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Our ladies, sorry for the delay, but Tom has come through. Can you respond please?

Did you want us to speak? Yes, please. I can hear you. Okay, good. Can you try some of the other mics for the council members? Focus on Norma's. She's going to be facilitating the meeting. Okay.

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Great. Good afternoon, everybody. Let me go ahead and call this special closed session meeting of the Santa Ana City Council to order for September 6, 2022. And I'm just going to open up with some brief remarks. The meeting is taking place with in-person attendance and by teleconference via Zoom. The public can access the meeting via the Santa Ana YouTube channel on the city's website. As usual, please bear with us as the technology may interrupt the flow of the meeting. I'm going to turn it over to the clerk so she can conduct roll.

Councilmember Hernandez? Yes. Present. Councilmember Lopez? Here. Councilmember Mendoza?

Councilmember Peña Loza.

Councilmember. Councilmember. Councilmember Fan. Here. Mayor Pro Tem Becerra.

And Mayor Sarmiento.

Here. So let me ask the council if there's anybody that would wish to abstain from any of the items on the closed session agenda?

Hearing none, Madam Clerk, do you have any members of the public that wish to address the council?

We do not have any.

Great. Why don't we go ahead and recess in the closed session. We'll be back out in the public in a little bit. Thank you.

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Good afternoon everybody. Let me go ahead and call this session back to order. We are now in the regular session open meeting. I want to go ahead and welcome you all here to the Santa Ana City Council meeting for September 6, 2022. Before I begin with my opening comments, I just want to say many of you probably received an emergency alert on your devices that there is an excessive heat warning. I just want to remind everybody if they can do all they can. I know that the governor's office contacted me earlier today and is just pleading with all of us to be more responsible

that our use of air conditioning and any other appliances and things that will draw down on the electrical grid. So to the extent that from four to nine, we can reduce our consumption of heavy use on the electrical grid, it will help all of us, especially many people that don't have access to energy and are very compromised right now because of the success of heat. What they're recommending is that we keep our, if you do have air conditioning units, to 78 and that is probably as high as we want it to get with our air

conditioning units. But more importantly, I know that over the weekend I want to thank our city manager and our staff because they kept some of the community centers and other cooling centers available for our residents and you know hats off to all of our staff who who helped on that we know this these are very irregular conditions we've had heat but this is excessive heat over a prolonged period of time and it looks like it's going to continue for another few days hopefully it will break very soon but we have our library our community centers available and the city

manager and her staff will reassess as we go through and if this continues we may have to keep those cooling centers open over the weekend. So thank you staff for looking at the health and the well-being of our residents as we go through these very unusual times. So let me go ahead and begin with some opening comments and let you know that the meeting is taking place with in-person attendance and by teleconference via Zoom. The public may access the meeting via the Santa Ana YouTube channel or the city's website. And as usual, please bear with us as the flow of the meeting may be interrupted.

Hopefully the air will not interrupt us and we'll continue to have a cool air in here. But I'm going to call on the Madam Clerk right now to go ahead and conduct roll call, please.

Council Member Hernandez?

Council Member Lopez? Here. Council Member Mendoza? Present. Council Member Peñalosa?

David Penaloza

Present.

Council Member Phan? Here. Mayor Potembecerra?

Here.

Mayor Sarmiento?

Here. And let me go ahead and before I begin and before we begin with the Pledge of Allegiance, I'm going to ask the clerk to go ahead and make her housekeeping remarks so we can talk to people who are online or virtually joining the meeting.

To request to speak on agenda or non-agenda items within the city's jurisdiction, with the exception of public hearing items 27 and 28, please dial star 9 from your phone or click the button labeled raise hand from zoom at this time please hold your comments until the mayor opens public hearing items 27 and 28 only please announce your name and word or neighborhood you resided within the city of Santa Ana for the record thank

you madam clerk I'm going to go ahead and call on councilmember Nelly Mendoza if she doesn't mind leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance and then we will follow that with words of inspiration from pastor Guillermo Gonzalez. Thank you. Would you please stand?

Place your right hand over your heart. If you've served in the military, you may salute our wonderful flag in honor of the freedom that we so enjoy. Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the

David Penaloza

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.

Please remain standing for the invocation of

Pastor Guillermo, if you don't mind joining us at the podium.

Good evening. My name is Guillermo Gonzalez and I am the lead pastor of Mariner's Church in Santa Ana. Mariner's Church is grateful for a city like Santa Ana because we both want to see the city not just exist but thrive and I want to thank our mayor disassembled council and everyone joining us today it is an honor for me to be here at this moment I would like to pray for this meeting our leaders and our beautiful city let's pray together dear wise and loving God I first want to say thank you on behalf of all those who are gathered here today thank you for

your many and abundant blessings. Thank you for your life. Thank you for life itself, for the measure of health that we need to fulfill our callings, for sustenance and for friendship. Thank you for the ability and privilege of being involved in useful work and for the honor of bearing appropriate responsibilities. Thanks as well for the freedom to embrace you and to know that you want to see this city thrive. Thank you for loving us even so from your boundless and gracious nature. Lord, you have taught us that citizens ought to obey the governing authorities

since you have established those very authorities to promote peace and order and justice. Therefore, I pray for our mayor, for the various levels of city officials, and in particular for this assembled council. I am asking that you would graciously grant them the wisdom to govern amid the conflicting interests and issues of our times, that you would grant them a sense of welfare and true needs for our people, a keen thirst for justice and rightness, that you would grant them confidence in what is good and fitting, that you would grant them the ability to work together in

harmony even when there is honest disagreement, and that you would personally, and that you would grant them personal peace in their lives and joy in the task that you have called them to, and I pray for the agenda set before them today. Please give an assurance of what you would, what would please you and what would benefit those who live and work in and around our beloved city of Santa Ana. It is in your most beloved and blessed name that I pray in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Thank you, Pastor Guillermo. Let me go ahead and move along to the ceremonial presentations. I'll have the honor of making the first presentation for OC Pride. If I could have Brian Terry, Sean McDonald, Derek McCauley, Jesser Neen Garner, and Logan Crow. Please join me up here behind the podium.

So I'm trying to figure out when the Pride Parade was. It's already been a while, right? When was it?

June 25th.

Was it June 25th? All right. So this is a little delayed, but, you know, it's just been because, you know, these ceremonial presentations that we make to members of our community, nonprofits, these efforts, recognizing outstanding achievements. We have so many that there was a long queue. So don't think that because we didn't think that this was important. This was extremely important and I'm just so proud that you know I have the honor and the privilege to recognize the hard work that you all have done for the OC Pride and I want to thank our staff who made that possible because we had I

think over 10,000 people that visited us that day. So it was extremely successful. It was extremely beautiful. I should say that, you know, for me personally, the Pride Parade is sort of the culmination of what this city council in years past has tried to do to make sure that we support the LGBTQ community. And, you know, we started with recognizing, being one of the first cities in the county to recognize Harvey Milk and recognize his day. And if many of you don't know, Harvey Milk was a supervisor in San Francisco and he was the first gay man elected to the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco.

He was assassinated while he was in office for his beliefs and what he stood for. So we thought it was important that we make sure that we respect and honor his legacy. We decided to be one of the first cities to also respect the pride flag and put it up here at city council and many other things. And so the pride for me, the OC Pride Parade, is just sort of a culmination of that celebration of our LGBTQ community here in Santa Ana, but really in Orange County. And we are just so honored to be the host community for that. And we want to thank you for all the work that you've done.

And again, for me personally, my eldest son is somebody who is gay. And he is somebody who I love. And he is somebody who has gone through his struggles. but I know these efforts are so important to him and so important to many in our community that sometimes go through very difficult times in their own personal lives and their own families and I have lived experience on that so I am just very proud of my colleagues I am very proud of our staff I am very proud of our residents that we we are a community that we can celebrate rather than and denigrate and harm and be punitive.

So thank you all on behalf of a father who has a son, who loves his son and wants to see his son be healthy, be supported, and I think this community is getting there. So with that, let me just go back to the script. I tend to go off script a lot. You know, it's making me a little bit more nervous. I have my other son here, Diego. Diego, raise your hand. There he is. Look, he never comes and visits me, So let's give him a round of applause. So he's going to be going back to college, and he spent the summer being my unpaid intern. And, you know, he works for free. He works for just meals at home.

So, you know, he's the right price, but he's been very effective, and I love him. I'm just going to miss him, but he's making me very nervous being here in the audience. So let me begin by just saying a couple of points here. So OC Pride is a nonprofit organization based here in Santa Ana. It's a volunteer organization and every year they execute a fantastic event, the LGBTQ Pride Festival and Parade. And the OC Pride promotes social equity and equality while educating members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender community.

OC Pride has established outstanding partners and sponsors such as the San Diego Community Credit Union, Disney, Pepsi Company, iHeart Media, Microsoft, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, and many, many more. The mission of OC Pride is to strengthen the identity of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community within Orange County. They unite and empower the LGBTQ plus people to live openly with pride and respect. They help provide opportunities to foster tolerance, awareness, safety, and support in the LGBTQ plus community. They are committed to funding community projects, hosting events, and raising awareness and

understanding in their incredible LGBTQ plus family. This year, OC Pride drew more than 10,000 people to downtown Santa Ana. This was the largest festival to date. That deserves a round of applause. We're going to make it even bigger next year.

But they also engaged in the community by offering new experiences such as the Trans Lounge and the Teen Space in addition to returning favorites including but not limited to Orgullo, Latin Stage, Drag Storytime, and Pride Speaks. For me it's an honor to recognize OC Pride for all the work that they've done, all the work that they're doing and all the work that they will do in the future so let me go ahead and call on one of you to go ahead and speak to this because we've got a recognition for you but once you say a few words

hi everybody I'm not sure I'm gonna follow up all that that's those are all really great talking points I'm just gonna say I was surprised really thankful for all the support that we get from the city of Santa Ana and all over Orange County. We are looking forward to having an even bigger festival next year during the summer. Follow us like on our Instagram and other social medias if you want to find out what the date is once we decide. So again thank you all so much from the bottom of my heart. We couldn't do it without all of you, the whole city. We are one of the very few like big Pride festivals that are

completely free. We don't charge to get in. You come you see a bunch of really awesome stages full of local acts, some big headliners that we bring in, and we don't charge for it because we feel like it should be about community and we don't want to like leave anybody behind by having like a huge like cover. So please join us next year completely free, you'll have a lot of fun, happy Pride.

So what I did mention is I think the city of Irvine or Anaheim were trying to wrestle it away from us, but our staff wrestled it back. So yeah, it belongs here. It's going to stay here, right? There we go. Right? No pressure, man. No pressure. So listen, on behalf of the entire city council and the city of Santa Ana, let me issue this certificate of recognition to OC Pride LGBTQ plus Pride Festival and Parade in recognition of the outstanding contributions that promote equity and inclusion in our community and on behalf of 330,000 grateful residents. Thank you for everything you do.

Thank you.

All right, all right. Let me go ahead and turn it over to Councilmember Hernandez who's going to be making the next presentation. I believe, Councilmember, it's for Pancreas Awareness Day, Pancreas Divisium.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

If I could please have the family of Matthew Morales and his parents, Ms. Mario and Mr. Morales please, if you can make your way to the front here.

You want to hang out?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

You want to join me?

Yeah, come on.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

All right. So today we're going to do something really special. You want to help me?

Yeah.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

Yeah? All right. We're going to lower this a little bit then. All right. Can you say hello to everybody?

Hello, everybody. Do you know what city we're in? Yes. Sonata. Let's go. Let's go.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

Thank you. All right. Now we can get started. He just had to remind everyone where we're at. Thank you, everybody, for coming out today to our city council meeting. And we have a special recognition that we're going to be making today. And we have a lot of parents in this room. Can we get a show of hands? So we all understand we got some some special children up here today. So if it's a little louder just bear with us but today we're gathering to commemorate a and honor a very special young man who lives in our city and Today the City Council is going to be giving a proclamation

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

Declaring September 6 as pancreas divisium awareness day and we are presenting this to Matthew Morales and his parents Ms. and Mr. Morales. Today the City Council is declaring September 6th as Pancreas Divisium Day and so many of you may ask, what is Pancreas Divisium? Pancreas Divisium is a congenital defect of the pancreas and it is a condition that occurs in 4 to 14 percent of the world's population. It occurs when two parts of the embryo's pancreas don't fuse together to form one

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

main pancreatic duct, leaving the main pancreatic duct to drain through a smaller opening. Pancreas divisium in individuals with no symptoms does not require treatment, but the treatment of those with symptoms can vary, and it has not been well established. The typical treatment for pancreas divisium is to cut the ducts to link them and place a new stint in a newly cut duct to ensure it stays open. Matthew Morales is here today with his parents, and he has pancreas divisium. When Matthew was eight weeks old, he began experiencing symptoms and would often cry

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

inconsolably and for long periods of time. His symptoms included dehydration, they included fatigue, nausea, and other abdominal and digestive symptoms. It took four visits to the ER and six doctors to finagly diagnose him. By the time he was 22 months old, to date, Matthew has had over eight bouts of pancreatitis, which have been extremely physically, mentally, and emotionally challenging, not only for him, but for his parents and his sibling. And part of why this was so

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

important to me today is that due to Matthew's size and his age, doctors have been unsuccessful in their attempts to place a stent in his pancreas. And the stress of a serious illness and chronic health condition or a disability in a child often causes problems in families. Parents and adult caregivers often deal with their own fears and their own frustrations without support. And that is why we felt it was necessary and important for us as a city to invite Matthew and his brave parents to join us tonight. And we want to raise awareness about this rare condition

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

because early identification of a child with this disease and providing resources and support to families can help improve the quality of life for those who are struggling with this illness.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

and before I give this proclamation to this brave and strong family that calls Santa Ana home I want to talk about how we connected I was at the grocery store with my daughter and we were leaving the store and they walked past me and they recognized me and they introduced me to their son and I was very touched just to meet you guys in the grocery store on my way out and have that conversation in the middle of that aisle while people were walking past us, and we were in the way of everybody. But that was the most important conversation happening in that store

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

because it was a conversation about Matthew and two parents that are fighting to make sure that their son has the treatment and the access to doctors that kids in Santa Ana deserve. And so without further ado, I would like to present to you this proclamation recognizing Pancreas Divism Awareness Day at September 6th. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you, Hernandez. this so all right so we want to give a huge thank you to everybody in this council who's here today supporting us as well as the members in the community who showed up to this market because it's been hard showing up to his recognition for Matthew because it's been a hard journey going with him through everything that has been going through so far you know thankfully everything that they've been done for him is not being used in pancreas cancer and pancreatitis research so hopefully someday we'll be able to find a cure but until now we'll just keep fighting and we keep

holding the community as well as support us the council also continues to show support especially Councilman Hernandez and Mayor Sarmiento and everybody else and I'm a Santa Ana resident too and this means a lot not to me but to our son Matthew thank you applause applause applause applause

do you want to say some words about your brother? My brother's here for the rain.

Please give him a round of applause. Matthew, you want to say something? Thank you. Say hi. Thank you, buddy. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, everybody. Aw. You want to say something else? Say goodbye, buddy. Aw, say thank you. You want to say something?

I think he's saying he wants to take a picture

Great, thank you everybody

Thank You Morales family Let me call on Councilmember Jesse Lopez, who's going to be recognizing Ugochi Nicholson for her outstanding contributions. Ugochi, if you're here, can you please join us up here in the well?

Jessie LopezItem 3

Good evening, everyone. Tonight we are going to be congratulating and recognizing Yugochi Nicholson, who served as a directing attorney at the housing unit at the Public Law Center for six years. And the Public Center is not that far from here, actually. So during her tenure at the Public Law Center, Yugochi and her team provided direct legal assistance to the city's low-income residents regardless of their immigration status and she accompanied residents to court and stopped unjust evictions and protected residents from

Jessie LopezItem 3

retaliatory actions and increased housing stability for many her services went beyond the courtroom as she worked alongside advocates in the city to help advance policies that would protect people on the verge of losing their housing and you go she has spent countless late nights advocating alongside community partners for affordable housing really taking into account what she hears from the people that she worked with on the ground and anyone that you talked to that you worked with had nothing but marvelous things to say about you go chi

Jessie LopezItem 3

your impact is never going to be forgotten on them. And I really don't know if people understand the impact that you've had on people's lives and how many people you've prevented from ending up in the streets. And so tonight I want to recognize Yugochi for her outstanding contributions to serving the city's most vulnerable residents. Yugochi. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you Councilmember Lopez, members of the Council, Honorable Mayor, and staff. It has been my honor to serve as a legal aid attorney for close to 20 years. And out of those 20 years, six of those years were spent in Orange County where I grew up as a legal aid attorney representing individuals at risk of losing their housing due to eviction. I want to thank my former employer, Public Law Center, who's been serving this community for over 40 years,

as well as the many residents and community organizations that have tirelessly worked to ensure housing justice for low-income individuals in Orange County. Thank you again for this opportunity and this honor. I appreciate it.

Don't forget about us, Yugochi, so come back and visit us. Let me go ahead and call on Council Member Mendoza, who's going to be declaring September 2022 as Hunger Action Month.

So if we could have Mark Lowry, where are you? Come on up.

In case you didn't know, the Orange County Board of Supervisors, as well as city councils from 28 of Orange County's 34 cities, have agreed to officially declare September as Hunger Action Month. And that is why Mayor Sarmiento and myself chose to honor this particular organization, Second Harvest, in honoring them for all the services that they provide for the City of Santa Ana and other residents who are food challenged.

So today, the City of Santa Ana proclaimed September 2022 as Hunger Action Month and presents this proclamation to the Orange County Hunger Alliance. Hunger, poverty, food, and nutritional insecurities are issues of vital concern to California, where 20% of Californians face food insecurity on a daily basis and one out of every six children do not know where their next meal will come from. On an average, more than 800,000 residents in Orange County rely on food provided by food banks each month. The coronavirus pandemic

has had devastating health and economic impacts across the country, and it is projected that hundreds of thousands of people could face continued hunger and food insecurities in Orange County and in the wake of the pandemic along with the increasing cost of living this year so I will ask Mayor Sarmantou to continue with this

information for you so councilmember you're gonna have to help me which I don't have my glasses on so I'm gonna say there we go well look I I'm just gonna read really quickly through this so we had an initiative through revive Santa Ana it was monies that we received from the federal government for COVID relief for families that were impacted by COVID relief. The council acted really quickly to put a lot of measures into place. And we distributed through partners and providers more than to more than 44,000 San Ana families here food. And, and it was a critical, critical

moment when people were scared to go to grocery stores didn't have money to go to grocery stores, They lost their jobs and we just saw a lot of providers just get just activate themselves and work with us in partnership So we're pleased to collaborate with the Orange County Hunger Alliance to educate the public about the role and importance of food banks Tonight the Santa Ana water tower is illuminated in orange in honor of Hunger Action Month That being said if you have an opportunity tonight, please take a picture of our water tower share it with others to let them know that you live in a community that

values, making sure that our neighbors are well fed. And a lot of times you, you know, you may have driven around the city, you'll see like a long line of cars. I know the council member and I have been to several food pantries over the past two years. I remember when this whole pandemic began, it was in March of 2020. And almost within days, you had these pantries that were set up at different places. And we thought, well, it'll last maybe a couple of weeks or, you know, it's just there for just the immediate moment. But they're still delivering. I went to a food pantry on Saturday,

and there are still food banks that are out there, and the lines are just as long. So we know that those food insecurities are so important. Thank you to all the sponsors. Thank you to OC, you know, Harvest for doing what they do. We know we support providers, many of them, through our Revive Santa Ana plan, and I want to thank our city manager for making sure that those funds got to those providers very quickly. You know, we had groups like, you know, too many to name, but I mean, United Cross Borders, Power of One, many others that were just delivering food at their own risk at that time when there was no vaccine.

They were literally handing food out to seniors, to people who were disabled, and people who just didn't have resources to be able to purchase their own food and goods. So thank you, Mark, for everything you all do. Thank you, Councilmember, for having us recognize this is important. I mean, these are things that I think we're going to be doing for a while, just because it is the right thing to do. So Mark, why don't you say a couple words on your behalf?

Thank you again. I accept this on behalf of the Orange County Hunger Alliance, which is comprised of the Orange County Food Bank, Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, and Abound Food Care. And as the mayor pointed out, our work was highly visible during the COVID crisis. But even though we're no longer the lead story on the nightly news, every day in this community, there are people who are experiencing unemployment and illness, seniors on fixed incomes, the working poor, people with a disability, and others who struggle to meet their basic needs.

And every day in this community, there are wonderful nonprofit partners with whom we work to provide food to those needy families. The City of Santa Ana has been a great partner and supporter for that. we appreciate your willingness to continue shining a spotlight on the issue of hunger and partnering with us to serve the community our thanks to the mayor and the city council

Thank you, Mark, for everything you and your team do. Let me go ahead and now call on Council Member Fan, who's going to be declaring September 10th, 2022 as Mid-Autumn Festival Day. And I always heard it was Moon Festival Day, so she's going to explain to us that it's the same thing, but she's going to give us a lot more detail. so councilmember fan the floor is yours

Thai Viet PhanItem 5

hi everyone okay so as representatives from a ASCSC come up I just wanted to talk a little bit about what the mayor just you know brought up is it mid autumn festival day is it moon festival day is it Harvard festival it's all of those things. So in many Asian American communities or Asian countries in fact, historically we rely on the lunar calendar. And so in Vietnamese we call it which literally means holiday, middle, fall. So really mid-autumn festival. And really it's a time for the community to come together historically

Thai Viet PhanItem 5

to celebrate the fall harvest. So in America we have Thanksgiving, right? You get your family together, you eat all this great food, and you really are thankful to celebrate this time of abundance. And so the Mid-Autumn Festival is like that. One thing that's really unique for this festival is that it's focused on children and families. And so one thing that we all do, at least in my community and many Asian communities, is we light lanterns at night and we bring out kids at night and we celebrate with each other and it's just a really fun time and so with that and I do want to make a brief announcement first is

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that Santa Ana the city we are going to be hosting our first ever Asian heritage event but specifically a mid-autumn festival event on October 1st here in the city of Santa Ana at Rosita Park so keep your eye out for that and And our awesome library is going to be holding a Mid-Autumn Moon Festival event at the New Hope Library on September 17th from 2 to 4.30. And so please come out, bring your families, bring your friends. You know, everyone is welcome to really learn about each other, this holiday, this event, and the different cultures that are in our city.

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And with that, I want to introduce you to Asian American Senior Citizens Service Center. so AASCSC. I actually learned about them when I was getting my COVID booster at Northgate Market over in Ward 1 because AASCSC was actually working with a bunch of volunteers to help bring these boosters to our community. So AASCSC is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1989, the year I came to America, and they've been serving residents of Santa Ana as well as Orange County through a lot of different programs but really what they're focused on is health equity and they really focus on all the different stages of

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life including infant wellness health screenings food delivery social and civic engagement activities and strengthening cultural and inter generational bonds I can say strengthening intergenerational bonds is a really big one that I've personally seen given that so many volunteers are not only young Asian American and community members but also our seniors in fact we just celebrated the proclamation of the certificate for pride and ASCSE was out there with our seniors to celebrate pride that's an incredible thing in our community which historically didn't always have that

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history or that context and so I just am so proud that we have a community organization that is doing that for all different generations and so with that I wanted to claim September 10th 2022 is Mid-Autumn Festival Day and introduce Jennifer Wang the CEO president does everything Jane of all trades to come say a few words thanks

Good evening, everybody. Thank you for the introduction. It was amazing. Thank you, Mayor Sarmiento, members of the Santa Ana City Council, and especially Council Member Tai Pham and the staff for inviting Asian American Senior Citizen Service Center, also known as ASCSC, to this evening to celebrate and to be recognized. My name is Jennifer Wang and I serve as the Chief Operating Officer for the last decade. Founded as a 501 in 1989, ASCSE was funded by Chinese American community leaders to address issues facing their aging parents with the philosophy of caring for elders as if they were our own.

And for this past decade actually we completed that philosophy to also care for our children as if they were our own. And since then, ASCSE has become a trusted community organization and partner with a history of ensuring our most vulnerable have access to equitable services, whether it's social or health care programs and services. Since the pandemic started, ASCSE has vaccinated over 40,000 residents from 27 unique zip codes through more than 240 community mobile vaccination clinics throughout this county. Many of ASCSE's vaccination clinics have been hosted in Santa Ana, and we regularly

partner with organizations such as TKO Boxing Club, Hope Community Services, OCTAQ, Heritage Museum of Orange County, the Mexican Consulate, and Northgate Markets to ensure every person has access to life-saving vaccines, regardless of their income, regardless of their immigration status, or where they live. In addition to health services we provide, ASCSE is also focused on preserving culture and history through its intergenerational approach. Santa Ana is home to the Lao family, who has a long history in the city and contributed to the city for over several generations.

We again thank City of Santa Ana for taking the initiative to acknowledge and take responsibility for its role in its dark moment in Santa Ana history of its effort to drive the Chinese community out in 1906. We continue to work together to utilize this as a teaching moment for all to learn from and to move forward collectively as a community that values reconciliation and justice. Since then ASCSE has deepened its partnership with the City of Santa Ana to host the first ever Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival at Rosita Park on Saturday October 1st from 5 to 9 p.m.

We look forward to joining the City Council, staff and residents to come and enjoy the festivities to celebrate this cultural holiday where families and communities come together to celebrate and witness the biggest and brightest full moon of the year. And with a grateful heart I want to thank you for your support and we look forward to a successful Mid-Autumn Festival on October 1st and I'd also like to note one of our traditions that Councilmember Pham actually shared was food. Food connects us and one of the foods that we actually share with our friends and families are mooncakes. They symbolize

the big bright moon and so I brought some mooncakes over there. I wanted to invite and share this. You know like this is something when we go pay respects to our elders, when we go pay respects to our families, you have to bring mooncakes to share and people fight over it. So we brought some, we brought some traditional Cantonese style, we brought some Taiwanese style. Thank you.

Thank you all. Thank you, Councilmember Phan, for that recognition.

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If you eat the mooncake, the city is not liable. Just throwing it up there.

And if you all haven't tasted it, mooncakes are the bomb. They really are, so make sure you try some. Let me now call on Council Member Peña Losa, who's going to be declaring September 15th through October 15th as National Hispanic Heritage Month.

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Thank you, Mayor. Good afternoon, everybody. Can I please have Grupo Versailles join me up here please? Por favor pasen para acá. And while they're making their way up here, I would like to talk to everybody about what Hispanic Heritage Month is and how we're proclaiming the month from September 15 to October 15, recognizing Hispanic Heritage Month. So, this year's theme of Hispanic Heritage Month is Unidos Inclusivity for a Stronger Nation.

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In 1968, Congress authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to issue a proclamation designating National Hispanic Heritage Week. And in 1988, President Ronald Reagan extended the observance to a 30-day period beginning in September 15th and ending on October 15th. I was born in 88, by the way. Fun fact. National Hispanic Heritage Month serves as a time to recognize, honor, and celebrate the significant contributions to the Hispanic community has made to commercial, cultural, and educational communities in the United States.

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Accepting this proclamation today is Grupo Versage, who are all standing behind me. Hello, welcome. And if I can get Giselle and Miguel also, oh, there you are, to join me up here.

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Grupo Versage is a nonprofit youth service organization in Santa Ana, founded in 2014 by Miguel Vasquez, who's right here. Their mission is to give modeling classes to children and teenagers to help improve their self-esteem and overall confidence. Miguel had a dream of having a beauty pageant that breaks the stereotype we've all known beauty pageants to be.

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he he wanted to group of versage has been inspiring and motivating young latina girls through programs such as modeling dancing public speaking practicing the spanish language and much more all without most importantly forgetting their roots and the various cultures they all come from in 2022 there were 32 girls enrolled in the program ranging from ages 3 to 18 years old with most of the participants' families being from Santa Ana. Grupo Versailles has made a tremendous impact on these girls by helping improve their self-esteem, influencing their motivation, mental well-being, and overall quality of life,

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while at the same time working on their academic and educational achievements. It is our honor to present this proclamation to Grupo Versailles as we recognize National Hispanic Heritage Month and encourage all residents to honor and acknowledge the cultures and traditions of the Hispanic community. The theme as I mentioned earlier is Unidos, inclusivity for a stronger nation, and the countries that always take pride in Hispanic Heritage Month to showcase our cultures and our various cultures are, and I'm going to list them all because it's important to realize

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that it's not just Mexico, but it's also countries like Cuba, El Salvador, Ecuador, Chile, Panama, Argentina, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Venezuela, Spain, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Republica Dominicana, Bolivia, Uruguay, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Peru. All of these countries take pride in Hispanic Heritage Month. There are millions of people living in the United States that come from these countries and cultures and we should not forget all the achievements that they've done to move this country forward and also not forget the various cultures that we bring to the table

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and various just foods that we all enjoy. You know, I was fortunate enough to grow up, you know, with a mom that was able to ship me off to Mexico every summer to be with my grandparents and my older brothers. And so I was able to grow up knowing my cultures of the state Guerrero, Mexico, where my mom's from, and my dad as well. And a lot of times in communities like Santa Ana, we, our parents, ourselves, we immigrate here, but we don't have that luxury to, for legal immigration reasons, financial reasons, we don't have that luxury to, you know, learn from our

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cultures and go back and live in our cultures. So I'm there. I was very happy when I first thought about proclaiming Hispanic Heritage Month, me and my colleagues, I knew that I didn't want to recognize anyone else this time, but Grupo Versailles because of the group of the work that they do, not only are they instilling confidence and, you know, helping these young ladies in their academic achievements, but they're also reminding them of their culture and their roots, which is extremely important. And so Miguel, would you like to say some

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words? All right, so everybody this is Miguel and Grupo Versace and maybe one of you could say a couple words. Who's up for it? Aguascalientes, Chiapas, Puebla? Tascala? All right, go for it.

Yo jugando en Facebook le mandé un mensaje a Peñalosa y él me lo contestó y le agradezco de todo corazón. Y ese reconocimiento no tan solo se lo agradezco a Dios, sino que también a mi madre que me dio este corazón para poder ayudar a tantas niñas que necesitan aquí en Santana, necesitan la ayuda porque son muchas niñas que vienen sufriendo de autoestima, de bullying. and the only thing I'm helping and what I want to do is that I'm giving a title of the university, so that we can see that we, Latinos, here we can and we are going to achieve it. And is that we are going to achieve it?

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So, what do you want to be the volunteer in passing here and talk like they do in the group of Versarge when you go to the stage and present the state they represent?

Hi, I'm Carla Rosales and I'm 19 years old and I'm a part of Grupo Versage and I have the honor of being Miss Versage 2022. And first of all, I want to say thank you to each and every one of you here today. It is really a great honor for all of us to be able to be recognized by all of you important people, council members.

birthday. And as Councilmember Peña Loza said, we are a nonprofit organization that not only focuses on modeling, but also focuses on making each and every one of us more confident with ourselves and with who we are.

And I love the group, and I love how much it connects me to my Hispanic heritage. And even though my parents are Salvadorian, I am still here representing Tlaxcala because I know how united we are as a Hispanic community. And thank you. That's it.

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So, now, Miguel, from the Council of Santa Ana, I want to present you this proclamation proclaiming National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15th to October 15th, which

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I listed some of the things earlier, but I'll read. National Hispanic Heritage Month serves as a time to recognize, honor, and celebrate the significant contributions the Hispanic community has made to commercial culture and educational communities in the United States, and the Hispanic American community is made up of hard-working entrepreneurs, public servants, elected officials who work diligently to improve the quality of life and the nation as a whole. The Hispanic population constitutes 18.5% of the United States, total population, making it the largest ethnic or racial group. The presence

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of this community is vital to the growth and stability of our city and our nation. So with that, the city of Santa Ana hereby recognizes September 15th through October 15th as National Hispanic Heritage Month. And this is for you, Miguel.

Thank you.

Here we go. Three, two, one.

Thank you. Thank you.

Felicidades, Felicidades. Miguel Lazo, keep up the good work.

So you saw how seamlessly we went from Pride to the Mid-Autumn Festival to now Hispanic Heritage Month. That's what I love about this council. So we can go from culture to culture without missing a beat.

So thank you for that presentation. Let me go ahead and now move along to staff's presentation and there I'm going to turn it over to Madam City Manager so she can give us an update on COVID-19.

Okay, we do have a presentation that will be loaded shortly. But good evening, Honorable Mayor and members of the City Council. Tonight COVID-19's presentation is going to include some key data, metrics, information about Omicron subvariants, as well as some friendly reminders for our residents to be mindful to help themselves keep themselves safe and others. And then at the request of council, I have added some information about monkey pox at the end of the COVID presentation.

I'll go ahead and start as Steven is loading it. But the state right now is working alongside with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local public health agencies to manage COVID-19. And now there are some, here are some summaries of the data points from the California's Department of Public Health. So I'm on slide three.

So first I wanted to share with you that as of September 2nd, Orange County's seven-day test positivity rate is 8.7%. It's a 7.2% decrease from last month. And as you can see on the graph, the positivity rate is decreasing with the last significant increase in test positivity rates being in late December 2021.

Some good news, as of September 2nd, the Orange County's percentage of people who are fully vaccinated is 73.1%. Among all California counties, we rank 14 out of 58. Being vaccinated and boosted is the best way to protect yourself from serious illness, hospitalization, or death from COVID-19. The viruses are still constantly changing through mutation, and sometimes these mutations result in a new variant of the virus. The CDC and public health agencies worldwide are monitoring the development and the spread of any new variants,

including the more recent one that we've seen in the last few months, Omicron, and the BA.4 and the BA.5 subvariants. Last week, the Center for Disease Control approved both Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna bivalent booster shots for emergency use. Pfizer is approved for those 12 and up, and Moderna is approved for those 18 and up who have received their primary COVID-19 vaccination series. These bivalent boosters protect against the original strain of COVID-19 as well as the two primary strains of Omicron along with the sub-variants. California has been allotted over

a million doses which are currently being rolled out to pharmacy and healthcare professionals across the state. So here's my reminder to our residents if you're eligible please get vaccinated the vaccine is safe effective and free CDC does recommend the primary series vaccines for everyone aged six months and older, and COVID-19 boosters for everyone ages five years and older if eligible. And once again, as a reminder, can we go to slide eight? You can get your vaccines through your medical provider. You can get them through the state's MyTurn program. You can get them through

the County of Orange Healthcare Agency, and you can also make appointments or find walk-up vaccine locations by contacting MyTurn or Athena. Additionally, many of the pharmacies have their own portals where you can schedule an appointment online through their apps.

And here's some information on monkeypox. So in California, most recently there has been 4,000 reported cases of monkeypox, of which 161 are reported in our county. County. Orange County is ranked 6 out of 38 counties with reported cases. 97.4% of the cases are reported in men and only 4.1% of the cases have resulted in hospitalization.

As you can see from the statewide cases that we appear to be in a downward trend from a peak of July and of August.

There is good news with a vaccination against monkeypox. However, there are limited availability for it, and the CDC is recommending a vaccine for those who have been exposed to the virus. If you've been exposed, you can reach out to your healthcare provider to find a vaccine. This is considered an effective strategy for monkeypox due to the long incubation period of up to 17 days compared to the incubation period for a COVID-19, which can range from a short period of only two to four days so that concludes my presentation and i'm available for

any questions and then i also am planning in the future to only do covet 19 updates on an as needed basis as opposed to having them scheduled every other council meeting thank you thank you madam

city manager i think that makes a lot of sense let me go ahead and bring it back to the city Council to see if there's any questions or comments. Seeing none and hearing none. Thank you for that and thank you for incorporating the monkeypox update as well. Let me go ahead and ask the city attorney if there's anything she wants

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to report at a closed session. Thank you Mayor, Councilmembers and members of the public. We had several closed session items but we do not have any reportable

action this evening. Great thank you. This brings us to the, actually let me Let me just take something out of order. And thank you, Councilmember Fan, for reminding me. I want to call on her and sort of accelerate her public comment. That is usually at the end of the meeting because she has something important to announce. So let me go ahead and call on Councilmember Fan for her public comment.

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Thank you so much, Mayor. I appreciate the flexibility. Does staff have the slide or maybe Daniel Soto? Okay.

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All right. So as some of you may or may not know, I sit on the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Board. And if you can zoom in on that, perfect. And every year, basically, MET is the largest water importer in America. We service water to 19 million people in Southern California, including here in the city of Santa Ana. It's about 25% of the water we receive. And so I get to, as a MET director, actually host a trip, an inspection trip, to our state water project near Sacramento, including Oroville Dam. and we get to bring a number of folks and I wanted to make sure when working

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with our staff and Public Works to open this up to Santa Ana residents and so we're going to do a little bit of a competition it's going to be short and sweet it's going to be two weeks long and so if you're 21 and over a student or a person enrolled in higher education and you're able to attend the trip on both October 28th and 29th, submit your resume, a paragraph about yourself, and a brief statement about why you should be selected. This is an opportunity for anyone interested in water in our city to learn about where our water comes from, how we invest in water, and really get to

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meet people involved in water, whether it's city staff, other elected officials, or appointed officials. And the best part, it is 100% paid for flight, hotel, food, trip. So please, if you know anyone who's interested in Santa Ana, please submit some information because it's going to be a super fun trip. It'll be my first time and so we'll learn about all of this together. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Phan. Yeah, that deserves a round of applause. I think, you know, I've been on On that trip years ago I went to the Sacramento Delta area and it is fascinating. All of us should be concerned about water these days and I know that unfortunately we're experiencing a drought in addition to having an excessive heat warning. So these are like the stars are not aligning in our favor. So to the extent we can conserve water, learn more about it, the trip is excellent so take a council member up on that. So as I was saying we are now at the public comments section of our meeting and so I'll

just begin by making some opening remarks and before we go call on members of the public that are here present we'll call on them first and then we'll call on members of the public that wish to address the council that are either on the phone online or with us virtually so this is the time place of the meeting for the City Council to receive comments from members of the public on agendized and non-agendized items and pursuant to the Brown Act the City Council may not and cannot enter into any discussion at this time but we will hear from members of the public that, as I said, are here physically present first.

You will have three minutes to address the council. Please state your name. You don't have to tell us your specific address. If you know what ward of the city you live in, that will be fine. But don't feel compelled to use all three minutes if you want to say it in a shorter time. Sometimes being concise and short and to the point is much, much more effective. So with that, let me turn it over to the clerk so she can go ahead and explain and give some directions to those members of the public that are on the line with us.

Speaker 2 The speakers in the queue may provide their comments on agenda and non-agenda items within the city's jurisdiction with the exception of public hearing items. When unmuted, please announce your name, ward or neighborhood that you reside in within the city of Santa Ana for the record. To request to speak, dial star 9 from your phone or select raise hand from Zoom now. Before unmuting callers, I would like to begin by reporting the following summary of emails provided as of today.

We have one comment from a residency not specified on Department of Housing and Urban Development grants for trailer parks in Santa Ana. We have support on item number 13 for the purchase of four F-150 electric trucks. And we have support from five organizations and two Santa Ana residents in creating a rental registry and rental board on item number 26.

Great, thank you. So I'm going to go ahead and call on people who submitted request to speak forms here. and if you all could please line up as your name is called that we will get through it a lot quicker we have several members of the public that are going to be addressing us tonight let me begin with Kathy Scott who's going to be followed by Nilforsheikh followed by Christian Zay

good evening Honorable Mayor I am Kathy and I wanted to address the safety issue concern with Metro East and our parking situation. I have been here before and spoke about Operation Safe Passage for Seniors, and I'm still concerned as a couple of weeks ago as I was going from 2022 down to the parking area at 2020, someone ran across the street with an attempt to snatch a bag that I was carrying on my shoulder. So I'm very concerned about safety for seniors, and I'm asking for some short-term solutions.

I have seen more police driving around and taking care of the area, but it's just within that time span, and this was at 2.30 in the evening that this happened to me. So sometimes there are myself and other residents who do return a little bit later. and because some of our seniors are afraid to go out at certain times of the day in the evening it's a cause for isolation and there's no parking for family members to come and visit so I'd like to see something done that would give us more safe passage. It's not a long walk but sometimes in the evening it can be a very frightening ordeal not just for myself but for

other seniors as well so i'm just asking that we can resolve the parking situation i have been told by other residents that it's a mute point that it's something that had been addressed for several months before but it is still an issue and it is of great concern my safety and other safety for seniors is something that i hope that the city council and our local police can resolve and thank Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Neil Folor Shaikh followed by Christian Zay.

I'm Z.

You're Z? Come on up.

I'm Z.

It says Neil Folor Shaikh. Please go ahead, ma'am.

Yes, sir. My name is Nilofa Sheikh. Welcome. But my language is not so good.

Pull the microphone a little bit down. There we go.

My name is Nilofa Sheikh. My English notes is so excellent. Take your time. Yes. I live in 222 East 1st Street, Unit 250, with my brother.

Actually, I have to live with my brother because my brother, younger university graduate son has died, he's alone. So I am living with him. I have kids, my daughter and my son, my son live in Dallas, my daughter live in Rancho Santa Margreta, my husband live with my daughter. but I can't live because I have only one brother. And he's so sad person and he's a locoma, five, six surgery he has already. So he cannot afford rent alone.

So I have to share with him and I live with him. But I'm always worried about him.

I've done surgery some years before. so if I will die, where my brother cannot afford rent, so where my brother will go? I am too worried about him. He is almost 70 years old. I was born 1956.

So I have only one brother, my mom was teacher, or my brother always, I have no father, so my brother always helped us when I was younger. So now he needs me. So I live with him. I move with him, forward with him. So I am so upset. If I will die, my brother will go to outside. So I am too upset. My brother cannot afford. I share with him half of everything half of I'm not too I have not too much money but I shared

with him so sorry my English is not so good but I was so good you did great thank you so much thank you thank you thank you I have that I have that effect on people for whatever reason people thank

Thank you very much. If I could have a Christian Z followed by Chow Nyeok Nguyen followed by Lupe Lopez.

Thank you very much for this opportunity. I saw a notice on the elevator at 2222 East 1st Street which invited that we come in and speak about rent control. And so that's what I thought that I was going to be speaking about. Now, my rent increase went from about $1,256 to about $1,382, which on a fixed income as a retiree, I am 81 years old, it does make a difference. So I'm not here to make heads roll. This committee has been a beautiful, beautiful thing for this time in the day. However, there is a button, and that button is on on that needs to be turned off and break

off the button because if they keep on raising rent on people who are retired such as myself with a fixed income we won't be able to make it thank you thank

you very much Chown Yock Win followed by Lupe Lopez followed by Roxy Sanchez

My name is Chow Ngoc Nguyen. I'm almost 80 years old. I just moved to 22 East 4th Street, apartment 602. and my concern a lot of if I can survive with the toxic cigarette smoke from people on the seat on many pens on the floor in the front of the

the living office and my apartment is above those benches. So my room catch all those cigarettes smoke in my room. I cannot survive with that. I suffer that almost three months. and I talked to the manager and she cannot solve the problem fairly for me.

And she said that the people sit on those bench that's on the government property side. So she cannot solve the problem about cigarette smoke. But I could not breathe. I have many things like irritate in my eyes and my nose and my throat and also get in my stomach. So many things more. I was exhausted. I need your help, please.

and I have the letter copy Mr. Sam copy maybe you have that on the list your list and please read through you understand me more I need help I could not survive with toxic smoke cigarette cigarette smoke 24 hours a day

Please help me. I live in misery with that. Thank you, Mayor and all Council members. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Ms. Smith. Thank you.

Lupe Lopez, followed by Roxy Sanchez, followed by Nancy Emerson.

Lopez.

Not there?

How about Roxy Sanchez?

All right, you're up. Hi, my name's Roxy Sanchez. I live in Metro East Senior Apartments, the same as most of these ladies here and men. First of all, I'd like to thank the mayor and Councilman Lopez for bringing the police department and the housing department to us last week for a meeting of the minds and for your help. We really appreciate that.

And the reason I'm here is because our rent was raised 10%. One time we were told it wouldn't be raised. It was raised 10% all at once. And the only thing I would like to ask for is that your ordinance make an amendment to include seniors in the controlled rent, the affordable senior rent, because we don't have that right now with the city. and we'd appreciate it being done for us. That's it. Thank you.

Great comments. Thank you. Nice and short. Nancy Emerson, followed by Angie Yanuzi.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council. I have the same issue as the lady before me. I live at 2222 East 1st Street. I like my apartment. I like the location. but wasn't happy about the 10% increase. So right now, my rent is about $200 more than my Social Security. I get some help from family, but it doesn't go very far. So any funding that can be issued to assist in helping with our rent would be much appreciated. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much. Angie Iannuzzi, followed by Carlos Manrique, followed by Sun He Ye.

Hi, my name is Angie Iannuzzi, and I also live at 22222 East 1st Street. First of all, I want to thank everyone who came to our meeting a couple weeks ago. You guys did help us quite a bit, but we still need a lot of help. Our rent increase went up. We're all on fixed incomes, and it's like mine goes down. I'm left with $300 a month for food, my car insurance, car payments, bills, that you're electric and things like that. We would like to see if somehow we could get into the,

to get into like an affordable senior rent for seniors. Because if our rent goes up every year 10%, we'd all be out in the streets again. And if there's any way the city can help us, we would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you, Andrew. Carlos Manrique, followed by Sun Ki-Yi, followed by Deepa Bilami.

I want to thank you for being here and listening to me. My name is Carlos Manrique. I am 77 years old. And my apartment number is 630. and I pay now $1,382 a month. And my Social Security is $1,358. As you can see the difference,

my Social Security doesn't cover my rent. This rent inflation offset and I would like to know if I qualify. That will be extremely beneficial to me and I would be able to survive. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.

Soon-hee-hee followed by, is Soon-hee? No? Okay. I'll put this over here just in case she comes back. Deepa Bialami?

Bialami.

Please.

Hi, how are you guys? I want to thank you for being here, listening to me. My name is Deepa Bijlani. I am 67 years old, and my apartment number is 240.

And I pay $1,382 a month, and my Social Security only $1,200. As you can see, my Social Security cannot cover my rent. this rent, infliction of set and rent control, if I qualify, would be extremely beneficial to me, and I would be able to survive. And I have a new problem. I cannot work outside, anything. And thank you so much for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Zanin.

Tracy Law followed by Vincent Tran followed by Nathaniel Greensides.

I had like the longest walk from the back of the room. Good evening City Council my name is Tracy Law and I'm the executive director of VAIRISE. VAIRISE is a community nonprofit organization based here in Orange County. Many of our members, including myself, are residents of the city, and I'm from Ward 1. On behalf of our organization, VITRISE, I'm here to address item number 26. VITRISE is in support of the city of Santa Ana, establishing a rental registry and rent board as part of long term implementation plan for the rent stabilization and just cause eviction ordinances that were passed last year.

in 2021 viet rise door knocked hundreds of homes and held several community meetings with renters and mobile home residents in the city to discuss the impact that exorbitant rent increases have had on their mental and physical health in the last several years the residents many of whom include vietnamese immigrant refugee seniors live on fixed incomes are disabled and are being slowly priced out of the homes they live in with nowhere to go together our organization and the senior residents came together with a multi-generational coalition of Vietnamese and

Latino residents in the city to successfully advocate for the ordinances that were passed last year. Today, we're here because we want to urge the city council to establish a rental registry that includes the following provisions. We want to make sure that sufficient information is available for renters so they know exactly the number of bedrooms and amenities are available within the unit, the date of the last rent increase, and the date of the last inspection by a city's code enforcement officer. For the rent board, we urge a city council to adopt a board that

consists of the following composition with seven members. Firstly, with at least four members who are tenants, mobile home owners, and renters, at least two members of the community who neither own or manage a rental unit or property, one member who is either a landlord or manages a rental unit or property, but no more than two landlords or persons who manage a rental unit, dwelling or property, trust it and the rent board at any time. Lastly, we oppose the recommendation made by the RSG to contract a mediator because it would be unnecessary expense for the city. The Santa Ana rent board is

meant to fulfill this role and therefore there will be no need for mediation. So Verize is in support of establishing a rental registry and rent board of these compositions and no less and we are due to support them thank you thank you

Vincent Tran followed by Nathaniel Greensides followed by Linda Stinnett

good evening mayor city council my name is Vincent with Viet Rise today I'm here to comment on item 26 I'm in support of the city of Santa Ana establishing a rent registry and rent board as a part of the long-term implementation plan for rent stabilization that was passed in 2021. Over the past year, since rent stabilization has passed, VRIS has continued to monitor and communicate with renters by going door to door and talking to residents regarding their eligibility for rent control and their rent status. While those one-on-one conversations are necessary, the creation of a rent registry and rent board

provides that transparency that is needed for us to hold landlords accountable in fully implementing rent control and allows us to keep tabs on whether tenants are receiving that rent protection guaranteed with the passage of the rent stabilization ordinance. I urge the city of Santa Ana to implement the rent registry that includes a sufficient information so that renters and tenants know exactly the number of bedrooms and amenities available within that unit and the date the last rent increase and the date of the last inspection by the city code enforcement offer. Lastly, I urge you to implement a rent board that best reflects

the demographics of the city and provides the fairest and strongest protection for renters and mobile home residents. Specifically, this rent board should include four members who are tenants, mobile home owners, and or residents. Two members of the community who either own or manage nor manage a rental unit or property and one member who is either a landlord or manages a rental unit or property. I urge that no more than two landlords or persons who manage a rental unit dwelling or property sit on the rent board at any given time. And also I oppose the recommendation made by the consultant to contract a mediator because it

It would be an unnecessary expense for the city, and the rent board is meant to fulfill this role, and thus there would be no need for mediation. So I urge the council to establish that registry and rent board that implements these recommendations in order to protect renters and create a thriving Santana. Thank you.

Thank you. Nathaniel Greensides, followed by Linda Stinnett, followed by David Carvajal, followed by Wesley Mankin.

Nathaniel Greensides, Ward 5 resident. And instead of getting up here and repeating many of the points that some other folks have already shared, I want to share a little bit and channel my anger against the fact that elderly senior citizens in our city living at a brand new senior citizen development on First Street, marketed as affordable housing, are seeing 10% increases. Now, our ordinances explicitly exempt new construction within the past 15 years from rent stabilization, and that's an issue especially for our most vulnerable residents. Just because you happen to be able to rent a new unit at one point in time does not mean

you're going to be able to afford a 10% increase year over year. On top of that, a state law known as Costa-Hawkins arbitrarily enacted in 1994, a deadline, which which does not allow any buildings built after 1994 to be applicable for rent stabilization. So even if we wanted to do something right now, as was stated by Mr. Becerra at one point, Santa Ana is not an island. There are state laws which prevent us from being able to serve our most vulnerable residents. So since 2017, I have been a volunteer Tenants Rights Counselor with Tenants United Santa Ana, and we've door knocked. We've heard stories that are worse than this

And far too often, this is the norm that folks are seeing their rents increase, and they have no local place where they can go to air these grievances, to petition for their rights. And that is why we need a rent control board as well as a local rent registry. A rent control board will allow folks to have a place for local control over our local ordinances instead of relying upon a really difficult-to-navigate court system when it comes to tenant-landlord issues. and a rent registry will allow the city and tenants it should be publicly accessible and include specific points so that everybody can be able to analyze

what's happening in our local rentals market and identify bad actors which are destabilizing our communities and our local economy people shouldn't have to come and fight for the rights that the way that they do here in front of you people should just be able to be at home with their loved ones right now but yet here we are there's an election upcoming there are three of you who voted against rent stabilization and just cause evictions the community won't forget and they will show it in November and I hope you all do the right thing tonight on your way out thank you That's right.

Linda Stinnett. Can I one second, sir? Sure, sure. Briefly. Actually, I came by bus, so I am scaring because first time I came to this area, this side. So I want to give me permission, please, I want to go home. I am a good driver. I am a good driver, but I can't afford.

No, no, no. Absolutely. Please. Thank you. Be safe. Drive safe. Be safe. Linda Stinnett, followed by David Carvajal, followed by Wesley Mankie, followed by Indigo Vu.

Hi, I'm Linda Stinnett. I want to thank the mayor and all the council members for being here and listening to us. I want to talk about my own personal story.

As to why a rental offset of $750 would help me greatly in remaining at Metro East, 2222 East 1st Street. I'm 69 years old.

I get Social Security, but that's a bare minimum. So I've taken a job. I work at McDonald's full-time along with all the kids, you know, trying to keep up with them. And I'm willing to do that, but this rent increase just doesn't make it. I'm going to have to start taking money out of my food money, maybe a little less gas, not doing anything after work, things like that. So it would be greatly helpful if I could not have to put the burden on my family.

And maybe you could help us. Thank you.

Thank you.

David Carvajal, followed by Wesley Menke, followed by Indigo Vu.

Good evening, City Council. I'm Mayor Sarmiento. My name is David Carvajal, and I'm a resident of Santana. I currently live in Ward 6. I wanted to start off by thanking you all for working closely with us and the community through the pandemic to ensure that tenants have the protections they need to continue living in our beautiful city.

There's no doubt that rent stabilization and just cause eviction ordinances were necessary and long overdue to protect renters in Santana. So thank you all for consistently working with the community and even more, a special thank you to all who make time to meet with us. I wanted to address item 26 tonight. There are a couple of things that concern us looking at the staff report, like my peers have mentioned earlier. The first is the composition of the board. We want to make sure that it is reflective of the demographics of our community. All of you know the city of Santana is over half a renter. It's a renter-majority city.

We want to make sure that the rent board reflects that. The staff report also excludes mobile home residents as potential members of the board, of the REM board, which is a little disappointing considering how significant mobile home residents are, and we'd like for them to be represented on the board.

Additionally, we can achieve a more balanced board if each of the council members is able to appoint a member of the board from a pool of applications. The next is a registry fee. 195 seems excessive, especially because half is being passed on to the tenant. So we suggest a fee of no more than $100 per unit to avoid burdening both the landlord and the tenant with such an unnecessarily high fee.

Mediation is also concerning as a recommendation. Again, mediation happens behind closed doors, and the processes are not as transparent as they would be in a courtroom. room. Additionally, hiring mediators feels redundant and less cost efficient. When it comes to the additional $500,000 to conduct a study fee, that also does not sound fiscally responsible given that the $300,000 were already spent and they included a study fee as a deliverable. We believe that money could be better used to create a rental registry website that is user friendly and well functioning. We hope that all of you consider these recommendations

they're not new we've been having these conversations with our community for years now since 2017. thank you. thank you. wesley manke

indigo vu followed by meshlee lopez followed by rosa salgado

good evening mayor charmiento and members of the santa anna city council my name is indigo vu I have been a Santa Ana resident of Ward 1 for the past nearly 20 years, and I'm also a staff member at VRISE. I'm here today to comment on agenda item number 26. As a resident of the city, I am in support of the city of Santa Ana establishing a rental registry and rent board as part of a long-term implementation plan for the Rent Civilization and Just Cause Eviction ordinances that were passed in 2021. As someone who has lived in the city for almost two decades, I witnessed my family's initial

pessimism about the ordinance's passage transform into reluctant belief and then into relief. These ordinances came as a fresh breath air for so many and provide crucial first steps to protect all tenants in the city of Santa Ana. The key is that they were first steps. The time is now for the long-term implementation of these ordinances to bring other needed protections for Santa Ana renters. We must ensure that these ordinances are strengthened by enacting a rental registry and rent board that can oversee their implementation and increase transparency, renter protection and accountability within the city's rental properties.

I urge the City of Santa Ana to implement a rental registry that includes sufficient information so that the renter knows exactly the number of bedrooms and amenities available within the unit, the date of the last rent increase and the late of the last inspection by a city's code enforcement officer. I also urge you to implement a rent board that best reflects the demographics of the city and to provide the most fair and strongest protections for renters and mobile home residents.

Specifically, this rent board should include four members who are tenants, mobile home owners, and or residents, two members of the community who neither own nor manage a rental unit or property, and one member who is either a landlord or manages a rental unit or property. I urge that no more than two landlords or persons who manage a rental unit, dwelling, or property sit on the rent board at any given time. Since Santa Ana, like you've heard many times already, is a renter-majority city with over 53% of all residents being renters, the composition for the rent board best reflects the city's

demographics and ensures equitable representation on the board for all renters in the city. I oppose a recommendation made by the consultant to contract a mediator because it would be as said before an unnecessary expense for the city the san andro rent board itself is meant to fulfill this role and therefore would need there would be no need for mediation for these reasons i'm in support of establishing a rental registry and rent board with no less than these compositions and urge you to support their implementation thank you thank you meshley lopez followed by rosa

salgado followed by kim and doe hello city council members my name is meshley and i'm resident of word five and i'm a volunteer with tenancy united i'm here today to comment on item 26. as a renter i am in support of the city of santana establishing a rental registry and rent board as part of a long-term implementation plan for the rent stabilization and just cause eviction ordinances that were passed last year before i give the rest of my comment i wanted to shout out Ugochi, who was awarded today. She worked with us tirelessly to make sure that the ordinance language that we proposed to you all that was ultimately

implemented last year reflected the needs of the community and took into account the experience of those most vulnerable in our city. And as someone mentioned before, our recommendations about the rent board and registry are not new. They were actually a part of the ordinance language that you all received last year however as you all are aware

it was broken apart into two pieces we passed the rent control ordinance and just cause ordinance and then um made a resolution to revisit the makeup of the rent board and the fee which is what's going to be discussed tonight. And along those lines, I wanted to urge the City of Santana to implement a rental registry that includes sufficient information so that the renter knows exactly the number of bedrooms and amenities available within the unit, that they also know the date of the last rent increase and the date of the last inspection by a city's code enforcement officer.

and we ask also that you collect a small fee that the rental registry fee remains small so as to have a rent control ordinance that is able to remain cost neutral and doesn't cost the city extra money we ask that this fee remain as low as possible so as to not overburden low-income renters and mobile home residents while while still providing quality services i also urge you all to implement a rent board that best reflects the demographics of the city

and that the rent board include four members of the community who are tenants mobile homeowners and or residents two members of the community who neither own or manage a rental unit or property and one member who is either a landlord or manages a rental unit or property and we urge you also to not allow for more than two landlords to be a part of this rent board because they don't constitute the majority of the city's population

having a well-balanced board can it be achieved also by allowing each city council member Time is up. To appoint a representative.

Thank you. Rosa Salgado, followed by Kim Mando, followed by Lisa Wynn.

Good night, everybody. Can I speak Spanish?

Claro que sí.

Buenas noches a todos. Mi nombre es Rosa Salgado. Y yo fui atacada por un vagabundo en 2005. Al mismo tiempo, yo estuve tomando unas clases de migración y jamás había escuchado Visa U. It was until 10 years after I listened to Visa U. My lawyer recommended to make Visa U. She sent me two times to the police of Santa Ana, the police officer Adrian Silva, who three times me the refused and didn't sign her.

Then my lawyer suggested to contact Jesse Lopez, I was contacted, I sent three emails and never returned to me. I called for phone and never gave me a message. After a long time, I wanted to tell my story to one of the people who responded. And I asked him to send all the story because he was denied the visa. and I sent my visa. But Jessie never answered. One of the people who work with her

I read only the paper because I didn't have and I never could receive help because the police Adrian Silva didn't want to sign my visa. So, gracias. Buenas noches.

Muchas gracias.

Good evening. My name is Rosa Salgado, and I was attacked by someone, a homeless person, in 2005. And at the time, I was taking some immigration classes, and I never heard about the U visa. Ten years later, I heard about this U visa, and my lawyer mentioned it, and I sent it to the Santa Ana Police Department two times, and Officer Adrián Silva denied my application three times. And I contacted Councilmember Jesse Lopez, sent her three emails. I never received a response.

I called her, but I never left a message to call back. And after some time, I told my story to someone, and they asked me to send the story of what happened, of my denial of the U visa. And Jessie didn't reply to me. She sent somebody, an assistant or somebody that helped her, that works with her. And they didn't give me the denial. They just read the paper of the denial of why they could not help me. And Officer Silva never signed the U visa.

Thank you. Kim Ann Do followed by Lisa Nguyen followed by Victor Mendez.

Kim Ann Do. Lisa Nguyen.

Hello City Council members. My name is Lisa Nguyen and I'm a staff member with Viet Rise. I'm here today to comment on item number 26. As a community member I am in support of the City of Santa Ana establishing a rental registry and rent board. As a canvasser in previous campaigns, I was given the honor of capturing and hearing the many unique lived experiences of mobile home residents and tenants within the city. Their stories highlight the importance of having protections for renters, mobile home residents, and tenants. Their stories of survival and their stories and their narratives

of their lived experiences is very crucial into the way that these ordinances are passed. Thus, when the rent stabilization and justice cause evictions was passed in 2021, it was a groundbreaking step in protecting tenants within our city. Today, we must ensure that these ordinances are strengthened by enacting a rental registry and a rent board that can oversee their implementation, increased transparency and renter protection and accountability within the city rentals properties. I urge you to implement a rent board that best reflects the demographics of the city and provides the most fair and strongest protections

for renters and mobile home residents. Specifically, this rent board should include four members who are tenants, mobile home owners, and or residents, two members of the community who neither own nor manage a rental unit or property, and one member who is either a landlord or manages a rental unit or property. I urge that no more than two landlords or persons who manage a rental unit dwelling or property sit on the rent board or at any given time. I also oppose the recommendation made by the consultant to contract a mediator because, of course, it would be an unnecessary expense to the city.

The rent board is meant to fulfill this role, and thus there would be no need for mediation. I am in support of establishing a rental registry and rent board with no less than these compositions and urge you to support their implementation. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you. Victor Mendez followed by Madalena Menchaca followed by Hussein.

Good evening. You've heard from my fellow residents over at 2222 today. We are being subject to the highest rent increase in the county for affordable housing at 10%. And it's infanimal that we have to pay this and you've heard their stories. The 10% increase is really what they call a market increase. There's no need for capital development. There's no need for extenuating maintenance. It's pure profit. What I estimate to be around $400,000 to the developers. Pure profit out of the pockets of these senior citizens who work their entire life to have a decent life.

It's being taken right out of them. We realize it's legal, it's permissible under the law, to the extent at least now, but it doesn't make it right. The other thing you have to realize is that living there, you're restricted by how much savings you can have, how much money you can make. It's a two-edged sword, so it's supposed to be affordable, and you're not supposed to make so much or even have so much in the bank. Look at the paradox people are being put in. They can't save so much, they can't earn so much, but the rent can keep going up. where does that leave us? Homeless, probably.

I can tell you right now, that neighborhood is difficult. Crime, prostitution, drugs. That's like an everyday occurrence. I encounter it almost on a daily basis. I was told today by your police department to get mustard spray to protect myself. That's not the way I want to live the rest of my life, but if I have to, I have to. We're going to clean it up. But going forward, we're going to need a little help in the city. So the people that are here today that are cleaning up, they're going to be around tomorrow, and we can provide a future for other residences. Accordingly, we're asking for $750 on a rolling basis

to support this one-time rent increase and then work toward including affordable housing or senior affordable housing in the current rent control ordinance. Mr. Greenside pointed out accordingly that there may be constraints there. Well, I would only refer back to Robert F. Kennedy. He says, some men ask why. I ask why not. The time is now. Thank you. Thank you. Magdalena Menchaca followed by

Hussein followed by Jesus Santana. Hi my name is Magdalena Menchaca. I'm a resident of 2222 East 1st Street and when I first applied and I spoke to the person that is now the manager, I asked about rent increases, what might I expect? And she assured me that they would be negligible, and that's not anything I have to worry about, because it's affordable housing,

and that shouldn't be a concern. And as you know, we've been hit with a 10% rent increase, which is is just mind-boggling to me I and a far cry from from what I was told to begin with and so I'm just here to urge the city council members to please include affordable housing to the current control ordinance the rent control ordinance and you know as a gentleman before me said you know we've worked our entire

lives and you know and you know I expect however you know delusional I might be I expect people to tell me the truth, you know, and especially when they're representing their company and for them to say one thing and turn around and do the other by increasing the rent by the maximum allowable, I think is unconscionable and disappointing.

And I urge the city council to please consider including affordable housing in the ordinance. Thank you. Thank you.

Huseng followed by Jesus Santana followed by Q Robertson.

Good afternoon. My name is Huseng. Thank you very much. First, I want to tell you I'm living, my name is Huseng. I told you I'm so sorry. I'm 82 years old, and my Social Security is coming. It's $791 per month. And the rest of my rent is paid my brother, daughter, to send it to me. Anyway, today I got the raise from my rent again, 10%.

I don't know how can I afford it. Just want to ask you, please help us to go and leave to this country. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Jesus Santana.

Q Robertson.

Jeff Katz. Followed by Veronica Gomez.

Jeff, I guess you're up. I don't think the other speakers are here. And then the last speaker will be Wilson Baltazar.

Good evening. My name is Jeffrey Katz from Ward 3. I'm here to talk about code enforcement. I actually showed up a month ago to talk about this, but there were 25 people from downtown Santa Ana talking about their struggles. So I turned around and went home, and I kind of feel I want to do the same thing tonight. but alas I will talk about it because if our city's gonna be great we got a multitask code enforcement and the agents that work there are the unsung heroes in our city they are remarkable they're responsive doing things that are truly challenging but it's been a couple of months since one of their greatest

successes and that is the house in Saddleback View that had 30 vehicles removed. That was a plight that was ongoing for seven years. One of our council members actually posted about it and I raised a question in the post, why did it take so long? And I was treated to a lesson about due process. I realized, as the poet said, a better answer to he who asks a better question. So it is not why did it take so long, the question is how can we do it better? So it doesn't take seven years next time because I can pretty sure guarantee that if this were Irvine,

Tustin, fill in the blank, it wouldn't take so long. And I know there are ways for us to get it done. One, I'd like us to consider 1-8 in our municipal code which allows daily fines to those homeowners that can't afford it. And I also would like us to consider community-based enforcement. It's a concept that I self-learned about, thanks to a program that Nabil Saba had a couple of years ago, and that is the Block Beautification Program, where our community worked to help less income-struggling members of our neighborhood

who could not afford to maintain their properties. And that's a challenge these days. Getting into a home is very challenging. And then once you're there, the cost of maintaining it is—and we shouldn't only rely on enforcement actions, but we should work on some sort of a community-based program to help those. I know, and that, so I want to encourage the council to convene the Public Safety Committee to discuss this. I'd be happy to volunteer to be a part of it and give you what wisdom I could to see what we can do to improve the process.

I know oftentimes we keep on saying we've got to throw more agents and more code enforcement officers at it, And I think had we handled this situation in 2015 with that home and Saddleback View, within six months, six and a half years of labor we could have saved on. So we need to give our code enforcement better tools. Finally, I know Councilman Becerra is introducing something, requesting his staff to come up with policies to address the San Ana Police Department to actually get back to those who give complaints. I want to encourage that you follow that. and I'd ask that it apply to CityNet as well. Okay, thank you very much.

Thank you.

Veronica Gomez.

Wilson Baltazar. It was our last speaker card for in-person speakers, so I'll go ahead and turn it over to the...

I came up my turn to speak. I'm Bertha Ramirez, and I live in 2222 also.

Just fill out a speaker card afterwards, after you're done. Go ahead.

So anyway, I was hearing all my friends that live in that address, and they were talking about the rent control, which is true, you know, and the safety of walking. When we first moved in there, they said they were going to have parking for us, and they never did have parking. Some got it, some didn't. I've been waiting for a year. But these people that have to walk like a block, almost a block, to get to our apartments, and we have to walk on the street because they're doing construction. There's no safety there. So if you're walking from the place where you're parking, you have to walk on the street.

And then there's no safety lights on the crosswalk for the handicapped that are on wheelchairs that the cars can't see you. And I'm concerned about our rent increase because I've been a single parent since I was 26 and I'm 75 years old. I never used the system. I never got welfare or food stamps or anything. And thank God for Boeing and Rockwell and Ford Aerospace and Hughes Aircraft that I worked for them for many years. And now that I got my Social Security, I get $2,200, but that's not even enough to pay my insurance and pay my rent now.

So, you know, I would like for you to do something about senior living affordable. That's what it was supposed to be. but I guess they lied to us. I'm sorry. So thank you so much, and I'm sorry for interrupting because I hadn't gave up my spot.

I know. Thank you. Go ahead and just fill out a card before you leave. That was the last in-person speaker. I'll go ahead and turn it over to the clerk of the council so she can call on those members of the public that wish to address us that are online or on the phone. Madam Clerk.

To request to speak, dial star 9 from your phone or select raise and from Zoom now.

Zoom ID, Kaylee, please select the microphone icon to unmute from your device and proceed with your comment. You have three minutes to speak. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Thank you. Hi, I'm Kaylee and I'm making my recommendations tonight as a renter of Ward 5 for many years and as a volunteer for Tenants United Santana, who proposed the original rent stabilization and just cause ordinance informed by the work we've been doing since 2017, door knocking and hosting community forums and working with Public Law Center to create a just ordinance.

And tonight, my comments are in support of the rent board and rental registry and many of the comments shared earlier tonight. so I'll focus on what I feel hasn't been highlighted. The rent board expands accessibility for low-income tenants and landlords who may not always have the means to bring concerns to court. However, redirecting the tenants to dispute issues through mediation instead of the public forum of the rent board undermines the effectiveness of the rent board. It is concerning that the staff report speaks highly of mediation when tenant advocates across many cities have found mediation programs to fail and do not

address the problems of rising rents and evictions. Whereas mediating the issues through the rent board allows for more effective implementation of the ordinance. Additionally, mediation happens in a closed room and specifically cannot be used in court if issues arise from it. Rent increases are not a dispute between landlords and tenants. They're an exercise of power by landlords and mediation by definition is voluntary and cannot compel unreasonable landlords to be reasonable. Whereas directing resources to effective rent boards hearing has been shown to be a better, more just form of intervention.

Additionally, members of the rent board should reflect the demographics of the city, which is a renter majority, not a landlord majority. It should include mobile home residents who are a major demographic and be appointed by each of the council members. instead of many of the examples provided in the staff report where the mayor majority selects or appoints the members of the rent board. And these applicants should go through a transparent application process. The rent board fee should not create additional burden on the renters. So we need to be sure we're not creating unnecessary costs

by directing resources to the mentioned mediation program. This has all been informed by community work through many years and I hope you'll consider these points. Thank you.

Zoom ID Carl Benninger, please select the microphone icon to unmute from your device and proceed with your comment. You have three minutes to speak.

Good evening, Consulist, this is Carl Benninger. I live in Ward 4. I was supposed to be with you tonight, but if you can tell by my voice, I'm recovering from COVID. I urge anyone out there who has not been vaccinated get vaccinated. I would not have survived without it and you never know where your exposure is going to come from. Mine came from an old friend in Midland Michigan, a town of 35,000 who attended a small prayer group in the morning and we met with her in the afternoon and that's how we got affected. And I'm really glad I had my vaccination because I survived the 110 pound gorilla that was on my

chest for four days i really want to talk tonight in support of item 13 the buying of the ev trucks i think as a city this is a good move especially in light of the green resolution we had and i would recommend that you the council get an inventory of how many electric vehicles hybrid vehicles and gasoline vehicles we have in the city and we slowly begin to turn those over to electric vehicles and I would recommend also that the city do contact General Motors Ford Tesla and now there's a new company called Riva producing in the Midwest all of whom I know are

working on police vehicles that's the next breakthrough and I think Santa Ana should put our name out and be be a leader in that area I also want to speak about solar in the city we had very few solar programs in the city were far behind other cities and groups in the city like Santa Ana Unified and voter registration and it can be done very beautifully. I had points at Saddleback School which I was active in. 95 percent of their power is now generated by solar and yet you drive by that school you don't see one panel. It can be done beautifully. In my own

situation my house just passed six years my power system has not paid for itself and i'll be enjoying the next 19 years free because i've invested already in it so i would support that i also support what phil facero is going to be presenting because it will show transparency and it will improve communications closing i would recommend this council write a letter to lou korea to the president to our senators urging that anyone who serves this country has shown a love for this country and should upon with honorable discharge receive their citizenship to this country.

On that whole discussion we had that's the one area that I totally agree with and I found a lot of support in the midwest for that point of view and so I really urge this is something this council can do and I urge that you go ahead and pass the resolution and send it on to the president to Lou Correa and to our senators. Thank you.

Zoom ID, Danny, please select the microphone icon to unmute from your device and proceed with your comment. You have three minutes to speak.

Am I able to comment now on council requested items? Yes. Good. Okay, good evening city council and mayor. My name is Danny, residents of board three. I'm just calling to show my support for council member Becerra's requested item which would require that SAPD inform us when there is a resolution to our call for service. For me personally there is an issue in my neighborhood and I've emailed and called and although much appreciated the little feedback that I have received it's just not helpful or informative.

so now I'm a bit discouraged because for all I know SAPD is actively investigating this or not at all and we're just here watching illegal activity happening every day and we feel powerless to stop it so the point is we're left in the dark wondering if we should just call again we are the eyes and ears of Santa Ana PD and we have to work together which means closing the loop on every call so I hope this council supports this I want to just close with this. I want to thank the council members who realize that public safety is still and has always been the number one issue in our city and try their very best to address it

despite constant oppositions and attempts to scale back on law enforcement. We, the parents, thank you. We, the residents, thank you, and we support you. Thank you for not forgetting about our safety. Thank you and stay hydrated out there.

Zoom ID, Maria Victoria. Please select the microphone icon to unmute from your device and proceed with your comment. You have three minutes to speak.

Hola, buenas noches. Mi nombre es, ah, perdón, Mayor Sarmiento y concejales. Mi nombre es María Victoria, soy residente de Santana por 10 años. Estoy hablando para que se forme un comité de vigilancia para asegurarnos que se cumpla la ley

de estabilización de renta y causa justa, porque en este tiempo he estado aquí y han subido la renta aquí donde yo vivo y vino la ciudad a a revisar los apartamentos y quedaron que iban a cambiar muchas cosas. Nos falta pintura en las casas, los baños están muy descuidados, los techos también están muy descuidados. Entonces este el de la ciudad dijo que iban a venir a arreglar y nunca vinieron.

el error que tuve es no pedir una tarjeta al que vino a ver los apartamentos este por eso estoy diciendo estoy hablando por todos mis mis vecinos también porque también estamos con la mismo problema todos están estamos con también con cucarachas y y el de los el de los apartamentos no hace nada pero estos dos meses que pasaron ya no subieron la renta y queremos que que haya más este

más que se cumpla la ley pero que también tengamos un un hogar digno verdad porque no lo merecemos estamos pagando para eso muchas gracias y buenas noches

Good evening, Mayor Sarmiento and City Council members. My name is Maria Victoria. I've lived in Santa Ana for about 10 years, and I'm here to support the board for rent stabilization and just cause evictions. our rent just went up and the city came by our apartments to check our apartments and they checked many things they said they would change many things like the paint and

the roofs need to be changed the restrooms need to be taken care of but the city never came to fix anything and my mistake was not asking for the card for the person who came and checked That's why I'm calling now on behalf of all my neighbors. We also have roaches, and the manager is not doing anything. The person in charge is not doing anything about it. And now, the last couple of months, our rent has gone up, and we want to follow the law, but we also need to have a dignified place to live because we deserve it. Thank you for listening.

Zoom ID, Ana Charco. please select the microphone icon to unmute from your device and proceed with your comment. You have three minutes to speak. Thank you. Good evening Mayor Sarmiento and City Council members. My name is Ana Charco and I am here on behalf of Latino Health Access to speak on the proposed recommendations brought forward by staff for the long-term implementation of the city rent stabilization and just cost eviction ordinance. At Latino Health Access I am a housing counselor where I inform tenants of their rights against eviction, rent increases, and in unhabitable living conditions.

I also develop educational material on tenant rights, laws, and protections for community members for them to know their rights at any instance. Since the implementation of the RSO and Just Cause Eviction Ordinance, I have first-handed seen how the ordinance have possibly impacted and brought much-needed protections for Santa Ana families. However, at the same time, I have held various cases where the current absence of a clear enforcement process has allowed for inconsequential violations of the ordinance. And more importantly, the abuse of power and harassment by landlords.

For instance, we have seen that long-term tenants are now finding themselves with substantially different rental agreements that include separate and individual utility bills plus their rental fee. In the past, all those utility fees were already included in the rental fee. And now they're seeing those fees in addition to a rental fee. And we're seeing that addition to be $200 to $300 more in additional to their rental fee agreement. Tenants also find themselves conflicted on whether they should sign these renewal agreements or self-devect due to fear of retaliation, their immigration status, lack of legal representation,

and complex court proceedings. Therefore, please support the proposed recommendations to the long-term implementation to the city's rent stabilization and just cost ordinance to strengthen the enforcement of the ordinance and to reduce the number of self-devections that are currently happening in Santa Ana. Thank you so much for your time.

Zoom ID, Annabel Para. Please select the microphone icon to unmute from your device and proceed with your comment. You have three minutes.

Ciudad de Santa Ana donde tenemos una visión y compromiso con las viviendas dignas, rentas estables en la comunidad y abogar por familias sanas y dignas. Somos una comunidad y una unión que se preocupa por abogar por las situaciones y problemas que afectan a nuestra comunidad y familias, vecinos y amigos en nuestra ciudad. referente a la justicia de vivión las donde hay situaciones muy desagradables de acoso desalojos en nuestras familias y desalojos y de nuestras familias y acoso por los propietarios y managers

managers de nuestra comunidad a nuestras familias y vecinos por falta de diferentes recursos y fondos financieros y asistencia legal para poder prevenir un desalojo y para poder prevenir a nuestras familias que sean desalojadas de sus hogares y que sean abusados físico y psicológicamente. Queremos señor concejal pedirle que nos escuche porque nuestras familias están viviendo en moteles donde el olor a tabaco y huele mucho alcohol y es un olor

muy desagradable y les pedimos a los miembros del concibe del concilio que nos escuchen una sola voz porque somos madres tías abuelas y ampecinos y queremos estos niños tengan un hogar digno y una vivienda digna y estable gracias señor concejal y gracias a todos los miembros del concilio buenas noches

Good evening, members of the City Council. Thank you for allowing me to be here to speak to you. My name is Anabel Parra. I'm a resident of Santa Ana and I am a member of Esperanza de la Comunidad, a group that is committed to providing and helping people have stable rent, stable housing, and we are committed to advocate for our community issues, for our community, for families, for our neighbors, for our city. and to avoid any type of harassment and any eviction proceedings, any harassment done by the managers or the landlords towards our families and our neighbors

because of lack of money or lack of legal help, and to avoid them being evicted and losing their homes, any physical abuse or any psychological abuse that they may be experiencing. So, City Council members, I'm asking you to listen to our voices. Some of us are living in motels and the tobacco smell is horrible and the alcohol smell is terrible for us. And we're asking the City Council to listen to our voices as moms, as aunts, as grandmothers and neighbors.

So, we want to have stable housing. Thank you for listening to us and have a good evening.

Zoom ID, Marta Garcia, please select the microphone icon to unmute from your device and proceed with your comment. You have three minutes.

establecimos para la visión. Yo vengo a hablar del punto 26 de la de la agenda. Las ordenanzas de estabilización de renta y causa justa han traído protecciones muy necesitadas para nuestras familias y para seguir procesando, progresando, es necesario que la ciudad apruebe y cambie

y cambien partes de esta propuesta. Primero, estamos de acuerdo con una mesa directiva de inquilinos que tenga poder de reforzar las ordenanzas. Dos, estamos de acuerdo con una cuota, pero la responsabilidad del pago debe ser del dueño y no de los inquilinos. Tres, estamos de acuerdo con el proceso de mediación porque puede ayudar a solucionar conflictos que no tienen que llegar a hacer el.

Que no tienen que llegar. Al proceso de la mediación tiene que ser media mandatorio para el dueño. Perdón tiene que llegar a ser este procesado de la mediación. Tiene que ser este ser mandatorio para que el dueño la pague. Gracias es todo buenas noches.

Good evening. My name is Marta Garcia. I'm a resident of Santa Ana and member of the Union of Esperanza de Inquilinos. And I'm here to talk about number 26 on the agenda. We agree with the board, rent stabilization and just cause evictions. These are good ordinances for our people and we'd like to continue this progress and have you ask you to approve some changes to it. We agree with the board with the power to enforce these ordinances. We agree

with a fee but this fee must be paid by the landlords and not the tenants. We also agree with mediation in order to solve conflict and people don't have to go to all this process but have mandatory mediation and that the owner or landlord pays for this. Thank you and have a good evening.

Mayor, that was our last speaker.

Thank you very much. Let me go ahead and bring it back to the council to see if there are any items that they'd like to pull off or abstain from on the consent calendar.

Hearing none and seeing them.

Phil BacerraItem 6

Sorry, Mayor. I'd like to go ahead and poll 14 and 20 and register a no vote on 25 if the council should move the balance.

Which item was that?

Phil BacerraItem 6

A no on 25. 25.

Any other abstentions or items they would which to pull off? Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion for the balance.

So move.

Is there a second? I'll second. Okay, we have a motion by Mendoza, second by Peña Loza.

Do we want to voice vote?

My screen is a little blank, I think, here.

um if you would like to vote digitally please

my screen doesn't show the the ability to vote so

we'll do a roll call vote uh council member hernandez um sorry it wasn't working i just refreshed

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

So, quick question. So there was a couple amendments I was looking to make to the adoption of the rent stabilization ordinance. And would that be item 25 or 26? 26. Perfect. Yes.

My apologies. Council Member Hernandez? Yes. Councilmember Lopez? Yes. Councilmember Mendoza? Yes. Councilmember Peña-Losa? Yes. Councilmember Fan? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Becerra? Yes. Mayor Sarmiento? Yes.

Thank you. So let me go ahead and move along to the items that were pulled. That's item number 14. I believe that was Mayor Pro Tem Becerra.

Phil BacerraItem 6

Thank you, Mayor. I want to begin my comments on this item. This is for the construction of the Santa Ana Zoo Educational Hub and the universally accessible playground at Thornton Park. I wanted to begin by thanking Senator Umberg for the funds that he was able to get for the city to construct these projects that I know will be treasured by our community. For Thornton Park or for the playground at George Upton All Access Park, this is a playground that is, believe it or not, 30 years old and could definitely use a little TLC.

Phil BacerraItem 6

So we've got equipment that's deteriorating, and from what I saw in the staff report, there are parts that are not easy to find anymore. So my only question on this item is, so with all the improvements that we're going to see within the Upton All Access Park, will that also include lights for the basketball court and possibly for some of the kind of further eastern edge of the playground area just because you're not too far from the county flood control channel right there where we do happen to see a lot of homeless activity and we also have our park host there just nearby so

Phil BacerraItem 6

was hoping that this item would also include some lighting for both the basketball courts and just that surrounding Upton Park area

mayor pro tem I'll defer to either the bill public works director or a hawk to I'm going to ask you to see if that element could be accommodated or if need be we could research it further if you guys can't answer the question.

Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem. Good evening, Mayor. Member of the Council. The project does not include lights but we can look into adding lights. This particular one is just to replace the playground with the hub.

in We have a motion and a second.

My screen's still down.

Same. Let's do a roll call.

Council Member Hernandez?

Yes.

Council Member Lopez? Yes. Council Member Mendoza? Yes. Council Member Peñalosa?

David PenalozaItem 6

Yes.

Council Member Fan? Yes. Mayor Potembecerra?

Yes. And Mayor Sarmiento?

Yes. Moving along to item number 20, that's also Mayor Pro Tems.

Phil BacerraItem 6

Thank you, Mayor. I'm very happy that this item is before us. This is coming into an agreement with the consultant for a citywide parking study. This is something that I asked our public works staff to embark on. But I just wanted to clarify, because I had received some calls and emails from residents who are concerned that this item tonight would involve the council taking action on policy or any sort of change in what we do now. So just for clarity so that everybody hears the same thing, I just want to make sure. So the item before us tonight is only to enter into the agreement with the consultant

Phil BacerraItem 6

to study potential solutions and recommendations and that any of the outcome from that study could lead to changes, but that won't be for quite some time at this point. Is that correct? You're correct. Mary Proton. Okay. So I just wanted to make sure that we understand. So this is going to be, I guess, one more point of clarification. So the contract before us is for two years and then with the option to go a third year. So are we anticipating that this study, to do this study will take two years?

the project will take about 18 months from the time we were doing presentations. So the study itself should not take more than 12 months, which is one year, but we like to give ourselves to extend the contract and keep the consultant on board if issues arise.

Phil BacerraItem 6

Okay, so in other words, before we as a council will see any items for consideration as far as policy goes, we're looking at anywhere between 12 to 18 months of the study, correct?

That's correct.

Phil BacerraItem 6

Okay, thank you. With that, I'll go ahead and move this item as well.

Is there a second?

Phil BacerraItem 6

Second.

We have a motion and a second.

Madam Clerk, please call roll.

Council Member Hernandez? Yes. Council Member Lopez? Yes. Council Member Mendoza? Yes. Council Member Peñalosa? Yes. Council Member Fan? Yes. Mayor Potembecerra? Yes. Mayor Sarmiento?

Yes, thank you. Moving along to the business calendar, first item is item number 26, which is the long-term implementation plan for rent stabilization and just cause eviction ordinances, and I'll turn it over to staff.

Thank you, Mayor and Council members. We do have a presentation on this item, and the presentation is going to be performed by Judson Brown, Sarah Kort, and Tara Matthews. So I will turn it over to Judson Brown. Oh, no, I'm not turning it over to Judson. Sarah.

Okay, good evening, honorable mayor and members of the city council. My name is Sarah Court. I am a housing programs analyst with the city of Santa Ana. In our presentation this evening, we'll outline the long-term implementation plan for the rent, stabilization, and just cause eviction ordinances.

The purpose of tonight's item is to discuss and adopt the long-term implementation plan for our rent stabilization and just cause eviction ordinances, which will include 10 program design recommendations. Based on city council direction, staff will make amendments to the rent stabilization and just cause eviction ordinances.

This long-term implementation plan follows approval by city council last October of the city's ordinances. As you recall, the city's rent stabilization ordinance limits residential rent increases to the lower of 3% or 80% of the change in CPI per year. And the city's just cause eviction ordinance provides just cause eviction protections for most tenants that occupy a residential real property or mobile home space in the city.

When adopting these two ordinances, the City Council also adopted a resolution directing staff to conduct further study of the additional regulatory framework and infrastructure necessary to implement residential rent stabilization, just cause eviction, and other protections to Santa Ana residents facing housing instability, including the creation and operation of a rent board or similar body, a rent registry, and the related costs. Staff is returning tonight with a long-term implementation plan for the rent stabilization and just cause eviction ordinances.

To conduct this study and create the long-term implementation plan, staff contracted with RSG to research and analyze best practices and jurisdictions with existing rent stabilization and just cause eviction ordinances across the state and to provide their recommendations for the long-term implementation of our ordinances. The ordinances will be referred to as the RSO and JCEO throughout the presentation.

After adoption of these ordinances, staff in partnership with RSG immediately began program implementation by conducting the following services. Outreach and education including periodically mailed communications, workshops and website updates, response to general public information inquiries, creating and distributing informational materials and notices, referrals to community legal aid organizations for assistance with legal matters and interpretation of the ordinances, and the review of fair return petitions. As of July 2022, over 2,500 tenants and landlords have been directly assisted,

and numerous more through community outreach efforts.

There are a total of 23 jurisdictions with ordinances across the state. RSG researched seven sample jurisdictions of the 23 with ordinances that were identified based upon similarities to our city, including jurisdictions with similar ordinances and a similar number of rental units. These sample jurisdictions include the cities of Alameda, Berkeley, Beverly Hills, Englewood, Richmond, Santa Monica, and the city of West Hollywood. RSG researched each sample jurisdiction and interviewed the staff responsible for administering their ordinances in order to come up with the following program design recommendations for our city.

Fee. Based on the study of best practices across the seven sample jurisdictions, RSG developed 10 recommendations for the city to implement its RSO and JCEO, including to create a rental housing board, create a rental registry, adopt a rental registry fee, develop a work plan, conduct a fee study based on the work plan and staffing needs, expand compliance activities, fees, create a landlord capital improvement petition and tenant petition, establish petition fees and a petition review process, create a mediation process and to join the rent stabilization

consortium. The following slides will dive into each one of these program design recommendations in further detail. The basis for these recommendations is RSG's extensive research and analysis of existing best practices and programs administered by other jurisdictions across the state.

The first program design recommendation is to create a rental housing board. Rental housing boards or commissions generally preside over hearings and appeals, provide enforcement of the ordinances through various methods, and make recommendations for pertinent changes to the ordinances. Of the 23 jurisdictions across the state with ordinances, 65% have rent review boards or commissions that help guide their program and review decisions, including all seven sample jurisdictions that were interviewed.

The standard size of these boards ranges between five and nine members who are typically appointed by the mayor or city council and are required to be equally balanced between landlords, tenants, and at-large representatives, allowing for a neutral third-party decision maker. The staff report and RSG's report includes specific examples of how to achieve a balanced board composition. Staff would be responsible for reviewing petition materials, analyzing information, and preparing staff reports that would be presented to the rental housing board and helping to make their determinations within their jurisdiction.

However, any changes to the RSO or JCEO would remain with the City Council along with the financial oversight. The next recommendation for the long-term implementation of our city's ordinances is to create a rental registry. A rental registry is the most important tool used by jurisdictions to implement renter protections. At its core function, rental registries allow tenants, landlords, and city staff to know which rental units and mobile home spaces are covered under the RSO. Our rental registry would allow the city to compile key data and and monitor compliance on the city's rent stabilized units.

Rental registries increase transparency for rental units by providing a way to collect rental unit data and track changes including rent increases, vacancies, notices and violations. Of the 23 jurisdictions across the state with ordinances, 87% require landlords to register rental units within a rental registry and have a rental registry fee including all seven sample jurisdictions interviewed.

A rental registry provides the following benefits to both tenants and landlords. Landlords and tenants will be able to regularly access and verify their units rental information, increasing transparency. Additional support will be available for mediating disputes and settling matters outside of the court system, which will help to resolve issues more quickly and efficiently. Our rental registry will eliminate doubt regarding which units are covered under the ordinances. And finally staff will be able to communicate with both landlords and tenants more effectively

which will allow both parties to understand their rights and responsibilities under the RSO and JCEO.

In order to pay for program costs the city will adopt a rental registry fee. fee. This fee is collected from landlords across the city similar to our proactive rental enforcement program fee. The fee is intended to cover 100% of the cost to administer the program and this means no impact to the city's general fund. Sample jurisdictions registry fees range approximately at $195 per unit. Most of the sample jurisdictions use a consultant to conduct a fee study in order to determine a rental registry fee amount. Based upon the fee study, the rental registry fee will be set as conservatively as possible

to reduce financial impacts to tenants and landlords. Where staff can identify opportunities to contract out for services to keep the fee costs as low as possible, staff will enter into consultant agreements. Staff will also identify ways to build upon other existing activities across the city to administer the ordinances most efficiently. Utilizing these guiding principles, the fee will be as low and lean as possible so to not create an unnecessary burden on tenants and landlords. In addition, the city will allow landlords to pass through no more than 50% of a unit's rental registry fee

to the tenants as a rent surcharge prorated over 12 months. The city will monitor for compliance to ensure that undue burden is not placed on the tenant. Finally, the city may consider establishing a fee for fully or partially covered units or making certain units exempt from paying the fee. Generally, a fully covered unit refers to rental units where both the RSO and JCEO apply. And partially covered units refer to units where only the JCEO applies.

So far we have discussed three core recommendations for the long-term implementation of the RSO and JCEO. The next six recommendations build upon the first three and provide more specific actions to be taken to create a rental housing board, rental registry and adopt a rental registry fee. In order to determine a rental registry fee, staff will need to develop a work plan detailing and itemizing how the ordinances will be administered. There are multiple services that are provided as best practices from the sample jurisdictions, including to create and maintain a rental registry, investigate and enforce notices

and violations and complaints, review eviction notices and ensure compliance with the JCEO, process hearings, petitions, and appeals, provide tenant and landlord housing counseling and mediation services, conduct community outreach and education, and facilitate and staff a rental housing board. The work plan and staffing needs established will then be used to conduct a fee study.

The overall budget to administer these ordinances is mostly related to the number of units in the rental registry and services to be provided by both staff and the board. A fee study will take into account the number of units that may be included in the rental registry and the proposed work plan in order to determine the rental registry fee required to fully recover costs of all budgeted operations. Currently, the city's ordinance costs over $300,000 per year and will increase to $500,000 in the next fiscal year with no cost to recapture.

After creating a work plan and adopting a rental registry fee, RSG estimates that the city could potentially collect around $6.7 million annually with a fully operating program. Again, the fee study will account for the most cost effective way to implement the long term implementation plan, including the consideration of setting the fee as low and lean as possible, utilizing consultants and building upon other services across the city. The results of the fee study will be used to establish the amount of the rental registry fee to be collected from landlords and tenants.

It's worth emphasizing that the overall budget to administer these ordinances is mostly related to the number of units in the rental registry and the services to be provided by both staff and the board, which are currently undetermined by the city. The snapshot shown here highlights that program surplus and deficits vary on an annual basis in sample jurisdictions that were surveyed. Years in which the programs operate at a deficit will be subsidized by the city. Years in which the program collects a revenue surplus can be addressed by holding the funding as reserves to account for future deficits,

as well as reducing the rental registry fee in the subsequent fiscal year. Staff will prepare annual financial reports summarizing budgeted expenses, actual expenses, revenue, and reserves, if any. The sample jurisdictions provided information on the staffing needed to effectively implement their ordinances and stressed that staffing plans are constantly evolving based on an annual analysis of funds expended and collected for departmental operations since the inception of their programs. programs. The following slides provide examples of organizational charts and two sample jurisdictions.

Adopted in April 1979, the City of Santa Monica represents one of the longest standing and most developed programs that was surveyed. Santa Monica has a five member rent board with a department that includes an executive director and a number of staff spanning from administration to public information, hearings, a legal team, with a total of approximately 25 staff members.

The City of Richmond Rent Program Department was developed in 2017, representing a program that is newer and has had the opportunity to expand from approximately 8 full-time staff members in Fiscal Year 2017-2018 to proposed 13 in Fiscal Year 2022-23. Richmond has a five-member rent board with a department that includes an executive director, internal hearings and legal units, and a number of public information staff to assist with outreach and enrollment for a total of 13 proposed staff members. Santa Ana currently administers the RSO and JCEO through a consultant and partial staff time

from a housing programs analyst, housing division manager, and assistant city attorney. In order to effectively implement the long-term implementation plan, staff estimates a minimum of 12 staff members would be needed upon initial program implementation. By completing a fee study and analyzing annual data after program inception, the city will be able to produce a financial projection of revenue and expenses for a fully operating program. program. It's important to note that this projection is based on best practices and sample jurisdictions and takes into account a robust and full service approach to the program. Ultimately,

the fees collected will determine the number of staff needed to effectively implement the program. Next, as part of the work plan, the city will need to expand how the ordinances will be monitored for compliance. The compliance Compliance activities will allow staff to investigate and adjudicate tenant landlord issues or concerns. Currently there are limited resources to ensure compliance short of the court system which can be costly and time consuming. Best practices of compliance activities and sample jurisdictions include staff notices and warnings in response to complaints and reported information in the rental registry,

increased staffing to issue citations and pursue criminal offenses, and contracted mediators to improve tenant landlord relationships.

The next program design recommendation is to create a landlord capital improvement petition and tenant petition. Currently, the city's RSO and JCEO only permit one type of petition, which is a fair return petition for landlords. Some sample jurisdictions include capital improvements as a part of a fair return petition, while others have a separate petition. The benefit to having a separate landlord capital improvement petition is that it incentivizes landlords to improve their property, knowing they can pass through some of these costs to their tenants.

In general, a landlord capital improvement petition would allow a landlord to temporarily increase rents to cover the cost of capital improvements when the improvements benefit the units in question.

Implementing a landlord capital improvement petition may also provide clarity on who is responsible for approving the $40,000 substantial rehabilitation exemption currently included in the RSO by requiring substantive documentation of the work performed at the property.

Each of the sample jurisdictions also allow for a tenant rent change petition which allows tenants to have an administrative tool to address excess rent based on conditions of the rental unit, a reduction in services, issues of habitability, and landlord violations of the ordinances.

The eighth program design recommendation is to establish petition fees and a petition review process. Currently, the city's ordinance requires applicants to pay for all costs associated with the review and determination of fair return petitions. As a component of the fee study, staff will analyze the costs to review each type of petition with the intention of keeping the rental registry fee as low as possible and avoiding the layering of additional fees on top of the rental registry fee. Currently, the city's ordinance places the decision-making responsibility for fair return petitions on the city manager or a designee.

Understanding that petitions require lengthy administrative work, communication with landlords and tenants, as well as processing time, program, staff will determine the most efficient use of time and resources for reviewing each type of petition. In their research of sample jurisdictions, RSG found that the decision makers for petitions and appeals most commonly range from internal hearing officers to contracted hearing officers or examiners or the rental housing board.

The next recommendation is for the city to create a mediation process. The city should develop a mediation process with contracted mediators to allow for a neutral person to facilitate communication between the parties to assist them in reaching a mutually acceptable agreement without the need for a legal hearing. Some advantages to mediation include that mediation generally lasts a shorter amount of time than a trial. mediation can be confidential such that nothing that is said during mediation can be used in court if mediation fails, and mediation is generally more cost effective and reduces the number of hearings.

Mediation programs have been successful in a few of the sample jurisdictions that were interviewed. For example, the City of Santa Monica provides voluntary mediation for rent decrease petitions, excess rent complaints, and other matters not raised by a petition. Mediation was successful during their last fiscal year in which 61% of rent decreased petitions, 92% of construction petitions, and 92% of excess rent complaints were mediated and fully or partially resolved. Mediation will be a public service offered to tenants and landlords as an alternative to escalating issues to the rental housing board.

Finally, the last program design recommendation is for the city to join the rent stabilization consortium. The rent stabilization consortium is a group of representatives from California cities with rent stabilization programs who meet periodically to discuss challenges, best practices, and collaborate with other cities on the topic of rent stabilization.

The next steps in the long-term implementation of the RSO and JCEO programs include tonight's discussion and adoption of the long-term implementation plan. Following direction from City Council, staff will return and request City Council to adopt amendments to the rent stabilization ordinance and just cause eviction ordinance, including the creation of a rental registry and a rental housing board, among various other amendments. students, authorize staff to conduct a fee study to establish a rental registry fee to cover the program administrative costs, and authorize staff to contract with a consultant

to implement a rental registry. This long-term implementation plan will take time and can span over a period of 12 months or more. Staff will need to hire consultants, conduct a fee study, and staff the department appropriately. The three action items listed represent the fundamental steps needed to initiate the process. However, it is anticipated that staff may need to come back for other actions as needed for the long-term implementation of the City's Ordinances.

With approval from the City Council to move forward with the Long-Term Implementation Plan, staff will immediately begin drafting amendments to the RSO and JCEO and developing a work plan detailing how the ordinances will be administered. Here you will see an estimated timeline of what the rollout of the long-term implementation plan may look like, with an initial goal of returning to City Council at the first meeting in October for a first reading of the revised ordinances. With approval from City Council of the long-term implementation plan and amended ordinances, staff aims to roll out the program in July 2023.

And thank you for your time. That concludes our presentation and staff is available for any questions that you may have.

Great. Thank you for that presentation. Very thorough. Well done. Let me go ahead and bring it back to the City Council to see if there's any members of the Council that wish to have any comments or questions.

Councilmember Hernandez.

Yes.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for such a thorough and in-depth presentation. It was really helpful for members of the public and for us to be able to see that. So I just want to say thank you. Some of the parts of the presentation I'm very supportive of. There are parts of the presentation that I am not supportive of, most notably on the topic of mediation. In looking at other cities that have had mediation be part of it, what we have found is that mediation is something that is absolutely necessary when there's disagreements.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

But when a landlord wants to enforce a rent increase, that is a decision that is based off of economics. It's very hard to be able to mediate something that is rooted off of the desire to see an increase here. If I'm a landlord and I want to see an increase in rent for my property, I don't know how far mediation is going to get us. Now, if there's a broken window at my house and I believe there's a violation of our lease agreement, mediation is necessary there. But I do think on the topic of rent increases, I just don't see mediation being something that is going to be cost effective for us as a city.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

and that is why Mr. Mayor I would look to have this amended and removed from the policy I'm not going to be supporting that number two I want to thank the members of the public most notably the seniors who took time from their day to talk about their desire to see rent control and for that desire to see these protections applied to them it was both heartbreaking and disappointing and the reason why I'm bringing this up is because I know that state law AB 1482 exempts affordable housing units from the rent stabilization ordinance that we

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

created and I do believe madam city attorney if you can clarify did our rent stabilization ordinance codify state law AB 1482?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 6

It did, but it went a little further in the area that you were authorized to go further.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

Okay. So it can be removed, if you can clarify, in the event that state law changes and when that does change. That is an amendment, Madam City Attorney, I would like to see. I understand that, of course, state law AB 1482 does apply today. It's not to say that it doesn't change. I think if Santa Ana can move away from that to take into account all the comments of the seniors that came through and And shared their testimonies. I think it would be good practice for us as a council to take in those comments And although there are state laws that would exempt

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

Affordable housing units from rent control. I think if we can be proactive and you know When that time does come we're ahead of the curve. Is that something that we're able to do Madam City Attorney?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 6

As a charter city you will not be able to preempt state law the state law preempts you but there are legislative actions you can you can do your own lobbying and you can ask the legislature for changes but unfortunately we are we are limited by the state law thank you so

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

much I figured if there was an opportunity for us to at least try this is the perfect opportunity so number one was mediation that's that's something that I'm not going to be supportive of number two is the rent board I'm very supportive of seeing this rent board established I want to make it very clear that I want to prioritize renters on this board we are a city with a large demographic of renters so this board should reflect that I'm supportive of some of the comments that members of the community made in mentioning that I am fully supportive of seeing at least four tenants on this board I am supportive of

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

seeing at most two landlords on this board and that those are my comments on the rent board on the enforcement side I want to place a large emphasis on us as a city working in in collaboration with our city attorney's office and our code enforcement office and the reason why this is so important to me is I believe if we can help mitigate any potential issues that may arise between tenants and landlords and potential housing challenges that may arise with tenants looking to protect themselves.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

I think having code enforcement and city attorney's office work closely in tandem would help us with some of those issues. And on the topic of the fee study, I was looking at the document that you guys presented today and I saw that Oakland had their fee at $101. So our fee looks to be quite excessive at $195. And I think in being mindful of the tenants and the landlords, I wouldn't want to have a fee that I feel is excessive. $95, you know, above average costs of what we're seeing, seems like a lot of money for a city our size.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

I know that we have a large demographic of renters, and I just feel like this fee is not going to accomplish what we're looking to create here with this ordinance. So I'm not supportive of seeing this fee be anything larger than $100. Those are my comments there. And Madam City Attorney, what type of direction are you going to need from us here today? Are you looking for a motion? Are you just looking for direction?

So actually, Council Member, we're looking for two items. We're looking for you to adopt the long-term implementation plan, and then we're looking for you to authorize the city manager and the city attorney to begin drafting the amendments that are needed to the current ordinance and return to you in October.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

Okay, wonderful. So these are the amendments, Madam City Manager, that I would like to see. I would like to see the fee not exceed $100. I would like to see the City of Santa Ana, when it comes to the enforcement side, I want to see our code enforcement and city attorney's office work very closely together. The rent board, I would like to see it consist of at least four tenants and maximum of two landlords. And I wanted to just make my last amendment very clear. I'm not supportive of mediation.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

I think that there is a better use of our dollars, especially given the history that this hasn't been something that was very successful when it came to landlords looking to increase rent. That concludes my comments, Madam City Manager. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember. Let me go ahead and see if there's any other comments or questions from the Council.

Mayor Protem.

Phil BacerraItem 6

Thank you. And Sarah, thank you for your presentation. So tonight we just approved an agreement to conduct a study of our citywide parking policy and permit program. That's going to take up to two years. We didn't adopt the policy or the ordinance first. We're studying this policy for up to two years to see what changes we should make and what policy we should actually adopt. And parking is a huge issue in the city, just as housing affordability is. But rather than study how to best address housing affordability, members of this council decided to adopt a hollow rent control policy on October 20th at 3 a.m.

Phil BacerraItem 6

And by the way, the staff report incorrectly says October 19th when it should accurately reflect that it was adopted on Wednesday morning at 3 a.m. And now we're going to adopt the plan to implement this whole policy. So need I say that this is exactly the opposite of how we should make good policy. The RSO became effective on November 19th, 2021, but there was no way to truly enact it and enforce it. So after the adoption of the RSO, city staff had RSG complete the following task. Again, after the adoption of the RSO. So develop the comprehensive list of California jurisdictions with RSOs. Research and analyze.

Phil BacerraItem 6

Again, research and analyze existing RSO programs and best practices in selected jurisdiction. And provide recommendations for the city's long-term implementation of the ordinances. Again, after the adoption of the RSO, not prior. So then again, RSG came up with 10 recommendations as we heard tonight, again after the adoption of the RSO. Thankfully, RSG covered that and there were recommendations how we're going to pay for this, right? How it's proposed to pay for it. And they came up with recommendation number three, which is to adopt a rental registry fee.

Phil BacerraItem 6

And in the staff report, it says in order to create a rental registry and pay for the cost to administer the ordinances, the city will need to adopt a rental registry fee. Great. The staff report then goes on to say that this fee ensures that the program is completely cost neutral to the city. In other words, 100% cost recovery, with no impact to the city's general fund. And in their research of the sample jurisdictions, RSG found that the rental registry fees would average approximately $195 per unit. So who's going to pay for this, right? Well, according to the staff report, the city will allow landlords to pass

Phil BacerraItem 6

through up to 50% of a unit's rental registry fees to the tenant as a rental surcharge. Now remember, while we're talking about $195 for cost recovery, that's an estimate. That's an estimate. That is not determined yet. Because remember, we still have another study to do even though we have an ordinance on the books already. Then if there's a dispute that requires the city's assistance to resolve, there's recommendation Proposition number eight, to establish petition fees and a petition review process. So even more fees to enact this ordinance. According to the staff report, the assumption is that the rental registry fee will fully

Phil BacerraItem 6

cover the cost to review each type of petition. But since most people are not going to need to file petitions, this proposal is going to instead charge everybody for an issue and process that will only be used by a very small number of people. This item only further highlights how backwards, how rushed, and how politically timed this entire exercise has been, and I will be opposing this. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other questions or comments from members of the Council? May I apologize.

I apologize. My intent on item number 25 was no, and I just realized that we were on 26, and I apologize that I didn't catch that when we did the consent. My vote for 25 is a no. As I stated last year, that the rent control was not a good thing for our residents, and we see the proof today. And I do not want to add more fees to our residents who are already low income and suffering and really don't know where they're going to get their payment for the

for the next fund and let alone pay for food and so also on 26 i am opposing that as well thank you

great so just a note to the clerk for the record council member mendoza is a no vote on item 25

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 6

mayor may i just a point of procedure so we have in the past allowed in this city a notation to be made but if the council member wants to formally change the vote you will have to go through the

Jessie LopezItem 6

reconsideration process i think that's a lot more transparent for the public yeah and so um as you

may recall in order to do that should we go ahead and kind of and bring it back or um it is up to

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 6

you since you're the chair you could do that now or you could wait let's do it now next item go

ahead and let me go ahead and let's revisit 25 okay so council member mendoza would make the

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 6

motion to reconsider the item she would need a second.

I'm making the motion to reconsider item number 25.

Phil BacerraItem 6

I'll second.

We have a motion and a second to reconsider. Council members please vote.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

Madam City Attorney, this is just a motion on whether we can reconsider. Correct.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 6

It's a part A and then we're going to have to do a part B to actually vote on the reconsideration.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

Right. Thank you.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 6

Just to reopen the matter and put it back on the table.

motion passes five two with council members Hernandez Lopez Mendoza fan Bacera Sarmiento voting yes and Councilmember Peña Losa and Van dissenting.

Great let's go ahead and reconsider item number 25 and that was brought back by Councilmember Mendoza. I'll move to approve. I'll second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, Councilmembers please vote.

Sorry, Mayor, do we have a motion and a second?

Yes, there was a motion and a second. There was a motion by Council Member Fan and a second by Lopez.

does. Motion passes 5-2 with council members Hernandez, Lopez, Pinalosa, Fan, Sarmiento, and Mendoza and Becerra dissenting.

Excellent. Thank you. So let's, so I think council member Mendoza, were those your comments for 26 as well?

Yes.

Great. Thank you. Any other questions or comments on item number 26?

Council Member Lopez.

Jessie LopezItem 6

Thank you, Marissa Demento. Well, first, I just want to thank our staff for all of the work in RSG, for all of the work. When I met with you, you gave me a very,

Jessie LopezItem 6

you presented a really well-done presentation that was comprehensive, and I saw that also be given to the public, and I appreciate that, and I know that there has been a lot of work done to enact our zone that just cost evictions language. So big picture for me, I'm very supportive of adopting the plan and giving staff authorization to implement the recommendations. However, I do have some feedback that I heard from advocates today. In terms of the data collecting the specific data, I'm very supportive of that.

Jessie LopezItem 6

And also on the rent board, I'm supportive of the suggestion of seven members. I think that's fine. I do, I would like to see some sort of separation between the tenants, which encompasses right now mobile homeowners or mobile home park tenants. I think it should be a separate category because the issues that folks at mobile home parks deal with are different than some of the folks in apartment complexes. specifically around parking. We heard some of that today. We've also heard some of these units being advertised with more parking than what is actually available and then people being stuck

Jessie LopezItem 6

in their units. And I'm supportive of having four tenants on the board. On fees, I don't want the fees to be astronomical for either side that is involved, not the tenant or the landlord. However, However, I have been honest with advocates that I don't want this program operating in the red, that it must pay for itself as it was originally discussed. I want to see an active participation with code and legal to help mitigate any harassment and habitality issues.

Jessie LopezItem 6

Sorry. And lastly, that's going to be on my end for now. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilmember Fan.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you to staff, all of you, RSG. I know that in our city attorney's office, there have been many late nights and advocates and anyone who's, you know, provided comments. So I'll just try to go in order of whatever notes I took. The first thing is regarding mediation. I would like to see mediation kept in as a part of the program. The way I understand it is that mediation is never mandatory, but is voluntary. And I think it would be good for the city to have an option for mediation, similar to what Council Member Hernandez mentioned.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

Not every landlord-tenant issue that would go in front of the rent board is going to be a rent increase. some of it might be issues just you know whether they did proper improvement whether there was an adequate notice whatever the case might be I think there should be that option but ultimately if people don't want to go to mediation they don't have to it's just an avenue that is a little bit easier a little bit less unwieldy and a little you know time-saving frankly for both staff and the individuals involved. So I would like to see that option. The other issue I wanted to mention

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

was regarding the fees. So I do understand the RSG memo mentioned a fee of 195, but that's really a very general estimate. There's just, it's an expectation based on a general overview of the cities that are closest in size and rental units to ours. It's something that could change drastically based on whatever the fee study would result in or whatever we find. We don't even know exactly how many rental units we have in the city right now. We have a lot of single-family homes that are rented that would be exempt from many of these provisions, but it is part of the ordinances.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

So I would be supportive of what staff said in the presentation, which is providing a variety of options for the city council, but doing our best to focus on getting us the lowest fees possible to make it an equitable fee. So the first thing I want to mention is there are three petitions that staff is recommending. We currently have the fair return petition. That's legally required. We have to have it.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

We have this idea for a tenant petition where tenants can actually petition for a rent decrease when amenities are taken away, failure to do updates or whatever the case might be in the tenant petition. And the third is a capital improvement petition in which a landlord who invests a significant sum of dollars in capital improvements, which is defined under, I believe, the IRS code, right? I think, Tara, you mentioned that. So, and that would allow landlords to invest in the properties, but also spread out the cost of those investments that benefit both the tenants, the city, and the landlords.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

It's a good thing when landlords improve property for residents. And so I would like to see options of those fees. What does a fee look like if we only have the cost for the registry? What does the fee look like if we incorporate a tenant petition and the capital improvement petition and, you know, fair return? I think that that's important so that all of us here can look at and determine for us and for residents to, you know, opine on what they think is fair. I think it's important to note that the fair return petitions are extremely detailed.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

I said it's kind of akin to an IRS audit because you do have to provide a lot of financials. And it takes anywhere between three to nine months once the application is actually complete for staff to actually go through the process of reviewing the petition. And the investment in a petition is extremely expensive. Often it's $25,000, $40,000. And so I would like to see in the fee study, the study of saying, okay, well, if we increase or add in the fair return petition costs, what would that look like? Because overall, we're looking at actually very few petitions

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

because the hurdle of just doing the administrative side for the landlord is quite high. In fact, I think the memo states that in West Hollywood, in 10 years, they've only had two fair return petitions. And part of that is because landlords are getting a fair return. So I wanted to mention that about the fee. I want to discuss the issue about the affordable units. Madam City Attorney I know has brought up that AB 1482 does have a specific exemption for income limited units or income based units, affordable units and whatnot, but I believe the state law also states that cities can go beyond right the

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

limitations of AB 1482 which is why for example Santa Ana was able to limit the

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 6

rent increases to 3% or 80% of a city. Correct. So the city of Santa Ana can go beyond, but it cannot do anything that, for example, conflicts with the Costa-Hawkins Act or other laws. Correct.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

So I wanted to first thank you to all of the seniors who came today and brought up the issues at, you know, at 2022 for East 1st Street. I'd like to say, at least from my initial understanding, because it is a recently built development, it falls under Costa-Hawkins protections. We can't do anything about that with state law. You have to be working with state senators, state assembly members to change that. I know it's been on the ballot multiple times as a voter initiative, but Costa-Hawkins is a state law. We cannot have rent stabilization restrictions on any units built after 1995.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

So no matter what we do here today, it will not affect a newly built development, whatever income level it is. However, I know that I am pissed that an affordable developer, an affordable unit would come in and sell to us that we are building affordable housing for residents here in Santa Ana and turn around and do a 10% increase. and that is not only disheartening but just aggravating because to me part of the argument for exempting affordable units from the RSO and the JCO was

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

because we considered them already income limited right their increases are based on whatever AMI is but what we're seeing now as evidenced by all the residents today is that there seems to be no such limit or no such interest to limit and so I would like to see amendments to our ordinance that removes that exemption and makes affordable housing in this city subject to the RSO and JCEO I would also like to remove the exemption for substantial rehabs I know that we have the language that states I believe something like if a landlord has

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

invested over $40,000 in the last 15 years, which is substantial rehabilitation, they'd be exempt from the ordinance. I would like to remove that language because what we're directing staff to do today, or at least I would like to direct staff to do, is to create this capital improvement petition which would allow landlords to recoup the money that they invest in the property that creates capital improvements. And so going forward with that, I want to make sure that I support a capital improvement petition as well as a tenant petition. A capital improvement petition,

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

as I mentioned, is good for the city, good for residents, good for landlords, good for tenants, everyone, because it ensures that we invest in our housing here in the city. And I would like to see that when we're looking at the fee study, I would support that as being part of the fee and that it would be passed on, you know, 50% of it be shared with the resident and the landlord. But I'd also like to make sure that any increases under the capital improvement petition is amortized over whatever period of time so that it's not a permanent increase to the rent. So, for example, I spent $100,000 fixing a roof.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

It might cost five years divided by however many tenants or units I have, but after that five years you don't see that permanent increase. I think that's fair for everyone but I will let you do the research to see how exactly that would be implemented.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

I would like to also see amendments to the ordinance regarding our enforcement. I know currently, well, let me just step back. Many people who spoke about the registry and what it should show today also mentioned, you know, it have the rental date and the size of the unit, the rent, et cetera. Some folks also argued for it to list amenities. I'm not supportive of that issue. I think that that would become extremely unwieldy because we'd have to verify what amenities would be listed and then have to basically inspect all of it to ensure that's the case.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

But I do also want to make sure that we clarify that the registry has posted notices, any legal notices that are required under state law as well as our ordinances. So, for example, a notice is not effective, let's say a pay or quit notice wouldn't be effective unless it is posted on the rent registry. I believe that is already in our JCEO, but if not, I'd like to see that amended. and consistent with that, I would like to see that if a landlord or a unit is not registered with our registry, that the landlord not be allowed to increase their rent.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

So therefore, you must register and then you can increase your rent. That shouldn't be too hard of a process to comply with and it makes sure that we all in we all understand what is expected of us and what's available to the public. I also want to state that, you know, we pass, the state passes laws that say, that give tenants or landlords or workers or businesses or individuals rights all the time. For example, AB 1482

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

to gives the right to a tenant to challenge a landlord's unfair rent increase or improper eviction but it doesn't mandate that the state actually implement the program. Here we created a rent stabilization ordinance and just cause eviction ordinance to give tenants an option to actually go to court and say hey that rent increase is too much or hey you improperly evicted me. Whether or not the city of Santa Ana chooses to move forward with a rent registry or a rent board is up to us. We don't have to.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

And I think in speaking to staff and RSG, many agencies, excuse me, jurisdictions in California that have rent stabilization don't have a rent registry or a rent board because you don't actually need one to empower residents or tenants in that way. Regarding the makeup of the board, I am interested in seeing a board that does specifically allow for, that specifically requires at least one mobile home park resident or owner. I think it is important, I think Council Member Lopez is right that the mobile home residency law is quite different and many people don't understand how mobile home parks really function.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

But I do think that it makes more sense for me, and I haven't personally heard an argument otherwise, that it should be something where it's three-three, whether it's one mobile home park resident plus two tenants and three people in housing. and when I say in housing I mean industry, landlords, developers, you know management, associate, whatever that might be. It doesn't have to be exactly just the landlord. And then one person who might be at large, you know, otherwise. That in my mind makes sense because

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

I understand advocates when we're talking about a rent board being more fair for tenants. I believe I believe that, I know it's true, but I also believe that we need to make sure that our landlords and our businesses feel like they get a fair shake. And while I think that it is commendable for us to want to make sure we, quote, balance the playing field, I think that's a different conversation to say, hey, do we want to do right, engage with PLC or Public Law Center and give people access to counsel for these types of meetings but I would be concerned if it is skewed more one way

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

or the other at least representation on the board I'm not tied to that but that is some of the comments I definitely wanted to make I think I provided a lot of comments and feedback so hopefully you can run with that the last thing I would like to see is this is more for the city attorney's office I would like to see for this to return in four weeks so not the next meeting but in four weeks with a redlined ordinance that this council and residents are able to review, mark up, provide comments on, that would give us the opportunity to really scrutinize the specific language that's available. Thank you.

Thank you for those comments. Councilmember Peñalosa.

David PenalozaItem 6

Thank you, Mayor Sarmiento. And thank you, Tara and Sarah and Judson and RSG for all the work you guys have been doing the last year and the work you put together for this presentation. One of the reasons, main reasons why I was opposed to this ordinance a year ago was because we were putting the cart before the horse. Like Mayor Pro Tem Becerra said earlier, there was no thought whatsoever of how this would work in Santa Ana, what it would look like when I'd sit here and ask my top executives how can the city implement this

David PenalozaItem 6

on day one when this is effective and I get shakings of heads saying they don't know and we don't have the capacity to do it that was a problem for me so I'm happy that you guys did this work because now we're kind of getting a clearer picture of how this is going to be implemented in the city and what it's going to cost. I have a couple issues with the way that it was laid out here because I still don't know what that registration fee will look like. I still don't know what that work plan is. You know, we know that we got to do all of these things but at the same time now

David PenalozaItem 6

we're asking us to approve something that that fee is still unknown. We're still going to have to come back later to see what that fee is going to be. We're still going to have to come back later to see what that final board will be. And one of the things that I was thinking about was just simply with the capital improvement petitions that landlords may have and I know we discussed this in our one-on-one that we had a couple weeks ago so let's

David PenalozaItem 6

say a landlord or apartment building owner wants to do you know major capital improvements to their property that's gonna cost you know 50 up or upwards of $100,000 for whatever that work may be.

David PenalozaItem 6

They would obviously have to pay that for that work upfront. Correct? Can one of you come up to answer those questions? Thank you.

Yes, so they would need to make the capital improvement payments upfront and make the improvement first, because all of that documentation is needed as part of the petition to ensure the work was actually completed. and then that fee is typically amortized over the useful life of that improvement, typically with interest as well.

David PenalozaItem 6

Now we know that people like Lion Communities and Toll Brothers, I could take a wild guess that they could easily afford that to pay for work up front. Now I'm talking about the many, many mom-and-pop landlords here in the city that own these buildings. So they have to basically take a gamble and say, you know what, this work is gonna cost us this much money that we have to pay up front. And then we'll have to petition to see if we could potentially get that money back through recovery with their tenants.

David PenalozaItem 6

Is that kind of what is laid out before us?

Yes, and typically in the revisions to the ordinance, So it'll clearly define kind of what a capital improvement is and what constitutes a capital improvement so that there's clear direction to landlords in that situation so they know that before they make an improvement, my firm administers these programs in various jurisdictions. We often get a lot of calls even prior to improvements are being made at the staff level to be able to answer questions. If we do this, would we be able to be recouped or how to handle it?

David PenalozaItem 6

Okay. And so little things like that that I have concern with because I know that landlords, your small-time landlords in the city, I don't see them having the financial capability to be able to invest into their property and hopefully see if they can potentially get a return or seek reimbursement through that. So I see landlords not doing these capital improvement projects further leading to, you know, debilitating apartment buildings and broken window theory because no one's, you know,

David PenalozaItem 6

they don't have the money to do this work or they don't want to take that gamble. The registration fee, in your staff report, you guys said that the average is approximately $195 per unit. And given all the different best practices and best approach that I guess is being recommended to have here in Santa Ana, a city of our size with how many apartment units?

There's about 36,000. Okay. We would need a... Just units that were... Rental units, not just apartment units.

David PenalozaItem 6

We would need a sizable amount of staff to be able to manage this, correct?

Yeah. Yeah, so based on the hypothetical, prepared, starting off at 12, but potentially could go up to as many as 25, which is similar to Santa Monica's. However, once we implement the program and get a better count of the actual number of units, that could decrease.

David PenalozaItem 6

And in Santa Monica, in the chart that you laid out, it was approximately $5.2 million dollars. with their revenues at 5.3, what's their rental fee for each apartment unit?

Wait us one second to pull up from our report.

That's $198.

David PenalozaItem 6

$198.

David PenalozaItem 6

So, having, you know, I heard, we won't want the amount to go to be anywhere. I heard it a couple times. We don't want it higher than $100 per unit, which puts us at a lot less revenue to be able to sustain this program in Santa Ana than the city of Santa Monica. So we would obviously not be able to implement all the numerous things that are laid out because they all come at a cost, is what I'm taking, right?

Yes, so the work plan will be developed, which gets to kind of all the levels of service and all the things that are included, and then from that, the fee study will be completed to kind of narrow down on what that actual fee will be. There's kind of also economies of scale for larger jurisdictions and smaller jurisdictions as well that will get taken into consideration, but that's all going to be part of the fee study that will come back before the council.

David PenalozaItem 6

Okay, and that's supposed to be come back to us when? January, I heard?

How about on our last slide here?

That will be completed between January and June, like the second half of the year.

David PenalozaItem 6

Because I could assure the public listening, just knowing how much things are, the rate of inflation, the cost of just, you know, compensating employees and how expensive, you know, being able to manage anything is, I'm pretty sure that it's not going to be anywhere, you know, anything less than $100 per rental unit just because of the magnitude of this ordinance and how many things it incorporates and the many things that it's trying to achieve.

David PenalozaItem 6

So I see that fee being a lot more than $100, probably closer to Santa Monica like the staff report laid out, hovering around an average of $195, which is going to be passed on to the landlord and tenant, probably at 50%. So to the tenants listening, you're probably going to have to pay an extra $100 throughout the year for this to move forward. And today we had a handful of residents, and I'm very thankful that they came in here to speak, senior citizens, that yes, this ordinance as it is right now doesn't include that development where they live.

David PenalozaItem 6

But, you know, they're seeing their rent go up $120, $130, and that's monthly, so it's not the same. But they're on fixed incomes. They're struggling. I know that many residents out there that are going to see this fee passed on to them, whether it's $100 a year or $150, I mean, that's going to be problematic for them because I know for a fact that many are also on very fixed incomes and cannot afford it. So thank you. Thank you for the work you've been doing. That's all the questions I had. But thank you so much.

David PenalozaItem 6

You guys really, this was a massive feat and you guys did it, so thank you.

Great, thank you for those comments. I think everybody's had an opportunity to speak.

We'll probably need a motion at some point with some direction. Or I guess where I'm sort of unclear is do we want to vote on both one and two, which is the implementation plan and then authorizing the city manager and the city attorney to go ahead and draft pursuant to the comments or do you need something with like specific amendments that are that have majority support let me see if i can summarize and then if we're

all on the on the same page yes because you're the only one that hasn't spoken and that way maybe

that'll make things even more clear clear as mud so so listen let me let me begin by just saying thank you to those who came here and spoke and to staff and our our consulting firm who helped out and obviously you know Judson and Sarah and their team we know it's not it wasn't simple and nobody ever you know nobody ever ventures to think that these things are simple because they're trying to solve you know I think it was we had something referenced you know parking is a complex

issue. Very complex, very important, but that's not housing, that's not, you know, a place to live, shelter. So I think the example is just a little bit, you know, distorted. When we talk about somebody's, you know, you know, either living one place, having to be displaced, that is a very drastic, drastic difference. And we have to remember that when this was adopted, I think there was a resolution that was attached to it that this would come back.

So it was obviously bifurcated because having to deal with these questions of a rent board, a registry, and just ways to implement both ordinances was important. and we wanted to, you know, kind of stand back. And I really do appreciate RSG stepping in because I think you saw you handled over 2,500 tenant questions and tenant matters while you've been here since, you know, since, was it July or was it November? Okay, so November. In any event, look, you've had a lot to do, and some cities use you as, you know,

their full consulting services to implement this. So, you know, we're looking at this purely as in-house staffing on the administration of a rent control board and registry. So, I think that, you know, we may want to look at something like a hybrid where we can outsource some of this work. You do this for other communities. You might be able to do this for us and work with some of our in-house staff and have your services maybe provide some supplement to them and maybe that's a way to keep the costs low. So I you know and even if we look at you know

the fee you can only pass through 50 percent of that fee to the tenants. So even at the I guess what was quoted by by you as a as an average of 195 dollars that is only you can only pass 92 dollars of that to the to the tenant that's seven dollars and change a month so it's interesting I hear comments about you know hey how compelling the seniors were how important it is to keep their you know rents low and and keep them safe well that's the whole purpose that this rent stabilization ordinance and just cause eviction was adopted last year it's exactly those were exactly

the reasons why. But yet we're looking, we're saying, you know, a $7 a month and change, a $7 and change increase is brutal for seniors. Yet having somebody increase rent at market is okay. So no protection should be in place. So I just want to bring us back to this one comment or one article I read. It was dated August 28, 2022, and it was in the LA Times. saying more California cities enact rent control to protect tenants. Cities like Oxnard, Antioch, Bell Gardens, and Pasadena has it on its ballot for this November.

There's a reason why our city has been quoted, our city has been followed, and is being looked at as leading this effort as we see other cities in this county and throughout the state increasing rents to where people have to be displaced. So there are plenty of examples of, you know, what we saw today with seniors, you know, just drastically being hurt. And that's what would have happened here had we not acted. So I feel very good about the decision that we made last fall. And I know that many families are living in their units because of the decision that we made. So now it's a matter of implementation.

You know, I would agree with a lot of what was said earlier. For those who are supportive, I think that, you know, I'm not a huge fan of mediation because I think it sort of maybe takes the place of the discretion the board should have. But I do think that if there is a place for mediation, it should be solely at the discretion of the tenant. In other words, if the tenant requests that as maybe some remedy to what they maybe didn't seek or weren't able to seek before the rent control board, I can see that. As I said, I already spoke to the fee.

I think that if we can blend in-house staff with an outside firm, I think that would reduce our cost as well.

The composition of the board, I think, you know, for me, I really do like the fact that there should be at least one resident or one tenant that is a mobile home resident because they are very unique living situations from a multifamily. So I think that's something I would be supportive of. I do see that the balance of that to me is important. I think that this is an opportunity for tenants who have a much less strong voice when it comes to these issues.

they should have the ability to be able to you know voice their concerns be part of this and and I do favor a seven member board I do feel that there should be no more than two landlords but I think landlords should be also part of the discussion or whether it's property owners landlords or I think what was said anybody in the development industry I think you know we don't want to have

voices that will sort of undermine tenants who are probably don't have as much, as many resources as maybe landlords, property owners, management companies would have. There is an imbalance of authority and power there and resources. So I would certainly not want to see more than two landlords or people who represent property management companies on that board. I do think I think information for people is important for tenants to have, tenants and renters. To have information for the registry to include information such as the address,

the number of bedrooms, the amount of rent, and the date of the last increase, I think is important to look at as well. I hadn't really thought about going beyond the scope of what was recommended here by staff on the 10 points, but when we talk about capital improvements to a unit, one of the things I did think was, yeah, it's important. We want to encourage and incentivize good actors, people who are going to make improvements to a unit. The only thing is I don't want that burden of proof to be borne by the tenant because that is very unfair

to the extent that the landlord has probably much better access to invoices, cost, that certainly makes more sense to me that that burden of proof should be with the landlord. So I do see that I have a lot of support for most of the items that staff recommended on this 10-point plan. I do think that I'd like to keep the timeline that we have. I'm very supportive of that. so to the extent we can stay consistent with the plan that was outlined by staff,

I think that would be something that I would support. But look, I think, you know, I just want to speak real, I'm just going to take a real quick aside. What's going on at 22-22, because it does sort of fall within the scope of the discussion, I called Jamboree the day after I went to go meet with the tenants there, and I was really disappointed because technically they're right. They can increase up to 10%, but that doesn't make it morally right. So I told them why don't you increment to 5% maybe and 5% later,

and I really do want staff to take note that when Jamboree comes back to us for a TEFRA hearing or if they come back to us for any sort of credits or support, look, before we would do it almost without batting an eye because we thought that they were good community partners. And this is just not an example. This isn't a really good look for them. And I hope this is an anomaly, an isolated case, but I want them scrutinized when they come before us because it's fair. What they did in misrepresenting what happened to these residents here at this complex

is extremely disappointing because they've been a partner with us on so many things, and we have supported them in so many other efforts. And, you know, they flat out said no, they couldn't do this. They couldn't increment this increase just to soften the blow to these residents. And that was just disappointing because I know many members of the board there at Chamboree, and, you know, they've always done, you know, good work. And so I'm hoping, you know, this is an anomaly. But in any event, I don't want to go too far beyond the scope of what we're talking about. But those are my comments.

And so I'll let you go ahead and summarize now, Madam City Manager, to see if you have a good sense of where we're at.

Thank you, Mayor. So a lot of fantastic feedback on it. The takeaway for me was the mediation, some form of it should stay. A lot of you talked about it voluntarily or only being tenant requested. Definitely great coordination between code enforcement and the city attorney's office to work together on doing any enforcement of the items. A lot of conversation and repeated by several of you is the concerns for the fees and staff doing everything possible to keep it down. As mentioned in the presentation, they did talk about either a combination of staff and consultants, so that's certainly something we would look at.

And then Council Member Fan, I think her idea would also assist in this area is if we do a fee study and we do price things out so that you can make decisions on certain elements, based upon that fee. I didn't see any objections to the majority, to the 50% going to the resident, and I didn't hear a majority on changing the makeup of the board from what was recommended, although a couple of you did talk about making the representation of the tenants greater than those in the housing market, but I didn't hear a majority on that.

And to include somebody from a mobile home park.

The mobile home I did hear consistently on. So that's a little bit of a summary. I believe we can work with all of that. And then when you see the language in front of you, if there's further tweaking, we certainly could do it at that time. And it's your option, Mayor, if you want to take both items with one vote or separate the items.

I'm ready to go ahead and just listen to whatever the council member's motion is going to be.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

Well, actually, I wanted clarification because I did bring up. I know that is direction for staff to adopt the long-term implementation plan. I'm happy to move for that. And then authorize the drafting of amendments. And I wanted to kind of bring back and maybe straw poll the three kind of amendments that I mentioned, which included removal of the exemption when a unit states or a landlord states that they've done, quote, substantial rehabilitation over the last 15 years worth $40,000. it's kind of impossible to challenge.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

Or if a landlord does plumbing or goes in and fixes a plumbing issue or a maintenance issue over 15 years, it's probably going to be $40,000.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

So I would like to see that removed from the exemption so that that's not, so a landlord who just happens to do maintenance over 15 years isn't suddenly exempt from this. This is something I've heard from residents that has been a loophole that some landlords are trying to use. They're saying, hey, I've spent $40,000 on renovations or maintenance. Therefore, I'm not subject to the RSO or JCEO. And when the tenant goes, well, prove it. They say, I don't have to. Take me to court. That's a horrible exemption in my mind, and I think we should remove that. I think we should no longer exempt affordable units.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

If affordable developers have problems with that, I think they should come and explain to us why they should be exempt. And I want to make sure that we include in penalties or enforcement that if someone does not register their unit, that they cannot do a rent increase. So those are the three kind of amendments that I hadn't heard about, and I just wanted to put it back out there.

Council Member Hernandez.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

Yes, I just want to offer my support to Councilmember Fan's amendments as well.

Thank you. Any other Councilmembers?

Jessie LopezItem 6

I'm fine with the amendments.

Okay, so the only thing I would say on the substantial rehabilitation, I mean, that's what I was talking about when I said the burden of proof shifting, right? Because I think to Councilmember Fan's point, yeah, it's impossible for a tenant to be able to have that burden of proof, right? Because they don't have access to the costs. And I guess ideally what you're thinking about is if a unit is completely rehabbed, right, you know that it's not just simply paint and carpet, which doesn't rise to the level of a substantial rehabilitation. But if there is money spent in excess of $40,000, that to me meets that definition.

Either through a petition or shifting the burden, And the idea is that the landlords will have that responsibility to be able to prove that up. So I'm good either way.

Maybe I can get a clarification from Tara. I know what you've seen before, the burden is on the landlord, correct, to substantiate the capital improvements?

Yes. And so I think from what I'm hearing here is if we could remove the exemption, but then allowing for the capital improvement process so the landlord would be still getting the benefit of recouping the funds but they wouldn't necessarily be exempt as one method and option to go which I think is preferred versus right now the burden of proof is kind of up to the landlord but they don't really have to show it so we would either need to tighten that up as well and then really clearly define like what that means over a 15 year it's almost like making the landlord the

moving party I guess right the way is the way I see it like they would have to initiate this and sort of prove it up and say here's my proof that the rehabilitation exceeded $40,000.

Yes, that should be added.

Ideally though, in implementing it, it would be easier to implement if the exemption was removed and the proof was part of a capital improvement petition to recoup those funds and then they all wouldn't exempt the units from just the normal 3% or 80% of the CPA account.

So we're kind of saying the same thing. Again, it's going to fall on the responsibility of the landlord to petition or to move that request.

Yes. The petitions that we sometimes go through are relatively thick, but we're looking at every capital improvement, the backup for that to ensure that it occurred and that it meets definition pursuant to the ordinance.

Got it.

Does that work, Council Member Fentz?

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

Yes. And just for clarification, this is in Section 8-1998.4 Exemptions of Division D. It states this ordinance shall not apply to residential real property in which each of the units have been substantially rehabilitated within the previous 15 years. Substantially rehabilitated shall mean the cost to rehabilitate the residential real property was at least $40,000 per unit. So if you spread $40,000 over 15 years, you're suddenly exempt. But I think with a capital improvement, we're saying for every instance that is $40,000, then you get capital improvement.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

I think that is a fair process, and we can look at, you know, at which point we want the capital improvement petition to be allowed in response to Council Member Peña-Losa's concerns of, you know, small landlords. But so I think in speaking to staff, removing that exemption but creating a more equitable capital improvement petition would be helpful. Thank you.

Great.

Jessie LopezItem 6

And just for clarification to the RSG team, before a landlord submits a CIP, they would have guidance, right, from the team on what would be acceptable and what wouldn't be acceptable.

Yes, and staff would be available to walk them through the petition process and all that before even they did a capital improvement.

Jessie LopezItem 6

So it's not like somebody's just going to submit something and then spend the money and then not get reimbursed.

Yeah, on capital improvements, that's pretty uncommon, just because the definition of capital improvements is relatively defined in many places in the law, so we're able to provide good consultation prior to the submitting.

Jessie LopezItem 6

Thank you for that clarification.

Great. Thank you for that.

So we've discussed this. I think you summarized it well with some of the additions.

Right, and we now have clarification and a majority expressed interest in Councilmember Fan and others' ideas. So I think it would probably be easiest if Councilmember Fan makes the motion and just states the changes that have been supported by a majority.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

Can I just move to approve? Okay, hang on one second.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

What did I do with it?

You could say move to approve as summarized by the City Manager.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

Yeah, there you go. Well, first I'd move to adopt the long-term implementation plan for the rent stabilization and just cause eviction ordinances, and also to authorize city manager and city attorney to begin drafting amendments to the RSO JCEO based on the long-term implementation plan with the addition of the summary that you provided so eloquently.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

I will second your motion, Council Member Fenn.

Great. We have a motion and a second. Seeing no other questions or comments, council members please vote. Thank you.

dissenting. Great thank you. Moving along to item number 27 which begins a series of public hearings that we have to address tonight. Let me go ahead and open the public hearing for the consolidated annual performance and evaluation report for fiscal year 2021 and ask the city manager if there's a presentation

from staff. Mayor and council members we do not have a presentation this item is simply authorizing the submission of our required consolidated annual performance and evaluation report to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Great. Thank you. And, Madam Clerk, do we have any members of the public that wish to address us on this item?

No, we do not.

Great. I'll go ahead and close the public hearing, bring it back to the City Council, see if they have any questions or comments or if they wish to move the item.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

Motion to approve, Mayor Samantha.

Thank you. Is there a second?

Second.

Okay, we have a motion by Hernandez, a second by Mendoza. Council members please vote.

The motion passes by unanimous consent.

Great, thank you everybody. Moving along to item number 28 which is a joint public hearing. this will be to adopt a resolution to approve the purchase and sale for acquisition of real property at 915 North Flower Street 921 North Flower Street 842 North Garnsey for Park Space. And this is a joint, is this a joint public hearing with successor agency or?

Correct.

Got it. and we don't need to do we need to

convene or can we just go straight into this

Madam City Clerk do you have them convening separately as a successor agency or yes you do have it set up that way so you would take it as the city council and then you'd convene as successor and take it

let me go ahead and open the public hearing and ask if the staff has a presentation for us to consider

so mayor and council members we do not have a formal presentation it's a very exciting item this item is consistent with our parks master plan and it completes assembling three additional parcels to add to the other three that you considered earlier in the year to create park space on flower street in an area that does need is park port area and the item tonight is specifically acquiring three parcels to assemble, and that would complete all of them. And we're purchasing them from our successor agency as under state law. We do have to compensate the successor agency for them, and we're in full compliance with the SLA.

Excellent. Thank you for that. Let me ask the clerk if there are any members of the public that wish to address this on this item.

No, we do not.

Great. I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing and bring it back to the City Council for consideration.

Any questions or comments on this item? or a motion?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

I'll make a motion to approve, Mayor Sarmiento.

I'll put a second.

We have a motion by Hernandez, second by Lopez. Seeing no other questions or comments, by the way, this is a great item, so thank you. Thank you all for bringing this back. Exciting. Please vote.

Motion passes by unanimous concern.

Excellent. Thank you. This moves us along to the Special Successor Agency agenda. So we will be recessing from the City Council and convening the Special Successor Agency. I'm going to go ahead and call the meeting to order and ask the Clerk to call roll.

Council Member Hernandez?

Present.

Council Member Lopez? Here. Council Member Mendoza? Present. Council Member Phan? Here. Council Member Peñalosa? Present. Mayor Potembecerra?

Phil BacerraItem 6

Here.

Mayor Sarmiento?

Here.

Can I have a motion to go ahead and do we have to do the consent calendar item so let me see if there's a motion to approve the consent calendar.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

I'll make a motion to approve the consent calendar. Mayor Zarmiento. I'll second.

We have a motion by Hernandez and a second by Peña Loza. Seeing no other questions or comments, council members please vote on the consent calendar items.

Motion passes by unanimous consent.

Thank you. Moving along to item number three, which is a joint public hearing for the same properties that we just considered as a council. Council, we're now I guess considering it again as a joint body for the three properties that were identified. So I'll go ahead and open the public hearing and ask the staff if there is a presentation, but I think we've already heard sort of a summary of that. So I'll ask the clerk if there are any members of the public that wish to address this on the side.

We do not have any members.

Great. I'll go ahead and close the public hearing and bring it back to the Council for any questions or comments or a motion.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

I'll make a motion to approve Mayor Sedemiento.

I'll second it.

Motion by Hernandez, a second by Lopez. Council members, please vote.

Motion passes by unanimous consent.

Great, thank you. Let me go ahead and adjourn the special successor agency meeting and convene the housing authority meeting. and ask the clerk to call roll, please.

Authority Member Hernandez?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

Present.

Authority Member Lopez? Here. Authority Member Mendoza?

Present.

Authority Member Peñalosa?

Present.

Authority Member Fan? Here. Vice Chair Becerra? Here. Chair Sarmiento?

Here. Let me go ahead and go to the consent calendar items and ask any members of the authority if they wish to move the item, the consent calendar items, one through five.

I'll move. Second.

Motion by Mendoza, a second by, I'm sorry, a motion by Lopez, a second by Mendoza. Council members, please vote.

This is on the consent calendar items.

Motion passes by unanimous consent.

Great. Thank you. Let me go ahead and adjourn the Housing Authority meeting and reconvene the City Council meeting. And that brings us to item number 29, which is the work study session on campaign finance reform.

Honorable Mayor and Council Members, this item is for us to get additional direction. As you recall, you did have a discussion item that was requested by Council Member Lopez and without any opposition or objection to it, the opportunity to explore campaign finance reform. However, this is the first time that we've really come back to get specific direction from you. We have a fairly brief presentation that Daniel Soto from City Manager's Office along with assistance from our City Attorney's Office that can walk you through that will really highlight the areas

that are under our purview that we can reform and things that we can't reform. and hopefully you'll be able to provide us some direction and then we can return to the council with an ordinance.

All right, Daniel. No pressure, ma'am.

Thank you, Christine.

She said brief.

Good evening, Mayor members of the City Council. I have a brief presentation for you tonight. We have prepared an informational presentation relating to campaign finance. And because this is a work study session item, tonight's goal is to provide a plain language overview of campaign finance and also to seek your direction on next steps for staff.

let's quick overview we'll um we'll provide a background of campaign finance an overview of existing rules what cities can and cannot do relating to strengthening campaign finance rules additional considerations and an opportunity for staff direction from the city council Quick background, what is campaign finance? Generally campaign finance encompasses three broad categories. The first is expenditure limits, how much money candidates or committees may spend. And just note that these rules are almost always unconstitutional, so for the remainder of this discussion we will not proceed examining expenditure limits and those rules.

The second is contribution limits, how much money candidates may receive from individuals and organizations, how much money individuals, organizations, and political parties may contribute to campaigns, and third, disclosure requirements. How much and how often contributions must be reported?

Campaign finance regulations are found at the federal, state, and local level. Notably, prior to the passage of the Political Reform Act by California voters in 1974, there wasn't much guidance for California cities. Today, California has a rigorous set of laws and regulations on this matter, particularly when compared to other states, and the City of Santa Ana also has its own set of local rules which we'll discuss in this section.

In the U.S., political campaign contributions and expenditures are considered speech and therefore are protected by the First Amendment. Any government restrictions on contributions and expenditures are therefore subject to a rigorous standard of review. Such regulations can only be upheld if the government demonstrates a sufficiently important governmental interest and employs means closely drawn to avoid unnecessary infringement on free speech.

Like I mentioned earlier, California has detailed regulations relating to campaign finance, much of which is captured in the Political Reform Act and the Fair Political Practices Commission, or FPPC for short, regulations. contributions. Regarding campaign contributions, California law imposes limits on contributions to candidates running for state office, and as of January 2021, those limits apply to city and county candidates when that city or county doesn't have its own contribution limits. Santa Ana does have our own, so our stricter limit will apply, and I'll get into that in just a second.

Additionally, California law sets stringent disclosure requirements for state and local elections these disclosures are captured on one or more of a series of forms prepared by the FPPC filed or completed by a candidate or committee and then filed with the local elections official in Santa Ana that's your city clerk and just as an example here are some of the required disclosures for candidates for City Council these are forms like forms 501 candidate intention statement form Form 410, Statement of Organization, 460, Recipient Committee Campaign Statement, and 497, 24-hour, 10-day contribution report.

And just to peek into one of these forms, for example, Form 460 is filed to report expenditures and contributions. This form asks for the following information, a committee name or a candidate's name, address and phone number, treasurer name, address and phone number, contributions received, expenditures made, an itemized list or schedule of monetary contributions received, which includes the date the contribution was received, the full name, street address, and zip code of the contributor, the contributor's occupation and employer, the amount of the contribution

received, cumulative contribution amounts received to date for that calendar year and for the election cycle.

For local elections, for the current November 2022 election, the FPPC offers five additional schedules, filing schedules for different expenditure and contributions from different committees and for different purposes and different activities. And that's what you'll see on your screen here. All of these are available on the FPPC website and this presentation will be uploaded to the city website for folks to take a look at later.

I mentioned that Santa Ana has its own set of campaign finance rules. Those are found in our city charter and that encompasses campaign contribution limits, information about campaign committees and enforcement, and the municipal code addresses temporal campaign contribution limits. And specifically, our campaign contributions that are found in our charter reference a $1,000 maximum campaign contribution. That $1,000 is for an election cycle, which is from the election date to the following election date. That's a two-year period for mayoral candidates and four years for a council member.

Candidates can only have one controlled committee. And then regarding temporal limits, a mayor or council member cannot accept $250 or more from any person for a period of three months following the date of a final decision regarding a license, permit, or other entitlement if the person had a financial interest in that proceeding.

So, what can cities do to strengthen campaign finance? and the areas that we'll discuss are campaign contributions and disclosures and so some of the examples are cities can establish a per election per election dollar limit on direct contributions to candidates and their controlled committees such a limit may apply to contributions from natural persons corporations unions and political action committees city of Santa Ana does this and I mentioned we have a $1,000 contribution limit the The city can also establish a voluntary contribution cap and offer non-monetary incentives to candidates who agree to a voluntary cap.

A city can also prohibit contributions from contractors or other applicants with pending matters before the city council. That would require supporting evidence of actual or perceived past corruption. Same with prohibiting contributions from registered lobbyists. The city could explore that as well, but would also require evidence to do that.

And some additional consideration about campaign contribution limits. So campaign generally, campaign contribution limits cannot be too low for the candidates to mount an effective campaign. Limits should have a cost of living adjustment. Sometimes those are tied to CPI, for example. Contribution limits should be supported by a factual record demonstrating the need to prevent corruption or the appearance of corruption and the cost of local campaigns different contribution limits and aggregate contribution limits are highly suspect limits must have a justification for and narrowly tailored

special limits for corporations contractors lobbyists and the like and cities cannot limit contributions to independent expenditure committees or ballot measure committees

Now on the campaign disclosure side, cities can establish more stringent local campaign disclosure rules, so long as those rules don't conflict with state law or FPPC rules. Cities can also publish FPPC filings in places like the local newspaper or on the city's website. We currently post all of our disclosure forms on the city website.

And some considerations. Any new disclosure requirements must be substantially related to a sufficiently important governmental interest. They may need to be updated based on changes to the Political Reform Act from time to time, and local requirements can be stricter than state law if justified and not unduly burdensome.

Now, there are some things that cities can't do to strengthen campaign finance, and some Some of those things that we can't do are established mandatory contribution caps. We cannot offer monetary incentives for agreeing to a total contribution cap. We cannot establish a total contribution cap that limits how much one may give to all candidates for office during a particular election.

Other things we cannot do. We cannot limit contributions to or expenditures by independent expenditure committees. We cannot limit contributions or expenditures by ballot measure committees. and we cannot limit contributions or expenditures of a candidate's personal funds.

Again, tonight we are looking for specific direction from the City Council on any changes that you'd like to see relating to the City's campaign finance rules, those of which would cover campaign contribution limits and disclosure requirements. Thank you.

Arne, that was good. You went through that really fast and thorough. I'm impressed. Thank you, Daniel. Let me go ahead and bring it back to the council, see if there's any questions or comments on this item. And it's simply a work study just to get some feedback to the staff on this. So, Council Member Lopez, this is something that you brought up. Let me go ahead and call on you.

Jessie LopezItem 6

Thank you, Mayor Salmiento. Daniel, thank you for your presentation. I thought it was a good breakdown for people to understand campaign finance, and I hope that they take the initiative to learn more about it. So I read the Anaheim language that was recently proposed, and I like a lot of that. And so I actually would like for staff to bring that language to the council so that we can read it and discuss it publicly and let staff know what we support and what we don't support.

Jessie LopezItem 6

And specifically for me, I really like the language about limiting campaign contributions. We have a local limit, which is $1,000 now. I am interested in seeing if the council has any interest in lowering that. It could be, you know, $100 or it could be the median contribution taken from the past couple of campaign seasons, if that's more of a scientific way for folks to land on a number. But I think 100 can be a strong figure to start off with. I also like the definitions at the Anaheim that the new language included and I think that's important for our ordinance to have.

Jessie LopezItem 6

I enjoyed the language that they had about time restrictions and aggregation of contributions. I think that's important.

Jessie LopezItem 6

I also would like to see language come back that prohibits the contribution of anyone that receives a grant or is doing business with the city of Santa Ana. We have, I think it's three months now, but I would go ahead, Daniel. Okay. But I would like to see that be expanded to 24 months, which would be two years. And I think it's important for us to think about not just the business that has happened, but to have some sort of provision or language in this ordinance that comes to the council

Jessie LopezItem 6

that thinks about future business partners with the city. because I think that that can be a loophole for people to take advantage of as well. I am, you know, city attorney, this is going to be directed to you. I am interested in limiting PACs in the city. Right now, there are two entities that have about half a million dollars each. Possibly this city, during this local election cycle, is going to see $1 million of outside money be spent in their neighborhoods. and I think that Santa Ana residents don't want their local elections to be about outside money and outside interest.

Jessie LopezItem 6

It should be about the people that actually live in the city of Santa Ana. And I wanna see what is legally available for this council to discuss in terms of the role of PACs in the city of Santa Ana in our local elections.

Jessie LopezItem 6

Another direction that I have for staff is, again, you know, to bring the Anaheim language to the city council, I think that, you know, personally, a system that is dominated by dark money and special interests produces an unrepresentative selection of people who are well-connected, and that leads to government politics that fail everyday people, and we see that time and time again. And we can all look at Anaheim to see how aggressive special interest groups are and how they do corrupt elected

Jessie LopezItem 6

officials and how they can also have influence on staff. And I do hope that my ask today of bringing the Anaheim language to this council is supported by members of this council because I think we all champion transparency. Thank you.

Thank you for those comments. Any other comments from members of the council on this item in this work study?

Phil BacerraItem 6

Thank you. And I applaud what I've heard from Councilmember Lopez. She's absolutely right. There's going to be a lot of money spent in this election from outside interests. We saw it in 2018, we see it in 2020, and we'll probably see it again in 2022. And it comes from all around. While there's probably assertions from certain folks up here that it's going to come from just one side, it will come from other sides. It will come from all around. And I would ask staff and our city attorney, whatever you can bring back to us that we can legally enact. I think really, Daniel, thank you for your presentation

Phil BacerraItem 6

because I think you highlighted the fact that while we may not be able to limit expenditures, at the very least, you know, the best disinfectant is sunshine. And I think to just shine the light on some of the folks, especially when some of them engage in such dastardly attacks, which they will do, which we've seen done. And I think that the light should be shining on those folks, because many of those folks will then attempt to come to our public counter and do business in the city. So I would like to see stronger legislation when it comes to disclosures. And we've seen historically, we can look back at recent history,

Phil BacerraItem 6

where folks have gotten around even state disclosures. and God bless the fact that we are a charter city, we can go ahead and enact more stringent measures. So I'd like to see whatever you guys can bring back. I mean, I don't really care what Anaheim has done or not done. For us in Santa Ana, let's look at what we can to shine the light on these folks that are going to operate those types of campaigns here in Santa Ana. Thank you.

Any other questions or comments?

Comments?

Council Member Mendoza.

I totally agree, yes. We're up here to be transparent and looking at something like this is going to make it even better. I don't think the City of Santa Ana will ever get anywhere close to Anaheim, but it will help to have a more equal playing ground. And so I'm in favor of taking a look at the, and exploring something like this more strict.

Thank you, Council Member Mendoza. Councilmember Pagnellosa.

David PenalozaItem 6

Sure. Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, I just want to thank you, Daniel, for bringing this forward. Well, not bringing this forward, but putting this together, this presentation, very detailed. I know that back, if you recall, back in the summer of 2020, when I was trying so hard to bring these charter amendments to a city, we had, I was trying to add additional campaign finance reporting schedule to our city charter. I forget why we couldn't at the time, but I know there were multiple colleagues against the idea saying that, oh, you know, it's going to add additional stress on candidates needing

David PenalozaItem 6

to report, which to me was nonsense, because if you're running for office in a city like Santa Ana of our size and you can't manage a simple schedule of reporting and disclosing who's donating to your campaigns, that's problematic. But definitely supportive of seeing something like this. I don't really also care what the city of Anaheim is doing. We're not Anaheim. We're not to the level of Anaheim, and thank God we're not, because that's awful what's going on over there, but definitely don't really care. I haven't seen their language or what they had proposed.

David PenalozaItem 6

And I also am not supportive of reducing the contribution limit from the $1,000, because I believe we're one of the lowest in the county already. the max contribution limit of $1,000 compared to other cities. And just given how costly everything is now, and I think it's going to make it even more difficult for any candidate in the future to buy signs because, you know, they can't raise money or they're only limited to $100 from individuals. So I think $1,000 is fine. I'm happy that it's $1,000.

David PenalozaItem 6

I wouldn't want to increase it, but definitely not supportive of seeing a decrease to that limit. And I think that's it for now, but definitely supportive of seeing what we could do to shed light on oftentimes the dark money that comes into the city. As we saw in 2018 with Mayor Brotem Becerra, I mean, what they, we're still not clear who, you know, where that money came from, but it was a lot and it was used to just smear his name. So, yeah, thank you. That's it.

Thank you for those comments. Any other questions or comments? Council Member Fan.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

Thank you. I haven't seen the Anaheim language, but I'm happy to look at it. And provide, you know, input. Obviously, there's no reinventing the wheel when it comes to the law, literally. We're told not to do that very often. So I think it's helpful if we have something that could work. We can always work off it. It doesn't have to be adopted as is. But I think it will help with structure or whatever else we want to do rather than writing it out of whole cloth. I do not support decreasing the campaign contribution limit.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

Even with the $1,000, it was so difficult to run in a districted election. I can tell you I raised probably about $40,000 for the general election, and I had at least $47,000 spent against me as a candidate in a district or in a ward. and when you're looking at PACs who can literally spend as much money as they want under our First Amendment according to the Supreme Court, I think what you end up doing is you hamstring people who are trying to fundraise because there's a limited number of donors or whatever the case might be.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

Literature is expensive. If you're trying to buy literature being made and printed by union printers, right, that are paying fair wages, it's more expensive than if you're just going down the street to whomever. There are all these different things, and we want to pay volunteers. We want to be able to help, you know, pay people who work with us. And so I'm actually supportive of increasing it to $2,200, which is what the county has as their limit, and just make it standard across the board. I don't feel strongly about that, but I think that would make it easy.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

I am fine, you know, with disclosure requirements and things like that. I know that we have the lobbyist registration coming back, so I'd like to see that too. Otherwise, I don't really see why, I guess I'd have to see exactly what we're kind of proposing or maybe some structure because you can kind of look at campaign finance reform in a really broad way, whether it's just disclosure, which I'm fine with. I agree with Councilor Peñalosa that if you're telling me you can't fill out a form, you

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

might not want to be running for city council. And as to, you know, who can donate, I just don't really know how you could pick and choose. I think with your presentation, right, who's able to donate or who's not able to donate. I think it would be really difficult for staff to try to implement a system that says, oh, well, this developer can't donate because we did a whole investigation to prove that they had some quote past corruption or perceived past corruption. If you use perceived past corruption, then it might be a First Amendment violation because it's perceived and not actual. So I don't know.

Thai Viet PhanItem 6

I think that's just quite difficult. But again, I'll take a look at the Anaheim one and maybe whatever staff brings back would be easier for me to kind of comment on. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilmember Hernandez.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

Yes, my apologies. I stepped away to use the restroom. I'm supportive of what is being brought to us, Daniel, and first and foremost, fantastic job. I would like to see the Anaheim language be brought back, supportive of that. There are some bits and pieces that I am not on board with, but I think to have a discussion publicly with the council, I think, would be the direction that I'd like to provide, if we can see the Anaheim language brought to us. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. So this is just to receive some information. I think, you know, just at a high level, what I would say is, you know, I certainly think that it's timely. We see what's going on, and it's very unfortunate what's happening in Anaheim.

You know, it's just, you know, Santa Ana and Anaheim are the two largest cities in the county. We have very similar structures, although some of the influences that they have are based differently than ours. but we have our own share of interests that try to influence campaigns here. And I don't think anybody has been exempt from a hit piece, from bad actors. So I don't think any of us can walk away and say we are unscathed by any of this. There are degrees, obviously, of how difficult it's been on some.

But I guess the whole premise of campaign finance reform for me is really important for us to look at. And we've always dealt with things with sort of samples, right? And we've seen sample ordinances, we've seen sample language, sample resolutions. And I do think that looking at Anaheim, specifically because they had a problem, they tried to remedy that problem. And unfortunately, those very same folks who benefited from a lot of the undue influences undermined that effort to cure that problem. So I would like to see their ordinance and hopefully the city attorney, I'm not sure, maybe, Sonia, you can take a look at it,

see what you think is relevant based upon this conversation. And we're not going to adopt it verbatim, but we can certainly redline it. We can certainly tailor it to our needs and consider that. But I do think we've always started with a document sometimes when we've adopted something here, and we've had it evolve with all our comments and with all of our input, and staff obviously making sure that we're on the right path. So just a couple things that I think I heard was the levels. Should we reduce the contribution limits?

You know, I guess I'm the only one who here is just sort of purely uninvolved because I won't be coming back. I won't be running again. But I ran when all council seats were at large. And so very different to raise money having to, you know, canvass the entire city as opposed to canvassing a ward. That is nothing like canvassing a city. So for those of you who've only run in wards, boy, count yourselves lucky because this is a very, very big city. And I think it should be commensurate with what contribution limits are. So back then, I remember it was, I think it was $250.

You couldn't have anybody who had business before the council. They were limited at a $250 maximum. and I think $1,000 for anybody who was just completely, you know, had no business before the city. So I do think now, you know, and Council Member Hernandez is an example of this. He walked his ward, raised very little money, and he defeated an incumbent. And so I do think that it's a very different dynamic than what was back then when we were under an at-large voting system. We are now a by ward district, by district, by ward system, completely different.

So I think the conversation about reducing those limits, contribution limits, is fair. I think you don't need that much money anymore to run an effective campaign. You could literally walk your ward and walk your neighborhood, and you do that at very little expense except for shoe leather. So I think that's certainly a warranted conversation. I would certainly be open to it. The one thing I know the conversation I've had with the city attorney has been just disclosing, or we can't limit from what you were saying, and I understand this, Daniel, on PACs and independent expenditures. We can't limit contributions from them.

We know that the Supreme Court has spoken loudly and incorrectly on that, but nonetheless, we have to follow that law.

is there a way that we can find out the sources of those contributions to that independent expenditure and prevent them from having those council members that receive those funds participate in something that affects those donors to independent expenditures? And I know I think that was in the Anaheim proposal. and that was shot down. So I do think that that's fair. Yeah, you can't limit them, but you can certainly limit the participation of the council member that receives those by way of a PAC.

So that's something that I would certainly entertain and certainly consider. So those are just high-level comments. Hopefully that will help as we take a look at just sample language. And maybe it's not just Anaheim. I'm sure there's plenty of communities that have dealt with corruption and dealt with trying to address this problem.

I think you've heard from everybody, Madam City Manager, so hopefully there's a summary that you all have. But look, I think we could go round and round on this. I guess the idea is we don't want to have happen here that's happened in other cities. And if we can tighten things up, that would be great. So seeing no other comments, we'll go ahead and move along to the next item. That is the council-led item, and that, I believe, is Mayor Pro Tem's item. So I'll turn it over to him.

Phil BacerraItem 6

Thank you. So I brought this item before us today because, and I think all of us have probably faced this at some point, where we'll hear a resident or a business owner say that they called the cops and they didn't show. and when you talk to our police they say well no we did show and maybe there's a reason why the calling party didn't know that we did show or that we responded to the call for service and so I want to give the benefit of the doubt to our officers and so I think what we need to have happen is kind of strengthening their ability to provide good customer service to our residents and so what I'm

Phil BacerraItem 6

asking for is as I looked through SAPD policies, I realized that some of the policy's headers sounded like something that might address this issue. I thought, well, good, it'll be a moot point. We'll just ask officers to follow this policy. But the closest one I found was SAPD policy 308, which is interestingly titled Officer Response to Calls. But unfortunately, that policy does not have anything that would require the officer to call back the calling party.

Phil BacerraItem 6

And so what I'm asking my colleagues to consider is directing staff to update Santa Ana police policy to require police officers that respond to a call, a call for service, excuse me, to contact the calling party. And now that idea would not be something that would be just across the board. There might be certain instances where an officer would not call back the calling party. Maybe we would have it where the dispatch would ask the person maybe during certain hours, hey, do you want to call back?

Phil BacerraItem 6

So for instance, someone calls at 11 o'clock and we know that the officer won't respond possibly until 11.45 or midnight, rather than having the calling party stay awake, perhaps that calling party after a certain hour can indicate to dispatch that they would not want to receive a call back. But I think it improves transparency and I think it improves accountability. I want to give the benefit of the doubt again to our officers that they are adequately, if not exceptionally, servicing our community, but there are folks out there that perceive that that's not happening.

Phil BacerraItem 6

And rather than just point back and forth and say it's happening, it's not happening, let's just resolve that by giving people the comfort and the confidence that officers are responding to the calls for service and responding to them in a way that is to the satisfaction action of the calling party. So I'd like to ask us to direct staff again to revise or create policy within SAPD to have officers respond back to calling parties.

Councilmember Hernandez.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 6

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Supportive of your item, I would like to see if you are willing to extend this to include CityNet.