Read the October 4 meeting.

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closed session of the san anna city council meeting for october 4th 2022 to order and let me just begin by making some opening housekeeping remarks that the meeting is taking place with in-person attendance and by teleconference via zoom the public can access the meeting via the san anna youtube channel or the city's website and as usual please be patient with us as the technology may disrupt the flow of the meeting i'm going to go ahead and have the clerk call roll

Councilmember Hernandez?

Present.

I heard a present.

Okay.

Councilmember Lopez?

Here.

Councilmember Mendoza?

Present.

Councilmember Peñalosa? Present.

I heard another present.

Councilmember Fan, here. Mayor Potem Becerra. And Mayor Sarmiento.

Here. We need to increase the volume on that phone. Just kidding. Let me go ahead and ask members of the council if they want to announce any abstentions or recusals from any items on the closed session agenda.

Seeing none and hearing none, I'll go ahead and ask the clerk if there are any members of the public that wish to address the council.

We do not have any members.

Great. We'll go ahead and adjourn to closed session and reconvene after we're out.

Thank you.

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We'll see you next time.

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ahead and reconvene this council meeting for october 4th 2022 we apologize for the delayed start i know we had a heavy closed session calendar so why don't we go ahead and call this regular meeting to order i'm going to go ahead and start with just some opening comments the meeting is taking place with in-person attendance and by teleconference via zoom the public can access the meeting via the san ana youtube channel or the city's website and as usual please bear with us as the technology may disrupt the flow of the meeting. And I'm going to ask the clerk of the council to go ahead and call roll, please.

Council Member Hernandez?

Present.

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

David Penaloza

Here.

Council Member Fan? Here. Mayor Potembecerra?

Here.

Mayor Sarmiento?

Here. Thank you. And I'm going to go ahead and before I ask Council Member Mendoza to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, I'm going to ask you, Madam Clerk, to go ahead and make your opening comments before we proceed.

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

Great, thank you. Now I'll go ahead and ask Councilmember Mendoza to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, and if you'll please remain standing afterwards, we're going to have words of inspiration from Heidi Lucero.

Heidi Lucero Place your right hand over your heart, and for those who have served in the armed forces, you may salute our beautiful flag. Ready? Begin.

David Penaloza

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

Thank you, Heidi. Please approach and go ahead and lead us.

Hello everyone. I am Chairwoman Heidi Lucero. I am Ahasemun and Mutsun Ohlone. I come from the villages of Alona, Totpam, and Garomo. I come from strong women, including my mother, my grandmother, and my great-grandmother. It is their strength that has gotten me here today. Today, I'd like to acknowledge the Juananuban and Mission Indians, Ahasemun Nation, that are the original inhabitants of what is now Orange County. This acknowledgement was affirmed on August 19, 1993 by the State of

California in Joint Assembly Resolution 48 and on March 7, 2006 by Orange County Resolution number 06028. We are and continue to be the stewards of this land for time immemorial. We are currently gathered in the village of Paspingoa or Santa Ana. The Ahaschemen traditional territory extends from the Pacific Ocean to the west, including the Southern Channel Islands of Catalina or Pimo, San Nicolas and San Clemente,

to parts of Los Angeles County to the north, including the village of Pavongna at California State University, Long Beach, to parts of Riverside County to the east and parts of Camp Pendleton to the south, including the villages of Ponhe and Ushme. Our Ahasemun ancestors and their descendants provided the original manpower for the construction of some of the earliest key landmarks in Orange County, including the Mission San Juan Capistrano. Many of our ancestors have played key roles in the development of Orange County and the legacy it brings to all of us.

I would also like to acknowledge our surrounding tribal relatives that were also visitors and caretakers to the land of Southern California. The Chumash, the Gabrielino, the Serrano, the Tataviam, the Kauia, the Luceno, the Kupeno, and the Kumeyaay. I'm excited to be here today to give these words of wisdom and in remembrance of our existence and our joint history in the development of the village of paspingoa santa anna many times the native american people of this land have been forgotten and the invitation to speak tonight reminds us of all reminds us of our continued

existence in santa anna and orange county thank you for the invitation thank you heidi

For those of you that are new to our council meetings, that's something that we try to open our meeting with, our words of inspiration from our very, very diverse community, and I think it is a good tone to start this conversation with. So let me go ahead and move along to the ceremonial presentation of our section of our meeting, and I will call on Mayor Pro Tem that has a proclamation in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. So I'll go ahead and turn it over to him.

Phil Bacerra

Let's see. Good evening, everybody. If I could have Dr. Wade Smith join me up here.

here.

Phil Bacerra

Good evening everybody.

Phil Bacerra

So here we are tonight to talk about Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast Cancer Awareness Month began back in 1985 as an effort by the American Cancer Society to promote getting mammograms as the most effective weapon in the fight against breast cancer. Breast cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers among women and nearly 42,000 women die from breast cancer every year in the United States. Breast cancer screening increases early detection, reduces death, increases life expectancy, decreases late-stage cancer

Phil Bacerra

diagnoses, and increases five-year survival rates. The percentage of women ages 50 to 74 who have had mammograms in the last two years is lower in Santa Ana than in most parts of Orange County. This month during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, City of Hope of Orange County Cancer Specialists will be honoring survivors, speaking in the community, and sharing the message that Hope is here to end breast cancer. This is also an opportunity for the City of Santa Ana to go pink in October to raise awareness and promote early screening and honor those affected by breast

Phil Bacerra

cancer one way that our city is raising awareness is by lighting our kind of iconic water tower in pink through the month of october i want to thank public works director nabil saba for doing that for us so thank you nabil also our san anna police department has a wonderful program where they are selling pink patches so these patches right here are available through our san anna police department please go ahead and contact my office if you guys are interested in purchasing one of these batches. Joining us today here in the council chamber is Dr. Wade Smith from the City of Hope. Dr. Smith is a medical oncologist specializing in

Phil Bacerra

breast cancer with the City of Hope. Now the City of Hope just opened up their brand-new cancer treatment center here in Orange County and for those of you that don't know that much about the City of Hope, they are one of only 52 to National Cancer Institute designated comprehensive cancer centers in the entire country. Now, we are very fortunate to have one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States right here in Orange County, with hopefully a Santa Ana location coming soon, right? It's with that, it's my honor tonight on behalf of the City of Santa Ana to thank you and the City of Hope

Phil Bacerra

for bringing your highly specialized breast cancer care and pioneering research to Orange County and declaring October 22nd as breast cancer awareness month in the city of Santa Ana would you like to say a couple words yes please

thank you I just want to thank the City Council members for having me here tonight and for this commendation we appreciate the city of Santa Ana in recognizing City of Hope's Orange County contribution to the community and City of Hope came to Orange County to meet the pressing need of the community and as mentioned we will be you know one of the only cancer dedicated hospitals as we're building right now but we have a network of community centers as well as as well as our new outpatient center in Irvine but with October being breast

Cancer Awareness Month, it's a good chance for me to be here today basically asking all women who are eligible to have a mammogram, an annual mammogram, very important to do so. And for me, as a breast cancer oncologist, a specialist who treats breast cancers, I basically see one of two types of breast cancers. I see those women who come to me who have had their annual mammogram and who have a cancer that is very small, caught early, and very curable. I also have another group of women in general who come to me who it may have been several years since they've had a mammogram.

And upon having a large mass, sometimes denial sets in, and it can be another three or four months, and I see this all the time with regularity. And so we really want to get the word out, to really engage family members, coworkers, friends, at point of conversation, have you had your annual mammogram? It's the one time of year to engage with people to make sure that they're falling into the first group and not the second group of patients that I see. And so this month we're honoring the survivors. We're speaking to the community. We're raising awareness throughout.

And we're really excited about, obviously, the research that we're bringing to this community and the level of disease-specific expertise. And so, again, follow up with your doctors. Follow up with your annual mammograms. And I want to thank you all for having me here tonight.

Phil Bacerra

Well, you heard the doc.

Oh, don't. Don't understand.

Great. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. Let me go ahead and call on Councilmember Lopez to do the next presentation. It is going to be the Garden Grove Unified School District Board of Education for their contributions to exemplary academic achievements. If I could have the board from Garden Grove Unified come and join us up here on the stage, please.

Jessie Lopez

Good evening, everyone. So tonight we're going to be recognizing the school board from the city of Garden Grove, which is one of our sister cities. And this is especially important for me because part of the War III families that reside in west end of War III are part of the Garden Grove Unified School District and I'm very fortunate to be able to be in contact specifically with board member Munetone whenever there are issues that we want to work on together and we've invited them to come to some of our city-sponsored events and we just want to really continue to grow the partnership that we're trying to build

Jessie Lopez

and so Garden Grove Unified School District serves approximately 8,000 students who make up 20% of the student population here in the city of Santa Ana and 14 schools in Garden Grove Unified School District receive awards for excellence in implementing positive behavior interventions and support. And positive behavior interventions and support is a resource that improves academic outcomes by increasing attendance, engagement, and organizing efficiency. And PBIS not only reduces behavior problems, but increases student academic gains and social emotional competence.

Jessie Lopez

And I will pass it on to Mayor Semyon to finish off the recognition.

Mayor Semyon Semyon I was just going to come up here and back you up, Councilmember. So let me go ahead and just see if I can see without my glasses. So Garden Grove Unified has a strong commitment to addressing mental health issues with 21 school social workers and 30 full-time mental health specialists. They are working to open up wellness centers to ensure students have a safe place and a safe space on campus to focus on their mental health and well-being. There are five Family Resource Centers spread throughout the district, two of which are located in Santa Ana at Fitz Intermediate School and Santiago High

School. Two of those schools are serving Santa Ana students, or excuse me, two schools serving Santa Ana students were among 25 to be recognized across the state. Santiago High School was honored with an award of merit and Doig, is that my spelling right? Doig intermediate school was one of the three campuses statewide to receive the prestigious award of excellence. We want to thank Garden Grove Unified School District for supporting students from Santa Ana and making making it a safe place for all students to learn it. For me I know I had

had sort of the special privilege of joining Trustee Munetone at Russell Intermediate Elementary. And so they were recognized by the state and so it was an incredible campus, their faculty and their staff, and obviously this school board cared so much for their students that it was an impressive sight to be part of. So I just want to thank them for being here. Sometimes we love our folks at Santa Ana Unified. We know the majority of our students go to the campuses there, but we don't realize that we have other school districts that also participate and provide, you know, learning, places of learning for our students.

And one of them is Garden Grove Unified. So I'm thrilled that Council Member Lopez is highlighting them for their great work that they're doing. Thank you, school board members, for everything that you do for all your students, but, you know, especially tonight for our Santa Ana families and residents. So let's give them a big round of applause, please.

So you guys have to arm wrestle as to who's going to come up here and say a few words.

The two of you. Go ahead, the two of you.

Well, no prepared comments this evening, but we do want to thank Mayor Sarmiento, Council Member Lopez, and the rest of the council for recognizing the achievements of the Garden Grove School District. Again, we serve 8,000 students who live in the city of Santa Ana. I believe there are a couple of people sitting behind me here on the dais who are graduates of Garden Grove School District high schools. So we have a profound impact not just on the city of Garden Grove, but on this city as well. We thank you for the growing partnerships that we have with the city of Santa Ana and

your public agencies and look forward to continuing to work together going forward

good evening just echoing president hardin we just want to extend our gratitude and appreciation to the city of sanana mayor sarmiento and councilwoman lopez for inviting us this is just the beginning of a continued legacy of partnership with garden group unified in the city of sanana we welcome it and we embrace it and it's just for the betterment of the West Santa Ana community. So, muchas gracias. Thank you for having us.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

If I can have Council Member Mendoza come down here and maybe if you can, Cecilia, come on up here and join us. I know you're going to be recognized for all your outstanding work that you do.

I am a graduate of Garden Grove High School, the Garden Grove Unified School District Hazard School, and then OA Peters, remember that? and I did the invocation in eighth grade and I was shaking like crazy. I've never been before the public arena before, but it is a great district. So thank you for all you do for our youth and your continued service to our Santa Ana residents. Thank you very much, Garden Grove Unified School District.

And now we're here with a wonderful and honorable and mentor here in the great city of Santa Ana. We have Miss Cecilia Aguinaga. Cecilia was born in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. She and I are paisanas. Paisana is somebody who is born in the same state as you. So we're paisanas, and I've known her for quite a long time. in the Forum of Community Activism and Service to Our Residents. She immigrated to the United States in 1978, and she has lived in Santa Ana for more than 37 years.

But you're only 40, right?

Yeah.

Cecilia was appointed by the mayor and the city council as board of trustee for the Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District and served for over a decade. She served from November 5th, 2010 through January 14th of 2016. But that was not enough. She went back because the mosquitoes are still really fierce. From November 21st, 2017 through just recently, August 1st of 2022. As a board trustee, she met every Thursday of the month. And she also attended commission meetings, including the personnel and equipment commissions.

Twice a year, Cecilia went on ride-alongs with inspectors to get a better understanding of the services that they provide and respond to questions. Cecilia also attended many conferences and always looked for ways to stay knowledgeable on ways to protect our residents from vectors and to educate them on how to prevent vector-borne diseases and in an environmentally responsible manner. Cecilia has always considered the Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District as a family and she has always taken great pride in being an exemplary representative to the City of Santa Ana. We thank you Cecilia for all

your hard work, dedication, and everything you have done for the City of Santa Ana. This City Seal tile is a token of appreciation and it's not just a tile, it's a family heirloom because this is going everlasting because this you'll be able to hand it down from generation to generation isn't that beautiful

I look at my wall so would you like to say a few words thank you so much thank you my friend and my console woman right here right in the mic okay they want to

hear you. First and foremost, I would like to thank all of you, Mayor Sarmento and all the city council because it has to be agreed with it and especially Nelly that started the whole thing and she's kind of, she knew what was going on on the way with my situation with my husband that recently passed away, but I never give up and continue serving my city and my community. And I wanted to thank our city manager, Christina Rich, that on and off, when we get together,

we got to chat and get to know each other. And she knows my job, although we don't see each other very much. And this, you have no idea how important, guys, for me, is this. You're talking about 15 years and only one commission, a special district. And the only one that knows really my background for way, way back is Mayor Sarmiento. That I've been in different, I think I'm also in the own commissions in the city. And I continue, I hope whatever happens in the elections, I wish you good luck.

and I hope some of you will put me in some commission.

You will be well served because I think that I'm going to be, when you have this in your heart, you die with it, like my husband did. He died almost in the storm.

Yes. So being representative for the city of Santa Ana is very important for me. I believe that every single city council that chooses to represent them deserves to be well represented and deserves that we are the eyes and the ears for them and the community. So the city council and the mayor and every politician that is selected should be very careful who do they choose to be their representatives.

Because we... Like you. Yes. Like you. Well, I think that I did a good job. I mean, I did it with my heart. And I love Sana'ana. I love the city of Sana'ana. I worked 15 years in the district of Santa Ana, and I work in the city police along with my officers of Santa Ana and my son that rest on peace. I don't know what's wrong. First my mother, then my son, now my husband. Who's next?

I hope it's not me.

Well, thank you so much. I appreciate it. This is broke my heart. This is so beautiful. I feel like crying because it's gonna be in a special place in my living room next to my son. He always was so proud of me, Ramsey. He proud to be an officer of the city of Santa Ana and so was I was proud to be helping in the police and the school police. So I don't want to entertain you more. Thank you so much. God bless you and I love you all.

Would you like to take a picture with me?

Would I? Of course.

Yeah, probably good, I didn't know. I didn't know if I was working for a program.

I'm back for the autograph.

Done?

I'm going to help the audience. Thank you.

Let me go ahead and turn things over to Councilmember Peñalosa because he's got the last presentation for the evening. If Fabian Flores can come join us up here on stage.

David PenalozaItem 3

Thank you, Mayor.

David PenalozaItem 3

And Fabian's family, if you guys want to join them up here, you're more than welcome to.

David PenalozaItem 3

Thank you. Hey, Fabian. Fabian or Fabian? Fabian or Fabian?

Whatever.

David PenalozaItem 3

All right. So, in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, I decided to recognize a local Santa Ana native, OC native, and OC native's brother is over there too. So this is Fabian Flores, who grew up in Santa Ana, attended schools in the city. He then attended Orange Coast College, Cal State Fullerton, and is now finishing his master's degree in National University. In college, Fabian studied abroad in Spain where he worked for Save the Children. Fabian sees himself as an educator and has dedicated his life to educating and empowering youth in our community. He has worked with the Big Brothers and Big Sisters organizations.

David PenalozaItem 3

He has been a program leader for after-school programs and has interned in a couple, in multiple educational areas throughout his career. He wrote a children's book to share his story of growing up with Mexican immigrants in Santa Ana, which is right here. He wrote it in Spanish and English, My Brave Mind, and Mi Mente Valiente. One of the things that I, so a little bit of more about Fabian is that he's also a TikTok influencer with a little over or under 400, hovering 400,000 followers, right? And about 27 million likes. And how many views do we got now?

I'm not sure.

David PenalozaItem 3

Okay. Millions and millions of views.

David PenalozaItem 3

and I found out about Fabian like many of us just scrolling through TikTok you know for hours on end sometimes when I should be more productive and I saw that he had written a children's book and one thing that really caught my eye was that in his children's book which I already ordered on Amazon and I suggest you all do too is the highlight of the book is Santa Ana and it's It's the Santa Ana water tower on the front cover next to Fabian and a lot of the different of the OC courthouses on there and a lot of the different shops that we all might recognize driving around through our city.

David PenalozaItem 3

The book is about growing up in an immigrant family in Santa Ana, similar to myself. So Fabian on TikTok highlights a lot about being growing up as an immigrant and to an immigrant family and being a millennial. And I myself, as the first millennial elected to the Santa Ana City Council, growing up very similar to how Fabian grew up, resonated with a lot of the different TikToks that he would make. A lot of content that showcases and highlights how people like us grow up in the city. I think a couple that would kind of, that I connected to is,

David PenalozaItem 3

he made a TikTok video of his parents as a young child sending them to the local store to buy calling cards. And that's something that I remember doing growing up is getting sent on my way to the local 7-Eleven to buy calling cards so that our parents could communicate and call our family in Mexico or anywhere in Central America where they might reside. And that was a thing, it seems like so long ago. And you could only get like five bucks for 45 minutes. And also Fabian and I,

David PenalozaItem 3

like many other Santa Ana millennials out there and kids today, as young as five, six years old, as we're old enough to read, we've been translating medical documents, legal documents, documents, immigration documents, mortgage documents, anything that came in the mail that was in English, five and six year olds had to translate. And we've been translating for our parents for years. And so he highlights a lot of this throughout his TikTok videos on how our community grows up. And you know, now as he gained more and more followers,

David PenalozaItem 3

he now has partnered with numerous businesses that also do work in the city, like North North Cape Market has hired Amon as a content and brand creator which allows him to, hey, make money for it. Why not, right? And he's also dedicated to our community and has partnered with North Cape Market to create digital content featuring the market's authentic foods. And currently Fabian is a long-term first-grade substitute teacher at Greenville Fundamental School where he previously worked in special education. So in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month and from one Santanero to another and a millennial

David PenalozaItem 3

to another I am proud to present the certificate of recognition to Fabian Flores in the spirit of Hispanic Heritage Month so thank you Fabian and

David PenalozaItem 3

please please please order his book if you're a school teacher out there if you're a parent to reach your kids it's available on Amazon and I'll let Fabian I'll turn it over to him so he could talk a little bit more about thank you

thank you so much for the recognition David I really appreciate it I feel super honored and blessed to be standing here right now. Never in a million years would I think I'd be doing this right now. A lot of my content is to highlight my upbringing and our parents' sacrifices, our experiences that have basically shaped our lives, my lives, and many like our lives. Santa Ana is the home of many of us and the first city that many of our parents stepped foot in from Mexico. So thank you for welcoming them with open arms and making this our home. And I did write a kid's book.

And I wrote a children's book where I talk about me growing up with hardworking parents in Santayana, but also being a third parent to my siblings. The responsibility has shaped who I am today. and my role as a big brother and how all of those experiences also relate to other people like David and other Millennials. Thank you so much everyone. Thank you.

David PenalozaItem 3

And one of the things he also highlights is how as a millennial he still lives with his parents and I'm a 34 year old elective official so live with my mom so So we're good here.

Great. Thank you, everybody. Thank you for those presentations and participating in that. I'm going to go ahead and now call on or ask the city attorney if there's anything that she has to report out of closed session.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 3

Mayor, members of the council, members of the public, as you mentioned, we had quite a full closed session agenda, but we do not have any reportable action.

Great. Thank you. Let me go now to the public comment section of our meeting, and this is to address items that are both on the agenda and non-agendized items. we have members of the public that are here in person that wish to address the council and we have members of the public that are online and joining us virtually pursuant to the Brown Act the City Council may not enter into any discussion at this time this is not a conversation this is the opportunity for you to address this council we'll hear now from members of the council first that are physically present then I'll turn it over the clerk she can go ahead

and call on people that are online and joining us virtually you will be given three minutes to speak. There is no obligation to use the entirety of your time. Feel free to be more brief. We have quite a few number of people that wish to address us on item number 25 and other items as well. So again, if somebody has said something ahead of you that you wish to say, you may just want to say, look, I'm in agreement with the prior speaker. The point will be well received. The fact that all of you are joining us speaks volumes to the issues that you're here to address us with. So I am going to now turn it over to the

clerk to make some opening remarks to those that are joining us by phone and virtually.

Speakers on the queue may provide their comments on agenda and non-agenda items within the city's jurisdiction. 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 nine from your phone or select raise hand from Zoom now. Before I'm meeting callers, I would like to begin by reporting out the following summary of emails provided as of today. We received one comment on a non-agenda item from a Santa Ana resident regarding Republic Service Waste Collection

And we received five emails from Santa Ana residents in support of item number 25, rent stabilization. We also received 12 emails from Santa Ana residents in support of the ordinance with proposed changes. We received two in opposition of the rent stabilization ordinance from two organizations.

Great. Thank you for that. And the only other thing I would say is you don't need to give us your address, but if you reside in the city, please let us know what ward you live in. That would be helpful, and you don't need to give us a specific address. So as I call your names, I'm going to call out three names at a time, so if you all can please, those of you who are sort of in the queue or next, please be ready to step up as soon as the speaker ahead of you is done. So let me begin with Nathaniel Greensides, followed by David Carvajal, followed by Jema Suarez.

My name is Nathaniel Greensides. I'm a Ward 5 resident. I wanted to speak in support of Item 25 with proposed changes as provided by Tenants United Santa Ana. And one of the things I want to bring up tonight is that one of the proposed changes is modifying what currently exists regarding the sale of a mobile home park. As we know, a lot of the folks who live in mobile home parks here in Santa Ana are lower income, non-English speaking, elderly, senior citizens. And so the language that Tenants United is proposing is that that impact assessment report be provided

not upon the sale of a mobile home park, but a proposed change in use of the mobile home park so that those who have been living in the mobile homes will be, the impacts upon them will be mitigated as much as possible and that they can seek relocation assistance in the event that the park will change use.

I'm going to be a little honest. I'm a little burnt out of having to fight for people's rights here. Tenants who live in our city, hardworking class families, hardworking, lower income folks need protections and have needed protections for years. And the city council traditionally hasn't done anything. And for the first time in 2020, we got a majority of the city council fighting on behalf of low income residents and tenants in our city.

One person in opposition of rent control called Santa Ana a banana republic, which is a borderline racist comment and can actually only be applied to he himself who receives campaign funds from the Apartment Association and the Police Officers Association and have traditionally been anti-tenant. Another person has stated that Santa Ana is not an island, and by that he meant that the local city council should not be legislating matters which aren't just issues in Santa Ana, and if that was the case, then we shouldn't be advocating for increasing police funds because crime, too, occurs outside of Santa Ana.

Lastly, I remember working with a tenant here in our city who was being bullied out of where he lives. He's a veteran. He fought in wars. And he came back with PTSD. He came back with episodes of schizophrenia and his landlord was bullying him out because the rest of the neighbors didn't like the way in which he was exhibiting those things. He needed help. He eventually self-help evicted and left our city because there were no protections in place at that time.

It's really difficult to have to come up here and advocate for people who I care about in this way. It's difficult to have to do it for myself. But I know that it's worthwhile because the end result is that people for the first time in Santa Ana's history are able to have the peace of mind that they're not going to be rank gouged. And then tonight with what's being considered, they'll finally have a local department and jurisdiction that they can turn to to ensure that their rights are protected. A few dollars every month towards the enforcement of tenant protections is

still significantly going to be less than $200-$300 a month rent increases that people were seeing beforehand. Thank you.

Thank you. David Carvajal followed by Hema Suarez followed by Celia Bendano.

Good evening, City Council. My name is David Carvajal, a lifetime resident of Santana. I currently live in Ward 6. Actually, I have always lived in Ward 6. We are approaching the one-year anniversary of the Brent Civilization Ordinance, and we've spoken to community members who have been impacted by housing injustice, who have been impacted by evictions. And then speaking from our own experiences, you know, we've heard from even ourselves and our friends that rent stabilization is beneficial for our community.

We've seen, we've been able to experience the benefits of stabilizing rent and having a justice cause eviction ordinance in our community.

I'm here in support of item 25, establishing the rental registry and rent board in the city of Santana, with all of the changes necessary that are being requested by our coalition Tenants United Santana. But more specifically, I support the voluntary mediation as a service by the city, but we want to make sure that it's culturally appropriate, culturally relevant for community members. Specifically, we want to make sure that the people who are mediating receive 40 to 80 hours of formal training in mediation,

receive training in anti-racism, elimination of bias and cultural competency, have mediated rent disputes in the past, or has other experience to competently mediate, and is someone who does not have a financial or personal stake in the matter that is being mediated before them. I would also add that it is important that it is mediated in the language that the tenant speaks. So I want to just go ahead and thank all of you who are supportive, have been supportive of rent stabilization and just cause evictions from the beginning. And then all of you that make time to meet with us as well.

and then of course reminding those that oppose it that are up for re-election that the community is watching and that we in November, November is right around the corner. Thank you.

Thank you. Jema Suarez followed by Silvia Vendano followed by Meshly Lopez followed by Ignacio Sanchez.

Good evening members of the council and mayor. My name is Gemma Suarez and I work in Ward 5. I also have many family members who live in different words in Santana and I'm a community organizing coordinator at the Centro Cultural de Mexico and so I'm here to support the next steps necessary to make rent control and just cause real and accessible for all working families. I do recognize and thank the council for adopting this policy a year ago. From the families that we are in contact with,

that our organizers are in contact with at El Centro, we have heard a lot of stories that the folks who have benefited from that policy.

One of our core volunteers, years, she has been a full-time worker as well as her husband, and last year they were going to be, their rent was going to be raised to 7%, but after the rent policy, it was only increased to 3%, and that allowed her and her husband and her three kids to stay here and not move to the Inland Empire. So, yes, it has really benefited. That's just one example. It has benefited many, many families.

And, yeah, so commitment to continue this forward is to implement the rental registry and have a rent board that can oversee the implementation and increase transparency, rent protections, and accountability within the city's rental property, and as well as including a voluntary mediation team. So that's how, yeah. So all the, everything that's been said in some of the emails, the same thing, I don't want to repeat it. Thank

you so much. Thank you very much. Silvia Vendaño, followed by Mechly Lopez, followed by Ignacio Sánchez followed by Jesús Santana.

Buenas noches a todos. Mi nombre es Silvia Bendaño y estoy aquí para representar a...

Estoy en el distrito número dos, ya lo había olvidado. Y estoy muy contenta de estar aquí, muy feliz porque nosotros tenemos el control de renta. Yo trabajo como consejera de inquilinos in the Center Cultural of Mexico. And after hearing many sad stories and very sad stories, I'm hearing stories agradable. Why? Because now the inquilinos only have increased the 3%. And this is very, very important for the community. We are making reality, and we have been living for so many years, and we have been walking for so many people during so many years. And I'm so excited.

I'm very excited about it.

that this is done, and we also want to make it happen, that the registry of control of the property, that the form a meeting of rent control, with the spirit of help to all the people, and to work together, and to include people. Quit our racism, that our people's malice,

and we are friends and work together. and that's all I could say. I have a lot of things to say, but I'm going to let others speak to my colleagues. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Good evening. I'm Silvia Benaño from Ward 2 and I'm here to represent people. I'm very happy to be here, that rent control is here. I'm a housing counselor for the Centro Cultural de Mexico, and I used to hear some sad stories about rent and evictions and all that, but now I hear some happy stories. And many people, their rent has only increased 3%, and this is very important for our community. And this is true now. This is a reality nowadays for what we've walked and we They've worked for years, walked the streets for years, and now it's a reality.

And I want to say something, that this is about people. This is not about things and people who have been evicted, people who have had hardships, people who have lost friends and lost people. But now we have rent control in Santa Ana. So I don't want to speak too much. some people have said this before and I want to advocate for registry and for rent control board this is to help all the people and to include all the people to do away with racism with evil things and we need to be working together I have lots to say but this is all I want to say right now, thank you

Thank you Meshly Lopez followed by Ignacio Sanchez followed by Jesus Santana followed by James Shin.

Good evening city council members and the mayor. My name is Mashley Lopez and I'm here to speak on item number 25. I'm a resident of Ward 5. I'd specifically like to speak on the composition of the rent board. I believe that the composition of the rent board should be consistent with the makeup of our city's residents. And therefore, I, along with the rest of Tenants United, would like to recommend that there be three members of the rent board who are tenants, one member who is a mobile home resident, two members who are either landlords or manage a rental unit or property, and one at-large member with no financial interest

and no ownership of income-generating rental housing. this makeup would be representative of the majority renter city that we live in and we must also allow for undocumented people to serve on the board since they are an integral part of our community as well and I'll just keep it brief and I would like to emphasize the points of those who came before me thank you thank

you very much Ignacio Sanchez followed by Jesus Santana followed by James share followed by Idalia Rios.

and giving support to the community. And thanks to all of you, we've been able to give that support to the people.

And I'm also here to give you the thanks for considering that Saguayo, Michoacán, I'm a native of Mexico, and Santa Ana,

they are brothers and sisters. and I thank you for considering it and I hope the approval is best. Because we also have a lot of people living here in the city of Santa Ana. We are people who come to work, who will help us to prosper our city and prosper our own in Mexico. So, then, I thank you for considering that and that we support you.

Our president of the Saguayu Michoacán is also committed to bring the best way to bring us here to come from the good, as well as art and culture, all the traditions, good things, and well, a good heart, and all. Gracias, se los agradezco, señor Vincent, y a cada uno de ustedes, consejales, les doy las gracias.

Gracias.

Good evening, my name is Ignacio Sánchez, I'm a president of Fundación Zaguayo, and I'm a resident of Santa Ana, and I'm here to support this,

because Santa Ana is my home, and for two years I've also worked with United Across Borders giving out food to our community. So I want to thank you for your support and I'm here to thank you for your consideration of my home city, Sawayo, Michoacan. I am from there and for Santa Ana to become sister cities and I'm seeking for your approval and thank you all for your consideration in making this possible. There's lots of people from Zaguayo that live in Santa

Ana and we are here, we're hard-working, we want the city to succeed, we want the city to be better and to help the city and to help Mexico as well. So I want to thank you for your consideration into this. The Zaguayo mayor has also committed to bringing all the good things from Zawaii to here, to bring the arts and the culture and everything that's good that's also coming from the heart. So I want to thank you, Mr. Vincent, and to each and every one of you, thank you very much.

Thank you.

Jesus Santana, followed by James Shea, followed by Idalia Rios, followed by Maggie Moreno.

I'm good evening mayor city council members my name is Jesus Santana and I'm a resident of ward 2. I'm here as a volunteer of tennis united Santana and supporting the Sullivan and Axion leaders. My comment today is in support for agenda item number 25 establishing a rental registry and a Santana renfort. In the last three or four years of working alongside Sullivan and Exxon leaders, I have witnessed and attempted to support many mobile home residents residing in the Sullivan community.

Listening to countless stories of abuse, intimidation, and having to support them with navigating the possibility of losing their homes has taught me more than I could have ever learned in the last 25 years of my life. In some of these cases, I've been able to successfully support families remaining in their homes. But the ones that have impacted me the most have been the ones where our residents have unfortunately lost their homes. Despite the overwhelming challenges, I'm here today with hope. Why? Because hope is a discipline. And thanks to the vote and approval of four of you,

numerous amount of family members are benefiting from the protections that derive from the ramp civilization AND JUST CAUSE EVICTION ORDINANTS. TODAY I'M HERE TO URGE YOU ALL TO CONTINUE SUPPORTING OUR MOST VULNERABLE COMMUNITY MEMBERS WHO ARE STILL HEALING AND RECOVERING FROM THE HARDSHIPS THAT THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC PRESENTED BY IMPLEMENTING A RENTAL REGISTRY AND A RENT BOARD WITH THE MAJORITY OF RENTERS SLASH TENANTS. THE SECTION THAT I FIND THE MOST IMPORTANT IS IN REGARDS TO THE CREATION OF A RENT BOARD.

THE RENT BOARD SHOULD CONSIST OF THREE MEMBERS WHO ARE TENANTS, ONE MEMBER WHO IS A MOBILE HOME RESIDENT, two members who are either landlords or manage a rental unit or property, and one at-large member with no financial interest and no ownership of income generating from rental housing. In addition, I request that tenants and landlords involved in a petition for review of rent should receive all material and interpretation in the preferred language. I urge you all to please adopt these changes, and thank you so much. I hope you have a good night.

Thank you. James Schiff followed by Idalia Rios followed by Maggie Moreno followed by Candace Haas Lopez

good evening city council members and city staff thank you so much for having us here today my name is James she I'm the owner and founder of my green network I'm here to speak on behalf of item number 22 just to say thank you so much for all the time and effort you guys have placed onto that agenda on to that item as well. Just a few notes from us as the shared use manufacturer in your city and the pretty much the premier one in California. We're really excited to be able to place Santa Ana as the mecca for cannabis manufacturing. The current ordinance will

definitely help support that. In addition, as a board member of OCAA, I think that we've all been working really, really hard with everybody on the city's staff and city council. A few things we wanted to recognize one by lowering the taxes you made us competitive and enables us to actually compete against other cities and across the country I personally have already had several inquiries from Boston Miami and other cities around the entire world in addition to that you've also enabled the cannabis lounges well as demonstration rooms it'll greatly help bring in new

business as well as support the community and the consumer here as well And then lastly, you've also enabled for the events and those items as well. We did want to say that supporting that will really bring a new era for cannabis in this entire city as well. So on behalf of the OCAA, thank you. And we look forward to continue working with the city staff, and we're here and watching as well. Have a great night.

Thank you. Idalia Rios, followed by Maggie Moreno, followed by Candace Haas-Lopez, followed by Julio Cesar Flores.

Thank you.

in the complex where I live, we gave them a number of 200, 250 dollars. This year, only 1,700, the 3% was 51 dollars. So, it does a big difference in the lives of the families here in Santa Ana. At that moment, as Santa Ana has been proactive in protecting its residents, young people, children, when we talk about the rent, We forget that no only are the parents who have to work for the rent, but the ones who benefit are the young and children.

I loved it when the Concejal Peña Loza talked about an influencer that talks about the history of Santana. But how beautiful that, as we think about those influencers, we can be influenced by the people who serve. I also want to ask that we keep supporting us through a Mesa Control of Rent, because this will allow us to implement a register of rentals.

Eso va a poder seguir protegiendo y también una vez que esta mesa sea adoptada, sea por miembros, sin importar su género, su raza, su estatus migratorio, sus ingresos, su lenguaje. Creo que la ciudad de Santana ha sido proactiva, incluso en el momento que yo estoy dando un comentario en español, eso lo dice mucho de la ciudad. So, then, keep going on and really think about how they can serve. And I'm going to echo what David said, they're going to be the elections. So, I think you're in a key moment for your residents and all those residents that have a little bit of social capital,

really make a change for the next leaders that come to this council. So, thank you very much.

Thank you.

Good evening, members of the City Council. It's a pleasure to be here after several months. I'm a resident of Santa Ana. I work in the city and I live in Ward 6. First of all, I want to thank you. It's been almost a year since we have a rent control stabilization, which has allowed people to stay home. This 3% increase limit is helping a lot. We used to have rental increases of $200 and $250 per month, and now on where I live in a $1,700 a month rent, the increase is only $51.

This makes a great difference in Santa Ana for Santa Ana families. And Santa Ana has been proactive in protecting the residents, protecting the youth, and protecting the kids. And we don't consider this, but when we stabilize the rent, it not only protects the parents, but also protects the youth and the kids benefit from this. And as Mr. Peñalosa mentioned earlier, he talked about this influencer from Santa Ana history. Well, you need to be an influence to protect the people in Santa Ana.

So I'm asking you to support this with a rent control board and a rental registry of properties and to protect the people. And we are here to protect the members of the community regardless. The members of this board should be there regardless of race, immigration status, or language. and the fact that I'm speaking in Spanish in my comment speaks volumes about how Santa Ana is helping in this. So, and as Daniel said, the elections are coming, so we are watching, and we need for the residents to make a difference,

and for the people, the new leaders who are coming into the city council.

Thank you. Maggie Moreno, followed by Candace Haas-Lopez, followed by Julio Cesar Flores, followed by Tracy Law.

Good evening. Hi, my name is Maggie Moreno. Thank you all, council members, Mayor Sarmiento, city staff. Thank you for all the work that you do. Today I'm here to say a couple of words from my boss, Congressman Luke Correa. We have a letter here for the city of Santa Anna. So I write to express my strong support for the proposed public health plaza in wellness programming. In Congress we passed the American Rescue Plan to help struggling Americans affected by COVID-19 pandemic and to help fund similarly proposed projects such as a public health plaza outside

the Santa Ana City Hall. The American Rescue Act is a 1.9 trillion dollar economic sticking stimulus package to help millions of struggling families affected by COVID-19. This landmark legislation provides substantial support to American families and the United States. I applaud the City of Santa Ana and their comprehensive COVID-19 pandemic recovery initiative to deliver both short-term and long-term health to the Santa Ana community. The proposed public health plaza and wellness programming will break barriers by promising to reach residents in an innovative manner, increasing access to health services usually performed

in other difficult to reach places. I ask the City of Santa Ana Council to move to adopt item 16. Respectfully, J. Luis Correa, member of Congress. Thank you.

Thank you, Maggie. Please give our Congressman the best. Candace Haas Lopez, followed by Julio Cesar Flores, followed by Tracy Law, followed by Indigo Vu.

Hello and good evening, Mayor, Council, staff. My name is Candace Haas-Lopez, and I wanted to come and show my support and show my appreciation for all the work that everybody has put forth today, bringing us to this point today. I'm the founder of Orange County Normal, the national organization for the reform of marijuana laws, and serves as the chair of the board. We are Orange County's only nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public on cannabis laws, medical benefits, and responsible usage. We have over 20,000 people who receive our emails, posts, or attend our meetings and events.

We've been keeping them in the loop regarding the changes the city's making, and we can't wait to send an email and let them know about the lower tax rates and the new job opportunities that will be coming to the city. I am also proud to say that I've worked in the city of Santa Ana for the past five years at Pharmacy Santa Ana as a community outreach director. We just recently, two weeks ago, held our first senior shuttle, in which I rent a shuttle and I send it to Laguna Woods, and I bring about 30 to 50 seniors over to Santa Ana to spend their

money at our dispensary. So I'm really excited to have that going again. We have another one planned next month, so we welcome anybody, even if they don't live in Laguna Woods, to come and to join us and to learn about cannabis. I also have a webinar tomorrow on cannabis and dementia, and I really love working for the dispensary and all the different services that we can provide to the community, and I'm glad that part of the ordinance also encourages the other dispensaries to participate as well. I'm here to thank the council and staff and show our support and

appreciation for all the work that you guys have done. There's been a lot of compromises, you guys are taking a lot of risks, and you're going to resolve some of the weaknesses that you have and keep Santa Ana as a leading place to buy legal cannabis. I work with a large number of patients, and although 1% doesn't seem like a big difference to you guys, that means that they can buy another loaf of bread, that they can buy something that they need, and that makes a big difference to them. I was pleased to see in the city staff report that with the adjustments to

the tax rates and the rebates that you guys are considering, the potential tax loss does not necessitate a fiscal year 22 to 23 plan adjustment. This shows that we can lower taxes and still be able to support the important programs that you guys offer. Again, thank you, and I offer my support and deepest appreciation for all the work that you guys have put into this. You guys have done your work, and I think now it's time for Normal's job, now it's time for Normal to do our job and to let everybody know to come and continue shopping in Santa Ana. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Julio Cesar Flores followed by Tracy Law followed by Indigo Vu followed by Vincent Tran.

Okay I live in Santa Ana for like 45 years now living in Orange and I own a property in Santa Ana for like 25 years. I had a rental property. I had two. But you know, people, I hear people, the rent control, but they never look how much money costs us to run an apartment every month. Property does go up. Gas, water, trash, gardeners. You know, people think we get rich, but we spend so much money

every month. Plus, then I pay your rent, you have to fix the apartments. Cost $10,000. You know, I feel sad because I go through a lot of things in my life, I work hard to have what I got right now. And I see people like, they get nothing free. And I never get nothing free. I work 10 hours a day for all my life. Saturdays, I work nice to fix the apartments. But people think we get rich. My English is not perfect.

property tax will go up, it should go up, vas a la tienda, la madera cuesta más cara, pagas más dinero para pagar a los trabajadores, se descompone el techo, $30,000, $15,000, $15,000, ¿quieres plomería? Arreglar un apartamento de $10,000, se va la gente sin pagar la renta, tienes que invertir $10,000 para arreglarlo, y el 99% de la gente que vive allí, deja la pared de todo sucio, lo tienes que arreglar todo, The cabinets, everything is done. The bathroom, the cabinets. I've been trying to get my apartment well. I've been spending much money on the plumber,

the doors, the windows, the techo. I've spent more than $100,000. I've spent more than $100,000. But I think people think that I'm a landlord. I'm a rich man. But in a apartment, you're going to spend $2,000 a month. For what? For property taxes, I'm going to spend $15,000 a month. $2,400 of the insurance. The water, that's $500 a month. The gas, that's $200 a month. $200 a month in the heat.

And $400 a month in the cold. And the gardener, $200. Fíjate nomás, estás hablando 15 mil al año. Muchas gracias. Su tiempo ha concluido. Gracias. Aménselo.

So I want to say the rest of this in Spanish. This is very, very expensive. Some people think that we are rich, but we are not. Some people think that the landlords are bad, but they don't consider that taxes are going up. Insurance is very expensive. and we go to the store to buy things and all the costs are going up workers are very expensive and just to fix the roof it's ten to fifteen thousand dollars to fix the plumbing a lot of money some people leave without paying the rent and we have to fix whatever they leave they leave everything dirty and broken we have to pay ten thousand dollars to make it rentable again

and cabinets, restrooms, the apartments cost a lot of money to maintain these. I've spent over $100,000 on my two properties that I have. So people think that landlords are rich, but no, we had to pay all this money, $2,000 a month in taxes, $15,000 a year. Water, $500. Insurance, $2,400 a month. Gas, $200 when it's warm, $400 when it's cold. garner $200, so like $15,000 a year. So please think about this.

Thank you. Tracy Law, followed by Indigo Vu, followed by Vincent Tran, followed by Michael Nguyen.

Good evening, City Council. My name is Tracy Law. I'm the Executive Director of VIT Rise, and I'm also a Ward 1 resident. I'm here to speak on behalf of my organization in support of item number 25. Firstly, I actually want to share a really powerful piece of impact that passing the rent stabilization ordinance last year had on the Vietnamese community. Vert Rise works with Vietnamese communities all across Orange County, all across Little Saigon. And as soon as it was passed last year, they came and told us, if Santa Ana can pass a rent stabilization ordinance, why can't we?

These are residents in Westminster, these are residents in Garden Grove, these are residents in Huntington Beach. So I share that because passing, it's not just Santa Ana residents that want and need rent stabilization and stronger protections for residents. Vietnamese residents across Orange County, we see and hear from every day, want and need this as well. And so passing this last year and to see the city council consider strengthening those protections has been a really big ray of hope for people in my community who are used to elected officials lying to them in order to gain their vote and then never falling through one end.

So with that being said, we really want to appreciate the city council and the city staff staff for doing this. With election season around, we are very used to hearing lip service, lies, excuses why certain things can't be passed, and so to see a majority council that actually supports our community is a really big deal. Lastly, I do want to share that ARISE supports the majority of the language that city staff proposed in the ordinance. However, we believe that there are key elements that are missing and so it needs to be revised. And so we asked the council support in adopting the changes actually proposed

in the redline document submitted by Tenancy United Santa Ana. That redline version was reviewed by one of the most experienced housing attorneys in Orange County as well as policy advocates who have unique experience in this area. These recommended changes are practical, they're well-researched, and they're beneficial for residents. Lastly, while establishing this rental registry and rent board, will be a historic action in Orange County. Santa Ana will actually be joining at least nine other California cities in establishing a rent registry and rent board. We will not be the first in California. And so with that being said,

it's time for Santa Ana to establish the most effective and beneficial rent registry and rent board possible for residents. Thank you.

Thank you. Indigo Vu, followed by Vincent Tran, followed by Michael Wynn, followed by Cesar Medina.

Good evening, Mayor Sarmiento, and city council members. My name is Indigo Vu. I'm a resident of Ward 1. I'm also a staff member of Viet Rise. I'm here today to express my support for agenda item 25, establishing a rental registry and rent board, and to request changes to the ordinance language. I've spoken to the council before in strong support of not only the rental registry and rent board, but also overall the rent stabilization and just cause evictions ordinances, because I know from talking to residents in the city just how crucial this relief is to them

and how profound a difference it makes in their ability to stay in this city and this community that they call home. To further fortify those protections for renters in Santa Ana should be the priority for each and every one of you today, and I believe that that will happen. So with that, I urge the City of Santa Ana to implement a rental registry that includes sufficient information so that current and prospective renters know the number of bedrooms and amenities available in any given unit, the date of the last rent increase, and the date of the last inspection by a city's code enforcement officers.

In particular, I'm also urging the city to implement a rental registry that includes a rental registry fee that is as low as possible as not to financially burden tenants while also making our ordinances cost neutral. It also requires all units to register or pay a fee or opt out if they are not covered by the rent stabilization ordinance and just cause evictions ordinances. exempt tenants living in subsidized housing and those that have Section 8 vouchers from paying the rental registry fee, and a fee rebate program for low-income seniors living on fixed income.

These provisions would ensure a rental registry that has not become yet another financial burden for tenants while ensuring transparency for all units within the city. And I really hope that you all have productive conversations and do the right thing for our renters in the city. Thank you.

Thank you. Vincent Tran, followed by Michael Wynn, followed by Cesar Medina, followed by Carl Benninger.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. My name is Vincent. I'm a staff member of VIRT-RISE, and I'm here to speak on support for items 25 and also the red line proposal by the Tenants United of Santa Ana. I particularly want to emphasize the importance of the rent board composition. Over 53% of Santa Ana residents are renters, and the rent board should emphasize and should encompass that diversity of Santa Ana. Particularly, there should be at least one member of the board that is a mobile home resident.

In early 2022, during the redistricting process, a lot of residents came to the city council to talk about the importance of keeping mobile home residents together in certain districts and wards. And the council obliged and concurred with that by keeping the density of mobile home parks in West Santa Ana, in Ward 1 and Ward 5. And that same emphasis should be continued in the composition of the rent board.

and that will not only acknowledge the unique experiences of mobile home residents, but also bring in that perspective when having these conversations about rent control and what is happening to particularly rent mobile home residents. And in addition, the board should also consist of three tenants, three renters, two landlords and one at-large member. And so once Once again, please implement the rent board composition that was recommended within the red line proposed by the Tenants United of Santa Ana. Thank you. Thank you.

Michael Nguyen followed by Cesar Medina followed by Carl Benninger followed by Guadalupe Barragan.

Hello, my name is Michael Nguyen and good evening Maya and Cicciso.

I live in World One, so today I want to comment on Article 25 about support the Red Line Pusole by Lieutenant United of China. But before that, I want to say thank you for Mr. Yassif Lopez. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me found. And thank you one guy not here, Jonathan Hernandez. You are wonderful. You have won the last time Ukraine control Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

I think it should include some guy like the landlord, like the guy come here and go. He landlord, of course he understands, but includes the guy. But also I want to include some people like me, not me, but another guy who lives in mobile home, the apartment, something like that. Some lawyers, of course, some lawyers, they know the law, something like that. But I also, one thing I want to say, that I hope you guys pay attention to some clause in the audience, because if you change the code,

like single people living here, somebody living here, you change the code to the multiple family lives here. That means the law last time we passed meaningless. So I hope you present that. That means there are no loopholes for the law like people suggest. I hope I can not support the last time. I hope you guys can support me this time. Okay? Okay, thank you very much. Bye-bye.

Thank you. Cesar Medina followed by Carl Benninger followed by Guadalupe Barragán followed by Marisol.

Sullivan en Acción. Mi presencia aquí, en primer lugar, es porque me prohibí olvidar.

Estamos cerca de cumplir un aniversario más de esas luchas vigorosas, fuertes, decididas, con ganas, en las que pocas veces se ha visto un pueblo organizado gestionando algo para su bienestar, that was the consequence of the stabilization, the stabilization and control of the rent. I was prohibited to forget, and when I was prohibited, I remember those who supported us. Thank you. And I also remember those who didn't support us. Thank you, at least for being honest.

And, starting from that point,

the year last year the Council made one of the biggest equivocations.

Having been nominated as a hero of the community, What a barbarian. But I want to say that the title is not going to be a good one. I'm going to do the title and I'm here to remember all these fights in which we were very much present in the streets, moving, touching doors, moving to the people, so that they saw that it was a solid, organized and that there was a good leadership. because that time of COVID-19 the world had not experienced it and the country was not prepared.

And so it was so sad that every day there were dozens, hundreds of thousands of deaths in hospitals, until they appeared as the vaccines. So, all that was necessary that many of us abandon the comodity and we were with our neighbors,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

the friends, the colleagues, because of another way we had someone who had fallen by the COVID.

And now I just want to go to the issue of the city of Santana, implementing a register of rent that includes the following, a register of rent that is the lowest possible for no to charge the inquilinos, but at the same time that the cost is sufficient to cover the costs of implementing our orderings. We require that all units, all units, and pay a cost. Or can they opt...

Cesar, if you can start to finish, you have to end the three months.

...for not to register or not to be covered by the orderings of the rent or of cause just. and only except for the insiders of the subsidized housing, to pay this quota, the rent, and finally, a program of re-reembolsing of quotas for people of the third age.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening. My friend Sarmiento, Mayor of the City of Santa Ana and City Council members, My name is Cesar Medina. I am in Ward number 5, a member of Sullivan in Action. And I'm here because, first of all, I did not forget, I did not want to forget that this is, we're coming to another anniversary. An anniversary of a fight, of people getting organized, of people going into the streets, of people working together for the benefit of the community. and I did not want to forget who supported us. Thank you for supporting us. And I did not want to forget who didn't support us. And I also want to thank you. Thank you for being sincere.

Now, also, last year, the City Council made the grave mistake of making me a community hero. And this is just a title for me. I'm going to continue not forgetting. And I'm going to continue with the fight, walking the streets, knocking on doors, and showing people that together we can do good work because COVID-19 was not seen before in the world and in the community, and we experienced tens and hundreds and thousands of people dying in hospitals until we got the vaccine.

Many people were afraid of going out. We still went out to see the people, to see the community, to see our neighbors, many people who had experienced COVID losses of friends and family. So I'm here to ask the city council for a registry and to keep the costs, the fees as low as possible so that people can afford this for all people to, for all units to pay this fees. and for this registry, for people who do not want to pay the registry not to be covered and to have the tenants be part of it and to have the reimbursement. Thank you.

Thank you. Carl Benninger, and then after Carl, I forgot to mention Rosa Pisano, and then Guadalupe Baragán and Marisol.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I appreciate this time to talk before you. My name is Carl Benninger. I've been city resident for 43 years, War IV, and member of the Metro Classic Neighborhood Association, as well as president of Comlink. I want to change the topic up because there's three items that I'd like to address. One of them I've written all of you about, and I really support it, and I think I appreciate Councilmember Pham for mentioning it. And that's the fact that if we have a person, a veteran, that has served time in the service, I think that should be a pass to citizenship and we cannot grant that but

we as a council or you as a council could write a letter to our senators state our city I mean our representative even the president and say that we support this and to me it shows the love of this country and to me this should be a pass into citizenship if someone's willing to serve this country something I like to talk about is solar energy I think as a city we're very much lacking throughout solar energy. I personally have it in my house, and after six and a half years, it's now paid for itself. And I sat on the citizen review committee for Saddleback Action Energy, and in there was Saddleback High School.

95% of the energy used in high school is generated by solar power. We can do better in the city if we try. I applaud the purchasing of Ford Lightning Trucks. I really support, and I've mentioned this in the past, we need to contact, we need to set the fielders out there that were looking for patrol cars. And I know GM, I know Ford, I know even Tesla is looking at supplying vehicles to be used for that purpose. And so I think we should strongly get behind and let these people know that we're available for trial and to be used. I'd also like to talk about another issue that cannot be settled right here,

but you as a council need to start talking about it. We've had an explosion in the city of street vendors and trucks. Tonight, driving up from Segerstrom just to First Street, I counted six. I know when I go home tonight, I'll be counting 12, 13, 14. I don't know how well the health is. I don't know if we're getting our taxes from them. But the main thing is we have an explosion in the city. And thank you to Ty and Steve. I got an earful about how much the State of California is taking these rights away from us. And so this council needs to contact our state reps and say enough is enough.

Now we've even lost the right to enforce jaywalking. What else is the state going to take from us on it? But please, I'm hearing a number of neighborhood associations talking to me about all the street vendors we have at night throughout the city.

Thank you. Thank you, Carl. Rosa Pisano, followed by Guadalupe Baragán, followed by Marisol, followed by Guadalupe Rubalcaba.

Thank you.

y de la mesa del control de rentas en la ciudad de Santana. Esa es una de mis peticiones. Muchas gracias. Gracias. Gracias.

Good evening to all at this beautiful city. My name is Rosa Pisano. I am from Ward 5. And I'm asking you to please accept what we are coming here to ask, to have this follow-up to this letter that we're bringing tonight to support this item number 25. which is to establish a registry and a rent control board in Santa Ana. Thank you.

Thank you. Guadalupe Baragán, followed by Marisol, followed by Guadalupe Rubalcaba, followed by Michelle Keens. If you could all please just come forward, those of you who are going to speak, los que van a hablar, si por favor se pueden empezar a formar pa que sea esto un poquito más rápido. Gracias. Adelante, Guadalupe.

Buenas noches a todos los miembros del concilio.

I would like to express this evening to all of you. I am resident of the district number 5 and I am representing the community Sullivan in action. I would like to support this evening, the point 25, in the agenda of today's agenda. I would like to ask you a register of rent and a meeting of rent control in the city of Santana.

Quiero agradecer el apoyo del 2.5% de la renta y pedirles a los miembros de la ciudad de Santana que por favor capaciten a los manejadores de las casas móviles. Muchísimas gracias.

Gracias.

Buenas noches. Un momentito, señora, por favor. Good evening to all in city council. I'm here to ask you, I'm a resident of District 5, representative of Sullivan en Acción, and I'm asking you here to support item number 25 in the agenda to have a rent control registry, a rent control board in Santa Ana. Thank you for supporting the 2.5% in rent, and I'm asking you to train the managers of the mobile home parks.

Thank you. Marisol, followed by Guadalupe Rubalcaba, followed by Michelle Kearns, followed by Karen Sarabia.

We can solve it more than we can, because we can increase the rent. And also, the owners of the parks, I'm due to a model home, but I'm renting the space, and the owners don't consider the residents, they don't respect our privacy, they don't respect that we are paying for our privacy, and they want to be the owners and do not consider that we are also helping them in their business. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening, City Council members and Mayor. My name is Marisol. I'm in District 5 in Sullivan, and I'm here to support Item 25. And please consider the low-income families who have multiple children, and sometimes we can't support our children because of rent increases. and also I live in a mobile home park I own the home but I rent the space and sometimes the owners do not respect our privacy because we pay for our privacy so I want to for you to help us with this to support us in this issue thank

you thank you Guadalupe Rubalcaba followed by Michelle Kearns followed by Fernando, followed by Karen Sarabia.

My family, because we are already older. My husband and I are older. We've lived over 50 years in this area. We don't work. And sometimes we don't get what we have. And we can see if there is a control of the rent. Thank you.

Good evening to all. I'm in District 5. I'm here to ask you to support number 25 on the agenda to have rent control. We don't have any control, and there's a lot of people who are seniors. My husband and I are seniors, and we've been in the area for over 50 years, and we don't work anymore, and sometimes the money is not enough, so we need rent control. Thank you.

Thank you. Michelle Kearns, followed by Fernando, followed by Karen Sarabia, followed by Dora Trejo.

Hi, good evening. I'm Michelle, and I live in Huntington Beach, and I work at 1401 North Flower at Flower Terrace Senior Apartments. And so I did a U-turn and came home, came back here from going home tonight to talk about a concern that I have at Flower Terrace, and so it's going to go in conjunction with item number 25. I also run a senior living at my home in Huntington Beach, so I understand rent control as a landlord and also as a resident. So I know that one of my seniors just got a rent increase letter

of over $500 per month from $1335 to $1867. It seems that that exceeds the aggregate amount that's suggested, the 3% to 5% per HUD guidelines. Even if that's not going to the low-income housing voucher recipient, that's getting passed on to our HUD department, which then equates to our tax dollars, as all of us who are taxpayers in our communities. So I would just like to see, if that increase was approved by the city of Santa Ana,

I would like to see some more improvements at the property if that goes into effect. I have had numerous occasions of, you know, egregious discussions with the property. The property managers don't want to deal with me anymore. I had to go through the landlord where I had to talk to our Orange County Board of Supervisors to find the landlord because they wouldn't give me the landlord's name. That's not appropriate communication in my opinion. and so I would like to have the city of Santa Ana just help with some safety guidelines as it relates to senior citizens I was told that they have been

missing their air conditioning heat in this 200 unit apartment for up to three years one year for sure that I've been working there I have asked for updates from the landlord from the New York asset manager from the from the managers supervisors in Irvine and I have gotten no conclusion on that. So if we could have somebody reach out to them. I do want to also thank the city code enforcement from Santa Ana who has been more than receptive in going over there and citing for certain situations which they are now going to be repairing.

But I just think that the intimidation factor based on these seniors being low income, strong Korean population who you know they they don't know how to ask for certain things and so I as the voice of someone who works for a lot of them over there I'm standing here as the voice and so if we could please have some some more respect for our seniors over there and help that thank you thank you

Fernando followed by Karen Sarabia followed by Dora Trejo followed by

Carla Rubalcaba?

Is Fernando here? How about Karen? Karen Sarabia?

Adelante. Sigue Dora Trejo, then Carlo Rubalcaba.

Buenas tardes. Good afternoon, everyone. Mi nombre es Karen Sarabia. Soy parte del comité organizador del evento de Noche de Altares. I have the petition to allow the end of the crossroads of the 3rd Street Street and the 3rd Street Ross, in the center of Santa Ana, to make our annual event of Noche of Altar, the 5th of November. As you will know, from the 20th century, the Mexico Center has organized this event, which is distinguished by the most big and old event in the Orange County, where more than 40.000 people come to Santa Ana. This time we are organizing our first event after the pandemic,

so we have contacted multiple families, organizations, schools, businesses, universities, asking how they can participate. We want to guarantee that all participants will be able to join this event in a safe way, so we ask that we reconsidered the 3rd Street Street to join this event for our community. De antemano agradecemos el apoyo que la ciudad de Santa Ana siempre ha brindado para realizar este evento, ya que ella es conocida internacionalmente. Gracias.

Gracias.

Muy buenas noches. Un momentito, por favor. Good evening. My name is Kenneth Saravia. I'm an organizer for Noche de Altares event. and we're here to ask you to close the corner of 3rd and Ross in Santa Ana for this annual event that's going to take place Saturday, November 5th. Centro Cultural de Mexico has organized the event in prior years and this is the largest and the oldest event of its kind with over 40,000 people attending coming to Santa Ana and now it's the first time that we're coming back after the pandemic

So we're asking you to support this, to keep the participants safe, to please close Third Street. Thank you for supporting the city of Santa Ana in this internationally known event. Thank you.

Thank you. Dora Trejo, and our last speaker is Carlo Rubalcaba.

Buenas noches a todos. Gracias por ponernos atención. Soy voluntaria de muchas organizaciones, especialmente en el Centro Cultural de México. I also want to support the City of the 3rd Street, because we have many volunteers of the schools, both of Garden Grove and of Santana, who want to participate in this great event. And because we bring the culture here to Santana, if you can see some posters here, each year we represent a different topic. This year we give tribute to a friend, a captain who died, who always participated in the event of Noches and Attares,

for that they can learn our culture and learn that the symbol of each day is the death of the dead. The colibrí, which is also the legend maya, so it's what we have to transmit to our people here in the Condado de Orange. and that they have in mind that we have with the 3rd Street Street, so that they can close it for the security of our visitors, who come from many parts of the United States, because this is an international event. So, that's what we ask for, to take into account, and because that's the attraction of the city of Santana, the day of the night and the day of the day. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening. Thank you for listening to our voices. And I'm a volunteer for many organizations, including Centro Cultural de Mexico. And I'm here to ask you to support us in the closure of Third Street. And this is, a lot of volunteers are coming from the school districts, from Santa Ana and Garden Grove, are coming to support this event. And this organization brings culture to Santa Ana. and I have a poster here and you can see the different themes that we've had and this theme, the tribute is for a captain that has supported us in the event in years past and we also teach about, we want people to learn about the symbolism

for example the hummingbird is from the Mayan culture so please consider the close of 3rd Street for the safety of our visitors who are coming from all over the United States because this is actually an international event so we're asking you to please support this Noche de Altares. Thank you.

Thank you. Our last in-person speaker is Carlo Rubalcaba, and then I'm going to turn it over to the clerk staff so they can go ahead and call on people who are online.

Good evening. Good evening. My name is Carlo Rubalcaba. I'm a resident of Ward 5. I would like to express my support for item 25, establish a rental registry. I urge the city council to adopt a rent board that is representative to the city residents. Thank you. Have a good night.

Thank you very much for those comments.

zoom id jennifer rojas please select the microphone icon to unmute from your device and proceed with your comment you have three minutes to speak good evening santa anna city council my name is jennifer rojas and i am the policy advocate and organizer with aclu socal based in orange county i'm speaking before you today on agenda item 26 the discussion to move santa ana police officer association contract negotiations to a public forum as we all know police officers have the most power that can be bestowed on a public

official the power to take a human life those powers and the processes for accountability are partially held within the sapoa contract for this reason the sapoa contract contains matters of great public importance particularly disciplinary agreements history has shown that the disciplinary processes for police officers is seriously flawed in 2015 multiple sapd officers raided a marijuana dispensary stole products and destroyed evidence of their misconduct

Those officers were fired by the former Santa Ana Police Department Police Chief, and those officers were criminally charged. However, their discipline was later overturned by the city's personnel board. The officers' jobs were reinstated with back pay. One officer in particular had been involved in three officer-involved shootings prior to the dispensary raid misconduct the City Council must ensure the utmost transparency on SAPOA contract negotiations we recommend that the City

Council increase transparency in two ways number one the City Council should provide periodic public reports on the SAPOA contract negotiations before the tentative agreement with sapoa is reached two we recommend that once a tentative agreement is reached the city council should hold a public hearing on the tentative agreement to solicit public feedback before the contract is ratified thank you so much council member lopez for putting forth this discussion and thank you for your time

zoom id victor mendes please select the microphone icon to unmute from your device and proceed with your comment you have three minutes to speak

yes can you hear me yes we can hear you yes um yes i'd like to also comment on item 26 as well as 27 uh while my the esteemed person for the aclu makes a good point she misses the issue entirely If we're going to talk about all this type of transparency with respect to the POA, then we should also have equal or even more transparency to those who supervise those officers. For example, the Police Management Association contract is also for negotiation. There should be equal, if not even more, transparency for that conversation

and an exact public hearing for that type of negotiation or that contract. you know these are the folks that oversee our police that make recommendations on hire and firing and have a exert great control over the lives of our city and quality of life of our city so in the interest of transparency fairness and equity the same measures that are going to be applied to the police officers should be equally applied to the police management association along that way we should have an open forum on the chief's evaluation i mean how can we uh let go

the most critical piece of information or a process that the city council does um and done behind closed doors and likewise as our city manager and our city attorney let's just not stop at the if you're truly interested in transparency if you're truly interested in facts if you're truly interested in adequate participation and appropriate oversight let's just not stop on what one party but extend it to the entire universe of those that have the most direct influence over the actions of these officers um it seems to be also that this issue

seems to have evolved i guess with some type of breach of confidentiality well i don't know what's going on but so far we're not hearing anything that's been resolved or result or any result coming out of these conversations so i don't know the effect of that what that breach would be and maybe if something did result because of something that someone said or shouldn't have said, that might be an issue. But I really see this whole problem as really being that of the council, not of the police officers association. You know, I just think we're kind of, you know, if you really want to, you know,

address the more core issue, it's the council that's having the breach and not the police officers association. But if you want to go forward with it, I'm fully supportive as long as it's fully encompassing of every single person, every single entity that touches our officers. Let's be fair and honest about the conversation. Likewise, on number 27, I also believe that I think it's a little bit overboard in terms of trying to limit staff or the ability of council to use staff by their end or election. I mean, the goal of every one of you is to serve the public,

not you know 90 days before an election but all the way from the time you take off to the time you leave you're and to limit yourself thank you speaker your time is up would have unforeseen consequences thank you zoom id kaylee levitt 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.

Hi, I'm a volunteer for Tenants United Santana and an advocate of item number 25 with support for all of the suggestions in the red line language submitted by Tenants United Santana. And I specifically want to highlight one recommendation about the rent board composition, which is to ensure a spot for three members who are tenants, one member who's a mobile home resident, two members who are either landlords or manage a rental property, and one at-large member with no financial interest and no ownership of income generating rental housing.

rental housing. And the reason for this suggestion is to ensure that the rent board properly reflects the demographics of the city of Santana. And looking at the American Community Survey for 2021, I see that there are over 43,000 renter-occupied housing units out of about 78,000, meaning that just looking at the units, there is a 55% record renter-occupied amount of housing units, which is already more than half. And that number, that percentage does not further show how many renters really live in the city as the level of density within each rental unit is not accounted

for. So considering the amount of rental units alone make up more than half of the housing units in the city, we ask that the city give three seats on the rent board for renters. Also, this 55% number does not account for mobile home units for which there are about 4,000 units in the city. And because there are renters and owners who make up a significant and distinct portion of the population, we ask that there be a spot designated for them that does not take away from the amount of seats for tenants. And so that's the reason for that recommendation. And then furthermore,

I want to highlight the fee rebate program for low-income seniors living on fixed incomes and ensuring that there is a fee exemption for subsidized housing. And that's particularly important because looking at the American Community Survey as well, we're able to see that about 44% of housing units actually have housing income from some form of Social Security or retirement income. And that portion of the city should be considered for the specific housing security risk they have as rents increase. And so we don't want to further burden them.

And then lastly, I'll just speak on the voluntary mediation program, which I support, but I want to make sure has the support for the participating members by ensuring that the mediator has 40 to 80 hours of formal training and mediation thank you speaker your time is up suggestions mentioned thank you for your time zoom id benjamin vasquez please select the microphone icon to unmute from your device and proceed with your comment you have three minutes to speak hello mayor hello council i'm benjamin vasquez i'm a homeowner and headed your park a a resident of war two and a teacher at Valley High School.

First, I'm gonna support that by Central Colorado Mexico for Noche de Altariz. More importantly, I'm calling to support item 25 for rental registry to protect rent control. I also support the amendment by Tenants United Santa Ana. Let me just say this, this is not rent reduction for all the landlords out there. Nobody's taking your money. This is rent control, not rent reduction.

I started following the houseless numbers of students in Santa Ana Unified School District since before COVID, where we were at 4,800. We now have 5,800 houseless children. That's a 20% increase. Valley High School is a little bit worse than most of the city and Ward 2, that we serve Ward 2. Valley High School alone has 27% of their children listed as homeless, as we describe under the McKinney-Vento label. Santa Ana has the 10th highest rent in the whole country. We're talking New York, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, Oakland, and there goes Santa Ana, we're number 10.

That's why we need this registry to support these families. We need to keep our families in their houses. We need to support our youth. We need to make sure we're in safe places. Please support item 25. Thank you. Zoom ID, Ariel Bedell. Please select that microphone icon to unmute from your device and proceed with your comment. You have three minutes to speak.

Hello, thank you. My name is Ariel Bedell, and I'm an attorney that represents owners and operators in mobile home parks within the city of Santa Ana. We do thank the mayor, the city council members, city attorney, and staff for recognizing the legal issues and claims regarding the initial just cause eviction and rent stabilization ordinances. especially as those ordinances specifically relate to the unique and express preemptive laws protecting and regulating tenancies in mobile home parks. Many of the proposed amendments to the ordinances recognize exclusively applicable state and federal laws governing all aspects of

the rights, obligations, and protections already afforded to tenancies in mobile home parks. These amendments take important steps to address the issues raised in impending litigation on the original ordinances. My firm on behalf of our clients submitted written comments outlining areas of the amended ordinances that continue to pose conflicts with the existing laws and included recommendations to further the amend the ordinances to reflect the preemptive nature of those laws and regulations. Again, we simply support this ordinance, but with modifications to bring it into compliance with the preemptive nature

of mobile home residency law protections. The laws are there for a reason. They already provide extensive protections to the tenancies in these very unique and important housing elements within the city. We direct the city council members attention to that letter and hereby incorporate it as the fully set forth in these comments. Again, we appreciate the city's acknowledgement of the issues raised with these ordinances, specifically relating to mobile home parks, and encouraged to see the city take steps to attempt to come into compliance with the necessary laws

and just as importantly to provide equal to protections to all parties involved thank you zoom id brandon cisco please select the microphone icon to unmute from your device and proceed with your comment you have three minutes to speak

hi there good evening thank you for your time thank you city council and staff for the hard work you do specifically on the item number 22 and everything else you're doing

i sent an email yesterday and i'd like to bring it to attention again now

about the cannabis retail tax revenue the current versus the near future with santa Santa Ana being the only city in Orange County with storefronts. That means we're currently capturing 100% of the Orange County market. In the near future, there will be a hundred storefronts in Orange County. And if Santa Ana remains at the 30, that means we will only be capturing 30% of the Orange County market.

In addition, it will be further reduced because Costa Mesa will be bringing on prime retail locations, so the 30% may be even less realized.

Current retail tax revenue of $8 million a year, for example, would only be $2.4 million a year afterward. Adopting proper language now to allow for additional retail permits later via resolution could provide Santa Ana the maneuverability to stay competitive in the near future. On the flip side, not adopting now would likely lose the city tens of millions of dollars over the next couple of years and likely allow for another city to become Orange County's leader in cannabis. whereas most of you all have showed pride in being the leader of cannabis in Orange County.

It would be a shame to shoot ourselves in the foot and lose that position as once lost may never regain. The mayor has exclaimed multiple times the Santa Ana cannabis tax revenue, mainly retail, saved the city fiscally during the COVID-19 crisis. to to note proper language i'm referring to is um previous i've detailed in previous communications outlining how the merit plus wait lists selected entities should reserve receive first priority

not a le carte wait list entities so again keep in mind that there's going to be 70 more storefronts coming online in Orange County and in better locations. So you cannot expect the retail tax to be the same. And if you decide not to put language in place to allow for later permits to be added via resolution, that could be a long-term issue. Thank you.

Thank you. I think that was our last speaker that was joining us by phone. So let me go ahead and bring it back to the Council. We're at the consent calendar portion of the meeting and I'll ask if there's any members of the Council that wish to abstain or recuse themselves due to a conflict or if there are any items off the consent calendar that they'd wish to pull.

Phil BacerraItem 3

Mayor, I'd like to pull item 11.

Go ahead.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to recuse myself from item number seven, as Shea Properties is a client of my employer, Rattan & Tucker, as well as item number 19, as TAC Energy is also a client of my employer, Rattan & Tucker, but not my client. Thanks.

Thank you for that. Hearing and seeing nothing else, let me just double check with Councilmember Hernandez, who's joining us virtually. Council member are you good with everything? Yes Mr. Mayor all good. Great thank you. So I'll go ahead and entertain a motion actually before I forget let me pull item number 23 just I'm just gonna make a comment on it before we do that. Let me just say and if you if my council if my council colleagues will indulge me I'm gonna say these words in Spanish first and I'll go ahead and translate into English, but I want to say, les doy muchas gracias a todos ustedes que nos están acompañando, que han

apoyado este, el asunto número 23, que se trata de la hermandad entre la ciudad de Santana y la ciudad de Zahuayo. Le quiero agradecer primeramente a la Fundación Zahuayo, que han abogado, no nomás recientemente, pero por años. Y yo I know that I have been here with the Council Municipal, I have been here with my, with my alcalde, lastimosamente no has been there much of this, I have been here with the Consulado Mexicano, and thank you for not leaving this issue that is so empty.

I want to thank you also also to the Dr. Manuel Galvez for his leadership, his support, and And my colleagues who will support this issue because it is something historic. In many years the city has not had a connection with a city, with a municipality, and it is a time. So I tell my colleagues that it is not the last city. Santa Ana is beautiful, is big, and there are many cities that want to make those links to have a cultural exchange and economic exchange of many other things that we can do together.

Briefly, what I just said, colleagues, is I'm just thanking the Fundación Zaguayo for their support over the years. I know they've been trying to do this and many other cities have tried to do this, so this is historic because I know that the city doesn't have many other sister city relationships as other cities do, especially cities our size. And these are more efforts to go ahead and embrace and have cultural exchanges, have exchanges of economic development. And for many of you that aren't aware of, Sawayo has, you know, we have more people from the town of Sawayo in Michoacan, Mexico,

than probably any other city. So it's an interesting footprint that we have. I hope this won't be the last time this council considers doing a sister city with other cities, whether it be Mexico, whether it be somewhere abroad, someplace else. But I do think that we have such a rich and cultural diversity in our city that we can embrace and exchange things. I can see this happening with, you know, a Southeast Asian city, a city in Africa, a city in Europe. But I think, you know, that's the type of community that we have. So I want to thank everybody's support for this.

Again, I want to thank Fundacion Saguayo for all their Dia de Rasgo. Gracias. Maybe we could pull this one and if we can, you know, maybe vote independently on this one. So I guess I will pull it after that comment. But I'll also entertain a motion before then to go ahead and move the balance with the exception of item number 11, which Mayor Pro Tem will speak about, and item number 17 and 19, Councilman?

that you're refusing yourself on?

7 and 19. So is there a motion for the balance?

Phil BacerraItem 3

So moved. Second.

We have a motion by Mayor Pro Tem, a second by Council Member Peña Loza.

If you can vote on your devices.

Mayor, while we vote, can I just make a quick comment?

Sure, go ahead.

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

I just want to say that, you know, we worked really hard, staff and the city council with the public regarding the cannabis ordinance. It was literally probably, you know, years in the making. And I just want to thank everybody who participated, whether you were residents, industry folks, advocates. I know that I learned a lot from this process. I educated a lot of my friends and family. I took my mom and her friends to cannabis shops to help educate them. I think it's time that we continue to make it accessible. make it reliable and make it safe for everybody so I really look forward to

Thai Viet PhanItem 3

improving our tax revenue here in the city and that we continue to make cannabis and industry worth working in and that supports this community as well as the community in Orange County at large thank you great comment

colleagues please vote

Councilmember Hernandez, will you voice your vote?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 3

Yes.

David PenalozaItem 3

I select that. It's green.

Not working. Mine's not working.

I'm sorry, we'll do a roll call vote. Councilmember Hernandez, yes. Councilmember Lopez, yes. Councilmember Mendoza, yes. Councilmember Peñalosa? Yes. Councilmember Fan? Yes. Mayor Pro Tem Becerra? Yes. And Mayor Sarmiento? Yes. Motion passes by unanimous consent. I forgot are we

gonna take item number 23 alone or was that part of the motion right now? No? Okay. So let's take up Mayor Pro Tem's item. That was item number 11. Please go ahead, Mayor Pro Tem.

Phil BacerraItem 3

Thank you, Mayor. So staff, maybe Hawk or Nabil, if you could answer this for me. So this is the item which I'm excited about. So we're going to improve the lighting at a couple of parks in the city. LED sports lighting for looks like Memorial Thornton and then the Dan Young soccer complex at Centennial. one question I had is is it included in this contract or a subsequent contract that will have lights at the basketball court over there at the Upton All Access Park at Thornton Park?

It would be in another contract. And there'll be one coming to the council soon? Yes, this one is straight for the field lights themselves the baseball diamonds and the flat fields.

Phil BacerraItem 5

Okay, I just wanted that clarification but we will see something coming for the basketball court.

Yes, that is in the plans.

Phil BacerraItem 5

Perfect. That was my only question. I'll go ahead and move the item.

Great. Thank you. Councilmember Pinalos.

David PenalozaItem 5

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Mayor Pro Temp, for pulling this item. I wasn't going to, but since it was pulled, I wanted to comment. The lighting at Memorial Park, those fields, is very much in dire need of replacement. And over the summer, during the Pop Warner opening ceremonies, many of the parents and of the coaches approached me about replacing these lighting fixtures and poles so one thing that I wanted and I know that the items under Memorial Park lighting it says replacement of fixtures and poles but I wanted to just get full clarification that these poles will be it would be complete full 100%

David PenalozaItem 5

replacement of all the lighting fixtures throughout the field okay because They're very rusted, so very happy to see this item before us. And part of the funding sources is cannabis, cannabis youth funds. So thank you to that. A quarter of a million dollars from our cannabis benefit fund. So always nice to see these amenities being enhanced with the cannabis fund. So thank you for that. With that, I'll make a motion to approve item 11.

I think we have a motion. Do you want to be a second?

David PenalozaItem 5

I'll second.

Great. Seeing no other comments or questions, are the devices working?

Can we try again on the devices?

Let's try again.

Council Member Hernandez, can you voice your vote please? Yes.

Motion passes by unanimous consent.

Great. Thank you. Let me go ahead and now talk on item 23. So I'm not going to repeat what I said. So I just got ahead of myself. I should have just pulled it and said it. Last thing I want to do is just thank city staff for helping prepare this for us. And I want to thank Council Member Mendoza because I know we met and had a joint meeting with both some of the members of the community on this item. So I will proudly move the item for the adopting the resolution establishing a sister city with Sawayo Michoacan Mexico and I will entertain a second. I will second. Two seconds. You guys want to arm wrestle?

David PenalozaItem 5

I was louder. So we have a second and a third as well. Mayor, I just want to quickly comment that Huayah, Michoacan is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been to in Mexico. So whoever's listening, if you haven't been to already, there are other cities in Mexico besides Cancun and cobbled so please please visit these cities so thank you for that do we get a field trip because

Thai Viet PhanItem 5

now we're sister cities i'd like to go see you did you want to say something i just echoed

councilmember fans trip idea and i think you should take your city manager i like that okay

so uh brace yourself so while we may be on our way um so with that why don't we do if you don't mind want to do a voice vote on this one if that's okay can we confirm the second please yes the second

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

was mayor proton and then if i if i can make a comment as well go ahead i very much am excited about this um opportunity for us to establish a sister city relationship with sawayo michoacan and i look forward to bringing santana to sawayo michoacan and um and meeting their leaders and their people there just the same way that they did here in Santa Ana for fiestas patria. So looking forward to having our elected officials and our city manager and city of Santa Ana go out there and meet their leadership and continue to build this relationship. Thank you very much. Looking forward to this, sir. Thank you.

Phil BacerraItem 5

Thank you so much. So I had the opportunity to meet with their mayor as well, virtually. And one thing that really excited me about this agreement is, you know, Santa Ana has amazing football here in town. And the opportunity to show off our talent in Sawaya would be an amazing opportunity. And I think that while talking to the mayor, he was very open to that idea. So I'm looking forward to something like that. While we share culture and all these other things, I wouldn't mind a couple of friendly matches where Santa Ana gets to flex a little bit. So I'm looking forward to that. I love it.

I love it. So before we take the voice vote, I just want to say for those of you who were at our Fiestas Patrias, the person who did the grito, the person who actually did the ceremony for us, was the mayor of Sawayo. So it was especially, you know, important that night that he be present and that, you know, he, I know, is probably watching virtually right now because this is something very important to them back in Sawayo. So in any event, with that, Madam Clerk, I'll let you go ahead and ask us for a roll call vote.

Council Member Hernandez?

Yes.

Council Member Lopez? Yes. Councilmember Mendoza. Yes. Councilmember Peñalosa. Si. Councilmember Fan. Yes. Mayor Potem Becerra. Yes. And Mayor Sarmiento. Claro que si. Adelante. Felicidades. Thank you. Si se pudo. Si se pudo. Gracias. Gracias.

So with that, the rest of the calendar doesn't seem as exciting as that. Muchas gracias.

Moving on, I wish we could stop the meeting there and just have a little bit of a party. But we've got to go on and continue doing business. So thank you so much. Let's move along to the business calendar section of the agenda, and that is to appoint a member to the Vector Control Board of Trustees, and I will move to appoint Council Member Mendoza.

David PenalozaItem 5

I'll second.

And I will accept with honor.

Any other thoughts or consideration on that? That being there, there's a motion by me and a second by Council Member Peñalosa. Council Members, please vote.

Councilmember Hernandez, can you please voice your vote?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

Yes, my vote is yes.

Motion passes by unanimous consent. Great.

Congratulations, Councilmember.

Thank you. I will represent the City of Santa Ana well and try to keep our beautiful city mosquito-free.

It's a tall order. If anybody can do it, you can. So moving along to item number 25, which is to adopt the amendments to the ordinance on rent stabilization and just cause eviction. I'll go ahead and turn it over to staff.

Thank you, Honorable Mayor and Council Members. Judson Brown, our housing manager, has a brief presentation on this item. And he is looking for certain direction on a couple decision points that we need to make tonight.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor, members of the City Council. After one year of work since the original adoption of the rent stabilization ordinance and just cause eviction ordinance, we are now returning to you with our amendments to the ordinance to fully implement the goal and vision of the city council to protect residents from displacement and eviction. With that introduction, I'll introduce our housing programs analyst, Sarah Kort, to give our presentation.

Thank you. Thank you Judson and good evening honorable mayor and members of the city council. My name is Sarah Court and I am a housing programs analyst with the community development agency.

As Judson mentioned, the purpose of tonight's item is to approve the first reading of the ordinance amending the rent stabilization and just cause eviction ordinances. We are also here seeking direction from City Council on the desired composition of the rental housing board. Based on City Council direction tonight, staff will incorporate your feedback in return for a second reading of the ordinance. On September 6th, City Council adopted the long-term implementation plan for the rent stabilization and just cause eviction ordinances. City Council

also authorized the city manager and city attorney to begin drafting amendments to the rent stabilization and just cause eviction ordinances based upon the long-term implementation plan and direction by city council. The redline version of the ordinance is attached to your staff report as exhibit two. It's important to note that the rent stabilization ordinance and just cause eviction ordinance were previously two separate ordinances in the Santa Ana municipal code. For the sake of convenience, the ordinances have been combined into one as the rent stabilization and just cause eviction ordinance.

The amendments to the ordinance adheres to the long-term implementation plan and direction by City Council at the September 6th City Council meeting. At the September 6th meeting, City Council directed staff to incorporate specific revisions into the amended ordinance relative to the Rental Housing Board, Rental Registry Fee, Voluntary Mediation, Compliance, and Exemptions. Where the long-term implementation plan or City Council was silent on specific areas of the ordinance, staff incorporated language that seeks to fulfill the spirit and intent of the City Council.

Council. Regarding the Rental Housing Board, at the September 6 meeting, staff did not receive clear direction on the desired composition of the board. The current language in the ordinance includes a board with three tenants including one mobile home tenant, three landlords, and one at-large member with no financial interest. This recommendation aligns most closely with the research and findings identified in the long-term implementation plan and is presented as option one on the slide you see here. There are other options for City Council to consider

including options two through four. In addition, exhibit three of the staff report provides the board compositions from the other seven sample jurisdictions in RSG's long-term implementation plan. Since the policy direction was not clear at the September 6th City Council meeting, staff recommends that City Council deliberate and discuss the desired composition of the board and select an option.

The next steps tonight are to first deliberate on the composition of the rental housing board and then to approve the first reading of the ordinance amending the rent stabilization and Just Cause Eviction Ordinances. This ordinance will provide staff with a regulatory framework to implement and fulfill the goal and vision of the City Council. Following your direction tonight, staff will incorporate your feedback in return for a second reading of the ordinance.

Thank you for your time, and staff is available for any questions you may have.

Great, thank you for that presentation. Let me go ahead and bring it back to the City Council to see if there's any questions or comments on this item. I'll go ahead and open up the floor now to any members of the council. Yes, Council Member Mendoza.

On that, this program, it's going to cost about $500,000 to manage. Is that correct?

Thank you, Council Member Mendoza. At the last City Council meeting, the City Council approved an amendment to the contract with RSG to implement the ordinance for this year using American Rescue Plan Act funds, and that amount was for $500,000.

And that is for a one-year contract?

Yes.

So if we have this program in place indefinitely, It's going to be $500,000 each year?

No, the cost to administer the program will be directly dependent upon a work plan and a budget that is adopted by City Council for the administration of the program. That work plan will be developed following approval by City Council of the amendments to the ordinance tonight. and then subsequently a fee study will be conducted that will determine the amount of the rental registry fee that will be generated to pay for the staffing and administration and costs for the administration of the ordinance. So the cost to administer the ordinance is yet to be determined and will be dependent on that work plan,

that fee study and the approval by City Council of the program's budget in the City's fiscal year 23-24 budget. The principles that would be followed for the adoption of the rental registry fee and the fee study are listed for you in the Staff Report, but our primary principle is to be as lean and efficient as possible.

There is another fee then for the fee study, right?

I'm sorry?

There's a fee for the fee study?

There will be a cost to conduct the fee study by a professional consultant contracted as a third party advisor to the city.

What's the cost more or less on those studies?

We would have to research that information for you and get back to you with that. We don't have an exact approximate estimate of the cost of fee studies typical for jurisdictions that have adopted this type of ordinance.

My other concern is that there's a pass-through fee that the tenant would have to pay. Is that correct?

Yes. As part of the amendments to the ordinance tonight, the rental registry fee will include a pass-through of 50% of the fee to tenants. However, tenants in affordable housing and subsidized housing, including Section 8 housing and affordable housing projects, would be exempt from that fee.

Is there a chance that that fee could somehow be passed to the tenant without the program knowing or realizing in the form of other fees?

That would be a violation of the ordinance and there is a section of the ordinance regarding the enforcement and remedies that would be available to staff to investigate that type of allegation and ensure that a landlord is paying their portion of the fee and then the tenant is paying no more than 50% of the portion passed through over a 12 month period.

So this program is mainly to benefit the low income. It's a rent control program, right? So we're assessing fees on people who can't really pay their rent. That's how I see it. Can you explain a little bit how this is going to help the low income tenant?

Let's see here. Okay, if I can explain how the amendment to the rent stabilization ordinance will assist low-income families in our community. Yes. I would draw your attention to the recitals that define and specify the exact reasons for the city's adoption of the ordinance as it regards to the health, safety, and welfare of the city and our residents.

Thank you, Judson. That's all my questions.

Thank you for those questions. Let me go ahead and bring it back to other members of the council. Mayor Pro Tem.

Phil BacerraItem 25

Can I come back up, Judson? So did I hear you correctly when you said that the fee, the pass-through fee, that would go to the tenants, right, the landlords and the tenants, would not be applicable to those in affordable subsidized units?

Yes, Mayor Pro Tem, that is correct.

Phil BacerraItem 25

And just help me understand, so is the goal still to make this cost neutral?

The goal is to ensure that this program is operated in a cost neutral fashion, such that in a cost neutral manner, such that there would be no impact on the general fund. That would be the intent of all of our grant funded programs, of which I manage most of most of the largest grant funding programs in our city and this program would be cost neutral to the city. I got to tell you I can't wait to see you

Phil BacerraItem 25

pull the rabbit out of the hat. So some of my colleagues have asked you to lower the fee down to a hundred maybe even less. We had the kind of estimate from the last time this was brought before us in the staff report that said this might be around $200 per unit and then now we're saying that of the units that that would be subject to rent control, that those in the subsidized units, they would not be subject to paying this fee. Is that correct?

So at the last meeting, Mayor Pro Tem, we provided a range for the rental registry fee. There were different amounts that were suggested and used regarding the rental registry fee, but we only provided a range of estimates. And yes, in regards to the fee not being passed through to tenants in affordable and subsidized housing, the rental registry fee would be prohibited from being passed through to those tenants.

Phil BacerraItem 25

Okay. And part of the reason why you provided us a range is because we have a fee study that's outstanding. In other words, it has not been concluded yet, correct?

That's correct.

Phil BacerraItem 25

Yes. So the council has an ordinance before us to create a bureaucracy, right, to add staff, to add processes and we don't know the cost of it because what I see on page three of the staff report, it says fiscal impact which we have for all of our items that come before us and I'm reading verbatim it says there is no fiscal impact associated with this action. Is that really true? Can we really say that there's no fiscal impact when we're talking about pass through fees and who it applies to and what that fee will ultimately be? I mean, would it have been more accurate to say we don't know the fiscal impact at this point?

Phil BacerraItem 25

I mean, wouldn't it have been easier to say TBD to be determined?

Thank you, Mayor Pertem. For how we typically use the fiscal impact section, this item does not have any fiscal impact. the rental registry fee that is a part of this item that will be brought back to City Council for approval and adopted as part of the miscellaneous fee schedule, yes, that will have a fiscal impact to begin generating fees that will align with a budget for the division.

Phil BacerraItem 25

So I guess maybe Madam City Manager is going to be relieved to know that all her boards no longer have a fiscal impact because a rent control board will require some sort of babysitting by staff, correct? They'll have a place that they're going to need to meet, assuming it might be somewhere like this. So I assume there would be a cost associated with that, which, if this council adopts this ordinance tonight, would add a fiscal impact, correct?

So, Mayor Pro Tem, consistent with the long-term implementation plan that was presented and approved by the council, This is crafting the structure around implementing this, and this is the introduction and approving the first reading of it, so there isn't a fiscal impact from this action that's before you tonight.

Phil BacerraItem 25

I'm going to disagree because I believe that as the council, those that will vote for this, they're going to create a bureaucracy. They're going to add staff. They're going to add processes that will ultimately have an impact on us. So we don't have a fee study completed yet. We don't know the fiscal impact. And like any other policy that we do in the city, we typically wait until the time that we know how much the policy will cost us. But in this case, what we saw, and I forget who said it earlier, that it has been a year since this ordinance has been adopted. Right?

Phil BacerraItem 25

It's been a year since it's been adopted, and we're only talking about now how it's going to be implemented. And I don't fault staff for that, to be clear. I don't fault that at all, but it is a very complicated subject matter that was rushed through because, frankly, the calendar that was being abided by was more political rather than actual policy oriented. So I find this whole exercise completely irresponsible. It's exactly the opposite of what we should be doing to make good policy. Thank you, Judson. And so I will not be supporting this item.

Any other members of the council have any questions or comments?

Council member Hernandez has his hand. Council member go ahead.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 25

Thank you mayor Sarmiento and thank you members of the public who came and submitted their public comments in person and virtually. I also received many emails related to this item. The direction I would like to provide in relation to this ordinance is that there are some general changes I want to address. Number one is I would like to fix all the capitalization errors. For example, there are parts in the ordinance where tenants is spelled as tenants, all lowercase. And then there are other instances where it is spelled in capital. Capital T has a specific

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 25

definition and should be consistent throughout the policy. Number two is that I want to address the division five rental housing board under section 8-2180 the rental housing board i want to shed light on the fact that 55 of our city is renters the composition of this rental board should reflect our residents and it should reflect the communities that we were elected to serve. And it is for that reason why I am going to advocate for us to have three residents on this

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board. I would want to advocate to have at least no more than two landlords and at least one person with no financial interest in landlord-tenant matters. And I also want to note that it is extremely important that we have a minimum of one mobile home resident. Mobile home residents have a very different dynamic. They own the mobile homes, but they still have to pay a fee to rent the land. So I think it's important that the composition of this board include a minimum of three tenants, one mobile home resident, no more than two landlords, and one person with no financial interest

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in landlord-tenant matters. The third thing I would like to address is under Section 8.2185. the judicial review I would like to change that from 30 days to 90 days for the judicial review period some tenants some tenants oftentimes are experiencing challenges and finding the right resources to secure legal help to to review an adverse hearing board decision within 30 days I just don't see that as something that is realistic the next area that I would like to address is something that has already been talked about today, the dais, and that is the rental

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registry fee. I think that this is a fee that should not exceed $100. I agree with the proposed contents of the registration form, the address, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, name, contact information of current owners, authorized representative, property managers, current rent, date and amount of last rent increase, moving date, current tenants. But I do want to note that we need to include the date of last inspection by city's code enforcement officer. I think that enforcing good living standards for tenants is also good for landlords and property owners.

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This ensures that there's a level of responsibility and accountability, and that's good for both pardons. When it comes to the rental registry fee, I would like to see this fee kept as low as possible to not financially burden landlords and tenants. What I would like to see is that 50% of the fee is the maximum that a tenant can cover. Similar to the Los Angeles County implementation of registry, they require all units to either register or pay a fee or opt out if the residential unit is not a rental unit. The last item that I want to touch on is the no pass-through.

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I agree with the current language that we have, but I think that we also need to consider undocumented residents who often are unable to qualify for affordable housing or Section 8 vouchers. Undocumented residents should be considered for no pass-throughs if they can show documentation of their income being very low or low moderate. I think this would be something that's important for us to add. And similar to that, in West Hollywood, the council had developed and implemented a tenant fee rebate program for senior tenants who are on fixed incomes or have

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low incomes or are disabled. And they receive a 100% rebate at the end of the year for the rental registry fee. I think if we institute this and add this to our ordinance, it helps our seniors and it also ensures that we help them with having this burden taken off their shoulders by getting a rebate. And the last thing I want to close on is that I agree with the proposal for the city to provide voluntary mediation services. However, I think that we have to have at least 40 to 80 hours of formal training and mediation. The current text only has 24 hours. So those are

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the changes I'd like to see. And that those trainings also consist in anti-racist, elimination of bias, and cultural competency. And that concludes my comments. And with that, I'd

like to make a motion and move the side. Great. Thank you for that recitation, Council Member. Is there any other members of the public that, or excuse me, of the Council that wish to ask any questions or second the motion as amended.

For purposes of discussion, I'm going to go ahead and second the motion with the revisions that were made and introduced by Council Member Hernandez. Any other questions or comments from the Council? Council Member Fan?

Thai Viet PhanItem 25

Thank you, Mayor. Judson, can you get up to the podium? Thanks. I just have a lot of clarification questions because I know there are a lot of items that were brought forward from some comment letters, comments on the dais as well as from the public. So the first is I know we did receive a letter from an attorney, someone at Lofton Bedell, and so I do want to say that there has been some edits, or excuse me, there was a bill recently that was approved by the governor that goes into effect on January 1st relating to domestic violence laws. So I would like to see whatever edits

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we do need to make to this ordinance reflect to update that language to ensure that we meet all the requirements of this new law, any California domestic violence laws, as well as the mobile home residency law. I know that staff has gone thoroughly through the ordinance, but just because we have this letter I just want to make sure that we have something like a catch-all, if that is okay.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 25

Yes, may I just make a brief comment? Sure. remember that the proposal tonight is that you actually introduce this ordinance for its first reading we've received some general comments about what you'd like the ordinance to look like but by law we need to draft the language for those changes um so up to the council as to how you'd like to do this it was just like at the last meeting if you offer significant changes that are substantive i'm gonna have to go back and draft the language that will work because that's direction that can be drafted, but we had several tonight.

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So Council's options are to adopt the ordinance as is and give staff direction to come back. We can come back with another first reading at the next meeting or to give staff direction now and we can draft what we can do tonight, but it won't be everything.

Right.

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So I appreciate that. I know we had that same concern with the cannabis ordinance. So I did want to be mindful of that. I think some of the, for example, cleanup, the capitalization, that's easy to do. It's clerical, not a problem.

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Minor changes regarding the mediator training. A mediator. So from 24 hours to 40 to 80 hours of training, I'm perfectly fine with that. usually mediators are retired judges or other legal professionals so they're not you know someone straight out of undergrad who's doing that work but I do want to reiterate the need for some type of DEI or cultural competency training I know that that is something that's really important in our city we do have you know a large immigrant population English second language speakers and just cultural issues that we want to make sure whoever is serving our

Thai Viet PhanItem 25

residents and our landlords are familiar with that. So, so far I think those are kind of more general. Still pretty, I guess, milquetoast. I do want to ask you, some folks have brought up the idea of allowing tenants 90 days to bring a tenant petition. I think that there might be some confusion with that or some issues that that might raise. Can you talk

about that a little bit yes of course so relative to that 90-day provision it's in regards to a tenant petition petitioning against a rent increase that they received now if we if the city council adopts a provision allowing a tenant petition within 90 days of that rent increase that's that's contradictory to what's under state law regarding the effective date of a typical rent increase. The effective date of a typical rent increase can go into effect 30 days. So our petition would allow for 90 days after the issuance of that rent increase, whereas

state law has the effective date of 30 days. So there would be an inconsistency, and I think that would create confusion for both landlords and tenants where potentially the tenant wouldn't pay the rent increase while they're waiting for their petition to be heard. and there would just be a general inconsistency for both parties.

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That's what I thought, too. When I saw the 30 days, and I understand why individuals are asking for 90 days because it would give renters more time to look for either legal counsel or assistance from third parties, but I do also think that creates a situation where the rent would have increased. They would have had to pay the rent for, I guess, two months more before they bring the petition. And so that could be difficult. So I do support the 30 days. I think one thing we might be able to do, and I'm not sure if we currently do, please

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remind me, is with any rent increases, we do require a notice of these rules, these laws, the ordinance. And so since the ordinance does allow for a tenant petition, if we do approve these amendments and do a first reading, they would be notified of that opportunity. The other issue was regarding 90 days to appeal the board's decision for judicial review. Can you talk about why the staff has recommended 30 days instead of 90 days or something longer?

Regarding the provision for judicial review to be no longer than 30 days, staff We have sought here to be efficient and to streamline the decisions by the board. So if the decisions by the board are subject to appeal within 90 days, then it really prolongs the effective date of those decisions going into effect. And we do understand the complications of both tenants and landlords needing to respond to the decisions of the board.

But we wanted to be sure that the ordinance was administered efficiently and that we thought 30 days was reasonable for both parties to appeal under judicial review.

Thai Viet PhanItem 25

Thanks. Madam City Attorney, do you know off the top of your head when we have, say, a planning item that is being appealed, let's say, from the City Planning Commission to City Council, do you know of a general idea of what the timeline is? So it's much shorter. I believe it's 10 days. Right. So I do understand, again, this concern about 30 days not being enough, but I think without having to add into the ordinance, but directing staff to, you know, let tenants know. I imagine when they go to a board hearing and say, hey, these are your resources, this

Thai Viet PhanItem 25

is what you have to do, this is the timeline, these are the nonprofit organizations that can help out. I know Public Law Center has assistance with that, Advancing Justice SoCal, as well as community legal aid. And I think they have a variety of language assistance. And so I think by providing those resources to tenants, you don't get to the concern about you know not being able to get assistance and when they have filed the appeal well it would be with court so they would need legal counsel right okay thank you the other item I wanted to address is we're running the languages for the

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petition process I know that individuals have asked about making it available in all languages obviously there's a practicality issue here in the city and so and I just want to reiterate that consistent with our city overarching overarching policy is that we provide all these documents in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese, and that we do provide these kind of language assistance services, right? Things that we have improved on and I think we'll continue to provide that, and of course at a public hearing or at a hearing for the rent board, if they need assistance with translation, it's something I think we're legally obligated

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to provide. So I would just, I don't think we need to clarify find the ordinance, but I think that it's just, again, direction to staff. The next is regarding the term for board members. I know the ordinance mentions that it's a two-year term for no more than, I think, eight years. I would like to actually amend that to track the current commission terms. I believe the current commissioner terms for our various commissions is just to track the council member who nominated them, right? It's one four-year term. So I don't think that's a major change. It's a pretty minor change to be more consistent with our other commissions.

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And so we're not coming back every two years to get new board members. And I think it keeps us consistent throughout. So it makes it a little bit easier. And related to that, I know that there's language currently, which is kind of inconsistent with our other commissions also, is that it says that the mayor will appoint and the council shall approve. consistent with our, again, our other commissions. I believe each of the council members nominate, and then the entire council approves or appoints. So I would like to make that consistent also. And I do understand because there's some combination of individuals or background,

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I do like in one of staff's other slides, there's a lottery system, I guess, where, you know, because we need, let's say, if you want to have three tenants, three landlords, and who gets to appoint or nominate whom, I think the lottery system is just fine for that. Because I know right now the mayor has to appoint someone who's a CPA for measure X. So I do understand that difficulty. So again, so far, I don't think I've had anything too major. A lot of clarification and directions to staff, but not

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major changes. I do want to ask about staff's recommendation regarding the board makeup. So we've heard a lot of advocacy to require or have four tenants, one of whom is a mobile home resident, no more than two industry representatives, and I want to clarify it's industry representatives, It's not just someone who's a landlord. It could be management, developer, someone who works in that industry, and then one unaffiliated. So can you talk about why staff thinks that the three, three, and one is a better option?

Yes, thank you, Councilmember Phan. So based on our research of other jurisdictions, there aren't other jurisdictions with an imbalanced board, if I might use that term. not in a negative way, but where there's either more tenants or more landlords. And so there's a reason for that. And so we found in our research that most boards are equitably balanced between tenants and landlords, and that serves the best interest of both tenants and landlords as they're following their due process rights under the law.

Thai Viet PhanItem 25

So there aren't any jurisdictions of how many did you look at? Do you know?

We looked at all the jurisdictions with ordinances. The sample jurisdictions in particular, they do not have any boards where there's a disproportionate amount between tenants and landlords.

Thai Viet PhanItem 25

Thanks. And so, Madam City Attorney, Judson did mention this issue about due process. Can you just speak a little bit to that?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 25

Yeah, and I was going to speak to that. So as you know, we've been seeing a greater number of challenges to quasi-adjudicative or judicial decisions where applicants or even those who have vested property rights are now arguing that they have been denied due process because they didn't have a fair hearing before a neutral and fair board. So I do think that while we can't just assume that people will not be fair and open in hearing, I think that you would be best served if you did have a balanced board coming out from the get-go when someone comes forward.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 25

I think if you have a board where clearly four people have backgrounds and they're all absolute tenant rights and they do not appear to be fair, I think you will see some challenges.

Thai Viet PhanItem 25

Thank you. And that's really helpful. That was, I mulled over this question, I think, as you know, for a very long time, and that was one of my main concerns, because they are making decisions affecting property rights. So I do think that at this time, I do support staff's recommendation with the recommendation by the city attorney's office. And, you know, if there are opportunities to come back to this in the future, and I think we always have that opportunity in the future, that we, you know, can always follow up.

Thai Viet PhanItem 25

The next item I did want to address is, you know, at the last council meeting, when we discussed this, we sought to remove the exception to affordable housing providers. I know that for me, that was a very personal issue. There was a project that I think it was actually the first time I've ever been to this council chambers to advocate for. And so it was very personal to me that the rent increase was so exorbitant. But from what I understand, through advocacy and support from our elected officials, as

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well as staff and those in the industry, that the, that organization has chosen to, I guess, be a little bit more equitable with their rent increases over time?

Yes, Council Member, that's correct.

Thai Viet PhanItem 25

And I know, I know the Coddles are here. And, you know, I had a meeting with them. And when I looked at the organizations, excuse me, the affordable housing units that are actually going to be affected by this exception,

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it's those that have been here long term that have not increased their rents in a way that I think was inequitable. And so I think it ended up being an issue where we were finding a solution that didn't solve the problem. problem. And so in the hopes that, you know, our affordable housing providers continue to do good work, continue to be good partners in the community, I would like to ask to add that exception back into the ordinance and move forward from there. And then I do have a couple just comments that my colleagues have brought up. So I really appreciate you

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clarifying some of those questions for me. I don't support a $100 limit on the registry fee. I think that it's really important that for this program to be successful we have to be cost-neutral and in order to do that we have to wait for the registry fee study to come out. And I know that staff was directed that when we when we do the registry fee we have options. You know we can see what pick and choose what kind of benefits or items would be included under the umbrella of the registry fee. So I would like to wait to do that rather than placing a limit today. The other item is again at this time I don't support a

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rebate program. I know that West Hollywood does have it but West Hollywood is significantly smaller than the City of Santa Ana and again I would like to see maybe the registry fee study look into whether a rebate program would be feasible, would be successful, or maybe it's only triggered when we have, say, a registry fee collection that's, you know, 110% of the operating costs or 120% of the operating costs. So anything beyond operating costs then can be rebated back to tenants and landlords. But I would wait for the fee study to kind of look into whether those things would work out.

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And the last thing I just wanted to answer was that, you know, someone asked, how does this program help low-income people? And I believe that this program helps low-income people because rent stabilization has ensured that so many of our tenants are not skipping meals to pay for housing. So many of our tenants and seniors are not skipping medication to pay for housing because we have this rent stabilization ordinance. We have people who need this program to ensure that their rights are protected, that they can stay in this community, and that we talk about creating a strong community, but we're not helping residents stay.

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And this registry fee, whatever it will be, will be as lean and as low as we can possibly have it and still ensure that we're fiscally responsible here in the city. And sure, we can leave the program as it is. We don't have to do anything else to increase. We don't have to have a fee. We don't have to have a registry. We don't have to have a rent board. And still, residents will have more protections today than they did a year ago. and this rent board allows our tenants to have a conversation with the landlords and have to really show up to a body and talk about their issues and be

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adjudicated by their peers rather than to court which today is looking at a five-year litigation date and when you're looking at going to court finding an attorney and navigating that courthouse even as an attorney if you're not a litigator it's not easy so that's how it helps low-income people that's helps our community and that's why I support this item. Madam City Attorney I do want to say that if it is your opinion that the comments that I've made or the edits that I've made necessitate first reading or redo a first reading I would be supportive of that but I would ask staff that because many of these

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comments and edits have been provided to staff in advance that it'd be brought back in two weeks like we did with the cannabis ordinance if that is possible. Thank you.

So thank you for that, Councilmember. So that sounded almost like a substitute motion.

Thai Viet PhanItem 25

Yes, I was going to say that would be a sub motion. Thank you.

So we have a substitute motion by Councilmember Fan. Let me just call on myself just real briefly. As many lawyers will do, we will disagree. And so I think I do disagree with you, Madam City Attorney, on the revisions that were just suggested by Councilmember Fan because I do think that they're an extension of what was asked of us, especially on the composition of the board, some clarity on some of the other provisions on the registry fee. So I do think that those are worthy of qualifying still, or at least being considered a first reading because these are just revisions of some of the provisions and terms that were

provided to us, especially in light of the fact that there was a red line version of suggested changes in advance of this meeting. So I completely, you know, get it, unless we're completely departing from that. And I've seen when we've had to redo our first readings, when we've just, like, abandoned completely what we're doing on an ordinance. This doesn't seem to be that case. It seems like we are just fine-tuning some things here. And look, let me just, you know, remind us of where we came from. When we did this a year ago, we agreed to come back and address these issues back then.

So we agreed to come back and talk about a rent control board, rent control registry fee. And so, yeah, we don't have the numbers right now of what that cost is going to be. And to the extent that we want it to be cost neutral, that really is the goal. And the fee will hopefully help us offset that. When we looked at the range of what cities out there are doing, most of them had in-house staff. And I know what we discussed at the last work study when this issue was presented, and I want to thank Judson and his team, Sarah, and also our consultant Tara, and I forget the firm that she works with.

But in any event, I know that many cities or other cities that do rent stabilization or rent control, they outsource completely that work. And they can do that because they're smaller cities, but I know with the conversations that I've had with our consultant, you could do a hybrid where you can outsource some of that to the consulting firm, and then we can keep some in-house, which will help reduce the overall cost. So that's my hope, and that's where I think we can probably get to where there's some cost neutrality, and then we can figure out what the fee will be. And I think the premise of what was offered by staff is good.

where there'll be no more than 50% borne by the tenant or the renter. So I think all the changes that the council member just recited, I think are not inconsistent with what was mentioned with Council Member Hernandez. But I do think that there's a little bit more clarity. I think there's an extension of what is in the provision to go ahead and give staff specific direction. And they're not complete departures. They're just, I think, you know.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 25

Well, let me offer a compromise to this. I think I agree with you to the extent that a number of these comments, clerical capitalization, changes in hours, some of the other minor clarifications, I think we can capture those as we prepare the second reading, and I would say you could go forward. When we're talking about I need you to draft a language that's consistent with new state law with respect to domestic violence, there's no way that I can capture that because I don't even have any draft language here. We did receive the red line and I don't, what I would ask of the

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clerk's office is when was that red line posted to the agenda for in terms of transparency and

public notice? The red line that was received by Tenants United? Correct.

I don't think it was, I think it was just circulated to staff and the council. But I guess, So is your concern with the first change that the council member wanted to make with respect to the new law that was adopted?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 25

I think that would be the only thing. So I think what we could do is just go forward with the first reading this evening. We could capture what was said when the document comes back to you for second reading. The only thing that you, the risk to you is that we didn't capture everything, correct? and then you could just proceed with that second reading and then have us come back. So the question is, did we get it all tonight, which I believe we did. We've been taking very careful notes, so we could do that. But if we didn't sufficiently capture everything that you've talked about tonight,

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at the next time, you're going to have to go back.

Understood, but I think the only thing that may be new to this whole ordinance or proposed amended ordinance is what the council member first recited with respect to the law that was just adopted. I didn't hear anything that was new or that's something that we haven't discussed. So I think to the extent you can embed that in there, if you can, if you can't, then I guess that's something that can be brought back. Go ahead, Councilman.

Thai Viet PhanItem 25

My clarification was just to say a general statement that this ordinance shall not supersede the mobile home residency law or any other applicable state laws relating to domestic violence. That's a very general umbrella comment.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 25

Yeah, and if we can capture that language and we capture it correctly, we'll attempt to do that in the second reading. I'm just saying if we don't get it exactly how you want it or how they want it, we're going to have to come back again. All right.

Well, we have some talented folks on staff. I mean, I have a lot of confidence in what Judson and everybody else has been, you know, able to do over the past two years and, you know, support staff has been, you know, they're extremely, extremely skilled and we're not reciting rocket science here today. So, you know, one of the questions I think that, you know, I am very comfortable with all the changes and the clarifications that were made by Council Member Fan. I'm supportive, and I'm supportive of the, I believe, Section 8-3147, subsection C, which is the removal of the exemption for affordable units.

I just wanted to give you a reason why I think that's no longer something that we need to remove, that exemption on these affordable developments, because I know the night that we were talking about during the prior discussion, there was a discussion on an item, or excuse me, on a development, a senior affordable housing development at 2222 East first, and I know it had to do with a 10% increase that was being imposed on those tenants there. but through our conversations I realized and you know and I think staff was able to clarify this for me was it was an outlier increase most affordable

developments don't increase at that rate they do a gradual you know three to four percent a year and we've had conversations with the partner partners on that Jamboree and and the principals for you AMG I think is who they are in In any event, it looks like we're getting close to them having retracting that 10% and doing something that's more consistent with the industry standard. So I feel comfortable putting that exemption back in as well as a result of that because I think it would unfairly burden one affordable developer that has about 60 or 70% of the inventory that would be subject to that removal of the exclusion.

So I agree with the council member on that. The only thing I don't maybe may not agree with completely is the composition of the board, and that's a question that was asked of us directly, so I hope we can, you know, at least deliberate on that. I do think that, you know, I respect the fact that, you know, due process and a challenge could be made based upon maybe tilting, you know, a board or, you know, some commission one way or the other. Look at our Supreme Court. I think that's, you know, really tilted. So, I mean, you know, yeah, things happen.

And I think the fact that, you know, a board or an agency that overviews and reviews and has authority like this should reflect the community that they're in. And so I think the fact that we have a very high concentration of tenants and renters maybe shouldn't be completely tilted, but I think that, for me, option three captures more of a balance than the 331.

I think that brings in at least some neutral opinions from two at-large representatives in addition to three tenants, including one mobile home tenant, and then two landlords and two at-large members with no financial interest. And I think that, to me, would be more consistent with the makeup of what Santa Ana is. And I think that would, you know, withstand challenge. And I think that we could say, look, you know, the proportionality of tenants to landlords in our community

and having folks that are at large, I think, would be a compelling reason. I think it would be very difficult to overturn that because it's not so tilted one way or the other. So that would be my only friendly amendment, Councilmember Pham, to all the revisions that you've made, because I believe that would be something that would withstand challenge and would be consistent with the makeup of our community. And I think whenever we're asked to adopt public policy and legislate, we always want to do things consistent with our community standards and what reflects our community. And we are a very, very heavy renter-tenant community.

I don't know if there's any of the other 34 cities that has the proportion of renters and tenants that we do relative to, you know, really anybody else, homeowners and folks that live outside of the multifamily, you know, inventory that we have. So that would be my only consideration or maybe possible change to that because it seems to strike a balance between having the 421 or the 331.

Thai Viet PhanItem 25

I would be okay with that. just one general direction to staff is that just that we don't require a planning commission to also for example let me take this back I would like staff that when we you know bring on these board members you know just say hey they can be fair and whatnot I think that's important we do that with our juries and I think that's a good way to at least get it on the record and that they're sworn to do their job. So I agree to that friendly amendment. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. And I think that, you know, that with that being said, I think that that hopefully that can be captured by staff if it isn't. And I guess we you know, when it comes back to us on, you know, second reading, we can always make further clarifications, even though we know we can't do too much, you know, like material changes or departures at that point. So let me just go ahead and bring it back to council to see if there's any other questions or or comments?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 25

Yes, Mr. Mayor, I know we do have a first and the second on the floor. I would be happy to make an amendment to my proposed motion in alignment with-

Council member, if I could maybe interrupt, do you want to just withdraw your motion and as your second, I'll withdraw my second? Yeah, absolutely. Make it easier. That way we have a motion and a second again on the floor if there's anything else that we unless there's anything else go ahead council member I'm sorry

Thai Viet PhanItem 25

I didn't remember who the second was to my motion oh you okay thank you thank you mayor so

Jessie LopezItem 25

the question that was posed how does this help you know low-income people in the city

Jessie LopezItem 25

many of our residents here in the city of Sanana work as tenant counselors and I think even if you take the time to speak with the people of RSG who we've contracted with to answer these really hectic calls that they have been receiving and documenting they're going to share with you that although there are a lot of good actors in the city a lot of people in this city are also experiencing some very traumatic issues when it comes to their housing situation. And they are having to self-evict.

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They are having to run away because they're under this emotional warfare of their tenants shutting off their water, of their tenants harassing them, of showing up at their place of work. And so there was a single mother in Ward 6, actually, that questioned an illegal rent increase and the manager showed up and assaulted her and her teenage daughter as well and they try to force the entry into their unit and that is why these protections are so essential and necessary in this city because it's

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gonna provide a clear guideline as to what you can and what you shouldn't do and I think that it'll provide some sort of balance as well that hasn't existed in the city because we haven't had rent control in the city for many, many years. And so I do want to thank staff. I want to thank RSG, not just for the work that you're doing with policy, but I think, you know, when you're consistently hearing these issues, it's very heavy. And sometimes you can't help but feel helpless, even though you're in these roles. And so I want to thank Judson's team, RSG, Sarah Tara, for the work that you're doing

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because I can't imagine having to pick up those calls every single day. And, you know, also to our tenant counselors who are volunteers who don't get paid to do this work, that do it out of the kindness of their heart, and because they know firsthand how difficult it is to advocate for yourself, even when you know the law, even when you can have access to an attorney, even when you think that it is not going to happen to you, and it does, and you are just stuck in a place of how do I proceed? And so thank you to our community members for really looking after each other and providing that safety

Jessie LopezItem 25

that we really truly need in this city. So I am going to be supporting the sub motion today. And so I will be supporting the sub motion tonight and thank you everyone for your work on this.

Great. Let me go ahead and see if there's any other questions or comments. If none, I'll go ahead and just go ahead, Councilmember Banyano.

David PenalozaItem 25

Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to state for the record that I cannot support this because of the still unknown fee that this will come with.

David PenalozaItem 25

People say, how is this going to help residents? A way that we could help residents as a city is to stop making decisions that is going to make our residents' lives more expensive to live in the city. For example, just a couple of years ago, the city of Santa Ana raised our water rates by 43% over the last two years. I was the one person that voted no. That is a huge cost burden on our residents. A year before that, Measure X was before the voters who approved the increase in sales tax, the most expensive in the county. That is going to make residents' lives more expensive in this city.

David PenalozaItem 25

We keep nickeling and diming our residents left and right every day. And then we say, well, why is life so expensive? Why is it so expensive to live in this city? Well, it's because decisions being made by city councils up here that equal to a more expensive cost and cost of living in the city. This, you know, we want cultural competency training for this rent ordinance, which is fantastic. We want seasoned attorneys, which is fantastic.

David PenalozaItem 25

but this doesn't come at a cost of no more than $100 per rental unit a year. If we want a Mercedes, we're going to pay a Mercedes price. We're not going to pay a Honda Civic price. And with all the different elements that make up this ordinance, it's going to come at a very expensive cost, which we still don't know what it is.

David PenalozaItem 25

So six months from now, a year from now, when that fee is north of $200, like it was approximately expected to be in that average that staff presented in the last city council meeting. I know the city of Berkeley was like $225 or something for that staff report. That's going to, yes, it's going to be split between the landlord and the tenant. I know families out there. I know friends that gift their grandma a Netflix subscription because the grandma cannot afford that $7.99 a month. But then we say, yeah, it's only $100 and some dollars.

David PenalozaItem 25

It's going to be split between 12 months for these residents. It's not much. It's going to be. So every decision we make is adding a more expensive layer to our residents. So if we really want to save our residents money, let's stop making the decisions and it's increasing the cost of living. With that said, I will be voting no just because that fee is still unknown. What is it going to be? Who knows? But it will come. Thank you.

Thank you for those comments. Hearing and seeing no other comments, I just wanted to say, look, I respect those that that don't support this and they've been consistently opposed to this. I understand that we philosophically just don't agree on how we can help our residents and be responsive to our residents. I think the question of how will this help, and I guess what I find kind of puzzling is how we can say this is going to be more oppressive or more difficult and more punitive and more expensive for our residents when we see cities all around us that are raising

their rents legally under the state rent control up to 10% and that is significant. 3% versus 10% I mean I'm look I'm a liberal arts major I went to law school but I can't even do that math so that is one-third the amount of what you know what other cities have the ability to charge now which is why you had so many renters coming up to us today saying thank you and why so many come up to us and say you know we can now live in the city that we raised our kids in and hopefully our families will be able to stay here and they won't have to move and if you haven't realized the city of San Bernardino and other Inland

Empire cities are growing at an astronomical rate it's nothing against them but I don't think people are moving there by choice it's because they're they're out of market. They can't pay what the increasing rents are here in Southern California, in Orange County, in LA County. We're the one place, I think, that's being responsive. So I want to thank those council members who are valiant and courageous enough, because this doesn't come at a zero cost. We know this comes at a cost to those that are going to be supporting this

tonight. And for those that say this was done to be political, and we're on a political timeline, that there couldn't be anything further from the truth. This has been something that we spoke about a year ago to come back. I wish it would have come back earlier, but it's coming back now. And to the extent it can make people feel safe in their homes and feel like they're not going to be removed or displaced or evicted, that is a good thing. And to those affordable housing developers that are doing good work out there and keeping the industry standards and not raising

rents even though they're legally and technically able to, for them to keep it manageable, I want to thank them as well. So listen, I think we can go on and on, but we'll disagree, and we'll agree to disagree. But I think that to the extent that we, I believe, are being responsive to the residents that voted us into office and that we represent, whether they vote or not, that's something that I think is the responsibility of this council to do.

Jessie LopezItem 25

Mayor Cervento, I did have a last question, if you'll allow me.

Just interrupted my, just kidding. Go ahead.

Jessie LopezItem 25

Oh, sorry. Christine, can you just remind me, because I know we just approved a consent agenda, and one of the agenda items was about the water meters. Can you briefly tell us what the purpose of that is?

So what you approved on the consent calendar was a purchase order to buy meters for commercial businesses. It's a blanket not to exceed. As commercial businesses change out or new ones pop up, our water division needs to be able to order up those meters.

Jessie LopezItem 25

But in the past, the council has approved water meters to capture water from residential areas.

So are you referring to the smart meters that we're implementing? Yes, the smart meters. Thank you. Okay. Nabil, do you want to – where is Nabil?

Isn't this outside the scope of –

I just had a question, but we can move forward. It's for a component that we need for commercial –

Let's bring this up in our own council member comments. So council member, this is way outside the scope. I get your point, but that really shouldn't be brought up here. So let's go ahead and just – we have a motion and a second. It's not a sub-motion because the maker of the original motion withdrew that motion. So we have a motion and a second on the floor. So, council members, please vote.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 25

Madam City Clerk, my vote is yes.

Thank you. Motion passes 4-3 with Council Members Mendoza, Beñalosa, Becerra dissenting.

Great. Thank you, everybody. Thank you for everybody from the public that showed up today. Thank you to staff. Let's move along to the Council Member requested items and I'm going to call on Council Member Lopez to address us on item number 26. Thank you mayor. So you know I do want to

Jessie LopezItem 25

start off this conversation by acknowledging that the city is in labor negotiations with various bargaining units and as someone who has always stood with our unions the work that I did with Unite Here as a student at Castle in Long Beach, my support of hazard pay, my support of workers in the Del High neighborhood trying to unionize.

Jessie LopezItem 26

You know, and in general, the support of working class people, because they are the ones that make up our unions, especially our service unions. I think that it is imperative for this institution to do everything it can to protect our local democracy and to not allow members of this council to undermine the letter and the spirit of the laws of the state of California, the United States of America, and the charter, the municipal code that we often talk about, and the established policies of the city of Santa Ana that affect the operations of this agency.

Jessie LopezItem 26

And so I brought this item forth because we have a problem, as I stated in the brief, in the attachment to the agenda item. And I think that we have to be united in ensuring that we prioritize the well-being of our city. And, you know, it's worrying to me when our legal advisor is relaying information to this council, and that information is making its way outside of closed session.

Jessie LopezItem 26

And so when you are up here and you're helping people to destabilize our city and this agency, I think that is an issue that we need to address. I don't think it's an issue that we need to sweep under the rug because it hasn't just happened once. And so, you know, I'm talking about leaked confidential information. and as I stated earlier, the city is in negotiations with a lot of different bargaining units and it is incredibly unfair for one bargaining unit to have access to information in a way that no other unit does.

Jessie LopezItem 26

And I don't think that it's in the best interest of the city for council, maybe a council member or members, to turn around and make their own deals in exchange for information or promises in exchange for information or to undermine our own staff when they are choosing to disclose this confidential privileged information that is supposed to stay you know in closed session and i do believe actually that the responsibility to uphold our our oath of ethics is on us. We as council members took that oath.

Jessie LopezItem 26

We ran for office with the intention, I would hope to help better the city of Santa Ana. But, you know, I don't think that anyone, you're going to see anyone up here raise their hand and say, hey, yes, I'm sorry I did this. And I don't think that, you know, directing our staff to conduct an investigation is a good use of our resources or time because I don't know that we're going to find anything concretely. And I don't, you know, there's so much technology now with encrypted apps and deleted messages that I don't want to, you know, direct stuff. And that's why I didn't write that language in my item.

Jessie LopezItem 26

But, you know, I think that if we're not willing to uphold the oath of our office, then we need to be able to have these discussions publicly so that everyone is on the same level of the same playing ground and that everyone has the same access to information and that we are not wasting our staff's time, that we are not wasting our legal staff paying our legal advisors, which are not cheap, by the way, and that we are not spending an hour, two hours, three hours in closed session deliberating when that information is just going to be be leaked for whatever reason.

Jessie LopezItem 26

And so that is why I brought this item to the council and I am hoping that we can provide some sort of direction to staff tonight.

Thank you, council member. Let me go ahead and bring it back to the rest of the council to see if there's any questions or comments.

Council member Hernandez.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 26

Yes, Mr. Mayor, just wanted to share my comments that I am supportive of council member Lopez and I would like to see these conversations be had publicly. And one of the callers earlier mentioned that we should, if we're going to be equitable and transparent, we should also include the Police Management Association. So I would like to see if that's something that you support, Council Member Lopez. And if so, I'd be happy to see this move forward.

All right. Let's take it around the council and get some other comments and questions. Councilmember Farrin.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Councilmember Lopez, for bringing this forward. I was able to discuss this issue with staff, and I am supportive of this item.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

It's really difficult to know that you're walking into a room to discuss items and issues that are supposed to be confidential, that is literally being provided to the opposing party. For purposes of negotiation, that's what it is. You lose trust in the people that you work with. And we all know that violations of the Brown Act is extremely difficult to confirm unless you have something in writing, on a text, or email.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

And so the next best thing is to do this, is to make it public and allow our residents to understand with transparency, but also the parties involved.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

I also want to just respond to the concerns about PMA or anyone else. This is not a police issue. This is not because it's the POA. It could have been any bargaining unit, but what we have is one bargaining unit that is being provided with confidential and privileged information that none of the other bargaining units are receiving. That's the distinction. That is the problem. And that is why I support making this particular negotiation go forward and not every negotiation with all bargaining units.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

And so I would support Council Member Lopez's initial recommendation. Thank you.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 26

Mayor Sarmento, I would like to align my support to reflect that as well.

Thank you for those comments. Any other questions or comments from members of the council?

I have a question.

Yes, Council Member Mendoza.

Madam City Manager, could we just select these two unions and have those business matters taken care of in the public, just those two.

I believe you do have the authority to implement that policy.

So there is no law or policy that would tell us that we're mandated to, if we do it for one union, we have to do it for all unions.

I'm not aware of any. I would certainly defer to the city attorney if she's aware of any.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

I'm not aware of that. Remember that under the Brown Act, the law is that you conduct all of your business in public. The Brown Act gives you seven categories where you can make the choice to discuss things in closed session, but you don't have to take advantage of those provisions. You choose to do so because it might be good business to negotiate a contract in closed session. It might be good business to discuss litigation in closed session. But nothing legally requires you to do that in every case.

What is the, besides the evident benefit, what other benefit could we get by having that kind of business matter out in public, discussed in public?

Councilmember, this is the opportunity to discuss the item among your colleagues and not really engage staff. But I would point out one thing for you, that back in 2012, there was an initiative that you might recall that was called COIN, which was Civic Openness and Negotiations, and a few of the cities adopted to follow that. And it is basically doing public posting of the different proposals that are traded back and forth. And I think that the benefit is greater transparency to the public.

And what would it do for labor negotiations for the city if we were to have that kind of discussion in public?

I'm not sure if I should continue taking the question since this item is a discussion item for you. I certainly can provide that information at a later date for you.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

Just as a reminder to the council to remember that these items on the agenda is a time for you to raise the items. If you decide as a council you want it to be brought back, that's when we would do the analysis. We'd look at all the legal issues, and that's when we'd have a staff report that would have the pros and cons, and then we would be required to give you all that background. This item under council items is just the question of whether you want to move that proposal forward. Okay.

So, Madam City... Would you include in there whether... One second, Council Member Hernandez. Would you include in there whether this would be something that we could do temporarily, Or should it be a forever policy if you can include that in your analysis?

We would include in our analysis whatever the majority request is to do from this discussion. Thank you.

So let me just, you know, I think you've heard from three council members, you're looking for at least four to go ahead and move this. I'll go ahead and lend my support to bringing this back for us to have a more robust discussion on details. And look, it pains me to have to support this and for us to even have to be discussing this, because we've been admonished about sharing information at a closed session. We've, I believe, signed pledges that we wouldn't. We've been reminded of our responsibilities under the code of ethics. And we lose our leverage.

The reason why we go into closed session for negotiations is because we can talk amongst ourselves and we can just create better balance with negotiating a contract with all our bargaining units. The problem is that I don't think this should be a blanket decision to say let's bring all our bargaining units, all our negotiations publicly because we haven't had this issue with any other bargaining unit. So I do agree with the council member when she says, you know, it's just an isolated case, and it has nothing to do with law enforcement or police. It just has to do with this particular, you know, discussion.

And so I think that it's probably best I don't want to lose our leverage with, you know, with our other bargaining units because, you know, we have to, you know, we always have to keep the public in mind. We're negotiating on behalf of them. It is that public trust that we have to be ensuring. But unfortunately, I think that's escaped us on this one. And so to the extent that we come out and we open up the discussions in public and we deliberate in public, I think it might be a welcome change for the public to see us deliberate this matter. And who knows, maybe this is the precursor to saying we open it up to all.

But I'm not prepared to do that right now. I think right now I would just limit it to just this bargaining unit and have staff bring something back for us to consider in a more specific manner. Any other questions? Mayor Pro Tem.

Phil BacerraItem 26

Thank you. This item is nothing more than targeting the men and women in our police department. That's what this is. Let's just be clear. You can tell everybody that there's boogeymen in the closed session room and all that nonsense. At the end of the day, I mean, the timing is just amazing, right? Before an election, and all of a sudden certain people want to flash their credentials that they're not for supporting our police. And now we're targeting one union. It's one thing if you said you wanted to apply it across all unions, and then my response

Phil BacerraItem 26

would be, don't tell me that you're pro-labor, because this is exactly what they did in Costa Mesa back in 2012. This is exactly what they did then. And what happened? our state legislature had to respond with SB 311 to equal the playing field so that you would have transparency when it came to private contracts. So to say that this isn't targeting is false. This is targeting one union. You know, in fact, one member on this body decided to open it up to one more entity. And who was that? Oh, another police entity. You're targeting police officers. You're targeting police management. Let's just say it for what it is.

Phil BacerraItem 26

It's targeting a union and it's using tactics that folks like John Moorlach supported in Costa Mesa. I mean, to even try to say that you support our brothers and sisters in labor while proposing stuff like this, absolutely talking out of both sides of your mouth. I will absolutely not support this sort of targeting. Thank you.

Any other questions, Councilmember? Actually, before, did you want to speak? I think it was Peña Losa and then Lopez.

David PenalozaItem 26

Thank you, Mayor. Madam Senator, I know this wasn't supposed to be a back and forth, and just kind of asking a general question. Can you refresh me what those seven categories that allow us to do a closed session are?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

You're going to quiz me? Okay. I'll give you the ones I'm most familiar with. You have existing litigation, you have personnel, you have negotiations.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 26

We have our real estate negotiations. There are some others that are about licenses and permits and then the claims section are separate.

David PenalozaItem 26

I was just asking because we've had multiple conversations on how I've been on the receiving end of leaked closed session information through various different entities, groups, developers, unions. It's troubling. So I guess my, what I was kind of asking is why even have a closed session aside from possible litigation matters and settlements, I could see why we would want to have that in closed session. But I definitely want to see what this looks like.

David PenalozaItem 26

I don't feel comfortable just targeting one, and I know it's the anti-police individuals that are kind of bringing forward the police unions. So I want to see what that would look like and definitely don't want to target just one bargaining group. But, you know, whatever decisions are being made, it should be across the board on just the numerous issues that we do, aside from labor negotiations, that we do discuss in closed session. Because I've just personally been on that receiving end of leaked information for various numerous different categories that you mentioned.

David PenalozaItem 26

So, yeah, those are my only comments, is just seeing a full breakdown of what we can and cannot discuss in public.

David PenalozaItem 26

within, aside from outside of closed session. Thank you. Before I call on

Councilmember Lopez, let me just respond to saying that those that support this item are anti-police. That is a ridiculous, offensive, disrespectful, and completely erroneous comment, and it is reckless. I think that, you know, we've we've had discussions about this and items that have been leaked, and look Look, those of you who are funded by this union often through your campaigns, look, maybe there's a reason why you're opposed, because that's where your campaigns are receiving monies from. So if you want to go there, that's, I think, where you should go, is, you know, follow the money and why people are so offended.

It's not because it's anti-police. It's because it's going to hurt your campaigns. It's going to hurt your coffers. That's where your monies are coming from. that's where you guys are tied to. So Council Member Lopez, go ahead.

David PenalozaItem 26

I don't know what you're alluding to, Mayor, but I haven't received my turn to speak.

I have the floor, sir. You're out of order. Council Member Lopez, please go ahead.

David PenalozaItem 26

Don't put words in people's mouths, Mayor.

Council Member Lopez, you're out of order again.

Jessie LopezItem 26

Thank you. You know, I'm really disappointed with Mayor Projan Becerra and Council Member Peñalosa because instead of taking this moment to say, I have not engaged in this behavior, you know or I have never I would never you want to personally attack me and say that I'm anti-police that I don't support police when in fact if you knew anything about me you'd know that there's law enforcement in my family so I don't need to sit here and pretend to be anything because I know who I am and

Jessie LopezItem 26

my family knows who I am okay and second of all that you know this is the biggest issue with this council right and I know not everybody has the range the the intelligence to debate on on the merit on the actual issue that I brought forth that's very apparent but instead of having a critical and honest conversation about what is tearing the city apart you want to sit there and attack me instead of saying you know what councilmember we might not agree on everything but we should agree that the city should be protected and that the residents should be prioritized.

Jessie LopezItem 26

This to say that this is a political stunt I didn't even I wasn't even gonna go there but you're highlighting that you're a POA endorsed candidate the council member Peñalosa is a POA endorsed candidate the council member Mendoza is a POA endorsed candidate which means as the mayor said that you are receiving money for your re-election and maybe that is why you couldn't say I have not engaged in this behavior maybe that is why you are so fiercely trying to say again this tired argument that I am anti-police because I can sit up here and say you know what we should do

Jessie LopezItem 26

things differently okay we should not be making exemptions when you're talking about breaking the law you sit there and you always tell our residents follow the law follow the law follow the law well here we have somebody on this council So who isn't? And you're wavering. You're not willing to hold that same commitment to some of your council colleagues here. So make up your mind. Do I get to respond? No, because I'm not done.

Go ahead, Councilmember.

Jessie LopezItem 26

So you know what? Again, this conversation should not have even been this, okay? Because we could have all said our piece. We could have all said, I agree, I don't agree. I can sit here and confidently say I have not engaged in this behavior. Again, disappointed that you could not say that. Disappointed that other council members here could not say that. But just went straight, straight to personally attacking me instead of debating the merit of this issue that our staff has and that some of us have. And so it is important for me to support our staff and for our staff to feel like they can be in a space

Jessie LopezItem 26

that what they say is going to be protected and you're not helping that.

I think Council Member Phan was left.

Phil BacerraItem 26

I'd like to actually respond if you don't mind.

Go ahead then, Council Member.

Phil BacerraItem 26

So first of all, I'm surprised that you need to hear the obvious. And like you said earlier, obviously if there was somebody up here engaging in that behavior, they're not jumping out to say it. But I can tell you if you need to hear it from me, I'm not. Okay? And as far as this notion that by receiving any sort of resources from the police officers association automatically indicates that certain behavior is being conducted, well, that's insane. And by the way, mayor, born again progressive, didn't you receive the POA endorsement many times in your political career?

Phil BacerraItem 26

But now all of a sudden you don't, so now everybody who takes it is bad? Hmm, okay. Anyways, like I said, you want to go down this path with this idea? This is something that was done in Costa Mesa. It was done by very, very staunch conservatives who were very anti-labor. And again, if you're going to apply this to any union, you should apply it across the board to be fair. You talk about equity and fairness. Here's a chance. Do it across the board. But don't, again, say that you stand with our brothers and sisters in labor when you are bringing forth a measure that they fought so vigorously against in Costa Mesa

Phil BacerraItem 26

because of the negative impacts of this. But that's okay. You know what? You could have it both ways. You can tell yourself that, okay? But you know what? Just because you have family in law enforcement, you're on this dais, not them. And you have a chance to stand up for our men and women in uniform. And you don't because you constantly either oppose things that go to help our police or you bring up stuff like this. So seriously, this is a very unfortunate discussion, but council member, you brought this item forward. I did and I'm proud that I did.

Council member Van, do you want to dare go ahead?

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

Yeah, sure. Hi everyone. I was blinded by the lights as I waited on everybody making their comments on this item. It's really frustrating sitting here that we have our colleagues in this council attacking each other for personal reasons, because I believe that every person on this dais truly wants to make the city a good place to be, a safe place to be, a healthy place to be, whether you work here, live here, or just are visiting. So I want to state that for the record.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

I truly believe that everyone up here supports our employees, our sworn employees, non-sworn employees, officers, volunteers who work with the police department. The difficulty though, and the reason why I support directing staff to bring back options, bringing back options and to have a discussion about this is because we have a track history of information being illegally leaked from closed session. I can say for the record,

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

it wasn't me. And we have taken other measures that I won't delineate specifically to try to address that issue in the last two years that have been on this dais and in that closed session room and has not worked. We have tried to take steps to address it and I support this item because I want to know what can we do to try to prevent this type of illegal leaking. And you know like Councilmember Lopez and I I think Mayor, you also had a cousin, right? Like, I have two cousins who serve in the police force.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

I have cousins who put their lives on the line every day to make sure that their communities are safe. And I know that there are council members on this dais who've had death threats because of inflammatory language saying that they don't support our police officers. That's really scary to me. and so I just want to say for the record that I truly believe that everyone up here has good intentions we're just trying to find a way to address this issue that is not only breaking down the trust on this dais but also hurting our

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

residents because it is preventing this council and staff from negotiating the best memorandum of understanding that we can get for both the city and our employees. That's why I support this item. And I really hope that when staff brings back information we can look at is you know what is the law? What can we do? What would it look like if we applied it to only situations where we have understanding and belief that there was information being shared illegally? Or or what it would look like to apply to all of our bargaining units.

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

Because what we do know is that,

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

I, at least I know, I voted for pretty much every item that supported our friends in labor. Whether it's the who being the one to actually advocate for skilled and trained. Whether it is hazard pay in making sure that those who are working our front lines are getting hazard pay when they're the ones risking their lives during the height of the pandemic. Whether it's approving a trash contract that ensures that the workers are union workers. Whether it's looking at cannabis and saying, how do we promote higher pay for skilled and trained

Thai Viet PhanItem 26

or local employment or ensuring that they get training to do that. I know that this council overall supports labor and supports unions. So I just want to say that thank you staff in advance for bringing this back and I look forward to the options that we have to address this particular issue and thank you to Council Member Lopez for bringing this forward. I know that I spoke to staff specifically as to the pros and cons and issues relating to this and that's why I'm supporting the item that you brought forward. Thank you. Great. Thanks. I think all

of us have already had a chance to give direction. Is everybody clear on the direction to bring something back? So again, I think this isn't a police item. This isn't a labor item. This is really some criminal potential action. And I know, Madam City Attorney, you've, you know, again, admonished us at length that violating the Brown Act is a criminal act and unfortunately, look, we can make our own deductions of where that's coming from. It's not too difficult to see if you really just follow things. But in any event, we're beyond this. We'll bring this back and we can go ahead

and discuss it more in detail when it comes back to the Council. Let me move along to item number 27, which is Councilmember Peñalosa's item.

David PenalozaItem 26

Thank You, Mayor. Item number 27 is to discuss and consider directing the city manager to direct staff to refrain from using any city resources and our messaging capabilities to promote advertiser mention any elected official within 90 days of an election I brought this forward madam city manager and council colleagues because over the last couple of days I was getting messages from multiple residents about a billboard the pic you know showing the mayor's face and mayor's office hours throughout the entire city at the the auto mall the main place mall uh tom's trucks on multiple screens and people were asking why because

David PenalozaItem 27

of how the proximity it was to an election i know in conversations that we had madam city manager you mentioned that if it was a standard practice that had been done previously it'd be okay but this wasn't kind of coincidentally started around the june primary and now again in november So I just worry that the city is using resources, city resources, to potentially be considered campaigning. So I want to make sure that no elected official across the board, whoever it is, is allowed any access to city messaging services within 90 days of an election.

David PenalozaItem 27

And that's basically it.

Great. Thank you. Let me go ahead and respond since you mentioned the billboard in particular. So, Madam City Attorney and City Manager, did I inquire with you before the PSA about my office hours was placed on those digital reader boards?

You did with me, sir. You did with me as well.

And when we had a clerk, I did with her as well before we separated. In any event, so I cleared it with the three of you, and the three of you said that there is no violation there. There is nothing wrong with that. And just so, you know, for the council members' edification, my office hours have been on digital reader boards two years ago. And, you know, they're on there again. And it's to make sure that people know that they can go ahead and schedule by appointment my office hours. And I run at large unlike everybody else in this city. So that is the difference with that. But actually I support the item.

I am supportive of making sure that I guess this would be considered a blackout. The only thing I would suggest is that when this is brought back to us, if in fact it is brought back to us, I want to make sure we talk about gift cards that we've been purchasing with city resources. So I understand that there's two council members. one that I can certainly, by personal contact, was at movies in the park, at Madison Park, and Councilmember Peñalosa had four tickets to Disneyland that he purchased, and it came with a parking pass to it, and it was raffled off to a family.

That to me does not seem like a public purpose and is on the verge of a gift of public funds. That is very different from what I understand our discretionary and utility funds are or non-discretionary funds are used for. My understanding is that those funds were used to support 501c3s that maybe need some support in realizing an event, realizing some sort of expenditure, but it's not supposed to go to individuals. That is a very, very close nexus to a 1090 violation. That, as well as what was circulated to the council about Mayor Pro Tem Becerra being

at a neighborhood association meeting, and he was giving out gift cards that were purchased with those discretionary monies that are public monies. And he was giving them out to residents there. And I do understand that I think that gift cards were purchased by Mayor Pro Tem in excess of $3,000. Gift cards are akin to money. That is cash that can be converted directly into cash. So I don't know if there's an accounting of that, but to the extent that that's what we've understood because there was a resident at that meeting that disclosed that to us, that is very dangerous.

These are now cash monies or the equivalent and akin to cash monies going directly to residents while there was campaigning going on at that meeting. I understand that lawn signs were being given to residents, that neighborhood members there were urging others that were in attendance to vote for Mayor Pro Tem. That is very, very unfortunate. I've never seen that in my 16 years on the council where there's been campaigning and money or gift cards being given to others. Look, and to the extent that that's true or not, we have somebody who was there that was present.

You know, it is, you know, and I don't know if the staff has done an accounting of what, you know, what was used for those monies. obviously the Disneyland tickets were used for you know access to the park but that is very close to giving somebody money and again both those both those examples if true you know should be looked at as a possible 1090 violation and madam city attorney I think that those rise to the level if you know if if we had that fact pattern anywhere else I think it would raise red flags I think it's something for us to you know you know be very very concerned with

Again, these are allegations that were made by residents. I observed one. The other one was made by a credible source and I think substantiated by others that were present.

Mayor, Mayor, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and then Council Member Lopez.

Phil BacerraItem 27

Thank you, Mayor. So, you know, like a lot of things, apparently I've got to clear up what you've said. So you may not be familiar with this because you don't go to a lot of the neighborhood association meetings, but one thing that I value, at least on the south end of town in Ward for is trying to build up our neighborhood associations. And so when you say that I gave away a gift card, completely erroneous statement there. Because what I did was give it to the neighborhood association president who auctioned off, or I'm sorry, raffled them off. Raffled them off. Why? To encourage folks to continue to come to these meetings.

Phil BacerraItem 27

And the person who hosts the meeting, former council member Alberta Christie, already had her own gift card that she raffles off each time that they hold a neighborhood association meeting. I was present at the Valley Adams neighborhood association meeting, and here's another thing that you may not be used to, but I didn't ask anybody to politically support me at that meeting. In fact, ironically, the person that you're talking about who circulated the quote-unquote complaint to some of the council members, not to me, but to some, actually is a political candidate who popped up and said, I'm running for office.

Phil BacerraItem 27

While I was there, I was there in my duties as a council member to provide city updates. Again, you don't go to many of those, so it may be a foreign concept. But I was there in that capacity. And I did purchase gift cards. And what I did, I purchased those gift cards for Ward 4 businesses to encourage folks to continue to patronize businesses in our city. Not like $300 Visa debit cards that could be used anywhere, but actually within our city in Ward 4 to encourage community participation. And by the way, again, maybe this is a foreign concept up here, but the neighborhood associations are not city entities.

Phil BacerraItem 27

They're independent entities. And what people at those organizations or those meetings say, that's not something I can control. And city staff was there. And in fact, I don't want to put staff on the spot, but if you would actually be interested in the truth, you should ask the staff that was there that can independently corroborate the fact that the gift cards were raffled off and that the only people that were bringing up anything political were folks that were expressing support for certain elected officials that were there. So the way you describe that story, Mayor, completely painting a very false different picture. Very false.

Phil BacerraItem 27

And as far as what we're talking about with your likelihood on the, likeliness on the freeway adjacent digital billboards, so it's very convenient that you advertise office hours right around election times, because I never see them any other time of the year except for right before elections. I saw them right before the primary this year, and now we're seeing them up this time around. And I would say that the good thing about Council Member Penaloza bringing this item up because unfortunately the reason why this is happening is we have an ambiguous I would say

Phil BacerraItem 27

policy but it's just it's ambiguous we don't really have clear guidelines as to what these billboards should be using when it comes to the city portion for what should be advertised up there especially around a campaign the only thing I would respectfully disagree with council member panelaozan is I don't know that every elected official within 90 days of an election should not be able to advertise things that they're doing because if I was not up for election and I wanted to continue to communicate to my constituents that I'm holding my monthly community office hours which by the way I've held every

Phil BacerraItem 27

month since I've been elected I want folks to be able to know that that's not campaigning that's just being a good council member and trying to be accessible to their constituents but I appreciate councilmember Penelosa bringing this item up because yeah seeing those uh ads up on the billboard don't feel right and it you know the city manager and i have discussed this at length i do not agree with the idea that just because the mayor wants it up it should be up there i think if the mayor was communicating a message that was on behalf of the city like the the city supports getting a vaccine shot the

Phil BacerraItem 27

city supports wearing masks I get it that that I get and then maybe this item here would talk about when these messages would be appropriate depending on if you're a candidate for office but just to advertise your office hours that's not a citywide message that's for you and so but regardless at the end of the day we don't have a policy in place so I just again want to thank Council Mayor Pelosa for bringing this forward and hopefully staff will come back if there are enough members up here supporting this to come back with some guidelines going forward

Phil BacerraItem 27

so we don't see abuse of these tools to do self-promotion right before an election.

So before I call on Councilmember Lopez, since you referred to that issue that involves me, yeah, I don't think those PSAs costed $3,000 worth of gift cards. So that is a lot of motivation to get people in the association. I have not used $3,000 worth of gift cards. In any event, look, so don't make it more than it is. To the extent that you had your time to speak, look, that is what I understand, and that is what staff provided for me as information and background on this. So, look, if you've got nothing to worry about, you won't worry about there being some inquiry into this. So I'll go ahead and encourage that.

Jessie LopezItem 27

Inquire away.

So, Council Member Lopez, please, go ahead.

Jessie LopezItem 27

Thank you, Mayor. You know, quick comment. when I was running for office people thought that because of my age I would be immature and I think for all the young people out there don't let that discourage you from running for office but you know I'm very supportive of this item and it specifically states refrain from using any city resources within the 90 days of an election that would include no council member can attend a city sponsored event because that is being put on by city resources no council member can attend a neighborhood meeting because that is staffed by city, which is city resources.

Jessie LopezItem 27

No council member can send out a newsletter, again, because city staff writes those and we're using our own account, the city accounts, to send out the newsletters. So really it's a blackout period that no council member can have any, I guess, direct outreach to their constituents. And so I'm fine. I think it should be implemented immediately. I don't think we should wait.

Jessie LopezItem 27

the length of the time. I think that we're clearly in an election season now and it should be implemented immediately. And I think part of that that comes back, staff, I would like to see some language on the gift cards. I don't think that we should be able to use public funds to buy gift cards and gift them to friends or families or whatever has happened. I want there to be, again, a clear nexus as to why we're doing it. And I don't want to continue to hear any more complaints about how council members are using their personal budgets to get out the vote for themselves or whatever.

Jessie LopezItem 27

And so I think those are the things that I would support if you receive majority of support from the council members tonight. Thank you.

Thank you for those comments. Any other comments from council?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

Yes, Mr. Mayor.

Go ahead, council member.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

Yes. Well, I am not supporting this item. I think that this item was very short sighted. Ultimately, the blackout period, which could which would be taking place more often than not in November, in the month of November, you know, it blocks out a time of the year where families need to smoke. You know, I just don't think that this is something I can support. Annually, I host a toy drive every single year in my district, and, you know, those residents that have been attending would be losing out on very valuable, you know, access

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

to resources, information, and more importantly, service. I mean, we work for the people at the end of the day, and I'm not supportive of blacking out serving them at any capacity regardless of who's running for office um i think that if we have to institute a blackout period um because of the fact that we're you know focusing more on who's running for office and what elections are happening we're losing sight of the bigger picture there are people who need us and and they're expecting us to serve them and um you know we're we're adults that that chose to run for office and and be ethical leaders in our own

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

communities we should stay true to that we shouldn't have to police each other and say that there's going to be a blackout period because some of us are struggling to maintain a level of professionalism that ultimately is going to get in the way of of the residents and

I am opposed to this item. Thank you council member let me go ahead and see if there's any Any other comments or questions from the council?

Councilmember?

David PenalozaItem 27

Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, the idea was I agree with what Councilmember Lopez said. I would like, I don't think you can block anybody from appearing or showing up at an event, maybe not being allowed to speak or any of that. I'm full agreement on that, by the way. And I think it's the messaging capabilities to send out stuff and information. I think we could all serve our constituents in our own capacities leading up to any of these periods, but using city resources to promote the name or a likeliness. That's what I'm not supportive of.

David PenalozaItem 27

Yeah, that's basically it. in regards to the Disneyland tickets, Madam City Attorney, please let me know if that was an issue. If it is, then I issue an apology and don't do it again. But I know that the mayor inquired just a couple weeks ago to buy Disneyland tickets and he was told no. So maybe that's why he brought it up. But I'd be happy to have that meeting. Thank you, Madam City Attorney.

Great.

David PenalozaItem 27

Any other questions?

Council Member Fan.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Thank you, Mayor. So tickets, so fun.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

There's a couple things. I do want to say that regarding any type of blackout dates, right, I do believe that there are other jurisdictions or other agencies that do have something like that.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

I would like staff to come back with some options for us when we're looking at kind of best practices near elections. Again, I mentioned before, I believe everybody on this council seeks to serve in an ethical way, in a way that best serves our community. And, you know, I think, let me put that to you. We understand that perception is reality. And when there's a lack of trust, perceived bad actions or whatever it is, becomes reality. and I think that it's important for all of us to be able to not just attend

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

events but yes advertise talk about the meetings that we're gonna have talk about you know events that were hosting for example we had Mid-Arm festival which was held in Ward 1 and as the only Vietnamese American on this dais it is I think, important for me to be there and speak to our residents and work and really, you know, talk about this event. So I do want us to look at that and how we can better utilize our resources, especially close to an election, because what we, it's not about whether it is a violation.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Clearly, staff has determined it is not a legal violation in any of the scenarios that have been brought up but it's about the perception of unfairness it's about the perception of using city resources in a way that benefits the incumbent or an incumbent or anybody right I know that for example when we had the winter village last year every person on this dais receives some tickets and we were able to share it with folks in our communities I was able to give it to the Santa Anita Neighborhood

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Association so that a lot of low-income families can attend and go to the winter village and enjoy the ice skating rink I don't think that that is an improper gift of public funds because the goal was to ensure that our residents who may not have otherwise been able to afford that economic development type of activity could enjoy that type of activity so I think that we're all smart enough to look at ways to craft a policy that would provide some guidelines and some of the guidelines would be for example you know 90 days or 60 days near

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

an election maybe activities that haven't happened consistently in the last 12 months right are not then suddenly occurring whatever the case might be. If it is not typical of someone to hold office hours monthly or twice a month, whatever, then it's not typical and not something we should promote. If it's not typical to buy food for residents at a neighborhood association meeting, then we probably shouldn't allow something like that. Those are just some of my thoughts. Again, these are looking into

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

options. We're not actually adopting anything today and I would love to see what's even out there. Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 27

Sorry I do have another suggestion for staff that I'd not just apply to the dignitaries here but any dignitary. That way you know there's there's no debate about whether who's being who is using city resources. Thank you.

Great. Any additional questions or comments? Seeing none, hearing none?

David PenalozaItem 27

I just, I'm supportive of that. Like dignitaries, like elected officials or city officials?

Phil BacerraItem 27

I would like to also express support for that. See, we agree once in a while. And then I would also like to add for consideration when it comes to recognizing or presenting recognition to folks running for office or as everybody's saying other dignitaries during a certain period.

All right staff get all that great thank you you're sharper than we are up here

moving along seeing no other questions or comments let's move along to city manager comments.

Okay thank you mayor just a couple comments I want to remind everybody and one of our Council members might talk about this as well, but this is another first for the city. We are hosting Indigenous Peoples Day celebration, and that is this Saturday, October 8th, beginning at 11.30 a.m. in the Plaza of the Sun. It's a free community event, and it will celebrate and honor Indigenous peoples and their culture. Also, tomorrow is National Walk to School Day. It's an annual event that encourages students and parents to increase their physical activity, practice pedestrian and bicycle safety,

reduce traffic congestion, and strengthen connections between families, schools, and communities.

And that is all I have. Thank you, Madam City Attorney. None of us may be able to be there or speak if that passes. So anyways, let's bring it back to the council. Let me go ahead and start

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

with Council Member Hernandez. Thank you, Madam City Manager for the handoff there. I'm very excited about this saturday's indigenous people's day celebration this is the first ever of its kind in the city of santa anna and our parks and recreation department worked very closely with native and indigenous leaders in the city of santa anna and throughout the county of orange to bring an authentic celebration of culture and to acknowledge the land that we are all on and this event will feature a library exhibit of missing murdered indigenous woman

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 27

it'll educate the community as to how we can support native and indigenous causes and there will be a conclusion with a really amazing concert and a great lineup tracy lee nelson will be headlining co-headlining is pat vegas with red bone pj vegas maya jupiter and many more We are all very much looking forward to seeing you all there Saturday. Please come out, bring your family, and enjoy this monumental event. Take care, everybody.

Thank you, Council Member. Council Member Lopez?

Jessie LopezItem 27

No comments. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Mendoza?

Jessie LopezItem 27

No comment.

Great. Council Member Penalosa?

David PenalozaItem 27

Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to give a huge shout out and thank you to Councilmember Fan for leading or bringing forward the Mid-Autumn Festival. It was definitely very beautiful to attend and be a part of, so thank you so much. I wouldn't have been here without you up here leading that, so thank you. And that's basically it. Good night, everybody.

Councilmember Fan.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Thank you. Yes, the Mid-Autumn Festival, Moon Festival, that was so awesome. Huge shout out to staff, Parks and Rec. Yes, clap, clap, clap. For those who were not able to attend, it was so beautiful and so incredible. I was so proud of the incredible work that our staff was able to do as well as our community partners. I know that we worked really hard. Actually, everybody just congratulated me, and I'm like, I literally did nothing. So, but I'll take the credit. It was really beautiful to see a lot of folks commenting, you know, there are a lot of Latinos there.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

And I was like, yes, because our city is mostly Latinos. And so folks came out to, because we want to learn about each other. We want to get to know each other. And I thought that was really cool. And it was the first, actually, I've never seen that many Asian people in the city of Santa Ana in one place. That's the reality of it. And I was so proud to see that. My family was able to attend. And, you know, I want to say that that's the power of representation, right? The power of building resources in City Hall and saying we're going to make sure to do outreach to our community members and our partners.

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

Because I know for a fact that we had community partners who reached out because they felt comfortable enough. to do it because they knew that there are those of us up here who are going to advocate for and fight for those items. And I want to thank all of my colleagues for supporting it, for increasing the funding for it. I know Council Member Hernandez had raised that. And, you know, it was just incredible. And I can't wait for next year. And it's going to be bigger and better. I heard, you know, we were expecting 1,500 people, and we blew that number out of the water. Right?

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

and so we can have it at Centennial next year. And with that I also want to do an AB 1234 disclosure. I was invited as the Vietnamese councilmember here on the Santa Ana Dias to speak on a panel at the National Conference of Vietnamese American Attorneys to talk about community organizing and civic engagement in Vietnamese America and it was really talking about how to get Vietnamese American lawyers to be more involved and be more active in civic life and so that was incredible and to see folks be energized to go back to their

Thai Viet PhanItem 27

communities including here in Santa Ana and Orange County to to fight for the people who really need representation so with that have a great night everyone

Phil BacerraItem 27

thank you great thank you mayor Pro Tem thank you this Saturday October 8th at 10 a.m. at George Upton all-access Park at Thornton Park I'll be hosting my monthly community office hours. That's all I have. I hope everybody has a good night.

Great. Thank you. No comment on my end. We are adjourned until October 18th. Thank you all. Have a good night.

Record.