I'd like to call the meeting of the City Council Public Financing Authority to order.

City Clerk may have a roll call, please.

Councilmember Twine?

Here.

Councilman Kennedy.

Protem McKeon.

Here.

Mayor Burns.

Here.

Councilwoman Vandermark.

Here.

Councilman Groul?

Here.

Councilman Williams?

Here.

Six present.

Absolutely.

Don't here.

Councilman Kennedy.

All present.

Okay.

City Clerk, do we have any supplemental communications?

We do have supplemental communications for the closed session.

Item number five, one email received.

Item number six, one email received.

Item number seven, one email received.

Item number eight, one email received.

Item number nine, one email received.

All right, thank you.

Do we have any somebody signed up to speak?

No, mayor.

We have no one signed up to speak for the closed session.

That's not a bad thing.

Umcluded in closed session, conference with labor negotiators, agency designated representatives, Trafford Hopkins, City Manager, also in attendance, will be Marissa Sir, Director of Human Resources, Mike Vigliota, City Attorney, and Robert Torres, Interim City, Chief Financial Officer.

Employee organizations are going to be Marine Safety Management Association and Sir City Lifeguard Employees Association.

Also is conference with real property negotiators, properties one zero four four nine Adams Avenue, Huntington Beach, California, nine two six four six.

Do I have a motion and a second for recess into closed session?

I make a motion.

Councilman Twine?

Here.

Councilman Kennedy.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem McKeon.

Mayor Burns.

Here.

Councilwoman Vandermark.

Here.

Councilman Gruel?

Here.

Councilman Williams.

Here.

All present.

All right, tonight's invocation will be given by police fire, fire and police chaplain Roger Wing.

And Roger, after that, if you can do the Pledge of Allegiance.

Would you please join me in prayer as we ask God's blessing on this evening's city council meeting?

Heavenly Father, you tell us in your word that we're two or three are gathered together in your name.

You're there with us.

Now that's an awesome thing to consider that God is actually amongst us tonight, watching and taking in everything we say and we do.

And I pray that that realization will guide each one of us here this evening as we participate in tonight's meeting.

May we all demonstrate how Huntington Beach can maintain a gracious unity amidst our diversity.

I pray, Lord, that you would direct the paths of each of our city council members this evening as they deal with the issues on the agenda tonight.

May you impart your wisdom and discernment to each member of our city council and for all those who will be participating this evening.

We pray you would give them direction and guidance to be able to make the best decisions possible for our city.

We thank you for giving us a busy but a relatively safe and enjoyable 4th of July weekend and that it allowed us to positively present our city as a wonderful place to both live and vacation in.

And we pray that the rest of our summer will be a safe and enjoyable time for all the visitors that will be coming.

We ask your blessing, Lord, on each of our council members, our city manager, for all of our department heads, and all of our faithful and committed city employees who work so diligently in support of our city.

We also pray for all of our police, fire, and marine safety personnel who so faithfully and effectively protect and serve our city and beaches.

May you keep them safe, give them your wisdom and protection on every call.

Heavenly Father, we ask you to bless our meeting this evening, and may your peace and wisdom guide all that occurs tonight.

And we ask this in your wonderful name, Jesus.

Amen.

Roger, pledge.

I get to do it.

Would you please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

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.

Nothing tonight, Mayor.

Thank you.

Any member comments?

I'll just say it was great 4th of July.

Had a great time.

It's worked out very well.

Thank you.

Hi, Mayor.

Um, thank you, Mayor.

I just wanted to point something out.

One thing that's it's it's really a great feature that the city has for our residents, and that is when you look at your street sign in your neighborhood and it's hard to read or faded.

What you do is you go to the My HB app, you go to public works, report an issue, then to traffic engineering, street and traffic sign, and that'll allow you to take a picture and it's GIS located, submit the picture, and lo and behold, next thing you know, you have a brand new neighborhood street sign that looks all nice blue and white.

It's incredible.

I've used it a couple of times.

The city's very good at it.

And uh if you didn't catch the path that I just laid out right there, also the public works number is 714-960-8861.

I encourage you to use it.

There's no cost.

Keep your neighborhoods looking good.

It's easier, easier for the police to read them and fire.

So it's a service that you should take advantage of.

Thank you, Mayor.

Gracie.

I would just like to thank our staff and our first responders for making sure that we had very safe and successful Independence Day.

We have hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world.

So I want to thank everybody who took part in keeping us safe.

Casey.

Thanks, Mayor.

I just want to uh thank all of the residents for their patience while we work through the Republic strike, three-day strike last week.

Um it's not fair that we are meant to suffer because of a labor dispute with republic employees in another state and city in this case Boston.

So to protect ourselves moving forward, we will be issuing a request for proposals to get a third-party trash hauler on board in a standby uh contingency position.

So should this happen again with something that we don't control, we'll be ready to implement uh that third party trash hauler uh in short order.

So just wanted to update that to the community because I know that's been a big topic of of concern, and so just know that's in the works that that request for proposal will be going out uh very shortly.

Thank you.

Andrew Butch, yeah, butch has a lot to say.

Just uh uh tagging on to what what Casey said uh uh I want to thank everybody also for your patience.

Uh I did want to point out that in California there was approximately 50 other cities uh that suffered the same uh unfortunate uh strike uh as we did.

Uh but everybody's back to work.

I I want to compliment Republic.

I don't know if they're listening, but uh they worked diligently the last two days, they're all caught up, and uh they'll be doing their regular route tomorrow, the Wednesday route.

Thank you.

All right, uh City Clerk, do you have any supplemental communications?

Yes, we have supplemental communication for item number 12.

Under the city manager's report, we have one email received under council member items number 19, 13 emails received under council member items number 21, one email received.

All right, do you have anyone signed up to speak?

Yes, Mayor, we have nine speakers signed up.

God, that's gonna be painful.

All right, we'll give them three minutes.

Don't make me regret it, please.

All right, call it well, let them line up now.

You don't even need to call them.

You signed up to speak, yeah.

Please come down.

Yeah, Einhorn, Hansen, Shine, Brenda, Banks, Jackson, John Red Kelly, Geddis, Neil.

Step right up to the mic, sir.

This one.

No, he's uh he's another guy.

So ahead, sir.

Thank you.

Uh good evening.

My name is John Ridelli.

I'm here in support of 25604, transparency for taxpayers, public contracts.

I'm surprised, a little surprised that something is not in place already to review some of these projects, and I would like to relate this to the bocci ball courts that were built, completed in early 2020 at Murdy Park.

I led the effort for those courts and provided this comprehensive 35-page report.

I called it boy courts for HB.

As a relations, as it relates to the issued statement regarding 25604, I highlighted these phrases.

Delivered anticipated value, evaluate project outcomes, and overall community benefit.

Prior to the Boche Bowl courts, uh, Murdy Park had a troubled history, and I sincerely believe because of those courts that were completed in 2020, a more friendly environment has been created there.

At the time of completion of those courts, I would give these items that I mentioned 10.

Very good.

Delivered anticipated value.

Evaluate project outcomes.

Overall community benefit, 10, 10, 10.

But it's not enough to stop at the completion of the project.

I would ask the city council to consider that that be an ongoing review because those courts were great for two years.

Everybody talked about how great those courts were.

I believe over $20,000 to make repairs.

I have issues, possible missteps, and I hope to investigate this further with uh.

I was able to gain access to the uh uh e-bid specs for the project.

Uh, concrete was supposed to curve for 30 days.

I took it upon myself to act as a city watchdog.

I documented the process of the building of the bote ball courts with photos.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Hi.

My name is Jim Banks.

I have lived in downtown Huntington Beach for over 35 years.

I voted for every one of you on this council except for Mr.

Grue, and I supported his appointment to the council.

I wholeheartedly support your positions on the voter ID issue, the recent library issues, and the ongoing battles in Sacramento over housing.

However, as important as those issues are, the number one priority for this council in this city must be public safety and the apprehension and arrest of criminals.

During the day and long into the night on the 4th of July, the entire downtown area of Huntington Beach experienced a crime wave of epic proportion.

From my house, I observed an average of 20 to 30 crimes per minute, as the illegal fireworks were literally nonstop on almost every block.

Large groups of drunks blocking streets, shooting Roman candles at cars, and explosions that rival the recent bombings in Iran.

Yet the Huntington Beach police were unable and or unwilling to do much about it.

At 149 p.m.

on the afternoon of the fourth, I called the police to report a drunken mob and a particularly large explosions about a half a block from my house.

The dispatcher said they would send someone out, but no police ever showed up.

And I know this because I have a security camera trained on that area, never showed up.

After 9 p.m.

After enduring the widespread criminal activity all day and all night, people shot off some very large exploding rockets in the alley behind my house.

Sparks and debris from those rockets fell into my yard just as I let my dog out into the backyard to pee.

I called the police and demanded a response.

No police ever showed up.

And again, I have a security camera in my backyard that covers this area.

I checked it the next morning.

No police ever showed up.

I've spoken to many other people I know in downtown Huntington Beach, the same experience.

They called the police about fireworks, no one ever showed up.

This is totally unacceptable situation, and the law abiding citizens of Huntington Beach shouldn't be forced to endure this year after year.

We do not want our city to be in a state of anarchy every 4th of July.

Residents with pets are forced to leave town for several days because their pets are traumatized by the noise, and so are some veterans with PTSD.

The streets are strewn with trash, and the taxpayers have to pay to have it picked up, all because the city can't or won't control the criminals.

These criminal hoodlums that are causing all this trouble need to be arrested, thrown in jail, and given the maximum sentence for their crimes.

We do not have to accept that this is just how it is in Huntington Beach on the 4th of July.

Now is the time for this council and the police department.

Thank you, sir.

Alright, thank you, sir.

If you would like, sir, to speak to one of us, fill out a blue card.

I'd be I'd be happy.

If you'd like to fill out a blue card and I'd talk to you about it if you'd like to.

Okay.

Right from that officer over there, right at the front there.

Next speaker, please.

My job requires me to work with hospitals, hospitals, and medical schools and clinics.

And I have been hearing some horror stories, and I decided to take this stories that I am hearing and make a short story for the community to hear.

In the stark, sterile halls of hospitals and clinics, chilling tales unfold, stories that echo the heart wrenching cries of detainees shrouded in despair.

As they arrive, many are teetering on the brink of death, deprived of their vital medications, like insulin, with no lifeline to family or friends to provide the help they so desperately need.

In this grim reality, countless souls language, languish without legal representation, trapped in a maze of bureaucracy with no way out.

The iron grip of ICE looms large, attempting to dictate the very care these individuals receive, overshadowing the compassionate judgment of docks doctors striving to heal.

Among the detainees is a U.S.

citizen stripped of identity as ICE ruthlessly tears apart their death passport, leaving them adrift in a sea of uncertainty.

The facilities buzz with a suffocating intensity, lights glaring mercilessly 24-7, amplifying the sense of entrapment and hopelessness.

Outside the clinics, ICE waits like a predator, ready to pounce on the vulnerable as they emerge, often in a state of critical health.

This is just not just a failure of a system, it is a grotesque display of a cruelty and inhumanity, a stain on the fabric of our society.

But all of us remember the tide will turn.

At the last city council meeting, our mayor was confronted with his past unprofessional conduct.

Speaker after speaker quoted the mayor's own hot mic remarks, which included vulgar references to human extramment and the use of the F word when describing Huntington Beach residents.

His conduct is beneath the dignity of this office.

This is a public forum, not a locker room.

Your remarks violate the code of ethics you swore to uphold.

Another troubling breach of professionalism is the silence from the council, from the city manager, from the city attorney.

Your action or inactions make you complicit and accountable.

I have friends in other cities in Orange County, and they read about this in the papers and they say to me, What is going on at your meetings?

This isn't leadership, this is a farcical situation.

Mr.

Mayor, your conduct in this chamber has been disgraceful.

Your refusal to acknowledge or apologize for unethical behavior is beneath the dignity of your office and an insult to our Huntington Beach residents.

Do the right thing.

Resign tonight.

Next speaker.

Good evening.

Uh Tim Geddes in the House.

I am amazed that the mayor did not restrict public comments to 60 seconds.

I guess that nine is less than 11 announced speakers.

And which previously has been restricted to one minute.

He has usually been arbitrary and capricious and limiting time for speakers.

Several of us have been, including my predecessor, several of us has been have been dubbed the minute men.

The mayor is flaunted civic policy of allowing three minutes per speaker unless a clear and heightened volume of speakers warrants reduction in the time allowance.

This has not always been followed.

Mr.

Burns, you are not a king.

You are barely a mayor.

While you clearly are uh while you clearly are to blame for the responsibility of your office, you are not alone.

Your colleagues on the day, including the city attorney, the city manager, and the city clerk, are not without fault.

No one in the no one in a position of power or influence has stuck up for the community and reigning in the excesses of this mayor.

You are all to blame.

Now, back to the all-star game.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

My name is Mr.

Amory Hanson.

I'm speaking tonight to express my support for I am 18.

The mayor and councilman Gruulsheim to create a new community garden.

Community gardens provide numerous benefits to Iington Beach.

I'm especially looking forward to learning more about aquaponics.

Like a Phoenix from the ashes of fish, will rise a new produce garden to ensure fresh produce for the great city of Iington Beach.

Once again, I urge a yes vote on I am 18.

Thank you.

Thank you, Amory.

Awesome.

Next speaker, please.

Um I'm here to talk to you about the uh federal administrative procedure act.

It is the uh law that is uh passed in 1947.

It was um it's a uh federal law that all the state law is modeled after.

It's what you used to uh create this um council and uh it is the uh uh federal administrative procedure act was placed under the Coast Guard in 1947, and the Coast Guard has since then uh established itself as a branch of military.

It did so in 2003.

Uh uh the uh federal administrative procedure act uh married together all three branches of the government, and it is unconstitutional and I paid greatly myself uh fighting it as a naval officer.

Um I'm having difficulty trying to gather my words because uh um it's uh uh a piece of law that should not be on the books.

It it is the res uh uh the precursor to all bad stuff going on in government uh because uh Madison, James Madison said that if any two of the three great powers, and it it referred to the the uh legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government should not be found in the same place, and that if they were it would result in tyranny thank you thank you next speaker uh good evening mayor Burns and members of the city council my name is Russell Neal and I live in Huntington Beach listening to public comments here you might think that some people have lost their minds and you would be correct.

We are living through the end of an era experiencing the collapse of the enlightenment movement a 300 year experiment to see if man's reason apart from God's revelation is adequate.

Turns out that it isn't it turns out that first you lose your religion then you lose your morality and finally you lose your mind the enlightenment was always a house built on sand and now the storm has come and it is collapsing my hope is that a renewed Christian order will arise to replace it.

Our nation's founders knew this establishing our nation on the law of nature and of nature's God rather than on the will of men whether that of a king or that of a democratic mob they gave us a constitutional federal republic a rule of law rather than a rule of man a system designed to ensure equal justice under the law for everyone while the moral law of God is knowable knowing it is not easy.

It requires hard work and study but most of all a heart for it says that you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all of your heart thank you God bless you and good evening.

Thank you next speaker.

Pat Gracie and Casey on June 4th 2024 you passed an affirmation the City of Huntington Beach City Council affirms and communicates our commitment and respect for the Constitution of the United States of America and with special recognition that Huntington Beach is a first and second amendment friendly city you lied.

You made fun of council members fellow council members that were not willing to lie it is clear that you have no respect for the First Amendment of the U.S.

Constitution you cut people off you limit time to speak and you censor them by muting them.

You complain about decorum but you call people pieces of shit and other derogatory terms.

On June 4th you complained about lawfare yet you have recently filed lawsuits and investigations into the free speech of others this is called hypocrisy well you do support the second amendment you let people in the library carry guns last week I'd feel safer in the library or even these city council chambers if there is a notice forbidding concealed weapons.

Pat you also said it's disgusting what's going on in our whole country have you noticed the current administration has suspended due process have you seen a U.S.

senator being pushed to the ground for government by government thugs the Fifth Amendment of the U.S.

Constitution which says that no one shall be deprived of life liberty or property without due process of law by the federal government while you pick the second amendment I pick them all thank you.

Good evening Jignes Paddy are a lifelong resident here at Huntington Beach I just want to commend the council and everything you guys are doing I really appreciate the aquaponics and uh the new measure coming up with you guys.

But I just wanted to make an attention here that uh you guys remember the end uh the beginning of the movie uh night before nightmare before Christmas after the Halloween the mayor is on Jack's front door is saying, Jack, Jack, we only have 364 days until the next Halloween.

Well, we only have 354 days until the next 4th of July, and it's America 250.

And I think we need to do something special.

I think the city needs to either get a group together and start talking ideas.

There's no reason my wife and I have been talking so many different ideas.

There's no reason the Ford dealership should have the highest flag in the city.

Um we can have flags up and down Beach Boulevard on every light post.

You know, I think there's something we can really put big and grand on, and I just want to make that known so that conversation gets scouted now before it's too late.

Uh keep up the good work, guys.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Hello, my name is Jordan Richard.

I'm here to speak on the proposed bill to ban Kratom in the city of Huntington Beach.

Um I was a former dope fiend for a very long time.

I spent most of my life in and out of rehab.

I found Kratom 12 years ago.

Now I'm uh I'm an author, I'm a father of five.

Um I've lived uh an incredible life now.

I think Kratom gets uh extremely bad rap because there's a lot of misconception.

John Hopkins School of Medicine has scientifically proven that Kratom is 1,000 times safer than traditional opioids, and with the current opioid epidemic going on in in in America, I think any harm reduction tool is critical.

Where I think a lot of people get misconfused though is that Kratom is just a leaf in the coffee family.

There are many synthetics on the market pretending to be Kratom, which are actually harming people.

I traveled the world now interviewing all the top experts from the FDA, John Hopkins.

Oh, and and by the way, a lot of I I read what some people were saying about Kratom uh from the FDA.

However, um you guys forgot to mention that the FDA just released a study that Kratom appears to be safe.

Um the memo also forgot to say that when the FDA was put under oath in a court of law to say whether or not Kratom was dangerous, that they refused to, and they said that they have actually no proof that Kratom is dangerous.

Um Kratom has been used in Southeast Asia.

I just got back from Indonesia about two weeks ago for a thousand years going back to the diak tribe.

There's never been one single case of death.

And while many of my friends have died from fentanyl, including myself, I overdosed twice in one week.

Now I'm a contributing member society, I pay taxes.

I'm I'm here blessed to speak in in front of you guys.

Um also, too, the former head of HHS, Dr.

Bretcher Wah.

He is the reason why Kratom is still legal in America today.

He said the only public health threat that Kratom posed was if it were to be banned because people will go back to deadly known opioids.

I'm sick of losing friends, and this is nothing against anyone personally here, but I'm so tired of hearing a lot of misinformation on Kratom.

Also, the DEA had the opportunity to schedule Kratom in 2016, but they refused for the first time in history.

Kratom is the only substance that has ever been proposed to be scheduled by the DEA, and they refused because of the mil millions of public, not just say millions, but thousands and thousands of public comments saying please don't do this from doctors, lawyers, veterans, people in chronic pain.

When I was in addiction, the the pharmaceutical industry and the doctors handed out opioids like crazy.

Now people that are truly in chronic pain can't get the medication and kratom fills that void for people.

And I'm not even in chronic pain.

I'm just a former addict whose life was saved by Kratom.

I'm not even a resident here.

I drove all the way from Big Bear because this is how much it means to me.

There are people, if this goes through that will unfortunately pass uh away if you guys ban Kratom.

What you guys need to ban is something called seven hydroxymetragenine, which is a synthetic opioid basically.

Um real Kratom saves lives.

Thank you, sir.

Sir, could you fill out a blue card?

Get in contact.

Next speaker, please.

Hi, I'm Jennifer Thomas, long time resident of Huntington Beach.

I'm here for a quick public service announcement for all of you.

Please, please.

You're here for the entire city, all the residents.

When you make decisions, think about it.

Is it just what you're thinking or is it best for our city?

We really want you to do what's best for our city, not just what's best for maybe you or your values.

They might not be the same as the rest of the city.

So please think about it when you make decisions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, I believe that concludes the public comments.

Uh council members, do you have any council committee appointment announcements?

Uh, I'm gonna be appointing Ben Goldberg to planning commission.

All right.

Um, anybody else?

Oh, well, wow.

Um, AB 1234 reporting.

Anybody?

Nope.

Openness and negotiation disclosures.

Does anyone have anything to disclose?

Okay.

Uh fire department.

Hey, I have one.

Oh, city manager report.

Yeah, yes.

Um, thank you, Mayor and City Council.

Um, I would like to pull item number sixteen, um, the B-well discussion from tonight's um agenda for a future discussion.

That's it.

Yep.

All right.

And go ahead, please.

American Heart Association presentation.

Yes, um, coming up right now.

We have um Division Chief Um Fleming, as well as our um chief medical officer, Dr.

Rom.

I'm so sorry I'm gonna mess up your last name.

Roe Hate mean.

Thank you.

All right.

Uh good evening, city council, city staff.

Uh, my name is Justin Fleming, and I'm here to present uh an award that was given to us through the American Heart Association uh called Mission Lifeline EMS that we wanted you to be aware of.

Uh, so what we're gonna go over is that American Heart Association program, discuss Huntington Beach uh fire department's participation in it, and then specifically what this award is and what it means to the community and the department.

So the Mission Lifeline EMS recognition is a program designed by the American Heart Association to showcase pre-hospital agencies, agencies nationwide for excellence and heart attack and stroke care.

Launched in 2014, it celebrates the achievement of pre-hospital providers and their collaboration with hospitals specific to patient care.

The program evaluates and ages and evaluates an agency's use of evidence-based guidelines, measure of performance, identifying gaps with solutions, and engagement and quality improvement.

The Huntington Beach Fire Department participates in this program and is measured for its performance in the acute setting of heart attacks, which met the uh with measures such as 12 lead acquisition within 12 minutes of arrival, and so uh 12 lead.

If you don't know what that is, is basically we put a bunch of stickers on your chest and we're able to get a multi-dimensional view of someone's heart so that we can kind of see what's I'm butchering this, I know I got a doctor standing next to me.

But I'm doing okay.

Uh, but so that we can uh see if anybody's having acute coronary syndrome, uh, acute heart attacks and get them to the right hospital.

Uh it also evaluates cardiac medication administration, EKG transmission between ourselves, our base hospital, and cardiac receiving centers, but most importantly, it's decreasing the time between heart attack recognition at administration of care at a cardiac receiving center.

And so we call that patient contact to balloon time.

So what it is is that the moment we walk in the door, we see someone that might be having heart attack signs, we go through all of our assessment, we determine hey, this person's having a major heart attack.

We're able to talk to our base hospital, talk to the physician, we send them the EKG, we start giving medications, we find the closest cardiac receiving center, we send all that information to there, so it's got it's in hand of the cardiologist, and we're streamlining these uh heart attack patients through the ER, bypassing the ER directly to the CATH lab so that they can get intervention done, such as stents and balloons and stuff like that, because what we call time is muscle for cardiac care, and so that's the most important thing.

What's the three closest uh cardiac receiving centers?

Uh for us it's we use Hogue Memorial, Orange Coast Memorial, and UCI Fountain Valley.

Oh wow, okay.

So I'd like to be proud to announce that the Huntington Beach Fire Department has been awarded the gold award for the fifth straight year, which is the highest recognition uh level of pre-hospital agency can be awarded.

The Huntington Beach Fire Department is the only agency to achieve the gold award in Orange County, and only roughly 20 agencies in the entire state of California qualify for it.

I don't even know if any have done it five years straight, and if it is, it's gonna be in the single digits.

This is due to the professionalism and the exceptionality of our hard-working firefighters and firefighter paramedics in providing excellent cardiac care to the community of Huntington Beach, along with our collaborative partners at Huntington Beach Hospital, Hogue Memorial, Orange Coast Memorial, and UCI Fountain Valley.

The Huntington Beach Fire Department is honored and proud to have received this recognition from the American Heart Association.

We wanted to share this with the community, and also wanted to thank our city council for their continued support of public safety.

And if we have any questions, so we also we have our chief medical officer, Dr.

Himian, in case anybody has any questions about the appointment.

Wait, does he have anything to say?

I mean, for me, I think that this is an outstanding achievement.

So really time is muscle, and we're really bridging the gap and getting there, recognizing acute patients, and getting them right to definitive treatment.

And that saves lives in the end, right?

We give someone that second chance.

So with the high performance that we have with our members, they're able to give the highest level of medical care to our entire community.

So really it's something to be really proud of, and we're giving the best shot to anyone in Huntington Beach.

So if you're having a heart attack, a stroke, a trauma, you really have the highest level of care relative to anywhere else.

So it's something to really be celebrated and be proud of because of the work of uh these gentlemen because of y'all and the community uh by supporting our members, we're really able to provide uh outstanding medical service.

That's awesome.

Which do you remember me, Dr.

Ron?

Of course.

Good to see you.

I'm glad you're here.

And this wasn't planned.

Um, and maybe I'll let you kind of tell the story, but I'll kind of set it up.

On the 4th of July, Dr.

Rom was floating around with our paramedics.

I don't know if you had your own vehicle or not, but can you tell us about uh uh accident you rolled upon when somebody might have fallen off a roof?

Sure.

And to just maybe tell us a little bit about it.

We had multiple people fall off roofs on 4th of July, unfortunately.

Um, and so just as background, so I'm an emergency physician board certified.

I'm also an EMS physician.

So uh the subspecialty of EMS is actually uh holds the same weight as cardiology, endocrinology sports medicine, and the house of medicine.

It's a fellowship within uh emergency medicine.

And so uh the work that our members do uh is really recognized in the House of Medicine as well, and it's a practice.

And so uh I like to be out in the field to uh you know just join our team and make sure that hey, you know, we're providing the highest level of service, reducing risk for the city, providing the highest level of care for the patients, and making sure that our members can go home at night, knowing that they did the best they could to give someone a second chance.

And so uh Fourth of July, unfortunately, uh we've had uh some really uh you know severe incidents, um, and so one of those cases was a uh person falling off of a roof, uh, and uh, you know, unfortunately, you know, is trying to take a picture of his uh block party and landed uh onto the pavement.

Uh, and so you know, in an unfortunate accident, it looked like an awesome block party, um, but because of the outstanding work of our members, they're able to stabilize him, uh, immediately treat him, prevent any worsening of traumatic brain injury, and get him to the trauma center so he could have the best chance of recovery where he's uh improving and recovering well.

So, uh again, this is just one more example of the outstanding work that our members do.

Um, really, everyone that is uh that is evaluated by our members, and every interaction is dealt with compassion and professionalism and uh a high level of knowledge and experience.

So we're really proud of that, and we're just trying to make sure that we provide the highest level of service possible.

Dr.

Rahm is very humble and doesn't ring his bell very much, so I think I'm going to do this.

First off, how would you like to uh have an accident in your home or uh have something happen here in Huntington Beach and an actual MD shows up with two professional EMTs and two professional medics, EMSs, and you also have an emergency room doctor being there.

Well, his people, uh, his counterparts in the fire department told me that he really saved this guy's life uh that fell off this roof that uh uh correct me if I'm wrong that he broke his jaw or broke his mandible or something like that, and you had to intubate him in the field, and it was a very difficult intubation, and maybe the intubation saved his life.

So, really, you know, we just wanted to make sure that we'd manage the airway, and uh together with our team, we're able to uh definitively secure that, and so um, again, just outstanding work through our team.

Uh, it's not just one person, and that's what is really unique about EMS.

Is that with our service, we provide a higher level of care and make a bigger impact on the community than any one provider would.

So I'm not gonna just take solo credit for that.

Well, I I thank you, and and your your counterparts at the at the one fire station where I met you uh uh saying your praises, and uh I knew you wouldn't because you're very humble, but thank you.

Uh I appreciate you, I appreciate our fire.

Uh imagine uh there's not very many fire departments in California that have uh an MD, an ERMD on their on staff that are that's gonna go out and ride with uh with the medics.

So thank you, Dr.

Rom.

Thank you, Justin.

Thank you all.

All right, Grace.

Just want to congratulate our fire department for another word.

We're a class one fire department.

Um, a lot of residents don't know that when we have a class one fire department that helps us with our homeowners insurance.

It's a perk that we don't know of, and I'd like to welcome you.

I haven't met you yet for some reason that hasn't happened.

But welcome.

I know you haven't been with us for a long time for uh very long, but I heard wonderful things about you, so thank you, and thank you too.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Oh, Don.

Tolstoy.

I just want to say as you guys continue to win awards.

I say this to the chief all the time, but allow me to say it to you guys and the entire department.

We are very fortunate here in Huntington Beach.

We actually we truly have America's finest fire department hands down, and I I commend you guys, guys and gals, firefighters, the whole team, the leadership for what you accomplish and what you do for the city, second to none, and I appreciate it.

And uh wow, the insurance, what a benefit that is as well.

But the the department is incredible, it starts with the leadership all the way down the line.

So thank you.

Thank you.

All right, thank you guys very much.

Uh independence day recap.

Thank you, Mayor and City Council.

Um, tonight we have uh Molly Uramura to Community Library Services Manager to uh provide a recap of the independence day celebrations.

And I I just want to add um on the kickoff that's this is the fourth of July is one of my um the things I love most about this community, um, not only because of the patriotism we get to share with our community, but definitely all the city apartments departments that come together um in cooperation to to pull off this event, and you you'll see all the many events that we get to be a part of.

All of you were there during those times, so definitely one of the most things we should all be most proud of.

Thank you.

We'll have to get you in a float next year.

There you go.

Thank you, Travis.

Honorable mayor and city council members, thank you for the opportunity to present a recap of our 2025 Independence Day celebrations of by the numbers recap.

As some of our council members have mentioned already, it was an amazing day enjoyed by over 100,000 people.

And first, I'd like to thank the city council for your continued support of our events.

You show up, you ride in the parade, you announce the fireworks, the block party, and we just so appreciate your support.

It wouldn't be possible without you.

So I will begin with a recap of all the amazing events that went on that day, starting with the Surf City 5K starts at 7 a.m.

bright and early on the 4th of July.

It had about three 3,800 runners this year.

It starts at Worthy Park, you get a run down Main Street back at PCH, kick off your day of the 4th of July before you have some more festivities throughout the day.

And for those of us who maybe weren't looking to run first thing in the morning, there's something for everyone.

So our local Kawanis Club hosts the Lake Park Pancake Breakfast, which was a super success this year as well.

This year was the 121st annual Fourth of July parade.

Our theme was legacy of bravery in hopes of honoring our military heroes in anticipation of next year being the 250th anniversary.

We look to honor our military.

We had really a record number of military entries this year with World War II veterans, and our community grand marshal was Mike Oli, a local business owner and Vietnam veteran as well.

We had over 145 parade entries, and there were approximately 40,000 people in attendance along the parade route on Main Street.

There's a little bit of downtime in between the parade and the fireworks, but we did have some entertainment on the city show mobile to keep people downtown, keep people hopefully patronizing our local restaurants.

And then at 9 p.m.

we kicked off with the fireworks over the ocean.

I'd like to give a special thank you to the Mayor Family Foundation who generously supports the fireworks over the ocean show each year with their donation and makes it possible.

We had over 500 tickets sold for our peer seating and approximately 20,000 people watching from the sand.

And for these numbers, I'd like to note that we pulled these numbers from a software that the city subscribes to called Placer.ai, which uses cell phone data to track to track foot traffic in the downtown area, and that's where we receive these numbers from.

It wouldn't be Huntington Beach if this was just a one-day celebration.

So obviously, we had to come back the next day and keep the party going.

So July 5th, we kicked it off with the annual community bike parade, which has become a beloved community tradition.

This year it was the day after the 4th of July, so we did it a little later to let people kind of roll out of bed.

It was probably a long night.

Hopefully, they were at the pier watching the fireworks show.

And this was the second year that we closed down Main Street for that.

So we had a dedicated bike parade route all the way from Maine and Yorktown to downtown and had over 6,000 attendees for that.

We also changed the schedule a little bit this year to start the main street block party a little bit earlier.

That way, when we finished the block parade, they were greeted with music on the showmobile and something to do to once again keep people downtown and give them an exciting thing to keep the day going.

The Ramsey brothers were in the afternoon, and then our headliner was Redneck Rodeo, it wouldn't be a block party without Redneck Rodeo.

As you can see by the annual selfie on the stage, Main Street was packed house.

We estimated about 5,500 people when this picture was taken right here.

So now we'll move on to some city beach statistics.

So on Independence Day, we had 60,000 people estimated on City Beach, which spans from Beach Boulevard to Sea Point Street.

Our amazing parking and camping team, who worked around the clock, parked 2062,611 cars in our South Beach attended lots and sold 1,376 tickets in the main promenade parking structure.

July 5th and 6th continue to be a busy weekend at the beach with 35,000 beachgoers on July 5th and 30,000 beachgoers on July 6th, a total of 5,260 cars parked in the South Beach lots.

Total parking revenue for the South Beach lots in the main promenade parking structures for July 4th through 6th, 342,054.

Now we'll move on to our amazing police department who worked tirelessly around the clock all weekend to keep us safe.

I was personally with many of them out there as they were doing their jobs.

We have the best police department, Barnone, and so here are some general statistics from just the 4th of July.

Our dispatchers took 5081 calls, 1,092 non-emergency calls, and our police department conducted 79 arrests citywide.

In specifics to fireworks, we received 644 My HB illegal fireworks tips, 29 fireworks warnings letters were mailed in advance of the 4th of July.

On the 4th, the police department confiscated 21 pounds of illegal fireworks and issued two illegal fireworks citations.

You heard already some of the amazing work that our Huntington Beach Fire Department conducted on the 4th of July.

And here are some of their statistics right here.

Amazing thanks to Chief McCoy and his team.

126 calls for service, 16 fireworks-related incidents, including three building fires and a few dumpster or rubbish fires.

There were 11 e-bike related incident medical calls, and the fire department, between June 30th and July 5th, confiscated 150 pounds of illegal fireworks.

No fireworks injuries were reported between June 30th and July 6th.

So that's great news.

And wouldn't it be um would be remiss not to mention our marine safety division of the fire department?

They always make me laugh in our planning meetings because they repeatedly refer to the 4th of July as their Super Bowl.

And they're not kidding.

The work that they do to prepare for it is incredible.

And this year it was especially challenging with high surf and rip tides.

It made their job.

It's particularly challenging this year, but they were well up for the task.

These are their amazing stats just from the 4th of July.

152 rescues, 2,268 preventative actions, 261 enforcement contacts, 14 missing person calls, and four boat rescues.

So these are just the incredible work that our marine safety division does out there day by day.

Wouldn't it be a recap if we did not spend some time to thank everyone who made this event possible?

So I would like to thank PSQ Productions, which is our event management company.

Fun fact this was her 25th parade that she was involved in.

So she's an invaluable asset to the community, works so hard year after year.

So we'd like to thank her for her invaluable efforts for the Fourth of July celebration.

Our independence day board and event volunteers.

They work tirelessly the whole weekend to make it seamless for all of you for all of our parade entries.

They work the fireworks stands, they're out there at the block party, and they'll take a few weeks off, but they'll be back in August getting ready to plan for next year's event.

Our city staff from pretty much every department.

This event touches all of us.

We work hard all year long to make this an event that our community can be proud of.

So our public safety departments, our public works, community and library services, woot-woot, HP Information Technology Services, community development, code enforcement, and our finance and treasury.

And certain, yes.

Our event sponsors who make this possible, again, the Mayor Family Foundation, and a thank you to our Huntington Beach residents and visitors.

Their smiles and their enjoyment is what we do this for year after year.

They keep coming out and supporting this event, and we hope that it's something that they continue to be proud of.

As Travis mentioned, we are such a patriotic town, and so what better way to show that off than having the biggest parade west of the Mississippi.

And with that, I will close and open it up for any questions.

But I do want to mention, as one of our public speakers mentioned earlier, that next year is the semi-quincentennial.

It's the 250th anniversary of our country, and we've got some exciting things up our sleeves for you.

So stay tuned because it's gonna be an exciting year.

Thank you so much.

Any questions?

I just have some comments.

Oh, cool.

Now, I just want to thank you.

The entire city staff, Ashley, the volunteers you touched on, Stacy, Andy, whole team, public safety.

This is a huge citywide effort.

Um I truly feel it's our best display of how we come together as a city.

Um I I love the the history component being on city council.

So Henry Huntington bought brought who was a rail tycoon, brought the first red train car to town in 1904 on Independence Day and had a parade to celebrate that event, and we've had a parade ever since.

So we always say it's the longest running Independence Day parade west of the Mississippi, and it's so impressive how we can put this on out of our little uh suburban beach community of Huntington Beach.

Um, this was my third year in the parade, and I felt this year was was by far the best.

Every year it gets better.

Um, there was so much patriotism.

You could the vibe shift was real, the American pride from little kids on up.

Um, there was no really big safety incidents.

So I thought that was amazing.

Um, and Jig Nash, who spoke earlier, touched on it.

I can assure you that we have been planning for the semi-quincentennial for quite some time.

Uh we've had some meetings just after Independence Day, already planning for it to really kick it into high gear, but it's America's 250th birthday, so we're gonna go as big as possible at every single event next year, whether it's Independence Day Parade, the air show, the US Open, like it's just gonna be big, big big.

So, although we raised the bar really high this year, it's gonna be even higher next year, and we all really appreciate the community coming out and enjoying it.

It's an amazing event for our city, and we're really proud of it.

So, thank you guys.

Andrew.

When you said uh big big big big big, I saw public works and uh fire and safety start to have a little panic attack there.

But uh no, that's it it was an unbelievable event, the whole weekend.

Thank you so much.

A couple questions in regards to the numbers.

So, how does the turn out uh this year compare to last year, as well as some of those revenue numbers that you listed?

Absolutely, that's a great question.

So the revenue um is higher this year for parking.

We were at about 300,000 last year, and we're at 342,000.

Um, that is in part to raising the parking rates for the daily rate, so thank you to city council for approving that and then um we are down very slightly in terms of overall attendance, but very similar.

So we had about sixty-five thousand people on the beach in 2024, however, in 2023 the numbers were much lower, and we were at about 30,000 because fourth of uh independence day was on a Tuesday, so we are benefiting from the event being on a Friday, and then next year for the 250th, we will be on a Saturday, so we anticipate that that will draw large attendance numbers as well for the parade.

Um, this year about 40,000, um, yeah, about 40,000, and in 2024 we were at 45,000, so um 24,000 was 2023.

So again, a big jump from 2023 to 2024, but down just slightly for 2025.

Okay, okay, yeah, big jump.

Uh, and then this is kind of an off-topic question, but in terms of the safe and sane fireworks stands, um, do we get sales numbers on that?

And then how did that work out for all the foundations and the groups that were obviously picked in the lottery?

That is a great question.

The Safe Insane Fireworks program is administered through our fire department.

Chief McCoy, do you happen to know if we have numbers on that yet?

Uh we no numbers yet.

I think we can get them for you.

Yeah, no worries.

Just curious.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, Don.

No real questions, just want to let you guys know.

I thought you did a fantastic job.

Huntington Beach, all in, provided a great atmosphere for families.

I was very impressed.

And now I'd like to praise the police department.

Starting off the parade, uh, the first person I saw was Chief Parr.

Big smile.

Okay, there's a great way to take off the parade.

And uh just want to commend uh Honey Two Beach Police and to the gentleman with the with the calls.

It is very difficult when you have a mass influx of people to to field these calls, they have to triage your calls, and every call to the caller is the utmost of importance, but I think they did a fantastic job.

Uh there's just no way to cover everything.

The legal fireworks can be a little wild, but um all in.

I just want to commend our Huntington Beach Police Department.

Um, best of class, second and none.

So and then the staff, the fireworks show on the pier.

I was attended in on the pier with my wife, and it was impressive.

Great music, great vibe.

And to Casey's point, I'll just close on this.

You know, all the way from Huntington Beach all the way down, yeah.

After the parade, uh rode down to Newport with my wife, just down the boardwalk.

There was so much energy for the United States, it felt just different.

It was uplifting, there was a lot of patriotism, a lot of positivity, and uh there's something that was was palpable.

I could feel it, my wife could feel it, and people we talked to felt the same way.

So just congratulations to the city Huntington Beach for pulling off another incredible event, uh three-day event.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

All right, now we move into consent calendar.

Does anybody want to pull anything?

Mayor, I won't be pulling anything, but I'm uh requesting uh abstention to item 14, correct?

Yes, sir, madam clerk, any I'll move the uh consent calendar.

Can I have a second?

Second, all right.

Clerk.

Can you call roll and uh with Don Abstaining from 14?

Councilman Twine, yes, councilman Kennedy, all items I can vote on.

Yes, 14 abstain.

Mayor Pro Tem McKean?

Yes, Mayor Burns.

Hi.

Councilwoman Vandermark, yes, Councilman Gruel?

Yes, Councilman Williams, yes, item number sixteen pulled by the city manager, item numbers 13, 15, 17 pass seven zero.

Councilman Kennedy abstaining from item number fourteen.

Motion passes 601.

Okay.

Council member items.

Uh first is going to be uh item submitted by myself and Andrew Gruell, community garden with multi-trophic uh aquaculture.

Uh Andrew, go ahead.

Sure.

You didn't want to cover the multitrophic aquaculture.

You know, I'll let you break uh your uh let you get used to saying something in this meeting.

All right, excellent, excellent.

I'm really excited about this one, obviously, as I've always said food is the great unifier.

We recently um started having a conversation about the gardens because we came across and had the opportunity.

Pat did a ton of work with the team here in reacquiring some land.

Um, and so that is one opportunity.

However, just speaking from a grand perspective, looking at different plots throughout Huntington Beach, I said, hey, where is the opportunity for us to actually utilize some underutilized property in order to establish not just community gardens but something similar to what uh many people don't know this, what actually existed at the Huntington Beach High School.

So about 10 15 years ago, Greg Garan, who's uh very involved with both surf rider as well as a teacher at the Huntington Science Teacher at the Huntington Beach High School, he started a um uh an organic vegetable garden that also has aquaculture.

So this is the integrated multitrophic aquaculture.

The role of the fish in the garden is actually to create a closed loop system.

So when you're growing vegetables, right, you're trimming the vegetables, you're feeding the fish with the vegetables, and then the fish obviously swim in a clean pond that's monitored, and then the effluent or the waste, ultimately the fish poop, which is full of nitrogen, that flows back into the vegetable gardens to create an organic fertilizing system, and then thus the entire closed loop of the system.

It's very, very forward-thinking, and it's actually something that both the National Marine Fisheries Service under NOAA and many other EPAs, both state and federal, have been looking at in terms of introducing that, especially in urban areas throughout the United States, in order to both create an opportunity for uh, you know, biodiversity, economic opportunities, community opportunities, and just generally having people understand where our food comes from.

It takes minimal energy.

There's opportunities not just for the um input from the community from the gardens, but also leasing some of these plots so that people can actually get involved, they can establish those green thumbs, and the city then can also utilize it as a vibrant hub through which they can throw events, have farmers markets.

So the opportunities are limitless, but I think that the fact that here in Huntington Beach, we've already established the footprint for this, and it's been done for 10 or 15 years through the Huntington Beach High School, just proves that it can be done in multiple areas and ultimately scaled out.

Huntington Beach, Surf City USA, committed to marine stewardship and marine conservation and ocean-friendly garden is exactly what we should be doing in order to promote what our mission towards sustainability and biodiversity here in Huntington Beach is.

I had a little more, but I'll anybody else.

I was gonna explain it a little better.

But uh anybody.

Now I love gardening, and that's why I as soon as uh Andrew said something about it.

Oh, he wanted to find someplace for a community garden.

I'd been eyeballing that land for years, and uh we acquired it with the help of the city attorney city manager staff and everybody, it just worked out perfect, and now it's gonna come to fruition, and it's I'm looking forward to it.

It's gonna come stoked.

Grace.

Yeah, it just was kind of kind of serendipitous the way it all happened as you're looking at that chunk of land, and then we walk into Andrew's office, and he says, I want to start a community garden.

And it just all kind of came together.

So good job on that land and um great idea.

I'll be right here.

And and to mention when they walked into the office, I was covered in tomatoes and vermiculite and everything, so it was very organic.

No, I'll touch on just kind of dovetail on that.

If you guys recall the mayor was great about getting that land, uh that old uh, I guess it's like rail isn't right.

Spreckles, sugar beat.

So all the way on the north end of town at Rancho Road by Boeing, and that traverses all the way east to Edwards, and that's basically 11 and a half acres of land that the mayor was was instrumental in uh getting quick claim back to the city.

And you has a great idea when this was first brought forward.

I called him, I'm like, this is amazing.

And I said, unfortunately, I think you're still gonna get attacked because it's just on the way it is, and it's the it's actually uh sad that something like this, where you know, from a lot of people actually come to our meetings and yell at us to unite the city, and why you uh why are you dividing us?

I've seen them attack Andrew over this when this is the epitome of a uniting item and project for the community, and not it's all good, it's all positive vibes, and it's just to me it's it's just so disheartening that I've seen comments that are attacking him for this, and it's really just simply because um us up here is just happen to be on the other side of the political aisle from these people that a lot come to meetings and attack us, and it's really unfortunate because this project's gonna be really amazing.

Andrew touched on it, it's uh community gardening that a lot of people reach out to him that want to volunteer and help.

And that's what this really is about.

Is that you know, this is a unifying project.

It's gonna create a lot of value for the community, it's gonna really gonna put us on the map.

And I'm just hopeful people see that.

One of the most absurd comments I I read is that the reason why Andrew's doing this is so he can uh grow and raise fish and then sell it at his fine dining seafood restaurant, Calico Fish House.

So that's all you need to understand how absurd it is.

It's really good intentions.

I'm really happy he's on our council.

He brings a lot of expertise and as a chef and actually having uh proof of concept with this in the high school.

So really excited about it.

It's gonna be a great unifying uh project for the community.

Don.

Well said, Casey.

You know, what I wanted to point out, a lot of Casey just said, so I'll keep it real short.

The bottom line is there's seven uh city council members at any given time.

Uh this doesn't mean that we're not gonna stop trying to uh be fiduciaries of things that are important regarding infrastructure, things like that.

But along the way, we do have multifacets, we have staff that can uh make these ideas come to reality along with the guidance from uh those that bring these items forward.

So this is an item that uh is is just a goodwill gesture.

There's no real downside.

Um that doesn't mean we're not gonna be looking for as the proverbial fix those potholes.

Of course we are, we're always looking for things, but uh our terms we will be bringing all kinds of different items.

Some will be business related, some will be goodwill related, some will be recreational in nature.

Uh and that is really the the contrast of seven different people in their ideas.

So I commend Andrew and Mayor Burns for for that land and and all these different H items that come forward from different people at different times.

And Butch brings those things for the police department and the fire department and Casey and Gracie and and Chad bringing things.

Everybody's gonna be bringing things that we believe uh are of uh value to our city, and that's the reason we bring them forward.

So on that note, I I love the idea.

Nothing brings people together more than you know, gardening.

You see it, and uh, good job.

Butch, yeah, nothing.

30 seconds.

Okay.

All right.

All right.

Uh I'll move the item.

The only the recommendation recommended action uh leaves it all to staff, but I'm gonna make sure uh the recommended action is the well, of course, include me, but exp especially we'll give Andrew a chance to this to explore the feasibility of creating a community garden with an emphasis on utilizing multitrophic aquaculture MTA on city property and report back to the council with the finding results within six months.

So I want us to work together.

I don't want us to be aced out of it.

Uh so I want you to have a because you have the experience.

So based on the uh outcome of the feasibility study considered the deliberate and appropriate next steps for the project development site identification, environmental impacts, timeline, and community engagement.

So six months at least.

If we do it before that, we'll bring it as soon as possible.

In other words, I'll move the item.

Second, uh clerk roll call.

Councilman Twine.

Yes, Councilman Kennedy, yes, Mayor Pro Tem McKean.

Yes, Mayor Burns.

Hi.

Councilwoman Vandermark.

Yes, Councilman Girl.

Yes, Councilman Williams.

Yes, item passes 70.

All right.

Now, number 19 item submitted by uh Gracie, myself, and Casey.

Prohibition of the cell of the distribution of Kratom.

But before anybody panics, let Gracie explain it.

Thank you.

Um, like I said, a lot of people are misunderstanding exactly what we're trying to do here.

As a matter of fact, we are still in the researching phase of this.

Um, the Narcotics Officers Association has been very helpful in helping us understand the effects of Kratom, how it affects our communities, and we've actually seen um several other cities and counties take um action to protect their communities.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors has implemented restrictions on sale and distribution of Kratom, recognizing that it it threats of it poses a threat, especially to our youth.

Other cities such as Newport Beach, San Diego, Oceanside have also taken steps to prohibit the sale of Kratom, and additional cities are looking to join in, including Riverside.

While some cities are going really, really strict and completely banning Kratom in any form, um, there are other um ordinances such as like the county that are focusing on the synthetically or the chemically altered version of Kratom, which is the one that causes hallucinations that causes injuries, and I'd like to look into taking that direction.

Um, there is one ingredient.

They call it 70H, because it's called 7 hydroxymetragenine.

So short version is 7OH.

Some people say that it's helped them get off of drugs and narcotics.

We want to make sure that we are um open to listening to everything uh the community would like, but we also want to make sure that we are supporting uh protecting our kids.

Sheriff Don Barnes has already signed a letter in support of the Orange County Board of Supervisors regarding their restrictions on Crotum.

Kratom, so um I'd like to ask our city manager to work with our police chief and our police department into putting together an ordinance tailored that works for us within our community to discuss Kratom.

Um I'd like to have it also um defined the differences between the Kratom leaf and 70H, which is the one that's causing all of the issues, and um so I'd like to get that started.

One thing that is really concerning is that 70H is 30 times more potent than morphine, and a lot of the community members don't know that.

So this would be a great opportunity for us not to just draft an ordinance but also to learn about Kratom and how it can affect our our children, our communities.

Um so thank you, Pat and Casey for joining me on this.

Andrew.

I think that the speaker that we had and during public comments brought up a lot of really good points, right?

We don't want to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

I do have stories of people that I've worked with over the years in which Kratom has been a harm had uh really a harm reduction strategy, it's been a help for them.

However, it's been the pure unadulterated product.

And over the past five or 10 years I've seen story after story of the gas stations and smoke shops and all these other places that are selling this synthetic and laced kratom people are dying right so it it there does need to be guardrails on this and it's incumbent upon us right now you know to get ahead of this to make sure that we don't have 15 16 17 year old kids who hear the word and they think it's something cool and then they go into a smoke shop and they buy some illicit drug that they don't understand what it's going to do to them.

We've really got to get ahead of this from the safety perspective.

So I really appreciate the fact that you're pulling it together right now and drawing out those details.

And um and it actually is accessible to kids right now there are no restrictions at all so any child can walk on in and purchase them the way we are right now.

Yeah Kratom Leaf has been given a pretty good report they say that's pretty helpful for a lot of things it's the nefarious parties that synthesize it or make it synthetic that is the harmful stuff make it like 150 times what uh regular leaf can produce and it's those kind of people that make it tough on the rest of us and we got to live with the harm that it does and especially making accessible to kids just blows me away that it's happening and but it's again an example of greedy I got I better not say uh Don you better well I'd like to commend you three for bringing it forward this just starts the understanding and the and the research on what is the right way to potentially if you use the word regulate or to put those guardrails on something that may have a lot of benefit but it certainly has some downside when altered um you know I personally have a story just through some dear friends of ours so it's a second it's it's it's once one level away but you know a loss of life just recently and as they look back over the phone texting and the patterns of behavior uh it was tied to you know Kratom in whatever form I'm no expert but I I believe that there's so much awareness and unawareness of this um drug if you will I'm not familiar with it to that level so I commend you all for bringing this forward so we can start to get a better understanding as we look to put the guardrails as Andrew said in in place to make sure that it's safe whatever we end up with uh commend you for starting the process good for you guys anybody else oh gee all right I'd like to move the item second clerk please call councilman yes councilman kennedy yes mayor pro temp Pat Burns mayor Pat Burns Councilwoman Vandermark yes Councilman Gruel yes Councilman Williams yes item passes 70 all right move on to item number 20 and this will be uh Don are you gonna present this thank you mayor this is an item I call it uh along with uh Mr.

Councilman Williams and Mayor Burns you know we sat down and we were thinking about really what what I campaigned on one of the uh planks if you will is managing inefficiencies and also enhancing efficiencies so I'd like to call this just transparency for taxpayers you know we approve a lot of projects and funds for projects because we see what's what what the scope of the project is we see the details we take the time to kind of underwrite the deals so to speak and we we allocate funds but what I feel like I want to do you know at the end of my terms, is you know, at least people can say he he brought a level of transparency along with his running mates and his and his uh dice members for the taxpayer, our customers are the taxpayers, so that when we approve a project, in the end, what I'm uh asking our city to do, and Chad and I worked on the language and we bounced it off Mayor Burns as well, is basically coming back before council.

You know, we're gonna set a baseline of maybe five hundred thousand, and we'll see how many uh contracts are awarded projects at that number.

Maybe uh maybe that's a little too high, maybe we have to drop it down.

But essentially the goal is to come back after the fact after the monies have been allocated and report not just to us but to you all in in an open form, describe the project, what the total cost was.

Did it come in under on budget, over budget?

What was your completion summary?

Did you obtain the objectives that were stated?

How was the vendors so essentially just bringing value to our taxpayers, which are our customers, so that they know that we are being cognizant of the monies that we're allocating to our projects, and there is oversight, there's quality control, there's metrics, there's expectations, and we want to make sure that not only do we know that those results were delivered, but that the uh the public knows.

It doesn't matter what we know, it matters what you all know.

So that's really uh what we brought forward, and this kind of came about.

I I was discussing another item on the dais at one point and met with Chad after the fact, and Chad was elaborating that he felt exactly the same way.

So I won't speak for Chad, he probably would like to say something as well.

But that's really the the essence of the uh uh the transparency for taxpayer, the recommended action, and then I'll let Chad or anybody would like to speak.

But is just to direct the staff to evaluate and develop a uh contract completion reporting policy and report back to city council with the policy after that.

Uh there'll be some reporting guidelines where the the upon project completion, whose ever project was, they come before council and make presentations, kind of covering everything that we just talked to and what would be outlined in the policy.

So that's that's the stated goal.

So that's that's my take on it.

All right, I'll second that.

But Chad, go ahead.

Yeah, sure.

I'd just like to uh thank council member uh Kennedy for bringing this item forward, initiating it.

It's really reminiscent of what we had practiced in the military overseas.

These end of project reviews are very similar to uh what we call an after actions report or after actions review where we would simply turn every mission into a learning opportunity.

We'd go over what went right, what went wrong, you know, how we could have done it better, and so with these reviews, it's gonna give us a chance to you know figure out you know where there were shortfalls, where there's budget overruns, and how we could really hone the craft better.

So it's gonna bring about a greater degree of transparency for the public, and I think it's gonna bring about a greater value for our hunting to beach taxpayers.

Yeah, and I believe it'll just be an opportunity for us to learn and the staff to learn also on really, like you said, review what's good, what's bad, and hone it in to make it as perfect as possible for everybody.

Okay, I'll just say I appreciate you guys bringing this forward.

Um I just look at this as uh it's a great idea, and another just example of us up here fusing the private sector into government into the public sector.

There's a lot of great private sector experience up here, a lot of different skill sets and experience, and I truly feel that's that's the role of an elected official is to bring in the private sector into government and implement these best practices.

Um, as an example, you know, Don and I work in commercial real estate, so we've really gone through our our upcoming leases and made them as tight as possible, so there's no we call it leakage to the city.

So now the tenants will be responsible for all property taxes, maintenance, insurance, roof and structure.

So really that the city owns this asset with not a lot of uh responsibility, so really kind of bringing that in, and then something like this is great because as we're trying to fix our structural budget issues with our reoccurring expenses exceeding our revenues, the the easiest lever is to trim up expenses, and this is a great example with these contracts.

When I read this when you guys brought it forward, it really uh hit hit home for me because I've in my mind have been frustrated with this process, so this is a great way as Chad put it to kind of look back and understand what went right, what went wrong, and more importantly, trim up these expenses, the expenses side on these projects on our contracts, and so this is a great best practice private sector model you guys are bringing.

So I appreciate you guys bringing this forward.

But all right.

Uh it's been moved and seconded.

Roll call, please.

Councilman Twine, yes, councilman Kennedy, yes, Mayor Patel McKean.

Yes, Mayor Burns.

Hi, Councilwoman Vandermark, yes.

Councilman Gruel?

Yes, Councilman Williams.

Yes.

Motion passed 7-0.

All right.

Item 21.

Don, you want this one?

This is nothing to vote on tonight.

This is just after last council meeting where we awarded basically 27 professional service contracts.

And I thought to myself afterwards, I don't think that I'll just speak for myself that I did enough to bring forward the vision of the contracts, how we arrive at approving the dollar amounts and things like that to again to our customer, our taxpayer.

So I met uh after the fact with the city manager and the director of public works and uh some of the leadership, and I said, you know, we have to do a better job.

The the city, the residents don't know what we're approving, how we got there, what it's all about.

So I want to do a better job.

So I really just wanted to restate how we arrived at awarding uh the goalposts, if you will, for the 27 contracts.

So, you know, and moving forward, I told community development, and this will stand clear for me personally on anything.

When an item comes forward before the city council, they had all these wonderful attachments that were not part of the presentation that would have answered a lot of questions for the people that would like to have read them.

A lot of people don't want to dig into the details.

But let me tell you, for example, I said, you know, explain the RFP.

I already knew what it was, but I you know, I want to ask questions for the taxpayers.

So the RFP is detailed, the criteria, what's expected, the um let me the criteria, what's expected, uh, describes all the different disciplines.

There was, I think, seven or eight different disciplines, describes what ocean does, what sewer does, what you know, some of it's a no-brainer, but it gives descriptions, so it really puts you at ease when you read the document that they're asking the right questions.

They have an understanding of the mission, so to speak, and what is needed.

So there was that.

Then there was the selection guidelines for the professional services contract.

This document had it been attached.

If somebody wanted to get into the details, would say, okay, that's a well-written document.

It tells me that we're just not, hey, I'm gonna pick these twenty-seven people because they were pretty good with the RFP and they have great uh ability to fill it out almost like a grant.

No, there's a selection criteria, there's some guidelines, some metrics, some expectations.

So there's that.

And then in addition to that, there you know, there's a matrix.

There's 27 different uh contractors in the matrix across the top that showed all the different disciplines, and it was very easy to read, and it would have been another document.

I said you now moving forward.

If you ever expect me to vote on anything, I'm gonna expect this type of backup, what we call in the private sector.

Where's your backup before I'll cast a vote or I'll continue to make motions to delay until you present this stuff because you already have it.

The matrix was very well uh documented.

All the vendors, all the disciplines, and then each vendor on a line item, they were approved for oceans, they were approved for infrastructure, you know, all the different disciplines, and it was tallied at the bottom.

It was a very easy-to-read document.

They also were able to produce their scoring matrix.

So, all I said to them is I don't need to vote on this again because we made the right decision.

It was based on the information that I had shared.

And I know many of the council uh also as well kind of in the underwriting phase, but the city uh our residents didn't have an opportunity to see this, so expect to see more data, more written content when they're expecting us to vote, or I will never uh be casting a vote in favor, I'll always be asking to delay.

So that's really the spirit of this.

I thought they did a fantastic job when they produced the content.

Um, you know, it was already there, and I had seen some of it, but when I said I want to see it all for the sake of the residents, make sure you start posting this type of stuff in the future.

So that's the only reason I wanted to bring it back, not for secondary vote, to let uh the city know that we do do our due diligence.

We do underwrite the deals, and more importantly, the the people asking for the money from what I've seen continue to do a good job, and I just think they did themselves a disservice by not producing or not presenting all these documents that were already created along as attachments uh for the residents to see prior to us voting on it.

For that reason, I wanted to bring it forward.

Um thank you for allowing me to bring it forward, mayor.

And thank you, Chow, uh, for the content.

Appreciate it.

Do you have a recommended action on this?

Well, while you're doing that, I just I'll tell you, people don't realize that we just don't come up here once, you know, once every other week, the first and third uh Tuesdays of the month and throw this all in front of ourselves and we debate it and read it up here.

We do a lot of in the office or at home studying of this stuff, and we try to get all the material we can before and we base our decisions off that.

We just don't make haphazard or just barely in any information uh decisions.

We try to get all the information we can to make the most educated decision and service for the community as best we can.

So you're right.

The recommended action in this case, since we're not moving in items, I I basically already elaborated on it.

There's a lot of reading in this position to city council, but the recommended action was a detailed explanation of the selection process used to award the contracts, the total number of vendors that submitted proposals and how we're how they were ultimately selected, a breakdown of the contract types and associated engineering or professional service disciplines, and a discussion of anticipated projects and then and needs uh these contracts are intended to support.

So that's already happened, and I covered that in what I was talking about.

Again, there's no vote, uh and I just wanted to let the residents know that we're working hard to make sure that your view, your dollars, and uh you as our customers, uh, your wills are represented.

So I appreciate the opportunity to elaborate on that.

So you just you just want it to be an information item.

Yeah, there was we were not to re-vote.

This is not redressing.

This is just informational.

We've already voted on.

I stand by the vote, and uh so this is not a call to action for a secondary vote.

Okay, it was just purely informational.

Vig is that cool?

Yes, that information.

So in meeting with uh Mr.

Vigliota and Travis, they said uh just informationally as an H item would be suffice.

Anybody else got anything to say about that?

No, just Vic gave a thumbs up off camera.

Yeah.

It's fine.

Uh all right.

All right, so no vote.

Does anybody have anything to say?

Any new business to add to the next agenda or anything, butch?

Oh butch.

But usually has things to say.

Um, I'll make the motion to adjourn.

All right, we got a butch second.

The Huntington Beach City Council Public Financing Authority regular meeting of August 5th has been canceled due to lack of a quorum.

So we will be meeting the night.

August 19th will be the next meeting.

The next regularly scheduled meeting, like I said, of the Huntington Beach City Council Public Financing Authority is Tuesday, August 19th, 2025, in the Civic Center Council Chambers, 2000 Main Street, Huntington Beach, California, right here.

Alright, thank you all.