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There he is.

guitar solo

guitar solo

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

Madam Clerk, may I have the roll call, please?

Councilman Gruhl?

Here.

Councilman Kennedy?

Here.

Mayor Pro Temp Twining?

Here.

Mayor McKeon?

Here.

Councilman Burns?

Here.

Councilwoman Vandermark? Here. Councilman Williams? Here. Seven present. Madam Clerk do we have any supplemental communications? We have no supplemental communications for closed session.

All right public comments portion of closed session. Madam Clerk do we have anyone sign up to speak on closed session items? We have two speakers. Okay please call them out.

the city council will now receive public comments for closed session only when your name is called

please approach use both podiums state your name and organization for the record

Karen Carroll and Tim Geddes

goes Mayor Buchan and members of the city council I am Karen Carroll very long time

resident. It's been a long time since I spoke at the council meeting. I'm here to talk about

the litigation, the state, and the city. It's time. I believe that almost all of you has at some point

questioned whether the long-standing no high density mantra still makes sense in the light

of today's housing crisis and the situation our city now faces. It has been a convenient slogan

handle for name-calling, among other things, and it has been repeated for more than a decade

without serious reassessment of its real-world consequences.

And increasingly, residents are beginning to publicly question whether its purpose

is in Huntington Beach's best interests.

Housing policy is not an abstract legal exercise.

It has tangible impacts on daily life in our community.

When workers cannot afford to live near their jobs,

they are forced into long commutes

that worsen traffic congestion, increase air pollution,

and degrade environmental quality.

These outcomes directly contradict the value

city leaders claim to be protecting in their rationale

for continued compliance.

Rather than continuing down a path

that leads only to insolvency and diminished public trust,

We ask our city council to be honest with residents.

What exactly do we gain from continued resistance?

And is it worthy of the ongoing erosion

of the city's finances and credibility?

Delaying compliance does not make the law disappear.

It only makes the consequences worse.

I'm just asking you to think about it

as self, as thinking individuals.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Yeah, ma'am, if you'd like to grab, ma'am.

Karen.

If you'd like to fill out a blue card, I'd be happy to sit down with you and give you the counter, not argument, counter perspective on the value of the fight.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council.

Tim Geddes in the House.

While I am most concerned with item six on this agenda, I am additionally interested in all litigation with the state of California and court cases we are waging at great expense to the taxpayers of Huntington Beach.

Residents here have had no say in all the legal wrangling and ideological tilting at windmills with Sacramento.

There has been no transparency and little reporting of what resources we have expended to date and what consequences may befall us if we lose out in our defiance to state mandates.

We need reporting from our closed session, disclosing what we are facing in our existing litigation, especially with the threats of fines, restrictions, loss of local control in decision-making, and other punishments which could be levied against us.

We owe it to our citizenry to be frank, that is, to be open and honest with what is going on.

The residents of Huntington Beach deserve to know this.

Please give us a closed session update by the city attorney at our regular meeting which addresses this concern.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Happy New Year.

Hope we're all feeling better.

Have a healthy New Year.

I have two items in the closed session, similar to what Tim said.

but item number five voting districts forming voting districts for city council elections

is a fair way to ensure no single area of the city is overrepresented cities that have gone

to court to oppose district elections have consistently lost i urge the city to stop

spending public money on this lawsuit and move forward with district elections.

Item six, the housing element.

This lawsuit has failed at every stage and continues to delay a housing element certification.

However, you could certify the housing element and move on.

Please pursue compliance with state housing law so the city can certify its housing element

Doing so will restore eligibility for grants and funding for housing and safety services, including SB2 funding, money the city is currently covering through the general fund, worsening the deficit.

The draft housing element already identifies appropriate sites, primarily along Gothard and the Beach-Eddinger corridor, using zoning overlays to allow needed housing.

And this gives property owners more options as to what to do with their properties.

Thank you.

Hi, Dinora.

Good afternoon to everyone.

Happy New Year.

My name is Dinora, and I'm tired of dishonesty in government.

Dinora, real quick, you have to talk about what's on the closed session agenda.

So can you tell me which?

I was told by my attorney that's standing by to talk to all you guys, the Huntington Beach Housing Authority Commissioners, Casey McCann, Gracie Vanderveer, Pat Burton, and Tony Strykland, that he's the Board of Local Housing that are putting application for Coastland.

Kathy, your secretary, told me someone will call me for Coastland last year.

Nobody have called me.

And if you think you're going to pass me for the two bedrooms that I put in application when I went to Bordani and Fontaine Valley and told me that yes, he will build a property in Huntington Beach, I put in application.

Lieutenant Smith knows about it.

And if you guys pass me this Cuban American brought by Fedor 1969, I will be breaking news.

I've been holding my attorney for powerful sheriff.

Please wait because I love that city.

You guys have government.

So make it happen before Valentine.

That's the deadline for somebody for Coastland to call me for the two-bedroom.

I should not be in my car if I never drink, don't drink, need to smoke.

But I did work 40 years and paid taxes.

And federal told me subsidy or first-time homebuyer, which I am.

Coastland property on Garfield and Maine.

Make sure you guys make it happen because otherwise the senator, Tony Steincliffe, will be in hot water.

I'm the one putting everybody at ease, especially my American attorney that knows the corruption in housing.

And when you have Hispanic from Mexico that don't care for Cuba and the United States, it's a problem.

Where are we going if federal brought us here?

Where are we going?

This is not discrimination.

They're telling me right in my face, go back to Cuba because we're running housing.

with housing who we want to house, whether they're legal or not legal.

And I should not be in my car because my family moved to Georgia last November.

But prior, I've been deprived of housing, and it will not work anymore.

I love that city, Huntersville Beach.

You guys know that.

The powerful sheriff above local police in Huntersville Beach, I'm putting them at east.

And they told me, take it higher.

My attorney knows.

And if you guys are government, make it happen for me.

the Enore Chavarria, my application,

one of the first ones for Coastland

on Garfield in Maine.

Have a nice new year. Make it happen

because I don't want to be in my car

running too short, taking a bath,

going to the storage where all my furniture

is there. I know you guys could make it happen.

Thank you. Before Valentine.

Have a nice

new year.

So now we're going to recess the closed session.

Included in closed session,

Conference of Labor Negotiators,

Government Code Section 54957.6.

Agency designated representatives,

Travis Hopkins, city manager.

Also in attendance, Marissa Sur,

assistant city manager, Mike Vigliotta,

city attorney, and Zach Z,

acting chief financial officer,

employee organization,

Huntington Beach Police Officers Association,

and Employee Organization, Police Management Association, PMA.

Counsel do have a motion and a second to recess the closed session.

Second.

Recess the closed session.

Once I had a dream that made me sad

How so many people can be bad

Everybody wants all they can grab

No one's ever happy with their share

People running don't have much to say

You better get your dreams before they fade away

We're all here until we know not when

Love has gone and won't come back again

I'm gonna take it

Break it

Make it if you can

I will show you, oh you, you know we'll be together, you know we'll be together if we try.

I'd like to reconvene the regular meeting of the City Council Public Finance Authority.

Madam Clerk, may I have the roll call, please?

Councilman Gruhl?

Here.

Councilman Kennedy?

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Twining?

Here.

Mayor McKeon?

Here.

Councilman Burns?

Here.

Councilwoman Vandermark?

Here.

Councilman Williams? Here. All present.

Tonight's invocation will be given by Huntington Beach Police Chaplain Bob Ewing.

We do so with a pause to reflect with gratitude and intention.

Almighty God, we give thanks for this community of Huntington Beach, its neighborhoods, its shoreline, the people who call it home.

We are so grateful for the members of this City Council for their willingness to serve, to lead, and to shoulder the responsibility of decision-making on behalf of the public.

We also express sincere appreciation to our City staff, whose dedication, professionalism, and often unseen efforts keep this City functioning day after day.

As we enter a new year, we ask for wisdom, for clarity, and humility for all who serve.

May decisions be guided by fairness, respect, and a genuine desire for the common good.

We ask for protection over our first responders, our police officers, firefighters, and all emergency personnel.

Keep them safe as they place themselves in harm's way to protect others and watch over their families who share in that sacrifice.

May this chamber be a place of civility and mutual respect.

As council members deliberate and as members of the public speak, may words be measured, hearts be patient, and differences be expressed without hostility.

Let listening be as valued as speaking, and may dialogue be rooted in dignity.

As this new year unfolds, may Huntington Beach continue to be strengthened by service, community,

and a shared commitment to one another.

In your most holy name, Lord Jesus, I pray.

Amen.

Amen.

All right.

Tonight, the Pledge of Allegiance will be led by Dennis Bauer from American Legion Post 133.

And before Dennis leads us in the pledge, I'd just like to share a little bit about his story.

So Dennis Bauer started life in South LA and grew up in Pico Rivera.

He was drafted after completing the first quarter of his junior year at UCLA and spent two years in the Army.

Dennis did his basic training in Fort Ord, California, and was sent to Fort Ord, Sam Houston, Texas for medical training.

There he did his medic basic and advanced preventative medicine training and became a preventative medicine specialist.

After his training, the Army sent him to Madigan General Hospital in Fort Lewis, Washington,

where he spent one cold winter skiing every weekend.

Having less than a year left in the Army, he received orders sending him to Korea.

At that point, he and his fiancée decided to get married before he went to Korea,

and Dennis received an early out in December 1989 to return to his education at UCLA.

He has been an HB residence since 1981.

Thank you, Dennis, for your service.

Thank 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.

City Attorney, do you have anything to report from closed session?

Nothing tonight, Mayor.

Thank you.

City Council members, would anyone like to make a comment?

Mayor Pro Tem Twining.

Yeah, I just want to make just a real brief comment and say thank you to all the people out up here and all the people out there watching on TV.

As you know, I had to leave the last City Council meeting because I was ill.

I spent 13 days in the hospital shortly after I left the meeting.

I thank our wonderful Huntington Beach Fire Department for not only getting me home,

but also getting me to the emergency room later on, well, the next day at night.

I just want to thank everybody that sent good wishes.

They did it through emails and texts and PMs and everything, and that was very kind.

And many are people that sit over typically on this side of the room that don't typically agree with my politics.

But when I went down and I was very ill, they were there with good wishes, as were a lot of my friends on this side, too.

So I just want to thank all of you.

And I'm happy to be back.

And I feel great.

About 95%.

Thank you.

Councilmember Burns.

Yeah, I just want to, we had a great ribbon cutting at Patriot Point.

It was a beautiful day.

And a great showing, and I appreciate everybody's attendance and support.

It was awesome.

And I just want to wish everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year, 2026.

And as I mentioned before, this is going to be a really fun year with America's 250th birthday.

And I also want to reiterate, you know, as I mentioned at the last meeting, that my changes to the format of the agenda really emphasize that the community and the residents do come first.

And so I wanted to provide more opportunities for the community to speak, but also structure them in a more constructive and concise manner to keep the meeting productive and efficient.

And then lastly, thank you again for allowing me to be your mayor.

And my mission statement for this year is to continue advancing our core government function strategic plan goals.

We established in 2023 with many of the achievements that everyone's going to see tonight.

And then really lean into making our local economy strong, keeping our spending dollars here in Huntington Beach,

highlighting our existing businesses, attracting new business investment,

and of course have fun with the 250th birthday of America.

So I'm really looking forward to this year.

Thank you, everybody.

All right.

So next, brought it back last meeting,

but we have the adoptable pet of the month,

and we have two dogs from OC Animal of Care for Adoption,

and both were found in HB and looking for their forever home.

So I'm going to come up and welcome Baxter and Apricot.

Mayor, thank you.

I'm Jonathan Volsky with Orange County Animal Care.

And I just want to start by thanking you and the residents of Huntington Beach for having us here.

Last month, we brought Nala, who was a 10-year-old pit bull.

and Nala was fostered out less than a week after our appearance here.

So Huntington Beach is one for one.

I have with me here tonight, I have Apricot.

She's a two-year-old boxer mix.

A little shy, but she's very happy to be here.

She is over the 25 pounds, so you can adopt and foster Apricot for free through the next month.

And then with me tonight is our communications manager, Denise Woodside,

And she has a dog she'll speak about.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Joining us tonight is Baxter.

Baxter is estimated to be about eight years of age.

He is a Catahoula mix.

And he's a really mellow guy.

I think he would really enjoy some beach time, maybe some couch time as I was speaking to some of the others here tonight.

But, again, these are dogs that had originated from Huntington Beach.

would be great if we can get them placed or fostered.

So thank you so much for having us.

And then real quick, if people have interest, where should they go?

OCPetInfo.com.

You can see these two dogs, and we've got about 130 other dogs.

If people want to take a look and come down and visit them at our shelter in Tustin.

Thank you all so much.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Thank you, sir.

Yeah, thank you.

Bye.

You got photos?

All right.

Now to the awards and presentations portion.

so we want to present

a commendation to Robin Wood

recognizing her retirement

from Robin's Nest

so Robin if you want to come on up

going to come down eventually Kirby

come on up robin

so hopefully everyone knows robin she's an amazing lady um you know gracie and i first met her

i think it was a 2021 we were still campaigning at that kiwanis event in metal ark and we were

we were talking about uh trying to do what costa mace was doing with that trellis program to kind

to unite all the non-profits and the, you know, the, I guess, charity events through the city.

And Robin came up to us in the parking lot. And I was just really struck by just her passion to

help the youth in our city and to, you know, prevent homelessness, or if they are homeless,

to get them off the street. And she just, she's a tireless worker. She gives back so much. She's

and so many great, so much great work for the youth in our city.

And we're just so appreciative of everything she's done.

And when I found out she retired, we all did, I called her the other day.

I'm like, can you please come up?

Because we want to honor you and give you your due kudos.

So we appreciate you.

And did you want to say a couple words?

Sure.

Come on.

I just want to say thank you.

I'm honored and humbled to have been able to help the youth in our community

and the surrounding areas.

To me, the greatest way to make good change

is through our young people,

and they all deserve a chance,

no matter what their background is,

where they come from,

and just help them get on the path

to where they need to be

and let them be the young people

and the older people that they were created for.

So I appreciate the opportunity,

and it's been my pleasure

to do all this in Huntington Beach.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Do you want to invite your husband down

and take a photo?

You guys want to take a photo?

So on behalf of the City of Huntington Beach, we want to present you with this commendation

just for all your hard work, 10 years of service, and we wish you nothing but success and fun

in your retirement.

Thank you so much.

at all.

All right, next on the agenda is our business highlight section.

So as part of our ongoing business spotlight,

we're proud to recognize businesses that have recently opened in Surf City, Huntington Beach.

And so on that list is Animal Republic Veterinary Hospital Emergency,

Astro Bean on Golden West Street, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing,

Hydration Room IV and Injection Therapy, Clatch Coffee,

Old World Art Gallery, Parlor Donuts that just opened up next to Handles on PCH,

Pico's Pizza and Coffee, Row 18 and Parent Wellness Center, Salty Forever, Sushi Nigariba, which Jason, our treasurer, speaks highly of, and he's a foodie, so there you go.

And Timber Lodge Parlor, so thank you.

all right and then i've touched on this before but building on that effort we wanted to the city

really introduce like a new video series that we're doing called minute with the mayor

and it's a new city initiative that expands how we highlight and collect i'm sorry connect with

our local business community and so this series is going to be about connection connecting the

city with our local business community and give your residents a closer look at the people behind

the places they support every day and then each episode offers a quick authentic snapshot of the

business that helps drive our local economy and shapes the character of Huntington Beach and I

really just want to focus on keeping our our spending dollars here in the city and let people

know about all these amazing businesses that are in Huntington Beach that they may not know about

so the goal would be hey if you you know want this kind of service oh I didn't realize it's

in Huntington Beach, well, now you'll go here and stay here, keep your dollars here, and support our

economy. So, to introduce the series, we put together a quick little short video that

captures our purpose and spirit. What's up, Huntington Beach? I'm Mayor Casey McKeon,

and I'm excited to announce Minute with the Mayor. This video series will

highlight our local businesses, the restaurants, retailers, makers, and

entrepreneurs who bring energy and creativity to our community. Small

businesses create jobs, strengthen our neighborhoods, and help define the culture that

makes Huntington Beach Huntington Beach. With Minute with the Mayor, I'll be

visiting businesses across the city, meeting the people behind them, and

sharing their stories with you. Why they chose HB, what drives them, and what makes

each one a unique part of Surf City. This isn't just a spotlight, it's a

commitment to supporting our businesses that support our city. When our businesses

thrive, Surf City thrives. I hope you'll follow along, discover new places, and

help us celebrate the amazing businesses that call HB home. And if you're a local

business owner interested in being featured, you can apply using the link in the description.

We can't wait to connect with you and spotlight everything that makes Surf City so special.

All right.

Who was that guy?

All right, so then tonight we're launching this series by Spotlight and Boardwriters

Cafe, which is at 220...

Hey, I'm the beach.

I'm here.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Sorry.

which is at 22017 Bouchard in Southeast.

And this is a new community-focused cafe

offering great food and handcrafted drinks.

And a special thank you to Ian and Nicole MacArthur

and Bill Webb for welcoming us in

and helping kick off this final feature.

So let it rip.

Hey, Huntington Beach.

I'm Mayor Casey McKeon.

And this episode of Minute with the Mayor

takes us to Boardwriters Cafe.

Let's go meet the team.

So why don't you tell the community a little bit about Boardwriters Cafe.

Well, we opened up here in July, so we're a fairly new business here in Huntington Beach.

We are no seed oils, we make all of our dressing sauces in house, we smoke all of our bacon

here in house, slice it up in house.

Love that.

And I know you guys have a connection to Huntington Beach, so why did you guys choose Huntington

Beach to open up your business?

Well I think that we're all from here.

This is home.

We're connected through the surf world.

I'm president Huntington Beach Board Riders.

Nicole grew up in the track right across the street.

We both went to Huntington High School, so most of our life's been here.

It's Surf City.

Where else would you want to be?

That's right.

I love it.

All right, so if someone came in for the first time, what's something they must order from the menu?

Breakfast burrito.

Anything with the bacon, for sure.

Anything with bacon.

Ian's the master.

Bacon or turkey.

All the drinks are good.

I mean, there's...

The Santa Bliss latte is probably the most popular.

Make all of the creams on top in house as well.

They're fresh, they're good.

That's another gem right here in Huntington Beach.

So remember to shop local, support small,

and keep Surf City thriving.

See you guys at the next stop.

Butch asked where they're located.

So Bouchard and Banning at the southwest corner,

right across from Eater.

So it's kind of a flavor for what we're trying to highlight,

just more local businesses throughout the year.

And I encourage residents to follow along,

discover new local favorites,

and support businesses that make Surf City home.

And then for those businesses that are interested,

it's all businesses across the board,

manufacturing, restaurants, retail, doesn't matter.

If you guys are interested in being featured,

we're taking applications now at shoplocalhb.com.

And we look forward to sharing these stories

and recognizing the people and businesses

that define Huntington Beach.

so thank you guys mayor nice you like that that was cody cody did that logo or was it dang dang

yeah dang did it slick all right uh next up is the community events announcement portion for one

minute so madam clerk do we have anyone signed up to speak for community event announcements

we do we have six speakers this evening for our community events announcements the city will now

receive public comments for community event announcements only. Each organization is allotted

one minute for its announcements. When your name is called, please approach and use both podiums,

state your name and organization for the record. Love, Andrea Roberson, Max Daffron,

someone from HBPD, Director Ashley Wysocki, and our Treasurer Jason Schmidt.

Go ahead, Low.

Yep.

Good evening, esteemed city council.

I'm so glad to be here.

I love you all.

Let's see.

Love what you do.

Do what you love.

My name is Love, and I'm the president of the Surf City Sand Dollars.

And we put on the Miss Huntington Beach Scholarship pageant every year in the fall.

and every year in the spring we have a queen's rose garden ceremony and that's what we're up

here tonight to talk about is that rose garden ceremony right out here behind the memorial

we have a rose garden that has about 60 rose bushes that have been planted in honor of about

the past 60 some odd queens although we've had over 100 queens in in our existence as sand dollars

and also the Chamber of Commerce.

That's what started it.

But we put out a proposal.

We're just kind of working on trying to get the sprinklers fixed

and that type of thing so that we can rejuvenate

and enhance the Rose Garden.

Thank you.

Happy New Year.

Thanks, love.

Hello, Mayor and Council.

I am Max Stafford.

I'm the president of the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Great to see you all again.

Wanted to just shout out,

We've got our Best of HB Gala event coming up February 13th.

We've got finalists from all different industries here in Huntington Beach.

We've got restaurants.

We've got gyms.

We've got manufacturers.

Get out there.

Get those votes in.

Voting closes at midnight next Monday.

Also, I'm very happy and very excited to announce that the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce Taste of Huntington Beach event will be on its original date this Sunday, April 26th.

We're very excited about the Taste of HB.

Great event to come out and to support your community.

And finally, Chamber's very thankful

that the city's focus on our business community.

That's what it's all about, baby.

We love it.

Thank you.

Thanks, Max.

Good evening, everyone.

My name's Andrea Robertson,

and I have been hand-watering the Queens Rose Garden

since spring due to the inactive sprinklers

and irrigation system defaults

to keep our beautiful garden thriving.

I'm here tonight to plead with you and ask for help turning on and repairing sprinkler system,

which is already in place.

The Surf City Sandellers look forward to working more closely with our city,

and we want to make our rose garden a destination for tourists,

and we're the only kind in the United States and in the world that are affiliated with a city as a rose garden, per se.

So we really do need help with you repairing and keeping the rose garden watering.

I've been hand watering it for some time now, and it's extremely labor intensive, but I'll continue to do it to keep our rose garden going.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, please state your name.

Hello.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council.

I'm Ashley Wysocki, Director of Community and Library Services for the City of Huntington Beach.

and I'd like to extend an invitation to our community and each of you to come see over 280

artworks by 166 local artists in the centered on the center exhibition at the Huntington Beach

Art Center which will be showing January 31st through March 21st each year Huntington Beach

Art Center centers the work of local artists with centered on the center a non-juried open call

literal floor-to-ceiling exhibition.

For many local artists,

Centered on the Center is their first public exhibition.

For others, it's an annual tradition

of sharing their latest artwork.

So join us in celebrating these local artists.

The opening reception is Saturday, January 31st

from 6.30 to 9 p.m., and we hope to see you there.

For more information,

please visit HuntingtonBeachArtCenter.org.

Thanks, Ashley.

state your name.

You see too much of me already.

I want to quickly thank all the city residents

who came out to our second financial literacy

workshop last week. We're going to be having our third

workshop focused on banking services

on February 11th from 5.30

to 6.30 p.m. at Central Library.

So please join us either online or in person.

On a totally different topic, please raise your hand

if you have received at least

one scam text this week.

Oh, come on.

It's got to be more than that.

Okay.

That should be pretty much everyone.

Unfortunately, 30% of all Americans have been scam victims in the last year alone,

with the average victim losing $1,600, and many of them are losing their life savings.

I know what you're thinking.

That's just old people getting scammed, right?

Wrong.

The group that gets scammed most frequently is actually our most tech-savvy generation, Gen Z.

And that's precisely why the police department and the city treasurer's office are partnering together

to expand our current quarterly tax and investment scams class at the senior center

to begin a monthly class that's going to be offered at Central Library.

Each month's going to feature a different topic starting tomorrow night

with Scams 101, an introduction to scams at 6 p.m. in Talbert Room at Central Library,

followed by our Valentine's Day special, our number one scam type, which is Romance Scams.

The classes are going to be taught by our dynamic super volunteer, Steve Levin,

and are full of fun videos.

I've attended multiple classes personally, and I've learned a tremendous amount from each one.

Steve's also going to be continuing his quarterly sessions at the Senior Center,

are focused on seniors. I want to

extend a very special thank you

to Chief Parra for sponsoring this,

Haley Yantron and the Police Department, and

Steve for all they've done because they've done all the heavy lifting

to make this possible. So please come out

and join us tomorrow night. Thanks, Jason.

All right.

So now we have an announcement of supplemental communications.

Madam Clerk, do we have any supplemental communications?

Yes, we have supplemental

communications.

for item number 12 in the city manager's report a memo and powerpoint presentation received from

chow vu director of public works on the consent calendar item number 17 one email

item number 20 one email and item number 21 updated and signed completion bond for building

improvements associated with 21 and 22 main street perfect now we have the public comments

portion for agendized items, please.

Madam Clerk, do we have anyone signed up to speak?

We have nine speakers.

Please call them down.

The City Council will now receive public comments

for agendized items on the open session agenda only.

When your name is called, please approach.

Use both podiums, state your name

and organization for the record.

Mr. Amory Hanson, Pat Goodman, Tim Geddes,

Ken Inouye, Roz Price, Russ Neal,

Kathy Carrick, Jim Rossman, Chris Reney, Sonia.

Come on up.

Got to shorten it for the midget over here.

over here.

Go ahead, Ross.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

I'd like to begin by acknowledging Robin Wood

following the accommodation that was just presented

by Mayor Casey McKinnon,

recognizing her retirement from Robin's Nest.

Robin's lifelong dedication

to at-risk youth has changed communities

and countless people in the lives of Huntington Beach.

It has truly been an honor

serving alongside her, walking together

in the Fourth of July parade, supporting

outreach efforts and participating

in donations directly to impact

youth in our community, stability and guidance on their behalf.

Her legacy of compassion and service will continue to shape community for generations.

I'd also like to voice my continued support for Agenda Item 26032, approving the memorandum

of understanding between the City of Huntington Beach and the Art League of Huntington Beach

for the shared use space of Huntington Beach Central Library.

As I've shared previously, this thoughtful sharing of space strengthens community, develops

and supports and arts and keeps public institutions vibrant and accessible.

Lastly, regarding the agenda item 26062,

I'm in full support of the Patriot Place at the Civic Center.

Patriotism runs deep in my family.

My great-grandfather, five times over, Charles Carroll of Carrollton,

signed the Declaration of Independence almost 250 years ago,

and his brother went alongside him to sign the Constitution of the United States of America.

It feels especially fitting that our beautiful city, one that so proudly honors service, freedom, and civic pride, is formally recognizing that spirit.

It's truly an honor to be here tonight and to have my family's legacy of patriotism continue with the city of Huntington Beach.

Thank you, Mayor and Council, for your leadership and dedication to our beautiful community.

And as always, this is Roz Price, your Huntington Beach 2020-26 City Council candidate.

I'm grateful to engage and proud to call this city my home.

Thank you.

Jim, go ahead.

Mayor, city council members, city manager, city attorney,

Jim Rossman, I'm with the American Legion Post 133

in Huntington Beach,

and I'm here to ask you to vote yes on our MOU

to 26-037.

That's it.

Any questions?

Let me know.

Thanks, Jim.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. Tim Geddes here. I'm speaking to Agenda Item 16, 263031, the Annual Review of City Code of Ethics, established in 1993 and amended just in 2024.

A code which should guide all our city council members and local leaders in their actions and decision-making and should have applied since the current city council majority was elected in 2022.

This code requires our officials to pledge adherence to the terms of responsibility, fairness, respect, and honesty.

Has this council honored this pledge? Clearly it is not. While there are

numerous examples of violations to all of these terms I focus on one respect. Has

the City Council especially in the past year treated the public with patience,

courtesy, civility, and respect even when they disagree with what is best for the

community and its citizens. Not even close. And when the boorishness of our

past mayor violated this term, none of the council members or officials rose to

call him out on it code blue. We need all of our civic officials to

honor our city's code of ethics going forward or it is meaningless. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker please. Good evening. My name is Kenny Noe. I would

I'd like to thank the City Council for creating the Patriot Point Memorial,

which is a memorial honoring U.S. service members and their families,

and to honor and recognize the simple lack of courage or patriotism

by an emerging American, the Vietnam veteran, and Purple Harper recipient,

Zachary Al Martinez. That was an amazing ceremony.

As an Army reservist during the Vietnam War, I did not serve in harm's way,

but I was devastated by the lack of respect and dignity afforded our Vietnam vets.

Even as a reservist, I recall times when I was called a babysitter, baby killer,

and I was spat upon as I wore my uniform.

I am proud of the fact that our city has taken the opportunity to honor our Vietnam veterans

and the memory of Zachary Al Martinez in such a special way.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

hello

I thought that the veteran

ceremony was great

and I really appreciate everything that you guys

did to move that forward

I was just

wondering if you guys

this is the

Huntington Beach City Code

of Ethics and I was just wondering

did you guys ever read

this or didn't

you understand it

because I can truly look at each

one of you that you've

violated multiple times

this code of ethic.

It breaks my heart.

It breaks a lot

of citizens' hearts.

And

I have three minutes, which

I thought maybe I'd have one.

So I don't have much more to say.

But, oh, thank you so much

for the invite for the

City Hall meeting,

6 o'clock on the 22nd.

You're welcome. Appreciate that. We'll see you then.

No problem. Looking forward to it.

Next speaker, please.

Good evening. Chris Reney, Huntington Beach native.

At the last city council meeting, this chamber was thronged by people in honor of Colby Ipa.

To that end, the city is voting on Agenda Item 17 to celebrate Colby Ipa Day every September 18th.

That's lovely, but that's easy.

Why don't we do more?

We could take a lesson from Santa Cruz.

Mark Abbott was a promising 18-year-old surfer who died at Pleasure Point in 1965.

His parents built a memorial lighthouse overlooking the spot.

It became the world's first surfing museum in 1986.

What's keeping us from doing the same?

Johnson Favaro already has the possibility of a standalone surf museum.

Let's seize this opportunity to do something really special.

Huntington Beach likes to do the right thing.

Let's do right by Colby.

Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. My name is Mr. Amory Hanson.

I'm speaking tonight in support of item 22, the Mayor and Councilman Burns' item to rename Patriot Place.

This item will be an additional honor for Huntington Beach's veterans during America's semi-concentennial.

I would like to read a portion of the Ode to Operation Desert Storm.

The full poem can be read on a plaque in the future Patriot Place.

I encourage those interested to read it after the meeting.

Quote, the woman and men, both young and old, who fought for the red, white, and blue,

are the greatest and best of the USA, and that's no brag, it's just true.

End quote.

Once again, IRJ, yes vote on IM22.

Thank you.

Thanks, Amory.

Next speaker, please.

Good evening, Council and Mayor.

My name is Russell Neal, and I live in Huntington Beach.

I would like to commend this council for its great progress in addressing the city's needs and doing what you promised and what you were elected for, as detailed in today's strategic plan update.

By taking a whole-person approach rather than the state's ineffective housing-first approach that ignores underlying problems, you have actually reduced homelessness and put people in permanent housing better than practically any other city in the state.

As to the city's finances, it is easy for people to come down here and say you should do this or do that, but it's hard to actually improve things while meeting the needs and interest of 200,000 people.

I think you're on the right track and commend you for your innovative thinking and attention to detail in managing our budget.

But most of all, I want to thank you for standing up against the state's destructive and irrational policies and fighting for the American way of life we enjoy here in Surf City, USA.

Forget the naysayers and continue to fight for this way of life as we celebrate our great country's 250th birthday.

Balancing local control with central control is necessary for any state, nation, or organization.

Retaining local control over local concerns like land use, local elections, and control of local police is essential to prevent the over-consolidation of power in the central government.

Once again, thank you and good evening.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good evening. My name is Kathy Carrick. I'm here to speak on agenda item 10. And I'm here to say a few words about promises made and promises kept. 2025 was a year when many of the goals set by this council were met and even exceeded.

There is no more powerful desire by any resident than for their families to be safe.

A 26% decrease in crime proves that Huntington Beach is clearly trending in the right direction.

Residents and business owners alike can now feel safer due to the increased use of advanced technology,

improved and robust policing strategies, and wise budgeting, among other things this council has championed.

A huge thank you to the HBPD and the City Council for their collaboration in making this significant accomplishment possible.

I also want to specifically applaud the city for becoming a leader in the county and the country on e-bike safety.

Huntington Beach launched the nation's first police-led student e-bike safety program

by focusing on education and hands-on training for our youth rather than just citations you've

created a model that other orange county agencies are now looking to follow this program is a

perfect example of how our city solves modern problems with innovation and community engagement

bear in mind in the interest of time i have only highlighted two of the many accomplishments of

this council in the last year. I want to thank the city's staff, our first responders, and this

council for the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to make these accomplishments possible.

Thank you for your leadership and for keeping HB safe, prosperous, and a place we are all proud

to call home. Keep up the great work. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Mayor McKeon and Council.

This is regarding item 20, rezoning.

At the last council meeting, you revealed your priorities with a 6-1 vote with one abstention to rezone the corner of Golden West and Garfield from industrial to commercial, clearing the way for gas station and car wash.

The council could have instead, or in addition, chosen zoning that supports housing,

including much-needed affordable or permanent supportive housing for seniors and people with disabilities.

That option was not even considered, as far as I know.

This decision reflects a troubling pattern, a lack of commitment to addressing Huntington Beach's housing needs.

the city still has no viable housing plan,

neither one that complies with the state-mandated regional housing needs assessment,

nor credible alternative of its own.

By discouraging housing development,

the council risks losing local control over planning altogether

and inviting state intervention in city affairs.

Is trading long-term community stability with short-term commercial projects really what residents want from their elected leaders?

Housing should be a priority, not an afterthought.

And I do agree with Mr. Neal's comment about the results of a couple of projects that have come online that were started a few years ago before any of these council members were installed that have really attributed to the decline in the number of homeless in our city.

It is wonderful to see that and the progress that we've made.

And my concern is because they take so long to develop.

It's such a complicated financing that goes into building those facilities that we don't have anything like that initiated at this time.

And I would really request you to consider looking at where we may zone for permanent supportive housing and get some projects going.

They don't have to be big, but livable, safe, clean, affordable housing for our residents.

And you'll have generations to thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Now we have a council committee appointment announcements.

Council members, does anyone have any announcements?

No? All right.

AB1234 reporting.

Any reporting?

Next one.

Openness in negotiation disclosures.

Anybody?

I had a call with the POA.

Awesome.

I also met with the Police Officers Association on Friday, January 9th.

Anybody else?

I had a phone call with a representative from the POA.

Sounds good.

All right.

Now we'll move on to the city manager's report.

All right.

Thank you, Mayor.

The first item on our city manager's report is an update of our 2023-2027 strategic plan.

This will be the fourth biannual progress update.

and Marissa Sir, our assistant city manager, will provide the staff report.

Marissa, before you start, if everyone recalls in November,

we tabled this to this moment now in the new year in January.

Oftentimes, unfortunately, in the press and some comments here,

there's comments made that we aren't focusing on the core function goals of city government.

And of course, that's not true.

But unfortunately, the press doesn't report on those things.

I don't know why, maybe it just doesn't get clicks.

But the strategic plan was voted on and adopted

after we got elected in 2023,

and this set out goals that we wanted to achieve.

And here we are three years later,

and we want to walk through some of those results.

So it's very important,

and we're going to take some time to go through it

and just want to set that table.

So thank you, Marissa.

Okay, good evening.

As the mayor stated,

I'll be providing a strategic plan update for you as background.

This was approved in October of 2023.

This is our fourth biennial update, and these updates are in order to ensure transparency

and accountability, alignment with the current resources and policies, and a regular opportunity

for council to provide feedback and recommend amendments.

Quick overview of the plan.

It's comprised of one vision, eight overarching goals, 23 strategies, 98 tasks, and 73 KPIs

are key performance indicators. Looking at our overall progress as of the end of last calendar

year, we're at 62% completed with 27% still in progress, five upcoming, and six on hold.

All right, diving into our first goal, which is economic development. Looking at the accomplishments,

we've launched the Streamline Surf City program, which has completed 20 of its 28 initiatives.

We've streamlined Olympic permitting to attract Olympic events and athlete practice facilities.

This is to help through the permit process for those temporary events.

We've advanced key initiatives including downtown banners and peer pennant projects supporting local businesses.

The Tis the Season to Shop Local campaign and we posted two Know Your City AM connects.

We've also created the HB Inspector app which is to streamline the permitting process.

With this you can go in and schedule your inspections through the app.

app. We've yielded a 23% increase in business certificates of occupancy, or CFO, and we've

awarded contracts for lifeguard tower advertising and created free summer bike valet programs.

Looking at the KPIs on the right, this, I'll get into them, but it's a mixture of KPIs that have

been able to measure over the last 18 months and some that are newer as we've developed them

throughout the plan. So number of new business licenses, this is over the last 18 months,

We've issued over 3,000.

In the last year, we've done 50 business visits,

and we've assisted 100.

And then number of touches with brokers, property owners,

and existing or prospective businesses, 125.

Looking at future tasks, we'll be continuing to track the KPIs,

implement our 2026 action plan, and continue with our business outreach.

Marissa, before you move on,

so I just really want to emphasize the streamlined program.

That was one of our campaign promises,

and we're all really proud of that.

We heard lots of complaints,

especially from my colleague on the fire right over here,

Mr. Gruhl, about how critical it is

to streamline City Hall to cut the red tape

and roll out the red carpet for business.

So you guys can see that stat right there,

a 23% increase in business certificates

of occupancy issued year over year.

Thank you.

That's a huge start.

We're focused on it daily to get that number up.

You'll see on the second bullet point,

we then you know after you know the olympics going down to san clemenu a great idea from staff and

actually from former council member eric peterson to bring that same program into the olympic

permitting process so now we can attract olympic events and business as all that tourism and

industry is coming to california coming to los angeles that we're going to capture a lot of that

so we you know spun off from the streamline program to cap to make sure we are absorbing as

much business investment as possible and dollars into our city. And then also that the HB inspector

app is key. It's huge. Inspectors, as people know, are very rare. It's hard to get them to come out

to your house. And now we have an inspector app so the resident can be at their home and then be

FaceTiming with the inspector who can then over the phone verify the inspection. And so now you're

you're increasing his productivity exponentially.

And that's getting, you know, homes remodeled faster, permits done,

values created more quickly.

So these are just really some really key points to focus on.

And then the bottom, second from the bottom,

work with the fire department, trying to find new sources of revenue

that isn't going to tax our infrastructure.

And so we had that lifeguard tower advertising program

that you're going to see be coming forward.

And we got some really good accounts that are going to advertise on our towers.

So these are huge wins that we are really proud of.

all right going on to goal number two fiscal stability under the accomplishments we've secured

2.5 million dollars in city utility and natural gas savings over five years this is through

working with procure america we've increased parking revenues by 122 percent that's 1.2

million dollars in 2025 and this is with enforcement efforts and updated fee schedules

we've added diagonal parking downtown to increase revenue by 95 000 per year we've approved

a balanced budget for fiscal year 2024-25 and 2025-26, and we're on track to do so again this

year. We've implemented the transient occupancy tax recovery audit for STRs. This is an ongoing

project. We've established consolidated real estate programs to ensure collection of revenues

and updating leases to current market rates and terms, and created a city lease review and

optimization program. And we've also worked with a consultant to evaluate city-owned lease assets

and implemented audits.

This is also in progress in an effort to enhance our operations.

Looking at our KPIs, we've gained a total evaluation of grants awarded as $33.6 million,

and we've filed 39 grant applications.

For future tasks, we'll continue to evaluate and audit city-owned lease properties,

continue balancing the budget initiatives, the balanced budget initiatives,

and provide financial literacy workshops.

That's something that's ongoing.

All right.

Also, on this slide, and my colleagues, if you also want to jump in, but this is huge.

fiscal stability we've touched on it before we have we have structural financial budget issues

that we've been trying to solve since we got on here that have gone you know go back decades and

so it's really focused on how can we optimize the city how can we make it more efficient how can we

bring in the private sector to unclog some of these knots of government bureaucracy make it more

efficient um you know the parking revenues uh those diagonal parking spaces downtown right in

front of tacos los cholos i mean that alone was a creative idea brought another 100 grand a year

the tot recovery out of the short-term rentals i mean again that's just holding people accountable

making sure we're getting our due tax from from the strs don and a bunch of us up here really

focused on consolidating the real estate program and making sure that we're collecting the revenue

that we're due on all our amazing assets are over 101 leases in the city and also bringing in our

private sector experience to bring those leases to current market rates and terms. So we're

protecting the taxpaying residents, our assets, to make sure we're getting fair market rates

for our amazing real estate we have in the city. Next bullet point, the lease review and

optimization program, same thing. So going through all 101 leases, are these fair? Are there any

leakage? Are we getting everything we should as residents in the city? And so we're going through

that. And then again, having a consultant come in and now doing audits on all our leases,

going through all 101 are we getting what our residents are due by leasing our amazing facilities

to businesses and so this is key it's only 60 percent completed but it's huge it's a great start

it's you know three years of work here and we're going to keep focusing on it

all right you know if i may mayor yeah you know you just see the bullet points up there and it's

easy to just go that's just you know 10 bullets but that equates to millions of dollars in in new

revenues and savings, recoveries, plugging leakage. So, you know, not to overstate that page, but

there is a lot of upside in those bullets right there, and you articulated it very well. But

there's a lot of good news happening right there on that page. Well, that's a fair point, because

there's a lot of meat on this bone, and that's why I really wanted to parse it out and show the

residents how hard we've been working on all of this, you know, in the background. And this is

opportunity to show you the fruits of our labor and show you these successes I mean we're extremely

proud of it I hope you are as well and again you're seeing a theme of fusing the private sector

with government to make it more efficient and just really dusting off a lot of the rust that we have

all right goal number three is high performing organization under our accomplishments we again

touch on the implementation of surf sign surf streamline surf city excuse me and the hb inspector

app. We've also implemented 26 citywide professional development training programs.

This is for employees. We've launched the new city website and we've streamlined

the Olympic permitting process as well. Looking at future tasks

we'll continue advancing the streamlined and serve city initiatives. We will launch

an online performance evaluation system for city staff and create a workforce

efficiencies by automating and streamlined department workflows. Looking at our

KPIs we've got an Accela customer service satisfaction

rating of 4.75 out of 5.

We have

a number of permitted applications

processed and completed. So looking at the number

processed, it's over 15,000 and completed

is 11,600.

Number of certificates of

occupancy issued is 1,093.

So just

Jennifer, a question on Streamline. So the

amazing results we've had so far, I mean

what percentage are we even

on that in terms of full build out, do you think?

Of Streamline?

Yeah.

We're probably 70 or so percent.

We are working on the last few initiatives.

But, of course, to us, streamline is ongoing.

So as we complete initiatives, we have staff bringing up other things that we could do.

So it's kind of like an evolving dynamic program where we'll always be trying to look for ways we can make improvements to the process.

Perfect.

Yeah, just to emphasize that we had amazing results and obviously still a lot more potential to go.

Andrew?

I mean, from the perspective of running a city like a business, we're faced with the speed with which technology is advancing right now, especially with the implementation of AI.

I mean, even in the private sector, it's hard to keep up with it.

You get whiplash.

But one of the most important things is that the city doesn't fall too far behind because there's a million cliches about government being so slow.

And it's just like the DMV is still stuck in like 1995.

but the goal here is that we as a city are moving at the same pace as private business,

and we are giving our residents and the prospective businesses the opportunity to step in here,

open a business, and generate revenue with the main goal of not trying to squeeze the residents

and visitors of every single dollar that they have by virtue of increasing taxes, increasing fees.

There's only two ways in which money is going to come into the city.

We can increase revenue by bringing in new businesses, bringing in more heads, bringing more people in here, or we can increase taxes.

That's a downward spiral.

That's the lazy way out.

So it's about making sure that the engine is moving as smoothly as possible, and StreamlineHB is ultimately the lubricant that helps us to be able to do so.

Well said.

All right.

All right.

Moving on to goal number four, which is homelessness.

giving a quick recap on the number of homeless who have exited to permanent housing 2023 56 24

78 and 25 79 so we've seen an increase over the years we've reduced the navigation center costs

by to the city by 205 000 and created efficiencies with less staff we built a network of 25 organizations

including non-profits and religious group and religious groups to assist with needs and services

We've collaborated with a congressional representative to secure $850,000 in federal funding for the navigation center.

And we've supported the business community by developing trespass enforcement letters issued by the police department.

Looking at our KPIs, we have a significant number of volunteer hours that are booked.

We're at 126,123.

That's a new KPI for us this past year.

Number of B-Well services referrals in clients, over 8,000.

And number of clients housed through the system of care, 121.

Looking at future tasks, we'll explore funding options for the Pathways Project, continue to develop that project as well, and continue to work with the county, CalOptima, and other partners.

So this one was particularly important to us because when we were campaigning, Pat, Tony, Casey, and I, in 2022, the number one issue that the community would bring up was homelessness.

And you couldn't walk the first three blocks without running into three, four, five homeless people.

and that's what we set out to fix so on one of our first meetings we sat down with chief para

and we asked him we said chief this can't go on tell us what you need from us what tools do you

need so you guys can go out and get this done and they did they did an amazing job and the best part

is that we found people homes we found people resources that they needed we didn't just push

them off to the next neighboring city the way we see other cities doing and we've been working

really, really hard on this. We have a monthly updates with our homeless task force who has been

wonderful. They come out downtown and everybody that's gone out there has seen the difference.

People aren't really talking about the homelessness anymore because it has improved significantly.

And the fact that people are pointing out other issues, I mean, we're even starting to talk about

coyotes again, which nobody even talked about because the homelessness was such a big problem.

So I want to thank our Homeless Task Force.

They've done an amazing job.

We've had people who have come out to let us know how the Homeless Task Force has helped them

and found them homes and resources and jobs and counseling.

And we took a compassionate approach to it.

So I'm particularly proud of this.

Downtown is cleaner.

It's better.

And, you know, even people who don't agree with us, it's safe.

I mean, we have to admit that it is much safer to walk downtown than it was back in 2022.

And that's thanks to our police department as well as fire department used to constantly be out there answering to calls with homeless people.

So I want to thank our first responders, our homeless task force, the community for being so persistent in bringing this issue forward.

And I'm very glad that we don't hear about this all the time.

And even though we don't talk about it, the fact that we're not is testament to how much better things have gotten around the city of Huntington Beach.

There's still a lot more work to do.

We're still not done.

We're still fighting with the state, fighting with the county.

We're trying to collaborate better with the county.

Janet Nguyen, our supervisor, actually wants to expand some of the resources, maybe send us some resources locally so that us as a city, we know what our homeless people need.

how to serve them better. We're different than Newport Beach. Our homeless population is different

than Seal Beach. It's different than Laguna Beach. It's different than Long Beach.

So it would be really great to have those funds here so that we can

kind of cater to the needs of our homeless population here.

So thank you to everybody that put so much effort into this.

Marissa, before we move on,

I want to make sure the people at home can see this slide that's on the screen.

Yeah, of course. Go ahead, Don.

Yeah. As Gracie said, it's been a holistic approach, but I want to give credit where credit's due.

They came out, they take a lot of negativity. We all do sitting up here, and that's just part of the deal.

It's no big deal. But the praise you guys should get, because it's this goal, achieving these goals,

started with a statement, a commitment, and you made that commitment, a bold statement,

reduced the homeless, I remember, on the contract for the city, and you fulfilled that,

and you're continuing to do so.

So there's a lot of players that have helped with the success,

but the bottom line is it started with a statement

and a commitment that you four made,

and you followed through, and you're going to continue.

We all will.

But I really want to commend you guys for making that statement

and then following through, because it's easy to say something.

It's not quite as easy to fulfill a commitment.

You've done it.

You're continuing to do it.

We'll do it.

And, you know, God bless you guys for that.

Good work.

Thanks, Don.

but if you go put that slide back up on the screen for the viewers at home

thank you so i really want to emphasize the number so 2023 56 people exited homeless in

permanent housing so off the street through the navigation center in a permanent housing

2024 78 people 2025 i just talked to jessica and our homeless task force that number actually got

revised up to 80. These last three years, we've achieved the record homeless reduction numbers

in the history of our city. Those are all-time records and something we should all be proud about.

We thank the homeless task force, our police, the community, you know, the collaborations with our

25 organizations working together, but we've shown that this problem can be solved.

Like, we are a model for the state, and other cities have come to us as the gold standard,

learning how we're being so successful with reducing our homelessness.

And so this is one of the things I know I speak for Grace and my colleagues up here,

like is my most proudest achievement so far to date being on council is those stats.

And again, these are historic homeless reduction numbers in the history of our city.

Thank you.

More things, Casey.

Also, I'd like to point out that we are going to need volunteers.

They're taking their point in time counts right now.

We do this every year where they go out to the homeless population, find out how many people still need help.

Does anybody here have information as up to what dates?

The 27th?

Yeah, January 27th.

Yeah, and you can sign up.

I think you can also find information on our Facebook page.

Our city Facebook page has a link.

If you would like to volunteer to go out and help with the point-in-time count, you can register through the website.

Thank you.

Thanks, Marissa.

All right, going on to goal number five, housing.

Under our accomplishments, we created the 2025 legislative platform supporting local control,

and we continually monitor legislation and reviewing intergovernmental council actions.

The result of these efforts is ensuring efficiently providing input to state legislation.

The city's in the top five for Orange County affordable housing portfolio size,

and we've adopted a sober living and group home ordinances.

under future tasks we continue to monitor legislation related to local control of land

use planning and continue to participate in regional agency efforts related to housing policy

looking at our kpis number of housing and sober living related policy positions taken by city

council it's 51 regarding housing it's 34 letters issued in 2025 we've also have a number of

households receiving tbr tbra and rehabilitation 76 and number of code enforcement violations

investigated and enforced over 6,000.

And TBRA is tenant rental assistance, correct?

Yes.

Okay.

And also just on this slide,

it's another misstatement in the press

that we don't have affordable housing

or we don't deliver affordable housing,

but that stat shows it right there.

We're top five in Orange County

for delivering affordable housing in our portfolio,

and that's right at where we are ranked

in the county in terms of size.

So we are meeting our, as the state would say,

our fair share.

And so that's another misstatement that we don't have affordable housing and we're not developing affordable housing.

So I just want to make that point clear.

Thank you.

All right, going on to goal number six, infrastructure investment.

Under the accomplishments, we have the Banning Street beautification and traffic safety upgrades and the 17th Street pedestrian safety striping upgrades.

We also have the Central Library fountain repair, which is in progress, and the completed Marina Park and Car Park conceptual plans.

That's actually mistitled in here.

continuing process of the edison park improvements as well the beach playground upgraded and reopened

and we began renovations on the beach restroom facilities with inspections upgrading and repairing

we've completed the davenport lift station project and enhanced the specific events policy

and procedures and presented a city council specific events committee we've also approved

the water well project i'm going to hop over to the future tasks we also recently presented the

citywide park and recreation master plan that's under future but it's completed at this point

looking at kpis number of beach restrooms under renovation is five number of events by location

these are all in 2025 30 at the beach 14 central park for the sports complex five downtown main

street and four other locations number of special event permits issued 143 and percent of facilities

assessed is 95 looking at our future tasks we'll complete our central park master plan

complete the heil pump station project and the hamilton magnolia complete streets projects

perfect and just on this just again uh we're told that we're not focused on infrastructure

we're not focused on potholes or paving our streets but of course we are so this is a great

list of infrastructure projects that have been started and completed you know banning street

right by my house that was a huge issue with speeding right by eater that that project's

beautiful if you guys have been down there i'm gonna try it by board writers cafe which we

highlighted earlier so go check it out the fountain repair people had questions about that

That's in process.

I'm sure you can imagine when the facility has been down for that long.

As you get in there and start tinkering around, like, some other issues pop up.

But we're getting through that.

Highly confident we'll get the fountains back and going.

That's a continued project that we're working on.

The beach playground upgraded.

I'm sure you guys saw that.

That's an amazing playground.

I mean, you know, where else could you have a playground on the beach, on the sand, on the Pacific Ocean?

It's amazing.

Obviously, the salt air, you know, destroys it.

So we've put in some new materials to upgrade that.

I go by it all the time with my children.

and it's amazing. Davenport Lift Station, people think that's boring, but that's huge to get all

the wastewater from the islands back up, lifted up over to OC San, down by Miles and Southeast.

Specific events permits, we've streamlined that process to bring in more specific events,

but to do it responsibly, right, with our residents and neighbors in mind to make sure

that's a great amenity to the community. And then the water well project, we touched on that last

year. That's obviously huge. We have probably the highest aquifer of water beneath our feet in

Orange County. So getting these wall projects up and running continues to make sure that we have

water, fresh water for our community. Thank you. Looking at goal number seven, that's public

engagement. Under our accomplishments, we've placed riptide warning signs on the pier and

lifeguard towers for public safety, implemented numerous community-wide events in partnership

with the citywide celebration committee. We ensure ASCON participation at the regular southeast

area meetings and provide updates to the community. We use social media posts to enhance community

engagement and highlight city programs. We have the Surf City Weekly, which provides timely city

news updates. The city treasurer and city attorney last year conducted community meet and greets.

There are also the financial literacy workshops offered to the public, which I touched on

previously. The community engagement through Citizens Academy and Junior Citizens Academy,

and we held two budget community town halls in 2025. Looking at our KPIs, number of website

visitors views and average engagement 1.5 million million dollars 1.5 million visitors 4.2 million

views and 49 seconds is the average engagement time number of calls to the call center over 29,000

number of social media engagements and impressions 2 million and 26.5 are impressions of the million

and number of online videos created 575 looking at our future tasks we will create a city policy

for website management and content cleanup this is just an ongoing maintenance process for us

and we'll expand our digital content PSA's and safety awareness campaigns for fire and police

with an overall goal of community engagement.

Again, not to minimize these statements, you know, you look at the top bullet right there.

You go, oh, that's just some signage there regarding riptides.

Well, I'm proud to announce I did part of the state of the city and my part was on marine safety.

Last year, we had zero drownings in the city of Huntington Beach.

so collectively it's great marine safety with the fire department even signs like this bringing

awareness to an uninformed tourist who might not understand a riptide potentially I guarantee

has saved lives so it's just a bullet up there but the breadth the magnitude of what a sign can

do in in the testament to zero drownings last year is phenomenal so it's much more than a bullet

i'm good no it's i think the slide speaks for itself and we're going to continue to increase

public engagement and really proud of these efforts so thank you all right going on to goal

eight public safety under our accomplishments overall crime is down 26 percent in the city

we've implemented the breathe safe hb program a community-wide opioid response initiative which

the fire department has highlighted here previously completed construction of the real-time crime

Center and completed the special events policy, created a city cyber response plan.

We implemented an e-bike safety program for public and past e-bike safety ordinances.

We passed ordinances restricting the sale and distribution of kratom and nitrous oxide.

Passed ordinance setting minimum distance requirements from smoke shops to sensitive

areas and implemented a cutting-edge drone as first responder or DFR program.

Under our KPI highlights, we've had three Breathe Safe events, and we have 308 youth enrolled in the Fire Explorers program.

Looking at our future tasks, we're looking to hire real-time crime center specialists to staff the crime center,

developing a new customer service model in the fire department, and continue to fill the police and fire vacancies.

Go ahead, Bush.

Yeah, go for it.

You got it done?

Because I have some comments and I have some questions.

On this slide?

What I...

On this slide, you want to talk?

Sure.

Yeah, go for it.

First, I want to thank the entire staff that helps put together all this stuff.

I work with these guys every single day.

I see these people every single day, and I watch how hard they work.

And I want to thank you guys from the bottom of my heart

because it makes our jobs a heck of a lot easier.

I look at every single person there.

I see them every single day.

You, you, you, some of you.

And thank you.

It does make work a lot easier.

I'm kind of a sports guy.

I like sports, and so I pay attention a lot to, say, the sports complex,

but also sports that might come to Huntington Beach.

and I'm really, really focused on the Olympics right now.

I went to a, I'm our SCAG representative,

Southern California Association of Government.

I'm our representative for this region

and that takes me to Los Angeles once a month

and I sit with, I don't know,

a couple hundred other representatives

from all over Southern California,

Riverside County, San Bernardino County,

Orange, LA, Ventura.

and our speaker two months ago was from he was the head of LA 28 and his whole speech

or his whole presentation two months ago was he needs help they need help LA is out of hotel rooms

LA does not cannot handle anymore their transportation grid cannot handle anymore

more than what they've already got coming in in 2028.

And they go, we need Orange County's help.

And I'm going, wow, this is going to be the best meeting I've ever been to

because they're actually talking about Orange County.

And I went up and talked to them afterwards, and I said, hey, I'm from Huntington Beach.

He goes, we're going to need you guys.

And I go, he goes, do you know, he asked me if I knew somebody that worked at VHB,

and I said, yeah, I know him.

He goes, well, I had lunch with him yesterday.

He's retired now, but he has been working on bringing Huntington Beach into the Olympic fold somehow.

And that's whether it's sponsoring a team or sponsoring a country and all the above.

There's a lot of opportunities for Huntington Beach out there.

So, Marissa, can you give me 30 seconds on what you think Huntington Beach's angle is, how we're going to approach this, and how we're going to get Olympic people, Olympic events, Olympic practicing, you know, whatever it might be here in Huntington Beach?

Sure.

We actually have a policy that we've developed in order to help streamline the process for permitting, as I mentioned before, and I'll let Jennifer Villasenor speak to that.

But then beyond that, we've also had discussions with the OC Sports Commission on what we can do to attract visitors and events related to the Olympics in LA 2028 at that time.

And I'll turn that over to Ashley to speak to that as well.

Go for it.

Okay, so on the OC Sports Commission front, we were at a meeting last week with the OC Sports Commission.

maybe some of you are not aware but the Winter Olympics have just kicked off in 2026

and so they will really start strategizing on how to bring teams and representation for Huntington

Beach at the at the end of the 2026 Olympic season but right now we have an internal working

team of staff that is working together to talk about strategies on how to attract

teams and venues into Huntington Beach practice venues and then additionally we worked

with the community development department on the community library services side to streamline our

specific events process. So should an interested party approach us, our typical process takes a

little bit longer to onboard events. But for this, within two weeks of being approached by somebody

who's interested in standing up an event in Huntington Beach, we will begin the specific

event process with them. So we're looking to not only streamline our application process,

but also continue having a seat at the table with the OC Sports Commission so that when they are ready to have these serious conversations about welcoming countries into Huntington Beach, we're there and ready to accept those.

Okay, that's fantastic, and I'm happy to hear that.

I mentioned to Marissa today, when I was at the last SCAG meeting, I spoke with the mayor of Culver City, and they just wrapped up the Netherlands.

The whole Netherlands Olympic team is going to be staying and is going to be living and being transported from Culver City.

and I talked to the mayor of Mission Viejo

and they have like the whole German swim and dive team

that's going to stay and practice down there.

And each city, as you probably know,

is kind of responsible for transporting the athletes to their venues.

So we don't have to pay for it.

The Olympic committees for those countries will pay for it.

We just have to be in the right place at the right time.

And I said, I'm not really interested in badminton.

If we could get a really good sport here, that would be fantastic, maybe basketball or something.

So anyway, go ahead, Marissa.

Oh, Jennifer.

Well, I'll just add very quickly.

So the policy that we developed covers both special events on public property,

and also we cleared the path for if there's an existing private facility

that wants to be utilized for the Olympics for training

or living accommodations for any of the teams or athletes.

We essentially created a policy that clears the path

through the development services department to get everything done.

I think our turnaround would be a week for plan review.

We will be foregoing the entitlement process until after the Olympics,

so it would suspend any lengthy planning process.

So that's what we've done.

We have it already in place.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, I'm just going to make just a couple comments, public safety-wise.

And I'll be fast.

I know that everybody's looking at me saying, get done with this.

I visited a fire station, firehouse yesterday.

Huh?

You did?

Yeah, I did.

And I met with, and many of you in here have met Dr. Rahm.

I think we're the only fire department, at least in Orange County, that has a doctor on staff that's actually a sworn fireman.

And they just yesterday, I'm looking at the chief over there, they just yesterday commissioned, they've trained, I believe all the medics are now trained,

and we're the only fire station in all of Orange County, or the only fire department in all of Orange County,

and I'm not going to be able to say this word right, but we have a laryngoscope.

A laryngoscope, right?

How do you say it, Chief?

Laryngoscope.

A laryngoscope.

You wonder what a laryngoscope is.

Well, you hope you're not ever going to need it,

but we've watched enough medical programs where we've watched people get intubated,

you know, get the tube down the throat in a hospital or in a field situation.

Well, this thing is a TV screen, a little TV screen, probably about four inches in diameter.

And it's hooked up to what they call the blade, which is kind of the guide where the hose gets fed down your throat.

But it's got a TV camera on the end of it.

So the medics, our firefighters, our medics can look at the TV screen as they're putting the intubation tube down your throat to make sure it goes to your lungs and not to your stomach, which is a good thing, I believe, when you're getting intubated.

And we're the only fire department in all of Orange County to have that technology today.

And I think every truck has a laryngoscope on it right now.

Is that right, Chief?

You did a great job.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And then, not to leave out my pals over at the police department,

but I might have touched on this at another meeting,

but as you know, our police department,

and it's kind of one of my little projects I'm kind of overseeing or watching,

and that is the development of a crime laboratory,

a real CSI crime laboratory for the Huntington Beach Police Department.

And we got some really good news a couple months ago, maybe six weeks ago,

and that is that Golden West College wants to partner with the Huntington Beach Police Department

and basically donate the space, build the space, and start an educational program

at Golden West College for maybe future CSI crime scene students,

and we're going to actually have hopefully a DNA lab there before the end of the year.

That's kind of the goal.

It may go into next year, but we're going to have a DNA lab here in Huntington Beach.

And there's only one other DNA lab in all of Orange County,

and the Orange County sheriffs have it.

So we should be rocking and rolling with our great fire department.

And our great police, I mean, our whole public safety is just fantastic.

And I thank you guys and applaud you.

That's it.

Oh, can I say something?

All right.

Huntington Beach Police are also the lead or like the number one agency, the most recognized agency possibly in the United States for e-bike safety training.

They're the model for all e-bike safety training for all police departments in California.

They've basically, other police departments, come down here.

I've been to a couple of the safety trainings they do over at one of the elementary schools.

And there's multiple police forces there helping with the training.

And so we have a model police department and a model e-bike safety training program here in Huntington Beach.

And that's, you know, kudos to the Huntington Beach police for that, too.

So thanks. That's it. I'll stop now.

Perfect. And before we move on, control room, can we put the public safety slide back up just real quick?

All right.

Just want to emphasize the first bullet point.

Tony always touched on it.

We always say it.

The number one role of government is public safety.

Overall crime is down 26% in the city.

That is huge.

Everything flows off of public safety.

I mean, that number jumps off the page.

That makes our community feel safe.

Makes people want to shop at our businesses.

You know, new businesses want to invest here, like champagnes.

that's called going in the old ihop on main street that's a huge stat that should not be glossed over

really proud of it and again we want to show this to the community so you guys can be proud of how

your tax dollars are being spent and invested and it's yielding results overall crime is down 26

in the city that's amazing so thank you police department everybody

two really quick anecdotes to prove that too because a lot of times we just look at numbers

on the page. Number one, before I got on city council, our restaurant was broken into. The

police were there instantaneously. They were taking fingerprints, following up immediately.

They had no idea who I was. They were just doing their job and they were very serious about it.

They followed up. They drove through the parking lot multiple occasions thereafter. We've had

multiple issues just with people coming through at the restaurant. Police always shows up. In

addition to, I speak with the general manager at Restaurant Depot. So there was a very sophisticated

kind of crime cartel that was going up and down the West Coast, and they were hitting restaurant

depots because they have a ton of cash. It's a cash and carry store, and they were doing

smashing grabs in the window. And at one point, me and my team members actually over a five-year

period, we had like four or five cars broken into at various times. They've completely cut

data. I just caught up with the general manager there

a few weeks ago. They followed

the guys moving out of town. They had to get them

before they went into L.A. because that's like the promised

land. Once they get into L.A., then they're

actually given $100,000 checks for committing

crimes. So I'm really

proud to be able to provide this anecdotal

evidence from a business owner's perspective

as well as talking to all of the other business

owners in Huntington Beach because those are the things

that are going to bring people into the city

to continue opening more businesses.

I just like to use a quick sports analogy you know you might have the best players in the league

but if you don't attain the ultimate goal the winning they never fire the players they fire

the head coach we are fortunate to have the two greatest leaders of our two biggest departments

sitting on bookends right here Chief McCoy and Chief Parra I'd like to praise them they get a

lot of praise they deserve it but without great leadership you will not get great results so it

does start at the top it's a culture it's a credo and these two gentlemen deliver with leadership

that's why we have incredible police and incredible fire and crime down leadership matters

all right all right so that's the end of our goals however we did want to include some initial

additional city council initiatives to highlight as well we've implemented a new contract summary

form to provide great taxpayer transparency for contracts and agreements coming to Council

for approval. Now that's an attachment for those looking at the agenda packets online.

That's an attachment that's included in every item that comes to Council for a contract

to be awarded. We've initiated a new process for post-CIP completion to be presented to

Council highlighting the project's end result and budgetary fiscal performance. I believe

we have a couple of those slated for the City Manager reports following this. We've initiated

a business develop ad hoc committee to support local businesses, initiated a feasibility and

exploration of a community garden with aquaculture, initiated review of downlink technology and

a DNA lab program, as Councilman Twining mentioned, with the police department, created downtown

landscape beautification advisory group, repainted downtown bollards and updated new street pedestrian

safety striping, restricted the sale and distribution of kratom and banned synthetic kratom, restricted

the sale and distribution of nitrous oxide and we're in the process of updating mous with our

volunteer organizations just you know fun ones to talk about is obviously andrew and pat's uh

community garden and aquaculture that's an amazing project that's i think everyone's excited about

and then uh really proud about the you know just downtown on main street just getting there

repainting the bollards and updating the the new street the pedestrian safety striping really

cleaning it up we have our amazing community garden club ladies that are down there and one

gentleman mr mr shoup down there just fixing the planners cleaning up making it beautiful

we have a lot of plans for main street this year really want to get it kicked into high gear for

the 250th celebration the semi-quincentennial independence day is going to be massive the

parade and the festivities so really proud about that i've had a lot of comments people saying how

much better it is especially the businesses down there so it's a really good list of some

current initiatives that we're working on that will

bring to completion.

I just want to ask Chief Parr one question.

Are we

I can't see you, but are we

currently testing

downlink right now? Do we have it

installed? I heard that we might

be already beta testing it.

So we are beta testing it in one of the

helicopters right now.

We gave you

the report, I think, last

session or the session before on

the update that we needed and two more

and we're looking for funding for that

but right now we do have one.

Excellent. That's pretty exciting stuff too.

Thank you.

Thanks Marissa. Go ahead Don.

One of the points I wanted to point out

a lot of talk in here tonight but

you read about it every day

the deaths, the FDA

reporting more creative related deaths

so us

that ordinance we passed there

for the distribution of creative

and synthetic creative, that has a lot of merit

because that is a dangerous new synthetic,

and you read about it all the time, more deaths, more deaths.

So that was smart.

Perfect, yep.

All right, finishing up, some major highlights

in addition to what we've already discussed.

The city has been ranked best beach by residents in the OC Register,

number one for the city beach, number two for HB State Beach,

ranked 10th healthiest city in America in Wallet Hub,

number nine in happiest city in America,

and 10th best city for people with disabilities.

This is still very much a work in progress,

but we're approaching two-thirds completion on this

with about a little bit upcoming still

and some on hold as well, 6% on hold.

And that's it.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Yeah, I appreciate everyone, you know,

we appreciate letting us take time,

but it's important.

It's a lot of work over three years with great results

and really just wanted to give it its due justice

and thank everyone involved in the city

and up here on the dais.

It's been a team effort, and we're really proud of it.

All right, moving on on the city manager's report,

we have the study session regarding entering

to a memorable understanding with Landify

to conduct a feasibility study to enhance

an undeveloped area of Huntington Central Park East.

City manager, please introduce the report.

Yes, we have some Landify here today,

and I will have Ashley Wysocki,

our community and library services director,

introduce our speakers.

All right.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. I'd like to introduce Chris Cole, Facilities and Development Manager, and Jonathan Bryden, President at Landify ECT, to present this evening's study session on an opportunity to enter into an MOU with Landify.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council.

I come before you this evening with a concept, an idea, if you will, about how we can take

the old abandoned, defunct outdoor gun range in Huntington Central Park and transform it

into usable, public, open park recreational space.

You might be asking, how might that be possible?

And as Ashley had mentioned, I have here tonight Jonathan Bryden from the company called Landify,

and together we put together a PowerPoint that will indeed show you how that might be possible.

So you also might be wondering, is this concept realistic?

Is it possible? Would it even be feasible?

So Jonathan and his team from Landify are prepared to go into the site

and do some in-depth studies to answer those questions for us.

So if there is interest among you for us to have those questions answered,

we would come back to you at some time in the future with a proposed memorandum of understanding

that would allow Jonathan and his team to go into the site, conduct those studies, and get back to us with those answers.

Is this concept realistic? Is it possible? And is it feasible?

So with that, we'll go ahead and get started with the presentation.

So as I mentioned, the purpose of this study is to collect feedback from you, the City Council,

on whether or not to allow Landify to go into that site underneath a memorandum of understanding

and can conduct those necessary studies to indeed tell us if this concept of transforming that space into open park directional space is possible, realistic, and feasible.

Just to start off with just a few words on Landify and who we are and what we do.

So Landify is the U.S. subsidiary of Group ECT.

Group ECT was created in the 1970s in the Paris area of France,

and it started with the construction or the reuse of dirt

that was generated by the big constructions

that were happening at the time in Paris.

And since then, the company completed

more than 100 different projects in France and Europe.

We work on a very diverse range of situations.

We work on derelict sites.

We work on polluted industrial, former industrial brownfields,

on quarries, on illegal dump sites,

on disregarded sites or environmental sensitive areas.

So really a very broad range of sites that we try to heal.

We work on projects to develop things, heal them first,

and then develop things that are useful for the communities.

We developed, as I mentioned earlier,

earlier more than 100 sites in a very broad range of types of sites. We started with parks and

diversified into recreational areas, equestrian centers, renewable energies, any kind of land use

development we were capable of delivering. And all of this is done through partnerships with

cities, communities, any kind of land users, basically. We started our operations in California

around four years ago, and we are currently working on 12 projects in California.

We're working, for instance, in the San Francisco Bay with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife

and the Coastal Conservancy on helping them import dirt to consolidate levees

in the South Bay of San Francisco.

We're working with the city of Chula Vista on a project on their property.

it's going to be

the future university project

for the city of Chula Vista and they're going to need

green areas so we're importing

dirt in

preparation for this project

we're also working with the city of Vacaville

near San Francisco

on the development, the redevelopment

of one of their parks

and we're creating different areas

including a bike park which is going to be

a very interesting project

we started importing

materials and dirt last year for this project, and we hope to complete it within the next

few years. And we're also working on other projects with other cities and other kinds of

types of pieces of land, like quarries or even illegal dump sites.

The business model that we developed throughout the years is fairly simple. It's really when you

think about construction, when you're building something or destroying, you need to get rid of

the dirt. And so the way for us is we see this, most of the people see this as a waste. We see

this as a resource. And so the idea is to take this dirt, obviously making sure that it's clean.

And so all the key of our expertise is in the traceability, making sure that we know where

the dirt is coming from. It's been through all the analytical process, so we know it's clean.

and then we get the dirt and we reuse this dirt in creating landforms that we develop.

And then on the landforms, we develop whatever the community needs

and then consultation with the community.

So that's really how the process works.

And it's really a partnership, public to private partnership.

We work with all the stakeholders, including cities, landowners, and communities

to define what is required in a specific area.

None of our projects look alike.

They really depend on what is required by the local communities.

And we co-design those projects, and then we deliver those projects for the communities.

So that's really the way our model works,

is first identifying pieces of land where we think that there is a potential.

And so that's the case in your city with the other project that we're looking at.

Then we will work on defining what is required.

and then once we have the project,

we have all the authorization,

we go through all the authorization process,

then we start importing the dirt

in order to deliver the project

and then once we've created the landform,

we redevelop the project

and obviously when we welcome the dirt,

our customers, which are the construction companies,

are paying us a tipping fee,

that's 100% of our revenues

and those tipping fees are used to fund the projects that we're developing.

So when I mentioned the 100 projects that we developed in Europe,

all of them were funded through the tipping fees that we're developing.

So that's also saving money for the communities

by using the money that the construction companies are saving as well on their side

because they are going less far than they would go today.

When you have a construction project in your city,

You need to know that the dirt that's generated from your projects

can go as far as the desert, as far as corona,

very, very far from your city.

So what we are trying to do is intercept those flows

and reuse locally the dirt and the money generated through the dirt

to fund the projects that we're developing.

So that's really the whole process and the whole business model

that we've developed for the past 50 years in Europe

and for the past four years in California.

Just to give you an example of the redevelopment

that we're currently working on,

so the project I mentioned in Vacaville,

it's going to be the redevelopment of a flat park.

Today it's a park owned by the city.

It's flat.

The city wanted to redevelop it

and to create different activities,

including a bike park,

and obviously the funding was not there,

and so we stepped in

and started working with the city and the community

on defining exactly what the bike park needed to look like.

And once we did that,

then we got obviously all the permits and the studies.

And then what we're doing at the moment,

we are creating the landform by importing dirt

and receiving, generating the budget

that's going to be used at the end

to develop the bike park on top of the landform.

So that's really what we're doing at the moment in Vacaville.

And we would love to do it in your beautiful city as well.

And so on this slide, you can see the proposed area of focus.

Again, it is the old abandoned gun range that you can see here in this diagram.

It's tucked up against the backside of the sports complex on the northern tip of Sully-Miller

Lake that's there off of Ellis Avenue.

And so it's approximately about eight acres of real estate that we're looking at.

It is currently unusable due to the contaminants in the soil from the use of the gun range

activity.

And it is currently designated as park open space already.

And that space is also part of the Central Park Master Plan it is today.

So it is something there for us to enjoy should we find a way to work through the mitigation issues.

And so the next step would be, if there is interest, to bring a memorandum of understanding back here to council at some point in time in the future

that would allow Jonathan and his team at Landify to conduct those studies to tell us whether or not this is going to be something that is actually realistic, possible, and feasible.

For them to conduct the studies, there's no financial risk to the city.

It is all in the dime of Landify to pay for those different consultants that will be used to do those studies.

And in the city, the part of the next steps would be that should Landify go ahead and make that investment into those studies,

they come back to us that, yes, this is a concept that will work to mitigate the issues

and to be able to put forth a new park open space issue.

we could not take those test results and then run off to another company

and do the exact same thing with another company.

We would have to go with Landify with their findings

on whether or not this is a feasible project or not.

The additional next steps would be,

should this study prove that the concept is feasible and realistic,

that would begin the community input process.

And we do that through the vehicle known as the Central Park Master Plan Update.

And so much like we did with Car Park, Marina, and Edison,

We let the community tell us what they want in park facilities.

So it's not us deciding what we think the public wants.

It's them telling us what they want in these park open spaces.

Is it pickleball? Is it racquetball? Is it tennis?

Is it simply just park recreational space with trails going through it?

So we let the community have a chance to tell us what their needs and wants are for those spaces.

If it is feasible, again, we will consult with the city attorney's office

to make sure that there are no conflicts with Measure C and Measure L.

You're all familiar with Measure C.

Measure L was the ballot measure that was passed to build a sports complex.

So being the close proximity to the gun range,

we'd make sure that there's no conflicts with Measure L as well.

We'd also, again, bring back a contract.

So should we say, this is going to work, let's go ahead and move forward,

we'd bring a contract that would spell out the scope of work

and the project details for Landified to go ahead and conduct the import of soil

and then build us that recreational facility that we desire.

And then also, depending on what the community tells us they want out there,

is it just passive park space with trails, or is it something more robust,

a more built-out recreational facility of some sort?

So it's a big variety of what that end product would look like in terms of cost and scope.

And again, we would let the community tell us what their needs and wants are for that.

And so with that, that concludes the presentation,

and we'll open up for any questions you might have.

Any questions? Andrew.

Thank you so much for the opportunity, the overview.

I think just from a very, very high level,

I mean, it would be wonderful to get eight-plus acres back for open space in the city.

A couple questions on the process, the procedure.

So right now, we have no idea what the contaminants are,

or do you have a general idea?

It's mostly lead.

It's mostly the lead.

Yeah, it was a form of gun range, so it's mostly lead.

Okay.

Okay. And then in your estimation, with lead being the primary contaminant,

what do you think a timeline on something like that would be?

This is the goal of the study is to really do that and to look at the different techniques.

There's a lot of progress in terms of bioremediation.

There's a lot of funding also available for that.

So a lot of things are available out there.

So it's a very interesting also case study in general to look at different possibilities.

and with the progress in the science,

there might be very cost-efficient solutions available.

And then with your, just speaking on the project,

you mentioned as an example in Vacaville,

how long was that whole process?

Are you still in the midst of doing it?

Just to really kind of use that as a benchmark or an example.

Yeah, from the time the city contacted us on the project

to the start of the import of the dirt,

it took us basically two years.

Two years to start the project

or to complete it?

Yeah, because a lot of design.

So we had four work sessions,

public work sessions to design the bike park.

And then we went through the different commissions

and we had a full CEQA to work on as well.

So there was lots of studies basically to be done before.

So that's also why it took us a lot of time.

It might be different on this side.

So that's also part of the feasibility study

is how long is it going to take,

with regards to how much dirt we can import on the site

and is it worth it or not.

Is the supply of dirt limited?

No.

No, okay.

And we were talking about the Olympics,

so that's also going to generate, as you can imagine,

lots of works and construction and dirt.

So there's also a very good and interesting source.

And coming obviously from a French background,

We went through the same questions for the Paris Olympics, and it's generated lots and lots of dirt that we reused on many of our projects in the Paris area.

Fascinating concept. A couple questions for Chris.

Would the plan be to run kind of a concurrent process by which you were doing the design on the park and getting public input as they were going through and determining the procedure?

or would it be going through the entire process with Landify

and then working with the public to determine what they were looking for in regards to the space?

Yeah, timing is definitely key.

It would be a perfect situation if it were aligned with the timeline for the Central Park Master Plan.

If not, we would definitely do a secondary outreach to the public.

It's very important that we have the public provide their input

about what kind of amenities they want in this space if it were to come to fruition.

Okay.

And then in regards to the contract and the MOU, et cetera,

Has that gone through the Finance Commission, or would that go through the Finance Commission?

For the MOU?

For any of the details on the agreements and the MOU, yeah.

I don't believe they generally would go through the Finance Commission for a general MOU.

We would definitely work step-in-step with the attorney's office to draft that up to something that they think is palatable,

and then bring it to you.

But, of course, we could bring it to whoever is directed to do so.

Okay.

Okay.

I got some

go ahead

okay just to kind of follow up on that

so what I heard just to be clear

the MOU it requires

no financial commitment whatsoever

zero financial risk to us

we're basically just saying yeah you could go

in there poke around let us know

you know what you discover and see

if it's realistic see if it's feasible

and ultimately no commitment either

Chris I'm curious are there

any other organizations that provide

this service that we've researched?

We have not been contacted by any,

so this is the first

conceptual idea that's been presented to us,

but we have not shopped around for any other

types of businesses like this.

Was the genesis of this them reaching out to us,

or were we looking and found them?

They did approach us with the idea.

Okay. That's it.

Kind of in that same

theme, so

Councilman Williams kind of touched on it.

So let's assume we have an MOU.

You go out there.

The cost, there is no cost.

Even if work is conducted, you're moving soils around because I think you're monetizing the dirt.

So at what point does your efforts stop at no financial exposure to the city?

And then you give us a buildable, basically, plot, so to speak, you know, elevated how we want, whatever that case may be,

based on a vision that we give you or based on...

Do you do the work with no vision first to find out?

First, you've got to find out if it's even feasible to move the dirt around.

Yeah, it's really everything's dictated by the volume.

Obviously, really, again, as I mentioned,

100% of our revenues are generating for the tipping fees,

and tipping fees is just tipping fee times the volume.

Can you tell us what a tipping fee is? I don't know.

So it varies depending on the...

I mean, what is a tipping field?

Sorry, it's what is paid by the construction company

when it goes to a landfill or to a quarry to deposit dirt.

It needs to pay a tipping field.

When you go to any landfill, you need to pay before entering into it.

Sorry, that's what the construction world is paying today.

Real quick, just to educate, because I'm in the development industry.

So just explain.

So when you have construction projects, right, you're excavating soil.

and hopefully it's clean fill, they call it,

and then it needs to go somewhere, right?

So what's unique about their business is

they now are finding areas to bring in clean fill.

On the other side, a lot of, you know,

I've been in projects where we actually need clean fill

and it's actually very expensive because you have to pay for it, right?

So they're actually moving the dirt around.

And so that's what he says,

you guys are getting paid by having a project

that needs to offload clean fill

and they're paying you to offload it.

And then now they're finding a creative solution

where to bring this clean dirt, this clean fill,

and also remediate the current contamination on this eight acres that's currently unusable.

So it's an interesting business plan.

But do I essentially have that correct?

It's exactly that.

Exactly that.

And so really everything's dictated by the volume.

And so this is where we're going to come up all together with a design that the community accepts.

And with this design, we'll be able to say that's going to be 200,000, 300,000 cubic yards of dirt.

that's going to be needed to be imported,

is that going to work financially for us or not?

So that really, the end result of the feasibility

is how complicated is it going to be in terms of studies

and what the costs of the studies are going to be,

and then what the design is going to be

or what the landform is going to look like

and what it's going to generate in terms of revenue,

and is that going to be enough to fund the project or not?

The word tipping, though,

just is the truck bed tipping the dirt out, isn't it?

And that's the kind of tipping fee is the truck tipping its bed and dumping it.

Instead of a dumping fee, they call it tipping.

Yeah, it's got different names, but yeah, dump fee is another word that's used.

Is this an export site or an import site?

It would be an import site.

But you've got to export all the bad stuff out and then bring good stuff in.

Correct.

That's the question also with the feasibility study,

the capacity that we have to potentially keep the dirt on site,

and because you're bringing in extra dirt to confine the pollution with the dirt that you're doing.

We have several examples, obviously, in Paris of former brownfields where we used this 30 years ago.

We used the dirt to confine the pollution, and so now you can see today, 30 years after,

everything grew and you've got recreational areas.

So the capacity that you have to put geotextile, to cover that with dirt, in order to basically not move the dirt, because that's very costly, obviously, to do.

And also other techniques that are available, bioremediation, as I mentioned.

So really the goal is to see what can be done on site.

If, you know, some of it needs to be off hold, then the cost of all of that put together with, in front of that, the revenues that are going to be generated by the project.

is that working or not?

So that's the whole feasibility study subjective.

So on this side, do you also do remediation

or do you purely just move dirt

and you take the expense to move the dirt

based on the benefit for the person

that needs the dirt moved?

Or are you also in the construction business

where you have people to pay for remediation

and things like that?

We don't do it ourselves.

We pay external providers.

but we don't do it ourselves.

Okay, and you pay them by the tipping fee?

We pay them, no, that's going to be really

on how much it's going to cost

depending on the volume that needs to be off-hold.

So they're going to tell you,

if you need to off-hold 10,000 cubic yards,

the cost is $100,000,

and that's the cost that needs to be supported by the project.

And when you say by the project, do you mean by the city?

No, by us.

Okay, by the project.

Okay.

So basically they'll look at it and go,

okay, we have just rough numbers to keep it small,

like 100 cubic yards of dirty soil that we need to off-haul.

What's that cost? X.

And then now their business is to bring in clean fill,

and they'll get paid for that.

So that's the analysis they're going to do is assess how much dirty soil is there,

how much they have to take out, what that cost is,

and will it be positive for them to actually do that

and then bring in clean fill from their other projects to backfill that?

Do I have that correct?

Exactly.

So that's like the calculus they're going to do.

Yeah, exactly.

So you make that determination as part of the MOU, right?

I mean, at that point, in that scenario, at this point, there's no financial dollars coming out of our coffers at this point.

You're managing the project.

There's money moving in, dirt moving out.

There's paid balances.

And that's all done basically internally between, you know, your vendors, you, the dirt, the movement, the transportation.

Then we get to a point where we have a buildable site, right?

That's the goal.

and then we come to you and we say we've listened to the public

and they want X, Y, and Z.

Who then puts a cost analysis?

You guys, Landify, or are you out of the picture at that point?

Other than you might say, hey, do you want us to build some hills?

But after that, you're not in the infrastructure game, right?

No, we use external providers.

So the good example is the bike park.

We're developing with the city of Vacaville.

So the way that we work with the city is working with consultants.

We, you know, on the design phase, we obviously supported the cost of the consultants.

It's a much larger project.

We're talking about one million cubic yards of dirt.

So that's capable of covering the cost of the constructions that are going to be on top.

So the city's not going to pay a dollar for the project at the end.

But because of the large volume here, we need to see what kind of volume we're talking about

if we're capable of covering 100%, 50% of the cost of what's going to be developed on top.

So that's also the whole feasibility study is not only we're covering the cost of the studies, but we're also trying to cover the cost of what's going to be developed on top.

So I don't know what, you know, let's say soccer field, for instance, that you want to develop.

We're capable of, you know, covering the 20 percent, 30 percent, depending on, again, all the costs that we put together for the creation of the project.

And as part of your business model, if you can't cover the entire cost and we have a project that we like, are we committed to your contractors, your relationships as part of the Landify agreement, or we can utilize whoever we need?

yeah, same thing for the studies

we work with people that the city

are used to working with

for instance the bike park

we worked in Vacaville, the landscaping

company was a landscaping company

that was used by the city on previous

projects so they knew very well

the sites so we used them

for our project as well

so we're very flexible in terms of who we

use, we want to be as efficient as

quick as possible

so we prefer working with people who know

obviously the projects already and who are accustomed to the to the city so this would be

my last question because i don't want to monopolize you so the first goal if we were to move forward

with you is to you're going to determine how you can give us a clean soil platform basically

remediate bring in and cover whatever the case may be but you're going to say well you're going

to you're going to study and you're going to determine how much contamination is there what

it's going to take to remediate it cover it move it whatever to make sure it passes through all

all the environmental checks and balances that our state has.

That's your initial goal, right?

Correct.

I mean, how fast do you make that determination of what you think it would encompass?

We say yes on that check and then completion.

I guess that's based on the scope.

But how fast till you get to point A decision?

Do you want to move, you land or fight, this makes sense or it doesn't?

The quicker, the better.

It's going to really depend on the answers.

We're going to work also with the agencies,

and it's really going to depend on their timings as well.

So, you know, the quicker, the better.

A couple of months would be really the maximum for us.

Is there a tail to your contract?

You know, we say, well, we don't like it right now.

You know, are we bound by anything?

No.

The only thing is if you develop something using our model in the future,

it's doing it with us.

So if you just say thank you very much, goodbye Landify,

and the day after you hire a company to do exactly the same project

by importing dirt and creating a landform,

that's where, you know, we gave, obviously,

all the investment that we're putting on front

is also to make sure that we work together if you develop,

but you can develop anything else without us.

If we say we want to develop a park and we didn't use you,

we can't develop a park, is that what you're saying?

You can't develop a flat park.

It's developer park using our model, which is importing dirt and creating a landfall.

Okay.

Shape.

We could still have a park with different shaping.

That's it.

Okay.

That's it.

Could I follow up with some more questions?

I'm curious.

As far as the sports complex goes and the footprint of that, Chris, you might know the answer to this.

You brought up the sports complex and how there might be a conflict with Measure L.

Does that footprint go out to where the old gun range is?

would that be considered sports complex,

or is it just that open space park recreation?

Yeah, it shows that the gut range space

is separate from the footprint of the sports complex.

But just for over precaution,

we would definitely make sure and ask legal opinions

on whether or not there's any type of conflict,

depending on what the project scope is in the end.

Yeah.

And then, is it Mr. Brighton?

It is, yes.

Have you had an opportunity to familiarize yourself at all

with Measure C and Measure L?

We're kind of a peculiar city in that sense.

Yeah, Chris tells us about it.

Yes, it's very peculiar, but yeah, I mean, it's part of the process.

Every city has a specific process.

Just out of curiosity, when you do these feasibility studies,

and obviously you're looking at whether or not the ground is toxic,

you know there's most likely going to be lead from the gun range.

What does that process look like?

Are you drilling into the ground and testing the soils?

I'm just curious, timeline-wise, how long it takes,

and maybe not an exact dollar amount, but what type of investment is this?

because what I'm concerned about is maybe we're putting the cart before the horse.

What if you do this feasibility study and you put a lot of energy and finances into it

just to discover that measure C and measure L are a conflict

and this would require a vote of the people in order to go forward?

We'd be wasting your time and be wasting your resources.

That's why the idea of the feasibility study is working on all the aspects,

so the pollution level, but also all the political side of things

to see how we can phase the project or structure the project

in order to take this into consideration.

But that's exactly part of the feasibility study.

If we see that it's going to take us three years,

that's obviously going to be something that's going to be included

in the feasibility study for us.

Okay, so that's prior to the MOU. Is that right?

It's within the MOU that allows us to start investigating those aspects.

Okay, so if we sign off in an MOU, we might discover in that process that this is a conflict with Measure C and Measure L.

I'm just concerned that might be putting the cart before the horse with all the effort you'd be putting forward.

And can you guys correct me if I'm wrong?

There's an additional process that will take place where we create another contract to actually develop the property.

Is that correct?

Yeah, that's correct.

The MOU is just a starting point.

Yes, right.

This additional MOU is just for studies.

then again, if it is something that is shown to be realistic and feasible,

then the next step would be to develop a new contract with Landify

that spells out all the details of the scope of the project, the timeline,

all the nuts and bolts of what that would mean in conducting that project.

Including environmental analysis and doing all that EIR work.

And I do believe a lot of that will be covered in the initial study, too, as well.

what kind of different entitlements, major C conflicts, if any.

Also, all the different other outside agencies, you know, CEQA issues,

all the other regulatory agencies will also be studied and revealed through the initial study as well.

And just so Landify is going into it, eyes wide open,

I know that that sports complex, you know, used to be a mushroom and landfill,

so there might be a little bit more than lead in there when you go poking around.

We know.

And you've got a landfill next to it as well.

Good?

Before we would ever get to a vote of the people,

you would be cost neutral anyway

because in your scope,

before you move one, you know, truck of dirt,

you're going to make determinations

that can I do this

and basically balance my costs.

So even if it never passed with the people,

you really aren't at risk

for anything other than time

because you've already made a calculation that your cost will be covered by the way you manipulate movement of dirt

and move it in, get paid, move it out, things like that, right?

So even if you gave us a buildable parcel and the public said, no, we don't want that,

you're really not at risk.

You have your time at risk, but your capital is covered based on how your business model works anyway, right?

Yeah.

Okay.

No, the only risk is exactly what a council member mentioned.

but it's really the first studies.

And that's the case in every city

when we start a feasibility study.

That's the money that we have at risk,

but it's something that we need

in order to make sure that we have the right answers

and that we investigate things properly

to see if the project works on all the aspects.

Good.

Thank you, guys.

Thank you.

Appreciate it very much.

All right.

Next up is a capital improvement project.

CIP update. City Manager, please introduce the report.

All right. We have two capital project updates.

And I see

Chow Vu and I see David Fate, our construction manager, who will

likely provide the reports.

Good evening. City Mayor, City

Council. My name is David Fate. I'm the Public Works Construction Manager.

and I am happy to report a CIP summary update for you here this evening.

We have two recently completed projects totaling approximately $6 million,

which recently received the NOC.

Our first project tonight will be the CIP for the sewer lining.

This project included almost 24,000 linear feet of sewer main, which is approximately

four and a half miles. It included the rehabilitation of 86 manholes. Some of these

manholes deteriorate due to sewer off-gassing, so we address this in this project.

The work included the cleaning and removal of calcium deposits, trenchless lining utilizing UV lighting and CIPP.

CIPP stands for cured in place pipe.

The UV stands for ultraviolet lining, which is new to the city of Huntington Beach.

sir in the preparation reading for this uh powerpoint stuff can you kind of tell us where

this is nowhere in the powerpoint was there a location or area of the city and i'm just curious

where it was thank you so this project took place across four different rds in various

areas in the city of Huntington Beach. There wasn't one specific area.

We addressed projects, pipeline, excuse me,

needing to be repaired throughout the city as identified

in the sanitary sewer management plan.

This was not just one continuous.

This was across four different RDs.

RDs, meaning residential districts, is that correct, Dave?

RDs are residential reporting districts, yes.

So the benefits include the improved sewer flows, the reduced level of maintenance,

and the increase in system integrity, reducing the chance of SSOs, which are sanitary sewer overflows,

which ultimately can cost the city and fines.

The schedule, we started in July of 2025.

We reached substantial completion on December 10th,

and final completion occurred on January 15th.

We completed this project with 26 days left in contract time.

Here is our financial project summary,

The original contract amount was approximately $1.6 million.

We had change orders totaling almost $22,000.

These change orders were due to the conditions of the pipe and the pipe sizes.

We saw an increase in pipe size, which ultimately we were faced with change orders for that.

We had a contingency budget of approximately $160,000.

and we are left with a remaining balance of approximately $139,000.

In conclusion, there's been some key outcomes.

So first off, it's a critical investment in our sewer infrastructure.

We are seeing a 50-year service life with this newly lined sewer.

It was delivered with minimal disruption to residents and various shareholders and stakeholders.

It was delivered on time and within budget.

And this project marked the first use in the city of Huntington Beach with ultraviolet curing.

What you see in these pictures here are, to the left, lower left, are ultraviolet rigs curing the pipe.

Upper right is a CIPP, which involves large boilers throughout the street.

Typically, these will be about six trucks and trailers.

This project utilized that UV curing, so two box trucks were able to create a minimal footprint on our city streets.

Chairman, speaking, what size pipe are we dealing with?

We were dealing with 10-inch, 12-inch, and some 8-inch pipe.

Okay.

That is our first project, and I have one more for you tonight.

my second project for you this evening is the humble lift station this is cc 1634

project summary this involved the abandonment and demolition of an existing sewer lift station

and the installation of a new station.

The challenge here was this involved concurrent work

with the old station in service during the construction.

What we're seeing is an increase in storage capacity.

We've actually increased our storage capacity

at this lift station by 50%

and increased the storage time

for any type of emergency that we may face.

we're also utilizing efficient pumps and we have enhanced lift station controls which is part of

our SCADA system standing for supervisory control and data acquisition so our operators will be able

to control this station remotely and be able to get the real-time data as it's as it's happening

So the work included three 185-gallon-per-minute pumps.

So these are at three horsepower, which is a reduction in energy cost that we will be seeing.

The work also included an installation of a force main, which went up to the bridge

and will pick up when the bridge is under construction, hopefully soon.

Work also included the curb and gutter work and obviously some paving.

Project benefits and schedule.

This project creates an increased amount of system reliability.

We have efficient pumps and equipment.

We have a state-of-the-art communication system.

That's the SCADA I mentioned earlier.

And we have an increased storage capacity.

The schedule, this project started in August of 2024.

It reached substantial completion in July 2025 and final completion in September of 2025.

This project was delivered five weeks early.

Here's a financial summary of our project.

The approved project budget was approximately $4.2 million.

we had two change orders totaling, or two change order packages,

totaling $211,000, almost $212,000,

which included an increase of paving limits for both concrete and asphalt

and included a pump escalation cost that we received due to the tariffs.

the contingency was taken out of that change order contingency was taken out of that contingency for the project

leaving us a remaining budget balance of approximately $177,000

just go back just to clarify you guys had the approved project budget

and then you guys had the contingency budget used all of the contingency budget

So what was left of the approved project budget is that remaining budget balance of 176, 80, 185, right?

Yes.

Okay.

So on the original project with the ultraviolet lining, which is relatively new technology, right, really cool technology.

You don't need to do any trenching.

I mean, you can get a lot more work done.

Was this the largest of its kind with the ultraviolet lining in the city?

On the previous project, yes.

It wasn't the largest of its kind in general.

But for the city?

For the city.

This marked the first time that we have used this project in the city that you be.

And then just to follow up on Pat's point on the contingency budget,

so it's great you guys had surplus on both of these projects,

and you hit them before the due date.

So congrats on that.

Impressive work.

Typically, what do you work?

I don't know if this is a child question or for you, Mr. Fitt, what do you work into the

contingency percentage when you're budgeting the capital improvement projects?

I'm sorry, can you repeat the question you're at here? So there's a kind of a contingency

element that always you need in place. There's always going to be change orders, et cetera. Is

that like a percentage fix? Yes, it's typically 10 to 15 percent. 10 to 15, okay. However, on vertical

projects like with a building structure, a roof, community center, those vertical projects, we add

significantly more contingencies because you don't know what you're going to find once you

poke the walls. So this one, I think it was 10 to 15%.

That's correct. Yes. Great. And you had surplus. So good job.

So I actually drove past that project the whole time on my way home and out. And I have to say,

I don't know which company you guys used for this project, but by the time they were gone,

You couldn't even tell there was construction there anymore.

They were super neat, and they had to block one lane.

It was just one lane to come in and out of the island,

and they were always there just guiding the traffic.

I was a little worried that it was going to create a lot of chaos,

but I'm not sure who you guys used for this, but they did a great job.

And it just seemed like they were just never there.

One day they were there.

They were sweeping.

The next day we had grass on the sidewalk.

It was paved, and it's like they were gone.

So that was a good job.

Thank you, Councilwoman.

You could see in the lower left picture, this is an after picture.

Upper right is under construction.

You could see the stop sign in both of these pictures here,

and you wouldn't know really what happened 20 feet down.

So they really did a good job.

In conclusion, we're seeing an improved system reliability.

We coordinated with community and various stakeholders.

Some of these stakeholders included delivery companies, third-party utilities, such as

public utility companies like Edison, Frontier, and other HB departments and divisions.

This was delivered on time and under budget, like I said, approximately five weeks early.

and it sets a strong model for future sewer projects here in the city of Huntington.

Director Vu, would you say these reports are the fruits of the transparency for taxpayers initiative that the council brought forward?

Yes.

the reason we brought that forward was for this reason to let our residents know that

we're you know we're inspecting and expecting results from our departments and our departments

are delivering and previous to the initiative these things would have been done completed and

nobody would really know we wanted to give the departments the opportunity to to shine and

deliver these good results so that the residents know that we are working hard we being the city

working hard being fiduciary uh fiduciaries with their taxpayers and hopefully on all projects

before completion date on time under budget so we love this initiative the transparency for

taxpayers great presentation and good work and it's great to hear that gracie saw this and it

was like they were there, they're gone.

That's what the city wants.

I like hearing Andrew talk about the ultraviolet pipes,

and you said it's state of the art.

That shows you guys are on your game.

So good job, Director Vu and company,

and we look forward to a lot more of these presentations.

The city expects it, and we enjoy this type of opportunity.

Praise the department.

Good job.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you so much.

All right.

Now onto the consent calendar, items 14 to 21.

Council, would anyone like to pull an item?

I'll pull 21.

Pat, 21.

I'm pulling 20.

Anybody else?

Pat's already got 21.

All right.

I'll move the rest.

All right.

Second.

Second.

Cates, do you have to?

Yeah.

Clerk, so motion by Council Member Byrne,

seconded by Councilwoman Vandermark to move

items 14 through 19.

Please call the roll.

Councilman Gruhl? Yes.

Councilman Kennedy? Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem McKeon? Yes.

Here I am. I mean...

Hello? I'm right here?

Still new.

Mayor Pro Tem Twining?

I've been ignored before. Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Mayor McKeon.

Yes.

Councilman Burns.

Aye.

Councilwoman Vandermark.

Yes.

Councilman Williams.

Yes.

All right.

Items number 14 through 19 pass 7-0.

Okay, for number 20, I'm recusing myself from participation in this agenda item because I have a financial conflict of interest in the project as I am employed by the applicant.

So I'll be stepping in the back.

Why don't you take over?

Mayor, real quick, can I just make one comment on an item we voted on 17 for clarity?

So on the Colby-IPA resolution, we'd already voted to approve that.

We amended it with some additional language, including Colby's beloved mom and sister.

We added them to the resolution, and we added some language that the IPA family wanted regarding Ben-IPA, the grandfather.

So those are the only changes.

So we had to bring it back.

We've amended it, and it's still the same great resolution for Colby-IPA day.

So that's a little clarity in case anybody's wondering.

Okay.

We've already discussed this project in our,

I'm talking about item number 20, 26-001.

So tonight we're here to discuss it.

If anybody has any discussion on this project,

now's the time to bring it up.

If not, we can vote on it.

I'll move the item.

Second.

Second.

Okay.

Madam Clerk, can you call the roll?

Councilman Gruel?

Yes.

Councilman Kennedy?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Twining?

Yes.

Councilman Burns?

Aye.

Councilwoman Vandermark?

Yes.

Councilman Williams?

Yes.

Item passes 601, McKeon recused.

Yeah, just do really.

All right, Pat, go ahead, 21.

Yeah.

Yeah, there is.

There's a staff presentation.

Go ahead.

So for 21, I believe there's a PowerPoint presentation

that the staff can present just to give a high view

of what's going on with the project.

So, Chad, just real quick, is this a staff presentation

or a presentation that you generated?

This is a staff presentation or no.

Okay, thank you.

Good evening, Mayor McCann and members of the City Council.

I'm Chris Casanova.

I'm the Economic Development Manager.

The item before you tonight is a request to accept a completion bond for building improvements

located at 21 and 22 Main Street on the Huntington Beach Pier.

The completion bond is required under the executed lease between the city and Surf City Partners LLC

prior to the issuance of any building permits.

The proposed improvements include construction of a new restaurant, as you can see here,

renovation of our existing bathrooms on the pier, a bait and tackle shop, and a storage area.

The completion bond is in the amount of $1.3 million, which represents 100% of the estimated construction costs.

The bond guarantees that completion of the required improvements and protects the city in the event that the project is not completed as approved.

so construction is anticipated to begin later this month public access to the pier will be

maintained throughout construction the lessee will be required to obtain all necessary permits

and comply with the approved coastal development permit council approval of the completion bond

is required prior to any permits being issued the completion bond has been reviewed and approved by

the city attorney's office and creates no fiscal impact to the city staff

recommends that the city council accept the completion bond and authorize the

city engineer to administer it thank you staff is available for any questions and

I think the lessee Keith Boers here as well I've got this project's been kind

of stumbling along and I'm concerned in the completion bond itself there is no like timeline

and my it's the timeline the life of this bond is basically the constraints we put in on the

construction permitting right they have to have he has to have it built within a certain amount

of time, right? We've already granted some extensions per se on this project. The construction

project though, and the, I don't see any deadline for this thing to take effect, this completion

bond. And that's my, one of my main, and just the whole project's kind of shaky on me. And

And it surprises the hell out of me because all the eyes that have been on this,

the completion bond on page one of two of the completion bond,

if you look at it, I don't know if we have it,

but the fifth line up from the bottom paragraph on page one of two,

it's something as simple as this,

where it says the line starts with bond, period,

and then it says there under

and it probably doesn't change

the meaning of the content of it.

It's just the detail

that kind of kills me sometimes.

It should be capitalized.

Or a comma after bond

but it looks like it should be

there under should be capitalized.

Do you see that?

and we can make that change if there's a typo in the document that's not a problem oh yeah it just

with all the eyes that have been on that and i'm just wondering if there's supposed to be

some kind of deadline or something and i want it clarified on the record is there some kind of

deadline on the life of this bond how long do they have to build this thing where this thing

stays effective and we don't it doesn't get boarded up in like after three months and then

two years down the line it's being built again so the life of the bond is until we issue a notice

of completion so until we ultimately approve the work that um you know surf city partners has

guaranteed us to complete in terms of the construction schedule we have been provided

an updated schedule and the lease says that through both written agreement joint parties

can amend that construction schedule,

which would take us through the end of summer

for the opening as the proposed opening.

So that is the new target date that we're looking at.

The end of this summer, 26?

Mm-hmm.

All right, I'll be watching.

Have we been presented that agreement as a council

that you said it was updated or the lease was changed?

the um a lease allows for an updated construction schedule per uh for the joint uh parties uh so

whether that is uh at city manager level or and do you know and maybe this would be a city manager

question is that an indefinite amount of time that it could be extended to or is the discretion

limited to three months.

So with the actual construction schedule,

it's whatever we ultimately agree to.

The rent abatement is only three months per city manager.

You know, if I may ask a few questions.

So today, got to ask these questions.

Listen, this is something I'm very interested in.

anything that has to do with city properties, leases, flows, expectations, things like that.

So I took a look at the initial agreement again, because as everybody said, including Pat,

you know, this has seemingly gone on for a long period of time.

So I think the lease, I wish I had able to pull up the lease right now.

I can't pull up the download, but so I looked at the default language,

and that is on page, I think it was page 23.

I had Chad pull two slides, but section F of the default,

there's also a construction table in exhibit D

that shows that all this work that has not even started

should have been done by the end of 2025.

Now, there is language in section F of the default.

We could pull that up.

It should be slide number 12 for staff.

Chad, just real quick.

I just want to set the precedent here.

So are you putting up a presentation that you've created?

Notes.

So just a couple notes.

Real quick, real quick.

So this happened on December 16th.

So it's dangerous when you put up something that has not been agendized to the public.

Do you understand that?

This is all germane to the agenda.

Do you understand, though, but it's not been agendized?

On the agenda is the completion bonds.

100% understand that.

this is all germane it's all part of the same project good but do you understand that like you

your presentation speaks for the council and has not been agendized we're talking about the

completion bonds for this for this for this project so i believe where where do we know

anything about completion bonds it's from city attorney can you help me with this yeah i know i

agree go ahead the only way we know that we're supposed to have a construction bond is because

the lease says we're supposed to have a construction bond what i'm going to present and what's on the

slides is that very lease.

So this is totally germane to the agended item.

The lease itself does contain the requirement that a bond be presented to the city council

for approval.

And if that's what we're talking about, if we're talking about the bond, that's fine.

We're not here to discuss the contract and changing the contract or anything else that

has not been agendized.

Correct.

Okay.

Then I guess, I just don't want to get us in trouble, right?

Because you're not in.

No, understood.

Yeah.

But when you're talking about, I guess what I would say is if my question was answered, is there a default that's been triggered because the timetable in Exhibit D has not been met, why as a landlord, so to speak, would I want to issue a completion bond if I have something that quote-unquote possibly could be in default?

So if we could get that slide.

I was going to say the completion bond assures that if the project is in default, we call the bond and then we end up using that money to build the project.

Okay, so if we can, so I mean, it's a yes or no at this point.

There's a timetable in Exhibit D that shows plaster in this, this and this, this and this, this and this.

And the date of completion for everything was December of 2025.

To my knowledge, there's no work that's been started.

So by virtue of the document in Exhibit D, I would have to say there's a level of default.

Is that not a fair statement?

I'm asking the city attorney, city manager.

I'm just saying for the benefit of the public, why don't we pull up slide number 13 so that they can see this with their own eyes?

If we're allowed to.

I mean, I don't want to get anybody in trouble, but I can tell you.

It hasn't been agendized.

I mean, I understand.

Okay.

But Don, I asked a question.

I think, Vig, you can answer that question, right?

I can answer it.

Could you repeat the question?

Point of order.

Point of order.

Sure.

And so city attorney had said if this has to do with the agreement which lays out the construction bond, then it's okay to present.

I don't want to get us in trouble.

Is that correct?

If it's related to the issuance of the bond, then we can talk about it.

But again, tonight we're not here to discuss the efficacy of the contract that was executed.

Well, we should determine the validity of it, maybe not the efficacy.

But if the contract is in default by virtue of the contract, should we not say yes or no to that based on one slide that shows completion?

Let's get slide number 12.

Wait for a moment.

Let's let the public see it.

Yeah, you can put the slide up.

I don't want to conflate the issues.

Again, tonight the only thing that we're here to determine is whether or not that completion bond, the terms of that completion bond, are acceptable to the city council.

Perfect.

And again, the idea behind the completion bond is if the work is not completed and there is default under the contract, we call the bond and we end up having to use that money to complete the.

Okay, well, the work's not completed.

Let's look at one slide.

Either way, I guess if we can't make a determination based on because we're not talking about whether or not it's in default, I would either make a motion or second a motion that I'm not willing to vote on approving a completion bond.

if I think that potentially there's a default in place right now.

And if I could just get to that point,

they can't proceed with work until they get the bond.

So if we delay issuing the bond,

it's going to set them back in the process.

I just want to make a point of order.

Let's get that slide up.

Let's get the slide up so everyone can see.

Slide number 12.

Hey, Chad.

Chad.

Chad, you and I have been out there.

I know you and I both went out there last week.

You've seen the construction schedule, and Don was talking about plaster here and paint there.

Is some of that work done?

I was out there, too.

Right here.

Just tell me.

Hang on just one second.

Okay, sorry, Butch.

Sorry.

Is some of that work done that's on this schedule that showed up there right now?

Is some of that work done?

I personally haven't seen any of that work done.

In fact, it's not permitted to be done.

He needs the completion bond before he can even get started.

So if that's your point, then it was done without a permit.

So that's the construction schedule.

If you go back one slide, you can see this Section 37 on default that Councilman Kennedy was speaking about.

So the 15, I guess we're not contemplating the contract, but the bottom line is based on the language in the contract in that other graphic, if you can go back to that other graphic.

And this is not to be unbusiness friendly.

This is all about how we're going to manage our leases, what we're going to hold our tenants accountable for, and what we're going to do as a city and not set a precedent that deadlines are kind of here for whatever they may be, whatever.

That's a very good point.

Believe me, your points are well taken.

And again, I want to point out to the council, though, that tonight the only thing that we're here to discuss is whether or not the bond, the performance bond, or what are we calling it?

Completion.

Completion bond, thank you, is acceptable to the city council.

If there's issues about default, we can certainly look into that issue and bring it back.

That's a separate issue.

Yeah, that's what I was going to clarify.

This tonight is just seeing if we'll do that.

the default we'd have to deal with in another source or avenue or night correct okay and all

i would like to suggest just at this moment is that we might be executing a term on a contract

that might be in default it it so i mean we've gone into uncharted territories and and i i can

share kind of where i'm at if if you're done with again i just i don't want to conflate those two

issues. Tonight, the

execution of the completion bond has

nothing to do with the default. You can

execute the completion bond. It doesn't waive

our ability to

claim default. As a matter of fact, it protects

the city because in the event of a default,

one of the remedies that we'll have

is to call the completion bond.

Which is money to the

city.

Okay, so Councilman Kenny, are you finished?

Yeah, go ahead for now. I'm just thinking

through what you're saying there. I mean, you're

rewarding bad behavior, basically.

If it's not done, let's call the bond now.

Well, we don't have a bond yet.

There is no bond.

Vote it in and then call it.

Yeah, we don't have a bond yet,

and we would have to explore whether or not there is, in fact, default based on.

Again, that's the danger in bringing up issues that are not on the agenda

because we haven't explored, we haven't looked at it,

we haven't adequately analyzed whether there's a default

and what happens if there is,

and those kind of issues are not before the council,

it's not before the public, it wasn't on the agenda.

Okay, all right.

And maybe that would be a good reason to possibly table it.

So if I could get slide number one at the top, just to kind of give a little bit of a history of how did we get here?

Because this has passed through multiple councils.

And so back in April 2019, as you see on that first slide, that's when the RFP first went out.

It used to be Let's Go Fishing.

In May of 24, 2021, the city released the RFQ and the respondents that we received were Let's Go Fishing, Ruby's Hospitality, and Surf City Partners.

Go to the next slide.

Now at the time...

So Chad, so one slide is not turning into a presentation that's not been agendized?

These are my notes.

I'm trying...

I don't know why you try to suppress this.

I'm just trying to understand.