Read the August 29 meeting.

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To be continued...

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Jessie Lopez

Thank you, Clerk. Good afternoon everyone. Chair Emesco is not able to be here today so I will be chairing today's meeting and I hereby call the Santa Ana City Council Special Meeting to order. This meeting is taking place with in-person attendance and by teleconference via Zoom. The public may access the meeting via the Santa Ana YouTube channel or the City's website. Please bear with us as the technology may disrupt the flow of the meeting. Madam Clerk, please conduct the roll call.

Jennifer L. Hall

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Council Member Becerra?

Phil Bacerra

Here.

Jennifer L. Hall

Council Member Hernandez?

Phil Bacerra

Here.

Jennifer L. Hall

Council Member Penaloza?

Phil Bacerra

Here.

Jennifer L. Hall

Council Member Fan? Here. Council Member Vasquez?

Benjamin Vazquez

Present.

Jennifer L. Hall

Mayor Pro Tem Lopez? Here. The record shows six members present and Mayor Emesqua absent. Madam Clerk, before we proceed to the Pledge of Allegiance, please make an announcement. Thank you, yes. As this is a special meeting tonight, public comments are limited to only items that are listed on the agenda. For members of the public on Zoom or teleconference who would like to speak on agenda items only, to request to speak during public comments on those agenda items, you must dial star nine from your phone now or click the button labeled raised hand from Zoom now in order to be in the speaker queue when we commence public comments.

Jessie Lopez

Thank you. The first item on the agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance. Councilmember Peñalosa, can you please do us the honor of leading us in the pledge?

David Penaloza

Yeah, thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. If you could all please rise, put your right hand over your heart, and face our flag. And follow along. I pledge allegiance to our flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Jessie Lopez

Thank you, Councilmember.

Jessie Lopez

Words of inspiration will be provided by Pastor Dion Thomas from Help Is On The Way Church. Pastor Thomas, please come to the podium.

Good evening, everyone. Small correction. I'm from Sunrise Community Christian Church.

Jessie Lopez

Thank you. I apologize for that.

That's okay. It's perfectly fine. It's okay. Just S-O-N. The sun has risen, sunrise. That gave me a chance to explain that so all things work out. And my words of encouragement for today, as I was thinking of what to say, I just want to make it personal. That in the field that I'm in, a lot of people want to explain things to me. and I just tell them, I don't want to hear it. You don't have to explain it to me because I'm a man of the cloth, so I'm going to forgive you and everything is okay. But then my wife has to correct me and say, everyone is not like you.

Some people need to hear why they did some things and let them explain what they're talking about. So my words of encouragement for today is acceptance. And that comes with understanding. You may not accept what people are saying. You may not accept what they're doing. But if you get the understanding of why they did it, then maybe you can accept it. So for those in this meeting today, I ask you and I encourage you to listen. Just listen to what they're saying. Sometimes my mind wants to say things without hearing everything.

Listen. Close your ears. Close your mouth. Listen to what they're saying. And then hopefully you'll be able to understand it. And then you can accept it as something that they believe in. So my words of inspiration for today is acceptance. And can we kindly bow our heads and pray?

Dear God in heaven, we just want to come to you today, dear Father. We come saying thank you. Thank you for waking us up this morning to see one of your great glorious days that we've never seen before. We come to you today, dear God, asking you to just allow us to open up our ears and close our mouth just for a little while today when someone is speaking, dear Father. We ask you to allow us to open up our heart, receive what they're saying, understand what they're saying, and get the acceptance to say that it's okay for them to think that way, to feel that way, and believe like that. I may not like it, but I can at least accept it

because that's what they believe in. And on the other side, dear God, we want those that hear us listening and hear us speaking that we listen to them that may be speaking and accept what they're saying just as much as we want them to accept what we're saying. This is a twofold acceptance. I want you to accept me with what I'm saying, and I want to accept what you're saying. So today, dear God, that acceptance from one to another brings about unity. So I pray for unity in this place today, dear Father. I pray that we understand, accept.

We may not agree, but at least we give them the chance to express their feelings and their thoughts. And so today, dear God, I pray for unity. And we ask this things, this and all things in your son's name, who is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. thank you for allowing me to be here this morning this afternoon thank you for your words of wisdom

Jennifer L. Hall

pastor we appreciate it madam clerk are there any additions or deletions to the city council agenda yes mayor pro tem there's one under ceremonial presentations the second one listed was certificates of recognition presented to the city's housing division team and that item has been removed from tonight's agenda and postponed to a later date thank you for that um so we are

Jessie LopezItem 2

going to move on to ceremony presentations the first one being led by Councilmember Penalosa to the Orange County Hunger Alliance so if you're here please come on up

David PenalozaItem 1

Good afternoon everybody, Santa Ana City Council, Chambers, audience, hello. Hope you're having a nice Tuesday. Today the city of Santa Ana proclaims September 2023 as Hunger Action Month and presents this proclamation to the Orange County Hunger Alliance. hunger poverty food and nutritional insecurity are issues of vital concern in California where 20% of Californians face food insecurity on a daily basis and one in every seven children do not know where their next meal will come from on average more than 800,000 residents in Orange

David PenalozaItem 1

County rely on food provided by food banks each month the coronavirus pandemic has had lasting devastating health and economic impacts across the country and hundreds of thousands of people still face continued hunger and food insecurities along with the increasing cost of living this year. This is why the city of Santa Ana is committed to fighting hunger in all of our communities. In fact, since launching the Revive Santa Ana Food Distribution Program back in 2020, the City of Santa Ana has fed more than 235,259 residents.

David PenalozaItem 1

We are pleased to collaborate with the Orange County Hunger Alliance to educate the public about the role and importance of food banks. During the first week of September, the iconic Santa Ana Water Tower will be illuminated orange in honor of Hunger Action Month. This being said, if you have an opportunity, please take a picture of our water tower and share it on social media and help raise awareness. Join the city of Santa Ana and the Orange County Hunger Alliance as we go orange for Hunger Action Month. So, Mark and Joe, this is for you guys.

David PenalozaItem 1

And please, it would be my honor to hand this over to you and one of you, whoever chooses, say a few words. Thank you.

Again, Mark Lowry from the Orange County Food Bank. We distributed 26 million pounds of food last year, helping on average 400,000 people each month. But we recognize that hunger is just one symptom of poverty, and the issue of poverty is too big for any one organization to address. So nearly five years ago, we formed the Orange Hunger Alliance with the Orange County Food Bank, Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, and Abound Food Care to work together for strategic solutions to address some of those underlying causes of hunger, those issues of

poverty that create situations in which so many people in our community struggle to meet their basic needs. And thank you for this recognition. Hunger is not an issue that only occurs during COVID or during the holiday times. There are people every day who are struggling to meet their basic needs. Thank you. Thank you.

I'm sure I can.

Jessie LopezItem 1

Thank you. Next, we will, the next presentation will be made by Council Member Vasquez. So if any members of the rise are here, please come up to the...

Thank you.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

I am so honored here to be presenting an outstanding contribution to the community VIA RISE. They stand for our community, all of our community, Vietnamese, Latino, Asian, it's everything. Any community that's in Santa Ana, they have stood and fought for a better life for all of Santa Ana and I do appreciate the work that they've done. I'm so honored to be here. VIA RISE advances social justice and builds power with working-class Vietnamese and immigrant communities in Orange County. They build leadership and create systematic change through organizing narrative change, cultural empowerment, and civic engagement.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

Some of their accomplishments from the past several years is collaborating with cities of Santa Ana and Westminster to develop a new district mass, work with Tenants United, Santa Ana to establish the rent board and rental registry in 2022. In 2021, they teamed up with Orange County Justice Fund and Harbor Institute to expand San Andes Deportation Defense Fund by a hundred thousand. They also launched the Bring Home Human Rights Home Campaign with a National Day Labor Organizing Network and built relationships between O.C.'s Mexican, Vietnamese and Central American communities

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

through art, music, shared struggles and community exchanges. We want to thank VRIs for coming today in support of the HOME Act so we can have a resolution to Santa Ana supports immigrants across the state as well. Thank you, VietRise, for your dedication and all your work and support to Santa Ana.

Thank you. Do you want to?

Hi, everyone. My name is Tracy Law, and I'm the executive director of VietRise. I'm going to speak on behalf of our entire team. As you can see, we roll pretty deep. So, firstly, thank you so much, Council Member Vasco. for this warm recognition of VITRISE and the work that we do. This is a very special occasion for us because this year is actually the fifth anniversary of our organization, and we're proud to celebrate this alongside our community. I'll try to keep this short, but what I do want to say is that the work that VITRISE does, and has always done, has been to uplift and build the community power of working class,

low-wage, low-income Vietnamese people. As many of you know, we are the largest Vietnamese community in the world outside of Vietnam. This is where we established the first Little Saigon and Santa Ana is actually the first city where Little Saigon started. Santa Ana is such a special place for us at our organization, not only because many of us are from here and live here, but because of the hope that the city has brought us. It was here that the impossible was made possible. It is a sanctuary city and this is where a multiracial, multigenerational coalition made rent control possible. It wasn't

just a vision, they made it a reality. I always say that what happens in the Vietnamese community in Santa Ana in Orange County sends ripple effects of positive powerful change to Vietnamese communities across the world. We look forward to continuing to make those ripples possible in solidarity with the working-class communities that call the city home. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 1

Thank you TV at RISE for all the work that they do in our community and outside of the city of Santa Ana. This is the time of the meeting for the city council to receive comments from the public on agenda items pursuant to the Brown Act. The city council may not enter into discussions at this time. Speakers will have three minutes for their comments. Pursuant to resolution number 223047, speakers are requested to refrain from profane language, racial slurs, and liabous or slanderous statements that disturb the decorum of the meeting. We will now hear from the members of the public that are on the conference call or Zoom followed

Jessie LopezItem 1

by those who are here physically present in the council chamber. Madam Clerk, do we have anyone wanting to speak on Zoom?

Jennifer L. HallItem 1

Yes, Mayor Pro Tem. Prior to unmuting those callers, I'd like to report on the following summary of emails provided as of today at 3.30 p.m. We did receive a total of 36 electronic comments, 8 regarding agenda item number 14, 1 regarding agenda item 18, and 27 regarding agenda item number 21. Caller on Zoom, Tanya Zerzynski. Please unmute and make your comments.

TANYA SKRZENSKY AND I'M ON ITEM 21 SO DO YOU JUST NEED TO KNOW THAT BECAUSE THERE'S NO where to put that. Hello. Ma'am, please proceed with your comments. For item 21. Do I speak

Jennifer L. HallItem 1

now or wait till that item comes up? No, this is the only public comment period of the entire

meeting. Oh, okay. Well, I wasn't prepared to go first. But I was just calling or on meeting because i know that you guys had passed that whole rent control and rent stabilization or whatever at a super late two o'clock in the morning or one o'clock i had no idea you guys were putting that through and now i understand that you guys are wanting to change it so that you guys have basically full control to make any changes so that that rent control can never first of all i don't understand how we voted on something as um citizens and then it didn't pass

but you guys were able to pass it at a ridiculously late hour in the morning and have that passed and so for me we have rental properties we are very fair to our tenants we have had people that have medical conditions that we have helped them through those times by reducing their rent so that they could stay in their places and not have to move and relocate so we've done all of these things but i think it's completely unethical for you guys to take all of our leasing information all of these items that you guys need for the rent stabilization that you're requiring i don't know if it's legal

and you're before even violating our attendance privacies by giving you and providing you with all of their lease agreements and all of these things like no other city that i know of does this and i'm not completely familiar with the whole 48 pages that i'm supposed to read and understand without getting an attorney involved to really understand what this policy says but I just wanted to voice my opinion that I don't think that it's something that is right or ethical in the way that you guys are going about this and doing it on your own terms without

going through the ballot and having people vote on it. It's just, it's not, the rent control doesn't help people. I don't know what you guys are trying to accomplish. I tried to speak to both Jesse and Fan and they have their own agendas and they don't seem to support any of the people that own properties that are trying to help people live any single family residence at a very reasonable have a home instead of having an apartment or some high priced turbine company that's going to continually raise the rent we are very fair to our tenants and this this new thing doesn't help us

whatsoever and also has us considering whether we should keep any properties in santa anna that's all i want to say

Jennifer L. HallItem 1

Next speaker, Gemma Suarez.

Jennifer L. HallItem 1

Please unmute and proceed with your comments.

Hello, can you hear me?

Jennifer L. HallItem 1

Yes, please go ahead.

Okay, dear Santana City Council members and Mayor. I write to, I mean, I, yeah, I'm here to express my support for item 21 to approve a supermajority for future amendments. to the Santana rent stabilization and just cost ordinance. This movement for development without displacement policies has been loud and clear for many years. Longtime Santana residents, working families and elders and young people from different cultural backgrounds advocated for a policy that could lessen the stress of not being able to afford rent. It was a struggle against uncertainty.

After so many philosophical battles, today this ordinance is one of the best rent stabilization and just cause ordinance in the whole state. It is a good example of a policy that not only helps with rent control, but also it helps with the reduction of unfair evictions. This ordinance also represents participatory democracy where everyone's voice was taken into account. It is historical. please consider adopting the amendment so that Santana keeps protecting our vulnerable population. Thank you so much.

Jennifer L. HallItem 1

Next speaker, Juliana Moushigev.

Hello, my name is Juliana. I'm a resident of Santa Ana, Ward 4. I'm also an organizer in the community. and I also want to speak in support of item 21. I live in a rent-controlled apartment complex, and I make, you know, higher than, you know, about the median income for this area, and I'm still sort of struggling to afford, you know, my monthly housing costs. And that can be said for the vast majority of, you know, Orange County, California, and the United States. We're in a housing crisis right now.

And rent control is one of the many things that we need to put in place to make sure that people are able to afford a home, that people don't end up homeless, that they can afford other things that they need other than a home. But right now, a lot of the people living in Santa Ana and everywhere are housing cost burden, meaning that they're spending more than 30 percent of their income on their housing costs. This is essential to the lives of working people. And I fully support item 21. And I hope that I can stay here and live here in Santa Ana reasonably with the help of this ordinance.

Jennifer L. HallItem 2

Next speaker, Lorraine Doering, please unmute.

Jennifer L. HallItem 2

Ms. Doering.

Jennifer L. HallItem 2

Next speaker, Mexley Lopez.

Jennifer L. HallItem 2

Mexley Lopez. Yes.

Hello.

Okay. Hello, members of the council. So my name is Meshlee Lopez and I'm a resident of Ward 5 and a volunteer with Tenants United. To address the comment that was made before me, the reason that rent control was passed after a meeting that went until 3 a.m. was because of the expansive community engagement and civic participation that took place that night. I actually recently went back and reviewed that meeting recording after Mayor Emescoa made similar comments. And I listened the whole way through to the recording and tallied up how many speakers participated that night and it was more than 100. it's worrisome to

me that members of the public and even council members and the mayor herself have tried to problematize the vote that happened that night based on the time when the meeting finished because it ending so late is a direct result of receiving an unprecedented amount of public comments and that is a good thing civic engagement and civic participation are good things to say you don't want meetings to go that late means to say you don't want people to come and offer their public comments and the only reason why anyone would discourage civic engagement is if their

minds were already made up before every meeting and they are voting based on their allegiances to private interest groups who fund their campaigns i also want to express my support for item number 21 and i want to note that it's really interesting that at the beginning of this meeting september was declared Hunger Action Month. And I want to invite Council Member Peñalosa and Mayor Atmezcua to consider what causes hunger in the first place. And it's the stagnant wages that people are facing. Working class families and families living on a fixed income

can't afford their food. They can't afford basic needs like housing. and that's why we need a policy like rent control to keep people housed at the same time that they're already struggling to pay for other basic needs and I want them to consider that instead of making empty platitude proclamations that don't actually do anything to stop hunger and people struggling to stay housed thank you that's my full comment thank you lorraine doering i yes yes please

proceed with your comment yes my name is actually sue lofton i'm uh i'm on a different zoom platform i'm on behalf of kingsley management corporation uh but i went to the public record incorporated into the Lofton correspondence stated August 28, 2023, is hereby incorporated into this oral record, including Form 700's file since 2020. The issue tonight is not whether you can pass rent control or just cause eviction ordinance. The issue tonight is whether you have the authority

to change the voting percentage, excuse me, from majority to supermajority, and whether the facts presented would support such a change. We request you support your city charter and the law by denying any action on the matter before you. The notice of hearing, the agenda, and the staff report by procedure and content violates the numerous laws designed to protect the statutory and constitutional rights of all citizens to provide open, honest government action, access to process, and right to be heard. I agree with the previous speaker on that.

The action before you breaches your duty to operate in accordance with the Charter of the City of Santa Ana. There is no legal basis to support moving forward with this matter. There is no factual basis presented to support the requested voting percentage change in the RSOJCEO. the facts in support of the amendment as provided in the staff report footnotes, a combination of political positions, statistics which do not apply to mobile homes or mobile home parts, and the result of the solicitation from FEMA for opinions, which concluded

if rent restrictions imposed, then you must provide mitigating provisions on the impact the landlords what mitigating terms has the city provided now instead you've created regulations of imbalance such as the rent board uh yet you mitigated the council mitigated their own exposure by amending the confidentiality of the requirements to eliminate the requirement to report any rental 30 days or less. Are you going to allow the landlords to exempt rentals 30 days or less?

As for renters, the city held as of the September 2021 hearings, excess funds that was given from the federal and state government to assist residents who needed the money, who needed help paying their rent and and the city has failed to provide programs to the mobile homeowners to expedite their access ma'am your time is up pardon your time is up next speaker sarah perez please

unmute hi um i just wanted to present myself um i'm currently actually an intern for el centro Cultural de Mexico in Santa Ana. And this was in regards to item number 21 as well. I just wanted to speak on my own experiences from like as being a student at UC Irvine, how scary it is to have unsured housing and how intimidating it really is and how much stress and anxiety inducing it really is. So, I mean, I really do appreciate the community coming together in order to promote and instill some sort of like reassurance for the community for housing.

SO BASED ON MY OWN EXPERIENCES I'VE ALWAYS RENTED THROUGHOUT MY WHOLE LIFE SO I APPRECIATE THAT MOBILIZATION AND I HOPE IT STAYS PRESERVED AS WELL. SO THANK YOU.

Jennifer L. HallItem 2

MAYOR POTEM THAT CONCLUDES THE PUBLIC SPEAKERS ON ZOOM.

Jessie LopezItem 2

THANK YOU CLERK. WE WILL NOW MOVE ON TO THE SPEAKERS THAT ARE IN THE CHAMBER. THE FIRST SPEAKER IS CLAY HAGE. THE SECOND SPEAKER IS GOING TO BE MR. TIM JOHNSON AND THEN NATHANIEL GREENSIDE. So please be ready.

Clay Hague, Director of Operations, Park Management Inc. We operate Biddle Home and Liberty Mobile Home Parks in Santa Ana. We are here to urge you to reject any direction to the staff to amend your rent control ordinance to require a 5-7 vote to amend. You may have received a letter from one of the industry attorneys with a detail set, no less than nine reasons why asking staff to do this is an illegal act.

So we're asking you, don't go down that road. Nobody should encourage a public body to thumb its nose at state law.

Ignoring constitutional principles is a dangerous act when city councils then become lawless. Why provoke a constitutional battle when you really don't have to? Why ask your staff to draft something that may be in violation of state law? Is that the kind of reputation you want for the city of Santa Ana?

Constitutional lines really should not be crossed. You know, it's not like taking 16 items to a 15 or less item line to buy something. This is a very serious, serious line that should not be crossed. There are unintended consequences for cities that may want to violate state law. And this isn't about rent control anymore. This is about public policy. This is about a policy that you want to pursue that may be in violation of the law. Is that what you want to present to the citizens of Santa Ana? We want you to think about it.

We're just asking you, don't put the city at risk. Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Thank you. Tim Johnson.

Good evening, Mayor Pro Tam and the rest of the council. Thanks for allowing me to speak. I'm assuming everyone's received my diatribe to emails of probably no less than four pages of non-attorney type speak, but just from a regular citizen resident of Ward 3, who was the happy recipient of the city's love letter saying, hey, you own at least one rental unit in the city. That's a quote. You own at least one rental at the above property address,

which is my house, that I leave from my home to go to work, pretty much seven days a week, unfortunately, that I go home to and that my three kids have come home from the hospital from. and you're saying that I own a rental unit there

because I have a Mills Act home and that Mills Act home does not have a homeowner's exemption with the county.

Not all homeowners that own a single family residence even have a homeowner's exemption. I'm a CPI, I work in tax every day. There are many, many, many of my clients here in Orange County who don't even know about the homeowners exemption. It was a form that was part of their massive amount of documents when they originally purchased their home. It's about $70 a year in property tax savings. They don't even know about it. $70 would be great in a lot of their pockets, but they don't even know about it. The city sent 32,000 of these letters is what I've been told.

32,000 of these letters that at my firm, color copies, cost more than black and white. So I suspect that this has probably cost about $60,000 to $90,000 just to send these 32,000 letters out. And we are here saying you need to go register, even if it's your home, register. you need to then have two options and this was according to the letter and the registration site register and be part of the registry or register and ask for an exemption the exemption i can't sign

unless i commit perjury because i don't have a tenant excuse me mr johnson i apologize for interjecting and so i'll get to the two-thirds but because tonight is a special meeting comment you're limited to matters that that's that's correct and the tooth and my concern with this is with thank you are are are going away from going into this with the majority any changes of it being a two-thirds i think that's that we have to look strongly at that and look strongly at how this is impacting our residents right now so i would leave you with that that let's make corrections to this. Let's pause.

Let's get the PIO to put out information on this. Stop it. Restart. Let's do it right. Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Nathaniel Greensides.

Jessie LopezItem 2

After Nathaniel will be Anna Charco and Daniel Morin.

Nathaniel Greensides, Ward 5 resident. I have submitted written comment on item number 21 as well. I got a chance to read through some of the legal arguments presented by the opponents of the rent of protections we have here in the city, and I'll address a few points. The first, that it's absolutely a flat-out incorrect claim and absolutely abhorrent, in my opinion, to continually maintain that the ordinance were drafted secretly without input from the public. To quite the contrary, the reason that City Council was voting on the matter late into the early morning was due to the hundreds of residents who came to voice their support

of strong local tenant protections. It is shameful that the opponents, who mind you, who have known about tenants being rent burdened for a long time and did nothing in all that time to ensure that bad actors in their own industry were held accountable, it is abhorrent that those people and the people to whom they pay campaign funds continue to spew that lie that our long stroke, strong local protections were enacted secretly or without public input.

The item tonight is not about the validity of the strong local protections though. It is a discussion to amend the ordinances to ensure that future city councils cannot undo the strong local protections hard fought and hard won by the efforts of community members and residents here in our city. I find it shameful that landlords against the ordinance altogether are paying a pretty penny to shoddy landlords with strange legal reasoning instead of putting that money towards the communities they reap profit from. Additionally, the claim that it is illegal to require a supermajority to repeal an ordinance

whereas it is legal to require a supermajority to amend an ordinance, to me, displays quite a legal loophole if in fact it's true. If in fact a supermajority cannot be required to repeal an ordinance, then any city council who desires to amend an ordinance which would otherwise require a supermajority for amendment could easily sidestep such a requirement by first repealing the ordinance via simple majority and then successively enacting a new ordinance with the amendments via simple majority. I'll end with this. Rent stabilization and just cause evictions is not a silver bullet,

and those who work in the community with renters and have witnessed the atrocities committed by landlords, it's not a silver bullet to solve housing affordability issues. There's a multi-unit building where all tenants were evicted prior to the local protections becoming effective. The building had all kinds of maintenance issues and again this was prior to our local ordinances existing. The building at 1104 North Lacey Street sits vacant to this day. It had been inquired by an out-of-town investor who pretended that he was just a manager not the sole owner of the LLC which had bought the building

and evicted everybody. Rent stabilization ensures that those who have been in Santa Ana can afford the rent increases to continue to live in their own communities here in our city. It cannot ensure that those who are unhoused will magically be housed never aimed to do such it ensures that those who have been housed here in our city can remain thank you

good evening City Council members my name is Anna Chattaco and I'm here on behalf of Latino Health Access an organization deeply committed to enhancing health equity and the well-being of our community here in Santana. Today I'm here to express Latina Health Access support for the critical proposal made to agenda item number 21. The RSO and the JCEO aim to provide long-term stability and predictability for tenants. Frequent changes or amendments can disrupt this stability, requiring a super-majority vote ensures that any modifications are thoroughly considered

unless vulnerable to individuals and short-sighted political interests. In addition, implementing a super-majority requirement adds an extra layer of protection to tenants. Against potential weakening or diluting of tenants' rights, guaranteeing that any changes made are generally in the best interest of our residents and made with the outermost care and attention to potential impacts. We believe that requiring a super-majority approval for certain future amendments to these ordinance is not only a necessary but also imperative. Access to stable, affordable, and dignified ordinance is a fundamental human right and

a core social driver of health. Excessive research has consistently demonstrated the profound impact of housing on our overall well-being. Evidence suggests that approximately 80% of our health outcomes are influenced by social conditions with housing being a pivotal factor. In light of this overwhelming evidence pointing to the critical role of housing in public health, we urge you to prioritize the long-term well-being of our community by supporting this important proposal. It is our duty to ensure that everyone has access to safe, affordable and stable housing, and this measures a significant step to that direction.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Thank you. Daniel Morin. Marin.

Good evening, council members and absent. Madam Mayor, I'm going to talk about two topics, both short. First one is 8, 9, 10. When it comes to rezoning and construction contracts, the city of Sinai seem to change rapidly fast in the sensitive warts and make no changes in the privileged warts. It is specifically unfair to some residents to deal with construction noise, chemicals, tar, stress, financial hardship, and illnesses.

I would like to ask the city for records of all the streets and areas that got rezoned for commercial use and continuous construction work. I ask for this information to analyze and identify the discurrency within our community and those that are affected and those who benefit from the hardships of others. For item 21, the Santa Ana housing market and rental has always been fair in the Orange County region, but within the last five years, it has been unfair. Many of our born and raised residents simply get bought out by outside money. I would like to propose an idea of making Santa Ana the first ever family first and

rental buyer city. This will stop investors, hedge fund corporations, and house flippers from manipulating the housing market and monopolizing supply and demand homes are not meant for business for corporations for profit gain for investors homes are made for family for memories for experiences for shelter and for generational wealth thank you thank you for your comment before i call the next speaker

Jessie LopezItem 2

city manager do you think we can accommodate the ac levels it's a little too cold up here

Certainly, Mayor Pro Tem.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Thank you for that. Next speaker, Silvia Vendaño, and after Silvia will be Kaylee Levitt. Thank you.

limpiando sus casas porque están haciendo el jardín porque están trabajando verdad pero pero bueno yo tengo la oportunidad de hablar con todos ellos yo soy consejera de inquilinos en el centro cultural de méxico y soy voluntaria de inquilinos unidos de santana entonces yo vengo a hablar de los sueños verdad ya no vamos a hablar de tanto que caminamos de tanto que trabajamos para conseguir this dream that is the rent control, that is a reality, and that now we are living, we are living, we are living, we are living, we are living, we are living, we have achieved that we have won,

so I ask that we consider everything that has worked, that everything that has been worked for, for this control of rent, this stabilization, for the cause just. Because I, as a secretary of inquilinos, I'm hearing, I'm hearing, I'm hearing news of news, of injustices, of arbitraried, and I'm wondering, what happened with the control of rent, what happened with the cause just. Well, we're working, and I hope you reconsider all this. And also, the joy of living, and of working together for Santana,

for fixing all the problems and angsties of the living. And I also am a favor of that we respect this and that we pass the rent and the cause of justice. Sorry, I'm sorry, I'm asmating, so I'm going to work. Thank you very much.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Gracias. Kaylee is next, and then Tracy Law, and after Tracy will be Celine Wynne.

Good evening, members of the City Council. I'm happy to be here again. I'm happy to be here with you. I'm representing people who cannot be here because they are working. They are taking care of their kids. They are cleaning their houses. They are doing their yard work, et cetera. They're working. I'm here representing them. I am a tenant advisor, a counselor, tenant counselor with tenant, volunteer with Tenant United Santa Ana and I'm here to talk about the dreams not just the dreams but because of all the work we're not going to talk of all the walking that we did

to have this this ordinance that passed that is rent control is a reality now we are living it we're enjoying it we're happy that we it passed we're happy that we won and I'm here to ask you to consider helping us, helping us with keeping up with this fight with rent control and just cause eviction, rent stabilization. And I'm here, I still hear as a tenant counselor, I still hear about the evictions and abuses taking place and people come and ask me

what happened to rent control, what happened to just cause evictions. And we're working on that. That's why we're here, and I'm happy that we can work together for Santa Ana to fix the housing issues in Santa Ana. And I'm here for asking you to help us pass this so that we can keep enjoying this. Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Thank you. Kaylee?

Jessie LopezItem 2

If Kaylee's not here, Tracy Law would be next, and then Celine Wynne.

Jessie LopezItem 2

And after Selena would be Lisa Nguyen.

Hi everyone, my name is Tracy, I'm the director of VITRISE and I'm also resident of Board 1. On behalf of my organization, I'm here to speak about items 14, 18, and 21. Firstly, we are in strong support of the resolution in support of the Home Act. Thank you tremendously to Councilmembers Fan and Vasquez for championing and supporting our immigrant and refugee communities. The Home Act, in a nutshell, is simply about treating people the same under the law regardless of where they were born. Rather than experience the freedom that they earned after completing their prison sentences,

immigrants and refugees are handcuffed and transferred to ICE detention. If they were a citizen, that would not be the case. So this bill really is about fairness and equality, and it's important that Santa Ana stands for that value. Secondly, we oppose Agenda Item 18 and urge the city to not enter into contract with Lexipol. Disturbing reports from reliable sources, such as the ACLU of Washington and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, reveal a disconcerting pattern surrounding Lexipol's policies. policies. These policies have historically prioritized police officers' protection over true public

safety, often leading to excessive use of force and endangering the community. Alongside the heightened risk of lawsuits, the harm that LexiPol's policies have caused and will continue to cause to the broader public should stand as sufficient reason why contracting LexiPol to draft policies for the city of Santa Ana should be avoided. And finally, we support, or we are in strong support of Agenda Item 21. The reason why the community makes the effort to go out and vote and elect people into office is because we want them to stand with us, the people, not corporations or people who are in

the business of exploiting our communities for profit. I believe that it's truly delusional for anyone to say rent control does not support our community. As an organization, we support any action that will strengthen the city's rent stabilization and just cause evictions ordinance, including this one. Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Thank you. Celine. After Celine, it would be Lisa.

And then Chloe. Good evening, City Council members. My name is Celine Nguyen and I'm here today with VITRIS to declare my support for Agenda Items 18 and 21 and opposition to Agenda Item 14. I'd like to speak a bit more about Agenda Item 18, the resolution declaring support of the Home Act or Assembly Bill 1306. As a Vietnamese American who comes from a proud family of refugees, I am in disapproval of the unfair and undeserving double punishments to other immigrant members of our community. The HOME Act will ensure that no member of our community will have to worry that they

will be forced out of their home here in the USA due to their immigration status alone. If Santa Ana is truly a sanctuary city, the HOME Act will uphold Santa Ana's values towards justice, equity, and safety in an indiscriminatory manner for all residents. Again, I am in support of agenda items 18 and 21, and I am in strong opposition to item 14. Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Thank you.

Good evening, City Council members. My name is Lisa, and I am with Viet Rhymes today. I am in support of agenda item number 18, the resolution declaring support of the Home Act AB 1306. The Home Act is a safeguard for immigrants and refugees who have earned their release through prior criminal justice reforms, protecting them from unjust double punishment during prison to ICE transfers. System impacted community members are just as deserving of a chance at creating a life that they want, especially after earning a second chance to be with their

loved ones in the community. As the first city in Orange County to declare itself a sanctuary city, Santa Ana must take this stand calling for the end of ICE transfer and advance California status as a true sanctuary state for immigrants and refugees. In addition, I strongly support agenda item number 21. In a city where renters are the majority, these ordinances have provided relief for tenants who have struggled to afford to stay in their own homes. Families, seniors, mobile home residents deserve the right to live comfortably in their own homes without the worry of being pushed out, of being evicted,

of having exuberant rent increases. Our team of canvassers go door-to-door for the past few months, making sure that our residents are being heard, that their stories are being heard, and often the number of rent increases has really caused them to fall to sickness. The stress that they have to be under is a continuous fault that we must fix. Lastly, I would like to express my opposition to agenda number 14. The militarization of the police force is not needed in the city, and would go against the purpose of building a public safety law here.

Reports from the ACLU of Washington and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project highlight Lexapro's concerning history of crafting policies that barely meet legal standards. Their policies prioritize shooting police officers and limiting their liability over public safety. These policies have enabled unnecessary use of force, incidents, and inflicted harm on the people. Beyond the increased lawsuit risk, the harm caused by Lexapro's policy should deter the city of Santa Ana from contracting with them. Again, I support agenda items number 18 and 21, and I oppose agenda item number 14. Thank you for your time.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Thank you. Chloe, after Chloe, it will be Eric Doe and Celeste Vazquez.

Good evening, City Council members. My name is Chloe Vo, and I'm here with Veert Rise, and I am an undergraduate student at UC Irvine. When I look at our local communities in OC, I see the resilience of immigrants and refugees, but also the prevalence of cruel double punishment where individuals who have earned release from incarceration are transferred from prison to ICE detention centers. Therefore, I would like to extend my support for agenda item number 18, the resolution declaring support of the Home Act AB 1306. The Home Act would ensure that immigrants and refugees are included under existing criminal

justice reforms, protecting them from cruel persecution through the prison to deportation pipeline. This bill is only one step in reshaping our punitive society into one that treats the individual not as a statistic but as a human, a holistic being with opportunities to grow and be rehabilitated. Secondly, I support agenda item number 21, the proposal to create an ordinance to require supermajority approval for certain future amendments to Santa Ana's rent stabilization and just cause eviction ordinance. Housing is a human right that we must fulfill in Orange County and beyond. Rent control and tenant

protections have improved the well-being and safety of our communities, safeguarding their access to shelter. The Santa Ana ordinance has elevated the standard of living for residents and requiring a supermajority approval would to protect it from short-term corporate interests and political power plays. Protect it from influences that value profit and control over the people. Lastly, I oppose agenda item number 14, the master service agreement with LexiPol. The private company creates law enforcement policies that allow for the unnecessary use of force, violating laws like the California Act to save lives.

Additionally, some of its protocols instruct local police on how to enforce immigration law, using ambiguity that leaves room for racial profiling and the mass criminalization of immigrants. Treading low legal standards, Lexipol makes police departments, including SAPD, more susceptible to costly lawsuits and subjects city residents to harm, which should discourage Santa Ana from working with them. Again, I support agenda items number 18 and 21 and oppose agenda item number 14. Council members, do you want our future to be rooted in fear, intimidation, and violence?

Or do you want to build a future of transformative justice, equity, and belonging? The choice is yours, but the possible ramifications will be shouldered by the community. Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Thank you. Eric Doe.

Good evening, Council Members. My name is Eric Doe. I am a resident of Westminster and with VidRise and a board member of Orange County Mobile Home Residence Coalition. I am here today to strongly support Items 18, Home Act, and Item 21, Supermajority Approval for Future Amendments to Santa Ana Rent Civilization and Just Cost Eviction Ordinance. The HOME Act is about keeping families together. Disbanded families lead to social and economic issues that can be a burden to the city.

Loss of family structure can be especially hard on the children, causing them to lose focus on their education and seek the family structure elsewhere. These families come from many different backgrounds but share one common thread. They are all immigrants. Therefore, I strongly urge you to vote yes to keep these families intact. Regarding the amendment to the rent civilization ordinance, immigrant families also represent over 40% of renters in Santa Ana and over 50% of the population are renters.

These renters need a better safeguard against any changes that are to be made with the ordinance that is keeping them housed. A supermajority approval is needed if any changes are to be made to an ordinance that protects tens of thousands of renters in the city against predatory and corporate landlords in a time when cost of living is sky high and families are struggling to make ends meet. Again, I strongly urge you to give these families peace of mind. Lastly, for agenda item 14, please do not subject these families and children to endless

circle of violence. I strongly oppose the provocation of training our police force with policies that can be detrimental to the city. Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Thank you. Celeste Vasquez.

Jessie LopezItem 2

After Celeste it will be Tu Hong.

and Endegovu. Hello, my name is Celeste, I'm a resident of Santa Ana and I'm also speaking here along with Viet Rise. I'm talking in support of items 14 and 21 and also opposed to item 18 and 21 and opposed to item 14. Regarding item 18, the Home Act, I want to draw strong support for the Act. It may concern refugees who have been incarcerated and released

through past criminal reforms. They shouldn't be punished again by being sent to ICE detention and potentially deported. So this bill would actually help keep the people who have already served their sentence here and safe with their family and allow them to actually live their lives without fear of deportation. I also want to show strong support for Item 21.

This is something the community has already shown support for, so we're just requiring a supermajority protects those renters, and as others have said, that is like the majority population in Santa Ana. I'm one of them and this is just prevents them from unfair rent increases and evictions and lastly I would like to show strong opposition to item 14 thank you good evening council member my My name is Tu Hong, resident of Garden Grove, and I just want to show my support for the Home Act.

It's just create an avenue for many deserving individuals to remain in the only home they ever know. Secondly, I support the rent stabilization as it creates an opportunity for those to afford a place called home. And I object Lexapol because I want to be safe from my home. Thank you for your time.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Thank you. Indigo Wu?

Jessie LopezItem 2

After Indigo it will be Tuat May.

Good evening, Santa Ana City Council members. My name is Indigo Vu. I am a staff member of Yit Rise and a resident of Ward 1. I'm speaking today in strong support of agenda items 18 and 21 and in opposition of agenda item 14. First, I urge you all to vote yes on the resolution in support of the Home Act, which ensures equal treatment of citizens and non-citizens who are found eligible for release and who receive their convictions as youth, elderly, and medical parole releases. Santa Ana was the first city in Orange County to declare itself a sanctuary city, the first to establish

a deportation defense fund for its undocumented residents, and continues to be a leader in the county in support of immigrant rights. The city is over 40% immigrant and has over 100,000 undocumented residents. It is common sense to vote yes in support of an act that would further protect immigrant rights and communities. Next, I urge you all to vote yes on agenda item 21 to require a supermajority vote for future amendments to the rent stabilization and just cause evictions ordinance. For far too long, residents in the city lived in fear and anxiety around housing

affordability. In the years since the passage of the ordinance, there has been a collective breath of relief for renters in a city that they could instead worry less about their rent and be able to afford health care, medications, and food. This change in the ordinance would protect the ordinance as it is and continue the relief for residents for years to come. Finally, I urge you to vote no on the contract with Lexapol, which has a history of writing and implementing policies that lead to the use of excessive force against residents. The ACLU sent a letter to Lexapol

in 2017 stating that the policies they created can lead to racial profiling and harassment of immigrants. If we are concerned about crime, we should instead spend our city dollars on supportive resources and preventative measures rather than investing in violence. Again, please vote no on agenda item 14. Again, I support agenda items 18 and 21 and oppose agenda item 14. Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Thank you, Tuak.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Then Vincent Tran. And Do Tran.

Good evening, City Council. My name is Thut Mai. I'm 76 years old. I have been living in Santa Ana for 21 years. and I am a mobile home resident in the War I for 14 years. I would like to express my strong support for Agenda Item 21, The proposal to create an ordinance to require supermajority approval for future amendments to Santa resident rent stabilization.

As a renter, the rent control law has helped me and provide my family the protection to allow us to continue living in Santa Ana. I want to ensure that rent control is protected for the future so that others in Santa Ana may live happily without fear of losing their homes and being separated from their community. Please support us by support agenda item 21. I would like to thank the Santa Ana City Council for the good job we were

done on the rent control last time. You are truly, truly working for people. Since then, we live happily and I can see our neighbors live happily.

And also I'm proud of you whenever time when I went to see my friends at all the cities. Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Thank you and please accept my apologies for mispronouncing your last name. Go ahead Vincent.

Good evening City Council members, my name is Vincent Tran. I'm the organizing director at VIRISE. I'd like to speak on three agenda items today, number 18, 21, and 14. So firstly I support agenda item 18, the resolution to declaring support for the Home Act. So this morning the LA Times published an article detailing the ACLU NorCal's report that actually revealed that the California prisons are making racist assumptions in reporting prisoners to ICE, irregardless of their immigration status. This report states, in quote, in their zeal to collude with ICE, the California Department of Corrections and

and rehabilitation is not only targeting people who have served their time and is set to return home for detention, but is also sweeping up US citizens and green card holders relying on racist assumptions and ignoring their own records. This is clear evidence that the Home Act is sorely needed to protect immigrants and refugees from racially motivated profiling and unjust double punishment during prison to ICE transfers. Secondly, I strongly support agenda item 21, the proposal to create an ordinance to require supermajority approval for future amendments to the Santa Ana rent stabilization and just cause eviction ordinance.

So this law has provided the necessary protections to prevent displacement, has kept families and communities intact, and it's continued to solve Orange County's housing crisis. And we need to ensure the future of this law and to secure its viability for future generations. And lastly, I would like to express my opposition for agenda number 14, the master service agreement with Lexapol. Lexapol is a company that has numerous instances in the past at risking cities policies, and placing them in a position where they face countless lawsuits by creating policing

policies that only meet minimum legal standards. The multiple police departments have been sued over Lexapol's authored policies, including the city of Pomona in 2020. And Santa Ana's budget, of course, is not operating with a massive surplus compared to previous years and the city cannot afford to be placed in a financially precarious situation due to the questionable work by Lexapol. I believe the city should seek other alternatives or create those policies in-house. Again, I support agenda item number 18, 21, and I oppose agenda item number 14. Thank you. Thank you. Dow Tran.

Jessie LopezItem 2

And then Annabel Parra.

.

Good evening, City Council. My name is Dow Tran. I am a senior mobile home resident in Wuhan. I am 73-year-old and have lived in Santa Ana for 15 years. I would like to express my strong support for agenda item 21. We live in senior mobile homes, so most of us only have SSI or SSA, so our finances are very limited. Most of us monthly benefits are less or equal with our monthly rental. I want to ensure that rent control is protected for the future so that people live in Santana

may live without fear of losing their home and will become homeless. Please support us by supporting Agenda Item 21. Thank you very much and God bless you all. Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Thank you. Thank you, Annabelle.

Jessie LopezItem 2

After Annabelle, it's going to be Carlos Perea and Teodora Mendez. .

Thank you.

control the renta and cause justa. Because as a mother and grandmother, I am the representative of the union of the families and the youth of my community. And when I am here, I am a project of unity. Thank you very much. With permission.

Carlos? Good evening. My name is Anabel Parra and I am a resident of Santa Ana for 27 years and a member of the United Tenants for Hope, and I'm here to support item 21, rent control and just cost eviction. As a mom and as a grandma, I'm here representing families and youth here in the community, and I'm here standing in solidarity and unity. Thank you.

Good evening, Santa Ana City Council. My name is Carlos Perea, resident of World One, and also the Executive Director for the Harvard Institute for Immigrant and Economic Justice. I'm here to speak on a couple items as well, but first I'll start with Agenda Item 18, Resolution in Support of the Home Act. So I want to, you know, I support all the, everything that the speakers have mentioned up to now about what the home act is, but in reality what it really is about, it's about whether or not the city believes that anyone should be treated differently because of their

immigration status. We did not believe that. That's why we passed the sanctuary ordinance in 2017, and we shouldn't believe that the state shouldn't either. This is not about just the crimes or the things that people committed. It's the fundamental right to not be discriminated. And on that, just earlier today, the American Civil Liberties Union released a report that has exposed how state prisons are also transferring citizens to ICE based on racial profiling, based on discrimination, and also exposed emails about prison staff joking about those. I also want to

remind the Santa Ana City Council that last year, it voted unanimously to support the Vision Act, which was a bill similar to the Home Act, but that it was more expansive and also included county jails, which Council Member Peñalosa, Council Member Becerra, you support it. Because I believe that hopefully you also believe in the principle that no one should be treated differently. So hopefully that you support this item today. I'm also here to oppose agenda item 14, approving the contract with LexiCo company. This is also a very personal matter to me. Lexipol was a company that a lot of us raised concerns about after we

implemented the city sanctuary policy because of its faulty trainings. Now the city has made great progress on police reforms and police oversight. We have now Police Oversight Commission so we should have the Police Oversight Commission look into this type of trainings, look into what the city police department needs to be properly equipped but not be trained by a company that has been the responsible entity for cities getting sued for having very bad trainings. An example, a city in Washington State in 2018 got sued after his police

department transferred a person to ICE after a traffic accident and that police officer was misinformed and mistrained by Lexipo. Do we want to open ourselves to that type of liability? That's why we implemented police oversight to ensure that we're not paying millions of dollars in lawsuits for things like that. So I hope you also post this contract and defer this item to the Police Oversight Commission which will be the most appropriate thing to do. And lastly I'm here in supporting on the agenda item 21 I believe we need to strengthen or rent control rent stabilization ordinance. Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Thank you.

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in our community and protect the residents of injustices. I invite you to advance with the number 21 and take measures to strengthen the protection of the inquilinos. Thank you. I have a surprise. I have a surprise. What I made, what I painted, I made a lapis. Do you have a story?

Thank you. to strengthen the housing programs and to not have unjust evictions.

And I'm here to ask you to support item 21 on the agenda to protect our tenants. And the little girl said, I brought this and I sent this to you with the colors I just got.

Buenas tardes. Mi nombre es Araceli Robles. Y yo viví 22 años en la ciudad de Santana. Extraño Santana. Espero volver a Santana. In 2018, many of our colleagues in this community came to collect firm for able to pass a control of rent and it was a lot of work, a lot of hours of the heat, in the night, we're taking a risk of getting a control of rent and we're talking about not only control of rent, we're talking about family, that a family, by not having a stable table, the children are in danger of being removed by social services.

So, we have to think that if we are asking that we are asking that we are protecting this ordinance with the majority, we are not saying that we are against them. We have to strengthen the work of many, many, many years and many people who have been fighting for protecting the housing. And remember, every point that they put in the agenda has a name, has a name, son hijos, son hermanos, que están en las cárceles, que están siendo movidos a otros lugares. Nosotros necesitamos realmente vernos como un equipo. No somos ustedes contra nosotros, ni contra los desarrolladores, ni contra los dueños de vivienda.

Nosotros necesitamos trabajar juntos para que la ciudad de Santana realmente trabaje como un equipo y sea un ejemplo a seguir, de que realmente estamos en la misma página. and I sometimes I'm worried about it because I'm so difficult to have a conversation with the Mr. David Peñalosa, with Pielba Serra, that we have invited to several of our community groups. We really invite them to meet them, to work together and protect our homes. We are not only the ones we are, we are all the families of Santana and I want to go back to Santana because Santana is my heart and my passion and here is the most beautiful of my life,

que es mi hija. Gracias.

Good evening. My name is Araceli Robles. I lived in Santa Ana for 22 years, and I miss Santa Ana. I would like to come back. In 2018, we worked hard to gather signatures for the rent control ordinance. It was hot times, it was night time, it was risky to be out there. But we did this not just for any rent control. It's not just rent control. This is for families. This is to support families because the kids, when they're not secure in their housing, they're at risk of being removed by social services.

So we need to protect the rent control ordinance. and we work very hard for years to strengthen the work that we've done for years to protect housing and behind any items on the agenda it's not just that it's their names behind these things on the agenda there's names and last names and and sons and other relatives that are in jail and we need to be a team we to work together. It's not us against you. It's not us against the developers or the

landlords. We need to work together as a team to be an example, to be on the same page for Santa Ana. And it's hard for me when it's hard, it's sad to me when it's hard for me to connect with Mr. Peñalosa or Mr. Bacero when we invite you to come to us to get to know us as people because this is about Santa Ana, this is about the families, and I would love to come back to Santa Ana because in Santa Ana I love Santa Ana Santa Ana is my passion and something very beautiful was born in Santa Ana which is my daughter

Jessie LopezItem 2

thank you Alexis Navatiodoro after Alexis it'll be Christmas

Good evening, Council. My name is Alexis Navatadoro. I'm the founder and director of the Tanayuka Labor Project. We are an organization that focuses entirely on recuperating stolen wages in the city of Santana. We track employers at steel. We have recuperated already thousands of dollars under the pandemic in stolen wages. and that's our organization. We are here supporting... I have comments on three items. I'm going to start with two of them that are interrelated. The HOME Act and that resolution. I would like to reaffirm the comment that was made by Indigo and Carlos

that in 2017, this council unanimously passed what's called the Santana Sanctuary Ordinance. and I actually would like to remind the council members here to reread that ordinance because you might be in violation of it if you actually approve the contract with Lexiple. There's expansive language in that ordinance that if you were to read it, and I remember those of us that helped write it with the city attorney, we also met with the chief at that time when we created a sanctuary advisory board, and we actually explained in detail why Lexiple is never a good

choice to hire. Plus, other organizations that emailed you about the Lexipo contract have educated you that there are other contractors that you can go to that will not violate human rights such as Lexipo's record. Going back to the Home Act, we shouldn't have to argue to pass this. We are an immigrant sanctuary city since 2017. That law says that there no city resources should be spent, even if it's indirectly, to support the separation of families, whether that's directly or indirectly.

If we do not support unanimously the resolution on the Home Act, we are going back on the historical leadership that we have shared with you up in the dais that the American community demands for protection because we're unapologetic about it because it is our lives and this is also about survival. We should unanimously pass this resolution and tell Governor Newsom to make this a reality. Now, to end my comments tonight, the rent control law, that was one of the most democratic past laws in the history of this city.

The fact that we do not want to support having a supermajority to protect this law, it disappoints me a little bit. because I think of my son, I think of the children, the children that are here. Every decision you make right now, council impacts the next seven generations of children. We should have a supermajority. I'm full of support of item 21 to make sure that if anybody wants to change the rent control law in Santana, it will require a supermajority. And just lastly, to end my comments, I want to thank all the council members that continue to support tenants, workers, and immigrants. That's the leadership that we need.

Thank you. Thank you.

Hello, council members and mayor pro temp. My name is Naja Christmas. I came independently today to speak on AB 1306, which I believe is item number 18 on the agenda.

So as I was reading through the policy as it currently exists, I actually didn't really think it was real that there was such a direct policy from prison to ICE pipeline.

I had to look it up on multiple sources to make sure that this was actually a real policy. And then I realized that it was that people who are asked in this country to serve for whatever crime they committed, that they dedicated that time to, would then immediately be handed off at the end of that sentence to ICE. it didn't really resonate that it was anything that the city of Santa Ana should be supporting but California as a whole should be supporting. It felt so

far from what we should be doing especially after asking these men and women to have served that time. People should be able to go home. If there's an immigration issue, you can contact them at their homes. It's just a preposterous thing to think that you dedicate that much time to reformation, as this prison system is supposed to be giving us, reformation to changing your life and then to run the risk of being deported, to not even see the inside of your home, to not

see your family members faces after 20, 30, 40 years. But from a perspective of numbers, taxpayers invest a certain amount of money, I think it's about a hundred and six thousand dollars a year per inmate, to making sure that they are reformed. So when they come back they can be contributing members of society. Why would we invest millions of dollars to then deport these people back? That That really is not a good investment, even if you don't care about it from the perspective of human rights or from a person to person perspective. It's just a bad investment as far as numbers go.

So even if you look at it from that perspective, wouldn't you want these people to become contributing members of society after investing millions of taxpayers' dollars into their reformation?

So I'm actually really sad that it exists. I really want to support AB, let me get this right, AB 1306, because I want to make sure that's right. And I want to make sure that this changes. This needs to change. So that's my time. Thank you so much. Bye-bye. Have a great one.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Thank you. Marta Garcia?

Jessie LopezItem 2

Marta Garcia?

Jessie LopezItem 2

After Martha, it's going to be Winn Ten and Michael Mai.

I have 20 years living in the city of Santana and I just wanted to express my strong support for the point 21 in the agenda that seeks to amend the ordinance of estabilization rent. Concejales, solamente yo les vengo a pedir que apoyen realmente este punto 21 y que recuerden que la comunidad los puso aquí en sus sillas para que trabajaran con ellos, no para que trabajaran en contra de ellos. Entonces, solamente les pido que trabajen y nos apoyen. Gracias.

Good evening, City Council members. My name is Marta Garcia. I live in 92701. I've been living in Santa Ana for 20 years, and I'm here to express my strong support for item 21, the rent stabilization ordinance, and I'm here to ask you to support item 21 on the agenda. The community puts you there in those chairs, So we are here to work with you, not against you. So I'm asking you to support us and work with us. Thank you.

Hi. My name is Tin Nguyen. I'm the Immigrant Justice Coordinator at BIDRICE. I'm here to support Item 18, 21, and Opposed 14. But actually today I want to share my testimony on Item 18. uh i came from an abusive home bullying school came as a child refugee raised in pomona california um didn't feel safe at home didn't feel safe in school so i turned the street and joined a gang for protection at a young age of 12 in my early 20 i took a man life

and i was sent to life without the possible world

During my 22 years, I took responsibility and accountability for what I have done. I attended numerous self-help classes. I got my AA degree, got my bachelor's degree, and graduated with summa cum laude. I joined a powerful life program to train a shelter doctor to become a service doctor for all veterans with PTSD.

and I was commuted by Governor Jerry Brown and I was fined suitable for parole. The commission stated that I was no longer a threat to society but would be an access to society. But upon my release I was attacked by ICE where I went the day that I worked so hard for, instead of walking off the gate of freedom, I was shackled and handcuffed and transferred to the ICE detention center where I spent the next 10 months, once

again fighting for my right to go home. With the help of our community, I was released. and today after two years integrating to our community I have earned my master's degree my MBA I continue to work with shelter dogs rescue dogs and I am currently helping the Vietnamese immigrant community citizen community to integrate back to society by giving a resource and referral and I think this is what the Home Act is about

It protects individual like community members like myself that is committed to our transformation to be productive member of our society and protect them from the double punishment.

I ask that you do not judge us, my peer, for what we have done in our past, but who we are today, community members of Orange County. Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Michael Mai.

Good evening, Santana City Council. My name is Michael Mai and I am a resident of Westminster near your Ward 1. I wanted to be here today because we all have the same issues and we're all part of the same county. and I also wanted to speak today on the agenda item number 18 which is the subject of the deportation of immigrants and refugees who have been incarcerated and so the Home Act or how am I I am infected by these deportations because many of these deportees from my community are young fathers and even some

mothers that were incarcerated. And now that they're gone, they've been deported to Vietnam, Mexico, Cambodia. I'm a born American. And so it's up to me to pick up where these people left off. Their fathers are gone, their mothers are gone. I have to take care or help my community raise these kids who are like middle school, now in high school. And it sucks because I I have my own kids and sometimes I can't do it all. And there's always that saying, it takes a village to, it takes a whole village to raise a child. And with,

give me a second here.

Yeah, so the community has to pick up the slack and help raise those children. And when we can't, because we're too stretched thin, it's the community that suffers because lots of times, we know the statistics, Those children, they grow up and choose the wrong path, and the community suffers for that. And so, you know, I'm just here to ask you guys here today to support the HOME Act. It's a safeguard for those immigrants and refugees in our communities. And we have a very beautiful, diverse community, and, you know, we have to protect it.

You know, I understand supposedly this home, I mean, the deportation of immigrants that have, you know, Breaking laws was meant to make us feel safer, but it's only done more damages to our communities. And I myself have been incarcerated myself, and what it reminds me of is it's just human trafficking. Literally, it is. I was sentenced to two years just for having marijuana in college, and I got paid, what, two cents per hour. And I made $200 by the time I got out, and my mom was ready to pick me up, and guess what happens. The state hands me over to the county. What for? Because they want my $200

to transport me back to the county. So to me, this is just all a scam. It's a human trafficking scam just to make jobs for people to transport people of color wrongfully. That's what it is. It's a scam. I've been through it. I could have been doing a lot of other things. I could be us practicing cyber security helping our nation but instead we're dealing with this you know this immigration fear-mongering. Thank you everybody.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Thank you. Fernando Delgado.

Jessie LopezItem 2

And this will be the last call for Kaylee Levitt.

All right, good evening, Council. I'm here to speak on two items. First, I want to just jump into item 14, the item regarding Lexapol. I actually came here last year in September to speak about the contract that the city had with Lexapol and just highlight some of the horrors that are involved with this company that is advising policy for our department. So I'm just here again to remind the Council, and just to point out to the public watching, the mayor and Becerra and Fenn are not here, speaking to the rest of the Council here. just remind you what Lexapol entails and why we don't need that in our city.

So I'm just gonna read some of my comments from last year with some updates. According to an article from Mother Jones published in 2020, Lexapol is responsible for writing policies on behalf of police departments that serve to protect them from facing accountability for their misconduct. They also provide officer training and advise departments on public relations when it comes to dealing with incidents of misconduct. To give you a sense of the culture that Lexapol fosters, I'd like to share a quote from the man named Bruce Prate, former police officer turned lawyer who founded Luxapo. At a training hosted by

Bruce, he instructed officers to manipulate records and evidence of officer-involved shootings to avoid liability. He said, quote, I don't understand why cops have this inherent need to take bloody photographs of suspects after they get in a fight or whatever with the bad guy. You guys are taking photos of this guy when they look like their faces has been through a meat grinder. Their white shirt is crimson red and you're snapping color pictures? Stop it. Clean them up. There's a simple formula. You all need to commit this to memory. Red turns to green at the time of trial. If there's blood in the photo, you're gonna pay money."

Quoting again from the Mother Jones article, the national consensus policy on use of force requires cops to try de-escalation techniques before using force if possible. Lexapol actually discourages police departments from requiring these. Here's another example. This is from a recent article published in the LA Times March of this year. It says, quote, law enforcement agencies across California have been trained to quickly question family members after a police killing in order to collect information that among other things is used to protect the involved officers and their department. Police and

prosecutors routinely incorporate the information into disparaging accounts about the people who have been killed that helped justify the killings, bolster the police department's defense against civil suits, and reduce the amount of money families receive in settlements and jury verdicts. Again, companies like Luxembourg aren't interested in providing the, improving the relationship between police and community their work aims to create a barrier between police and community shielding them from accountability when they abuse their power we would essentially be dedicated sorry we would essentially be

dedicating a hundred and seventy five thousand dollars of taxpayer money to fund for cover-up consultants for our department the city has contracted with flexible before for ten years we just halted the contract that I understand correctly for this last year but between 2010 and 2020 the city paid out twenty four point five million dollars in settlements because of police misconduct so not only is this partnership a threat to the safety of community members it's a fiscal failure so again please reject the agreement with Lexapol and regarding item 21 I support obviously establishing a supermajority to up to amend the RSO and JCEO

Mr. Delgado your time is up last sentence please we know that there are pay-to-play politicians looking to step in here to this council and remove that

Jessie LopezItem 2

thank you for your comment thank you thank you

Jessie LopezItem 2

Okay, we are now going to move on to the consent calendar. Items 4 through 20 are before us. Council members, please announce any items that you will be pulling from the agenda tonight or abstaining due to a conflict. If there are any requests to pull an item from the consent calendar for further discussion, please let me know now.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 4

Yes, I'll be pulling item 14.

Jessie LopezItem 4

Okay, you're going to pull item 14. Any other items?

David PenalozaItem 4

Mayor Pro Tem, I'm just going to be pulling item number 11.

Jessie LopezItem 4

11, thank you. Any other items? Comment on 18. Okay.

Thai Viet PhanItem 4

Anything else? Yes, I would also like to comment on number 18, and I would like to state for the record my recusal from number 19 out of an abundance of caution, because I believe the property owner of the parcel in question is a client of my employer, Rattan and Tucker. So if it is pulled, I will leave the room. Thank you. Okay, thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 4

Is that it? Okay. Do I have a motion and a second to approve the remainder of the consent calendar?

David PenalozaItem 4

I'll move for you. Second.

Jessie LopezItem 4

Thank you both. Clark?

Jennifer L. HallItem 4

The vote on the consent calendar is six ayes, no nays, with a reported absence by Mayor Emesqua, with the exceptions of items 11, 14, which were pulled for separate consideration, comments on item 18, and a noted recusal by Councilmember Fan on item 19. Motion carries. Correct. Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 4

item number 11 which was pulled by councilmember

David PenalozaItem 4

Pinalosa thank you mayor pro tem Lopez I pulled item 11 which is to approve an agreement with Athens services to provide street sweeping services for a total amount not to exceed sixty four point five million dollars for 15 years madam city manager I think you're probably aware of why I pulled the item I wanted to see if you had the information that I had requested in regards to confirmation that this would be expanded to include all the commercial and industrial areas in our city as well as what kind of rollout plan do we have for any new signage that will be

David PenalozaItem 5

required if that is the case.

Certainly Councilmember Penaloza. I will ask our Executive Director of Public Works, Nabil, to come up to the podium to talk about. You are correct, this contract, the tenure with an additional five-year does add increased services to a lot of the different streets and including alleys, and it also increases the number of street sweepers from five to eight. But he can speak to signage requirements.

David PenalozaItem 5

Perfect. Thank you, Madam City Manager. And Director Saba, thank you for coming up. I know that you and I have had this conversation multiple times over the last three, four years about, I've personally received numerous requests from different industrial business owners that their streets are filled with debris and cars are parked there for months, never get moved, and wanting to have street sweeping services done on their streets so that these cars could cycle out and all that debris could be picked up. Is this something where we're going to be expanding to 100% of the industrial areas in our city?

Good evening, Mayor Potem, member of the City Council. We do plan to sweep the industrial and the commercial streets twice a week as it's being planned right now. However, the industrial streets don't have signage, as you know, and we do sweep them at night where most of the businesses are away. And that's the plan right now, but we could look at individually which streets or which industrial streets have more needs to be swept frequently, more frequently, and put signs and do that.

However, it's not our practice to put signs on industrial streets because it's just the need for businesses to park there, and that's been the practice.

David PenalozaItem 5

So are you saying that currently, I think I heard what you said. Only residential streets are being posted right now.

Currently? Right. And with this contract, we will be expanding to industrial? We do right now. We're going to sweep industrial streets more frequently than we are right now. But we're not adding signs. We can consider adding signs of industrial streets, but that's not the intention right now. Okay. We will sweep more, but we're not going to put signs like we do with the residential.

David PenalozaItem 5

I guess you answered the question first. You said no, and then you said yes. I guess, so I'm asking, currently today, do we street sweep our industrial streets? Yes, we do. We do? Yes. You probably just said no. No, we do. They're not posted. Okay. Because what I've been told from numerous industrial businesses throughout the city is that the streets are not sweeped. Right. So if that's the case, I'd like...

Well, they are being swept. However, if there is cars that are parked in industrial streets, the sweeper had to avoid those curbs and not be able to sweep.

David PenalozaItem 5

Okay. But this contract is expanding that service to those industrial areas?

Yes. The frequency will be expanded.

David PenalozaItem 5

Okay. I guess what I would like to see as we move forward, and I know that's going to be a costly undertaking to post signage throughout these industrial areas. I think because of the parking situation that we have in the city, a lot of these residents do park in industrial streets. So many of these industrial streets do not get sweeped at all, ever, because they're saturated with parked cars. Sometimes for months, the cars that aren't operable.

David PenalozaItem 5

So I would ask that as we move forward with the numerous plans, parking plans and street lighting plans, which are great things that we need, we should look into posting signage throughout these industrial corridors so that we could get those cars cycled out and get street sweeping done on those streets. Because it doesn't serve a purpose if we do have that service, but street sweepers could never get through because there's always cars parked there. So that's something that I would, I don't know if that needs to be included as part of this or is that something that Madam City Manager, do you have a?

Certainly, sir. We can take your request and then we can develop a plan and then we can return to you as to what we would be able to do in regards to signage.

David PenalozaItem 5

Okay. So I guess I would make a motion to approve this item with that language included as well is that as part of this, we also work with a plan, come up with a plan to post the appropriate signage throughout the industrial corridors that do get swept so that we can actually sweep these streets.

I don't believe there's a need for it to change this contract because this is the service contract with Athens, and the sign would be a public works responsibility. So we'll take your request on our advisement and see what we can come up with, and we can get back to you. You don't need to incorporate it within the service agreement.

David PenalozaItem 5

Okay, I just want to make sure that we don't come back six months from now and say, hey, well, it requires this much of funding and you might want to agendize the item and make it another discussion when we could just do it now.

Well, if there is a requirement for funding, we would have to come back to you. Sorry.

David PenalozaItem 5

Okay, that's fine. I guess those are the only comments I have. With that, I'll make a motion to approve.

Jessie LopezItem 5

Is there a second?

David PenalozaItem 5

I'll second.

Jessie LopezItem 5

Thank you. Any other comments?

Jessie LopezItem 5

Clerk, you can take roll.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Councilmember Hernandez.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

The vote is six ayes, no nays, with reported absence by Mayor Mesquo.

Jessie LopezItem 5

Motion carries. Thank you. Item number 14, which was pulled by Councilmember Hernandez, is next. Councilmember Hernandez.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

Councilmember Hernandez Thank you Mayor Pro Tem Lopez. I appreciate the opportunity for us to have this dialogue before our community members. I hear their concerns loud and clear. I received many emails from the organizations who did come. And last year I was the elected official who pulled the Lexapol item. Lexapol is a police consulting firm that over 8,100 police agencies are contracted with and use their policies. These are decisions regarding life or death, and these are decisions that should not be made by a private company.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

but with community input. When we're talking about policing us in our own community on our own taxpayer dollars, we shouldn't have a private company come in and tell us what that looks like. I believe that Lexapol's statewide presence has recently brought us the very much needed attention to Lexapol and its political power and how that political power is impacting communities that are struggling with adverse history with their local law enforcement agencies. Lexapol's policies are creating more distrust and a larger divide in a community due to the company's history with being a roadblock to

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

police reform initiatives. Lexapol's policy priorities are to protect officers rather than the public and shield them and shields officers from legal liability and accountability. Santa Ana PD has been working with Lexapol since the early 2010s. And this is a decision that was made at the time to reduce costs for a police department when it came to developing public policy, having a training manual, and also the costs of having staff create public policy. At the last meeting that we had in September of 2022,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

we had provided direction to see more community input and more feedback from our residents. And this is exactly why this item is a contentious one for constituents today. Because since the switch to Lexapol in the early 2010s, Santa Ana has paid roughly $24 million and counting from the public's purse to settle legal claims and lawsuits against the police department over the last decade and counting. The $24 million figure that we shared consists of police department legal payouts for bodily injury,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

personal injury, property damage, and employer liability cases, and only accounts for those that have been so far settled, according to our city officials. This is from an article from Brandon Foe with the voice of OC. In 2020, the Santa Ana City Attorney's Office wrote a letter to Lexapol stating that their policy was legally deficient and does not precisely comport with the legislative changes set forth in Assembly Bill 392, the California Act to Save Lives, which authorizes police officers to use deadly force only when it is necessary to prevent an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

Some of the issues that were brought to the attention of the city were addressed immediately by our city attorney. Our city attorney in 2020 had to actually send a letter to Lexapol asking them to address it and correct it. There were changes that were made and that was a process that involved the community, community organizers, and police leadership. Those changes were made and we were one of the first cities to do so.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

Part of why this is a concern that Lexapol is coming back to us is Lexapol's founder, Bruce Prayett, has a very troubling history with community and the policies that have been set forth in police departments in communities very similar to St. Anna. In a training webinar, Bruce Prayett, the instructor, was teaching police officers how to write more effective reports and offered several tips on how to prepare the script and portray officers as victims. Officers were also scolded for documenting injuries suffered by suspects during incidents with police. He is quoted,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

I don't understand why cops have the inherent need to make bloody photographs of suspects after they get in a fight or whatever with the bad guy, said Bruce Prayett, an attorney and former officer. You guys are taking photos of this guy when they look like their faces bend through a meat grinder. Their white shirt is crimson red and you're snapping color pictures. Stop it. Clean them up. Prayett was advising police officers on how to protect their department and his customers. from legal settlements. And what he quotes is a simple formula, is that red turns to green at the

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

time of trial. In a 2019 webinar, Bruce Prayett went as far as stating and instructing officers to not just clean blood off the suspects, but to get them smiling before taking their picture. I quote, try it. Have you ever had a problem with a gangster? Have you ever had a problem having a gangster throw a sign for the camera, Prayett said, they love it, they don't understand. It's going to be used as a sentencing enhancement later. Yet Prayett's 2019 presentation where he says these comments on what officers should be doing before they take pictures of bloody suspects is still available online.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

Get them smiling, pointing to their oh so faint painful injuries. This is a quote from him. We used that in court later, he said. It's good stuff. Send me copies. I'm going to publish a book. Stupid people hurt by cops. We're all going to make a million bucks. Is this who we want, training your police officers who are wearing badges and uniforms that your tax dollars pay for? that's not something we want to see in the city of Santa Ana a more egregious practice is the practice of talking to families impacted by police violence before telling them that their loved one

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 14

has been killed I tell you this because my loved one Brandon Lopez was murdered by Anaheim PD September 28th of 2021 the practice that Bruce Prayett has created this lawyer and co-founder of Lexapol, is a practice that he states is about advocating the truth. And in spelling out his strategy, he talks about before the dust settles, I want you sending a uniformed officer, a detective, I don't care, somebody out there to their friends, their family, to find out what they've been up to for the past 24 hours, he says. Hi, Ms. Jones, we had contact with your son. Prayed instructs

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 14

officers to say to the mother of someone who's just been killed by police. We're just trying to figure out what he's been up to. Prayit then acts as the part of the exasperated mother. Oh, you know what? Prayit improvises. He got laid off. His girlfriend broke up with him, etc., etc.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 14

Prayit then breaks character and makes the sound of a game show buzzer. Sorry, lady, he says. You're married to that evasive concept called the truth. your Eagle Scout son is dead. That is the style of policing that Bruce Prayett and Lexapol are introducing to police departments across this country which is why in 2020 Lexapol became very public after the murder of George Floyd. Given the state of relations in our police department these types of policies affect community members and our police officers by adopting bad public policy

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 14

that is costing our city millions of dollars in lawsuits. There are very public cases of misconduct over the last couple of years. The murder of Brandon Lopez at the hands of Anaheim PD, the Disney music incident where residents' civil rights were violated, and the countless lawsuits the city has had to pay out due to misconduct and bodily injury. It's important that we make decisions today that are good for our community. The police department has an opportunity to listen to its residents, to receive input from its residents, to form relations with its residents.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 14

This Lexapol contract reinforces the disconnect residents have with law enforcement. It removes their input from the very taxpayers and constituents who are funding the department and its officers. The contract before us is a three-year contract totaled at $175,573.29. Given our past history with this police consulting firm, we've paid out over $24.5 million in lawsuits in county. I would like to make a motion to reject the Lexapol contract and direct our city staff to explore options such as,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 14

Number one, allocating additional resources to the city attorney's office for in-house police policy maintenance. Number two, policy feedback and engagement from and with the community. Number three, to collaborate with the newly established police oversight commission to oversee and monitor the police department's policies. I'll put that motion on the floor.

Jessie LopezItem 14

Thank you, Councilmember Hernandez. Are there any other comments regarding Agenda Item 14?

Benjamin VazquezItem 14

I second the motion and I have comments.

Jessie LopezItem 14

Okay, thank you, Countdown Morawskis.

Benjamin VazquezItem 14

So we're asking staff to have alternatives to Lexapol. There are other companies we could hire as well as what Council Member Hernandez has stated. Lexapol has a hegemonic control on police policy in the state of California without public input. We should not support this type of private company to have so much power over all our police departments. Much of the discussions that we have about improving police practices has focused on how to best regulate police conduct. Those that need to be engaged in these discussions are police departments for sure, local governments and non-profits.

Benjamin VazquezItem 14

Lexipro does not engage community or non-profits in the process to create police policy.

Benjamin VazquezItem 14

Lexapol instead has the focus and values that guide its approach to police policy makings as a means to reducing legal liability. Also for profits. We are hiring a company that lacks public input or any type of democratic process to create the police policy we have. So that's why I'm supporting Council Member Hernandez.

Jessie LopezItem 14

Thank you, Council Member Roscos.

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

Council Member Fan.

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Thank you to my colleagues and speakers, commentators, for sharing your thoughts and raising concern regarding this. Actually, Madam City Manager, I don't know if this would be directed to you or Mr. Chief Police, but I do have a question regarding the way that we use Lexapol templates and the Master Service Agreement.

Thank you, Council Member Fan. I will defer to our Police Chief to answer that question.

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

Thank you. So last year I was part of members of the council who voted to delay a Lexiple item because we needed more information. I know at that time we hadn't had a police oversight commission yet, right?

Also to clarify, the item that was before you before was a small contract that pertained to the jail. Right. So the city has still been using Lexipol, the policies are very transparent, and they're all listed on the website.

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

Thank you. And I actually remember going onto our website and looking at, for example, our canine policy and whatnot. I do remember citing that. So, Chief, I want to ask you, I read a lot of the comments, we received comment letters from Chispa, People for Housing OC, V-Rock, a number of others, and they state, let me read it for you specifically, in addition, Lexapol is not the only option for police departments. Local governments have created systems for police rulemaking, independent of Lexapol. Some local governments have implemented a hybrid model wherein the

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

jurisdiction subscribe to the Lexapol service but continues to publish its own policy manual. Chief, I sent you a few emails, you know, I asked you like what do we do with this? Can you, I guess, educate me and maybe explain to the public that this very solution that advocates are talking about is something

it seems we already do yes mayor pro tem council and council woman fan thank you for the question and and the email dialogue as well so a couple of points of clarification that are that i think are very important here and i appreciate like all of you uh people that have come forward tonight people that have sent in emails regarding this item. But it's important to identify facts and actual practice, particularly of what we do here in our city. Because a police department or police departments across the country

simply take a policy manual framework and put their name at the top and publicize it and push it out for training and to the public and say, this is our manual. this is how the ex-police department is going to do business that's their prerogative that's not what occurs here in Santa Ana it never has since day one a couple of other points of clarification this this figure of 25 million dollar payouts we contracted with Lexapol for the first time in 2012 2013 I think those figures go back to 2010 and also incorporate policies that were in place

without Lexapol. So that's an important piece here as I get into it. So to answer your specific question, many of these items that the public have brought forward are already in place, and I'll explain in detail how, again, in summary, we first contracted Lexapol in 2012-13 at the end of the year. The first policies were implemented in 2015. So some three years later, we roll out some initial policies that came from Lexapol. But again, never is it a cut and paste. We take

exactly word for word what Lexapol provides. We don't do that here. And I'll explain how and why we don't why let me start there policing is very different and unique in every jurisdiction policing is different here than it is in north dakota or that it is in south orange county right and so aside from the law there's the procedure and how we roll out the business of policing very unique and different in our community.

And so the current form of Lexapol, our contract, includes several elements. First is the policy manual itself, then the procedure manual, and I'll get into the difference, which are completely authorized in-house, the procedures. The policy is what we do, the procedure manual is how we do it, how we apply a tool, for example how we apply a use of force technique that is all generated in-house and it is our training that we provide our officers Lexapol will never tell us how to train our officers again I can't answer for other police departments

across the country but I certainly can answer for Santa Ana and so that's what is done here the police department also puts out 40 hours of in-person training every two years we have training bulletins that officers and personnel can log on and review and then we also have an audit trail of who has actually logged on and reviewed and accepted the content the four corners of that procedural policy we have that in place as well the jail procedure manual and the city manager did clarify that last year that's what we came forward to was was to really expand this Lexapol service into the jail. Why would we want to do that?

The liability attached to every aspect of the jail service business can be high. And although we have a tremendous jail service, we certainly want to be uniform in how we do things. And some policies would port over to a custodial environment. So that's what we brought last year, and we're here again asking for expansion of the entire Lexapol manual. In 2018, the department implemented three Lexapol policies. Three. Beginning in July of 2018, full implementation began.

And then the final, the bulk of policies were put in place and released just earlier this year. So we contract in 2012-13. all right and how many years go by before you actually see a policy in place in some cases you know we're talking 10 years right and so what's happened in the meantime i'll tell you the way we used to do business and again i can speak to it because i lived through it very inefficient and ineffective uh quite frankly frustrating um we would assign this task to

personnel inside the police department and depending on priorities and transfers and limited resources that task gets gets moved from one location to the next to the next person and so on and so forth and so if we're dealing with a barricaded suspect today and all of our resources are there this item gets pushed back further and further and further and so and this is the case with many police departments there is one of the comments that was submitted that I that i must speak to and several police agencies were cited as not contracting lexapol larger

agencies here in california and um i don't want to mention them by name but what i will tell you is one of those police agencies has not updated critical policies since 20 since 2004 so we're pushing almost 10 years no update no policy that's 20 years i'm sorry i'm sorry 20 years yeah so so So that's highly problematic, highly problematic. And so what we get with Lexapol is a regular update which incorporates case law, which incorporates actual law for our review. And then what do we do with that?

So the delay in seeing some of these policies actually implemented are the following reasons. and they're really good, and many of which Councilmember Hernandez and many of our residents have cited as important, and I agree. First, subject matter expert. If we have a policy that we need a particular skill set, a person who has a skill set to review that policy, we're going to take the time to have that done. Next, community group review, if applicable. The community doesn't review each policy, but do they review some of them when appropriate? Absolutely. I'll cite which ones shortly.

Legal advisor review. This is key here, key. I advocated to have our own in-house full-time police legal advisor. And the importance there is not only does that person advise on policing matters daily, but this is a critical area. no policy comes to me as final approval before it goes through the legal advisor. And the legal advisor's review oftentimes is a lot more robust than, you know, when it first landed from Lexipol, for example. And they'll do additional case law review and overlay it.

What we don't have tonight for you is, for example, one policy when it arrives from Lexipol And then the red line policy draft, right, because it's all draft until we finalize it, on what we have inputted to have it apply to our organization and how we do business and how it best is articulated according to the law and case law. And that comes, that really starts from the police legal advisor and then, of course, my senior management team as well.

I mentioned the senior management team review. That's all the deputy chiefs, the legal advisor, all of this, this working group reviews every single policy procedure before it gets to final approval. And then we also share policies with the appropriate bargaining unit, if appropriate, if it has to do with working conditions, for example. We share that with that respective bargaining unit, give them about 45 days to respond. No response or response, depending on what happens, and we move forward. So you already see various layers that many police departments do not have. They put, you know, X police department at the top and publish.

Some of the policies that have been created or modified with community member feedback. Body-worn camera policy. Now, this is a policy that's near and dear to, you know, everything that we do every day, especially field personnel. So, several community meetings occurred with the public. They gave us input. We considered and assessed the input and incorporated where appropriate in the policy that you see today published on the website.

The vehicle tow and release policy. There's another one that can be highly scrutinized at times, right? Equity, fairness, et cetera. That also received community input as well. The criminal organizations policy, the immigration violations, that also received input from the community. The cite and release policy as well.

And then there's a list of policies that we ourselves created because Lexapol didn't provide it. They don't have one. They didn't have one at the time, let's say, for example. So we said we need a policy on X. So we get our internal staff, our police legal advisor, and any other folks we need at the table. And we initiate a draft, and then we go through a review process. Let me share some of those. The critical incident review policy. Lexapol did not have that. We implemented one. I mentioned body worn camera, the uniform committee, vehicle committee policy, the safety committee policy, commendations and awards.

Some of these are operational but important nonetheless. Peer support program, when we're talking about employee wellness, very important. The canine volunteer program and then various ranks within our organization, corporal, senior, correctional officer, lead designations, all generated internally. To date, we have 173 police department policies, 91 procedures. All of those are on our website. And so this is just an overview. I do have additional staff here that can provide you additional detail, but I really want to answer the questions directly myself.

I might add, before I turn it back over to you, Councilwoman, because I know you have follow-ups. When we talk about de-escalation, and I think everyone here in the dais and certainly the police department and the community that I speak to, they know our priority on de-escalation. They know it. And they also see the results. And this is how. so in 2013 when we first contracted with with lexapol but we didn't implement any policies back then our officer involved shooting rates were seven to eight all right um 2013 2014

over the last six years officer involved shooting the numbers are 2017 5 2018 3 2019 1 2022 21, 22, and 23, one, each year thus far. And so I bring that up because everything that we do from a training standpoint is very much centered on de-escalation and I just sent an email to the entire police department about uniform appearance and command presence, you can appreciate this with prior military, that's where it starts. And then secondarily is how you speak to people

And so, you know, leadership is important. Leadership matters. And I put an exclamation point there because, again, I cannot answer for other police departments across the country, but I certainly can answer for this one. And we do not take anything as a shell and incorporate it as the way of doing business here in this police department. Yes.

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

Thank you so much for the very thorough report. And I know I sent you a lot of questions today. Getting all those answers was really helpful. And I think for me, also reassuring, because I do have concerns about the comments that this owner, a CEO who's now, I think, a board member, oh, someone who, a founder, I think a co-founder. But ultimately, you gave me a lot of, I guess, a lot of evidence and information on how we actually use this. You know, if you didn't have Lexapol, it would be, I guess, hiring more attorneys and staff to spend time to work only on the policies?

Correct.

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

Okay. And I guess I can estimate how much an attorney costs, including to, in City Hall, you know, everyone's salary is public, as well as full-time staff, right? And so what What I look at this Lexapol subscription to be is like going to an encyclopedia or going to a dictionary, getting information that you then actually spend time with staff to create and really mold into something that works in Santa Ana. That was a concern I think that wasn't fully addressed last time, and I appreciate you addressing it today.

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

I do want to also say that because we have this Police Oversight Commission that is authorized to have the ability and the right to look at these policies, even if we approve the Lexapol subscription today just for use, it doesn't mean that the Police Oversight Commission would not be able to review every single policy. Isn't that correct? right they could say independently go through all 100 and some odd policies and procedures one by one to work with you and gather further input from the residents and so with that I would like to

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

do a sub motion to approve this item so that you do have a resource to look at as a template and to use our city resources and our experts to actually create something that is specific to the

Phil BacerraItem 14

city of san anna thank you i'll second that with comment go ahead thank you mayor pro tem and thank you councilmember fan i think a lot of what council member fan had asked you is pretty much what was on my list so these are templates you know i'm going to use it in a analogy like architecture right if someone comes to the city and just says you know here's a set of plans we built this in five other places congratulations san anna you're the sixth we would be offended right we would say no that doesn't fit our community we want community input and we want

Phil BacerraItem 14

to make sure that it's tailored to our fit right so if we see a building here i think most people would be offended that if it came from just off the shelf architecture we wouldn't want to see it And so from what I heard you say, Chief, is that as we get these templates, not just policy that we take and put it immediately on the shelf, but templates, we are then going through a rigorous process to evaluate them and see if they fit our community, our police, to make sure they work for Santa Ana. Correct?

Correct. Correct.

Phil BacerraItem 14

So I just, when I look at this item, and I wanna thank the speakers that came out tonight because there are some troubling comments that were made by this former CEO from Lexapol. But with that being said, he's no longer the one that's in control at this point. He's not the commanding officer at this point. And so I think the thing that really also, I guess, draws my attention is that the cost of this contract is what, $175,000. As Council Member Pham brought up, the cost of the attorneys, and that'd be plural, because as much as Tamara is an amazing attorney, I think for what Lexapol is tasked with doing

Phil BacerraItem 14

as far as monitoring major court decisions, legislation, emerging trends affecting law enforcement, those are things that, while Tamara's amazing, I don't know that she could do all of that and handle her current caseload. So we're talking possibly four or five times the cost to handle what we're getting here. And the fact that we don't take it just as is, the fact that we analyze it, that we right-size it to our community, I don't have the same concerns as some that were expressed up here already. And that's why I'm going to support Council Member Fan's motion.

Phil BacerraItem 14

The last thing I'll say is that as myself and Council Member Penaloza pushed to introduce a police oversight commission, this is exactly the kind of stuff that we want to see that commission do. We want them to evaluate policies with community input. That's what we wanted. At least that's what I saw as part of the task that this commission would undertake. So when we talk about whether we agree or disagree with what Lexapol provides our PD, I'm not as concerned because I know that there's going to be community input and especially as we

Phil BacerraItem 14

get the police oversight Commission up and running it'll be even more robust so I don't see as some UCLA law professors had said that it's the mass standardization of police policies across jurisdictions and that they have an oversized influence on American policing maybe in other jurisdictions and maybe with all due respect to those other departments if they want to just take it off the shelf and stick it in their in the squad cars and and with those officers that's on them but i'm very confident that our pd is not doing that and that's why i could support

Phil BacerraItem 14

the motion that's on the floor tonight so thank you councilmember fan thank you chief for the thorough explanation councilmember raskus i really want to thank you for that

Benjamin VazquezItem 14

thorough explanation chief you always do a professional you always seem to do a great job at what you're doing and I want to thank you for your professionalism with interacting with Lexapol and and doing it our way and Santa Ana has a way of doing it and you do it right the problem is not Santa Ana PD this is not a strike against you all it's it's how the behavior of Lexapol and other jurisdictions it's an alleged bad actor it's the CEO who made comments it's the people we're gonna do business with and who we're not gonna do business with It's not going to do with you guys or your band or the department.

Benjamin VazquezItem 14

You're doing a fine, great job. The problem is Lexapol as an organization has not been good for all the companies. People that stamp and there's bad policy there, that there's allegations of cover-ups and things of other natures that other departments might take on. I don't want any part of Lexapol. If that's their behavior in other places, I'd rather, it could be flexible or our staff or other orgs. It's not staff or flexible. There's other organizations that we could bring in and hire as well. So I don't want to work with bad actors. I don't want to be part of it. So I'm going to vote no.

Jessie LopezItem 14

Thank you. I have a question just to get clarity. Okay, so no policies are established without your final approval? Absolutely. And no training happens without your final approval?

Correct.

Jessie LopezItem 14

From the policies that they give the department once the transaction happens, I imagine?

Phil BacerraItem 14

Correct.

Jessie LopezItem 14

Okay, thank you. Councilmember Becerra?

Phil BacerraItem 14

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Just one thought for everybody. So we do have a police oversight commission that's going to be convening soon. this is the type of stuff that they're going to be looking at. Again, in support of the motion that's before us, the item would be, or my thought would be that we go through with them, go through with this contract, knowing that at some point in time, the Police Oversight Commission may want to pivot themselves. You know, as Council Member Vasquez says, they may see them as bad actors. And at that point, we can revisit it. But to leave our police flat-footed and not have the resources necessary,

Phil BacerraItem 14

because all the time we see our legislature coming up with new laws, new ideas. And so we need to make sure that our police are on top of that, and that's what Lexapol provides. I'm not saying they're the greatest organization to do this, but I think right now at the last second to pull that out from our PD, then next thing you know we're going to go into closed session and we're going to say, well, why didn't PD know about this policy? Well, because we denied a contract for a company that was providing this information on an ongoing basis.

Phil BacerraItem 14

So I would say if we want to pivot at some point, let's give our Police Oversighted Commission a chance to review it. But tonight, I think we do need to approve this contract before us, and we can revisit this at a later date. Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 14

Any other speakers? Go ahead, Council Member Hernandez.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 14

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. I'm going to repeat a quote from Bruce Prayett before some of my colleagues take a vote. Get them smiling, pointing to their oh-so-painful injuries. We'll use that in court later. he said. It is good stuff. Send me copies. I'm going to publish a book. Stupid people hurt by cops. We're all going to make a million bucks. I say this is the only person sitting on this council that is a survivor of police violence. My family is surviving that and is fighting it. These matters are not easy matters to deal with. Lexipol's policies have been affecting our city

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 14

for many years, sir. The policies that you mentioned, working on the community with, were not initiated by our police chief then, nor our police department. They were initiated by community activists. I was one of them that was walking in here at the time. I was standing right where you're standing, telling the community members and the elected official that I eventually took out of office, who was a police officer, that these policies were not good. Some of the examples are body cams. The campaign for body cams, a large part of that stemmed from the pot shop raid, when the officers didn't have their body cams on,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 14

when they were eating pot on the job during a raid. The tow policy happened when people were having their vehicles detained during checkpoints, and their vehicles were being towed, and it was being costly. It was costing people so much money, they weren't able to get their cars out, and they were losing their jobs, and it was affecting their housing. Those were campaigns initiated by community activists and immigrant communities that were having their cars towed, not the police department. The immigration policy of getting ICE out of Santa Ana was not initiated by our police department.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 14

It was initiated by people who were waiting to be taken by ICE, people that are impacted by those issues fought against it. Our police department did the right thing in listening, and we celebrate that. But we're your bosses. Taxpayers are the reason there is a police department here. And I have to remind my colleagues here, our police department are not the policymakers. We are. Why would we let a private company like Lexapol come in when your bosses are telling you they don't want him here? And a colleague like yourself who is impacted by police violence can tell you that the day my cousin was killed,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 14

we were contacted immediately trying to talk about our family member. These policies are inhumane. We had Lexapol over many years and police officers still played Disney music and violated a resident's civil rights at 10 o'clock at night. And it was because of the fact that it was recorded and an officer told the truth and said I was making sure that I did this so you couldn't post it on YouTube. Violated somebody's civil rights. These policies are not going to change the status of our relationship with our department. And that's why, Chief, it's important for me to support the community

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 14

and getting them closer to our department, which means you guys listening. you guys taking their community input similar to what we did at Santa Ana College I think that that would be a much better opportunity for us to create public policy that reflects the needs of the community that you're protecting and serving so I will not be supporting the sub motion and

I'm very disappointed that there's one you can respond thank you so thank you council member Hernandez without getting into a back and forth respectfully the policies that you've mentioned, what I said was those were policies that Lexapol did not have. They did not have a framework. And so we initiated. Now, where the initial interest came from, you may be right. But what I said was Lexapol did not have that. And listening to the community is so incredibly

important to me as chief and to everyone in the police department. I do actively and genuinely listen but it's also important to you'll focus on actual evidence and facts I will never condone an inappropriate comments you know but by anyone regarding you know our community or any community for that matter but anyways I just wanted to clarify that and I understand your position and I

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 14

appreciate that chief and part of why my my decision-making here at this diocese where it's at is because your your response to councilmember fan was actually so helpful, it reinforced how little we needed Lexapol. You talked about how we had them for 10 years and you implemented a very small amount of policies that they brought and you highlighted a number of great policies where you didn't work with Lexapol. So I actually thank you because your comments reinforced how much we can do without Lexapol. You talked about body cams, the tow policy, immigration, all of which Lexapol didn't bring

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 14

to the table. And so I think that your leadership speaks for itself, sir. Perhaps Lexapol is better suited at a different department and, you know, maybe we need to get you some good city attorneys to work at our police department to let you, you know, be a good leader there. I think that you would definitely shine without Lexapol and that's the goal here, sir. If we can build a relationship and a foundation of trust with our residents and our community, I think that relationship would be fruitful for residents and our police department. Thank you. That concludes my comments.

Jessie LopezItem 14

Thank you all. So it's been a ping pong in my mind of good arguments on both sides and I really enjoyed the conversation and I think your last comments were great and I didn't actually think about that. So thank you for adding that. Can you let me know the spotlight policy was that something that Luxapo provided in their manual?

Absolutely not. That was a police chief directive.

Jessie LopezItem 14

Okay, thank you. And since it's been more than a decade, right, and three policies, did I hear correct that, were used from the manual?

Correct. Now, it's been a phased approach. And again, because of staffing and, you know, when I dedicate a commander or a police sergeant, they're not an attorney. and so again it gets passed around that's why it took so long so when we talk about defending the policy all right um you know we an incident occurs we look back at what we have in place and if we haven't implemented a current updated defensible policy we got to rely to what was most recently published and so that's that's the concern with not having this service and again

Jessie LopezItem 14

never taking it at face value. Okay thank you and City Manager I have a question and regarding Luxipol in 2022 when the council unanimously which means everyone agreed that we didn't want to move forward with the with the contract because of how discussing really the culture with Luxipol was and probably currently is one of the directions that the council gave was having input with the public bringing something back that those sessions ever happen so I believe

what transpired at that meaning first of all the item that was before you was for just adding an additional jail module from Lexiple it wasn't the full master agreement with Lexiple and the item was not turned down it was continued so and we'd never brought it back to the council partly because of some of the reasons that some of the other council members that spoke about we are in the process and we are very close. We gave you a timeline on where we're at with getting the police commission, the oversight commission up and running and it is certainly it is a role of that commission to review all of the

operating policies and procedures of the police department. So that would be the vehicle to do that. The one thing that I do want to stress is all of the police department's policies are available on our website and they're there. They were there yesterday, they were there two weeks ago and as a result of this action tonight, there's not going to be a mass overhaul of those policies that exist today on their website. So there seems to be an understanding that we're just going to execute this contract and overnight we are going to populate the entire department's policies and procedures with what Lexipol has in their format.

That's that the chief talked very eloquently about that's not the process that we use it for. But if you can imagine doing police work, you have to not only comply with federal laws, you have to comply with state laws, and any training bulletins or anything also have to comply with California Post. LexiPol's policies and procedures that they give to you in markup versions do meet all of those requirements.

Jessie LopezItem 14

I understand that. My question is, did any public input happen?

I don't know. I can't speak for the chief if he's engaged any of the community members on any one particular policy, but no, we did not engage the community on the jail item that was continued.

Jessie LopezItem 14

Is there a reason why there wasn't any? the police oversight commission taking on that role okay so the hope for on staff and was that the newly established police oversight commission would take on the role of um initiating the public engagement with policies regarding this contract regarding all of the policies and pre-procedures

of the police department that's actually codified in the municipal code that created the police

Jessie LopezItem 14

oversight commission okay so then why not wait until they meet to discuss this

and punt it to them and well you do it expires on the end of September so this new contract takes place October 1st so without it everything that the police department did utilize from Lexiple it's copyrighted so they would no longer be

Jessie LopezItem 14

able to use that okay understood thank you go ahead councilmember fan thank you

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

This might be directed to Mr. City Attorney. So the lexical contract that we have before us is for a three-year service agreement. There is a termination clause, I think 3.2 for convenience, which states that the agreement may be terminated for convenience, including lack of appropriation of funds by agency upon 60 days written notice. Note fees already paid for services are not eligible for refund. So I guess my question is, you know, there's this gap of time between when the Police Oversight Commission will be seated and when this, and, you know, get trained, right?

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

We have to have training and they have to interview and help us make a recommendation regarding the independent oversight director and go through the process of looking through every single policy. So I guess my question is, if we approve this master service agreement and say the Police Oversight Commission looks through it and says, you know what, we don't need Lexapol, we don't want Lexapol, could we terminate our agreement?

Thank you for the question, Council Member Fan. Like most of our agreements, they do include clauses that are known as termination for convenience clauses that usually require anywhere from 30 to 60 days notice. If the city chooses to exercise such a clause, it would typically need to pay for all services and charges incurred up to the date or through the date of termination. These clauses are very typical in our agreements and almost nearly every agreement the city has usually features one.

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

Got it. So I guess what I'm trying to understand is, you know, there's this, like I want the Police Oversight Commission to do a full audit, review, red line, you know, community meetings of every single policy and procedure that we have here in the city relating to our police department and public safety in general. I am fully supportive of that. My concern is that that could take six months, a year, a year and a half, because that's how long it takes. These are not full-time employees who would be on the Police Oversight Commission. They may meet twice a month, four times a month,

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

once a month, and these policies I'm sure will garner hours and hours of conversation, discussion, and community engagement. And so I'm trying to figure out something that will help our police department stay apprised of changes in law, changes in policy, updates, case law, etc.

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

and do what all of our, at least the letters that we received, which is look to implementing a hybrid model whereby we do publish our own policy manual with the full vetting of the Police Oversight Commission. And so that's why I support this, and we can terminate the agreement for convenience if our Police Oversight Commission determines that it is not something that we want here in the city. So that's why I support this. This is why I want us to see what we can do. And if the policy or the recommendation is to hire former attorneys for the police department and experts,

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

then they can bring that up, whether it's in the mid-year budget or for the next fiscal year's budget analysis. And so with that, I guess I move. Yeah, call the question. Thank you. Can you repeat your sub-motion, please? Please?

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

My sub-motion is to approve this item, the Master Service Agreement, while ensuring and directing the City Manager's Office, the Police Chief, to have the Police Oversight Commission review this agreement as well as all the policies, which is already a directive for the Police Oversight Commission. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 14

so this is the substitute motion by councilmember fan seconded by councilmember becerra to approve item 14 of the master service agreement with lexi pull llc

Jessie LopezItem 14

and a council member fan would you accept the friendly amendment of approving for just one year

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

i think i would be okay with that but is there any issue with that madam city manager if we only approved for one year I guess I'm not I'm I guess I'm not sure whether the

you know Bennett the benefits of the the only downside to it but you certainly could if that's your prerogative to do would be we'll have to prepare in advance of it if the Commission hasn't finished completed their review but certainly staff could accommodate that okay so I guess if we do it for only one

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

year we'd have to go out again to whether it's an RFP or we might end up with different terms for a cost if it takes the Police Oversight Commission, you know, maybe a year and two months to finish their review. So this keeps it open ended whereby the Police Oversight Commission would come back to us whenever they are ready to give the recommendation. So that would be the only reason why I wouldn't support that. But if you can maybe articulate more why a year would have that.

Jessie LopezItem 14

Well, we don't know how structured the commission is going to be, right? They haven't set the times, the dates, how many times they're going to meet. So they can do that, and they can change that according to whatever they're working on. And this, to me, really should be what they should be managing. It's part of the language in the ordinance. It's the essence of why we wanted a police oversight for them to work with the department, to vet these policies. and so for me I really would love for them to take charge of this and so that's why I'm putting the one-year term because they can say hey if we have to

Jessie LopezItem 14

meet four days out of the week they can meet four days out of the week for two three hours to go through the policies and I don't think they have to vet every single policy that Lexapol gives them because you know the chief stated that they don't implement all the policies only about three of the policies from the manual have been implemented in more than a decade.

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

Sorry, I think I might be misunderstanding that aspect. I think that was the initial rollout where that Lexipol provides a lot of policies, but at that time it had only the initial set was maybe only three policies, but we have a lot more of that that was, I guess, borrowed from or based off Lexipol policies. Maybe we need clarification on that. Yeah, I think so.

So, yes, thank you for the question. The initial rollout was just three. What we have today is 173 policies and 91 procedures.

And I would say that the commission, when formed, would want to look at our procedures as well. What we do and how we do it, right? So this number, this volume to do it right, and I agree, it's going to initiate a lot of dialogue amongst the group, good dialogue, is going to take quite some time. I don't want to give a timeframe. I'm sure they're going to be very diligent. That framework is not in place today. The number of policies we're talking about here, you're talking multiple years.

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

Maybe I can incorporate what you're saying is maybe that we can approve this master service agreement and clearly direct staff to implement the directive of the Police Oversight Commission to review all the policies and procedures and to revisit this contract in a year, this council, right, with input from the Police Oversight Commission. That way, if they're not ready to terminate the contract or if that's not what their recommendation is, it would continue. But if we can revisit this as a body in a year to determine whether we want to terminate for convenience, we can do that.

Jessie LopezItem 14

I guess I think about it the same way, because in a year you can renew the contract. In a year, if it's brought back, it can be renewed, right?

Phil BacerraItem 14

We can review it at any time.

Jessie LopezItem 14

Yeah, it can be renewed at any time.

Phil BacerraItem 14

So, I mean, whether we do a three-year term or a one-year term, I mean, we can terminate in six months, right, or whatever the provision was that our city attorney mentioned, we could terminate it with so much period to give notice. So, I mean, to me, it's just kind of an added unnecessary item. I mean, but I get what you're saying, and I think we're all in agreement that we want to have that flexibility, but I think the contract before us already provides it. so it really just to approve it as is still affords us that ability.

Just to clarify, I did review the contract here out of an abundance of caution. The termination clause requires 60 days written notice.

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

Yeah, so I think the only reason why I'd be worried about just doing one year and then coming back each year is that every time we come back, we get a different fee increase or like a different cost estimate. That's very common, right? but if we approve for three years we lock in whatever the cost is and we don't have to worry about it increasing next year or maybe their service is changing whatever that might be but we still have the flexibility and that's why I would say specifically with this motion to direct staff to come back in a year so you know next August so that we can have that conversation specifically

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

so there's no delay there's no is it coming back is it not

Phil BacerraItem 14

Councilmember, to your point, though, that might put our rate in jeopardy. So why don't we, if we would just ask staff to just provide us an update, provide the council an update, not agendize it, but just provide us an update, obviously that would coalesce with what the Police Oversight Commission is doing. So in other words, I mean, we're not going to be, it's not in a vacuum, right? The Police Oversight Commission is going to be doing work. We're not going to not know for six months to a year. We're going to understand that they're reviewing policies. policies, we can ask them how far along they are with those policies.

Phil BacerraItem 14

So without wanting to jeopardize the terms of the contract as it is, without having to renegotiate every year or two years, just leave it as is, with the understanding, though, that we can terminate it with the 60-day notice.

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

Yes, so I don't mean to approve it for only a year. I think what I mean is more of an internal procedural item to say, hey, staff, come back to us in a year, you know, in August 2024, and yes, give us that update, let us know what the Police Oversight Commission is saying, let us know exactly what our independent oversight director is saying, and that way we can have that discussion in a year. So it doesn't change the terms of the agreement, but it just ensures that we actually have that conversation about it.

I believe, I mean, I understand, I think you guys are saying very similar things, Council Member Fan and Mayor Pro Tem Lopez. The one thing, part of the other requirements of the Police Independent Oversight Commission is to provide the council an annual report. So you will get a report directly from the commission on everything that they reviewed, if there were any disciplinary cases that they looked at. That is one of the reporting requirements of that Independent Oversight Commission. So it will time nicely in a year because we hope to have, as we did your last update,

we're hoping to have them up and running by the end of September. We're doing the recruitment for the independent oversight director, which will report directly to you. But at that year's time, if they've gone through all of them and they say, do not do it, I would assume you would direct us to terminate the contract with the 60-day notice. If there's policies they want modifications for, but if they're content with policies that have the framework that came from Lexapol, we can maintain the agreement. So I think that gets you both to the place that I'm understanding that what you're hoping to land.

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

That is what I'm saying. I just want to make sure we're on the same wavelength. So that's all. I don't think we are.

Jessie LopezItem 14

I understand it. I do. And I think we're all here saying that this is, well, I'm saying that I want the Police Oversight Commission to take this on. And from what I heard from comments from you earlier, that's exactly what you were all hoping for as well. Correct? Yes, thank you. So that's where I'm at and that's why I proposed a one-year contract because my understanding is we can renew it once that one year. I think your argument is the dollar amount would be different.

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

I'm not sure that's the case. It's just typically when we negotiate, I'm sorry, in my experience, when I've negotiated contracts, the value that we get is related to the term, right? So if you have a longer contract, usually you get better value. So if you're only doing a year, then, you know, maybe this year it will stay the same. But when we ask for a new contract next year, they're going to say, okay, now it's going to cost you, you know, $70,000 instead of $52,653. That's all. That's really my main concern with something like that.

Jessie LopezItem 14

Yeah, I get that. Understood. Thank you. And I guess, Chief, just one last question for you. Given that this is the second time the Council expresses concerns about the company, is there any plans to stop contracting the work out and bring in an in-house attorney?

We can always look at that. It would take more than a single attorney, though. that I do know it would take essentially a team and support staff as well paralegals etc to support this effort so I don't know what the cost of one single assistant city attorney is but

Jessie LopezItem 14

okay and my follow-up question is let's just say for 50 policies how long does it take to review 50

policies one policy the shooting policy for example which is our probably one of our more critical policies could take months one so just as an example right the volunteer policy on you know canine or just a general volunteer program that could take a day so it depends i sound like an attorney now it all depends truly but uh the more the more critical the more the higher threshold of liability exposure attached to the area being reviewed, I think the longer for a robust review. And that's the way it should be. And that's why it's taken so long with some

Jessie LopezItem 14

of these. Okay, thank you. Yes. We'll go over to Count Member Hernandez and then ask us before taking the vote. I have one more question, Chief.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 14

Thank you for your time, sir. Just a very brief, brief question. So we have a lexical contract before us is there any reason why your department didn't do any community engagement or perhaps a forum on on police you know department public policy is there is that something that your department has ever considered hosting perhaps a community engagement forum on on your guys's policies that you adopt

we certainly we don't we haven't had a general community forum on policy but we do engage the community in a whole host of areas and there i'm certain there's crossover into policy procedure and practice as well and again i cited some of the ones specific where there was community input and some of those are very high threshold liability exposure pieces body worn camera for example which again lexapol did not have um and is and we implemented so So we certainly can do that. There's no harm in seeking additional input.

And again, going back to the notion that it is imperative that we listen. But I would not bring you anything to this board if it was not a best practice, comments excluded. And again, reassuring that we will never simply cut and paste and implement a recommended platform.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 14

Thank you, sir.

Yes, sir.

Benjamin VazquezItem 14

I have a question. Please, thank you. We keep saying either Lexipol or three attorneys and staff. Is that the only game in the house? Is Lexipol the only org providing this kind of service to police departments, or are there other organizations who can provide the service? Great question, Councilmember.

I believe there may be. I'm not directly aware of any. all agencies that I'm aware of try to muddle through and do it internally and so and I'm not talking about a Los Angeles Police Department where they can dedicate an entire bureau an entire division you know 20 and 30 people to do this for an organization of 10,000 officers so that aside you know we we certainly can can explore but this is the one that I'm aware of and it does produce a high-quality product.

Otherwise, we wouldn't consider them.

Benjamin VazquezItem 14

I'm more worried about the character of the company, the ex-CEO, and being a bad actor, and the policies they've made across other cities that have affected other communities. But I do appreciate your work here in Zanana.

Jessie LopezItem 14

Yeah, I guess I have a follow-up question to that. Again, given that this is now the second time we're discussing it and expressing concerns, why is Lexaport the only company being considered?

So there is no other company that I'm aware of that can provide the depth of research and knowledge that Lexaport provides. Is there another company somewhere out there in the country? Possibly. If you give us some opportunity, we can vet that out. this is a California-centered company that initiated, and so the platform is they're very familiar with case law and state law here, centered out here at the state, and then beyond. So we certainly can do that. What type of product we would end up with,

a Lexapol type of service from Minneapolis, for example, I'm not so certain, and certainly not, I can't speak to it without facts in front of me. And so I would be concerned because policing is very different state to state.

Jessie LopezItem 14

Yeah, no, that's true. I appreciate that. And I also, you know, I asked a question, but I also can't offer any other company because I didn't think about it. So now with the conversation, I'm wondering, are there other organizations that don't have the really bad reputation that Lexapol has? but I don't think anyone in the chamber knows.

David PenalozaItem 14

Point of order, Mayor Pro Tem, can we call the question please?

Jennifer L. HallItem 14

Yes, yes, yes.

Jennifer L. HallItem 14

Motion on the floor is the sub-motion by Council Member Phan, seconded by Council Member Becerra to approve item 14.

Jennifer L. HallItem 14

And the vote is three eyes, three nays, nays by Council Members Hernandez, Vasquez, and Mayor Pro Tem Lopez. Motion fails.

Jennifer L. HallItem 14

We revert to the original motion on the floor, which is a motion by Council Member Hernandez, seconded by Council Member Vasquez, to reject the agreement and to direct staff to explore options, including in-house review by the city attorney's office, public engagement, and use of the police oversight commission.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 14

So specifically was allocating resources to our city attorney's office to help with in-house police policy maintenance.

Phil BacerraItem 14

No, no, no, no, we already have the motion. We already have the motion.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 14

No, that's, I'm providing clarity, sir. D.Y. Oswald? I'm providing clarity. Policy feedback and engagement. And to collaborate with newly established commission to oversee.

Jessie LopezItem 14

The city clerk is pulling up the vote. There's no need for everybody to start fighting. Please calm yourselves down.

David PenalozaItem 14

Take control of the meeting. Yeah, exactly.

Jennifer L. HallItem 14

I'm having trouble with the system for a secondary vote. If I can do a roll call, please. Thank you. Okay. Council Member Becerra?

Benjamin VazquezItem 14

No.

Jennifer L. HallItem 14

Council Member Hernandez?

Benjamin VazquezItem 14

Yes.

Jennifer L. HallItem 14

Council Member Penaloza?

Benjamin VazquezItem 14

No.

Jennifer L. HallItem 14

Council Member Fan? No. Council Member Vasquez?

Benjamin VazquezItem 14

Yes.

Jennifer L. HallItem 14

Mayor Protem Lopez? Yes.

Jennifer L. HallItem 14

vote is three eyes three nays nays eyes by mayor potom lopez and councilmembers hernandez and vasquez motion fails so no action taken on the item I'll put a

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 14

new motion on the floor for staff to come back within 30 days with options that reflect community feedback and community engagement before we decide to bring Lexapol back so that way we can allow the community to give their feedback and their input before staff does bring us back some options.

Phil BacerraItem 14

We're going to do that in 30 days?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 14

Well, I'm saying for staff to bring us back some options within 30 days, and that would be our direction was that in that meantime.

Phil BacerraItem 14

But you said community input. So we're going to do 30 days, staff's going to come back, they're going to do all the research and then they're going to, in that timeframe, get all the community.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 14

I'll provide the clarity, sir. I'm asking the question. Oh, well, I'm still speaking, sir. So the direction that we're providing is for staff to bring us back some community options within 30 days. And that the direction is for the department to still host a community engagement forum where they get feedback and input from the community. That pays for our police department and pays for you guys also for all of us to sit up here.

Phil BacerraItem 14

So the question is all this and more within 30 days.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 14

No, staff to bring us back some options within 30 days. The additional direction is that our police department is to host a forum that provides opportunities for feedback and engagement.

Jessie LopezItem 14

Is that your motion, Councilman? That is correct. Is there a second?

You know, Mayor Potem and Council, I would just add that the matter before you tonight was the contract to approve the services by Lexapol. A vote was taken. There was no, it was a tie in both instances, which means the motion does not carry and that it fails in the event of a tie. That was the action before you. If you wish to entertain the item that Councilmember Hernandez is suggesting, that could be re-agendized as an item for a subsequent Council meeting. But the action tonight was a motion to approve the respective contract, and that motion did not carry.

Jessie LopezItem 14

Okay, thank you, City Attorney.

Thai Viet PhanItem 14

We can move on now to, am I able to make a motion to continue the item or bring it?

David PenalozaItem 14

It's automatic. We'll come back when the mayor's here and we won't have this conversation.

Jessie LopezItem 14

Okay, thank you. Okay, agenda item 18, Councilmember Fan, you had a comment?

Jessie LopezItem 14

Yeah, I had a comment.

Benjamin VazquezItem 14

All right. We have this Home Act resolution is to support a more compassionate and inclusive state, something that I would like I came into politics for and hopefully we can add it to Santa Ana as well. After decades of focusing on criminalization, California has turned its direction and began reforming the criminal legal system while addressing systematic racism and mass incarceration. Like many well-thought reforms of social justice, these two seem to miss the support for immigrant communities. Our immigrant communities continue to be ignored in the improvement of the justice system.

Benjamin VazquezItem 18

Instead of reaping the benefits and reforms approved by California legislature, immigrants under custody are now transferred to ICE, facing double punishment through detention and deportation. The unjust act of deportation after serving their sentencing is destroying the lives of not only the immigrant deported, but it's a violent act upon their families. The HOME Act offers a solution to this unequal treatment of immigrants and refugees. Santa Ana's population is 40% of refugees and immigrants.

Benjamin VazquezItem 18

The Home Act ensures that immigrants receive the same treatment from our criminal justice reforms created to bring healing instead of more criminalization.

Jessie LopezItem 18

Thank you, Council Member Vasquez.

Thai Viet PhanItem 18

Council Member Fran. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. I want to thank all the speakers who came to speak today regarding the Home Act. I am a very proud refugee, a very proud immigrant, and I think at this time the only person serving on this dais who is a refugee. You know, the Home Act is something that's really important and Sanctuary is something that's really important because the reality is Sanctuary is something that I, as an immigrant, came around to. You know, when you, I think growing up in the Vietnamese American community and being an immigrant, there's this desire, this need to be perfect.

Thai Viet PhanItem 18

Because you want to always be right, always be good, always follow the law, do everything to the best of your ability to be the perfect American citizen. Because it can be taken away from you at any time. I don't know about my colleagues, but I have been that 16-year-old who wondered, what happens if I get deported? What if I screw up? What if I do something wrong and they're going to find me and they're going to send me back to a country I had never been. because I wasn't born in Vietnam. I was born in a Thai refugee camp. And so the HOME Act is just a

Thai Viet PhanItem 18

small, a small way for us to look at those, especially immigrants and refugees, who, yes, who did commit a crime, who was sent to prison, but who is not, who has not only served their time and paid their dues to society, but that our prison system, our governor, our government has determined that they are eligible for parole because of because they're elderly, because of medical parole, because they might die, because they have been upstanding citizens, or because they have received a pardon from the governor. Because we have actually determined, proactively determined, that

Thai Viet PhanItem 18

they are worthy of being released back into this community and to be members of our community, our homes, and our neighborhoods. That's why I support the HOME Act and this is why I am so proud that the city of Santa Ana is a sanctuary city because of the one of the you know 55 or excuse me over 40% of Santa Ana residents who are immigrants who are foreign-born even with American citizenship today I think about what it means to to lose it, what it means to be sent away to a country that you may never have stepped foot on, have no family and no relatives.

Thai Viet PhanItem 18

And so with that, I appreciate Assemblymember Avelino Valencia for supporting this item in the state assembly and for being a champion of immigrant communities. And I hope that our state senators and our governor approve the HOME Act so that all immigrants, all Americans, all residents of the state of California have the same opportunity to pay their dues when they've messed up to come back to the communities where they're from and give

Jessie LopezItem 18

back and be better thank you thank you Councilwoman fan we are now moving on to the business calendar item number 20 is the first reading of the ordinance madam city manager may we have the staff report certainly mayor pretend we do

have a small a brief presentation if you would like it

Jessie LopezItem 20

Sure. Is there any opposition from the council?

Okay. Our executive director of public works, Nabil Saba, will provide the presentation. If you'd just give us a couple seconds to get it loaded for you.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Mayor Pro Tem, Member of the City Council. This is a brief presentation on the Engineering Traffic and Speed Survey for the year 2023.

Speed limits are posted limits. They are established by local ordinance and on public streets. The posted limits must be reasonable, safe, and to facilitate an orderly movement of traffic. And they need to comply with the California Vehicle Code and the California Manual on traffic control devices, and otherwise they cannot be enforceable.

So the speed survey is to establish, on the basis of an engineering and traffic survey, speed limits. The study can be conducted every five, seven, or every ten years. The engineering and traffic survey has three parts, radar survey, accident history, and roadway conditions.

This particular study included 177 segments.

163 of these segments had no reason for a change of speed. Two speed limits were increased on two segments. Two were decreased, two segments were decreased, or the speed limit were decreased on those two segments. and six segments did not include the change due to construction, and four segments were removed from the study.

The recommendation is to approve a first reading of an ordinance amending Article 8, Prima Facia Speed Limit of Chapter 36 of the Santana Municipal Code, establishing speed limits on certain streets and portions of streets in the city and i'm open for any questions and i also have zed kakula our traffic engineer who can actually answer a more

Jessie LopezItem 20

in-depth question if you have some thank you nabil or director saba are there any questions from the

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 20

council just a quick comment madam go ahead just wanted to say uh director nabil saba great work great presentation very thorough and fully supportive of the item move the

Benjamin VazquezItem 20

item actually I do have comment go ahead councilmember Bessara thank you I as

Phil BacerraItem 20

written I won't be supporting the item and the reason for that is is that when I look at our city and what we proclaim we want to keep people safe we had an extensive conversation about crossing guards and trying to keep you know speeds down near our schools so I'm looking at this and I see that the from From Greenville to Bristol along Alton, the recommended speed is 45 miles per hour. Now Alton from Greenville to Raitt has Thorpe Elementary and has Sagerstrom High School. And now, Director Saba, we had talked and yes, state law says that it's supposed to be 25 miles per hour when it's near a school.

Phil BacerraItem 20

But the whole nexus or the whole reason why we are adjusting these speeds is based on the prevailing speed in that area. So if the recommended speed along Alton is 45 miles per hour, and I'm no mathematician, but I figure if you throw in there a couple of times where speeds are at 25 miles per hour, I would have to believe the average speed wouldn't be 45 miles per hour. So that is of concern to me. Flower from Warner to Sunflower, recommend keeping that at 40 miles per hour. But in the comments on the attached spreadsheet, the comment says high accident rate.

Phil BacerraItem 20

And I've got Saddleback High School right there at Flower and Sagerstrom and MacArthur Intermediate at Flower and Alton. With those two schools right there along Flower south of Warner, I would think that that segment should be at least posted 25 miles per hour when school's in session. Speaking of Sagerstrom Avenue, from Bear to Flower, recommending keeping that at 40, even though the comments attached to the segment state, school zone, Saddleback High School. So it makes sense for Segerstrom Avenue from Bristol to Flower to be reduced to 25, at least during school times. Edinger from Fairview to Raitt.

Phil BacerraItem 20

It's recommended at keeping that speed at 35 miles per hour, even though the comments attached to that segment also state bike lane, high accident rate, high pedestrian activity, multiple driveways. You've got Diamond Elementary and Car Intermediate directly on Edinger. It would make sense for us to reduce the speed limit in that area. and Greenville where Council Member Vasquez knows very well you've got Valley High School there between Ed and Jer and Warner and yet we've got it at 30 miles per hour now but no mention of possibly reducing it and that particular segment says high accident rate high pedestrian activity

Phil BacerraItem 20

residential and again with Valley right there and kids from Centennial Parks neighborhood going across Greenville over to Carr and Harvey that's another one that I would think would be lowered So I guess where I'm at is just we've got all these wonderful traffic calming projects in our city. And then apparently on the south side of town, it's just drag strip alley. And when you look at these speeds and the fact that what we're doing is enabling this. So rather than saying, hey, as a policy, because we do it in other parts of the city where we try to reduce speeds, on our end, and I get it, there's state policy, it's engineering.

Phil BacerraItem 20

where we're saying that as long as the speeds reach a certain level, what that tells me is one, obviously we're not enforcing the speed limits. So if we're increasing it because the average speed is increasing, that means maybe our PD is not enforcing the speed in those areas. And the areas that I'm calling out right now are all areas around school. So I'm not just arbitrarily calling out other segments. I know that my constituents of board four would love to see their speeds reduced because there's so many stretches without traffic signals that are just very attractive for street

Phil BacerraItem 20

racers so tonight I couldn't support this as proposed with some of these segments especially I mean the one that's really glaring was Alton at 45 miles per hour so council member just to be

clear the the ones that you're talking about there's no changes being made to them well and

Phil BacerraItem 20

while we have this in front of us I'm saying we should change those because while it's before us as a discretionary action, I would like to see them reduced. So that's what I'm saying. So I understand that there's only a few that are being proposed to change, but what I'm saying is that's unacceptable. And so if this is what's gonna be proposed, in other words, if Council Member Hernandez's motion stands as is, I won't be supporting.

If you allow me to explain what's being presented to you on this table. Sure. If you read the column on the 85th percentile, For example, the Greenville Street, Edinger Avenue to Warner, as you can see, the 85th percentile is 38 miles per hour. And that's what the prevailing speed is. So we're keeping it at 30, so we are lower than what it should be. And that's the reference to high accident is the reason why we're keeping it less than 38.

Phil BacerraItem 20

If I may jump in, what the speed should be. That's what's fundamentally wrong. What we're saying is that just because people are able to speed through there at 38 miles per hour, you're saying that that's what it should be. We've got schools right there with children. It's a predominantly residential area. It should not be 38 in that stretch of highway.

When school children are present, the speed becomes 25 miles per hour.

Phil BacerraItem 20

But it's not posted. Is it?

That's a state law. I'll have to refer to our traffic engineer, Zed Kakula, to verify the posting. Okay.

Good evening, Mayor Pro Tem and Council. I know we're talking about it and I fully agree with you. I wish we could lower these speeds. Unfortunately, the way the law is set up, our hands are basically tied behind our back.

Phil BacerraItem 20

then why is it before us tonight? If it's something that's just you guys fill out the form and send it into Sacramento, why is it on our agenda tonight?

The reason is if we don't do this, the police department will not be able to enforce any of the speeds that are posted throughout the city. This study has to be approved this year, otherwise the enforcement will be void moving forward, and it is something that this has to be submitted to the court, so we do have to unfortunately or fortunately follow the rules of what is in the California Vehicle Code, as well as the manual and uniform traffic control devices. Some of the corridors you mentioned, I agree with you, schools are important, and trust me, I'm in the forefront of working

and trying to make everything safer, lower the speeds. We are, unfortunately, limited to what we could reduce these corridors. Now, Bill was talking about the location that has a posted speed limit of 38, right, or the prevailing speed of 38. The law tells us it has to be, starting off, it has to be 40. We're very fortunate with the fact that about two years ago, there was a new law that was implemented at the state. We're on top of it. That law is now allowing us to drop it from 38 to 30. We took advantage of it. In fact, we did that for 19 locations that are not changing.

Otherwise, we would have had to increase 19 locations of speed. So we're fully aware of that. The other thing I just want to share with everyone is that we do plan on coming back next year because that same law that allowed us that opportunity to reduce the speed on Greenville is going to allow us the opportunity to identify certain corridors in the city. You may be aware we're doing a Vision Zero safety study update. As part of that study, we're going to identify what we call safety corridors.

Those safety corridors will now be allowing us to reduce some of these speed limits, at least if there's a corridor, safety corridor, after June 30th of next year. We're taking advantage of that. We're taking advantage of any little opportunity that allows us to reduce these speeds. And that's all we can do. And I'm actually very excited about the fact that we're going to be able to do that because that is not something we've ever done in the 26 years I've been here. The other law that allows us to maintain some of these speeds, if we were here doing this more than three years ago, we wouldn't be talking about that.

We'd be saying we're increasing the speeds on over 20 streets.

Phil BacerraItem 20

And thank you for that clarification, but to your point, so looking at Alton, for instance, we've got a prevailing speed of 47, and the existing speed limit is 45, and we're not changing that. So per the state law that you're referencing, couldn't we reduce that even more?

At this point, when we look at the posting of the speeds, we look at various things. Like you mentioned, schools, collisions, the geometry of the street. If there's curves or stuff like that, it could actually be something to consider to lower that. Unfortunately, this one right here, it does not have any of the overall consideration for that. That's why we're leaving it as is. But we are going to be trying to look at this location as part of a safety corridor, because now we're talking about the kids. So if we could include that, we may be back next year after we do the study, and this

may be one of the locations that could be reduced further down five miles.

Phil BacerraItem 20

Okay, and so to that point when we talk about the curves, right? So Segersham Avenue has a curve going towards Sellebac High School, and here we still see no change.

Well, if you look at the 85th percentile, it is the prevailing speed is 46. the posted speed limit should be 45.

Phil BacerraItem 20

And real quickly to that, and this is not so much at Public Works, but City Manager, when it comes to our police near our schools, when it comes to speed enforcement, so if the prevailing speed along Segestrom Avenue near Saddleback High School is 46 miles per hour, that's more than average, right? There's a problem. We have a problem here. I don't know how anybody else could not see this as a problem. The fact that we're not doing something more proactive, you know, again, engineering can only do so much, right? We can only have you do so much to implement certain physical constraints to calm the traffic,

Phil BacerraItem 20

but at some point, and City Manager, Richard, you and I have talked about this, whether it's MacArthur Junior High and other locations where we just sometimes need a motor officer out there writing tickets because, you know, the parents, maybe near high school maybe it's the kids but it becomes a dangerous situation it just really philosophically this bothers me and you could say it's state law all day this wouldn't be the first

state law i disagreed with this would be a long line of them we both do we both do so i i appreciate

Phil BacerraItem 20

your explanation i just it thank you i've no more further questions i've just to my colleagues i won't be supporting councilmember hernandez's motion because i just i can't in good faith say that this is okay to recommend these limits, especially when they impact the clusters of

Jessie LopezItem 20

schools in our city. Thank you. Thank you. I am going to second your motion, Councilmember Hernandez. I agree with the spirit of your comment, Councilmember Becerra. However, as we heard, if there is no consensus from a majority of the council members, we can expect officers to be enforcing speed limits. And if you want to request a traffic officer, you can do that. I do that all the time in my district and so thank you to the officers that actually go out and help people or remind people that they shouldn't be speeding down residential streets or in neighborhoods that have elementaries but I do want to

Jessie LopezItem 20

say and point out that I think exhibit one is a great exhibit for all residents to read because it's very detailed in terms of the segment limits you're gonna see the intersections what is being changed and what isn't being changed and And I'm very happy to see that Santa Clara Avenue to 17th Street is being decreased. So thank you for all the work. I know that you often hear from us, why can we get speed bumps? Why can we do these things? And it's a great lesson for folks, if they read the stock report, to understand that these are within the state parameters, unfortunately, because I do wish that we could change them

Jessie LopezItem 20

locally and be a little bit more stricter and harsher with the speedy limits. Are there any other comments before we call the question? No? Okay. City Clerk?

Jennifer L. HallItem 20

A motion by Council Member Hernandez, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Lopez, to introduce for first reading the ordinance amending Article 7, Prima Facia Speed Limits of Chapter 36 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code.

Jennifer L. HallItem 20

And the vote is five ayes, one nay, nay by Council Member Becerra. motion carries, ordinance introduced for first reading.

Jessie LopezItem 20

Thank you, City Clerk. We are now moving on to item number 21, which was requested by Council Member Fan. Council Member Fan, this is your item.

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

Thank you, and thank you to all the speakers, letters, commenters. I really do appreciate getting insight from you and information. So this item is pretty simple. it is to continue to protect our rent stabilization and just cause eviction ordinance. I do want to say that you know I put it together so that we can all have a discussion up here and give staff some direction that's all we're not voting on anything today. So I we received some letters Mr. City Attorney stating that in review of our charter right there's this four vote requirement to adopt any ordinance. And so I guess my direction today is just to direct staff,

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

and I think in this case it would be the city attorney's office, to look at bringing back an ordinance to require a supermajority vote to either repeal the JCO and RSO, or to require a supermajority vote to amend certain provisions of the JCEO and the RSO. And those provisions would include, let me read them off to you, it would include the rent cap, it would include the rental registry, the rental registry and or the rental registry fee,

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

the rent board, amendments relating to no fault, just cause eviction, and amendments relating to at fault, just cause eviction.

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

so that would be my direction to staff thank you councilwoman I just want to

Jessie LopezItem 21

remind the council that this is not the time to get into the weeds of policy and this is an opportunity for you to say yes or no any other council members go

Benjamin VazquezItem 21

ahead councilmember Vasquez I am also I am also in full support for TIEVFM's

Benjamin VazquezItem 21

proposal to require a supermajority for the removal of rental stabilization and just cost eviction. We need to protect our rent control. Our families are decimated. Santa Ana has been named one of the harshest places to raise a family in 2006. Things have not improved. It's more difficult now to stay and live in the city. We are losing 1,500 children a year in Santa Ana Unified School District. 1,500. What must these families have gone through in order to hold on and stay in the city they called home? How many garages, rental raises, and sleepless nights and cars did they go through?

Benjamin VazquezItem 21

When I paint the picture of three to four families in a single home, I would like you to know it is the common in Central San Ana. It's common in War II and many other parts of the city. Families have mattresses spread across the living room, dining room area to make room for all to sleep. There are a few people who are able to own their homes, and I'm proud of folks that have been able to own their homes, but you know that your families, that your children and grandchildren can't afford to stay here. They will leave the state. They will not be able to stay with you. And I hope we can all stay together.

Benjamin VazquezItem 21

In addition to all this, we, the city council, were under attack from the California Apartment Association. This is a threat. they're coming they're coming after two council members came after two didn't make it a one but they're coming after our mayor pro tem to get the votes to remove rent control this is why we're doing it because there are people with more money than what we have who want to run the city there are people who want to tell us how to run and organize the city and that's just not democratic so this is why well Ty VFM councilman Ty is bringing this to tonight so we can so we can support our families. Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 21

Thank you, Council Member Vasquez. Council Member Hernandez?

Jessie LopezItem 21

Oh, he's not at the dais. Okay. So, yes, I'm going to be supportive of seeing what you can come back with, City Attorney's Office, in terms of the amendments for the language in the ordinance. Go ahead, Council Member Becerra.

Phil BacerraItem 21

Thank you. I will not be supporting this because, plain and simple, This is not legal. This isn't about the California Apartment Association. This isn't about anything other than the city charter, the Santa Ana city charter that says you can adopt an ordinance or resolution by four votes, by a simple majority. So even if you put in that you need a unanimous vote to amend or repeal, you put all you want in there. But the charter, charter section 410, states that except as otherwise provided elsewhere where in this charter or by law, no ordinance, resolution, or motion shall be passed, adopted, or become effective

Phil BacerraItem 21

unless it receives the affirmative vote of a majority of the full membership of the city council, which would mean four out of the seven. Not five, not six, not seven, just four out of the seven. So the fact that we're even having this discussion tonight, and I gotta tell you, it really shocks and disappoints me that of the members up here, the ones that should know city law the best are the ones that are bringing this forward. This is an absolute waste of time. The city attorney has already conveyed their thoughts on this. So to direct the city attorney to what? Hit resend on the email? It's kind of a redundant exercise.

Phil BacerraItem 21

So I will be firmly a no vote. Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 21

Councilman Fan and Councilman Hernandez.

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

Thank you. Thank you for your comments, Councilmember Becerra. Mr. City Attorney, I just want some clarification. If it is the case, I guess the direction is for staff to look into whether we can adopt an ordinance requiring a supermajority to repeal? If not,

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

well, I guess, let me stop back. If that's not the case, right, we can't do that. Are we able to adopt an ordinance requiring a supermajority to amend certain provisions of the RSO or JCEO?

Thanks for your question, Council Member Fan. Our office has shared its views on that subject previously there has been circumstances previously when the council has taken that approach there is some limited legal room for that approach you may recall most recently that approach was taken in the who when it was amended in early 2021 I believe it is there were certain provisions of the who that the council elected to include in those provisions a section that requires or that permits modification only by a super majority of the council.

So amendment as opposed to repeal and requiring a super majority requirement for amendment as opposed to appeal in certain circumstances can be permitted.

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

Great. And so the direction tonight is for city staff to look into what the possibilities are and And if it's the case that I got our charter wrong, but we can still adopt an ordinance to require supermajority for repeal, excuse me, for amendments, then I would like to direct city staff to look into that.

I would only add just as a caveat, if I may, that our office would have to look into this situation more deeply, as opposed to prior situations, because it's not always clear cut. But as a general rule, it is permissible, but that we'd have to look into that and take a deeper dive respectfully speaking.

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

Thank you and that's exactly what I'm looking for before staff expend some time we have to give majority direction on this dais and if it's not possible to require supermajority to repeal an ordinance via ordinance can we do it via ballot initiative, a council ballot initiative?

That is an option to put such a ballot measure before the voters for a popular vote and that's typically done by calling the election for that ballot measure to advance it towards the voters or to the voters under the California Elections Code.

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

Okay and based on the item that I agendized tonight is it okay to direct you to look into that or should I reagendize something at the next meeting just for I'll probably do that anyway for transparency sake. You'd have to

reagendize that for the next meeting that specific topic is not encompassed within the agenda item tonight. So I'd recommend that if that's your wish then to re-agendize that for a future meeting.

Phil BacerraItem 21

Okay, thank you. Thank you, John. Mayor Pro Temp, I have a question of John. So city attorney, so let's say hypothetically something was brought forward that changed any ordinance in our city to require a supermajority to amend it, right? So could that entire ordinance just jump over the amendment process and just repeal it with a simple majority based on our charter today?

Yes.

Phil BacerraItem 21

So in other words, no matter how many votes you need to amend a whole paragraph, a punctuation mark, you can simply, I'm sorry, with a simple majority, you can just repeal the whole thing and bring it back in an amended form, correct?

Based on the language of the charter, a majority is necessary to repeal, yes. A majority can repeal.

Phil BacerraItem 21

So it's a pointless exercise to require any sort of super-duper majority requirement to amend when if another council comes and wants to quote unquote amend it they really can just repeal and amend kind of like what happened with the who correct again it is

possible to repeal by a majority vote according to charter section 410 I believe that was previously

Jessie LopezItem 21

cited so yes great thank you for that thank you city attorney um councilmember Hernandez yeah just

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 21

wanted to provide direction that I'm fully supportive of this item thank you thank you

David PenalozaItem 21

Councilmember Pinaleza. Thank you Mayor Pro Tem and thank you Mr. City Attorney. I know that your office previously told us that the City Council cannot adopt an ordinance or move forward with this request because we're preempted by our city charter which we were told a year ago when we first when this conversation was first brought up by the same council member from the dais it was a city attorney that told us we couldn't move forward because we're preempted by our city charter which states that only a four person majority of the City Council could adopt an ordinance so it would be a moot point to move forward

David PenalozaItem 21

with any of this so the only thing I would ask is I heard Councilmember Fan mentioned that she wanted to direct the city attorney but the agenda item that was listed on the agenda is to direct the city manager to prepare an ordinance for the city council. Would she need to agendize another item if we want to discuss now directing the city attorney? Because that wasn't what was agendized. And I want to make sure we're fully transparent

with the public. Understood. And thanks for the question, Councilmember Penaloza. The city attorney office works very closely with the city manager's office. And if it was the city manager's purview or if there was consensus tonight to direct the city manager to take this action she would in her ordinary course look to the city attorney's office to accomplish that. So I believe that the way the agenda item is phrased tonight would encompass the city attorney's involvement in the matter that is if there was a consensus direction.

David PenalozaItem 21

Okay. And I think I could imagine that what is going to happen is you're going to get direction tonight and you're probably just gonna sit on it for a couple weeks and then just give us the same memo you already gave us at the next City Council meeting which is unfortunate because I think the most embarrassing thing from this whole conversation is that the person who brought this forward is a city attorney so you would think that we would know what is applicable and what isn't so kind of disappointing that we're wasting our time and we're wasting staff's time

David PenalozaItem 21

and the city attorney's time, which is very limited in the resources that they have and stretched thin, as we've already heard. So for that reason, for hearing from our city attorney that we cannot move forward with this action, I will not be supporting it.

Jessie LopezItem 21

Thank you. Any other additional comments? No? Okay. Just want to clarify that I did receive the email from the City Attorney's Office, the many emails that we received from outside counsel, and to me it's not a silly exercise because I think we're all learning something that we should be fully knowledgeable of our charter like the back of our hands. But again, the direction here is to explore the possibilities of the amendments in the ordinance. And so that was my original comment because as the public just heard, there is wiggle room for us to do that legally. So once again, thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 21

That will close the—Council Member Van?

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

Yes, thank you. I just want to clarify a very specific point here. First, city attorney is not in quotes. I am a city attorney for a general law city, not without a charter like Santa Ana's charter, so it is a little bit different. Secondly, the comment that you provided, Mr. City Attorney, is that the charter would not potentially, right, you have to do the research and confirm with us, allow for ordinance with supermajority to repeal, but this item is consideration of amending the ordinance to require supermajority approval regarding certain future amendments to the ordinance. There are over seven specific sections

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

in the draft ordinance that was attached here. And the language regarding repeal is only specific to one section in the RSO and JCEO. So I do want to make that clarification that all of those are put out there for consideration by this council and to direct staff. And that staff has not said that we cannot approve a required supermajority to amend the RSO and JCEO. thank you thank you that will close the debate

Jessie LopezItem 21

um so are there any questions or comments uh never mind madam city manager have you

captured the council direction um so let me just repeat i want to make sure i have it correct so according to my notes however i did step out for a minute there is majority support to research and return to council with options is that what the um the final direction was that's my understanding of

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

the debate yes and I'd like to say by October 3rd third okay thank you okay

Jessie LopezItem 21

are there any AB1234 disclosures no okay thank you I will call on council members to announce their comments councilmember Becerra

Phil BacerraItem 21

thank you mayor pro tem i wanted to wish uh margaret lang a happy 105th birthday and yes i did say 105. she was born august 30th 1918 she attended all san anna high schools uh franklin willard and san anna high graduating in the class of 1936 she attended san anna college uh she uh let's see was a cook for activities over the church in the side which is my church over on bush and civic center she served as a para-librarian which i didn't never heard that term before which is basically the she helped support library staff and she did that for willard san anna high school

Phil BacerraItem 21

and later helped open the library at saddleback high school she worked with the rotary and kiwanis clubs here in san anna to assist students in need and believe it or not she is actively a part of of restoring her family's home on North Baker in Washington Square. This is a comment for city manager in regards to the intoxication detention policy. Bristol between First and McFadden perpetually looks like a campground and it's one thing if it took a couple days or a week or two for our officers to get into the swing of enforcing this, but I mean it's a full on campground out there. It's not even just one or two people passed out.

Phil BacerraItem 21

It looks disgusting. And on top of that, what's frustrating to me is that in 2020, this council adopted an ordinance in regards to these bicycle chop shops, or to be more technical, to prohibit the sale and repair of bikes and bicycle parts on public property. That is public property, and I bet you right now we can get a couple of good parts on bikes over there as we speak. So I'm hoping that PD will step up enforcement in that area. since we don't have another meeting before the first Saturday in September and since that's also Labor Day week and I just wanted to let everybody know that I'll be holding my monthly community

Phil BacerraItem 21

office hours on the second Saturday in September so that'll be on Saturday September 9th same place same time 10 a.m. over at George Upton All Access Park so I want to wish everybody a happy Labor Day since we won't be back before then so everybody be safe and on a much more sadder note I wanted to ask my colleagues to adjourn tonight's meeting in the memory of 23-year-old Veronica Amazola and 27-year-old Kimberly Esquardo. Veronica and Kimberly were two sisters from Santa Ana who were killed in a crash early Sunday morning when their Uber was hit up

Phil BacerraItem 21

in South LA while they were returning home from a concert. Kimberly had just graduated nursing school and was also involved in her dance team during her time at Cal State Dominguez Hills and Veronica graduated from Cal Poly Humboldt where she spent her time doing field research among the Redwoods which makes sense given where Humboldt's at and she was very interested in environmental science she got a job with the County of Orange working with animals it's such a shame so please keep their families in your prayers as they they grieve that loss with that I hope

Jessie LopezItem 21

we can adjourn in their memory. Good night. Thank you. Councilmember Hernandez. Thank you,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 21

Mayor Pro Tem. I want to thank the residents for coming to today's meeting, sharing their public comments, and the thousands of residents who came out and celebrated Chicano Heritage Month and the Chicano Heritage Festival at El Salvador Park. Brought thousands of residents together. Big kudos to our Parks and Recreation Department for putting a beautiful event together, and having just hours of world-class entertainment and art and cars and culture. It was really a beautiful day. The free amenities for families to see, the carnival rides, all of it was truly cherry on top, sir.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 21

Good work to Parks and Recreation. And the event of Chicano Heritage Festival commemorates the Chicano Moratorium, the last Sunday of the month of August. Today, August 29th, is the day that Ruben Salazar was killed. And he was a civil rights activist and a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. He was the first Mexican-American journalist from mainstream media to cover the Chicano community in the 60s. Salazar was killed during the National Chicano Moratorium March against the Vietnam War on August 29, 1970 in East Los Angeles. During the March, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 21

Thomas Wilson struck and immediately killed Salazar with a tear gas projectile. No criminal charges were filed, but Salazar's family did reach an out-of-court financial settlement with the county. Ruben Salazar was a news reporter and columnist with the Los Angeles Times from 1959 to 1970. During his career, Salazar was recognized as one of the most prominent figures within the Chicano movement. He was somebody that was a correspondent in his early years at the Times. He covered the 1965 United States occupation of the Dominican

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 21

Republic, the Vietnam War, and the Tatleco Massacre in Mexico City. When Salazar returned to the U.S. in 1968, he focused on the Mexican-American community and the Chicano movement, writing about East Los Angeles and largely families that were ignored by mainstream media. His support for the Chicano movement made him a target by the FBI, and he was the subject of an FBI internal file. He was noted as being cooperative during the FBI's investigation, and unfortunately it was due to his stance on the Vietnam War.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 21

And ultimately August 29, 1970, as he was covering the National Chicano Moratorium, he was murdered at the Silver Dollar Bar. And this day is a day that impacted Mexican-Americans all over this country. Police still continue to kill Mexicans in large numbers in this country. And may we continue to say their names and fight for justice. justice for Ruben Salazar justice for Brandon Lopez justice for all those that

Jessie LopezItem 21

have had their life stolen thank you Councilmember Hernandez

David PenalozaItem 21

I have no comments may I pretend thank you

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

thank you Councilmember fan thank you so I did want to update everybody there was a housing authority forum that I had announced last time there were I think 100 150 residents from Garden Grove Anaheim Santa Ana as well as the county in general to learn about the housing authorities in these four agencies and what we can do to help folks who need assistance with housing here in the county. I did also want to say that congrats to our Parks and Rec team for an amazing zoofari. I had a blast. I know Madam City Manager also had a blast.

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

And I just want to say that it was such an incredible event where we had an amazing time raising funds for a nonprofit to support our zoo and it you know all night we just saw everybody talk about how much they love the zoo how much members and friends of the zoo have dedicated literally their lives to protecting that space that open space the experience for our community and helping to educate not just santa ana residents but also students throughout the county and you know statewide frankly. I also want to say thank you to staff for a successful Chicano Heritage Festival, Councilmember Hernandez,

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

Congressmember Lou Correa, as well as Supervisor Sarmiento for you know pushing Chicano heritage to the forefront and declaring it here at the city, the county, and federally. And I also want to give a huge shout out to our local artist Marina Aguilera for such an incredible mural she and her team did wonderful work and just so proud to have been a part of that moment the last thing I'd like to say is I somehow got roped in to being elected as your division two representative for the League of California Cities or District two representative for the OC division and so we'll make sure to

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

represent you and Orange County with the League of California Cities with that have a good night

You're welcome.

Thai Viet PhanItem 21

Thank you, Councilwoman. I got volunteered.

Benjamin VazquezItem 21

I also want to thank Parks and Rec for a beautiful day on Sunday, all the work you put into it, the organization. The families with the tents make that day. It makes it so much community. I love being there amongst the families and that you guys stepped up when you had to step up. Really love you for that. The work that you put in, everything was well done, and I can't say enough about your dedication. looking forward to fiasas patrias and enjoying that day but this weekend we got garage yard sales we i know we love them award too if you think you need more than anna let your council member know

Benjamin VazquezItem 21

we need more yard sales inside and i know word two loves them we bring it all out we have a whole we have streets and streets 500 miles of yard sales but uh it's a beautiful thing enjoy meet your people meet your neighbors and buy some stuff thank you councilmember vasquez and city

Jessie LopezItem 21

manager would you like to go next before I go? Thank you Mayor Portem. Just very briefly,

since we are not having another council meeting until September 19th, I want to announce some of the events. I know Council Member Vasquez touched on one, but before the next council meeting we have two events happening. One is this coming weekend, September 7th through the 9th, and that is celebrating National Grandparents Day at our Santa Ana Public Library. There's going to be stories, crafts, and extreme activity, ice cream socials with games and much more. So we invite you all out to celebrate that. And then the big celebration that we have in our city, Fiestas Patris, is scheduled September 16th and September 17th.

On Saturday, it runs from noon to 11 p.m. And on Sunday, it runs from noon to 10 p.m. And on Sunday, there is the parade, and that is from 3 to 5. So we hope everybody can join us for that big celebration.

Jessie LopezItem 21

Thank you, city manager. I have a couple of comments before we officially adjourn this meeting. Grupo Autismo, which is a group that works with autistic kids and their families, is having their 20th annual event in War III on 9-9. It's a great organization. I hope that the residents can go and support. It will be at the Santa Ana Zoo. I'd also like to invite our entire community to come out on 9-3 for Carnaval Moralense. It's one of, it's such a fun event here in the city. I really encourage everyone to come out and support and learn more about the Moralense culture.

Jessie LopezItem 21

It's going to be a day full of music, joy, getting to know your neighbors, food, and of course dancing. So I invite all of you to come out and support that event. Also, tomorrow we're having a ceremonial grand opening with one of our local businesses, hamburgers. And if you haven't checked them out, please go out and support our local small business located in downtown Santa Ana. I will also be participating in the climate resiliency forum that Supervisor Katrina Foley and Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento are hosting. It's an all-day event. Our panel is towards the end of the day, and it will be held at the county building tomorrow.

Jessie LopezItem 21

So hopefully folks can come out and support and learn about all the work that is happening in Orange County in light of us surviving a tropical storm. So thank you for your patience. Everybody, thank you, staff, for being here until 9 p.m. I know your day started very early. Thank you, city manager, city attorney, city clerk. This officially with no further business. Before the council, I hereby adjourn today's meeting.