Read the May 19 meeting.

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Valerie Amezcua

You're ready to go, Mayor. Please start the meeting, Madam Clerk. I hereby call the Santa Ana City Council meeting to order. The meeting is taking place in person attendance and by teleconference via Zoom. The public may access the meeting via the Santa Ana YouTube channel or the City's website. Please bear with us as the technology may disrupt the flow of the meeting. Madam Clerk, please conduct

Jennifer L. Hall

the roll call. Councilmember Becerra. Councilmember Hernandez. Councilmember Lopez. Councilmember Pham. Here. Councilmember Vasquez. Here. Mayor Pro Tempagnoloza. Present. Mayor Meskwa. Four members present. That is a quorum. Madam Clerk, are there any additions or

Valerie Amezcua

deletions to the closed session agenda? There are none. Do any Councilmembers need to announce abstentions on closed session items?

Valerie Amezcua

Hearing none, do we have any speakers for closed session?

Jennifer L. Hall

Mayor and City Council, we do not have any speakers in person or on Zoom related to closed session, nor did we receive any e-comments related to the closed session agenda items.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you. We'll recess to closed session. Thank you.

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Jennifer L. Hall

Mayor, you can go ahead.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you very much, Madam Clerk.

Valerie Amezcua

Please start the meeting.

Jennifer L. Hall

Yes.

Valerie Amezcua

Meeting is ready. I hereby reconvene the Santa Ana City Council meeting to order. Madam Clerk, please conduct the roll call.

Jennifer L. Hall

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. This is a meeting to conduct the business of the City. There's an opportunity to call for a recess or break or even to clear the meeting room if a meeting becomes too disruptive to properly conduct business. business. Warnings will be provided prior to any action being taken and we appreciate your cooperation. For everyone's safety, per the Fire Marshal, please do not stand

Jennifer L. Hall

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. During City Council presentations and oaths of office, guests of individuals being recognized are welcome to come to the front to take photos. For roll call, Council Member Becerra? Here. Council Member Hernandez? Present. Council Member Lopez? Here. here councilmember fan here councilmember vasquez present mayor pro tempino lisa present mayor mesqua present all seven members present

Valerie Amezcua

madam clerk before you proceed to the pledge of allegiance please make an

Jennifer L. Hall

announcement for members of the public on zoom or teleconference to request to speak during public comments on agenda or non-agenda items within the city's jurisdiction you must dial star 9 from your phone or click the button labeled raise hand from zoom now in order to be in the speaker queue once public comments COMMENTS COMMENCE. THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO PUBLIC HEARING NUMBER 21 OR THE HOUSING AUTHORITY AGENDA FOR WHICH COMMENTS WILL BE HEARD SEPARATELY. PLEASE HOLD YOUR COMMENTS ON THOSE ITEMS UNTIL SPECIFICALLY CALLED UPON. THANK YOU.

Valerie Amezcua

THANK YOU, MADAM CLARK. AT THIS TIME THE FIRST ITEM ON THE AGENDA IS THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE. MAYOR PROTEIN, CAN YOU LEAD US IN THE PLEDGE, PLEASE?

David Penaloza

OF COURSE, MAYOR. I'D BE HONORED TO. IF YOU COULD ALL PLEASE JOIN ME IN RISING, FACING OUR FLAG, PUTTING YOUR RIGHT HAND OVER YOUR HEART AND FOLLOW ALONG. 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, Mayor Pertem. At this time, the words of inspiration will be provided by Iman Hamza Abdallah. Please come to the podium, sir. Thank you.

Thank you. I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan.

In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. The Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful, Master of the Day of Judgment. It is You we worship and You we ask for help. Guide us to the straight path. The path of those on whom You have bestowed favor.

In the name of God, the most compassionate, the most merciful. This opening chapter of the Quran is a prayer recited by Muslims around the world daily, seeking God's mercy and guidance to the straight path. Honorable Mayor, members of the city council, city staff, and residents of Santa Ana, thank Thank you for the opportunity to share a few words this evening, and thank you for the service you provide to our city and our people. As an imam serving here in Santa Ana, I'm constantly reminded that our city's strength comes from something deeper than buildings or policies. It comes from people.

From neighbors who look out for one another, families who sacrifice for one another, and communities that continue showing up even in difficult times. Many of us have also been saddened by recent violence that occurred in Southern California yesterday. Moments like these remind us that hatred can spread quickly but so can compassion, courage, and solidarity. Our traditions teach us that the best among us are the people who benefit others. So my hope tonight is simple, that Santa Ana continues to be a city where differences are respected, service is valued, and every resident feels a sense of dignity, safety, and belonging. May God

God bless the city, guide its leaders, and bring peace to our communities. Thank you.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you very much.

Valerie Amezcua

Madam Clerk, are there any additions or deletions to the City Council agenda?

Jennifer L. Hall

Yes, Mayor and City Council, there are two. Items number six and eight, appointments to certain boards and commissions, are being postponed at this time. Thank you.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you. The first presentation will be by Mayor Pro Tem David Penalosa, honoring and recognizing Sarah Rita Ramos on her 100th birthday. Yes.

Valerie Amezcua

Happy birthday. Happy birthday.

Oh wait, not yet.

David Penaloza

All right.

Valerie Amezcua

Come on up, family. Come on up. Family, please.

David Penaloza

Familia, si quieren acompañarnos, por favor, pasen.

Valerie Amezcua

Hola. Come on up, everybody.

Valerie Amezcua

We'll get pictures and send them to you. Come on up.

Okay.

David Penaloza

So, good evening. meaning today we are honored to recognize and celebrate Ms. Sara Rita Ramos on the remarkable occasion of her 100th birthday.

David Penaloza

Estamos bien felices y orgullosos de estar aquí reconociendo y celebrando a la señorita Sara Rita Ramos en la ocasion de sus 100 años.

David Penaloza

Born on May 1st 1926 in Arandas, Jalisco, Mexico. Let's go! Mrs. Ramos's life is a remarkable story of resilience, sacrifice, sacrifice, and dedication to family.

David Penaloza

As a proud mother of six children, grandmother to 16 grandchildren, great-grandmother to 24 great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandmother to one, her legacy continues through generations of family members whose lives she has helped shape with love and strength. Seis hijos, ¿verdad? Dieciséis nietos, veinticuatro bisnietos,

David Penaloza

y un tartaranieto. I was like, I don't want to say that wrong.

David Penaloza

In 1970, she immigrated to the United States in pursuit of greater opportunities for her family. Through hard work and determination, she achieved the dream of home ownership and has proudly called Santa Ana home for nearly 60 years. years.

David Penaloza

Affectionately known as a true luchona, Mrs. Ramos represents perseverance, unconditional love and the enduring spirit of our community. Her life story is an inspiration to all of us. On behalf of the Mayor and the City Council, we extend our heartfelt congratulations and and wish Mrs. Sara Rita Ramos salud, felicidad, y muchos, muchos más bellos momentos rodeada de su familia en sus 100 años. Feliz cumpleaños, señorita Ramos. Un aplauso, por favor.

David Penaloza

Okay, now, like any birthday,

David Penaloza

Alright, so I'll let... ¿Quieren las mañanitas or happy birthday? Alright, happy birthday. One, two, three.

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you.

David Penaloza

Happy birthday dear Sara. Happy birthday to you.

Benjamin Vazquez

Hercules, Hercules!

David Penaloza

Okay, ¿que le muerda? ¿Que le muerda?

No, no se que, no se que

David Penaloza

¿Usted quiere? Yeah!

David Penaloza

cumpleaños y ahora no sé si usted quiere decir unas palabras comparte con nosotros la comunidad de santana su secreto para vivir tantos años y verse de 40 a ver

cuenta nos cuenta nos bueno la felicidad de vivir muchos años es no tener problems and let them pass and do what we can, not what we want.

David Penaloza

So she said essentially that her secret to a long healthy life is to not look for problems, not to have problems with anyone, and not to do what you want but but what you're able to, right? Si? OK. Latine. OK. . . Thank you so much for having us. All right, so now if my colleagues want to join me down here, Mayor, to take a group picture.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Valerie Amezcua

Wow, we're going to start council meetings like this every meeting. This is the best way to start. Yes. It's a beautiful, yeah. All right, we're going to go to Councilman Becerra now. Declaring May 2026 as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Come on up.

Phil Bacerra

Thank you, Mayor. If I could have Suzanne Choi and the ABA OC come on up.

Phil Bacerra

Come on up.

Phil Bacerra

Now, I notice that Mayor Pro Tempaloza had the cake with the candles when Chief Henry wasn't here. Come on up. You notice that?

Valerie Amezcua

Come on up here to the front, please.

Thank you so much for doing this. Thank you so much.

Phil Bacerra

Good evening everybody. So tonight we proudly recognize the May 2026 as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month here in the city of Santa Ana. And as part of this celebration, we are honored to highlight the Asian Business Association of Orange County County for its outstanding leadership, advocacy, and lasting contributions to the economic vitality and multicultural fabric of Orange County's AAPI community. The Asian Business Association of Orange County, or the ABAOC, was founded in 1992.

Phil Bacerra

So for over 30 years, the ABAOC has served as a leading voice for Asian American businesses businesses and multicultural businesses, helping entrepreneurs and small businesses alike grow, connect and succeed throughout Orange County and throughout Southern California. Through strong partnerships with corporations, public agencies, healthcare organizations and community leaders, ABAOC has created valuable opportunities for diverse businesses to access procurement, contracting, and economic development resources. ABAOC has

Phil Bacerra

consistently championed supplier diversity and inclusive economic growth, ensuring that small and multicultural businesses have a seat at the table and the tools that they need to thrive. Their impactful business conferences, workshops, networking events, and leadership programs have strengthened the local business community and fostered collaboration across industries and cultures. ABAOC has also played an important role in mentoring and supporting the next generation of businesses and civic leaders helping inspire future entrepreneurs and community advocates. So during Asian,

Phil Bacerra

American, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we celebrate the incredible innovation, leadership, culture, and economic contributions of the AAPI community which continue to shape and strengthen Orange County. This This recognition reflects ABAOC's enduring mission to uplift businesses, empower communities, and build bridges through leadership, opportunities, and service. Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month reminds us not only to celebrate culture and achievement, but also to continue to strive towards inclusion, equity, and opportunity for all. We encourage all residents to take part

Phil Bacerra

in the educational and cultural events events happening throughout the month and to learn more about the lasting impact and the legacy of AAPI communities so as the first ever Filipino American and the second ever Asian American elected to the Santa City Council it is my honor to proclaim May 2026 as AAPI Heritage Month and to honor abaoc's many contributions to the AAPI community here in Santa Ana and beyond Susanna

Thank you. Wow. What a tremendous honor. We are so grateful. Thank you so much. What an honor. Thank you. Thank you from all of our hearts. Asian Business Association tries to help everyone achieve the American dream by helping people start and grow their businesses. So if you would like to do that, contact us at abaoc.org. I'm so honored to be here with with our treasurer, secretary, Alex Kim, Joy, Lou Kim, and Jennifer Wang, who is the executive director of the Asian American Senior Citizen Service Center.

And they are all such wonderful leaders. And you know, everyone has a story. And the Asian American story is one of sacrifice and hard work and resilience. And we are just so honored for you to talk about and recognize our stories because hopefully it inspires others and all of us because times are hard right now and we all need some inspiration so we just want to thank you again so much what a tremendous honor

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Valerie Amezcua

Okay, next up is Councilmember Lopez, please, recognizing the voice of Refugees OC for their outstanding support in helping refugee families stabilize, integrate, and thrive. Please come on up.

Jessie Lopez

Okay, good evening. I'm Councilwoman Lopez, and today I'm really excited to be recognizing the meaningful work of Voice of Refugees, a grassroots nonprofit organization serving refugee and immigrant families throughout all of Orange County. their organization was founded in 2009 by three former refugees and immigrants. Voice of Refugees began with something very simple but powerful, helping families that are coming to this country by helping them have furniture

Jessie Lopez

in their new homes. And so what started something as small but a really strong act of compassion has grown into a trusted community organization helping families stabilize, integrate, thrive, and ultimately find community. Voice of Refugee provides holistic support for refugee and immigrant families through food assistance, mentorship, transportation support, ESL connection services, youth empowerment programs, and community integration efforts. And that's really important because when you look at the data of who is successful long-term in the United States, those that are able to have a strong community

Jessie Lopez

around them tend to do the best in terms of work placement, education, economic opportunity, and also giving back. Their work addresses both immediate needs and long-term opportunities for success. Through partnerships with houses of worship, volunteers, and community organizations, Voice of Refugees walks alongside families not just during their first week in the United States but throughout their journey towards stability and belonging which again is really really critical for long-term success of refugee and immigrant families. The organization has also created

Jessie Lopez

spaces that celebrate dignity, culture, and connection through multicultural events, women's gatherings, and seasonal community programs that help families feel welcome and supported in addition voice of refugees continues to expand partnerships with local businesses in orange county some located here in the city of santa ana aaa is one of them different chains is another an investco to provide career coaching to and mentorship and practical support that help families build sustainable futures most importantly voice of refugees is helping create pathways

Jessie Lopez

ways for refugees and immigrants to become community leaders, engage in their communities, contributors, and active participants within their communities. Their work reflects the very best of Orange County spirit, which is compassion, service, and opportunity. And on behalf of my office and the city of Santa Ana, I extend our deepest gratitude to Voice of Refugees for their extraordinary dedication, compassion, and service to families that are looking for a new future. Their work goes far beyond basic assistance. Again, they help restore dignity, they create

Jessie Lopez

belonging, and offer hope to families rebuilding their lives after unimaginable hardship and displacement. Through countless hours of volunteer service, meaningful partnerships, and unwavering commitment to Voice of Refugees has become a powerful example of what community care in a human-centered approach can truly look like. We deeply admire the way that this organization not only meets immediate needs, but also empowers individuals and families to thrive, to lead, and to contribute back to the communities that they now call home. The City of Santa Ana is proud

Jessie Lopez

to recognize and celebrate Voice of Refugees for embodying the values of service, inclusion, inclusion, resilience, and humanity to strengthen and uplift our entire region. Thank you so much. And now I would love to hand over the mic to all three of you, actually.

We are a community that opens our doors to our global neighbors so that they can thrive here. And our duty is not to be just good neighbors, but to empower people who are displaced because of war and violence into a place where they feel welcome, but also where they can be part of this community as members that can be effective and efficient in this community. I'm so thankful for your honor, Mayor, and all the council members, especially for council member Jesse. I am so glad that we get to be honored because we're a privately funded organization.

We have been serving grassroots nonstop, holistically with whatever any displaced family needs. So if you ever know of anybody is in need, don't leave without giving a resource. We partner with a lot of churches, with a lot of people from different organizations and companies like Chick-fil-A or AAA that helps us pack food and make sure that every family is fed, everybody has furniture, has a mattress to sleep on, but also everybody has a job and can create a livelihood for their family even though their country is

at war or they experienced violence in their country and they are displaced. Thank you for being a city of welcome and thank you for this honorary notion.

Thank you.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you. Next up is Councilmember Phan recognizing Los Amigos High School students for outstanding academic achievements. Come on up. Los Amigos, come on up.

Thai Viet Phan

Oh my God, look at all these logos. Come on up.

Thai Viet Phan

That's right, Garden Grove Unified School District Representin'.

As we wait for all of them, oh there's so many of you.

Thai Viet Phan

I know there are more.

Thai Viet Phan

Come on up, squeeze on in, pretend you like each other.

Thai Viet Phan

If you're short and you know who you are, you should stand in the front. I am not making eye contact with you, but you know.

Thai Viet Phan

Oh, no.

Thai Viet Phan

Okay. Hi, everyone. I'm so excited to have the young people this time because usually mine is so sad and I have to go after the kiddos. But good evening. Tonight, I am so, so proud, so excited of Los Amigos and the Lobos who go to school there. I'm excited to recognize these students from Los Amigos High School's Civic Action Club and Latinos Unidos for their hard work in attaining the California State Seal of Civic Engagement. Let's give them a round of applause. applause.

Thai Viet Phan

This distinction is awarded to high school students who demonstrate excellence in civics education and participation, along with an understanding of the United States Constitution , the California Constitution, and democracy as a system of government. I'm so glad these young people are getting involved in government and in civic action. I didn't know what a city council was until I think grad school, so the fact that you're here is just incredible. I did ask, some of them are 18 and in fact can replace me, so please apply. The group we are honoring tonight is a portion of the 233 total Los Amigos students who earned

Thai Viet Phan

the Civic Seal this year, including over 60% of the senior class. The Los Amigos cohort had a smaller senior class by about 150 students as compared to the next closest school in the district. But, Los Amigos had a higher percentage of students earn the seal with a smaller pool. Even more impressive is that Los Amigos High School's median percentile rank for achievement of the state seal is 61%. This means that students across socioeconomic backgrounds and GPAs are achieving the SEAL, not just those from traditionally high achieving backgrounds. Some of these students also include special education students who earn the

Thai Viet Phan

SEAL, demonstrating that everyone and anyone can participate in civic action. Of course, student success relies so much on amazing advisors like our Ward 1 resident who's not here tonight because she is present for her daughter, English teacher Adriana Alba, history and social science teacher Rebecca Martinez, and civics and ethnic studies teacher Mike Solis, who is here. These dedicated teachers all collaborated to provide students with opportunities to earn points for the Civic Seal. Please join me in congratulating these hard-working

Thai Viet Phan

students, their teachers, and advisors on their amazing achievement of the the California State Seal of Civic Engagement.

Thai Viet Phan

And now for the part that you guys are actually interested in. We now invite Civic Action Club Presidents Lily Alarcon and Anjin Nguyen to say a few words, followed by Latinos Unidos Club President Ana Hernandez, Garner Group Unified School District Board President Bob Harden, and the teachers and administrators who might like to make any remarks. Welcome.

So hello, my name is Lily Allerkong and I'm Angelina Nguyen And we are the co-presidents for the Los Amigos High School Civic Action Club. We want to thank the City of Santa Ana for the generous recognition of our joint efforts to promote civic engagement within our community. We could not have done it without the support of our wonderful advisors, Mr. Solis and Mr. Nguyen, who guided us throughout our quest to foster enthusiasm for civic involvement amongst our peers. We would also like to thank our school staff, admin, and the Garden Grove Unified School district for creating amazing opportunities for this like this for students.

Through Civic Action Club, our club leadership worked tirelessly to encourage political engagement, promote democracy, address injustice, and help provide opportunities to keep our school issues and sorry, our school politically informed. Our club hosted information sessions all school year addressing important social and political to quote topics such as know your rights and how to navigate cuts to SNAP benefits. And of course, encouraging our young Lobos to get pre-registered to vote, even teaching them about the firsthand voting process by holding mock election.

We also helped gather valuable resources for those affected. Yeah, we also helped gather valuable resources for those affected throughout the cut on SNAP benefits. in the late November, and we took lead on our school-wide fundraising initiative for local food banks, including a donation drive in response to LA wildfires, and later a food drive for the second harvest food bank of Orange County. We worked with our sister club, Latinos and Eagles, very closely through many of these activities so that, and so we would also like to give a special shout out to that club.

annually we also host a youth forum led by our very own ward one council member Tyviat Fan to help pinpoint concerns about our city and alleviate community issues by giving students a platform to share their experiences and perspectives through this we are not only showing students how the city of Santa Ana works for its community but also teaching students to to advocate for themselves and participate in their communities and government. With all this, we are so proud to say that we pushed over 233 Lobos to earn their California Civic Seal of Engagement, breaking both our school and school district's record.

Through these accomplishments with the Civic Action Club, we can safely say that Los Amigos is a democratic school. Thank you once again. We are beyond grateful for this honor and will continue to strengthen our community and work with the city of Santa Ana to make our beautiful community even better. Thank you.

Thai Viet Phan

Mr. Solis, President Hardin.

Anybody?

Thai Viet Phan

I also want to say in the youth forum, they ask harder questions than the political debates. I just want to say that.

Good evening, Mayor Emescuah, council members, students, members of the community. I'm Bob Harden, President of the Garden Grove Unified School District Board of Education. On behalf of the Board, it is my honor to congratulate Los Amigos High School on this remarkable achievement and to thank the City of Santa Ana for recognizing these outstanding students tonight. The California State Seal of Civic Engagement honors young people who demonstrate a deep understanding of democracy, civic responsibility, and the power of community involvement.

When more than 60% of a graduating class earns this honor, it says something powerful about the culture of a school. Los Amigos High School has created an environment where every student is encouraged to participate, contribute, and lead. To the students being recognized tonight, thank you for reminding us of what active citizenship looks like. Your leadership, compassion, and commitment to your community give us tremendous hope for the future. Congratulations again to the incredible Lobos of Los Amigos High School. We're proud of you.

Thai Viet Phan

All right, let's take a picture. And before I forget, I'd also like to mention board member Lan Quan Wen is here. Thank you.

Thai Viet Phan

Oh yeah, Latinos Unidos is our representative from LU. Yes, okay, come on out.

Good evening, Santa Ana City Council. My name is Darla Godinez. And I'm Ana Hernandez. We are both seniors from Los Amigos High School representing Latinos Unidos as club presidents. We would like to start by thanking Santa Ana for recognizing our efforts in making our community a safe and welcoming place. This student activism could not have been accomplished without the hard work of our advisors, Miss Alba, Mr. Solis, Miss Camero, Miss Bermudez, our GGUSD staff and administrators. Latinos Unidos is one of the biggest clubs on our campus. Our main goal is to give back to our community

by spreading awareness and pride for Latino culture and helping our members be civic leaders. We participate in many community events throughout the year including some elementary school events and some events in downtown Santa Ana like Fiestas Patrias and the Dia de los Muertos celebrations. But most importantly, this year, we directly helped hundreds of families in our community who were negatively impacted by President Trump's ICE raids.

At the beginning of January, ICE raids had emerged in our community. At the Año Latinos Unidos conference, peers and Dr. Moffey showed their concern for families. With this information, we began to give out our Know Your Rights cards, but we knew that wasn't enough to support the GGUSD families. Luckily, Ms. Chase, Los Amigos Community Schools' coordinator, shared her ideas on starting a resource fair where we invited over 500 district families to this event. In this event, food trucks offered a free hot meal, free dispensary items like clothes,

diapers, baby necessities, fresh produce, and individual health care booths that help these families in times of need.

Just this school year alone we helped hundreds of families in a time when they were afraid to leave their homes because of the political climate. We were a sigh of relief and a judgment-free help for so many families like my own. We took took part in helping Dr. Moffey's initiative to rename Rosita Elementary to Palomino Elementary. We are in full support of this project, which will give much needed credit to the et al in the Mendez et al v. Westminster case. The Palomino family's efforts, along with other families in this case, are the reason most of us in this room are as successful as we are today,

and have the opportunities many children before us may not have had. We owe everything to these families who allow us to love education, and to one day have a career and give back to this community.

Thank you so much, Santa Ana City Council, for recognizing our efforts, and we will continue to grow as a club and a community to take initiative in major events to improve our community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Valerie Amezcua

All right, great job. Congratulations, everybody.

Valerie Amezcua

All right. We're moving on now. Madam City Attorney, do you have anything to report out of closed session?

Sonia R. Carvalho

Mayor, Council Members, members of the public, we had two closed session discussions this evening. We do have reportable action on one item. The second item with respect to potential initiation of litigation and review, anticipated litigation, the City Council by unanimous vote directed us to pursue a formal complaint against Southern California Edison for all of the many delays and costs that has caused the city to incur due to its lack of action.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you, Madam City Attorney. I appreciate it. Before we start public comments, the City Attorney has given me something to read. I'd like to read this publicly before we start.

Valerie Amezcua

At the last several council meetings, we asked our city attorney for a full report on the Colch Royal situation and the status of the city petitions. We have received a comprehensive memorandum on the facts, the prior lawsuits, the evictions, and the status of the petitions. The information shared with us included the fact that the parties, Kingsley and the tenants, agree to keep many of their stipulations and evictions confidential Kingsley and the tenants are subject to the state mobile home residency law it is a state law and the city is preempted by this law meaning that the law is controlling

Valerie Amezcua

and the city cannot interfere the city's role the city's the city you have to be respectful while we're speaking please thank you well then I'll stop the council meeting thank you the city's role in the situation is based on the voter approved ordinance which is summarized in two parts first there is rent stabilization and second there is just cause the coach royal tenants are not alleging any violation of the rent stabilization part of the ordinance they are alleging harassment and retaliation the ordinance that was approved at

Valerie Amezcua

one time by the city council and subsequently by the city's voters states that retaliatory eviction protections can only be alleged in a court of law. The city cannot take action in relation to these type of complaints. The anti-harassment complaints are the ones that the city has jurisdiction over and these are being handled through the petition process involving an independent administrative hearing officer. Again this is being done in accordance with an ordinance adopted by the voters of Santa Ana. The city is aware that there was a confidential settlement agreement between Kingsley and the tenants. We

Valerie Amezcua

believe that settlement to be in the millions of dollars based on what some advocates have said but we cannot verify this because it was the subject of a confidential agreement. The city is doing all that it can legally do under its ordinance. In addition the city has provided emergency rental assistance and assistance through several of its programs providing thousands of dollars to tenants. For example, the Baragon family collectively has received over $149,000 in city funds from several programs. We are sympathetic to the tenants and have been responsive. Coming to the City Council and saying that the

Valerie Amezcua

city is doing nothing is just not true. The city is enforcing the law, it can enforce, and it has provided nearly $200,000 in funding to the impacted tenants. It was recently reported that the tenants have turned to making threats and active acting physically aggressive

Valerie Amezcua

acting physically aggressive with our city staff. That behavior will not be tolerated by the city. If the tenants choose to continue to work with the city the city will work with the tenants and be supportive. However if the tenants continue to make threats we will pursue all legal remedies to protect our staff staff and officials. Thank you Madam City Attorney for this report.

At this time, Madam Clerk, we're going to try to get through public comments.

Valerie Amezcua

There are people all throughout this whole council meeting who'd like to speak, so we will try to get through this. If we cannot, then we'll take a break and we'll leave the room and then we'll see how things work out. but i'm hoping that we have enough respect for each other that we can let everyone speak it's about respecting each other in this room so this is the time of the meeting for the city council to receive comments from the public on agenda and non-agenda items madam city clerk please explain the public comment procedures the time and the first speakers thank you thank you mayor pursuant

Jennifer L. Hall

to resolution number 2025-004 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 one minute for their comments. Before calling speakers, I will, before calling speakers, I will report the summary of emails provided as of today. We received a total of 49 e-comments by 3 p.m., those were 12 on non-agenda topics, one on item number 19, seven on item number 20,

Jennifer L. Hall

one on item number 22 and 28 on item number 24 those were distributed to the

David Penaloza

City Council and posted online for public review did we make why is it a minute excuse me why is the public speaking a minute because there's so

Valerie Amezcua

many public speakers and so we made a motion for a minute and there's support from we'll be here for a very long time

David Penaloza

we need to get through the budget guys guys please if you would stop we can we can talk can you please be respectful i i would rather hope that we just give everybody the three minutes that

Valerie Amezcua

we usually do um thank you i'll make a motion for one minute is there a second yeah i'll second the one minute thank you all those in favor of one minute all those opposed to what ms madame clerk can you take a role for those uh supporting the one minute please yes thank you this is a motion

Jennifer L. Hall

by mayor mesquite seconded by council member lopez to limit public speaking time to one minute council member becerra yes council member hernandez no council member lopez yes council member fan yes council member vasquez no mayor pertin penulosa no mayor mesquite yes so it is four Four ayes, three nays. Nays by Mayor Pro Tem Penalosa and Council Members Lopez and Vasquez. Motion carries. Speaking time will be one minute.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you very much. Let's proceed.

Jennifer L. Hall

We will now hear from members of the public that are physically present in the Council Chamber, followed by those on the conference call or Zoom to provide their comments on agenda or non-agenda items. Please state your name and the ward or neighborhood that you reside in for the record. I'll call three speakers at a time. If you could please line up in the center aisle when you hear your name, and then approach the podium. First three speakers, Pat Lenahan, Patricia Mendoza, and Jesus Gomez.

Valerie Amezcua

You can come on up, please. Thank you.

Let's go forward. Thank you.

Valerie Amezcua

Go ahead and begin.

I guess I'm going to have to speak Philadelphia first. My name is Pat Lenahan. Oh, is that better? My name is Pat Lenahan. I'm Ward 5, Vice President of the Washington Square Neighborhood Association, member of the Comlink Board, formerly on the Santa Ana Library Commission and member of the Santa Ana Police Department's Family Violence Emergency Response Team. I'm here to talk about the park, Washington Square Park, a walkable park. One of the things we have, I've had a neighbor who had a serious fall because of the, an an older neighbor because of the impediments and the walkways.

We have a lot of people of all ages who could benefit from this. We refer to Freeman Street as the Freeman Freeway. I've been actually passed on it. People drive too fast, we have problems, and it's not a safe thing. To have a park would give the community a great sense of space. space, it would allow people for greater mental health, physical health. Pat, your time is up.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you very much. Your time is up. Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

Next speaker.

Jennifer L. Hall

Patricia Mendoza.

Jennifer L. Hall

Patricia Mendoza, followed by Jesus Gomez and David Pulido.

I'm overwhelmed, but I'll make this quick. My name is Patricia, last name is Mendoza. I'm from downtown LA, born and raised there. I'm an activist, worked in the law office for 30 years. Today I'm with a friend that I met two months ago in Norwalk County, and she bought a property and she lost it two years ago. But the reason I'm here is because we need the support of her city council, Mr. Hernandez. This building is right here in the corner, and they never did the bankruptcy for Ms. Gomez, and she's paid these people like $56,000. And it took me two months to put everything together,

and I feel like Eli must. The more I dig, the more I dig. There's a lot, there's a lot of people involved, but my plans are that I'm gonna send this problem to the district attorney in downtown. So nice to meet all of you guys. Thank you for your patience, and the public and maybe I can help these people in the back. I've been doing slumlord buildings and lawsuits. Thank you. Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Valerie Amezcua

We actually have a translator and only one person can speak. She was called.

Jennifer L. Hall

Jesus Gomez is the next speaker. Okay. Perfect. Thank you.

Valerie Amezcua

We have a translator. She can speak in Spanish. Thank you. Thank you.

I'm going to put an interpreter. Okay. So right now is the time.

Go ahead, please. Señor, por favor. Buenas tardes. Mi nombre es Jesus Gomez. Y vengo aquí para, no sé, que me ayuden algo porque yo pagué un servicio y no lo hicieron correctamente como debe de ser. A causa de eso perdí mi propiedad. We're talking more than $400,000 in earnings that I had. And I ask you in the most attentive way that, please, in the name of all of us who have this situation in the houses, pay attention to us because you do and you do not do what you want

and nobody tells you anything, nobody does anything, nobody listens to you. We're going to make complaints to the police, please. favor pongan maja pensión no a quiero vina regaña de vina nada pero que nos pongan a tension porque es algo horrible and are simple me no tossing cada casa de cada hijo cuando uno trabajo on realmente quarenta años is on the tempo terminado

see good afternoon my name is a piece music and I am NOT here I'm here because I've paid some services for some individuals and I paid a long time ago but even though I paid I still lost my property we are talking about four hundred thousand dollars plus that I lost that I had based on that and I am I am here to please please tell you to pay attention because these people do things and undo things and nobody's really paying attention I'm asking you to please please pay attention I am NOT here to scold anybody I'm here to humbly request that you know it's very difficult for me to be five minutes with

one family member and five minutes with another family member one kid in another it's very difficult for me to do being that i've worked for over 40 years for this

Jennifer L. Hall

next three speakers are david pulido sue palick and tomas castro

my name is david palito i'm a member of community service organization orange county we're here today to present the early results of our petition for justice for noe rodriguez it's been over a year since santa ana police officers luis casillas nice equipada executed in front of Casa Lina Furniture shooting almost 30 bullets at an unarmed man having a mental health crisis. Today would have been his birthday and you robbed that time from him. You robbed that time from him when you took away that time. We're working class residents. This is our time that you're not respecting. You talk about residents, we are your residents. Shame!

Last week the petition stood at 611 signatures from across the country. 94 signatures came from every ward in this city. They represent wards where we did our outreach, 10 separate outreach events. And while the residents, those of us who signed that petition, over 228 signatures, those are people who live or work in our city. And they deserve a say on this. If this mayor can receive thousands of dollars from the police union of Garden Grove and Anaheim, then we have a right to demand police accountability, to demand that these killer cops be fired. David, your time is up. You have that authority, Robert Rodriguez.

David, your time is up. You are empowered. You need to do something. Your time is up, sir.

Valerie Amezcua

Your time is up.

Your time is up. Thank you, sir.

Valerie Amezcua

Your time is up, sir.

Jail pillow cops! Luis Garcia! Isaac Ibarra! Luis Garcia! Isaac Ibarra! Justice for Norell Rodriguez!

Shameful. Shameful. No, yeah. Fuck you.

Jennifer L. Hall

Next three speakers. Sue Palak, Tomas Castro, Giovanni Chavez.

Jennifer L. Hall

Sue Palak.

Jennifer L. Hall

Tomas Castro.

Valerie Amezcua

I'm sorry, Madam Clerk, can you say the names again because of the noise, please?

Jennifer L. Hall

Yes. Sue Palak. Sue Palak, please. Please.

Jennifer L. Hall

Tomas Castro from Climate Action Campaign, followed by Giovanni Chavez and Ana Cruz. Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Good evening, Council Members. My name is Tomas Castro.

Valerie Amezcua

Can you speak into the mic, please? I'm sorry. Go ahead.

Good evening, Council Members. My name is Tomas Castro. I'm an organizer with Climate Action Campaign. I'm here to encourage the Council to support several key pieces of legislation currently currently make a gateway through the state legislature, all of which deal with the mounting crisis of energy affordability in our state. It's no secret that our utility bills are rising, and the key driver of the cost of living crisis is the unmitigated greed of investor-owned utilities. In Southern California alone, over 800,000 people are behind on their bills by an average of $600 to SoCal Edison.

This number will continue to rise as the utilities raise rates and lobby lawmakers to continue milking working families. However, by supporting legislation such as SB 886, SB 1159, AB 2463, SB 913, SB 905, and AB 2338, to name a few, the Council can stand with working families in Santana who want leadership on affordability. Thank you. Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

Giovanni Chavez, Ana Cruz, and Joey Figueroa.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. I'm Giovanni Chavez, Santa Ana resident in French Park. And first of all, I wanted to thank the City Council for approving the staff and operational requirements for self-checkout. And I urge you to, again, approve item 20. I also wanted to stand with the children that are against the Cuts to Our Pal program. That is a program that helps a lot of our kids here, helps them grow up to be the incredible residents that they are. And I wanted to speak in favor of item 22. Thank you, Mayor Emescuwa and Council Member Becerra for introducing this item.

This is very important considering the current climate. ICE is attacking and raiding our communities. They are arresting citizens and non-citizens alike. They are the reason why a lot of our small businesses are struggling. We need to take a strong stance against ICE. And you've all already been taking an incredible stance. We're a sanctuary city. The police department's had a long-time policy of not sharing information with ICE, and this goes a step further in making sure we codify that. Please approve item 22. Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

Ana Cruz, followed by Joey Figueroa and Lilia Fuentes.

nos a es un lugar seguro y que están fuera de cosas que no deben entonces mis hijos están ahí por muchos años y les han ofrecido trabajo es como otra escuela otra casa para ellos entonces digo por favor consideren en cortar estos programas para nuestros niños muchas memorias las tenemos y nos los llevan en después de escuela en el verano y no tenemos a mi dinero para Okay, gracias.

Good evening, my name is Ana Cruz and I'm here to request that you please don't close the different school programs because it's a place where my children can be, they can be safe. A lot of us as parents, we just don't have the money.

We just don't have the money to take them to other places because we work and they are offering them to do things like homework and other things that would be great for them and since we don't know the language and we don't have the money, this is great for them. It also helps them to build a lot of memories. It's like a second home for them. My children have been going there for a long time, and they also help them to find jobs. This is a place where they can go and have events. They do things during the summer. And please do not close these services for the children.

Jennifer L. Hall

Joey Figueroa, Lilia Fuentes, Janelle Hardy.

Good afternoon. My name is Joey Figueroa. I'm here to talk about PAL and how it benefits the community. I started working with PAL this year and I started by teaching kids how to play baseball and athletics. We primarily focus on teaching kids how to focus on education, fitness and enrichment. I know people who go to PAL and honestly it has a positive impact on kids and I feel like if you guys get rid of this program, it's just going to ruin the community more. It's gonna help kids drift away from education and start affecting our future more than it already has.

As a student, I plan on attending a four-year university and POW encourages students to attend four-year universities as well. I think you guys shouldn't do budget cuts and you guys should actually start promoting those organizations as well. Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

Next three speakers. members, Lillian Fuentes, Janelle Hardy, and David Jurek.

Hello, Mayor and City Council members. My name is Lillian, and I'm currently a student at California State University, Long Beach, where I am starting my sophomore year this fall. I understand the city's difficult budget decisions to make, but I hope like POW continues to be seen as an investment in young people and in communities. And I've been part of PAL program since the third grade, so PAL has been in my life for many years. During elementary and middle school, it's like a second home to me. It's always a place where I feel safe, supported, and encouraged to grow.

One of the biggest parts of PAL for me was the run team led by Officer Kearney. Even though I joked I hated running, it taught me discipline and importance of supporting the people around you. And one of the things Officer Kearney would tell us was that finish together, and that's the lesson that stayed with me forever. As I go over there, I want to keep giving back to the same program that helped me grow up. So I volunteered during high school later as the opportunity to work through the same program. The experience taught me this responsibility, leadership, and the importance of helping community. Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

Janelle Hardy, David Jurek, Jair L.

Hi. Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, council members. My name is Janelle Hardy. I'm in Ward 2 and I'm currently serving as an HRC Commissioner. Tonight, I want to bring you information about the state and city program, the Mills Act Agreement.

I'm here to tell you that Mills Act property owners do receive property tax bills. Mills Act property owners do pay property taxes. taxes, Mills Act property owners do pay for parks, roads, pavement, and street sweeping, and every other item that all property owners contribute to. And Mills Act property owners do receive a property tax increase every year, like most property taxpayers. taxpayers. So I hope this information was helpful. Thank you for your time.

Evening, Madam Mayor, Council, City staff. My name is David Jarek, Washington Square Ward 5. I'm here in place of my wife, Nina, who's been the driving force behind getting the the park in Washington Square. She underwent major spinal surgery this morning and she's doing fine, resting in her bed and watching this presentation. And we presented our case many times to the council and the city staff about the vacant land in Washington Square and this is our last chance to get a park in Washington Square. And we're very pleased that the council chose to move it forward into the budget and we just ask that it's it remains

in the budget when you vote on it in in four weeks and the residents of Washington Square are counting on you all to make our dream of a walkable park walkable park in Washington Square staying I'm sorry we really want the walkable park to stay in the budget and keep our dream of a walkable park alive david your time is up thank you very much and it's a must-have

Jennifer L. Hall

next three speakers jair jorge rodriguez and victor romero april 29 20 26 petitioners of the

cultural mobile home park met with kingsley management corporation represented by bedell law a hearing under the rso during the meeting the city of santana did not provide in any interpretation or offer any interpretation services initially petitioners had to advocate for themselves for this and this is required under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act and under state law like the Dimley Alatorre Bilingual Service Act and during this time Kingsley's lawyer also confidently said we are not required under law to provide interpretation services which raises alarm and suspicion as to whether they

use the same tactics when negotiating settlements with tenants and also Salo Mesquita and Maricela under the the offices I think the social services offices attempted to kick out witnesses of the coach royal residents they didn't let him and that was a direct violation of the policies and procedures of the RSO so please look into that all right because that was illegal they try to kick us out that's not right there's more your time is up basically the city of Santa Ana.

Valerie Amezcua

Your time is up. Thank you, sir.

Let Kingsley Steve Roll the residents of Santa Ana.

Jennifer L. Hall

Take note of that. The next three speakers. It's starting to make sense why you guys won't speak up.

Your time is up, sir. Because the city didn't let them. Your time is up, sir. In a small room. So take that what you will. Thank you, sir. Don't let the city of Santa Ana residents be steamed up.

Valerie Amezcua

Your time is up. Please respect the liberals. Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

The next three speakers. Jorge Rodriguez, Victor Romero, Abraham Q.

I'm sorry.

Hello, Mayor and City Council. My name is Jorge Rodriguez. I'm a bakery manager at Albertsons 598 here in Santa Ana. Two weeks ago, the Santa Ana City Council advanced this measure on item 22. Thank you to all the workers in Santa Ana and California. Because I know this ordinance will go beyond our city's borders. Self-checkout causes so many problems. It's only run by one person. And currently, they're unlocking liquor, getting baby formula, or just attending other matters. This creates an unsafe environment. I don't know if you've ever visited the store, but we're working with backed up drains, fire

exits that are blocked and neglected mold growth. We're chronically understaffed at the store and customers often have to leave self-checkout to find help at other departments. So I'm not working out. Management says nothing can be done, but there is. I don't know about you, but there's countless hours that I'm cake decorating and baking and for it to just be gone in a blink of an eye through self-checkout, it's not fair. Thank you so much for supporting this ordinance. It will do so much to protect us in the stores. Thank you. All right.

Jennifer L. Hall

Next three speakers are Victor Romero, Abraham Q., Socorro Vargas.

Good afternoon, City Council people. My name is Victor Romero. I am a meat cutter with Stater Brothers 29 in Santa Ana. I've been working for Stater Brothers for 29 years and I'm a proud union member. And compared to when I started, I can see that the company is cutting back on labor costs. Our stores are already at bare minimum staffing amounts and they are continuously asking us to do more with less people. Less workers means more stress for both workers and consumers. If Stater Brothers utilized self-checkout, I would bet that we'd have even less staffing.

In my hand I have petitions of people that have support the Safe Stores Act. This is why I'm here. I'm here to stand with my union brothers and members to ensure that the customers have a good shopping experience and that the workers have a safe working conditions. The way to do that is via more staffing, not technology that is designed to replace us. Regulating self-checkout does not stop companies from utilizing the technology. It just simply requires the companies to use it responsibly. I've seen how it works in Long Beach. I've seen how it works in...

Jennifer L. Hall

Victor, your time is up.

Thank you very much.

for no end Rodriguez a monster cojito master 600 firm as demand and okay los policias as a sinus Luis Casillas is a Kibara sanders videos despedidos de la partimenta policial ahora desde que mataron no estos officials on estado bajo investigacion del departamento de justicia de california por matar a un hombre desarmado Pena los dos han sido involucrados en otros instantes de mala conducta a tambien en otras muertes en la ciudad cuando los concejales no critiquen in no castigan yes the buses defiended la mala conduct a policial a sicko moda penyelosa como filibuster a value a mesquite nuestros comunidad is when I

say get so fiendola brutality that policial decent cannot Karen in front of an appleto de la asociacion police policial but a la realidad is que los asocio asociaciones policiales a muchos ciudades the stamp agonizos carreras politicas is his campanus

Good afternoon City Council members, the city employees, and my neighbors around Santa Ana. My name is Abraham. I am a member of the Community Service Organization and Police Accountability Committee. Tonight we are submitting a petition from our campaign for justice for Noe Rodriguez. We have collected over 600 signatures demanding that killer cops Luis Castilla and Isaac Isaac Ibarra be fired from the Santa Ana PD. Noe was a resident of Santa Ana. He had two young daughters. My apologies. Says that both officers have been under investigation by the California Department of Justice for killing an unarmed man.

Both have also been involved in other incidents of misconduct and even death. Like Isaac Ibarra took part of the arrest, Freddie Washington. When the city council members do not criticize or punish, sometimes they even defend the police misconduct as David Peñalosa, Phil Barrera, and Valerie Amezcua. Through our communities, we'll continue to suffer police brutality.

Jennifer L. Hall

Next three speakers, Socorro Vargas, Diana Vargas-Fueras, and Autumn Overton.

Hello, good evening. My name is Socorro Vargas, and I'm here to encourage the PAL program. It has really helped me and the community in so many ways. It's helped me build my confidence, join extracurriculums, and just be out and about. They have currently hosted a baseball and softball camp, which I'm very interested in, and it has helped me just make new friends and help others while teaching them how to play the game. I just think it's a very good program overall, and I think it will benefit the community and students that join it in so many good ways, teaching them life skills, teaching

them how to have fun, and just life management skills in general. I encourage you to look into the budget and just fund the PAL program. Thank you. Have a good day.

Jennifer L. Hall

Next three speakers, Diana Vargas-Juarez, Autumn Overton, and Jessie Rodriguez.

Hi. My name is Diana Vargas, and I am a former student of the after-school program PAL. I'm here today to talk about the program PAL. The PAL program has a bunch of different things to offer for the students to attend or for anyone in general to attend, even if they are not part of the program. For example, they have a softball and baseball camp for kids that like those sports while also having soccer too. If you are in the program, they give enough time to do your homework while also giving time for the students to eat and play games. The program makes the students do exercises and activities that are actually fun and helpful

to staying fit and healthy for these kids. These are some of the reasons why I believe the PAL program should continue to get supported and grow bigger for other people to join in and have fun like me and my sister did. Thank you for your time.

Jennifer L. Hall

Autumn, Jesse, and then Santiago Orozco.

All right. Good evening, council. Council, my name's Autumn. I live in downtown Santana. And I'm deeply disappointed in the city's leadership for your warm embrace of flock cameras. Santa Naros have never wanted this technology in our communities, and we demand that the city council end the flock contract. These systems create a culture of mass surveillance while providing little evidence of meaningful public safety. You have a responsibility to protect our privacy, civil rights, and safety, and you must dismantle of these technologies that are used to target our communities. We know that ICE will use these cameras and the data.

We know that Trump will use these cameras and this data. Cameras do not prevent crime. Please stop surveilling us. End the contract. Number two, we ask the council to please pass agenda items 22 and 23, the No Side Jobs for ICE Act. We want ICE out of Santa Ana and the police out of ICE. And we support our incredible UFCW workers. Thank you for fighting for that self-checkout policy.

Jennifer L. Hall

Autumn, your time is up.

Jennifer L. Hall

Jesse, followed by Santiago, and then Miguel Martinez.

Good evening, Mayor and Councilmembers. My name is Jesse Rodriguez, and I am the Vice Chair of the Youth Commission. I urge you not to cut the Youth Commission or PAL. The savings are small, but the impact on Santa Ana's youth would be huge. The Youth Commission gives young people a voice in local government, and PAL provides mentorship, after school programs, and safe opportunities for kids. I first time have participated in PAL, and it's always been a great experience, and was disappointed in having it cut. These programs would keep youth engaged, supported, and connected to their community.

They also create positive spaces for leadership, growth, and trust between young people and the city. Investing in youth now builds a stronger and safer Santa Ana in the future. Please continue investing in the young people of Santa Ana. Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

Santiago Orozco, Miguel Martinez, Bumaro Vicente.

Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. My name is Santiago Orozco, and I urge you not to eliminate the Youth Commission or cut support for PAL. The money being saved is small, but the impact of Santa Ana would be long-lasting. The Youth Commission gives young people a chance of voice in local government, and the chance to be involved in decisions that affect our future. Eliminating the commission would show that the city is not truly prioritizing its youth. And the PAL provides mentorship, sports, after school programs, and a safe space for kids. These programs are investments in our community

and help young people supported and engaged. Please stand with Santa Ana youth and protect these programs. Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

Next three speakers, Miguel Martinez, Umaro Vicente, and Tanya Navarro.

Hi, my name is Miguel Martinez, a produce manager at Albertsons here in Santa Ana. Speaking on item 20, I want to thank the city, Santa Ana City Council for advancing these measures two weeks ago and for hearing it again today. I worked for Albertsons 37 years. Throughout my years at the store, I've seen the problems the self-checkout causes. Lines are long. Customers come through with overloaded carts. They have trouble with codes and more. And this gets them upset. They go off on the one person that is watching over self-checkout. This isn't safe for the going charge.

Our managers are usually far away and unable to come and help up in time. This ordinance will help make it easier for grocery workers. Customers will be able to go out faster and they'll be happier. Our stores will be safer. SAFER AND NOT SO AGGRESSIVE FOR CUSTOMERS. SUPPORTING OUR ORDINANCE WILL ENSURE OUR STORES ARE SAFE AND A GOOD PLACE FOR WORKERS AND CUSTOMERS. THANK YOU.

Jennifer L. Hall

NEXT THREE SPEAKERS. BULMARO VICENTE, TANYA NAVARRO AND YOHANA P.

HELLO MAYOR AND COUNCIL. I'M HERE TO SPEAK ON A FEW ITEMS. FIRST WE SUPPORT ITEM 20 THE SECOND READING OF THE ORDINANCE standards for self-service checkouts. I want to thank the Council for moving this forward and also the leadership at UFCW for their advocacy on this issue. We also support item 22 and we strongly encourage that any ordinance prohibiting immigration related secondary employment apply to all city personnel and contractors not solely the police department. Immigration related employment can involve a wide range of roles across city departments and and agencies. Additionally, we support item 23.

This is one of Chief Spauld's priority bills, and we want to thank the council for moving this forward as well. We're also here tonight in support of the family of Nora Rodriguez as they continue seeking justice and accountability.

And then lastly, regarding item 24, we want to emphasize the importance of investing additional funding for police oversight. The commission is already doing important work, but adding at least one additional investigator would include would expand its accountability in the city.

Jennifer L. Hall

Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

Tanya Navarro, Joanna P., Carla Alvarado.

Hello, Council. Tanya Navarro with Chispa. I'm speaking in support of item 20, 22, and 23 for 22 Chispa demands that the ordinance also prohibit ICE-related secondary employment for city personnel and contractors. I also like to uplift the demands from Norio Rodriguez's family, for his family has not receive justice for over a year on may 6 this council passed the flock contract tai fan moved to approve the contract with an asset there would be a public report back within one year showing updates on installment process criminal statistics and more as of may 19 2026 today that has not

happened santaneros never wanted this technology in our communities and we demand that the city council end their flock contract immediately this follows a pattern across the country where where oversight and guardrails are promised, but are either not put into place or fail to address the concerns raised. This is because the problems with this type of surveillance cannot be remedied by oversight. And Valerie and Mesquite, there's a long list of different abuses. So different abuses in different states, Kansas, Milwaukee police officers have searched their exes. Wrongful arrests, Colorado police department.

Valerie Amezcua

Your time is up, ma'am.

Your time is up. Border Patrol has access data from Orange County. thank you san anna pd shares their information thank you your time is up next three speakers

Jennifer L. Hall

joanna followed by carla alvarado and celica diaz good evening i'm here in support of item 20 22 and

23 but want to make sure item 22 applies to all city employees and contractors to not be able to work with eyes i'm also here to voice concern over the fall contract some council members voted in favor of council fan moved to approve the contract with the nasa there would be a report back within a year it's been a year now we have no report and it doesn't seem like it's been acknowledged since then this is technology we don't want and we demand that we end the contract at a time when ai tech and surveillance tools are rapidly expanding especially alongside increased

immigration enforcement our city must be proactive in defending communities from harmful surveillance and data sharing practices local government have a responsibility to protect to protect protect residents' privacy and civil rights, safety from a profit of technologies that are used to target our communities, and justice for Noah Rodriguez. Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

Next three speakers, Carla Alvarado, followed by Celica Diaz and Maria Enriquez.

First of all, I want to let everybody know that Santa Ana is a charter city and you just stop lying to the constituents telling them that there's nothing that you could do your city has authority our city has authority and flexibility to respond to local housing crisis public safety concerns tenant protections and community harm when residents are being affected on a systemic level if some of my residents are not here it's because they're scared because look at what happened when we're vocal and you mentioned in my family we have three houses there two that were stolen you think we're gonna freaking let

them go for 146 thousand four hundred and forty thousand dollars that's a that's disrespectful our houses were worth over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars okay that averages out to forty thousand dollars per home okay i have the money let's give them back to them that's disrespectful

settlement talk about my family okay a settlement that i told you guys was done under duress where we were only given a line carly your time is up and threatened with my five children ma'am your time is up i would still not be able to save anything okay that was with my time is up ma'am we are not sellouts we'll give them back the money thank you ma'am your time is up you guys can't waive our future rights you guys know this and we're We're not talking about a failure to maintain law. Ma'am, your time is up. Living like animals.

Valerie Amezcua

Your time is up, ma'am.

We're talking about theft of our homes.

Valerie Amezcua

Your time is up, ma'am.

Don't misinterpret things, and if they don't want us to show you the settlement that was so conveniently done, because they worked in collusion with our attorney, then I'll put it in writing and read it for everyone.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you, thank you, your time is up. Thank you.

Next three speakers.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

If something wrong is misinformation, don't do that.

Valerie Amezcua

Thank you, your time is up.

Jennifer L. Hall

The next three speakers, Celica Diaz, Maria Enriquez, and Sophia Gallegos.

Good evening. My name is Celica Diaz. I live in Pacific Park Neighborhood, Ward 2, and I am here because I care deeply about the future of our youth and our community. I am urging you to protect and allocate funding for the PAL program. The PAL program has proven to work. The program is a safe space for children. They provide support, activities, and encouragement. At a time when Santa Ana residents identified youth services as one of the top three priorities for our city, it is concerning to see programs that directly serve our children are facing major cuts, especially talking to Ty, Hernandez, and Ben Vasquez.

You guys talked about wanting to get rid of the PAL program at the last meeting. So investing in youth programs is investing in public safety, mental health, education, and future of Santa Ana. Instead of discussing and eliminating these programs, the conversation should be about expanding them. We should be recommending that programs like PAL be extended to serve junior high and high school students as well.

Parents are here to speak about it, so please listen to the residents. Sal, I hear your time is up.

Jennifer L. Hall

Maria Enriquez, followed by Sofia Gallegos and Rosie Arzola.

Hello, my name is Maria Enriquez. I'm here to support PAL. PAL should be continuing because it's a great program that motivates young people in positive ways. In my case, it has helped my boys in positive motivation with their education and physical activities. The program has teach them how to properly use machines and encourage them to stay positive and healthy. Also, Pell has teacher responsibilities, organization, and how to use their time wisely and productively. Coming from a neighborhood where it's gang related, this program has helped my kids in many ways and stay away from the streets

and help them with their future and their goals. Most important, PAW motivates them to go to school, stay positive, and believe in themselves. This program is really helpful for our young adults, and we need their support so they can continue to help our kids. Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

Sofia Gallegos, Rosie Arzola, Erica Armenta.

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Sofia Gallegos. PAW has been a huge part of my life. it has helped me become a better person, improve in school, and discover my love for softball. This program gives kids a safe place to go to after school where we can get homework help, stay active, and be surrounded by positive people who truly care about us. PAL also helps parents by giving them a peace of mind, knowing their kids are safe, supported, and staying out of trouble. Closing this program would hurt many families, take away opportunities from kids like me. Every day, PAL was something I look forward to

because of how fun, welcoming, and supportive it was. The staff and coaches always encourage us to do our best both in school and life. They taught us important lessons about teamwork, responsibility, and confidence that will carry with us forever. Without PAL, many kids would lose a safe environment where they can learn, grow, and build friendships. Programs like this give students opportunities to stay active, try new things, and believe in themselves. My experience with PAL has been nothing but positive, supportive, and unforgettable, and I know many other kids feel the same. I truly hope this program

can continue helping students and families for many years to come. Thank you. Sophia, your turn.

Jennifer L. Hall

Rosie Arzola, followed by Erica Armenta and Sandra Deanda.

I'm here to speak on behalf of Noel Rodriguez, shame on Santa Ana Police Department for for executing and shooting him 30 rounds while having a mental breakdown. We are asking for justice, transparency, and accountability. Luis Casillas, Isaac Ibarra be fired and removed from the police department. Shame on them for executing Noray Rodriguez on a mental crisis that he needed help not to be executed. Justice for Noel Rodriguez, and for my son Alberto Arzola,

Emanolo Gonzalez, Brendan Lopez, Joel Acevedo, and the rest of the fallen constituents from the police department, brutality, prayers for the Islamic community in San Diego and everywhere. Thank you.

yes this is que los oficiales asesinos casillas y barra le quitaron la vida al padre de mis hijas noé rodriguez in una lluvia de balas sin embargo ustedes no han hecho nada la alcaldesa en particular se encarga de proteger los ofreciendo publicamente su apoyo a estos supuestos agentes de paz sin consideración alguna por el dolor que nos causa nosotras les quiero decir estas palabras que mis

My name is Erin. But in that, they are still free. Respect for our pain. And don't comment more about our pain. Respect our pain.

My name is Erica, and I am here to talk about the loss of Noel when he was killed in 2024 under a rain of shotguns. And the mayor has done nothing about it. They have done nothing to do this. And let me play a little something for my daughters. And there was a little play, a little recording of a child saying, happy birthday, daddy. My daddy, I will never be able to spend any time with my daddy as my daddy is dead. And the people that killed him continue to walk free. Please do not continue to make comments about our pain. Do not make comments about our pain.

Jennifer L. Hall

Next three speakers, Sandra DeAnda, Jose Perez, Grace Arzola.

Good evening, Mayor and Councilmembers. My name is Sandra, and I am a Ward 4 resident. I'm here today in support of Items 20, 22, and 23, and I see that today we have .

I'm also an immigrant rights advocate, immigration policymaker, and ice watcher. An ice watcher is a civilian observer who monitors, documents, and reports ice activity to the community. I engage in this work because for close to a decade, I have stood alongside families whose rights have been violated by ice and who have been deeply dehumanized by our immigration system. Since its inception, ice has operated with a troubling lack of transparency and accountability. So I am supporting item 22, but like my colleague, Bumaro shared, would like for it to extend

to personnel of the city, all personnel of the city. Thank you.

Jennifer L. Hall

Sandra, your time is up.

Jennifer L. Hall

Jose Perez, followed by Grace Arzola and Matthew Compton.

Good evening, Mayor, council members. My name is Jose Perez. Perez, I am the president of UFCW Local 324. We represent 21,000 members in Orange and Los Angeles counties, 16,000 of them in the grocery, drug retail, and pharmacy industries. Your support for the self-checkout ordinance at the last hearing showed a true understanding of the critical need to protect local workers. Passing this ordinance tonight comes down to four critical goals, protecting good local local jobs, improving safety for both workers and customers, reducing retail theft and store

disruptions, and ensuring seniors, families, and all shoppers always have access to staff checked out services. On behalf of all UFCW members and working families in Santa Ana, we respectfully urge you to vote yes tonight to support this ordinance. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Jennifer L. Hall

Next three speakers, Grace Arzola, followed by Matthew Compton and Rain Mendoza.

Good afternoon. I'm actually here because of Noel Rodriguez. It is May mental health awareness. I'm sure you guys are familiar with it. What makes me sad is that there was a resident from Santa Ana who was experiencing a mental health condition and instead of you guys getting him the mental health he needed, you guys decided it would be good to shoot him up with 30 rounds.

Another thing is that maybe you guys would have extra funding if you guys didn't pay the lawsuits for all the excessive force to fund the after school program. And you guys talk about etiquette, Mayor Mesquite, you chew gum while people are here talking. And you have a telltale when you don't like what people are saying, you do this and you do this and you shake your head. Body language is still body language. That's another thing. and for the record, we don't need you to put your Chicano fists up because we know how to do that. And change comes from the community, not from the people that are supposed to serve.

And if you guys are too busy to give us three minutes, don't hold a public office because you guys don't have time. So well.

And if you take this program, the team will turn into gang members. That's how I do that.

Jennifer L. Hall

Next three speakers, Matthew Compton, Rain Mendoza,

Right, I'm not even gonna bother to introduce myself. Y'all know who I am at this point. I just want to say that you guys are really fucking scared of the Courte Royale people and it's fucking shameful that you guys decided to cut it to one minute. Including you, Jesse. The Azoles are sitting right there and they saw your bullshit. They canvassed for you and they supported you and you spent time with them and they just saw your bullshit. shit. Rosetta, you decided to call us sellouts or paid actors, as you said, on January 26th. Well, I have you fucking know that none of us in CSO are paid to do this. We do this for free.

We're here because it's right and just to hold killer cops accountable. That's a basic fucking thing, dude. I work at an Amazon warehouse, 9 p.m. to 5.30 a.m., busting my fucking ass, and you sit up here in your fancy ass fucking suit and decide to call us sellouts. Well, Well, fuck you, but you're a fucking piece of shit, and you're a fucking hat. Piece of shit. No, no. Fucking piece of shit in my mind.

Jennifer L. Hall

Next three speakers, Rain Mendoza, followed by Maran Tomajan and Joey L.

staff or personnel los unicos crimen es que estan aqui solo de kingsley corporation que no entienden de eso una vez mas señalare a los casos en que ustedes el consejo se tomo medidas contra la propiedad privada el consejo municipal presiono multo y demando el centro en el 2021 debido a un encampamento de personas sin hogar that had been installed in your private property. You obtained an order and took out homeless people so quickly. Some of you cited public security as justification,

but don't you see the illegal activity that Kingsley is doing as a problem? When your workers and immigrants come to you in search of help,

Valerie Amezcua

Your time is up, ma'am. Your time is up, ma'am.

Valerie Amezcua

Ma'am, thank you. Your time is up.

Valerie Amezcua

Ma'am, your time is up. Your time is up, ma'am.

Thank you very much.

Valerie Amezcua

Your time is up. Thank you.

It's a disgrace that you guys are talking against the people that are the people that were living there when in reality, the only people that are corrupt and that are doing all the damages is Kinsley. Once again, I would like to remind you about the cases that you have supported here from back in 2021 when there was an encampment right away. And because it was an encampment on private property right away, those people were kicked out immediately. It was unjustified. And now the only person that is doing wrong here, the only thieves are Kingsley. And as you can see right now, I'm trying to see and help people.

Jennifer L. Hall

Next three speakers, Mehran Tomajian, Joey L., and Connie Major.

Good evening, Honorable Mayor and Council Members. I'm Mehran Tomajian, Governor Affairs Liaison of the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce, here testifying in strong opposition to Agenda Item 20. As representative of Santa Ana's business communities, Santa Ana Chamber is deeply concerned about the impact this proposed ordinance will have on local small businesses, working families, and the overall economic health of our city. Ninety-five percent of companies in Santa Ana are small and mid-sized. Many of our Chamber members are family-owned businesses working for the overall health of our local economy.

We cannot afford policies that exacerbate operational costs in an already difficult economic climate. Small businesses are more than storefronts. they are employers community partners and neighborhood anchors increased operational costs will threaten the ability of businesses to continue making those important community contributions for these reasons i respectfully oppose agenda item 20. thank you for your time

Jennifer L. Hall

and consideration next three speakers joey l connie major and irma drag sorry

sorry hello i am here standing in front of you um a part of the cso immigration committee to amplify the voices of the members of the city facing threats to their safety and facing verbal harassment from kingsley management as you heard from the families directly the goodness are here let me just actually seek from the heart it's actually crazy because we come to you to look for answers and i think the disbelief of that nothing can get done um is actually going to fuel this movement a little bit more because the people deserve to live in their homes we talk

about displacement we talk about homelessness issues here in xantana and we're coming to you before the issue even arises so please let these residents or listen to the residents to at least problem solve a solution don't tell us that you won't do anything at least try to do something these work these people have worked hard to live in their homes and they should see living in their homes thank you

Jennifer L. Hall

next three speakers Connie followed by Irma and Dale Helvig good evening

Council Connie major wishing it was noon and I was sitting in a park I'm here about item 24 park land available in Washington Square the city is so park poor that this is an opportunity not to pass up please keep the money for the park in the budget when you're looking at 24 tonight secondly new topic the The train station in Santa Ana, I frequently take the train from San Diego back home here. And at the train station now, the lighting on the elevators do not work.

You do not know if the elevator is going to work or not. You're standing there pushing the button over and over. There's no lights on the button. There's no lights on the triangle. There is lights for safety. But is the machine working? You can't tell. So I just wanted to put that in to somebody down there in maintenance, get on the elevators. Thank you.

Good evening, Council. I'm Irma Haraghi. I think everybody knows me and I know everybody. I hope you're having a great evening. I am here to support the PAL program. Everybody has talked about it, so I'm not going to repeat that. that what I'm going to be focusing in on is the efficiency and the use of the dollar for the program because that one dollar that you're spending on the PAL program, it has a multiplier effect between the authorities and the coaches and the children and the community. When you have a positive community and you heard nothing but fabulous things, you have a society and children

that grow in a positive atmosphere, supported, surrounded, protected, encouraged and courage for a better future, a better tomorrow. Those are our future citizens. So when you have a program that's so successful, cutting that off is cutting yourself at the throat because you're now allowing other forces that are negative or possibly negative because some children are in bad neighborhoods and the parents here have a lot of peace of mind. So I strongly encourage you. Thank you. Irma, your time is up.

Jennifer L. Hall

Next three speakers, Dale Helvig, Mai Do and Carl Benninger.

Good evening, mayors, city council, city staff. Support the future, support Powell. Invest in the future, support the work that needs to be done to get Washington Square Park put in. I'm opposed to a proposal that I've heard about of putting vending carts in the parks parks for sailing products. I think the parks should remain open space for parks. I appreciate item 19 coming forward to you tonight. I hope you approve it for the grant money to improve Park Santiago.

I'm also opposed to item 20. I think the city should not be in the business of dictating what private companies should be doing. I think that's their job for the companies to decide. That's between the union and the company. It shouldn't be the city's job to decide what needs to be done. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 19

Mai Do, Carl Benninger, Cathia Kamlas. MS.

Good evening. My name is Mai Nguyen Do. I'm the Research and Policy Manager at the Harbor Institute for Immigrant and Economic Justice. Incidentally, I'm also Council Member Becerra's constituent. The Harbor Institute is a proud co-sponsor of AB 1537, which is why we're also supporting agenda item number 23 and urge you to move forward with it. We know that ICE is really desperate to recruit more deportation agents and it's spending millions of dollars across California markets. And as agenda items 22 and 23 suggest, there currently is a loophole in state law that enables local law enforcement to take side jobs with ICE.

There's something preventing that. Now, agenda items 22 and 23 kind of beg the question of the scope of the issue, right? And AB 1537 would provide us the ability to gain transparency to be able to answer that question. So, really, AB 1537 is about transparency, it's about accountability, and we hope to move forward with agenda item number 23 also to strengthen the work you're trying to do through agenda item number 22. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 19

Carl Benninger, Kathy Akonlis, Diana T.

Good evening, Council.

I'm wearing my, it's not burnt orange, but Orange County soccer is coming this Saturday to Eddie Westfield. What a great thing for Santa Ana. Please come out and enjoy, and yours truly will be running the scoreboard and time clock there on it. Also, Comlink, June 25th, we're recognizing neighborhood heroes and most beautiful yards and the yards are beautiful. I've seen them myself. Number three, vote no on issue 20. Well intended, however, these always tend to backfire on wage increases and what have you, have always resulted in less people being employed, not more, and let local businesses run their businesses on it.

On budget, please do not cut PAL. I think it's very valuable for what it does for the city. Also, we need cameras along the bike trail in Alton to help improve the safety. Look at how much money we're spending on different celebrations as is there. And in closing, we need to work on... Carl, your time is up. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 19

Kathy Aconlas, followed by Diana Tee and Vern Nelson.

Good evening. My name is Kathy Aconlas, organizing director for the Orange County Labor Federation. We represent 97 unions and 270,000 union members in Orange County. I urge the council to support staffing requirements at self-checkout lanes. Grocery corporations continue prioritizing profits and cutting labor costs by replacing good jobs with self-checkout systems. While workers are left overstretched and customers are left without help they need. Workers should not be expected to monitor multiple lanes. and at once while dealing with safety concerns for selected customers and

increased stress on the job. At the same time, older adults, people with disabilities, and many community members are being forced to navigate systems that are not accessible or user-friendly. It should support people, not replace them.

Jennifer L. HallItem 19

Diana T followed by Vern Nelson and Michael Burren.

Hi, I'm here with the CSOC Immigration Committee. I think it's a shame that you guys are trying to slander the Kings, the Coach Royal residents and saying that they're threatening city staff. We have a video that shows that during their hearing, city staff was trying to put hands on them and trying to push out their supporters, which is their right based on the RSO. So it's your city staff who's putting hands on them first and trying to push people out of their hearing, which is their right. Secondly, this is a sanctuary city, and during that hearing, a DHS vehicle showed up outside of the building.

And that's a shame that these residents have to feel that fear while trying to fight for their rights. You guys keep telling them to sue Kingsley to submit their petitions and do this and that on an individual basis. What we're asking is for this to be treated as the systemic issue that it is. everywhere that Kingsley is across the country these issues are happening it will not be solved by an individual lawsuit so shame on you guys for doing absolutely nothing please stand with the president Diana your time is up next

Jennifer L. HallItem 19

three speakers Vern Nelson Michael Buran Guadalupe Barragan I'm Vern from

tenants united anaheim we're um we really like what you have here with your rent control ordinance and we're collecting signatures ourselves to have something like that for ourselves um but when we heard what's been happening in coach royal we thought how can this be possible in santa ana doesn't the rso protect these people at all we're talking about dozens of families evicted by kingsley on flimsy pretexts many of them made homeless we're talking about illegal 700 space rent hikes that families can't keep up with and which should fall under the RSO's purview.

We're talking about Kingsley not allowing evicted residents to sell their own homes, and we're talking about home theft on an industrial scale. Dozens of mobile homes, each representing the life savings of a family, seized unjustly by Kingsley property that hadn't spent a penny for it. Home theft is Kingsley's business plan. I want to thank the members who tried to give us three minutes and we're disappointed in the ones that gave us only one. Justice Bernoulli.

Jennifer L. HallItem 19

Bern, your time is up.

Jennifer L. HallItem 19

The next three speakers, Michael Burrin, Guadalupe Baragon, Sylvia Ayala.

Jennifer L. HallItem 19

Michael.

Michael.

Jennifer L. HallItem 19

Guadalupe. Baragon, Sylvia Ayala, and Julie Herrick.

I'm going to read it again. We're seeing each other's faces again. How sad to be presenting ourselves like this again. What you just said, Valeria, that we're harassing the park, we're the ones who have been exploited. I hope you have proof of everything you just said, right now, accusing my family. You know me if we're working people. Yes, we're angry because they're stealing houses. They're the ones taking photos of us. Mira, todos los días están tomándonos fotos, explotándonos. Ellos son los que nos acosan a nosotros. A esta señorita, la supuesta abogada de aquí de la ciudad, dice que nosotros dimos nuestros derechos.

Nosotros nunca hemos dado derechos de nada. Nosotros los demandamos porque no mantenían el parque. Nunca les dimos nuestros derechos para que nos robaran la casa. Necesitamos que tú y nosotros, todos los residentes de Co-Royal, tengamos una cita para que tu sepas toda la historia de la triste vida que hemos tenido en el parque. Tu eres la abogada, ¿verdad, Sonia? ¿Sí? Contigo queremos tener y para decirte todo lo que hemos tenido aquí. Su tiempo ha terminado. Okay. Your time is up, ma'am. Señora, your time is up. Que nos des el resultado del meeting que tuvimos en el edificio 801. Queremos esa resolución.

Sí, Valeria Mezcua, estoy hablando contigo.

Valeria Mezco, I'm telling you, if you're supposed to be saying all these things, do you have proof for all of that? We never gave up our rights. We never gave up our rights. These are the people that are stealing. They are stealing our homes. We never gave up any of our rights. And the attorney, the supposedly city attorney that we have right here, she's saying that we gave up our rights. We didn't. What happened was that there was no maintenance in the park. And this is not what's happening. And it's them. It's them that are taking pictures of us. We're not taking pictures of them.

And I would like to have a meeting with you so that you can sustain all of the things that you are saying to us, that you are telling us that they took our homes, not us.

Jennifer L. HallItem 19

Sylvia Ayala, followed by Julie Herrick.

I don't have a reason to accuse anyone of being in the unit. The only person I can accuse is the manager, the lawyer, but from there on I don't have to accuse anyone. In fact, the people who live there are accusing me that I have left and I have lacked respect. I have not lacked respect for anyone. I am not one of those people who lack respect for others just because they want to. I made a comment about the owner, I did it. porque el abogado el dueño si me robó mi casa me saco de mi casa y todavía no conforme con que me saco de mi casa sino que ahora hasta quiere abusar de mi

persona porque nos hemos venido a quejar y hemos venido a pedir ayuda muchas veces con ustedes pero si ustedes no pueden con el paquete dejen esas sillas Thank you, get up and leave the room. Your time is up.

My name is Melissa. Today I am here to tell you about the people that I'm being accused. I'm being accused that I'm going to sue people. I'm not going to sue anybody. I have nobody to accuse. People are accusing me. They're accusing me of leaving the unit. I'm not accusing anybody in any unit. The only person that I can complain about is the manager and the attorney. THE ATTORNEY, OF COURSE, YES, THE ATTORNEY, BECAUSE THE LACK OF RESPECT, I DON'T HAVE ANY LACK OF RESPECT TO PEOPLE YOU KNOW US. WE'RE NOT THOSE KIND OF PEOPLE. WE DO NOT DISRESPECT PEOPLE BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, THE STAFF, THEY ACTUALLY HAVE STOLEN OUR

HOMES AND AT THIS TIME THEY ARE COMPLETING. BUT YOU KNOW WHAT? WE'VE COMPLAINED SO MANY TIMES AND NOTHING IS BEING DONE. IF YOU CANNOT TAKE THE PACKAGE, IF YOU CANNOT TAKE THE RESPONSIBILITY, THEN LEAVE THOSE SEATS.

Jennifer L. HallItem 19

JULIE HERRICK?

Hi, my name is Julie Herrick and I live in Ward 3 and I'm here today to stand in solidarity with the residents of Cote Royale and to demand that the city treat this as the systemic problem that it is and to stand with Santa Ana residents who've had their homes stolen by Kingsley. And while I'm here, I'd also like to ask you to expand the no side jobs for ICE to include city employees and contractors. Thank you.

Jennifer L. HallItem 19

Mayor and City Council, that concludes the public speakers that are present. We'll now begin with the Zoom speakers. Speakers on Zoom, when unmuted, please announce your name and the ward or neighborhood that you reside in within the City of Santa Ana for the record. Coach Pena, please unmute and make your comments.

Hello, can you hear me?

Jennifer L. HallItem 19

Yes.

Okay. Well, greetings. Greetings to Mayor, City Council, and staff. I'm Sandra Posa Peña Sarmiento, the former neighborhood leader for Pacific Park Eastside, also the lead artist on the Panache History Watch on the Pacific Park Trail. We have an opportunity today to re-assign funds, Justin, for PAL over to Parks and Rec to make use for community services. Senior center, teen youth center, which we don't have, and dollar for dollar, If you compare, funds and trust with Parks and Rec serve over four times the amount of youth and seniors. Remember, you can only sign up for Pals if you're under 18 years old.

If you have a problem with your youth and their parents, their 15, you can't get into Pals. So we really need Parks and Rec and our resources to go and be used by all of our residents, seniors, all of our youth, and our parents. Not just limited to small, tiny groups that is faster than Pomodoro's. Pocha, your time is up.

Jennifer L. HallItem 19

Next speaker on Zoom, Victor Payan. Please unmute and make your comments.

As a Pacific Park resident who worked with community leaders to save the Cypress Street fire station from being sold to a private developer in 2022, I am writing strongly to say that no funds be allocated for the buildings used to PAL, as this was not the use that was requested by the community and none of the uses for the building that the community did identify in 2022 and which we did present to the city were considered when the city voted. These uses were identified as a digital library, a community technology center, educational programs for youth and adults. None of these were considered by the staff

or the city. It's a shame to see the Santa Ana Police Department use their resources and deep pockets to crush community efforts. They already have a facility in Public Park in the Roosevelt Walker Community Center. It's horribly underutilized, it's empty, and I was told by staff that a computer center was displaced so they can go in there. And last time I looked in their space it was empty and all they had was construction paper and crayons. We don't need that. We need computers, internet, and resources for all ages. So I'm including my comment that I sent an email in my August 16, 22 comments to show what we said.

Victor, your time is up.

Jennifer L. HallItem 19

Tim James, please unmute and make your comment.

Tim James, California Grocers Association. On behalf of Santa Ana Grocers, we are extremely disappointed that you have ignored and failed to recognize Santa Ana Grocers in your consideration of the self-checkout regulation. The fact there has been a complete lack of communication with grocers leading up to the initial hearing and going into tonight is inexcusable. There is no conceivable way you can make a fair and informed decision tonight. You have intentionally and actively chosen to only hear one half of the issue.

It has been proven with data that in Long Beach and Costa Mesa, this ordinance does not deliver on any of its promised results and has many negatives. Especially the four claims that UFCW made this evening, they are simply not true. ignoring grocery while regulating them is shameful it has shown us again that reasonable policy discourse is not an option here our ask is for you to not move forward with the second reading and Tim your time is up mayor and City

Jennifer L. HallItem 19

Council that concludes the public speakers that were in the queue and we

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

began Thank You madam clerk I appreciate that we're gonna go through the consent calendar items and then we're gonna take a five-minute break so council can take take care of some personal bathroom. And then at this time, Madam City Attorney, would you like to make a comment, ma'am? Mayor, if I may, just quickly, I know we have a lot of-Can you speak loudly into your mic, please?

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 19

Yeah, I'm so sorry. If I may, to the Mayor, Council, and members of the public, I know we had very passionate comments tonight on several issues, but I just wanna address the issue with the Coach Royale situation, because it is just not true that the city isn't doing anything. I think whenever we speak- More, more! Whenever we speak in absolutes, It leads to distrust and it leads to inaccuracies. So the city is currently working under its ordinance adopted by the voters to do what we can under the ordinance. That's one piece of the puzzle. The second, and this is exactly what I'm trying to tell you.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 19

I've offered to meet with some of the residents. Mr. Morales in particular did reach out to me and I sent him a condolences email. I offered to meet him in any place he wanted to meet to discuss the issues because I do so respectfully. I would like to thank several of the speakers tonight who came forward and really heartfelt shared their concerns with us. We are concerned. For anyone to believe that the city would not do what we can possibly do just doesn't understand how we function. To have someone come forward, again, my case in point,

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 19

I could take this video and everyone would understand. My case in point is that we understand the law, law, we are the ones that understand how to enforce the ordinance. I have personally reached out to attorneys because I know a lot of them in Orange County. And I have explained to them the situation in hopes that we would find a civil attorney who might bring a class action lawsuit against Kingsley. So I just tell you we are doing what we can do, but the city cannot bring a civil action to tell Kingsley to stop. That is not within our jurisdiction or purview.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 19

Yes, we're a charter city, but anyone who understands municipal law would understand that the California Constitution gives us power to regulate in the area of police power. It doesn't give us an absolute hammer to go after a private entity in these situations. If we had that authority, I want the Council to know, if we had that authority, I would be giving you the options for what we could do civilly. I would do that. I will do everything in my personal power to continue to reach out to private civil attorneys to see if they might take these cases for them. I've been doing that.

Sonia R. CarvalhoItem 19

I've made an offer to meet with these folks personally. And to date, no one has contacted me to say, I'd like to sit down with you respectfully and show you documents and go over these things. But what we have done is we've followed our ordinance. ordinance. Everyone who's filed a petition, they are entitled to a hearing and those things are being processed. So again, I just want to leave the community to know if members of this mobile home park, whether they're former or current, want to sit down and have a conversation, respectfully, I will make myself available.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

Thank you, Madam City Attorney. At this time, we're going to go to the consent calendar items five through 20 or before as council members please announce any items that you'll be abstaining from due to conflict if there are any requests to pull an item from the consent calendar for further discussion please

David PenalozaItem 19

state that mayor i'll make a motion to approve the consent calendar second thank you are there

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

any items that any council member please raise your mic if you'd like to pull an item council

Thai Viet PhanItem 19

member fan i'd just like to recuse myself from item number 17 as all-american asphalt is a client of my employer rattan and tucker thank you thank you madam mayor yeah hold on i'm coming over there

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

Anything on this side? No? Okay, perfect. Councillor Hernandez?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 19

I just have a brief comment for item 17.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

Then you're pulling item 17?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 19

Yes.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 19

Thank you. There's a motion to approve the items. There's a second. Let's prepare to vote, please.

Jennifer L. HallItem 19

Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Penalosa, seconded by Councilmember Becerra, to approve consent calendar items number 5 through 20 with the exception of item 17 pulled for separate discussion and consideration and items six and eight that were postponed thank you all the items passed including item 20 correct so this would be for items 5 through 20 with the exceptions of items 6 and 8 which were postponed and item number 17 which is pulled for separate consideration and discussion and the vote is seven eyes no nays with a reported recusal that will be taken care of and

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

the item is pulled great thank you thank you at this time we're going to go to item 17. actually Actually, Mayor, we do have the one oath of office. Oh, I apologize. Let's do this first, and then we'll do the oath of office, okay? So we'll take care of it really quick.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Okay.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

Yeah, we'll take it. Thank you. Council Member Hernandez, go ahead.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

Thank you. I just want to thank members of the community who came out to today's council meeting. I pulled this item just because I wanted to thank the city manager's office and our public works department as well. This is a remaining stretch of rate that has not had completed construction. Since we saw the streetcar come to Artesia Pilar, we saw many of our streets renovated. Now-

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

Councillor Hernandez, can you speak louder so we can all hear you please?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

Yes, thank you Madam Mayor. I was just thanking our City Manager's Office and Public Works because this contract before us will complete Raitt Street from Washington. And Mr. City Manager, could you tell us what the end of the construction path will look like? It'll begin from Washington and Artesia Pilar and I believe it'll go down to McFadden is that correct

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 5

singer thank virtue so even further I'm very supportive of this item and I'll put a motion on the floor to move this second let's prepare to vote please

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

motion by councilmember Hernandez seconded by mayor Mesquita to approve the recommended actions for item number 17 inclusive of a construction contract to all american asphalt project cost analysis this amendment to the cip program appropriation adjustment and a sequel determination councilmember hernandez yes

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

vote is six eyes no nays with a recorded recusal by councilmember fan motion carries thank you

Valerie AmezcuaItem 5

that's the end of the consent calendar we're going to take exactly a five minute break because we have a lot to get through today do the oath of office i apologize go ahead madam city clerk i'm I'm sorry.

Jennifer L. HallItem 5

Is Ben Salazar here? Okay. If you could please come forward for your oath of office.

I, Ben Salazar, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California, that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I'm about to enter. Thank you very much.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 6

So item 6 was pulled, Madam City Clerk. clerk I just want to be clear item six was pulled and item eight the only one that we're moving forward on is item seven is that correct that is correct

Jennifer L. HallItem 6

item six and item eight were postponed to a later date perfect thank you very

Valerie AmezcuaItem 6

much this time I'm going to take a five-minute break

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Valerie AmezcuaItem 6

Mayor, you're ready if you would like to reconvene. Thank you so much, Madam Clerk. We're going to go into the public hearing at this time. Before the public hearing, do we have a quorum? Yes, we do. Before the public hearing, item number 21, Madam Clerk, please provide instructions to the public who would like to make a comment on this public hearing item only please yes members

Jennifer L. HallItem 21

of the public joining us by way of zoom or conference call who would like to make a comment for public hearing item number 21 only which is the 2025 urban water management plan and the 2025 water shortage contingency plan please dial star 9 from your phone or select raise hand from zoom now you will speakers will be called once the public hearing is opened thank you thank you very much

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

item number 21 is a public hearing relating to the 2025 urban water management plan the 2025 water shortage contingency plan i don't believe we have a we need a presentation the city council you're

Jennifer L. HallItem 21

good is there a motion i'll make a motion to move the item i'll say here if you will please you do have to open oh i'm just hearing first i apologize before the motion i'm so excited to get to the budget i apologize but we want to make sure we do this procedurally okay are there any questions by

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

by the council presentation. Hearing none. No. I now open the public hearing for members of the public that would like to provide their comments in person and virtually. Madam city clerk, do we have any speakers?

Jennifer L. HallItem 21

Mayor and city council, we did not receive any e-comments related to public hearing number item 21, nor are there any in-person or Zoom speakers to speak on behalf of this public hearing.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

Thank you, Madam Clerk. With no further comments, I hereby close the public hearing. Do any council members have additional comments or questions? Seeing and hearing none, is there a motion and a second?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 21

I'll make a motion to move the item. Second.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

There's a motion and a second. Let's prepare to vote, please.

Jennifer L. HallItem 21

Motion by Councilmember Hernandez, seconded by Councilmember Vasquez to adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Santa Ana adopting the 2025 Urban Water Management Plan for the City of Santa Ana and adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Santa Ana adopting the 2025 Water Shortage Contingency Plan for the City of Santa Ana.

Jennifer L. HallItem 21

Councilmember Vasquez.

Jennifer L. HallItem 21

is but it's six eyes no nays with the absence by mayor pretend penulosa motion carries thank you

Valerie AmezcuaItem 21

at this time we're going to going to end the public hearing and we're going to go to council member requested items that correct madam clerk yes mayor item number two is requested by myself the mayor and councilmember Becerra and let me just cover a little bit of it and I'll turn it over to councilman Becerra as well so just to be really brief or just I mean we can get we'll go into detail I'm sure if we need to to discuss and consider directing the city manager and the city attorney to reaffirm Santa Ana Police Department policy and I will say reaffirm Santa Ana Department policy

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

to repair an ordinance to codify the prohibition of immigration related related secondary employment. As the state of California considers numerous bills to regulate secondary employment of law enforcement officers as it relates to immigration enforcement, we believe it is imperative to act and we cannot wait for the state. Various assembly and senate bills seek to disqualify a person from being a peace officer based on employment and immigration enforcement. As a charter city, we want to exercise the maximum ability that a charter city allows and codify language in the Santa Ana Municipal Code that protects residents

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

and ensures that police officers are not employed in immigration enforcement. Santa Ana Police Policy 1021 requires written approval from the Chief of Police and Human Resources for outside employment. The requested legislative action will establish language within the Santa Ana Municipal Code prohibiting secondary employment of Santa Ana police officers related to immigration enforcement. This action and future approval by the City Council reaffirms the city's commitment to public safety and our community's public trust as you can see for the council that's up here the local law enforcement standards the city of santa ana

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

maintains rigorous hiring and training standards for its police officers consistent with and often exceeding those established by the california commission on peace officer standards and training these standards include comprehensive background investigations psychological medical evaluations situations, strict disqualifying criteria under California Government Code 1029 and 1031, and additional local requirements including enhanced screening and qualifications. That's what makes Santa Ana PD so unique and one of the best departments in the country

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

is that because we go above and beyond when we are hiring people to work as officers in our city. Secondary employment and policy alignment, the proposed legislative action will codify that the Santa Ana Police Department does not permit secondary employment arrangements that conflict with city policy or undermine community trust. This includes employment with federal immigration enforcement agencies such as US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This position is consistent with the city's longstanding commitment to community-oriented policing and compliance with state laws governing the separation of local and federal immigration

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

enforcement functions. San Ant is a diverse, densely populated urban community with a significant immigrant population. Maintaining clear boundaries between local law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement is critical to ensuring that all residents feel safe reporting crimes, accessing services, and engaging with public safety personnel. The ordinance will reinforce the city's commitment to public safety through trust-based policing, transparency in law enforcement practices, and alignment with state legislative efforts efforts to clarify permissible conduct for peace officer.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

Recent Santa Ana Police Department sworn hiring data reinforces the importance of maintaining clear locally controlled hiring and outside employment standards. From 2023 through 2025, Santa Ana PD hired 86 sworn personnel, 47 officers from the academy, 12 ladder officers from other law enforcement agencies that were not ICE agencies or any agencies of that nature, and 27 military veterans, reflecting the recruitment process that draws from trained public safety and service backgrounds while still requiring local review, approval, and compliance with city standards.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

Importantly, Santa Ana reported zero, let me say that again, zero sworn hires from the Department of Homeland Security during that time period, codifying a prohibition on immigration-related secondary employment, would therefore align the Santa Ana Municipal Code with existing local practice, strengthen public confidence in Santa PD's community policing mission, and provide clear direction that city police officers may not accept outside employment that conflicts with Santa Ana's public safety values or community trust. Councilman Becerra. Thank you Madam Mayor. So this item came from a

Phil BacerraItem 22

conversation the Mayor and I were having about how ridiculously ill-trained ICE had become since cuts were made to their training at the beginning of 2025. The cuts eliminated more than a hundred hours dedicated to hands-on instruction and practice scenarios, including half the hours once spent on firearms training. Fitness training was almost entirely cut, as some of the videos online show. Numerous hours of classroom learning were eliminated on such topics as case processing, ICE officers, legal authority. Our police officers here in Santa Ana are some of the highest trained law enforcement officers. We do

Phil BacerraItem 22

do not need ill-trained individuals thinking that the Santa Ana Police Department is even a remote option. But what we also don't want, and through this item we want to make very clear, is that we also do not want our officers to have any secondary employment with any immigration-related enforcement. There is PD policy in place that requires written approval from the chief of police and human resources for any outside employment. This item, though, would strengthen that policy by also placing that policy within the Santa and a municipal code with the added prohibition though on immigration related enforcement we

Phil BacerraItem 22

believe it is imperative to act now to maintain our maintain and enhance our community's trust in our police officers we cannot wait for the state and this item shows that as a charter city we don't have to so i want to thank mayor mesqua for her work on this item because her many years of experience in law enforcement were very helpful as we were deliberating trying to make sure that what we brought forward was relevant and implementable so thank you for that mayor and i hope my colleagues will be in support of this so that we can get to work get this um

Phil BacerraItem 22

ordinance drafted and get this codified as soon as possible thank you thank you very much before

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

i open it for any comments from the council chief can you just cover very briefly our officers go through the orange county sheriff's regional training academy and there's a total of post POST hours are 568 hours, sir. We give them an additional 336 hours of training. Can you cover that just briefly, please?

Yes, thank you, Mayor. So our officers attend the Orange County Sheriff's Academy, and POST has a minimum requirement of what requires a peace officer, and it's in that range of 568 hours. Not only do at the Sheriff's Academy they get an additional 320 hours, but with all the testing and review and scenario-based training, which is critical to learning, they get about approximately a thousand hours of training during the police academy, which far exceeds a minimum from post.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

Thank you, and Chief, also to have outside employment, there's multiple layers that they must go through, is that correct? That is correct. They got to go through

multiple layers of approval, all the way of the chain of command, all the way through me, through the city manager, and that's for any employment that may make conflict or compromise the city or the trust of our community.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

And my final question is that federal ICE agents are not post-certified. Is that correct?

That is correct. They're not governed by California Post.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

Therefore, we would not hire them, and we would not allow officers to go work for them as well?

Not as a secondary employment, no.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

Thank you very much. Are there any questions or comments by the council? If not, Mr. City Manager, there was a request by the community about other departments. If you could come back with that, that may be an issue that you need to discuss with the unions, with SEIU, because I just, I don't want to bring that on if there's an issue that we need to meet with our unions prior to. But because the Santa Ana Police Department, there is a policy already in place, we're codifying this now, this time.

Alvaro NuñezItem 22

The City Hall has a typical policy. Any outside employment has to be approved by HCC directors, HR, and the City Manager's office so we can look to expand and including this clarification all city employees thank you mr

Benjamin VazquezItem 22

sharon councilmember vasquez uh thank you uh mayor a mescal for bringing this forward i'm gonna support this item and i also would like to include as the mayor just mentioned any city employee as well to add to make sure that the trust of the public is within the whole city thank you thank

Jessie LopezItem 22

Thank you. Council Member Lopez? Yes, thank you. I'm happy to support this. I mean, my office supported about two months ago, 1537 when it was introduced. And so again, I think this is gonna be important, but codifying it to me does not necessarily do,

Jessie LopezItem 22

you know, we can pass a lot of laws, but if we don't have teeth in our laws, they are not as impactful. And so I would like for the mayor to consider when this comes back or supporting the request now, that when an ordinance does come back, that it also has language covering the coverage of not just direct employees with ICE and CBP, but also private contracts and subcontractors engaged in immigration enforcement, coverage of volunteer and reserve arrangements, not just paid secondary employment, a clear enforcement mechanism, discipline, termination, and civil penalty where appropriate.

Jessie LopezItem 22

Application to all sworn personnel, including command staff and reserves, and to non-sworn SAPD employees with access to sensitive data. Also application beyond the police department. I think it's important that this is applicable to all city employees and to entities that engage in services with the city, you know, that have contracts with the city. I think that that would be important in order for this to actually be able to protect and close this loophole that we're talking about here today. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

So, thank you. Did you have something, ma'am, for time? I just have a question. Council Member Lopez, when you talk about the loophole, so if you look at Policy 1021 from Santa Ana Police Department, it's very clear about outside employment, and that's why I was asking the city manager to bring back the information from the other unions in our city, right? Right, so, but what loophole, and I was going to ask that question with Council Member Vazquez's item, exactly what loophole, if you can be clear on that, please.

Jessie LopezItem 22

Yeah, right, we're talking about this because other state law, right, does not necessarily say that current public employees cannot necessarily go out and be contracted, which is why it was introduced at the state level. And so, you know, I heard you clearly, I saw it in the staff report that personnel here have to essentially come to you and say hey, I'm looking for extra job for whatever reasons and so this language that I'm asking to be Introduced into the ordinance is so that it is not just for SAPD

Jessie LopezItem 22

I think it's fair to implement it citywide and also that it impacts the people that we do business with with, because I don't think that we want to sit here and say, hey, we want to protect our communities, but then engaged in contracts using their public dollars that ultimately turn around and support the abuses that we're seeing in our public streets.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

Thank you for explaining that. So I just want to share, Mr. City Manager and Chief, the request to engage, actually Chief, request to engage in outside employment form per City of Santa Ana Municipal Code section 916 so there's an employee information and then requesting permission to engage in outside employment the following entity so they must identify who they want to work for whether it's a contractor security or ice for example is that correct chief that is correct and then i see here that it says request approval or request denied request approved to request denied and the first

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

stop is where sir sergeant or where is the first stop sir it's usually the at the command staff

staff level so it has the the bureau chief approves approves or does not approve and then it comes to me and then to the city manager so what councilmember

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

Lopez is requesting it's already in place pretty much I mean if they come to you and say we're gonna contract we're gonna work for a contractor who's working for ice on the side the answer would be sir definitely no okay thank you I just want to make sure because it's here in the in the Santa Ana police department addendum to outside employment requests it says that i agree that i shall not become involved in any investigation of the city senate nor will i undertake representation of a party to any civil or criminal matters involved involving the city of santa or that are in

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

conflict with the interests of the city of santa or its police department so for me kind of broad it's always a gray area i read it i say okay it's a conflict if they go work for ice at any way shape or form contract or outside entity is that correct that is correct okay so yeah i'm good with that um are there any of the comments councilman hernandez thank you madam mayor i'm fully supportive of the

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 22

item mr city manager thank you thank you councilman becerra thank you bad mayor and thank you for

Phil BacerraItem 22

everybody for your comments um my ask of the city manager would be just whatever comes back simple is better and i appreciate councilmember lopez's comments of trying to make sure that we capture I THINK IN SAYING IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT RELATED ACTIVITY, I DON'T THINK WE'RE SAYING ONLY ICE, WE'RE NOT SAYING ONLY ONE YOU KNOW, WE'RE NOT TRYING TO CREATE A NARROW LANE HERE. I THINK IF ANYTHING THE INTENT OF THIS IS TO CAST THE NET FAR AND WIDE AS FAR AS ANYTHING RELATED TO IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT BECAUSE AS I SAID EARLIER, THE IDEA IS TO MAKE SURE THAT WHETHER IT IS OUR PD OR CITY STAFF THAT THE

Phil BacerraItem 22

COMMUNITY HAS TRUST IN THEM THAT THEY AREN'T WORKING AGAINST THEM.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

Thank you, Council Member Fann.

Thai Viet PhanItem 22

I support whatever broadest ordinance you can bring back and look forward to making a decision on it. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem.

David PenalozaItem 22

Thank you, Mayor. I also just want to thank you both for bringing this item forward for the conversation. I'm overall supportive of this. I don't think anyone up here supports our anyone in our city of Santa Ana under our city of Santa Ana umbrella whether it's PD or any other department working in any way shape or form with immigration enforcement I just when when this comes back to us I'd like clarity on making sure that this is just not an overreaching I would say ban on anyone in our city where is it the special I

David PenalozaItem 22

guess the definitions of Department of Homeland Security versus immigration and customs enforcement just because I know that in the staff report that was submitted what one of the under the statistical I know up up above it says immigration custom enforcement but in the statistical hiring data and local It says, Santa Ana Police Department's sworn hiring data reinforces the importance of maintaining clear, locally controlled hiring. And then underneath it says, importantly, SAPD reported zero sworn hires from the Department of Homeland Security. I just want to make sure that under the Department

David PenalozaItem 22

of Homeland Security, we have the United States Secret Service, we have TSA, we have the US Coast Guard, multiple different agencies that if one of our officers or city employees wanted to get a second job working with TSA or the Coast Guard, like to me, I wouldn't have an issue with that. It's the immigration enforcement that I would have an issue with. So making sure that there's clear definitions of what agency our employees can and cannot participate in or have a secondary employment. Because I know that there's center police officers

David PenalozaItem 22

officers that sometimes work together with the FBI for various reasons or whatnot. So, and I know that's not under the Department of Homeland Security, but I know that there's just numerous different agencies that that could apply to. So making sure that when this does come back, it specifies, no, we don't want our employees working with immigration enforcement. So that would be the only comments that I would make.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

Thank you, Mayor Procham. Thank you. Thank you. So Chief, just to clarify, when Mayor Procham states that santa police department works with fbi i believe those are on certain cases task force

narcotics what home you're trafficking uh yes mayor that includes our uh task forces when we do join task forces to address uh certain crimes and ice is not there sir is that correct and ice is not part of it or anything regarding immigration enforcement right and so the the reason that the

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

coast guard wasn't put in here any military because we do as an agency hire military

military veterans is that correct we do hire but we also have when it comes to uh peace officers and professional staff for that matter that serve as a reservist in various military branches to

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

include the coast guard that's correct and so but they still go through the post california post

training is that correct yes and any uh peace officer in the state of california has to go to to California Post, even if we hired a peace officer, let's say from Arizona, but they weren't HSI, but they were a peace officer, they would still go through our California Post Academy.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

Yes, thank you. I proudly have a post number. I keep it framed in my house. So with that, I just want to, I just really want to thank the council up here for the support, and Councilman Becerra, thank you for joining me on this. And I want to leave you all with this. In 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement significantly reduced its training to new officers to accelerate hiring, cutting the program from 72 days to 42 days. So basically, that's all the training they were getting, which is not acceptable. The shortened curriculum reduced focus on the legal limits of force, firearms training, and constitutional law.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

And I would like to emphasize again, Chief, that we give over 1,000 hours of training. Is that correct, sir?

That is correct.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

And if you look at the sessions within the training, you have weapons, active shooter, emergency management officer safety community policing in the community things of that nature is that correct that is correct and once again I'll say that's why we are one of the best departments in the entire country I'm biased yes and with that chief thank you so much for going to DC and speaking on behalf of Santa Ana the city of Santa Ana and representing as well and sharing with them how I think your quote was picking up the pieces after immigration or after ICE leaves our city. So with that, thank you. And I believe, Mr. City Manager,

Valerie AmezcuaItem 22

you have the support that we need. I want to thank the Council, Mr. Becerra. Councilman Becerra, anything? Thank you all very much. Let's move on to the next item. The next item is Councilmember Vasquez and Hernandez, item number 23. Councilmember Vasquez, go ahead.

Benjamin VazquezItem 23

Thank you. Thank you, Mayor, for that last item. I wanted to propose that the city support support AB 1537 by Assemblymember Bryan because public agencies should not serve as a pipeline to a career and family separation. We know ICE is desperate to recruit more deportation agents. It's even launched ads trying to recruit local and state law enforcement officers to join its ranks. And it's clear that we have a pretty troubling loophole in state law. nothing prevents local law enforcement from taking a side job with ICE and we don't have any state laws to help bring transparency to those who might be doing

Benjamin VazquezItem 23

so. So AB 1537 we'll close the loophole. It's important that we advocate for statewide bill because we should do what we can regarding SAPD but SAPD is not always the only law enforcement agency within our city boundaries. We should should support AB 1537 to make sure that it's not just SAPD but that anyone who's state or local law enforcement working in our city isn't using their free time to work as deportation agents. AB 1537 is about transparency, accountability, and fairness. I hope my council colleagues will join with me to move forward with the resolution supporting this important state bill.

Benjamin VazquezItem 23

Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

Thank you. Council Member Vazquez, thank you so much, Council Member Hernandez. I do have a question. In here it states, when residents cannot distinguish between local police acting in their official capacity and those same officers working for ICE on the side, community trust is shattered, victims of crime become reluctant to report incidents, witnesses refuse to cooperate with investigations and residents avoid seeking the public services they need. This creates a less safe community for everyone. So I just wanted to let you know that in Santa Ana PD, even SWAT has changed their uniforms from all green.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

And Chief, can you cover that please, sir?

Chief Mark Saunders Yes, thank you, Mayor. So several years ago, we used to have black uniforms and at some point they went to green. And then we switched back to a blue to make us look a little bit more like our police department and not be confused when any other police department or to look that we were part

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

of a county agency basically so you don't look like I sir I could say that up here yes or Border Patrol yes so I just want to let you know councilman Vasquez so yeah it's important that I don't know if you have spoke you spoke to the chief for the police department but i was very happy to see that our swat did change their uniform color so that they're not mistaken for ice officers and that and that's awesome and what this

Benjamin VazquezItem 23

was alluding to was the same face the same person correct no no i just want to be clear because when

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

we talk about the community um i don't want them to confuse santa and pd with ice and thank you

Benjamin VazquezItem 23

chief thank you for clearing out the mayor and thank you chief for doing that work any other

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

comments i'm sorry make them tie-dye mayor protean would like your uniforms tie-dye sir

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 23

Mayor Redekopal, I'll second that. Councillor Neill, it's okay.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

We already have the autism patch, which I really love. So thank you very much. Councillor Becerra.

Phil BacerraItem 23

Thank you, Madam Mayor. And I just want to say I support the premise of the bill, but I would ask that we support it, but be contingent upon amendments made to the bill that don't limit officers from serving in our military reserves. Because it sounds like it captures all of that. I don't like with the last item I don't want to have anybody working with immigration related efforts but working with the Marine Corps reserves the Air Force Reserve or the National Guard I'm not aware that that would involve immigration enforcement but I think the way that the bills written it may

Phil BacerraItem 23

encapsulate them as well so one thing that we've done on this die is because I think we're a little more sophisticated we can support a bill but again upon some sort of amendments being made and thankfully councilman Vasquez by by bringing this forward to us as early as you have, it gives some time because as it works through Sacramento and it takes a lot longer to work through Sacramento than here, hopefully some of these amendments can be made.

Benjamin VazquezItem 23

Thank you for that, and I concur that we should not have allowed military to be taken off the list. So I appreciate your comments on that and we should be hiring our military personnel into our police department.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

Yes, they're well-trained.

Phil BacerraItem 23

So my ask would be that we support this, but just contingent upon those amendments being made as it works its way through the process up in SAC.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

Are you good with that? Perfect, all right. Councillor Hernandez?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 23

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I want to thank Councilmember Ben Vasquez for his proactive leadership in making sure that this is an item that we addressed. I'm supportive of the item as it stands. I do also echo the sentiments of the community in that I would like to see this extend to all of our employees. I don't think that I think there would be a dichotomy for people to work in Santa Ana but also have the desire to work for ICE at the same time. I just don't think that that is something that I think that that would be a contradiction to our very community.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 23

So I am thankful for Assemblymember Isaac Bryan for his due diligence with Assembly Bill 1537, and that will conclude my comments, Madam Mayor. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

Thank you. Mr. City Manager, I'm sure you're going to be watching the bill. I believe it's in suspense or did it move already?

Alvaro NuñezItem 23

Male Speaker 2 Suspense.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

Female Speaker 2 It's in suspense at this point.

Alvaro NuñezItem 23

Male Speaker 2 We'll still prepare the resolution. Female Speaker 2 Correct. Male Speaker 2 So that it's there beforehand.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

Female Speaker 2 Great. And again, we will include our military. So I believe that was okay with Councilman Vasquez as we move forward. The entire council, we do not want to exclude our military at this point. So thank you. Mayor Patem.

David PenalozaItem 23

Male Speaker 2 Yeah, I just wanted to, for the record, voice my support of having this come back with Councilman Becerra's comments taken into consideration and seeing, IMAGINES WE'LL COME BACK AT THE NEXT MEETING OR ARE WE NO JUST WATCHING THE BILL RIGHT.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

WE'RE LOOKING 90 DAYS BECAUSE OF THE BUDGET.

Alvaro NuñezItem 23

YES.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

BOTH OF THESE ITEMS WILL COME BACK IN 90 DAYS BECAUSE WE NEED TO GET THROUGH THE BUDGET THAT'S WHAT WE'RE GOING TO DO A LITTLE BIT TONIGHT. COUNCILMEMBER FAM DID LOOK AT ME AND SAY SHE SUPPORTED IT SO YES. ALL RIGHT. COUNCILMEMBER LOPEZ.

Jessie LopezItem 23

YEAH THIS IS WHAT WE JUST DISCUSSED SECONDS AGO JUST LIKE A DIFFERENT LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT RIGHT. And again, 1537, my office supported back in March. I think it's a piece of legislation that has real teeth. You're talking about disclosure requirements, post decertification as a penalty and full public records access to secondary employment records. So that's something that I'm happy to hear our council supporting.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 23

»» Great. Thank you, Mr. City Manager. I think you're clear. Okay. We're good. Let's move on now. All right. we're gonna get to the fun part now item number 24 is the City Council work-study session regarding the fiscal year 26-27 budget I believe all the council members I hope met with the city manager and staff and asked any questions so that we can actually you know what if you guys don't mind can we do the special housing so then we'll do the budget last yeah so we are recessing the City Council meeting and convening to the Housing Authority meeting I hereby call the

Valerie AmezcuaItem 24

Housing Authority Special Meeting to order. Madam Secretary, please conduct the roll call.

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

Authority Member Becerra. Here. Authority Member Hernandez. Present. Authority Member Lopez. Here. Authority Member Phan. Here. Authority Member Vasquez. Here. Vice Chair Penalosa. Here. Chair Meskwa.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 24

Present. All seven members present. Thank you. Madam Secretary, do we have any speakers for items

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

within the Housing Authority Agenda? We have no e-comments. We have no in-person speakers. Is Is there anyone on Zoom who wishes to address the Housing Authority agenda?

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

Seeing none.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 24

Does any authority member wish to make a motion?

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 24

I'll make a motion, Madam Mayor, to move the items.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 24

I'll second. Authority members, cast your vote, and the city clerk will announce to display the roll call, please.

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

Motion by Authority Member Hernandez, seconded by Chair Emeskwet to approve of consent calendar items one through three of the housing authority authority member of acera yes authority member hernandez yes authority member lopez yes authority member fan yes authority member vasquez yes vice chair penny lisa yes chair meswa yes go to seven nines no nays motion carries

Valerie AmezcuaItem 24

on those three items thank you madam clerk we're going to end this and and the special housing authority and go back it's adjourned and reconvene to the work study session at this time this is city manager the floor is yours

Alvaro NuñezItem 24

finance director alex trida will consider um introduce our second study session and updating where we're at at this point

Good evening, Mayor and City Council members. Tonight's presentation is a follow-up from the May 5th budget workshop. It includes staff proposed balancing measures for Fiscal Year 26-27 budget. The detailed draft budget was posted on the City's website on Tuesday, May May 12th. And tonight is an opportunity for you to provide .

Valerie AmezcuaItem 24

Ms. Madam Clerk, can we get them to fix that, please?

Jennifer L. HallItem 24

Ms. Yes, we're calling up to the booth. You should be good to go, Director.

Mr. Tonight, it's an opportunity for you to provide additional input before for the scheduled public hearing on June 2nd.

So, we'll begin with an overview of updates since May 5th discussion, followed up by an updated general fund summary and additional balancing measures incorporated into the draft 26-27 budget. We will also review proposed workforce changes, one-time spending recommendations, and a capital improvement program overview. And lastly, we will cover other miscellaneous budget related items and conclude what next steps in the budget process.

So staff will now highlight the key changes made since May 5th budget workshop, including updates based on City Council feedback and revised budget information. information.

So the draft general fund budget is balanced with recurring spending supported by recurring revenue. The draft budget avoids employee furloughs and full-time employee layoffs while continuing core city services and minimizing impacts to residents and employees. ALL OTHER FUNDS ARE ALSO BALANCED WITHIN AVAILABLE RESOURCES.

SO THIS SLIDE SUMMARIZES THE DRAFT FISCAL YEAR 26-27 GENERAL FUND BUDGET INCLUDING RECURRING AND ONE-TIME RESOURCES. So the draft budget includes a combination of revenue adjustments, expenditure reductions, workforce changes, and other balancing measures that close the estimated budget deficit and balance the budget. The draft budget also maintains the city's required 18% general fund reserve. After accounting for the proposed one-time spending and the contribution to the pension

STABILIZATION ACCOUNT, APPROXIMATELY 3 MILLION IN ONE-TIME RESOURCES REMAINS AVAILABLE FOR CITY COUNCIL PRIORITIES AS PART OF THIS BUDGET DISCUSSION. AS NOTED IN THE STAFF REPORT, ANY REVISIONS TO THE DRAFT BUDGET, INCLUDING REMOVING PROPOSED BALANCING MEASURES OR ADDING NEW EXPENDITURES WOULD REQUIRE CORRESPONDING REDUCTIONS OR ADJUSTMENTS IN OTHER AREAS TO to maintain the balanced budget. So we'll review the major balancing measures and related budget adjustments in the following slides.

So the draft general fund budget includes a combination of operational changes, fee adjustments, and cost recovery measures to help balance the budget. So the proposed changes include modifications to boards and commissions, elimination of certain fee subsidies, STADIUM USER FEES AND THE AMBULANCE RATE ALIGNMENT WITH OSTEM'S RATES. THE BUDGET ALSO INCLUDES A PROPOSED TECHNOLOGY FEE TO SUPPORT ONGOING SYSTEM COSTS, OPERATIONAL ADJUSTMENTS TO CONTRACTED SECURITY SERVICES AT CITY HALL AND ELIMINATION OF CULTURA PRINTING COSTS AS PART OF THE BROADER EXPENDITURE REDUCTION EFFORTS.

SO THE DRAFT JUSTICE COMMITTEE INCLUDES APPROXIMATELY $13 MILLION IN BALANCING MEASURES. AS DISCUSSED DURING THE MAY 5TH BUDGET WORKSHOP, STAFF INITIALLY IDENTIFIED APPROXIMATELY $8.4 MILLION IN BALANCING MEASURES. ADDITIONAL MEASURES REFLECTED IN EXHIBIT TWO INCREASE THE TOTAL IDENTIFIED AMOUNT BY APPROXIMATELY $4.6 MILLION. SO A HANDOUT HAS ALSO BEEN PROVIDED SUMMARIZING THE BALANCING MEASURES DISCUSSED AT THE MAY 5TH BUDGET WORKSHOP AND and additional measures reflected in tonight's draft budget. So the balance of measures include departmental expenditure reductions, revenue and fee adjustments, workforce changes,

and other citywide operational adjustments. So as shown on the slide, after the police department, which operates on a 24-hour basis, public works and parks and recreation represent the second and third largest operating departments and therefore reflect larger balancing measures impacts. The draft general fund budget also includes supplemental budget requests that increase expenditures by approximately $610,000. Put together, these adjustments allow staff to present a balanced draft general fund budget tonight while continuing to maintain the city's 18% reserve.

The draft general fund budget includes the elimination of 20 vacant full-time positions across multiple departments, resulting in approximately $2.3 million in ongoing savings. The proposed reduction is primarily focused on vacant positions identified during the budget development process. As noted in the footnote, staff expects to update the final budget to maintain funding for one of the police department positions and offset that change through additional part-time reductions.

The draft general fund budget includes approximately $2.6 million in reductions to part-time funding across multiple departments.

THE PROPOSED APPROACH IS TO FIRST ELIMINATE EXISTING VACANT PART-TIME POSITIONS, THEN REDUCE ADDITIONAL POSITIONS AS VACANCIES OCCUR DURING FISCAL YEAR 26-27. AS NOTED ON THE SLIDE, THE DRAFT BUDGET INCLUDES ADDITIONAL LIBRARY AND POLICE REDUCTIONS TO MAINTAIN SELECTED POSITIONS.

THE DRAFT JOURNAL FOCUS IS TO MAKE SURE THAT THE DRAFT BUDGET IS ADDITIONAL TO THE FISCAL YEAR The second one budget includes the proposed dissolution of five non-mandated commissions part of the city's balancing measures. So the proposal includes dissolving the historic resource commission, arts and culture, parks and recreation, youth commission, and the environmental and transportation advisory commission. Some responsibilities would transition to existing commissions or staff. staff, a portion of the reported costs reflects staff time that will be redirected to other operational priorities and projects.

While the prior slide outlined the proposed dissolution of select non-mandated commissions, so this slide highlights the boards and commissions that will continue to operate. rate.

The proposed PAL program recommendation would shift resources away from the current after school and summer camp model and focus on services on programs that reach a larger number of children. Under the proposal, the after school program and summer camp serving 87 children will be discontinued while athletic teams mentoring and coaching programs will continue. The proposal would also reinstate the lunchtime fitness program at four elementary schools serving approximately 2,200 children. The recommendation is to the recommendation is estimated to reduce program costs by approximately

$472,000. The Santa Anita and Sarpes facilities will continue to support community programming in partnership with Parks and Recreation, Library Services, and the Police Officer Mentoring ACTIVITIES.

SO THIS SLIDE PROVIDES EXAMPLES OF ESTIMATED PER PARTICIPANT OR PER USER COST FOR SELECT CITY PROGRAMS AND SERVICES. THE EXAMPLES INCLUDE THE PAL COST SAVINGS PER PARTICIPANT, HISTORIC RESERVE SUBSIDY COST PER APPLICANT, CULTURAL PRINTING COST PER ISSUE, EMPLOYEE APPRECIATION LUNCH COST,

So these examples are intended to provide additional information as staff evaluates operational and funding adjustments included in the draft budget.

The following sections highlight one-time projects and funding options identified for City Council consideration as part of the 26-27 budget discussion.

So as discussed during the May 5th budget workshop, staff identified several unfunded one-time needs for City Council consideration as part of the 26-27 budget process. So option one includes a proposed Washington Square Park land purchase totaling $4 million $2.5 million using a combination of general fund balance, A&D funds, and cannabis public benefit funds. If selected, staff would also evaluate a potential affordable housing opportunity at this site. Option two includes approximately $3 million in one-time investments across several projects,

including improvements at Cabrillo Park, additional lighting and cameras along the Alton bike !

! . .

. .

.

So the draft fiscal year 26-27 capital improvement program currently includes approximately $25.3 million in proposed project funding across several categories. The largest category is street related projects at approximately $21.1 million followed by traffic improvements and city park facility projects. PROJECTS.

THE CAPITAL PROGRAM PROGRAM INCLUDES A VARIETY OF STREET AND SIDEWALK REPAIR PROJECTS THAT ARE CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION OR PROPOSED AS PART OF THE DRAFT FISCAL YEAR 26-27 CIP BUDGET. SO INCLUDING IMPLEMENTS ALONG THE WARNER AVENUE WITHIN MCARTHUR PLACE BUSINESS AREA. CURRENT ACTIVE PROJECTS TOTALING APPROXIMATELY 64 $164 million while the draft 2627 CIP budget includes an additional $18.7 million in proposed street and sidewalk repair projects. These projects are funded through a combination of general fund and non-general fund resources.

In addition, the one-time spending option two includes additional $450,000 for sidewalk improvements. PROVIDE IMPROVEMENTS.

THE CAPRUM PROGRAM PROGRAM ALSO INCLUDES TRAFFIC, CALMING, PEDESTRIAN AND BICYCLE SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS THROUGHOUT THE CITY, INCLUDING PROJECTS ON STANDARD AVENUE, MCFADDEN AVENUE AND SUGARSTREAM AVENUE. THESE PROJECTS REPRESENT MORE THAN 10 MILLION IN ACTIVE AND PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS AND ARE FUNDED THROUGH A COMBINATION OF GENERAL FUND AND NON-GENERAL

The next item, item 2 includes an additional $600,000 for the Alton bike trail project.

Next, staff will highlight several additional budget related items, outstanding items and just next steps.

Several additional budget related items are also moving forward as part of the 26-27 budget budget process, including the quality of life custody vehicle with existing funding, OC Pride funding, arts trust seed funding within the arts and culture budget, and funding included for negotiated increases for the part-time non-civil service compensation. The draft budget also includes funding for a proposed 12-hour unit ambulance unit following completion of the coverage study. Outstanding items include a proposed partnership with Santa Ana USD School Foundation for a

book vending machine that it costs not to exceed $10,000 as well as a long-term planning related to the animal shelter cost.

So next steps in the budget process include a public hearing on June 2nd and then June 16th would be the adoption meeting. The proposed budget-related documents and updated materials will be presented as part of the June 2nd meeting, including the proposed ordinance related to commissions, the 10-year outlook, local sales tax spending plan, proposed CAPRA improvement program document, the proposed class and comp plan, uniform scheduled scheduled miscellaneous fees, AB2561, the vacancy reporting requirements.

The June 16 meeting is scheduled for final adoption and related approvals. So, that concludes my presentation. The staff is ready for additional direction or questions Council may have.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

Female Speaker- Thank you so much. We really appreciate it. So, Council, if you'd like to speak or ask any questions, please raise your mic so I can call on you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

Yeah, Council Member Becerra.

Phil BacerraItem 2

Thank you, Mayor. I don't know who should answer this question, but regarding the Washington Square Park, so where are we at? So regardless of the budget, where are we at today? Let's just say we've already got the money in hand. We're ready to do something from the budgetary standpoint. Where are we with the purchase? Have we negotiated with the property owner? Have we made an offer? Have we poked holes in the ground? Do we know if there's like a big toxic plume under there? Have we done any of the due diligence yet?

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

So other than two weeks ago when the City Council as a majority provided direction to go look and to try to purchase the park, we have reached out. We have reached out to the property owners of the different parcels and have done the assessment of what the cost would be. obviously two weeks is not enough to you know dig look for contamination or any of that resources but but we have looked as far as you know what assessing the value of the property right obviously we know the zoning of the property and then the city as far as the our team is working on will be the best option to

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

try to allow for some level of investment to purchase the property the pricing at the level it is now, try to do a park, but also understanding that there's other priorities throughout the city. That's where we're at.

Phil BacerraItem 2

Mayor Redekopal, Thank you for that, Alvaro. I appreciate that. I absolutely appreciate the advocacy that's been coming from Washington Square, whether it's in person or in our inboxes. I absolutely support a park in Washington Square. I would absolutely want to see one there. there, I'm just not comfortable with the path that we're on. And I say that because you're asking us to commit $4 million to a property owner. I don't know that we even want to purchase all the land. It's a very irregular shaped site. I think from a septic standpoint, I don't want us to have a park that kind of goes into these little corners.

Phil BacerraItem 2

I would think we'd want something a little more conventional and rectangular. I have concerns with the appraisal. I have concerns with the fact that we're talking about buying land that has been appraised at the potential for residential development, knowing that we're not going to develop for residential, or at least the predominant majority of the site. So why would we pay that? Also the last time I spoke directly with residents in Washington Square, again, this is a little bit ago, a couple weeks back, they had told me that Director Garcia, they felt, or at

Phil BacerraItem 2

at least they understood that Director Garcia wasn't given the green light to even negotiate with the property owners. So I guess my concern is here we are talking about $4 million. Like we're already showing our cards. We're saying, hey, property owner, we're willing to possibly pay $4 million. To me, that's just a ridiculous way of trying to negotiate with somebody. And also, too, to Director Garcia's credit, when we were talking about the park at 10th and flower, one of the things that helped us get a full park site that we are now creating the park on was that he was able to engage in land swap.

Phil BacerraItem 2

He was able to use existing property that the city owned to be able to do such a swap. So that is something that I feel like should be flushed out before we start talking about whether we commit $4 million to a park. Again, I want the park to happen. If you come to us and you say, hey, we've got something where this could work, I'm for it. But to just blindly commit to it right now as is, as far as the way we're trying to fund it at this moment, I can't say that I'm supportive of it. Option two, as far as the unfunded needs, unfunded one-time needs for consideration,

Phil BacerraItem 2

we have items in here that benefit the entire city. We're behind in making Santa Ana a destination for tourists to stay and also leave their TOT behind in our coffers. We need to get serious about attracting hotels so that our residents who work in hotels don't have to travel to other cities for work, and we need to make it more attractive for tourists to stay here at our existing hotels. I don't have the answers to how we're going to do that, but I would sure love to get the experts on board who can do that. So that would be part of option two. We all talk about sidewalk maintenance.

Phil BacerraItem 2

Well, here's our chance to show how serious we are. Here's where we can literally put our money where our mouth is. I'm very frustrated, though, with the way that the park is being presented to us. Again, there's a lot of unanswered questions, and I think that's just because there's a lot of eagerness. So I'm not mad. I'm just more, it's like, hey, we've got to temper ourselves. Let's do it the right way. Let's not run into the room and say, we're ready to give you $4 million when we may not have to. There may be another way, and God forbid, we can negotiate a much smaller price.

Phil BacerraItem 2

Option 2 has items that I think are spread throughout the city that are things that we need today. One thing I would like to amend, though, with Option 2 would be, so I have a concern as far as when we were talking about with the police budget, removing parking control officers. officers. And I understand that those are two positions that for a long time have not been filled. And I respect that. But so the police can't fill a position and now the community suffers. That I'm not tracking that logic. So if the police can't hire the parking control officers, yet we have a contract for parking control, then maybe we should augment the

Phil BacerraItem 2

contract because I don't know about my colleagues, but I get a lot of calls because folks go go through a lot of pain to get parking permit districts implemented, and then they say, well, you know what, what the heck did I do? Why did I even bother? Because nobody's coming to enforce the permits that they sought out. So I would like to propose as a possibility taking option two, and since you already say here that the draft budget includes a $1.5 million contribution to the pension trust, which I thank you for doing that, that's a very responsible thing to do, but maybe we we take this additional 500,000,

Phil BacerraItem 2

and two things I'd like to throw out there would be number one, somehow, someway augmenting the contract with parking controls. So we can, if we can't get the bodies on staff, then let's at least go with the company that's already doing it, that we've already retained. And then taking also a portion of that 500,000, I know, because parks are very important, and I know Council Member Vasquez, you had talked about Bristol, and I believe it was Bristol and Wilshire, was it correct? Correct?

All of them. All of Wilshire, yeah.

Phil BacerraItem 2

Bristol and Wilshire.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

But he said he's gonna support the part of Wilshire. Oh, I understand, I understand.

Phil BacerraItem 2

Well, I wanna be clear on that. I understand, but what I'd like to propose.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

So your time's almost up,

Phil BacerraItem 2

so I'll come back to you if you wanna finish. Oh, no, no, I'm almost done. So maybe possibly we'll put Bristol and Wilshire, maybe we can do like the initial, because looking at the site, it's dirt. So maybe we can put up some fencing, at least some landscaping as part of this 500,000.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

It's already there, yeah, exactly. Thank you, Councillor Havaskins. Let me come back to you. Councillor Havaskins, go ahead.

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

Councilmember Becerra. Let me go through this budget page by page so we're good. I'm good with the items that we're going to dissolve a few commissions here. Eliminate the historical register fee subsidies, increase stadium use fees, increase ambulance fees, technology technology fees, contract security reductions to be applied for by City Hall, eliminate cultura printing.

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

I'm good with all the balancing measures that we have here across all the various departments. Thank you to all the departments for working with that. Eliminate vacant full-time positions. But I'm gonna, I'm just gonna push back a little bit and agree with the parking control officer, because in downtown Santa Ana, we could have one there. IT PROBABLY PAID FOR ITSELF. I'M SAYING, IT MIGHT PAY FOR ITSELF. REDUCE PART-TIME FUNDING.

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

DISSOLVE NON-MINDED COMMISSION, SOMETHING GOOD WITH THAT.

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

AND I'M COMING TO THE PAL PROGRAM, AND I'M OKAY TO REDUCE THE PAL PROGRAM BECAUSE THE PROPOSED SAYS SANTA ANITA AND CYPRES FACILITIES TO BE USED IN PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN PARKS AND and library with police officers mentoring. No kids are being thrown back to the street. We might even be able to get more kids in off the street because of the efficiency of the parks and rec and library of the lower cost that we have in those departments. We pay our officers good, we pay them great, but we pay them an exorbitant amount. As you can see, it's 5,000 per child. IF YOU TURN THE PAGE, 5,000 PER

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

CHILD AND COST SAVINGS THAT WE'RE GOING TO GET FOR EACH ONE OF THEM AND THAT'S A LOT LESS. PARKS AND CHILD PROGRAMS ARE 103 PER CHILD, RIGHT? THE LIBRARY IS PROBABLY THE SAME CLOSE TO 103 WHILE THE PAL PROGRAMS 5,000 PER CHILD. AS FAR AS ITEMS, THE ONE TIME FOR CONSIDERATION, I WANT TO PARK. I'm like Council Member Rosetta, we need a park. We have to have a real solid plan to be able to put this together and have a plan. So I'm looking forward to being creative in how we come to get the park.

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

Everything on option two looks great.

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

AND THANK YOU FOR MAKING SURE THAT WE'RE STILL TAKING CARE OF OUR STREETS, TRAFFIC, CITY AND PARKING FACILITIES. I STILL WOULD LIKE TO SEE SOME MORE STUFF ON DRAINAGE. I'M NOT SURE EVERY NEIGHBORHOOD HAS GREAT DRAINAGE. WE HAVE THE FLOODINGS BUT CAN WE LOOK AT GOING BACK TO THIS AND LOOKING AT DRAINAGE AND SOME LIGHTING IN SOME NEIGHBORHOODS THAT WE CAN HAVE WALK AROUNDS BECAUSE I STILL THINK THAT'S NECESSARY IN UNSAFE PLACES. AND THEN I WOULD LIKE TO SEE And that's all I have for now.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

Thank you very much. Council Member Lopez, did you have something? Mayor Pro Tab.

David PenalozaItem 2

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, city staff, for working really hard to get this to us and trying to do the best that you can.

David PenalozaItem 2

With the unfunded one-time needs for consideration, THE HOTEL FEASIBILITY STUDY THAT I WOULD BE INCLINED TO SUPPORT BECAUSE, LIKE COUNCIL MEMBER SERRA MENTIONED, IT'S OUR CONSTANT NEED TO TRY TO ATTRACT TOURISM AND GENERATE REVENUE FOR THIS CITY TO CONTINUE TO PAY THE BILLS AND KEEP THE LIGHTS ON. DO THE CITY STAFF HAVE A GENERAL IDEA OF WHERE IN THE CITY IS Is this a specific location that you have in your mind for a hotel feasibility study?

David PenalozaItem 2

Is a hotel feasibility study just a generic, let's see where in the city this would work?

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

Yeah. For us, it's literally contracting with the most capable consultant that would give us that. We already know what we have on Grand and we know what we have on MacArthur and Main. So for us, it's literally looking throughout the city, what is the best course for us? I know we have also some on Harvard Street. So the idea for that is how do we do a best assessment on where would be something that would be more successful? What do we do as far as new hotels as a possibility? But we have also an assessment on what do we have and what we can do better. So that's what it will be.

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

It will be a very comprehensive detail. At least that's what we're thinking.

David PenalozaItem 2

Okay. Thank you for that. And the reason I ask that is because I know that over the last decade this city has contemplated and gone into serious conversations with having a hotel on Main and the 5 Freeway that fell and disappeared into the abyss, 3rd and Broadway. Broadway that has now potentially disappeared into the abyss as well as the YMCA and every time that we've moved down this path to bring a hotel and build it in the city I just don't see any real effort to aggressively move in this direction. So I

David PenalozaItem 2

would hate to now now invest another $100,000 in a feasibility study for a hotel that like we've seen over the last decade with every hotel that we try to move down the path, it just falls through the cracks and we never see anything built. Go ahead.

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

You're not wrong, right? We make the same type of frustration in that capacity. So we can only point out to at least to our last years of administration, right? Some of the focal points that you're seeing and we're exercising and we keep saying it, right? We have Cypress allocated for funds. We're gonna finish it this year. We have lights in Centennial for 20 some 30 years. We're gonna have lights at the end of this year. Memorial Park, part, the dock part, our first splash pad in Portola. We share that frustration. So

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

I don't want to sound defensive, and I'm not trying to say that we're different in overall comprehensive capacity. But even at 13 Broadway, right, we brought the first update in closed session to literally discuss what can be done to expand that. So when I'm proud out to say that we've garnered a team in the city manager's office with Kat Downs, you know, from finance going to the city, as a city manager to the eighth floor, with Mentai from development, you know, Celia obviously. We didn't gather yes people, right? And so

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

I think you're seeing that fruition as far as the projects we're completing. The Chinatown THIS WEEKEND. THAT WAS OUT THREE YEARS AGO. SO I THINK WE'RE MOVING IN MANY DIRECTIONS. AND SO THIS IS FOR US. WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THOSE 100,000 IS FEASIBLE BECAUSE WE DO AGREE WITH YOUR POINT. WE CAPTURE THE SAME FRUSTRATION. WE DON'T WANT TO MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES.

David PenalozaItem 2

THANK YOU FOR THAT, CITY MANAGER. BUT I GUESS WHAT I'M SAYING IS INSTEAD OF INVESTING 100 GRAND IN A FEASIBILITY STUDY, WOULD IT NOT MAKE MORE SENSE TO JUST GO TO THE LOCATION, THE TRIANGLE LOCATION ON THE main street and the five freeway and do we still own that property or is it owned by we don't we don't right no we do not okay for 2.5 million dollars so because that work's been done uh wouldn't it make more sense uh i mean hammer down the the property owner and be like what is Because that lot's been now fenced up again for many years. So I guess, I mean, go ahead.

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

So that's not an idea that hasn't been vetted. So we are trying to encourage the developer who had indicated the willingness to build. So the door has not completely closed. Okay. I can say that.

David PenalozaItem 2

Good.

David PenalozaItem 2

Awesome. Thank you. And with the option 2 that for the number of listings for option 2 that we considered the Cabrillo Park restrooms and general style improvements that's ward 3, 18th and Jefferson Street ward 3, Aetna Park State Structures ward 3, two streetlights at Harvey and the Carroll cul-de-sacs that's ward 4, Alton bike trail that's ward 4. So I feel like again we're also ignoring huge swaths of the city that historically have been ignored, which is Ward 1, Council Member Phan's district.

David PenalozaItem 2

She often says it, for years it was considered the forgotten part of Santa Ana that nobody invested in, which we're improving that now. but again residents in central Santa Ana in western Santa Ana oftentimes see these investments these continued investments even with deficits Oh north of 17th Oh South the Warner I mean they're the only areas of the city that seem to see these investments while I love would love to move forward with all of these I see that they're or the centralized in one specific area with With the Washington Square Park, which is something that I'm super supportive of and

David PenalozaItem 2

I would want us to focus on entirely if we can, you mentioned multiple property owners. Is there more than one owner for this land?

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

I believe there's three.

David PenalozaItem 2

There's three owners. Okay. And have we started any, and I know Council Member Becerra asked this, have we started any conversations with with any of them yes okay because I know that this this conversation for this park didn't start two weeks ago again but I know that the current administration has been moving forward with a lot of various different projects but I would hope that we so I have and and I've talked to that you about this last week at our at our briefing potentially if these parcels of

David PenalozaItem 2

of land weren't available for a park looking at the piece of land on Bristol Street north of the In-N-Out. I know that there's, and these are, again, I'm going through lists of one through five in priorities. One being preferred, which would be these parcels that are available now within the Washington Square neighborhood for a park. But number two would be, okay, let's look at city-owned property on Bristol Street. I know that there's some M2 fund restrictions tied to those parcels, but I feel like we would have more flexibility in being able to use that land for a park for Washington

David PenalozaItem 2

Square and three and four the less ideal for me is reaching out in good faith to our superintendent at the school district and seeing what kind of joint use agreement we could come up with with either Wilson Elementary or Heroes Elementary because both of them have their open space space available or backing up against the neighborhood where it would offer for easy access to residents during off hours. I know there's security concerns, but we could have legit conversations with them and say,

David PenalozaItem 2

hey, let us use this for the neighborhood after hours, before 10 p.m. We'll take care of all maintenance through, you know, half the maintenance.

David PenalozaItem 2

HAVE THOSE CONVERSATIONS BEEN HAD WITH THE SCHOOL DISTRICT AT ALL MR. CITY MANAGER?

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

THOSE CONVERSATIONS WERE HAD WITH THE PREVIOUS SUPERINTENDENT. WE HAVEN'T ENGAGED IN NEW CONVERSATIONS WITH THE CURRENT SUPERINTENDENT. OKAY. SO WE

David PenalozaItem 2

CAN DO THAT. AND I'M LISTING ALL OF THESE IN LEVEL OF DESIRE FOR ME AGAIN ONE WOULD BE TO ACQUIRE THAT LAND FOR FOUR MILLION DOLLARS AND MOVE FORWARD WITH A PARK. TWO would be shifting over to Bristol or and third and fourth would be look reaching out to the school district about potentially having a legit joint use agreement within the neighborhood for for a park usage to increase that open space those are come and obviously the land swap I brought it up two weeks ago I would hope that we we really really consider that I know that the again a lot of the land that the city owns is also tied to M2 funding and we have

David PenalozaItem 2

restrictions on that but I think there's there's some flexibility there that we could and just be creative about and and come up with the cell phone tower antennas that are throughout our parks it what how does that funding look like right now I mean what what does that account look like is that money still I I know a couple years ago we used, we collected the funds from the dozens or so antennas and used for a purpose. I know that the intent originally was for that money to stay within the park. What does that look like? Finance director?

Yeah, your comment about the funding that the cell tower generates stays at the park, that is correct. But I don't have the exact numbers how that's performing, but we usually have an agreement. It's an annual agreement, right? Yeah. We can find out for that for you.

David PenalozaItem 2

Okay. Because I know in the past, about five or four years ago, there was another question about being able to finance something. And I don't remember off the top of my head what that was. But working with the city manager and the city attorney, I remember they were like, well, we could just use the cell phone tower funding. And it was collected amongst 10 different sources. and that came up with like close to a million dollars in resources available for, and I'm just, again, trying to come up with the funding. I know funding's tight, but if we could just look at all these options that we could potentially use

David PenalozaItem 2

to acquire part of this land, if all those parcels are $4 million together, then, you know, if we pick up one, it might be less. Those would be the comments that I have this far to that but definitely if i had to pick one of these it would be option one the park side at washington square i think that should take priority because again street lights we could add those next year or the following year but this land once it's gone and built and people it's gone forever and i think that's the the the key here is is that missed that would become a

David PenalozaItem 2

missed opportunity if we let that slip or if we don't try to at least acquire part of that uh i'll I'll stop for now, but I am supportive of all the other ones. Getting rid of the commissions, I think that would be great. I mean, not great, but it's, you know, when we got a tie-in, that's a...

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

Let me come back to you, Councilman. Sure. Mayor Portman, if I can, please. Okay, because we have other Councilmembers. I'm going to speak really quick. First of all, Mr. City Manager, to you and your staff, I want to thank you, all of you, for putting this together. and I know when I met with you is great detail lots of information and I see all the staffing reductions that councilman Lopez asked for very thorough report came out you cut in the city manager's office finance the PRCSA PBA PD PW if you've cut everywhere sworn non sworn and so across the board and I really

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

appreciate it because you took the time to look everywhere and so that took time a lot of work from all of you and all the departments that stepped up so thank you all very very much and it's it's painful right the budgets always painful every year that we do this so let me go to I'm with the mayor pro tem option one I'm supportive of option two we can come back to another year but I I do support the land swap looking into that and I'm just dropping four million and I don't think the whole four million was just the park so I see in here I didn't see

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

this little asterisk until afterwards when we met that affordable housing half for affordable housing half for the park so we can talk about that at another time but I do have some questions about that I'm very supportive of housing that's not the issue but in Santa Ana we have met and exceeded affordable housing by leaps and bounds and yes housing is very important and we want to provide it but that four million if that's what we end up you let's say they the owner says okay three million or you get them down to two billion and we do a land swap then that other couple million could be used for something else youth

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

programs whatever it may be right so I'd like more information on the affordable housing piece and then hopefully you've had conversations with the community community, because I think that would be something they'd want to talk about is what are you looking at to bring in, what affordable housing are you going to put there if we're able to purchase them? So the only, the question I have is with PAL. I understand, you know, moving to your proposal would, we'd be able to serve 2,200 children and a budget savings of $471,000 and change.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

So here, per capita cost of various programs, you know me with the seniors, only $65 per senior excursion. Come on, but whatever. Okay. I'll leave that one alone. We'll talk about it at a later time.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

I don't want to cut parking validation for city council meetings. That's definitely not something that we're going to cut, right? Okay, good. I want to make sure we're not doing that um so the PAL program you said $5,421 PAL cost per participant can you tell me how you got that cost and break that down and that's one question I apologize that I didn't ask for when we met but I would like the breakdown because chief correct me if I'm wrong there's one sworn one officer in in PAL is that correct sir

Yes, Mayor, that's correct, one officer.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

And then the other are non-sworn?

That's correct. They're two full-time non-sworn.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

And then when they have activities, some of those officers are there on a volunteer basis, is that correct?

Yes, when they do some of the coaching for the like the softball team they had.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

I saw the ladybugs here earlier. Yes. Those were volunteers. Okay. So can you tell me what is the breakdown for the $5,421 per child, per participant? Somebody break that down for me, please.

Sure. That's actually your savings per child for the two programs that total 87 children. So that would be the children that are served by the after school program at two locations, and the children that are served by the summer camp. That's a total of 87 children. So if we downsize the budget by 471,000, what you've actually got there is a savings of $5,400 per child.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

So what is the cost per child to participate in PAL?

Well, as it stands currently, because they suspended the program where they were providing the athletics instruction at the elementary schools. So right now, they're only serving 87 kids for the after school and the summer camp, and then they're serving 200 and some with the sports teams. But the sports teams is, even though it's a larger number of children, it's a much smaller portion of that 870 some thousand budget.

So the lion's share of that budget is going to support the 87 children that are currently served.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

»» And I heard that. I know when we met we talked about that as well. But what are we using that money for?

»» It's the one sworn that is a site director, the two assistant site directors, that's three full-time positions. »» The two assistants are non-sworn, correct? That's correct. And I believe that there's eight to ten part-time positions. And then there's

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

And that is for tutoring?

Yes.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

Which we can eliminate and use the library for. Yeah.

Yeah. And there's a whole series of supplies. There's a little bit of contract money. So it's just an expensive program, quite honestly. Well, but they've been a wonderful program. And I want to serve more children.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

So if you can break it down for me and send it, I don't know if the rest of the council wants it, but I want it. So when you talk about supplies, what type of supplies, contracts, and I want all that information sent to me because I just don't want to lose programs for our children. That's it's a part, and you know, I sit up here all the time and I say that. That's one of the things. So I'd like to make sure that we don't lose our programs for our children. And I know the school district has their 360 after-school program.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

And Mayor Pro Tem talked about working with the school district. I used to sit on the joint council meeting that we had, three school board members and three city council members. and we tried the joint use and that didn't go anywhere because then nobody wanted to budge. The school district wanted us to pay for everything because again, we're Mikey, we pay for everything. So hopefully with the new superintendent and different school board members, we'll be able to come to an agreement because the school district is down, I believe, to almost 25, high 25,000 students. They're not at 30,000.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

So therefore they're losing ADA money every single day. They have the ability to close a couple schools, schools, which they're not doing for a lot of different reasons. Maybe they don't want the charters to grab them. But there's things that they can do to work with us to give us property there at the school site so that we can run a great program for our youth, especially like in central Santa Ana. That would be great. I think Lowell and Pio Pico are running at 200 on a good day, 180 students. And correct me if I'm wrong, give me the numbers. I can look them up, but there's no reason why we shouldn't be having a conversation

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

with Dr. Perez about using those school sites. They can merge those two schools, whatever they decide to do as a board, but there's a lot that can be done working with the school district if they're willing to work with us. And I think, I would think this council, I believe, would be supportive of that. But I am supportive of option one, the Washington Square Park. The only thing I do want information on is affordable housing, the affordable housing piece. piece, and I would ask that you meet with the community about that, share with them what the plan is.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

We have two more meetings to go through before this budget is approved, but I just want to say thank you very much for everything that you guys have done and the time that you have taken, and I've looked at the proposed cuts that you provided all of us, and there's a lot of cuts in here. you know whether it's public works parks and rec planning and building HR I mean if you go through all of your list Thank You mr. city manager because you did go to every department police department we you touched everything so I really appreciate that and that's all I have at this time councilmember her council

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

member fan I've been waiting madam mayor with all due respect.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

Yeah, I was going down the list. So she's, go ahead, Council Member Fenn.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

I have selected, I'm the only one that's requested to speak.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

No, no, she's actually, she requested.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

All good, all good.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

Thank you, go ahead, Council Member Hernandez. Thank you, Madam Mayor. She's gonna give you her time.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. City Manager. Thank you, city staff for working on a balanced budget. I wanna echo my sentiments that I'm very happy to see the way that the city manager's office ensured that there was no employee furloughs no full-time employee layoffs i know that was our priority was to protect our employees i am supportive of increasing the stadium use fees by 14 i think it's important that we we generate as much revenue as we can from the amenities that we own i am extremely supportive of uh of the non-mandated commissions being dissolved

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

mr city manager just to clarify clarifying question for the arts and culture commission that would be connected to the Community Development Commission. Would the commissioners stay as is, or would there be additional commissioners added to that?

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

Well, the idea is to only have the Community Development Commissioners review the arts and culture issues. So when we're saying we're disbanding or eliminating the arts and culture, it would be getting rid of the commissioners. And that includes the historical ETAG Youth Commission. It's just removing that staffing.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

Thank you for the clarifying question. And then just a further question related to that. So would the Community Development Commission make decisions related to community development grants and arts and culture? Yes. Thank you, sir. And I am also supportive of us increasing youth services by having a budget savings of $471,650 with respects to the PAL program, which currently mentors and coaches 228 children through athletics, 32 children through summer camp. We, through this new proposed recommendation, will reinstate exercise instruction at four different elementary schools,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

and we will increase the services from 228 children to 2,200 children, over a 100% increase in services. We are not cutting youth services, we're actually adding youth services while saving money for our city. And so that speaks volumes to the experts that are on your team in the City Manager's office. I want to thank them. I am supportive of the option one, Washington Square Park land. Part of why that is so important, Mr. City Manager, and I just want to share, the Washington Square Park and, you know, is a historic neighborhood

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

and this opportunity that we have is aligning with the parks master plan. When I was elected to the City Council, Council, we did not have a park on Raitt and Myrtle at Carruthers Park. We did not have a park established at Willard, 10th and Flower. Friendship Park was very dilapidated. And Articia Pilar did not have La Artista Park. The parks that existed before were Elridge Park at the outskirts of the city, Morrison Morrison Park, Fisher Park, Santiago Park, French Park in the French Park neighborhood,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

Chepas Park in Logan, Garfield Park in Lacey, and Angels Park in Flower in the Flower Park neighborhood. That leaves miles of neighborhoods that are park poor without access to park space. Willard will have a park on 10th and Flower, but it is one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in all of the city. The center of the city has lacked significant investment, and that is why this park space is so important. So I just want to thank my colleagues who echoed their sentiments there, and I particularly want to thank Mayor Pro Tem Penalosa, because you're absolutely right, Mayor Pro Tem, when you mentioned option two,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

and you highlighted ward one and ward five being parts of the city that have historically been neglected, I want to tell you as your colleague thank you because it is refreshing hearing my colleagues on this council consider Historically neglected neighborhoods like Washington Square, so I want to tell you thank you as a fellow elected for looking out for the center of the city It means a lot because that Washington Square neighborhood is one of the only neighborhoods in the city where you have two different Elementary schools in the same neighborhood you have Wilson Elementary which has existed nearly a hundred years,

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

and you have Heroes Elementary. You have Willard Intermediate, and you have Mendez Intermediate, and you also have Santa Ana College. You have six educational institutions where you have students of all ages walking across Washington. I also want to mention my support, Mr. City Manager, for the sidewalk repairs from Shelton to Flower Street between Civic Center. I see that you funded that, it's included in the budget. I want to highlight the importance of that. I also mentioned the importance of us having a crosswalk at Figueroa in the Santa Anita neighborhood on Figueroa and First.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

That's a $26 million investment to add a renovated park there. Residents who live on the Fifth Street side of Santa Anita will use that park, and that means they will more than likely cross the street. Residents don't typically walk to Harbor, they cross at Figueroa. So I wanted to highlight that given that first street is a corridor where we had a number of pedestrian accidents. And then lastly, in closing, I just wanted to highlight my support with the Fairview Street rehabilitation from the Southern City Lits to Alton Avenue. I'm very happy to see that. Fairview is an important corridor.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

I am also supportive of the POP Co-Book kiosk, given that Ward 2 and Ward 5 are neighboring districts. This is an at-risk neighborhood. and if we can add amenities that will increase children's access to literature and education, I think that'll make the neighborhood safer. And lastly, speed humps for the Washington Square neighborhood, I wanna highlight areas of importance between Washington from Bristol to Flower, Freeman from 17th to Civic, and Louise from Washington to Civic Center. And then lastly, Mr. City Manager, we recently renovated Civic Center. There was bollards located on Louise

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

and Civic Center. They have been there for many decades. During the construction, they were removed to make room for the construction. They have not since been replaced. If we can please add those bollards to Civic Center and Louise, I don't think that needs to be included in the budget since they were already there before. Thank you, Mr. City Manager, and thank you, Madam Mayor. That concludes my

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

comments. Thank you. Council Member Fann. Thank you, Mayor Powell. There's a lot of

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

people who talked about Powell today, and for those of you who don't know, when I I was first elected and during the first budget cycle, I remember talking to then city manager, Ridge, what is PAL? Are we paying for police officer gym memberships? And when I discovered what it was, I really spoke, I supported it. I supported it at Santa Anita, I supported it at Cypress Fire Station, I supported it at Roosevelt, I supported it in every which way I could. But this budget requires us to make difficult decisions, and that includes cutting things

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

that we like, we love, we want, and making tough choices. And one of those difficult choices is looking at bang for our buck. What can we invest in that gives us the highest return possible? And in this case, while I would love to be able to fund PAL for the 87 students who get the most out of the program, it's just very, very expensive. And an almost $500,000 cost savings by not cutting PAL, but really still finding a way

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

to have some of the program, I think, is where we kind of try to meet in the middle. And so I would love to bring it back one day, whether we can get other grants or other type of funding to continue to expand it. But at this time, I think it's necessary to make those changes to PAL. and I really appreciate staff trying to find a way so that we can preserve some part of it while also creating these cost savings so thank you so much for

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

that regarding the park I am not in support of option one while I am very supportive of parks in general I just I just don't see how this works at this time. I do understand in meeting with staff you have tried to look for creative ways to make it affordable or make it feasible for us but the four million dollars is actually a million dollars above and beyond what we have in one-time spending so we're looking for an extra million dollars so I want to know what the eight hundred thousand dollars in A&D funds are and the two

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

hundred thousand dollars in cannabis fund what are we cutting it from what What other programs?

CHAIRMAN BERNANKE. Thank you for that question. So A&D funds, these are fees that are charged to new residential developments. And we have four districts. And so typically it takes time to accumulate these funds. So I forget which district, but this district is close. It's an eligible use of funds. For example, we're using some of that funding for the stadium. For use for Washington, you know, the fund has enough funds to be able to pay for that. So that's where the $800,000 is.

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

Sorry, will you clarify that? You said so you're taking that $800,000 from money that would have been invested in the stadium for this park?

No, it has enough for the stadium and for this $800,000 for the Washington Square.

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

So why is that $800,000 not in option two?

The 800,000 is restricted money for park projects. And so that money just simply has accumulated and has not yet been appropriated. So it is available for appropriation. So the City Council could also direct us to use that 800,000 of accumulated money for a different park project in that district.

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

Oh, and it has to be in that district. Okay, good. That's helpful to clarify. And then the $200,000 in cannabis funding?

»» We sharpened the pencil and found that our cannabis fund has $200,000 for this. You could use the $200,000 for any other program or capital project that would serve the city because the cannabis fund is for youth and enforcement. And so I think that if you were to, if the city council were to direct us to do this park purchase I think we could justify the $200,000 in that sum total as

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

serving the city's youth got it okay so that's really helpful because that $200,000 could also have gone to the end of Park shade structure Cabrillo Park restrooms and things like that and I you know I really appreciate us being able to you know figure out where we can get the funding for just the purchase I'm I'm worried about, and I think I mentioned this last time, that we buy land and it stays vacant. Because right now we have no money to seed the park. We have no money to staff the park. We have no money to make any improvements. We have no money to put in any type of shade structure, seating area, bathrooms, anything

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

like that, right?

We've received this council direction over a very short period of time. And quite frankly, the City Council could direct us tonight to just put an allocation in the budget and then come up, come back to the Council with some creative ideas. So it doesn't preclude you from adopting your budget. You would just adopt a budget with this, I'll call it a set aside for this project. And maybe we find some creative ways not to use that entire set aside. or maybe we, you know, bring back some proposals for the council at a different time. You could use it for this, this, or this, or this is how you would pay for it or whatnot.

Maybe it ends up being a passive park without much in the way of improvements on it. Don't know, but I think that we've got a lot of homework to do to offer a range of options to the city council. But at this time, we're trying to get the budget balance or budget adopted, balanced and adopted. And so if the city council wants to just direct us to set aside that money and come back with options, we can certainly do that.

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

Thank you. So for example, if we wanted to cut the almost $900,000 in arts and grant funding in order to improve Washington Square Park, we can do that?

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

Okay. Absolutely. Or cut the other $500,000 from PAL and use that for this park? Yes. Absolutely.

The only thing that I would be careful with is the using any one-time money for recurring projects. So I heard from the dais this evening the concept of potentially using some of that one-time money. Let's see, that was to, oh, I think that was to reinstate, oh, I know what it was. It was for the parking enforcement. enforcement. Parking enforcement is a recurring cost. And so the idea of using one-time money to cover a recurring cost, I wouldn't advise against that. Of course, it's the City Council's

purview to direct us how they will, but as one of your advisors, I would not advise that.

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

Thank you. Because, well, the arts and grants funding and the PAL funding, that's a recurring cost. That's not under one time. So we could reallocate those dollars. So that So that would be $1.4 million almost for purposes of park improvements, correct?

That's absolutely correct.

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

Okay. I mean, that's really helpful for me to understand because we're looking at big numbers. We're not looking at $20,000, $30,000, right? Changing the commissions, I think, saves us $60,000 or, you know, it's not a huge amount. So we have to look at six figures or more. And so that's helpful. I guess I wanted to go through that process to figure out what we can do and what kind of decisions we have to make because so far I've only heard what we want and not what we need to cut. In this case, I support option two because number one, it gives us a wide variety of

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

improvements that are necessary specific to public safety in the case of cameras, lights lights on trails, restrooms, sidewalk maintenance, which we talked about being a huge part of our TORTS claims, street lights, shade structures, especially for the summer with a lot of kids not being able to use the playgrounds that we currently have, investing in the things that we currently have. So that's what I would like to see. If my colleagues would like to direct something different regarding option one, I would love to see it, but I'd like to hear folks make recommendations on what they would like to cut

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

in order to receive what it is they want with Washington Square. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

So can you go back to set aside funds? So we can just direct you tonight to put the funds aside.

Or even some lesser amount.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

That doesn't mean we're gonna eliminate the park, it just means, because you're right, it came up right when we were working on the budget, and so it was like hurry, hurry, hurry, rush, rush, rush. And I know that they've been the community's been coming for quite some time. I have lots of emails from them that stated, you know, we've been trying to meet with a certain we've been trying to meet, we've been trying to meet with a certain person. It's not happening. It's not happening. And then I would refer the city manager to look at it. And then that's pretty much when it started coming up. So.

Yeah. And in fact, the city council could, you know, okay, so we put together we cobbled together money that could be $4 million, but that's $3 million from the general fund. fund, the City Council could direct us to set aside, oh, $2.5 million for the Washington Square project, if you will, whatever format that might take, and use $500,000 for something else. Maybe the City Council decides that the hotel consultant rises to that level. So think of it as that kind of, you can direct us however you wish on this one-time money.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

Okay, thank you. I'm just, thank you for bringing that up.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

So the only thing I would say is that, you know, and I'll stop beating this one up, is that as you know, I'm a huge supporter of the PAL program, not because it's police. And I know some people are like, oh, we're cutting the police out, we're cutting the police out. No, we're not cutting the police out. That's not what this is about. The community trust is built in that PAL program. They look at the officers, they go there and they have relationships with the officers. I know our parks and recs can do the same but not the way that pal does it like libraries can do the

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

same not the way that pal does it so if we're going to cut it mr city manager then I want to make sure that yes it's going to go to the library or parks and rec but also that our police department is involved because kids see police officers when I went to closing uh ceremonies last Friday I'll give you an example for Pony Baseball. You know, Santa and PD was there. And the kids didn't want to talk to me. They wanted to talk to him. They wanted stickers. They got in his car. They were excited. They want to, they have that relationship with the officers. Whenever we have events, they go and talk to the officers.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

They got on the motorcycle. We had the resource fair. You go to the booth where our officers were with the bike and the car and the dogs. That's where all the kids were. So you know, that to me is very important because we all talk about up here about building community relationships and having a positive relationships with whether it's fire, police, parks, public works, whatever it is, we need to continue that. So I just want to make sure whatever cuts we're making that we continue to include our police department even if it's non-sworn which is not costing us as much money. To me, that's very important for public trust.

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

So two things, and I don't want to get lost with what Kat says, is that in the end, we have a very finite budget, right? I think we presented a balanced budget for your consideration, and obviously we're seeking your direction.

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

Yes, in many ways, the idea of the park in Washington Square has been around for a long time. But not until two weeks did the city council as a majority provide a direction for us to look. Right? So for us, it's one of those cash 22s when administration and policymakers have this discussion. If we move too soon without a majority direction, we preempted it. Why are we moving? Why are we having discussions? Who approved this? Only one person liked it, two council members. So we're very cautious about what that means. So when we have deliberations in public, right, then we get, okay, now we count majority of

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

city council, let's go look at it. So that puts us where we are today. When we talk about using, as you see the final about some general fund, some restricted funding, even the funding that Councillor Huffman mentioned, we're looking at ways of how to make it a successful aspect to, okay, let me see. We were able to get a majority of the consensus more or less that they went apart. But at the very same time, we have very limited funding. And so, Council Member Phan made a very point observation. Even if we buy it, we still can't develop it. And so, we've got to look for a way. And so, that's what we're doing.

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

We mentioned the land swapping. When we bought those properties on First Street, on Bristol, on Warren, we looked very specific funding. funding. Those restrictive fundings have parameters that doesn't allow us to just do us up with any other property. So when Kat says you can align and direct us to look for ways, that's what we're doing even as we speak. Do we use water funds? Do we use housing funds? Inclusionary funds? A&D funds? General fund? That is what we're working to. But at the end, we have have to have a balanced budget for you.

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

The first meeting in June, so hopefully approve the second, so we have an effective balanced budget July. That's the objective. Nobody wants to cut any programs. Nobody wants to lay off anybody. So we knew, and we said it in the closed meetings, I'll say it out loud, we knew that at a certain moment, we would have to wear the dark hat. We would have to make those calls. If you notice the cuts that we made, we made almost proportional costs for full time and part-time at exactly the same amount, $2.7 million. It's not at the single department that wasn't touched. We talked about PALS.

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

If you look at what we're proposing in the staff report, we're rejecting PALS with library, with proximity recreation as a team effort. How do we maximize the funding we have to ensure we expand and maximize outreach to the most youth that we can? There's no way we're not beating our heads trying to be a balanced budget and make sure that nobody gets harmed, they continue with the services. That's why you notice in our meetings and our one-on-ones, I never said cut services. Because we don't want to cut services, but we might have to limit the frequency, right? And so that's the objective that we're looking to approach.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

And I thank you for that explanation. This is not the first budget that we have done. I've been sitting here and I've sat on the school board with over a billion dollar budget. I understand about cutting. My point, and I always want to stress it because everybody else is, see, everybody has a ward up here. I have citywide. So I hear from every area. I don't just hear from whatever area. I hear from every area. So my emails are probably a lot different than other people because I hear from ward three, ward four, ward one, ward five. I hear from every. So I did get a lot of emails about PAL,

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

and I was trying to explain how this is gonna happen. I know we're not cutting, per se, the entire program. We're gonna be able to serve other, you know, more children. The quality is what concerns me. And I understand the majority up here. I understand the politics very clearly, the majority. But again, when I sit up here as the mayor and I hear, well, I want this for my award, I want that for my award. And Councilman, Mayor Pro Tem Penalosa has said it very clearly tonight. And if you look at option two, it was ward one, ward three, ward five, ward whatever. The whole city needs services. And you have a big job in front of you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

You have seven of us that sit up here and six of them want it for their ward. And I'm the only one who sits there like, hi, I'd like it citywide, right? And so I just want to be clear my position on this. I don't like cutting programs for the youth at all. And I'm not going to throw out like, oh, it leads to gang violence. No, I'm just going to say I don't like cutting programs for the youth. I would love to have a better relationship with the school district so we could partner with them. But we're not bringing all the carne asada, they can bring half of it. And I don't like that word partnership. It should be half and half, right?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

So you guys have done a remarkable job on all of the cuts. We do have to cut. But I just want to be very clear, my position, there are certain things that I don't want to, I don't give up on. And the park and Washington Square, they have been asking that for years. And we are park poor in our city. But people want their trees cut. People want their sidewalks fixed. People want the potholes. We want the construction done. We want streetlights. We want more police officers. We want more fire. We want 24-hour ambulance care. I mean, the list goes on and on and on and on.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

You can't have all that because our budget's this little, this big, and everybody's asking for this much. So at some point, hopefully, when we do pass the budget in the second meeting in June, or the next meeting, you could say, you know, I got to give credit where credit's due. The previous city manager, she basically said, there's no more money. She said it just like that. There's no more money. I understand that language very clearly. I truly do. So no, there's no more money. Because you can't appease us all up here. You're not going to please everybody up here. So I thank you for this.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

I think that you guys have done a phenomenal job. And if there's no more comments, okay, two more. Oh, you do, okay. So let's get through this and then, because we don't want to be here and we want to close out with council member comments. Council member Vasquez.

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

Thank you, thank you for all that information that we've been getting. And just to make sure that when we talked about a reduction of PAL, there's going to be continued police mentorship. And I've always said we should have a police team in our little leagues. We should have police team in our soccer leagues and have them all wear blue. It would be beautiful to have them out there and have them coaching our teams and be within the community with our parents that are volunteering. That would be great. I'd love it to be part of that. For the Washington Square Park, you came up with some solutions.

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

Council Member Pinalosa came up with some solutions. and then council member Ty said we could do set asides affordable housing and lawns land swap can you come back and show it start up a project with all three that we could figure out something now like hey we set aside some money we're gonna do a little land swap over here and some affordable housing like be creative with it and bring us I don't want this to die is what I don't want to to happen. I don't want to say we're going to pick option two and there's no park. That's not what should happen. It's like we're letting you know we need this park and we're going

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

to think about it later. Next budget meeting and then, oh, it's too late again. That's exactly it. We want low down payment money, start looking whether we could do land swap and bring in affordable housing project to make it feasible for us to be able to pay for it and get things done there so i want some action going on on this park and making sure uh we get it right and uh 10 000 for the piccolo neighborhood for a book kiosk would be great if i could get some support on that that'd be awesome thank you it's his ward councilmember lopez

Jessie LopezItem 2

Yes, thank you. Where is it? Well, I wanted to start by thanking city staff. You know, you kind of mentioned this earlier, city manager. We're closing a $13 million structural deficit without full-time layoffs, without furloughs, or eliminating, you know, core city services. I do think that that is a meaningful achievement and that is something that I want to acknowledge. And, you know, I think even the last year budget, right, I said publicly you presented, you and your team presented, a balanced budget.

Jessie LopezItem 2

And this is only going to get harder as we continue to lose revenue and our cost of services, of cost of labor, our employment costs, everything continues to go up. And that is the big issue that we have. We have severely fallen behind because of political inaction for many, many years now. There's just no other way to say it now. And so I wanted to ask about some of the, I wanted to provide a clarification, and I think that it's always good to provide clarification for the public,

Jessie LopezItem 2

because I got a question about some of the full-time positions and you know when we met you clearly stated that those positions are not filled so it is not people losing their jobs they're vacant positions can you confirm this that is correct thank you and so that is your recommendation is consistent with what this council gave to you the last time that we met which is why you have have brought these recommendations forward. And so where the cuts are happening, and the public can clearly see this, various departments, police is observing some of the cuts,

Jessie LopezItem 2

but they're all in clerical, administrative roles. Planning is absorbing some, and the other are spread across some of the departments. And my question is really about the part-time positions because they're, I mean, you understand, right, that's the heaviest hit right here. And so about 70 or more part-time positions are going to be impacted citywide with the heaviest in the library and in parks and rec. And so I would love to learn more about those specific cuts to those specific departments.

»» Thank you for that question. So every department, because like you said, this was a difficult process, right? But it was really, we did it in a certain way to minimize the impact to the community. So for example, the library, you know, they're losing potentially 16 part-time positions. But what that means is maybe the plan is to adjust to hours before they, I don't know the exact hours for the library, but, you know, they open from, for example, from 9 to 9, right? But the plan is to adjust those hours to minimize, to still provide a quality service with the staff that they have.

»» So, Councilwoman, you asked about the more detail on the impacted positions. Well, as we've stated, our plan is to first eliminate part-time positions that are already vacant. And then two would be to eliminate those that become vacant in the near future. We have situations where kids go back to school and they, you know, and so it's okay to eliminate their position after they leave the city, say, in September. So that would be our second tranche of positions.

So the idea is to get it down to a minimal amount of positions that we would have to impact. we did pull together a list of the titles of the positions that we would be looking at and we can certainly provide that to the city council but we we have no desire to as staff as management to just take an axe to our part-time staff that's not that's not what we want to do but we are trying to balance the budget and so that's why we're trying to come up with this very So we have a very measured, humane plan to eliminate the vacancies first, then go after

those that will become vacant in the near future, and then look to see what we have left over. In some cases, maybe some hours will be reduced across more positions to save a couple of people. We just don't know. So the first step was to get the City Council's direction on this. Like, is this something that we can adopt a budget with? And then we can work through the details of how that is humanely done with the least amount of impact as possible.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Thank you. I would love that information. I was actually going to ask how many are currently vacant versus filled. And also, I think when you send that information to the council, I mean, I know this is very moving very very fast but please tell us what is it that we should expect in terms of hours reduction is that going to be a reduction of life of our libraries that are open on the weekends Fridays what you know what what is that plan going to look like what are the specific services in library and parks

Jessie LopezItem 2

that we should be prepared to tell our constituents these things alone will no no longer exist. I think that's incredibly important. And I think that that's also gonna help inform when we have a much more serious conversation about the budget and we have to make final decisions. But I do think that your recommendation in terms of the full-time vacant positions is obviously something that is a good one because they're vacant. And for a lot of these departments, they have been vacant for months. some have been vacant for a really long time, they haven't been filled,

Jessie LopezItem 2

and so maybe there isn't a need for us to fill those positions. So I do think that that was a good approach that I support. Of course, I would love to see more detailed information. Moving on to the commissions, I really encourage all the current commissioners and members of the public to see Exhibit Three because it really does tell a story. Many of the meetings that have been canceled have been canceled because of lack of quorum. That means that people that have been appointed to the commissions are not showing up.

Jessie LopezItem 2

And so work has not been able to really, I think, move with the original intent, perhaps, of the commissions. Most agenda items are informational, receive in file. substantive business items, the moments where a commission is actually shaping a decision are not the exception. Actually they are the exception, not the rule. And so that really I think has informed why the council feels as though when we're thinking about not impacting some of these really big important services that the city is providing,

Jessie LopezItem 2

writing this is low-hanging fruit because well one many of them are not even meeting we're not receiving recommendations and you know I also think it's fair to acknowledge that we are in a different era of civic engagement and so people will engage with us directly people will engage with you directly city manager a community event social media and so I I would love to see some flexibility with arts and culture. I just want to you know reiterate that I don't want to see you know a hammer right or a machete being

Jessie LopezItem 2

being and going in their direction. I think we've done a lot of great progress and not just uplifting the importance of arts and how much it supports our local local economy, our residents here, tourism, and so as much as flexibility that we can have in that area, I would really appreciate that. And so I also wanted to ask for the functions that need to continue for park naming, mural, and public art review, can you just share with the public what that process will look like?

Jessie LopezItem 2

Like, you know, if the council's accepting the recommendation to remove parks and rec, how now will we treat park naming, which the council has always kind of done its own thing? Right.

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

Well, it can go through the Planning Commission. In essence, the municipal actually requires that the proper hearing is the Planning Commission and not Parks and Recreation.

Jessie LopezItem 2

Oh, got it.

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

Right. And if you notice, the naming of the streets, same thing, before we got here, we weren't following the municipal code. So, and that's why we were very careful, as far as noting, especially the presentation, mandated versus non-mandated, because I think part of the difficulty, at least from staff's perspective, right, and I think the city council can appreciate, is that here we are in an age of more civic involvement, and we throw the word transparency out, and yet people weren't going to the meetings. And if you look at that exhibit, and I'm gonna thank publicly the clerk of the council

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

who helped us gather that information, is that you see the level of work that was being done. So it's not so much just communicating with the folks, it's also staff time, right? Somebody programming, setting up, showing up, and making sure that there's some issues being addressed. So for us on the arts and culture is we're looking to integrate, not cut the level of work, just to ensure that the community development commissioners address that.

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

So I'll be very frank. I was hesitant to add arts and culture elimination because we just approved the policy two weeks ago. And so we're thinking out loud, how does it look? We just approved a policy that was historic and moving, yet two weeks later, I'm in a city council study session saying we need to cut the commission. So the best idea for us in that capacity is we think arts and culture, and people say it in the crowd, and people say when they can make the presentation that it's an economic development issue, okay let's put it with community development and so we don't limit the

Alvaro NuñezItem 2

amount of work which is assigned that work to the commissioners that we appoint so it's a more balanced aspect in that case thank you city manager I

Jessie LopezItem 2

want to thank staff again for putting the draft budget together I wouldn't think the community for coming out and being engaged vocalizing their their their wants, and I look forward to staff's recommendation in June. I encourage the public to stay engaged. I encourage the public to continue to advocate for the things that they care about, and I will also encourage you, city manager, and your team to exercise the fiscal responsibility that you have and that you owe to every member of this community. And it's not gonna be easy, and it's not gonna be easy up here,

Jessie LopezItem 2

but we all have to be clear about what our role requires us to do in very difficult moments. And so, you know, I, again, for me, I think it's really important that we save through efficiencies and that we seek ways to increase revenue. And I do want to thank City Team for their recommendations, right? This is not the first time that we discussed the recommendations. They're moving along through the process. And I also want to thank you for understanding the recommendations in option two that address multiple resident facing safety and infrastructure needs across the city.

Jessie LopezItem 2

It is not just happening in one part of the city. And that's really important because I don't just, you know, I don't just stay in one part of the city. I drive throughout the entire city. My constituents in Ward 3 drive through the entire city. They support businesses in different parts of the city. And I want to thank you all for also recognizing the importance of making recommendations that are actually fixing infrastructure projects. I don't know when's the last time any member of the council has driven over the Flower Street Bridge, right? But it feels like you're off-roading when you're on that bridge.

Jessie LopezItem 2

And this is the multiple, multiple complaints that my constituents have highlighted to you. And I want to thank my colleagues for their support. And I am also very proud of the years of investment and infrastructure dollars that I have supported in various parts of the city. It has always been about taking a measured approach here. And their Ward 3 is no different than any other ward. We need the infrastructure just like everybody else. And again, I want to thank city staff for the recommendations and I look forward to seeing what the what what what we're going to get

Jessie LopezItem 2

including the CIP budget right that we are not seeing today so thank you all right you got it

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

right Mr. City Manager or Kat you got it all right let's move on okay Mr. City Manager we're going to come back to you for your comments at this time I'm going to go to council member comments and thank you for thank you for everything all the staff is just thank you thank you yeah you're to go to the bathroom as we start to do council member comments should we wait for you then all right count mayor pro time you're at council member comments wait i'm confused we're we're done with the yes wait yes okay um council member comments you're at mayor pro tem oh shoot okay well

David PenalozaItem 2

yeah i guess i'll i'll uh i'll as part of my council member comments all i will just want to to add as we continue having these budget conversations. Over the next couple of weeks, I do wanna just reiterate to my colleagues and city staff that as we look at the different balancing measures for our budget, I wanna thank every department that looked closely into your budgets and made these hard cuts. City Manager's Office, Human Resources, CITY CLERK'S OFFICE, FINANCE, PUBLIC WORKS, PLANNING AND BUILDING, PARKS AND REC, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, LIBRARY,

David PenalozaItem 2

POLICE, AND FIRE. I WILL SAY THAT ONE OF THE FEW DEPARTMENTS THAT IS MISSING FROM THERE IS THE CITY COUNCIL. AND I HOPE THAT WE COULD ALSO LOOK AT OUR CITY COUNCIL BUDGET, THAT WHEN I FIRST STARTED HERE IT WAS ONLY ABOUT 400 GRAND AND NOW IT'S $1.2 MILLION A YEAR. SO I WOULD HOPE THAT WE TAKE A a close look and whether that's cutting in half. That's something that I'd be willing to do to fund PAL. I just wanted to also reiterate for the record that I am very supportive of continuing to fund our PAL program and not seeing cuts there.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

Those are your closing comments. Sorry? Are those your closing comments? We're done, right?

David PenalozaItem 2

I'm not done yet. Oh, okay. But just wanted to make sure that we take a good look at our budget as well as the City Council because the buck stops with us at the end of the day. It shouldn't just fall on city staff. We also got to tighten up our belts. So with that, I do want to thank city staff for your hard work in this.

David PenalozaItem 2

It's going to get worse and worse, so I hope that we really just, I hope that our staff at ICC is communicating and having conversations about Willowick and developing Willowick Golf Course and seeing the potential there. But that is it, Mayor. I do want to ask that we close tonight's meeting in memory of Amin Abdullah, Nadir Awar, and Mansur Kasiha, who were the three victims and heroic victims from yesterday's awful shooting in San Diego. They gave their lives to save those children

David PenalozaItem 2

and are true heroes. and I hope that we could close tonight's meeting in honor of them and their memory.

David PenalozaItem 2

And that is it, Mayor. Thank you. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

Mayor Pro Tem, we've definitely closed in their honor. Thank you so very much. Council Member Vasquez, please.

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

Thank you, Mayor Mezcua. I appreciate it. I wanna start off by, I wanna congratulate the zoo and Parks and Rec for a beautiful, Beautiful event at the Santa Ana Zoo. It was great, I loved it. Bruett Zoo again, 800 people showed up and I just had a good time. It was a great feeling.

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

900 attendees, 25 vendors, great company. And I ran into Ethan Fisher, our zoo director, or he's been out, but he was looking good and it was nice to see him up and about talking to people and just joking about where he's at right now but hopefully he makes a strong recovery and he's back with us soon I loved it. You know Councilmember Penalosa just mentioned our our staff our council staff and I just appreciate mine so much besides staffing taking pictures and you

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

know putting social media stuff she does a lot of research she does she goes into to research about chickens and how many chickens we can have and keeping chickens healthy in Santa Ana.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

He did not talk about counseling.

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

I'll talk about counseling because if you're going to have a big staff soon, figure out something for them to do. So we figured out all kinds of stuff. We come up with a crazy amount of work. Maybe you want to work with Karina and help out some research. We worked on researching on houselessness and how can we support our commercial properties with houselessness. She did the research. She was like, I need this. She goes to neighborhood association meetings and they ask about murals on the side of a market. I'm like, go figure it out. Call the city staff and call the private and research that because they want a mural or

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

they want an event at a church and a lot. I'm like, call the church and then call the department. apartment. Let me know what we can do. I go to every neighborhood association meeting and they have questions and I look to Karina and I'm like, Karina, can you do the research? Of course. I'm like, this is your, she belongs to us. She's doing the work for all my neighborhood associations. If they need something, she gets it done. Karina's amazing. Thank you, Karina. I love you for doing the great work for our neighborhood. We got trash bins going. we didn't have trash bins when I came in.

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

The big trash bins that you get, she figured it out. And now we're all getting trash bins across Ward 2. She should run for council. She's amazing, I tell you. She's got a great leader.

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

Does she live in Ward 1?

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

I'm kidding, finish, I apologize.

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

And so she's doing amazing work and I really appreciate the work she's doing, working closely with our elementary schools to get the word out and other things. I'm looking forward to this Saturday. We have the OC Soccer Association coming to our field here and having a great game. And is there gonna be another Brewfest? Bring to our pay.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

There's no comments, not questions, come on.

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

It's great, okay. I will have a workshop for neighborhood associations on how to apply for the Culture and Art Program to bring some more street festivals to our cities. I'll be at the Senior Center next Thursday at 6 p.m. I want to congratulate all the new graduates from Santa Ana, Garden Grove, wherever other school district we have, that we have all the graduates who are graduating, but I want to give a special shout out to my nephew, Noah Ramirez, who's 22 and now has his master's from Cal State Fullerton. He graduated with an AA at the age of 18, his bachelor's by 20, and now he's got a master's.

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

Little strong kid. And you know, Carolina Molina, unaccompanied at 10th grade in my classroom, she found a job. She found a place to live and she got a room. And she got a car by the time she was a senior. She went to Sac and graduated, went to Cal State Fullerton and graduated. Somehow in there she got her papers as well and then brought her family over. This girl got a full ride to Indiana University and she got her master's degree. Congratulations to Carolina Molina, one of my heroes in life. She's

Benjamin VazquezItem 2

all, thank you Mr. Vazquez, it's all because of you, Amal. No it's not, Missy. otherwise that have thousands of children coming out you know getting the masters from Indiana you so and and as always justice for no way Rodriguez thank

Jessie LopezItem 2

you councilmember Lopez please yes thank you well first I was really thrilled to be with some of our planning staff this past week with the Kennedy Commission representing the city of Sonana that received an award for the affordable housing project, FX housing project. And again I just really want to thank our city staff for their work and I'm really proud of the work that the Orange County Housing Finance Trust is also doing. We just celebrated an affordable complex for seniors in the city of Orange and so this is part of the work of the housing

Jessie LopezItem 2

Trust to help build housing not just in the central core of Orange County but throughout all areas of Orange County because it is so desperately needed for people. I also want to recognize that we're going to be honoring Memorial Day this coming Monday and I want to remember and thank not not just people that have served our country but the families of people that you know have have said goodbye and never got a chance to hug their loved ones again, for families that have to deal with people that come back with PTSD, for all the mothers that had to say

Jessie LopezItem 2

goodbye to their kids once they were 18. I still remember my family's experience. And so I just want to thank everybody and I want to wish everyone a safe and reflective holiday weekend. I also want to thank the amazing class of 2026. So many of our students are heading to college, community colleges, universities across the nation, and we're really proud of all of our students. They're going to, I'm sure, represent our city incredibly well, and I hope that you always remember Santa Ana and come back to give back to the community that helped shape you. And I also want to say that my heart is with

Jessie LopezItem 2

our Muslim community because of the horrific event that happened yesterday. It wasn't just a house of worship, it was an elementary school and to see the images, the videos of kids having to be escorted out is so deeply painful and once again a reminder that there's so much more work to be done at all levels of government to truly provide safety for all members of our community and Chief I just want to thank you. I know we've been in contact since Monday and and you too, city manager, what is our plan? Our families, our residents in my district are getting ready to celebrate Eid and Friday prayer,

Jessie LopezItem 2

and I wanna thank you both for being responsive and for committing to supporting our mosque and for having some presence there so that they feel a sense of safety, which is really important to them and to me. And I also want to invite the public to attend our LGBTQ flag raising ceremony that is happening this Friday. This is an event that really my office was proud to help cement. I know not everybody agrees on this dais and off this dais, but it is so incredibly important to me to be able to...

Jessie LopezItem 2

Yes?

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

I think we're all just looking because we don't know who disagrees with LGBTQ.

Jessie LopezItem 2

I don't know. Well, we all support it. I heard chatter. No, we all support it, thank you. Good to know. I hope that we can all be there Friday at 10 a.m. And this is something that's really incredibly important to me and to many members of our community and to this council. And I think for me, speaking for myself, it does not matter how many hate messages I receive. It does not matter the names that people want to call me. I'm always going to stand with our community. I'm proud to do so. And I think it's important now more than ever, particularly because you're seeing how hate speech is manifesting into actual violence.

Jessie LopezItem 2

And so I want to thank city staff and I want to thank my peers on this dais. I also want to end with thanking everybody for all their work, all their emails and city staff and I hope everybody has a good night and a good weekend. Thank you.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

Thank you. Council Member Fenn. Your coffee cup says Mayo protein.

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

Sure does. Thank you to Magnolia Science Academy. Hey. Man, you talk so much about Karina. I want to talk about my council aides too. How amazing they are. Chief of Staff, Jaslee Morales, who's also a Lobo. We've adopted Amanda Tran to be a Lobo, even though she went to La Quinta. to you know I mean isn't it amazing that they show up to all my neighborhood association meetings we cop respond to emails constituent concerns events when I can't make it I think it's really wonderful that we actually have helped to do that work and you're welcome by the way

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

Councilmember Vasquez since I you know push for this program you're welcome I'm sorry to Mayor Pro Tem's council aides, but maybe there will be openings in other wards.

David PenalozaItem 2

I was talking about our pay. I never mentioned contracted aid, so...

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

You were talking about our pay. What little pay? Can you finish? Please, yeah. There's about $300,000 combined. $12,000 we make a year.

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

Hello, finish, Council Member Brown. We're not going that way anymore. He's done. Go ahead. Anyway, it's always good to have a little laugh up here. But I lost my train of thought, guys.

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you so much to staff for all the hard work, everything you've been doing. I know that we have so many asks up here. I know that there are a lot of strong feelings about what we can and cannot do, what folks want. And at the end of the day, it's our job to kind of figure it out together. And it might not be the cutest cake, but we'll bake a cake. And that's okay, because, you know, I like my dessert. There's some carrot cake back in the fridge for myself later.

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

And with that, I just want to say Brew at the Zoo was a big hit. I wasn't able to make it, but I did receive a lot of wonderful feedback. And I'm really glad that we're going to continue having those types of events.

Thai Viet PhanItem 2

And with that, I hope everybody has a wonderful evening.

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

COUNCILMEMBER PSCHEWICK. COUNCILMEMBER PSCHEWICK PSCHEWICK PSCHEWICK PSCHEWICK PSCHEWICK PSCHEWICK PSCHEWICK PSCHEWICK PSCHEWICK PSCHEWICK PSCHEWICK

Phil BacerraItem 2

PSCHEWICK PSCHEWICK PSCHEWICK PSCHEWICK PSCHEWICK PSCHEWICK PSCHEWICK PSCHEWICK

Phil BacerraItem 2

PSCHEWICK PSCHEWICK PSCHEWICK

Phil BacerraItem 2

PSCHEWICK PSCHEWICK PSCHEWICK for all that you guys are doing. So for the third time in four years, the Santa Ana College baseball team is heading back to the state championship. Their first game of their tournament for the state will be on Saturday, so this Saturday, May 23rd, versus Olone College over at the Great Park in Irvine. So if you want to catch the Dons in action, you can go right down there. Since we last met, they swept Citrus College in the Super Regional and then swept number 14 Fullerton College in the the regional finals. So good luck, Dawn, on this weekend. Last Wednesday, I joined my

Phil BacerraItem 2

friends in the Republic Home neighborhood, along with Rudy Rosas and our Public Works team to celebrate the activation of the traffic signal at Segar Sherman Spruce. This has been an improvement that has been sought after by this neighborhood for over 40 years. So I'm very proud to have pushed for the funding for this very important signal, and I want I want to thank my colleagues for approving it and helping to reduce accidents and potential fatalities for both Republic Homes and Thornton Park on the north. Traffic signals may not sound as sexy as weighing in on big social issues and national issues,

Phil BacerraItem 2

but this is the job that we signed up for, and being able to deliver this type of infrastructure that will immediately improve our residents' quality of lives makes all that we endure up here worth it. This Memorial Day weekend, let's honor those U.S. military personnel that died while serving our nation in the Armed Forces. And with that, good night everybody. Thank you. Councilman Hernandez.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I want to begin by thanking our city staff for preparing a balanced city council meeting and putting a budget in front of us that all of us were able to deliberate on and advocate for. It truly is a pleasure working with each of you. I want to thank members of the public who showed up today, and I also want to be clear that for anybody who comes into the City Council Chamber, regardless of where you disagree with us, everybody who stands at that dais to speak here should be respectful. Nobody should be cussed at here. Nobody should be disrespected. Nobody should be talked to in a way that is dehumanizing.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

So for anybody who does come to this council at our next meeting, it is our ask that you are respectful to every single one of us up here, regardless of where you agree with us or where you disagree. I do not want to see residents from our community, regardless of where we stand, as somebody who has experienced crises. I've sat here on my worst days and I've never wanted to subject members of the public to that language. To see colleagues be talked to that way, I want to be very firm that this is not the language that we're going to use on anybody up here on this dais.

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

So wherever there is disagreement, show up here with respect and you show respect to this room where we make very important decisions for the well-being of all people in Santa Ana. I want to invite members of the public to show up to the pride flag raising this upcoming Friday. Thank you, Council Member Lopez, for championing that. I also want to invite members of the public and my colleagues to join us for the Chinatown Memorial that takes place this Saturday, May 23. I want to particularly thank Council Member Phan. we collaborated and worked together on this Chinatown apology I believe back in

Johnathan Ryan HernandezItem 2

2021 so I just want to say thank you very much councilmember we were sharing an office at the time we were and I remember the conversation so I just want to tell you as a colleague it truly is an honor to see this come to fruition this Saturday and I look forward to celebrating with you all and that'll

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

conclude my comments thank you Thank You councilman Hernandez mayor Pro Tem like me to share the memorial day flag raising ceremony at memorial park starts at 9 00 a.m the memorial day flag raising ceremony is a public ceremony will include remarks by the city council santa ana police department honor guard a veteran speaker in recognition of a santa ana resident who died while serving as a marine 30 years ago thank you mayor pro tem for the for that congratulations Congratulations to the class of 2026. City Manager, City Attorney, I sent you an email regarding e-bikes and pocket bikes that

Valerie AmezcuaItem 2

I'd like to have a meeting with you and the Police Chief and the City Attorney to discuss bringing an ordinance forward and follow up with the meeting with that so that we can discuss that as a council. It's become a problem in our city and many cities throughout the state. And so I did send you a meeting to talk about that and I'm going to be bringing something forward for the council to address I'm gonna close with this so please bear with me and it won't be long I promise

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there's a group that meets every quarter I believe the quarterly it's called the Orange County Community Corrections partnership their last meeting was April 23rd 2026 as the mayor of Santa Ana a 30-year veteran retired probation officer with the Orange County Probation Department I'm the only one sitting up here on the dias that is uniquely qualified and i have the experience in the area of re-entry ab109 supervision of men and women released from state prison or local facilities this is my area of expertise i see things through a very different lens when it comes to crime rehabilitation

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re-entry and the quality of life as stated many times i've seen violence in our communities firsthand up close and personal not just read about it or heard about it but i've stood right next to the young man who has od or been killed by gang violence i have heard the screams from mothers or family members who have lost their loved ones it will stay with me forever and it has i believe in re-entry and that people can change if they are provided the services and have a desire and a will to change however today i want to bring it to the attention of our community

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that the county of orange is planning on opening a coordinated re-entry center at 30 30 hesperian way located in the city of san anna it was previously called the youth guidance center here is how how they describe it. Century located in Orange. No, it's located in Santa Ana. Probations Youth Guidance Center is being transformed into the county's first coordinated reentry center. This facility is being completed in phases, with phase one providing a dedicated 24-7 facility where anyone, anyone released will have a place to go.

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Individuals seeking to receive receive or continue reentry services will be connected to the Workforce Reentry Center and likely transported directly upon release from incarceration. The individuals will enter through a reception area where they will be welcomed and linked to a care or a case manager who will assess and begin to address their needs. Housing will be provided for males and females and the facility will include space for programs, family reunification, counselling and other needs determined necessary to remove obstacles for successful reentry. That's a brief definition. We cannot have another MHA

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program or anything that resembles this type of program. Santa Ana has done more than its fair share providing services for the homeless, for families, and the majority of County services are located in our city. The cult teams along with Landscape, CityNet, and other organizations like Teen Challenge and Salvation Army continue to work with those in need in our city. These are just two organizations that we work with on a regular basis. We could use the millions of dollars that we spent on the homeless for other areas in our city including the youth however the quality of our life of our residents is a priority so

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we continue to work hard in that area bringing this program to Santa Ana without community meetings without sharing information with me as the mayor US council members or the city manager is clearly a sign of disrespect once again Santa Ana is going to be dumped on and the bridge by YGC will become a haven of criminal activity the PD and the city have worked very hard to clean it up for our residents and we cannot allow this type of program to be placed in Santa Ana the small shopping center where Adolfo's liquor is located and those of us who grew up here we know we're very familiar with Adolfo's liquor

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has been cleaned up and very few calls of service are made to this area now why because Colt went in there the police department and code enforcement they cleaned it up the residents located right next to YGC will be affected as well I have met with them previously and their concern was the homeless has the county met with the residents in this area not that I'm aware of this program will provide a place to sleep when released from prison and or jail and they will have privileges to leave the grounds and come back and forth as if it were a hotel or a halfway house the Orange County Community Corrections

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partnership has been meeting on this project since 2024 and I've been watching it that long I've had my thumb on this for this that long and no one has asked Santa Ana to be at the table let's be clear the youth guidance center is in Santa Ana 30 30 hesperian Santa Ana they have it located as orange it is not orange it is Santa Ana city manager I am requesting a meeting with supervisor Sarmiento when he got elected he said Santa Ana is a priority to him and that he would do everything to help us because this this project is in his district I'd like to request a meeting with him I'd like to be in

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that meeting with the assistant city manager as well and the chief of police to discuss this project i will say this san anton does not want another halfway house in our city we have already two shelters we spend almost 30 million on the homeless so what are we going to do next our residents police public works and collaborative partners have worked too hard to clean up our city and this specific area under the bridge outside this project's doors that bridge used to be a haven of criminal activity and it's connected right to our golf course and which we're making a destination location our police department has

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worked very hard to clean up that area the city of Santa is doing far greater things for our residents our residents deserve the quality of life that others have in Irvine or Newport or other cities and as I just indicated we're elevating the golf course to become a destination site so we do not need the homeless or criminal element or somebody who leaves the facility to hang out on the bridge and get high while we're trying to have a golf course there we cannot allow this to open up in our city councilwoman lopez you work for supervisor sarmiento please ask about it and

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share with us and share with your ward because this is your ward and i don't know why we have not heard anything about this mr city manager please schedule a meeting and again i state that i want to be present as the mayor and i'm also going to invite supervisor sarmiento to my monthly neighborhood leaders meeting so that he can share information. Santa Ana cannot be the hub for all programs. There are 34 other cities in Orange County. Let them pick another one. And why do I sound so passionate about this? Because it's like the needle exchange program. I'm gonna bring you 300,000 needles Santa Ana, but

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I'm only gonna collect 180 of them, 180,000 of them. The rest will remain on your street. So we're gonna open a reentry program, which I'm all about

reentry I've been working it for years in my career I know it with my eyes

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closed but they can open it in Garden Grove Irvine Orange Alicia viejo Laguna Beach they can open in Tustin they do not need to open it in Santa Ana and who sits on this correctional partnership the chief of probation the chief of police from Garden Grove a public defender Don Barnes from the corners off from the Sheriff's Department, Health Care Agency, and our District Attorney. And that's great that they have the Garden Grove Chief, however they're looking about, they're talking about opening a reentry program in Santa Ana. And our Police Department should have been at the table, just like you should

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be at the table Mr. City Manager, and we should know about it as the Mayor and the Council. So I'm looking forward to hearing from Councilmember Lopez and she's employed by Supervisor Sarmiento, and I'm also looking forward to having a meeting with the county to hear what are they doing how are they doing it why are they doing it and why are they picking santa ana of all places and they also had a public relations campaign that they funded they hired a firm i don't know about anybody watching and i don't know about anybody in this room but i wasn't i didn't hear anything did anybody on this

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diocese hear anything i don't think anybody heard anything and again i want to be really clear they They state that YGC is located in the city of Orange. They all know better. It is not. 3030 Hesperian is in the city of Santa Ana. Right when you get off the 5 freeway at Bristol, you keep going straight, it's a dead end. We used to have children in that facility. And thank God we don't have children in there anymore. But I want to have a meeting, Mr. City Manager, very, very soon with the county supervisor Sarmiento. And then again, I'm going to invite him to come out to the neighborhood leaders meeting

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that all 63 neighborhoods are invited to attend. And I'll be meeting with those residents in that area there again, because they're not going to be happy either. They're not happy either. We know what's going to happen if they're allowed to leave and come and go as they please. They're going to be looking for jobs, going to visit family, catch the bus. I get it. But it sounds like MHA all over again. That's what it sounds like to me. Maybe I don't have all the correct information because I was never told or notified or informed or sent an email. And you weren't either. Chief, did you hear anything about this, sir?

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No, you did not either. So again, how disrespectful to the City of Santa Ana to be dumped on again. I'm going to use the word dumped. And I'm going to remind Supervisor Sarmento that he said when I'm elected Supervisor, Santa Ana will be a priority to me. Well, I want to just say this isn't a priority. Maybe it's not a priority to him, but as the mayor, it's a priority to me because the quality of life to the residents who live here and I live here, we all, most of us live here, it matters. Adolfo's Liquor will look like it did a year and a half half ago, full of people getting high. We had a killing there.

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I mean, we've had multiple killings that are shooting, stabbings. We can't have that. Can't have it. We've worked too hard. So with that, I am closing, and I just want to say I hope to hear from you, Mr. City Manager, as soon as possible, when we can meet with him, me, you, the chief.

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And I want to hear what is the plan and how can we prevent this? I'd like to stop this from coming and I'm really good at rounding up the community and that's what I'm gonna do I'm gonna go knock on doors say did you know this is coming to your neighborhood did you know this is coming to your neighborhood did you know and I'm gonna share with the neighborhood leaders did you know it's coming because nobody knew nobody so with that this meeting is adjourned

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I'm sorry. Thank you.