Read the May 15 meeting.

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Jennifer L. Hall

Mayor, you can proceed.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you. 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. As a reminder, this is a meeting to conduct the business of the city. As Mayor, I'm afforded the opportunity to call for a recess and a break or to even clear the meeting room if a meeting becomes too disruptive to properly conduct business.

Valerie Amezcua

Warnings will be provided prior to any action being taken. We appreciate your cooperation. 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 chamber, or in front of entrances and exits. Madam Clerk, please conduct the roll call.

Jennifer L. Hall

council member becerra here council member hernandez council member lopez here council member penielosa council member fan here mayor proton vasquez president mayor mesquite president six members present that is a quorum thank you very much madam clerk before you proceed to the

Valerie Amezcua

pledge of allegiance please make an announcement for members of the public on zoom or teleconference

Jennifer L. Hall

to request to speak during public comments on agenda items only you must dial star 9 from your phone or click the button labeled raise hand from zoom now to be in the speaker queue once public

Valerie Amezcua

comments commence thank you thank you at this time we're going to do the pledge of allegiance and if eddie and gaston would please come forward and lead us in the pledge of allegiance

Valerie Amezcua

eddie and gaston please thank you yes i said eddie and gaston thank you

Thank you Madam Mayor and honorable council members. I'm Eddie. I'm Gaston.

Please stand if you're able and remove your caps. Place your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you gentlemen very much.

Valerie Amezcua

Madam Clerk are there any additions or deletions to the City Council agenda? There are none. This is the time of the meeting for the City Council to receive received comments from the public on agenda items only. Madam 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 epitaphs, 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 on the summary of emails. As of today, by 3.30, City had received eight e-comments related to the special meeting agenda item. Those were distributed to the City Council and made publicly available online.

Jennifer L. Hall

We'll now hear from members of the public that are physically present in the Council Chamber, followed by those on Zoom. Please state your name and the ward or neighborhood that you reside in for the record. I'll call three names at a time. If you could please line up in the aisle behind the podium when you hear your name. First speakers Desi Reyes Martha Molina and Celica Diaz

Good evening mayor council members been a while haven't been here, so basically I know we're discussing the budget tonight and

Wanted to my what I see out there is more of an infrastructure for structure for this coming fiscal year, such as sidewalks. I know you guys have talked about many times about the claims that you get for falls for sidewalks. I've actually fallen three times walking because I do walk a lot.

And it's not the high sidewalk, you know, the high lifts, but it's the small ones that usually we tend to miss and trip very easy. So I highly recommend that you put more money into that this year. as well as alleys. I have a couple of alleys in my neighborhood down by Wright Street and Zulane, right behind the fire station on Zulane and 4th Street. There's a section that is all paved with concrete, but the other section, which is half and serves residents, dry waste,

hasn't been done in years. I'm gonna say 30 years. I've been there for 30 years and there's a lot of crocodile cracks on the alley and

Something that I like for you guys to get in the radar city manager. Thank you and The one behind motel 6 it's another one I just drove by there again a lot of crocodile cracks cracks, potholes. So I'd like to see those enhanced in the next couple of years, hopefully. Put some money in that. And finally, 4th Street, and maybe this is a Caltrans section, because it's 4th Street and Zulane. That when you exit the five freeways going south on 4th Street,

that intersection there is just full of potholes and crocodile cracks. And that probably is a Caltrans section because it's the exit so perhaps somebody can contact Caltrans and let them know about that if it's not the city but it needs it.

And finally also First Street and 17th Street needs to be paved. I know you guys are working right now I think from Mack Fountain to First Street but put that in your radar also for the next couple of years. And finally trees. I'd like to see more trees. We've lost a lot of trees and they're not being replanted at the rate that we are losing in them and trees are very important to our neighborhoods it had a lot of adds a lot of value to the real estate which in turns brings more tax revenue to the city and this city has been known for a forest city so I like to maintain that

thank you very much and good luck and always the tight budget this year have a Have a nice evening.

Good evening. My name is Martha Molina. I'm president of the Riverview Neighborhood Association. Thank you, Mayor, first of all, for encouraging us to participate and the importance of that. We want to, number one, support our police department. We're very grateful. We had our new commander, Frank Gutierrez, come to our meeting last night, and he's been helping us with some incidents that happened in Riverview Park. So please support him in any efforts that he needs to help us. And because he's also in charge of the Colt team, so we're very grateful for that. We do need a security camera.

He helped us with a temporary one at Riverview Park. We had a gang-related homicide there about a month ago. And thank you, Santa Ana PD, for arresting the suspects. We're very grateful for that. that. And also in terms of public safety for our neighborhood, there's a parking lot and public works, please support public work staff as well and their projects. They are working with us on traffic issues. We know there's a waiting list and there'll be a traffic study conducted we believe in September. And so but we need a gate to secure a parking lot

by the cabin before the golf course people are partying there there's dumping items over the wall into the golf course at off hours and so we need a gate there and again we're working with Public Works so we encourage money funding for that so and that is all thank you so much

Jennifer L. Hall

Celica Diaz followed by Deborah and Alicia Rojas.

Good evening. My name is Celica Diaz and I live in Pacific Park neighborhood. And tonight I am here to ask you to allocate funding in the budget that is before you for the renovation of the Cypress Street Fire Station. This building has been sitting vacant in the Pacific Park neighborhood for over nine years. It is now a public nuisance with transient trespassing, leaving in the property and damaging the building. I appreciate the city and city staff's time for working on this property for the benefit of the public. But I have some concerns with the estimates that have been provided to renovate the property.

Major Protein Vasquez, a couple days or about a week or so ago, we discussed the estimate issue. I believe the current cost estimate will require many more years to get the funding while the property will continue to sit vacant in our neighborhood continuing to be a public nuisance. I am asking the city to revisit the cost estimate to renovate the building and make the necessary changes so the renovation can be done as soon as possible. I have spent nine years working on working with the city on the renovation of the building. to become a community center for the youth and senior programming.

I believe there's a majority of the council who supports the PAL program and the senior program operating at this facility. I'm asking you to show your support by funding the renovation of the Cypress Street Fire Station and this budget that's before you tonight.

I do not want to spend nine more years of my life in this project advocating when our youth needs the services now. Please provide the funding in this year's budget to renovate the Cypress Street Fire Station as soon as possible. Thank you.

Hello Madam Mayor and our City Council. I'm here, my name is Deborah Russell and I reside in the downtown, Ward 6. I'm here tonight to advocate for dedicated arts funding. funding. Last year you all dedicated funding for investing in our local artists and as a result we saw a boom of creativity across our city. We saw new murals, we saw film festivals, we saw writing workshops, storytelling, musical DJ classes and sound engineering classes to help people on those career paths and much more because of an investment that you all made. People from all over our city

and all over our county came to Santa Ana so they could experience these kinds of arts endeavors that you can't experience in other cities. And it elevates Santa Ana in their minds as a place of creativity, as a place where artists live and thrive. That's the reputation I want to have and I'm so proud as I was recently. I traveled to Sacramento for some work in my professional role and I talked to someone and I said I'm from Santa Ana and they And they said, oh, murals, you have so much art there. And I said, yes, that's exactly what I want people to say when they think of our city.

So I'm here tonight to ask you to extend the funding that you supplied us with last year, $200,000 again, in investing in our local talent so that we can help grow their skills, grow their artistry, and increase this reputation we have as being a center and a hub for the arts.

The Arts and Economic Prosperity study that you all commissioned for us also showed that this isn't just good because it elevates our reputation as a city, it brings in new jobs, it brings in revenue. Almost nine million dollars in 2022 when the study was conducted. People come here to Santa Ana because of the arts to take their graduation photos, they come in and take their band photos, and they post them online and they talk about the city because we have all these experiences that you fund. So my ask for you tonight is to consider funding 200,000 again for investing in the arts grants so we can continue this great work.

Continue thinking people when they hear the word Santa Ana, they think arts, they think creativity, and they think of a place they want to come to experience those things nowhere else. Thank you all.

Jennifer L. Hall

Alicia Rojas followed by Logan Crowe and Leobardo Cherma.

Buenas noches, good evening Madam Mayor, Council Members. It's so exciting to be here again one year later. First I want to say thank you for changing the budget last year and giving us more arts money as Commissioner Debra said many many beautiful projects came from it. I want to focus a little bit on public art and I know Councilman Hernandez and Jesse know this and Ben everybody really understood what happened with Chicano Gothic and I'm so proud to say that we've had a incredible turnaround with parks and public works and we're working on something really beautiful and magical for the city and

preserving that mural but we got to talk about the funding right and the 200,000 is investing in our artists but that's not going to be enough for our public art. It's not going to be enough at least to preserve the ones that we have in our parks and in our city, right? The great masterpieces by Sergio and Emilio and local artists alike. So I'm here to advocate to go back to an idea that we had ten years ago during the arts master plan that we were unable to fund this last five years, which was to advocate a 1% in new development for the arts and and create a public art trust fund to preserve our murals.

Also create an RFP for a vendor that can actually preserve murals when they're graffitied on, especially by any hate crime that we've seen, especially lately. Our city can become a cultural hub, it is, right, of placemaking where people can come and spend their money and look at our beautiful art and support the growth of the arts.

Also, I would like to also maybe talk about the cannabis tax, because when it was first brought the idea was also floated that some of that could go towards the arts. And I know that our budget is decreasing and we're going to have to have so many hard decisions, but investing in the arts is always economic development and it's also healing. When we think about the cannabis tax, definitely parks needs it, you know, public works needs it, but there is a point where the SAPD still gets some of that, and I don't know if it's

still needed in the cannabis section to enforce, as now dispensaries go through the legal process of paying tax and doing a legal business. I'm not sure but I believe that funding was to combat any illegality so maybe some of that could go into a public art trust fund just to think creatively I thank you for your time and thank you for being art champions of our city I really appreciate it good evening madam mayor and esteemed council members my name is Logan Crow and I live and work in the sixth district six Ward excuse me

I'm grateful for this opportunity to be one voice amongst many who are advocating for direct funding support of the arts and artists organizations in the city's budget The arts and culture are not mere luxuries, but a vital expression of our shared humanity They are essential to the identity vibrancy and economy of a community Right now that ecosystem is under tremendous peril As you know federal funding for the arts is currently being decimated with almost 1,500 artists and arts organizations having received received sudden notifications from the NEA and the NEH that their approved grants had been terminated.

The arts are under attack at a federal level. Combined with the lingering impacts of the pandemic, inflation, and a decline in traditional sources of support like corporate sponsorships, these cuts are forcing many artists and arts organizations to make painful decisions with outcomes that are not only tragic and painful for them, but a profound loss for our communities as well. In this challenging environment, the role of the city becomes more important than ever.

When local government steps up as a stable and committed partner, it sends a powerful message that artists and storytellers have a place in Santa Ana, that our city values creativity not just rhetorically, but with meaningful and tangible support. It also sends a message that Santa Ana is a city that recognizes that this investment is not one-sided. In 2023, the arts and culture sector contributed $1.2 trillion to the US economy and supported approximately 5.4 million jobs nationwide, underscoring the significant economic role of the arts and cultural sector.

Local arts programming brings patrons into our neighborhoods to eat, to shop, and to explore. Every gallery opening, every live performance, every film screening, every mural unveiling generates economic ripple effects that benefit small businesses throughout our city. But the arts aren't just an economic engine, they are how we tell the story of who we are. In a city as rich in culture, history, and diversity as Santa Ana, the arts serve as a living archive. A way for us to preserve our heritage, celebrate our communities, and speak to one another across time and space.

When young people see their voices reflected on stage, in film, in murals, in music, they understand that their voice matters. matters. When visitors experience our local arts, they don't just see a city, they feel and connect to its soul. Supporting our arts ecosystem is not just about funding projects. It's about creating conditions in which artists can stay here, thrive here, and contribute meaningfully to our civic life. A robust investment in grants for arts and arts organizations is a crucial commitment towards that vision. I urge you to ensure that this funding remains

remains part of our city's future at least two hundred thousand dollars let Santa Anna continue to be a city that uplifts its artists not just in celebration but an investment and not just when it's easy but when it's needed the most thank you for your time Leo Bardo Charma followed by David

Jennifer L. Hall

David.

Good evening, Mayor and Councilmembers. My name is Leobardo Chamu and I live in the Pacific Park neighborhood across the street from the Cypress Street Fire Station. And I would like to ask of you if you could put that in, I guess, the funding for renovating and rehabilitating it. I moved to Santa Ana about six years ago and it's been six years that I've been watching it just be vandalized.

And, you know, there's a lot of resources that are wasted there now just with police officers and the quality of life team just coming around that fire station very often just because of the vandalizing. and I mean it's it's caught on fire about three times since I've lived right across the street from it so if you could consider that that that would be a great asset to the neighborhood once it's it's restored and you know used as a how I'm sorry yeah you know just community center or

I really don't know what the plans for it are at this point in time but you know just want to to see if the funding could be thought about for that Cypress Street Fire Station. And that's pretty much it. Have a good evening, thanks.

Good evening, council members. Very honored to be able to speak, especially because, oh, by the way, my name is david and i'm just so by the way i'm here representing the voices of many of my neighbors in pacific park neighborhood area um we have been talking about this for a very long time and it seems like there's plans there for the cypress uh fire station project to really transform that space from what it is right now currently it's really lacking

the the support of whoever is gonna bring it to the finish line the the plans and I know this is a great opportunity because we're here speaking about the city budget and so you know we're we're hoping that we can turn this this lot which is currently a nuisance into a vibrant space where we can have programming like the PAL program and programming for our seniors in our neighborhood and really make it a space for everyone. So I am here to really emphasize,

please make this a reality, put it in your budget, speak about it, talk about it. I think it's worth the time and with the effort. Thank you very much.

Jennifer L. Hall

Mayor and City Council, that concludes the in-person speakers. We do have one speaker on Zoom. Ana's iPhone, if you could please unmute, state your name and your Ward or neighborhood and make your comments.

Hello, can you hear me?

Jennifer L. Hall

Yes, go ahead, please.

Sorry, my name is Ana Licón. I live in the Pacific Park neighborhood on Ward 2 and I just had a couple items that I want the council to consider and one was the new walnut and orange park that's going up in our neighborhood public works gave a great presentation this week at our neighborhood meeting and we appreciate the work that went into taking advantage of the grant given the requirements but we do have a concern about homeless activity and how to make sure this park stays safe there's no benefit to the neighborhood if it turns into a

park strewn with needles every morning and so we ask that you take into consideration funding for security and police presence of our parks the second item is the cypress street fire station residents have been asking for this funding for many years and we're letting a great resource die on the vine this could mean the difference between at-risk youth choosing one path or another it also revitalizes the neighborhood senate and its historic architecture must be preserved our Our neighborhood, our neighbors, we welcome the police department presence and anti-graffiti funding. We can't provide a hopeful future for our children

if they see gang activity, people overdosing on their way to school and gang graffiti. And lastly, as some of the other residents have mentioned, it's the arts. I was involved in the Hilbert Museum in Orange, and at that grand opening, they stated that they wanted to take away being the art hub from Santa Ana. I ask you to not let that happen and to fund these projects as well as graffiti abatement to keep these projects I appreciate your time and your dedication. Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

Mayor and city council that concludes the Zoom speakers that had their hands raised when we started.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you, Madam Clerk. And thank you for all those who came to speak today in person and in Zoom and just for being here with us this evening, it's important. So we're gonna start our work study session at this time. The only item today is the 2526 budget workshop, excuse me work study session mr. city manager may you begin with your

Alvaro Nuñez

presentation please yes the assistant city manager cat downs and the finance

director Alex will assist all right good evening mayor and council members during this workshop I will be providing you with follow-up information from early direction provided on March 18th the detailed draft budget was posted on the city's website on Friday May 9th and tonight is an opportunity for you to provide additional input before the scheduled public hearing on June 3rd so tonight we were going to cover public input from community engagement further

discussion about the general fund revenues notable additions short-term discussion on fees and next steps. First let's look at the results of the community engagement. We've been actively promoting the budget survey across multiple platforms and the campaign has achieved strong visibility with over two hundred and twelve thousand total reaches. These reach reflect unique views from individual accounts. However actual engagement remains limited. Despite the large reach, we've only seen around about a thousand interactions.

Facebook generated the most clicks, followed by Instagram, but overall click and completion rates suggest the need for improvement. Our staff will continue to adjust our outreach strategies to increase participation. This year the staff expanded our community engagement efforts to ensure residents across all All six wards had an opportunity to learn about the city budget and share their input. We had 11 community engagement meetings, six youth and student focused sessions, and participated in two citywide events.

Thanks to the broader outreach and targeted engagement, we saw a strong increase in participation with a total of 360 attendees citywide.

During our community budget meetings, we heard consistent feedback on what matters most to residents. The most common priorities included expanding homelessness reduction programs, making youth centers more accessible, and strengthening crime and gang prevention efforts. Residents also emphasized the need to add street lights in dark areas, fix lifted sidewalks, and improve drainage and park maintenance.

The budget survey included 17 questions and takes approximately six to nine minutes to complete. So far, we're seeing an estimated completion rate of around 70%.

So these are the top five priorities, top five budget priorities identified by the community through the online survey. So residents were asked to rank what they feel are the most important areas for funding. The top responses were public safety initiatives, road and sidewalk maintenance, youth programs and activities, unhoused community initiatives, arts and culture programs. These priorities are helping guide how we shape this year's budget to reflect what matters most to the community.

staff use the more interactive approach to gather input from youth through a jar activity participants use tokens to vote on their top city priorities like homelessness youth programs parks public safety and road repairs the top priorities was investing in homelessness reduction programs followed by more youth programs and centers and improving city parks. We also received several additional suggestions including more green space, expanded educational programs and more access to fresh produce and soccer fields. So this

was a great way to ensure that youth voices are part of the conversation. In this year's survey we added a new question to better understand how the community heard about the survey so this helps us evaluate which outreach methods are the most effective and encouraging participation surveys results showed that 41 percent of the respondents learned about the survey through the social media such as facebook and instagram uh 24 through the city website or newsletter uh nine percent through the community events and around 26 percent select the other with top responses including my sanana app school or teachers and events hosted by the

to the budget office. This information will help us better focus and improve outreach strategies moving forward.

Next, I will provide an overview of the general fund, beginning with key economic drivers and revenue estimates. Please note that the budget is still being finalized and may continue to change before final adoption in June.

Some of the key economic factors influencing our revenue outlook for fiscal year 25-26 include high interest rates maintained by the Federal Reserve to control inflation, continue to make borrowing more expensive, which has slowed down development activity across the region. Fewer new projects are moving forward as developers face elevated mortgage rates, rising construction costs, and ongoing market uncertainty. At the same time, consumer confidence has dropped significantly, leading to decline in spending and non-essential items like dining, travel, and discretionary retail.

So these reductions is directly impacting our local sales tax revenues.

Looking at our revenue estimates for the general fund for next year, fiscal year 25-26, we're projecting a modest overall increase of around 1%. Sales tax revenues are expected to grow slightly. slightly. Measure X is expected to go up by 1.3% and Bradley Burns up by 1.5%, reflecting stable but cautious consumer spending. Property tax are estimated to increase by 2.5%, driven mainly by inflation adjustments and some modest turnover in the housing market. Plan, check, and permit revenues remain soft as developers continue to hold off on new projects due to to high interest rates and market uncertainty.

Police jail revenues continue to struggle due to the ongoing staffing shortages, which have contributed to fewer bookings and reduced service levels.

So this is a summary of our, this summary outlines the draft for the general fund budget, which incorporates both recurring and one-time resources. It also incorporates council's early direction on March 18, along with the proposed rebalancing measures to ensure that the budget is balanced. For recurring funds, we have a balanced budget with approximately 1,300 and available ongoing resources after accounting for new spending proposals and adjustments. The draft budget includes an estimated 5.7 million and remaining one-time money, which may be used in future for potential stadium improvements.

This reflects the updated fund balance from March 4th, mid-year update, which includes 2.2 million used this year for the Centennial Park improvements, along with proposed one-time spending for Fiscal Year 25 to 26, including 2 million deposit into the pension stabilization account. We'll review these major additions and related balancing measures later in the presentation.

Next, let's follow up on early direction items and proposed program spending.

So these are the notable, so these are some of the notable proposed recurring additions to the general fund. The notable recurring additions include the proposed budget includes several workforce changes including 17 new positions and eight reallocations to help offset the cost. Several of these new positions are funded through reductions in part-time and contract service budgets. A detailed breakdown of these changes are provided in the next slide. $900,000 for additional ambulance to enhance emergency response capacity.

$845,000 for increased costs associated with the R-mark jail contract, primarily due to rising food and service costs. This shortfall began in the prior year, but was temporarily covered using one-time monies. $350,000 for ARWOC and arts and cultural programs. $306,000 for structural pay increases for correctional officers aimed at improving recruitment and filling vacancies so the jail can generate additional revenue. $150,000 for branding and communication strategies.

The proposed budget includes 17 new general fund positions. decisions. Key additions include four new code enforcement officers to support the City Council priorities, addressing public nuances, property maintenance violations, and neighborhood quality life concerns. The budget also adds two new police investigative specialists to assist with case investigations, helping to free up sworn officers for field duties, and police service dispatchers to strengthen response coordination. Other additions include a U.S. youth and adult librarian to expand programming and engagement for young residents, and assistant

city attorney to help manage growing litigation workload. Several of these positions are offset by reductions in part-time budgets for contract services.

This section highlights the rebalancing adjustments to keep the budget balance. Some contract services are shifting in-house, saving nearly $195,000. Over time is partially offset by vacancy savings and funding is being reduced for long term vacant positions. We're also using available gas tax revenue to cover medium landscaping maintenance, easing pressure on the general fund. These reductions help align our ongoing expenses with available revenues. news. The draft budget includes one-time funding proposal to address the mix of

operational infrastructure and facility needs. We're recommending a two million dollar contribution to the pension stabilization trust to help manage future fluctuations in CalPERS investment returns. Other proposed one-time allocations include 1.5 million for business area road improvements, 1 $1 million to address anticipated litigation costs in Fiscal Year 2025-26. $500,000 for backflow prevention devices to support the water enterprise cross-connection control program. $250,000 for improvements to the Bristol and Ettinger parking lot to support rental income.

$250,000 for new bus shelters. Following these proposed allocations, approximately $5.7 of one-time funds remains available.

City Council previously expressed interest in expanding the stadium seating from 9,000 to 11,000 and directed staff to return with more information. Preliminary estimates suggest that adding capacity could generate approximately $258,000 in annual revenues. However, with an initial cost of $5.27 million, the payback period would exceed 20 years. CONSIDERING THE LONG-TERM VISION FOR THE CIVIC CENTER DEVELOPMENT, STAFF WILL LOOK FOR OPTIONS TO ENSURE ANY NEAR-TERM CITY INVESTMENTS IS REPAID WITHIN 10 YEARS. THIS INCLUDES IDENTIFYING POTENTIAL PROMOTERS, REFINING IMPROVEMENT OPTIONS AND EVALUING

RENTAL FEE STRUCTURES TO IMPROVE THE RETURN ON THE INVESTMENT. AN UPDATE IS EXPECTED BY DECEMBER 2025.

This slide outlines the proposed spending plan for the cannabis public benefit fund for fiscal year 25-26. The budget was adjusted during the mid-year update on March 18 to reflect lower revenues. The proposed budget is balanced, but staff will continue to monitor actual revenues and make adjustments if needed. As required by our ordinance, more than 50% of the fund is allocated to youth services. services. Major allocations include over 2.5 million for recreation and zoo staffing, 326,000 for library and support, 340,000 for youth and internship programs. The remaining 48%

supports important services including staffing and operational support for police, code enforcement and city attorney's office. The proposed budget spending plan for next year is 8.2 million.

And next, a quick discussion on the proposed fee increases.

As noted during the early budget direction presentation, staff proposed a 4.76 fee increase for Fiscal Year 2526. These fees are intended to recover the city's cost of providing direct services to individuals such as planning permits and recreational programs. The proposed adjustment reflects rising employee compensation costs including step increases negotiated raises as well as associated overhead for fiscal year 25 26 we are also proposing a CPI based increase to parks recreation and community services fees these fees were not adjusted last year and this proposal includes a one-time only the current

years increases with no catch-up for the last prior two years next I would cover to cover council requested initiatives.

As part of the early budget direction process, staff is looking at ways to address council requested projects and initiatives. Some of those items are reflected here. 4.8 million is included in 2526, capital improvement plan for Euclid Street Rehab Project, which will be funded by GASDAQ's revenues. We've also allocated 250,000 to support support the development of a fire station master plan. Other items which will be funded using existing funding include 80,000 for additional street lights at locations such as Fairview and Downey Place, 8th and Jefferson, and along the Hathaway Freeway wall.

Additional items include upgrades to Code Blue emergency call boxes and traffic safety improvements such as speed bumps and crosswalk enhancements.

Next, we'll go over the highlights for our capital improvement program.

The fiscal year 25-26 capital improvement program includes new funding of approximately $43.5 million for street improvements, continuing the city's focus on maintaining enhancing roadway conditions. $6.96 million in new funding is proposed for traffic safety improvements, supporting projects that enhance pedestrian and vehicle safety. additional new funding includes 0.9 million for city and park facility improvements and 0.6 million for utility drainage and lighting upgrades to address critical infrastructure needs as part of the new capital improvement program several projects specifically focus on enhancing safety

this includes 2.7 6 million for street lights improvements along first Street traffic safety 50 corridor which will improve its ability.

We're also proposing .7 million for multimodal street improvements at Memorial Lane and Main Place Mall. Additional funding includes $345,000 for bridge preventative maintenance program, $301,000 for high visibility mark crosswalks at key intersections, and $75,000 for continued work for the Santa Ana Great Separation Project. project. So after we receive your direction tonight, any adjustments will be reflected in the presentation at the regular city council meeting on May 20th. Council will also have the opportunity at that meeting to provide any further direction if needed. Your public

hearing is currently scheduled for June 3rd with adoption planned for June 17th. So that concludes my presentation. Staff is ready to answer your questions and receive additional additional direction.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Thank you very much for that presentation. We all really appreciate it. So council members, is it working today, Madam Clerk?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

It should be working today. It should be working if somebody can choose. Please raise your mic and I'll call on you to speak. So let me start on this end. Remember we'll do three minutes and we'll just keep going around till we're finished here. So we'll come back to you if you exceed the three minutes, please.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

councilman Hernandez thank you madam mayor and I'd like to thank our city staff for preparing a balanced budget I'm very happy with what I see in front of me and I'll be very brief with my comments I am supportive of us adding an additional one million dollars towards sidewalk repairs in an effort to reduce liabilities for our city I think that it would be important and and essential that we allocate these monies to sidewalk repairs. This will not only help us reduce liabilities, but it is an effort to also increase public safety. The perception of safety is much better for our residents

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

when they have clean, well-paved sidewalks. We also have a higher presence of city staff in our streets repairing these roads, so there's a sense of camaraderie with the residents. So it does a world of change for communities. ARTICIA PILAR, THE SANTA ANITA COMMUNITY, WILLARD, WE'VE HAD A LOT OF STREET REPAVEMENTS AND IT'S BROUGHT A LOT OF NEIGHBORS TOGETHER AND IT ALSO HELPS WITH MAKING THE NEIGHBORHOOD LOOK NICER. SO I'D LIKE TO SEE US ALLOCATE AN ADDITIONAL MILLION TOWARD SIDEWALKS. I AM SUPPORTIVE OF THE BLUE SECURITY LIGHTS. A COUPLE OF RECOMMENDATIONS IS I WOULD LIKE TO SEE BLUE SECURITY LIGHT AT THE WILLARD

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

NEIGHBORHOOD ON 15TH AND PARTON. WE GET A LOT OF CALLS FOR POLICE AT THAT INTERSECTION. IT HAS ALSO BEEN AN INTERSECTION WHERE RESIDENTS HAVE REACHED OUT REGARDING CONCERNS WITH TRAFFIC COLLISIONS AS WELL AS PEDESTRIAN SAFETY. SO HAVING A BLUE SAFETY LIGHT AT THAT INTERSECTION, MR. CITY MANAGER, I THINK WILL BE BENEFICIAL TO BOTH STUDENTS OF WILLARD AND THE FAMILIES WHO LIVE ADJACENT TO THE SCHOOL. THERE IS A SMALL PARK SPACE THERE AS WELL. I'm supportive of us also adding a blue light at El Salvador Park and at Jerome Park. Jerome Park is a park that we're investing lots of money in. We're bringing an outdoor library.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

Parks and Recreation has done a great job with just renovating that facility. I think to add in an extra layer of safety, it would be appropriate to have that blue security light. I'm supportive of us keeping the security lights on 3rd and Ross and 2nd and Broadway. AND I'M SUPPORTIVE OF US RENOVATING THE BUS STOPS AT 17TH AND BRISTOL. SAN ANA COLLEGE IS IN WARD 5. THAT IS ONE OF THE LARGEST INTERSECTIONS IN THE CITY, 17TH AND BRISTOL. SO I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THAT BUS STOP. SUPPORTIVE OF OUR SENIOR CENTERS EXPANSION. WE NEED TO INVEST IN SENIOR SERVICES AND I THINK THAT WOULD BE GREAT FOR US TO EXPAND THAT CENTER.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

I'M SUPPORTIVE OF US ALLOCATING MONIES FOR TRAFFIC STUDIES, RESPECTIVELY FOR THE WILLARD AND WASHINGTON SQUARE NEIGHBORHOODS, ALONGSIDE THE STREETS OF 10TH STREET AND WASHINGTON. THOSE ARE TWO STREETS IN BOTH THE WILLARD AND WASHINGTON SQUARE NEIGHBORHOOD WHERE WE HAVE A LOT OF CALLS AND CONCERNS RELATED TO TRAFFIC. I'M ALSO SUPPORTIVE OF US ALLOCATING THE $350,000 TO THE ARTS AND I WILL WAIT FOR MY NEXT ROUND OF COMMENTS. THANK YOU, MADAM MAYOR.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

THANK YOU, COUNCILMAN HERNANDEZ, FOR STAYING ON THE TIME. I APPRECIATE IT. Any other speakers?

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

You've got to raise your mic, please. Thank you. Go ahead. Thank you so much. Thank you for the presentation to the staff. You did a great job. I really appreciate how you outlined this. I like the workforce changes, and we were able to save some money and make sure we have staff available to do the work. Thank you for the in-house versus contracted, and I want to see that with the rent stabilization group as well, so we could save more funds on that. Thank you for that work. What I do want to see, and I'm going to support the Santa Ana Stadium renovations. I didn't speak up before,

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

but we have been lacking in these kind of amenities in Santa Ana. We don't have a convention center. Like, I went to Ontario for a group, for a student, a competition, and Ontario has a huge convention center. and this beautiful arena and we have Eddie Westfield as it stands so we want to we do want to invest in Santa Ana and make it a space for big events to come and see how much we can generate more funds with that that being said I also want to see cannabis takes a big piece is a big piece of our funds it's eight million dollars over eight million so I really want to see the cannabis festival

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

come to fruition here in Santa Ana to make sure that we don't lose that and we become known as a safe and clean place to come and buy your cannabis if if you're needed if you're of age um the proposed increases for a park for parks and recreation i'm a little wary but if at the tier that has the highest rate of santa ana residents participating that are non-profits that are in line with the national group and have insurance i wouldn't want to increase the funds for those those mom and pop leagues that are our children for the most part that are doing,

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

they're having a nonprofit, they have insurance, that are covered by a national organization because we wanna give back to our people and the way they work. These are parents who are volunteering their time. So I would pump the brakes on that level of a league, right? And allow for the increases as the staff IS SEEKING HERE FOR THE REST UH WE HAVE SOME COUNCIL RELATED UH PROJECTS THAT I WANT TO SPEAK ABOUT UH LET'S LET'S IMPROVE OUR FIRE STATIONS THEY THEY SEEM TO BE NOT IN A GREAT PLACE I'VE TALKED TO COUNCIL MEMBER BESSETTO HAVE BEEN IN MEETINGS AND HE'S BROUGHT IT UP SO I WANT TO SUPPORT

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

UH THAT UH THE ANGEL PARKS CROSSWALK AND I DO WANT TO HELP WITH THE I I REALLY WANT TO REITERATE THAT BY DIAMOND ELEMENTARY ON CENTER STREET, WE CAN'T GET 80% SPEEDING BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT YOU TAKE TO GET A SPEED BUMP. I KNOW THE BUS GOES THROUGH THERE. BUT WE'RE NOT GOING TO GET IT BECAUSE THERE'S A LOT, TONS OF SPEEDING, BUT WE'RE NOT GOING TO GET 80 BECAUSE THE PEOPLE DRIVING THEIR KIDS TO THE TEAL ELEMENTARIES, TO DIAMOND, THREE ELEMENTARIES, DIAMOND, CARL HARVEY, AND MONTAVISA AREN'T GOING TO SPEED. THE PEOPLE GOING TO JEROME PARK AND JEROME CENTER AREN'T

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

GOING TO SPEED. THE SENIORS AT SOUTHWEST SENIOR CENTER ARE NOT GOING TO SPEED. THE TWO CHURCHES IN BACK OF HARDEMARY AND THERE'S A VETNAMESE CHURCH, THEY'RE NOT GOING TO SPEED. BUT THERE'S TONS OF OTHER PEOPLE GOING THROUGH. IT'S NEVER GOING TO HIT 80. BUT YOU KNOW, WE HAVE A LOT OF KIDS. WE HAVE A PRESCHOOL THERE. WE HAVE TWO HIGH SCHOOLS, VALLEY AND CRYSTAL RAY HAS MOVED IN. SO A LOT OF, WE'RE NOT GOING TO HIT 80% BECAUSE THERE'S A LOT OF FAMILIES. SO WE NEED TO PROTECT THOSE FAMILIES WHO ARE NOT SPEEDING. SO WE NEED TO SAVE ON on Center Street and also on Eldra between Raid and Center Street. So thank you for that.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

And we've seen a lot of speakers come out from Ward 2 for Pacific Park. Thank you guys for coming out. We hear you. We wanna fully fund the Cypress Station for a senior center and POW. We wanna get that renovated because if it's lying there, that's just dangerous to the whole community. It's not only sore to look at, but it's a danger to our community. So I support this move. PLEASE STAFF SUPPORT PACIFIC PARK NEIGHBORHOOD I I WANT A FULLY FUNDED TOLIVER PARK BASKETBALL COURT IF YOU CAN'T GIVE ME A SKATE PARK BUT GET THE WORK DONE IN THERE SO THERE'S PROGRAMMING AND

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

IT'S NOT LAY DOORMAT UH IF WE'RE STILL WORKING ON LOWELL ELEMENTARY PLEASE I NEED TO SUPPORT THAT NEIGHBORHOOD THAT HAS NO PARKS THERE'S NO PARK SPACE AT PICO LOWE MAY I APPRECIATE IT

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

THANK YOU. I APPRECIATE IT. THANK YOU.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

COUNCILMAN BUSSERRA.

Phil BacerraItem 1

THANK YOU, MAYOR. I WANT TO THANK STAFF FOR PUTTING THIS ALL TOGETHER. I KNOW PUTTING A BUDGET TOGETHER WITH SEVEN PEOPLE THROWING IN THEIR OWN SPICES AND REQUESTS IS A DIFFICULT TASK. SO THANK YOU FOR THAT. I WANT TO THANK YOU SPECIFICALLY FOR INCLUDING FUNDING FOR SPEED HUMPS, FOR PAVING DOWN IN SOME OF THE HIGHER TRAFFIC COMMERCIAL AREAS DOWN ESPECIALLY THE ONES THAT ARE GENERATING REVENUE ON THE SOUTH END NEAR HUTTON CENTER AND VERY IMPORTANTLY AND BECAUSE I THINK THIS REFLECTS WHAT WE HEARD FROM THE COMMUNITY SURVEYS WHICH IS ADDING STREET LIGHTS IN DARK AREAS AND SO I APPRECIATE SEEING THE

Phil BacerraItem 1

FUNDING PROPOSED FOR THE LIGHTS ALONG BRISTOL ON THE WEST SIDE BETWEEN GARY AND ALTON WHAT I DID NOT SEE IN HERE AND I WOULD LIKE TO REALLY REITERATE I THINK THAT WE NEED TO RECONSIDER and that is left turn signals at flower mcarthur and greenville mcarthur i know talking to public work staff very recently i know flower mcarthur is very important to them for some of the agreements that they're working on across jurisdictionally so in neighboring cities and things that we've got going with octa i know that flower mcarthur is going to be essential greenville mcarthur is

Phil BacerraItem 1

another intersection though that has a lot of accidents due to the lack of that left turn I'M GOING TO REEMPHASIZE HOW IMPORTANT THAT IS FOR SAFETY THAT WE GET THOSE IN THERE. I APPRECIATE THAT LAST FISCAL YEAR WE HAD A COUPLE OF LEFT TURN SIGNALS ADDED TO THE BUDGET, BUT THESE ARE CATCH-UP ITEMS. THIS ISN'T JUST ASPIRATIONAL. THIS IS TRYING TO SAVE LIVES HERE. I DO HAVE A QUESTION FOR STAFF, AND THAT IS THERE'S A $250,000 PROPOSED INVESTMENT IN BRISTOL AND EDINGER FOR THAT PARKING LOT. I'M NOT A MATHEMATICIAN BUT I WANT TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS THE EXPECTED REVENUE COMING OUT OF THAT $250,000 INVESTMENT?

WE'RE ACTUALLY STILL ASSESSING WHAT THAT REVENUE MIGHT BE BECAUSE PART OF IT HINGES ON A FUTURE AGENDA ITEM COMING BEFORE THE CITY COUNCIL FOR THE PARKING DISTRICT AND METERS AND RATES. rates. And so based on that and special events permits and everything and we're just not quite sure how much activity we're going to see, but we think that we need to do something there to activate that space. And so we figured for the minimal investment it was worthwhile

to see what we can do about, you know, really activating it and getting some income. So revenue projection just yet because it hinges on a couple things to come.

Phil BacerraItem 1

And thank you for that, Kat. But with that kind of philosophy in mind, so when we look at the presentation about the Santa Ana Stadium, we're also saying the same thing that, well, we don't really know how much we're gonna get out of it. Is that investment worthwhile? And so we wanna look at a plan for that, which I actually, with the stadium, I support some sort of plan because while I think adding seats is important, I also know that one of the biggest concerns from the tenants of those stadiums, whether it's Santa Ana High School, SAC, or modern day, is the condition of the locker rooms. And that hasn't been discussed.

Phil BacerraItem 1

That's something that needs to be addressed as well. Sidewalks, I'm going to do a little gloating and say thank you, everybody, for supporting sidewalks because that was something that I brought up when I first got elected. There was not even a line item for sidewalks in the budget. Not even a line item. It was, well, if we have some gas tax, maybe, kind of, sort of. So I appreciate that.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

I DO AGREE WITH STAFF AND WHAT THEY'RE PRO three minutes um mr city manager can i get additional information um i think you know what i'm gonna ask probably on the senior center and the proposed usage and the what are we going to rent it for and what is the schedule for seniors and are we taking anything away from them i think you know as we all know in this community we have a very large senior population and i don't to take anything from them if anything I'd like to give them more more services more activities you know we talked about putting them in the van and taking them to you know state line or you know

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

casinos whatever it is that we do so I see in here it says to use senior centers event hours availability Monday through Friday from 6 to 11 Saturday and Sunday 8 to 11 and then it states THAT IT WOULD NOT INTERFERE WITH PROGRAMMING AT OUR SENIOR CENTERS FROM 8 TO 5. SO DO WE THINK SENIORS ONLY DO ACTIVITIES FROM 8 TO 5?

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

NO, BUT THAT'S THE MAIN POINT. SO WE'RE TRYING TO MAXIMIZE OUR PROPERTIES THAT WE HAVE. NO DIFFERENT HOW COUNCIL MEMBER ASKED ABOUT BRISTON EDINGER. SO THE IDEA IS AT THIS POINT, EVEN AT THAT, AT BRISTON EDINGER, AT LEAST TO MAXIMIZE TO to make the improvements, better lighting, better parking, better security, so at least we're able to generate a level of income that allows us to maintain it clean, right, and have some of the uses. No difference with the senior center. So our objective is not to impede or hurt any of the senior adult usage of those amenities, but to expand.

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

And if we can make minimum investment that allows us to use it when it's not being used at that level then why not that's the key to maximize the usage without compromising what we have there currently so this is going to move

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

forward you know the council moves approving the budget I just want to get regular updates quarterly about what it what we're renting them out for what are the hours and then as you know I go to the senior centers quite often and I want to hear from them and we'll have a coffee with the mayor there and I'm sure other council members will reach out to their seniors and here you know their their side is it okay and is it working for them and then maybe we could come back because if it works great but if they say you're taking services away from us understood I I don't want to do that

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

understood but you know no our our perspective is not different than City of Costa Mesa Buena Park Orange we use community centers for for quinceaneras weddings graduation parties retirement parties so that's that's our lens that we're trying to look at without again hurting our our current population and its current usage.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

No, and I agree with you, and I wanna generate revenue as well. I just, again, I don't wanna step on our seniors here. So I also wanted to say that thank you for all of the work staff. You know, this is my third year sitting here and doing the budget with the city, and the number one priority, again, for the three years that I've been sitting here, the number one priority is public safety. So I just want that on the record. This has been three years that I've been doing the budget with the city, and the number one item is public safety. So another question, Kat, did you say or Alex, how many youth participated on your JAR activity?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

I'm sorry, how many youth participated with what? The JAR activity?

Oh, the JAR activity.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Basically how many youth did you speak to regarding the budget?

It's the total amount of JARs. Oh, okay.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

I GOT IT.

TOTAL OF ALL THE JARS, YES.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

WOW, YOU TALKED TO MORE KIDS THAN WE DID ADULTS ALMOST. THAT'S GREAT. I LOVE IT. THANK YOU.

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

WE ARE A VERY YOUNG CITY.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

ON THE BUS SHELTER, I WOULD LIKE TO ADD, AND I BROUGHT THIS to your attention before. I think the bill, we talked about this, Mr. City Manager McFadden and Center Street, they had asked for that bus shelter to be improved or to be removed and a new one placed there. If we can add that to the list, please. I don't know the cost of that. And I'd also like to take a look at, one of the speakers had talked about trees. We planted 34 trees on Arbor Day. So I think we can do it again and we should be looking at that maybe again and next year set aside some funding for additional trees instead of 33, maybe we're doing 73 trees.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

And I also, and I'll come back on my next round, I also am very supportive, as you all know, of the Cypress Street Fire Station for PAL and senior use. Very important that we take care of that and we get that rolling as soon as possible.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

And also for the arts, we allocated 200,000, is that correct?

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

ARE YOU SUPPORTING THAT?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

I'M SUPPORTING THAT. I'M SUPPORTING THAT. I'M SUPPORTING THAT. I'M SUPPORTING THAT. I'M SUPPORTING THAT. I'M SUPPORTING THAT. I'M SUPPORTING THAT.

Jessie LopezItem 1

I'M SUPPORTING THAT. I'M SUPPORTING THAT. I'M SUPPORTING THAT. I'M SUPPORTING THAT. I'M SUPPORTING THAT. I'M SUPPORTING THAT. I'M SUPPORTING THAT. I'M SUPPORTING THAT. I'M SUPPORTING THAT. I'M SUPPORTING THAT. I'M SUPPORTING THAT. I'M SUPPORTING THAT.

I'M SUPPORTING THAT. proposed additions of one-time funds will have around 5.7 million of one-time monies got it

Jessie LopezItem 1

thank you and then moving on to can you give me a number of how many people filled the budget

Jessie LopezItem 1

it's uh around a thousand a thousand people and how much have you spent on advertising the budget

it that i don't know i know paul's been helping us with pushing that through social media if i had to put a ballpark figure be something like less than 10 000 between 5 000 i would say because we also did miller's where we sent residents through their their water bill and that was not that expensive to send those out okay thank you and um city manager when we

Jessie LopezItem 1

discussed the budget or gave early direction I think late May I had asked for more information about the possibility of creating a safety fund for our employees that are grant dependent and who possibly may not be with the city if those grants are pulled do you know when we're gonna get that

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

information so we can get that at the next next agenda meeting not necessarily for Tuesday but maybe for the first one in June. Again, I'm not sure if we are able to provide a safety fund to ensure people based on grant employment. It's literally balancing the general fund allocations and then trying to ensure that we preserve as much for employees.

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

As far as guarantee employment, is that the direction?

Jessie LopezItem 1

No, the direction is not guaranteeing employment. I wanted to know how many of our employees were being paid via grants, whether state or federal. And part of what I had brought here to my peers was could we look at establishing possibly a fund using one-time dollars?

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

So as you recall during that meeting where we provided the information, I think we indicated anywhere between 68 to $100 million in federal grants allocations, I'm not sure we can provide a safety fund that guarantees that component. Unless I misunderstood.

There are 61 employees that are charged to federal programs.

Jessie LopezItem 1

Okay, got it. And then I think it would be great for me to know if what the outlook for those 61 employees is going to be obviously after the federal budget is passed. That's something of importance to my office. Thank you.

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

So just to clear so that we understand the direction clearly. We'll outline the impact of 61 staff members assigned to specific federal grants and as possible impacts as far as it relates to the general fund.

Jessie LopezItem 1

Yeah, because I imagine they're throughout different divisions. The majority, I'm going to make an assumption, but I don't know, are possibly with CDA. Yes.

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

Okay. Section 8. Correct.

Jessie LopezItem 1

All of those details I'm requesting. Thank you. And then moving on to the proposed adjustments, who is under what fund is the parking control officers being paid for now?

They're currently getting paid through the parking enterprise fund.

Jessie LopezItem 1

And so can you just tell me why you want to move them over to general fund?

Sure The revenue that these parking enforcement staff it's they're not Recovering their full cost and so we're moving shifting that those positions to general fund to help a little bit to the parking enterprise condition The parking enterprise right now is currently upside down by 1.6 million the recurring budget So our parking garages and our parking meters are not generating enough revenue to pay for those operations and so we're we're trying to take a multi-pronged approach to rebalancing that fund part of it is to move that parking enforcement

Over into the general fund. So we're piece by piece We're trying to figure out how to how to reduce this 1.6 million dollar ongoing deficit

Jessie LopezItem 1

got it thank you for that explanation and then I do see the arts and culture funding for $200,000 so thank you I appreciate staff including that and I wanted to see can you explain what the branding and communication strategies for a hundred and fifty thousand dollars is that's contracting an outside third

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

party to help with the branding with the city of Santa the idea is to see what we're missing as far as identifying some of the key components that highlights how we can brand

Jessie LopezItem 1

the city of santana a little bit better okay so i imagine that's a one-time expense since part of i think what was mentioned earlier was that we don't want to outsource work anymore correct exactly so i was asking because i wanted to figure out what a contractor can provide that our own

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

city staff in this field can't well it goes to the sorting of technical and professional aspect if we're limiting aspect this would be one of those engagements we may or may not spend 150 000 but most of the contracts allow for that so the idea is what is it about what we're doing that's not garnering the same type of perspective and now look like thing that we need from our branding of the city and again no different than we just indicated regarding the absolute endowment regarding the parking control office right by as moving to the general fund it clearly understands

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

Understands where the funny is coming from because the funding itself is not helping to solidify provide that level of funding

Jessie LopezItem 1

Okay For sponsorship of city events and promotion of the city. Is that a new line item or that is being entered?

Jessie LopezItem 1

Sorry, where did you see that it's on page five under proposed adjustments for the upcoming budgets

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

oh that is a new uh line item and it's some of the requests we're getting from from from folks who wants to sponsor and support some of the non-profits or um advocacy groups that they think meet some of the uh in line with the city alignments and processes how much do we use now

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

how much do we use yeah that's about the amount we're using

Jessie LopezItem 1

BUT IT HAS JUST NEVER BEEN ALLOCATED IN THE PAST?

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

NOT IN THIS CAPACITY. WE WANT TO BE ABLE TO TRACK IT

Jessie LopezItem 1

CORRECTLY. WE JUST PULL MONEY FROM DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS? RIGHT. OKAY. GOT IT.

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

IN THIS CASE, SOME OF THE CITY MANAGEMENT ASPECTS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. OKAY. THANK YOU.

Jessie LopezItem 1

THE ONE THING I'M NOT SUPPORTIVE IS INCREASING MONEY FOR CITY COUNCIL TRAVEL OF $40,000.

Jessie LopezItem 1

You know, I think this is a point in time where we really have to be looking at everything and saving and increasing the budget to send council members to travel while taxpayers are paying for that. It's not something that I'm going to be supporting tonight.

Jessie LopezItem 1

The other thing, can you explain what are the ICMA memberships under your office?

International City Managers Association. That's where we get our professional development from for the four of us. Okay, thank you.

Jessie LopezItem 1

And then there's a line item that says use vacancy savings to offset a portion of overtime, right? And it's close to $500,000. Does that mean no overtime is going to be allowed if you're using the dollars from the overtime fund?

That means that we're reducing the overtime line item. And so if they have vacancy savings, they can use the vacancy savings to pay overtime if it's needed. but as far as a planning you know a plan going into the year we are reducing the overtime line item and we also know that our Police Department is working on some different strategies to try to reduce overtime good to hear okay I see that my

Jessie LopezItem 1

time is up I'll come back I obviously have more questions thanks thank you

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

Councilmember Fan please. Thank you Mayor. So first of all thank you so much to staff for this budget. Always wonderful to see how you pull it all together because you know we always agree. The first thing I'd like to say is thank you so much to Public Works, Rudy, Euclid Street you know so a lot of people might not know and I just told the mayor Euclid Street is well the west side both Euclid and Harbor are two of the busiest thoroughfares in the city of Santa Ana with Harbor being the busiest except for the one segment on Bristol between 17th and memory lane and so it's it's a highly traveled

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

area of the city and Euclid Street has some of the highest rates of pedestrian travel traffic related pedestrian deaths and injuries in the city of Santa Ana because we have so many mixed uses. In fact, in the corner of McFadden and Euclid we have three churches that also operate as schools. We have a combination of businesses, churches, mobile home parks, residential and commercial, and so it's really important to get these upgrades and changes and I think it's a great opportunity for us to not only work with our congressmember, our assembly member, member, but also our neighboring assembly members and congress

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

member to help receive additional funding for this. But I just wanted to say thank you. Our residents on the west side, thank you. And it's not only an improvement to the street. I think it'll also be an incredible change to the public safety in the area and the quality of life to the residents, businesses, and schools there. The only other request I had, and we brought this up at the last meeting and mr city manager you are aware lighting at centennial park um at field five and six again i have video evidence of some wonderful youth soccer players requesting

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

this lighting and this isn't just about you know lighting the park or just youth services centennial park is the largest park in the city of santa ana it is one of the most used parks in the city of Santa Ana. It is the park where we have our biggest events. It is the park where we have the most soccer players. It's the park that we have that we want to make sure we keep activated and in the winter time it gets dark at 5 p.m. and that means that our kids are playing in the dark. In order to ensure that Centennial stays safe, stays activated, and stays a central part of our city, we have to

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

get that lighted so i know that there's a grant application in but i do think with the one-time funding 5.7 million dollars left if we do not get that grant funding i still believe that it is a core investment that we have to make in this city because if we want more engagement and we want more attendance at our events and we want to get more sponsorships for those types of events that's what we're going to have to do those are the only two requests that i have in this budget regarding some of the expenses I appreciate council member Lopez bringing up some of those

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

line items I do have a question regarding the council member travel because I understand that the city of Santa Ana now is part of the national league of cities in order to while working with cities all across the country to advocate for a variety of issues that impact impact the city of Santa Ana, well, all the cities, right? In fact, I was in DC recently, I paid for my own travel, lodging, and food for that, and met with our representative from National League of Cities. I think that increasing the $40,000 to ensure that our representatives are involved in any type of federal advocacy or even state advocacy,

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

as we have done more recently under your leadership, has really allowed the city of Santa Ana to be a vocal voice in advocating for policies that help our residents, including, for example, Mayor, your travel to Sacramento has ensured that we fought, for example, NIDA exchange, fighting for the sober living bills, fighting against the Perez bill that would prevent us from enforcing our anti-camping ordinance. So I think that this is not pleasure travel. This is is exactly the kind of travel our policy representatives should be doing in order to fight for residents of the city of Santa Ana.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

So I just wanna say, those are my comments for now and I'll turn it back to you, thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Thank you very much. Your Centennial lights, did you also want a blue safety light?

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

I mean, that's fine, but once we have the lights, we won't need it.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

Cost savings right there.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

We'll take it though, Councilman Hernandez.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

Thank you, Madam Mayor. and thank you for my colleagues for such thoughtful requests I just wanted to highlight the traffic studies that I am requesting again just to reiterate are for both the Washington Square and Willard neighborhoods the intersections are 10th Street as well as Washington just wanted to reiterate that I am supportive of us bridging the digital divide with Chromebooks and hotspots I'd like to see us continue to fund the hotspots and Chromebooks at our LIBRARIES ANGELS PARK HAVING A CROSSWALK IS GOING TO ENSURE THAT THE CHILDREN CROSSING FROM DOWNTOWN

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

INTO THE FLOWER PARK NEIGHBORHOOD HAVE A SAFE ENTRY POINT TO GET TO ANGELS PARK SO I AM SUPPORTIVE OF THAT I ALSO WANT TO ENSURE THAT WE COMPLETE ANGELS PARKS BASKETBALL COURT MR CITY MANAGER I ALSO AM VERY SUPPORTIVE OF SETTING ASIDE FIVE MILLION DOLLARS FROM THE 22 MILLION WE RECEIVED FROM bristol related to sun in preparation for measure x's sunset so i would like to see us you know prepare for that um and i think that us setting aside five million from that 22 million that we're going to be receiving would be a responsible thing for us to do and just putting that on the floor

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

i'm supportive of arbor day and earth day i'd like to see us expand how many trees we're planting across the parks residents and families loved it I think if we can add more parks to that schedule and if we can also find a way to maybe add a small line item of $10,000 and we incentivize residents $100 per tree that they plan at their home we can also find a way to get them engaged and I'll shout out the congressman Korea for that idea because he visited some of these parks and and shared hey I love that the city's planting these trees you're finally SEEING ORANGE TREES, AVOCADO TREES AT THESE PARKS.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

RESIDENTS WANT TO GET IN ON THAT TOO. IF WE CAN HELP BY INCENTIVIZING THEM PARTICIPATING, IMAGINE ARBOR DAY IN SANTA ANA AND YOU HAVE 100 ADDITIONAL FAMILIES WHO LIVE IN OUR CITY PLANTING ALONGSIDE US. WE CAN REALLY CREATE A COMMUNITY OF WELLNESS AND SAFETY BY BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER THAT WAY. I'M ALSO SUPPORTIVE OF US INVESTING IN THE FIRE STATION. WE NEED TO COMPLETE THE CONSTRUCTION. I think having that facility open is going to make the Pacific Park neighborhood much safer I'm supportive of us allocating monies for Bristol and Tolliver I know that there was a discussion for

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

Councilmember Penalosa to have a park space in Warner and Bristol and he stated that his district did not want that Bristol and Tolliver is something that the council did vote in favor of I would like to see us allocate Whatever monies is needed to get that park, you know groundbreaking the groundbreaking and all that good stuff I'm also supportive of a security light at Ed Carruthers. It's a brand new park About a year old and that would be a great location to add a blue light and then lastly I would like to see us add a $60,000 line item from our cannabis fund for summer night lights at El Salvador Park

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

For us it has helped us with decreasing violence and his increased You know community safety if we can have that that 60,000 broken over two fiscal years, 30,000 this fiscal year, 30,000 the next, that right there helps us with our violence reduction efforts. And cannabis fund, I think there's an opportunity for us to find that money there. That'll conclude my comments. Madam Mayor, thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Thank you, Councilman Hernandez. Councilmember, Mayor Pro Tem Vasquez, please.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

Thank you so much, and thank you, Mayor, for supporting Cypress Fire Station and Councilmember Hernandez as well. That's awesome. It's just great to have that support for the community. So I wanted to start with that. I did want to support the blue lights at the parks as much as we can have them to bring people to the parks so they can feel safe wherever the police department and the parks and rec feel that's necessary. BUT FOR SURE, JEROME, ANGEL, BEDCREW ROTHERS, CENTENNIAL, THE LIGHTS, PLEASE SUPPORT THE

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

LIGHTING AT CENTENNIAL PARK. AND FOR SURE, WHEN WE HAVE A BIG STREET AND PEOPLE ARE CROSSING, LIKE YOU, CLINT, I'M GOING TO SUPPORT COUNCILMEMBER ON THAT. COUNCILMEMBER PENELOZA IS NOT HERE, BUT IS THE DOG PARK ON THIS BUDGET? IS THE DOG PARK ON THIS BUDGET? IT'S ALREADY FUNDED? ALL RIGHT. I'M JUST MAKING SURE I'M GOING TO BACK UP. PENELOZA IS OUT WITH HIS BABIES.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

ARE YOU TRYING TO TAKE HIS MONEY?

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

I DO LIKE A DOG PARK OVER ON BRYSTOL AND MCFADDEN.

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

JUST TO CLARIFY, RIGHT, IT'S CENTENNIAL PARK IMPROVEMENTS, SO IT'S PARKING, LIGHTS, BATHROOMS, A DOG PARK AND SOME OF THE AMENITIES ALSO.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU. ALSO I KNOW THE PACIFIC PARK STREETS ARE IN DISARRAY AND THEY'RE ON THE LIST, BUT I WANT LIKE I SAID WE COULD DO IT THIS THEY'RE CRUMBLING THEY'RE NOT IN DISR THEY'RE JUST CRUMBLING UH AS I WENT OUT AND WALKED AND JUST LOOK HORRIBLE SO SUPPORT THAT UH I SUPPORT COUNCILMEMBER HERNANDEZ ON SUMMER NIGHT LIGHTS UM LET'S SEE THAT'S A I WANT TO SPEAK TO THE TO THE TO THE BUDGET SURVEY WE JUST HAVE SOCIAL MEDIA WE'RE SO LIMITED THAT WE HAVE SO MANY COMMUNITY PARTNERS LIKE WE SHOULD be at the senior centers and we should be with non-profits we should work with the school district

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

garden grove santa ana all the all the um charter schools that we have we should be marketing in a way that we're not doing so we get more than a thousand so how do we interact with people we go with the rap so if you want to you know when there was covid they had these big centers for covet and they're like this is not working let's have smaller centers let's go to to this space this little space and bring people in and then you get more responses so as we we're doing this budget survey again next year great job on the survey uh this year but as we do it let's

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

let's work with our community partners to get it out we're me and the mayor want 5 000 people all right 10 okay 10 she said it 10 000 people to get to get the survey out we want to get that out

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

thank you that's all i got for now thank you mayor pro tem councilmember lopez yes thank you

Jessie LopezItem 1

I wanted to know for the voting device replacements, I don't know, I mean, again, thinking about cost savings, can we just do roll call votes?

Jessie LopezItem 1

The voting device replacement for the chamber. So that's one of the things I was looking at. and then can you tell me what the golf course business analysis is I haven't

heard of this sure okay yeah this would be for Riverview golf course are the agreements that we have in place are coming to an end in 2026 and so we want to assess all of our options for the future we don't want to get prepared for for when those current agreements end.

Jessie LopezItem 1

Okay, thank you. And for the fireworks stand, do you know why you don't have any projection for the upcoming year or why there wasn't any necessarily adopted

Jessie LopezItem 1

dollars for the past year?

Can you repeat that question again?

Jessie LopezItem 1

Yeah, if you go to page nine

Jessie LopezItem 1

under the fireworks stand permits, I'm just curious as to why it zeroed out.

Those permits go directly to the fire department, is that correct? Oh, yeah.

That permit revenue is not received by the city. Understood. Thank you. I didn't know that.

Jessie LopezItem 1

Can you let me know, also I had a quick suggestion for the MET line and the budget since the MET was suspended, can we strike them from having a general line in the budget? Zero for the upcoming year, zero for the last year. It is just a clean up.

We can do that. Typically we include a number of years and then they drop off eventually. We will take a look at it. Thank you. If we pull it out, we will get it.

I SEE. FOR THOSE PRIOR YEARS.

Jessie LopezItem 1

CAN YOU LET ME KNOW FOR PUBLIC WORK STREET LIGHT MAINTENANCE SERVICE ENHANCEMENT, WHAT IS IT, 3.6 MILLION THAT WE ARE PROPOSING FOR THE 25 TO 26 FISCAL YEAR? AM I READING THAT CORRECTLY? PAGE 14.

ARE YOU ASKING WHAT IS FUNDED IN THAT LINE ITEM?

Jessie LopezItem 1

YEAH, ESSENTIALLY THE 3.6 WHAT'S BEING THE FINAL NUMBER FOR THE BUDGET.

Jessie LopezItem 1

YES.

I'M SORRY, WERE YOU REFERRING TO THE PUBLIC WORK STREET LIGHT MAINTENANCE SERVICE ENHANCEMENT LINE ITEM? YES. YES, THAT. WE CAN CERTAINLY PROVIDE YOU THE DETAILS OF WHAT IS IN THAT. THAT IS A WHOLE ENTIRE PROGRAM. I AM SURE THAT PROBABLY INCLUDES A NUMBER OF THINGS, INCLUDING STAFF, CONTRACT SERVICES, ET CETERA. WE WOULD HAVE TO GET YOU THE DETAILED BREAKDOWN FOR THAT.

Jessie LopezItem 1

OKAY. GOT IT. I WAS THINKING ABOUT IT AS THE 30.6 SPECIFICALLY FOR THE MAINTENANCE, BUT IT IS MORE ENCOMPASSING. UNDERSTOOD.

Jessie LopezItem 1

CAN YOU LET ME KNOW IF THERE IS A REDUCTION FOR THE HOMELESSNESS SERVICE ENHANCEMENT FUND? OR ACTUALLY, YEAH, A REDUCTION.

WHICH PAGE NUMBER ARE YOU LOOKING AT? 15.

HOMELESS SERVICES SERVICE ENHANCEMENT FUND. We would have to get you the details on that unless you know that Alex. Yeah, why the decrease there?

We could look into that, but I do know that the prior homeless services manager, there was a retirement and typically when somebody retires we'll fund them at a lower step. So that might be a reason for that decrease. Okay. It'd be good for

Jessie LopezItem 1

me to know why there's a significant drop. Thank you. And then did I hear THERE IS A REDUCTION IN PART-TIME STAFF FOR THE WORKFORCE?

WE ARE CONVERTING SOME PART-TIME BUDGET INTO FULL-TIME POSITIONS. ALL OF THOSE FULL-TIME POSITIONS THAT WERE ADDED, SOME OF THOSE CAME FROM PART-TIME BUDGET REDUCTIONS, IF YOU WILL. THE WAY IT WORKS HERE AT THE CITY IS WE DO NOT BUDGET FOR SPECIFIC PART-TIME BUDGET WE HAVE DOLLAR BUDGETS. THIS PROGRAM MIGHT HAVE A $200,000 BUDGET FOR PART-TIME SERVICES. IF WE DEEM THAT IT IS BETTER SERVICE FOR THE CITY TO HAVE A FULL-TIMER, THEN WE WILL REDUCE THAT PART-TIME SERVICES AND PROPOSE THE ADDITION OF A FULL TIMER SO WE HAVE BETTER COVERAGE, BETTER SERVICE,

ET CETERA. IT IS ON A CASE-BY-CASE BASIS. THAT IS HOW THAT COMES ABOUT. THANK YOU.

Jessie LopezItem 1

FOR THE CASE-BY-CASE, I AM ASSUMING WE ARE STILL RELATING that information to the bargaining units right when it's part of the MOU yes and just to clarify

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

those are vacant positions that we either upgraded or moved to full-time okay thank you for that

Jessie LopezItem 1

clarification so now I want to move into some of the requests that have come in to the office a lot of what Martha highlighted is already in works with public works like the gates but I do want to uplift the lot restoration that we've heard for the past couple years at Riverview Park and obviously the blue light camera requests as well that PD and Public Works is aware of and you know we always go back to basics the straight structures for our parks that are being used Cabrillo Edna Park Santiago Park the parking list restoration at Edna Park we want to see

Jessie LopezItem 1

THE PARK, THE SIGN AT SANTIAGO PARK, WHICH I KNOW OUR STAFF IS AWARE OF BEING REDONE AND REPLACED. AND ALSO I'M GOING TO BE SUPPORTING THE REQUEST TO FULLY FUND THE TOLIVER AND BRISTOL PARK PROJECT. I THINK THAT BEFORE WE START MOVING FUNDS TO OTHER PROJECTS, WE SHOULD FUND WHAT WE'VE ALREADY APPROVED SO THAT THEY'RE NOT HALF DONE AND THEN HAVING TO FIGURE OUT WHERE THE OTHER PART OF THE MONEY IS GOING TO COME FROM.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

WE WILL BE BACK FOR THE NEXT ROUND.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

I WILL WAIT FOR THE OTHER ROUND.

Jessie LopezItem 1

THANK YOU.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

COUNCILMAN BUSSERRA.

Phil BacerraItem 1

THANK YOU, MADAM MAYOR. I APPRECIATE THAT THE MAYOR EMPHASIZED WHAT WAS A RESULT OF THE SURVEYS, WHICH IS THAT PUBLIC SAFETY WAS THE NUMBER ONE SIGHTED ISSUE THAT THEY WANTED TO SEE REFLECTED IN THE BUDGET. I'LL JOIN IN AND SAY THAT I, TOO, SUPPORT THE CYPRESS STREET FIRE STATION AS FAR AS GETTING THAT DONE. I THINK THE SOONER THE BETTER. I MEAN, IT'S BEEN DRAGGING OUT WAY TOO LONG. LET'S GET THAT DONE. I HAVE A QUESTION FOR STAFF, THOUGH, REGARDING UNDERGROUND POWER LINES. THIS MAY BE SOMETHING THAT PUBLIC WORKS KNOWS. THERE'S A PARTICULAR TYPE OF FUNDING THAT THE CITY HAS RECEIVED IN THE PAST, AND WE'VE

Phil BacerraItem 1

UNDERGROUND POWER LINES. I HAVE SOME IN MY WARD ALONG MCARTHUR BETWEEN MAINE AND FLOWER. I AM CURIOUS, DO WE STILL HAVE ANY OF THOSE FUNDS? I KNOW THEY COME THROUGH SOCAL EDISON, BUT I WANT TO PULSE CHECK TO SEE IF WE HAVE ANY CURRENTLY.

Phil BacerraItem 1

DON'T BE SHY.

I THINK PUBLIC WORKS FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE IN THE COMMUNITY. WE'LL BE ABLE TO HELP US WITH THAT ANSWER.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

CAN YOU PLEASE COME TO THE MIC? THANK YOU.

DEAN MAYOR, AFTERTIME CITY COUNCIL.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

HOLD ON. YOUR MIC IS NOT ON. WE'RE GOING TO TURN IT ON IN ONE SECOND.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

OKAY. GIVE IT A SHOT.

THE SOURCE OF FUND FOR THE UNDERGROUNDING REALLY COMES FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, EDISON RULE 20 AND I BELIEVE RULE 21. AND BOTH FUNDS HAVE BEEN EXHAUSTED EVEN IN THE FUTURE. AND EDISON HAS SUSPENDED THE PROGRAM. SO THERE'S NO MORE UNDERGROUNDING FUNDS AVAILABLE TO THE CITY.

Phil BacerraItem 1

FROM SOCAL EDISON? YES. OKAY. PERFECT. THANK YOU FOR THAT, DIRECTOR SABA. AND I WANT TO ASK STAFF, SO I'M LOOKING AT THE BUDGET AND I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE I'M READING THIS RIGHT. So for me, I think one of the biggest issues from last year's budget was how upside down we were on the downtown parking revenue, revenue versus expenditures. Last year, if I remember correctly, we were hovering close to a million in the red. If I'm reading this correctly, we're at about 2.08 in the red, 2.08 million in the red. and so if we are if I'm reading that correctly that's troubling because

Phil BacerraItem 1

We have this whole lengthy process up here to talk about how we're gonna fix the parking and here we are again It's like deja vu except now it's worse. So now it's what two times as bad So we're talking about all the ponies and unicorns that we want in our wards. That's great, but We're getting worse when it comes to resolving what should be resolved already as

AS ACTING DIRECTOR TRINIDAD MENTIONED DURING HIS PRESENTATION, THIS BUDGET IS A WORK IN PROCESS AND IT IS GOING TO CHANGE. AS OF RIGHT NOW, WE'VE GOT THAT DOWN TO 1.6 MILLION. WE'RE CONTINUING TO WORK THAT NUMBER DOWN. WE WILL NOT PROPOSE A BUDGET TO THE CITY COUNCIL THAT HAS THE PARKING FUND IN A NEGATIVE OR UPSIDE DOWN SITUATION.

Phil BacerraItem 1

I APPRECIATE THAT, KAT. ONE WAY WE CAN DO IT, I'LL JUST THROW IT OUT THERE RIGHT NOW. I don't know why we still have four staff for parking meters. I don't know that we need parking meters. We need curbside parking Charges, but we don't need the actual meters. I mean are we gonna record people with VHS cameras? I mean, it's an outdated technology. We need to get rid of them I think these folks could be better served for the city in other positions, but to pay for them as parking meter techs operators

Phil BacerraItem 1

IT'S JUST AN OUTDATED MODEL. I'M HOPEFUL THAT AS THE BUDGET EVOLVES THAT WE'LL SEE SOMETHING DONE HERE BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW IF WE WANT TO CONTINUE TO HAVE AN OUTDATED WAY OF COLLECTING REVENUE IN DOWNTOWN. AND SINCE WE'RE ALL TALKING ABOUT ALL THE THINGS WE WANT, I WANT TO REEMPHASIZE THAT IN ADDITION TO THOSE LEFT TURN SIGNALS I MENTIONED EARLIER, I'VE HAD RESIDENTS COME TO ME MULTIPLE TIMES ABOUT A BASKETBALL COURT AT LILLY KING PARK AND ALSO SECURITY CAMERAS ALONG THE ALTON BIKE TRAIL. There's a lot of students that use that trail and it would be very ideal to have some sort of

Phil BacerraItem 1

You know presence there because if we're gonna expand the footprint of PD without adding more folks over there and dedicate them there Hopefully we'll have cameras there. Thank you

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Thank you, Councilman Becerra. I always love this time of the year because we we talk about the things that we want and need And it always goes back to public safety, right? So cameras and things of that nature. It's very important. So really quick We talked about here, council requested projects, more stop signs at various locations throughout the city. MacArthur Fundamental, if we can do, I believe we've done a traffic study there with Santa Unified School Police, with our police department, with Public Works, with you name it, we've done it. So I would like to make sure that we take another look

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

at MacArthur Fundamental and some of the other schools, and I think Mayor Pro Tem also mentioned it about our school sites, to see how we can put up signs to slow down traffic. And even if we need to do a speed bump, if it's not in the budget this year, is this something we can look forward to for next year? Because somebody said earlier that parents drive slowly. No, they don't. They drive like crazy people because they're usually late. So I know because I was one of them. I didn't drive crazy, but I'm going to say that. Sitting on the school board for a long time, there was a lot of complaints about parents driving crazy,

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

literally pushing their kids out of the car to get to school. So in traffic calming, you know, there was a council requested project for this as well. I really appreciate this. You know, Council Member Phan, thank you for talking about New Hope and Euclid. But I also want to look at Fairview if it fits in our budget. And then the Washington, as Councilman Hernandez mentioned. So from Washington, from like English all the way down through, you know, into Wilshire Square. I mean, we've got to take a look at Washington. I know we put speed bumps there.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

we had talked about it and then we put one there in front of the college but that's just not enough or we just put some signs up there slow down children we have to do something to slow people down and we don't have the ability to put cameras up or officers on every corner so to give out tickets even though i'd like to give tickets to make people slow down hurt them in the pocketbooks they tend to slow down um i'd also like this with mr city manager at memory lane memory lane in Bristol and also memory lane and flower in the Cabrillo Park area for traffic

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

calming or stop signs and just putting up I know it doesn't sound like much but it is putting up signs to slow down children you know speed limit signs I think I shared with you the signage that I want and all the mediums throughout the city they're only only I drove around I only saw them in one part of the city was in your part comes my friend or no pandering in the in the medium and i don't i have the picture of the sign it says no pandering no loadering it sounds small but i would really like those throughout the city so that people are not standing there

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

pandering asking for money and they literally walk in the middle of the street and almost get hit by cars and so for their safety and for our safety i don't think signs are that expensive i've been i've looked at them and we've talked about it so we can do that as well and then i appreciate COUNCILMAN HERNANDEZ'S REQUEST. I WANT TO MAKE SURE IF WE'RE GOING TO DO ONE NONPROFIT, WE DON'T WANT TO OPEN IT UP FOR ALL THE NONPROFITS. SO WE NEED TO BE VERY SELECT WITH WHICH ONES WE'RE GIVING MONEY TO. SO IF YOU CAN LET US KNOW WHICH ONE WE'RE GOING TO DO THAT WITH OR WHICH TWO OR

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

WHICH THREE. I MEAN, ONCE WE OPEN IT UP, IT BECOMES, YES, THAT'S WHAT I MENTIONED. I KNOW IT'S THE COUNCIL'S DECISION. I'M JUST LETTING YOU KNOW THAT ONCE WE START OPENING IT, BECAUSE we want to give money to the arts and culture we want that so whether it's 250 200 250 000 or 300 000 you know i would support that because we want to give money to that so we have to be very strategic on on this budget and budgets moving forward on how we are using our money because i know you are preparing mr city manager and i thank you for measure x and we'll be talking

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

ABOUT THAT AGAIN NEXT YEAR AND FOLLOWING YEARS THAT ARE COMING THIS COUNCIL WILL TALK ABOUT IT HOW WE ARE PREPARING AND HOW YOU'RE PUTTING MONEY ASIDE FOR THAT RAINY DAY WHEN MEASURE X DOES SUNSET OR WHATEVER IT IS A DECISION WE END UP COMING TO SO I'LL STOP THERE AND COME BACK FOR

Jessie LopezItem 1

ANOTHER ROUND COUNCIL MEMBER LOPEZ YES THANK YOU I ALSO JUST WANTED TO YOU KNOW TELL STAFF ABOUT THE MULTIPLE REQUESTS WE RECEIVED FOR THE SITE FOR THE STREET LIGHT OFF OF FAIRVIEW AND DOWNY for Public Works it kind of curves down and so people Fairview is such a busy road a lot of people don't abide by the traffic rules and so the neighborhood there is requesting a street light to go into the neighborhood of course I'm supportive of the alley improvements requests in Ward 3 and the stop signs on Lincoln Avenue as I've said before very dangerous and possibly the speed bump

Jessie LopezItem 1

study there as well Nabil addressing the potholes off of Fair Haven to 17th Street I also think as I've said in the past we need a candle budget because some of our neighborhoods do have them and so when they're taken out by cars we have to have the money to hopefully replace them immediately I also would really like for staff to consider a stop sign at the intersection of Lyon it It connects Warwick and the 727 Lyon Complex. A lot of kids live in that neighborhood. There's no stop sign, and so the cars, again, people just not being mindful of other folks,

Jessie LopezItem 1

just speed down Lyon, and a lot of moms have reached out to say that they've almost been hit, so we should avoid that. I received a request for a four-way stop at Towner and 21st Street. There's no stop sign on each, so it would be great if we could at least place one stop sign in one of the intersections so that there's no confusion there. The long list of speed bumps for English and Alona, a speed bump request off of Valencia, Tammy Lane and Santa Clara, somebody was almost hit there recently, and we just had a horrible car accident off of Cambridge and Fairhaven.

Jessie LopezItem 1

in all of the neighbors were really worried about there's no left turn signal when you're trying to go north and so because everybody's trying to catch the green and the yellow light they will often hit each other and in fact about a year or two ago they ran into one of the guys backyard house and so they have to replete those fences so I think that's going to be an ongoing issue for the city if we don't actually do some synchronizing there and um you know the street bots those are always good traffic mitigation efforts and uh all of the resurfacing off of grant between 4th and

Jessie LopezItem 1

17th what does he mentioned earlier grant to fruit street as well i know all of the bumpy holes some of them we've been able to track and we've seen how much the rain has really made them worse and so i think we have to start also long-term planning about the weather and how it's going to continue to impact the local infrastructure here and i really want to thank the city manager's office and public works department i know our office has been really annoying about these red reflectors it was something that came out of neighborhood meetings with the portola park

Jessie LopezItem 1

park residents because of the school traffic there and so thank you so so much for initiating the pilot and putting them in different areas of the city our residents really love them and I think that they're eye-catching as well and so hopefully people will respect the traffic rules and additionally we I want to so sorry I sent over some of the sidewalk request predominantly what I do here is that you know a lot of it is alpha asphalt and people want the concrete sidewalks and so I know that's a lot more costly but

Jessie LopezItem 1

we should look about long-term fixes because the asphalt is really a short term and even when we go down and shave the pavement it will the the the gap will widen and so it's not a long-term um fix and ultimately it just costs the city more money so hopefully you can all look into including something like that in the upcoming budget so thank you thank you

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

councilman mayor pro tem thank you and uh thank you council member visetta for supporting the the Cypress Station Fire Station. Appreciate the work and the other council members and the mayor.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

And as you know, we have mentioned that safety is the number one reason and for these reasons, I wanna make sure that we have improved the quality of life team when people think of safety and the houselessness we have in the city, we should have quality of life team, not just two but four, like four complete teams so we can be out there from, that they're out there at 5, 4 in the morning, so we could have somebody there tonight so they could come and support the houses people whenever needed uh and make sure we get that done and that i think that would be money well spent for the

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

city and uh i think people the the public would agree with that um i also for safety um if we could add a blue light to alton on the bike bike trail councilman rosetta with a camera PUT THE CAMERA. YOU KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING? WE KNOW THAT'S A DANGEROUS PLACE. I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH YOU.

Phil BacerraItem 1

IF I MAY, THE BLUE LIGHT IS NOT ENOUGH. WE NEED CAMERAS. IT'S A LONG STRETCH.

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

BUT THE KID NEEDS HELP. LET'S GET THEM QUICK. SO I APPRECIATE YOU TALKING ABOUT SUPPORTING OUR YOUTH. THAT'S SADDLEBACK AND MCCARTHUR ELEMENTARY CROSSING THROUGH THERE. I SUPPORT COUNCIL MEMBER HERNANDEZ TO SUPPORT SUMMER NIGHTS. and I support the arts and culture for 350, but if summer nights can be a space where all this art and culture that we're doing has a place to be highlighted, including at our city events, that would be great. How do we get the most out of our buck? All this arts and culture money that we have going out, how do we bring it in and celebrate it at our city events or summer night lights?

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

I wanna thank KidWorks for, they'll be here tomorrow taking a tour. If anybody wants to say hello, THEY ASKED FOR FLASHING LIGHTS ON RED. THANK YOU, DIRECTOR NEBIL, FOR HAVING THE FLASHING LIGHT AT ED CURROTHERS. THANK YOU FOR THE COVERED BUS STOP AT GOLDINAS AS THEY ASKED FOR THAT. THEY ALSO ASKED TO FIX OUR SIDEWALKS FOR THE KIDS AT KID WORK THAT I MET WITH A YEAR AGO. THEY WERE ASKING TO FIX SIDEWALKS. AND IF WE HAVE MORE TREES, NOT NECESSARILY AT PARKS, CAN WE PUT THEM ON THE STREETS THAT NEED THE SHADING? BECAUSE I KNOW ON CENTER STREET BETWEEN ED AND JEREMY MCFADDEN

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

the kids are complaining that there's it's really hot walking back and forth to school in the summer and the hot days of california and they they're asking for more shade so if we could take those arbor days i'd be great to i'd be happy to go in uh on the street in center street and plant some more trees there where the shade is necessary that's all i got thank you everybody for your

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

comments appreciate you all right we're down to the wire now so councilman hernandez you're done You have this your last, you're done.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

This would be my last one right here, I promise.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Quickly, not three minutes. That means I gotta give everybody else another.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

I'll be done at 2.30. Two minutes and 30 seconds. I'll give a 30 second leeway here, I'll be quick. I just wanna say I'm supportive of Councilmember Lopez's request for speed bumps on Alona. Alona's right adjacent to Santa Ana College, Articia Pilar as well, a lot of our families that go to Moss right on the corner. They share their concerns as well about the traffic safety on Lona so I am supportive of speed bumps there I would like to request more lighting on Civic Center I would like for us to see if that's feasible given that we just recently completely renovated Civic

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

Center from Fairview down to flower that's a sizable investment in our Civic Center and I think the next step would be for us to invest in more more lighting along that corridor especially as you're coming into City Hall once you turn left on fairview i should see ample lighting to lead us to to city hall and our beautiful library which is getting renovated so i think that it's it's fair given that we're already investing um you know in the streetcar as well there's a lot of of opportunity on civic center i'm supportive of the centennial park lights for councilmember fans district that is a park that you know all of

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

our families across the city utilize and it is our largest park as well so it's important that we invest in in that space i'm supportive of mayor mezcua's requesting repairs alongside fairview perhaps it's worth us taking a look at how can we mitigate some of those concerns that we're having in terms of the largest intersections you know where we're seeing accidents alongside 17th and fairview we have the riverbed that is adjacent maybe we work with our congressman and our supervisor to to have a multi-pronged approach to the issue of that that corridor because i know we

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

recently approved some some grant funding for fairview but it's alongside the the corridor closer to to trask right um so i think the quarter between 17th and you know going towards mcfadden that's a busy street multiple schools and and so very concerned about that intersection i'm also supportive of us allocating the monies related to riverview mr city manager given that on march 7 2023 this council adopted a resolution which pledged to not renew the city's lease at riverview golf course and we did get a letter of support from congressman luke korea as well

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

as supervisor sarmiento so i just want to raise that to the council that we we did take a decision in terms of a resolution and this would be a park space where we can partner with the county so they can take on the cost of public safety we have a congressman who is looking to convert that that space into a space that our families can access. And so just want to remind the council that we did adopt a resolution on March 7th of 2023. And I'm thankful for both our supervisor and our congressman for their leadership and support of that.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

And I know when that conversation comes to us, we'll be working with our residents and all of our stakeholders to ensure that we have a beautiful park space. In this case, we want to be fortunate about our partnerships with the congressman and the supervisor. SO I'M HOPING WE CAN REVISIT THIS ONCE RIVERVIEW COMES UP. THANK YOU.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

JUST FOR CLARIFICATION PURPOSES, ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT THE GOLF COURSE WHEN THE DISCUSSION CAME ABOUT THE PARKS? OK, BECAUSE I REMEMBER MEETING WITH THE COMMUNITY AND WE WOULD HAVE TO GO BACK OUT THERE BECAUSE MANY OF THEM WERE NOT SUPPORTIVE OF THAT. SO WE'LL HAVE TO GO BACK OUT THERE AGAIN, PLEASE. COUNCILMAN BESSERA?

Phil BacerraItem 1

THANK YOU, MADAM MAYOR. I JUST WANT TO CLOSE OUT BY THANKING STAFF FOR WHAT'S BEEN BROUGHT TO US. I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO THE REVISIONS THAT WILL BE COMING BEFORE WE GET A FINAL DRAFT. I JUST WANT TO CLARIFY SOMETHING THAT WAS SET UP HERE EARLIER BY ONE OF MY COLLEAGUES, AND THAT IS TALKING ABOUT HOW WE'RE GOING TO ALLOCATE FUNDING FROM THE BRYSTOL RELATED PROJECT. LET'S NOT SPEND MONEY WE DON'T HAVE YET. WE DON'T HAVE IT YET. I MEAN, THERE HASN'T EVEN BEEN A DEMO PERMIT APPLIED FOR OR ISSUED YET. SO WE CAN'T TALK ABOUT TAKING REVENUE AND SPENDING IT YET. WE DON'T HAVE IT.

Phil BacerraItem 1

AND THAT FUND OR THOSE FUNDS WILL BE A PART OF THE GENERAL FUND TO WHICH WE WILL ALL HAVE A SAY IN HOW THOSE FUNDS ARE SPENT UM AND THEN JUST TO CLOSE OUT I WANT TO RE-EMPHASIZE BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE A VERY NEVER-ENDING LONG LIST VERY SUCCINCT UM WANT TO EMPHASIZE THE LEFT TURN SIGNALS AT FLOWER MCARTHUR AND GREENVILLE MCARTHUR BOTH ARE INTERSECTIONS NEAR MULTIPLE SCHOOLS NOT JUST ONE basketball court at Lilly King, security cameras on Alton bike trail, speed humps and cushions, and the paving around the Hutton Center and First American campus. And that's it. Thank you very much.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Thank you, Council Member Becerra. Council Member Fenn?

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

Thank you, Mayor. I'd just like some clarification from staff. I know several of my colleagues have mentioned the Cypress Fire Station, and we had many discussions regarding the cost of renovating that historic structure. What is the estimated cost to do that?

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

Executive Director Nabil Sabah. And let's do what the estimated cost, and let's also remind the council what they actually approved approved so that we don't get into this historical perspective. And so we're clear what was approved, what was assigned, and what's the estimated improvement cost, at least today, May 15, 2025.

So council allocated a million dollars to study the location and the structure and provide for plans and specifications to renovate historical structure the Cypress fire station we spent about four hundred and fifty thousand dollars for that effort we have some money remaining for future funding to actually do the reconstruction of the fire station and the estimate right now is about four point five million like four million we have an estimate from our architect or four

million dollars to bring this structure back and repurpose it as a pal center and a community center

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

thank you so it looks to me like um we have one-time fundings of 5.7 million dollars so 1.4 million dollars for centennial lights and then four million dollars for cyprus fire station seems fitting. In both instances we would be enhancing very important community community infrastructure that benefits the entire city that will increase public safety that will increase youth participation community participation and blighted areas of the city and hopefully we can also apply for grants for Cypress Fire Station given that it is a historic structure however if we're

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

looking at one-time fundings that's what i would propose thank you all right councilmember lopez this is your last one go ahead thank you i love how funny you are i'm serious i mean i pointed

Jessie LopezItem 1

where the money was coming from no i know one time that's why i asked right how much we have

Jessie LopezItem 1

yeah um so just lastly i wanted to cover um the last part of what my constituents have submitted committed. There's a lighting request off of 18th Street and Jefferson. They've never had any lights, street lights or any other form of illumination there and that has come in. And also the curbs and street on 18th and Jefferson Street have many pieces of curbs missing and major potholes which is not only an aesthetic issue but it is a safety issue for the risk of falls as has many people have discussed already. And then the the lighting off of 14th Street which I think Public Works is aware of I know

Jessie LopezItem 1

one of the requests is in progress but we also did get another request off of Martha Lane and Hathaway which is right next to the freeway wall and so it can be really dark for the neighbors there and then I would also just like to you know enter into the record that I would love for the city to retain the legal defense fund for the upcoming fiscal year and a tree trimming request was to when the city prunes their trees only the street side of the trees is trimmed leaving the property owner side mainly untrimmed and so to develop a plan to complete the entire neighborhood in a

Jessie LopezItem 1

timely manner so that's come in from one of the neighborhoods and I do want to thank staff for all the work that they've done putting this together and additionally I'm also really interested in the the establishing of a public art trust fund I think that's a really good idea and possibly an idea that could help bring in dollars and not just be dependent on general fund and especially with all our Corporations maybe travel Santa Ana they can help raise money for it. So thank you

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

Just quickly comes remember on the tree train when you say it's only been trained from this from the city side and at the and at the The residential are you saying like we only cutting? I don't know. East and not the west? I mean-

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

I don't know. I will forward you the email so you can read it. So let me give you an example because I'm a homeowner. When the city comes to trim my tree, they trim the tree mostly on the city side on the street. So the tree, that big purple yucky tree that I know it's our city tree. And then the rest of it's on my yard, leaning over.

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

And we leave it like that.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

And they leave it like that. Okay.

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

thank you very much all right that's all i needed to know well thank you i hope that helps okay so

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

all right so i am i'm the last one here and um then we're done and then we'll do cozy comments so i just want to say thank you to the staff thank you for the council for all of your comments all your support you well thank you so what i you know i listen to words all the time so i hear lighting sidewalks, speed bumps. I heard a lot about cameras and the blue lights and the fire station, Cypress Fire Station and PAL, you know pretty much all falls under the quality of life and safety in our city. And I'm so happy to hear that, right? And then we've had the same conversation every year. Mr. City Manager, good luck to

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

you and your team because unicorns, babies, and I don't know butterflies and and all that we want, we know you're gonna bring it back within our budget, right, Kat? Because at some point you're gonna say, we have no more money. And so, but again, the quality of life is very important. And again, tonight what we heard is lights,

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

speed bumps, traffic signals, slowdowns, school areas. I mean, just really things that could save people's lives and truly improve the quality of life for us. Chief, I have a question if you can come up and the clerk will stop my time as you make your way please.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Thank you, sir. And I know you weren't expecting a question, but Mayor Pro Tem brought up a very good point about the colt team. And I also would love to have four colt teams, but I know we can't do it and maybe I'm wrong, But because it includes police officers and other can you talk? What's who is on the Colt team and could we afford for or or even put together for Colt teams?

Thank you for the question mayor. Good evening mayor mayor portemon City Council Yes, you know when when we talk about the cold team, it's more than just the police officers assigned to the cold team It's cleaning crews. It's uh we have a social worker assigned to the coal team so and then of course the officers that are assigned to the coal team so we do have competing interests meaning that we have to pull other officers from other teams to be able to staff other coal teams uh you know right now we're trying to come up with a strategy on how i can put more officers on the street so we can deal with

present-day challenges with present-day resources and one of the things that we've done is trying to

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

increase the numbers in our patrol division so in order to have four cult teams how many police

officers are assigned to each cult team right now we have about i believe 10 10 officers uh probably about uh four officers to a cult team which is eight because two of them ride with uh social workers so they're not technically assigned to the uh actual cleanup crews okay yeah and i again i

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

appreciate Mary Pro Tem bringing it up because I too would like to see additional cult teams but when he said that my mind started turning like we don't have enough officers for four cult teams is

that correct correct we would have to pull if we want four cold full cold teams we would have to pull an additional eight officers uh to add to the current uh allotment that we have now and that uh additional cleanup crews and support staff to be able to support two additional cold teams so it

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

it would be quite costly to have four teams because you're talking social workers, police officers, the cleanup crew.

Correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Okay, that's what I wanted to know. Thank you. And before you go back, I wanna use up my time that before I got here, a community member called me and said, whatever you do tonight, and I'm gonna be watching. And she said, she's watching tonight. She wanted to say thank you to the chief, to you, for you attending all of the community events that you have been at and making yourself so present and available to the community at all hours of the days and the nights and thank you for everything that you and your officers have been doing um with the city but for you she said please thank him for

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

coming out to all the community events so i wanted to share that publicly so thank you sir thank you so i have 23 seconds left and i mr city manager i want to ask you a question um no sidebar conversations i'm just kidding so my question councilman becerra and i brought to you the request for the fence down on Flower and Alton. Do you remember that when the young people, I know, I apologize, I'm going to be over just real quick. When the young people were beat up, students were beat up at the bus stop, you remember that? Yes. And you put up that fence pretty quickly.

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

We tried, yes.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Yes, you did, and we really appreciate it. So there was somebody who spoke tonight and she asked for a gate,

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

A gate to secure the cabin, the gate right before the golf course. So if you can please let us know what that would cost currently and how quickly that could be done. It is a security issue. They've had some problems in that neighbourhood and if a gate is a gate, it's minimal. I mean we do a lot of things, we spend a lot of money in different places. A gate is something that we can do. and previously you reached out to the supervisor to help with the other fence. He gave us, I believe, 100,000 out of the 350,000 that we spent something like that.

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

Actually, out of a million, almost eight.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

We spent over a million, I apologize. Okay, yes, I'm way off. And he gave us 100,000. But if you can please find out the cost for the gate there at the golf course, that cab right before the cabin that she mentioned. She'll be at the Neighborhood Association meeting, I'm sure, next week. SHE'S STILL HERE TO SHARE THE EXACT LOCATION IF YOU'RE NOT AWARE OF IT, BUT I'M SURE YOU ARE. SO WITH THAT, I WANT TO SAY THANK YOU TO EVERYBODY. WE'RE GOING TO DO CLOSING COMMENTS. MR. CITY MANAGER, DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY BEFORE WE CLOSE OUT?

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

SO THANK YOU FOR A GOOD MEETING. I THINK SO WE WILL BRING A BALANCE BUDGET. WE WILL TRY TO RESPOND TO ALL THE WARD'S NEEDS AND THE COUNCIL MEMBER'S REQUESTS. We are planning for the sunset of the sales tax in three to four years. Our objectives, if we can, is to have a plan by the end of this calendar year that includes some of the additions we're doing now. That's one. And more specific to your last request, that's one of the reasons why we're bringing in our own construction team so that we can move on items like that that are a little, not

Alvaro NuñezItem 1

so much major construction aspects that we can respond a little bit quicker installation of signs and critical intersections so that we don't wait for the contractor we don't expend a little bit more money and we can keep it in-house that's part of the this whole projection the last six months that we've done so that hopefully you start seeing a decrease in expenditures that we have while maintaining services and so that's the key i also appreciate the customer's fans only two

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

turns yeah she took two turns where she wants all the money all the one-time

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

money so excuse me Cypress Fire Station is not in Ward 1 and Centennial serves all of Santa Ana I said I'd support you on it I said I'd support you all right I

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

said I'd support you all right mr. city manager thank you I'm Kat and Alex it's Alex thank you so much for the work and the presentation and to all the staff AND THANK YOU VERY MUCH. WE WANT TO DO COMMENTS NOW FROM THE COUNCIL. COUNCIL MEMBER LOPEZ, PLEASE. ANY FINAL CLOSING COMMENTS?

Jessie LopezItem 1

I JUST WANT TO THANK STAFF. I FEEL LIKE IT'S GOING TO BE A PAINFUL ROAD AHEAD OF US UNTIL WE GET THIS BUDGET APPROVED.

Jessie LopezItem 1

BUT I APPRECIATE THE DRAFT THAT WAS MADE AVAILABLE NOT JUST TO THE COUNCIL, BUT REALLY FOR ALL MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC. AND I REALLY ENCOURAGE MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC TO REVIEW THE DRAFT AND READ IT. AI CAN'T REALLY DO THAT FOR US, RIGHT? SO WE SHOULD DO THAT. BE INFORMED. AND SO, AGAIN, I JUST WANT TO THANK STAFF AND THE COLLEAGUES FOR TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION ALL THE REQUESTS THAT HAVE COME IN FROM WARD 3 RESIDENTS. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. COUNCIL MEMBER FAN.

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

I wasn't ready. No, thank you so much to staff. I know that doing the budget every year is always a daunting task. I know that we all have different requests up here, but I think the most similar refrain we hear is about public safety infrastructure. Right. And so I look forward to seeing what you bring back to us. although you know lighting at Centennial Park and Cypress Fire Station would ensure all of that

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

thank you thank you Councilman Hernandez please thank you Madam Mayor I'd like to start by

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

thanking our city staff for preparing today's balanced budget and I just want to take a minute to to ask to close in memory of Armando Morales a 14 year old Santa Ana high school student who tragically lost his life to a senseless act of violence as a former Santa high school alumni and a parent who has a daughter who's 15 and is a freshman in high school this is one of the most heartbreaking experiences any parent or any community can go through schools should be safe havens where when you

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

leave your child you know you shouldn't have to worry about whether they are not going to come home intact and so i want to send condolences to the family and to the mother and father who and the family that's grieving and to the students who saw that i hope that the district does what is needed to protect these students and that they offer them support to help them navigate this trauma because schools should be a safe place

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

There are no words for how many people lose their life in this case. We have a young boy in Armando who will never be able to see his loved ones ever again. It's an injustice that young people lose their life on campus. I also want to pray for the young people who made the mistake of taking his his life because they too are victims to this senseless act of violence because they too lost their life and they lost their life before it ever even got to begin and so i i ask that

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

that they they find the help that they deserve and that our schools see a different day no child should ever be afraid on whether or not they're going to come back home So Monday the school board has a meeting, a special meeting,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

where 276 layoffs will be decided. This is a time where our students are in crisis. We had a young student who also died by suicide from Lauren Grissett Academy. We had five students who were tragically victims of the collision that occurred on, I mean there have been so many tragedies affecting our students where we're having issues with the district responding to them all. I ask that this district reconsider laying off educators and counselors during the time where our children are suffering.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

I ask that you also, when you fund security and policing, that you also include intervention intervention so that we have interventionists and counselors who can help intervene and work with these children because having an emergency response is just as important as being able to build a relationship with these young students so that we can prevent violence and I pray for their families and I hope that they find they find solace in the fact that we we are going to stand in their corner and we are going to work together as a community to make sure our children

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 1

are safe we we send our love and our blessings toward you thank you thank you councilman becerra

Phil BacerraItem 1

thank you madam mayor and i want to reiterate my appreciation to staff for the presentation tonight there's not much else to say we've got a meeting on tuesday so good night everybody see you on tuesday thank you mayor pro tem

Benjamin VazquezItem 1

Thank you. Thank you, staff, for the presentation. I was just thinking of the families. We had gone through in the words of Councilmember Hernandez, and my heart goes out to the family of Armando Morales and everything they've gone through, and the students at Santa Ana High School. Thanks for the words that you gave us, Councilmember Hernandez. And that's all I have. Thank you. Have a good night.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

Thank you. Thank you to the staff, Mr. City Manager, everybody who presented to us tonight. I know it's not an easy task to do the budget. And on June 17th, we'll have the second reading and budget adoption. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed. We all appear that we pass it on time and do it like we did the last two years. And I really want to thank you all very much. And again, you know, public safety and security had been the topic. I also want to thank Councilman Hernandez for his comments because I was gonna share as well. And so my condolences go out to the family of Armando

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

and to the young men that were involved and that are currently in custody because I'm sure they're looking at a quite lengthy sentence. Who knows what'll happen, right? But as Councilman Hernandez made very clear that it's not just one life, it's multiple lives that we're going to lose. And yes, the Lauren Grissett student, and there's been a couple other things that I don't want to go into all of that right now, but I just have to say it's been a hard time for me personally, hearing from parents and teachers and social workers and counselors, and I am going to 100% back what Councilman Hernandez said,

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

that Santa Ana Unified, and I know they're watching because they always do because you know they comment afterwards I hope that they do take a double look at the layoffs that they are doing because they are about to lay off social workers counselors teachers and they can find money they you know there's money all over I used to call it playing chess when I was on a school board they move it from item 13 item 6 item 11 to item 2 and then all of a sudden they find you know 50 million dollars because it's an over 50 it's over a billion dollar budget that is my experience after eight years sitting there and

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

so um i would just say that our community really needs san anna unified to step back and put all personal agendas aside and whatever you know is going on over there and just think what are we here for we're here to provide the best education for our students but we're also here to provide them safety to and from and while they're on campus. There are only 14 police officers for the entire school district and there's not even enough DSOs, district security officers for the entire district at the school sites. They will all tell you they don't have enough security. So you know you

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

hear a lot about we don't want police, we don't want district security. It's a combination of district police, security, social workers, interventions. They have project kinship they have neutral ground i mean they need to bring them all together because our children should not be dying should not be dying on the steps of a high school they just should not be dying and so it's it's been a very painful couple weeks and um to the parents my heart goes out to them i'm a mom councilman harris said he's a father and it's um i don't even i can't say i

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

know what they feel because that would be offensive. I don't know and I don't want to know but I too have been reaching out to the pastors that I know in our community and they've reached out to me to say we're praying mayor. We're praying for our police. We're praying for our school district staff. We're praying for the council and for you and the leadership. We're praying for the city manager. We're praying for the school board because we need people to lead and to make sure our kids are safe and that we're safe and so that is why tonight when we were talking about cameras and lights and safety and

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

security we want that it sounds like up here even though we disagree on some items up here but that's what it sounds like tonight quality of life of the city of St. Anne and so I appreciate those who came out to speak tonight I appreciate all the staff and all of our first responders whether it be fire or police I want to thank them because you know officers and fire respond as I always say to incidents and then they got to go home to their families and it's been a tough couple months for Santa PD and for the fire department and so with that this meeting is oh 5k run thank you I'm going to

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

try to end it down to get these see Mayor Mayor I'm sorry Council Member Fan has on her 70s attire because Saturday for the 5k run you gotta dress 70s I'm not but she is the 70s was only 30 years ago you guys yeah and I'm 35 so I don't know and she doesn't know how to do her math and so please come out for the 5k the 10k and the children's run which is free which is free and so we want you to come out and enjoy the day and thank you Parks and Rec and there's gonna be

Thai Viet PhanItem 1

staff and what else then there's gonna be public works week celebration right after so you're gonna say you're gonna walk job national police week see and

Valerie AmezcuaItem 1

there's always week so with that this means a journey for she continues

you