Hey guys, tell me when.

Oh, you better get yourself to bed.

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

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

Councilman Gruell.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Twine.

Here.

Mayor McKeon is absent.

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

Mayor McKeon has requested permission to be absent from the closed session portion of the meeting.

Councilman Burns.

Here.

Councilwoman Vandermark.

Here.

Councilman Williams.

Here.

Six present, one absent.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Do we have any supplemental communications?

We have no supplemental communications.

We have no one signed up to speak.

All right.

So included in the closed session today, there'll be conference with real property negotiators.

Government code section five four nine five six.

Property is twenty-one zero nine one Pacific Coast Highway.

Huntington Beach, parcel number zero two four two eight one six.

Our agency negotiators are Travis Hopkins, City Manager, Marissa Sir, Assistant City Manager, Ashley Weisaki, Director of Communic Community and Library Services, Chris Cole, Community and Library Services Manager, William Krill, Real Estate Project Manager, negotiating parties, Puya Hanari of Pacific City Hotel, LLC, DBA, Pasea Hotel, and Spa.

They won't be present tonight.

Under negotiation, price and terms of payment.

Conference with labor negotiators, government section code, section five four nine five seven dot six.

Agency designated representatives, Travis Hopkin Hopkins, City Manager.

Also in attendance, Marissa Sir, Assistant City Manager, Mike Vigliota, City Attorney.

Zach, Acting Chief Financial Officer.

Huntington Beach Firefighters Association and Fire Management Associates.

Council, do I have a motion to adjourn to a recess to close session?

Motion.

I'd like to reconvene the regular regular meeting of the city council, public finance authority.

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

Councilman Grow.

Here.

Councilman Kennedy.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Twine.

Here.

Councilman Burns?

President.

Councilwoman Vandermark.

Here.

Councilman Williams?

Here.

At this time, Councilman McKeon is on his way.

Six present.

One absent.

Pendy.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Tonight we'll be having uh the invocation by Huntington Beach Fire and Police Chaplain Roger Wang.

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

Most gracious Heavenly Father, we come before you tonight with gratitude for the opportunity that we have to gather together in service to our community.

Your word reminds us that where two or three are gathered together in your name, your present among them.

And that's really an awesome and a powerful truth to consider.

That you, Lord, are actually here with us this evening.

That you're aware of every conversation, every decision, and every heart represented in this room.

We pray especially for our mayor and city council members as they consider the matters on the agenda this evening.

Grant them wisdom, discernment, integrity, unity, and clarity of line.

Help them to make decisions that promote the well-being, safety, and flourishing of our city.

We also pray for all who will speak and participate this evening.

That every discussion would be conducted with respect and a sincere desire for what's best for our community.

As we enter the busy summer season, we ask for your protection over our city, our beaches, and all who live in or visit our community.

Give strength, endurance, and safety to those who work so tirelessly to keep Huntington Beach secure and welcoming.

We especially lift up our police department, fire department, marine safety personnel, and all our first responders.

Watch over them on every call.

Grant them wisdom in every situation, and bring them safely home to their families each day.

Bless them for their dedication and grant them wisdom and encouragement in their responsibilities.

Finally, Father, we ask that your peace and wisdom would guide everything that takes place during this meeting tonight.

May our efforts ultimately serve the people of this city in a way that honors you and benefits our community.

And we ask all these things in the most holy name of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you, Chaplain.

Tonight the Pledge of Allegiance will be led by Mr.

Ernie Delgado, American Legion Post 133.

Ernie Delgado joined the Marine Corps in 1969 and served until 1975.

He completed boot camp at Camp Pendleton, followed by a one-year stint for recon training.

In 1970, he deployed to Vietnam for one tour.

While he was based out of Danang, he spent the majority of his time in the field in locations such as Laos and on the DMZ.

He served as a squad leader and achieved the rank of Sergeant E5.

During her service in Vietnam, he was awarded the Combat Action Ribbon and a Purple Heart.

Upon completing his tour, he returned to the United States and was stationed at Camp Pendleton, where he worked with the Combat Engineer Group.

Following his honorable discharge, Ernie enjoyed a long career at McDonnell Douglas and Boeing, spanning 33 years.

He has lived in Huntington Beach since 1997 and is an active member of the Huntington Beach American Legion Post 133.

Thank you for your service, Ernie.

Let us begin.

And to the Republic for which stance.

Under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

Mr.

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

Nothing tonight, Mayor.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Council members, would any of you like to make a comment?

I would.

Councilman Kennedy.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem.

I just wanted to point out a couple of really fun and exciting things that uh were happening last week.

Uh Honey to Beach is full of champions, full of winners.

We've celebrated, you know, uh cheer teams, we've celebrated the Edison football team, baseball, water polo, volleyball teams.

Uh our our oilers are right now in the CIF playoffs.

Hopefully, they're in a game right now.

Hopefully, you come out with a win.

It's a must-win.

But uh, what I did on Friday was incredible, Friday and Saturday.

Spent some time down at Lower Trestles.

Um, I really want to commend the HB board riders, uh, the founders, Chris Marino, Ziggy Williams, and Casey Wheat.

That HB Board Riders uh club has grown into the West Coast board riders, and this weekend they were competing down at Lower Trestles with some unbelievable waves against uh the United States Board Riders National Championship.

There's over 20 clubs from all over the country, the Florida Coast, the West Coast, San Diego, three of the islands for Hawaii, and it was an unbelievable format that they put together.

Building these clubs for these cities is really giving surfing a new look.

It's not an individual sport.

These cities now can rally behind their own club teams.

There was Santa Cruz, San Diego, Encinitas, you know, Space Coast, Jacksonville, all over the place, these clubs.

So there's camaraderie amongst competitions.

So their format is super fun.

It was really a different uh feeling.

The contest was unbelievable.

The HP board writers uh were competing against some of the best surfers in the world, X-Pros, like Rob Machado from the tour.

We've got our own uh Brad uh Brett Simpson, two-time U.S.

open champion.

Uh, deaf and boss, a lot of great surfing going on, but it was just an incredible atmosphere.

The growth that they're experiencing is is unbelievable and commendable.

Uh, the whole vibe, if you will, was super fun.

A lot of families, a lot of people showed up, and uh they couldn't do it without really the core group, the founders that have mentioned, really the their secretary, the glue, uh Michelle Galitzky, their current president Billy Webb, and um the amount of team riders they have, the talent.

So, what they do is they put seven surfers, you know, on a team.

There's a female, which we had Bailey Turner.

We all know she's unbelievable.

Then they have the youth group, and then they've got like the the mid-20s, the 40 and over, 50 and over, and it's it's a really fun and exciting thing.

So I'm super proud of what the board writers have done, what they're building.

The United States Board Riders Club.

There's over 50 clubs in growing, and um a little also they wanted me to make sure that I wanted to make sure to throw a special shout out to the Danny Quok Family Foundation.

Danny Qualk's a very notable surfer from the 80s and 90s, used to be high up at uh um forgot the company.

Quicksilver.

And um, with all that said, um, any time the U.S.

board writers or the West Coast board riders or the Huntson Beach board riders are gonna have a competition anywhere local, it's worth checking out.

The winners of this, the uh the the Casey Weed Cup and the uh West Coast.

Uh well, actually the the national champions, the hometown heroes down there, San Clemente held down because that's their break.

They've got an incredible team.

They won both competitions, and uh so with that said, really proud of the uh HB board writers, the founders, the group, and uh a couple honorable mentions, all from Huntington Beach, um, that are all part of the growth is the the Cabellian family, Robert Mills, the Castle family, and then there's our special photographer, Ronnie Lyons, who brings the greatest photos.

So I'm proud of the uh board riders, worth checking out, and they are unbelievable ambassadors for Huntington Beach.

Goodwill all the way around.

Great job, guys.

Thank you, Councilman.

Anybody else?

Oh, um Councilman Burns.

Thank you.

Uh, reminding everybody again, uh, vote wisely, vote edu, be educated in your vote.

Just don't vote for the what you think's a cool name and stuff.

Uh our American ways have been being attacked for years, and we just got to protect them.

And I the best way to do it is vote wisely.

Educate yourself on what's the subject and who the people are you're voting for, and uh vote accordingly.

And uh remember government can't give away anything for free that it doesn't take from somebody who's earned it before.

So just uh be American.

Thank you.

Councilman Grule.

Yeah, just a quick note, and I've talked about this before, but I just want to bring it up because I recently was over at Central Park.

I met with a few of the volunteers from the Secret Garden, um, as well as being somebody who visits the urban forest.

I just I want to let everybody, you know, really encourage everybody to go and take advantage of our 775 acres of parks across this city.

It's important to mention that it's actually really so much work being done by the volunteers that work in certain areas of the park and in regards to secret garden.

I'm talking about specifically, but also over at the urban forest.

I mean, they keep these parks pristine and they work very closely with public works.

Public works has a real deep passion for the parks as well, especially when it comes down to the infrastructure.

So I want to take, just thank all the volunteers that help and donate their own time and to keep our parks clean and beautiful and the best in Orange County.

Thank you.

Councilman Williams.

I'd just like to speak to, you know, maybe the elephant that was in the room, the big news in our city uh last week with that gentleman uh and his wife when he was uh attacked on the boardwalk.

I do think that there is some good that can come out of this.

Number one, just highlighting the fact that I think he exercised incredible uh restraint.

And uh in the depictions, uh, there is a young man I think that needs to be a little bit uh vindicated.

He really is an unsung hero.

It's the young man that that stood up in front of all those others, and it really takes courage to essentially he used his body to block the others, not knowing what the outcome could be.

He could have been joining that man on the ground, and so I think that's very commendable.

Like I said, it takes courage and uh he deserves a little bit of vindication, and hopefully, if his uh family is up for it.

Uh, I'm hoping that you know maybe the mayor at some point in the future could uh spotlight uh what he had done because I think it's commendable.

Anyone else?

Mayor, if I could just uh address just real briefly, uh there's been some talk uh about the CDBG funding and the recusal process, and we've looked at it, and council we believe Councilmember Groom's recusal did substantially comply with the state law as far as recusals.

So I just wanted to put that out there.

Thank you.

All right, moving on.

The adoptable pet of the month.

Tonight we have Jonathan Volski of OC Animal Care, who has two very special dogs who were found together in an unincorporated portion of Orange County and have clearly formed a very strong bond.

Can I introduce you to Kylo and Bumpy?

Thank you very much, sir.

Yeah, please come around.

So I have the honor of having Kylo with me.

Kylo is a male, eight years old, and just loves treats and loves affection.

And then, if I may tonight, I'm gonna introduce one of our great volunteers.

So, Orange County Animal Care, our headquarters are in Tuston.

I hope you all get the chance to come and visit and go home with a dog or a pet.

But really, what makes our agency work so well is great volunteers.

And Alex here is one of our 400 volunteers, and I'm gonna hand the mic over and let him introduce his special friend.

Sure, I'm Alex Kurosmi, and this is Bumpy.

She's a two-year-old pit bull, absolutely lovey, very affectionate.

I'm very impressed with her behavior.

She's been great today, and um I have to say, if you're interested in volunteering, I really recommend you come and check it out.

It's been very rewarding for me personally.

I'm going on about three years now.

Uh spend my Saturdays there working with the dogs and training up all other volunteers, and I strongly recommend it.

Good, sir.

Thank you so much for having us.

And I do want to say right now, although we've got these great dogs, and we're so appreciative.

So far, we've brought nine dogs, not counting these two tonight, to the Huntington Beach Council meeting, and six of them have moved on into uh permanent homes.

So I want to thank the council and thank all of you for that.

Thank you.

And just real quick right now, it's what we call kitten season.

So we are overflowing at our shelter with kittens.

So if you've been looking for a cat or a kitten, we've got some for you, but we're also looking for fosters, and our fosters take home some cats for a period.

Some of them, when they're very small, need bottle feeding.

We'll supply everything you need, and then some of them just need a break in a safe place until they can get big enough to take care of themselves.

So on our website, which is www.ocpetinfo.com.

Uh there's information there about fostering, and we'd love to get some cat fosters and some new cat owners.

Thank you very much, sir.

Thank you.

Oh, I'm saying.

Well, I just want to say these are two incredible dogs right here.

If I was up in that crowd, I would be down here grabbing one of these right now because these dogs are cool.

I'd take one home with me, but my wife would kill me.

So I love you guys.

Good job.

Thank you all.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, sir.

They look like they're starving.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for having us.

Thank you for working.

Yeah, my wife's probably gonna kill me just for saying she'd kill me if I brought one of those dogs home, so oh well.

I'll worry about that later.

All right.

Business highlights.

For tonight's business highlight, let's start with recognizing our newest businesses that have recently opened in Huntington Beach.

This is an opportunity to officially welcome them, thank them for choosing Huntington Beach, acknowledge the investment that they are making in our community.

These spotlights represent just a small sampling of ongoing businesses like activity across Surf City, and we appreciate every business that calls Huntington Beach home.

You have, and you can look up there on the screen and you can see where they are.

The Am I Coffee Shop?

Champagne's, which is 200 Main Street, which is having their their grand opening ribbon cutting at 11 a.m.

Excuse me.

This Friday, again, 11 a.m.

200 Main Street, and it's a place is called Champagne's.

It looks really good.

I know a lot of people have already gone.

So uh Dwight's beach concession, they had their grand opening last week.

I know I attended it, and uh they're ready to go, and that place is beautiful.

It doesn't even look like the old Dwight's Garlic and Noodles by Joy.

Habachi Hana Grill on Main Street, Ezakaya, Takase on Edinger, Mendocino Farms, already been there, uh Subculture, Taste of Italy, the Brunch Cafe, the Habit Burger and Grill, been there too, and the lighthouse on PCH.

Like to thank everybody that is that has come in uh uh uh new businesses right here in Huntington Beach, and there's a picture uh from last week uh uh at Dwight's.

You can see me in the way back.

It looks like I'm probably photo bombing there.

Uh but uh it was a nice group out there, and uh, and we offs all all had our strips.

So we also want to acknowledge, you know.

I don't know if you guys know how long the the Dwight's has been there, but I think it's like 55 years.

Is it maybe it's longer?

Do you guys know?

I think it's one of the oldest businesses in the history of Huntington Beach.

Yeah, I mean they've been there a long time.

32.

Oh, it opened in 32.

I was a little off.

Okay.

Thank you.

Oh, Jacks.

Yeah.

Okay.

Um, oh yeah, they were local favorites since 1932.

They've rebuilt and refreshed after a devastating fire, so please show your support and stop by their world famous cheese and get their world famous cheese strips next time you're on the boardwalk.

And to continue our minute with the mayor, and our mayor will be here in a few minutes.

Uh, he just texted me and says he's on he's almost here.

Um, this week's feature is elevate aerial silks, and I believe Councilman Kennedy was there too.

So maybe Councilman Kennedy wants to maybe talk about Elevate Aerial Silks.

Well, I can tell you it's a fantastic operation.

There you go, fantastic operator, uh, mother, family, raise your kids here in Huntington Beach.

It's a great environment uh for kids of all ages, older people as well, all ages.

So uh she does a great job.

Uh she's a talented lady.

She even does it herself, and it's a lot of fun.

Uh she got a lot of good reviews, so check it out down there.

We have a win in Hamilton.

We have a video right now.

I think it shows uh Kennedy hanging out on one of the silks.

So let's see.

Another episode of Minute with the Mayor.

I'm with special guest, Councilman Don Kennedy.

Today we're at Elevate Aerial at Hamilton and Newland.

Let's go meet the owner, Jackie.

Let's do it.

So Jackie, tell us about Elevate Aerial.

We're an aerial art school, and we teach aerial silks, aerial hammock, aerial hoop to kids, adults of all ages and all abilities.

So, Jackie, what what is aerial?

What's aerial silks?

Aerial is um gymnastics and dance in the air.

We manipulate the fabric or the apparatus to make a performance.

When why'd you guys uh choose Huntington Beach to open up your business?

Huntington Beach for me is home.

I'm a mom, and I've raised four kids here in Huntington Beach, and as a mom, I kind of know what the extracurriculars that a family wants, and so I've tried to make elevate a very family-friendly environment.

So I gotta ask the question.

I think I know the answer.

You do this too, right?

I do.

I do, yes.

All of our instructors are very well versed in all of the apparatuses.

Most of us are performers.

It's a way to get fit, too, it looks like.

Yes, it's a very good workout.

It's hard, but we don't we tell our students not to shy away from hard.

How long are the classes usually?

One hour.

One hour.

Yeah, I would imagine the theme in the end, it's about fun.

It is.

We want you leaving feeling better than when you came.

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

So remember to support local and keep surf city thriving.

See you at the next stop.

Woo!

I do have to say I'm a little disappointed in Mayor McCann and Councilman Kennedy for not going aerial, but okay.

Our second feature tonight is uh, well, this place needs no no real introduction.

It's been a staple in downtown Huntington Beach for a long time.

But our second feature is 25 degrees, an iconic downtown Huntington Beach restaurant off Walnut, known for its elevated elevated casual dining, a scratch kitchen, craft cocktails, live music, and a conversation forward atmosphere.

Now, under new ownership, we thank Dallas Selling and her family for bringing new energy and care to this local landmark.

We look forward to your ribbon cutting this Thursday with the chamber.

What's up, Huntington Beach?

This episode of Minute with the Mayor takes us down to 25 degrees.

Right off of Walnut in Maine.

Let's go meet the new under dollars.

Dallas, tell us about 25 degrees.

So 25 degrees is definitely an iconic landmark of Huntington Beach.

We bring together elevated casual dining, curated cocktails, live music.

So it's it's definitely a place that resonates with you long after last call.

And someone came in for the first time to 25 degrees.

What do you recommend they try?

Well, definitely what you're eating, which is our prime flat iron.

But any one of our burgers, there's so many different ones that, and the appetizers, we have so many different options on the menu that it has something for anyone's taste buds.

What do you love about just serving the Huntington Beach community?

The people.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I love like I said, all of our regulars that come here multiple times a week, our companion business owners, people like you, and then the people that have arrived for the first time.

Huntington Beach feels like home, even if you've just arrived.

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

So remember to support local and keep Surf City thriving.

See you at the next stop.

Alright, thank you very much.

Thank you again to all of our new involved.

Yeah, thank you again to all our new and long-standing businesses for choosing Huntington Beach.

We're grateful that you're here, and we look forward to supporting your continued success.

Alright, community events and announcements.

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

We do.

I will call them down.

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

Each organization is allotted two minutes for its announcement.

When your name is called, please approach.

Use both podiums and state your name and organization for the record.

Pat Goodman, Jason Schmidt, and Surfing Walk of Fame.

I think since they're all down here, I think we'll start with the surfing walk of fame, and then we'll go on to the the others.

Well, thank you, Huntington Beach.

Uh Mayor Pro Tem.

I'm sorry, Casey isn't here for this, and council people and our city manager, city attorney, our chiefs.

Uh we're super happy to be able to join with you today and present our 2026 Surfing Walk of Fame shirts from Ren Spooner, one of our longtime partners.

Um we are we're thrilled.

We want to invite everybody in the city to come down.

It's July 30th this year during the US Open, and we are celebrating our own PT Town in his 50th anniversary of his world championship, PT.

Best thing best thing about this, we're gonna dress.

Our council, like the in-surf City, right?

We'd like to thank Brian Spooner for that.

But um it's uh pretty big year uh for surfing in the fact that Pro-surfing is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

And uh you guys are big proud of what's gonna happen because of the vote 7-0 to move the surf museum to the library.

We're gonna open on July 24th with the installation of the history of Pro-Surfings 50 years.

So that's gonna be a really big thing to look forward to.

Of course, you guys will all be there, and you got the right shirt to wear.

If you guys would join us uh down here, we'd love to present you with your shirts.

Guys and girls.

I must mention PT was down there at the Lower Trestles, right, PT, the board writers that you were there.

Was that great waves?

Julie, make sure that's it right now.

All right, hold one for me.

One, two, three.

Okay.

Thank you guys.

Everybody come down, everybody's welcome.

We have a giant set to close down main street.

Good evening.

I'm gonna read a statement uh by the Greater Huntington Beach Interfaith Council entitled United in Grief and Solidarity.

Today, we at the Greater Huntington Beach Interfaith Council stand in grief and solidarity with our Muslim neighbors and friends in the wake of the horrific and hateful attack at the Islamic Center in San Diego.

We are devastated by the senseless act of violence that took the lives of worshippers and shattered a sacred space of peace.

Our hearts are broken for the victims, their families, and the entire community affected by this tragedy.

As an interfaith community, we unequivocally reject the hatred and violence that fueled this attack.

We come together to support our Muslim brothers and sisters with love, courage, and unwavering compassion.

In times of such such profound loss, our shared commitment to protecting one another and upholding the sanctity of every faith is more important than ever.

Thank you.

Thank you, Pat.

Is that the last speaker?

Madam.

We oh one more.

Oh, I I forget about Jason often.

I always forget about me go buddy good evening council and community members as you know I'm your city treasurer Jason Schmidt and I'm excited to share with you tonight details about the coming launch of my meter an easy to use digital platform that puts city residents in control of their utility accounts with my meter you will have secure 247 access to your utility account on your computer or your mobile phone you will be able to do so many cool things that will make your life easier including viewing your account tracking your usage receiving your bills electronically paying your bills automatically and receiving instant custom alerts for high usage big bills potential leaks and outages at our next council meeting we're going to show you a video for all the features of my meter in action so bring sure to bring be sure to bring some popcorn so how does all this work starting June 15th residents will be able to create their mitometer account all you'll have to do is go to the city's website click on the my meter link and follow the registration steps you'll be asked to enter basic information including your account number and your name on your account to register.

So please make sure to have both of those with you when you log in and before you call us we will be providing step by step instructions online resources and customer support to help make this transition smooth for everyone as we get closer to the go live date in the meantime please look at our social media platform and your current water bill for more information on my meter and get excited because my meter will soon be here to make managing your water account smarter faster and way more fun thank you.

Thank you Mr Treasurer in all the excitement uh there's there's a couple of uh of other um announcements that I forgot to make this Thursday there's gonna be all kinds of stuff going on downtown he do that it's just like him there is a ribbon cutting on Thursday at uh four o'clock for uh uh 25 degrees there's also uh everybody is is has come to to know pristine motors in downtown Huntington Beach it's under new ownership now and he's gonna have a grand opening he's calling it Porsche night uh he he builds race car Porsches I've seen some of them they're pretty amazing and so and that that event is from uh 5 to 7 p.m at um at pristine motors I think they're down like on walnut and fifth and uh uh right right next to 25 degrees and then after that you're since you're already downtown uh come over to uh uh the Pier Plaza and Amphitheater because there's going to be the unveiling of the HB 250 banner and logo uh is going to be unveiled at 7 o'clock on Thursday evening at the pier so hope to see you guys all there our illustrious mayor is back now I hope I filled in for him fine.

Here he is our mayor Casey McKeon.

Go ahead and okay hang on a minute.

Oh okay we're at uh oh thank you thank you I believe we're at supplemental communications announcement uh madam clerk do we have any supplemental communications we do oh good under the city manager's report item number eleven revised full year of fiscal year 2026 27 proposed budget powerpoint presentation one email received regarding the proposed budget for fiscal year 2026 27 and finance commission 2026 27 budget discussion questions for council under administrative item number 16 two emails received regarding the recommendation by the city council ad hoc committee to end the request for proposal for creative strategy branding, merchandising media, communications, and film industry development services, and not award a contract.

Council member items, new one email received regarding the proposed establishment of a city council ad hoc committee on juvenile e-bike safety and enforcement.

Madam Clerk, how many speakers do we have?

31.

Please call them up.

Thank you.

The City Council will now receive public comment 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 Hansen, Pat Goodman, Buzz McCord, Nora Peterson, Carol Doss, Andrew Einhorn, Richard Spindler, Myrnez Blades, Janet Jacobs, Jeff Wells.

Good evening.

After the illness and passing of my sister, I'm just now starting to catch up on the happenings of the city.

As you might remember from previous addresses, my interest is in integrity and transparency.

So what I have found is a lack of both.

With cronyism at the helm, funds have been removed from local charities, Robin's Nest, and all for the children benefiting our local children.

The funds were shifted by Pat Burns to a veterans fishing trip.

Curiously, the vet group is based at Temecula and has Councilman Andrew Gruel as executive director.

Then I learned that the city council people, Gracie Vandermalck, Casey McEwen, Pat Burns, and former City Council, City Attorney Michael Gates were fined for hiding the tickets and perks they received from the Pacific Air Show.

They will now pay FPPC fines on their omissions.

Hair brain schemes of the City Council have cost our city millions in court.

And when we lose, as we certainly do, we appeal, resulting in the loss of more millions in fines and attorney costs.

Currently, the city appears to have confirmed the court in court that they are anti-affordable housing, anti-freedom to read, anti-war water fluoridation, anti-diversity, anti-freedom of speech, anti-right to vote, and anti-science.

Our finances have shriveled, but now there is a brand new wacky idea.

Spend taxpayer money or borrow more from the reserves to rebrand Huntington Beach.

Big money was handed off to Mayor Casey McEwen's close friend Tyler Wolf for the study.

It will be fascinating work of fiction void of integrity and transparency.

Not a thing has changed.

Good evening, Mayor McCann, City Council, Pat Goodman.

I just want to uh thank the staff and uh take this opportunity to thank the work that's been done for the proposed budget and various study sessions today.

Um I have a few comments and requests that I hope will be addressed tonight.

I haven't looked at supplemental information or uh reports since Friday, so I don't know if it's already on um on the agenda attachments, but uh here goes on transparency and balancing strategy.

The May 5th City Council PowerPoint identified a $15 million dollar uh balancing strategy as it would be um helpful to um show how that gap is being filled in a table, and then also a side-by-side comparison of original versus revised departmental budgets so the public can see exactly which services and staffing levels are affected.

And I believe that this is kind of in line with that too.

I believe that uh library and community services budgets need to be presented separately.

The uh full-time staffing that's um shown on page 65 of the budget combines both community development or uh parks, I guess community development and uh or community and library services.

I'm sorry.

Um, let's see.

And then I also ask whether the there was some reference to the city reviewing a facilities master plan for the library.

Will that be the uh one that was recently submitted to by the architectural firm Johnson Favreau?

On litigation costs, um, this comes up frequently at city council meetings.

Um, please pre present a five-year analysis on non-personnel litigation costs, including outside legal fees.

This is a significant concern of residents often heard at city council meetings.

And on housing, the budget references SB2 funding, which would go to help housing and homeless services, but receipt remains contingent on a certified housing element.

Please provide an update on this and the likelihood of securing SB2 funding in 2026-27.

In the funds definitions section, please identify the specific projects referenced in the Affordable in Lou Fund narrative, and confirm whether associated fees are reflected in this budget.

Um I think that's enough for now.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

OPM.

As an entrepreneur, I relied on OPM, other people's money.

Every dollar you spend is OPM, but your OPM is my taxes.

Your OPM used to belong to the taxpayers of Huntington Beach.

You gifted a single vendor a 40-year monopoly for our beach and parking.

You wrote them a check for $5 million of unproven damages.

You failed to submit a simple zoning plan for so long that Sacramento now threatens to fine us $50,000 a month.

Your failed library censorship crusade cost us a million dollars in legal fees payable to the residents who beat you in court.

And just a month ago, you were about to pay a buddy of yours $750,000 for a no-bid PR contract.

No bid.

Your track record with other people's money is a disgrace.

OPM is not your play money.

Your trips of ego are a betrayal.

Please stop it.

Start with 26 457 tonight.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

I'm Carol Dawes, Huntington Beach resident.

I'm here to comment on the budget and the long-term financial health of Huntington Beach.

The reality is that our city faces a structural deficit estimated at roughly 15 million dollars, and residents can already see the effects throughout Huntington Beach.

Yes, the 40-year-old dock in Huntington Harbor is finally being replaced, but many other problems remain unresolved.

The batting cages at the sports complex have been closed for two years, awaiting repairs.

Central Library recently closed unexpectedly due to a chlorine leak and roof leaks forced removal of community artwork.

The Oakview Library and Community Center project, something residents truly need, was abandoned.

And according to the city's own reports, Huntington Beach's stormwater system received a grade of D, with more than 900 million in repairs needed over the next 15 years.

I live in Southeast Huntington Beach, and frankly, it was alarming to read in a city report that corrosive soil conditions are damaging pipes and manholes, creating the potential for sinkholes.

These are real problems affecting residents today and in the future, which is why many taxpayers are asking why does the city council continue spending large sums on lawsuits and political fights that are unlikely to succeed?

The most recent example is the city's ongoing battle over affordable housing.

Huntington Beach now faces $50,000 a month in fines, money that could instead support infrastructure and vital community services.

Another example is the ongoing culture war surrounding the library.

Taxpayers have already paid millions for a special election and a losing book censorship lawsuit, while legal fees continue mounting because of the city's appeal.

Yet this council still has not accepted an $825,000 donation from the Friends of the Library.

At some point, we need to ask what is the long-term cost of these political battles to future generations?

What happens as infrastructure continues aging, pension obligations grow, and legal bills continue mounting.

I urge this council to focus on investing in the future of Huntington Beach instead of legal and political conflicts that polarize our community.

Thank you.

I've lived here for 48 years in a particular community that I'm very concerned about.

There's been a proposed Redondo Circle project, and I do appreciate all your efforts to support growth and development.

But I'm worried about this project.

As currently designed, it's simply too large and too intense for the location.

Placing a 40-foot-tall warehouse so close to nearby senior homes, sensitive receptors and important emergency access routes, is a real concern for those of us who live in that area.

With the increased truck traffic, there the proposal is that there be 12 trucks, an hour, 24-7.

The noise alone is at any rate.

I'm not opposed to the development, but I strongly believe that this project needs to be scaled appropriately to fit the surrounding community, reducing the building size and height, increasing setbacks, improving buffering, such as taller walls, and limiting the hours of operation will go a long way toward addressing these concerns.

I respectfully ask you that you require these kinds of revisions before considering approval.

Thoughtful changes now can help prevent long-term impact on residents and ensure the project better align with the needs of the community.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

Please make plans to meet with us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Hello, my name is Janet Jacobs.

I am one of your campaign volunteers for the last five years, and I know you guys recognize this hat.

We promoted your slogan that you are for the people of Huntington Beach, not for Sacramento.

Make Huntington Beach great again.

Number one, the lumber yard proposal to build an industrial warehouse business in my residential neighborhood.

Thank God it's been appealed right now, anyway.

Placing a 40 foot high building in that area right up against my senior community would suffocate our community.

It would block the airflow, it would put so many toxins in the air.

The light that comes from that area is all we ever get, and you would be blocking that.

There's about a hundred residents in my community whose physical and mental health would be jeopardized, and I ask that you protect them rather than make it a city liability.

Plus the financial security because our home value would definitely decrease.

I love my home.

It's my retirement home.

I don't want to move.

I don't want to be pushed out.

I'm praying daily that God hears our prayers.

I just ask that you scale it back, make it smaller, make it something we can we can enjoy, an area that we can enjoy.

Um, and I'm wondering where all those lawsuits that Michael Gates filed against Sacramento on the high density housing.

Was it really so that we could build industrial complexes all around our city?

It appears that the 2017 city rezoning from redistrict manufacturing to industrial was improper, and they never notified Huntington Beach residents of this proposal in a proper way.

In 2022, it was to be rezoned for residential, but that meeting never took place.

We are asking to correct this error and rezone it back to restricted manufacturing zone or another.5 far, whatever.

Terry Park, that's another thing, our little park there.

It's a mess.

I think it's being used, the building there for the city storage, and it's termite infested.

It should have a restroom per the ADA guidelines, and the concrete around it is so broken up and badly buckling that it's an accident waiting to happen.

Parkview Lane, the um lumber yard fence.

It needs to be replaced, it's falling apart.

So the city needs to call them on that, and the plants that belong to the city along that same fence need to be uh removed.

The dead ones need to be removed.

I'm against the high increases in our track trash refuge, and um I ask that you lower those increases, and I'm looking forward to our study sessions next week.

17 seconds left.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Good evening.

My name's Jeff Wells, and I'm a member of the Terry Park community as well.

I might also add a 52-year resident of Huntington Beach.

I believe that the 7600 Redondo Project or Circle Project should not move forward in its current form because it places an oversized warehouse too close to sensitive residential surroundings.

A smaller footprint, lower height, landscaping, larger setbacks, taller walls, and operating hours limited to daytime hours, not 24-7.

Necessary mitigation measures to reduce truck traffic, noise, lighting, privacy, quality of life, and public safety conflicts.

Without these changes, the project will create unnecessary impacts on nearby residents.

This project should be significantly revised with the residential community in mind.

And finally, data such as EIRs and noise studies.

They need to be reconciled so there's a clear path to approve or deny.

I thank you for listening, and I also look forward to meeting you in our study groups.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

My name is Mr.

Amory Hanson.

I'm speaking tonight in support of IM 17, the mayor's item to create a flight display program for street lights.

This program will enhance Huntington Beach's already present patriotism during America's semiconcentennial.

I predict that this year's Huntington Beach Independence Day Parade will be the largest parade ever in the history of Huntington Beach.

Let's continue to display the American flag in Huntington Beach.

Once again, IRJ, yes, but I am 17.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Hello.

My name is Richard Spindler.

I'm uh occupant of uh a home in uh the Terry Park community.

I'm here to speak uh directly to everyone on the council.

If anyone of you city council members were able to stand on your own property line, throw a rock, and hit a 40-foot-tall building that was operating 24-7, uh, loading and unloading um operations during that period.

I'm sure you would feel that that was unacceptable to be in your neighborhood.

Uh at the present time, the noise in our neighborhood is negligible between sunset and sunrise.

We have emergency uh vehicles uh leaving Gothard, we hear them like they're in our backyard.

We have the heliport working.

They are necessities.

We live with that, we in embrace that.

That's a part of our city, and we enjoy that.

The noise of trucks transferring cargo, electric or not, will be heard throughout the neighborhood.

We will be hearing those sounds with every operation.

The neighborhood is quiet and has been for a decade.

The only unaffected would be the deaf, because we would hear the backups.

I've been trying to follow the uh actions and and the different changes that have come through.

Nothing's been written in concrete.

Uh we haven't heard specifically what's going to happen.

All we hear is there has been a change in zoning.

A few years later, there's been another change in zoning.

The existing adjacent businesses do not operate 24-7.

They do not make noise in the middle of the night.

It would be uh kind of unconscionable to do that to a neighborhood if you weren't willing to do it to your own neighborhood.

So please remember we are your constituents.

We appreciate your representing us, and we hope that you do, in fact, represent us.

Thank you.

Oh, one more thing.

Uh I've been a resident in Huntington Beach off and on because of uh life, but uh 1966.

I moved to Huntington Beach.

I went to work at uh Douglas Astronautics.

Actually, it was Douglas Astronautics.

Um went into the service, um, came back, went back to work at McDonnell Douglas Astronautics, and uh have considered Huntington Beach to be the best thing since Venice ever was.

Um, so thank you for being who you are and protecting this community and thank you for your time.

Thank you for your service.

Thank you, sir.

Andy Einhorn, Huntington Beach.

Democracy is under direct threat, and this council cannot stay silent.

I was raised to speak out, and that's what I intend to do.

There is an active federal discussion about employing ICE agents at polling locations.

The Heritage Foundation documented 68 cases of non-citizen voting in 40 years.

This is not a crisis, it's a cover story for racism, plain, deliberate, and undeniable.

Trump is pushing for an election army for 2026, despite laws prohibiting military at polling places.

Let's be honest, what ice at polling locations means.

People see ice, they turn around, they go home, especially people of non-white skin.

This is not a side effect.

This is the goal.

These are agents with a documented record of breaking car windows, injuring people, ignoring due process, killing American citizens, and if a confrontation occurs outside of your polling place, what happens to the election integrity?

We watched January 6th, five officers killed in its aftermath, more than 40 140 injured.

Trump looked at that carnage and handed out pardons, pardons.

Now he wants ice agents at your polling locations.

This is illegal under 18 U.S.

Code 592 expressively prohibits armed federal agents at polling locations punishable by up to five years in prison.

The pattern is clear.

Trump manufactures, election lies, confusion to underline election results.

January 6th was the blueprint.

The rule of law is under assault by those who place personal power above our republic, and that is a real threat.

Deploying ICE agents at polling stations is simply wrong.

It's a federal crime.

So here's what I'm asking you to do.

I want you to go on the record, pass a city resolution that tells the feds, Huntington Beach, voter, we oppose voter intimidation.

Every voter has the right to cast their ballot without fear.

No ICE agents, no armed intimidation, no exceptions.

We demand enforcement of civil rights of equal protection.

We expect polling places to be safe for every citizen without profiling based upon skin color.

Next speaker, please.

Paula Schaeffer, Linda Diaz, Michael Shreve, Jerry Vinland, Dale Feich, Chris Cluey, Daniel Tassa, Shelby, Ross Price, Steve Muldena, Brian Thenis.

Speaking tonight as a representative of the Friends of the Public Library.

In the past 25 years, the Friends Organization has donated over 4.8 million dollars to the library, and those funds are solely for reading materials.

The Friends members have donated thousands of hours per year to the library.

These two factors allow the city the ability to spend tax dollars on library staff or other services provided by the library.

The friend's sole mission is to continue to donate money to the library for reading materials.

The city has a goal to make uses of city-owned property more uniform by means of memorandums of understanding.

During the past year, actually, more than one year, the Friends Organization and the City have exchanged many documents in an attempt to agree on terms.

Earlier this year, the Friends made an offer to the city as follows.

In return for the friends' commitment to donate eight hundred and twenty five thousand dollars over three years to the library, the friends requested these three conditions.

One, the city not impose on the library any restrictions in violation of the First Amendment and the California Freedom to Read Act regarding censorship or discrimination on the basis of content.

Second, allow the Friends Organization continued use of library facilities for book sales and gift shop sales, and third, continued usage of meeting rooms for Friends events and meetings.

The Friends intends to continue its fundraising efforts to support the library and to fulfill its nonprofit mission as it has done for over 50 years.

Acceptance of this agreement should not be a difficult decision for this city council.

You're all aware that the majority of the voters in this city support the library as evidenced by measures A and B, which won handily last year.

And the court has ruled us that the city must follow California's Freedom to Read Act.

You've also individually taken an oath to uphold the U.S.

Constitution, including the First Amendment.

So why the reluctance to accept our commitment to donate eight hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars to the city.

If the city council would only focus as much attention on this matter as it did recently, contracting efforts to spend money.

The library could perhaps already have two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to spend on reading materials in this budget year, and two hundred and seventy-five thousand for next year.

This would certainly help with the city's budget.

City residents and its library supporters deserve answers from the city council promptly.

Next speaker, please good evening.

My name is Dale Feich.

I'm here to talk about the Cherry Park and Redondo Circle Buildings.

There's only five houses on that short block between Huntington and the end of the street, and that's all in front of the uh proposed buildings.

Um my concern basically is gonna be the height of the walls.

Right now the wall is six to seven feet high, depending on where you park or where you walk through, and that's right in front of my house.

Um they say they can only build a nine-foot wall on the east side of the uh park is directly next to the senior center.

There's a 14-foot wall that looks like it's protected pretty well and kind of keeping the buffer between the lumber yard.

Uh there's any reason why we can't have a 14-foot wall in front of my house that buffers the wall between the 40-foot building.

I don't think so.

Um I also just noticed coming here tonight right on uh um Talbert, no, not Talbert, next one over.

Uh there's right by the uh water department.

There's a wall back there right next to the uh condos on main street uh that is definitely taller than 14 feet tall.

So it can be done.

Let's see what remember this is gonna be a 24-hour operation.

When are we supposed to sleep?

There's supposed to be 95 trucks a day.

I don't know how many of those are gonna be at night, but there's gonna be at least a few.

My neighbor next door has a two-story home.

His bedrooms are on the second story right in the front of his uh house.

That means it's right across the street with the bedrooms up twenty feet high.

Uh that little buffer wall isn't gonna help them much at all.

Um, landscaping and trees, landscaping there has been very, very poor by the lumber yard.

Um I actually went over just of uh about a month or so ago and complained about the trees and the shrubbery and the dead trees because there's no water.

Uh sprinklers has been in service.

Um, they came over and they sent five or six guys over and started chopping and cutting, and at least now you can see the wall, which is going to protect us from the kids that are running back and forth in there and doing questionable things.

Uh, we also have uh drug people back there.

Also, also had some homeless people sleeping back there, but at least now you can see the wall, and it's gonna keep and contain some of that.

Um, we also take an uh, oh, thank you, sir.

Thank you very much.

Yeah, thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Hello, my name is Linda Diaz, and I'm here to thank you, City Council people for your service, your public service, and all that you do for us.

Huntington Beach is a much safer place than it's ever been, and I'm grateful, very, very grateful.

I'm an avid walker.

There was a time a couple years ago.

I was afraid to walk in the city up on the riverbed, and now the Huntington Beach police patrols it regularly.

It's safe, and I am ever so thankful.

I'm thankful for the good year blimp, landing on the beach, bringing great PR to our great city, our beautiful beaches, all that Huntington Beach has to offer.

Yes, there are expenses, yes, like an old house.

We need the new roof, we need new things, and uh there's never enough money, and somehow we manage to do it little by little, little by little, and I thank you for all that you do and making sure that everything gets done little by little.

Thank you.

Thank you, Linda.

Would you please uh fill out a blue card, Councilman Williams?

I'd love to get in touch with you.

Next speaker, please.

Hey, thank you for being here.

I've lived in, I'm at the um Terry Park community.

I've lived there for 50 years.

We're not against any commercial projects.

But you look down Gothard area, Talbot area, they're all low-level buildings, they're not 40 feet high, and a 24-hour diesel facility next to a senior apartment complex.

There's been so many studies about cancer and diesel fuel and diesel exhaust.

Look at the port of Long Beach.

Look at the people there that are dying of cancer because of all that diesel exhaust.

Now you want to bring that to Huntington Beach.

You know, the pastor who talked said you should work with the community.

So we hope that you work with our community, come to our meetings and see what we would like to have, working with you guys.

Okay.

The zoning also calls for a sidewalk where Mr.

Fike was just talking about trees.

Nobody's gonna use that sidewalk.

There should be more trees there for birds and animals and things like that.

Look at what happened at Walmart.

You built a great berm there, great trees.

The diesel trucks are out on Talbot, they're not in a neighborhood, they're facing a cemetery.

Why do diesel trucks have to come in our neighborhood?

I don't get that.

And come and talk to us, see what exactly what people want, and let's work with us.

And you're right, elections are coming, and we're doing our due diligence on who to vote for, but we don't know who this Mr.

Mumford is.

Maybe somebody could tell us who that is.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

All right, my name is uh Michael Shreve.

I live in the Terry Park community too.

It's um I've lived there for 29 years, I've raised my children in there.

Uh this project is like horrendous.

We're the second oldest city in the neighborhood, and you guys will sit up there and talk about new business and how great it is, but you're forgetting about us.

We're the people, we're the ones that made this community, and we're being taken advantage of.

And I surely hope you would come to our study session and see what the community is about.

Actually, look at what they're trying to do.

At 2012, in 2012, the lumber yard wanted to put an RV storage lot there with 24 hour access.

And me, my wife, and another person came to the meeting and convinced you that it wasn't a good idea to be 24 hours a day.

So it went to uh just a storage facility.

So why why now is it okay to have 24 hour traffic there?

It makes no sense to me.

And once again, I think you feel feel more about the community that the businesses than the citizens.

It's ridiculous.

And Gracie, you ought to just check out now because you don't pay attention to anybody in the room.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Hello, everyone.

Uh Chris Clue, candidate for AD 72.

And uh I'm actually taking notes about a comment that Mr.

Burns made at City Council last meeting, where he said, I'm worried about all the fraud and stuff.

Burns said, referring to all for kids.

This is from Voice of OC, by the way.

Yet Burns offered no details of alleged fraud.

I just questioned that center quite a bit as far as being one of the top money getters.

So let's talk about fraud.

Because when you bring a fraud accusation, you gotta have proof.

Otherwise, you're just lying.

And so we do actually have a lot of proof of fraud happening here in Huntington Beach.

We have an RFP that was gonna go to our mayor's friend for $750,000, a no-bid contract.

Thankfully that's getting pulled in this session, but why was it ever proposed in the first place?

We have city council members who did not disclose their proper financials and were then fined by the FPPC.

We have a city council that voted to give eight million dollars to their friend, the air show, Kevin Elliott, in return for what?

How much did he donate to your guys' campaign?

And then most recently, we have a city council that decided to take $15,000 from Huntington Beach charities that serve Huntington Beach residents and direct that to a charity into Mechula.

And I'm not against helping vets.

I think that's absolutely something we need to do.

And it sucks that the Trump administration is cutting so much funding to the VA.

But to direct that money to an organization that doesn't even work here, and that has one of our council members as its executive director, that is fraud.

And the problem is we can't trust you anymore because this has been a pattern of behavior.

Once, okay, fine, maybe someone made a mistake.

Twice, that's a problem.

The third time, the fourth time, how are we as citizens supposed to trust anything you say up there?

You have all these people from Terry, the Terry Project talking about this facility that's going to be constructed.

How can they trust you?

The guy that just spoke.

He says he doesn't believe you.

And I understand why.

Because you guys have done nothing to earn that trust.

You have lied to us over and over and over again.

And I don't want to be here yelling at you.

I want to be here for the stupid dog stuff.

I love the dog stuff.

Like that's amazing.

That's what our city council should be.

But I have to come here and yell at you because you are not abiding by the American contract.

We are a democracy.

We are supposed to trust our elected officials.

And we cannot trust you.

So I urge you to build that trust back.

Thank you.

Sir, if you can fill out a blue card, it'd be appreciated so you don't sound like such an idiot.

Just to clarify the record, because I've said it multiple times, this number needs keeps seeming to go up.

It's the airship settlement wasn't $8 million, it was actually 4.9 million spread out with payments spread out over six years.

The council then sued the oil company brought back $5.25 million to the taxpayers.

So thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Okay, well, following that, I'm here to talk about the Terry, the Redondo Circle redevelopment.

I'm here to talk about noise specifically.

First, I should say up my name is Steve Melinda.

I live in the uh affected um residential tract adjacent to this redevelopment.

Um the noise, that's what I'm here to talk about.

I live in the neighborhood, it's south of Taylor, east of Gothard, north of Ellis, and west of Delaware.

Okay.

Um Gothard businesses make up make what all kinds of grinding noises along Gothard there on our on our west flank.

Um when I get home from work, I can hear them grinding away.

I mean, I'm in my house and I can hear grinding, so it's loud.

It travels, noise travels.

This is at the this is the daytime, or in the evening, I should say, when I'm home.

The people who live right behind where the railroad tracks are, I don't know how they deal with the noise.

They would drive me crazy.

Um I work in aircraft maintenance at fabrication, I work in loud environments.

I my whole life, I know exactly what it is.

I know how to deal with it.

When I come home, I want a nice quiet neighborhood.

We have that in the evening right now.

In the after hours, it's quiet.

The police heliport.

Loud, okay, short duration, we can live with it.

Um concerts, okay.

Pacific Amphitheater, 10 p.m.

curfew, right?

There should be controls here.

Um, how much time do I have?

Oh, running out of time.

Okay, we we want night time, we want it to be quiet at night, basically.

Okay.

This project, there's we've heard different numbers, seven vehicles an hour, twelve vehicles an hour.

We can't really clear it up because the the data sets is confusing based on what kind of vehicles and all that.

But imagine imagine you go to sleep, and then you work you woke up by the sound of beep beep beep beep as a truck backs up.

And then there's um, and then of course, uh, you got the um forkless, loading and unloading, all this stuff, right?

So it's noisy, it's a noisy activity.

24 seven, seven days a week, day after day, week after week.

You guys, um, you have control of this, okay.

Running out of time.

Um the commission.

There was an issue that came up during the commit during the April 28th where Donna Beach, the hearing study was flawed because they only did one, they measured one truck backing up at one instance in time, not with all the other related activities of doors opening and forkless operating and all this other stuff.

So it's a flawed study.

They voted to move forward anyways because it complied with code, zoning code.

We disagree with the commission.

We need you guys, we need a mandate for noise mitigation.

We need to either be engineered, redesign the whole project, start from scratch, whatever it is.

Um, let's see.

What we need is a denial of removal of nighttime activities, quiet at night.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you for your time, guys.

Next speaker, please.

Um, good evening, Mayor and Council members.

I'm Roz Price, as most of you know me.

Um, I'd like to take a moment to speak on the city's budget discussion and how it connects directly to the quality of life in our neighborhoods.

First off, I want to acknowledge that balancing the city's budget is no easy task.

I can't imagine being in your guys' shoes, but I hope too soon.

These are real decisions that impact real people, and I appreciate the thoughtful work and the time it goes into making these hard decisions.

As we look at our budget, I believe our priorities should remain clear and consistent, public safety first, ensuring our police, fire, and emergency services are fully supported.

At the same time, we need to maintain the cleanliness and appearance of our city, including landscaping, parks, public spaces, because those are things that directly impact the quality of our residents and the experience that our visitors have, especially um neighborhoods like the neighborhoods surrounding Marina Park, which is off of Edinger and Graham.

I want to give you guys a quick thank you for finally getting all the weeds cleaned up.

I could barely pull out of my neighborhood with having a blind intersection.

That was really difficult.

Um, I'm personally very grateful to live next to the beautiful park.

It's something that I get to enjoy every single day, whether I'm walking through it or simply looking out my front door and taking in its beauty.

That makes Huntington Beach feel more like home to me.

At the same time, I want to raise concern regarding Marina Park, while we were absolutely love the sporting activity and the community engagement it brings.

There are real impacts on the surrounding neighborhood, particularly um with the parking challenges and the trash overflow and the sound ordinances that are going on, which often ends up in the gutters throughout the streets in the entire neighborhood and on my front lawn.

I on average pick up every day at least one bag of trash and have to deal with at least 20 parents yelling and screaming at each other, cussing, and then going to play baseball after that.

And I also put in uh for residential parking, and for some reason that was squashed when I had 96 signatures, and over 70% of the people wanted the residential parking for us.

Um at the same time.

Um, I'd also like to know where we're at with the park, parks and renovation project that residents le residents previously supported.

Specifically, we picked out a plan to address the parking issue and implement more parking parking.

I don't know where this got less than the budget.

In addition, I would like to strongly encourage the city to explore or revisit residential parking options.

Um now when it comes to the budget, we also have to be honest about the pressures we're facing.

Costs are rising, and we can't simply cut out all these challenges that we're facing.

That's why it's essential to drive business into Huntington Beach by supporting local businesses, expanding our tourism, and making it easier for small businesses in the community and events to operate, especially in our beach and downtown areas to strengthen our revenue.

When businesses thrive, our city generates more revenue naturally, and that helps us maintain without raising taxes on our residents.

That's something I believe is critical for families that are already facing financial pressures from the current cost of living.

I'm Ross Price.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Uh good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

My name is Daniel Tassa.

I'm just another concerned uh Riviera track, Cherry Park resident.

Been there 21 years.

Uh bought my place in 2005.

I'm approximately 300 feet from the property line of the lumber yard.

Um, there are a number of major concerns, obviously.

One of the most important, of course, is the noise.

Uh, will people be able to sleep?

Um, Huntington Beach says it enforces strict commercial noise limits in chapter 840, restricting exterior noise and adjacent residential areas to between 55 and 75 decibels in the day and uh 50 to 70 decibels at night, 10 p.m.

to 7 a.m.

These limits govern maximum cumulative exposure over a one-hour period on 1120 on in November 2024 on a Friday afternoon, an inadequate noise study was completed uh in and around the project site.

Needless to say, of course, it passed, but it was very inadequate.

Sound samples need to be taken from a similar warehouse site at least one hour during the day and one hour during uh the middle of the night uh meeting, of course, to code decibels uh at the property line.

I believe the people responsible do not want to conduct a new sound report because they think it might fail.

And I also refuse to believe that the city council doesn't care about the kind of noise this trucking operation will create for the residents.

Two weeks ago we met with city planners, they all agreed uh that a new sound study should be done, but instead they uh uh reduced the trucking at night 50 percent and called it quits.

Um, so now instead of every uh 12, instead of every five minutes having a truck will be a truck every 10 minutes, and that's not gonna reduce the amount of noise.

So I knew a new sound test I think is very important.

It was almost unanimous, they thought they thought so too, but in the end they just passed.

Of course, it was appealed, but it was passed anyway.

So I think the importance I'm stressing a new sound test has to be conducted, an accurate one, a reasonable one, one according to the way it's supposed to be done, um, and uh we go from there.

Um, if it fails, there are many ways to block sound, and we can work that out.

I'm really looking forward to face-to-face during the study sessions with uh you guys.

Um I hope the city council will agree with the residents enforcing a new accurate complete sound report uh before uh the project is approved.

Uh, thank you for the opportunity to speak.

Thank you very much.

Next speaker, please.

Thank you.

Why are we still talking about the libraries?

Three years of our lives talking about the libraries.

Casey, I challenged you at the town hall to be the mayor to stop picking on the libraries.

Eight hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars is a lot of money.

I know I could do a lot of things with eight hundred and twenty-five dollars.

Pat, you could buy some suits for eight hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.

Would you?

Why not?

Oh, okay.

You could buy some more Hawaiian shirts.

$825, eight hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars worth of jeans and Hawaiian shirts.

Okay, but the friends of the library trying to give $825,000 to you for books.

We need books in our library.

Most of the funds that buy books are from the friends of the libraries.

It's a gift.

How often does somebody give you $825,000?

They could buy a lot of books like how to follow FPPC rule regulations and violations and not get fined.

You could buy books like how to represent all the citizens of HB and not just your Amaga donors.

You could buy a lot of books.

For $825,000, you could pay the street or maybe two.

You could also fund Be Well for Our Homeless Back for $825,000.

You could lower, not increase our trash bills for $825,000.

Eight hundred eight hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.

You could work on the infrastructure that is failing.

It would be a start.

You could work on safe stairs here at City Hall.

Every time somebody walks there, they practically fall.

You could, for $825,000, you could stop suing with frivolous lawsuits and spend it back on our citizens.

For $825,000, you could help the homeless.

For $825,000, you could get more police.

You could get more fire.

You could get more police to monitor the e-bikes so we don't have any more accidents for $825,000.

We would not have to dip into our reserves as much to balance our budget.

For $825, $825,000, Chad could build up his youth pastor program for $800,000 to $825,000.

Thank you, next speaker, please.

Stephen Gerard Sidlovsky, Third Order Franciscan speaking in favor of a new possible resolution.

I would like to open with Holy Bible since we are in the Mother's Day to Father's Day time frame.

I'll modify it to be all inclusive.

My sons and daughters, keep my words and lay up my commandments with thee.

Keep my commandments and live and my law as the apple of thine eye.

Find them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.

That's in Proverbs 7.

I provided you a wonderful correspondence letter, everybody.

Citizens, you can see me afterward if you would like to get a picture copy of it.

Dear Huntington Beach Mayor and City Council and citizens, please know that myself and approximately 200 citizens recently attended the Horizon Pregnancy Clinic 5K walk for life this past Saturday from 9 to noon.

During this time, I educated citizens in the new direction of USA pre-born personhood cities and passed out Bible bookmarks amplifying fatherhood, motherhood, childhood, and preborn personhood.

You have already received the Bible bookmarks.

I am now providing you a list of the 89 Huntington Beach citizens that have graciously signed the California pre-born personhood advisory petition from January 12th to May 19th today.

Please know that over 440 citizens throughout California have graciously signed this advisory petition, and they all support this new Huntington Beach direction.

On the back of the correspondence, I again provide you the resolution that I hope you're gonna put on your next agenda because there's only two more meetings prior to Father's Day, a resolution in support of a Huntington Beach, California declaration of a safe pre-born personhood city.

Remember, it was Nellie Gray who started the Washington D.C.

March for Life.

Yes, actually a Democrat woman.

She's one of my American heroes who started the Washington DC March for Life.

She stressed to me that as I did my pro-life in America that we must amplify personhood.

Frank Provone also stressed that we have to amplify pre-born.

That's why you should be called now a pre-born personhood city.

I encourage you in holy wisdom and understanding to move in this new direction.

Thank you kindly.

God bless you all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Hi, I'm Therese Bartusek.

I recently moved from Chicago, Illinois to Corona Del Mar.

And back in Chicago on May 16th, 1979, my sister took her life.

And prior to that, she'd had an abortion.

I just wanted to let you know that I'm here to support this resolution for personhood, because that little baby has a name, Abigail.

And my sister had a name, Elizabeth.

And they're both gone.

Um lots of other things matter.

I know.

Money matters, right?

But life matters more.

And so I'm here to just on behalf of her.

I feel like I came out to California for many reasons, and I guess this was a surprise for me to actually uh be able to partake in a walk for life, which happened at Horizon Pregnancy Clinic just last Saturday.

And I do have a paper here that can be shared where people can have healing from that if they have had it done, and there is healing available, and I just want people to know that.

I'm not here to bash anybody, I'm or condemn anybody.

I'm here to say there is healing and there's hope just to reach out.

And the clinics are available to those who are in a situation where maybe their boyfriend or husband, even does not want them to have a child, which is what happened to my sister.

Um, and she was too scared to do anything else, so she went through with it, but it it killed her.

It killed the baby, and then three months later she was gone.

And she was never the same after that.

Um, so there is hope, there is healing, but there also is prevention, and there also are people who are willing to come with love, with hope, and with uh compassion to hear your story and be there for you.

So I hope this can help to know that that baby is a person and declaration of independence of all years, 250th anniversary of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and I pray that life being the first word there will really take precedence.

And I just thank you for all of you.

God bless you all, and I'm glad you're all here.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor McKee and uh council members.

My name is uh Brian Thenis.

Uh, your favorite uh planning commissioner, uh city council candidate, by the way.

Um, I uh just want to thank uh this city council for all the hard work you do and the dedication to keeping our city safe and clean, uh keeping our fire department and police department one of the best in the country.

I believe the Huntington Beach is the best place to live in the world.

Um, in fact, this uh when we made the sanctuary city status, um I did some research.

I spent two hours talking to an ICE agent, and um what they have to do in cities like Los Angeles.

They actually have to go, they get anonymous tips from police officers who could get fired for telling them, hey, we're releasing this guy from jail.

And you know, here's his record, and they have to get a court order to go out on the street, and then and if the police could cooperate, then we could get a criminal who's in from some other country undocumented, and we just get them out.

I don't understand why that's so bad.

It's crazy.

Anyway, um the Planning Commission just heard a project the other day.

It was for uh a couple of uh accessory dwelling units and two new uh residential units.

Um they were using one of these crazy Senate bills that came from uh Sacramento, Senate bill number nine.

It allows basically allows um anybody with a single family residential home to build an accessory dwelling unit up to 50 or 1,200 square feet with a kitchen bedrooms, bathrooms, a full-on apartment unit.

Um we are it with with really no regulations, no parking, they had no parking.

Uh we were able to kind of delay the project because the origin the the main structure we had an issue with, so they have to go back to the drawing board.

But one of the things that I noticed is that back in back in 1979, the state, the citizens of the state of California voted for proposition four, which is article uh 13b section six that says when legislation is established uh mandated for a new program to affect the local government that uh the state must cover the costs.

So here they've passed all of these mandates that that don't that don't include this is gonna burden these mandates for these ADUs.

Imagine we got 78,000 single family residential units.

If only 10% of the people bought in and decided to use Senate Bill 9, that that would be, you know, uh uh 8,000, almost 8,000 new residential units.

So I think that what we should do is look into really what this infrastructure costs.

I know it just by way of example, the uh housing the arena element is is uh a hundred and a hundred and ten million dollar deficit for those additional units, and we're only collecting about twenty five hundred dollars for a new unit, and and and it should be thirteen thousand.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Hello, mayor and city council.

I'm back, and you've heard from a lot of our um Terry Park residents tonight um in support for the appeal that was filed.

Um we again have asked all of the city council members to meet with us regarding this project.

So far, three out of seven of you have returned emails and agreed to meet with us as doing a little study session.

So we look forward to seeing all seven of you hopefully next week for half an hour, an hour of your time.

Um again, uh this project has been pushed through the entitlement permitting process with very little oversight and community engagement.

We sincerely hope there are no conflicts of interest with anyone sitting on that dias tonight.

Uh, this project does not fall within the city's opportunity zone, so there should be no waivers attached to the project.

Why is it being um kind of looks like those waivers are happening um behind the scenes?

Our concerns are worth listening to and they are valid.

It's not too much to ask for a proper noise study, landscaping, awall, EIR, and um continuing air monitoring due to the toxins that are known to be on the property.

In 2017, um the city's general plan, Huntington Beach adopted a new RT framework, and this was um this should not have been included in that um upgrade and this update.

Um, because it is surrounded by all these sensitive receptors on three sides.

It should have not have been included, it should have stayed um at the zoning level that it was, but it was bulk updated along with everything else.

Here's a 1980s schematic of the actual buffer that the Lumbery Guard is currently not maintaining with the residents.

They continue this morning uh spilling stacks against the concrete wall.

Um redondo Circle moved from an M1A and lower intensity industrial zoning framework to roughly updating the.05 um five Flor to area ratio to 1.0, which is gonna give um the residents a 40-foot basic cement wall in our front yards, and it's gonna be shading and covering the entire senior community to the east.

These people will have no airflow or sunlight in the afternoon hours.

For those of you that want to learn more about the Terry Park community stance, please go to our website, Terry Park.com.

We also would like for local people in the area to take our cancer survey.

We have the state looking into the cancer cluster that's in our neighborhood, so we need more participants for that.

Um, and I encourage everyone who is in Huntington Beach to start studying the beach in Edinger corridors projects that also pertain to the five-point situation that they're trying to basically make this into the halfway point between the interstate and PCH.

So the um Gothard Um corridor project, and the there's three different corridor projects that you guys are being pressured into dealing with, but this project as it is right now does not belong in our neighborhood.

We're not trying to stop the project, we're just trying to make it better for the community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk, please call up the next group.

Irene Contreras Garcia, Tim Geddes, Elaine Keeley, Sonia Beal, and Russ Neal.

Okay, um, good evening, Mayor and Council persons.

Thank you for letting me speak.

I'm Irene Contreras Garcia.

I'm a fourth generation local Huntington Beach.

Um I grew up on the corner of Garfield in Delaware, and I after I got married, I moved to the community that's the Terry Park community, and that's why I'm here.

Um I've lived there almost 60 years.

I've raised my four children there.

Um, we hear all the noise from the sports complex, from the helicopter port, from the fire department, and this is gonna be an additional noise level that we won't even be able to sleep at night.

And I'm talking about the lumber yard um redondo um project.

We I'm asking all of you council members to please consider the residents that you represent in our community.

There's a church on one side of the um project, there's a 55 plus community on the other side, and then there's a residential uh on the other side.

So this is really imperative that you take all of this into consideration.

I know that you wouldn't want this project in your neighborhood or uh backing up to your neighborhood.

You wouldn't want the trucks 24 hours a day.

You know, that's nonsense.

I don't know of another uh um situation or another industrial area in Huntington Beach that backs up to residential church and a 55 plus community that has 24-hour um uh noise.

So I'm asking for our community and for every surrounding community and everyone in Huntington Beach that because we don't want this project with 40-foot tall building, I mean 40 foot buildings, we don't need it.

We don't need the noise.

We need something that'll help the community deal with the toxins in the soil.

We need something to help us with the wall for a sound barrier, like a 14-foot wall, if not higher.

We need your help, and that's what we're here for.

Asking for your representation of the residents that need this help.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Um good even good evening, Mayor and City Council, Tim Geddes in the House and dealing.

Today is allegedly celebrate your elected officials' day, although I cannot imagine a less deserving bunch than those sitting on the dais.

You all have sunk to a new low by taking badly needed CDBG funds from worthy local nonprofits like All for Kids and Robin's Nest and handing it over to a sketch organization based in Temecula, which purports to serve PTSD uh afflicted veterans with free fishing trips.

This despite no recognition by the VA for this being prescribed treatment.

How many of our local citizens does this save the brave outfit serve?

Now is the uh now is a clear case of cronyism.

Uh a SOP for to uh council member Andrew Gruel, who helps administrate this save the brave outfit, or it is a slap to opposing former council member Natalie Mosier, who is the executive director of Robin's Nest.

Which is it?

Both.

I have heard that council member Pat Burns has may have questioned the legitimacy of all for kids receiving funds when there is actual fraud going on right under his nose.

To borrow a parallel from the song Sweet Home Alabama by Leonard Skinnard, I hope Pat Burns will remember.

The HB community doesn't need him around anyhow.

However, the whole MAGA uh city council is responsible for mismanaging this issue along with many, many others.

Speaking of cronyism, I am uh pleased that uh Wolfhouse has gotten the silver bullet.

No thanks to our Mayor and Tyler Wolf cheerleader.

The RFP process under uh under an uh ad hoc committee would have been a joke and a disgrace.

Doubtless other schemes may be hatched this year by the uh least transparent and ethical city council this century.

Not only the not only the least transparent council, but the most uh but the least competent as the state audit and the sweetheart Pacific Air Show settlement might suggest.

The surf city taxpayers have been soaked big time already, and that doesn't include the dunking we may receive from the state on our housing element shortcomings.

This council is clearly trying to have its cake and eat it too.

Oh, by the way, today is also National Devil's Food Cake Day.

No cake for you.

Next speaker, please.

Good evening, City Council.

I am here once again to ask the city council to accept the Friends of the Library's 825,000 gift for new books and materials for the Honey to Beach Library.

More than a year ago, Director Waisaki shared the library's annual collections needs with us.

The Friends are proud to fulfill our mission by providing funds for library collections.

At the City Council's request, we work to memorialize a long-standing relationship between the friends and the city through a written agreement reflecting a partnership that has existed for more than 50 years.

Since then, multiple drafts have gone back and forth.

Recently, the Friends were asked to make more revisions to the draft agreement, and we did so.

At the Edison Center, Mayor McKeon expressed confidence that an agreement could be reached by the end of February.

Unfortunately, in the past five months, I have met with Mr.

Hopkins and Mayor McKeon only once, and it now appears progress has stalled.

I have also learned that not every council member has even seen or reviewed the friend's most recent proposal.

So I encourage each of you to follow up with Mr.

Hopkins, who has our latest draft.

Please review the agreement, and you'll see that we've made changes that you've requested, and we are ready to sign an agreement and to make our gift to fund the library collection.

For the public, I would like to publicly thank the volunteers of the Friends of the Library.

You received and clean and sort and prize and shelved donated books for sale, helping the contributions to the library system.

The Friends Gift Shop also works tirelessly to provide thoughtful and unique gifts for holidays, birthdays, and special occasions.

Your work matters, volunteers.

You are deeply appreciated by us.

To our 1,200 members in this community, thank you for continuing to believe in libraries in literacy and the mission of the Friends Organization.

And finally, for the families whose loved ones entrusted us with bequests, we remain committed to honoring those gifts responsibly.

We will direct funds toward library collections and materials, not infrastructure projects such as HVAC, fountains, or roofs.

At the same time, the friends leadership and members remain willing to help raise additional funds outside of our organization.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

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

What makes America special is a stack of three interconnected ideas.

At the top of this stack is our economic system of private property and free enterprise.

Under that is our constitutional system of equal justice under law, which makes the economic system possible.

Finally, the whole system rests on the foundation of the biblical faith and morals of the Christian founders.

Tonight I focus on the system of private property and free enterprise.

The legal protection of private property and free enterprise is primarily a benefit to the weak and poor, not to the strong and rich who need no such protection.

It is this system which makes America the land of opportunity.

This system does not guarantee equal results, but only equal playing rules, which the individual can take advantage of or not.

That is why it is called the land of opportunity, not the land of guaranteed success.

The system objectively produces better results than every utopian scheme that has ever been tried.

If, for example, the welfare state of Great Britain was an American state, it would rank 51st in terms of income per capita.

This is also the most moral and biblical of all systems, minimizing coercion, maximizing choice, and supporting the highest level of private charity in the world.

The system is under constant attack from those who prefer free stuff over free dumb, and from those who would exploit envy to gain power.

I commend this council for making Huntington Beach a place that protects private property and encourages free enterprise, in contrast with other places that promote an ungodly envy and power-based communist nightmare.

Thank you, and God bless and preserve America.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

Hi Mike, I hope you're feeling better.

Yeah.

Good.

Well, I was just had something written up, but then I got to listen to everything that was happening, and what I observed.

Casey and Pat, you know, you're really rude while people were talking about the budget.

Pat was talking about the budget, and oh other people's money, that is all of us, and that's what we're concerned about as well.

And I thought he did a really good talk on it.

Pat Burns, I I really liked your uh do your homework before you vote.

Let me just I know you probably already know this because he was one of the fab four with you, Tony Strickland, that in 2016, he paid a fine of 40,000 because he mismanaged his campaigning that he had of over $65,000.

That's a little FYI.

And I feel all I feel really sorry for all of these people that are going through this 24-7 stuff.

You had the town city town meeting, like in was it January, Casey?

And this is where we're at.

It's not right.

And I also feel sorry for all of the red hat people that voted for you because they're starting to figure you out.

And Mr.

City Attorney, it's time for you to start doing your job.

It's time for you to start doing your job.

And Casey, I'm not surprised by the flag program that uh the sponsor, the flag city.

Wait, city sponsored flag program.

Doesn't um what uh it's that doesn't surprise me.

Let me get it going.

But what I but what you might be surprised of is that many don't want to see a flag in front of their homes or rows of magified flags down our HB streets on public light posts.

Many Americans believe MAGA's collective narcissism has destroyed the flag's true purpose, that being a symbol of national unity and respect for all.

Why are we spending city funds to endorse neighborhood flags hanging on public light posts?

Currently, this is illegal in Huntington Beach for residents to display flags on existing eligibility street light polls.

My views do not make me unpatriotic or unappreciative of the true meaning of the flag, the American flag.

But here right now, are you doing the best you can?

Each and every one of you.

Are you thank you?

All right, okay.

Now we're moving on to council committee appointment announcements.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

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

Sorry, Roger.

Come on, Roger.

Isn't it here again?

Seriously, the chief of police has to be over here.

He's supposed to be here every single year, every single time that you guys are here, he's supposed to be here.

Instead, they got a little mini-me that kind of looks like him, but it isn't him.

Okay, so you shouldn't have him.

Sub forum.

I asked Eric how many times he's went to Israel this past ever since he's been here and he didn't want to comment.

So please make him show up here.

I mean, he gets paid over $500,000 a year from you guys.

And every year he gets a bonus, he gets a bonus of a longevity bonus of five percent.

Okay, so $500,000 that's $50,000.

That's a $25,000 bonus every year just for longevity.

That's insane.

Okay, but besides the money that he gets paid from his retirement, actually, quote, forced forced leaving of uh of the sheriff's department.

He got four he got removed at the sheriff's department from being in charge of the prisons over there, or the jails over there.

The jails of all LA County, he was in charge of.

You know what that means?

When he started, there was only three three deputy gangs.

Okay, and each gang was like between 18 to 30 people deputies.

Okay, we ever so when he left, there was over 17 confirmed gangs.

Seriously, and four of them, the most vicious ones, besides the original three, were from the 3,000 boys, the 4,000 boys, and the 5,000 boys.

That's for the 5,000 blocks, the 3,000 block, the 4,000 block of the jails.

And he's never ever reprimanded any of them from doing all these disjust despicable things to the inmates.

And the inmates are not guilty.

A lot of them were not even guilty yet.

They were just waiting because they couldn't afford to pay the bail.

Okay, so that way they can go and have a decent, I mean, so that that way they could be out and try to get gather evidence for their if for their for their innocence to show their innocence.

They couldn't do that, instead they were forced.

If they were asking for you to go to the library or anything, if they asked in a different in a wrong way, they'd have a meeting.

I mean, the deputies would see them in the middle of the night, they'd bring him out, and they'd do all these things to him.

It's insane that we have this guy as the chief of police over here.

You guys gotta look stuff some of this stuff up, man.

I mean, it is scary that this is the person that runs out that gets a hundred million dollars a year for his for his department for the police department.

Over a hundred million dollars a year, and he's only open Monday through Friday.

I've never seen a police station that's closed.

The station is closed on my Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

It's only open from nine o'clock for business from nine o'clock until five o'clock or four thirty, I guess.

I mean, it's insane.

On Friday, they're closed.

A police department that gets a hundred million dollars a year over a hundred million dollars a year.

This is insane.

It's insanity.

Okay, a police department that there's no way the reason that we have no crime is because nobody writes a crime report.

Everything's an incident report.

All right, Roger.

Thank you, everybody.

All right.

Now we're moving on to council committee appointment announcements.

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

See none.

AB 123 reporting.

Does anyone have anything to report?

See none openness and negotiation disclosures.

Does anyone have anything to disclose?

I spoke to the POA.

Anybody else?

Spoke to the POA as well.

Okay.

Same spoke to POA.

All right.

Same.

Okay.

Moving on to the public hearings.

So this is uh revised to approve the changes to residential and commercial trash collection services and residential trash collection rates by a adopting waste infrastructure system enterprise wise agreement between County of Orange and City of Huntington Beach, and B approving the introduction for ordinance number 4348, adopting the first amendment to the revised and restated refuse collection and disposal services franchise agreement between City of Huntington Beach and Rainbow Disposal Company Inc., and C conducting a public hearing to adopt resolution 2026-11 increasing residential trash rates effective July 2nd 2026 and ratifying the methodology for future rate adjustments.

Madam Clerk, do we have any supplemental communications for this item?

Yes, we do have supplemental communication for this item.

One moment, sir.

So for public hearing item number 10, revows revised PowerPoint presentation, one email, and 315 protest letters received regarding chart changes to residential and commercial trash collection service rates.

Alright, staff, please introduce the report.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'll ask our public works director, Chow Wu, to introduce the item.

Thank you, Travis.

Good evening, Mayor.

Members of council.

Tonight we're asking the council to approve updates to the city's residential and commercial trash services to ensure long-term landfill capacity, comply with the state SB 1383 requirements, and maintain a balanced refuse fund.

This includes approval of 10-year wise agreement with the county, which increases the landfill disposal costs, introduction of ordinance number 4348 amending the franchise agreement with Rainbow AKA Republic, and adopt a resolution 2026-11 to adjust residential rates by $7.58 per month beginning July 2nd, 2026, with the defined methodology for future adjustments.

We have Deborah Jabinski, our senior analyst, as well as our consultant Haley Kunart from HFNH who will be giving the presentation.

Deborah.

Members, thank you.

Appreciate you, Juan.

I'm Deborah Jabinski as Chow just said, and I'm here with Haley Kunart from HFNH Consultants.

So we're going to give you a presentation on the all the items before you tonight in this action.

So tonight, we're requesting that you consider and approve changes to the city's refuse and recycling rates and services.

In this presentation, we will be providing a more in-depth look at the information that I previewed for you all at the March 17th meeting as part of the city manager's report.

So we are asking you to consider these changes and move on to the next slide.

So the key issues affecting the refuse services and rates are the new landfill agreement with the County of Orange, which is necessary to ensure continued access to the local landfills.

There is a substantial 85% rate increase as part of the new agreement, but there's a three-year phase in that helps smooth the overall impact to our residential commercial customers.

And in addition, the um the landfill rate is a portion of the overall services provided.

So again, people don't see a full 85% increase on the actual rate.

And then we have the SB 1383 organics compliance.

So the state mandated food waste recycling programs must be implemented for residents and businesses.

So the law commonly known as SB 1383 took effect in January 2020, and we have implemented as much of the mandates as we were able to, lacking a franchise amendment and updated rates, which are necessary to start providing the food waste recycling programs.

So following this presentation tonight, we will have a public hearing as required by the California constitution, more commonly known as Proposition 218.

That is the city's legal framework for setting property related fees and charges, commonly for utilities and services, and refuse collection is widely considered to be such a property-related fee.

And again, as I previewed on March 17th, on April 3rd, we followed the procedural requirements.

Notices were mailed to all of the affected residential properties previewing tonight's public hearing and giving everyone the opportunity to voice their objections should they have them.

So with that legal framework established, I wanted to provide some context for the refuse franchise amendment that is part of tonight's recommended actions.

So briefly reviewing the history of our current trash and recycling franchise agreement.

It's a 20-year-old agreement.

It was originally adopted in 2006 with rainbow disposal and rainbow was acquired by Republic Services in 2014.

So in the staff report, it's referred to by both names because the rainbow entity does still exist, but as a division of republic services.

In that agreement, it's 20 years old.

There are no provisions for the mandated recycling service updates that have been enacted since that time.

And especially for the SB 1383, super comprehensive kind of omnibus actions regarding recycling and mandated services.

So implementing the food waste and organic services requires a franchise amendment so that the services are part of our contract.

And the new services do come at increased costs, which HFNH will review later in this presentation.

And finally, it should be mentioned that we are currently under Cal Recycle Compliance Review by their jurisdiction and agency compliance enforcement branch or JASE, the acronym in the presentation.

So it is very important that the city move forward with the balance of the SB 1383 implementation.

So the other key thing affecting our rates, and the reason we're here tonight, is that landfill disposal agreement known as WISE, the waste infrastructure system enterprise agreement.

So this is a 10-year agreement, and it guarantees local landfill capacity and access at preferred rates.

Again, it comes with an 85% increase, which is substantial, but it is still lower than what we would pay to export trash outside of the county and with no guarantee that we would have available capacity outside of the county or elsewhere.

So for the next slides, I'm going to introduce Haley Kearnert from HFNH Consultants.

Haley was a key part of the development of the amendment and negotiations with Republic Services and in reviewing and ensuring that the city will be in compliance and have a modernized agreement that will see us through the remaining 11 years that we have in our term.

So Haley.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council, and the rest of the City of Huntington Beach team.

It is my honor to be here as an Edison Charger alumni and to be supporting the jurisdiction in implementing the state mandated programs.

So as Deborah mentioned, SB 1393 went into effect January 1st, 2022 and required a various set of state mandated programs for organic waste collection to keep organic materials out of landfills, including, you know, food waste, cardboard, paper, things that have traditionally ended up in the landfills and can be repurposed into beneficial materials and other procurement matters such as compost and mulch to benefit the soil.

So some other requirements include contamination monitoring to educate customers on proper sorting and use of the containers as well as inspection and enforcement.

There is now teeth to the state mandates related to solid waste and recycling.

The more fun side of SB 1383 includes an edible food recovery program, which includes providing education to businesses as well as getting food to those who need it.

Finally, there's some education outreach requirements as well as the procurement of organic waste to close the loop on this organic material that is being kept out of landfills.

And finally, we have to do a lot of reporting and record keeping to ensure that the state can see what the jurisdiction is doing.

Some key service enhancements for the SB 1383 amendment include those SB 1383 collection services, which includes the food waste now being able to be co-mingled with the green material and being co-collected, as well as some additional programs for commercial, which include a commercial recycling cart, as well as some split bins for customers who may have space constraints.

The additional requirement of the recovered organic waste procurement support, the city has the amazing compost pile, but adding on to ensure that the jurisdiction that Huntington Beach can achieve those requirements.

Route reviews to ensure generation generator requirements with the contamination monitoring protocols, as well as software to support the record keeping for the state mandate.

Edible food recovery program assistance has been included where a third party will be brought in to support the businesses in the jurisdiction with getting those edible food recovery programs in place and getting the food to those who need it.

And there's an additional added facility exhibit for material monitoring for where the material is going to ensure oversight of that.

There's also a mechanism for a residential organic facility change, so if a cheaper option or a more cost effective option becomes available, the city does have the ability to direct that material to a facility a different facility.

So some key contract enhancements versus service enhancements includes performance monitoring metrics, so liquidated damages and other metrics to ensure oversight of the contract and the agreement that weren't previously in place, additional sustainability advisors to support the generators and the city customers with implementing programs, being out in the public at city events, and supporting with implementing these new programs and services, as well as a labor contingency plan that is going to be reviewed and updated annually to ensure contact information and that both the city team and republic team have a plan in place due to past experience with work stoppages.

There's additional standardized reporting requirements, and so ensuring getting the data that's necessary to develop and implement new programs in the future.

Defining of flow control for the material streams, as mentioned, we have that ability to direct materials to another facility for certain streams, and then also just making it very clear who has control of determining where materials go for each of the different streams.

Finally, we've added some defined terms for ease of future state mandated considerations coming on the docket soon is the SB 54, which is the extended producer responsibility bill, and this will hopefully alleviate some of the burden that the city will have to change and discuss with Republic in the future to ensure ease of implementing those requirements.

All right.

And then, of course, the implementation and transition.

So from June to December of 2026, there'll be an education and outreach period to give folks a chance to get comfortable with the new program.

The residential organics cart rollout will commence July 1, 2026, but then the additional carts will be rolled out over a two-year time in alignment with that phase in over a couple years for the residential increase.

Starting January 2027, the commercial and multifamily auto enrollment will begin because this is a state mandated mandated program.

However, we wanted to ensure a substantial education and outreach period before customers were automatically enrolled, and then the additional residential cart charge will begin at that time, giving folks a chance to right size their containers in the meantime and ensure alignment with the services that they need.

So rate impacts will be in addition to the annual CPI and disposal adjustments that are already incorporated into your franchise agreement.

So the residential three-year rate phase in July 1 will be $3.54 with a total customer impact of $7.58, which includes CPI disposal and the city account services adjustment.

July 1, 2027 will be $2.68 on top of the annual adjustments, and then following that July 1, 2028 will be $1.46.

Commercial customers depends on the material type.

So your solid waste or your trash will be a three-year phase in of a 1.86%, or this year it's the 14% impact due to the WISE agreement change as well.

Commercial organics recycling will receive a one-time adjustment of 57.51%, or as shown, 76% with those wise increases and the annual CPI.

So that would just be the CPI adjustment.

Commercial recycling, there will be no change to the current rates for SB 1383 programs.

There will only be new services.

Thank you.

I don't think it's necessary probably for me to read through all the recommended actions here on the slide because I have a feeling the clerk is going to repeat that again.

But basically, tonight there are three recommended actions that I'll summarize.

We want to approve and authorize so that we can adopt and execute the wise agreement with the county to ensure our landfill capacity.

We're going to approve the ordinance that adopts the franchise amendment so that we get the first amendment to provide the services.

So we are available for any questions.

And we also have our colleagues from Republic Services here.

Dan Capner is here and Debbie Killey, who's our municipal services manager.

So we're available for questions.

Thank you, Council members.

Does anyone have any questions on the report?

Go for it.

I'm going to start off with a couple high-level questions.

I might circle back after my other co-council members asked their questions.

So first and foremost, I think it's important for those who are watching, and we did have a previous meeting in regards to uh 1383 to understand that this is a mandate by the state, this is not a city preference, and we're actually just really working towards compliance, and that's key, and it's essential.

And there are some good things about this bill.

I think the fact that we're focusing on the organic waste disposal, and then on the flip side, the bad things about this bill is that it's an unfunded mandate, and that ultimately all the taxpayers have to pay for this.

So leaning into the dollar element and the money piece of this.

One question I have whenever there's a program that comes down from the state, and I've seen this as a resident as well as a business owner, is that then there is a an industry, if you will, within the city of compliance surrounding that mandate.

Um, and that falls as you know, kind of I call them taxes, but when you don't necessarily comply with everything, then you get penalized into thousands of dollars.

Is there from the city perspective, are we adding staff?

Are we adding compliance officers and what are the potential penalties for the residents as well as businesses if they don't fully comply with the mandates here, especially given the fact that really it's there's a six-month education program, and it's it's sometimes it's hard to even get to every resident or business based on just that six-month time frame.

Are we bringing in new offs?

Are we are we hiring more officers for the city?

So um yeah, the residential rate proposal includes um 0.75 of a full-time employee because that would be the part that we attribute to the residential enforcement, and then the other point two five of that person's time would be on commercial enforcement, and that is because the way the law is written.

The um state says that um we can delegate inspection and auditing to our hauler, but we are responsible for issuing any notices of violation, warnings, and and similar, and then finally, if we were to get to the point of citing.

So there's it would it's in the municipal code, it's in chapter 8.22, and that is something that we um adopted a couple of years ago as part of our ongoing building towards compliance.

So, okay.

So the the cost in regards to staff would be one body.

Yes, okay, it's one person.

One person, okay, got it.

And then um 75% of their time will be spent looking at the residential compliance piece.

Is that include lid lifting?

I've heard some stories about other communities that have maybe fast-forwarded on this where people actually go around and they look in your garbage to determine if there's organic scraps being commingled with recycling or what have you.

Lid lifting is part of it, yes.

So we would go so we do have so we're gonna have an employee dedicated to lifting people's garbage lids to see if they're compliant.

So part of that um inspection and like route auditing is um delegated to the hauler, so you know that and the drivers also will see it as they're tipping the containers and that they'll know if there's contamination.

So that's part of it.

It's not there, they're they're going to be more on the noticing and um warning and then eventually citing.

So, yes, there'll be some follow-up inspecting done, and there will be lid lifting done by city staff, but that's not gonna be their full time.

Okay, but part of their time will be spent towards that.

And then so from the republic or rainbow side of things, do they have are there cameras, other mechanisms within the vehicles right now where they're monitoring what's being dumped or tipped?

I'm I'm gonna bring Debbie Killy down to address that.

And then I think is that Mike coming?

Hello, good evening, council.

Um, yes, the trucks are currently turned currently have cameras on them that are watching what's going in the hopper.

A lot of that's for safety as well, because there are things that are put in trash cans and recycle bins and carts that are hazardous, and we need to make sure that we're protecting ourselves.

So that's things like batteries in hazardous waste.

So we already have those cameras there, and in the commercial side, we do film that, and if there is any contamination and recycling, uh uh businesses are already being um charged a contamination fee.

We work with them on education and outreach and making sure that they know what things can and can't go in that.

Okay, so then in the event that there's uh a garbage truck and it tips and then it see they see that, especially with its 1383 that you know there's a big bag of banana peels commingled in with the regular garbage, then they they theoretically could get fined for that.

Well, there is a um like a three strikes situation.

We do it's uh there will we're gonna lean on education before we start finding people.

So they're gonna get a tag first that's gonna be a notice of can of contamination, but ultimately then there will be um a fine assessed, and that would be by the city enforcement officer.

So we'll be sharing that information with the city when the when we're finding residents that keep residents or businesses that keep having those contamination issues, and then the city will issue the NOVs.

Okay, and then on the business side, we had talked about this in the last meeting.

So in certain situations, especially downtown businesses or businesses that don't have a limited amount of parking, we're already, you know, that we already have to have, and a lot of those businesses, especially if they're restaurants, they have to have like a uh grease interceptor, and then they have to have a disposal for their grease, and then they have the recycling um bin, and then obviously just the regular garbage bin right now, in the event that there isn't space to fit in the um new additional bin for um some of the organic waste.

You may it did look like there was a little bit longer of a time frame there.

How will those be visited on a on a case-by-case basis?

Can businesses share, for example, an organic waste bin?

Yeah, every business will have a site visit.

We will work with every single business to make sure that they are set up with what they have space for.

We are already doing that through the old organics program that was for the higher volume generators, so even your business, we were out visiting with you and letting you know what kinds of things you needed at your restaurant.

So we'll be doing that with every business, and if they uh there are um exemptions where our waivers that exist for space constraints.

So in those downtown areas, we've already exempted some businesses who just don't have the space.

In this new program though, we are gonna have what's called a split bin.

Deborah mentioned that, and a split bin allows it's a three-yard container, but half of it is trash and half of it is recycled, so it'll fit in those traditional dumpster enclosures, and then they will be able to do both of those trash and recycling.

Okay, and then on the edible food recovery, just a question on that, because that goes beyond.

I just want to confirm for anybody who's watching and understands this.

Number one, is that only gonna apply to commercial or is that residential as well on edible food recovery?

Only commercial.

Okay, and then that will be the education element of that will be conducted by republic or by the city or both.

We'll be hiring, we'll it'll be uh the responsibility of republic services.

We do it in other cities right now, and we hire a third party that takes care of that.

So about food care, if you're familiar with them, we've used them in other cities, and there's other programs that exist that they go out, they do the education, they work with the businesses and educate them on edible food recovery, getting them to sign contracts with or agreements with edible food recovery organizations, and then that information is relayed back to the city, so they have that to report to cow recycle.

Okay, and then that gets just so everyone understands and and that I'm interpreting it properly, that gets distributed to food banks and organizations in which perhaps they're feeding people who need it by way of the restaurant, etc.

Or the food service operation.

Positive things about SB 1383, it's actually going towards hungry people.

Okay, those are my general questions right now.

I'll pass them along.

Thank you.

Uh thank you.

Um, reiterating what Councilman Gruul said, you know, this is a mandate.

Is there any profit though for the city?

Is this straight pass-through, or is there is this any bit of a profit center?

I was under the impression it's just straight pass-through cost.

So uh I'm you're speaking about the residential rates.

So we're not allowed to profit, you know, by law, so it's a it's the portion that we pay to Republicans is a straight pass-through, and then we keep a small percentage, so eight percent of the proposed rate, um, is just done to cover our costs for staff and for city account management services where we have the you know the cost for the billing software and printing paper bills for the people that still get paper bills, all of that factors into all of that account um management services.

So, so you know, everybody in the council is also a resident of Huntington Beach, so we are you know paying the same cost.

Um, when we first met with you guys, can you explain to me the uh for a residential in my house?

I've got you know two recycled bins and then two all all the other trash, and then we have the green bin outside as well for like the grass clippings and everything else.

So the trash goes in the brown, the recycle goes in the blue.

So in my trash right now, could be a mix of everything that's not recyclable, which includes now food waste that doesn't go down the garbage disposal, banana peels.

So, what is gonna go in the new composting bin?

And when you guys met us the first time, you gave us like this little bin.

Is that what the residents are gonna get?

Like they keep that on a counter and they go, Okay, the eggshells and the banana peels go here.

How how do you see this happening in the real world in a kitchen or where they keep the trash?

I'm happy to answer.

Yeah, I was just gonna say we will have the small pails available to any resident that wants them, um, and we'll be distributing those through various outlets, you know, um, giveaway events and and public events that we attend, and so that is intended just to help make it more convenient for the resident to collect the food scraps however they choose to do so in their own kitchen.

So that is what that small pail is for.

It's not intended to be used as a collection vessel, so to speak, for Republic when they provide the service.

So will you then provide another bin?

No, your banana peels are now gonna go in your green bin with your green waste.

Okay, so what will go in the composting bin?

The bin that goes to composting.

The everything all all the all the food things will now go in the green bin?

Correct, correct.

Yes, yes.

Anything any non-liquid food should go in the green bin with your yard waste if you generate yard waste.

Okay.

That seems okay.

Um the thing I liked about it was that it's not a pass-through profit center.

Um, you guys are right now using the best available options is what you've said, but there's flexibility.

If another option arises that's better, we have the ability to pivot, so that kind of gives us a little protection.

Um you were able to tighten up.

I don't think our public works as you kind of indicated, tightened up our contract uh with some additional liquidated damages clause, some enforcement mechanisms that favor the city.

So I did think that was uh favorable.

Um the one thing, and uh I'll close on this.

It was just SB 3 1383, it looks like it was passed in 2016.

So it's been a long roll.

So I was just curious to see, you know, if it was a bipartisan bill, you know, who passed it, who voted for it.

Just this has nothing to do with politics, it's just statement of fact.

So the Senate bill passed with 25 yeses, all Democrats, 12 no's, all Republicans, two no votes, one of each party.

And the assembly bill passed with 44 assembly bill, same same number, 1383, 44 yes votes, Democrats, uh 24 no votes, Republican, and and one Democrat and 12 no votes, three Republican, nine Democrats.

So it's it's just telling it's it seems like a decent program, but with all new regulations, all new mandates, there's always that cost, and I guess in the end, what we get is more free compost.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

I'm just curious on the uh fees.

Is that gonna be a fee that's set it's mandated by the state if someone violates more than three times, or is that something that's uh our discretion from the city?

So the framework for um the fine structure was actually included as part of the regulations that the state handed down, but it very much aligns with traditional administrative citation schedule of of fines.

So they set the fees, yeah.

They set the fees, but it it's not out of line.

It wasn't anything unusual in terms of what we would see for a typical administrative citation if it gets to that point.

Okay, so it's not a suggestion from them.

They they've actually set uh a floor that we would be required to to charge for violate violations.

Yes, I think they they set the minimum and then c correct me if I'm wrong, they set the minimum that we must fine, and we're free to make it more if we so choose.

Okay.

And do you guys happen to know what those fees look like?

It can range anywhere from uh, you know, a hundred dollars for the first violation up to a thousand plus.

Um if you look at the s you know, the requirements on the jurisdiction, the fines can be up to ten thousand dollars a day per each instance of violation.

So, for example, if the city never implement implemented an edible food recovery, that may be a major violation and would be a more costly fine on the jurisdiction.

Okay.

Um does the city have a little bit of discretion.

Can they go beyond three strikes?

Could they go four or five strikes?

I would love to actually clarify that there is no mechanism in the amendment for fining uh contamination fees on from republic.

It's actually a method to provide a warning and the customer can then clean the bin and have it collected the following week or clean it and then request and call and ask for an additional pickup, which is about 26 to 27 dollars.

So just providing that clarity that on residential customers, it's not a contamination fee or fine.

It's the option to either clean your container and have it collected same day for a fee of twenty-ish 25 dollars, or have it collected the next week for commercial customers.

It's the same program that's been in place under 1826 and 341 for contaminated containers.

Okay, that's interesting.

If I'm hearing you correctly, residents don't need to worry about ever getting fined.

If anything, they might get passed up on a pickup and have to do some type of cleanup or pay an optional fee if they want someone else to take care of it.

Well, if they get a complaint from a neighbor if the jurisdiction gets a complaint from a neighbor that they see them contaminating the container regularly or if a public, you know, provides notice to the city of hey, this customer is frequently contaminating to Deborah's point, the um city staff member would go out and enforce if necessary.

Okay.

They could enforce, but the state doesn't mandate that they would have to enforce and fine them.

There's nothing in the law to find them.

No, if there's no evidence to support it, they're it fine isn't necessary.

Okay.

I heard, and I don't know if this is true or not.

Now the brown and the blue, they all go to the same pile.

Is that correct?

No.

No, okay, all right, good.

All right, uh no other questions.

Just one final question on the recommended actions, just so all the residents know and we know the full scope.

What would happen if we didn't pass through?

I mean, didn't we adopt them?

I mean, what would happen?

So you are currently undergoing a JS compliance evaluation, and at the end of that, you would uh, you know, cow recycle will provide their findings, you'll have a chance to respond, and depending on the gaps, you would be put on a compliance action plan, which could result uh you know, if you don't close the compliance action plan in those fines of up to ten thousand dollars per day for each instance of non-compliance, and it's a hundred and eighty-two-page regulatory text, so there's a lot of things you can get docked on.

That's a lot.

And my final thought is and I sent a text to Debbie today.

Um Republic's got some good people.

My pickup guy, Miguel, big smile every time I see him.

It's just a pleasure to see him.

And um, you know, I sent a text to Debbie, said make sure you let him know that we appreciate them.

It's a good man.

And he is one of our better Yeah.

I've had a lot of good ones come through my circle.

They're good people.

Definitely.

But just a couple things.

Uh, just to clarify, of the total increase in costs that that our residents are gonna see on their bill, only eight percent of that increase.

You know, it's gonna, you know, for when it goes up, say eight dollars, the foot, you know, the first you know, tranche, uh, eight percent of that or fifty-six cents goes basically goes to the city to help offset the cost of enforcement uh uh and administrative and all that, right?

So really 56 cents out of the out of the uh the first eight dollar tranche is only is gonna go to the city, is that correct?

So that eight percent referred to the rate overall.

So, you know, on if this gets approved as proposed, $36.64 cents is the monthly rate to residents.

Then of that eight percent is what the city uses for public education, for enforcement, for city, all the city account services and customer service and okay.

I got it.

Yeah, um, out of curiosity, how does Huntington Beach Orange County stack up against, you know, Los Angeles, you know, other jurisdictions around, you know, say, just Southern California, in terms of our increases, it is it pretty uh uh uh similar to what other jurisdictions are doing.

Yeah, I'll weigh in on that.

So for SB 1383 increases for the residential sector, we saw anywhere from a 10 to 30 percent increase depending on the size of the jurisdiction.

For commercial customers, it was a little bit less because the a lot of the programs were already in place, so it was more like a two to ten percent increase.

Okay, thank you.

And then just one just an observation.

Uh at my at my house now out in the desert.

I got there this last week, and I noticed that we had for the first time we had these containers uh that were in our kitchens uh, you know, for for the you know, food stuff to go in there, and inside those containers there was like little plastic bags.

And we got a couple emails from from concerned citizens that said, you know, the the odor is gonna be horrible.

Uh, you know, if we if we're filling that up with you know uh food waste, uh uh, you know, imagine you know, after a week, and and the way they have it set up down there in in the palm desert areas, there's little plastic bags in the in the containers.

You just tie up the trash, you know, the plastic bag and take it out.

You don't leave it sitting there for a whole week.

Uh is that kind of the the plan?

You know, no, no, that that's not our plan for here.

Um, so plastic bags, and I'm hoping that they're using compostable plastics, um, but even a compostable plastic is still a resin, it's still a plastic product, right?

And it's really not desired.

The the commercial composters don't want that material mixed up in the things they're making compost out of, and so we're not gonna allow, we'll allow paper, but not plastic.

Well, the way these were set up is you you basically just go dump it, you know, and the plastic bag stays in there.

So, um my other question was gonna be are you gonna provide the little plastic bags, you know, that were like the ones I saw down in the desert, and uh apparently not.

It's just we we just you put the food in there and then you dump it in the in your green uh receptacle, correct?

So, yes.

If someone wanted to use a plastic bag, as long as they emptied the food out of the plastic bag at the green container, and then put the plastic one in the trash container, that is fine.

We just don't want the plastics in the um composting, the organics container.

Thank you.

I might also offer there's a lot of tips and tricks that republic will be educating on for uh how to you know reduce odor and mitigation.

A lot of jurisdictions have been implementing these programs.

Uh as a resident of Costa Mesa, I've had a program for uh back to 2016 and having a toll house cookie dough container on my counter, so you can get creative with what you use and stick it in the freezer to help prevent odors, you know, stick it in a place that won't be seen.

So there's a lot of tips and tricks that have been developed since this is uh slightly you know later uh implementation, you have the benefit of learning from the mistakes that others have made.

Thank you.

And then just one other thing, just to echo what uh councilman Kennedy said.

Uh I really do love and appreciate everything that that uh Republic does.

They did actually did a little parade for my two-year-old today with a couple trash trucks, and he was so excited, and I had it videotaped, and I want to just thank Republic and thank Debbie for uh making that happen.

You guys are awesome, you're awesome.

Uh uh neighbors, and you're an awesome company, and I appreciate you guys.

Thank you.

And we do enjoy giving back to the community.

We've given lots of community tours.

We've been out at the public works night with our touch of truck with the electric truck.

So we just, you know, if if we have little fans out there, definitely reach out to me.

We'd love to give you a tour or let you know what's uh how we recycle.

It's not one pile, three piles, and uh where it goes after that.

We'd love to educate.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'll jump in.

So I just want to reiterate that no one wants to pay more.

And this is just another unfunded state mandate from the Democrats supermajority in Sacramento, just like the high density housing mandates, another unfunded mandate.

And people have asked how are we fighting back?

Like we fight against those unfunded high density housing mandates.

And a resident sent an email with some questions.

And public works director Chow was generous enough to give me some answers, so I just want to read it to the community.

Question was what efforts did the city make to negotiate the county landfill fee increase on behalf of the ratepayers, and what were the outcomes?

The city joined a coalition of Orange County Cities that was led by the OC City Managers Association.

Our public works director Chow Vu was part of the coalition team participating and advocating for Huntington Beach.

The coalition secured a one-year extension of the outgoing agreement, which was originally set to expire on June 30th of 2025.

This allowed the city time to conduct an in-depth review and analysis of the county county's landfill operating costs and projections.

The county initially proposed an immediate 92.3% increase to eighty-two dollars per ton of disposal.

The coalition secured a three-year phased increase with the year three rate of eighty-one dollars per ton, slightly lower than the county's initial ask.

The coalition also secured a more favorable calculation of ongoing annual disposal rate adjustments starting in 2029 and 2030.

This is a blending of two separate CPI indexes to help smooth future annual rate creases.

Second question: Has the city explored any general fund contribution to offset a portion of these costs and reduce the burden on residents?

Answer the general fund is fully committed to public safety, maintenance, infrastructure, and essential public services.

It is good fiscal practice for trash services to be paid by the users of the service and not the general fund.

Question three why are the landfill costs increased in the new organics recycling program costs bundled together rather than presented separately so residents can evaluate each one on its merits?

Answer each cost landfill disposal and the new organics program is explained separately in the staff report because landfill disposal is part of what residents put into their black carts or cans, it must be factored into the total service costs.

Presented them together and shows ensures full transparency and an accurate all-in-rate for the city's state-mandated three-container program.

Last question has a contract with republic services been reviewed for any cost efficiencies that could reduce the rate impact.

Answer the city conducted a thorough review of Republic Services cost proposal using both internal staff and our independent consultant that's here.

Their analysis confirmed the proposal is consistent with industry standards and comparable cities with various haulers, not just for public services.

And just as importantly, the city negotiated a three-year phase-in of the increase and increases to cushion residents from a sudden rate jump.

This ensures we met state requirements mandates while keeping the rate impact as manageable as possible.

So I just want to share that with the residents to know that we're always fighting these state mandates that are unfunded, like I mentioned.

My question, you brought it up.

This was a big uh concern last year in the key contract enhancements.

You mentioned that there's a labor stoppage contingency plan.

So what is that?

Because labor disputes with the republic cannot impact the residents.

It's a big deal.

We can't have work stoppages.

So what did you guys what were you able to do to enhance that with the labor stoppage contingency plan?

So essentially there's a plan that's been reviewed and developed together in collaboration of both the city and republic, and that will be reviewed and updated annually.

It includes, you know, um public education and outreach on what's happening, timelines for when updates are necessary, contact information, emergency support, republic's plan to bring in emergency support.

And Debbie, do you want to add anything?

Yeah, I mean that was pretty thorough.

It's uh it's a contingency plan of should it happen, what we are going to be working with the city to make sure that residents are communicated to and that we're doing the best and we can to get uh roll off boxes out there for people to get rid of their trash to bringing in our blue crew to make sure that we have those essential services picked up.

And the the idea too is that when we know we're in negotiations, we're starting earlier and we're being more aggressive about making sure that we come to an agreement before it even reaches the possibility of a a stoppage.

Just to clarify the customers are not paying any additional rates like for stoppage, or that you guys are picking that up yourselves.

Correct.

Yeah, no, there's no additional rate to the resident during that time.

Awesome.

Okay.

Thank you for clarifying.

Any other questions, comments, Andrew?

I'm back.

So you're right.

This is an unfunded mandate as you state, and obviously we have to do this.

So it's not a matter of whether we comply, it's a matter of how we comply.

We comply with the basic mandates that are coming down from the state.

My only concern here and why I'm bringing this up is this is our one opportunity to make sure that this doesn't become a program that turns into an out of control beast in which commercial uh businesses, retail restaurants, et cetera, as well as residents don't end up becoming piggy banks for future opportunities for revenue and cash flow.

And I know I'm not I'm not implying profit center.

I understand it doesn't go to profit, but it can still get lumped back in, especially on administration.

So at this point, what decisions do we have in regards to policy versus mandate, right?

Like what policy decisions are we making?

Can we determine that we don't want to find commercial and residential customers as Chad had asked?

And you said that residential customers would not be fined.

I'm just picturing this becoming a war where we got city employees going around, which we're paying for city employees, looking under the lids, looking into people's trash, and then finding them commercial businesses.

I know we already get fined, and it's gotten to the point now with some of the state mandated programs with commercial businesses where if we're not the ones educating our team members on how to properly dispose of waste, then we get fined when here we are and it's being presented to us that it's the city and it's and it's republic who's gonna be educating.

But how do we know that five years down the road that doesn't get passed on to the commercial consumers or the residents for that matter?

It's a part of do you want to answer?

It's go ahead.

I was gonna say I I was gonna offer that um most of the fines are only if you're not compliant with having the three programs in place, not necessarily if you're you know not utilizing the container.

That's the jurisdiction's discretion to go and how strict you're gonna enforce that requirement.

Um, but with regard to having the program, republic and the jurisdiction and you know the city team will be working with generators, and as long as that generator is on the enforcement you know, pathway received a notice of violation before any citation is issued, they can comply before any penalty is is or would be issued.

So it's essentially a doesn't have to be fined, but it's a end of the line if they have had substantial reach out by both the city and republic and still have not complied with having the three container program in place.

So from the city side, have we defined what substantial reach out means?

Have we defined the policy, the program, who's gonna be who the officers gonna be in regards to actually educating and then ultimately hitting somebody with the violation.

So we already have um the framework for this in place where we communicate with Republic um monthly and they they provide us a report of who they've outreached to in the business case, who they've outreached to and um what the result has been, and then the city's job would be to follow up.

Um the first and um most obvious is that it we would auto-enroll them in the services if they don't have them.

So we're not going to wait for someone to subscribe voluntarily and the you know regulations say that we shouldn't, so you know that would be the first step would be we're gonna auto-enroll you, we're gonna we're gonna let you know why, and we're gonna give you warning, but we're gonna auto-enroll you in those services, and that will be added to your monthly bill from Republic.

So that would be the part that the city would manage once we determine that you know they've had generally it goes three or more contacts.

Um, and in many cases, republics providing the contract and providing the opportunity for voluntary sign up, and it it's um not being followed through by the customer, and in that case, we would auto enroll them in that.

And you know, council will be getting a memo prior to us in you know enacting that auto enrollment.

I actually have a draft ready to go, um, depending on on the outcome of tonight's actions.

So, councilman gruel, I do want to add to that too, that these this outreach that we give to the city, it's more than just leave a voicemail three times and call it a day.

I mean, these are quality outreach.

So we're trying to reach the business owner, we're trying to reach the person making those decisions to make sure we can communicate with them what they need to be doing if there's contamination or they're in need of a specific type of container you know we don't just want to auto enroll and drop things off that's not going to be work for their business a good example may be you know a law office they're not gonna have a lot of um organic waste so we're gonna work with them to put together a waiver but they may have a lot of paper and so we would have a recycling program for them so does that does that help answer what you're looking for.

Can I just ask one other question too um you know obviously dumping is illegal I imagine a lot of these commercial businesses though any one of them at any time you know throughout the year have looked into their dumpster and kind of been like that's not my stuff you know so how how would we manage that if somebody illegally dumped into a bin that's supposed to be dedicated for this compost and the reality is it's not their stuff but somebody dumped it somebody dumped it in there.

I mean it's uh that is a worldwide problem so what the options we have in Huntington Beach we already have them that exist we have lock bars for the the different bins we have we encourage um certain businesses if they have room to build an enclosure with a lock with a roof so that the that kind of illegal dumping isn't in interfering with their dumpsters or their carts and causing them to get the fines for the contamination or the overages or whatever it else is causing the issues.

If it's not locked up and you guys find you know stuff in bins that shouldn't be in there would that start counting as strikes and potentially fines against them.

Fortunately it is because the businesses and residents are responsible for securing their own carts and bins.

Okay thanks for clarifying that I just want to point out this is a perfect example of why some of us are so frustrated with Sacramento and why it's so important to understand who you're sending out to Sacramento because these are policies that are forced onto us they're not funded the taxpayers get stuck footing the bill for this and we've received a lot of emails a lot of them are from our senior community we have a very large senior population in Huntington Beach on fixed incomes and this is going to affect all of us here but it seems to be affecting them the most they're already just barely making it here in California it's become one of the most unaffordable states to live in so perfect example pay attention of who we send up to Sacramento to push these fees and pressures and burdens on the taxpayers.

All right so at this time one last question all right because no that's a great point that you bring up Gracie so will uh seniors on fixed income low income families etc are there any opportunities for them to be able to get some sort of relief on this either from the city or the state so for low income um seniors 62 and older we already have a program that they can apply for a 50% discount on their monthly trash fee that is part of the city's utility user tax exemption so they would apply if they qualify by income and age then they no longer pay the utility user tax on like their phone bill gas and electric and then in addition if they're um a residential trash rate payer then they would get 50% discount on their months that's great to know so so the 62 and older 50% discount on the utility user tax which would that can that can compound and add up to a lot of money and they do that through the city website um the information is on the city website yes and it and the applications are handled through our finance department okay thank you so yeah and again it's um you would pay zero utility user tax and you get 50% discount on the trash oh okay good good thank you good all right this time I would like to call for a motion to approve recommended actions A and B.

So A is approved case.

Mayor, do you need to open the public hearing?

Well, it wasn't on the agenda like that, so apologies.

So it was my understanding, city attorney, that Ryan.

If there's no I I understood someone would signed up to speak, that's why I mentioned it.

Well, it would be A and B only, I believe the mayor's calling for, and so then the public hearing would be item C.

My bad.

So thanks very appreciate that.

At this time, I would like to call for a motion to approve recommended actions A and B.

A is approve and authorized mayor and city clerk to execute the waste infrastructure system enterprise agreement between County of Orange and City of Huntington Beach effect of July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2036, and B, approved for introduction, ordinance number 4348, an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Honeyton Beach amending the franchise to collect refuse granted to rainbow disposal and rainbow transfer and recycling companies.

We have to vote first.

Okay, call the question, please.

Make a motion.

Okay.

Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Twine.

Second by Councilman Burns.

Okay.

Councilman Gruell.

Abstain.

Councilman Kennedy.

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Twiny.

Yes.

Mayor McKeon.

Yes.

Councilman Burns.

All right.

Councilman Vandermark.

Abstain.

Councilmember Williams.

Yeah.

Okay.

Motion still passes 412.

Okay.

You want to read the overall.

Now I will read the ordinance.

Ordinance number four three four eight.

An ordinance of the city council of the city of Huntington Beach amending the franchise agreement to collect refuge granted to rainbow disposal and rainbow transfer and recycling companies.

All right.

Next is the public hearing for this item for consideration of adoption of resolution number 2026-11 quoted resolution of the City Council of the City of Huntington Beach adjusting and ratifying residential trash rates by the formula established in the revised and restated refuse collection and disposal services franchise agreement.

So I'm going to open the public hearing.

Yes, we have one speaker.

Please call him up.

Dan Whitesell.

Hello.

Can you hear me?

Yeah.

Alright, thank you.

I appreciated the uh the back and forth between the committee.

It clarified a lot of things for me.

I just came to uh I support everything the company is trying to do, but I am uh opposed to the increase of the fees.

Um in our household, we'd use the smaller containers, the brown, the blue, and the green for for decades, and uh it seems to me that they could implement a two-tiered uh system, although I was glad to hear that uh as a senior um I could apply for the 50% discount on a fixed income.

But anyway, um I realize that next time I think I need to fill out a pink form instead of a green form because that way I could have commented a couple hours ago anyway.

Thank you.

All right, see no further speakers.

I'm gonna close the public hearing.

Public hearings now closed.

Um this time I would like to ask the city clerk to report on the percentage of protests received.

A majority of protest occurs when more than 50 percent, specifically 50 percent plus one of affected property owners submit valid written protests based on the property and municipal billing records compiled through March 25th, 2026.

There are 48,299 residents receiving trash services at 46,513 properties.

State allows state law allows one protest per property.

Therefore, the city must receive 23,257 valid protests to constitute a majority protest.

As of the beginning of the public hearing, we have received three hundred and twenty-six valid protest letters.

That equates to less than one percent of the four forty-six thousand five hundred and thirteen affected properties.

Okay.

So just a question because there was some abstentions and a no vote on the last vote.

So what happens if we don't pass this rate increase?

Can anyone answer that question?

So I want to come off and thank you.

Okay, I'm back.

Um so if we don't pass the rate increase, um we would and we move forward with the services, then in order to keep a balanced refuse fund because it's an enterprise fund, um, you council would have to be asked to um possibly approve a general fund subsidy of that, so that um we can pay to provide the services and pay the how much amount how much do you think that would be um I don't have the numbers in front of me.

I don't want to speak off the top of my head, it will be substantial.

So I think in my staff report I allude to three hundred and something thousand a month, a month, okay.

So the the citizens of Huntington Beach and taxpayers would have to subsidize the trash collection services of Republic's customers to the amount of roughly three hundred thousand dollars a month plus.

So um it is it's the city's customers because we bill for the residential services.

Sure.

So, so yes, there are customers in our residence, but instead of just those users of the service paying for the cost, it would be everyone.

That's what I'm saying.

So all the taxpayers of wanting to beach would then pay for the republic trash services to the tune of roughly 300,000 a month.

If I recall what's in my staff report correctly, yes, it's approximately 300.

Well, just using lease's number 46,000 plus homes at seven bucks, which is on the low side, that is three hundred and twenty-two thousand, you know, on a monthly basis.

Perfect.

Yeah, I just want to be clear because there were some obviously no votes and abstentions.

So I just want to understand for the community what that means.

Okay.

Thank you.

I'll stand by.

Okay.

Mr.

Mayor.

Yes.

If I understand that right, then if we were to vote it down, the city would would have to fund about uh three point what three hundred thousand a month.

Yeah, three point six.

It would be a general fund hit of three point six million a year, correct?

Correct.

Okay, thank you.

However, I just have a question based on the compliance element, the previous motion that passed, does put the city of Huntington Beach in compliance by virtue of 1383.

So we would be if we and then went ahead and implemented all the programs as proposed and as provided in the franchise amendment and and um with wise.

Obviously, with the wise agreement just to use the landfill, we know we have an increased cost.

So if we enacted all those programs, yes, we would be compliant with calorie cycle.

So you know that part of the that piece of it would be covered.

I'll make the motion, all right.

Motion and a second, second by Mayor Pro Tem Busch Twine.

Madam Clerk, please call the vote.

Councilman Gruhl.

No.

Councilman Kennedy.

You know, voting and just because we didn't have a chance to comment, voting on these state mandated fees and services.

We're in compliance.

Um I cast a vote doesn't mean I agree with it or like it.

I do think there are some programs to protect the seniors with the 50% reduction at 62 and older.

That's a plus.

The bottom line is I'd like to make it all go away, but when you're mandated by the the state, you know, and again, as the mayor said the supermajority wants to continue to press on on its citizens, we're faced to make these uh we're forced to make these votes.

So the other side of a no vote would be funding this through our general funded 3.6 million dollars.

So knowing the seniors have some protection at 50% off, um, I'm a yes vote.

I don't like this program from the standpoint, it's forced on us.

I don't like being forced to do anything, but unfortunately, uh I can't cast a no vote because I don't want to fund it for 3.6 million dollars.

I'd rather protect the seniors on the downside with the 50% off, so it's a yes for me.

Yes, I echo councilmember Kennedy's points.

I know that perfectly.

I mean, strong leadership is is you're forced to make tough decisions like this.

We've touched on it several times.

I mean, these are state unfunded mandates, and the only way to change is to change the leadership in Sacramento.

And as a strong leader, we gotta weigh all these tough votes and be bold and do a yes or no.

And to council member Kennedy's point, I mean, we're we're protecting the seniors of a mechanism there that I read all the answers from public works director Chow how we're fighting for the ratepayers, dragging out over three years, getting reductions in costs with our with our coalition.

So just let the residents know we're fighting for you every single day, and especially on these on these you know, state mandates, the housing mandates, the identity refuse, et cetera.

So just make that clear.

So I'm a yes vote.

Councilman Burns.

Hi.

Councilwoman Member Mark now.

Councilmember Williams.

While we're making remarks, while we're mandated by the state uh to do this, we're not mandated to increase the fees on our residents, and there's always ways to uh balance the budget.

There's nearly a hundred unfunded or nearly a hundred funded vacant positions that we have within the city right now.

So there's always a way to pull it off.

The greater the need, the greater the result.

I think we could have risen to the occasion.

It's unfortunate we've gotten here on my no vote.

Motion passes four, three.

All right.

Up next is the city manager's report, which is a study session for the proposed budget review.

Yeah, mayor, I have two items um that I wanted to um update the community and the council on.

But right before the um budget study sessions.

Um, one is I'm proud to announce the city's continued progress in reducing homelessness.

Um in Huntington Beach.

The county uh Orange County's Office of Care Coordination just released their point in time count that they do every two years for all 34 Orange County cities, and this measures um homeless statistics um across the county, and the full report is available on the Orange County website on the Office of Care and Coordination.

Here's a copy of it.

Perfect.

Um, and just uh I just want to run through a few of the stats.

Huntington Beach remains um only um remains um one of only two cities in the central spa city to show continued year over year decreases or pointing time count over pointing time count increases on unsheltered homeless since 2022.

The other city is Newport Beach.

Um Huntington Beach unsheltered homeless umness count in 2022 is a hundred and eighty-eight.

In 2024, it decreased down to um 173, and in 2026, we're down to 143 on this count that was done.

Um that's a 24% decrease since 2022, and in this um between the last count from 2024 is a 17% decrease.

Um Huntington Beach also saw decreases in sheltered homelessness, allowing the city to reduce the number of um people in our navigation center.

Um, and since 2022, 214 individuals have moved to permanent supportive housing through that um Huntington Beach system of care, and currently that's a 99% retention rate of people that have moved into housing.

Um I would like to thank our city staff that have contributed to all these efforts.

This includes the Huntington Beach Homeless Task Force and the police department, led by um Lieutenant Roman Altenbach, and our homeless homeless and behavioral help division led by Jessica Kelly, and this includes the homeless outreach social worker team, the navigation center, and the HB Care's volunteers.

Thanks, Travis.

No, we I don't think we can highlight it enough.

I mean, this is now the fourth year in a row we've achieved the greatest homelessness reduction numbers in our city's history.

Uh when there's pushback on that, it was always we'll look at the the Orange County point time count.

Travis just touched on it, just came out, another 17% reduction in homelessness and to answer people's question.

This is people getting them off the streets, into our shelter, into our services, oftentimes into sobriety, into employment, and into housing.

So a reduction in unhoused individuals, unsheltered individuals, and sheltered individuals.

Total team effort, you know, uh homeless task force, the police department, our faith-based network, our city staff, our city council, our volunteer network, our service providers, and the entire Huntington Beach community.

Total team effort, something we should all be really proud of.

Um I tell people all the time.

I I was in a an Uber last week, and a guy came down here, he's like, Where am I?

I'm like Huntington Beach.

He's like, I never been down here.

I'm from CME Valley.

He's like, it's it's so clean here.

It's amazing.

Like the beaches are clean.

He's like, you guys don't seem to have a homeless problem.

Well, we're working really hard at it.

I didn't tell him who I was.

Well, the city's focused on it.

Crime's down 27%.

We're really proud of our homeless reduction numbers.

This is something that we should all be very proud of because it's very hard to do.

And we're showing in the state of California that you know policies are possible to reduce homelessness, and we've done it for hundreds of thousands of dollars less than previous councils.

It's a huge victory, and we should all be proud of it.

So thank you, everybody.

City manager, real quick, who compiled that data?

So this data was done by the county of Orange, um, and um they do a uh pointing to count time where they get a whole bunch of volunteers, many um, and I think even um we've had uh one of our council members there as well, but went um go out and compile um compile count everybody that they can um compile that statistics and um the county puts uh everyone counts report out out after each one of these.

And that's annually every two years.

Every two years, okay, and then the top two cities in reduction were in Huntington Beach and Newport Beach in the central spa.

Um, those are the only two cities that have reductions over since 2022 to 2024, now to 2026 that have reductions.

You said in the central or or the census that's explain what a spa stands for.

Oh yeah.

So um there's three spas.

Um they're districts in the county.

Um, I believe it's north spa, no we're central spa and a south spot.

Um the combination.

What is what is spa stand for Travis?

Uh you're killing me now.

I know I'm sorry.

Chief, you know, McCoy, no?

I think it's like service provided area.

Yeah, I think you're basically like the like where like the county, yeah.

This whole area, they provide services for homelessness, right?

And in that county.

We are the top two or the only two, the only two that have reduced over the the last two or the over the last three counts.

Which is every two years, right?

Yes, every two years.

Twenty two, twenty-four, and twenty-six.

I mean, there is one glaring common denominator.

I have to point it out.

I mean, between Newport Beach and Huntington Beach, they are all conservative councils.

So love it or love us or hate us.

I mean, those are factual statements.

Well done.

No, it's huge.

I'm just curious, do we have any information on where we stand compared to all 34 cities in the in the county, like per capita on homelessness?

Um that can be derived through this report.

I don't have that for you tonight.

Yeah.

Thanks, Travis.

Good job, everybody.

One other item.

Yep.

All right.

Um, with the recent e-bikes, we provided an e-bike update in the um last month, but I have um Sergeant Mike Thomas here to give a short update um for the community.

It fell on the floor, but you look at it.

I'm back.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, can't council for having me back.

Uh once again, Sergeant Mike Thomas with uh Huntington Beach PD.

Uh so um as a city manager said, I want to give a quick um e-bike emoto update.

Uh, namely, we're gonna talk about education enforcement and also about our recent symposium that we had last Wednesday.

Um so since since we started keeping uh uh stats uh back in 2022, e-bike crashes have risen every single year.

Over the last three years, it's risen 47%, as you can see.

Um, so we obviously have an issue.

Um, at the symposium last week at any conference that I speak at, where there's hundreds of law enforcement there.

I always ask if anyone has had more e-bike crashes than we have had in Huntington Beach, and I asked that because there's not really a central system currently by the state, but just the unofficial poll is we do lead the state of California e-bike crashes.

Uh, but at the same time, we have been keeping stats and we have adopted a plan, namely education and enforcement, in order to address this issue.

Um, so we'll start with education.

Um, we are really our education program.

Um, if you'd had a chance to watch the symposium, see some of the highlights or or just hear about or we're actually there.

Um I've had uh dozens of emails, phone calls from law enforcement uh since the symposium, just wanting to replicate our program.

And really uh with the chief on down the chain of command at our agency.

Of course, city council support has been great, and as well as the community, um, and then particularly the riders that we train up and the parents that are there.

The feedback that we get is amazing, and everyone is seeing that, and really our program is taking off, so I'm very proud of that.

Um, our program we we like to do education first when it comes to enforcement, uh, we do offer them the diversion course that's for under 18 riders, and they have to have a parent there with them.

Uh I mentioned before too that in the fall, the Huntington Beach Union High School District and the Huntington Beach City District have adopted our program as mandatory, so we're gonna go school by school rollout.

We've been doing these trainings every month.

We've done, I think it was about 19 of them or so since May of last year, uh, and training up over 750 riders along with their parents since then.

On the enforcement side of things, uh, we are going from the beach service road downtown Huntington Beach.

Uh, we really like to focus our efforts at the schools themselves, mainly in middle school and high schools, and so this year alone, we've done 17 directed enforcement operations.

That's where two or more officers are out.

Uh, you may have seen the recent one on social media that we posted.

We we had several officers out there, we had our helicopter, uh, we also had some drones that were assisting us, and that was a phenomenal.

We I we made like over a hundred contacts, and had quite a bit of citations, impounds uh with some of the electric motorcycles that are a real problem for us.

So, very successful.

Um, and we've issued 232 citations year to date as well, and so um you can see there we've also impounded 18 e motorcycles last year.

We had 11 total for the entire year.

Uh so this just tells you the proactive stance that we've been taking when it comes to enforcement.

And on that note, I've mentioned it last time that I was here, but the right team uh really to credit them.

Uh there's six officers and myself, the sergeant who leads the team.

Uh so this team has been exceptionally productive, particularly since the inception of it, uh, towards the end of last year, and then really beginning this year to start uh the stat collection new.

Um, and so we we've been we have a my HB where we've got people reporting that way, obviously, people calling in.

Um, and then just being proactive and knowing where those areas are where we're having crashes or we're getting complaints.

Uh the Beach Service Road I mentioned that is a very big focal point for us, and uh, and as I also mentioned last time that I was here, we have some uh officers that are radar or LIDAR trained uh that will be doing some enforcement heavy enforcement on the beach service road.

Lastly, I'll touch on the symposium that we had last week.

Uh we had over 200 or not over, but close to 250 participants.

We actually had uh plan to just have 200, but someone brought a friend and we had quite a bit more.

Um we had a great media presence there too.

I I watched a lot of the media coverage, I felt it was very positive for the city of Huntington Beach, and and really in the wake of some of the things that have been reported in the news lately, I felt this was a great win for our city for law enforcement in general, um, and those that attended uh from legislators' offices, uh, with the office of traffic safety, the director was there, and I they had like eight or nine uh other representatives from the office of traffic safety there, um, along with some of the manufacturers, um, and uh we had some representatives from chalk hospital, but namely I want to I want to point out um that Casey Hayes was there and Jesse Hayes, Jesse being the e-bike ambassador.

Uh they gave heartfelt um speeches.

They I talked to them afterwards and they talked about how healing it was for them and the IPA family as well.

So really it's their story, and that's what motivates us to do what we do, and really is kind of the fuel for our fire to really deal with these and and we care, so you know, people are noticing, people are taking note, and people are having issues in other areas as well.

It's not just Huntington, uh, but they're coming here looking to us and seeing what they can do.

You know, we're we're helping them.

Um so that wraps it up for me.

Open up for any questions if you have any.

Yeah, Sergeant Thomas, just to touch on that symposium.

I was there uh Butch, and I believe Gracie as well, and it was really powerful.

I mean, we've touched on it so many times.

We got elected, you know, talking to the chief in 22.

He said e-bikes were the number one issue, which I was surprised about.

But we've all worked so hard with you guys to you know give you every you know policy you need, ordinance you need, tools you guys need to enforce.

And I used to say we were leading the county, but after your presentation a couple of meetings ago, and then being at the symposium, like we are leading the state in e-bike safety with our policies.

I mean, you touched on it.

We had 250 people there, we had policy makers, we had service providers, we had um elected officials, state representatives from the state assembly from the state senate.

They're taking hunting to beach's policies finally, and then fusing them into state law.

One of the things that we try to push here was that was uh a license requirement, but you you can't do that for because people could come from outside our city, how do you enforce it?

So we've worked through ways to you know really lean on the state legislators and the state senate to make that a statewide thing through the DMV.

So there's a lot of great policies they shared with us, laws that are they're working their way through the assembly, working the way through the state senate, and they're all piggybacking on what we're doing here in Huntington Beach.

Really proud of it.

Um, I wish you know more people could have gone.

Is it was it was televised, like you said?

Was it somewhere people can watch it?

Oh so uh Cody Long, he recorded it, and we are going to be putting it out in segments, but really every speaking block that we had, we had five different segments, they've all been recorded, and they will eventually be available uh for viewing.

Amazing.

Like you said, the hype of family.

You know, Jesse Hazy touched on it, he's our e-bike ambassador for the youth, right?

Or just a gnarly story of him basically having to be resuscitated six times on site in a coma, and now he's about long ride of recovery, so he's agreed to you know speak to the youth.

So the symposium was it was incredible.

Um, we're all really proud about it, and they all sang Sergeant Thomas's praises, like he is leading the state from the public safety perspective, cracking down on e-bikes, and they all looked at him as the expert.

So I appreciate it.

I mean, is there anything else we can give you that you can think of to help you guys right now?

Or yeah, you're your your support's been great to us, so uh from my vantage point.

Um you guys have always been supportive.

We had a number of conversations, so uh we're just gonna get keep continuing to get out there and uh the chief is really on board with uh being proactive with our education enforcement stance.

So myself, I can't I can't ask for more, but of course uh you know that that's up for the chief and uh in council.

So well, the fact that you said earlier, like all you know, the high school districts and the grade school districts all now require a registration registration safety class to bring their e-bikes on campus, so which is huge.

Um, I don't know any other city that's done that, and then the challenge is when they leave campus, you know.

Now they're on the streets, and you we've we've seen the results there.

So we just really appreciate it.

Thank you about the good work.

Thank you.

First off, I want to say thank you uh for everything you do.

Sergeant Michael Thomas is a is a pretty famous person uh around California right now uh with because he's been spearheading this e-bike safety, and I I appreciate that, and I'm honored to know you and honored to that that Huntington Beach and Huntington Beach PD is at the forefront of e-bike education and safety and training.

Um I was fortunate enough uh alongside uh Mayor uh McKeon to be able to give opening remarks at the at the some symposium the other day, and first thing I said is this is probably the safest room, safest place to be in all of California because there was 225 gun wielding law enforcement officers in there.

Give an example of where they all were coming from, just so that the residents understand every city I could see.

Yeah, so heavy presence in Southern California, but we had uh we have agencies from like Burlingame area up north uh that came down.

I don't even know where that is.

Where is that?

It's by San Francisco, okay.

Yeah, and so and the Office of Traffic Safety, they're based out of Sacramento, or Elk Grove area.

Yep.

So they all flew out just to be there.

And like what's touched on it was just amazing seeing all these public safety officials and and professionals and service providers throughout the state coming to Huntington Beach as ground zero to challenge their they didn't call it e-bikes anywhere, right?

Like e-vehicles or what was the term they were using?

So e-devices, e-devices, catch all catch all so e-devices.

That was something we learned.

But just this just to see that Huntington Beach is ground zero for for tackling this very challenging problem.

Was it just made us really proud, right?

And I just want to just finish up, you know.

Uh in a few minutes, we're gonna be talking about there's an H item on on our uh agenda tonight about uh uh establishing an ad hoc committee amongst the council members, and there's three of us.

I believe you know, council it was you know, council member uh uh Williams brought it up and when he when he called me about it, said well that's ironic because I just came from the symposium and um and I mentioned to him that uh that our ad hoc committee uh uh is gonna be established so that we can find ways that we can help you and help HBPD in their efforts.

And I mentioned to him that uh that our our committee should should definitely include you because you can tell us.

Maybe you don't want to tell us tonight, uh, but and you'll have time to think about it.

What we can do as a uh a legislative body to help out, and of course, ever since uh councilman Williams brought that up, I've been I've been and and and Councilman Gruel.

Uh I've been thinking about, you know, in my own mind what we can do to be even better than than we are already.

So but I just want to thank you for everything you're doing, and and we look forward to working with you uh and everybody.

Um we can talk about that item when it comes out, okay.

So I'm all done.

I just told them it's coming.

Thank you.

Okay, it's coming.

See ya.

Thank you for the kind words.

Thank you.

Okay.

So once again, I want to thank you guys for holding that um symposium.

Um, it was actually I was very proud of our PD to have so many different officers from so many different agencies come out here.

And um, one of the things that I thought was that this was a coastal issue.

It turns out it's not, it's much larger.

And when we were elected, the conversations became well, what what can we do to prevent a serious injury?

And then we started having traumatic head injuries, we started having broken bones, people hospitalized, and then um somebody was killed.

So the conversation.

Well, after we were trying to prevent the serious injuries, we said, how do we stop somebody from being killed because of one of these e-bike accidents?

And now people have passed away.

Now the conversation has evolved to how can we prevent more deaths and serious injuries?

So I want to say that I'm very proud of our police department for being proactive and identifying this issue early on.

Um, you guys have taken steps from the beginning to collaborate with our local school districts to put our kids first.

And you guys have spearheaded all these efforts to find solutions to keep not just our kids safe, but now we have find out like the gentleman on Lake Forest, who was actually a pedestrian who was hit by one of these e-bikes and passed away.

So we're just trying to keep our community safe.

This is just one other issue that our PD has to figure out and grow with.

So thank you for taking this on and being an example for the rest of the country.

Thank you.

Yeah, the last thing I wanted to hear was someone someone getting hurt or severely, you know, severely hurt or killed, and us not doing enough.

And so uh Chief Barr actually mentioned, I think 2022, uh, hey, we got an e-bike problem, we got to fix it.

And so it's been a multifaceted approach with council support with uh the chief support on down the chain of command officer supporter out there writing the citations doing the education and then really the support that we're getting from hospitals and from other partners that we didn't expect the DA's office we worked hand in hand with them and as you see they've created a task force just recently and and all of that has these you know sidebar conversations where we're all talking but that's what I figure this is not just a police department issue this is not just a Huntington Beach city issue this is a statewide issue and it's every agency in our state as you mentioned yeah it started on the coast and we were ground zero really the perfect storm and just all the conditions that existed uh but now you're seeing agencies from Palm Springs area and inland uh area um you know that are coming and wanting to say hey we're starting to see issues now you guys have been there you've done that what can we learn from you and so those are the conversations we're having but they're not going anywhere they're only becoming more popular and more affordable and they're cool uh but we're really leading the way so very proud of that and and thank you all.

Mayors you know we this isn't on the agenda so I think we need to just a quick comment.

Um as they say knowledge is power I was not able to attend the symposium but I did spend some time with Duke IPA this weekend or this this last weekend and first off he said it was so hard for Val to get up there and talk but they felt like they had to do it but my takeaway in speaking to Duke was the information is so important to get yes to the kids but for the younger kids to the parents like Duke said after hearing everything had he known all this stuff and and he had an athlete for a young man he would have probably taken a completely different tact on he be he basically said I wouldn't even let him have one so uh hearing that just resonates that we really have to get to the parents especially of the younger kids because if they realize these stats and the peril yeah they're fun to have I have three of them my kids like to write them me my wife do too but um for these younger kids and stuff it's got to start with the parents they really have to understand you know the full scope of these bikes so I know you're focusing on that and the fact that people are emulating what you're doing speaks volumes for you guys so keep up the great work.

Thank you.

Thanks sergeant all right Travis budget.

All right mayor and city council um tonight's study session is the is for the proposed fiscal year 26 27 budget.

This was introduced at the last meeting May 5th city council meeting and um the budget was made available to the public at that time the finance commission reviewed the budget last Wednesday and the study session tonight will provide additional information and a chance to for the council to discuss um discuss the proposed budget.

And then on June 2nd city council meeting um this budget will be brought forward for additional city council discussion and consideration for adoption this budget does provide a measured approach to address the ongoing economic impacts and aligns with this um city resources and providing city services I'd like to thank all of the departments um that um did work to produce this budget and they were led by the finance department um to complete this and have this prepared for the city council tonight.

Our acting finance um our chief financial officer um Zach Zee and our finance manager Robert Zalagi will um provide um the study session tonight.

Good evening Mayor uh and members of the city council uh tonight's presentation is a budget study session for the proposed budget of fiscal year 26-27, and the purpose of this study session is to provide the city uh city's financial plan for the upcoming fiscal year.

Now, the proposed budget before you tonight reflects significant effort from department across the city to balance current operational needs while keeping the long-term financial state sustainability in mind.

And with that, I'll begin with a brief overview of tonight's agenda.

We'll begin with an overview of all funds budget and then transition into the general fund summary.

From there, we'll walk through the um.

Sorry, I didn't go.

Go.

Thank you.

Um, from here we'll walk through the major revenues and expenditure variances driving the proposed budget and followed by uh reserves levels and staffing changes across departments.

And then we will also cover the proposed capital improvement program by uh both funds and category, and then staff will present a proposed update to the city's fund balance policy intended to provide additional flexibility during periods of structural budget imbalances.

And lastly, we'll open it up for questions.

Um we also have department directors as well as staff to assist with answering those questions if we are unable to provide an answer for you tonight.

Um we'll make sure that the city council have those answers prior to the adoption of the budget.

And let's start with the all funds budget summary.

Good evening, Mayor, members of the city council, and residents of Huntington Beach.

I'd like to begin with the fiscal year 26-27 proposed budget all sum all fund summary.

So this slide shows our total resources and expenditures for all the city funds.

We're balancing approximately $590 million of expenditures budget with resources of $488 million in ongoing revenue, six million in one-time revenue, fifty-seven million in transfers in, and $39 million in fund balance.

The department's expenditures have been strategically prioritized to maintain the high standard of living our residents expect.

This discipline is why Wallet Hub currently ranks us as the number one best run city in America for quality of service.

Our largest funded department of approximately 187 million is public works.

This is comprised of five major service sections.

The water division of 80 million dollars, the refuse division of 20 million dollars, the sewer division of 15 million dollars, capital improvements project division of 46 million dollars, and our general fund operations of 26 million dollars.

With all of these services, public works plays a vital role in maintaining the quality of life and infrastructure that our residents depend on every day.

So now let's focus on our largest and most important fund, the general fund.

Alright, so the general fund, which supports core city services, total approximately 327 million in resource and expenditures.

Personnel cost makes up a majority of the overall general fund cost at 211 million, followed by our operating costs at 61 million and transfer in and out, transfer out of 52 million, and principal and interest at 3 million.

Now, public safety, which includes uh police and fire, continues to be our largest investment within the community of approximately 173 million dollars.

Additionally, the non-departmental category uh includes citywide obligations such as insurance, uh pension-related costs, transfers, and other centrally managed expenditures.

Now, while the proposed budget is balanced for fiscal year 26-27, we continue to monitor long-term structure pressures that uh city faces.

Now, let's take a look at our general fund revenues and are changing how they are changing this year.

Okay, I'd like to walk you through some variances of our tax revenues and additional categories that exceed a positive or negative amount of a million dollars.

Property tax provides a steady revenue with a constant growth for the city year after year.

The actuary report for the upcoming fiscal year shows approximately a three million dollar increase over the last year's adopted budget.

Our local tax has a minimal growth of 700,000.

The standard average revenue growth rate of three percent is hindered by a decrease in sales tax and flat transient occupancy tax.

These two taxes make up over 50 percent of the revenue in this category.

The decree the decrease of approximately 1.1 million in fines and forfeitures is primarily due to an expected shift of fines at the parking meters to revenue received for the parking.

This trend is showing that people are paying the meters more and getting fined less.

And this trend has been shown in the second half of our fiscal year.

The increase of in use of money and property for $3.6 million is a combination of the increase from the parking meter revenue, interest from our res from our reserves, lease income, and beach concessions.

Revenue from our other agencies is projected to increase $2 million.

This increase is largely driven by the voluntary rate range program, which allows Cal Optima Health to secure additional Medicaid dollars for the city and other California public agencies.

Other increases include the fire strike team reimbursements, a county recycling repayment, and vehicle license fee revenues.

Non-operating revenue is projected to increase by 17.2 million.

The incorporation of identifying the use of fund balance accounts for 15.6 million, and the other 1.6 million is primarily due to anticipating increased revenue from the waterfront settlement.

On the other side of the ledger, here's how the expenditures are changing.

The increase in the general fund expenditures is primarily driven by personnel costs, which accounts for 21 million dollars.

This growth is attributable mostly to approximately 8.8 million for increased in pension costs, $6.9 million in salaries from the removal of budgeted vacancies, $2.9 million in overtime to right size the trend of actual overtime expense, and $1.2 million in additional costs for employee health benefits.

The operating expense increase of $6.8 million is made up of 12 various categories.

So let's walk through some of the variances of our categories that exceed a positive or negative amount of $500,000.

The utilities variance increase for $800,000 is resulting from a reported 12% increase from the electric company and 8% increases from the water and gas.

Equipment and supplies variants is increase of 2.1 million, is primarily due to expenses for the police axiom body worn cameras, USPS charges for the entire city, books, dues, membership fees, medical safety supplies, and several various objects with minimal increases.

Professional services variance increase of $848,000.

Other contract variants increases of $1.2 million are mostly associated with animal control services, election costs, a 3% inflator to account for inflation, and several other various objects with minimal increases.

Moving on to our financial health, here's where we stand on reserves.

Thank you.

So this slide provides an overview of the city's reserves position.

As a benchmark, the government finance officers association or the GFOA, they recommend that the city maintains a minimum reserve of equivalent to two months of general fund operating costs.

Sorry, operating expenditures.

Based on audited fiscal year 24-25 financial data, the city has available reserve of approximately $99 million.

Using the proposed general fund expenditure budget of approximately $327 million, the city reserve ratio is currently estimated at approximately $3.64 times of a month that they could cover based on reserve if let's say no revenues come in at all.

The city has built and maintain a strong uh reserve position over time.

So this has been built over the course of the last I don't know, like 10-12 years, right?

And so, however, while the reserves level remains healthy, it is important to keep reserve preservation in mind as we continue with the budget process.

Um, reserves are generally intended to support one-time or unforeseen costs and are not designed to uh fund ongoing operational expenditures on a long-term basis.

Uh, let's continue with the city staffing numbers.

Okay, we currently have 990.75 full-time equivalent positions.

Police and fire remain the largest apartments, followed by public works.

These numbers reflect the resources needed to deliver essential services to our community.

Let's look at the specific personnel changes we're proposing this year.

This year, we're eliminating several vacant positions to help control costs.

We're also unfunding 15 vacant positions, one new lieutenant position is being added, along with some reclassifications and a new budgeting methodology based on actual payroll.

So now let's review our capital improvement program.

All right.

Um our CIP totals 46 million this year.

Uh distribution and funds include 9 million in capital project funds, 21 million in enterprise funds, which include uh water and sewer, and the remainder in special revenue funds totally 15 million.

So we're gonna jump into our CIP.

We have 48 projects over seven categories, and I'm gonna proceed and highlight a few projects from each section.

First, uh, our water well 14 is a proposed new well in the city.

A new well in the city reduces reliance on import water, thus saving residence and water costs in the long term.

Cost of well waters 50% less than import.

We are also continuing our age water main replacement uh program citywide.

Our neighborhood projects include our residential paving.

Um, in this project, we pave over 100 streets.

Uh the city currently has a pavement condition index of 82 out of 100, which is very good.

Uh we also continue to fund alley rehabs, um install ADA compliant curb ramps in the neighborhoods.

Uh going to our sewer improvements, um, this includes our sewer lining program, uh two and a half million lines to existing pipes, extending the life of the sewer segment for another 50 years.

Streets and transportation, our projects include upgrades to three traffic signals this year.

Uh we also have our arterial street program.

Um, so one segment in design is uh 17th from Palm to PCH.

And then I also want to share that we received some grant funding from OCTA for another few segments.

Uh so we'll be going into design from Golden West from Warner to PCH and Garfield from Seapoint to Delaware.

Parks and beaches, uh, we continue funding to the Edison Park reconfiguration.

Uh we also have two playground replacements and upgrades in the CIP, Perry Park and Lakeview.

And we continue to provide renovation funds for our beach restrooms, including Sunset Beach.

Uh drainage projects, um, we continue to replace um damaged concrete walls along our city-owned channels.

Um, and also we're gonna do some improvements at Greer Park.

Finally, facilities uh projects include roof replacements at four buildings.

Um there's some office remodels and HVAC replacement at outdated facilities.

And with that, I'll hand it back to Robert.

Thank you.

Yeah, no problem.

All right, so this this slide summarizes the city's current um fund balance allocation policy, and uh, under the existing policy, um audited unassigned general fund balance is automatically distributed among several categories, which includes the economic uncertainty reserves, the infrastructure reserves, the capital improvement reserves, and the equipment replacement reserves.

So historically, this framework was designed to strengthen the city's reserve and and overall fund balance position and uh the infrastructure and the long and um funding of long-term liabilities.

However, as the city continues to experience structural budget uh pressures, staff believes that it is appropriate to revisit revisit this policy and ensures that um it provides sufficient flexibility to address current financial condition conditions.

Um under the proposed change, uh temporary use of unassigned fund balance could be considered during uh periods of structural budget uh imbalance, subject to annual evaluation through the budget development process.

So this would eliminate this does not I want to make it clear that this does not eliminate the city's commitment to reserves infrastructure or long-term liabilities, it rather um it would provide council with additional flexibility to strategize and manage financially uh and navigate challenges during the period of um structural imbalances, and as part of the annual evaluation process, staff would consider several factors, including um taking a look at city's overall financial condition, um, reserve levels, uh infrastructure and capital needs, long-term uh long-term liabilities and other financial obligations, and um the intent of this recommendation is to provide a more balanced uh and practical approach to managing unrestricted funds uh year over year.

And that concludes our presentation.

So if you have any questions, please feel free to listen.

Questions, comments, anybody?

Yeah, go for it.

If you could just do us do us a quick favor, the the uh explain for for the people watching or for the record, the unfunded vacant.

I know there's concern when somebody sees 15 uh law enforcement officers and one lieutenant, so 16 unfunded vacant.

The perception may be, oh, we're cutting head count, but go ahead and explain unfunded vacant.

So it's only actually 15.

The lieutenant is being added.

Okay, so the 15 unfunded.

Correct.

Um, so when we unfund positions, basically what what we're doing, um, we asked the police department to identify um vacant positions that they felt could be unfunded um for a time period.

Um so it's up to council's decision uh to unfund them or bring them back whenever needed.

So the safety of the city is not a jeopardy at all, so to clarify, so they're vacant, but you you allocate dollars to them that hit the budget.

So they've been vacant, my recollection, and I checked with the assistant city manager.

These are not even recent vacant, these have been vacant for quite some time.

So it's not like we're reducing the actual head count.

And you worked and and we've worked with the chief of police in said, what do you think?

And they recommended taking the budget allocation towards those vacant head count recs and said, let's pull them off the budget and free up those allocated dollars, correct?

With the understanding that if they needed new head count, they could put a new rec in.

If it was necessary, these were unnecessary as per the chief of police and whoever he can uh consults with, but should they need arise for immediately fulfillment of recs for the sworns or anybody in the police department, then that becomes immediately viable, correct?

Correct, positions are still still there, they're just not being funded.

Okay, thank you for that.

One question for this other gentleman.

When you said the uh I think it was on the paving, you referenced the uh 82 on the index.

Um, you know, we hear a lot of like, hey, fix the potholes.

Can you just tell us what the 82 rating means on the index?

And I think you were referring to paving and streets, correct?

Right.

So every two years uh we rate um the pavement in the city of Huntington Beach.

So from a scale from zero to one hundred, we have pavement consultant come out and rate all our streets, and the combination of our residential and our arterial streets uh are actually 82, uh, which is a very good rating.

Um, think Orange County in general is around the the low 80s as well.

So we're in line with uh most of the county.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Other questions, comments?

Yeah yeah go ahead uh couple uh base uh basic questions couple more detailed questions here i'll try and move quickly so on the three new traffic on the three traffic signals that we're investing in um are those new traffic signals or are those upgrades and rehabs the existing traffic signals and we're just providing upgrades providing upgrades okay um and then in regards to the um the unfunded positions or the actually the funded positions we have 991 full time employees right now with the city um how many do are unfilled approximately 85 so 85 unfilled positions so just so people understand the 85 unfilled positions we're which we're currently in the process of hiring which is kind of dovetailing off what council member kennedy was saying is is that we're still allocating the money towards the budget for those positions so at the end of the year in many cases when we true up the budget we look and we say okay we projected a deficit we had to pull from some reserves in order to balance but then at the end of the year we end up with a surplus as we reconcile that and in some cases or actually a large majority of that could be some positions that perhaps either fall off or go unfilled through the time frame.

Have we ever been at a hundred percent um 100% occupancy if you will or 100% not at the time that I've been at the city of Huntington Beach for I've been here for about five years and no we have not been at a hundred percent okay may or maybe even that's a question for Travis too like typically what are we running in regards to if we have a hundred let's call it a thousand positions are we running at a ten percent open rate 1520 five so those positions change over time and um I mean we've never been fully full we have an attrition rate people leaving people retiring and and different things so um those positions move move in and out I don't have a uh percentage um attrition rate that I can right now okay okay no no no problem um and then uh you mentioned let me see here uh in the other contract services there's a one point two million dollar increase you specifically mentioned animal care and the election so I'm assuming the election is just because it's an election year so obviously there's more expense that goes into that correct um can you elaborate a little bit on the animal care aspect?

Sure so um our animal care in contract increased I believe from one approximately 1.3 million to about 1.7 million okay so that's approximately 400,000 and the election is closer to the 400 thousand that's majority of it so 400 so roughly 400 thousand dollars when we run an election and then the rest was through the um through the animal care and then that's outsourced that's to the county correct the animal care element's correct okay um and then uh in terms of the capital improvement projects I think that's a really good slide that people at home should review on page thirteen um by category and then it goes into a lot more detail on these capital improvement projects is this 100% baked in stone right now or do we have the opportunity over the next couple weeks to listen to a lot of the residents and to get some of their feedback and input on some of these capital improvement projects obviously some of them are going to have a much higher priority there are a few things I didn't see on there um that I've been talking to residents about I'm curious about the flexibility in that regard.

So maybe I'll jump in here so this is the proposed capital improvements but definitely it's not approved that um the council approves um this along with the budget when they do so um the council's um it's at the council's discretion okay great so once again and I keep reiterating this but so that residents can look at this and understand this thing it's a great that we're getting ahead of the ball this year and really get you know with multiple meetings where we're addressing all of this but a lot of the questions if not the line share questions I get are infrastructure related so looking at the investments that we're projecting in regards to the capital improvement projects I think is essential so if anyone has any questions or concerns or specific projects that they want to ask about that that perhaps could be buried in some of these general categories, definitely go forward and and um shoot us those emails.

I think that that's really important.

Um in regards to the 3.64 months in reserves, we use that two-month mandate based on the GFAO or the GOFAO.

I got the four letters correct.

Um, has that been I I know that we don't have necessarily a timeline we can look at, but that has that been that's increasing have we have we've never gone below the two months because I don't know when that mandate got put in place.

So it's not uh it's not a mandate, it's more of a recommendation okay um for for cities across the board to have.

I mean that generally when you have more reserves, it's it's more for rainy day type deal.

And so you have um cities able to um have you know ex access funding.

Um and so the recommendation is two months.

Typically, we I think we've had it at two months for a number of years already, and so it's kind of been building um slowly over the years with the surplus that we have at the end of the year.

Okay, so that's good.

That's been an upward trend in regards to those reserves.

And just so I'm uh correct, and I don't want to um I don't want to um you know misproject this in regards to the public who's watching, but 3.64 months, three and a half months of reserves is as if we shut the city down and we didn't take a single penny in revenue in in any capacity, we would survive for three and a half or three and a half plus months.

Correct.

Got it, understood.

And then my final question in regards to the potential change in the um reserve policy.

So at the end of the year, when we do run into that reserve, what we were doing or that surplus, right?

Let's call it 10 million dollars at the end of the year when we true up, we run into that ten million dollar surplus.

We put that hypothetically right, that or it remains in reserves, um, and then that adds to the reserves.

Would if we're gonna roll that that surplus forward for the purposes of looking out a year or two on a budget, would that then would that flatline the amount that we put into that 3.64, or would we still continue to put some back in so that we could try and increase that number?

So the number will continue to change as revenue grows because that is based off of two months of revenue budget of revenues, right?

So as our revenues grow, um that two month is gonna continue to grow as well.

So it actually will reduce it slightly just because you know the reserve is gonna stay stagnant, and then the the revenues um requirement, well not required, the recommendation is going to continue to increase based on the adopted budget, right?

So um so yes, it it will potentially remain stagnant with a little with a slight decrease.

Slight decrease because expenses will still continue to go up, right?

Yes, so the numbers are based on um projected uh expenditures, right?

And so it will it will continue to grow, yes.

Okay, all right.

Got it, thank you.

Questions, comments?

Go ahead.

Uh so I my understanding is that our finance commission they met last week and they had some you know recommendations and notes.

Uh Julie, if we could go into the agenda, there's an attachment.

I think it's called finance commission notes.

Um buy a little bit of time while you're while you're yeah, yeah, no problem.

Um, and so while while you're you're looking that up, I'm curious about these uh vacant positions that we have.

You said there's about 85 vacant positions in the city that are currently funded uh right now.

I know a large portion of those are police and fire.

Apart from police and fire, do you know approximately how many of those positions exist that are vacant and funded?

55.

Approximately 55.

55.

And then considering this is just a study session, maybe something we could go back with.

If we can get information on on how long each of those positions have been vacant, I think that would be useful information to have because I mean let us just suppose there are some positions in there that have been vacant for you know a year or greater, or I don't know, 10 months or greater.

We can start looking at asking whether or not these we need to actually have these positions.

So we wouldn't be letting anyone go because these aren't positions that are actually filled by anybody, but you know, maybe there is a little bit of fat that we can cut into without cutting into um the muscle.

Um a couple of the different items that I want to bring up when we're able to pull up these slides in their recommendations.

If I'm just kind of going off of uh memory, one of the things was batting cages.

I know that's a a great concern uh amongst the public, it's been raised many many times in the sports complex.

They want the batting cages, and my understanding is there's about three hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars allocated from the parking fees that happen at the sports complex that they're proposed to go towards uh maintenance of of the lighting, and I think this is a multi-year project that has been taking place.

Um, the lights that are being fixed, are they broken or are they just being upgraded with that $335,000?

So I'll point that question over to the Sure.

So our lighting over at the sports complex has a warranty to it up to 25 years.

The remaining three phases of uh lighting that we have to upgrade is out of warranty.

So for every light that goes out, it's an added cost.

We intended to have a five-phase series project.

Two of those phases were completed in earlier fiscal years, and annually we have been asking for dollars to complete the remaining three phases with council's approval of the parking split at the sports complex.

That has given us enough money to fund the third of five phases of the project.

Okay.

So it isn't necessary because it will be an ongoing cost.

If we can't have lights at the facility, then we are unable to operate the sports fields.

Understood.

So they might be outside of warranty, but they are operating, they're they're not actually broken right now.

We do have a number of lights that are out.

Okay.

But with regards to the batting cages, the the batting cages are broken essentially.

Correct.

Okay.

And so one of the suggestions that that came to us from finance, and you know, we'll probably be able to get these slides up in just a moment here, was a suggestion that we would take some of this money that's being proposed towards the lighting, which sounds like most of all like it's uh it's more of an upgrade or just keeping things up to speed and prioritizing it towards something that actually is broken, uh, the batting cages, and a lot of the community wants the batting cages back, and so uh that would be something that if we could get you know other council members on board.

I know there's no motion tonight, uh, but something worth considering prioritizing the funds from the parking, this 335,000 dollars towards getting these batting cages up and running.

Um, that's something that personally I would like to see.

Again, there's no vote tonight, so I don't know if you yes, just so you know, there is no batting cages, they are not broken, they are gone.

Yeah, they took everything out.

Um, and we'll see just in a moment here on the slides.

In fact, if you could go to uh it would be slide number seven.

Uh so slide number seven uh you might have gone a little far.

Let's go back the other way.

No, you know what?

That's it.

Yeah, yeah.

No, that's not the right slide that I have.

So numbered wise, so keep sliding down a little bit.

Sorry, yeah, keep going a little bit more a little bit more.

I'm sorry, we're going the wrong way.

That one was the batting cage.

Okay, yeah, but I'm looking for specifically side slide number seven.

There's a few different slides that that discuss it.

Uh right there.

Um, so the finance commission.

This is part of the recommendations.

You know, they put in the time, you know, to the city council here, but on page 33 there, if you look at uh number 13, it might be difficult for folks to read because it's fine print on the screen, but I can read it for you all.

It says the contractor uh will be responsible for the repair and maintenance of all equipment appliances and other items related to the batting cage area.

So you know, as you pointed out, councilman Burns, essentially there are no more batting cages there, it's just an empty space.

Unfortunately, the contractor is the one that completely cleared everything out.

So they're supposed to be responsible for the maintenance and repair of all of the equipment.

And and so our finance commission is recommended to us take the funds from this parking that's going to go towards the lighting, towards improving lighting, and actually prioritize it towards something that's broken that the community greatly desires.

And so, again, this is just a suggestion that came from finance that I find to be very agreeable.

I'm very supportive of it, and I hope we can get other council members um in support of it as well.

Um, and then the other item we'll we'll bring up is uh going down to the uh yacht club so we can slide down a little bit here.

Um, I'm on page number 10, which is just really the proposed change, but I can kind of give a high view of it.

Uh there's about 400,000 dollars.

Is that what I see?

Yeah.

Uh, that's good that's proposed to go towards uh a repair of the docks.

Um, the yacht club, the docks, are these open to the public?

Can kids go down there tomorrow morning and and start fishing off of the docks.

I don't know if that's uh, yes.

Yes, they are public property.

Got it.

And so what the finance commission had six suggested their proposed change is to just validate that proper maintenance has been taking place because my understanding is just that the yacht club is responsible for the maintenance of those docks.

Um, so to make sure that that has been taking place and then actually evaluate the condition of the docks uh to determine if replacement actually is necessary for this fiscal year because that's a pretty large ticket item right there.

And you know, if if it's not absolutely necessary, there's a spot where we could save about four hundred thousand dollars there.

Um, but I'll open it up, you know, with regards to that question.

If any other council members are supportive of go ahead.

Uh, so to your question, is it our responsibility to repair?

Sure, but they're responsible for taking care of maintaining.

So I think the question from the finance commission was discover whether or not they actually have been doing any of that that maintenance work to take care of it.

Um, but uh again, I'll open it up to fellow council members because again, we're not making a decision tonight, but we are giving a little bit of I guess we can give some provide some suggestions or direction.

I would propose that we get these batting cages going again, prioritize fixing the batting cages before uh finishing out whatever we have planned for the lights.

So, guys, just on questions on the budget.

Um, I guess if you did really distill it down to what we're facing is I've touched on it several times.

We have a structural uh deficit where our expenses are reoccurring expenses are exceeding our recurring revenues.

If you look at that number, about 70% of that is is our uh pension debt for our public employees.

Every city deals with this, we're no different.

Expenses are increasing at about five percent a year, revenues are about two and a half to three percent a year.

So you can just see how this number just starts to grow and grow and grow.

And Robert touched on it last time.

We've done a I think a yeoman's work with other cities, right?

Of like just the managed hiring process, looking after these positions, that's why there's 80 plus that are vacant because we've we haven't filled them since we got in in 22 and said let's put a basic hiring freeze to ascertain, you know, do we need these positions or not?

And we can try to keep cutting, but you mentioned the last meeting.

We've basically already cut as much as we can.

So what we need to do, and we've touched on it, and we'll you know touch on it throughout the rest of the year is to find new sources of revenue, and we need to find creative ideas to bring in revenue that isn't a sales tax increase, that isn't a hotel tax increase, that isn't destroying our city with high density housing.

So we need to be they take bold ideas to bring a new source of revenue.

We need to optimize our leases, which we are doing, we need to optimize our assets.

Um we need to explore creative ideas.

One of them's like the lifeguard uh tower advertising.

We've we are you know that's been very successful.

Um we've got some big, I know I talked to Chief McCoy about it all the time.

Some big sponsors that have utilized that space.

So we just need to keep continuing to bring forward ideas to bring in revenue.

That again is not a sales tax increase, that is not a hotel tax increase, that is not destroying our city with high density housing, and we got to get serious about it.

We are, but we need to bring a lot of ideas forward.

People don't like the ideas being brought forward.

Fine.

Let's talk about other ideas.

And I would request not to attack people personally that bring forward proposals, but we need to explore everything that has to be on the table.

If we're gonna get ahead of this, and we're no different with every city, as you mentioned.

Like sales tax is kind of stagnant across the state, and that's why we're seeing a big push from this council to support our businesses to highlight our businesses with the digital grant program, the men with the mayor's series to let everyone know that these businesses exist so they keep their dollars here, explore business investment.

Um we have a lot of cutting edge businesses that are coming to Huntington Beach to locate their headquarters like TSC Conductors, amazing cutting-edge company that is you know located.

They're they're founding in Huntington Beach.

So we didn't encourage that.

Our streamline program touched on it before.

That process to cut the red tape at the city hall, increased permits issued by 23% year over year.

We need more of that.

We need to entice more big business to come here and really get our our city on a strong financial footing.

So when you really distill down the budget, that's the issue.

And we need to get on top because on the on the pension debt, so everyone understands Calper's California public employees retirement system to meet their pension obligations, their fund that they invest needs to get a 6.7% annual return.

When they don't achieve that, like they did several years ago when they got a negative 7% return, the city has to fund that gap.

So we have to fund a 13% delta in order to make that 6.7% return.

When you don't, you can imagine it starts to accrue an unfended unfunded pension debt.

And so that is always a moving target as well.

Is like I said, 70% of our structural deficit is unfunded pension liability debt.

So just know that that like we're gonna have these conversations, we're having them, it's gonna keep continuing to happen, but we need to bring in more revenue.

Thanks for that, Mayor.

Back to uh councilman Williams.

I think everybody's on board with uh batting cages.

It's my understanding that the operators, and Ashley, you can touch on this.

I think they're bringing forth a much larger scale plan that would include not only batting cages but an enclosed structure that would have multi-use, but um so rather than and if that's true, please elaborate.

Um, but uh I saw plans six months ago and was wondering you know where the progress is.

But um, you know, it's my understanding, and you can elaborate that yeah, they have some big plans if they were to get an approval to deploy this this whole what I would say a magnificent plan where it looks like they're willing to put millions and millions of dollars of their own capital in in regards for some things that they want.

But can you elaborate a little bit on specifically the batting cage uh portion, please?

Sure.

So the um previous batting cages were a seven-bed system with a dedicated pitching machine.

So if you if there was a slow pitch machine, there was only one type of that, and everybody had to wait in line.

What the sports complex operators are envisioning is a enclosed space um that would have functional maintaining seven lanes, the pitching machines would be um a variety of pitching speeds, so you would just wait in line, push a button, the speed of choice would be what is pitched to you.

Um, with that flexibility of those machines being able to be moved around, they're also envisioning an opportunity for some group training space, agility training space, um, and a way to garner additional um activity through through different revenue streams that would come in and use that space.

So they're formulating a plan that they're gonna bring before council at some point where we can evaluate the plan, the amenities, the benefits, the potential cost, a holistic approach to the entire complex.

Is that correct?

Correct.

What we're seeing a trend in is um outdoor batting cages are um kind of going away in an indoor facility, especially in a marine environment will help preserve equipment.

So it definitely is a proposal that's worth entertaining.

And do you know when they plan on bringing forth their entire holistic approach to the sports complex for review and study session, whatever it takes to uh determine viability?

I don't have an exact answer on that, but we are continuing to meet weekly with them and hope to bring something forward soon.

Thank you.

Uh batting cages, I'm just gonna finalize that.

Uh I yes, many, many emails I've gotten.

I think personally, I probably spent $10,000 in coins myself at the previous batting cages.

So um, you know, I'll personally invest in that.

I think that it is something that we should talk about sooner rather than later.

I think the public wants it.

We heard about it tonight, but if it's within, you know, within the context of a of a grander plan, then I'm excited to see what that plan is.

Um, two more quick questions, granular detail on a few of the public works projects.

So we list millions of dollars here, three point uh yeah, four million dollars in regards to residential overlay, slurry slash paving.

Is there an area in which the public can actually drill down to see what areas are getting paved?

Yes.

Um, so for residential, we have a 12 zone program.

So the city is divided to 12 zones.

Uh we actually have a a zone that we attack each year so we could um share that map.

It's actually on the the city website for public works, so that gives you an idea of when we're in town.

Okay, and then do you know specifically if BOLSA is on that um plan over the next year?

Because a lot of people have been asking me about BOSA.

Okay.

So that's the residential network.

Okay.

The arterials are a little different.

They're on a different planning program, but also actually out to bid right now.

Bolsa is out to bid right now, okay.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

Okay.

I think that it's important that everybody look at that uh report by the finance commission because I know that they did put a lot of time into this, and we do have a very, very intelligent group of finance commissioners who look at this very critically and they really try and balance out the needs of the city and regard and as well as obviously the expenses.

So I'm pretty sure that's a public document.

One thing on that though, then I believe one of their recommendations was get us off the Calipers system, was that right?

Yes.

Do you guys know what that would cost to get if that was possible to get the um that that would require uh uh extensive legwork and discussion with CalPERS as to calculate the liability that the city would end up um coming out with?

Right.

And so you know there's various things that go along with trying to leave CalPurse.

You know, one of the biggest things that you're we're gonna experience if we do explore that route is that you know, we'll have um recruitment is always gonna be one of the top priorities for the city, correct?

And so um we would not be able to compete with other cities that are let's say that are continues to be in CalPur's.

Right, because that that's the type of benefits that are um being offered, and it's uh it helps level up the playing field with private businesses and and it helps with the recruitment process.

So that's a big factor there.

And then um, you know, other areas where we would have to explore as well, is the um typically uh employees will have vested um interest in um in the years of service that they have with CalPers, and so um it would again it would be extensive um and time consuming to calculate exactly how much that would be.

But you know, staff works at the direction of council.

So if you guys are uh if that's something that you want to explore, um we could totally uh we can certainly contact CalPers and see well, just like theoretically you'd have to correct me if I'm wrong, so you'd have to fund all those debt obligations to get it right, the hundreds of millions of dollars in unfended unfunded pension debt to then transition them to a 401k structure.

Correct.

Okay.

Um, to mention one question that I or one point that I think is interesting is Casey talks about increasing revenue.

You did mention that the TOT projections were flat if not down in the upcoming year.

Flat.

Flat.

Okay.

So I mean, and that's we've talked about this in the past, that you know that's definitely something that we as a council I think should lean into is you know, the more we fill those beds and the more tourism, the more people come here, the more more revenue we're gonna bring in.

If we're projecting flat on TOT, we gotta get heads in beds.

All right, any other questions or comments?

Okay, so just understand Travis.

The recommended action is to receive the proposed budget and then set the date for the adoption of the city budget as uh June 2nd, 2026, with a meeting date of June 16th as an alternative.

Should the city council require additional deliberation to approve the budget, correct?

Correct.

Okay.

Uh once again, so are we voting to present an approved budget on June 2nd?

Yes, or the 16th if you guys want more time to deliberate.

I I would personally make some changes.

Yeah, I would like to have to the 16th because that's fine.

We're gonna address it on the second.

I guess there is a book.

I can automatically extend it to the 16th.

Okay.

If that if that's uh I don't want I personally would like to have the opportunity to not be to final until the sixteenth because there is room to continue.

They've done a great job consolidating the line items.

Yeah, and now I'd like to you know get with you guys, you know, it's been a while and drill into each line item and look for you know opportunity.

So Don on the agenda, so the recommended action would be so A, the city council receives the proposed budget, which we just did, and then B set the date for adoption um instead of June 2nd, we can just make it uh June 16th.

Does that work for you?

Yeah, okay.

Most motion by councilman Burns.

Second, if no one has second yet, motion and a second.

Councilman Gruel?

Yes.

McKennedy?

Yes.

Councilman.

Mayor Pro Tem Twenty.

Yes.

Mayor McKeon.

Yes.

Councilman Burns?

Councilwoman Vandermark?

Yes.

Councilman Williams?

Yes.

Item passes 7-0.

All right.

Now consent calendar items 12 through 15.

Does anyone want to pull a consent item?

I'd like to pull 14 and 15.

It's just going to be two quick things.

It's not gonna be uh long, but I'd like to pull 14 and 15.

Yeah.

13 for me.

Thirteen.

And I got a little bit on fifteen.

Okay.

Anybody else?

That would have been around.

All right.

I'll make a motion to approve the balance, which is items twelve.

Four.

And that's it.

Yeah.

12.

Second.

Second.

20.

Councilman Gruel?

Yes.

Councilman Kennedy?

Yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Twenty?

Yes.

Mayor McKeon.

Yes.

Councilman Burns.

Councilwoman Vandermark.

Yes.

Councilman Williams?

Yes.

Item number 12 passes 70.

All right.

Item 13 fat.

Yeah, I just have a couple questions.

Uh what years are actually covered by this?

It says three year, but yet you mentioned 50,000 for something, the 26, 27, and then it's 50 grand per year, but yet you're asking for 20 250 grand.

So I'm just wondering if that can be explained a little bit.

So this is for 13 playground playground equipment.

Yeah.

Okay.

It's a not to exceed amount of 250,000.

Uh as you're as you're looking at that the contract, the anticipated expense is 50,000.

The contract's for not to exceed 250.

If we're on an annual basis, I I was wondering why there was such a big delta between the anticipated expense and the ceiling on the contract.

And I I think you're probably gonna say, well, just because we put a ceiling doesn't mean we spend it.

Is that the answer?

That's correct.

That is the maximum that we plan over the course of three years.

Three years, okay.

Yes, and what years exactly are those?

Is it 26 through 29 or 26 through 20?

26th through April.

Because inside there it says something about you have $50,000, and that was I don't know, I just got lost a little bit on that.

Uh for something else in the fund.

And is that part that 50 grand part of the 250 grand or is that excess?

No, we have 50,000 budgeted for 26, 27.

That's correct.

And so are you an allocation?

So on this, um the contract um would provide up to 250,000, but the department can't spend over what's budgeted in any fiscal year.

So if I'm correct, um we have $50,000 budgeted.

Um if um and um the staff report talks about um some of that capacity is to address any um an unanticipated um repairs, emergency response needs or unforeseen conditions, but if it went over in one year what's budgeted that 50,000, then either um other funds would be used or they'd have to come and have an a uh budget adjustment, say be say maybe mid year, but they can't each individual year you can't spend more than um what's budgeted over the three years.

You can't spend um you you don't have allocations except for they come each year and so but the contract they can only spend two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in the contract yeah they anticipate fifty grand a year but yet they're asking for an extra hundred grand over anticipated expense so if there were unanticipated things that happened over the three years of this contract if they were able to get budget for it for some reason they could take care of those things and we would never know about that if it was spent on something because we approved 250 but we're only budgeting 50 right now for this year.

Right so next year they would have to uh draw down from the remaining 200 and say for this year's budget for the playground for this single source vendor who's the only one that uh maintains the equipment we buy playworld they would say hey we we anticipate now 75 or 25 right yeah so we will know we would have to approve it just like we're doing right now this just avoids recontracting for another $50,000 increment so we we budget $50,000 we can do money someplace else to pay for that is that what kind of finding money to put yeah or cover that or over the three years um next year if they were aware of some some other larger repairs then maybe there'd be a request in the budget for a higher number.

On the other hand next year if there was nothing wrong they wouldn't ask for anything there's still be 200 remaining and let's just say hypothetically year three there's no need the other 200 that was just purely contractually bound but never spent would still be there and the contract would expire.

Yes and the and it's not required to spend two hundred and fifty yeah really so all right that's all I had on that I'll move the item second okay motion by Burns second by Kennedy welcome councilman gruel yes councilman kennedy yes mayor pro tem twiney yes Mayor McKeon yes councilman Burns Councilwoman Vandermark yes councilman Williams yes item passes seven zero item 14 Don.

The only reason I wanted to pull this child it looks like basically the RMRA road maintenance and rehab uh account is granting us about five point six million dollars I wanted to pull it just for one reason when I was looking at the PowerPoint it shows the all the streets that are gonna uh be paved kind of back to I think it was councilman gruel said you know w what streets are being paved over here so if we just pull up the PowerPoint I just wanted to show the residents that money's coming from um it's being given to us correct child correct as an allocation yeah okay and so this shows you know where the money's going and it actually lists the streets so it's kind of interesting just to show the residents in case somebody's saying what about my street or road there that's it there's two pages um yeah there's a page a page worth of streets right there then they're all arterial so let them look at this for a second then go to page two just kind of leave it up there just for a second so they can see it.

They can also find this on the um this PowerPoint on the packet the agenda packet okay thank you it's the previous slide that one there's it starts with 17th Street.

Okay.

So the good news is the money's being basically given to us or granted to us there's where it's being spent and there's a pretty good allocation of roads uh looks like across the city down into Southeast Huntington Beach and uh some of the other areas, so um that's the only reason I pulled it.

With that being shown and said, I'd I'd like to move that item.

Second, all right.

Councilman Gruel?

Yes.

Councilman Kennedy, yes, Mayor Pro Tem Twine?

Yes.

Mayor McKeon?

Yes.

Councilman Burns?

Councilwoman Vandermark?

Yes.

Councilman Williams?

Yes.

Item passes 70.

All right.

Don 15.

The reason I wanted to pull 15 real quick as I remember when this came out the first time, Councilman Gruel would uh basically brought to light something that we all would agree that wow, that's a lot of money, you know.

Is it because we have to pay prevailing wage?

Because I know Joe could lay the tile, you know, I'm just using a random name, could lay the tile for a lot less money, but we're bound uh to use uh not necessarily labor union, but pay prevailing wages.

So now this has come back, you've tightened the scope.

The reason I wanted to pull this just so I could uh elaborate on one thing that came to mind.

So there was only one bidder now.

We've got a reduced scope, and I asked uh our uh assistant city manager, you know, why only one bidder?

And maybe it's because the flooring.

So what I spoke to with her.

What I think we should do is we should create a this would be a little bit of an arduous task, a complete materials list, materials list of everything that we do from flooring to electrical to every type of uh plumbing, and categorize it by the unions, and that way they can then make sure that everybody in the union, and we don't have to use union labor, knows the different types of things that uh we're looking for.

So somebody I believe, and this is gonna come out in the next thing when we're talking about the ad hoc on the R ad hoc on the RFP.

I believe that a lot of people can do things for our city, including the marketing and those types of things, but they're not aware that we have an RFP because they haven't been to planet bids, or they don't know what we might be looking for that they if they saw if a vendor could look at our materials list.

If they were a plumber and they saw all the different things we need, and they say, I do that type of plumbing, or a guy that lays tiles, says I lay this um specialized plank or whatever it was that caused us only to have one bid.

I think we would have better turnout uh for our RFPs, which is gonna breed better uh competition and better results.

So I pulled it for that reason, just to kind of say that you know we had one person bid on this.

Yes, we reduced the scope, yes, we reduce the cost, but the fact that only one guy says, hey, I can do that to me shows a little bit of a deficiency in the awareness of what the city offers for vendors.

That's it.

I had some questions on this one also.

Uh how much how many total square feet are we talking about?

Do we know?

I'd have to verify that on the bid specs, and I I can get back to one.

Okay, and then it mentions luxury vinyl planks.

Do we know a year that was installed?

Those were installed.

If my memory serves me correct, I think the 2323 or 2324 budget year.

Okay, two, twenty three more likely.

And uh I'm familiar with some of those brands or stuff, most of them have lifetime warranties.

And if they were installed, like I think they should have been by a vendor, by somebody putting in a bid, was that checked into that those things should have had a lifetime uh warranty on them, unless they were incorrectly installed by an unqualified uh installer.

So I'm just wondering we might be able to save just uh out of practice, hold these people accountable to do the work they're supposed to do, and the material holds up to what they're supposed to do.

Because it's a lot of money.

So we we have performance bonds on the contractor, and their warranty for their work is typically one year.

The material though itself, the material, I've because I've installed some of it, and it's supposed to have a lifetime warranty.

That's why I'm I'm just asking if we followed up on that and checked on that to see if there was a uh we could check on that.

A few years isn't, I mean, too cool.

And if I could clarify, it's to remove the existing flooring because it's a not right now.

The floor is slippery, and when it's attached to the pool deck, um, as people are walking through, it's creating a uh a hazardous surface.

So this is actually taking the LVP and replacing it with a non-slip rated tile so it would provide a more safe environment coming off the pool.

All right.

So that's so that uh leads me to one thing.

We have to have better foresight.

I mean, uh vinyl plank around water equals slip.

You don't have to be rocket scientists.

So now I know we're going with a specialized non-slip tile of some sort, but um, yeah, we have to be more cognizant of just what we're doing because it is the taxpayer money, and it's unfortunate that we put that stuff in to Pat's point four years ago, and if it was because the materials were now worn, um, and that's why we were placing it, then we would be looking to see what kind of uh material warranty we have.

But the fact that we're pulling it out when it still has a lot of economic life left in it, um, is we missed the ball on that one.

So we gotta be a little bit more tight with thinking about the vinyl plank in the water.

It's a no-brainer.

I've slipped on that kind of stuff left and right, especially in flip-flops.

Does anybody know from the 2023 budget how much it costs us to put this in three years ago?

I don't have that information on me.

I'd have to check our records.

Okay.

So we put in the the L VP in 2023.

We're removing it now with a much higher quality non-slit porcelain tile due to the fact that it's in a wet high traffic area, correct?

Okay.

I don't have a question.

Yeah, I'm just trying to think of if there's any recourse, but if it's not because of tear or damage or inability, uh the performance of the planks, just bad choice before.

Uh I hope I hope there's some guarantees that the the porcelain tiles gonna be uh a better non-slip because non-slip porcelain.

Yeah, we sell it.

Yeah, no kidding.

Hey Chow.

I just my curiosity what the uh slip resistant rating is on this luxury vinyl since it's gonna be wet, so it'd be nice to know that they should the the manufacturer should know what the slip resistance is on it.

We're getting taken, we're taking it out.

Oh, we're okay, still want to know what the slip resistance is on the new stuff.

Just uh they should know that right off the top of their head.

Thanks.

So if we can, let's table it until the next uh meeting just to get some of those answers.

That's my motion.

I would second that just to make sure somebody's you know laid it in the water, walked across it, not just with bare feet, but with flip flops.

Um because porcelain to me seems like it's gonna be slippery too.

Now it may have like a matted finish, but it's still slippery.

I mean, so i until somebody walks across it with a bunch of water or runs across it like a little kid with flip-flops, we should do that before we approve the money.

Yeah, they're putting down some other flooring that, but it's cool.

But if we can't, that my motion would be to table it until we get some of these answers, or at least it's thought about.

I would second that.

I mean, we can get to it quickly.

I would just say we should just lay a big field of it down and let some people run across with water on it and see what happens.

Well that there's an actual test for that.

RW out there.

Motion and a second.

Table till the next meeting?

Correct.

Okay.

Councilman Gruel?

Yes.

Councilman Kennedy?

Yes.

Mayor Protend Twine?

Yes.

Mayor McKean.

Yes.

Councilman Burns.

Alright.

Councilwoman Vandermark?

Yes.

Councilman Williams?

Yes.

Pass the 7-0.

Tables till next meeting.

All right.

Next item.

Uh administrative item 16, approve the recommendation by the City Council ad hoc committee to end the request for proposal for creative strategy branding, merchandising, media communications, and film industry development services process and not award a contract.

Staff please introduce the report.

Thank you, Mayor.

As you're aware, the um the city uh went out for this RFP for this creative strategy branding merchandising media and communications.

Um the city council um uh set up an ad hoc committee to help review that along with um staff that would be reviewing those proposals after meeting with the ad hoc committee and um reviewing um those proposals.

The recommendation, as you pointed out tonight, is for um the ad hoc committee's uh recommending to discontinue a close the RFP uh and and um the process for now and evaluate those opportunities um in the future.

I'll start it.

Um when this first came out they started with the audit and uh I read the audit.

I liked what I heard.

I just I thought it was well done and I liked the all the ideas presented.

Uh unfortunately, this whole thing became ugly and political, and I think it would there was a lot of misinformation put out there to make it ugly and political rather than um actual practical and good for our city after going through I spent 10 hours going through those RFPs on a Saturday and a Sunday, and I felt confident that we we could have made the right choice, but we missed a window on really one reason it was being put forward kind of expeditiously, and I think it's unfortunate we had a good idea and uh to make some what seemed investing in our future, investing some money to make more money than it was gonna cost, of course.

That's good investing, and it just went sideways and it's unfortunate because I hope it doesn't prohibit or discourage people coming to us with good ideas, and uh it fall apart because of politics.

Uh politics sucks and it's ugly, and I think this was a classic case of it.

I was one of the members of the ad hoc committee as well, and uh we received basically 10 serious proposals, and uh, and I read them each one of them probably three times.

Um I did after I read them, I went and had numerous meetings with uh uh VHB, Chamber of Commerce, D bid, uh, and I went through some of the some of the the metrics that and I I I want to back up.

I need to you know uh and say uh that I believe that the the recommendations or the or the the the original Wolfhouse uh consulting uh report brought up several very, very important items, and it you know unfortunately gave us the uh well fortunately or unfortunately gave us the the basis for a very very good RFP, and we got a number of very good uh uh proposals.

But after talking to people, you know, staff members, uh staff at VHB, staff at chambers, staff at DBID, I came to the conclusion that we can probably find internally, internally, meaning the city as a whole, uh uh uh NGOs like VHB, like chamber, like DBID, and even people, you know, on staff here at the city, uh, that have the talent and the ability to do a lot of that.

And uh, and I I hope to take a lot of the ideas that I learned from the Wolfhouse consulting uh report, the the uh proposals that I read.

I look forward to taking some of that forward.

Uh I'll just say, you know, there was we got a lot of good ideas from the from the the um uh the consulting report and uh and I think we can do a lot of that stuff ourselves.

So uh that was kind of my my reasoning behind, you know, let's just cancel the the the RFP and we can keep moving forward without stopping.

So that's it.

My take on it was uh as part of the RFP.

Yeah, was it messy and sticky coming forward?

You know, I don't want to indict one council member, any council member for um bringing something forward.

Um it was gonna go to a vote regardless, no no one council member can bring something forward and pass it by a vote of one.

So it was gonna go uh to a vote.

So um it could have got shot down by uh majority vote, no.

So when once it became um messy, you know, and the perception the public perception was one and the reality in my opinion was a little bit different.