Like to call the meeting of the City Council Public Financing Authority to order Madam Clerk.

May I have the roll call, please?

Councilman Grohl.

Here.

Councilman Kennedy.

Here.

Mayor Pro Temptwini?

Here.

Mayor McKeon.

Here.

Councilwoman Vandermark?

Here.

Councilman Williams?

Here.

Pursuant to resolution number two zero zero one dash five four.

Councilman Burns has requested permission to be absent from this meeting.

If there are no objections, it will be reflected in the minutes.

Yes.

We have one supplemental communication email regarding the regional housing needs allocation.

No one signed up to speak on closed session items.

Agency negotiators, Travis Hopkins, City Manager, Marissa Sir, Assistant City Manager, Ashley Wisaki, Director of Community and Library Services.

Chris Cole, Community Library Services, Services Manager, William Curl, Real Estate Project Manager, negotiating parties.

Poya Hanari.

Pacific Hotel LLC doing business as Paseo Hotel and Spa, not present.

Agency designated representatives, Travis Hopkins, Marissa Sir, Mike Vigliota, City Attorney, Zach Zee, Acting Chief Financial Officer, Employee Organizations, Police Management Association, and the Huntington Beach Police Officers Association.

Council do I have a motion a second to recess the closed session.

Motion to resist a close session.

Second.

Yes, second.

Second.

All right.

Recess the closed session.

Good evening to everyone.

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

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

Councilman Gruel?

Here.

Councilman Kennedy.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Twine?

Here.

Mayor McKeon?

Here.

Councilwoman Vandermark.

Here.

Councilman Williams.

Here.

Pursuant to resolution number 2001-54.

Councilman Burns has requested permission to be absent from this meeting.

If there are no objections, it will be reflected in the minutes.

Thank you.

Tonight's invocation will be given by Chaplain Jericho.

Jericho Rotten.

Thank you.

God of mercy and compassion.

As we gather tonight, we are mindful that we live in a world where many are hurting.

We remember those facing conflict, loss, and uncertainty across our globe, and we ask for your comfort and peace.

Here in our own community, guide us in how we live and serve.

May we each look not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others to have the same selflessness found in Jesus.

Give our leaders wisdom and clarity, help our leadership and every one of us to act with integrity, patience, and compassion.

May the decisions and plans set in tonight's meeting serve the good of the city and reflect care for every neighbor.

Let your peace rest on this room and on Huntington Beach tonight.

Amen.

Thank you.

The Pledge of Allegiance tonight will be led by George Foch of American Legion Post 133.

It's my honor to introduce Mr.

George Foch up to the podium.

George was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S.

Marine Corps upon graduation from the Illinois Institute of Technology in June of 1962.

He attended uh basic school, then flight training, receiving his wings in May of 1964.

He served two combat tours in Vietnam, flying over 500 ground support missions in the A4 Skyhawk.

Between tours, he attended the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey and earned an engineer's degree in electrical engineering.

He served in various staff and technical positions, was an A6 intruder squadron commander, attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, head of the team developing GPS user equipment, was chief of staff of the first Marine Amphibious Brigade, and retired with the rank of colonel in 1989.

After military retirement, George worked for Hughes Aircraft, then Raytheon is program manager on several software development programs until 2006.

Thank you for your service, George.

Thank you.

If you're covered, remove your cover, please stand.

And to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Your Your Honor, if I might, I want to make a couple comments about the flag.

I mean, Pledge of Allegiance and Saluting.

And in that code, it also states that persons in uniform should remain silent face to flag and render the military salute.

Members of the armed forces not in uniform and veterans may render the military salute in a manner provided for persons in uniform.

So when you see a gentleman or a lady who is in civilian clothes and they're saluting during the national anthem, and the Pledge of Allegiance, that's appropriate.

Also, the Pledge of Allegiance was originally was written by Francis Bellamy in 1892.

He originally wrote the pledge for the youth's companion.

Uh and was intended to celebrate or they were celebrating the 400th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the Americas Pledge was later modified, most notably with the addition of Undergod in 1954, which is the current version.

That's my remarks.

Thank you, George.

Closed session report.

City attorney, do you have anything to report from Clinton?

Nothing tonight, mayor.

Councilmember comments.

Council members, would anyone like to make a comment?

No.

Go ahead.

Just want to make note and say thank you to all of you who and are watching or are here to organize the read across America at Peterson Elementary School on Friday.

It was a wonderful event.

Uh absolutely loved reading to the kids, reading with the kids.

And uh I was lucky enough to get one a great book, The Big Cheese.

And I know some other council members also read during that event.

Yes.

I also enjoyed the event with Mayor Pro Tem Butch Twining.

Uh he brought a bag of books.

I just saw my one, my son Liam's favorite book, which is the The Pal Pow Fish, which was a crowd favorite.

Yeah, I got to hear that book three times.

I know it by heart right now.

Yes.

All right.

Now we're moving on to the mayor's spotlight presentation.

So last week we honored our monthly Mayor Spotlight Awards, and it's a chance for us to recognize folks during you know doing good work, their accomplishments, and then celebrating our local community members.

So first, we recognize this month's mayor's uh excellence award recipient, Richard Lagier, who is a water quality specialist in public works.

Richard Lagier is dedicated and selfless city employee.

He routinely goes above and beyond his job duties.

He navigates the complexities of municipal operations with persistence and professionalism, earning the respect of both colleagues and residents alike.

His compassion is evident in the countless individuals he has he has assisted from helping elderly elderly residents with daily needs to connecting families with critical resources.

The gratitude expressed by residents speaks to the meaningful and lasting impact of his services.

And afterwards, he said uh he was really excited because he's been working 25 years to receive this award.

So glad he finally got it.

Next up was the Marina High School cheer team, Go Vikings.

The team made school history by becoming the first cheer team for Marina to advance to the semifinals at the National Championship in Florida in the game day division.

In addition, they earn the highest score ever achieved by a marina game day team.

Awesome.

Then we recognize Kenny Lane for his his exceptional drone skills and videos of Huntington Beach.

You can follow him at OC underscore drone underscore productions on Instagram, and you're really impressed with his work, which is quite outstanding.

As you guys know, Fred's Mexican Cafe celebrated 25 years in HB this year, and they've pleaded each month to give 10,000 to local charities.

This month, Fres gave a 10,000 dollar check to the Huntington Beach Therapeutic Writing Foundation.

Next up was the Edison Girls Soccer Team.

Edison won its first Sunset League title since 2017, beating undefeated Huntington Beach in the league championship game in double overtime.

They finished ranking fifth in the county and second among public schools.

Lastly, we recognize Zoe Snyder, a junior from Howington Beach High School.

She won a qualifying beach volleyball tournament that earned her a place in the 2026 Gymn Gymnasiad, an international competition for top student athletes taking place this summer in Mexico.

As a result of her performance, she has been selected as one of only four girls chosen to represent the United States in beach volleyball at the event.

This honor reflects both her tournament success and her standing among the top high school beach volleyball athletes in the country.

Congrats to all our mayor spotlight recipients.

Up next is our business highlight section.

So for tonight's Mayor Business Highlight, Huntington Beach is proud to showcase the people and businesses that make our community vibrant through the highly regarded Minute with the Mayor series, which highlights and celebrates local businesses in our community.

Today's segment features Sweet El Cafe, where Grace and her team bring our personal touch and exceptional coffee experience to locals and visitors alike.

And then second, we have Wagner Charters.

Robert Wagner offers memorable memorable harbor cruises, connecting people with the beauty of Huntington Beach and more, and we'll get into that after.

So let's play these two quick videos.

What's up, HP?

This episode of Minute with the Mayor takes us down to Orange and 11th downtown to Sweet El Cafe.

Let's go meet the owner, Grace.

Grace, tell us about Sweet El Cafe.

Yeah, we're a local neighborhood shop.

We've been around for about 18 years.

We specialize in specialty coffee.

Nice.

Then a simple breakfast and lunch menu.

And you guys have two locations, right?

Yeah, we have one in downtown in the middle of a neighborhood.

Okay.

And the other one is in North Huntington, closely through the harbor and the bright water neighborhood.

So someone came in for the first time to Sweet El Cafe.

What's one thing they must try?

Anything with our espresso.

The Vienna, which is the one that you tried is our layer drink with the sweet cream on top, and it's topped off with the espresso.

But even just like a simple latte or a flat white, or it's really espresso forward, that's kind of where we shine.

What do you love about having your businesses located in Huntington Beach?

It's been a place where I want to be a part of the evolving changes.

And I'm excited to see where we're gonna be in the next 10 years and 20 years and 30 years because it's just growing in just a positive way.

Awesome.

That's another local gem right here in Huntington Beach.

So remember to support local and keep Surf City thriving.

See you guys at the next stop.

What's up, HP?

All right, that was Sweet Elle.

Now we're going to Wagner Charter.

What's up, Huntington Beach?

I'm Mayor Casey McKeon, and this episode of Minute with the Mayor takes us to Huntington Harbor to Wagner Charter Fishing.

Please guys tell us a little bit about Wagner Charters.

Uh, we've been in business since 2008.

I'm actually born and raised here in Huntington Beach.

We do Catalina shuttles, deep sea charters, like for local range or long range fishing, uh, groups of four to six.

We also do scening tours, harbor tours, uh ash scatterings, party events, work events, awesome.

And what would you guys say really keeps customers coming back?

Uh it's really our customer service.

Uh we get a ton of repeat clients, probably uh at least a third of our clientele is repeat clientele from out of state.

Do some sort of oceanic excursion with her family.

They come back every year as a repeat client because we treat people like friends and family.

We want people to feel so comfortable with us that they're giving us hugs at the end of the day.

That's another local gem, an HP.

Support local and keep Surf City thriving.

See you guys at the next stop.

What's up, Huntington Beach?

I'm Mayor.

Yeah.

All right, Grace, why did we let you guys know from Sweet L that uh she has a new menu coming out on March 16th, and she's always been focused on health, but she's taken it even further.

So they plan to be as organic and sustainable as possible, bringing in seasonal fruits and organic eggs, you know, working more with local farms.

And then Robert, who was trying to get her early, I think he'll still come um speak in public comments.

But just let you guys know he does um Catalina uh cruises over to Catalina, which a lot of people don't know about, any kind of charter fishing, oceanic experiences, ash scatterings, um, harbor cruises.

So make sure you guys reach out to them.

His phone number is 714-478-8541 or Wagner Charters.com.

So thank you guys.

So uh the Minute with the Mayor continues to spotlight our Huntington Beach small businesses.

So if anyone uh hasn't applied yet, please visit Shoplocal HB.com as part of tonight's business highlight.

We're also uh excited to introduce a new initiative that reflects the city's ongoing commitment to supporting our local small business community.

And so later this evening, you'll see under the consent agenda that we will consider the Surf City Small Business Digital Grant Program, which is designed to help brick and mortar businesses strengthen their digital presence.

And so we wanted to give a preview of this program and its potential impact before the formal consideration.

So with that, I'm gonna turn it over to the economic development team.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the city council.

I'm Chris Casanova, economic development manager, joined by Chris Kennedy.

Together, we serve as your economic development team.

So I'll begin with a rationale for the proposed grant program, and Chris will walk through the details of the grant itself.

Tonight's business highlight previews a proposed digital grant program to equip local small businesses with practical digital marketing tools.

Many small businesses struggle to attract customers and maintain visibility in today's digital marketplace.

If approved, the city funded program would provide grants to train and support up to 15 small businesses in targeted digital marketing strategies.

The goal is to help them stay competitive, increase revenue, and continue contributing to our local economy.

So this slide here summarizes key findings from a recent survey by the Orange County Inland Empire Small Business Development Center.

They surveyed over 1200 regional businesses this past December, and they identified that customer acquisition was one of the top challenges, with nearly 20% of businesses not actively marketing.

Business owners cited marketing strategy, AI tools, e-commerce, and digital systems as top priorities for 2026.

As more consumers search and shop online, businesses without strong digital visibility face a clear disadvantage.

So in response to that, the city is proposing the Surf City Small Business Digital Grant Progeted Digital Improvements that boost customer acquisition and long-term sustainability.

So this initiative aligns with the city's uh economic development strategic plan by supporting business retention, strengthening our commercial corridors, and protecting local sales tax revenue.

It's a targeted investment in long-term business stability and commercial vitality.

And with that, I'll turn it over to Chris to walk through the proposed program structure and implementation details.

Chris Thank you, Chris, and good evening, mayor and members of the city council.

The program is a partnership between the Orange County Inland Empire Small Business Development Center and is designed specifically for 15 Huntington Beach brick and mortar businesses.

Over three weeks, participants take part in group digital marketing training, receive one-on-one advising from SBDC experts, and get hands-on instruction in Google and social media marketing.

Each business develops a customized paid digital advertising campaign tailored to their target audience.

To ensure immediate implementation, every participant receives a thousand dollar grant to launch their campaign.

This program is structured to provide both flexibility and hands-on support.

Participants attend two virtual group training sessions, followed by one-on-one consulting with SBDC advisors to tailor strategies to their specific business needs.

The group concludes with a final in-person session focusing on reviewing strategy and an implementation.

The curriculum centers on creating digital presence.

Businesses learn how to optimize their Google business profiles, effectively leverage Facebook and Instagram, launch paid advertising campaigns, and measure performance using analytics.

The goal is to ensure each participant leaves with a practical tools, a clear strategy, and the confidence to execute.

To qualify, the businesses must be a Huntington Beach brick and mortar location with an active city business license in good standing.

The program is designed for small businesses with between two and twenty-five full-time equivalent employees, including the owner.

Research shows small businesses often lack funding, expertise, and time to complete effectively in today's rapidly evolving digital and social media landscape.

All applications will be reviewed for eligibility and completeness.

If demand exceeds available funding, participants will be selected through a lottery process to ensure fairness and transparency.

The total investment for this program is $15,000, fully funded with the city's existing economic development budget, so no additional appropriations will be required.

Each grant is issued as a single disbursement upon successful completion of the program, ensuring accountability and participation.

The program is structured to deliver measurable outcomes while maintaining strong fiscal responsibility.

And if you have any questions, staff is welcome to uh answer that now.

Any comments or questions, Council members?

Yeah, yeah.

Can I reference the business development?

So this is uh the type of program that I love to see.

But let me just explain.

And for those who are watching at home or in the audience who are listening, this is if you own a business or you know somebody who does two to 25 employees, this is micro, micro business, local business development.

Definitely apply for this grant because you're not just getting a thousand dollars at the end of it, you're getting an education as to how you can navigate and spend money across the digital landscape.

Meta, Facebook ads, Instagram ads, navigating AI.

The spend to return on the in the digital world now, and I know this as a restaurant owner is huge.

So even a 200 investment on properly targeted Facebook ads can turn 20 to 30,000 a year in extra revenue.

So a thousand dollar spend, which is ultimately what you're going to get on the third after the third session here is you're gonna take all the information that you've gotten from an SBDC advisor, and then you're gonna be able to apply that with a thousand dollars through a lot of this through the digital spend.

Let's just take, for example, let's say you you know turn around 200 new guests on a thousand dollar spend, 200 new guests at $100 a month spend that are repeat customers.

That's $50 to $100,000 over a one or two year period, just in top line revenue.

So one might think, okay, a thousand dollars, it's a micro grant, you're helping some of these businesses.

That's the type of revenue that can take you from a one unit location to a two-unit location, building your brand, expanding across the city.

So uh I highly encourage everybody to apply for this program because this is the type of program that we need more of, and I'm glad to see that you put this together and we're actually making something happen here.

That's well said, Andrew.

The beautiful thing about this is you know, the saying sparks start forest fires.

This is just the beginning of um the development.

We've we put together an ad hoc committee.

Mayor McKeon, myself, and Councilman Gruel, we were fortunate enough to be uh put on the ad hoc committee for business development, working with Chris Casanova, Jennifer Vinsenior, and the community development.

And we are going to continue to try and formulate ideas to grow the business.

We're already uh and they'll talk about it a little bit, uh being rewarded for the bid business friendly uh mantra that has come to fruition.

But business development, we are gonna continue to work hard as your city council to help our businesses thrive and grow, as Andrew said, thousand dollars may seem small, but the multiple of return is is going to be paramount.

But this type of program is not going to be exclusive to just the 15 recipients.

This type of thing is gonna we're figuring ways to roll out roll out these type of educational programs, do things to generate more business, better business, like our uh treasurer's uh financial uh seminars, a lot of traction.

You know, we were kicking around the idea of these types of uh whether it be Zoom or in-person uh meetings, where you know if you're not an award winner, you can still come and learn and benefit.

Uh so we're really gonna work hard and continue to work hard to grow the the business environment here in Huntington Beach and to continue to compound this as the business friendly hub of for sure Orange County, but we know California.

Chris, can you put the slide back up one more time for people to show them how to apply?

So applications aren't fully uh we're gonna you need to work with OCBC following hopeful approval, and then the launch is planned for uh April 13th is the goal for if we get this approved for to go online too.

If you follow our newsletter and social media channels and um hbbiz.com, then all of that info will be there.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Contact us.

But you have something.

Um I think this program is fantastic for all the reasons that uh uh um Andrew and and Don said.

Um are you planning on and on doing this annually now?

Is this gonna be an initiative that you're gonna roll out now and and continue on?

Yeah, it's to provide some context.

Um other cities have done similar programs, and we've we've received good feedback um from SBDC.

So if there's a lot of good um interest and we see positive response, we can either continue to expand that program or there's other similar types, maybe AI focused.

Um so yeah, we'd love to keep it going.

So if somebody doesn't isn't a finalist this year, they can they can reapply next year.

Hopefully.

Okay, and is there any any uh thought about expanding it a little bit, say from you know 15 companies to 20 companies?

Is that in the budget?

Um that's always the question.

Our goal would happily be for us to be able to budget next year to have more opportunities for more individuals in their businesses to thrive.

I mean, that's the mandate you guys have put upon us, and that's our goal.

I think that's a good goal.

Thank you.

Let's see.

Yeah, go for it.

Yeah.

Chris, see I can say that it applies to both of you guys.

Um why don't you for one time in case somebody wants to take a little snippet, you know, screen record the uh the meeting?

What are the social media channels that our city has?

Name them all.

I know we have a city website, things like that, but go ahead, one of you guys.

Uh we have the Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, LinkedIn, um, but in a Twitter X, um, not TikTok.

Next door.

Jonathan, sir, this is our city weekly email, right?

Newsletter, definitely.

So, if how do people how do people uh sign up for the newsletter?

Where do they go?

Julie.

Put you on the spot.

You can it's fine.

You can go directly to our homepage on the website.

And there's a button right there, right when it pops up when you go to the website, and it's uh just sign up for the newsletter.

That goes out every week, Surf City Weekly.

Great highlights for the city, but you know, announcements like this.

So that's I feel is the best way for people to stay up to speed, make sure it gets emailed to you, and you always say it every week.

Awesome.

Maybe in that news, it's a digital newsletter, right?

Yep.

Maybe put hyperlinks to every one of our, you know, to the IG account, to the Facebook account so somebody can just click on it, takes them right there, they can begin to follow.

It'd be super easy.

That's what we expect here, you know.

Absolutely.

Streamline.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you.

Next, we're moving to the community and events announcement portion of the meeting.

Uh, Madam Clerk, do we have anyone signed up to speak for community events announcements?

Yes, Mayor, we have two speakers signed up.

Uh Justine Mainkoff and City Treasurer Jason Schmidt.

And also Caroline Osborne.

Okay.

The city council will now receive public comments for community events, announcements only.

Each organization is allotted two minutes for its announcement.

Where your name is called.

Please approach, use both podiums, state your name and organization for the record.

It's a little different how you guys do it.

I was expecting like 50 people to come up.

Okay.

Um, good evening, honorable mayor and city council members.

My name is Justine Makoff, and I'm the founder and president of Free Rain Foundation at the Huntington Central Park Equestrian Center.

For the past 13 years, free Rain has quietly and consistently served this community.

We provide loving sanctuary for rescued horses, horses that were once abused, neglected, and unwanted, and we harness their unique intuitive abilities to help individuals struggling with mental health challenges.

We are proud to be accredited by the Global Federation Animal Sanctuary.

Um it's a certification earned by only a small percentage of sanctuaries nationwide.

But what matters most is what happens inside the fence.

We've worked alongside the Boys and Girls Club, Huntington Beach Police Department, LAPD, Youth Shelters, Sunburst Youth Academy, and many others, offering equine growth and learning sessions to young people who are carrying burdens far heavier than they should.

And the presence of a thousand-pound horse walls come down, anxiety slows, trust begins to build.

Conversations that might never happen in a traditional setting begin to unfold.

We're 100% volunteer run.

With more than 80 active volunteers, every dollar raise goes directly to the care of the horses and the programs we provide.

We survive and thrive because of the generosity of individuals who believe in our mission and understand that nonprofits are not an extra in the city.

They're essential to the health of a community.

We are proud to work in partnership with the Huntington Central Park Equestrian Center and the Urban Forest and the Therapeutic Writing Center.

Together we help make Huntington Beach not just to be a beautiful city, but a compassionate one.

Community connections is the heart of what we do.

We have the hug and groom the first Sunday of every month, where people come and learn about our program and love on our horses.

And we have a um Poppy 3K Poppy Walk that's on April 4th.

And I encourage everybody to come.

It's a free event.

You can learn more about the Huntington Central Park Equestrian Center, Free Rain Foundation, and the Urban Forest.

Thank you.

Thank you.

State your name, please.

Jason Schmidt.

Uh good evening.

A couple quick announcements tonight.

Uh thank you to all of our United Way volunteers who made our February free tax prep day a huge success by helping nearly a hundred people who signed up and dropped in to get their taxes completed on time.

This was one of the largest events that the United Way has hosted this year in Orange County.

And we hope to have a seasonal tax site next year in Huntington Beach.

Our fourth free financial literacy workshop focused on savings and managing debt will be held next Wednesday, March 11th at 5:30 in Central Library and simultaneously online.

United Way volunteers will be offering lots of practical tips on how to build out a plan to save money, avoid getting into debt, and consolidating debts to reduce the high interest rates that make it nearly impossible to pay off those debts.

Prior financial literacy workshops are now available on YouTube to get caught up before coming out next Wednesday.

Finally, our next scam class, The Art of the Distraction Scam, will be held on Wednesday, March 18th at 6 p.m.

Central Library.

Whether at your bank's ATM or at your house, distraction scams are one of the most common scams and quite easy to avoid.

Steve Levin will teach us how to protect ourselves as identity theft not only costs you money, but also tremendous amounts of time having to replace driver's licenses, debit cards, and credit cards.

Speaking of consumer protection, this is National Consumer Protection Week.

And the Federal Trade Commission has made available brochures on how to avoid getting scammed.

Please stop by the concierge desk at City Hall and pick up your free copy.

Thank you.

Thanks, Jason.

Is that it?

That's it.

Okay.

Announcement of supplemental communications.

Madam Clerk, do we have any supplemental communications?

Yes.

We have supplemental communications.

Seven emails for item number 20 received regarding the licensement agreement between the City of Huntington Beach and the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum.

13 emails for item number 21 regarding the approval of the conceptual design for the Edison Park Reconfiguration Conceptual Plan.

Item number 21, a memo updated attachment numbers 9, 10, 12, and 13, and PowerPoint presentation entitled Edison Community Park Reconfiguration Conceptual Plan received from Ashley Waisaki, Director of Community and Library Services regarding the conceptual designs for Edison Park Reconfiguration Conceptual Plan.

Item number 21, one email and one letter received on behalf of the Edison Park Community Group.

And item number 23, three emails received regarding the proposed declaration of February 22nd as the USA hockey day.

Perfect.

Now for public comments, Madam Clerk, how many speakers do we have tonight?

We have 33 speakers this evening.

Okay.

Just a minute.

Okay.

The City Council will now receive public comments for any topic, including items on the open session agenda.

When your name is called, please approach, use both podiums and state your name and organization for the record.

Mr.

Amory Hanson, Pat Goodman, Nancy Buchos, Ann McCarthy, Charles Jackson, David Reinerson, Roz Price, Russ Neal, Chris Cluey, Richard Hardin.

Go ahead, Nancy.

Hello, everybody.

Good evening.

My name is Nancy Bucos.

I some of you may know me.

I am a longtime resident of the Southeast area.

I am an organizer with the Friends of Edison Park group and a member of the Edison Community Group.

I'm here tonight to support option two of the Edison Park Conceptual Plan with some of the conditions that were stated in the letter that was sent previously.

Other than those concerns, I have just a couple that I want to say out loud, and you've heard them from me before, but you know me.

Most of you that know may know I'm a little bit of a tired person when I have something in my brain, it sort of just keeps going until it can't anymore.

So humor me.

First, uh the plan calls to remove 50 healthy trees.

I wore my green tonight because I'm a tree person.

Y'all know it.

Um I'm just asking that you keep the trees that you can and give us the trees back in the form of the larger trees that were discussed at the library community services plan.

And um more specifically, uh the large trees.

I'm talking the 20 to 30 foot tall, 10 to 15 foot canopy spread.

You know, part of the charm and the part of Edison Park that most people take for granted, maybe, and we'll see when we don't have it anymore, is that shade.

And that shade is really what makes it special.

It's a place for pam families to hang out, for kids to hang out and read uh across from the high school.

And um, if we take it all away, we're just gonna have an event center and um people are gonna be looking for that.

So I just really implore you guys to.

I I know we talked about it, but I'm just asking one more time to keep it in the forefront.

Second is the infrastructure.

I didn't really see it in our plan, but um, if it's in there, forgive me for saying this, but the current system for irrigation is super outdated.

Even yesterday there was a four-foot hole in the back of E2, and a guy was down there, told me he had two days to fix it, and it took away from him working on 30 other parks.

So we have this ongoing problem every year at the park, and I'm just hopeful that the irrigation system is part of the plan.

I just didn't see it.

Um, you know, lastly, I'll say this the the park plan came to fruition a few years ago.

We talked about it before you guys were all um on the council, and you guys even walked the park with me once or twice, and I showed you some of the problems that existed.

And back in that time, we just said, you know, bring it up to speed, you know, fix the cracks, fix the basketball courts, fix the tennis courts, and now it's a whole new animal.

It's become a lot bigger.

And um, I just ask that you just remember that some of us really just wanted the park to be upgraded.

We love the way it was.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Nancy.

Next speaker, please.

Hi, my name is Anne McCarthy.

I'm a long-term volunteer with AYSO Region 56.

We run a year-round soccer program that serves 12 to 1600 kids local here in Southeast Huntington Beach.

I'm speaking on the shortage of youth soccer fields in Southeast Huntington Beach, specifically fields for soccer, but also football, flag football, um, lacrosse, et cetera, and specifically fields that have lights.

Um, both of these plans uh being considered tonight, include fields along Hamilton that will be lit.

We encourage the city to approve either of these plans, including these fields.

Local fields are imperative to the success of youth uh sports programs and youth sports programs are imperative in keeping our kids active, healthy, and happy.

These fields also provide open space when not in use.

We encourage the city council to approve one of these two plans and move ahead with these fields as soon as possible.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

Um, I'd like to speak on uh agenda item 120 or 26178, the Surf City Small Business Business Digital Grant.

Huntington Beach is a city built on entrepreneurship.

Our small businesses are the backbone of our local economy for family-owned restaurants and surf shops to service to serve and provide for neighborhood retailers that give our community its character.

And Councilman Gruell, you know this firsthand as a local family-owned business owner yourself of Calico Fish House.

Running a local business takes a grit, long hours, and constant adaptation, especially in today's rapidly changing digital economy, especially with AI coming forward.

Many small businesses are still catching up when it comes to websites, online ordering systems, social media marketing, and digital payment platforms.

These tools are no longer optional, they are essential for staying competitive and reaching all the customers that need to be there to see the businesses grow.

Programs like this help level the playing field.

A modest investment of a thousand dollars grant for 15 local businesses may seem small to some, but for a small business owner trying to improve their website, strengthen their online presence, and modernize their operations, it can be meaningful and a difference and very impactful.

And in turn, it's a win-win, not only for the small business, but for a beautiful city of Huntington Beach, and of course, it's revenue.

Supporting small businesses isn't just good policy, it's good economics for everybody.

When local businesses succeed, they create jobs, generate tax revenue, and keep our city vibrant and beautiful.

As someone who has spent many years supporting local businesses and working alongside entrepreneurs in this beautiful community, I deeply appreciate the council's effort to help our small business owners adapt and grow in this ever-changing and thriving world that we live in these days.

Business, when our small businesses succeed, Huntington Beach succeeds.

And again, I'm and and I'm so excited about the Huntington Beach Surf Museum and what's gonna happen with that.

But once again, Roz Price, I am a city council candidate for the city for 2026, and thank you.

I appreciate it.

Good evening.

Um Mayor McKean and Council.

I'm here tonight to uh ask you to please pull agenda item number 20 uh to conduct further analysis and be more responsive to the residents' input.

This item license agreement with the Honey Beach International Surfing Museum, ISM.

Um, this proposal has come before the council a few times, and the same concerns remain unresolved.

I want to uh bring in um a reference uh report that resident Kim Kramer, he's a neighbor of the library and the surf museum.

He he produced a report on his own on the incomp incompatibility of cohort habitating Main Street Library with ISM International Surfing Museum.

In it, he describes the mission and purpose of Main Street Library and ISM.

I hope you will all listen to it as you make your decision.

I'm going to quote this section on the mission and core public obligations.

Main Street Library, it's page 15 of the report.

Delivers essential services to residents, supports literacy and like lifelong learning, provides student study space and homework support, offers free computer and internet access, supports research, job searching, and access to civic information.

Serves residents first.

Functions as routine residents serving civic infrastructure in the downtown area.

ISM, on the other hand, hand preserves and interprets HB surfing heritage, serves the cultural landmark and tourist attraction.

Primary value lies in tourism, identity and storytelling.

Visitation is episodic rather than service-driven.

The best route for you to take is to pull this item.

It is reminiscent of the Central Park Symphony of Flowers episode.

The lesson from that, debacle is to take your time and do your due diligence before putting city assets at risk of degradation and misuse.

This is such a great opportunity to offer honor surfing history and our local surfing stars, but not at the risk of jeopardizing that treasure main street library.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

There is a disturbing pattern to a great many of the decisions that are being made by the city council.

The current proposal to move the International Surf Museum to the Main Street Library fits neatly into this pattern.

The library master plan concluded that the Main Street Library was already too small to properly fulfill its purpose, and also stated that a surf museum and a library were incompatible in a common facility.

Though the consultant caught grief for making that statement publicly, but sure, hire a consultant and then ignore their advice.

Numerous questions have been raised about the ownership of the collection, and the new license agreement finally states that the ISM retains ownership and liability for their own collection.

Odd that the first time this topic is being addressed publicly is buried in the license agreement.

The rental fee is set at $500 a month, but also includes utilities, staff support, and parking.

The typical rate for commercial properties in the area is between $2.50 and $3 per square foot.

That would imply that the space dedicated to the ISM should be no more than 200 square feet, a 90% reduction from their current location.

But wait, wasn't the reason the ISM wanted to move was that they didn't have enough space?

Oh, so in the agreement, the ISM is actually getting 1,184 square feet.

So shouldn't the rent for that be more like $3,000 to $5,000 rather than $500?

And remember, the ISM is the same organization that was 12 to 18 months in arrears on their rent in their current location just before this proposal was hatched.

Exactly what business principle is it to reward deadbeats.

But wait, there's more.

So whether it was the airshow settlement, the proposed Symphony of Flowers, the Citizens Commission on Library Books, the previous attempts to outsource library operations, all the ill-advised lawsuits, or this current proposal for the ISM, the pattern is clear.

This council either has not thought things through with the thoroughness and discipline that we should be able to expect of our city council members, or they simply don't care and are willing to use taxpayer dollars to reward their friends and allies while driving the city into bankruptcy.

Next speaker, please.

Charlie Jackson.

Added material caused the update to fail two times on a future ballot.

Please have just the replacement policy and nothing else.

It's worth reading now and reminding people what it is.

So here it is.

Replacement.

The city council shall forthwith cause an election to be held to fill such a vacancy for the remainder of the unexpired term.

If the city fills the vacancy by appointment, such appointees shall be hold office until an election to fill the remainder of the unexpired term at the next general municipal election.

Should the appointment occur after the filing deadline for the next general municipal election, the seat shall be deemed vacant upon certification of the general municipal election, and the vacancy shall be filled in accordance with sections 312A and 312 C.

I think we need to really add this if a uh ballot issue comes up on a future election.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Hello, Chris Cluey, Huntington Beach resident.

Um I just want to say thank you first off for giving us the full three minutes.

I appreciate that.

I'm probably not going to take all of them because I think we're all used to speaking for 30 seconds.

So thank you, Casey.

Um the couple things I want to go over.

First one, um, I I like that you guys are talking about, you know, helping our small businesses operating in a business-minded sense.

I would like you to apply that to the city council itself because we would like to know what this litigation is costing us as taxpayers.

I read on this agenda there are six different litigation items in closed session related to various lawsuits that the city has brought that community members have warned not to bring these lawsuits because you're not gonna win.

So I think we deserve an accounting for what that has cost us as taught as taxpayers.

Second thing I'd like to talk about.

Please leave the libraries alone.

Like I don't know how many other ways we need to say it.

The surf museum is great.

Let the surf museum have its own place.

The surf museum doesn't belong in the library.

The library is a place for library books and people going to the library.

There is no reason you need to be shoving the surf museum into the library.

And then on that topic, we voted to put the banned books back in their spot in the library.

That passed.

It still has not happened.

And I'm just gonna say flat out, that's an absolute gift for my campaign for state assembly, because I can point to this city council and say they do not follow the law.

They are not interested in listening to their community.

They do not care what the will of the people is.

So thank you so much for that.

I really appreciate it.

Anyways, please listen to your community.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Good evening, council members.

Uh, my name's Richard Harden.

I'm a resident here of Huntington Beach.

I own my home here.

Lived here for a long, long time.

Um, I own a business here.

And I'm here just really to just urge you to adopt either one of the proposals for the Edison Park.

I really don't care which one it is, I don't have that much of an interest in which one it is.

They both seem very nice, well thought out programs.

Um it's been five years since that was started.

Somebody thought about that and said, hey, we should do some work on this.

And uh that's a long time.

And I have a I have a personal interest in it because, in spite of how it might look, I actually play basketball at that park twice a week.

And part of the improvements are there is the basketball court.

And I made a little handout for you guys just so you can see what we do.

Uh the the part I used to play that at that park in 1980.

And uh, it was the best part, it was the best basketball park you could play in.

It really was.

Uh now it's as you can see from some of the pictures, it's not.

Um they're not even 10-foot regulation goals anymore.

But it's also one of them that it remains one of the busiest places to play.

Like I played last night, and there was plenty of people to play.

There were people there almost every night.

It's a very busy place.

It really deserves to have some some help.

And it's included in both both uh programs, but uh one of the things that I wanted to say here is that it's included in phase B if you decide to do it in a phase thing.

And uh I thought that's Ms.

Wysaki's been very very pleasant with me.

Uh I bugged her a bunch with the emails about this, but I may disagree with her on this.

I think phase B should be the first thing you do.

Why?

Two reasons.

One, the most important, I think, is because it includes the parking lot.

If you're gonna add a bunch of venues to this thing, such as a skate park and um a new uh playground.

You better have the parking for it.

So you need to update the parking lot in order to do that.

It'd be terrible for somebody to come to a rebbin-counting ceremony and not have a place to park, right?

Uh and the other uh reason is selfish, is I want to see the basketball courts improved before I can't play anymore.

I'm 66, all right, and I don't have any more of the games I got in me, but I've got a few more, but I'd like to see it get done before then.

So if we get started on it, start with B.

Start with phase B.

What's the difference?

Phase A, phase B.

Start with B.

Get that done first, then add the uh the other new venues to it, and you're already ready for it.

You would hate to not be able to use any of those things because there's no parking to use them.

Make sense?

That's it.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

My name is Mr.

Amory Hanson.

I'm speaking tonight in support of IM 20, the mayor and councilman Burns and Vandermark's item to allow the memorandum of understanding to allow the International Surfing Museum to use space in the Main Street Branch Library.

Surfing is a major part of Huntington Beach's history, and continuing to have a museum of surfing is important for Huntington Beach's future.

Having an excellent surfing museum could be a welcome improvement for future bids by Huntington Beach for surfing at future Los Angeles Olympics.

In addition, I hope that the surfing museum will be part of a the creation of a new cultural neighborhood on the 500 block of Main Street.

Let's continue to share what it means to be surf city.

Once again, I urge a yes vote on IM20.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening.

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

So the story is supposed to be that Huntington Beach is losing, losing all these court cases and wasting taxpayer money, fighting useless lawsuits.

We have lost cases regarding housing mandates, voter ID, and protecting children and parents from destructive influences.

So why not throw in the towel?

They say, but are we losing?

Parental rights have a winning streak at the Supreme Court, including Mahmood v.

Taylor, and the recent blocking of California's AB 1955, an anti-family law.

This council courageously opposed.

While our voter ID charter amendment passed by our voters was struck down by our Democrat-controlled courts.

Voters themselves are placing a similar statewide measure on the ballot this November.

Voter ID is required by 36 other states and polls at 80%.

We are hardly on the losing side of this issue.

Likewise, stopping the state's community destroying housing mandates is going to require the our neighborhood voices initiative.

In the meantime, this council's resistance to tyranny has bought us time.

While neighborhood destruction proceeds in other cities, and those other cities that have rolled over on arena to avoid builders' remedy have found the legislature passing more laws that will force builders' remedy on them anyway.

So not only is this council on the right side, you are on the winning side.

The tide is turning.

Our long nightmare is coming to an end, and this 250th anniversary of America will see a new birth of freedom.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Please call up the next 10.

Next group of speakers, please approach both podiums.

John Ridelli, Brother Stephen Gerard, Siblusky, Tony Riccobono, Ding Joe Curry, Mark Curry, Craig Von Freeman, Betty Flynn, Elaine Keeley, Tim Geddis, Chris Reaney.

Go ahead, sir.

Good evening, uh Mayor and City Council.

Um you might have this, I think it's six-page written comment that was submitted.

Um I'm not going to be able to get through it, but I hope you might have a chance to uh to look at it more in detail when you have time.

Good evening.

My name is John Rodelli, and I've enjoyed living in our great city of Huntington Beach for well over 20 years.

You might have remembered me in the past.

In fact, I graduated from Edison High School in 74, and I presently instruct bocce ball via the City Sands Recreational Program.

Before that, I was part of the group that led the effort in late 2017 for the four synthetic resin bocce ball courts we now have at Murdy Park.

In fact, I created a 35-page report.

I had gone to all the different courts here.

Um that have botched courts, all the different cities, and uh took measurements, took photos, and I created this port this report that was widely given to the city officials there at the time in late 2017.

I called it bocce ball courts for Huntington Beach.

I have witnessed firsthand the steady growth of bocce ball participation in Murdy Park from the time these courts were completed and open to the public in early 2020 on numerous occasions.

I have seen more than two courts being played on at the same time.

I have also heard from my bocce class students located on the opposite end of the city, far from Murdy Park, a full six, seven miles away, driving all the way from the Edison Park area.

That distance and time to travel plus the cost of gas can add up over time.

Four courts are essential, not just for casual play, but also for properly running standard sixteen team double elimination tournaments.

Two courts simply can't meet that demand.

Four courts will help ensure the likelihood that bocce players will not have to wait to gain access to an available court or have to be put on a waiting list or have to reserve a court in the in advance.

In case you do not know this, it's not a new idea.

In fact, the city's own 2009 master plan for Edison Park included boxy ball courts as a planned amenity.

Unfortunately, those plans were never realized.

The last thing I would say is the relocation of the pickleball courts behind the fire stage is a happy compromise for us bocci players.

I had envisioned that location.

I can live with it.

Bocce.

Thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Mark Curry.

I represent the Edison Park Community Group.

Good evening, Mayor and members of City Council.

On behalf of the Edison Park Community Group, local residents, family, and longtime users.

We're respectfully request approval of option two of the Edison Park Conceptual Plan with several community recommendations incorporated.

Edison Park is a deeply valued neighborhood space.

And these recommendations reflect consistent community input focused on safety, infrastructure, environmental stewardship, and long-term stability.

First, infrastructure.

Improvements are essential.

A modern irrigation system will protect both the new and existing trees and green spaces.

Walking paths should be repaired and resurfaced with drain the ones that have drainage issues, particularly on the west side, needing to be corrected to eliminate flooding and safety hazards.

We also urge the city to coordinate and stagger the three major projects that are going to be happening together.

Ascon, Magnolia Tank Farm and Edison Park to minimize traffic congestion and disruption.

During construction, strict safety measures must protect the two on-site oil wells.

In terms of design enhancements, larger lidded trash receptacles will improve sanitation.

Selectively widening paths will enhance ADA access and also allow for emergency vehicles access.

Shaded areas, simple outdoor fitness equipment, and clearly marked dogway stations will better serve the entire everyday park user.

We also request sound attention walls on the north side of the pickleball courts to reduce impacts on adjacent residents.

Finally, we ask that the community remain engaged throughout the design phase.

These additions are practical and reasonable and will allow and align with the city's goals.

Incorporating them into option two will welcome, will ensure Edison Park remains a safe, welcoming, and sustainable space for generations to come.

Thank you.

Thanks, Mark.

Next speaker, please.

You've already received the Bible bookmark on new USA personal cities.

I'm giving you another.

There has been a revision on the resolution in support of a Huntington Beach declaration of a safe pre-born personhood city.

And that occurs in item number five, where it says California motto is Eureka, the golden state, and the revision is, and citizens prefer to honor the golden rule.

So I've given you the update on that wonderful resolution.

Beloved Mayor and Council, you have, I think, four more city council meetings before Mother's Day.

It's a wonderful time for you to contemplate and go ahead and put on this resolution on the agenda.

I've spoken with your city uh clerk's office and they talked about the protocol and what's required for something to go on the agenda.

It sounds like you have to decide by Wednesday at 5 p.m.

to get uh this resolution on the agenda.

And how you go about doing that, of course, I don't know, but you do know.

I've also provided you the wonderful precious feed pin.

That is provided by the Heritage House out of Snowflake, Arizona, and it talks about our journey of life in our mother's womb.

And if you look at our journey of life on day 21 already, our brain and nervous system are discernible, and our heart stops starts beating in five weeks.

We begin moving, and the heart already has its four chambers.

So let the beating heart show you there certainly is life in the womb.

And I hope you'll proudly wear this wonderful pro-life symbol, uh, which is called the precious feed pin, and that's the size of our feet at 10 weeks when we're developing peacefully in our mother's womb.

I'd like to thank uh the citizens that keep signing the California pre-born personhood advisory petition as I go out and do all the petitioning too.

And finally, I'd like to say you probably won't see me in two weeks because I'll be actually in Sacramento at the California March for Life on that Monday, March 16th.

And I'll just end with smile.

Your mom chose life.

Everybody in this chamber, God bless you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, um, I'm Betty Flynn, organizer of Friends of Edison Park and all HB Parks Matters group.

I'm speaking on item 26193, the Edison Park Conceptual Plan.

I support the approval of option two.

However, I'm not a fan of the pickleball place court placements behind the fire station.

In option two, we have three youth and family elements.

We have the soccer fields, the new tot, and the all-wheel skate park together.

Having the pickleball courts, pickle park ball courts placed right in between an area that's for children, youth sports, and families would bring that pickleball has a lot of adults playing and a lot of spectators.

I just don't think it's a good idea to be having so many of the spectators and the players, and then the game itself being played in an area that is designated, you know, by the look of the plan to be an area for family and children's sports.

That's just my opinion.

I know there's concerns about the noise from the pickleball courts, and that's why those were plopped from option one in the area that they were to behind the fire station.

But I believe the city did two noise studies.

The last one was done, I think in 2025, and that found that it they did not exceed the city noise standards between the hours of 10 a.m.

or 7 a.m.

to 10 p.m.

for pickleball.

Um, because I know there's concerns with the noise levels for the residents office still well.

So I'm hoping that we can kind of figure out it some kind of better flow or placement.

If you look at option one, it has the tennis courts with the overlay for the eight pickleball courts.

Why can't we keep that that way?

Because in the end we'd still get to the 16 pickleball courts and have the tennis courts and everything, all the ball sports would be in one area.

Um I am looking forward to having irrigation system upgraded because the one we have now is just subpar.

And I'd also like to see new trash cans, the cement ones like the ones in um Central Park that have the you know dome lid over it, and also have uh clear and concise emptying schedule for the trash cans because there is a big litter problem and overflowing trash can problem at Edison Park.

Um, I would also like to urge you to replace at least half of the trees that are going to be cut down with large, fully grown trees, especially by the pickleball courts.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ding Joe.

Hey, good evening, Mayor McKeon and members of the City Council.

My name is Ding Joe Curry, and I'm speaking on behalf of the Edison Park Community Group, a group that actually has been advocating for Edison Park ever since 2021.

So much of what you are hearing tonight from residents and park users, I think most of them do reflect the uh detailed list of the 14 items that's outlined in the February 28 letter regarding this agenda item 26193.

So even though the letter already been emailed to each of you, and with copies to our city manager, Travis Hopkins and Ashley Waisaki, I am presenting this letter to you tonight as part of the city council meeting record for today.

Our primary and the most important request is very straightforward, and that is for you, the city council to approve the Edison Park Conceptual Plan number two and incorporate those 14 detail infrastructure, safety, environmental, and design conditions outlined in this letter into a final approved action tonight.

So incorporate those items in your approval action tonight.

These 14 items are all very representative of over the years of community input, and we have done community input surveys from the very early on with ongoing consultations with various groups, including the pickleball groups.

And I think that these requests of 14 items are reasonable as well as responsible for the park.

So this letter, once recorded, will also serve as a documentation for the official city council record for future CEQA consideration so that these community identified requests and also mitigations remain part of the documented project history for Edison Park.

I want to thank Mayor McKeon.

You have been there since you've taken on this project as a lead to consistently work with our group, Edison Park Community Group Leaders, and we appreciate that because collaboration does matter.

So thank you for that.

And we stand ready as a group to continue partnering with the city to ensure that Edison Park remains a first of all, safe, balanced, beautiful, and functional as well as sustainable space for generations to come.

So thank you for your action, and we hope that you would adopt uh option two with the items of 14 that we outlined for you in the list.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ding Joe.

Uh Tony Ricobono, uh, 29-year resident of Huntington Beach.

Uh, Mayor McCann and City Council, thanks for letting us speak.

I'm here to speak in favor of option two of the uh Edison Park Conceptual Plan.

Uh I've been involved in this process for the last several years.

Um, uh, with all the different pros and cons and different plans and so forth, and a lot of the trade-offs that have been made.

And ultimately, I think uh option two is a is a reasonable plan for moving forward.

Um I and others had a lot of concerns about option one.

Uh, there were a lot of concerns, particularly about the noise, and despite the noise studies and so forth, those did not alleviate our concerns.

Option two does alleviate those concerns uh to a large extent, which just to be clear, you still need to pay very clean very close attention to the noise and whatever mitigations you can do.

But option two is an improvement.

Option two address those concerns and other concerns, like the addition of the boxe ball courts and so forth.

So ultimately, I think that's the most reasonable plan to move forward with.

I fully support that plan.

Um, I encourage you to move forward with that plan.

Um, as others have stated, please make sure you pay attention to the design elements, the irrigation.

Uh, if you're gonna put new trees in, try to put the largest trees possible in so that the shade comes within the remaining of my lifetime.

Um, you know, want to be able to enjoy that shade while I still can.

Um, and with respect to the letter from the Edison Park community group, um, I think our request is not just to consider those elements, but you know, make them part of the plan.

Make them part of your vote tonight as you vote to approve the plan.

Make sure you include those elements as well.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Elaine Keely.

I'm the president of the Friends of the Library of Huntington Beach, an independent nonprofit 501c3 organization.

Through our membership and community support, we have donated millions of dollars and given thousands of hours in volunteer time to the library.

We believe that the library is a public resource for all residents of Huntington Beach, and strengthening our library strengthens our whole community.

We are nonpartisan but pro-library.

We fight to keep the library as a public good freely available to all.

And we're willing to sign a reasonable MOU if it contains only standard business terms, and if the city will sign the grant agreement, which is legally necessary for us to donate as we are accountable to the IRS.

We urge the city to accept this donation at no taxpayer expense for the good of the library and for the good of the entire community.

Thank you.

As someone who grew up uh playing in that park, doing all the sports on all the different fields, being in the community center, walking the park with all our dogs over the years and just enjoying the open space.

That's why option two is most appealing to me is that you know I have a 50-year relationship with some of those trees.

I don't want to see them go.

I don't want to see that open space.

The city fights against development, but they don't want to keep a beautiful open space, a beautiful open space.

Option B is I'm sorry, option two is the best option of the plans out that and I would support that.

In addition to uh the library item, the surf museum is nice, but the museum doesn't belong in the library.

As someone who's grown up surfing Huntington Beach for 40 plus years, it's nice to have the museum.

What you really should be bringing back is the old surf theater.

That was Huntington Beach.

That was the experience that I grew up with.

You know, it was amazing.

So leave the library alone, work on the museum, bring back the surf theater, and support option two for Edison Park.

Thank you so much.

Um thank you, Mayor, for uh giving us all three minutes.

Good evening, City Council, Tim Geddes in the house.

I hope you will eventually act on my communication for closed session reporting and become more transparent.

I would like to have the city council respond to what needs to be done by the next uh meeting on March 17th, uh, which happens to be St.

Patrick's Day.

I would like to make St.

Patrick the patron saint of transparency, and that he become a symbol for protecting the community and chasing the snakes out of local government.

It may take uh until November, it may take longer, but the citizenry needs to uh needs to live without fear of recrimination from the state, loss of local control in our housing, and poisonous pandering to special interests.

Uh regarding housing, you have known for two you have known for two years this month that you would lose your battle over housing mandates.

You you knew it, Judge Catherine Pacall knew it, then city attorney Michael Gates knew it, and now everybody knows it.

Two years ago, did you just hope for the best and plan for the worst?

It doesn't appear uh so on the last part.

Now you have to scramble to come up with something by the middle of next month.

How many dodging how much dodging the bullet do you think you can still do?

You will be blamed for the fallout.

Trust me, you will be blamed for the fallout.

We need transparency to return to the shores of uh surf city and protect us from partisan paganism.

Just uh just like the South Africans voted to do on March 17th, 1992.

We need to end political apartheid in Huntington Beach by showing the hardcore megas and extreme fundamentalists the door.

We need to restore unity and hope for our uh residents.

I feel lucky, even shamrock lucky, that we may have a new four-leaf clover of uh council candidates dedicated to uh finding greener pastures for our city after the stony ground of the last four years.

It's time to halt your anti-community grievance crusade and to uh and for us to turn megaism to mega wasm.

It is I will uh I will um I will show up here in two weeks.

I won't be wearing green or orange, I will be wearing white for transparency, and I'm sure it's meg uh patron saint won't mind.

I will close with the exclamatory saying by both St.

Patrick and Indiana Jones.

Next speaker, please.

Chris Rainey, lifetime resident.

I'm against agenda item 20 as it is written because it shortchanges the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum, the city, and the patrons of Main Street Library.

The surfing museum proposes through their newsletter to synergize with Main Street Library with objectives including fostering interdisciplinary learning by integrating library and museum holdings, integrate catalog and curate the PT collection into a research center, and create a sustainable partnership.

The city license agreement doesn't mention learning, integrating resources, or a sustainable long-term partnership.

Instead, the museum gets discount rate, free parking and other perks for five long years.

When the license agreement was posted, exhibits A and B were either blank or missing.

As of this morning, exhibit A was posted in supplementary communications, exhibit B was still missing.

That's a red flag.

The license agreement doesn't address real problems and conflicts.

It gives the Surf Museum two rooms, support for 12 board meetings a year, event promotion, a workspace, free parking when available, and free utilities, all for 500 bucks a month.

The agreement notes that the electrical system is maxed out, and the museum must consult before with the city before they plug in any more electrical things.

This is a problem if the museum wants to increase its digital engagement.

The surfing museum proposal reads like a partnership to create a destination research library with a rich online presence.

Instead, they're going to get two rooms in a neighborhood library with no AC.

The license agreement reads like a sub-rental agreement.

It doesn't give meaningful detail about who's managing the collection, who's processing the collection, who's handling the metadata, digital asset management, and content management systems.

These are all important parts of online museum practice.

Are the librarians supposed to do that?

Also, in terms of archival practice, the city license agreement talks about best archival practices.

You can't do that in a building that doesn't have air conditioning.

My own archive tried this.

We partnered with the museum and it dissolved over collection management.

Items disappeared.

We never found out who stole what.

Can you hear me?

Am I using the right microphone?

Because of the height, you know, I've never.

I'm never what you know the one to your left right there.

Is that good?

Help her up.

Oh.

Oh, this one?

Oh, there you go.

I brought the one shoes.

I'm wearing the wrong shoes.

Okay.

I'm getting we're getting an adjustment.

All right.

Maybe.

No, just go.

We're not.

Thanks, Julie.

Thank you.

Okay.

Long-term resident of Huntington Beach, property owner.

And I'm speaking for the many people that have spoken to me that they would love to live in Huntington Beach and own pro own or rent property, but they can't afford it because there's not enough available housing.

And that's what I'm speaking to now.

This city has unfortunately spent millions of dollars, could be 10, fight with lawsuits fighting the housing element proposed by the state.

I personally am sick of lawsuits, period, even in my own personal life.

And then fighting the state, and we've lost each time the lawsuits against the housing element.

So I'm strongly recommending and hoping that we can move forward with it.

And the housing element is of diverse sizes.

It's not density, it's not expensive.

There are a lot of low-cost combs proposed, as well as middle and higher income.

So it's not just all for low-income people.

It's a diverse regulation, and we need to know the details.

So that's what I'm wishing that that will happen.

Um that you people will finally get us that housing element.

Um I'm on some oversight committees, plural for the city and for the school and for school districts, construction oversight committees.

And one of and what at one of our meetings, I can the construction, the facilities, the facilities managers said there's no way that my children or my son would be able to live in the city until I die.

We never afford to live here.

So I really want you people to understand what we're facing when we don't adopt the housing element, which again is a multifaceted.

It's not all uh low cost, it's not all rentals, it's not all houses even.

It can be some apartments, so that's what I'm just hoping that you will consider.

So that's what I'm just hoping that you will consider that people who live here now, many of their children will never be able to live afford to live here.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next ten, please.

Kathy Graham, Dan Rugg, Aaron Spivey, James Torres, Bart Callan Potter, Ann Palmer, Paula Schaefer, Guimo Trazo, Robert Traso, Tony Bisson.

Okay.

Good evening.

Uh, my name is Dan Rugg.

Um Mayor, Council members, staff.

I am the uh general manager of the Huntington Beach concert band.

And I'm here uh just to uh talk a little bit about there's been a lot of talk about the library, Main Street Library and the Surf Museum moving in.

I'm not uh for or against that.

I think that it could coexist, but just wanted to uh let everyone know if you weren't aware that uh the Huntington Beach concert band has had our sheet music storage in there for the past 30 years.

And there were talk about uh trying to digitize it, but unfortunately there's some copyright laws that uh make that not a possibility.

So we need the storage space, and we would like to work with uh the library services and with the city with the Surf Museum to find a home for our sheet music so we can continue the 53 years that we've served the city.

I also run the concerts in the park, and we will be celebrating America 250 this year.

Uh we have multiple military bands uh coming to the park this year, and we need our sheet music.

So with that, uh I know that uh Ashley, I I think you're working on some solutions for us, and we appreciate that.

Really just wanted to um let the city know that uh we're proud to be part of the community.

We're proud to be uh representing Huntington Beach with the summer concert series and with other musical events in the city, and uh I'm hoping that we can come come up with a solution.

Thank you.

Thanks, Dan.

Next speaker, please.

Council members, Paula Schaefer here.

Um I urge you to vote no on the license agreement with the surfing museum.

The attached agreement does not did not include exhibit A or B until this morning, and B was never presented.

And these each each of these two exhibits are integral to understanding the terms as they are proposed.

Exhibit A was the designated space within the library, and exhibit B was to include a non-existent or non-exhaustive list of programs to be presented.

How are the taxpayers supposed to be able to determine what space the museum would use and occupy and how it would be used if these exhibits are never presented?

And providing them eight hours before the meeting is absolutely inexcusable.

And why would the city consider subsidizing this nonprofit organization?

I have nothing against the surfing museum.

However, it's been in existence for years, and yet it struggles to keep the museum open.

It's not open regular hours.

It's been closed January and February, and it intends to be closed for the month of March.

It doesn't obviously have sufficient staffing or volunteers to maintain accessibility to the public.

It was months behind in rental payments at the city, you know, to the city for at its current location.

So why are you giving it a sweetheart deal?

The agreement requires the city staff to work with the museum on potential staffing, gathering statistics and programs, assist in analyzing, organizing and storing the museum's property, potentially the city is supposed to provide the show mobile at no cost, and also provide additional separate workspace for the museum.

Now, is this in addition to the space that's designated in Mysterious Part Exhibit A, as well as parking at no cost.

This is a terrible agreement, and it should be voted no.

I don't even suggest that you hold off on it because I think it is such a terrible agreement, and it's such a terrible idea.

However, at a minimum, I think you should hold off until we get the update to the library master plan because you're not even considering that.

This seems like it's a done deal.

I think that's a terrible idea.

Thank you.

And also to say that we would like to vote definitely for option two.

Um I've been to every meeting at Edison Park since 2021, two, and three, and on.

I've been playing pickleball at Worthy Park since the dedication ceremony 10 years ago.

Um we desperately need at least 16 new pickleball courts in Huntington Beach, if not more in the future.

Um I don't understand why it's taking so long, but whatever.

Um pickleball is a multi million dollar sport.

It's the fastest growing sport in the world.

It will be in the Olympics in the future.

Every day at Worthy, at least a hundred plus people play pickleball from 7 a.m.

to 10 p.m.

There's about 30 every four hours.

An eight-year-old can be on the same court playing with an 88-year-old.

All ages play together, getting in shape, laughing, and socially interacting.

There's no other sport that's so inclusive.

I've made a hundred plus friends over the years, met people from every state in America and from many different countries around the world.

Um, we are definitely ambassadors for the city, Huntington Beach will bring in revenue.

People plan their vacations around what cities have pickleball courts, and again, I would love to vote for the um 16 courts.

Um if you have no idea how much fun the sport is, if you've never played it before, I invite you to come to Worthy and visit and talk to us.

If you don't have enough friends, play pickleball.

Um, there's a lot of great people out there, and worthy's next to the playground.

So the lady that did make the comment that it shouldn't be near pickleball courts.

We are responsible adults, we have kids.

Dad plays pickleball, mom watches the kid on the playground.

Then they switch.

I mean, we're always looking out for the kids.

Umorthy has been there for 10 years.

It has never been resurfaced, it is looking a little a lot shabby.

The paint's almost gone, cement is showing, and I'd love to work with Ashley to uh possibly have it resurfaced in the future soon, um, so that people don't trip and hurt themselves.

I do know the man who can re who did resurface the courts at Los Cab and Costa Makeup Mesa pickleball courts, and I'd love to work with Ashley and all of you in the future.

And we also have the number one 50-year and older pickleball champ that lives in Huntington Beach.

Side note.

Thank you.

Good evening, Ann Palmer, three plus resident uh 30 plus year resident of Huntington Beach.

I'm here to speak on item number 17, 26-125 regarding the housing element progress report.

This is a mind-bogglingly tedious government report, and although thankfully our city does not have massive numbers of housing units to report, the document was meticulously and comprehensively prepared.

So thank you, city, thank you, staff.

I read every cell.

Mind boggling.

Anyway, I say thankfully because up and down our state right now, many cities are frantically processing paperwork, expediting undesired, huge, high-density housing projects, and the frustration of their citizens is dramatic.

They're forming legal action groups, they're forming neighborhood protest groups, but the truth is they've lost already.

But they also know that they got bamboozled.

They submitted housing elements, and that housing element only gets them so far.

So they're frantically trying to hit their halfway mark to half of all the development.

And what we have here in Huntington Beach, we're not frantic, we don't see that level of development, and you know why?

Because you all bought us time, and I want to thank you for that, because otherwise we'd be seeing in any neighborhood 10-story buildings going up next to homes.

Across the state, the majority of people do not want to see that happen.

So thank you again.

We have not lost money, we have gained our way.

We in Huntington Beach, because our requirements were delayed, while our city and good faith challenged the state, are not out of compliance, despite what people want to tell you.

We are not being fined.

So thank you again to our law department for helping us out with that.

Um I think a lot of people want to know what to do next.

And again, we haven't lost, but there is a way forward.

If citizens are interested, there's a statewide organization called Our Neighborhood Voices.

That organization exists solely to put an initiative on the ballot in 2028 that returns housing zoning laws to local authorities.

That means if you want high-density housing, you can so have it.

But if you don't, you can determine what the needs are.

And frankly, right now, California is not growing.

If you say affordability, the things that drive affordability are not inventory.

They are economy, including recession, and income.

And so thank you.

Thanks, Ann.

Next speaker, please.

Hi, Bar Callender, uh, Huntington Beach resident.

I'll keep it really brief.

Uh I love pickleball.

Um, all ages are playing pickleball, it's growing tremendously.

Um, so I just would advocate for exist the existing pickleball course and any additional pickleball course that can be created uh in the you know for free public use.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Robert.

Thank you, Casey.

Uh uh good evening.

My name is Robert Trazzo, and I'm here to talk about item 26193, please.

My wife and I would want to sincerely thank you for the time and effort uh that you've all invested in this park issue.

We've had the wonderful opportunity to meet with Mayor McKeon, Mayor Pro Tem Twining, Council Members Williams Kennedy, Gruel, Vandermark, and Burns, both individually and in small group settings.

And you've all taken the time to listen thoughtfully to our concerns, and we generally genuinely appreciate that.

Uh, we're here tonight to express our support for option two.

We support this of uh plan primarily because it relocates aid of the pickleball courts to the southeast portion of the park, moving them farther away from the residents.

So that change, in our opinion, reflects a meaningful win-win compromise, and we are very grateful to see that consideration reflected in RGM's option two.

And it's not just us, we're in favor of option two since November 2025.

My Spitfire of a wife and several other community members collected 674 signatures of residents in favor of a plan to move the pickleball courts to the southeast portion of the park.

So we'd like to officially turn in copies of all 674 signatures, names, and addresses of those in support of moving the pickleball courts to the southeast.

We also please respectfully ask that additional sound mitigation measures be incorporated for the new pickleball courts, even with the relocation of the eight courts, noise remains a significant concern for nearby neighbors.

Thoughtfully designed sound barriers and other mitigation strategies would really go a long way toward protecting the quality of life of those residents.

Uh we also respectfully ask that the mature trees slated for removal be replaced with the largest, most mature trees feasible, not just small saplings, so that the character and canopy of the park can be preserved for current and future generations.

So I really, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you very much for thinking and acting win-win, and we ask that you please vote for option two.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I am a little short, so can I do this?

The one that Robert was just speaking.

Okay, thank you.

I can't grow any more.

Okay.

Hello, Mayor and City Council members.

My name is Guimo Trazo, and I'm here regarding item 26-163 Edison Park reconfiguration.

First, I wanted to thank you for the work you've done to bring forward the win-win option two plan.

It reflects real effort and thoughtful consideration of community input, and we appreciate that.

We gather 674 resident signatures presented by my husband just now.

Um, that opposed to the original option one plan, and asking for more balance approach.

As you move towards final approval, we respectfully ask you to consider the long-term legacy of your decision.

Please preserve as many healthy mature trees as possible and plant as many large canopy trees as feasible.

These trees are living infrastructures.

They provide shade, cooling, beauty, and character that serves families for decades.

At the existing tennis court site where up to eight pickleball courts may operate, we would like to request additional sound mitigation through soundproofing wall, berms, dense hedges, tree or a combination to protect nearby residents for years to come.

We also ask that you maintain four tennis courts through a dual use and if feasible widen pathways to strengthen emergency access and safety.

Tonight's vote will sharp will shape the park for generations to come.

Support moving forward with option two and appreciate your stewardship of our community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

My name is James Torres, and I have owned my house in Huntington Beach since 1998.

I live on Fifth Street in downtown with my beautiful wife and my 12-year-old son.

And I plan on being there till we celebrate our 300th anniversary as a country and handing it off to uh my um at that point middle-aged son.

So that's the that's my plan.

I I'm actually here not to speak about that so much.

I'm here to speak about um item 26193.

This uh and the speakers before me are very eloquent.

I've been to some of those meetings.

Um I'm asking that uh I I believe when you do in any project that you should always get community input and uh take it seriously and do as much as you can.

So, regardless of what you do, whether you do option one or option two, at least consider the option two input because it they did a lot of work on it, they didn't just show up and throw something together.

There were a lot of people doing a lot of things, and it's amazing.

And again, I don't live right there, but I'm with um AYSO, and they asked me to, since I'm a board member to come down and speak to it to say, hey, keep the fields lighted and all that good stuff for the soccer fields.

So that's really what I wanted to talk about.

Uh just to make sure that the fields are safe so that the kids can play and also I'm the safety director for AYSO 56.

Um, we probably should um make in some sort of effort for all of the fields at all the schools to get them as level as possible and as safe as possible.

So, anyway, I'm I really appreciate everybody on the city council.

The uh I'm just gonna call you the magnificent seven, okay, from the film.

I know what your other nickname is, but I'm gonna go with that one.

And um, I also want to point out that I think that it's kind of expensive, either option one or two.

In fact, it's very expensive.

I remember going to a Johnson Favreau library meeting, and I asked one question.

I said, How much is this gonna cost?

And he said, a boatload of money.

So this stuff that we're talking about here is a boatload of money.

So I think keep in mind the maybe pay as we go, you know, like uh home shopping channel, flux pay.

You gotta if we don't have the money, we kind of I think that's the one of the most important things.

It's not to it's to try to get the most bang for the buck with your RQRFPs, whatever you guys are doing, but it's expensive.

So the community plan is cheaper.

That's just another point.

But anyway, do what you're gonna do.

I support you guys no matter all of you, all seven of you, and thank God for thank God for the United States of America.

Appreciate your service.

God bless you all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Hi, my name is Tony Bisson.

I'm a resident of Southeast Huntington Beach.

And just by virtue of being in the community, I've attended several meetings and public events about Edison Park, and those those people who live near the park are very active, and it's wonderful to see.

And they they um they support uh a community project.

And so I would hope that the city council would really take into consideration that the second option that has had so much input from those people.

They're consistent and they've they've really been involved for a long time.

Specifically, the moving of the pickleball as far away from Stillwell as you can get, um, because I know there's people love pickleball, and I'm sure it's a wonderful game.

I've played it a few times myself, but it has an obvious noise pollution problem.

It is unreasonably loud.

A well-hit pickleball paddle, uh, you know, if you hit it in the center in that sweet spot, 85 decibels.

That's the equivalent of me shouting over here, shouting.

If a pickleball game was going on in here, reverberating off these walls, it would be very bothersome to most people's hearing.

And when you you know, you put eight or twelve of those courts together, it's it's a it's a it's a significant noise impact on a wide area, thousands and thousands of feet away.

So I can stand out here on on this mezzanine up here uh outside and hear worthy park pickleball, no problem.

So it's that loud.

And um, I guess the the important thing isolating pickleball and keeping it like as many courts as possible as far away from residents as possible is the solution to the demand for pickleball courts.

I'm not against people having a good time playing the game, getting exercise, getting outside.

That's great.

But if you just put two pickleball courts in the middle of a park like they do in Costa Mesa, you've basically wrecked that park and uh and the you know people using it.

Pickleball really needs to be in as few locations as possible, dense as possible, or better yet, moved indoors.

Um I used to live in Carlsbad, California, and there they wrap the pickleball courts in this material.

I don't know what it's called, but it's it's a sound mitigation solution.

Hunting to beach is a much richer city than Carlsbatten.

We can afford to wrap our pickleball courts.

And um, you know, the people in there might swelter in the heat, but at least their noise pollution will be contained somewhat.

And um I I also appreciate the city council giving us three minutes to speak tonight.

I've been to so many meetings where we've had under three minutes.

It's been like um, you know, like rapid fire um comments.

So thank you for that.

The community matters, and I can tell by your giving us three minutes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Call the remaining.

Last remaining group.

Linda, Danny Morris, Andrew Einhorn, Carolyn, Robert Wagner.

Perception versus reality.

Perception is the way individuals interpret and understand events shaped by personal experience, bias, and emotions.

Reality by contrast consists of objective facts and events that actually occurred regardless of individual interpretation.

In discussions around American elections, some perceive widespread voter fraud as significant issue.

However, available evidence consistently indicates that while isolated instances of voter election fraud do occur, they are exceedingly rare and not sufficient to alter the outcome of national elections.

Furthermore, the presence of voter identification laws not does not necessarily correlate with lower instances of election irregularities.

Understanding the difference between perception and reality is essential to foster informed and fast fact-based public discourse.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Andy Einhorn, non-citizen voting is non-existent.

A department of homeland security review of 49.5 million voters.

They found that registrations that were falsified by a percent of.

People pursuing legal status have no incentive to risk detention, deportation, or their path to citizenship by voting illegally.

Trump repeats the lie that the 2020 election was stolen as reflexively as breathing.

Yet the Heritage Foundation's own data shows the truth.

Out of 1.3 billion presidential ballots cast from 1982 to 2024, only 1620 illegal votes were discovered at a rate of 0.012.

Heritage cases from 82 to 2025 that combined with independent voter project data, which included state, federal, and local elections, even had a lower rate of fraud.

For example, California, the Heritage Foundation reported 71 illegal votes in 43 years, which turns out to be a percent of.

Texas had 113 illegal votes.

Florida, 93.

Both Texas and Florida, by the way, had twice the rate of California's voter fraud.

Texas has voter ID and still shows a higher fraud rate than California, despite California much larger voting population.

Reality, illegal voting is statistically insignificant, and stricter voter ID laws do not reduce fraud.

The Huntington Beach voter ID scam is not reform.

Not conspiracy-driven delusion.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Hi there.

Thank you for uh this moment to speak to you all.

Uh good to see you all again.

I want to say thank you for those that showed up at the uh Read Across America this year and uh previous years.

It's such a great um opportunity to open up a safe uh creative book and share it with the children.

So that was so much fun Friday.

Um there, and the kids really appreciated it, so thank you.

Also, um I could say something about everything.

Uh if anyone needs a ride to the DMV to get an ID, I would gladly take you.

Also, the um I spoke to some of the surfers because I went to a lot of the town halls about what's going on with the uh libraries, and it was my understanding from the architect.

He said they were gonna be building a new building, but I could be wrong that they're gonna be incorporating it to the uh used book area where nobody actually um traffics in that area at the uh main street library.

So um the surfers like it, and I say it's their city USA, so I would definitely respect the surfers' opinions, and uh they really like the idea.

It would definitely bring people down to uh Main Street, and um I think we all know museums are a place to uh reflect, and uh most people are silent, so I think it would pair well with the library.

Um not too many people visit that library right now as well, so it could bring some more people there, truth.

Second, um I've been going to Edison Community Center for 15 years with my kids, and um I'm actually here just to speak for all those that aren't here that are at home doing homework or at basketball practice.

The 2,000 students that are at Edison High School, I could probably work on getting their signatures.

Um, but that's kind of a joke.

So we all know that we need some more outdoor activities for the children.

I love bocce, I love pickleball, I love tennis ball, I love roller skating, I love trees, but we also have to take in consideration that we have a wide uh amount of youth in this area, and they need options.

Uh, don't know if they know that the um skate park is temporary, so I noticed that it's gonna be put a little smaller, and the totlots still there.

Uh so I looked at all the options.

I've been, like I said, going to the meeting since 2001, and it's been very um confusing.

My mouth is drying up, but basically, I just want to say I don't like any of these options, but we got to get the thing going, and I appreciate everything that Ashley's done.

We've paid good money to have um RJM look into this.

So I say uh let's get the ball rolling.

Keep the option open for open land for a pump track.

Kids want to pump track and uh keep the skate park because the kids are skating in it now, and that's all I want to say.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Hi, my name's Carolyn Osborne.

I'd like to read a quote from something that was posted January 31st, 2025 from Utbid Farouk, who is an Islamic scholar in San Diego.

Quote no one can stop Islam in America.

This is not your country.

This is our country.

This is the land of Allah.

If you want to live in a place with no Muslims, I suggest you go to hell.

Also, he said, this religion of Islam will enter every household.

The global nation of Islam will be victorious.

Please keep in mind that there are over 50 Islamic countries already.

Here are a few examples of why we all need to start caring what Islam says because they're acting.

In Minnesota, a hundred and twenty-year-old bar was closed.

It's called Palmer's.

It was sold to Muslims because natives quit going there because of safety concerns.

In Texas, Muslims are pressuring stone store owners to stop selling alcohol, cigarettes, and lottery tickets in their own stores.

In New York City, every Friday now, they close down Times Square so they can perform something called a dawah.

It's the prosthetize people and show us make a show of force by the space you take.

New York City also has their prayers five times a day, blaring on sounds lounge loud speakers starting at 5 a.m.

Now this goes on all over the country where they have an influence.

New York City, you probably heard, also wants to ban dogs in people's homes and increase taxes on dog owners.

In Ham Tramic, Michigan, the all-Islamic City Council voted to allow animal sacrifice in 2023 with no permit or restrictions.

But if we were to kill animals, we would be charged with a felony.

In Dearborn, Michigan, a pastor told the Islamic city council that he objected to the renaming of streets to a controversial Arab named Osama Siblani.

The mayor on camera told the Christian he was not welcome in the city and would a whole and would hold a parade when he leaves.

Countries in which they can be in without requiring the Native populations to change their way of life and put our American values second to theirs.

What's happening in our state?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Robert.

Hello.

I'm gonna be a little lighthearted here.

Uh tough to follow that, but uh my name's Robert Wagner.

Uh I own and operate Wagner Charters out of Huntington Harbor.

Uh, me and my father run it together since 2008.

Uh proudly serving this community for over 15 years.

Uh we are residents for over 44 years here.

I'm born and raised in the city.

Uh, truly love serving this community and what we do.

We offer private boat charters for Catalina shuttles, fishing charters, ash scattering, uh group things for work events.

I mean, pretty much anything you want a boat, we have you covered.

We have a 30-foot vessel, um, has beds, bathroom, kitchen.

We're doing shuttles across to Catalina all the time.

I see a lot of residents going to Newport, and I see a lot of residents going to Long Beach and using the Catalina Flyer or the Catalina Express.

For the same exact cost, you can have your own private boat with your own family and have your own memories out of our own harbor, supporting a family business.

So just wanted to come in and say a little bit about what we do and say hi and thank you to the city for featuring us a little bit and showing a little bit of what we do.

Plug the website.

Um 714 478 8541 is our direct number.

And if anyone here has any questions or comments or anything, I'll gladly answer any questions you have or hand you a business card and hope to bring you aboard soon.

All of you.

Thanks, Robert.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Roger.

Hello, guys.

How are you?

First, I want to talk about the library.

Please, please, please don't mess with the library.

That's one of our national treasures is a library.

The library is the most important thing.

That's how you could judge societies is by their libraries.

And this one over the country, the U.S.

has got the most amazing library system.

But when you start putting things inside it, a museum inside a library and all this.

I mean, hey, I learned surfing in in Huntington Beach with Corky's surf school.

I mean, I've had it's it's really important to me that there is and it's surf city, and it should be a museum and it should be a standalone, so that way everybody can appreciate it.

I don't know about the uh main street, I mean uh the main library because there's a lot of parking issues and all that stuff, but please, please, please don't mess with the library by putting things in there that isn't library related because it's really important that uh that they have their space so they could put the stuff that they need to put in there.

What whoever decides whatever they put in there, and sooner or later we'll figure that out.

The second thing is the that's really important to me, please.

The library is the most important thing over here.

We get it for free.

People that are broke, it doesn't matter how rich or broke you are.

If you privatize it, then they're gonna have library cards, and then you have to pay for it and all this stuff.

It's that's always what happens.

So please don't mess with the library.

That is so important to everybody, not just me, the kids, everyone.

Oh, please.

I don't know why it's always such an issue.

And we are owe it to our librarians, not to ever kick them out and then uh do something privatize it.

And I don't know if the privatization is still going on or not, but please don't do that.

Next thing is the flock system.

You know, the chief police has a stand-in that looks like them, but he's never here.

He's supposed to be here.

It's a lack of respect to you guys and for the city because we're supposed to have him here every single time.

Where is he in Israel again?

I mean, sirs, how many times does he have okay?

The chief of police, the fire department, everyone is supposed to be here at City Council.

If it isn't, it's it's thinking that you guys are not worth anything.

It's an insult to you and us.

And by the way, they had a tournament, a poker tournament a week ago, the police department did, and or the foundation, no permit, no permit.

They didn't have anything pay a permit for a for a poker tournament.

But if anybody else did it, you know, we get shut down, we get people arrested.

Come on.

Seriously, I mean, do like you're supposed to you're supposed to uh do you're supposed to do what you preach, and if the police can't do that, then why should anybody follow the rules?

All right.

That concludes public comments.

Next to council committee appointment announcements, council members.

Do you have any council committee appointment announcements?

All right.

A B AB 123 reporting.

Does anyone have anything to report?

Open us openness and this and negotiation disclosures.

Does anyone have anything to disclose?

I spoke with the POA.

I did as well last Monday, the 23rd.

I spoke of the POA as well, and I also attended uh OCOG last week.

All right.

Yesterday.

Thank you.

City Manager's report, city manager.

Do you have anything to report?

Yes, thank you, Mayor.

Um, mayor and city council.

I'm proud to announce that the city of Huntington Beach was offered uh excuse me, honored by the Orange County Business Council at their um turning red tape into red carpet award ceremony um last week.

The City of Huntington Beach received um the major award for our streamlined surf city program.

It's in the um the award we received one of three categories.

It was the economic development category where public agents there's public agencies um that were nominated, and we were one of 14 nominees.

And the um the award honors innovative public agencies that support economic growth through cutting red tape.

And and I would like to have our community development director, Jennifer Villa Senior, provide a little bit of information on our Streamlined Surf City program.

Yeah.

Thank you, Travis.

Um the Streamline Surf City program was introduced in early 2024, and it includes 28 initiatives that are designed to modernize and simplify the city's permitting process.

There's uh a bunch of different layers to it, but importantly, some of the key aspects are it provides 24-7 online permit access, real-time project status updates, app-based inspection scheduling, zoning code updates.

We looked at eliminating unnecessarily, uh unnecessary and duplicative review processes across all of our permitting um areas, uh, instant solar permits and express permits, um, expedited plan review, and there's more to come.

It's always evolving.

We're always looking for new things and initiatives to put into the program.

Um, the improvements that we're making, they provide increased certainty for our applicants, improved customer satisfaction, and it holds us accountable to the public, to each other, and to our goals.

Um we really probably need to thank Jasmine Daly, she's our building official.

She came up with the concept and all of the programs, and it's been through her leadership that we've completed so many of the initiatives.

Um, and she never lets us stop.

Uh, in addition to Jasmine, probably Gus Santos, he's our inspection manager, so Carkong, our permit center supervisor, um Melanie Wu, uh Derek Bowles, and our entire uh permit center, plan check, planning and inspection divisions, along with all of the other development services departments, um, like public works and fire, and of course, our economic development staff.

Awesome.

Good now.

I have the honor here of uh showing this beautiful award that was given.

This is the epitome of listening, leading, and winning.

This is this is something that I would like to say uh, along with community development, this beautiful, it's called the turning red tape into red carpet.

This is a fulfillment of a promise of the Fab 4.

Uh you know, they started out with promises made, promises kept, and one of them was to streamline the business friendly environment.

The metrics that Jennifer just uh cited are indicative of a an initiative that's come to fruition and is gaining so much traction.

What's really iconic about this uh award is out of 15 or so uh other uh vendors, participants, applicants, whatever you may be, contestants.

The people that came in second place was the city of Santa Anna, and the reason they got the award is because they put together an RFP to copy what Huntington Beach is doing.

I mean, that tells you the power of what's going on.

So Casey accepted the award.

I'm just give it to Casey.

He should have been presenting this, but he's humble tonight.

No, Gracie, Casey, Pat, and back then when Tony Strickland they came into office and they had a lot of promises, they're fulfilling a lot of them, and one of them was to really expedite the uh entire permitting process.

We sat with Jennifer V Senior, Andrew, myself, and Mayor McKeon and her staff on our business development committee and went through the metrics that she just did and talked about some of the other things.

It's incredible what they're doing, how they're expediting things using applications, using technology, using uh the ability to uh have your inspections all almost via Zoom through the app.

It's it's just fantastic, Jennifer.

You and your team, Casey, you and the Fab for you know, uh lightheartedly but with all seriousness, fantastic work, Jennifer.

You and your team, fantastic work.

And for the residents of Huntington Beach, this is a sign of listening and applying what we can do up here, working with our team, and the end result is not the award, but what the award stands for, and that is a job well done, and the residents are super stoked on it.

Congratulations.

And I'll just conclude.

You know, it's something everyone should be really proud of.

So to put you in the room last Thursday, we were at the Disneyland Hotel for the Orange County Business Council Awards, and there was 15 total candidates uh municipalities in Orange County that were up for this award.

And in front of that room of a thousand people, they read Huntington Beach's name as the winner for our streamline program where we've cut the red tape at City Hall, as Don mentioned, and we've increased permits issued by 23%.

As Don also mentioned, what's amazing is that Santa Ana and other cities have come to Huntington Beach because they want to replicate what we're doing.

And as Don mentioned, Santa Anna actually in their request for proposals said we want what Huntington Beach has, and they got second place.

So if you think about it, we got first and second actually, which is pretty cool.

But no, this it's uh it's a major award, as I say, Jennifer.

So thank you to Jasmine and everybody, and I think it's appropriate that she puts this on her desk in her office, or at least in community development for a little while, and we can pass it around.

So job well done, guys.

It's amazing work and a lot more room to go.

So thank you.

Anything else, Travis?

That's all tonight.

All right.

Moving on to consent calendar.

Does anyone would like would any council members like to pull an item?

I'd like to pull number 19.

19.

Anybody.

All right.

I'd like to move the balance uh 14 through 18, please.

Second.

Second by Vandermark.

Madam Clerk, call the roll, please.

Councilman Gruell.

Yes.

Councilman Kennedy.

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Twine.

Yes.

Mayor McKeon?

Yes.

Councilwoman Vandermark.

Yes.

Yes.

Item passes 601.

All right.

Gracie, number 19.

So I wanted to pull the budget so we can review some information.

We had a revised budget, then we have the forecast for 2526.

And then we were discussing earlier about some of the variances, why how these variances came along and where the funding came from and where some of the expenses came from.

So thank you, Robert.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Tonight I'll review the city's mid-year budget requests and our second quarter general fund forecast.

I'll explain why these requests are needed, how they're funded, and show that the city can support them while continuing core services.

Let's start with the purpose of the presentation tonight.

Oh the goal tonight is to walk through the mid-year requests, explain the needs behind them, identify funding sources, and review our second quarter forecast.

This forecast helps confirm the city has financial capacity to maintain current service levels.

Before we look at the requests, let me briefly explain for you for the public's benefit what a mid-year adjustment is.

The city operates on a yearly cycle that starts July 1st and ends June 30th each year.

The mid-year adjustments are compiled in February and January and presented in late February or early March.

As mid-year adjustments allow the city to update adopted budget when new needs arise or conditions change.

These adjustments typically address urgent items or costs that were not known during the budget adoption and rely on available resources to avoid disruptions of services.

With that in mind, let's look at an overall review.

Most items are one-time in nature and supported by the balance fund balances and reimbursements.

Funding comes from the existing balances and grants, which helps avoid any impact on ongoing services.

The total request for all the funds is 1,470,000.

I'll walk through how each fund starting, I'll walk through each fund starting with the infrastructure fund.

Supports facility improvements and required inspection services.

The first request is community and library services.

It's for the Newland House Museum renovation for 390,000.

This additional funded is needed to complete exterior renovations after abestus, lead paint, and preservation related conditions were identified during inspection.

And the second request is public works.

They're requesting professional service contract services for construction inspection for $140,000.

This funding ensures the continuity of required inspection services during staffing vacancies, which costs will also be recovered through permit project-related reimbursements.

So the total for the infrastructure request is $530,000, which will support facilities and other physical assets and protect the city's infrastructure.

Next is the grant fund request.

The grant fund request is externally funded for a planning project that's already been approved by the city council.

It's for the community development and is the California Coastal Commission local coastal program planning grant for $499,000.

This request allows the appropriation of funds to be executed for the Coastal Commission grant agreement to allow for reimbursement of eligible project costs through the grant term.

Special revenues are funds that are requested using restricted funds that support the very specific programs that are being asked for.

Next I'll move on to the forecast, the second quarter forecast.

So the forecast reflects the actuals to date and projected activity through the year end.

The revenues are tracking over budget, and departments continue to manage their spending carefully.

Importantly, the forecast will show that the city has sufficient resources to support their safety and service levels and infrastructure needs.

So now we'll start with the revenues.

This slide shows the revenue categories grouped together.

So now I'm going to walk through the key variances of each of the categories.

The first variance is the tax variance, which is a negative $470,000.

And that's mainly due to a downward adjustment in the 1% Bradley Burns sales tax.

The revenue, the second category, the revenue from other agencies and charges for service variants includes approximately $2 million driven primarily by additional fire reimbursements, $500,000 from county waste and recycling payments, $300,000 from fire inspections, $200,000 from a police emergency response, and about $150,000 from other service-related revenues.

The variance for the fines and forfeitures and use of money and property of approximately a million dollars is primarily related to additional interest received.

And the last revenue of other revenue and non-operating revenue is largely due to the waterfront settlement, which is an additional three almost $3.3 million in addition to what we budgeted.

So now we'll look at the expenditures.

So this slide is grouped into three categories with all the columns working the same way.

The personnel expenses are showing a savings of $4.8 million.

And that's driven by the successful implementation of managed hiring across the entire organization.

Operating expenses are showing an overage of $2.7 million, but that's primarily due to an offset that's directly tied to the revenue of the fire reimbursements.

And the other additional portion is the addition of professional services needed to maintain current service levels due to the heavy vacancies.

Okay.

So overall, you have uh additional $7.5 million coming in in revenue, and you're saving over two over $2 million in your expenses.

So that's that's approximately $9 million surplus over what you've budgeted.

So great job.

Key takeaway.

Um the mid-year requests, they address the critical needs, they rely on existing funding sources, and they're supported by available balances or additional grant funding.

The city identified for these, the city has identified funding for these costs, and most of them are at the ex at the direct at the direct allocation for the purposes they're designed for.

The city's general fund maintains a uh sustainable financial position this fiscal year that supports increased safety and service levels along with positive infrastructure projects.

Thank you.

And with that, I'm happy to take any questions.

So I'd like to thank you for putting this report together earlier, also for sitting down with me and pointing out where these variances came from.

I know before we had projected a deficit of several million dollars.

Um will we be in a deficit at the end of this fiscal year?

For this fiscal year, no.

We we're not forecasting a deficit.

And at the same time, we the um what was budgeted for reserves, we should not have to utilize any of our reserves for this fiscal year because we're managing the hired managing is is doing very well and creating a great savings.

Okay, thank you.

And um, so I appreciate all the clarification.

I know Andrew had a few questions as well.

So I just want to I want to make that clear and repeat that we are not in a there is not a budget deficit right now.

There's not a forecasted deficit for this year's actual forecast.

Okay.

We're forecasting a surplus.

Yeah, I think that there are one thing I've noticed when it comes to kind of municipal finances is that there's some confusion over the terms, the words deficit suddenly creates this sky is falling idea that we're gonna immediately go into bankruptcy.

We are an incredibly financially sound city.

Uh you know, a city budget is an authorization to spend, and then we manage, and and correct me if I'm wrong here, but we manage throughout the process in order to decrease expenses, attempt to increase revenue.

We true up at this mid-year stage, and then we reflect those numbers so that we can better manage on a go forward basis from an operating perspective, correct?

That's correct.

Okay.

So I think it's important to kind of talk about this.

Gracie obviously made the point we're not running currently running a deficit.

And then in regards to our reserves, we have roughly 400 million dollars in reserves plus another 200 million dollars, give or take in the general fund reserves.

I don't have the exact number, so I don't want to misquote you on that, but it's uh it's well over 100 million, I can assure you that.

I'm talking total reserves.

Uh I'm investment and everything.

You said general fund at the last word, so that's what for general fund reserves.

So our tax revenue was down, which I think is important to note.

Um, and obviously we had projected that about a year ago when we foresaw what was going to happen with the interest rates, and ultimately our tax revenue is driven well from a significant uh level by car dealerships when interest rates are higher, people are buying less cars, et cetera.

However, we were able to increase revenue through license and permits, which I think goes specifically to the streamline program that we've talked about.

So that's a key piece of it.

And then in regards to the personnel and the managed hiring, um, the total savings on that.

Can you talk on how we add back to the budget some of the savings that exist by holding positions and managing the hiring process and then how that money goes into the general fund?

Sure.

So first the first thing we do in inside the budget, we account for um an attrition rate and which is approximately seven million dollars.

So we have to overcome a seven million dollar savings, and then on top of that, they've you guys have provided managed hiring to the city manager, and they've done a phenomenal job, got the set they've received the seven million dollars and an additional almost five million dollars.

So what that will help you do is offset any additional overdue costs, um, any area that you're identifying as utilizing fund balance, and so you've been able to overcome all of that by properly managing your city.

So the city initially, in our last in our original budget meeting, we projected a little bit over a million dollar deficit.

We have stronger revenues, and obviously there was conservative budgeting, including these unfilled positions, delayed spending, et cetera.

So we ended the year with this $9.5 million surplus, which essentially is an $11 million swing.

Now can you explain to the people that are watching that those funds aren't typically directed towards the reserves or infrastructure infrastructure, they can go towards particular product projects, but that's what we're now reallocating here for these needs on this time frame on an as-needed basis.

Yes, that that's correct.

So the savings, what what we're doing is we're reallocating them to any of our needs.

Um that's part of the strategy of operating the finances of the city.

Um and then the other thing is if you are when you do identify reserves to create additional savings so you can maintain and keep your reserves.

Great.

Thank you.

Oh good.

Yeah.

Thank you, Robert.

And Zach as well in our pre-council meetings.

Andrew really sized it up that cut my talk time in half, so that's a blessing to everybody else here.

But let me touch on a couple of things, reiterate a couple of things, because the shock wave when when it was stated that we were going to go into the sacred 115 fund, something that was forbidden, forboden.

We did not go into the 115 fund.

Is that correct?

So at this current point, the 115 fund is budgeted for us to utilize 1.5 million.

So as long as we maintain that surplus of the nine and a half million, we will not need to use it.

Okay.

And I feel pretty good we'll maintain that nine million because this is the you know the end of the cycle true up, so to speak.

Yes, yes, okay.

Um so that's good news there.

Show me the line real quick again on um the the waterfall of the waterfront settlement.

What line item was that here?

Um that's on the revenue slide on under the other revenue and non-operating revenue.

The 10 million or the um Yeah, it was budgeted, budgeted at 6.7 million.

Okay.

And then we're forecasting at 10 million, so we'll be receiving approximately 3.3 million in addition to our budget.

And that's from the waterfront uh lawsuit, correct?

That's correct.

And I'm glad you said that.

Excuse me, uh, an opportunity segue into Huntington Beach is winning.

We are winning.

See, when when you win, people want to forget about that.

But we won what, was it close to 30 million or north of 30 million dollars?

38 million dollars, Dom.

In that waterfront settlement in that lawsuit, we won.

Yes.

Oh, okay.

In addition to that, it's to be known that we also had a five plus million dollar amplified win as well in a lawsuit.

Is that correct?

Yes, 5.25 million.

So that's 35 million dollars.

So I want to give credit where credit is due.

When people talk about we we lost this, we lost that.

Well, this budget tells me that we're getting actual dollars from a gigantic lawsuit win.

Is that a fair statement?

Yes.

Okay, fair enough.

That's good to hear.

Um, aside from that, um I just let's see if there's anything else I wanted to cover.

Andrew did a fantastic job for me.

This is amazing.

Um I I think that's it for now.

I just wanted to reiterate that um I think as a team, you've been fantastic, you and Zach, you know.

I I commented that before in the presentations.

I think you show a uh uh very easy to digest form of uh articulation in in your slides and things like that.

I appreciate that.

Uh there's room for all of us to improve, but I think we're headed in the right direction.

Is that a fair statement as well?

Yeah, absolutely.

Okay, that's that's good to hear.

So um we'll keep doing what we try and do best, and that's drive revenue, manage inefficiencies.

You guys keep keep an eye on the ball over there.

Um, and I would say that Huntington Beach, you can feel that uh your city council, your leadership team, uh, everybody involved in trying to be good stewards of the dollars, we're doing the best we can, and I think this shows that uh by virtue of uh the secret thumb pull, are we good or are we bad?

We're winning.

Thank you.

Don, just to just to clarify for the community.

So in 2023, we won 38 million dollars from the state in our lawsuit for the redevelopment loans, 38 million dollars plus the five point two five million dollar amplify amplify oil spill lawsuit, so forty-three plus million dollars.

So it's a fair point to make.

Thank you guys.

All right, anyone else?

Uh yeah.

Um, so got some questions.

Uh, I think this is slide nine, we got pulled up here, yeah.

Okay.

So looking at the the grand totals, and just for the benefit of the public, you know, where did it all start?

Well, we started with uh for revenue 300,101, I'm sorry, three hundred million one hundred and one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.

And then we have this revised budget where there's a little bit of a bump, you can see uh we wind up with three hundred million five hundred and ninety, but what we end up with in that forecast is three hundred and eight million approximately.

And so you can see the difference in the variance in the next uh column over there, it's seven point five million dollars.

Really the jump, if you look at where it all started to where we wound up from the adopted budget to the forecast, the difference there is about eight million uh and eighteen thousand dollars.

Uh I guess my my question uh to you in terms of that difference, whether we look at the variance of seven point five million, how much of that is is coming from a one-time bucket.

So of the seven point five, yes.

So um first the one and one and a half million is of section one fifteen.

Um so obviously if we maintain the surplus, we we won't actually have to utilize it.

And then three point three million is coming from the uh water front front, which is a one-time funding source that we should receive for two more budget cycles.

So approximately five million of that.

Okay.

So if I'm I'm looking at that three point three million from the waterfront, you can see in that right column under the revised to forecast variants just above the 7.5 million.

Um, is that in addition to the adopted budget of the 6.7 million that we see there?

So there's a certain amount of waterfront that we already allocated to begin with in the adopted budget, correct?

That's correct.

We we we adopted 2.5.

2.5 yeah, and so we're anticipating uh approximately six million dollars this fiscal year.

Okay.

So we're adding from that 2.5 uh basically like three and a half more to get to that.

Okay.

I just want to know where that came from.

And then if we go to uh the next slide, slide number 10.

So yeah, I think it's pretty remarkable.

We go from, you know, originally in that adopted budget, 300 million dollars to we wind up with a great surplus there.

I mean, the difference that I see is about eight million, or if you look at that variant, 7.5 million.

Um, but yeah, what hurts us is looking at these grand totals at the bottom.

We started off at 299 uh million, as you can see, but we wound up increasing things pretty radically in the revised budget and it came back down a little bit in the forecast and the difference between the adopted budget and the forecast is about eight point five million dollars.

And so I suppose if you take um from the previous slide the forecast revenue, which was 308 million, 120,437, and then you subtract the forecast expenses that we see in front of us there, 308 million uh sixty-eight thousand five hundred forty-eight, we do wind up with the surplus, and if my numbers are right, the surplus is fifty-one thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine, is that right?

That's correct.

Okay, and then we it seems like we did really well on on the revenue end.

I mean, we we superseded, you know.

But what happened, you think on the expense end where we are looking at almost copping up another 8.5 million dollars?

So what happens on that every single year, you'll what the a city will carry over all of their open purchase orders.

So any contracts that are open will be carried over.

So at the beginning of the fiscal this fiscal year, we'll also look at all of our open purchase orders and carry them over.

And this year it's approximately eight and a half million, which we also have an identified amount in our fund balance to completely cover that.

So when we you actually look at what you increase on your revenues of 7.5 million and what your savings is of two million, that's your true surplus because we already have money allocated to cover that first revision.

And next year, when we carry over the purchase orders again, the fund balance will also follow that as well.

So although it it will look like it's not quite the surplus, it is because we have the additional funding to the side that covers that 8.8 million from the adopted budget to the revised budget for the purchase orders.

Okay.

So if we didn't have that carryover coming over, we probably would be in a surplus then of over eight and a half billion dollars in some change, but it's just something that carries over year after year after year.

Um is that something that we could have foreseen when we put together the adopted budget at 299 million?

Could we have seen that coming from the previous year coming over before or um you yeah, so so you don't adopt what your what you carry over, but what we can do in this upcoming fiscal year is we can revise our revenue to match it, which which they didn't do.

Um, so it can't really revise it after it's done, right?

Um, but this yeah, fiscal year we plan on revising it so when we when you do show a nine million dollar surplus like this, you'll be able to more clearly see it.

Okay, so anticipating for fiscal year 26-27, we can probably see what we will wind up be carrying over at that point.

But even if we're aware of it, we wouldn't put it into our our adopted budget.

Uh we we won't know on what we'll carry over until after July 1st.

So you won't be able to adopt that.

So it would just be a carryover from for the open purchase orders.

Yeah, great.

All right, thank you.

Absolutely.

One last question, Robert, kind of in in line with Councilman Williams right there.

Um, as they say in the courtroom, it's hard to unring the bill.

So when we started with our uh the beginning of the year budget presentation, you know, we did forecast, you know, kind of a scary deficit.

Um here we are mid-year and winding up uh, you know, in the black.

Um, and you kind of just touched on with with Councilman Williams on what you'll be doing different.

Um I I think we should be cognizant of trying to be more accurate with our forecast because the residents, you know, if you tune into one meeting and not the second meeting, you're gonna have a message that resonates that completely uh is contrary to what we've just now seen.

So it I think now with you you here we can do a better job of you know trying to minimize the shock wave of I'm not gonna call it misinformation, but information that could have been articulated differently.

Uh and in doing so, I think it'll paint a much better picture for our residents in regards to really back to my word, the stewardship of the dollar, and which is important to everybody up here, everybody that works here, and of course it's very important to our customers, which are the residents.

So um that's our goal, right?

Yes, sir.

Okay, thank you.

I'll say to that point, and especially when it comes down to transparency, we should probably avoid having these on consent calendar so that we can go through this, go through this process and procedure.

Uh councilman Williams has talked about the consent calendar, and uh thank you very much, Gracie, for pulling this one off because this was a necessary conversation.

I know personally a goal for me, and I don't know if this is feasible, but love to work with everyone on it is if we can get some sort of a financial dashboard that's kind of living and breathing so the residents can just go online and kind of see where we're at with their own objectivity.

You know, like when you go to a McDonald's and it just constantly shows how many burgers they've sold, yeah, something like that.

Are we good?

Yeah, I'd like to make a motion to move item 19.

Second Councilman Gruel.

Yes.

Councilman Kennedy.

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Twine.

Yes.

Mayor McKeon.

Yes.

Councilwoman Vandermark.

Yes.

Councilman Williams.

Yes.

Item passes 601.

All right, next items are administrative items.

The the Surf Museum.

Staff, please introduce the report.

Yes, Ashley Weisaki, our community our community and library services director will provide um the staff report on the International Surf Museum.

All right.

Good evening, Mayor McKean and members of the city council.

Tonight we will present information on a license agreement to support the relocation of the Huntington Beach International Surf Museum into the Main Street Branch Library.

On July 1, 2025, Council directed staff to study the feasibility of co-locating the Surf Museum within the underutilized space at the Main Street Library.

Staff returned to the council on December 16th, 2025 with a study session to review initial findings.

This presentation provides the results of that work and outlines the terms of the proposed license agreement.

Representatives from the Surf Museum Board are here this evening to also answer any questions.

Co-locating the Surf Museum and library would strengthen the cultural identity of the downtown area and support the continued development of a cultural hub with the art center and library.

The partnership would increase programming opportunities, public events, and educational collaboration, which together help reinforce Huntington Beach's Surf City USA.

The museum's current facilities have significant limitations, including low ceilings, limited display areas, and deferred maintenance that affects the preservation of artifacts.

Covering key obligations, the city would provide dedicated space for the museum within the Main Street branch library.

The city would maintain all common areas used by both partners.

The city would provide reasonable support, including co-sponsorship of up to eight Surf and Sunday events per year and free use of the showmobile.

The city would also offer preservation and collection management guidance for museum materials, including the PT collection.

The city would provide additional reasonable space to the museum and allow up to 12 annual meetings.

The museum would receive a dedicated work area in uh the library branch for receiving and preparing displays.

Parking at the art center would be available on a first come first serve basis, and the city would assist with promoting museum events through our regular marketing channels.

Key obligations of the Surf Museum include the museum would pay $500 per month in base rent along with late fees and annual CPI adjustments.

The museum is solely responsible for funding all improvements within its designated space, including any compliance or permitting costs.

The museum would pay for staff time associated with showmobile use.

Maintenance repairs and upkeeps of all improvements within its area would be the responsibility of the museum.

Relocation and improvement costs are expected to be supported by visit HB, and no city funding will be provided.

Exterior signage would require city approval.

The museum would support joint visibility through publicity and fundraising that highlights both the museum and the library.

Staff in the museum would collaborate on grant opportunities, and the museum would track programming and visitor statistics.

This slide shows how approximately 9,500 square feet of space within Main Street Branch Library would be used by the library and surf museum.

The museum's footprint is approximately 1200 square feet of dedicated space, which includes office and storage areas, the PT Collection Research Library, and the museum gift shop.

The 20-foot tall walls in the library would allow a display of historic surfboards that cannot be accommodated in the current facility due to the low ceiling height.

The library keeps nearly 4,000 square feet of its own dedicated space, which includes stacks, research space, a computer lab, and staff work areas.

Oops.

About 3,600 uh square feet would be shared, including a reception, staff kitchen, and restrooms.

The blue room remains a shared programming space.

The second floor would remain shared storage space as well.

So tonight's recommendation is to approve the and authorize the execution of a license agreement between the city of Huntington Beach and the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum for the use of a designated space at the Main Street Branch Library located at 525 Main Street.

This concludes our presentation, and we are available for any questions you may have.

Any questions, anyone?

Yeah, no, I'm I'll start.

So I just want to really appreciate everyone's hard work on this.

Uh appreciate the residents I've met with actually last Friday.

So really appreciate their time to walk me through, uh, look at the facility.

We talked about obviously the surf museum coming in, some concerns they had.

Um I felt confident after leaving that meeting that um this will this will work based on the room I saw to the left, that's basically for storage now, understanding more of the footprint of the artifacts from the surf museum, um, how it can be bifurcated.

I appreciate uh Karen's communication and her plans to to make things work, to reshuffle some of the books around to the computer room, um, some circular, you know, use book sale shelving, looked like there's some room to add additional computers in there.

Um understanding, you know, the surfboards would be put in the main room, you know, sliding some some of the tables out from the wall, um, you know, uh working to upgrade those desks to have outlets that can then be um, you know, the the power cord run to the wall with a bumper on top to prevent tripping.

Um, a lot of things obviously that I've said before with uh cross collaboration with the art center across the street.

I think it just really drives um will drive traffic.

I know Gloria had mentioned she doesn't believe so, um, which is okay, but up Main Street.

Um, I really I really do feel people will go up there.

We've talked before about me with business leaders, how they really wish we had more culture in the city.

And I just think with the location across the street from the art center, that could really cross-pollinate very well, um, pollinate very well.

I think you have events at the art center catering, you know, over at the surf museum outside by Lake Park.

Um, so I just think there's a lot of things there that make sense, and then worst case in the agreement in section two, there is a 60-day termination clause if things were really to go sideways.

Um that gives us flexibility in the future.

Um, obviously, no one is the intent is to pull that trigger yet, but it gives the city flexibility an option um to make sure this works, to work with you know the surf museum, if other opportunities come forward in the future, pursue those as well.

But I think it just makes sense.

I mean, we're surf city.

Um, I just take such offense to the comment that was made earlier by the public speaker calling the the ISM quote deadbeats.

I mean, it's just such disrespect to our surfers, to our surfer community.

We are surf city.

Um, we have the WSL 50th anniversary coming up this year.

We want to show strong for it.

We want to get ready for the U.S.

Open this summer.

We want to get those artifacts in, show well.

So I really think it just makes a lot of sense to fuse these two together.

And worst case, like I said, if it does go sideways, we have that termination clause in section two with 60 day notice.

So I think it makes sense.

I think it's worth trying.

I think I think surf city deserve deserves it.

I agree with you, by the way.

That was uh that was inappropriate, and I just am embarrassed that that we even had to hear that.

However, I'll also jump on your statements in regards to the synergy that I think can it can occur here.

You know, I think to some degree we're overthinking this.

This is a temporary opportunity to drive more traffic into the library and collaborate with the surf museum, and we are surf city USA.

It's that simple.

We're decreasing costs by sharing resources as well.

And there's been all this talk about oh, it only you're they're only paying $500.

Well, on the one hand, we can't say that we want to provide free services for residents, and then on the other hand, say we're not jamming them enough, we're not charging them enough.

So you can't have it both ways when you make that argument.

If this doesn't work, it doesn't work, and then we move on to another solution.

We have a wonderful library master plan that's by no means complete that we're in the process of working through right now, which very well could roll out a subsequent opportunity for another surf activation or partnership or collaboration.

But in the meantime, why wouldn't we give it a shot?

It makes complete sense.

It's common sense.

Go ahead.

On that note, the term collaboration, it's very simple.

People working together to achieve a shared goal, sharing ideas, combining skills or resources, coordinating efforts, working together for a common outcome.

One of our fine residents presented a report by Mr.

Kramer.

Halfway through that report, she was citing things that um I tried to write them down as quickly as I could, but many of the things that Mr.

Kramer cited were benefits to the library, were exactly the same type benefits to our international surf museum.

That's called symbiotic symbiosis.

So I believe that the collaboration, the shared resources, the combining of skills, working towards a common outcome, which would be to deliver more book readers who learn about surfing and to deliver more surfers who enjoy reading books under one roof that right now is underutilized from the standpoint of attendance.

So we have now an incredible building with an iconic address.

And as my council members have said, we are surf city.

Look at it this way.

If if we had an incredible building as a surf museum, and I was on the city council of a city nicknamed Book City, and somebody said I want to go to the Surf Museum, I'd say let's do it.

But we are Surf City, so let's offer the opportunity to collaborate with the library.

Shared interests, shared goals, it's symbiotic.

And this is not a bro deal.

This is propping up what our city fought so hard to get that nickname, Surf City, and it's gonna bring that culture to life, living, breathing.

And I thought of some when I heard about that 20-foot ceiling.

I I see a display of a giant 20-foot wave, the feeling of a bottom turn off a 20-foot wave right there on that.

In Hawaii, we call that three foot.

But anyway, I love the idea.

I think our residents are gonna enjoy it.

It's gonna bring so much excitement to that.

And as uh Mayor said, uh, with the art center right across the street, and the ideas that uh are percolating for enhancing and developing the art center, the symbiosis between the library, surf museum, art center.

It's the triangulation of three great uh destinations combined into two locations.

It's a win for everybody.

I'm excited to see it move forward.

I'll be supporting this, so um, thank you for bringing it forward.

Thank you for the representation.

Um, and I I'm excited.

It's it's it's a win all the way around.

I too will be supporting this uh this agenda item.

Uh from the first time I saw it and and saw what the proposal was.

Um, I felt like it was the right thing to do.

Uh the current location of the surf museum is kind of off the beaten path, and I think that's part of the reason that they don't get the kind of attention that they need, and to be on the fifth block of Main Street, which doesn't get the type of attention it deserves either, because really the first two or three blocks of Main Street get a lot of the attention.

I think this is gonna be good for everybody, all of all of our businesses on Main Street, all the way up through fifths, you know, the fifth block.

And I think it's I think it's gonna, you know, it's the old rising tide lifts lifts all boats.

I think the the surf museum at the the Main Street Library is going to lift a lot of boats with a lot of our company with a lot of our businesses on the fourth and fifth blocks of Main Street.

So I will definitely be supporting this.

Thank you.

Gracie.

So when this was brought forward um by PT and said, hey, we have this idea.

We didn't know if it was going to work, but after looking into it further, we realize this this actually is a great combination.

There are a lot of kids here in the city of Huntington Beach who go to that who go to the library, and I think it'd be great for them to come out here and be exposed exposed to our actual surf culture, the one that was brought here by our legends, many who are you know here today.

Thank you for coming and for pushing this forward, bringing it to our attention.

I think this is a great combination, and you know, as Casey says there are some concerns, but if it doesn't work out, then we'll we'll figure something else out.

Um, I think this is a great opportunity from everyone, and who else to collaborate with a project like this, then to our legend here in Huntington Beach.

It's not like we're just handing out money to strangers, it's not a huge cost, and they've earned their place here as our part of our history on Huntington.

So I think this is going to work out great.

I'll just share my support.

It's a no-brainer.

Thank you.

I misspoke earlier when I said Lake Park, I meant Triangle Park.

So with that said, I'll move the item.

Second.

Councilman Gruel.

Yes.

Councilman Kennedy.

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Torney?

Yes.

Mayor McKeon?

Yes.

Councilwoman Bandermark?

Yes.

Councilman Williams?

Yes.

Item passes 601.

Do us proud, gentlemen.

All right.

Five years in the making without further ado, the Edison Park reconfiguration conceptual plan.

Staff, please introduce the report.

All right.

Good evening again.

Tonight we are presenting the conceptual plan to reconfigure Edison Community Park, including background findings from technical studies, the proposed improvement options, phasing and costs, and our recommended action.

We'll walk through the project background, existing site conditions, the tree and noise studies, the proposed improvement plans, potential phasing, and cost estimates and next steps.

Edison Park's reconfiguration effort began in 2021 and has included robust public outreach, technical assessments, and iterate iterative design work with our consultant team comprised of landscape architects RGM Design Group and Engineers GeoSyntech.

And this evening RGM Design Group is with us.

Between May and October 2021, we launched a project website, conducted two online surveys with 160 and 295 participants, held two workshops, and completed an online feedback survey.

These activities establish baseline community priorities for the park.

City Council approved the conceptual plan option C on November 16, 2021, then withdrew that approval on March 1st, 2022 to allow further outreach.

We hosted an additional workshop in August of 2022 with 145 attendees and another online survey with 450 responses.

Then provided a summary update to the Community and Library Services Commission in November of 2022.

Since 2020, since 2023, we've paired more outreach with focused technical studies.

In 2023, staff worked with the Edison Park Community Group and directed additional studies to confirm landfill constraints, oil well locations, and potential noise impacts from pickleball.

The commission recommended approval of the conceptual plan on March 12, 2025.

Following further community input, option two was developed.

The CEQA 15183 environmental compliance checklist was finalized last month.

And at this point in the presentation, I would be remiss if I did not thank the residents for their continued engagement over the last five years of this project.

Edison Park is our second largest park at 40 acres, designated as a community park in our recently approved parks and recreation master plan.

There are long-serving amenities, portions of which overlay a former construction materials landfill.

Site settlement, aging facilities, and environmental constraints shape where and how we consider reinvesting in improvements.

This section introduces the physical constraints, settlement zones, and utility considerations that afford inform amenity placement and construction methods.

Two of the four post-tension tennis courts have shifted to the point of severe grade changes and cracking.

These courts are closed to the public.

Settlement has also affected portions of the tot lot and softball areas.

While building on the landfill is possible, construction costs can triple and require additional permits and agency review.

Building outside landfill limits greatly greatly reduces complexity and cost.

The visuals illustrate the settlement patterns and inform where structural solutions or relocations are most appropriate.

A non-intrusive magnetometer survey confirmed two abandoned oil wells near Stillwell Drive in Magnolia Avenue.

As long as the project avoids disturbing these wells, no reabandement is required.

Design elements are arranged to ensure compliance and safety.

Here are the findings and our replacement approach.

Of 234 trees surveyed, 67 were hazardous and 15 were in decline, leaving 152 healthy trees.

The plan follows the city's one to two replacement standard, meaning two new trees for every tree removed to expand and strengthen the canopy.

Future phases will emphasize larger, more mature trees in key areas, including around new and dual-striped courts to enhance shade and assist with sound mitigation while respecting oil well setbacks and view corridors.

Staff will engage with the community when we embark on this portion of the project.

Two professional acoustical analysis were assessed assessing pickleball noise relative to city standards and neighborhood receptors.

RK Engineering Group modeled 16 courts under conceptual plan C and projected maximum levels of 61.2 decibels at Stillwell and 56.7 decibels at Breton, well below our municipal code's 75 decibel daytime standard from 7 a.m.

to 10 p.m.

A receptor at Edison High School was also installed.

Michael Baker International's 2025 study for relocating courts west of the fire station use similar methodology and found levels below their assumed 50 and 70 decibel thresholds.

Together, these studies show the proposed courts do not exceed city noise standards.

The project was reviewed under CEQA section 15183 applicable to projects consistent with the city's general plan.

Michael Baker International determined the project is statutorily exempt under CEQA 15183 because it's consistent with the general plan and covered by the 2017 general plan FEIR with feasible mitigation measures applied.

No additional environmental action is required.

Additionally, based on prior Measure C opinions for similar park redesigns, this project would not require a vote of the people because it preserves public access and use of the park.

We present two conceptual options.

The commission approved plan and option two, which reflects subsequent community input after the 2025 commission approval.

Both modernize amenities, improve circulation, and enhance recreation areas.

First, the commission approved plan.

Key elements of this plan include a reconfigured parking lot with approximately addition of 74 stalls and an entry aligned to post in lane and edit and post and lane in Edison High School.

It should be noted the CEQA checklist resulted in no longer considering the parking lot to align with Edison High School due to additional impacts.

We propose six full basketball courts, two dedicated tennis courts, eight dedicated pickleball courts, plus dual-striped overlays on two existing courts to give us a total of four tennis courts and 16 pickleball courts and a hitting wall.

A new all-inclusive playground with rubberized surfacing and shade and enlarged all-wheel plaza.

We also reconfigure walkways, shade shelters, and refurbishment of the exterior community center restrooms.

Three is soccer overlays and approximately 200 new trees, applying SEPTED, which is crime prevention through environmental design principles to improve site lines.

Option two incorporates additional community feedback received in late 2025.

Option two maintains many features and in addition relocates pickleball courts west of the fire station in response to community input, adds approximately 50 stalls beyond the reconfigured lot, adds two bocce courts with associated shade structure.

Phasing allows portions of the park to remain open while work progresses and ensures like-for-like amenities returned to the community at each phase.

However, phasing can increase total costs and extend the construction timeline.

First, we'll cover the commission approved phasing sequence.

Phase A at 5.82 million will demolish condemned tennis courts, a play area, skate spot, and temporary pickleball courts.

We will then convert two existing tennis courts to eight pickleball courts, build the all-inclusive playground, and enlarged all-wheel plaza, shade shelter, and refurbish exterior restrooms and add parking.

Phase B at about approximately $7 million will demolish handball court handball walls, basketball courts, and existing parking.

We will install two new play, two new tennis courts, overlay courts of eight pickleball and two tennis, six full basketball courts, a hitting wall, and additional parking.

Phase C at a just under 1 million will replace walkways and install three soccer fields and park paths.

Option two has a similar sequence with amenity differences.

Phase A at just under six or just over six million, demolishes similar demolition similar to commission approved plan, converts two existing tennis courts to dual use dual use pickleball courts, constructs the all-inclusive playground, enlarged all-wheel plaza, eight dedicated pickleball courts, and refurbishes exterior restrooms.

Phase B at 7.11 million demolishes handball, basketball, and parking, installs two new tennis courts, four bocce courts with shade, a hitting wall, six full basketball courts, and additional parking.

Phase C at just under 1 million replaces walkways and installs three soccer fields and park paths.

We've developed preliminary cost estimates for phase construction and for full build with no phasing.

Phasing maintains access but does raise total cost and duration of the project.

Phase A again at just uh over or just at 5.8 million, phase B at 7 million, and phase C just under 1 million.

If we were to do a no phase to this project, it would be uh 13.7 million.

These figures are preliminary and based on conceptual plans.

You can see on this side the costs for an option two phasing plan, phase A at 6 million, phase B at 7 million, phase C at just under 1 million, and a no phasing total of 14 million dollars.

Again, these are all preliminary estimates based on early design.

So pending council directions, city steps are detailed.

Next steps are detailed engineering plans and specifications, including a refined preliminary construction estimate, and then we'd advance into construction, either in a phased or single project approach.

In our budget, we currently have 4.352 million dollars available in the CIP via park development, Quimby, and AES sources.

Phasing helps keep amenities available and ensures like for like replacements at each stage, but it does extend the timeline and and increase total cost relative to a single build.

So all that being said, this evening's recommendation is to approve one of two conceptual design options for the Edison Park Reconfiguration Plan and authorize staff to move forward with initiating either a phase or complete development of the design and bid patch it package for construction of the updated facility.

That concludes my presentation.

If you all will indulge me, I've never worked on something this long in my life.

So I was just gonna give a quick history.

Going back, Gracie will test to this 2021.

You know, the previous council was I think they had actually approved at that time a plan that if you all know Southeast where I live, that's my hood.

Passions uh run high down there, and that plan that the previous council put forward, the community vociferously rejected.

And we had barbecues at the park, and the residents were asking for their input.

Please listen to us.

And this five-year journey has done just that.

Um, the Edison community group organized, got together, it was amazing.

Um continue to work with them.

Obviously, got elected in 22, really dove in deep.

Um, want to thank you know, Mark Curry, Ding Joe, the Trazos, Nancy Bucos, um their architect Max Miriama, a great man uh from Edison, who's an architect, really diving in, listening to them.

Several meetings, several phone calls, several iterations, um, walking through the the limits of the landfill.

We didn't know back in 21.

Did geotech analysis that showed us the boundary of the landfill, which limits the elements that we can place.

We can't add any really additional weight to it.

So that shifts everything to the east.

Realizing that we're actually keeping the same amount of square footage of sporting elements, just shifting them outside of the landfill, you know, removing those southern tennis courts that are sinking, there's drainage issues.

And all through this time, talking to residents asking when is Edison Park gonna get done?

When is Edison Park gonna get done?

You know, families approaching me.

Like again, I live across the street.

You know, the playground is in such disrepair.

I want my kids to be able to have an amazing new playground.

I'm like, it's coming, I promise you.

And then the years tick on, and here we are.

And so I'm really optimistic and hopeful we're gonna land the plane tonight.

And the plans that are in front of us represent all those those nip and tucks and and tweaks and you know, meetings with the residents, understanding their concerns, even the last plan with the Trazos who live on the north side of the park, came up with their own plan and asked can we move the the middle pickleball pickleball court south?

They had some other elements, and through Ashley and RJM's great work, we were able to fit that in there behind the fire station where the pickleball courts currently exist.

I know now the neighbors to the south of Hamilton have concern.

However, the pickleball courts are pretty much there right now anyway.

So I'm optimistic that that noise will not encumber their quality of life.

If it does, there's there's some noise mitigation efforts, you know.

We can we can look at and we even we're able to get in bocce ball.

The gentleman up here that spoke very passionately about bocce ball.

So all those things, and then you know, streamlining now the the parking lot, which is circuitous, and we're making it more streamlined as it hugs Magnolia.

There were concerns about looking at this, these additional parking spaces and a parking field.

But as you're coming down Magnolia past Edison to Hamilton, we're gonna you know now have more landscaping open space berms on the north side of the park to block that view corridor of a parking lot.

These plans maximize the the outdoor green space.

That's really important.

The Edison community group.

There's a lot of design elements that we can incorporate as we get into it.

And that leads me to the list that the community group presented, and they touched on it tonight about the 14 items.

High level, this is a conceptual plan, like a 30,000 square foot view.

As we get into design and construction uh documents, we can focus on these on these fine details that they want, but to run through them, you know, modern irrigation system as part of the project as we phase it out.

If that's the route we decide to go tonight, any irrigation systems that are part of the project, of course, will be modernized and irrigated appropriately.

Walking path repair and drainage, same thing.

As a if that's part of the project, those elements will be upgraded.

The one item they mentioned, which we've I've talked to Dean Joe about, open open the community center patio.

That's not part of this project.

The Edison Community Center is not part of this project.

Open that patio uh creates potential safety issues.

So I don't I don't see how that's possible.

Project coordination and traffic mitigation, of course.

Project coordination and traffic mitigation, of course, you know, we'll coordinate with Ascon and Tank Farms, uh, you know, being in that same area.

Oil, oil well safety during construction, of course, absolutely.

Tree canopy preservation, yes.

You know, Ashley touched on it, or two to one tree replant ratio.

Um, we talked about you know, budget if budget allows it, you know, installing as many mature trees as possible.

Enhanced trash receptacles, of course, as part of the design drawings come in.

We'll we'll make sure we put in the best trash receptacles possible.

Path widening for access, yes, as part of that project.

We'll make sure they're ADA compliant, of course.

Shaded picnic areas.

I mean, we'll look into it.

I can't sit up here tonight and say that's a guarantee, but of course, you know, we'll give that direction if that's possible.

Fitness equipment, they mentioned you know, outdoor exercise equipment like fixed bars, I guess.

If Andrew wants to do some some dips, you know, and some pull-ups, he can knock that out.

That's a possibility.

I talked to Ashley, you can possibly do that.

Uh dog way stations, those are always funded by private uh nonprofits.

That's not a function that the city performs at Dog Beach.

Those are third-party uh charitable organizations that do that.

But of course, we will reach out to them to see if those charity groups can provide and uh maintain those dog waste stations, preserve green buffers.

That's the goal of these two option plans is to maintain maximum you know green space for the residents and and design those to be very you know pleasant and efficient.

Uh dual striped courts and noise mitigation.

We touched on it.

Um, if you guys, if Ashley can pull up that option B plan on the screen, real quick.

Thank you.

Uh keep going.

Clean or keep going.

Yeah, keep going.

There you go.

So the middle pickleball courts um will be the hybrid, and then the southern will be the fully dedicated pickleballs.

That was they wanted to clarify that.

That will in fact happen.

And then lastly, ongoing community engagement, of course.

I mean, I've I've talked to Max a lot.

He wants to be involved in this.

Um, I committed to him that he will be in the design elements.

We're gonna figure out a spot for him.

So just wanted to rifle through all those.

I know you guys have a lot of questions, but I thought it's important again, five years in the make and then kind of walk you guys through where we are.

And the fact that we came up with option two, the trazos were really appreciative.

They came up here and spoke tonight about it.

I was not confident we could pull it off.

We did.

It still maintains the level of safety that the police need to be able to drive through the parking lot and view the the skate park, view the playground, be able to come back out and um still get that pickleball in there where it currently exists.

So thank everyone for all the hard work, and I'm sure you guys have questions and comments.

Can I hop in?

Okay.

All right.

So I I think that uh just based off of observations of you know, meeting with folks over at Edison Park, uh, couple meetings where people have come out to make public comment.

Uh, many people uh certainly people want something done.

That's that's very clear tonight.

There were some that were fine either way, uh, but without fail, if there was a preference that came to the surface, it certainly was option B.

In fact, we heard one resident say they've collected hundreds of signatures in opposition uh to option A.

I think it is important to point out, and this is on the record with the agenda and in the attachment that the Edison Park Community Group had sent this letter out, and uh they desired option two, and they desired that we would uh they they said we further request that the following recommendations be incorporated as conditions of approval.

And so just for the benefit of the public, you know, sometimes it's easy to assume that we as a council can all get together and look at these things together and discuss these things together.

Uh we can't do that unless it's happening right here, right now.

So this is really the only time where we can all be together and review something and discuss and consider.

And so, as Casey had gone through these 14 different conditions, I think it would be beneficial to the public and to the residents.

Um, if we went through just kind of one by one, you did kind of read them off, but this is our opportunity to discuss them, and we can just you know, share whether or not we think it's reasonable or not, starting off with, you know, I'll just read off what they wrote.

They desire option two of Edison Park conceptual plan, and we further request that the following recommendations be incorporated as conditions of approval.

And so it goes on.

So, number one, you brought up the modern irrigation uh system, kind of gonna be baked in, regardless of what other what option we go with.

So uh is it safe to say that everyone's on board with a modern irrigation being installed?

I mean, we heard there was a four-foot hole there before.

It took a guy out of work for a couple of days, he wasn't addressed, able to address dozens of parks.

Yeah, I just want to clarify that as part of the project, absolutely.

Yes, okay.

So baked in already, nothing to sweat about.

If if that's a condition for them, and we're already gonna do it anyways, easy to say yes to that condition.

In terms of the walking path repair and drainage, um, again, this is one of those things that is baked in, so it should be easy to say simply yes to this.

This is this is baked in already.

There's yeah, sure, there's cracks, there's holes, there's divots, there's things that need to be repaired, no problem there.

Um, the open community center and patios open the enclosed north and south patio area of the community center to create additional usable open space and relieve congestion.

So my understanding is is that this Edison Park community group, they desire this.

I personally don't have a problem with number three here.

Uh, does anyone have any issues with number three?

I do just because it's not for me, it's not part of this project that we're not rehabilitating the community center.

I talked to Ding Joe about it.

She understands this is a tall ask.

I wish she was still here to to comment, but talking with Ashley, I just think that creates safety issues, right?

Because now this is part of that in some community center patio.

Sure.

So it's not necessarily safety issues as much as it is a decision by council as to whether we want to invest in the community center, which was recently renovated in the last five years, or take the money that we have and invest it into the park design elements.

So we do have a model that we can use from Murray Community Center where we did um open up the patios, meaning we took down the large cinder block walls and made them a view corridor, but they still are fenced in and are used for camp HB and um private events and classes.

So the view corridor can be enhanced, but we wouldn't open it up to be completely to your point accessible by the public.

Those uh patios would be act accessed by going into the community center.

Okay, thank you for clarifying that.

So not a safety issue, balls in council's court.

We could decide to approve or not approve.

I think it's reasonable.

Does anyone else have any objections to number three?

I would say on number three, because I actually did notice that multiple times when we went over there.

I thought it was kind of awkward.

It felt almost like it was jailed in.

So I liked this idea, but I would say I don't know how that plays out with the budget and what we've budgeted for this project.

So I I'm open to the idea, but I also don't want that to slow down the process of improving this whole thing.

Isn't it isn't it more of a demo issue?

Aren't you gonna it's it's there's not new construction there, isn't it?

Just knocking down some uh uh walls, exterior walls, block walls.

Correct, and then depending on how you view new construction at Murder or at I'm sorry, at Murdy, we do have new fence lines, perimeter fences to enclose those patios.

So we're talking about a little bit of demo and a fence.

Sure.

For the for you talking about for the view corridor option.

Yeah, the open community behind the patio behind the scene.

The group's talk about open up the entire patio, right?

So you're you remove the patio from the community center.

What Ashley's talking about is you keep the the structure of the patio, you just lower the wall to create a view corridor.

But you yeah, okay.

Yeah, like I'm fine with that.

Yeah, it's it's just like they wrote, right?

Just open up the space.

It's number three, uh, open the enclosed north and south patio areas of the community center.

I I talking to Ding Joe, what she meant was like demo everything and just have like this open patio that the park can use.

And I what Ashley's saying is in at Murdy, they kept the structure of the of the patio wall, but lower the wall to create a view quarter.

So you still have an enclosed patio, right?

For the community center.

That I'm okay with that.

Yeah, but demo in the entire patio.

I don't think you want to have enough open space at Essen Park.

I don't they don't need to be taking over the I've been on that patio.

I mean, I've been in that patio, and it's kind of well, when I was there, it was just wasted space.

It was dirty back there.

There's trees, limbs, leaves, nobody was actually using it.

But I and I'll say the the reason I think the enclosing it a little bit is for private events.

That that is a key element.

So even but just you can have a door where you go out, it's open.

Yeah, there's it might be enough open space in this new park plan for people to gather that.

And our preschool program that meets at Edison Park does use one of both of those patios for their programming.

Yeah, so there is an element of safety maintaining some sort of thing.

That's and that's what I was talking about with safety, just having it still in a closed area.

Obviously, now if you lower the walls for a view quarter, I'm I'm fine with that.

Uh uh, I would say everybody's uh seems to be on the same page about enhancing the view component.

Um to Andrew's point, not slowing down, not a reallocation of any dollars, but maybe as we refine the plans, the the design plans.

Somebody can kind of here's an amended look, the visual, um, and cost allocation.

Um, I think you said you've you've got little kids like Casey just reinforced, so you're gonna have to keep some level of wall up for the camps.

So the complete open spaces apparently what the the neighbor had told Casey, but one way or another, I think there's a compromise here.

Yeah.

Um, and so I think we don't have to vote yay or nay on what it says here, but I think we can enhance something um without really moving dollars into it at all.

See we're pretty tight on the dollars, but there's probably a way to do it all, but no guarantee, but maybe amend the drawings and assert a cost and say what do you guys think?

I think that based off of the language here, it's it's open really to interpretation and flex it's flexible.

We can still pull it off.

I mean, we can go along with the language as it's written here, and we could determine just how much you know we open it up if it becomes concerned uh for the preschool.

So cost on that.

All right, so I just I think it's agreeable in terms of we still kind of have control, a little bit of interpretive control here and flexibility.

I'm good.

Um on number four, project coordination, as you said.

Yeah, we've got these three major projects going on.

It's baked in.

It's it's very agreeable.

So I mean, we're not saying no to that.

Should be easy to say yes to that.

As con Magnolia take farm and Isn't park simultaneously working together.

We're gonna do everything we can to mitigate that, hopefully.

No problem for assuring it with a yes vote.

Uh oil well safety, and again, that was another one that's essentially baked in.

It's a should be no problem just to say yes to that.

Uh, this is an interesting one.

Tree canopy preservation, so adhere to the library and community services commissions prior approval.

So they'd already gotten approval for this from that commission and require at least 20% of replacement trees to be 10 year size shade trees, four to five feet, box, 20 to 30 foot canopy height, 10 to 15 feet, canopy spread, sorry, 10 to 15 um and trunk diameter at breast height.

So I mean, they had already gotten a yes to this.

And but actually, with I just want to just verify that's what the whatever the parks commission approved, because they took a lot of time and and energy to really focus on this.

So I'm fine with obviously adopting their condition of approval.

So that's already budgeted in, it's factored in what's defined here.

So we haven't what we what the plan is from this point moving forward is designing construction documents, which does not necessarily contemplate size types of trees, but as we narrow in the scope and um either go through a full project or a phased approach, we will understand what trees are affected based on each phase.

Can we work around existing trees?

Um, because right now you're kind of bubble diagramming this, but when you get into the actual nuts and bolts of developing the site plans, we will truly understand what will or won't be affected.

Through that, then we have every intention.

I have a distribution list of over just short of 600 email addresses who want to keep um involved in this project.

So we will plan to do community input types of trees, location of trees, types of different landscaping options, and so working with our future uh landscape architect and and design team, um, that would all be inherent to this process.

Good with special consideration of noise mitigation opportunities and um more mature trees when possible.

All right.

And so, yeah, as long as it aligns with what is already decided.

I mean, all we have in this life is our word, let our yes be yes.

Uh moving on to the enhanced trash can receptacles, saw this firsthand, especially when high school gets out.

Man, those things were completely overflowing.

It's already baked in, easy to say yes to that.

Path widening for access.

It was funny because just as it was being mentioned that you know they need to strategically widen them for emergency vehicles, they're just so happened to be a uh a work truck coming through.

And I'm I'm watching the balancing act of him trying to keep all four tires on the sidewalk, which she wasn't successfully doing because it's like walking at a tightrope as it was going off onto the grass and coming back on.

You can see how a vehicle that heavy when it goes off a little bit on one of those concrete slabs, that could be what's creating a lot of these these cracks and divots and already baked in as uh uh mayor um McKean had mentioned, so no problem saying yes to that.

Uh shaded picnic areas.

I I don't I don't have an issue with agreeing.

I mean, I I can't see that being uh a make or break kind of a cost.

Ash, I just defer to you.

Like what do you understand what they're saying?

Is uh is that possible?

Again, appropriately placed trees that have a larger canopy could serve dual purpose.

Okay.

Um I do know with the difference between the commission approved uh plan and option two.

The um there was a straight structure structure that was proposed near the pickleball courts with the relocation of them, that is now near the botchy courts.

Okay.

So we yeah, we should be clear on this because you could have like full pergola, open pergola, or just flag canopy or shade.

So do we need to define what do we know what they specifically were looking for on the shade, right?

I mean just shade.

Yeah, so so can't okay.

So this can so shade is the ultimate baseline here.

Yeah, I mean, based on how it's written, what was presented to us, you know, that's that's our prerogative as long as we're providing the shade.

Okay.

I'm good with that.

Okay.

Uh fitness equipment.

I don't see that being a make or bake break sort of a thing.

I just could just clarity what that is.

Ashley, do you know what they're talking about?

Up to our interpretation, right?

Like are we gonna have a couple of ellipticals out there?

It's like no, like obviously not lose dumb.

I was I was you know, what's some things that are very common in in in big community parks are park horses.

I don't know if anybody's ever done a park horse.

That's major.

I would love to.

I mean, that's I don't think it's that exactly.

It's uh you know, some pull-up stuff and some setup stuff, and oh, I thought you meant like the stuff that guys are like jumping and flipping over and running around.

Like stations, like you run to one station, there's a couple elevated railroad ties.

You do you know, not like a ninja wire.

No, we could do a ninja lawyer.

I actually know what they're talking about.

All right.

Can we look into that?

Yeah.

Okay.

See what we got.

If we got enough to throw in some pull-up bars and dips, you know, great.

If we got some more to throw in to satisfy that, no problem.

Dog waste stations.

I I understand as uh Mayor McKean had said that that's I I did that was news to me and uh responsibility of others, but you know, maybe we can work to make sure that we get some way stations in there.

I I can't remember going to any parks without seeing them, but I did ask, and they said they don't they don't have them over there.

Um wouldn't be a major cost if for way stations.

So it's not necessarily the cost, it's it's the expectation from the community that there's always bags.

So a good example is we um towards the end of last year started to receive a number of emails from folks who use dog beach, and the um the group that manages dog beach for us, um, they are responsible for maintaining and filling those dog bag receptacles.

And when people go and use them, they tend to take more than they need.

And so what they were finding is that there was a high level of theft.

So they were they were slowly filling them with smaller amounts of bags to stretch their inventory.

So across our city, um, our public works team, we we could partner with them with a future contract, but that would be uh a contracted service that I've seen in other cities.

Um, or working with the Edison Park Community Group and the Friends of Edison Park, there may be an opportunity there to explore for a future partnership.

I like the latter.

We could look at both, obviously, but for sure the Essen community group and Friends of Edison Park reach out to Dog Beach.

I mean, that one I'm sure we can make that happen.

Okay, all right, good.

Um and then number seven preserve green buffers, as you said, that's another one that's already baked in.

We're gonna do the best we can to mitigate that.

Uh dual strip courts.

So my understanding is those tennis ball courts, it is gonna be dual stripped, so they could be used.

Great.

It's already they're getting what they want there.

And then I think this is a good one.

Ongoing community engagement, continue inclusion of a community ad hoc group uh during the design phase and provide regular updates to community at large.

It's almost like the do under others is you would have them do under you.

You know, we we want them to be involved, you know, in the decisions that we're making in terms of what's happening essentially in in their local area.

So with that, I know there's gonna be more discussion, but I would just I would like to make a motion, and the motion would be to approve conceptual design plan B with the conditions referenced from the Edison Park Community Group's letter that is attached on record with the phase development.

So that would just be my my motion.

If anyone wants to second it, and we can have more go ahead second.

I actually wanted to say something.

Um I want to thank the community at Edison Park.

Um they were very lively meetings.

They love their park, don't mess with the park, and I appreciate that.

We have what 79 parks in the city of Huntington Beach.

So it's great when the community steps up and say, We're taking over this, we're going to help.

Um, the help is very much needed.

I remember when we were talking about the trees, and they mentioned bringing in palm trees, and that was a big I was one of those big no no, we're not doing the palm trees.

Um, but they know their park, they know their community, they know the issues.

So I just want to thank everyone who's been involved for the past five years.

Well, since before we even got on council, we were campaigning.

We're talking about Edison Park.

This is uh been a very, very long project, but I think it's worth it.

The results that we ended up with.

It's a combination of what originally came up and what the community decided that they wanted.

So it just kind of morphed into what we have now.

Um, and I'm just very grateful for that.

So that's pretty much all I wanted to say is to thank the Edison Park for the barbecues they invited us to, for the meetings they invited us to, the town halls they invited us to.

Um, so I really um appreciate their participation.

Thank you, Don.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm in agreement with what Crazy uh Gracie just said as well.

Uh I'm just gonna drop a couple of names because uh, you know, I have not spent the amount of time that Casey has, and you know, I would imagine Gracie.

I did spend some time early on with the friends of the park.

That is a very, very passionate group, as everybody knows.

Uh and Mrs.

Bucos and Betty Flynn on those Saturday cleanups, I did a few of those.

Uh I I want to commend Mrs.

Bucos because she has been so staunchly supportive of these big trees that I think she's finally realized that the safety uh outweighs the existence of these giant eucalyptus trees, and she was very composed tonight and and very grateful.

We're gonna be voting on something tonight, and everybody's gonna win.

There's collaboration extraordinaire.

There's two options.

Um this park will move forward, it's incredible.

Um, and is it Troza?

Is that their last name?

You said yeah.

So I I want to uh reassure Mrs.

Trazo, she said something.

Please just make sure it's safe, balanced, and beautiful.

Our goals are aligned, Mrs.

Trazo.

You can guarantee, we'll guarantee we're gonna achieve that goal for you, safe, balanced, and beautiful.

I'm excited to vote on the option that I like.

Um I love the the passion of the group and the commitment of the council.

I do have a question though.

When we had our um budget, I mean our pre-council meeting, you said there was 4.35.

We have budgeted, but you also referenced the million dollar from the Quimby fund.

Um you didn't reference that here tonight.

Correct, because that would be a future consideration with the fiscal year 26-27 budget that you all will be presented with in the future.

Okay, but essentially, based on the delineation of how that fund is allocated based on location, there's a million dollars waiting to be uh pushed into the budget for this specific park.

Yes, okay, great.

So we're closer than than we thought.

The one thing I could say based on that gentleman once got a few few hoop games left.

Who is plan B, you know, phase two, phase B.

If I could make one small suggestion that we could do for all the basketball players, if we could just keep nets on there, you know, I'm looking at these pictures, and there's nothing worse than shooting that three-pointer and just have it go right through the hole and not hear that shh, you know, ripping that net.

If we could keep those nets up, that would make them a lot happier.

And if for some way we could maybe just patch a little bit of those things with some some just patch, a little band-aid, if not the patches, the nets for sure, and that'll enhance the game on all those courts, and that's a very minimal fix.

And to Don, on that point, just so that we don't have to run it, run it through finance.

We'll we'll put a pool together and buy those nets.

You and I will head over there.

We'll hang them up.

You swoosh and I Bush.

Ring your ladder, Andrew.

I'll hold the ladder.

Even better.

So I have a couple I have a couple thoughts, and also by the way, I think very, very good foresight, uh, Councilman Williams on this, because you you're entirely correct.

We would have approved this plan and then it would have fizzled out.

So I think in reality, especially so we didn't violate the Brown Act to be able to do this right now, memorialize it tonight after five years of heavy lifting.

That was really really thoughtful.

On the trees and number nine, I want to combine the two.

So the trees, I'm a hippie at heart, are of concern for me when we do remove so many trees.

And I know it needs to be done, and I know there's been a lot of thought that's been put into this.

What I would ask is when we get to the point of this conversation when we're considering what types of trees, which trees, because I think it's important to mention I'll ask the question.

We have not decided which trees stay and which trees go in full absolute conclusion, right?

Correct.

We haven't gone through the park and said, not you, you get to stay.

That hasn't happened.

Oh, you're your personifying them.

Yes.

They make life better.

So I'm reading my son the giving tree every night now, so it's really extra special.

But with that and the commitment to engage with the community, I I do think it's important we lean heavily on many of these members uh as we determine and oversee the trees.

Now, of course, there's gonna be construction elements and and public works and all that, but just really I'm really emphasizing emphasizing that piece of it.

Um, I mean, you know, this uh I'm I'm new to all of this, so you know I I kind of came at it in the final hour, and but it still gave me an opportunity to understand how the process works.

And I mean, it's important to really recognize the community members who put on who put an incredible amount of time into this full master plan, including you and your entire staff and the obviously hundreds of hours went into this.

Look, parks are some of the most important spaces in this city, and it really means a lot when the people who spend so much of their day and their lives at these parks come in and communicate, and we're never gonna 100% agree on everything.

But if we can get to this level of compromise, especially on a 40-acre park that's gonna cost 1415 million dollars, well, 14 minus that one million in the Quimby funds, goes to show that we can obviously compromise on so many more of these kind of heavy issues.

So um, thank you so much for all the work you guys have done.

I'm just the new guy, so I'll just go hang out at the park.

Cool.

If I may ask one last question, I talked to our city manager previously, so I have a house out in Lake Havasu and my wife and I walk our dogs along the channel, and every tree along the channel, kind of like uh when you can uh buy a park bench here.

So every tree along this channel has a plaque, kind of like the Patriot Point uh bricks.

Yeah, and this might be a great opportunity to put something in play where you know I don't know if if it's even feasible, but just an idea where you know residents uh uh yeah, basically you can memorialize the dedication of that tree by buying a plaque uh at a cost, having engraved with whatever fits, you know, the engraving, and it sits at the trunk of that tree, and it's kind of your legacy, and I think we could offset we could I guarantee we could raise a lot of money because people would want to buy a plaque for the tree.

I like it.

Um and we could really buy bigger trees, more trees, and uh and have people really buy into their tree, and I guarantee it'll work.

I don't know if it's something we can do, but we should certainly consider it.

Yeah, let's look at it.

All right, motion on the floor by councilmember Williams.

I will second it.

Councilmember Williams, can you repeat it for Madam Clerk?

Yeah, I think um Councilman Grode already seconded it.

Right, did you?

I think we all kind of did it the same time.

Okay, I got it.

All right.

Uh the motion.

Uh the motion to approve conceptual uh design plan B with the conditions referenced uh from the Edison Park Community Group's letter that is attached on record with a phase development.

Option two.

So it should it be option two instead of plan B.

Yeah, option two.

Fair enough.

All right.

Motion to approve conceptual design plan two with the conditions referenced from the Edison Park Community Groups letter that is attached on the record with the phase development.

Second.

Please call the roll.

Councilman Grohl.

Yes.

Councilman Kennedy.

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Twine.

Yes.

Mayor McKeon.

Yes.

Councilwoman Vandermark.

Yes.

Councilman Williams?

Yes.

Item passes 601.

Thank you all for landing the plane.

Amazing.

All right.

Item 22 ordinances for introduction.

Ordinance number 4347.

Staff, please introduce the report.

Thank you, Mayor.

We'll have John Paler, our uh deputy director of public works in the utilities um division provide the staff report.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council, and members of the public.

Uh so this item will focus on an amendment to our municipal code section 14.16.190 related to protection of cross connections in our water system.

Well background effective July 1st, 2024.

The California State Water Resources Control Board Division of Drinking Water adopted the cross connection control policy handbook or CCCPH.

The CCCPH establishes consistent statewide standards for cross control programs and strengthens public health protections by preventing contamination of the drinking water supply.

All public water systems are required to comply with this requirement.

The handbook requires each public water system to develop, implement, and maintain a comprehensive cross-connection control program.

One of those elements is the adoption of operating rules or ordinances necessary to implement and enforce the program.

While the city previously maintained a cross-connection control program, and most required components were addressed through existing policies, procedures, and standards.

They were not consolidated into a single comprehensive plan as now required by the CCCPH.

On February 4th, 2025, the City Council authorized staff to enter into a cost-sharing agreement with 23 public water systems throughout Orange County to collaboratively develop regional standards and reduce costs associated with preparing compliant plans.

The plan before you tonight was developed specifically to comply with the CCC PH and consolidates all prior policies and procedures into one formal comprehensive document that addresses each of the required elements.

The city met this deadline and submitted the plan accordingly.

Tonight's public hearing introduces the proposed ordinance and accompanying resolution to formally adopt the plan and update the municipal code.

Our existing ordinance is now outdated and does not fully reflect current state regulations.

The proposed amendment establishes clear legal authority to implement, administer, and enforce the cross connection control program in accordance with state requirements.

Adoption of this ordinance supports the continued efforts of our water quality staff to protect public health and provide clean, reliable, and safe drinking water to approximately 200,000 residents every day.

Here are a couple examples of standard backflow devices for your visual reference.

This concludes our presentation, and I'll open the floor for questions.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I will move the item.

Second.

Okay.

Madam Clerk, please call the vote.

Councilman Gore?

Yes.

Councilman Kennedy.

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Twine?

Yes.

Mayor McKeon?

Yes.

Councilwoman Vandermark?

Yes.

Councilman Williams?

Yes.

Item passes 601.

And for the record, I would like to read the ordinance title.

Ordinance number 4347, an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Huntington Beach, amending section 14.16.190 of the Huntington Beach Municipal Code relating to protecting cross connections.

Awesome.

Huh?

The count up there, it only said 5-0.

Did we count correctly?

Oh no, it's 600.

60, okay.

Okay.

Perfect.

It doesn't capture the options.

It doesn't capture the options, so it will read 600, but we will record the vote as 601.

All right.

So I think Grace UC showed the five up there.

Oh, it did.

On the screen.

Okay, it's been updated.

What was your updated?

Thank you.

All right.

Let's end the night with a little bit of fun.

So previous mayor, Pat Burns and I were talking about this, uh, declaring February 22nd as USA hockey day in that moment.

Hit us uh early Sunday morning at 5 a.m.

on the 22nd when we were watching the gold medal men's hockey game with a bunch of my hockey buddies I grew up with, and they flashed on the screen that February 22nd, they said this day in 1980, the USA hockey team beat the Russians for on the Miracle on Ice, which is one of the greatest sports moments in history.

And right when that happened, I looked around.

I said, The prophecy has been foretold.

We we shall win this game.

It was amazing.

Uh the men's hockey team beat Canada in overtime and the gold medal.

And then three days prior on the 19th, the women's U.S.

hockey team also beat Canada in overtime for the gold medal.

So because of the the link of February 22nd on the Miracle on Ice, and then this year we thought it was appropriate to celebrate both the men's men's and women's U.S.

hockey uh gold medal teams and declare February 22nd as USA Hockey Day.

And as a quick recap, the U.S.

women's hockey team they've won three gold medals since women's hockey was uh which uh since women's hockey debuted in 1998 with victories in uh 98 and Nogano 2018 in Pyong Chang, and obviously most recently 2026 in Milano Cortina, and the United States men's hockey team has also won three Olympic gold medals most recently at the 2026 Milan Cortina games.

And like I said, this February 22nd uh win ended a 46-year drought following the the iconic 1980 February 22nd, miracle on ice against the Soviet Union.

And in classic golden fashion, both the women's and men's beat Canada in overtime to win the gold.

Yes.

So we thought it'd be cool to also we created a little highlight kind of hype video, which at the end shows uh Jack Hughes, who scored the overtime game winning goal for America and his post-game interview, which is pure emotion is amazing.

So Pat and I wanted to put this together and Shannon, if you don't mind, plan it to get you fired up.

Five seconds left in the game.

Yes!

Some call it a mirror.

Maybe it was.

A group of 20 American college boys, strangers to each other as a team only six months before, came together to beat the best hockey team in the world.

A team that had played together for years.

The odds against them were incredible.

But these boys simply refused to believe that they were such underdogs.

Like a band of rebels that came from nowhere to create one of the greatest upsets in sports history.

But we are down to a one-game tournament.

No matter what has happened up to this moment, it's the next 60 minutes that will make the break with this team's legacy.

On a two-on-0, and Jack Moritzki stays with it after Jack Hughes stole it.

He takes it away from Kale McCarthy that reaction.

Jack, the first gold medal for the United States in 46 years, and you delivered it.

Can you just describe the emotions of this moment right now?

This is all this is all about our country right now.

I love the USA.

I love my teammates.

It's unbelievable.

The USA Hockey Brotherhood is so strong.

And we have so much support from ex-players.

I'm so proud to be Americans.

Bro, this was such an incredible game to grind out.

I mean, you're bleeding right through it.

Just looking at you right now.

Can you just talk about how difficult this gold medal was to win?

Unbelievable game by Halibach.

He was our best player tonight by Miles.

Unbelievable game.

Unreal game by our team.

That's just a ballsy cuts and wins.

That's American hockey right there.

That's a great Canadian team, but we're USA.

We're so proud of the Americans.

What does this gold medal mean to USA hockey?

We're such a team.

We've been in the Iron for two weeks.

We're such a team.

The USA Hockey Brotherhood is so strong.

And we're so proud to win for our country.

Jack, the gold medal's coming home, and you're about to watch the American flag go up to the Raptors and hear the national anthem.

How many times did you dream that of?

I know.

I can't even believe this.

I mean, it's such an unbelievable game.

USA Canada.

That's such a good game.

They have so many great players.

We're a great team.

That's that's exactly how we want it to go.

We wanted to go through Canada and beat them, and it could have gone either way tonight, but that's an unbelievable win for the Americans.

Congratulations, Jack, go and join it.

Yeah.

It's awesome.

So with that, I'd like to make a motion to direct the city attorney to come back with a resolution declaring each February 22nd as USA hockey day in Huntington Beach.

Second.

Awesome many comments.

I just think it's fitting that we beat the communists a long time ago, and we just we just beat the commies again.

Twice in one year.

Alright.

Did you see real quick before we vote?

I saw a sweatshirt online says two things uh Canada does better than USA.

It said one hockey with a line through it, and then two, it was blank.

All my Canadian buddies were not happy on Sunday.

That's all I know.

Alright, thank you for indulging me.

Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Absolutely.

Councilman Grohl.

Yes.

Councilman Kennedy.

One hundred percent.

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Twine.

Absolutely, yes.

Mayor McKeon.

Yes.

Councilwoman Vandermark.

Councilman Williams.

Yes.

Item passes 601.

All right, thank you, everyone.

I'd like to make a motion to adjourn.

Thank you.

All right, the next regular scheduled meeting of the High and Sea Beach City Council of Public Finance and Authority is Tuesday, March 17th, 2026, in the Civic Center Council Chambers, 2000 Main Street, Hyynsey Beach, California.

Good night, everyone.