Read the May 16 meeting.

!

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

¶¶ Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

piano plays softly

Thank you.

Thank you.

piano plays softly

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

piano plays softly

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm going to go ahead and do that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

rest.

Valerie Amezcua

Mayor, you can go ahead. Thank you very much. I hereby convene the Santa Ana City Council 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. We also have a special guest here with us, so you just can't see her. As a reminder, this is a meeting to conduct the business of the City. As Mayor, I am afforded the opportunity to call for a recess or break or even to clear

Valerie Amezcua

the meeting room if a meeting becomes too disruptive to properly conduct business. Warnings will be provided prior to any action. For everyone's safety, per the Fire Marshal, please do not stand or place objects in the aisles, in front of the dais, along the back wall of the Council Chambers, or in front of the entrances or exits. To ensure that all members of the public may watch and participate in the meeting without disruption, designated media areas for filming photography are marked. If you have any questions, please see our PIO.

Valerie Amezcua

Guidelines for members of the news media and anyone else who wishes to film or photograph the meeting are available in the lobby. Madam Clerk, please conduct the roll call.

Jennifer L. Hall

Councilmember Becerra? Here. Councilmember Hernandez? Here. Councilmember Lopez? Here. Councilmember Penaloza? present councilmember Vasquez present mayor pro temp ban here mayor Mesquite present six members present that is a quorum thank you matter before we

Valerie Amezcua

proceed to the Pledge of Allegiance please make any announcements for

Jennifer L. Hall

members of the public on zoom or teleconference to request to speak during public comments on the budget work study session only you must dial star 9 from your phone or click the button labeled raise hand from zoom now to be in the the speaker queue once public comments commence. Thank you.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you. May I ask Susanna Rios please come and lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Valerie Amezcua

You just come up here to the front. Thank you.

Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

Right hand over your heart.

Valerie Amezcua

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

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you so very much.

Valerie Amezcua

Madam Clerk, are there any additions or deletions to the City Council agenda? There are not. This is the time of the meeting for the City Council to receive comments from the public on agenda items only. Madam City Clerk, please explain the public comment procedures and call the first speakers.

Jennifer L. Hall

Thank you, Mayor. PURSUANT TO RESOLUTION NUMBER 2023-047, SPEAKERS ARE REQUESTED TO ADDRESS THE CITY COUNCIL DIRECTLY AND TO REFRAIN FROM PROFANE LANGUAGE, RACIAL EFFICACTS, AND LIBELOUS OR SLANDEROUS STATEMENTS THAT DISTURB THE DECORUM OF THE MEETING. PURSUANT TO THE BROWN ACT, THE CITY COUNCIL MAY NOT ENTER INTO DISCUSSION AT THIS TIME. SPEAKERS WILL HAVE THREE MINUTES FOR THEIR COMMENTS. BEFORE CALLING SPEAKERS, I'LL REPORT THE FOLLOWING SUMMARY OF EMAILS PROVIDED AS OF TODAY. WE DID RECEIVE 45 E-COMMENTS RELATED TO THE BUDGET WORK STUDY SESSION. those were distributed to the council and posted on the city's website.

Jennifer L. Hall

We will now hear from members of the public that are physically present in the council chamber, followed by those on the conference call or Zoom, to provide their comments on the budget. Please state your name and the ward or neighborhood that you reside in for the record. The first three speakers, Deborah Russell, Amelia, and Alicia Rojas.

Good evening. I was here last week to share with you the amazing impact your decision to invest our city funds in the arts made for our community. Over 50 projects across all our wards. Today I'm here to advocate for funding of the arts in ways that are fair and equitable for our residents across our wards. I know budgets are tight, and that you all have many difficult decisions to make ahead. And I ask that when you do, you choose our residents, our local artists, our grassroots arts organizations,

our arts entrepreneurs, and small businesses who benefit from this unique creative economy that we have cultivated here in our city, that does not exist in neighboring cities. In the last year, your choice to make this investment brought new creativity and vibrancy to all the wards. It inspired mothers and neighborhood leaders to organize arts events, to paint murals, to bring families together. Funding events like Art Walk and these festivals brought dollars to these areas in new ways that don't exist when we invest in a single arts institution. When you as our

city leaders choose to invest in one institution of the arts, as has been the policy for the last three decades, we don't see this kind of impact. We don't see our communities develop and connect and thrive and become more beautiful. We don't see our local businesses benefit. Businesses who are also calling for this funding. We don't see arts flourish across our wars as we have when that arts funding is focused on local artists, local organizations, artists who partner with our local businesses

to help them prosper. You have an important decision ahead. To fund the arts fairly and equitably, to make the most impact with every dollar that we have for our families, for for our residents, for our young youth, and for our littlest ones, who might even be in this audience right now. I have some of those in my audience, in this audience as well, because I am here to urge you to invest in our residents, in our children, with the funding that we have. Thank you.

Amelia.

Hello, my name is Amelia, And I'm here today to use my voice and say that we should have more artists across our city as well as fund our local artists that are a part of it and that allow us to bring events to families like mine and for free. I especially know this makes an impact because of people like my little brother, who even though is in kindergarten, already knows that he wants to be an artist because he's able to be a part of arts events every weekend and get to know other artists like him. And I just think that's really cool to be a part of an experience. So please fund our artists. Thank you

Jennifer L. Hall

Alicia Rojas followed by Brian Chang and Peggy Ariarte

Hey, good evening mayor mayor Pro Tem council members. I am Alicia Rojas. I am back again this week I wanted to advocate an equitable arts funding. I did see the proposed budget come out There's a 1.7 million subsidy that will continue to the Bowers Museum as direct cash. That means that our arts budget, 80% of it is going to just one institution versus 200,000 directly to the arts and culture. I took the liberty of looking at the Bowers Museum 990 and it looks like they have a $3

dollar net profit in their last filing, in a 24 million dollar assets that they're sitting on, three million dollar net income, while we continue to subsidize them at the rate of 1.7 million dollars. We really, really need to address that. It's been 37 years. years, 37 years of subsidizing the Bowers Museum. Furthermore, the Bowers Museum doesn't

mention the subsidy in their website. Under its most important funders, the city is not mentioned. Their board seems to lack diversity, Latino and black voices. I, through my advocacy through the arts and the grants I have seen the city flourish and help our downtown art walk continues to be a boost of economic development no to the altarez these events who don't get funded they have to go through a process and ask for this money we also are at risk of losing our Chicano Heritage

Festival our Juneteenth Festival because we are running out of this money so how How can we continue to prioritize the Bowers Museum at $1.7 million that is given to them in 12 allotments every month through a transfer wire? Yes, you guys can go to the payment records for vendors under the open book in the Santa Ana website and get exactly what this is for. We also gave them $1 million last year to upgrade our own building that they don't pay rent for, right? So we're subsidizing them in different ways. And they actually also ask from our small pool of $400,000,

they apply for a grant of $5,000 to fund their lunar festival. How is this even allowed? So I'm asking you to look at the items that I sent you, look at the numbers, and just the numbers don't lie. Fund the arts equitably. stop funding 80% of our arts budget to only one institution the Bowers Museum it's time for your time thank you

Jennifer L. Hall

branching followed by Peggy Ariarty and Sarah Guerrero greetings to the Santa

Ana City Council my name is Brian Chang I'm the executive director of a local arts education nonprofit called dance music initiative we further our cause by by offering free DJ lessons to the community. And we've been doing it for the past 14 years. We host them right here in downtown Santa Ana. We also embed our education in after school programs in the Santa Ana School District for the past five years. So I'm here asking for more equitable funding of arts grants. And I'd also like to point out regarding that, specifically referring to the Bowers Museum, David Byrne, popular artist from the Talking Heads,

poignantly wrote in his publication, How Music Works, opera halls, ballets, and large art museums receive more funding than do popular art and what might be considered popular music venues. This is because of the edifying value ascribed to such institutions by people of a privileged economic and social class. Case in point is that Santa Ana has the budget to offer a subsidy to the Bowers Museum of over $1.7 million for 2023 and 2024. As rightfully should, but disproportionately, four times the amount allocated to all grassroots arts organizations combined. An avid art seeker will most likely only attend Bowers once a year.

That same person will likely participate in their local art resources monthly or even weekly. Conservatively estimating, small organizations are getting 12 times the participation rates for a quarter of the funding support.

Museums are undoubtedly an important hub for art, and Santa Ana clearly values their contributions. However, locally run arts organizations, such as the one that I run, that makes a direct impact on locals, are vital to the city's culture, and have a potential of reaching more people on a regular basis.

People come from all around Southern California, LA, Inland Empire, San Diego County, including, of course, Orange County, to take our classes. We host them in a local Santa Ana public business. So we're bringing in, you know, people from different realms to come take our classes. They're open to the public, they're free, and we're providing value. Of course, the arts education is also important too. In our after-school program, we teach kids how to DJ using turntables and records. So we kind kind of classically train them how to do that. And you should see the looks on their faces when they get to perform in front of their peers

with a fresh, modern approach to music education versus kind of the more standard things that are amazing. But there's different ways to do this. So thank you so much, and I appreciate your time.

Hello everybody, I'm Peggy Uriarte. and tonight I'm just speaking from the heart. I'm an artist and I have been coming to Santa Ana every Saturday for the last two and a half years painting murals with Moses Camacho in the community of Santa Ana and I just would like to ask to you to please to redirect the funding and just to speak and let you know how important the arts are to our lives, how important it is to the community to have a venue where anybody can just show up

and create with total strangers, bond over just creating. It's really a magical thing. It's really a magical thing. It's changed my life. It's showed me so so much more. It's ignited a fire in me to want me to collaborate with other artists, want me to collaborate with the city, want to create beautiful things with the city. It's an exciting thing and we need this. We need each other guys. We need each other. We need you. We need you please to redirect the funding and just know how important it affects the whole community. Everybody from the children to the families to just every

every single person, and I just wanted to say that. Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

Sarah Guerrero and Logan Crowe.

Good evening. Hi, my name is Sarah Guerrero. I represent Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble, an organization that specifically made Santana its home. I'm a long-time resident. I grew up here in Santana. I went through the school district of Santa Ana. I'm now a parent here at the school district. I'm an arts leader a recipient of the fellowship for the state of California I Represent Santa Ana and every time I go out in the community to do my work I am what came out of the art making in Santa Ana, and I'm very proud of my city As an arts organization we are accountable for everything we make every penny stretch

So it surprises me that for 37 years, that this amount, 80% of an arts budget, goes to an organization that I don't think I really felt connected to as part of my community. Where I go is through my neighbors, through the churches, through the organizations that are often at the chopping block. It is the small nonprofit organizations that are often led through BIPOC leadership. and if it wasn't for my experience and like I grew up with Debra Russell we went to Century High School together you know and wanting to make theater and

have a home here in Santa Ana was important and and so to have people that you grow up with and that you see here that want these things is so essential and I am proud of Santa Ana but I hope that Santa Ana can be proud of its people and want to put art in the at the forefront because art is about holding the mirror to ourselves about looking at our humanity it is telling the stories that sometimes put us in discomfort you know like I love art making because it allows me to take risk and I recognize that we are all up you will all have to make really hard decisions and I don't I do not disregard that because I as an

arts leader have to make hard decisions we had to cut programming but we will will still provide for our community. We have a home through a residency through Grand Central Art Center, and we are grateful that that space exists, and that is through the support of the city of Santa Ana, and that the art program that we provide is free to our community. And we're so excited because this year we received the 20,000, or under 20,000, to do our corridos of Santa Ana, to tell stories through a traditional format, because we are so proud of our community, and we wanna continue, and Santa Ana is unique. It is unique. People want Santana.

People want places like Santana. And art making and holding our tradition and our culture as part of our story, because the city used to be a place that was the motto was arts and culture and education. Where did that go? Where did that go? Let's be proud of the things that we have set forward. Let's be accountable. I recognize that we cannot change these 37 years. So how do we move forward? How do we be accountable? accountable because all of you I have worked with students in all of your warts and I live in Phil's Ward or no no David's Ford and um and our space is in 92701 sorry your time is up all right thank

you so much redirect funding hello everyone uh first of all thank you so much for last week for kind of adjusting protocol a little bit to allow for my for my words after my card snafu uh my name My name is Logan Crowe, I'm the executive director and founder of the Frida Cinema in Ward 6. I serve on the board of directors for Arts Orange County. I live in Ward 3. I've spent the last 10 years rooted pretty much daily on Cayecuatro, meeting and speaking with virtually every business owner and gallery and curator and school program administrator and student group and arts and education advocacy group and independent business.

And I've learned firsthand just how much cultural events are relied upon to bolster movement and commerce in our community. Our organization has only been running Artwalk for a year and a half and it continues to be a joy and a privilege to support the endeavors of so many of my community's fellow creatives, but it's also provided quite an awakening experience. Virtually every time we've had to make an adjustment with Artwalk, there's a ripple effect of feedback that only serves to remind me just how important these events are to so many businesses who are counting on them. As

one recent email from a business read, quote, we really rely on this event. But But here's the thing, that's just one day a month. The great news about Santa Ana is that it's full of creative and driven minds who have their own visions of engaging cultural events that would shine a light on our community, activate our streets, and support local businesses throughout the month. More often than not, their vision is to provide these activities free of charge for our community. They'll bring the focus and the drive, and they'll do the work. They just need the funds to make these things happen.

If their goal is to provide some much-needed cultural quality of life and economic stimulation to the city of Santa Ana, who better a partner to help make that happen than the city of Santa Ana? So again, when you think about funding for arts and culture, I hope you don't think of it simply and limited to providing someone with dollars to create art. That's enough, I think, but I realize that funds, the budgets are by nature limited and need to be applied

applied strategically. So I ask that when you think about it, think about it as a strategic way to partner with those storytellers on the ground who are ready and willing to do the work to accomplish many of the same goals that you yourselves set out to accomplish. If it helps, think of it as marketing for the city, invested in an equitable and diversified way across so many creative, hardworking, and collaborative hands that sustain the cultural purse, pulse, purse and pulse of this community. Thank you so much again for your time.

Jennifer L. Hall

Mayor and council that concludes the public speakers that are present will now call the Zoom speaker. When unmuted, please announce your name and the ward or neighborhood that you reside in within the city of santa ana for the record and caller whose phone number ends in zero one zero please dial star six from your phone or select the microphone button to unmute and proceed with your comment

hello yes go ahead please hi victor mendez war three um Just to kind of summarize the essence of my comments, I really think this document, while very comprehensive, is very short on ideas to kind of find ways to do better with our money. Let me just be very clear. On page three, they talk about free options for balancing the future budget, which glaringly omitted it is actually no mention of cost efficiency to obtain a balanced budget in the future it's all about putting the putting the focus or the emphasis on the voters approving it

doing about services etc but nothing mentions how can we do how the city can um do more or try to achieve what what they want to achieve with what we have today or in the future and that's just very perplexing and i don't understand the why the city is so adverse to cost efficiency

Likewise, these stabilization measures do nothing to help us in the future. They're just, you know, pockets of savings we'll have that will soon be gone. And I really don't see what a Measure X stabilization fund will do for us, except make less money available. Right now, we're already putting $90 million away for possible runs against the city from CalPERS. And, you know, now we're going to take another, you know, $20 million out. We're also giving, I think, another 18% of the general fund toward the reserve. So at some point, you know, we can only save so much to the point that we're not going to get any services.

And I'm not too sure what we're trying to achieve in that respect. I think a good, healthy conservative savings plan or reserve plan is fine. But I think if you just take it to the extreme and frankly just creating a fund to save money, it's not exactly a great exercise in creativity or management burrito. Let me give you just a few examples that I highlighted last time. I mean, the police overtime is $1.5 million. Why don't we use $300,000 of that to pay for 21-time signing bonuses for lateral officers and try to close the gap with our current staffing levels? We're certainly upgrading the city attorney staff.

Why can't we upgrade our police officer staffing as well?

We have $300,000 for parks and books back there program, which seems a lot. I don't know how many sites we have, but that just seems like an awful lot of money for one site. If there's more sites, great. But we're also paying $1.9 million for armed security. If the homeless program, you know, or if the homelessness problem is that great, you know, it almost seems like these two are kind of duplicated in each other. So something needs to be looked at in that respect. And just in terms of homelessness, I mean, I think I counted up about over $10 million in homelessness calls under the category addressing homelessness.

Well, isn't it about time with all that money? Victor, your time is up. Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

mayor and council that concludes the public speakers that were in the queue when we began

Valerie Amezcua

thank you madam city clerk at this time the only item today is the 24 25 budget work study session mr city manager may we please have staff presentation at this time

yes our finance and management services director will make a presentation as a reminder when we When we look at the budget, and it's going to be a pretty good presentation, very detailed. As a reminder, we're only talking about a very finite number that we can actually reallocate. And you'll see that as part of the presentation. The special focus on page 25. So when we make determinations, we give and take, we also have to make adjustments in that capacity. Just as a reminder. Thank you.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you.

I don't know if it's before the end of the meeting, but we'll prepare something just to be clear. But it's not so much a subsidy. We own the Bowers, right? So part of the 1.7 is part of our property maintenance agreement, because I did look into it. So it's a contractual obligation we have with Bowers, but that's something we could provide a complete summary.

Valerie Amezcua

So then before the end of the meeting, you can go into a little bit more history about owning it and whatnot.

Thank you.

Valerie Amezcua

Perfect. Thank you.

All right. Well, good evening, Mayor and City Council members. This is the second in a series of meetings to provide staff with direction for the 24-25 budget that begins on July 1st. On April 2nd, City Council provided us with early direction. This presentation covers proposed budget highlights and the detailed document was posted to the city's website on Monday May 13th next slide the proposed budget is a collaboration between the budget office departments and the city manager's office our assistant director of finance Alex Trinidad and our budget supervisor

Shannon McCarran have led the staff effort to compile the proposed budget this includes research analysis calculations and discussions with staff throughout City Hall Shannon and Alex will both participate in the presentation this evening Shannon will begin with community engagement and Alex will cover additions to the budget and spending summaries and then I will finish the presentation before we take direction and questions from the City Council good evening mayor and council members all staff in the budget office participate in the annual community engagement process.

We proudly put a ton of effort into community engagement because in some cases, this will be the only time a resident interacts directly with city staff to share their priorities. Next slide.

Budget, with tremendous help from the Office of Public Information, added the following endeavors to the rotation this year. We launched a four-minute video, which has over 60,000 views, mailed budget survey postcards to every household and distributed even more at various city events and facilities we spoke at most of the city's Commission meetings for ideas on how to expand engagement and encourage survey submissions and finally we initiated a listening tour to talk budget demonstrate how to use our budget simulation tools and just listen next Next slide.

As part of the annual effort to cast as wide net as possible, the budget office attended multiple citywide events to encourage submissions of the budget priorities survey or one of our simulation tools. Next slide. Community budget meetings were held in every council ward, including a comm link visit. Meetings were advertised on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Nextdoor, press releases the city's website and various city newsletters the topics most heard at the community budget meetings were youth programs crime reduction programs

sidewalks roads and tree trimming recreation centers and lastly homeless reduction programs which is by far the most mentioned topic across all forms of engagement. The 12 question budget survey included a variety of topics to gauge resident interests such as city infrastructure, code enforcement, environmental justice, homeless reduction, public safety, and youth programs. Next slide. Based on what we heard from the community, the top five priorities across all across all methods of engagement are reducing homelessness, streets, increased

increased police presence, youth programs, and sidewalks. Other common themes include public parking, affordable housing, street lights and traffic issues, economic development, bus stop, and finally bus stop maintenance.

In regards to the budget priority survey, one of our questions asked respondents to identify the top two priorities. We received the most responses for homelessness reduction and crime reduction programs. Next slide. Regarding streets and sidewalks, more than 77% of respondents felt that more lighting along the city's roadways was important or very important. The same goes for improving sidewalk conditions, with more than 68% indicating this as important, 65% for reducing traffic congestion, and 64% for more crosswalks.

Regarding public safety, 79% of respondents felt that… »» I'm sorry.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Can you go back and start that slide again, please? You're going very quickly. Can you go back to the more lighting? Start there, please. »» Yeah.

More than 77% of respondents felt that more lighting along the city's roadways was important or very important. The same goes for improving sidewalk conditions with more than 68% indicating this as important, important, 65% for reducing traffic congestion, and 65% for more crosswalks.

Regarding public safety, 79% of respondents felt that reducing police response times was important or very important. The same goes for improving animal control with more than 57% indicating this as important or more, and 52% for investing in other police services such as PAL. And now here's Alex.

Good evening, Mayor and Councilmembers. The Draft City budget is $848 million. This summary, it shows the portion of the Draft City budget supporting budget priorities identified by residents. Next slide. Next, I would like to summarize our updated recommendations for miscellaneous fees.

The staff report included a sampling of the fee comparisons to other cities. Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Agency is currently studying their fees. We expect they will make recommendations in the future. Therefore, we have updated our recommendations for fees. No increases for Parks and Recreation and Community Services fees at this time. A 4.66% increase for all other. Next. Next, I would like to walk through notable additions to the General Fund budget based on City Council's early direction and community priorities.

On the next several slides, you may see a small Measure X symbol. We have added this graphic to all items that are funded by Measure X revenue to help show the public how the money is being spent. A proposed detailed Measure X expenditure report was included with the staff report. So we have approximately $12.8 million available for one-time spending. Notable one-time spendable items include free one-hour parking in downtown Santa Ana, the North Wall and walkways at the zoo, two new traffic signals, vehicle purchases, electrical upgrades at the city yard, completion

of the Bristol Street Rehab, temporary funding for all jail contract services until the jail revenue can be rebalanced, community outreach related to the zoning code, the November 2024 election costs, and deferred maintenance at the projects at the jail. Next. Next.

We have a little less than $4.7 million of recurring money available for the budget. A full reconciliation was included as an exhibit to the staff report. Notable recurring items include a backfill for engineering staff that cannot charge administrative time to restricted monies, funding for increased costs for using the county animal shelter, new economic development specialist positions to support business community, new positions to maintain a jail, support the city's fleet operations, provide counter service on the first floor,

administrative support to free up the city's attorneys for additional work related to the police oversight commission and the rent stabilization board, report, right-sizing the budget for actual current recreational program spending, zoo operations and maintenance related to new animal and exhibits, bus stop maintenance, park maintenance for new parks, environmental justice initiatives, and establishing a recurring pothole repair allocation to the general fund.

Early direction items from the City Council that are included in the draft budget include include a downtown parking subsidy, alley improvements, two new traffic signals, economic development support, an additional six months of ARPA staff funding, parkland feasibility study, including the Washington Square, and then parking validations for city council meetings.

Across all funds, the draft budget includes $28 million related to the unhoused population. This represents around 3% of the draft city budget. Next slide.

Across all funds, the draft budget includes more than $10 million for youth programs, including library and recreation offerings, the PAL program, and youth employment. This slide only includes funding for the youth program spending. The total budget for parks, recreation, community services, and the library is $29.8 million. This other funding includes programs for adult seniors, citywide events, zoo and other recreational activities all right Thank You Alex and Shannon so next up we're gonna look at our cannabis cannabis public benefit fund the expected revenue transferred to this fund is 9.4 million for the coming

fiscal year our City Council ordinance requires this fund to be used for youth and enforcement services the proposed budget would accommodate the expected reduction in revenue and shift more spending to youth services. Next slide. The proposed budget includes opioid settlement money to be managed by the City Manager's Office. The City expects to receive this highly restricted revenue source for another 15 years. Staff is working on a proposal to provide in-hospital detox services for the unhoused population who wish to

detoxify and these in-hospital services would be provided outside the city next slide please

the city and count this is a recent development and was added since your may 7th meeting the city and county both contribute to a civic center authority budget each year the city and county also entered into a 1992 mou for civic center security where the authority paid for seven dedicated police officers. The MOU allows for termination with 60-day written notice before the end of the fiscal year. The county provided that written notice. The draft budget had included a $1.2 million general fund contribution to the authority as part of the recurring baseline portion of the budget.

For 2024-2025, the authority has agreed that no contribution is needed. If the city wishes to retain these seven police officer positions, then the $1.7 million cost, less the $1.2 million that we did have in the budget for a contribution, equals a shortfall of $500,000 for the coming fiscal year. Next slide, please. We have three short-term options for the City Council to consider. Each option assumes no contribution to the authority for 2425, but do keep in mind that a contribution may be required the following year.

So the first option is to reduce the headcount by two to close the recurring $500,000 budget shortfall. The second is to maintain all seven positions and reduce the recurring budget by $500,000 in another area and the third option is to maintain the seven positions and use one-time money for the 500 000 shortfall with direction to staff to attempt negotiating a new policing mou with the county for 2526. next slide please this is a summary of the proposed general fund

budget. The estimated recurring revenue is $406.5 million. The proposed budget for recurring items is $406.3 million, including our proposed additions of $4.4 million. The detailed list of proposed additions is included with the staff report. This leaves approximately $250,000 of cushion for the coming fiscal year. The estimated general fund balance at the close of the current fiscal year is 86.8 million. We expect to request 850,000 of that in our third quarter budget report on June 4th to provide a one-time subsidy to close out

the Central Stores Internal Service Fund. The City Council's reserve policy requires that we maintain a balance equal to 18% of annual recurring revenue calculated to be 73.2 million for the coming year. The detailed list of proposed one-time spending of $12.8 million is also included with the staff report. As part of your budget work session tonight, City Council may direct staff to make changes to the proposed budget. Next, I would like to cover notable improvement projects. Next slide, please. We expect to receive another $18 million of restricted funding between County

M2 program and the state road maintenance and rehabilitation account. Staff proposes to use this restricted funding to maintain current programs and continue various projects already underway. Next slide. The proposed budget also includes restricted money to continue traffic and pedestrian projects throughout the city. This includes safe routes to school, bike lanes, Orange Avenue improvements, traffic signal equipment replacement, and traffic safety planning. Next slide, please. The detailed CIP document capital improvement plan was also posted to the City's website.

This slide includes a list of projects in the proposed CIP budget. Street projects that are either recurring or already underway, zoo pathways, and park improvements at both Jerome and Chepas. Next slide. Next, I would like to cover the status of initiatives important to City Council and the community. Next slide. This slide provides a quick status update for street cameras, dog park, stadium improvements, zoo projects, Cypress Fire Station, blue safety lights, and the feasibility study for the water tower.

Staff from various departments will be able to answer specific questions about these projects after the presentation. Next slide, please. Tonight we're also seeking direction for the dog park. The original scope had an estimated cost of $14 million. We've had multiple leads for funding, but nothing has become available for this project. Next slide, please. This is the original concept, which includes multiple dog recreation areas, new restrooms, a water play area, and an outdoor plaza. Next slide, please.

We do have a phasing option with an estimated cost of $10 million for the first phase. This includes police relocation and an estimated 10-month construction timeline. Again, we have not yet identified funding. Next slide, please. This visual shows what would be included in Phase 1. Next slide. We have two more options for City Council consideration. Both options have a smaller scope with significantly less cost. Option 2 would maintain the current police and park maintenance areas on the property

and would allow for future expansion when funding becomes available. This option could be constructed by March of 25. Option 3 is very basic and can be completed by the end of the current calendar year. Next slide. This visual shows the footprint of Option 2. Next slide. There are several feasible options to fund either of the Options 2 or 3. We typically have expenditure savings each year that contribute to the general fund balance when we close the books. ARPA projects must be encumbered by December of 24.

Therefore, we have a hard internal deadline at the end of June to ensure we spend every federal dollar. We may be able to shift money between projects at that time, freeing up money for this project. We could re-approach federal and state legislators. We could continue to pursue grant funding options that may free up general fund money on other projects. And we could explore the feasibility of a corporate sponsorship of the dog park. When we discuss potential available general money, we need to remember there are other competing needs for that money. Next slide.

Staff recommendation is for option two. Exploring every funding source, we believe that we can cobble together $2.9 million of funding in time to award a construction contract this fall, if that's what the City Council directs us to do. Next slide. That brings us to our last slide. If the City Council wishes to continue this discussion after this evening, you can continue your item to May 21st. The budget public hearing and adoption are scheduled for June and that completes our prepared presentation and we're ready for questions and direction. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

»» Thank you. I felt like I was in a race. It was a very quick presentation and I don't know how anybody else felt, but it was very quick. So I'm sure there's plenty of questions that people have.

»» I'm sure it's intentional.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

»» I'm sorry? »» I'm sure it's intentional. Well, I hope it wasn't intentional, but I had a, I mean, I'm pretty good about keeping up, but I felt like I was in a race up here. So we're all prepared up here for questions. So Madam Clerk, is our machine working today or do we need to raise our mics again?

Jennifer L. HallItem 1

We tested it prior to the meeting and it was working. Perfect.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

So I'm sure we all have comments. So if we can just stick to three minutes and we'll go back up and down the line, I'll go as people want to speak and have comments. So let me start off. Councilman Penalosa, we're going to do three minutes, and then we'll go to the next speaker, and then we'll come back as much as we need to, and then if we need to have additional media on the 21st, we'll do that as well. And when you answer, could you, I think we're all pretty bright up here, but it was like a race. It was very fast. And so if we could just please, I would appreciate it. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Go ahead, Councilman Penalosa.

David PenalozaItem 1

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Catherine, Thank you, Catherine, for the presentation and for your team and finance for putting this together. I wanted to first start off with just a couple of the things that I think we should be entertaining as we move forward. Seeing what's happening in nearby cities, including the cities of Fullerton and the city of Orange, where they're now moving from free parking to paid parking, I think it's time we start revisiting that idea of subsidizing our parking in downtown, because other agencies are doing it and something that we can no longer afford

David PenalozaItem 1

and that's just the reality the second thing is in regards to the dog park I have many issues with the way this was presented today because back in 2019 there were when this was first agendized it was unanimously approved by the City Council not once not twice but about four times now and when we first brought this conversation forward it was a battle with the then leadership at the police department including dc gaminski former chief valentine because of their refusal to leave the site where they're

David PenalozaItem 1

currently at there was uh conversations about the police department's dream to have a training facility back there and a racetrack to train our drivers we all know our officers need it but that that was not I mean I'm sorry but the direction was to move out because we were gonna build this park amenity for the city so multiple years went by I asked Public Works for an update back in 2021 and one of the first comments that I heard from Public Works staff as well as the then city manager was the police department doesn't want to move out but again that wasn't the

David PenalozaItem 1

question that we asked that wasn't it wasn't a suggestion it was hey police department too bad you got to find another site that plain and simple the original budget for this park was about four point nine million then it went to five then it went to seven then it went to eleven and now it's fourteen million dollars and why because it's going to cost four million dollars supposedly to relocate two bungalows that are back there being used by the police department I don't understand how it costs four million dollars to relocate

David PenalozaItem 1

two bungalows that are have have seen their lifespan so I feel that the police department is purposely inflating the costs to not refuse to leave the site so acting city manager Nunez I don't know who you want this question to be answered but does the police department not want to leave that

location as you directed as the city council has directed I don't think that's the choice whether the police department wants to move or not if moving forward and we decide that this is something that the City Council has proposed not once but as you indicated three four times then we need to make the determination that the moon needs to be made that's one second we can discuss whether it does cost four million dollars as you indicate right that that's the uh that's the amount that was provided for that our public

works director nobel sarah is better uh responsible to respond if it is going to cost four million $1 million to move.

David PenalozaItem 1

And if he would like to come up, please feel free.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Before you give your answer, can you explain what exactly you are moving as well, please?

Yes. Part of the Centennial open land that we are proposing to build a dog park on has two major facilities. is a police training facilities and also a park nursery for parks use, park department use. When we started the design of this park, we did do outreach and we listened to the community of their needs. needs. We also met with the police department on trying to figure out what we need to do

with their facilities. The cost for $4 million is not just the relocation of offices and such. It's a complete reconstruction, demolition of concrete, building walls, building facilities, facilities, utilities, and many other things that it's not just a simple relocation of those facilities. That what is the cost for $4 million.

David PenalozaItem 1

So tying into this project of the dog park, you're tying in also the construction of a new facility for the police department.

Yes.

David PenalozaItem 1

How does that make sense? So two years ago, and excuse me, Director Saba, two years ago there was conversations of approving restroom replacements at that site. It was over a million dollars in restrooms. And if the City Council recalls, I made us think about those restrooms because we had already gave direction for the police department to leave that site. Not a suggestion, it was a direction. And what did we do? We spent almost a million dollars to replace restrooms at that site, knowing that our desire of the City Council at the time, and I know we voted on it again as well, was to have that dog park at that site.

David PenalozaItem 1

So if we look at option one, and the estimate for that option is $10 million.

Male Speaker That's correct.

David PenalozaItem 1

Male Speaker And that includes the relocation of SAPD's site, which is two bungalows. If we remove that and have the police department absorb it and figure it out in their budget, that reduces the cost of the park to $6 million. Because today, and correct me if I'm wrong, acting city manager Nunez when we had that meeting with PD it was stated that wasi had already provided funding and grants for two new bungalows for the police department to replace those so if I if those bundles are just going to get

David PenalozaItem 1

torn down does that come with a four million dollar cost so I don't know where this numbers coming from but if we could get a breakdown of this four million dollars to relocate the police department it shouldn't be included as part of the the park that wasn't a conversation when the city council directed was hey build us a dog park but also build us a new training facility for the police department and that's what's happening here and so when i've had two city managers now before you tell me that the reason why that the dog park hasn't moved forward is for the because the police department's refused to move you know that becomes

David PenalozaItem 1

comes an issue because again it wasn't a suggestion it was a direction so I don't know what kind of meetings or come to Jesus meeting we have to have between the executive management team but there was clear direction and the fact that now we're hanging up a project because of the police department is frustrating you know if we wait another five years guess what this this budgets gonna be now twenty million dollars so that's that's the only comments I have for now

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

thank you mayor thank you councilman hernandez thank you madam mayor and thank you kat downs for a fantastic presentation um and for all of our staff for contributing to this report um i want to talk about the draft budget that is in front of us today and a couple of priority priority areas that I am supportive of and then just some concerns. So I see we have $25.9 million allocated towards homeless reduction efforts. I am supportive of that.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

I'm supportive of the streets reoccurring allocation for pothole repair at $21.2 million. We do have our police budget at $160 million. We have youth programs at $10.1 million. and that also includes PAL, so that's police receiving additional monies through youth programs, and a very, very small amount of money for sidewalks, $1 million. For a city with 27 square miles, $1 million is not sufficient. And in addition to that, the amount of money that our city pays out in lawsuits related to slip and falls exceeds $500,000 annually.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

Over the last five years, we are very well past the million-dollar threshold when it comes to the lawsuits that we pay for people that have slipped, for people that have had issues related to the city's infrastructure. So out of an abundance of caution for litigation, I'd like to see that budget increase for public works to address sidewalks, from one million to two million. The area of funding that I'd like to see that come from is the cannabis fund.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

I am supportive of creating equity across all of our departments so that our police department can focus on emergency responses and so that Public Works has ample funding so that they can address the issues with sidewalks. So presently in the cannabis fund, we have the code enforcement department receiving $1,088,090. We have the police department receiving $1,029,150 for body-worn cameras. But in addition to that, our police department also receives $1,831,540 from the cannabis fund.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

fund. And so there are a couple of departments that are not at the million-dollar threshold through the cannabis fund, and I'd like to create some equity there. So what I would like to see is for us to move $1 million from the $1.8 that PD currently has. I'd like to see that $1 million be allocated towards public works so that we can improve the infrastructure and the perception of safety by fixing our sidewalks. $1 million is not sufficient for us to address sidewalk issues across the city neither is two million but it's a start our goal should be to get it to three million and this provides a sustainable pathway by having the

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

cannabis fund spearhead that the city's paying out thousands of dollars related to lawsuits and so i think this is vital infrastructure that we can't look past i'm also supportive of that remaining remaining $831,000 that PD was receiving, $700,000 from that going to our library. Our library is presently only receiving $300,000 and change from the cannabis fund. I would like to see that department also get to $1 million so that we can increase and sustain the services that we have. We have expansion at the Delhi neighborhood. We have expansion on New Hope. We have the expansion here locally.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

locally. We need to prepare to be able to staff that. $300,000 out of the cannabis fund is not sufficient. We can increase that with $700,000, getting it to $1 million, creating equity in several departments. PD maintains their $1 million plus. Code enforcement maintains their $1 million plus. Libraries gets increased to $1 million, which means we're increasing youth services. And then lastly, $1 million to public works, getting us from $1 million dollars in the general fund from sidewalk walk repairs to two million so equity across four departments getting them to a threshold where they're

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

receiving a minimum of million dollars in the cannabis fund I think is going to create a comprehensive public safety plan where all of these departments can work collaboratively I think that balancing our budget is important in the in the face of a potential budget shortfall we're preparing for I say the the word potential because all of us here have a responsibility to prepare accordingly. And part of those challenges that we have when we're talking about shortfalls in our budget is where do we get the funding for these services? If we're building new parks, if we have more programs that we are going to fund, well,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

we're going to have a challenge in 2030 if we're having to cut services because of these budget shortfalls. So instead of increasing costs the way that staff are presenting to us today through Parks and Recreation by increasing costs by 4.66%, we can tax tobacco. And we can generate revenue for our city with that tax. what we would like to propose is for us to tax the tobacco industry at 3% so that instead of taxing the residents by extending measure X or creating an additional increase in fees for parks and recreation let's tax an industry

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

that affects our residents adversely that's tobacco we recently regulated flavored tobacco in our city what would like to propose is a 3% tax 1.5 percent 1.5% of that tax goes to libraries, 1.5% of that tax goes to parks so that we can fund acquisition and services. There is the interest for Washington Square having their own park space. This is where that money can come from. There's interest in us having world-class services at our libraries. It's expected. Ward 1 has a library, Ward 5 has a library, and Ward 6 will shortly have a library come to them in Delhite.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

This additional tax that we can put in front of the voters can help fund our parks and our libraries. We can do that at 3% and create some equity and really give our residents the services that they need without giving them essential services that are going to be cut by 2030. We can prepare for that shortfall and create a surplus. That will conclude my first round of comments.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Thank you, Councilman Hernandez. is we want to try to keep it down to three minutes so we can keep going around around here and so we're not here until 11 o'clock thank you madam my apologies for going over no that's okay council

Jessie LopezItem 1

member lopez please thank you um so i'm going to go over the budget the 700 pages first not all 700 pages but i've broken it down by some departments and then i'll give you direction and city manager on your presentation so on the City Council breakdown you know just quick overview it was a little bit confusing for me so I can imagine it would be confusing for the public and I didn't quite see a very clear designation of the four hundred thousand that cost to run the program at sixty thousand times seven per council member here there's a lot of and so I want to see that

Jessie LopezItem 1

specific amount so that i can see the labor cost because that does not come clearly to me and i want to make sure that a budget is honoring what the council gave direction i also saw the workforce change for the equity and inclusion coordinator that we had in 2021 can you just talk about what led to the change

Thank you for the question. Yeah. That position was funded by a grant that the city received. I believe that grant ended, I think it was, ended either this fiscal year or last year, but it was one, it was grant funded. Okay, got it. Thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 1

And then I'm gonna go straight to CDA. So I would like to support the request of the community to fund the master plan for the arts. You've all heard the public comments. You've all received the emails. SO I'M GOING TO ECHO THE COMMENTS OF THE MAYOR. SEND US THAT INFORMATION, PLEASE, PRIOR TO THE NEXT MEETING AND PRIOR TO THE AGENDA BEING FINALIZED SO THAT WE CAN MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS TO OUR STAFF TO FIGURE OUT A WAY TO ENSURE THAT WE ARE FUNDING ARTWALK IN THE CITY. WE'RE TALKING ABOUT HOW DO WE BRING FINANCIAL RESOURCES TO THE CITY. I DON'T KNOW IF YOU'VE BEEN TO ARTWALK OR NOT, BUT THAT IS A REVENUE GENERATOR.

Jessie LopezItem 1

every single business makes money off of art walk our residents are making money off of art walk we are promoting our arts and culture in the city and we are giving jobs to our local artists and so it is a very important program here in downtown Santa Ana and it should be funded and it has my full support and so I hope that when a budget comes back you have a recommendation in it for how it will be funded additionally when it comes to the the I was looking at the the museum fund page, there's a miscellaneous title fee there and that doesn't tell me what

Jessie LopezItem 1

that is. So if you could please explain in the budget specifically what is the $1.6 million. I was getting questions. I couldn't answer it. And so I think that when residents are looking at the budget, if it's hard for me, I can only imagine how challenging it is for people so it needs to be easy to digest thank you and additionally for CDA can the director or somebody from CDA tell me what the Cal home mfgd HSG load is

Jessie LopezItem 1

what are the loans and grants because for 21-22 for the three past consecutive of years it was at zero and now i see a an allocation so i want to know what it is that

is based on our uh formula allocation that we get for cal home and that's what we're anticipating

Jessie LopezItem 1

for this year got it thank you and my time is up so i'll wait for my next round thank you very much

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

councilmember lopez and i want to support you on the the art walk as well so thank you i appreciate THAT. LET'S MOVE FORWARD. COUNCILMAN VASQUEZ, PLEASE. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. FIRST I WANT TO SUPPORT

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

COUNCILMEMBER HERNANDEZ ON THE 3% TOBACCO TAX. I THINK IT'S A GREAT MOVE FOR US AND A GREAT MOVE FOR THE CITY TO SUPPORT PARKS AND RECS AND LIBRARIES. THE REASON WE HAVE LIBRARIES, THESE ARE THESE AREN'T LUXURIES TO US, THESE ARE NECESSITIES. WHEN YOU LIVE IN WARD TWO AND WE NO longer have two families in a household we have three and four families need spaces to go and they need spaces to go to be safe to not be on top of each other to not create a sense of of just

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

being overwhelmed in a 1 000 square foot house with 15 people and that causes a lot of havoc and chaos in a household. So the necessity for a park, it's a necessity. It's needed, and we especially need them in war, too. For the libraries, and folks may say, well, that's a teacher asking for libraries. And I see that we need the resources of books in the hands of our children, and not only our children, our families, our workers. When you create a reading culture, YOU HAVE A WORKING WORKFORCE.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

YOU HAVE A WORKFORCE THAT IS MORE EDUCATED AND ABLE TO WORK THAT WILL ATTRACT INDUSTRY OR INDUSTRY THAT PAYS MORE. WE REALLY NEED THOSE WORKERS TO BE ABLE TO READ AT A HIGH LEVEL, TO PRACTICE. WE NEED THE RESOURCES IN THEIR HANDS FOR THEM TO PRACTICE. I SEE THIS AT SCHOOL EVERY DAY WITH BRIGHT CHILDREN WHO DON'T HAVE PRACTICED ENOUGH READING and I wish they would and I wish and we need to be able to have more libraries and three across this city where other cities like Anaheim has nine Riverside

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

has nine Long Beach has twelve so those are resources that are needed it's not a luxury it's not cute it's something that's gonna attract industry back back to us as far as what you're asked for at Civic Center Authority policing I would I would like to see the first option is reduce the headcount by two and close the recurring 500 gap. And we still have five officers to be newly deployed elsewhere. I also want to go back and reinvestigate the sworn officers who we can hire, who we have positions for but are not filled.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

How do we get other positions to support the ones that are on duty? How do we get other positions filled that will support those on duty that will be able to make the calls? Now that we free them up from things, they will be able to make the call. That's it for it for now, and I'll go again in the next three.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Thank you very much. So let me cover a few things. So I'll stay on my time, please. So, Kat, can you tell me, first of all, I want to thank you all very much for this presentation. I can see why we talked fast, right, because we're down to 300. How many people, is this correct, 29,000 people responded to the survey?

How many people responded to the survey? No, I think it was 2,200.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Oh, diggity-damn, we went up a little. Darn, sorry. We went up just a little bit, right? Last year we had 1,000, 70, 79. We went up to what?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

2,200. 2,200, okay. Okay. All right. We're getting there. Okay. All right. We're trying. So my first question, and I have a couple, so I'm going to go a couple rounds here. The opiate settlement spending, I heard you say that we want to do an in-hospital detox service out of the city. Thank you for saying out of the city. The $405,000, what exactly are you looking at in an abbreviated type of

answer I'm sorry the I know that the city manager's office specifically our homeless division manager he's he's trying to get proposals from various hospitals where we would pay out of this money the opioid settlement money yes and and he what he's looking at is actually within that amount like less than that amount but I don't want to say for sure but the last amount that I heard was 300,000 that he's looking at so we would still have available settlement money for other items and that four hundred and five thousand is

the minimum each year over the next 15 years some years the amount is higher there's different settlements with different levels of funding so I'd be in

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

support of as long as we don't bring it into the city okay already have our two shelters and we have many other programs here social services but a house so that I'm sure there's hospitals that we could contract that are out of our city so I want to go back to the Civic Center Authority policing council and Vasquez covered this council investors you said item one where you want to reduce the headcount to two by two by two it's the first option the first option yeah and I would I would support that because that would mean that chief that would mean that the five police officer positions would be deployed

possibly back to patrol yes where they could either be deployed back to patrol or added to one of our districts for directed patrol enforcement and are they

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

all patrol officers or are they different rankings they're all field

operations which are patrol officers okay and I think that's great to add to

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

that and also correct if I'm wrong the MET team is no longer in existence you

disband that team sir? It's been reassigned and it's no longer in existence based on effective date is the 19th. The 19th of this month? Yes. Thank

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

you Mr. City Manager for your support on that, active City Manager in Chief. So how

many officers is that sir? Out of the Civic Center? No, out of the Met team sir. There is a total of nine officers and one sergeant. And how many of those officers will be going back to patrol at this point uh they've been reassigned the detective

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

bureau for the time being so i guess mr active city manager my concern would be that um there's did you say 10 of them yes 10 of them so i'd like to know and maybe my peers who would like to know the council would like to know why 10 of them would need to go back to the detective bureau and i'd like to know how many we can put back on patrol out of the 10 that are in part that are part of met um i mean i'm sure they're all great experienced officers but i'm sure we could put some of them back on patrol because we are short 39 40 officers in patrol and so if we take the

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

civic center officers and that gives us some of take some of the met officers also then we're going to reduce some overtime and we're going to have maybe quicker response time they'd be doing a wonderful job with response time but we need to have more officers on patrol can you can you help Help me out with that one, please.

Yeah, we can connect with the chief and coordinate better effort as far as getting more people on patrol or direct the patrol to be quicker in the field. We can do that.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

So at the next meeting, if we can get an answer to that, please.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

Okay.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Exactly how many and where they're going, because that's 10 officers. So if hypothetically, besides the sergeant, if you put them all back in patrol, now our shortage is, instead of 39, it's 29, right?

Understood, we'll maximize it, thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Great, thank you. I'm almost out of time and when I come back around I'm going to go into the cannabis funding so at this time let me call Mayor Pro Tem Fan please. Thank you

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

I actually have a question a few questions first the okay so for the Civic Center Authority I agree with option one I'm excited or at least I look forward to seeing kind of how the MET team and these others will be redistributed in their work. I'm not tied to whether it has to be before anything else because we might need you know special investigations for SA type cases and things like that. I do have a question about Councilmember Hernandez's idea of a tobacco tax. I guess I for some reason I thought we already have one or

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

that it's already in existence. Can you share with me? There is a state

tobacco tax and state law currently prohibits cities from having a tax the city of San Francisco has something that's the closest to what looks like a tax but it's actually a fee it's a cigarette butt removal fee but it's not a tax as that's prohibited by state law thank you so that's helpful to know

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

because I completely understand and agree with the purpose of requesting it I had mentioned something like a bond that we can look into in the future to how to look at Costs to pay for capital improvements and things like that for our parks and libraries and zoo if a fee of some sort is possible or Would it would generate revenue in a manner that would far surpass the cost of administration? That might be something that I'm interested in seeing or maybe let's see what the city of San Francisco is doing THE OTHER THING I WANTED, SO THAT WAS MY QUESTION. DOWNTOWN SAN ANTON PARKING SUBSIDY, I DO SEE THERE'S A $1.66 MILLION SUBSIDY.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

I WANT TO ECHO, I THINK THAT'S WHAT COUNCIL MEMBER BEREALOSA MENTIONED, WHICH IS REMOVING THE SUBSIDY OR AT THE VERY LEAST DROPPING IT DOWN TO HALF OR 30 MINUTES. I understand why we have it there, but that's a lot of money to subsidize or removing it for days like weekends and Thursday, Friday evenings. People are already going down there for either events or dinners and things like that. So I would like to see what that looks like. I do support the comments on Art Walk. I do have a question about Bowers. I know the mayor had brought it up, too.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

It's my understanding that we are in an agreement, a 39-year agreement, longer than I've been alive?

That is correct.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

So we are contractually required to pay this $1.7 million for maintenance of our own city building pursuant to the agreement?

Yes.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

Thank you.

And just to clarify quickly, and again, we can provide a better summary, but it's regular maintenance and repair. So what does that mean? that means complete maintenance of the property itself right cleaning janitorial landscape climate controls filters clean repairs some minor leaks etc etc etc right it's an old building so obviously it needs a lot of care so but and we own it that's part of our responsibility

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

right so like any you know i'm talking directly to the community here like any other landlord or property owner we would demand that they pay for maintaining those buildings I would require any landlord who comes before us to do the same we should act as responsible property owners none of us were on this dais so when that agreement was signed I believe and so you know we're constantly dealing with the repercussions of what happened before right I think the original

THE ORIGINAL AGREEMENT WAS IN 1987, THEN IN 1999.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

OH, THAT'S WHEN I WAS BORN.

2001. SO, YEAH. AND THAT'S WHY, SO IT'S IMPORTANT TO CLARIFY, BECAUSE WE LOOKED AT IT RIGHT AWAY, RIGHT? WE LOOKED AT A SUBSIDY. OBVIOUSLY WE KNOW FORTHCOMING REGARDING THE BUDGET CONCERNS, SO WE JUMPED IN RIGHT AWAY. AND SO WE'RE LOOKING AT OLD RECORDS, LITERALLY, OLD E-MAILS AND WHATEVER RECORDS WE HAVE TO MAKE SURE WE PROVIDE AN ACCURATE ASSESSMENT AND UPDATE. SO WE'LL HAVE THAT.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

THANK YOU. I know I'm not 39 yet guys the other thing I would like to say is I'm very supportive of art walk I had an amazing time I tell all my friends who come to visit Orange County in Santa Ana with my comments regarding the savings potentially of downtown parking subsidy if we can reallocate that to our walk or arts funding I know that some folks that asked for a larger number but if if that's possible i would like to see that happen i do believe in the idea of santa anna being a place of history art and cannabis and we can't lose the art part and those conclude my comments for now

Phil BacerraItem 1

thank you councilman becerra thank you madam mayor um first of all thank you staff for putting this together the beauty of what you guys do is that we don't have a lot of things to move around right you guys have done a lot of the leg work you've had multiple sessions with the community with the the council. And so thankfully we're at the point now where it's time to sharpen the pencils to a more finite situation. So question for you guys. So on the business license tax fee schedule, you say that ours is $24. And I went to look just to see for myself, but I don't see $24

Phil BacerraItem 1

on the business license fee schedule or the application. So I just, I want to understand exactly what we're charging folks because I want to make sure that the

comparison is accurate yeah I believe that that would be the minimum for a new business license but we can certainly get back to the council with that detailed information of exactly what that is and where you can find it I

Phil BacerraItem 1

would appreciate that because I literally looked for the number 24 and couldn't find it whether it's a minimum a maximum or somewhere in between I I couldn't find it. While we're on Exhibit 1, I would not mind seeing our license fee to sell pistols and revolvers to increase. So apparently that's an item on here. Santa Ana is number two at $195, while Riverside is number one at $583. I don't want to infringe on anybody's Second Amendment rights. But having said that, I also don't want to make it super easier or more, I guess, better bargain to buy your guns in Santa Ana.

Phil BacerraItem 1

So, if we're going to have that fee on the books, I'd like to look at increasing that fee on our books. The other fees in Exhibit 1 show Santa Ana in pretty reasonable positions on those comparison lists. So, thank you for putting that together. I also appreciate seeing the left turn signals for Seger-Sherman flour and Seger-Sherman rate on there as part of the proposed budget. You also point out that the feasibility study was done for the water tower and that the THE RESULTS WILL COME BACK SOMETIME IN JUNE, BUT I HAVEN'T SEEN ANYTHING AS FAR AS FUNDING FOR THE NEXT STEPS.

Phil BacerraItem 1

AND THIS IS AN ITEM THAT'S ACTUALLY GOING TO GENERATE REVENUE. WE KNOW IT WILL. SO CAN YOU HELP ME FIND WHERE THE FUNDING IS FOR THE NEXT STEPS?

THAT HAS NOT BEEN IDENTIFIED YET, BUT WE CAN TAKE A LOOK AT THAT.

Phil BacerraItem 1

I'D LIKE YOU TO IDENTIFY IT BEFORE IT COMES BACK TO US, BECAUSE, AGAIN, THIS IS AN ITEM THAT WILL ACTUALLY GENERATE REVENUE. and if we're all talking about ideas that's something we need to do i i appreciate the creativity up here we're talking about uh tobacco tax now i understand that there is a state law that says we can't do it can you help me understand though i remember there being a fee assessed here in san anna if you sold cigarettes you paid a fee but that fee went directly towards a program that i want to say they had folks that are underage go in and buy or attempt to buy cigarettes and

Phil BacerraItem 1

and then this was to kind of make sure that they weren't selling to underage folks. Is that a program that we still have?

I don't know. Do any of the other directors know?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Chief, do you recall? Can you update us, please?

Yes, thank you, Councilmember, for the question. Yes, that's a program that we still have, and we actually fund that program through grant funding, which we recently applied for that grant funding again for that program. So I don't know if it was directly related IT'S NOT RELATED TO THAT FEED TAX YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT, BUT WE DO HAVE A PROGRAM THAT DOES THAT, THAT DOES ENFORCEMENT FOR UNDERAGE SALES.

Phil BacerraItem 1

I DON'T REMEMBER THE EXACT AMOUNT, BUT I WANT TO SAY IT WAS IN THE $800 BALLPARK, LIKE AN ANNUAL $800-SOMETHING FEE. SO IT'S INTERESTING THAT NOW WE'VE PIVOTED FROM COST RECOVERY TO NOW JUST FUNDING IT OUT OF

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

GRANTS.

Phil BacerraItem 1

SO THAT I'D LIKE TO DEFINITELY KNOW MORE ABOUT WHY WE TRANSITIONED. MY TIME'S RUNNING OUT. THE ONLY THING I WOULD ASK BEFORE MY NEXT ROUND IS JUST ON BOWERS, I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE MORE I appreciate the community raising the concern about Bowers and the funding with all those comments. I'm really kind of just going to say I'm a little disappointed that we didn't have something in front of us tonight to kind of walk us through the history of Bowers, the fact that it's a city facility, but also too just the understanding of what we're funding specifically, why we're funding it and so on. I'll come back for my next round. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Thank you. Councilman Hernandez.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just want to echo the sentiments here from some of my colleagues. I am supportive of us funding the arts and funding the Arts Master Plan. Presently, Bowers Museum is receiving over $1 million from the City of Santa Ana. We have been subsidizing them over the last 30 plus years. A significant investment and what a tremendous partner we've been. $30 million of an investment that speaks volumes of the partnership that we have. we presently have in front of us in the budget $200,000 allocated to the arts so that means that if we can fill a gap of 800,000 that'll get us to that arts

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

master plan so we don't have to take the entirety of the Bowers budget but I would like to see 800,000 to fill the arts master plan and get us from 200,000 to 1 million I think some additional funding for us to look to to get the arts master plan to the point of succession where we're at that 1 million dollar funding threshold is potentially the winter village and what I would provide direction on is we are more creative with our partnerships with the county with the congressmen with let's say in this case you know the Anaheim Ducks I know we've worked with them but I'd like to see us attempt to subsidize

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

that I want to advocate for speed humps on I see speed humps here on the budget there is an area of abundance of caution to my residents they've brought it to my attention it's the Sullivan Street between first and McFadden I'd like to see us focus our efforts to address speed and pedestrian safety there I'm supportive of seeing traffic studies so that we can focus on pedestrian safety particularly in the Civic Center area off of rate and Civic Center there is a need for a turning signal we commonly have accidents that happen there I'm sure our police departments known that for many many years and it's time that

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

that we study that intersection. I don't know what the cost would be, but it's important that we address that. I'm supportive of the Juneteenth event staying in the hands of the community. Chicano Heritage Festival being a festival that travels to Chicano parks. Those parks are Del High, Santa Anita, El Salvador, Memorial Park, and Centennial Park. I think that this is a festival that needs to rotate and visit the Chicano communities that are in our city. We need to keep the family components. We need to keep cruising. We need to keep art shows.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

We need to keep car shows and music as part of the Chicano heritage celebration and keep it at the end of the month commemorating the Chicano moratorium and the life of Ruben Salazar. In regards to the campaign for tobacco-free community, local governments across this country, most counties and cities do not have their own cigarette tax rates because we're prohibited by state law, but there are major exceptions. Over 680 local jurisdictions have their own cigarette tax. an example I can point to in California is San Francisco $1.50 per pack and and that helps them with in addressing the importance in reducing smoking rates

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

especially among youth and to decrease smoking cause death disease and costs and so some of these examples are how we can fund parks and libraries and also address having a tobacco free community that concludes my second round of

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

comments thank you councilmember lopez mayor if you yes i'm sorry go ahead if you if i may

i can't i can't provide some powers information that we're looking to reveal a little bit better but my deputy city manager uh sylvia vasquez can present a quick update and if we have more questions we can elaborate next week but if if you want uh she's able to present at least a summary where we're at regarding the history of our contract with the hours the money we spent and whatever responsibilities based on the contract

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

applications yeah i'd love it i think we would all love to hear i think the audience would too and also if you have any information about the board because the board should be a very diverse board so um and if we if we own it we own it thank you mayor and city council good evening i'm going

to give you a quick update with some of the preliminary information that we reviewed so Can you talk louder? Sure. Can you hear me now? There you go. Okay. So the city of Santa Ana owns a Charles W. Bowers Memorial Museum, and it was operated as a city-run museum from 1936 to 1987. At some point it was determined that it would have been easier for another organization to run the museum on our behalf as there was staffing issues at the time and we couldn't properly maintain the museum. So establishing a corporation would give the museum a little bit of flexibility in fundraising, going after grants.

And it was then in 1987 that there was a corporation established for the purpose of assisting the city in managing and operating the museum. The city entered into an agreement for this, and it was for 20 years, at which point after 10 years, funding would start to diminish. The funding is for the operations and maintenance expenses as city manager Nunez mentioned. So it's for all the landscaping, painting, light bulbs, like everything that you would need to operate the museum. In 2001, the city and Bowers determined that it was not economically feasible for Bowers

to operate the museum at a mutually acceptable level of programming and without the permanent economic support from the city of Santa Ana. SO THE CITY ENTERED INTO AN AMENDED AND RESTATED OPERATING AGREEMENT IN 2001. THAT IS FOR A TERM OF 39 YEARS FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE ORIGINAL AGREEMENT. WE ARE CONTRACTUALLY OBLIGATED THROUGH APRIL 30, 2026 FOR THE INITIAL TERM. HOWEVER, BOWERS HAS THE ABILITY TO EXTEND THE TERM FOR TWO TENURE PERIODS. what that means is that Bowers will can notify us and the first term would end

in 2036 and the second term would end in 2046 so we are still contractually obligated for the operation and maintenance yes you pause on that so just repeat that just a little bit so so we understand where we are at this point and I can understand the frustration and I can understand where we are from the community and for city council but this is where previous administration or previous council has committed us when do we renew the contract what's the life of the contract again and what's the possible extension that we as a city seems appear to have yielded the one-sided opportunity to

extend the extension not from the city side from the bowers perspective so again the amended and restating operating agreement is for the date of 1987 which was from the original agreement through through April 30th 2026 39 years and there's two extensions available to Bowers for 10 years a piece which means they can they can opt to execute the the second term and it would go through April

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

30th 2046 with both options so madam deputy deputy city manager yeah thank you it's a new term so thank you so question for you thank you for that information so in 2001 it was amended for 39 years with the option to continue for to 10 more 10-year terms right so I guess and I'd like to get the information I think we all do so we can read on it and I'll dig deeper as well I'll get some information so do we have control over programming do we have let

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

me ask a couple questions do we have control over programming do we have a say on who sits on the board do can we ask them to be more and they're great museum I've been there many times Bowers is I don't want anybody from Bowers to to be watching this saying, oh my God. Do we have the ability to ask them to engage with the community far more than they do now? Or engage with Parks and Rec to have more activities with the city because we own it, then there should be a lot of free events, I guess is my question. So it's just a few of my questions and I don't know if any of the council members up here

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

have questions for you, but Council Member Becerra.

Phil BacerraItem 1

So just related to Bowers. So the way I understand it from what I've heard from our acting city manager and from you, so this was a city museum. So it's not like it was like ACMA that just came in with a bunch of rich folks that said, hey, we want to do a museum here. Hey, city, fund half of it. Joke's on everybody. We've got all this money and nobody else does. No, this is a city facility. Folks that were sitting in these seats before us worked out an agreement to create some sort of nonprofit entity to run the museum, maintain it, do all the things that we do now, say, with Delhi. I mean, is that a fair comparison or no?

Phil BacerraItem 1

I mean, we own the building, but we have an entity that runs it and we provide funding for it. and nobody's saying take away money from the Del High building. I sure as heck not. But here was a city museum, emphasis on city, and we're talking about funding that we provide. It's kind of like our fair share. I think the mayor asked some great questions though, and I would like some further information on this. But for instance, what role do we have? Now, I know Bowers does provide free Sundays, free programming. There's a lot of things that Bowers provides.

Phil BacerraItem 1

granted we also provide some funding so I would like to understand a little bit more about some of the things that the mayor brought up but I just want to be clear that this isn't some out-of-town museum that just popped into town this was a cooperative agreement exactly okay thank you

David PenalozaItem 1

it's council panel listen Thank You Mary the only question I had in regards to Bowers is I'm also disappointed that we don't have more information present before us aside from this presentation Thank You Sylvia the 1.7 million dollars is for maintenance, correct? Is that something that we could bring in-house? If we were to call Bowers and say, hey, we'll do your cleaning, we'll do your tree trimming, your lawn mowing, whatever, maintenance goes on, painting, I just, $1.7 million is a lot of money.

I understand. So this came up at the last council meeting, right? This is the intro. so within literally four or five working days. So this is the research that we've done literally in four or five days since the last meeting, that's one. Number two, obviously we can review the contract obligations and we can renegotiate if there's an opportunity and we can check with the city attorney's office at that point. But again, didn't this happen in a vacuum as Council Member Becerra said? There was a previous council with the previous administration that agreed this is the money allocation that we,

WE AS THE CITY OWNERS OF THIS PROPERTY WILL PAY BOWERS TO HELP MAINTAIN THE BOWERS AS IT IS NOW. WE CAN REVIEW THAT DEFINITELY AND WE CAN SEE THE CONTRACT AND THE LANGUAGE AND SEE WHAT WE CAN DO TO MITIGATE SOME OF THAT COST DEFINITELY.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

THANK YOU. ARE YOU GOOD?

David PenalozaItem 1

IN REGARDS TO THE 1.7, DID WE START PAYING THE 1.7 BACK IN 1987 OR 2001, I'M SORRY?

No, in 2001 it was $1.18 million and it gets adjusted with CIP on an annual basis. And to answer the question specifically on if we can handle the maintenance ourselves, under the agreement, the operation agreement, it is Bauer's responsibility to fully maintain the maintenance for the facility and it does state that the City is obligated to provide the compensation for that maintenance and repair.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

So again, we all want information. Yes. And that, what you're looking at right there, I definitely want.

So Mayor, we'll provide a copy of the contract because that's the key question, right? It's not like we're coming out for these numbers out of a vacuum out the air. This is literally outlined as far as the responsibility in the contract. And so what maintenance and repairs is defined as, and then what, who and how we pay for it.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

The beauty of this council is that sometimes we can make changes to things. Definitely. So I think there's another question by the Mayor Pro Tem. Go ahead.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

Hi. Hello. Thank you for your answers and thank you to my colleagues for the questions. So I am looking at the 1987 contract. It was entered into before I was born.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

So I don't have the more updated amendments, but I do want to say, at least according to to the original contract, it does provide that at least two of the board members are Santa Ana residents. And so I just want to make sure that we confirm that. It does also give the city manager or their designee an opportunity to participate. If that's not already happening, I would like us to do that. And all of the contracting language aside, right, I think part of this is just going to them and saying, how can we better serve of our artist community and our community at large, can we do something like highlighting local artists more?

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

How can we collaborate together to do that kind of work in not in using language from the contract, but saying as collaborators and whatnot. I do also see in section 3.05 that Bowers would have complete authority over exhibitions, materials and collections. I don't know if that language is updated at all, but I would like to see that and see what we can do. Maybe bring them to the next meeting if that's something they're interested in. I do also want to say that, so moving on, oh, this is just Bowers. And then the other thing I would like to see is, yeah, a breakdown of what the maintenance

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

costs are and how that's being used. I understand that they're responsible. I'm so sorry, your comments from the audience is really distracting to me. What are they doing? How are they doing that? How we can collaborate more to make it cheaper, maybe? Are they actually using the $1.7 million for maintenance? Because what I'd like to see is, it's increasing every year, but is it actually increasing every year? Thank you.

Understood. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

I THINK WE'VE ALL ASKED THE SAME QUESTION. I THINK COUNCILMAN VASQUEZ OR COUNCILMAN LOPES MAY HAVE A COMMENT AS WELL AROUND BOWERS AND THEN WE'LL MOVE ON. BUT I THINK YOU KIND OF GET THE GIST OF WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR. COUNCILMAN VASQUEZ?

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

YEAH, I HAVE A, I LOOKED UP BOWERS ON PRO PUBLICA. IT'S AN INDEPENDENT ONLINE RESOURCE. AND WE GIVE THEM $1.7 MILLION, BUT THEIR RECORDS SHOW THEY HAVE A $8.2 MILLION REVENUE AND $5 MILLION IN EXPENSES. So 3 million in debt income. So they're walking away with 3 million. Mayor of the Bay. The President of Bowers.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

I'm sorry, hold on one second. Yes. I apologize.

No, okay. I just wanted to remind the council that we're here today at a special meeting to discuss the budget.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Correct. She's pulled the red card, so we can only discuss the budget. So if there's anything else, I'm Bowers.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

If we could somehow get under this lease, sell it, and now then in 20 years to them keep their land and instead of them paying uh of a land you know

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

for real estate in 2004 so we can't go into that councilman vasquez so why don't we do this we're going to stop the bowers conversation and um mr active city manager if you can bring it back at the next meeting so that we can have a discussion please go to that work for you about our study attorney perfect thank you all right let's go back to the budget please

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

All right, next up council member Lopez, please. All right next apartment PD

Jessie LopezItem 1

Okay, so well first I do want to make a disclaimer because I just heard the news about the Met And I did not participate in any of those conversations and that is important for me to say just in case, you know, the police union Goes door-to-door lying about my voting record record. Having that said, why is there a MED allocation in this budget if it's no longer going to be in the department? Because I see it at $6 million.

I think at the time that this was drafted, we had disbanded or reallocated the MED resource, SO THAT WILL BE UPDATED ONCE IT'S FINALIZED OF WHERE PEOPLE GO AND BODIES MOVE, THOSE SALARIES WILL BE MOVED TO THE APPROPRIATE DEPARTMENTS.

Jessie LopezItem 1

GOT IT. SO YOU'RE SAYING THE 6 MILLION LINE ITEM IS GOING TO BE COMPLETELY GONE? CORRECT. OKAY. UNDERSTOOD. THANK YOU. SO UNDER I HAD A QUESTION AND IT KIND OF THREW ME OFF A LITTLE BIT. SO UNDER PD SPECIAL REV, IS THAT SPECIAL EVENTS?

Give me a minute, please.

Those are miscellaneous costs that we get from the vendors. When vendors apply for permits, some miscellaneous fees that are included that come to PD.

Jessie LopezItem 1

Can you give me an example?

Such as a Board of State of Corrections, STC for the Jail, which is the governing body that governs stuff for corrections.

Jessie LopezItem 1

And I ask because I see that there's an overtime allocation here, and it threw me off the $700,000. So I didn't understand how it was linked. So I'm hoping that staff can clarify.

Those are various special events such as the observatory that we have to staff.

Jessie LopezItem 1

Okay, so it's overtime for special events?

Yes.

Jessie LopezItem 1

Okay. Okay. And so you make, so you're keeping the same overtime as of last year for special events?

Yes, that's a proposal based on the various events that these venues plan out.

Jessie LopezItem 1

Okay, understood. And then the other question is, I see that there's ARPA money in the department. and so again for the regular salaries can you because I see that there's a 10k increase in ARPA money is sunsetting this year so what exactly is that

funding the ARPA funding as far as the salaries is for the we included

Jessie LopezItem 1

assistant director for the PAL for the okay and so every division within the department has a different overtime budget is that correct that's correct understood thank you all righty so um i won't you know talk about the jail you already know how i feel about something that doesn't uh make money and it just costs us a lot also i see that there's a huge jump on pow it's a 75,000 jump which is huge could you explain that I believe that's

based on the addition of the power that's forthcoming that's currently being built to be able to staff that pal and I believe that's the one in the

Jessie LopezItem 1

santanita park so it's staffing it's just a massive job

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

would it be better if you come up and answer i'm so sorry

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

i'm not quite sure why why you don't think if that's okay with you chief is that okay yes yes and you can stay up here if you have any great question mayor and council that question is um

the 50% of the ARPA funded assistant director that you directed for the funding to continue for the six months. That's why the increase. And obviously some salary increases as well if it's authorized.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Thank you, don't leave yet, there's some questions. Okay, and then. Can you also give us your name, please,

and your position? Sure, Susan Grossby, I'm the police administrative budget manager. Thank you. Thank you. And can you clarify, how many people are in animal services? it's two animal control officers and one senior office assistant i believe okay got it

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

and um that'll be it for now i actually have a question since you're up here so we don't have to call you back if you don't mind and if anybody else has a question for her so council member lopez brought up overtime and the chief uh said it's her special event so um we have officers for overtime for events, all the events that we have throughout the city, is that correct?

Is that some of the overtime? So that overtime under Fund 24, that's when we, special vendors, request and pay for the miscellaneous fee for police security services. That's separate from the city-sponsored events where we actually staff, I'm sorry, staff police officers for those special

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

And what is the amount of overtime for those city special events?

It depends on the – we are tracking it by each city event. So far I did give the chief the total amount we've spent so far for overtime from our general fund budget. And for the general fund budget, we spend over $6 million in overtime. But that's not just for special events. We do have them broken down based on various events. So one example, I believe one of the events we had was the last one I remember was the Chicano Heritage Festival, and we spent close to, I believe, over $45,000.

And that included overtime and current straight-time staffing that was for the officers that were staffed.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Correct. And, Chief, correct me if I'm wrong, but when cruising initially started, you needed to have overtime for, like, the first night of cruising. we needed to make sure that we had traffic was flowing until there were overtime. There were officers working overtime. Is that correct?

That's correct. We had staff officers for unplanned, unpermitted events,

which usually ran anywhere between $37,000, $47,000 for the weekend.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Thank you. And thank you for having the mouth of that. I know there was a stabbing that night and somebody was injured, so thank you. Any other questions for her? Yes, Councilman Vasquez.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

The overtime for events, does this include like Noche de Altarez and Viva La Vida and other ran by private groups?

If they engage and go through the special permit process, yes.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

But it's in our budget? We're paying for my general budget because they pay for it.

Well, they do. We bill them, though, after the fact for the actual hours worked. We have to recognize both the revenue and the cost in our budget. SO IT'S NET NEUTRAL TO THE CITY, BUT OUR BUDGET STILL SHOWS BOTH SIDES OF IT, THE MONEY COMING IN AND THE MONEY GOING OUT.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

THANK YOU FOR THAT.

OKAY.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

I DON'T THINK THERE'S ANY MORE QUESTIONS FOR YOU. THANK YOU THIS TIME.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

COUNCILMAN MACERA, PLEASE. THANK YOU, MADAM MAYOR.

Phil BacerraItem 1

LAST THING I'M GOING TO SAY ON BOWERS IS THIS. IT'S OKAY THAT SAN ANA HAS NICE THINGS. WE SHOULD BE OKAY WITH HAVING NICE THINGS. I'LL LEAVE IT AT THAT. I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO MORE INFORMATION. HAVING SAID THAT ABOUT NICE THINGS, ONE NICE THING THAT I SUPPORTED COUNCILMEMBER PENELLO'S ON WAS THE DOG PARK. SO I WOULD LIKE TO SEE SOMETHING HAPPEN THERE. IT SHOULDN'T TAKE FIVE YEARS TO GET A DOG PARK GOING. I DON'T WANT TO RUB IT INTO MY COLLEAGUE, BUT DOWN AT GRISSETTE PARK WE GET DOGS RUNNING ALL THE TIME. IF I CAN HAVE DOGS ENJOYING EACH OTHER AT A PARK IN MY WARD, I THINK WE COULD DO SOMETHING THAT'S EVEN MORE INTERESTING AND

Phil BacerraItem 1

AMAZING OVER AT CENTENNIAL. SO IF WE COULD, LET'S GET THAT MOVING ALONG. So I support the option that you guys are presenting to us. And my dog would not let me get out of here if I didn't. With that being said, so to the top budget priorities, according to the Community Budget Priority Survey, was homelessness reduction programs, including reducing police response times, and crime reduction programs. So Santa Ana, when it comes to homelessness, has 871 unsheltered individuals per the current point in time count. That's 270 more than the city with the next most unsheltered individuals.

Phil BacerraItem 1

So for this fiscal year, I don't want to see the same spending plan as last year. I don't want to see 2024 scratched out, or I'm sorry, 2023 scratched out for 24. I would like to also see how we are breaking down that $25.9 million. What was presented to us tonight is like a nice preview, but I would like to see it broken down further. further. And I'm happy to hear that there's an interest on the council in regards to improving our sidewalks, but I do not support suggestions that we defund our police. We need to fill the funded vacancies. That's what we need to do. So as part of the budget, if there

Phil BacerraItem 1

are ways that we can, through the budget, if there's a way that we can actually proactively fund those vacancies, that's what we need to do. The outreach to our community shows that reducing police response times and reducing crime is our community's top priorities. So as I mentioned earlier, I would like to see more about the taxing of tobacco. That's something and anything we can do to generate revenue. I think that when it comes to the arts, we absolutely need to invest in the arts. It is not fair or right that we have all these banners up that say arts and

Phil BacerraItem 1

culture, come to the artist village, and we don't put something toward them. But having said that, the arts shouldn't be trying to cannibalize each other. There's There's no reason the arts need to go after the museums and vice versa. So let's look at ways that we can fund them, but we don't need to cannibalize each other. But ways that we can do that is by generating revenue. So I'm going to go one last time and say, let's get that water tower observation deck up and going because that will generate revenue. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

All right. Councilman Penalosa.

David PenalozaItem 1

Thank you, Mayor. Mayor, the only remaining question I had on the PD, when you mentioned the observatory, I'm assuming that we bill the observatory for all those times our officers are out there, correct? Okay. I saw nods. That meant yes, that's good enough for me. I would hope. Yes. Thank you.

David PenalozaItem 1

As far as the Civic Center Authority policing goes, I'm supportive of option one, kind of in line with Mayor Pro Tem Phan though, where I don't think that they should all just be put into patrol because I know that there's the undercover and detective barrel they're working seven days straight without in overtime and so if there's areas within the police department what we could plug some of these officers in that that'd be great I also wasn't part of the conversation to to undo the the MET team I actually like the idea of the med team i always have so um i'm hoping that as we move forward we could kind of

David PenalozaItem 1

reconsider that and and look at another form of when it came to the med team but that should have been a direction from the city council um in public if that was the case if people wanted that med team removed uh the other thing that i am concerned about as well is is um i guess uh Acting Chief Rodriguez, I will ask you, when it comes to the dog park, is there a desire for the police department to relocate from that location?

From the PD's perspective, there is a desire if the bungalows are taken down to relocate. and you're correct in your previous statement that we did uh secured funding so demolishing uh the bungalows and rebuilding somewhere else the rebuilding the costs should be covered uh based on

David PenalozaItem 1

the funding that we secured because from what i was told today in in meetings with your staff and the city manager was that the uasi has funded these new bungalows they're going to go out to rfp and when it comes time to deliver these two bungalows, it will be an idea of delivering the bungalows, and then we just install them at any location in the city. So I guess I'm asking is why would we incorporate, and Executive Director Downs, maybe you can answer this, why would the police department, Parks and Rec, Public Works, whoever here is putting these numbers together, these PowerPoints,

David PenalozaItem 1

Why would they add the relocation of PD at a price of about $4 million to this dog park project?

As Public Works Director Saba mentioned earlier, it has to do with more than just the relocating of the bungalows. There's the utilities and the other infrastructure that goes with it. Director Saba, do you want to expand on that?

David PenalozaItem 1

and while you do director saba i guess i would ask the acting city manager is it possible to separate the two because there are two different projects one's a dog park of on city-owned facilities and one is the relocation of a police training center which is essentially two bungalows that uos is paying for so why they're jumbled together i don't know well the short answer

just to be yes right so the idea is how do we maximize our efforts to minimize costs and still accomplish the goal right that was part of the discussion today to the extent that the police department was able to gain other resources right that already minimizes that four million dollars so for us again and you heard that discussion earlier today is how do we look to make sure we make the improvements not compromising the amenities and minimize COSTS. SO SHORT ANSWER IS YES AND HOPEFULLY THAT'S HOW WE TELL YOU TO DO THAT, RIGHT? AS FAR AS WHY THE $4 MILLION, AGAIN, LOOKING INTO IF WE DO CHECK OUT THE PROBLEM AND FIND

OUT THAT IT IS $4 MILLION, DOES IT REALLY TAKE THAT MUCH TO CHANGE THE AMENITIES, DO THE INFRASTRUCTURE, YOU KNOW, ELECTRICITIES, WHAT ELSE, WATER PLUMBING AND MEDIA SERVICES, THEN WE GOT TO LOOK AT THAT. BUT WE'RE LOOKING TO MINIMIZE THE COSTS AND COMPLETE THE GOAL.

David PenalozaItem 1

that's the key okay so as far as the dog park options um are concerned i'm not sure if there's an appetite from this council to do that now but can we put that aside until those numbers are figured out between the two agencies because we have the two largest agencies in the city with the two largest budgets in the city now putting relocation and facility building building cost onto a park amenity that had nothing to do with the park to begin with. Is that something that can be done?

Yes. But here's the level of concern that I have, right? We literally talk about a dark park that came into discussion in 2019 and subsequent four different times, right? And as we keep kicking the can, for lack of a better analogy, forward, the cost seems to arise, right?

So if we get direction at least, and we say let's go with option two, I think, that we presented, right, the 2.9 option, right, to start building, and we find the 2.9, right, notwithstanding the cost that the PD already subsidized regarding the WASDE allocation, at least we can start developing both completing the development of the drawings and start building, right? otherwise because the thing we did identify we discussed earlier today is that for discussions for direction of the City Council and no financial

allocations from the City Council so we can't continue to go that route we don't have a Lisa the initial commitment and then find out what why we're doing that

David PenalozaItem 1

but that option that you have on here that 2.9 million dollar option still leaves the police department where they're at and that's the whole point that Deputy Chief Kaminsky at the time sat in that chair and he looked at me and he said, we want that, we don't want to leave because we want to build our own training center. And we unanimously up here said, you're going to move out because we're building a dog park. And now with this option, PD stays where they're at. And the previous city manager, Christine Ridge, said there's no movement because the police department doesn't want to move out. And that's upsetting.

David PenalozaItem 1

because again the city council gives direction and now we're saying staff could care less about

your direction we're not moving not their staff in fact we're seeing the opposite we're saying that the acting city manager and the active chief have agreed to commit to building a dog park still maintain the police facility there's and accomplish both goals i'm not sure what i'm missing see so pd stain is the end is is the if they don't need to move then they don't have to move right

David PenalozaItem 1

so it's it's a yes yes so the the so the grant funded bungalows that are now coming they're going to replace the two that are there why can't they be placed just dropped you need an extension core to plug in electricity i don't think that costs four million dollars they can be dropped

somewhere else we can discuss that options yes okay because that's been the direction for five years right but that's I think what I'm committed to right and the chief would say we can try to look for a way to build it right move PD where we need to move the bungalows or stay so we minimize costs and get to where we're gonna be right I'm not sure what direction I'm missing our communication I'm well I guess we'll continue having this conversation but

David PenalozaItem 1

that's it you know that's it's it's frustrating that we have to keep talk talking about this when when the direction was clear and i just want to uh add to councilman hernandez i agree with the idea about taxing tobacco from what i understand now we can't do that would that be the same uh madam city attorney or catherine whoever wants to answer this for alcohol and i'm talking uh off-premise not inside our bars or restaurants, but a talk can at the 7-Eleven. Is that the same concept, where the state doesn't allow us to tax those?

I'm not certain that I know, but we could certainly look into that and bring it back to you for next time. I suspect we may be preempted, but we can take a look.

David PenalozaItem 1

Yeah, I would like to find out because, And I'm talking off-premise locations, and that means your grocery stores, your 7-Elevens, where you would charge a tax, not in our restaurants, not in our little bars. Those would stay the same. Those would be on-premise locations for alcohol sales. So if we could find out, because I'd be very supportive of moving in that direction of putting a nominal tax on alcohol cells that could help fund some of this because a lot of the problems in our streets are caused by the alcohol cells so that is it for now

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

thank you thank you and councilman panelists I think what I heard from the active and the chief is that we can have the dog park and have both we just got to work it out that's what I heard right we're gonna give direction I'm trying to build a dog park. So I'm supportive of your dog park. I wasn't here when you voted for it so I just want to be clear that we're going to work this out because I want a dog park too because I go to Costa Mesa for my dog park.

What I'm committing not to being the third city manager that gets this discussion hasn't been built right that's what I'm trying to get at. So if we get a commitment from the majority of the city council to get the 2.9 allocation and we look for you know and phase in the start of the construction where we look where we can you know maintain the police department renew the the the bungalows and re-establish and minimize cost that's that's what i'm looking at to do and then again not compromise the size not compromising the amenities that were previously committed

David PenalozaItem 1

i guess that's that's great but the principle here is that we we are getting uasi money for two new bungalows that are going to replace the two that are there now so why are we incorporating $4 MILLION COST TO RELOCATE WHAT'S THERE NOW IF WE'RE GOING TO GET TWO FREE NEW BUNGALOWS. INSTALLING TWO BUNGALOWS DOESN'T COST $4 MILLION. I KNOW IT DOESN'T. LIKE I MENTIONED EARLIER, IF THAT'S WHAT SOMEONE IS CHARGING US TO INSTALL INTERNET, BECAUSE I KNOW HAWK MENTIONED THERE'S HARDWIRED INTERNET TOO, THAT DOESN'T COST $4 MILLION. SOMEONE IS ROBBING US AND SOMEONE SHOULD BE

David PenalozaItem 1

PUT IN JAIL. SO THAT IS THE REALITY. ONE OF THESE CONTRACTORS, WHOEVER THAT IS.

David PenalozaItem 1

That's something that I would like you to share that information with all of my colleagues on the cost and the breakdown cost of that four million dollar assessment of the sapd relocating But it shouldn't even matter because we're getting there moving understood. So, okay, that's the point I know you could be there together, but the City Council gave direction

Why that mustn't okay? I don't know why but okay. Thank you councilman Becerra and then we're gonna move on from this topic

Phil BacerraItem 1

thank you madam mayor so just to keep going on this real quick so at the dog park so i guess i'm trying to understand and i might need city attorney's guidance on this as well so to councilman panaloza's point we approved a dog park we entered into agreements for design we entered into agreements for all these things for a certain level of a dog park with certain AMENITIES IT IT WAS YOU KNOW PRETTY DRAWINGS ALL THE THINGS TO HAVE OPTIONS TONIGHT SEEMS LIKE WE'RE BASICALLY THROWING OUT EVERYTHING WE ASKED FOR STAFF TO DO AND I TOTALLY SYMPATHIZE WITH COUNCIL

Phil BacerraItem 1

MAYOR PENALOZA'S FRUSTRATION BECAUSE COUNCIL GAVE DIRECTION COUNCIL ENTERED INTO AGREEMENTS AND THEN YET HERE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT PAIRED DOWN OPTIONS NOW I GET IT THIS IS A BUDGET EXERCISE SO OBVIOUSLY THIS IS MORE ABOUT MONEY AT THIS POINT. SO AND I DON'T KNOW IF THIS IS MAYBE WHERE YOU CAN COME BACK, ACTING CITY MANAGER NUNEZ, IS THAT PERHAPS IT'S A MATTER OF KIND OF LIKE WITH THE WATER TOWER, YES, I'M GOING TO KEEP SAYING THAT, PUTTING LIKE A FILLER IN THERE FOR THE BUDGET SO THAT WE CAN KEEP MOVING ON THIS DOG PARK WITH PROGRESS. AND I KNOW THAT COUNCILMEMBER PENALOZA BROUGHT UP THE IWASI GRANT AND THE BUNGALOWS.

Phil BacerraItem 1

AGAIN, THIS IS A BUDGET EXERCISE. I think this is probably going to end up, I mean, it shouldn't be a longer conversation, but I bet you it probably will end up being a longer conversation about why we're at this point where we're looking at options when the council, as Council Member Penaloza pointed out, unanimously approved the dog park and unanimously approved entering into certain agreements. So I would just like us to, or I'd like staff's guidance to figure out what that dollar amount is that we can put in the budget today or going into the next fiscal year.

Phil BacerraItem 1

but we do need to see that project realized I appreciate the comments but

and so and I share the frustration just to be in sync with with both the mayor and the mayor Pro Tem the City Council in my review of the documents and this is why we're asking we're presenting clear to an option and asking for the commitment. The only money set aside to fund the approved dog park was $800,000 for design. Right? Never for construction, never for the development, never to build it. And that's why I think one of the reasons why we find ourselves here. There was never, there were four updates and there was never any monies provided.

SO I'M SAYING AT THIS POINT, RIGHT, IF I'M TO BEGIN CONSTRUCTION, RIGHT, AND AGAIN, NOT WANTING TO BE ONE OF THE PREVIOUS TWO CITY MANAGERS, RIGHT, NOT FULFILLING THE COMMANDMENTS OR THE WISHES OF THE CITY COUNCIL, THEN OPTION B, THE 2.9, ALLOWS ME TO START CONSTRUCTION.

Phil BacerraItem 1

Okay. No, and at this point, I mean, we can't correct the past. So going forward, I mean, I just want to see us make progress. So there was unanimous support up here. Let's start getting that going. And the only other thing I have, Mayor, just real quick, and that is on the Civic Center Authority, can somebody explain to me why the county dropped out of the MOU?

Because they have a new facility with fence and cameras, and I think that they

from my understanding they don't believe that the additional or the dedicated seven officers are

Phil BacerraItem 1

needed any longer for the civic center policing okay great well and as far as just from the options here i you know would like to see those officers either return to patrol or wherever our acting chief feels that they'll be most effectively used but um yeah their loss our game thank you

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

Mayor Pro Tem. Thank you, Mayor.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

First, I, you know, with the dog park, I'm supportive of it. I'm sorry that staff had to go through the exercise of figuring out how to fund it. I mean, with Santa Anita, it took many years for it to get funded. I do see here that it said, you know, we weren't able to get the state and federal earmarking and other grants. I know how sometimes those things fall through. I'm supportive of the original scope, but I do also see that it's really difficult to get that earmark, especially with the state budget deficit that we're going through and whatnot.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

I don't know if it matters that it's a dog park instead of, I guess, a people park that might be part of why we had difficulty getting grants. But with that in mind, I would support any option that would allow us to ultimately achieve the vision originally conceived by the prior council. And if it's possible, whether it's the option two, right, to do that, or if it's option one, I would be supportive of that. because I think that, you know, I don't have a dog, but I'm sure if you do, you really want to bring them somewhere. They can spend time together.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

And if it's something we can do in pieces, let's get it done. Because if we can get it done within this year or next year, we can come back in the future, maybe when the state is doing better, for us to really get that full vision completed. So that's my position on that. I do have a question for Director of Parks and Rec. So first, thank you so much for sharing the list of 24-25 major events with me.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

I have a question about Winter Village. So it states here the proposed 24-25 budget is $240,000. Based on that, how much of that is specific to the ice rink? none of it we are eliminating ice rink this year okay because you know i do remember when we had proposed this it was supposed to be limited to arpa but because of so not so that doesn't include

the ice because it was 500 000 yes yeah the ice shrink cost us about a million dollars and our return was only about 100 so i mean through the numbers so but again we are still putting some budget in there to continue to do the winter village events here at the civic and hopefully

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

downtown as well too okay um that makes me feel better um and does a 240 000 include amount include any type of sponsorships that we would get or is that no the sponsorships would be you know

like a cherry on the top for anyone that wants to come in and be a part of it would be added may i ask how much we had last year i do not know i thought my head but i do know we had a couple you know with chevrolet with uh northgate there are quite a few and i can get you that number

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

Yeah. So, and the reason why I ask is, um, that is our second most, um, expensive event, uh, after Fiestas Patrias and Fiestas is incredible. Like it's like going to Coachella, but I've never been to Coachella, so I can't say, but, uh, it's a winter village. So, you know, I'm looking at this list and I know you guys have so much to do and like, what can we do to, you know, cut these costs and move it over to any type of fiscal reserve or cost cutting for one-time events.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

So my proposal would be decreasing Winter Village events costs or backfilling what we can do with sponsorships rather than considering it a cherry on top. My next question is regarding the Santa Ana Fun Run. How much of it was paid for with fees collected for runners?

The fee, I can get you those numbers, but again, we only brought in probably about $10,000, because the 5K is free and has always been free, so we only did charge for the 10K.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

Thank you. So, you know, I understand that it is a fun run, but I just think that it might be something that we can eliminate. It's $85,000. dollars and and you know we talked a lot about making Santa Ana a city art you know whether that could be out reallocated to the arts because the comments I made about you know decreasing downtown Santa in a funding parking subsidy to half that's only one year and then my last comment would be regarding the Easter event of everything on this list that's the only religious holiday and you know while I do respect every religious holiday we don't you

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

know this is we are not a religious organization and so I would to cut that funding also thank you well thank you anybody have questions for

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

he's up here I'm not supportive of cutting Easter I'll just let you know so So go ahead, I'm gonna go to Councilman, actually it's Councilman Vasquez's opportunity.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

Well, I'm just, this is my time. I'm supportive of cutting back on the Winter Village as well.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

What I wanna really enforce is we need pedestrian and traffic safety, because we don't have crossing, or we're gonna reduce crossing guards in Santa Ana. and crossing guards are only for elementary school children and as we bring them down there's we're gonna need safety protocols we're gonna be needing to add to our safety in Santa Ana specifically in my neighborhood on Center Street between ed and juror McFadden there's I can't get a speed bump because the buses go through there and the measuring there's not 80% people are speeding yet you have Monta Vista Jerome Park Jerome Center Corbin Center

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

SENIOR CENTER, EMECA HARD OF MARY, THE NEW CTE SCHOOL THEY HAD AT EMECA HARD OF MARY, DIAMOND ELEMENTARY, A PRESCHOOL ACROSS THE WAY, CARR ELEMENTARY, THE ELEMENTARY BEHIND CARR VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL AND THE CHURCH SNUGGED IN THERE, AND IT'S VERY UNSAFE FOR FAMILIES TO BE WALKING THERE. SO I WANT RACE CROSSING WALKS, NOT SPEED BUMPED, RACE CROSSING GUARDS. NOW, FOLKS MAY HAVE ISSUES BECAUSE IT SLOWS DOWN FIRE TRUCKS THAT SLOWS THEM DOWN BY 3% YET THOSE CROSSING RAISE CROSSING GUARDS

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

REDUCE PEDESTRIAN ACCIDENTS BY 47% SO THREE SECONDS FOR 47% AS A POLICYMAKER I'M GOING TO GO WITH THAT AS A POLICYMAKER I'M LIKE LET'S SAVE THESE KIDS WALKING SINCE WE DON'T HAVE CROSSING GUARDS OUT THERE ALSO ON ELDER BETWEEN RATE AND AND CENTER, A RACE CROSSING GARDEN. WE HAVE MULTIPLE ACCIDENTS. I GET AN EMAIL EVERY MONTH ABOUT ACCIDENTS ON ELDER STREET FROM CARS RACING DOWN THE STREET. FOLKS ARE ASKING ME IF THEY NEED THEM ON PINE, A RACE CROSSING WALK ON PINE BY SAN ANA HIGH SCHOOL. THERE'S ALSO HEDINGER ELEMENTARY IS THERE.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

AND THERE'S A LOT OF KIDS WALKING. and so I would want one is there as well at Edgar brothers we didn't see a problem but it kind of curves the rate Street kind of curves and it people have a hard time crossing from crossing rate Street to come over to skate and they want a little blinking light like they do down by Townsend right on rate so so we need that safety that connects the neighborhood for those areas and And wherever else we need, we're going to need more traffic safety issues like what I'm recommending for the areas that I know in my ward.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

So I'm going to go with those. I really want to support the dog park, but I think priority might be to get a park at Wilshire Washington Square. AND IF WE CAN GET THAT PARK, A PEOPLE PARK OR DUAL USE PARKS SPECIFICALLY AT PEOPLE OR LOWELL WHERE IT'S THE DENSELY MOST HARDEST POPULATED PART OF THE CITY AND FAMILIES NEED A PLACE TO GET OUT. IF YOU DRIVE DOWN BISHOP THERE, YOU WILL SEE FAMILIES ALL SCATTERED AROUND AND TUCKED IN BETWEEN THE APARTMENTS AND KNOW WHERE TO GO. THEY NEED A PARK. FAMILIES NEED A PLACE TO GO.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

SO I WOULD RECOMMEND PRIORITIZING DUAL USE PARKS AND A PARK AT WASHINGTON SQUARE.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

LET'S SEE, I DO NEED, THESE KIDS CALL ME ALL THE TIME. KIDS AT GODINAS WANT A BUS STOP AT GODINAS ACROSS ON FAIRVIEW. SO THEY'RE ASKING FOR A BUS STOP THERE, A BUS STOP WITH A COVER. BECAUSE THERE'S A LOT OF SUN COMING IN AT THEM AND ALSO BY LAUREN GRESSETT. so i get children calling me from lauren grissett and godinez uh and valley high school i think they're good they have a lot of trees in greenville so that's all i have for now thank you we'll have

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

to call octa for those bus stops council member lopez please okay park see you're next do you wanna

Jessie LopezItem 1

come up all right so um well off the top of my head you know i just heard the mayor pro tem comments about the events and I do agree with we have to start saying money now like we already know what it's what the five-year outlook is the ten-year outlook and we have to start making these very difficult decisions that the public is not going to be happy about right but people need to understand if you're not going to be supportive of a tax if you don't want a fee there are things that the public has to give up because we're paying our bills now but but that is not going to be the case in the near future.

Jessie LopezItem 1

So to her point about cutting back on Easter, I would be supportive of that. Winter Village, we should completely just eliminate it because the weather hasn't been on our side in the past Winter Village. It rained almost the entire month of December. So that means that we're paying for something and we're not getting a return at all because the residents are not visiting the location. So in terms of events, there's a long list here. I love all of them, but we have to be realistic and we have to have the courage to make these decisions now

Jessie LopezItem 1

Additionally, can you please explain to me the special event permit? It's jumping from five five hundred to five thousand I want to understand the proposed fiscal year 2425 Can you explain that again? It's jumping from five hundred to five thousand So I'm just trying to understand like what what is contributing to that jump

And you guys can give a little bit more.

Jessie LopezItem 1

Well, it's in your budget. Are you looking at a revenue line item? Yeah. Yeah, I'm looking at the general fund. Right. It's page 126.

Right. We're not proposing any increases for parks and recreation fees at this time. So if you're seeing a jump in the revenue, it's because we're re-estimating the revenue based on actual receipts.

Jessie LopezItem 1

Okay. Okay, I think I'm a little confused because towards the end of the budget and it's like page past six, it's under the miscellaneous fee summaries, there's several pages that says existing fee none, proposed fee and then it has a structure. My understanding is that would fall under parks, right?

Yeah, those are proposed fees but we're not recommending any increases to existing existing fees but but there are a few recommendations to establish fees where there has been no fee

Jessie LopezItem 1

okay I got that small detail thank you for that clarification so for for example for the lawn bowling center right now there's no fee you're saying correct yeah like so some lawn bowling

center adding some 7v7 soccer we don't have fees like that so we're putting them in there so we're able to charge for stuff like that the lawn bowling we're adding fees so people can come and

Jessie LopezItem 1

use as a rental venue so you're saying that if anybody wants to come right now and ask to rent the lawn bowling center there would be no fee we have some similar fees that we use but we are

trying to put it in there so specifically for the lawn bowling center because of the renovation the space that as well we're going to be adding lighting a bunch of things so it could become

Jessie LopezItem 1

a bigger venue one of the cities first i i'm not really understanding your response to my question Right now, if somebody wants to rent the lawn bowling center, would they be charged a fee?

Right now, we don't have any specific fee for lawn bowling. We're basing it off of the existing fees we do have. That's why we're adding these fees.

Jessie LopezItem 1

So they wouldn't be charged a fee?

Well, we would have to charge a fee because then staff would be involved. So we do have staff fees.

Jessie LopezItem 1

So they would get charged a fee? Yes. Okay. That's what I wanted to know, right? Because when I read here in the budget that there is no current fee, having just rented the lawn bowling center, and and the invoice was 130 or 80 for two hours it confused me so you can imagine right again right

they're charging you a generic fee that's used to other locations okay they want to establish

Jessie LopezItem 1

a specific fee for lawn bowling okay understood um you know what i'll leave it right i'll leave

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

it there for now i'll come back thank you councilman councilman hernandez please thank you

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

madam mayor acting city manager i'm supportive of option one for the civic center which is having the officers back out in the streets reducing to two i also wanted to touch on i am supportive of the disbanding of met given the concerns around culichi town and some of the concerns from the public so i want to thank our police chief for working toward having a more transparent police department and improving the relationship with the public i think these types of decisions help lead to the public trusting us more especially after the scrutiny that this

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

this team received i want to touch on some very important topics the proposed

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

budget that I brought forward for us to create equity across several departments, that's not the city defunding police. Unfortunately, we have defunded our libraries and our parks over many decades. This is about creating equity across all of our departments because each of them are as important as our fire, which is one department that was defunded. They're just as important as police. least they should have a seat at the table but we contract them out I don't want to see us do that with our libraries or our parks we we need to fund these essential city services and we need to respect these departments by

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

giving them the resources they need we need to respect the workforce of the city and I think by creating an equity for our departments we do that I am NOT in favor of us spending 14 million dollars on grass for a dog park at the moment i would like to see us take a more collaborative approach as to how we're absorbing those costs may bless you maybe it's worth us looking at building a park for people and families and then creating a patch of grass that is sizable with trees and benches and really minimizing those costs and having a park for families and children and adding a component a shared space for dogs

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

because I cannot get behind 14 million dollars for a park for dogs it's grass at the end of the day I am not supportive of the parking I want to see us continue to subsidize the parking given that I am the council member that is represented downtown for the last four years I have had an on-the-ground approach to working with my constituents my constituents many whom are restaurants that we love and support like chapter one are not supportive of laz parking enforcement they're not supportive of the contract they would like to see the hours where we are becoming more business

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

friendly and that looks like us stopping the charging of parking at five o'clock and having no cost for parking on sundays we will incentivize more people to spend their money here locally i am not supportive of layoffs of our staff including arpa staff and i am supportive of the street repairs on rehab the rate rehab i'm supportive of the street repairs along bristol the bike lanes protected bike lanes for residents in ward 5 that is going to increase pedestrian safety we also have fairview avenue rehab as well as the civic center rehab from shelton to flower so sizable

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

as well as an additional 4,500 stadium seats by December 2024. So I'm supportive of all of these. And I did have a question for staff related to the Fairview Avenue rehab. So if somebody can give me some information on what the timeline that we project for this rehab is and what does the Fairview rehab consist of.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

Thank you, Councilmember. member, Mr. Nabil Sabah, will present that response.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

Good afternoon, Director Sabah. Thank you for your service, sir.

I'm trying to find it out of my list of capital improvement programs.

Go ahead. So the Fairview Avenue rehab is from the south of the city limits to Seagrass from street, and it includes the pavement or rehabilitation of the pavement throughout that stretch of the street.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

Wonderful, sir. And then will that be, can you give me the large intersections as to where it will begin and where it will end?

It will start in Sigriston and going to, all the way to the end, which is Sunflower.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

Wonderful. I know that's a corridor where it's very antiquated. You fill it on your tires. So I'm happy that a large corridor like that is getting the help it needs. I I also see, and I'm very happy that you guys have the Bristol bike lanes so that the residents can be up to date on the installation of these bike lanes. Can you tell us the timeline as well as what intersections these bike lanes will extend? Sure.

This addition of funding to the Bristol street is to argument what we have in terms of funding for the widening of Bristol of that section from San Andrew to Warner. this funding will allow us to add the bike lane and again it arguments what we already have for that project funding wonderful sir I'm really excited about

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

the protected bike lanes I also want to thank Public Works for installing a bus shelter protected bus shelter at one of the largest used bus stops in the county 17th and Bristol the 57 bus route in front of Santa Ana College thank you a lot of students and families are happy about that I'm supportive of council member vasquez asking to see a bus stop in his district so i'd love to see that bus shelter happen thank you for your your responses director saba my my final comments are i am supportive of fiestas patrias coming back to la cuatro in downtown i'm supportive of getting rid of the

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

winter village in its entirety and that money going toward the arts to fill that gap for the arts master plan as the council member that advocated for the winter village i take pride pride in bringing something to the downtown that helped bring families together amidst the challenging time in the pandemic. I think that time has now passed. I think that the resources we've had allocated to the Winter Village can fill the gaps in the Arts Master Plan. We presently are funding it at $200,000. Take $800,000 from that Winter Village, plug it into the Arts Master Plan.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

That's economic development for downtown businesses, and that helps the Civic Center. So that's my final direction. and I think our staff I don't have any additional comments Thank You councilman

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Hernandez I want to agree with you on Fiesta Patria as I think this council the mayor and the council we were all very clear months back that Fiesta Patria's would be back downtown constructed city manager I think you were sitting here in the meeting that we want to continue Fiesta Patria's so I

think we were pretty clear about that so just a clever we are developing a plan where we have Fiestas Padres in the downtown again for this upcoming year.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Perfect. Thank you. I know the downtown business area will be very happy. I know as Councilman Hernandez was talking about, they talk about that quite a bit. So I'm also in agreement regarding Sunday parking. I think, I know we make money off of parking, but we've heard from many of the businesses, unlike the council, I as the mayor, I hear from everybody throughout the city, but I spend time in downtown and I hear from the businesses all the time about parking and so I'd really like to look at Sundays not being charged so that we can have people use our downtown area and then on the day of the art walk maybe that's also a day

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

that we look at the first Saturday of the month that we're not charging for parking it's probably does bring us in some revenue but would it also it would encourage people to come in I'm knowing that they don't have to pay for parking I bet you we'd have even more of a full house than we have now so I want to cover just a couple things so seniors are 11% of the population of the city and so we've had coffees with the mayor a couple times at the senior events thank you for all the staff that joined me I mean the bill you're very popular right because they want sidewalks I know the council was talking about sidewalks

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

couple people up here they we want to make sure they're a da compliant so they want to get up on their wheelchairs their walkers and I know that last year and the bill we had talked about it and you said need to be in the next year's budget and so hopefully we can put it this year's budget because and all the coffees at the mayor at the senior centers besides coffee and vending machines their their conversations are about the sidewalks the cracks around there so they don't fall because they have fallen and I think councilmember Hernandez talked about how much we pay off of that we need to make sure they

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

can get up safely on their wheelchairs or their walkers where it's got the the little bumps with it. Bottom line, 11% of the population of Santa Ana is seniors. And we need to do a really good job taking care of them. Just as much as we do for our youth, I hear a lot, we all talk about our kids. But one day, it's very soon, some sooner than others, are going to be in that situation. And I'm going to be at that senior center with my walker, and I'm going to be saying, my sidewalks better look good, and I better be able to walk up there and I better not fall because then I am

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

gonna come for a check and so I just want to make sure we understand how important the seniors are in this city and mr. active city manager we have two city senior centers and yes we need libraries we do and I agree a hundred percent and yes we need police I always agree with that yes we need fire but we need to not forget our seniors and make sure that the activities that our senior centers are robust I remember when I was on the school board and even prior to getting on the school board they had activities all day long you had organizations that were in there that you had senior organizations that were

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

working with them there was arts going on there was dancing there was computer classes there were English classes I mean the list goes on and on and on trips thank you and and they have trips down but they're really small trips they want as they indicated on Saturday they want longer trips they want to go to the casino right I want to go to the casino I'm gonna go with them so I think we really need to look at that and I hope that the council would support that because our seniors are so important but yet I think and this is my humble opinion that they get ignored because they're quiet they

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

don't come here and scream they don't come here and demand things and I keep telling them come come in your walkers come out I don't care how you come bring your rollers it don't matter just come Come and tell the council what you want. But they say it when I'm at the coffees with the mayor, and you've heard them. You've been there. Many of the staff have heard them. Sidewalks, they want robust programming. They want us to not forget them. They want funding so that they can have trips, you know, to wherever it is that they need to go to,

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

the Griffith Observatory, the casinos, wherever it may be, and the Bowers Museum, you know, wherever it may be. we need to make sure we do not forget because we have a senior tsunami coming and it's coming hard and if we think we have a homeless problem right now some of us are me looking at our social security and saying how are we gonna live on this and so I would just hope that this council would look at the seniors and give direction to say yes let's talk about additional funding for our seniors our senior centers you know day Center whatever it may be that gives

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

gives them life. Just like we give to our youth, we give them life. I want to do the same for our seniors. And I don't know anybody up here that would disagree. I'm not asking for $20 million or $10 million. I'm asking for just enough to get them the coffee that they want, get them the trips that they want, make sure that they know that we know they're there. It's very, very important. And I clarified the coffee issue on Saturday. It was that they don't get coffee. Coffee stops at 1130 in the morning. And I don't know about all of you, but I drink coffee all day long. They want coffee all day long.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

And I think we're capable of providing them with coffee until the senior center closes. So, Mr. Active City Manager, I hope that you will give that directive to give them coffee. So, thank you. And with that also, the other issue I had, and it's on here, was you guys have the blue lights and the cameras. And I keep, like, you know, Councilman Vazquez talked about, he gets all these emails. I get the emails citywide about cameras and safety. And I know that I shared the last time the certain areas. And I don't want us to forget them. So they were on Maple between Chestnut and McFadden.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Also on, there was that area. There was the Maple and Edinger exercise area where the exercise machines are, the block all the way through Warner, and that whole area where they walk. They talked about needing lights, bright lights, especially in the evenings, or cameras because people have been assaulted there, women are afraid to walk there. And so I think it's really important that we look at safety and the quality of life of our residents. As Council Member Becerra had indicated, the top two issues again, last year my first year as the Mayor, they're the same top two issues and they're the same this year.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Homelessness and crime reduction. So what does that mean? That means to be safe and to address our homeless issue. And so it's really hard for me when I get a phone call at 10 o'clock at night, the Mayor, I can't even walk, you know, down Maple, I get assaulted, did you call PD? need they don't come in time the guy's already gone not that they're disrespectful about police it's just the guy's already gone if you had cameras you could arrest them or lights and and i get it and i don't expect you to have all the answers but i would like something brought

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

back to see how we can protect our our community that wants to walk and that wants to ride their bike and they want to be outside and they want to be safe i was driving here today and there was a guy with a pant his pants down around his knees and walking and I was just like oh dear God like I'm gonna call who now I mean it's what we see every day and it's unacceptable it's not acceptable in Irvine it's not acceptable in orange it's not acceptable in Tustin it is not acceptable here it is not acceptable here and so I just want to be be very clear about that the top two

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Two issues with everything that was set up here, and this is all I'm going to say for the rest of the night. Everything that was set up here, homelessness and crime reduction, top two priorities. I support the dog park because cops got to move, they got to move. I support eliminating certain programs. I support Councilman Vasquez's raising walks.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

But bottom line is the homelessness and crime reduction. I don't know anybody that lives in this city that wants their children or their families watching somebody defecate on the sidewalk in front of them so with that let me call the next council person and I'm done with my comments just

quickly mayor to clarify on the blue lights from the walking path I'm assuming they're from from chestnut all the way to Dale hi because you give different addresses and intersections some I did I give it to you because we

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

have walking areas out throughout the city okay so the ones who were look at If you'd like, I could go out and drive with you and show you around.

No, I know where they're at, too. But just to clarify, the ones you mentioned primarily seem to be from Chestnut all the way to Dale High.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

And Maple, Orange, Warner, and all that area.

Yes, that's what I'm talking about, Maple. That's Hobart. Those are the intersections.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Yeah, I went walking at night because they asked me to go. I thought I'd give it a shot, and shot is a good answer. No, I did not walk it. I got back in my car.

okay just for for public works director so literally um from chestnut all the way to the

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

dale high you know we're talking about okay and the seniors please let's not forget our seniors

David PenalozaItem 1

okay councilman penalosa thank you mayor this is in regards to parks and rec um and all our city events and then actually all those departments actually i'm not supportive of removing any city EVENT. BUT UNFORTUNATELY, WE HAVE TO. MAYBE NOT THIS FISCAL YEAR, BUT FOR FISCAL YEARS, TWO YEARS FROM NOW, IT'S SOMETHING THAT WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO DO. AND I'M NOT CUTTING THEM, NOT REMOVING THEM, BUT TEMPORARY FREEZE. LET'S FREEZE THEM FOR A YEAR, SEE WHAT THAT DOES AND HOW MUCH MONEY THAT ACTUALLY COSTS. AND I'M NOT LIMITING, WE DON'T HAVE AN EASTER

David PenalozaItem 1

event we have an egg hunt and i don't i've been to that event there's no easter reference anywhere it's it's egg hunt and cultural celebration of across the board um so and it's like it's a resource fair call it a resource fair hawk and then and then they just had an egg hunt on the side if that is what they're excellent adventure but um i would be supportive of not obviously not THIS YEAR BECAUSE IT'S ALREADY INCORPORATING THE BUDGET BUT AS WE MOVE FORWARD ON NOT HAVING THE EGG HUNT NOT HAVING TET NOT HAVING JUNETEENTH FOURTH OF JULY CHICAGO HERITAGE FIESTA PATRIAS

David PenalozaItem 1

THESE ARE ALL EVENTS THAT I LOVE AND AND I'M VERY SUPPORTIVE OF AND I HAVE BEEN FOR A LONG TIME BUT AS WE LOOK AT THIS FISCAL CLIFF IT'S SOMETHING THAT WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO DO IT'S GOING WE'RE I DON'T KNOW IF IT'S POLLING THE CITY TO SEE WHICH ONES THEY WANT TO KEEP BUT WE'RE THAT'S THAT'S over a million dollars in events that we have every year including the public works event that that director saba is having soon and i'm very excited about and i love that's another event that has to go night out with the cup i'm sorry i'm supportive of it but you know what we're going to have to

David PenalozaItem 1

have an equal approach across all city events that is the unfortunate reality um so that is what what i'll say there as far as back to the dog park um it's not i'll just let my colleagues the public first it it's not just a park for dogs this park was never intended to be a park for dogs the renderings that are available online i've shared them on social media oc registered put out an article about it it has walking trails throughout the whole thing because we wanted it to be a people park as well it has connection to the bike trail because we wanted it to have

David PenalozaItem 1

a place where people on the bike trail that are going from anaheim to to huntington beach on the bike could stop by and have a sip of water stretch their legs it has a training agility course for our canine uh dogs both in pd and for anybody that wants to try to practice their training with their dogs it has a a hub that people could rent for for a community space and have a seating and it's a great space and that's what we're trying to do because it's not just about having a chained grassy area if that was the case and then we would have been done with it but it's it's supposed to be a central draw for for many uses

David PenalozaItem 1

not just dogs and it doesn't come at a cost of 14 million dollars I know that that's not the truth and I know that hopefully we could read look at those numbers incorporating the wasi funding for those two bungalows because that should be incorporated in here and and seeing what that looks like but trying to to bundle the two again not not appropriate and it's not true either it's not uh we're not being faithful with the with the residents um again i'll say it the the parking um pre-parking in downtown sanana uh we're not supportive of it

David PenalozaItem 1

I'm not supportive of it anymore because of the reality we're facing. And that is it. I will leave it with the Director Saba. If you could come up really quick and acting city manager if that's okay. In your capital improvement projects and Council Member Hernandez mentioned the protected bike lanes from Bristol Street to St. from Warner to St. Andrew along Bristol Street. Yes. Very supportive of protected bike lanes. You have that at a cost of $4 million, $408,000, just for Warner to St. Andrew on Bristol Street.

David PenalozaItem 1

It's right here.

Give me one second.

Sorry.

David PenalozaItem 1

I'm sorry, that was in 2324, capital improvement project.

Right, it is. It's one point.

David PenalozaItem 1

But in Bristol Street improvements for widening phase four from St. Andrew to Warner, you have $968,000 for this fiscal year. So, $4.4 million approved last year for that same stretch, and about a million dollars approved or wanting to get approval for this year. The 4.4 million that we approved last summer for the capital improvement project for this stretch, where is that money today?

It's still in the project right now.

David PenalozaItem 1

It's in a bank account?

Yes, I mean, we have the money. Well, the funds is there for us to use once we bid the project and go to construction.

David PenalozaItem 1

And when can we anticipate that to happen?

the fall of this year end of this year i've been told by my city engineer that we would be bidding the um the san andrew to to uh warner section of the widening okay because in february of 2021 when

David PenalozaItem 1

we last had that meeting for this bristol street update yes you told me that winter quarter 2022 22 is when we were going to put out that project for bid.

Correct. Okay. And what happens is we are waiting on Southern California Edison to finish their design so we can build it, and that has been the bottleneck on delivering this project. So we're very close in getting Edison to complete the design, and in this phase of Bristol, we would be doing the construction for the undergrounding of the utilities up above.

David PenalozaItem 1

So how much money has the City Council approved in the last four years for this stretch of Bristol Street? St. Andrew to Warner.

I'll have to defer to Rudy.

David PenalozaItem 1

And I'm asking those questions because this is all the capital improvement projects that we approved last summer right here. It's over $50 million in capital improvement projects that were approved last summer that I would say maybe half haven't seen the light of day. So I'm asking, I guess my question is, where does this money stay in the meantime when we're now moving on and approving another $50 million?

The funding stays in the project. So once we have the entire pot of money for these projects, then we go to construction. We complete the design, then we go to construction. So the money is not gone. And what you see in the capital program here is what we allocate for this year. What you don't see is what funding is in the project from prior years. That's not in here.

David PenalozaItem 1

Male Speaker 1 Okay. I think that would be important to add for transparency purposes. Because here, I just grabbed one. There's nothing specific with this one. but FY23-24, this is what we approved last year, and you have just a bunch of blank spaces for the next five years.

Male Speaker 1 Right.

David PenalozaItem 1

Male Speaker 2 But we don't see, and we should, you should show us the amounts that were approved and allocated in the previous years so that we have a running total of how much we've approved for this project and why it hasn't been completed. Is that something that could be done?

Male Speaker 3 I agree with you. We've tried to do that, and we will work with finance on possibly finding a way to do it.

David PenalozaItem 1

Okay, because, and this is where it gets frustrating because every year we approve and approve and approve these capital improvement projects, and then three years later, none of those capital improvement projects have seen the light of day, but we're asking now for additional $50 million for this different set of projects.

Sure.

David PenalozaItem 1

That, and it comes back to Bristol Street. You know, I know that there's conversations of starting on Grand now. Why would we even want to start in your 2425 project that says Grand Avenue Rehab from Edinger to McFadden?

Yes, that's rehabilitation of Grand, yes.

David PenalozaItem 1

That is what I'm sorry?

Rehabilitation, meaning we're not widening anything.

David PenalozaItem 1

thing but what i'm saying is why why do we are we now moving on to another street for whether whether it's rehab or widening sure when we there's there's hundreds of other streets throughout the city whether it's fairview or 17th or standard or or warner that haven't been completed sure thank

you for that for the question we can't wait for a project to finish so we can start another one We have multiple projects. In fact, right now I can tell you we have over 50 active construction projects in the city.

Projects that you approved previous years, they are under construction. We have about $150 million worth of construction right now in the city. So what you see, what you approve today, you will see materialize in the next year, maybe in the next two years, maybe less. So we are breaking ground with quite a bit of projects right now. And to answer your question about Bristol, it's coming soon, and we're waiting on Edison to approve the plans. And I am more excited about it than you because I want to get it done, and I don't want – yeah.

David PenalozaItem 1

So you're saying that the projects that we approved previously are now seen materialized?

Absolutely.

David PenalozaItem 1

So when can we expect the splash pads that we approved four years ago to open? It was about $7 million.

I can tell you that the splash pads, and I know Mike is here, they are under design. We're almost done with two of them that are funded. And I can ask Mike to come up and give us an update.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

Council Member Penalosa, after this, can we move on to the next speaker? It is four minutes over your time. That's fine. And then we'll come back to you. Thank you.

Yes, good evening, Mayor Pro Tem, Council, Mike Ortiz, Deputy Director. The Splash Pads is a project that Public Works is overseeing for Parks and Rec utilizing cannabis funds. And with the funding available, all of them are being designed, but we expect to advertise prioritize the first priority being Madison in the next month. And then the second priority is Thornton. We're also coordinating with Edison on that one. It's tough to give a tough, a strict timeline with Edison coordination, but it's the next priority a few months away. And then the third priority is still at design phase. It's at Portola.

Those were the top three priorities that we believe we have funding for. There are other locations that were approved for design. the designs will be complete and shelf ready and when construct as they get closer and we have true cost of construction because once we open bids on the first one we'll have a better idea of what they cost we'll be seeking construction funds for the remaining splash beds thank you for that

Jessie LopezItem 1

looks like council Lopez yes that was very informative thank you I do want to ask if this budget is going to fund vision zero because we've had so many accidents with cyclists pedestrians and so i want to know if there's any effort that you know staff is thinking about in terms of putting money behind vision zero

the vision zero plan has been completed and you will see it coming to the council for approval approval next council meeting. Just looked at the staff report for you to approve it. Once it's approved, then that will give us the tools to start seeking grant funding for the improvement that the Vision Zero plan recommends.

Jessie LopezItem 1

Okay, thank you. I appreciate that. And that's exciting to see that it's moving forward. Additionally, I did ‑‑ I get a lot of requests about the different alleys throughout the city. And I know that we ‑‑ you know, you did a great job of communicating with the council that the Department of Public Works has historically been under funded or not funded enough to really address all of the alleys throughout the city and we've covered I actually don't remember the specific amount that we did last year but because of that and because of the amount of people that use our alley specifically the requests that are coming from war

Jessie LopezItem 1

three I do want to make a request that we that we and hopefully the council council will support the three million allocation for all alleys in the city the Outlook is about 10 or 15 years and so uh the way I think about it and you can tell me if I'm wrong but the less money the longer it'll take the city to actually um you know put some attention into the alleys I really needed like the ones at Santa Ana Triangle we've been on site there with the neighborhood leader and so i'm hoping that the council will be supportive of that request just so that i think you know i don't have an issue with the multiple projects going on i think

Jessie LopezItem 1

the more the better because they wrap up sooner and we can move on to different things in the city and so i'm hoping that given some of the direction that you heard here with some of the programs that we are willing to cut and some of the things that we want to see in the city but we know that we can have corporate partnerships or go out for grants that that can be a request that we see in the budget um coming up next and then just very quickly this maybe because i'm legally blind i don't know but um the the down the civic center it has really low cut out uh little islands or

Jessie LopezItem 1

chokers not really sure what you want to call them but they blend in with the street and the sidewalk and one of the residents and my district actually hit it you know caught they hit it and they were injured and I know I've been close to hitting them sometimes especially when I want to turn right onto downtown I think because they're so low I'm not against them I think they're great like traffic mitigation but could is it possible that we maybe paint the very bottom of it like a bright color YOU KNOW, THE BIKE LANES ARE BRIGHT GREEN, BUT SOMETHING TO POP UP, POP OUT.

Jessie LopezItem 1

LIKE, YOU KNOW WHEN YOU'RE GOING TO TURN INTO DOWNTOWN ON ROCK, LIKE THERE'S A SUPER LOW?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

SO IT SOUNDS LIKE THEY GOT A LITTLE, YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT SHE WANTS.

YES, WE WILL, FOR THAT PARTICULAR SITE, WE NEED TO CHECK WITH OCTA AND IF THE PROJECT IS BAD, DELIVERED TO US AND IT'S GOOD TO GO, WE WILL LOOK FOR OPTIONS ON HOW TO MAKE IT MORE VISIBLE.

Jessie LopezItem 1

OKAY. THANK YOU. I APPRECIATE IT. SURE.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

OKAY. YOU'RE DONE?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

COUNCILMAN VASQUEZ, PLEASE.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

THANK YOU. THANK YOU SO MUCH, MAYOR. SO EVERYONE UP HERE HAS SAID THEY SUPPORT INCREASING FUNDS FOR ARTS AND CULTURE. AND I'M IN AGREEMENT WITH EVERYBODY HERE. LET'S INCREASE IT, the budget to $700,000. I propose we take money from the Winter Village, and I'm in agreement with Council Member Hernandez and the redistribution of funds from the Cannabis Public Benefit Fund. So if we could get that in and support arts and culture in Santa Ana from $200,000 to $700,000, I think it's very feasible. I want to support the mayor for funding seniors. I think it's amazing. It's great work.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

and I appreciate bringing it to light my parents themselves are are both seniors and have used a senior center Southwest Senior Center for classes and and many things they really enjoy it there and I really think we need to support our seniors there as well me and the mayor have been going to kept Townsend Community Safety Committee right we've been doing a lot of work we've been meeting with tenants landlords a non-profit kid works and various cities departments we all came together and we were brainstorming on how to better support how to make life better at townsend

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

and we can keep having these meetings but let's put some money aside and come up with a plan so i'd like a hundred thousand to have a base model that townsend could be for the rest of the city how does community come to be come together to benefit everybody else we've been doing the work on townsend so let's let's finish it there and create a plan for santa anna to have a safer neighborhood there and uh i think we've all the whole staff has been doing great work and and the input has been amazing uh thank you for your leadership mayor as well there uh so i want

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

100 000 set aside uh for that and i want to my next thing i want to talk about is uh the the The homeless issue, we have a quality of life team, and I did a ride along, and they were super professional, the whole staff, the CityNet, the police, everybody worked in conjunction and treated the people on the streets humanely. I really love that I went with them. What we need to do is retain the people that are trained because they want to leave, especially the CityNet folks who see this as a, they come in because they need a job and they might want to be a therapist or something,

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

but as soon as they find something, they're gone, or this is just rough work. So I want to see if we can keep those people with that experience, that we could have some kind of tenure step after however amount of years that they leave. Because if they stay, what happens is, what do we need, 20 or 40 connections with one person to get them out of the street? SO IF THOSE PEOPLE LEAVE, THE CONNECTION IS BROKEN. WE GOT TO START WITH SOMEBODY ELSE TO SAY THAT SPEED. SO LET'S KEEP PEOPLE ON THE STREET WHO ARE WORKING IN CITINET, MAYBE GIVE THEM A BUMP IN PAY AFTER A FEW YEARS OF EXPERIENCE TO KEEP THEM ON, TO KEEP THAT RELATIONSHIP GOING,

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

TO KEEP THAT EXPERIENCE ON THE STREETS, TO HELP US OUT WITH HOMELESSNESS THAT THE CITY SO MUCH NEEDS. SO I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THAT COMING AND I KNOW THE, I would like to see that for our officers as well that work in that space. So that's all I got for now. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Thank you, Councilman Vazquez, and thank you for bringing up Townsend. I forgot about it, so I really appreciate you bringing that up. And, Mr. City Manager, I think you've been with us to those meetings. If not, I know the chief has. You know, we can allocate some funding. They can start a program down there and really start working with the families, possibly expand what kids work already has there, have a wellness center there, there and do the good work that they do. So, and really tackle the needs there of the community. I think it would be great. They did in Costa Mesa with Shalimar Street neighborhood,

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

really made a huge difference in that city. They took over an apartment complex, the organization did and the police department in a very positive, holistic way, and brought in organizations and the community and crime rate went down in that area. I think Chief, if you recall, SHALOMAR STREET GANG WAS VERY ACTIVE. IT ALMOST ELIMINATED ALL OF THE ACTIVITY BECAUSE THE PROGRAM WAS SO GOOD. SO IT'S SOMETHING THAT WE CAN DEFINITELY LOOK AT. SO, OKAY, THE FINAL TWO SPEAKERS THAT WE HAVE AT THIS POINT IS MAYOR PROTEM AND THEN COUNCILMEMBER LOPEZ. I THINK WE'RE ABOUT READY TO WRAP IT UP. YOU HAVE ONE MORE?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

OKAY, GO AHEAD AND PUSH YOUR BUTTON. AND THEN COUNCILMEMBER FAN, MAYOR PROTEM FAN IS NEXT. LOPEZ, COUNCILMEMBER LOPEZ. AND THEN COUNCILMEMBER NANDES, YOU PUSH YOUR BUTTON.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

Thank you. Hi. I know there's been a lot of comments about what else we have or want to have, and so I'm trying to find where we can get that money, right? And so my first comment was regarding the downtown parking subsidy. It's $1.66 million to allow free one-hour parking in downtown Santa Ana. Anna. Can you clarify for me? It seemed like the money is from the general fund, whereas last year it was not, or it was from OCTA. Can you give me some of that background? No, it's from the general

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

fund both this last year and the proposed budget. Okay. Thank you. And so with that, you know, I do think that, again, I guess when I ask my colleagues, the idea that we're subsidizing $1.66 million million dollars for folks to park in downtown for an hour for free. I hope that we can lower it to 30 minutes. That'll give us $800,000 back to the general fund to fund arts. And a lot of folks up here had said Art Walk specifically benefits downtown Santa Ana and helps to generate

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

further revenue. And I think that if you do that, it kind of is a win-win situation and and we are able to fund $800,000 additional dollars to art, specifically in the downtown. And I just want to raise that because if we're gonna add something, we need to point out to staff where we wanna take it from. The other thing that I wanted to mention to support Council Member Becerra's water tower, I know we had talked about allowing viewers up at the water tower as well as the stadium that we're working on, and those are also revenue generating endeavors and so I'm supportive of that.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

The other question I had was regarding the senior activities for seniors. I am supportive of that if we are going to decrease one-time event fundings or funding for these events, large events throughout the year. For example the fun run maybe that can be specifically reallocated to senior services although I do want to say I don't support taking them to casinos but maybe things like Bolsa Chica State Park but I do think that there are activities that are good

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

for folks to be outside to be in nature to gather together and you know that for I think it was $45,000 or some odd thousand dollars, would be, in my opinion, potentially better used for senior services throughout the year or to help enhance it. The last thing I would say regarding funding, excuse me, it was $85,000. The last thing I would say is, you know, we talk about providing additional programming, and I know Parks and Rec staff have worked really hard to create a sponsorship package and partnership package. I'd like us to see, you know, for example, the dog park. Maybe it's Petco's Dog Park in Santa Ana.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

Maybe AARP sponsored senior events. Maybe it's, you know, different types of Medicare, health organizations, Ultamed, you know, senior event days. I don't know, but I would really like to see that because in order to ask for something, we have to point out where we're gonna get that money because the amount that you showed in the budget is like $200,000 for recurring expenditure, and I don't think that'll cover all the asks that we've had tonight. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Thank you. Council Member Lopez, please.

Jessie LopezItem 1

Thank you. So, Kat, I said that I would give you feedback on the opioid settlement, and so I think I finally have something to provide you. I'm supportive of, you know, sharing the money with the detox centers. I don't think that all of it should leave our city because the purpose of the money was really to help cities that have been impacted by these corporations right that have willfully known that they were doing bad things and because of their greed for profits they release these drugs into our communities and so I really would like for us to think about how we're gonna work with the school

Jessie LopezItem 1

district understanding that a lot of young people are exposed to drugs and and unfortunately are addicted to opioids. So I think with this money, we can make a good partnership with them in terms of awareness. Can we pay for treatment for our own constituents, right? Because that is really the long-term, I think goal for us here, getting our own constituents healthy. So that is an option that I hope the council will consider and support. And additionally, I think Denver, they've actually established a task force and their website has many different options. So I would encourage the council to look at that

Jessie LopezItem 1

and our staff to look at that to see what is going to be of best benefit to our community. And then I do have a request from staff. And speaking about, you know, are we going to tax beer cans from stores, which I'm personally not a fan of because we already have a sales tax and I want something a little bit more long-term. What are the plots of land in the city that we do not gain any revenue from right now I want to know you know what are the businesses what is it that is operating in the city that is not contributing to our tax base I think we should all know here and we should be

Jessie LopezItem 1

able to make decisions moving forward having those that information before us in terms of the exhibits that you presented you know I will be supportive of Council Member Becerra's, increasing the license to sell pistos and revolvers. I really don't care what staff decides. I'm going to be supportive of the fee, PBA as well. I'm not supportive of the parking citation fee from PD. And I think also for the wireless small cell, you know, other cities like Tustin and Anaheim, they're at $5,000 and we're severely low. So I I trust that staff is gonna make a good decision on that to bring in revenue as well

Jessie LopezItem 1

and lastly, I think part of what we heard from our constituents through these surveys is right the the need for affordable housing and so we've been supportive of Promoting homeownership opportunities and that doesn't have to take away from the city investing in affordable housing and recognize that that is still a need Both ideas and both priorities can move in the same track with the same level of priority You're the third city manager that I worked with in my first term and so I just wanted to say that in case you need to hear that from this body, right?

Jessie LopezItem 1

Mike Garcia, I see that you're here and so I'm saying that in case you need to hear that from me and this council because that is going to be a priority that I continue to hear from my constituents that I'm not going to stop talking about.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Thank you. Councilman Panalosa, then we're going to close out.

David PenalozaItem 1

Thank you, Mayor. very supportive of the senior expansion where whatever that looks like I was just thinking in my head I was like I'll drive a couple to the casino that sounds like a fun time if we're being honest but um I would say let's drive them where they'd like if there's a dozen of them that want to go to the Pechanga well shoot you know I see no harm in that you know that that's that's we're here to make their lives happy and with senior centers I know it's it's a big I I know we've been discussing about youth centers, which we also need, and senior centers and additional expansions.

David PenalozaItem 1

There's no reason why we can't do satellite, not necessarily physical buildings, but at the Doha Center. If we dedicate two or three days a week to just senior, strict senior programming. Roosevelt-Walker, same thing, strict senior programming on Wednesdays. And then on, just throughout the city, Santa Anita, wherever we can just fit in just multiple days that could really focus on the seniors in those areas, that would be a great way to start that won't break the bank.

David PenalozaItem 1

So just kind of as I was thinking, how can we creatively expand our programming for seniors without having, obviously I would love another senior center like tomorrow, but that's not the reality. So, if we could look at if there's ways to do that, that would be fantastic. Definitely supportive of any ways to generate revenue. So, Council Member Becerra's feasibility study for the water tower, I'm sure people will pay to go up there to take a selfie or whatever it is. I think that could be a great way to generate revenue. The cell tower permits, Council Member Lopez brought it up, and she's right.

David PenalozaItem 1

Right, we should look into increasing that permit fee. Now, the only question I had, and thank you, Council Member Lopez, for bringing that up, is I know that we receive revenue from the cell towers that are currently at parks. Is that kind of a deal that we currently have where we don't charge that much of an upfront business permit but we'll collect rental fee for being on that land, or is it?

No, I believe what Councilmember Lopez mentioned is the small cell fee, and that is the small cells that are installed on our street lights. Right. Yes.

David PenalozaItem 1

I'm thinking of just cell towers in general.

Not the ones that are in parks. In the ones in parks, yes, we have a lease and we do get revenue from those. And those varies actually what the revenue comes into us from the park ones and the bigger the bigger ones or the macro cells. But the small cells, the fee was established a few years ago, but when we negotiated the master licensing agreement with Verizon and I believe Crown Castle and one other provider. So that is fixed through the agreement and we really had a really difficult time accomplishing and getting that fee ourselves.

So there was not much leeway for us to actually increase that fee. And it is set through an agreement right now with the three providers.

David PenalozaItem 1

MR. Thank you, Director Saba. Supportive of the Mayor and Council Member Vasquez's effort in Townsend, I know he mentioned the $100,000, but obviously where do we want to take that from, right? It needs to come from somewhere. So until that area is identified, I'm supportive of the idea, but of course identifying the funds is important. That is it, Mayor. Thank you. Just wanted to say that I'm supportive of that effort with the Senior Center expansion.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Thank you. I really appreciate it. Okay. This time we're going to close out the meeting. Any final comments?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

Madam Mayor.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Oh, I'm sorry. You didn't push the button. Go ahead.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Just wanted to share my very brief comments. I'm supportive of expanding senior services. What that looks like for me and my district is seeing more programming at the senior center, us becoming more creative with parks and recreation, utilizing our assets such as Fremont, I'm sorry, El Salvador Park Community Center. Simple, we can have, you know, a cobija knitting, crochet class, right? Doing, you know, something in the community garden at El Salvador Park, activating the park that way. Doing some dancing in the park, you know, doing like, you know,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

There's a lot of good tamaleras, there's folks that make all sorts of great things. Activating our community centers and our parks in board five is how we want to see senior services expanded. Let's use our parks and rec amenities. That'll conclude my comments. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

I believe we're done. I'm sorry, Councilman Panalosa wants to talk about his dog park again.

David PenalozaItem 1

No, no, no, no dog park. I was going to say that we could also teach him how to count cards and play blackjack. that'd be a great all right we're done but um no um i wanted to ask of the of the executive director of finance because i know there was a lot of dialogue up here i was going to ask if she's

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

got everything okay that's my that's my role here i'm going to finish it well you were all right let's go so mr city manager i thank you i was about to you got everything mr active city manager cat we're good i know we gave you a lot i saw you writing everything down active city manager we're

good yes we are but just just to be clear right and to um what's the word um manage expectations right we'll make the difficult calls and we'll present uh hopefully about balance um comprehensive budget with all your input right thank you and so so the only thing the only ask actually obviously from staff is you know careful consideration because like we said we have no money so we'll make the difficult calls and then we'll do the best thing we can and we

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

appreciate the comment of no money and we know you'll do the best that you can and at the next meeting we'll also be waiting for our needle exchange update as well at this time the meetings adjourned

recording stopped

Thank you.