behind something to try to say it's a cultural thing, to try to say that because of hookah, because you know, let's just try to say that it's based on culture. That's not it. The fact of the matter is whether it's a hookah, whether it's an old pipe, whether it, regardless of what the apparatus is, regardless of where it is, does it cause harm, yes or no? And I feel it's our obligation on this dais to try to protect those in our community who we can. And I believe

Phil BacerraItem 4

that this ban would do that. So I'm very proud to stand with Council Member Mendoza and anybody

else up here to do this. Thank you. Any other comments or questions from members of the council on the motion?

All right, so we have a motion and a second for item 1A. Is there any further discussion? If not, Council Member Pham.

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

Hi. First, thank you to Christine. You did, so the staff report did address some of the concerns or questions I had about having similar cannabis regulations. I think we need a couple, I think we need some clarification. One, to those who spoke in favor of the ban, Freudian slip there, we have to recognize

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

that many young people are getting these flavored tobacco products illegally, right? Full stop. They are getting it illegally. and so those vendors who are selling legally and in compliance with the law are not at fault. The fault is of those adults who purchase products and illegally give them to young people. I think we have to acknowledge that because we cannot say that those vendors and retailers who are complying with the law are doing something wrong because they are not.

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

I want to also say that many of you have mentioned, you know, your students in class, in the school bathrooms, you know, getting it from their friends at school. I think y'all also need to show up to the school boards and ask them, where are all the teachers? Where are the people in the hallways telling the kids to stop vaping in the middle of the bathroom? I think that's really important because we up here can make a decision as to whether there is legal sale of flavored tobacco products, but we can't watch over those kids when they're in class or in school.

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

So I do hope that all of you out there also show up at your school board meetings, whether it's SAUSD, GGUSD, Orange, Tustin, etc.

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

So I really struggled with this issue, and I do want to share that because I am not in favor of any smoking products. I am the product of two fathers, my biological dad and my stepdad, who smoked, as many Vietnamese men do, and suffer from asthma as a result. My sister suffers from asthma as a result. So I understand full well the effects of smoking in general of all types on public health. But I also struggled with, you know, are we just pushing this elsewhere?

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

If they cannot buy these legal products here, would they just go to Anaheim, Fountain Valley, Orange, Tustin, Costa Mesa, Irvine, Garden Grove? because those are all cities that have certain items available, and they all border us. So I just wanted to share that I did struggle with those particular issues.

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

One item that I would like to maybe add as an amendment or maybe do a sub motion is I am in support of a flavor tobacco ban. we as a nation banned flavored cigarettes because we knew the effects it had on young people and on this country and we said that it's not okay but I do also know that many vendors especially small retailers buy stock in advance to sell and so many of them might not have the opportunity to sell it back to the wholesaler or find other ways to get rid of it so I would like to see

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

us maybe build in a, I guess, a buffer period or a period in which they can actually get rid of their current stock, obviously legally, and that way you know they are not doubly hit by this particular flavor ban. And one other thing I do want to mention before I end is that what we hear today is that a lot of young people and families saying it's negatively affecting our health. I've heard one comment from folks in the industry or retailers say what health benefits the sale of flavored tobacco has. Every comment has about has been

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

about money and while I fully understand the need to keep a business open I also know that our health is irreparable when it is irreparable and so with that I'd make a sub motion to add a clause or a provision to allow current, you know, stocks to be sold in the next, say, six months or a year?

I'll second your motion, Council Member Fenn. So I—This is Council Member Hernandez.

Got it. Thank you, Council Member. The only question I had is that that sounds more like an amendment to the existing motion on the floor, or is it a—so that's where I'm a little confused.

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

Well, it would be an amendment if they would take it, and if they don't, then it would be a sub motion.

Right. So why don't we ask the maker of the motion and then the second.

I apologize, but I will not accept it.

Phil BacerraItem 4

I actually just real quick have a question. So how would you even enforce that? In other words, do you expect everybody that's going to show you truthfully what they have? They're going to say, oh, yeah, no, no, no, we just happen to have this all in stock for the last nine months.

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

And isn't that the same as saying, how do we expect people not to sell flavored tobacco? Right? I mean, every regulation is going to have people who try to cheat. And I'm just trying to find a way to create a path for current retailers to sell the product they already are in the hole for. I mean, one is we do still have code enforcement. They can come in, do a surprise check, right, with any of these retailers. And I think that's the best that we can do.

Phil BacerraItem 4

Well, if you've driven around this town lately, you've seen that part.

Mayor Pro Tem, let me take it because this can't be a dialogue. It has to go through the chair. So if you want to speak, let me know. It can't be a dialogue amongst us. So it's okay. But if you want to address it, let's make sure others have a chance to speak as well. So we have a substitute motion with a second on the floor as well. So does anybody want to talk on the substitute motion?

Jessie LopezItem 4

I guess I'm just trying to think through it. I had a question about what is the timeframe? How do we know what the timeframe would be in terms of allowing the businesses to be able to get rid of their stock that they are in possession of now legally? That was what I was trying to.

Any thoughts from staff on the substitute motion and additional time to maybe sell back the product to the wholesaler?

I would not know what the inventory was of the individual store owners. So if it is something that you wanted to pursue, I would say you just need to pick a time frame, whether it's 30, 60, or 90 days, and we could incorporate that. I do have one clarification. There is one other decision that you need to clarify. as part of your motion, and that is the definition that you want to use in the ultimate ordinance. We had two definitions for you. We had the definition from the SB 793, but then also at the request of Council Member Mendoza, we also have the definition that the American Lung Association had.

So if you could clarify that in any motion, we would need that information.

All right, so now we don't know if we have to clarify in the underlying motion or the sub, but we'll add some... I'll add some entering to that.

So we'll bring it back right now. We're talking about the substitute motion, but thank you for reminding us on the definition and maybe a time limit on the substitute motion language. Go ahead, Council Member Penielosa.

Thank you, Mayor Salimento. I'm just fortunate that I was able to grow up in a period where the only flavors at 7-Eleven I had to worry about were Slurpees.

The bubble gum though, which was rare, was a good one. But Madam City Attorney, the only question I have is if we were to adopt an urgency ordinance tonight but we add a, which is effective essentially tomorrow, how do we, can we add a buffer period of like 30 days or 60 days to an urgency ordinance?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 4

Well, that is an excellent question because in order to make the findings for an urgency ordinance you have to find it is an emergency that it is urgent so to on the one hand say five of you to say it is so urgent we must adopt it as an urgency ordinance but then say it's not so urgent we're going to delay the enforcement for 30 60 90 or 120 days so that people can dispense of their their inventory um i would say that those two ideas conflict so if you were going to have a period of time my advice to you would be to consider the non-urgency version so if you're

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 4

going to have a period of compliance, you want it to delay the effective date. I just don't think that you would, I don't think that ordinance would survive a potential challenge because you can't make, those findings aren't consistent with one another.

Got it. Okay. Thank you. Council Member Mendoza, then Mayor Pro Tem.

Yes, and that was the reasoning why I don't accept the delay. It's an urgent matter and And I urge my colleagues to vote tonight in approving Option 1A.

Mayor Pro Tem.

Phil BacerraItem 4

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I would agree with Council Member Mendoza. If we're talking about banning this because we believe it's dangerous for our youth, I don't think we should say, well, let's just give it a little more time. Let's get more poison out into the community. Then we'll stop it. If we're going to do it, let's do it. If not, then not. I mean, just like the first time we heard this, if we're going to ban it, let's ban it because we believe it's dangerous. If we don't want to ban it, then don't. That's the wish of the Council, but I will be supporting the ban, and I'll be supporting it as an urgency ordinance.

Got it. So I don't think there's any other comments, I guess.

Councilmember Mendoza, do you want to select which definition for your motion, the SB783 or the American?

Would you please summarize both? Certainly.

Thank you, Councilmember Mendoza. I will read these definitions. The SB 793 definition reads as follows. Tobacco product means any of the following. a product containing made or derived from tobacco or nicotine that is intended for human consumption, whether smoked, heated or chewed, absorbed, dissolved, inhaled, snorted, snipped or ingested by any other means, including but not limited to cigarettes, cigars, little cigars, hookah tobacco, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco or snuff. An electronic device that delivers nicotine or other vaporized liquids to the person inhaling

from the device, including but not limited to an electronic cigarette, cigar, pipe, or hookah, or any component, part, or accessory of a tobacco product, whether or not sold separately. Tobacco product does not include a nicotine replacement product approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The definition provided by the Public Health Law Center and American Lung Association reads as follows. Tobacco product means any product that is made from tobacco or that contains nicotine that is intended for human consumption or is likely to be consumed, whether inhaled,

absorbed, or ingested by any other means, including but not limited to a cigarette, a cigar, pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco, hookah tobacco, snuff or snus, any electronic smoking device and any substances that may be aerosolized or vaporized by such device, whether or not the substance contains nicotine, or any component, part, or accessory of one or two, whether or not Not any of these contain tobacco or nicotine, including but not limited to filters, rolling papers, blunt or hemp wraps, hookahs, mouthpieces, and pipes.

Tobacco product does not include drugs, devices, or combination products authorized for sale by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as those terms are defined in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

I believe that the appropriate definition and what we are trying to accomplish here in keeping our youth safe is the version with the American Lung Association.

All right, so we've got some clarity from the maker of the motion. Are you good on the second with that definition?

Phil BacerraItem 4

I'm good, but I guess aren't we really still deliberating on the sub motion?

Well, no, we want to get the definition straight on both because in the event that the sub fails, then we have to understand what the definition is on the underlying motion.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 4

And just for clarification, when we were first asked to draft the ordinance, we used the state law definition that was in the Senate bill. We were subsequently asked by Council Member Mendoza to consider the alternative, but the staff recommendation was to be consistent with the state law.

Which is normally what we do.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 4

Correct. That's why it's done.

Phil BacerraItem 4

I have a quick question. So, Madam City Attorney, can you tell me why you use the Senate bill versus the American Lung Association definition?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 4

Well, quite frankly, just for consistency, for enforcement and consistency purposes. And we also felt that that definition, when we looked at it, was more inclusive. It was inclusive. Okay. And so that's the one we used.

Okay.

Councilmember Phan.

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

Thank you. So for clarification, my sub-motion would be to be consistent with state law. Secondly, I thank you so much, Mayor Potom, and our city attorney for clarifying. I would like to amend my motion to mean just a regular 30-day ordinance rather than an urgency ordinance. So a couple things. One, as I mentioned, is that many of these small retailers have stock, whether it's $10,000, $20,000, $5,000, whatever it might be.

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

Banning the sale of flavored tobacco today would mean that they might not be able to sell it back to the wholesaler or to anyone else. And that, I think, may be grounds for inverse condemnation or some type of takings clause. Because you were telling someone the products that they currently own, they have no further uses for it. They can't make any money off it. Of course, people can sue for whatever they want to sue, right? You see that there's a referendum in state law, but I think that giving retailers 30 days to try to negotiate with a wholesaler or to try to sell it legally to adults who are able to make this decision is

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

you know trying to compromise so that our small retailers are able to try to recoup some of those losses and still have a ban on the books to protect our youth and so with that that would be my amended sub motion.

Great, thank you. And the second, I believe, was Councilmember Hernandez. Councilmember, are you good with that, with those two clarifications on the substitute motion?

Yes. Yes, I am.

Phil BacerraItem 4

Mr. Mayor, I just have a question for Councilmember Pham, if I may. Go ahead. Given the fact that if you were to do it not as an urgency ordinance, this would be the first reading, we'd come back at the next meeting for a second reading, and then, correct me if I'm wrong, Madam City Attorney, we would have 30-day effective period after that. So if we were just to adopt it as is, whatever option that is, option 2A, we wouldn't have to attach any conditions. It would just purely be option 2A. Would that be

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

what you're going for? Yes, I would be amenable to that. I just want to give them an opportunity to try to recoup some of those losses. Well, I think if we

Phil BacerraItem 4

do it through the conventional ordinance process, not only would it get in 30 days, it would probably give them 45 days.

Yep.

All right, so is that clear as mud now? So we have the substitute motion being 2A.

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

Yes, and with the state law definition.

Phil BacerraItem 4

With the state law definition. All right.

Any other questions or comments on the substitute motion? So, I think I haven't had a chance to speak on this, and I will. I think the good news is that there is going to be some ordinance banning flavored tobacco. So that's the important thing, I think, that all of us are talking about. How do we do it without it being challenged? And I think we all have an interest in making sure that there are protections, especially against our youth, and we know it's an imperfect process, right? Unfortunately, you know, what's going to happen is I do agree with a lot of the speakers is that

the market will go to other cities. So those of you who are advocates of this and who have lobbied the city council really hard, go to other cities as well. Do the same thing. Because what you do here is not going to have an impact on protecting children, youth in the area. And this is a regional thing. We have invisible boundaries between cities. So to the extent that we do something that is going to protect kids, they just need to cross Tustin Avenue, they need to cross, you know, the 55 freeway, they need to cross, you know, Sunflower, go into other cities and they'll get the same thing

that they can on this side. So to the extent that you're accomplishing something here, it's very narrow unless you get other buy-in from other cities. So just know that I want to thank Claire Braeburn because Claire has been an advocate on this issue for years.

And she's been an extremely strong advocate and extremely reasonable in the way she's approached this. She's never been heavy-handed. She's never been, you know, come in here aggressively. I think she just said, look, we need to do things to protect our kids. and she's helped us navigate that. So, you know, lesson learned. I think she is a very, very wise person to follow in her approach. So I would, you know, say I feel very comfortable with, I think, the explanation that Council Member Phan gave. I don't want us to get sued, nor do I want this,

our prohibition to be unwound. So I think that it makes a lot of sense. Why don't we go ahead and vote on the substitute motion first? If that fails, we'll go to the underlying motion.

Council members please vote. Madam City Clerk my vote is yes. Thank you.

Okay motion passes 7-0 with council members Hernandez, Lopez, Mendoza, Peñalosa, Fan, Mayor Pro Tem Becerra, and Mayor Sarmiento voting yes.

Great thank you everybody thank you for your comments.

Thank you, everybody, and thank you, staff, for the hard work and the clarifications. Let's get back to the consent calendar. And I believe we've already taken care of item number six and number seven, Madam Clerk. Is that correct?

That is correct.

Okay. Let me come back to the council to see if there's any items they wish to pull off the consent calendar. or abstain on any items on the consent calendar. Members of the council, go ahead, council member.

Thai Viet PhanItem 5

Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to abstain from item number 15, as MIG is a client of my employer, Rattan and Tucker. And for number 17, I'd also like to abstain just from the 1OC contract, as 1OC is a client of my employer, Rattan and Tucker. Finally, I'd like to pull item 21 for discussion. Thank you.

Great. Any other items members of the council wish to pull?

Phil BacerraItem 5

Just to clarify, Council Member Fran, you pulled item 21?

Yes, she pulled 21.

Phil BacerraItem 5

Yeah, I as well.

Anybody else? Seeing none, I'll go ahead and entertain a motion for the balance of the consent.

Phil BacerraItem 5

Motion to approve. Second.

So we have a motion by Council Member Peñalosa, second by Mayor Pro Tem for the balance of the calendar.

consent calendar council members please vote madam city clerk my vote is yes

thank you motion passes 7-0 with council members Hernandez Lopez Mendoza Penalosa and mayor pretend Becerra mayor Sarmiento voting yes great thank you

everybody the only item that was pulled off the consent calendar was item number 21 and I'll turn it over to Councilmember Fan. Thank you Mayor. Thank you to all the business

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

owners, residents who came out to speak about this item. So there's a couple things. First of all, I do understand that, you know, the 1.5 million dollars is, you know, not going to be enough for everything. There's between rent and employee pay and everything else I do understand. I was just in downtown Santa Ana and it is pretty intense. Actually my sister texted me also when she was down there and it's very hard to get around. However, I do know some folks mentioned, you know, we should use more money in the

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

surplus and having spoken to our director, finance director, that that surplus is not as big as you think. It is an estimate and that there are going to be some changes for the rest of the year and so we are taking I think a hopeful approach as we allocate these funds but that's not to say that in the future we couldn't come back and allocate more. Secondly, I also want to mention you know OCTA I don't know what their jurisdiction is. I don't serve with them. Our mayor maybe you can opine on it a little bit but I'm not sure whether they

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

can do funds to assist businesses. I think that might be one of the concerns with that board. They don't have the same kind of expansive jurisdiction that we have in order to give out these funds to directly affected businesses, which sucks. Honestly, right? They're causing the problems. They're causing the pain. They're the ones who are slow. They're the ones who hired the contractor. They're the ones who can't put in good rails. They're the ones who aren't providing security, and the city and your taxpayers are the ones stuck with the bill. And so I do hope that you all still continue to show up to OCTA meetings and board meetings

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

and advocate for them to hurry up. Again, I mentioned that they need to be doing construction at night, just as we do on freeways and other major thoroughfares. And I think that would also improve on a lot of the security issues as people will be out and about. With that, I would move to approve. Thank you.

MR. Great. Thank you, Councilmember.

Phil BacerraItem 21

MR. I'll second with comment.

MR. Great. We have, I think, Councilmember Hernandez had his hand up, as well, and then we'll go to Mayor Pro Tem.

MR. Yes, thank you. Mayor Sarmiento, I, and my colleagues, thank you for, for pulling this item, Councilmember Van, before I did. There is a number of, of concerns happening in downtown um most notably the the issues around security um there was a break into the frida cinema theater charlie's tattoo was also impacted um and experienced losses in the several thousands of dollars um i would like to see octa deliver on the the promises that they are going to have security around the clock and make sure that these businesses are protected and not only

that that um that there is a presence that uh walsh and okta do care about our community because when you state that you are going to have security around the clock and you don't deliver on that it does not look uh representative that you are that you're taking into account the experiences of our neighbors so i i would like to see us um follow up with okta and and have some very strong deliverables that we need to see um security implemented immediately um that that that is something that shouldn't really even be a conversation right now um the fact that businesses

were impacted after having this conversation at the last uh council meeting shows how exactly this is an emergency emergency um i would like to offer a sub motion to uh council member fans motion there is a growing demand that businesses need to be supported this is absolutely an emergency many of these business owners live in our community many of their children attend our schools and if they are not able to make ends meet it affects every one of us so i would actually like

to see the in the budget be increased from what's being proposed to a full 3 million and doubling the amount of money and the reason why is because 10 000 is not going to allow any business in downtown to sustain and i would also like to make sure that these protections and that this program is extended to street vendors and fruit vendors that work in the downtown as well And that would be my sub-motion.

Great. Thank you, Councilmember. Let me go ahead and – so we have a motion on the – actually, a substitute motion by Councilmember Hernandez to increase the business interruption grant from $1.5 million to $3 million and for it to be extended to not just the brick and mortar but also the push cart vendors and maybe some of the smaller vendors downtown as well. Councilmember Mendoza yes, I

Agree with my colleague Councilmember Hernandez and in addition I would like to ask our city manager we have an OCTA representative Correct we have someone sitting on the board of OCTA

Yes, councilmember Mendoza we do the mayor is a board member of OCTA

Okay, very good. So I'm wondering if maybe our mayor could be a bring this to the next ward meeting and ask them to participate and add some of those monies that Councilmember Hernandez mentioned. Yes, because it shouldn't be the city's burden alone and I think OCTA has responsibility to to maintain these businesses open and especially to maintain security throughout the night.

So if you would, I will support the motion, but maybe bring this to the next board meeting.

Mayor, can I just make a clarification? So Councilmember Hernandez's motion would require an appropriation of $1.5 million. So the staff report that's before you doesn't have an appropriation action as a component of it because we've already found the 1.5 to implement this program. So I would make a suggestion that possibly if you do want to appropriate additional dollars, it could be done as maybe part of the mid-year update item, or we could return after we identify where the money would come from to put that appropriation before you.

Maybe, and that's a good point. That's what I was thinking. So if the 1.5 is coming from here without a two-thirds majority necessary for the appropriation. We're going to be doing the mid-year review this evening as well. We're going to be considering that, so we might be able to go ahead and see if there's any funds there that might augment what we have here to come up with the $3 million. And so I know Councilmember Lopez had her hand up as well. Actually, I did before.

Phil BacerraItem 21

Yeah. What's that? I actually had my hand up before. Okay. Go ahead.

And then I have a comment after.

Phil BacerraItem 21

Actually, Councilmember Hernandez, I'd like to ask, well, actually, I'll just offer it out loud, a sub motion kind of based on what the city manager indicated. Why don't we keep the fund at $1.5 million, which by the way, I'm not happy with. I would like to see much more money go to our businesses. But for the sake of getting money to our businesses quicker to approve $1.5 million tonight, and then for staff to return back with a subsequent action that we can then also approve, whether that takes a four or five vote majority. We'll wait to see what staff brings back. But I'd like to

Phil BacerraItem 21

ask that we go ahead and move to approve what's before us tonight just so that we can get the

money out to folks quicker. Did you? Yeah, if I can get some clarity on that. Go ahead. Great suggestion, Mayor Pro Tem Becerra. Madam city manager, is that something that, that would be probable for us to approve this amount today to make sure that this is streamlined and money goes directly to the businesses.

And how soon can we expect something to come back to us showing where this additional 1.5 million would be paid out? Certainly council member Hernandez. Absolutely. If you approve this item tonight, we have our economic development staff that's ready to go to the downtown and work out of an office in order to facilitate the processing of these assistance programs if we were to return with an appropriation to double the amount we would be able to put it on your first agenda in we do the math in my head because of our new due dates April I would happily accept the sub

motion with the condition that this is brought back immediately to the council meeting in April so that we can also make sure those businesses get that additional support.

Okay. So we have Councilmember Lopez and Councilmember Peñalosa.

Phil BacerraItem 21

Can I finish my comments real quick?

Go ahead. Thank you. I just want to. So it went to Hernandez and you know that's why if you're going to comment, make sure you finish your comments so it can go to the next council. I made a motion.

My apologies, I haven't concluded my comment myself. My apologies, Mayor Fulton. Madam city manager, so this sub motion that I just accepted also does include the amendment to ensure that these protections are inclusive of street vendors and sidewalk vendors, correct?

I believe that's what I wrote down in my notes from your sub motion, yes. Okay. Well, then if that is the case, yes, I do accept that amendment.

So let me just take sort of the Chair's discretion here. It sounds like where we are is to the original motion that Council Member Fan made with just including the street vendors, the push cart vendors, and allowing them to have access to these funds.

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

My assumption was that it was more of a clarification issue because when you read the eligibility criteria, it just says any business that's on 4th Street.

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

But, yeah, it includes street vendors. I'm good with that, of course.

So are you good with maybe that just being an amendment to your original motion?

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

Sure.

Okay. And there's a second to that. And so, Mr. Mendoza, are you good with that as well, Councilmember? Okay.

Okay.

Anything else?

I'm so sorry. Yes.

So a question for Madam city manager. So Madam city manager with the sub motion that I proposed without the amendment that Mayor Pro Tem Becerra included, if we were to vote today on doubling the assistance to 3 million, how soon would that go into effect taking into account finding the appropriation of those monies? Okay. Okay, so since there is no appropriation request before you as a component of this item, you cannot do an appropriation with this agenda item. Your two choices would be to have us return with an appropriation request, or when you were discussing the mid-year budget update,

if you wanted to make that appropriation because there are appropriations before you with that agenda item.

Okay, and with my sub-motion, this would be brought back for the month of April or with that appropriation? Yes, that's correct. Oh, okay. Thank you for the clarity. That concludes my comment. I believe the first motion and the sub motion are basically the same.

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

I think, well, I guess maybe I'm just kind of confused now. So my motion is to approve staff's recommendation with the clarification that includes street vendors and sidewalk vendors. And I did ask, you know, we can always bring it back for further appropriation depending on what the budget looks like or the mid-year budget or what the extra is. So that was my motion. There wasn't actually any additional appropriation as part of that because I guess I didn't see that as

part of this item as agendized. Okay, so the underlying motion is clear. Right. And then the substitute motion just simply says for us, for staff to bring back an additional consideration of an additional 1.5 once it's identified. So that's the difference between the first and the second. We've got Mayor Pro Tem and then Council Member Lopez.

Phil BacerraItem 21

Mayor, thank you for sifting through that.

Phil BacerraItem 21

With that being said, even just this initial 1.5 million, according to the staff report, eligible businesses may receive up to $10,000. And that's not even a drop in the bucket. But the fact is that I applaud staff for doing the homework to find the money. And I thank you in advance for looking for this additional money that we hope to get out to our downtown businesses. It's my hope, though, that we also press OCTA. and I've seen transportation projects throughout this region that always include assistance for businesses that are impacted by construction. Why this

Phil BacerraItem 21

project doesn't have that included is amazing to me. It's absolutely amazing to me. Just like the last time we spoke about this item, we talked about the fact that the contractor is leaving their equipment outside with no security and security is now going to allegedly come at 1030 at night on the weekends. For For those of us that know downtown very well, I mean, at that point, God knows how much could happen by the time security allegedly shows up. And I'm hearing from many folks in downtown that the security is not even showing up, or at least if they are, they're not exactly patrolling. So that's a concern.

Phil BacerraItem 21

So I would ask our staff to follow up with OCTA. I think when Councilmember Hernandez talked about deliverables, we've been talking about deliverables. We need to follow through with those. So the fact that we've got signs that are not secured in downtown that are being used to break windows, the fact that we don't have security consistently monitoring the construction zone, the fact that signage has yet to improve, we don't have good wayfinding signage. And by the way, another thing that this is more on the city side, I'm going to bring it back over to the city, and that is I

Phil BacerraItem 21

can't tell you how many complaints I'm getting about the parking structures, whether it's the cleanliness, the safety issue. One of the speakers tonight had pictures of some pretty graphic photos of folks being assaulted in our structures. So while I do want to point the finger at OCTA that they need to get their act together, we also need to do the same. And so we've got to step that up, especially for the fact that right now, especially along that construction zone, those parking structures are essential. They are vital for folks to get in. So you need to step it up on that.

Phil BacerraItem 21

So, one last question I have, and that is in the staff report, it talked about that Santa Ana Business Interruption Fund program, along with other mitigating measures already put in place by the city and OCTA, such as temporary free parking. Is OCTA subsidizing the temporary free parking? I believe that's something the city is doing, correct?

That's correct. And Mayor Pro Tem, I can assure you we're reaching out to OCTA to address the issues that we heard the business community needed, and we are working with them and staying on top of that. In addition to that, we are also reaching out to the County of Orange to determine if they have anything further than just the micro 2500 business grants. As far as the actions taken by the city, we immediately put together this business interruption fund. We also have augmented security in the parking structures. we are offering free parking Monday through Friday, 7 to 5, and we've increased the evening

hours and the weekends. Instead of one free hour, two free hours. So the city is subsidizing the loss for those parking structures. Well, let's make sure those structures,

Phil BacerraItem 21

while they're free, that they're safe and clean. And then the other thing in my closing remark would be, I would like to have OCTA staff throughout the duration of construction coming back to this council to provide updates, because obviously it's clear that letting them come once and then disappear for a couple months, we're not seeing the accountability. So I'd like to ask you to have OCTA staff be present at the meetings the same way that after you do your homeless updates, that OCTA staff is here, because I think there's plenty of folks that have stuck around tonight that would love to make sure that OCTA remains accountable.

Phil BacerraItem 21

Thank you.

So...

Councilmember Lopez and then Ben Yalosa.

Jessie LopezItem 21

Yes, thank you, Mayor. A couple questions, Christine. Remind me, I think it was in December when we talked about ARPA money. Did we not create a fund for businesses to be able to apply and get money to pay their rent or their business licenses? And I ask just because I want to know if that fund is not empty. Is there money still sitting in that fund?

So you have programs that you approve for all of our ARPA money, and we have given out over $5 million in business assistance. But the key difference is ARPA dollars are solely for COVID recovery. It doesn't include street construction impacts.

Jessie LopezItem 21

Okay, thank you. And during the last council session, we had OCT representatives come, and this council kind of gave them a list of what we wanted to see. is there an update that staff has for us on what has been fulfilled from that

list so our executive director of Public Works has been working closely with him I don't mean to put you on the spot in a bill but do you can you give a brief update of the status of the things they were working on not yet we can return

Jessie LopezItem 21

with one for you councilmember Lopez yeah you should please send us one one One of the things I asked during the last meeting was for my colleagues to support having that report back and it wasn't my ass wasn't supported so here we are wasting time and asking for that now during this meeting when we could have had that then. So I would like again to see a representative from OCTA come back. I would like to see an update from staff to provide not just to us but to the community so that they know what is going to be fulfilled because it's really concerning to hear that they promised that they were gonna have security and

Jessie LopezItem 21

there there is no security there so another thing I wanted to ask about the outreach I know we have a staff or an office in downtown but are we expecting businesses to come to the office are we gonna be doing specific outreach to the businesses in the specific areas that are being impacted now.

I'll defer that question to our economic development manager, Mark Morley, who is the one that has done the tremendous lifting and put this program together in just a matter of days. And I know he has some big plans to ensure that there is sufficient outreach. Thank you, Mayor, Mayor Potem, and Council. Like you mentioned, we will have dedicated staff in the downtown in an office. Thank you to Ana and Laura for that. but we'll also be going door to door with the outreach. So we're going to be going to the businesses instead of having them come to us.

Jessie LopezItem 21

Okay.

Jessie LopezItem 21

And Christine, can you let me know where the 1.5 was coming from?

Certainly. So we had allocated one-time revenue, so not ARPA dollars, but one-time revenue from the overage that we had. You had allocated it to Economic Development Division, which is where this program is being funded out of. Its original allocation was for economic development activity on South Main Street, and it was a total of $2 million. Because the timing of South Main Street is further down the road, staff is comfortable with recommending economic development use of the 1.5 for this urgent need.

Jessie LopezItem 21

So, is it okay for me to assume then that down the road we're going to do something like this for South Main Street businesses who have also been impacted by the construction?

No, the South, what you approved for South Main Street was more economic development programs, not business assistance. We talked about a number of items, maybe store frontage improvements or other activity to incentivize businesses to locate to South Main and to improve the environment for economic activity. So a different type of programming was envisioned for South Main.

Jessie LopezItem 21

okay but we could do a fund for them as well I'm not sure which construction

interruption that you're you're type of but I mean you could you you approved it for that purpose but when we bring it back for you you could change what you

Jessie LopezItem 21

originally approved okay thank you and last question we own the parking structures correct yes we do so we don't lease them from anyone else no we do not Okay. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. Councilmember Peñalosa.

Thank you, Mayor Sarmiento, and thank you to the businesses. First off, my apologies that you have to come back again, but thank you for being here. It is always appreciated and noted when you guys come out here. And the next OCTA board meeting is, indulge me, Mayor, March 14th at 9 a.m., just down Main Street. So I would hope that we advocate there as well to get some of this because it shouldn't all fall on our backs. You know, this is the county and OCTA's project, and that is the main thing that we should never lose track of. With that said, I am happy to see this item before us, the $1.5 million.

I definitely think it should be more, should be three to five million possibly because of the severe detrimental negative impacts that this has had on our businesses. One thing that I want to just kind of highlight to staff, city manager, public works director, is that I don't, you know, I want to hold OCT accountable and their contractor, Walsh, but we also need to hold ourselves accountable when it comes to these city-owned parking structures. And the reason I say that is because in downtown Orange, you have a city-owned parking structure by the city of Orange,

and that parking structure is pristine. I mean, I could park there for free 24 hours a day, and I could eat off the floor if I want to. Here in Santa Ana, I don't understand why we just can't get somebody to keep it clean and secure.

A couple of months ago when we had the graffiti inside one of the parking structures and somebody reported it via the app and then I was forwarded the pictures of the completed work by, I forget, it was somebody else, it wasn't the contractor we have that painted over this graffiti, I think it was our own staff, and it was painted just halfway up the wall to cover the graffiti, but now you have this beautiful white paint and then the top half of the wall was just all black and ugly. And, you know, we do things, you know, halfway. They're not done. I mean,

there's no attention to detail, whether it's the cleaning, whether it's the power washing, whether it's the security. I mean, this hasn't been going on since the street car construction or COVID, these parking structures have been like that for years. And if the city of Orange could, which is a lot smaller than us, smaller budget too, if they can maintain those parking structures pristine and clean and not charge anything, I think we could do it too. And we charge people to park there and we can't seem to keep it clean.

So there needs to be some refocusing there on maintenance of the city owned, whether it's the parking structures or, shoot, the Cypress Fire Station. I know it's a completely different topic, but same kind of we don't maintain what we own. So I want to make sure that gets addressed. And with this money, I hope that we could also try to set aside some funds to immediately help with advertising for the downtown businesses because the advertising, and I'm using air quotes here, that OCTA has provided is terrible. Half the banners are an advertisement for the streetcar, which we all know is coming,

so we don't need to see an advertisement for that. And then you get businesses are open in tiny letters underneath. I mean, what's the point of that? So I've spoken to many of the downtown business owners. Their ask is simple. just give us a white banner with black letters that stand out, says open for business. They don't need a picture of the streetcar. They don't need all these graphics, just white black letters, open for business, turn this way. I mean, it's really simple. It's something that we could immediately get to them tomorrow. I'm sure there's a print shop in the city that could quickly print

some banners. You know, there's no reason why we need to be just kind of going around in circles here. So I would hope to see all of you at the next OCTA board meeting advocating for this. And thank you, staff, for bringing this forward. But I am supportive of the motion and seeing these funds doubled. So thank you.

So seeing no other questions or comments, I think everybody's had a chance to speak on that. So we have a substitute motion to adopt tonight but with direction to staff to come back and bring something to increase it by another 1.5 once staff finds it. So let me go ahead and just simply make a couple of comments and I want to thank those who came tonight but those who also went to the OCTA meeting I think on Monday and who spoke. So I don't think you have to appear physically. You can call in. They have a virtual option as well and I think they

might allow you to go ahead and speak in person as well. I think for, you know, it's easy to say these are things that are, you know, that we need to correct and that we need to do. All of us have seen this project coming for years, and this isn't a surprise. I know that when this was before the city council back in 2014 or 15, I remember the conversation about where's the streetcar alignment going to be. Is it going to be along 4th Street or is it going to be along 5th Street. And I know everybody said, let the merchants decide because they're the ones

who are going to be impacted. And the vote was taken by the merchants back then to have the alignment go down Fourth Street because they realized when it's done, it's going to be great. But during that period of time, it was going to be really, really painful. Now, here we are dealing with the pain. We're not the lead agency on this, but we know that we want to be responsive and we want to help. So I certainly think that we can start, you know, you know, coming up here and saying this is wrong. This is where we are. We need to problem solve this. We need to just make sure that all the businesses that are there right now survive.

And that's really the ultimate goal. I mean, what we, what's done, what hasn't been done. And to, you know, to, to Council Member Mendoza's point, um, look, she sits on OCWD. I sit on OCTA. Uh, we know that we have one vote there and it's not dictated by us. It's, there's a, that's a 10 member board. Fortunately, I know when you all came to speak to OCTA, there was some good responsive comments from other representatives that represent other cities. They have nothing to do with Santa Ana. They just know that they have a project here that that agency is not

familiar with. This is the first street car that they've ever built in Orange County. And for me, look, this happened, you know, much before my time on the board. I've only been on there for close to a year. The contractor that they selected years ago is part of the problem. And so, but we can't do anything about that now because the project is already 60%, you know, completed. So to pull out is nearly impossible. So all we can do right now is try to make things as survivable for everybody as possible. So the good thing is that if we can get that That agency, the county that is also working with us, and the city.

Amongst the three agencies, I'm confident that there could be some help. And I think that's where, you know, Council Member Lopez's point from the last meeting was let's have somebody here come regularly to report to us. That was a great suggestion. And I think, again, it didn't go anywhere, but now we're talking about it, so I'm glad that that's going to happen. And I am supportive of the substitute motion because I do want to find the additional monies for you all to have because I know that the 1.5 will not get us very far. But I know once that

$3 million is exhausted, we may be back here again. So everything that we use is taken from some other part of the city. That's just the way budgeting is. So if we see that we need it for the downtown, it's going to be to the detriment of South Main, maybe to the detriment of Bristol, maybe to the detriment of some other. So we have to find ways that are equitable for all parts of the city to succeed. But I think here this is a very limited period of time that the construction is going to happen. So I'm supportive of finding one-time monies so we can increase that amount, hopefully get through this pain.

My hope is that all of us can support something to compel the contractor to accelerate the construction. If that's something that can be done, you know, and And I know somebody spoke and said, yeah, I really don't want the construction to stop because every day that construction stops, it's a longer delay for you. And it's just more weight. So to the extent, you know, they can do it on double time, that's really the goal here. But so those are all my comments. There's a substitute motion. Go ahead, Councilman.

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

Sorry, I haven't got a chance to speak on that motion. Oh, I'm sorry, go ahead. Just really quickly, I just want to tell everyone in the audience as well as my colleagues, I fully understand where you're coming from regarding approving the 1.5 and coming back with staff right away with another 1.5 But I'm not ready yet. I'm not there yet. And it's not because I don't support additional funding It's because I really want us to see what our budget will shake out to look like because again And speaking to our director that surplus is not a sure thing

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

It's actually an estimate and we have some changes happening within the next few months before the end of the fiscal year that is going to affect that. On top of that, we don't know yet where OCTA is at. So I'd like to see OCTA come to the table and actually do the legwork and actually see what they can do in helping businesses before we commit additional dollars. So with that, I will not be supporting the sub motion. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member. So we have a substitute motion on the floor. I think the maker was Hernandez and the second was Mendoza. and that's the item before us now.

Point of clarification, Mayor, really quick. With the extra 1.5, it's coming back to us at the first meeting in April as a standalone item, right, that we could take a vote on?

I believe the sub-motion is requesting staff to identify an additional 1.5 and then put it before you for an appropriation request.

Got it, okay.

And then I need a final question.

Okay, thank you.

Got it.

Council members, please vote.

Madam City Clerk, my vote is yes.

Okay, motion passes 5-2 with Council members, Hernandez, Mendoza, Peñalosa, Mayor Pro Tem Becerra, Mayor Sarmiento voting yes, Council members Lopez and Fan voting no.

Great, thank you everybody. that brings us to the business calendar item. Before we leave that, I just want to say something that I really do want to applaud the efforts of the two council members that represent the downtown. That's Council Member Hernandez and Mendoza, who've been doing a lot of hard work with you all. So, good stuff.

Moving along to item number 23, that is to discuss and provide input regarding the structure of the school collaboration City Council subcommittee so I'm not sure if there's any presentation no my

staff does not have a presentation and this was an item that you had requested as well as the standing school collaboration subcommittee I wanted to discuss with their colleagues on potential changes to the structure of

it great thank you let me go ahead and bring it back to the to the members of the subcommittee and I'm not sure if there's a chair that wants to speak on

Jessie LopezItem 23

behalf of the subcommittee yes I'm chair go ahead council thank you mayor so one of the things we talked about during the school ad hoc which is composed of myself councilmember Mendoza and councilmember Hernandez was establishing a joint meeting with SAUSD part of the work that we're doing with the school collaboration is it has a really wide scope where we have the flexibility and the council approved the flexibility for us to work with Garden Grove Tustin orange you know private charters here in the city and you know staff when we first had our ad hoc we directed them to go out and reach out to some of these

Jessie LopezItem 23

unified school districts and we did hear back you know some of them were not interested in partnering up with the city at the time so I think it's important that we leave that door open for our school districts if they change their mind but i am interested in establishing a joint public meeting so that you know the community can be part of it the trustees can be part of it and have some sort of voting power or authority because there are many issues in our community that i believe we can address together like student homelessness in our city i think the school district did an excellent job in providing

Jessie LopezItem 23

COVID, you know, response care, especially in the winter or early January of this year, they really took the lead in establishing COVID clinics, COVID testing for the Sanana community, and that is something that we could have done together with them. And I think, you know, when we're talking about restorative practices, that's something that we can help push with the school board, because I think that that can be very fruitful for our entire community when we're talking about crime prevention, public safety, crime reduction. And so I would like to see a joint meeting be reestablished.

Jessie LopezItem 23

It was something that the city had in the past. It doesn't mean that we're not going to be working with other school districts. When the other school districts are amenable to working with us, we can still have those conversations with them. but we do have you know an entity here in the city that has a massive budget much bigger than ours and the question around youth involvement and youth development should not just be on the city and so I think this is a great opportunity to say how is it that we can work together how can we put our resources together how can we put not just you know financial resources but

Jessie LopezItem 23

really they have a research department we don't how can we work together to address all of the things that we're seeing in the community you don't like banning tobacco making sure that kids are not going down that path and so that for those reasons I made for those reasons that is why this is one of the things I supported when we discussed it as an ad hoc or as a subcommittee I

should say great thank you councilmember any other members of the subcommittee wish to speak on this item?

Yes, Mr. Mayor, this is subcommittee member Hernandez. Go ahead, council. And I fully concur with council member Lopez. I do think this encourages more city partnerships and more participation from our educational boards. And I think that that only helps our community as a whole. Education is a social determinant over a person's lifetime. And I think this ultimately puts our school board and our city side by side. So I support this.

Great. Council Member Mendoza. Yes. Thank you, Mayor. I agree that we definitely need to work together, but I'd like to get some clarification from our city attorney as to the function of each of the proposed subcommittees. I'm worried and concerned that the efforts might be duplicated in that we are already working on issues, same issues, and this subcommittee that we have currently is open

to all the districts and they have been invited. A few have not opted to show up, but they know that they are welcome at any time. In giving voting power to other districts, it really doesn't make a difference, I believe, because ultimately it needs to come back to us as a city council body to make the decision or any recommendations that the subcommittee makes. Similarly, the school staff would need to go back to their Board of Trustees to approve anything that we talk about in the existing subcommittee.

So maybe if I can get some clarification to see if there is a defined purpose for the proposed subcommittee. And let's see how will it be different from what we had in the past that didn't seem to work. And so I just need some clarification and then I would be able to go either way.

Councilman Mendoza, I think that clarification should come from the standing subcommittee. Staff stands ready to put together any form of it that you want, but you are correct. If you reestablish the joint, we will probably need to amend the resolution that established the current committee. And yes, the school district would need to assign two board members to serve in a joint capacity with you Did that help at all?

Jessie LopezItem 23

Well, so since we can have this dialogue I will say It's different because

Do you so again? I'm sorry to make sure that you go through the chair So if there's anybody else that wishes to speak on this that hasn't spoken

Phil BacerraItem 23

I am. Oh, I'm happy to speak. Go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm not sure why we're even re-discussing this. I felt like we had a very robust discussion the last time we talked about forming this school collaboration subcommittee. And while I understand that other districts may not have accepted invitations to attend, these committees are meant to be a chance for certain council members to kind of take a deeper dive into some of the issues and then report back to the council. I think I'm not sure which member had mentioned something about having a joint committee where there would be votes taken. And I don't think

Phil BacerraItem 23

we need to, or not need, let me rephrase it, I don't think there's a way that a committee can be formed where the school board members of any school district are going to vote on something that impacts what the council does. The council's votes as a city council, as the seven of us will do that. So for us to, it almost sounds like we're abdicating, and I know we aren't and we're, and we can't, but that's what it kind of sounds like. So it really, at the end of the day, the current structure is fine. I feel like if we need to collaborate, which we should, not need,

Phil BacerraItem 23

as we should collaborate with any of the school districts, any of the schools within our city, we need to do it in a way where I think the way we would handle any other issue, which is have those discussions among the subcommittee, bring it back to the full council, and give direction to our staff. And you know, in my discussions with our city manager, I believe she has a great relationship with staff over at the school district, so I think whatever this council gives her direction to accomplish, I'm confident that she can do that. So I feel that once she has that

Phil BacerraItem 23

direction from the council. I'm sure she would take it to her counterparts at the school district and they would run it up the org chart to their school board and be able to hopefully accomplish things. And I know there's priorities that we've all talked about, whether it's joint use and some of the other items that were brought up tonight. So I personally think that the subcommittee is fine as is. I don't see where we can even do something where other elected bodies are going to vote on something that impacts us. I think it's something that we would just

Phil BacerraItem 23

have our subcommittee, have it returned to the council, we would vote and then give staff direction. Thank you.

Thank you. So, Councilmember Peñalosa, and then if anybody else has any additional comments.

Thank you, Mayor Sarmiento. Thank you, Madam City Manager, for this item before us. The one question I had is that I'm, because of just how large the different educational institutions are that service our city. I'm not entirely comfortable creating a joint subcommittee with just one organization. I know that in the staff report it does note that there was one subcommittee member that noted there was outreach done to the other educational institutions but only interest received from SAUSD and I

saw the letter that was sent out but I know just from speaking with you manager, that you have a good working relationship with Superintendent Almandarez from SAUSD. Have you personally reached out to the superintendent at Garden Grove Unified or any of the charter schools in the city or private?

On a case-by-case basis, I certainly have coordinated with other educational institutes when they've had an issue. Regarding the outreach, the only outreach that was done was the one letter, which is attached to the staff report for the other school districts outside of Santa Ana Unified.

So the direct contact to the superintendent in Garden Grove hasn't been made?

The letter that's attached to the staff report was sent out to all school districts.

But just the letter? Just the letter. No phone call, no follow-up email. Was there any response? Was there a...

Just the one letter.

Okay. And nobody responded? But SAUSC?

No response.

Okay. So I would like to see if maybe you as a city manager could reach out to that superintendent of those various school districts and have that direct person-to-person contact to see if because that is an entire huge part of our city that would essentially be neglected on in that partnership with that school district. The others maybe not so much because of how small of a portion they represent in our city, but definitely Garden Grove unified. I know that when this committee was in, when we still had this joint use committee, there were vacancies.

There wasn't just a couple reps from SAUSD, a couple reps from the city council, but there were also a parks and rec seat, student seat, and I think it was like a neighborhood leader's seat that were, if I'm not mistaken, or you know what, no, never mind, I'm confusing the the Parks and Rec Board with joint. So let me take that back. But I would like to see that outreach done directly from you versus just a letter sent. Who knows if they opened it or if they received it or if somebody saw it.

I know that we're probably seeing, hearing direct feedback from SAUSC because we do have relationships with various board members. But if you can make that contact to the superintendent I think that could get a better picture of where that school district is and if they have any interest. But as of right now, I'm not supportive of this just because it completely cuts out numerous agencies. Thank you. Council Member Fan.

Thai Viet PhanItem 23

Thank you. So I hope it makes some sense because I feel like it's been a confusing night. So, first of all, I do support a subcommittee that does work with all of our educational institutions, or K-12 at least. I think that's really important. Obviously, the vast majority of the West Side is serviced by the Garden Grove Unified School District, and they service the vast majority of our Asian American students. And so that is really important to me. However, I do also see value in having a standing subcommittee with just SAUSD because they are, you know, they service 70% of our students here in the city.

Thai Viet PhanItem 23

They have a huge budget and we overlap in a lot of ways. I think, and I've watched, it was not a Brown Act violation because I watched on the webinar and did not participate and they did not see my face, but I watched one of the meetings and I it seems like some of the board members wanted to have a dialogue and give input into some of the ideas or issues that were raised with at the city level rather than making public comment I guess is is how I viewed it and you know I'm kind of looking at councilmember Lopez because you and councilmember Mendoza because they're there and you know councilmember

Thai Viet PhanItem 23

Hernandez but it seems to me like it would be not that they would make a decision for the city but they can hash out the details at the board meeting and say you know no we want this part of the joint user no we yes we do etc this is how we think it would look and and agree as a five-member body to say okay this is the final version all five of us on this subcommittee agree we're gonna take this version to our respective legislative bodies. That is my, I guess, conceptual understanding of what that, you know, Santa Ana slash SAUSD subcommittee would look like. Not that they would make a binding decision on

Thai Viet PhanItem 23

the city, but that they would together make a recommendation and that the two SAUSD board members would also be able to vote to make the recommendation to each of the bodies. Can you clarify if that's, can she clarify if that's right?

Yes, I think she was the next person to speak so go ahead Councilmember Lopez as

Jessie LopezItem 23

chair of the committee. Go ahead. Thank you. Yes, Councilmember Fran, that's correct. So, you know, a couple things. I don't think that the structure that we have now is working to fulfill the gap that we are seeing. The neighborhood associations not being able to meet at the school facilities I think is a really great example of that we went back and forth for two to three months if we had something like a joint meeting where we could have access to them on a formal official capacity we could have probably hashed that out in one night and our neighborhood associations could have been meeting but instead you know we're

Jessie LopezItem 23

having our staff talk to your staff your staff maybe didn't open a letter your staff maybe didn't respond so we're having a lot of dialogue and it's just wasting a lot of time in my personal opinion and I think the ad hoc now is great because yes we can fully flesh out and talk about the the joint agreements and talk to staff one-on-one for periods a long time and get to know those agreements and say this is what's working this is what isn't working but I think you know in terms of bigger policy when we talk about holistic policy I don't think you know we should be the only institution working to help invest in our

Jessie LopezItem 23

youth I don't think that should be the city's you know only only burden I think that needs to be partnership with our school districts and so I think what would be different this time around because we all know that there was a joint policy before a joint committee before is that you have new council members that are willing and open to talking to the school board members to say how is it that we can address homelessness together how is it that we can help feed the families of Santa Ana together how is it that we can we only have two libraries in the city how can we open more libraries together how can

Jessie LopezItem 23

we open school campuses so that community members have places to go we're a part poor city they have a lot of land in the city how can we work with them to open parks you know after hours instead of having these things come one by one by one and we're just wasting time and so you know there's a lot of studies and if you know maybe staff can share studies with the council members of how effective cities work with the school boards when they are actually working together and I think that's all data that we should have access to and we should read so that we can know for ourselves that this is a model that we're

Jessie LopezItem 23

not creating here. This is something that already exists and it is very successful. And so you know and finally I believe in co-governance and so I don't think that they're gonna be making a decision for this entire body. At the end of the day this is a decision that this entire body has to has to make but that can be you know that can be shaped by different opinions and thoughts and I think that can be a lot more helpful for all Santa Ana residents. Thank you

And I want to thank that I'm gonna bring it back to Councilmember Phan But I want to thank the council members for respecting the time and clerk. Thank you for Reminding us of the time and that that's been moving things along. So thank you for that Councilmember Phan

Thai Viet PhanItem 23

Sorry, that was a question, but I do appreciate you elaborating extra because that helped me better understand I Do agree That you know having them as voting members of this subcommittee ad hoc whatever we want to call it gives them an ability to feel more involved in the recommendations process. Right? So I can see that. And it's not like they are binding on us or on their board. So I do agree with that. My concern is that it ends up being a board or a subcommittee about all the ills of Santa Ana that really isn't, you know, because

Thai Viet PhanItem 23

we how do we delineate what's a school related issue or what is a city related issue because you know are they then going to be getting into zoning as to what is open space because the school board feels like it's important for their students have additional open space like that I think to me requires some amount of delineating or maybe areas where you know we're like police are they going to then say you know the police budget is too big and we're over-policing our students and affecting youth, and therefore it's under the school board, they should also have a voice regarding that. So to me, it might be a bit too broad.

Thai Viet PhanItem 23

We have a homelessness ad hoc, right? And their job is to do that. Maybe some topics that are not directly related to the school, that isn't a joint use or something like that, maybe it could be recommendations in other subcommittees or ad hocs to say, hey, you know, we want to work with the school on, you know, joint use of open spaces including playgrounds or something and then the subcommittee can take that up at that time. But my concern is it just becomes another mini council on its own and covering all the topics and every topic under the sun. So, but I

Thai Viet PhanItem 23

am generally supportive of the idea of having them be able to have a voice and vote as to the recommendation to the two legislative bodies.

Great. Thank you for that. And if you can start the timer on me, Madam Clerk, I think I'm the only one who hasn't had a chance to speak, and that way we can wind this item up. We have some other items that are still pending. So, you know, I did want to bring this back because when we first adopted it and we did have a discussion on this, I thought that this was the sort of the configuration it was going to take because there had been, I think as somebody said, I think Councilmember Repeñalo said there was this structure before where you had a joint committee and just to remind everybody

Subcommittees can't make decisions. They can't dictate policy So as much as we want to say well, they're gonna be making decisions there. No, it's just a matter It's just a venue and a forum where you can discuss things just like any of our other subcommittees They can take it, you know, they can take a closer look analyze things a little bit deeper and come back with some recommendations for the council to consider and so this is going to be no different than that. The only thing that happened and has happened in the past and conceptually could happen this time is that you have members of

both agencies and I think it was well said and this wouldn't be to the exclusion of Garden Grove, Orange, Tuscan. I mean those conversations can continue to happen but because there's so much overlap between these two agencies with respect to assets and with respect to constituencies and And issues and yeah, I think you know the issues are ones that they can't be you know Beyond the scope of what both agencies can work with I know we have some land that you know We're selling back to them. There's some joint use policies that we're looking at some parking issues some shared

Open space possibilities different things that we can you know work on together It just seems like it's just for time efficiency and for getting policymakers together to discuss what makes sense so they can go back to their respective bodies and and present those for consideration. That doesn't mean it's a done deal at that committee, and I thought that was something that we all understood as a baseline premise on this. So that really was the only purpose of this, and I think the relationship that our superintendent has with our city manager is really, really strong. I think she has that same relationship

with Chancellor Martinez at Santa Ana College that hopefully will come to these committees and maybe request time to meet with the council members to see if there's an issue, or really anybody else from any institution, whether it's OSHA, Mater Dei, whether it's any of our school districts. So I don't think it's to the exclusion of anybody, but it's just because there's so much overlap between these two agencies that it made more sense in the past and it seems to make sense now. So I will be supportive of the recommendation that the chair of the committee has made to create this configuration.

And I guess, City Manager, we would have to come back for a resolution, or is that something that can be addressed?

It depends on what Council Member Lopez, so if I could get clarification. Are you recommending to keep the subcommittee as is, but then do almost like a subset of that subcommittee to meet with Santa Ana Unified School District? Or do you want the current subcommittee to convert fully into just the joint subcommittee?

Go ahead, Councilmember.

Jessie LopezItem 23

So the original recommendation that I gave to Executive Director Rudloff was because the council had already established a subcommittee that was broad enough and would allow us to work with Garden Grove, Tustin, Orange, if they ever decided to work with us, and with the private schools here, the charters, I thought that that was important for us to keep that subcommittee as it was so that they knew we were open and wanting to work with them and so I made the recommendation to keep and establish the joint meetings with SAUSD moving forward

Jessie LopezItem 23

however that would also be open to any other institution that wanted to say hey hey, the West Side needs, you know, we see what restorative practices you are establishing together. We would like to come in and help with that. So I think it's important to keep that door open for them as well.

Phil BacerraItem 23

Mr. Mayor, I had a question.

Go ahead.

Phil BacerraItem 23

Thank you. I appreciate that clarification. I guess I just don't see the difference in keeping the committee as is, inviting, whether it's Santa Ana Unified or Garden Grove Unified on a subject-by-subject basis, inviting them to a meeting, having the discussion, and just keeping it as is. To me, to have a separate subcommittee seems very duplicative because, you know, for instance, if we're talking about joint use, right, joint use would be something that definitely we're talking to Santa Ana Unified about, but I frankly hope at some point we have that conversation with Garden Grove Unified at some point.

Phil BacerraItem 23

But that would be something where having the joint use topic in general probably would make more sense to keep it site-specific and then engage San Diego Unified Board members and then at some point engage Garden Grove Unified Board members. So I'm just not seeing where there's really a need for a whole separate committee because this structure seems like it appeases what you guys are seeking. It just would be more of a proactive approach of inviting the respective school board members depending on what items being discussed at the committee.

Councilmember Peña-Losa and then Councilmember Phan.

Thank you Mayor Sarmiento. And thank you Councilmember Lopez for your previous comments that kind of really was kind of cleared it up a little. With the I guess the clarifying point that I wanted to ask and I don't know who could answer this city manager or the city attorney. I'm I'm supportive of having another joint use like we had in the past, but is this a thing where we could, and now I know why I brought up the vacant Garden Grove rep, because in our Parks and Rec board, if I'm not mistaken, there's a vacancy in that spot a lot of the times.

So is this something that we could create it and then have that in the bylaws or whatever it is that that seat is there but it's just vacant and whenever they choose because I would hate to bring this item back whenever they say hey we do want to participate can we just have it there and and maybe Council member Lopez you could chime in on this to have that seat there as a vacancy until they choose to

to join I'll defer to the city attorney but I think if you establish a committee that had an actual voting member assigned to it from a different agency, that agency would have to take action to appoint that individual. So unless they appointed an individual, you would never get participation from that agency on that committee. So what I'm understanding Council Member Lopez wants is she wants to maintain the subcommittee to work with all educational institutions, whether it's higher education, other school districts,

So there would always be that avenue for them, but establish a true joint committee with just Santa Ana Unified School District.

And that committee would include the three ad hoc members from the city council?

That would be something for the council to decide the makeup of that.

Okay. So the second question I have, just to clarify that point, is if it's genuinely going to be a joint use committee, where does it fall in regards to cost? Because I know there is staff cost that comes with that. There's an agenda. There's an agenda posting. There's staff overtime towards the end of the day. Usually these meetings are in the evenings. There's recordings. I mean, whatever cost is associated, is that something that could be split between the two agencies? Because if, you know, I would like to see that.

I wouldn't want it to be solely on the city's dime if we want to really go the joint use, you know, direction. It should be joint use. Is that something I'm not sure how it was done in the past?

You certainly could pursue that. We would need the board to vote on that. But you could rotate. You could have one of the joint committee meetings hosted by our city, and you could have the next one hosted by the school district if they're amenable to that.

Okay. So if, I don't know if that would... That's a good question. That would be included as part of the resolution or the, that comes...

And yeah, and those are good points. I think that that's how it was before. So they would host one meeting, then we would host the other one. So it was split. And it's funny because it came out even more cost-effective because if we had a standing committee and it was just us, then we'd have to bear the entire cost of every meeting. So in that sense, that was the one additional benefit to just having five policymakers in a meeting together.

Okay. So I'd be supportive of it if that could be clarified, that it would be split. Good point.

Thank you, Councilmember. Councilmember Fan.

Thai Viet PhanItem 23

So I think Councilmember Pinalosa clarified a lot of what I was going to talk about is, I do think we should have the general umbrella of like the school ad hoc, right? And you can invite whoever you want to invite. Invite OSHA, Mater Dei, and they can give input or maybe, you know, the January meetings are always going to be with the charter schools and that way you can address the charter school issues and have the joint COSA-SAUSD subcommittee with the five members, you know, appointed by two different legislative bodies and you can co-make recommendations to the legislative bodies and argue about

Thai Viet PhanItem 23

the water tower or land or whatever and I think that would be really helpful and you know the general school committee that bigger umbrella it's not always going to meet because you know you might not always get participation but I do think it's important to to actively invite those school board members it doesn't have to just go through the superintendent we're all elected officials we can directly reach out you know because it's trustee munitone is a friend of many of us and we should be able to just call him and say hey we would love for you to participate

Thai Viet PhanItem 23

in this and bring us you know issues or whatever so so i would be supportive of i guess providing input is to is for staff to keep the general school committee but for staff to bring back a REZO to create that joint COSA-SAUSD subcommittee, and that we ask our friends on the school board to bring a resolution that they would split the cost evenly with us.

Thai Viet PhanItem 23

And also, you know, I guess you guys can decide how you want to meet, but you can also do like every other month, or I guess you can do every month since you're splitting it with the two agencies. But that would be my recommendation.

All right. Is there a motion? I don't even know if there's a motion.

There's no motion needed, right? No, it's just direction, right?

No, and I believe I'm clear on the input, so we will return with the necessary paperwork to get that going.

Thank you. Thank you, everybody, and good discussion. Let's move along to item number 24, which is the ordinance from the public, or excuse me, finance and management, and I'll go ahead and turn it over to our finance director. Okay.

all right thank you mayor and city council members and

There we go.

Okay, all right, great. Sorry about that delay. Okay, the proposed ordinance before you tonight would update contracting authority and bid thresholds for the city to procure goods and services.

This is a summary of the procurement framework we operate within to protect the city's interests and obtain the best price for goods and services. First, we must obtain city council approved budget before any contract can be approved. Then we are required to submit a report to city council detailing all contracts approved by the city manager. • Informal bidding is a faster, more streamlined process to obtain competitive bids. We're required to solicit at least three. Informal bidding also allows us the opportunity to solicit bids from only Santa Ana vendors

when feasible.

Formal bidding is a much lengthier administrative process that includes scheduling bid walks or conferences, a bid opening, providing a bid protest period, and preparation of a formal bid solicitation document. Formal bidding is open to all vendors, no matter their location.

This matrix includes contract authority and informal bid thresholds for our peer cities. Our recommendation would eliminate the confusion of having two different levels of contract authority by extending the existing contract authority to all other contracts so right now we have the existing contract authority for the city manager at 250,000 for public works contracts and we're asking to extend it to all other contracts so public projects include construction installation and repairs of publicly owned facilities and infrastructure any

Any such project is expensive, which is why we are proposing a higher dollar range for informal bids. Any project less than $250,000 would be considered small in scope and requiring formal bids for public projects more than $250,000, of course, would be appropriate. Our proposed informal bid range for all other projects is much less than the public projects.

This proposal was initiated by my department to streamline operations, avoid confusion with multiple contract authority thresholds, and make it easier for our local vendors to do business with the city. If this authority had been granted last fiscal year, we would have more efficiently processed 102 contracts totaling only 1% of the city's budget. Once again, we are only asking you to extend the existing contract authority to other projects and eliminate the confusion. The recommendation would align Santa Ana thresholds with our peers and state and federal guidelines.

And finally, the informal bid range would enhance our ability to do business locally.

And this is a good opportunity for me to share our efforts to do business locally. As a reminder, the city's local preference of 7% was already in place when the state recently increased its local preference to 7%. It was previously 5%. In July, we contacted over 400 Santa Ana businesses to participate in a virtual workshop to learn how to do business with the city. The video of that workshop, along with updated FAQs and other expanded information, is available on the city's website.

Our bid platform software allows us to solicit bids by invitation only, based on geographic location, with direct communications pushed out to those vendors. Our internal bid process includes contacting local qualified vendors when they have not submitted a bid three days before closing. So, in short, we are taking multiple steps to increase the amount of business that we do locally.

That concludes my prepared presentation, and I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you for that presentation. Let me go ahead and bring it back to the Council to see if there's any questions or comments. Mayor Pro Tem.

Phil BacerraItem 24

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. There. Catherine, how would these proposed changes impact the existing community workforce agreement that we have in place?

So the agreement that you have currently in place still has, I want to say, almost potentially two years left on it. So it wouldn't have any impact to the terms of that agreement.

Phil BacerraItem 24

So these dollar amounts wouldn't conflict with the CWA?

No, the CWA just dictates which project level must comply with the terms of that agreement. So that dollar amount is written into the CWA, and it won't be impacted.

Phil BacerraItem 24

And then my only other question is, I saw on the chart that Anaheim and Long Beach gave their city manager contract approval authority of up to $200,000 for both public works and all other contracts. So could you, I guess, give me the reason why we would want to go to $250,000 versus $200,000?

Certainly, because our existing contract authority for the city manager is $250 for public works. And so instead of maintaining two different thresholds, we think it would be much more efficient and cause less confusion to just have one contract authority threshold of $250 for all. Instead of $250 for public works, $200 for others, $250 for public works, $50 for others, it would be $250 for all.

Phil BacerraItem 24

All right, I'm going to ask one last question. That is, so what if we just made it $200,000, brought everything to within the same dollar amount? Because I agree with you, rather than have the confusion, if we were to just set it at $200,000, what's the impact of that?

That certainly is doable, but our Public Works Department has requested $250,000, but it is up to the purview of the City Council. Okay, thank you.

Thanks. Any other questions or comments from the council on this item?

Council Member Phan, please.

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

I have to admit that when I saw this, and I told our city manager this, you know, my heart races and all of the shady stories that you hear of council past did make me very worried about approving something like this. You know, that $250,000 is not a small amount. I do understand it's public works and that stuff always costs a lot of money. But, you know, I think in Santa Ana we're all traumatized and we're always like, well, what if you get that bad, you know, person who comes in and like starts approving all sorts of things.

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

But the city manager does give us a list of updates of all the contracts that have been approved. I don't recall that also lists, you know, the company, I'm sure it does, the company, the type of contract, right, like the vendor, all that stuff. So, you know, that's there, and of course these are all approved by the city attorney as to form and whatnot, so it's clearly not going to be the city manager's best friend or spouse or something like that.

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

So I just wanted to say that to everyone watching, you know, it seems like a big amount, and it is, but at the same time, when we see somewhere like Irvine, where their city manager has authority up to a million dollars, it would save us time, money, and all of that. So I will support this item, and that I trust our staff to continue doing what you've been doing. Thank you.

Thank you for that. Any other? Councilmember Lopez?

Jessie LopezItem 24

Sure. um yeah it is a big amount and I personally like knowing what what the appropriations are I think it gives me a good understanding of spending practices which I think we should all have I mean I think it's good for the public as well but I did have a question is there a particular department that we're seeing more money that that the city manager or staff in general see should be or have seen in the past couple months be more allocated towards well certainly the

council controls the appropriations that you make and out of our over 700 million dollar budget you typically appropriate is about 300 about 300 million is in the category contracted services across the city so you leave you appropriate those dollars as part of the budget so that's another control mechanism on it I won't be able to answer for you which departments would have the largest amount I would venture to say it's going to be your larger departments that would be your parks and rec your police department and your public works but you are the ones that appropriate the dollars within those departments within

Jessie LopezItem 24

that category thank you and and yeah not to be like micromanaging because I hate that style as well. So those are all my questions. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Mendoza.

This threshold, is that for non-emergency projects? That is correct. Is there a separate Is there a separate one for the emergency issues? Yes.

And we're not voting on the emergency ones, are we, today? It's not included in this one.

Right. The part of your, yes, it is part of the recommendation is the increasing the emergency emergency public works construction contracts from 100 to 750.

100,000 to 750,000, excuse me.

Is that a pretty across the board with other cities of our size?

It really is kind of all over the map. Some cities don't have those kinds of limits on emergency contracts.

It's, it is all over the map. There's not a comparative example that I can give you. That change was requested from our Public Works Department, so I don't know if Executive Director Nabil could talk about if there was an emergency in the city. I don't know, example, like a giant sinkhole in the middle of an intersection, $100,000 would not give him the resources to actually address that on an emergency basis. Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, members of the City Council. Yes, in fact, I asked for a million dollar, but that's only for emergencies. $750 is what we think is appropriate

for our kind of work because when it's an emergency, it is premium, and we wanted to act quick. We haven't had an emergency for a long time, So, but that's the threshold. 100,000 is not enough, I can tell you that. So 750 would be recommended.

Great. Just kidding.

Any additional comments, Councilmember Mendoza? Thank you.

Councilmember Mendoza. I just want to say that I'm ready to make a motion to approve the recommended action.

Phil BacerraItem 24

I'll second, but I just have a quick question, and that is, I forget who brought it up, the idea of maybe Councilmember Lopez. as the idea of the reports coming back. I know that when we had the emergency order, we asked that under your purview that you would bring back, in fact, I think it might have been on this agenda tonight, you bring back a list of contracts that you approved under your authority. With this authority, would you be doing the same thing? Mind you, this would be outside of the emergency powers that we granted you.

Yes, and in fact, right now, I currently provide you as a council agenda item. All contracts I signed over $500 up to my current signing authority. So that would stay the same, but I do believe staff is recommending increasing the $500 to $1,000. So that report would continue, but it would be contracts over $1,000 to whatever limit you approved tonight. Okay, thank you.

Great. Seeing no other, Madam Clerk, is Council Member Hernandez okay? No raised hand?

No raised hand.

Great. So go ahead, Councilman.

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

I couldn't help myself. I'm just going to bring this up. No one get mad. But one item from a previous council prior to my time was this giant Hummer military vehicle situation where we allocated a bunch of money to purchasing that. I don't remember how much it was. It was like, no, not my council. That came to your council.

Phil BacerraItem 24

No, but it wasn't under her authority.

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

But that's what I'm saying. If we increased it to $250,000, could it have been under your authority? I guess I'm trying to say that, you know, this council up here right now has never, at least at my time, has never said no to allocating money for a purchase order for police business, whether it's a security vest or a new vehicle. but there are some items where if it's a giant tanker that used to be surplus with the military and now we're allocating money to it, it's probably not going to be $250,000. But there are just certain things like that that I am a little uncomfortable with. I guess maybe just leave it up to your

Thai Viet PhanItem 24

discretion to at least give us a heads up, even if it's not on a council agenda because it's within your discretion. But I do think that, at least for me, that is something I'm interested in because there are certain policies. I would not support that type of purchase. I wouldn't support our police purchasing excess military grenades or whatever else, and there are a lot of things like that. So I just wanted to make that comment. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. So seeing nothing further, I know there's a motion and a second on the floor. You know, when I was looking at this, I think that, so I've been on, you know, other agencies where we've increased some authority, and here's sort of been my sort of personal position on these extensions. I have complete trust in our city manager and our executive directors that, you know, head these different departments, and there's no doubt on that.

But that is not a fixed variable. That will change. You all will not be here indefinitely, and neither will we be. So I can't support this broad of discretion because we do have a responsibility, a fiduciary responsibility, because these are public funds. And the scrutiny that we are required to have is to deliberate on these. And I know it would make our meetings shorter. And I think, again, during my time, I have no problem because I know I'm surrounded by professionals that are ethical.

But I certainly can't do that at this point. And it's no reflection on the folks that are here because I do have that trust. But I'm worried about people who could be filling these seats later on and that's something that I do You know, I can't support because I don't know who would be in those positions I think incremental change if you look at Riverside, which is a bigger city than ours I think they're much much lower and that's something that does seem unmanageable, but but they get through You know Irvine on the other hand smaller city than us. They have much broader discretion, but look those are different communities

I think Santa Ana is a different community that unfortunately has had some levels of people doing things that you know they shouldn't and that's one of the things that I applaud this council where we've stayed off headlines for bad decision-making, sole sourcing and making decisions you know outside the purview of the public. So in any event, this again, I can't support this because the parameters just seem a little too wide But again, it's just more on the premise, not really because of anything else. But we do have a motion and a second for the recommended item. And I'll go ahead and request the council please vote.

Madam City Manager, my vote is no.

A motion fails with Councilmembers Hernandez, Lopez, Mendoza, and Mayor Sarmiento voting no. Councilmembers Peñalosa, Fan, and Mayor Potem Becerra voting yes.

You know, what I would recommend in light of this, maybe we can bring it back, Madam City Manager and see if there's maybe other ranges that we can work with you and your team on that, you know, might be a little bit more palatable. But yeah, that's something that I would recommend us doing.

Mayor Sarmiento? Quick question, and maybe it's not appropriate because we voted, but just maybe just a suggestion, City Manager in order to fix some of the discomfort that some of us had is, and if it doesn't cure it, no big deal. But I'm just saying that maybe if we approve this, but in the event that there is a change at the top leadership, City Manager, is this something that has been done before? And like if there's a change in the City Manager's office, this reverses back to what it is now? Is that?

It sounds silly now that I say it out loud, but I just wanted to ask.

Yeah, I mean, look, I'll let staff answer, but it's not something that normally is done in policy.

No, I'm not aware of that. Typically it's based on the size of your budget and the number of contracting that you do. And so I haven't seen that happen before.

Okay, thank you.

And we've already addressed this item, so I don't want us to discuss it any further, But I do think that all of us can sit with staff and see if we can somehow bring it back in a way that all of us can be supportive of. In any event, let's move on to item number 25, which is the mid-year budget update.

Okay. I do have a brief presentation for the midyear report.

This presentation will cover the proposed net impact to general fund, revenue and expenditure updates and the full-time staff vacancy report as of December 31st. This summary includes the original budget and the amended versions with each City Council action including approval of unspent carryovers from the prior fiscal year on September 21st and the first quarter adjustments approved on January 18th. The last column in this summary reflects the updated general fund budget if the City Council approved staff recommendations this evening. We estimate an ending fund balance

of $86.5 million at June 30. That includes the $65.5 million policy reserve, which is 18% of your annual budget, and $21 million available for one-time spending. Note the net activity of $22.9 million in the last column. So here I have a breakdown of that $22.9 million between recurring and one-time spending. We currently have an estimated recurring surplus of $8.4 million, meaning that our recurring

revenue exceeds our recurring spending by $8.4 million for the current fiscal year. This is good news, but we do anticipate some funding shortfalls with the next budget cycle, which may reduce the recurring surplus available for cost expansion. Examples include restoration of the city's contribution to the Civic Center Authority budget, increases for internal services such as building maintenance and employee benefits, and continued support of free parking in downtown.

This is a summary of our adjustments to revenue estimates, which appears on page three of your staff report. Strong performance in the general retail and transportation sectors are driving the additional Measure X revenue. Receipts to date also support increases to the hotel visitors tax and business license tax estimates.

This is a summary of general fund expenditures showing our proposed mid-year adjustments. The most significant of these is a $789,000 contribution to the parking enterprise to support expansion of free parking downtown.

The vacancy report we have shows that we have 1,291 full-time positions across all funding sources. This includes 96 general fund vacancies. 30 of those are subject to the hiring freeze, leaving 66 funded vacant positions in the general fund. Most of these 66 funded vacant positions, 39 are in the police department, which includes 17 vacant police officer positions at December 31. So that concludes my presentation and I'm happy to answer your questions.

Great. Thank you for that presentation. Let me go ahead and bring it back to the council to see if there's any questions or comments

Jessie LopezItem 25

Councilmember Lopez. Yeah, this is more of a standard practice for Kat and Christine when we're talking about the 30 hiring or frozen positions Can you include in the future reports what those are? Because I'd be interested in seeing what is it that we have a freeze on

Sure, we can do that.

Jessie LopezItem 25

Thank you. And I read in the staff report that there's an increase of half a million dollars for county compliance. Is that correct?

Yes. That is for the federal funding that we have. So we are having to hire some consultants and some temporary accounting help. There are very onerous reporting requirements and compliance requirements that require us to gather lots of documents, lots of data, meet deadlines. It's a substantive undertaking, and we found that we need the resources to do it.

Jessie LopezItem 25

Okay, so I'm assuming we have some sort of practice in place already for the compliance. We're seeing that increase because of the demand with the contractors and whatnot, the extra work.

Well, it's actually more compliance requirements that came along with the federal funding.

Jessie LopezItem 25

That makes sense. Okay, thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 25

So can you talk to me a little bit when you mentioned about the concerns you have for the budget shortfalls for next year?

Sure.

What would you like to know in particular?

I mean, everything, but I don't know that we have time for that. Yeah, sure. We do know, as we've described in several of the latest budget staff reports, the first quarter, some of the budget reports that went to you during the last budget cycle, we've been describing some of the budget issues that we have with the internal service funds. So internal service funds are basically a centralized accounting for services that are provided to all departments. So a classic example is building maintenance or fleet maintenance.

And what happened is over the years, the cost of providing those services have increased, but the budgets for those internal service funds did not increase. and so we find that the funds are now upside down and we need to do a deep dive and reset those budget allocations where we charge each department for a piece of building maintenance or fleet maintenance or whatnot. And so that's going to add some cost to the general fund because the departments that have general fund budgets are going to be paying for some of those charges.

we think that there is at least a couple million dollars shortfall in that area but we're looking at it very carefully as we're preparing the current the upcoming budget and we'll have more detailed information for city council during our budget workshops in May in addition to that the civics our contribution to the civic center authority budget has been in the past about $1.2 million a year. For this year, it was decreased to $600,000 because the Civic Center Authority scaled back the budget

because the parking revenue hasn't been coming in so well due to the pandemic. And so therefore our contribution to that budget decreased. It seems likely maybe not the full amount during 2022-23, but at some point I'm sure that our contribution is going to have to go up to what would be considered normal. So that's another $600,000. On top of that, during this year there has been some employee positions added that were added for just partial year funding.

And so we're going to have to true up the funding for that for a full 12 months with the upcoming budget. We do have employee negotiations, some that are currently in process and some that will be upcoming. We have an increase to the FIRE contract. In fact, I just received the letter today with the potential increase to that contract. It looks like about a million dollars. I saw that. So when you start adding these things up, you start realizing that that revenue surplus that we're seeing right now, it quickly shrinks.

Jessie LopezItem 25

thank you that's you put it really well thank you for me to understand it and I hope for other people to understand it I saw that there was a I don't have the page I'm sorry but there's a description of it's almost like a district one district district two district three neighborhood fund money can what is that I think

Oh, I know.

I think it's the park improvement impact fees. I think that's where you're... Are you speaking about what we call the Quimby fees or the park impact fees? This would be like fees charged to developers that in lieu of park land, they can pay us a fee that we can use to expand or improve our park facilities?

Jessie LopezItem 25

It didn't say, which is why I was asking. Okay.

Let's see.

Jessie LopezItem 25

Of course, now I can't find my sticky, but I can send it to you via email tomorrow. Okay. That sounds good. Okay. Thank you.

Great. Let's see if there's anybody else who has any questions or comments on the mid-year budget. Mayor Pro Tem.

Phil BacerraItem 25

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Catherine, on page 8 of the staff report, it states that the mid-year budget adjustment includes an increase to the Cannabis Public Benefit Fund expenditures by $7.5 million to spend the remaining fund balance available from the one-third originally allocated to enforcement activities. So I think I know where this is going, but I'm not 100% sure, So I just wanted clarification. So if you could clarify, what does this proposed action do for enforcement activities? And when we say enforcement activities, we mean, you know, code enforcement, city attorney's office, prosecutors, et cetera,

Phil BacerraItem 25

especially the ones that are currently funded by that third of the cannabis funds.

That's right. So your Cannabis Public Benefit Fund ordinance sets aside two-thirds of your cannabis tax for retail and commercial activities, with one-third being designated for youth programs and one-third being designated for enforcement. So we've been tracking how much gets transferred to this public benefit fund, and the departments who provide those services, whether it be youth programming or enforcement, submit budgets to us and they get the budgets approved by city council and then they spend money. And so what we found is the money

that has been allocated to, I'll call it the enforcement bucket, is more than what has been spent or budgeted on enforcement activities. The enforcement activities that are currently being charged, there is some police officers. There's some code enforcement officers. There are some city attorney contract services. And then there's contract services for my own department to conduct audits of cannabis tax paying businesses. So there has been money that has accumulated in this enforcement bucket,

bucket, kind of like our general fund balance, when we don't spend all of the appropriation or we don't appropriate all of our revenues, a balance accumulates at the end of periods. And so we had brought a staff report to City Council, I believe in July, on July 20th, that identified an approximate 7.5 million left in that enforcement bucket. And shortly after that, the City Council did adopt an ordinance to provide more flexibility to shift funding between youth and enforcement activities.

And so this staff report has a proposal to shift $7.5 million of that money that's left in the enforcement bucket that has not been spent or appropriated to shift it to some programs or, quite honestly, park improvements and some programs, too, that would support youth services. So that's what we're looking at for the recommendation.

Phil BacerraItem 25

Okay. I have to admit I'm kind of stunned. So you were able to recommend to the council two projects. I believe it was the Santiago Nature Center and then the Centennial Park Lake, which would be great projects to fulfill. But given where we're at today, I'm really astonished that, so parks, and my hat's off to the park staff, they're ready to go. They've already got things lined up for you to jump on, but it sounds like City Attorney's Office and our code enforcement, you're saying, I just want to make sure I understand, so you're

Phil BacerraItem 25

saying that they didn't have anything waiting in the wings for you to consider recommending to us. So they had nothing ready, and the only ones when you were trying to figure out, well, where could this 7.5 million go, the only one that really shot their hand up would be Parks. That's correct.

That's a pretty good summary in my opinion.

Phil BacerraItem 25

That is a very, very disappointing summary. And I'm not saying because you did a bad job. I mean just the fact that with everything going on in the city right now, and the communication that I received from so many folks that for enforcement activities, like code enforcement and city attorney's office for prosecution activities, we're saying that there just wasn't an eagerness to say, oh, 7.5 million, we can program that and help mitigate the problems that our residents and our businesses are facing today, that there is no enthusiasm, no desire. Is that?

Well, I'm not sure that I would say that there's no enthusiasm for it. And in addition, if the city council were to approve this recommendation to shift 7.5 million over to these projects that support youth services, there would still be $1.6 million left over in what I'll call the enforcement bucket that could be programmed for additional enforcement services. In addition to that, with our upcoming budget cycle, the last two budget cycles, we have been able to transfer $6.6, $6.5 million into the enforcement bucket

from the one-third set aside from cannabis tax. So if there were theoretically another $6.5 million available with the 2022-23 budget, all of that $6.5 plus this $1.6, which would total $8.1 million, would be available for enforcement appropriations in the coming fiscal year.

Phil BacerraItem 25

Okay. So right now, if for whatever reason, if the council was to say, we want to take the $7.5 million, we don't want to put it towards these two projects, We'd like to shift it over to code enforcement and the City Attorney's Office. Could you right now make a recommendation to this council where that money should specifically go for those two functions?

We could certainly act on the City Council direction to amend our recommendation with the staff report, but as far as specific details of how that would be spent for activities like code enforcement, I think that we would need to return to the City Council with some more information that provides you the details of that spending plan and what it would look like.

Phil BacerraItem 25

I'll just conclude with I'm really disappointed in the fact that as much as I appreciate these proposed items, I'm not opposed to them per se, but it's the fact that it seems like with everything going on, I mean the majority of the calls that I'm dealing with are things dealing with folks that are strung out in our shopping centers or things where they're happening in our neighborhoods. You know, our kids are experiencing, you know, drug addicts that are coming in and taking things in. Just all these things that really revolve around trying to go with at least the broken windows approach that could be

Phil BacerraItem 25

addressed with code enforcement, increased code enforcement, and increased prosecution from the City Attorney's Office, and those recommendations aren't before us. So I'll just conclude with that. Thank you. Any other comments from

the council on the mid-year review. Councilmember Fan. Thank you. And you know, when we had talked

Thai Viet PhanItem 25

about this, one of the items I had brought up is increasing code enforcement and using that $1.5 million. I actually very much like the allocation because I think this council and, you know, the motion or the idea brought by Councilmember Lopez was to allocate more funding for youth programs. I think that staff probably heard us loud and clear and said, Parks is like, this is what we do and I think there's been a huge I think capital improvement needed I mean Centennial Lake for goodness sake it is a bog and the idea of having a youth fishing program is awesome and I would be so excited for

Thai Viet PhanItem 25

any of these you know fantastic programs so I guess I look at it as staff kind of heard that saw the writing on the wall and like proceeded as such I do agree however, that we do need more code enforcement. And again, that's why I've brought up to the team to make that proposal, make that pitch, and I would be more than happy to advocate for it at the Mirri budget. But frankly, I think all of us up here have said time and again that we would be very supportive of that. And, you know, we can tell that to our director and to... Oh shoot, my brain

Thai Viet PhanItem 25

is blanking, but yeah, to the code enforcement team. With that, I am supportive of this, and I would be happy to make a motion to approve the ordinance. Thank you.

Great. Thank you for that. I think we have a question or some additional comments from Councilmember Peñalosa and then Lopez.

Yeah. Thank you, Mayor Sarmiento. I'll second Councilmember Phan's motion with the following comment. Just basically, I am supportive of the staff recommendations that I see before me. The one question that I had in regards to the Cannabis Public Benefit Fund, I see the Centennial Lake renovation, great synthetic Dan Young soccer complex, great movies in the park, Santiago Park, but the funding for sports field maintenance, is that just general

all our fields or which field specifically is that kind of because because the other ones were specific to which park which complex which what event but that one it's a million dollars but there's no really

yes that would be for all fields that the youth utilize throughout the city

They're just like at various parks?

Yes, all of our sports fields

At various parks at all the parks. Well, why would we separate the two of a Dan Young soccer complex?

That's that's the synthetic turf and light installation and the maintenance is for the turf the grass

Okay, thank you for that. I guess the the only question I had for staff because I'm very supportive of all of this, but it brings me back to our

obvious inability to maintain cleanliness and just ongoing maintenance of all these great things that we have. We have a lot of great things. The mayor mentioned that earlier we have more public pools in the city of Anaheim, and that's fantastic, but the maintenance is, I think, a frequent pattern where we fall short, whether it's the parking structures in downtown or the Cypress Fire Station. And I went on the Yelp page of the Santiago Park Nature Reserve, and I know that that's why we're

looking to renovate it, but everything from this place is getting sketchier by the minute. The park is not well maintained and there's litter everywhere. It's infested with homeless though fiends who seem to be running a bike chop shop operation right there along the walking trails. Dirty park, tons of trash, beer bottles, broken glass on the slide. Me and my child left quickly. It's sketchy. Lots of homeless camps. Not the safest. These are all different Yelp reviews, by the way. And I don't like Yelp reviews, but I figured I'd look. But so my question here is,

okay, we're investing all this money into this nature reserve, but is that just going to be, I mean, is the park going to continue in the same state of just being overrun by druggies and trash everywhere and keep our families away? Because our families clearly, and it's not just Yelp, it's on Nextdoor, it's on Facebook, it's on Instagram, it's emails. Our families do not like or do not feel safe going to many of our parks, Centennial Park, one of them, Santiago Park is another because of the amount of just crime and litter.

So how do we keep that maintenance? I mean, can we commit to keeping that park clean and welcoming to our residents versus just investing money in it and then just see it deteriorate by unwanted people?

Councilmember Penloza, that is excellent questions. And over the last two and a half years, under the leadership of this council, you have finally put money to many deferred maintenance, infrastructure maintenance that was needed in the city. You developed a sidewalk plan. You've started road construction that had been in a pipeline waiting for five years to do. There is a lot of work to be done in the Parks and Rec. And my hat goes off to Lisa, because her maintenance budget for Parks and Rec is woefully inadequate, and it's going to come down to budget priorities to maintain it to the level

that you want and to provide the quality of life to our residents. I can't blame past councils or past city managers. You did have a structural deficit at the city. You never fully recovered from the economic recession that hit way back in 2008. So it's a work in progress, and I think we have made substantial strides.

And we have 100% right on there. I just, you know, just because the most evident thing in my mind right now is these public parking structures that we own and we just can't seem to clean. That's what I just worry, that we will invest millions of dollars in all these great things, the nature reserve, but maintenance will lack and security will lack. It's been a year since I've seen the Allied Universal Security Park Security. I haven't. Initially, when we first approved them, I would see them weekly. And now I haven't seen, personally, in a year. And I drive around all over the place.

So it's just kind of, I want to see more upkeep, more maintenance, more security. Our families are asking for it because they don't feel safe using these facilities. And I don't blame them. So thank you. But with that, those are my comments, Mayor Sarmiento.

Thank you for those comments. We have Council Member Lopez followed by Council Member Hernandez.

Jessie LopezItem 25

Thank you, Mayor. Everybody knows, you know, Santiago Park is a hot mess right now. But just because it has those issues doesn't mean that we're not going to invest in trying to bring back the park and activate that space. There is an entire plan for that area that people are now seeing, right? This is the second item on today's agenda. that is discussing what is happening in that area. And so I actually want to thank staff for listening to what the council members have been talking about, particularly with the Nature Center, with Ward 3 residents, they want this.

Jessie LopezItem 25

They are the ones that have been talking to staff that this is what they want. So I am completely opposed to the thought of even removing this money that is going, that the staff has allocated to Santiago Park. and you know I also want to say that sorry I lost my note there but you know thank you SAF for this the Centennial Lake for youth fishing program I think that's going to be an interesting program but I think those renovations for the park are much needed I was there not too long ago and you know the

Jessie LopezItem 25

sidewalk was covered and feces I'm sure that we have a power washer we can use that so I think you know there are parts as the council members have talked about have many issues but what is important to me is the staff is listening to our constituents and they are coming up with a plan and there's a plan we're bringing in park hosts we're bringing in park security we're renovating the nature center, you know, we're working with the discovery of science, we're working with our supervisor to bring in more activity to the area to really make it safe. So thank you.

Thank you, council member. Council member Hernandez.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just wanted to thank Executive Director Catherine Downs for the presentation. Really happy to see that Centennial will be having a summer fishing program. I think that's a great use of that land um i just want to echo my support to see uh community events that have been reoccurring within our city most notably in ward five there is a event that takes place and it's going on its 11th year it's called the san anna day festival and it occurs in ward five it's put on by a resident named jane stapleton i would love to see us utilize some of these monies

to support local neighborhood organized events like that and to also see some of these monies go toward reconstructing and improving the El Salvador park restrooms many residents in Ward 5 and in the Artisa Pilad neighborhood have expressed their concerns and discomfort with the Artisa Sepilad, El Salvador Park restrooms. So I would like to echo that. I would like to see some monies programmed toward repairs and toward potentially painting and fixing the outside as well.

I know that's important to many of my constituents. Thank you.

Thank you for those comments. Council Member Mendoza.

Thank you. My question is if we transfer these $7 million from enforcement, how much is left in the enforcement side to do their job?

They have a current year budget of $3.7 million, plus they would still have an estimated balance of $1.6 million after that, Plus, with the new fiscal year, 2022-23, we anticipate that they would receive another $6.5 million.

So that's a total of, and is it for a year?

Yeah, that would be $6.5 million of new money coming in. And then the $1.6 of money that we expect would be left at June 30th. so that would be 8.1, plus they have the 3.7 currently appropriated for this year already. And so that would take it up to 11.8 million.

And is that enough for all the departments to do their, you know, code enforcement, police enforcement, to do their job properly?

I have no doubt that a couple of our director of planning and building and our police chief may have some recommendations as part of this upcoming budget process.

My concern is that they may be short on money and then what? The other question I have is could we, I'm in favor, by the way, of improving our parks and cleaning up and maintaining Santiago and all the other parks is it a possibility that we may get a partnership for funding assistance from the Rancho Santiago Community College District because they are right there at Centennial Park and I think this will be to their advantage also to have the homeless removed from there and addressing the beautification of the

area and so perhaps we can ask them to join us in doing the cleanup and getting money from a different source rather than taking it away from enforcement we

certainly could councilmember and we are always on the lookout for additional funding and I do have routine meetings with the Chancellor so I'll raise that at my next meeting.

Any other questions, Councilmember Mendoza?

I'm just not sure. I mean, I want to do the right thing, but I don't want to take money away from our enforcement because, you know, that's what it was intended for. And I'm at a loss because I do want our green space to be enlarged and to be beautified and for our residents to enjoy. And I do want to ensure that we make these parks safe and inviting, but is it at the cost of us preventing enforcement from doing their job? So I'm still not quite sure.

I can answer that for you. So this is just a major update. So what our finance director did is she tracked where the spending is at and what she anticipated is not going to be spent. And then based on council direction, where you loosen the restrictions as to the hard allocation of one-third and one-third, these are dollars that her projection are those departments are not going to spend them, and we're mid-year, so we're only talking towards the end of this year, so that they can be reprogrammed. When we go to build the next year's budget, I'm sure you're going to have requests

from the departments, and we'll be doing those allocations for the entire upcoming fiscal year, if that helps.

If I could also add, too, the City Council did direct us, and it was included in the last couple budget cycles, to use some Measure X money for additional code enforcement officers. So there has been some improvements to the code enforcement function using Measure X.

Phil BacerraItem 25

Mr. Mayor?

Is that any other questions, Councilman?

Phil BacerraItem 25

There's one quick comment. I just I get what you're saying as far as the this decision tonight will not prevent what's already happening. I think the commentary here for at least for myself is the fact that that our enforcement efforts have left money on the table. So you did the right thing in the sense of if they're going to leave it there, you're obviously going to program it somewhere else. If you're not going to eat this food, then give it to someone who will.

Phil BacerraItem 25

In this case here, the frustrating thing is that our code enforcement and city attorney's office weren't ready or haven't been spending it quick enough for you not to bring it back to us to reprogram.

Look, I know we could go through this a little bit more. I think everybody, you know, some people have had a couple of chances to speak, but we, you know, we have a motion and a second on the floor. I haven't had a chance to speak and I guess some you know one of the things I would say is I want to thank staff for listening to the council because this is a reflection of Comments that you've heard not only from you know our budget discussion before conversations thereafter, so I You know don't know if you know why there's shock sometimes You know when when you see staff reports like this because it is

It may not be a reflection of one's personal opinion on something, but when you listen to a discussion of a body and then you're shocked by why we're prioritizing youth, it really confuses me because I think maybe we're not listening, but I'm really glad to say staff is listening. And I'm certainly grateful. I even saw money in here from the gas tax for sidewalks, so you guys are listening to that as well. So I think hopefully there's something to be happy about for some. But for me, I think what's important is that, you know, when we talk about enforcement,

if we go back to the days of why we had a cannabis revenue and why we dedicated it to enforcement, it wasn't for code enforcement. It was strictly to reduce the number of illegal operators. It morphed into something else over time, but that really wasn't the intent or the spirit of that original dedication of money for enforcement. for enforcement. And I think, you know, if Alvaro and others were here, they'd probably speak to that as well, because it really was an effort to reduce the number of, you know, illegal, unpermitted cannabis operators that we had in the city when we had over 100 when

we started. And now I know we're down to 10 or, you know, some, you know, single digit number. In any event, look, I just think that this is a really, really good mid-year report, because, I mean, things could be upside down. Things could be much, much worse. There are cities that are going through their mid-year reviews, and they're looking at, you know, much different, you know, budget cycles. And, you know, and we have, I think, upside here. And going into discussions, I like the idea of the discussions that we were having about maintenance. I think that's an important one to have because it'll give staff now, in a sense,

yeah, a lot of the deferred maintenance that we've dedicated, I think we continue to do that because we do have assets that are aging. That's just the reality of our city. It's not because I think nobody's being derelict or neglectful. It's just we're 150 plus year old city and things break down and they need to be rehabbed. So I'm certainly supportive of that as well. The one thing I would kind of just call our attention to is on the police department, there was a $1.7 million discussion of the MET monies that were going to be moved. approved, and I know some of those I think were proposed by the chief because there wasn't,

I think we kicked it back when it was first proposed to us at the council. I don't know how much of it's already been expended, but the idea was, and one of the reasons I think I supported not approving it at that time, was because I wanted those funds and the intent was to have those funds removed from the police department itself and maybe it goes to CDA and parks and other places so we could address youth investment from other multi-agencies as opposed to it being done just through the police. So that was my goal. I don't know if it was others, but I know that I heard that same conversation from others

when we were talking about that specific amount of money. So I don't know if that 1.7 has already been expended or a part of it, but look, to the extent that there are other ways to expend it other than just the PAL and other than the Family Justice Center and things like that, I think that I would have wanted to hear from our youth commissioners. I would have wanted to hear from our youth in the community to say, this is what we want to see. So that is maybe something you can get back to us on, Madam City Manager. That's something that we don't have to address tonight. But those monies at some point, I think there

should be some direction from the council on how they should be expended. So if we can figure that out, that's just something I'd have us maybe come back to. But with that, I think everything else here seems to be something that is a reflection of previous comments that staff has heard from council. And I think all of us have had a chance to look at this. Hopefully you've all had a chance to meet with staff before this meeting as well. Do you need us to we need to take a vote on this? There's a motion in a second. Mr. Mayor

Phil BacerraItem 25

I'd like to make one quick comment just to clarify you'd mentioned about what the purpose of the enforcement funds were and I'm looking at the Muni code section 13-203 C that clearly states that enforcement services expenditures for enforcement services to enforce cannabis regulations and other nuisance laws to improve the quality of life of residents. So it was never intended to be just specifically for cannabis. And I've heard that stated a couple of times, but I continue to have to clarify that enforcement from cannabis is not isolated to just cannabis-related issues.

Well, I'll get the minutes for you from when we first designed this program, and I'll give you the spirit, the legislative history on that. So thank you for the comment. Let's go ahead and vote.

Mayor Cerminto, just quickly to clarify, Speaking of minutes, I want to make sure that the city manager, that you guys go back and look at the budget minutes because I took very thorough notes and numerous email correspondence between the chief and I and the city manager. Nobody on this council asked for that money from the med team to be removed from the police department. It was to be moved from the med team into youth engagement services within the police Department, a second PAL program, additional community engagements, but nobody, unless they want to say it now, to take it away from the police

department, that's fine. But at the time, that wasn't the intent of the council, as I recall, and certainly wasn't mine. So I still would like to see that second PAL program come sometime soon, but just wanted to make sure that that was clarified. Make sure that Daniel, somebody looks back at those minutes, because that wasn't the case. So thank you, City Manager. That's it, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. And so, look, I think maybe we do have to have a conversation about what those funds were intended to be and what they were intended to be used for. I recall it was going to be a multi-department use of those funds. It wasn't going to be solely police. So look, I think it could be revisited. We could take a look at what that was. or maybe we can now repurpose it and see if there are maybe other goals that we want to have with it. But I think it's a discussion that we need to have. I certainly think that those monies, again, we could have a difference of recollection,

but I think to the extent that they are going to be expended on youth, they should be expended in a multi-department way. So in any event, I'm not sure if that's going to prevent us from voting on the item tonight.

Anything further?

So we have a motion in a second?

Madam Clerk, there's something on my device. I can't seem to...

Mayor, are you not able to vote? Is that what you're saying?

Well, there's like an update screen here. I think it's preventing...

Did you click on... If you want to voice...

Oh, there we go.

All right, it's off. Madam City Clerk, my vote is yes.

Thank you. Okay, a motion passes in 7-0 with Council Members Hernandez, Lopez, Mendoza, Peñalosa, Fan, Mayor Prutem-Becera, Mayor Sarmiento voting yes.

Thank you for that. Moving along to item number 26, which is the ordinance regarding voting, recusal of conflicts, and prohibiting abstentions.

We do have a brief presentation if you're interested in seeing that, and Daniel from the City Manager's Office will walk you through it, and then of course the City Attorney is available if you have any questions regarding the components of the ordinance.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. Just a quick second while I pull up that presentation for us.

Thank you.

tonight we have a brief presentation regarding a proposed city council policy relating to voting recusal for conflicts and abstentions just a quick background

back in may 2020 at the request of mayor pro tem becerra and council member peñalosa the city council discussed and directed the city manager to direct staff to prepare a policy regarding abstentions on votes on items on City Council meeting agendas.

The Council member sponsors of this item later discussed the matter with the City Manager and City Attorney and indicated that the matter could be added to a future City Council goal-setting meeting for consideration. And while such a meeting hasn't taken place, more recently Council Member Lopez inquired about bringing this item back to the City Council as a policy document with the goal of addressing a way to enforce the current prohibition against abstentions on votes as set forth in the Santa Ana Municipal Code.

Our Municipal Code provides in part that a member of the City Council shall not abstain from any vote unless they are disqualified from voting. Council members disqualified from voting shall openly state why they are disqualified from voting. Where no clearly disqualifying conflict of interest appears, the matter of disqualification may be decided by the City Council at the Council Member's request, and that the disqualified Council Member may be granted permission to be absent from the dais while the agenda item is being discussed. Violation of this policy is a misdemeanor,

and it may not be practical to consider enforcing this provision through criminal action against a council member. Additionally, by past practice, the city council has not indicated a desire to strictly enforce this provision.

The staff did some research and prepared a proposed ordinance that addresses this matter, and some of the details are on your screen. If the ordinance is approved, it would prohibit abstentions unless legally required, require unauthorized abstentions to be counted and recorded as a vote with the majority and establish a conflict disqualification process the full text of the ordinance is attached to the staff report and a summary is displayed on the screen staff is available if you have any questions thank you

great thank you for that presentation thank you for being brief let me bring it back to the council to see if there's any questions or comments especially from the council members that propose

Jessie LopezItem 26

this any thoughts on this sure I'm happy to go first yes thank you mayor so I do want to provide direction and staff to approve the first reading of this ordinance however I do want to suggest a change in section 2-105 I would say subsection 3 under section B which states the council member states that he or she is awaiting further information or clarification and will recuse themselves out of an abundance of caution I do want to strike that and I

Jessie LopezItem 26

only want to leave section 1 and 2 I do think that section 1 and 2 are concrete reasons for a council member to be able to provide the public as to why would they will not be participating but I think that you know section 3 definitely leaves the door open for council members to not take a vote if they don't want to take a vote or to you know run away or or hide or walk away as we've seen in the past and so I think that part of our job is to be able to make those really hard decisions whether we want to or not and to do them on behalf of the constituents that we should be representing.

Jessie LopezItem 26

And so that is gonna be, I guess, a motion, Mayor Cemento, to approve this as an ordinance,

Jessie LopezItem 26

striking section three under section two dash one oh five. I will second that motion.

I'll second your motion. Great, Council Member, I think Council Member Hernandez, I think Mendoza just beat you, so I think she's the second on this. Can I be a third in this case? You can be a third. I'm just joking.

Phil BacerraItem 26

You're welcome.

Any questions? Mayor Pro Tem?

Phil BacerraItem 26

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. You know, as already stated by Daniel Soto, Councilmember Pelos and I brought this forward before. And the reason we did that was because we had a council member at the time that was abstaining without even providing a reason, just simply because. And I think it's important that if somebody feels strongly, if they state a reason why they're abstaining. It's one thing just to walk away and abdicate their vote. I think that so there's a little I tend to agree with Councilmember Lopez that's a little vague on that subsection, but at the same time I don't know about removing

Phil BacerraItem 26

it because I don't think the FPPC should be the only arbiter of whether someone's stated reason is sufficient to abstain. The other thing is I really strongly disagree. In fact, I think someone called in tonight mentioning this, the idea that by virtue of not participating, their vote automatically gets cast into one column. I mean, to me, that's just absolutely not democratic. That'd be like saying, well, if you didn't show up to vote this year, guess what? Your name will be assigned to yes for a candidate. I mean, that just doesn't seem right. So by one inaction, you automatically cause

Phil BacerraItem 26

inaction with your vote. So I strongly disagree with that. I know that our city attorney has said that that has been codified in other cities and that's fine for other cities. Other cities can do it their way. I would strongly disagree with that particular aspect. So I would probably ask that that be stricken. If that's not agreed to, then I wouldn't support the motion. Thank you. Councilmember Fan. Thank

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

you. So first off, I am generally supportive of this ordinance. Regarding, So I'm just going to start with B2. So 2-105 B2. I'd actually like to add awaiting advice or awaiting investigation result. I think that is a fair extension of that. Obviously, if someone is being investigated like yours truly, I can't vote. And I think, you know, I don't have an answer either way. So I think that makes total sense to add that provision. So two would say council members awaiting advice from the FPPC or awaiting results of a pending FPPC investigation.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

Regarding item three, I actually would like to keep item three. I think that there are definitely times where it is very hard or some issue might come up the day of or the day before that causes us to require additional information. In fact, even requesting advice from the FPPC requires somewhat concrete information to be put into a letter in order to receive advice if they choose to give advice. However, I would like to add that the council member, and I'd actually like to change the council member states that they are willing or awaiting, I don't think we need to use

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

a gender term there, further information or clarification and will recuse themselves out of abundance of caution, I think that we should add a provision in that that says from whom they're awaiting information or clarification, I think, or what source. So whether it's a director or the source of information telling them that there is a potential conflict, or I think that would be important, or that they're receiving advice from the city attorney stating that it is recommended for them to recuse for the duration until additional information can be obtained in order to give them concrete advice.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

I do know that in speaking to our city attorney that is a provision that exists in other cities. Obviously a city attorney's advice cannot protect us from a conflict of interest determination, but I think that having something concrete like that would help a council member in stating a recusal based on awaiting for information and clarification. And if the council member disagrees with the city attorney's determination that they might want to sit it out, then they can choose to risk it or they can ask the FPPC for advice.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

So those would be the updates I would like to see in this ordinance in order to support it. I think that it kind of fleshes it out a little bit more and gives us some flexibility, but also requires some definite explanation and information like you said not just someone who's a you know previous council member who just leaves the taist finally I do support that an abstention be considered a yes our charter requires the full majority of the entire sitting body of the council I That's not typical, usually.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

So to me, if that to me says that, you know, if two people or three people decide I'm just not going to vote on it, that automatically kills an item. So that by default currently means that it's a no. So to me, I would like to see that if you choose not to participate for a reason that is not clearly stated, that it becomes a yes. Because again, we have to make I agree with council member Lopez as I remember her decision on El Centro It is very hard, but you have to make those difficult calls That's all thank you

So are those proposed amendments councilmember to yes

So the to the maker of the motion and the second are you both good with that?

Jessie LopezItem 26

So on section 3, sorry, you're saying that somebody can't just vaguely say out of an abundance of caution, I'm not going to vote, right? They have to clearly say the source of who they are waiting to hear back from.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

Right. So for example, you know, I am waiting for information from my law firm to tell me whether this client is actually a client. Or, I'm waiting to hear from the city attorney who's saying, hey, actually, I heard about this detail. I think you should sit it out until we get more information to ensure that you don't have a conflict.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

And Mayor, if I'd just make comments on that. Because in looking at it, I looked at situations where we faced before, where I always ask all of you, out of respect, and can you please let me know when you're reviewing the agenda whether you have a conflict. But I know that sometimes it is not until you arrive at the dais that you, oh, I might have a conflict on this item. And we have had situations where out of an abundance of caution, I would say to you, I can't answer that conflict of interest question tonight. I'm just really sorry. I can't. Because it's too important.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

And I would rather that you abstain from voting rather than voting and then getting in trouble. So my intent with subsection three there was to make sure that if you, maybe a fact came up when a member of the public commented on the item that caused you to think, oh boy, I might have a conflict, I wanted to make sure that you, in fairness to you, that you could back away from that. And that's why that's there. I don't, I've not seen it abused with this council, but I do think it has come in handy when someone has said, you know, I might have a conflict, I just don't have enough information

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

tonight. So I think then even if we just kept it to, you know, receive advice from the city attorney to state, you know, you should recuse yourself out of an abundance of caution, I think even then I would feel like that still gives us flexibility, but something concrete that the city attorney has given advice rather than, you know, me, Jane Doe advice. Okay, I'll accept your amendment.

Second? Does the second accept?

Phil BacerraItem 26

Second, I accept.

All right.

Phil BacerraItem 26

I have a question real quick. So on number three, if you're accepting that, so the council member states that they are waiting for their information on clarification. Nowhere in here it says that the council member would state their reason, which would go back to what Council Member Penaloza and I, the reason why we introduced this at the beginning. So I would throw it out to you, too, if you would want to add that as well.

Jessie LopezItem 26

Oh, yeah. They would have to state the source, like the city attorney, and the reason.

Phil BacerraItem 26

So they would state the reason and that they are seeking advice.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

And I think what I've heard tonight is that we would redraft this to add the additional requirement that on the advice of the city attorney, I'm recusing myself out of an abundance of caution.

Phil BacerraItem 26

As they state the reason. Okay.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

Correct. Yeah, so that would be we would redraft that as it comes back to you in the second reading because I think that's key is that I'm saying when you've come to me right for the meeting do I have a conflict and I just say I don't I don't know Enough information that that would be when you could use a subsection not just because you think You need to recuse yourself. So on the advice of the city attorney got it. Okay. All right

Is that acceptable to the first? I accept that all right

Jessie LopezItem 26

The section, yeah.

Anything? Go ahead, Council Member.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

Yeah, and do you accept for B2 that they're awaiting advice from the FPPC? Or investigation? Yeah, pending investigation.

Jessie LopezItem 26

Yes, I accept that as well, and I agree abstaining being an automatic yes.

All right. I think we've got all the amendments in there and the changes. Seeing no other comments or questions. Mr. Mayor, I will be abstaining from this item. I'm just kidding. Very funny.

That was amazing. Yeah.

Council members, please vote.

I wasn't shocked by the way.

Madam, Madam city clerk, my vote is yes.

Thank you.