[0:05] So it's going to be.

[0:11] Hard to find.

[0:14] Something. Okay.

[0:21] So how are you? S1:

[0:30] Would like the podium. You know.

[0:35] I think, you know.

[0:37] We all jump up at once.

[0:51] Yeah.

[0:54] Yeah, I love that.

[1:00] Okay.

[1:04] Yeah.

[1:08] Okay. Um. Me and Carla on the speak on something, but you can't. You can't register. Uh, we can't make. It's not working.

[1:20] Yeah. Okay. All right. I think.

[1:31] So.

[1:32] Yeah. Yeah. I like that. Well, actually.

[1:45] It's okay. Yeah. Yeah. So you don't have to do the same kind of stuff all the. There are so many questions for me. I had no idea what I would do.

[2:04] I don't.

[2:05] Know.

[2:07] So the question.

[2:11] Is.

[2:17] How are you?

[2:23] Doing.

[2:26] So.

[2:33] I want you.

[2:36] To know that you're all.

[2:45] Right.

[2:49] Yeah. All right.

[2:52] Okay. Okay.

[2:54] I want to thank you all for being with us.

[2:58] I know,

[3:01] I'm.

[3:04] Not having breakfast. Oh, yeah.

[3:08] Why don't.

[3:13] You stay right there.

[3:25] Yeah.

[3:31] That's right.

[3:43] You know.

[3:46] I wish I had more.

[3:57] Yeah.

[4:00] I.

[4:05] Guess so.

[4:17] All right. All right. Thank you for being here.

[4:29] You're here on official, official site. Are you all right? Are you. Yes. You're.

[4:45] Good. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I love I want to do it.

[4:54] I don't get it. I don't know why. Do you.

[5:01] Think so? And I didn't get it right.

[5:07] Away. And.

[5:13] I.

[5:23] Didn't want to bring it up.

[5:52] I just want you.

[6:00] To.

[6:04] Know.

[6:07] That we have.

[6:12] A lot.

[6:17] Of.

[6:30] Work.

[6:33] That.

[7:55] It's not.

[8:13] Just.

[8:45] Good evening and welcome to the joint regular meeting of the City Council and the special meeting of the Artesia Housing Authority for tonight. Today is August the 10th, and I will call the meeting to order at this time at 7:05 p.m.. Uh, tonight, uh, our city clerk is out ill. So we want to ask you for a little bit of patience tonight, especially with our electronic fancy system that people are watching at home from all abroad around the world.

[9:21] So with that being said, may we have a roll call, please? S4:

[9:23] Present.

[9:24] Mayor Pro Tem Ramos. Present. Council member. Manalo. Present. Council member. Iyer. Present. And Council member. Tash. Thank you.

[9:43] All right.

[9:44] At this time.

[9:45] I will ask Council member, uh, Monica manalo to deliver the invocation. Chairman, please stand and remain standing. After reading this, I just hope we were sitting in there.

[10:08] Thank you everybody.

[10:12] Almighty creator of justice and peace. We thank you for gathering us this evening. Give us clarity, compassion and commitment as we address the issues before us this evening. That each member of the City Council be guided by the call to serve our community, and a determination to act in the best interest of our city and its residents. And we ask all of this in Jesus name. Amen.

[10:47] Thank you for that. We will invite Sergeant Ramos to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

[10:55] Everybody, please. The flag, please. You're working over your heart. Ready? Begin.

[11:01] I pledge allegiance.

[11:02] To the flag of the United States.

[11:04] Of America. And to the Republic.

[11:07] For.

[11:07] Which it stands. One nation under God.

[11:10] Indivisible.

[11:11] With liberty and justice for all.

[11:24] Yeah. It's blank.

[11:28] All right. At this time, uh, this portion of the meeting is set aside for, uh, public comments. So we invite public comments at this time for all items on the agenda and non-agenda items regarding any matter within the subject matter jurisdiction of the City Council, with additional opportunity to speak providing during public hearings. Public comments are limited to no more than three minutes, and at this time we. The kiosk in the back is not working. So if you do want to speak tonight, we ask you to fill out a speaker card for the record. So we apologize that the kiosk is not working.

[12:12] Um, do we have anyone signed up for public comments? S4:

[12:36] I'll fill out the card a little bit after this.

[12:41] Mayor Trevino and members. Oh, sorry.

[12:44] No, no. It's okay, sir. We're going with Mr. Coco or Mr. Perry.

[12:47] Yeah. Um, we're going to go with Mr. Coca at this time. Sorry. Yes, sir.

[12:53] Okay.

[13:02] Mayor. Council members, I just want to bring it to your attention that what goes on in the city. I don't know how much of the council member knows what goes on. Um, I try to, uh, convert the hotel into studios, and, uh, I, I spent the money, but I was. No one ever told me that I have to pay the money, like, 25,000 for every unit. If they did, I would have not paid that fee. I paid about 25 to $80,000. After paying all that fee. Going through the whole thing, they said, oh, you still have to pay the $25,000 for each unit. The way your city is doing it, I want you every council member to know. And I don't know how many people, how many of you know what's going on, whether you build a three unit apartment or a three unit condominium or a single studio, you have to pay $25,000 for everything you build in this city. It's it's completely outrageous for for converting the existing units. What we have 161. They want us to pay $25,000 for each unit. That's almost like $4 million. They want us to pay just to convert them. I know you're short of residential units, and you could have got 161 units from there, just the studios. We were going to convert like two rooms into one and make at least. We would have had 80 units that that was. We were also told them that. We also told them that it's going to be a temporary, not a permanent thing. But they said, no, you still have to pay $25,000 for each month. What I want you to know is that.

[14:42] Um.

[14:43] If you look at your statistics, what you have in this city, bill Rowling created this. This amounts $25,000 or something for every unit. If you really look at it, check and see how many apartments have been built in this city during the period when you started charging $25,000 to today, $25,000. If you're charging for a condominium complex, yes, maybe they will sell it within one year period. Once they build it and they get the money from the buyer, and they will pay you the $25,000 that is after the construction, the way he did it. That's the way he did it. $25,000 after the construction is complete. But whereas when you build apartments and if you ask for $25,000. Like I brought in, the 22 units will cost me $550,000 just on top of my construction amount. And somebody is building 100 units, will cost them $2.5 million just to pay the city. Forget about the construction or anything else. It's really outrageous. If I'm building even a studio apartment cum apartment complex, 100 units, I have to pay 25 $2.5 million. It just doesn't make sense. What what's what is going on with the city? And I don't know if the council knows what's going on. And are you aware that amount of money that you people are asking just for a studio to pay $25,000? I don't know what to really say and I really want you.

[16:22] To.

[16:23] Do it. And I have sent the letters to everybody's, you know, telling you exactly what I feel and what's been going on. It's it's just crazy. I mean, you know, like, please stop this and do something to bring the city up. And you want to do the the you want to do the comparison with the other cities. Yours is what? How much is it? 1.11.

[16:48] Excuse me. Koka. Are you. Time is up.

[16:51] Thank you. It's at one point. I don't know where. Where it says, but it's 1.6 mile city. I mean, you know, it's just. It's quarter mile city. And if you compare that with Long Beach or somewhere else, I don't know what to say. Thank you, thank you.

[17:08] Thank you for your comments, uh, Mr. Koka. All right, the next speaker.

[17:20] Next speaker is Lorelei Bailey.

[17:31] You're going to come in all at once. Okay.

[17:38] Okay.

[17:40] Good evening. Mayor, Council and fellow artesian. I'm Lorelei Bailey, resident and co-leader of Strong Towns, Artesia. I'm here to voice our support for the inclusion of schedule C into agenda item nine. L Strong Towns Artesia was started with the belief that if you love where you live, you should work to make it better. It's why we've done things like trash pickups, organized events like our City Council candidate forum, and it's why we are here today, continuing to advocate for safer streets. We take pride in working alongside City Hall to help build a better future for our community. Council Member Manalo has repeatedly reminded us that from that very dais, that we have a duty as advocates to help keep Council accountable. Truly no small task. So here we are doing just that. We won't pretend traffic calming is a contentious issue and that there isn't an upcoming election to win. And there's certainly plenty of fear mongering to be found online. But isn't there always with new things? In this instance, though, we have the benefit of it not actually being new. There are countless of these mini traffic circles all throughout L.A. County, with over 100 of them in our neighboring city of Long Beach alone. There's a reason for that. They work, and they work really well. Even people that are initially opposed to them eventually admit that they wouldn't want them removed, and even more still, come to love them as great additions to their neighborhoods. After all, they make for great neighbors. They reduce vehicle noise, travel times, and air pollution. They offer a chance to reclaim green space from a sea of pavement in our city, reduce speeding, and make it safer to both drive and walk. They reduce fatalities by 90% and make injuries that do happen less severe. Anyone that has seen what cars can do knows just how serious this is. In the US alone, 40,000 people a year die from car crashes, with even more permanently disabled, many of them passengers and innocent bystanders. Look around. The signs of crashes are everywhere. The caved in wall of our museum bent bollards, trees with scars, displaced and dented, planters on pioneer, and on and on. We too, have heard the voices in the community calling for us to just repaint the lines and restore the status quo. But I ask you this shouldn't we want better than the status quo? As we grow and mature as a city after all. Artesia status quo is near. Daily crashes, rampant speeding, and lately an abundance of overturned cars. Our streets give drivers the impression that they can drive too quickly and to recklessly. Then we turn around and wonder why our children no longer play outside or bike to school. We have the opportunity here to change course and make a difference in the safety of our streets here in Artesia. By building the best version of this project on offer, I hope you take advantage of it. Approved. Schedule. See? Thank you.

[20:26] Thank you, Miss Bailey. And we'll go to the next speaker.

[20:35] Are there any other speakers? S4:

[20:39] Gaeta. Lorenza.

[20:45] Good evening everyone. I wanted to publicly say thank you to everybody. I'm here for the botanical garden, which, of course, we live on Summer and I. And it abuts that property. So we, um, a while back did bring our all our concerns to you guys in both an email and in person. And everybody was quite receptive. I wanted to thank you for that. Um, acknowledging that changes had to have been made to that original plan and for working with us and, um, and I and I do, um, Beg really that you keep us residents who that property abuts and will forever, um, change our way of living. Um, at the forefront of what you do in this project. Because when it's all said and done, um, you know, we're left with what's there. I also, I don't know how much control this, but I would, um, I would go again that whenever that project gets started that you somehow are able to, um, see it to the end. Um, you know, I know we had some issues with that walking trail and there was plenty of issues and this and that. Um, as a proud Artesia resident, I would not want that to happen there. It would also affect my home and my well-being. So it matters there, too. Um, but I also want the success of this for our city and for our residents so that we do have something that we can be proud of. finally that we can do that. Right. So, um. So once again, thank you so much for hearing me out and, um, working with us. And I sure hope that, you know, that continues. And, um, I'd like to see some transparency. Right. To those us, us neighbors. I get you on the back side, but there's.

[22:39] A.

[22:39] Lot of people to get you on the front side as well. So thank you so much for that. And, um, thank you.

[22:47] Thank you so much for the comments. Next speakers.

[22:53] Next speaker is Karla Salazar.

[23:03] Um, I'll let Carla go after me.

[23:09] Mayor Trevino and members of the city council. My name is Andrew Perry. I'm president of FEMA local 1520 and Secretary of Acme. District Council 36. You represent all the managers, supervisors and rank and file for the city of Artesia. I'm here tonight to reflect on what I witnessed firsthand during the disciplinary hearings of two code enforcement officers who were ultimately terminated. Both employees passed their most recent performance evaluations. One actually scored higher than in previous years. The city's own evaluation form says a score of 30 or below to trigger discussion of a performance improvement plan, which is the final step before termination. Both scored around 40. So how do we go from passing performance evaluations to termination? One was a senior employee with many years of service. The other historically carried and closed more cases than any code enforcement officer I have seen during my 21 years here. I watched our business representative, Carlos Salazar, systematically challenge the allegations against them. One officer was faulted for issuing a citation within three days, instead of the ten days suggested by the standard operating procedures, but his supervisors had instructed him to issue that citation. He followed their direction and then it was used against him. The other emailed his supervisor after hours about a time sensitive case, because he knew he would be unavailable the following week. Instead of being thanked for going above and beyond, was disciplined for it, and that became part of the case for terminating him. Those are just two examples. But does this sound like poor work performance? Councilmembers, I understand that you don't supervise employees. You depend on management for accurate information. But after what I witnessed, I no longer have confidence that the picture presented to you about these employees was complete or reliable. And now, after terminating two bargaining unit employees, the city is looking at contracting someone to perform work that belongs to our union positions. That is deeply concerning to us. Eventually, we're going to need another code enforcement officer. What message are we sending that person and every existing employee when you can pass your evaluation. Follow your supervisor's instructions.

[26:14] Time is ended, Mr. Perry.

[26:15] Please indulge me.

[26:17] Thank you.

[26:19] Go above and beyond the call of duty and still have those actions used against you. I've worked here for 21 years. I care about this organization. Organization and the people who work here. We supported all of you in the past, but our support cannot be taken for granted. Our members need to know that when something like this happens, their elected officials will ask difficult questions and hold management accountable. Thank you.

[26:50] Thank you, Mr. Perry, for those comments. Thank you very much.

[26:57] Next speaker is Karla Salazar.

[27:07] Good evening, mayor and council members and also artisans for those that are here and in the television listening. My name is Karla Salazar, and I'm actually the business representative or union representative for Acme District Council 36, as well as this local here that represents both bargaining units, the rank and file and the mid managers. So I'm speaking tonight as of course, the representative that represented the two employees. And I'm going to say George Lopez and Sam Choy that previously our president Andrew Perry mentioned both men gave years of service to the city uh alone combined it was probably about eight. One had eight and the other one had like 15 years or so. So it was pretty, pretty long. Um, both worked under the same supervisor. Both were pushed out of their jobs after they raised concerns about the said supervisors conduct between January and May 2025, George Lopez reported to the city payroll that the said supervisor and her cousin had falsified time cards, claiming pay for a Saturday. They did not work. That's protected whistleblower activity under the Labor Code section 11.2.5. Payroll verified the discrepancy and escalated it to finance within weeks. Mr. Lopez received the first discipline of his 12 year career. He later filed a grievance and then a hostile work environment complaint against that, said supervisor. Each time the city's response was more disciplined, a performance improvement. They even extended that. And then they terminated him the day after they extended the pip close. Sam Choi's story runs the same track, aware of Mr. Lopez's report because they actually work together. Those are the two. And by the way, I will have to say there were supposed to be four code enforcement. They were doing the work on top of other folks. They were doing. Those two employees were doing the work of four people, actually, that were supposed to be doing the work. Let me just add that. So they were also overworked on top of that. Aware of Mr. Lopez report, Mr. Choi documented his own observations of the said supervisor's conduct. She placed him on a pit on November 2025. A month later, he filed his own complaint against her for hostile work environment. HR came back with it was unfounded. They actually told him verbally nothing was written. There was no written findings. It was told verbally. The Pip was extended with one day notice overlapping medical leave. He was on stress tied to the same work environment. Days later, the or days ago, the city or you could say weeks ago now the city finalized both terminations of these employees. In both cases, the supervisor who was subject to the complaint remain in control of both evaluations that led to termination. No independent evaluator. No conflict of interest review. That is not due process folks. That is letting the accused judge be the accuser. We've pursued every internal channel available the Skelly process, the city's own appeal rights and the outcome never changed.

[30:15] Salazar, your time has ended. Thank you. Thank you.

[30:23] Thank you for those comments, Miss Salazar.

[30:29] Are there any public speakers here tonight that would like to make a comment?

[30:35] Next is Lindsay Bailey.

[30:38] My apologies.

[30:47] Is the zoom. I'm being told the zoom function is not working.

[30:55] I'll work on that right now. Mayor. But I see nobody in the attendee room.

[30:59] But if the zoom function is not working, how would they be in the attendee room? I don't mean to be sarcastic.

[31:09] What are.

[31:09] We.

[31:17] Talking about?

[31:20] Okay. I'll look into that. In the meantime, we still have in-person speakers.

[31:24] We have a disruption policy.

[31:27] Yes. Thank you. Mayor and council under SB 707. If there is an issue with our, um, the city's ability to accept public comment virtually, then the city council should take a short break so that this can be worked on in to ensure that the technology is working in virtual public comment can be taken. That would be my suggestion. Okay.

[31:57] Okay. At this time we'll take a, uh. At this time, we're going to take a 15 minute break.

[32:33] I want.

[32:41] To make.

[32:50] Sure. You.

[32:54] Know you're ready. Okay. Um, it's an angle.

[32:58] Um, and then.

[33:05] There's.

[33:08] No.

[33:21] Question about it. And I interrupted. No. You're not. Um. You want to make sure my friend was going to say, well, I was wondering if it was like one of those who write the comments on that. Yeah. Okay. Um.

[33:40] Yeah. Oh.

[33:48] Yeah.

[33:52] Okay. So I just wanted to ask Can.

[34:00] I change that.

[34:06] Thank you. Thank.

[34:13] You.

[34:14] Thank you very much.

[34:22] Thank you.

[34:25] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[34:35] Thank.

[34:45] You. You know how it works.

[34:52] Yeah, a lot of.

[34:53] Stuff. Like.

[35:01] That.

[35:08] Yeah.

[35:34] Yeah.

[35:36] Yeah.

[35:39] Yeah.

[35:42] Yeah.

[35:45] Yeah yeah.

[35:47] Yeah.

[35:53] I.

[35:57] Know.

[36:08] That you have.

[36:12] No idea what.

[36:16] That means. Yeah, I think I have an idea.

[36:26] I don't.

[36:29] Know.

[36:30] What.

[36:32] I need to.

[36:34] Know.

[36:36] And.

[36:41] At the same time, I.

[36:45] Don't like.

[36:52] I think that if I decided that I was going.

[36:59] To come up with.

[37:15] Something that I want to take a look at the end of the.

[37:28] Year.

[37:31] I want to thank you all.

[37:36] And.

[37:42] So I hope that.

[37:51] At the.

[37:55] Moment, I don't know.

[37:59] I do not know that it will work out there.

[38:05] Yeah. Yeah.

[38:11] Yeah.

[38:15] And.

[38:26] For.

[38:32] Those.

[38:41] Of you.

[38:45] And.

[38:56] I know.

[38:59] That I like to thank you so.

[39:07] Much for.

[39:13] Your time.

[39:20] Today. You.

[39:24] Know.

[39:31] You know, I think one.

[39:41] Of the things that.

[39:43] I'm sure something.

[39:44] Like that.

[39:48] This is.

[39:51] Something.

[39:55] I really.

[39:58] Like.

[40:01] All right.

[40:03] Everybody likes.

[40:16] It.

[40:22] I read somewhere.

[40:28] That someone was like.

[40:30] You know, you know.

[40:34] What?

[40:34] You know what I mean?

[40:42] And I was like.

[40:58] Oh!

[41:02] My.

[41:05] God, I want to come.

[41:07] And I don't know.

[41:11] Whether you started.

[41:16] Off or.

[41:19] Something. I don't want to talk to you. You know.

[41:26] What?

[41:30] I mean, what do.

[41:33] You think?

[41:37] I should.

[41:43] Mother.

[41:55] I want to.

[42:00] Thank you for.

[42:09] Your.

[42:12] Time.

[42:16] Bro.

[42:20] I really. I feel.

[42:23] Like.

[42:30] I.

[42:36] Have.

[42:41] I don't like talking.

[42:47] About it. I was like.

[43:01] Oh my God.

[43:07] We have.

[43:11] To turn 21 year.

[43:22] Old. Yeah. Okay. That's okay.

[43:31] This is what you want? S1:

[43:35] Just.

[43:38] So, you know, that's the kind of thing that, you know, for.

[43:48] Sure. Yeah.

[43:52] Yeah.

[43:56] Yeah. Where are.

[44:00] You? Okay. Where do you think you are?

[44:09] No, I said.

[44:12] I don't know. I.

[44:16] Was just wondering.

[44:24] I know that.

[44:31] You.

[44:34] Over. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[44:45] I got it.

[44:49] Yeah.

[44:53] Oh, yes! Oh, no.

[44:58] Oh my God.

[45:02] Oh, you're not going to do it. So what are you doing? You.

[45:13] Know what I love about it? You.

[45:22] Know? Oh. I'm sorry.

[45:30] Yeah. What are you going to do?

[45:36] That I didn't know I had.

[45:42] To do.

[45:52] Like.

[45:57] I.

[46:02] Said I was excited for Saturday.

[46:11] What? S2:

[46:17] Here.

[46:21] And what do.

[46:25] You think?

[46:33] I didn't really get used to it. I didn't know what to do. You know.

[46:46] If you can just.

[46:51] Do.

[46:55] It. I was.

[47:00] Like.

[47:02] Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[47:07] Yeah.

[47:09] Yeah.

[47:11] But it's not right.

[47:15] Oh.

[47:18] Yeah.

[47:27] Okay. Good evening. We are going to return back from our short recess. We do apologize. We are having technical difficulties, and I'm going to turn it over to our city attorney for an announcement.

[47:40] Thank you. Mayor and council. Um, as I mentioned earlier, there are new rules on public comment for the Brown Act. It's under SB 707 that came into effect earlier this year. Um, and it requires public comment to be taken virtually. It has actually very, uh, like strict rules on if, you know, the state, uh, foresaw that there would be technological issues in taking virtual comment. And so as part of that, they required city councils, including Artesia City Council, to adopt a disruption policy, kind of laying out what would happen if there was a technology issue during the meeting. So at its June 2026 meeting, the city council did adopt a disruption policy and per the state law. It requires if there's a disruption. The city council meeting has to pause for at least an hour as city staff are diagnosed and, you know, try to restore the tech back to its proper, you know, usage, um, in the city's disruption policy. And if I can just grab it real quick. Uh, and it's it's in section five. It's a response to the service disruption. Um, when the mayor becomes aware of a service for service disruption, the mayor city clerk shall immediately announce the service disruption to the public. We have done that. Um, the mayor calls for a recess of the open session, which you have done. Um, one of the things the council could do is the mayor could do is to convene the legislative legislative body in an authorized, closed session. consistent with the Brown Act, and then that recess lasts for one hour or until service is restored, whichever is earlier. During the recess. City staff makes a good faith effort to diagnose and restore the disrupted, disrupted service. So what I want to highlight here is we do have a closed session that was appropriately agenda on the city's agenda. And so if the City Council wishes, we could go into closed session while city staff diagnoses the technological issue.

[49:58] We can certainly do that. And we will at this point, once we come back from closed session, if the technology is not repaired, can we continue with the regular meeting?

[50:08] Yes, the city council could. There would need to be a vote on continuing the meeting. There would need to be a majority consensus to do that. But yes, the city council could continue the meeting.

[50:19] And also, are we recording this? Is this being recorded? We confirmed that. Okay, so the live stream is working. We are recording, but we are not able to take virtual comments. Okay, so at this time, what we will do then is we will convene to closed session to address, uh, anticipated litigation, uh, pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9.2.

[50:48] And we have two potential cases to discuss, and we will return back as soon as we're done. And if the hour is elapsed, then we can take a vote to continue the meeting without the live stream interaction. I mean, the virtual comment direction. That's correct.

[51:05] Is that okay? S12:

[51:05] All right. I do apologize, folks. This is the first time this has ever happened. Uh, but this is the second time we've only tried to operate this, uh, if we're batting 50%. And if you're a baseball guy, that's pretty good. So, uh, we do apologize. But at this time the city council will convene to a closed session.

[51:38] There is.

[51:40] No more.

[51:48] Room.

[51:56] For anyone who wants us.

[52:04] There. What do you want to do? I'm everywhere, for.

[52:07] One.

[52:08] Thing.

[52:11] Yeah.

[52:19] Sorry about that.

[52:37] Thank you.

[52:44] So.

[52:52] Much.

[52:57] Yeah. Let me give you one of our pictures. All right. That one I do. Yeah. Give me a five minute teaser. Okay. Thank you. Oh.

[53:11] And by.

[53:16] The way.

[53:24] Or us or whatever.

[53:27] It is.

[53:30] That.

[53:42] You are.

[53:49] Going to go get it?

[53:53] That's what we're going to be like.

[54:02] Oh.

[54:02] You.

[54:11] Know.

[54:20] It's a.

[54:23] Very long.

[54:26] Letter. Thanks so much for talking.

[54:34] With me.

[54:35] What do you want to.

[54:42] Do.

[54:43] Hello? No.

[54:47] No. No.

[54:54] No.

[54:57] No no no no no.

[55:01] No no no.

[55:02] I know exactly what I want.

[55:10] You to know what?

[55:19] But I don't think there's any way that I would want.

[55:30] To know about that. Yeah. And, you know, I think that you have so many of us. And I know that.

[55:46] Um.

[55:53] And, you know, there's a.

[55:59] Lot of.

[56:12] It was.

[56:37] Renovated.

[56:38] I know.

[56:42] That they have come here to talk about it. You know, I really like that.

[56:54] I'm going to go.

[56:58] I.

[57:01] Don't want to go.

[57:05] With you. I know that. I 2014. And.

[57:17] You.

[57:20] Know.

[57:24] What?

[57:27] You want to.

[57:30] Know?

[57:34] Is what?

[57:36] I.

[57:44] Gave.

[57:55] You. I think that it's important that you know.

[58:04] What it is that.

[58:11] It is S2:

[58:25] If you know what I think, I think that I think you know that I'm not just.

[58:39] Talking about people.

[2:03:44] Mayor and council going back to the City Council's disruption policy that was adopted in June 2026. Um, there is a policy on reconvening the open session. Um, if our city clerk can just report on the status of staff's efforts to restore remote access.

[2:04:02] And oh, I not yet. Yeah.

[2:04:07] So I understand from speaking to city staff that uh, during the hour, uh, technology, the tech was attempted to be restored and it was unable to be restored and will not be able to be restored. Um, for this meeting. Okay. Um, under the city's process, uh, the city council has several options, including one adjourn the meeting to extend the recess, to allow staff more time to make a good faith effort to restore the remote access. That won't be possible. Um, or c continue the open session portion of the meeting by adopting the following. Or a substantially similar finding by roll call vote. This would be the finding that the city of Artesia has made good faith efforts to restore telephonic or internet service in accordance with the with its adopted policy and the public interest in continuing. Continuing the meeting outweighs the public interest in remote public access. So those are the cities. Options are either to adjourn or adopt that finding that I just read.

[2:05:16] Okay. Thank you, Madam City Attorney, I think at this time I would say that we continue the meeting, uh, and we'll take a roll call, vote to do so. Uh, just want to double confirm that the meeting is being recorded and it is broadcast on our live stream system, so at least people can watch and listen.

[2:05:37] Correct? S4:

[2:05:38] All right, so can we move forward with the motion?

[2:05:42] Second.

[2:05:44] You can move forward with a motion.

[2:05:45] Motion.

[2:05:46] Yes.

[2:05:46] Okay. Yeah.

[2:05:47] All right. We have a first and a second. First by Councilmember Tosh. Second by Mayor Pro Tem Ramos. So.

[2:05:56] Mayor Trevino.

[2:05:57] Yes.

[2:06:00] Mayor Pro tem Ramos. Yes. Council member. Manono. Yes. Council member. Adhere. Yes. And council member. Taj. Yes. Thank you.

[2:06:13] All right. Thank you. So, at this time. I'll ask you now, Madam City Attorney, to report out from our closed session.

[2:06:19] Thank you, mayor and Council. There's nothing to report out.

[2:06:22] All right. Thank you. Okay.

[2:06:27] We will now go into council member comments, and I'll ask my colleagues to keep it brief in lieu of our situation tonight. No council member comments. Oh, we have additional public comments. Oh my apologies. Sorry about that. Okay. We'll go to public comments.

[2:06:50] Who's the next speaker? S4:

[2:07:06] And co-lead of Strong Towns Artesia. My comments tonight are regarding agenda item nine El. I am in support of authorizing schedule C because I care about our public safety and that it must include our streets and sidewalks. As I'm sure you all know, my wife walks all over the city and I admit I worry about her. Thankfully, she's a very capable individual, which gives me some comfort. But what about those less capable? What about those who have slower reflexes or who can't drive? I often see my elderly neighbor walking to and from the store or her friend's house, and I have to wonder, will the city continue to take her needs into consideration at this chapter of her life? Will it do so for me, for the rest of us, when the time comes? I wonder, will the kids that live next door laughing as they ride their scooters up and down our drive, be noticed in time if they cross the street? I wonder if enough will be done to reclaim our neighborhoods as peaceful places to live and be, rather than just exist as somewhere to cut through quickly. That's why I help work to make where we call home better, to make Artesia better. And that's why I'm up here tonight. I repeatedly hear that safety is the most important thing from community members, and council members are wise to quickly champion it. But somehow, when it comes to the safety of people walking that once vocal support goes quieter. Why aren't we relying on our talented public works team and our engineers technical expertise? Why don't we trust the completed studies that clearly show the efficacy of the Traffic Circle project? I know holding any office at any level is hard. I've seen people lose sleep over decisions that they've been faced with. This one though, this one can have you resting easy knowing you did the right thing. Please make our neighborhood streets safer. Please approve. Schedule C. Thank you.

[2:09:20] Thank you, Miss Bailey. Next speaker.

[2:09:25] Next is ash. Ash. Mahoney. Thank you.

[2:09:36] Hello. Um. Ash Mahoney. This is my first public comment since I've moved here. Actually, I'm really excited. I've been saving it for this project. I'm here to speak in support of schedule C in the traffic calming program. Um, I love the traffic circles idea. I, um, I live along 1/86 Street. I ride my bike. A lot of places. I'd love that street to be slower, because it's kind of my main way around the city. Um, I think they're also a great opportunity for city beautification. They can be flowerbeds, places to plant, shade trees. Um, I feel like they could even kind of almost extend the park vibe out into the rest of the city. I think it would just make the neighborhood so much nicer to be in and go through and everything. And not to mention the safety. I was really blown away by the numbers presented at the Beautification Committee in the April meeting. Um, I think it was like a 20% average reduction in speed, which is it makes a huge difference to survivability if a collision is to occur. Um, so I know some people complain that, you know, you might wreck on the traffic circle, for example, but I would much rather have them up against a curb rather than have a person under their wheels and in the hospital with unknown survivability afterwards. So yeah, I've just really support the project. I'd really love to see it happen. I think it's a great value to just looking at the numbers. It's only like 3% of the overall cost of the improvements planned. So for if it can save even one life, I think it's well worth it. So please approve.

[2:11:17] Schedule C thank you very much for those comments and welcome to Artesia. All right.

[2:11:26] Do we have any other speakers? S4:

[2:11:40] Uh, good.

[2:11:40] Evening, Mayor and council. My name is Dan Rocha. I'm a lifelong artesian. As many of you know, I'm running for Artesia City Council this year as well. Uh, I want to be clear. Um, I strongly support code enforcement. Residents deserve cleaner neighborhoods, less dumping, less graffiti, and better follow through. But I do not support approving this 75,000 outside consultant contract. Tonight, I understand the argument that this may be one contractor, possibly the same person providing continuity for up to a year, but continuity alone is not the issue. The issue is that this is still outsourced public work. If Artesia has an ongoing need for code enforcement, then we should be investing in a full time city position, not paying an outside consultant to do work that should be handled by city staff. This is not fair to our Union City employees, and it is not the best long term solution for residents. The report says this contract is for up to 12 hours per week. That is not enough for a citywide issue and it does not build the city's own capacity. Illegal dumping, graffiti and code enforcement problems are not temporary issues. They are ongoing concerns. So our solution should also be ongoing, accountable and rooted in City Hall.

[2:13:22] Clean neighborhoods and good public jobs should go together. Tonight, I am asking the council to pull item nine G from the consent calendar and not approve the contract as presented instead. Please direct staff to come back with a plan to hire a full time code enforcement officer. As a city employee with clear goals, accountability, and respect for union labor. Thank you.

[2:13:54] Thank you, Mr. Rocha.

[2:13:58] Are there any other public speakers?

[2:14:00] No, not at this time.

[2:14:02] Okay.

[2:14:03] Uh, we.

[2:14:05] I'm going to read something. Uh, we have received written comments in advance of the meeting, which were provided to the council and public in accordance with the Brown Act. And we're available to the public in the lobby agenda packet packet. Sorry.

[2:14:22] No problem. All right. Thank you for that. And, uh, we will certainly move on in the agenda. We're going to now go to, uh, council member comments. So at this time, I'm going to ask my colleagues to try to be brief, in the interest of time and the situation that we've incurred for the last hour. Uh, we will begin with, uh, Council member Taj.

[2:14:44] Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. My comments were a little bit longer, but I'm going to take your direction to make it brief. Uh, first of all, thank you all very much for joining us tonight. Apologies on behalf of everyone for this unforeseen that happened. This is the second meeting we are having with SB 707, uh, which is completely a different one than what we've had two months ago. So thank you for sharing with us. Uh, that said, welcome, everyone, and thank you for the comments that were made. Um, and continuously encourage everyone to make public comments. Uh, that said, I've had several events that I had attended. I'll make it brief. Uh, League of California cities southeast gateway line corridor celebration of TJ subs for 50 years. Uh, but more so I'd like to highlight the National Night Out that we all attended. It was just absolutely a great turnout. I want to give a special shout out to the staff. Parks and recreation did an absolutely fabulous job. Many residents were there, but more than anything else, many residents from other neighboring cities came and attended. It was an absolutely fantastic event. Burgers, hot dogs, a great get together by the community. Um, I also want to recognize one of the council members who was present in the audience. Um, miss Ariana from the City of Orange. Thank you for joining us as well. And many residents who are present. Thank you so much. And staff, thank you for your good work and leadership. I'll keep my comments brief for now. Mr. mayor, I will add a little bit later. Thank you.

[2:16:23] Thank you. I will go to council member here.

[2:16:26] Thank you mayor. I will also keep them brief. I want to say welcome. We've made it to August 2026. Um, yeah. All my comments, I think I can deliver them next meeting if all goes well. I just want to give one note or actually two notes because of the high temperature that we all faced. Um, I want to give a huge shout out to Strong Towns Artesia for also bringing up the fact that we need shade trees in Artesia. So, you know, rather than us, uh, being the only entity, the city being the only entity responsible to plants, shade trees would encourage our residents to go ahead and plant them as well. Whether in your own, um, you know, property or your neighbors, but help each other out to grow more trees. We really need them. Um, and then on the public safety note, uh, yes, we had a National Night Out, and it was really great to see the community come out and get to know their safety patrons. But more importantly, let's also encourage each other to keep ourselves safe. Um, electronic bikes are still illegal. Um, so if you see something, you know, say something. Um, and also, I wanted to say it's really important to do even the, the most mundane things in during these days is such as making sure your gate is locked, your doors are locked, cameras are on. You know, we have a rebate program as well. So, yes, um, those are my notes, just as a a tip. And we have coffee with the captain August 29th. So 2026. Thank you, thank you. Mario. Yes. So I will be seeing you guys there and all other comments I'll just give them next time. Take away. Thank you.

[2:18:19] Thank you Councilmember. Here we'll go to Councilmember Manalo.

[2:18:23] Thank you, Mister Mayor. Uh, so very quickly, I want to congratulate our colleagues in the city of Lakewood, Mayor Jeff Woods and Vice Mayor David Arellano. We attended their reorganization. It's always very exciting to see, um, friends of ours take on these leadership positions in their cities, especially when their commitment to serve is is so strong. Uh, I attended the, uh, Contract Cities Association board meeting on a Saturday morning along with the mayor. That was very exciting. Um, the business event hosted by the chamber. The city chamber, uh, with Senator Strickland, uh, in attendance, which was very nice to have the senator come into the city. And again, I always like to reinforce how important it is for our elected officials to come into the city and let the residents see their presence, uh, in town and to see the kind of relationship that the electeds at the Senate level and at Assembly level and all of that have with the the Council and the staff of the city. The Artesia DS Festa. The spirit of Santo procession and of course, the delicious meal that we all got to experience. We want to welcome fish and chips Artesia House. We got to attend their ribbon cutting. I will tell you, they have the best onion rings I've ever tasted. Uh. Let's see, uh, Councilwoman, here's, uh, intern business event. Thank you for the invitation to attend. Councilwoman. Uh, very impressed by the young people and the things that they presented that night. Uh, the Council of Governments meeting where we discussed the Artesia corridor project. And I just want to ask Mister city manager. Uh, you know, the Artesia corridor project runs on Artesia Boulevard. Yet? Artesia. The city is not involved in it yet. And so I'm wanting to know how, uh, the city of Artesia can be included in the Artesia corridor project. I have a phone number. Somebody who said that, you know, we can contact them. Not anything for you to answer now. Just wanted to put it out there because this is an important development project that other cities on the Artesia Boulevard have been able to benefit from. The Nemesis Foundation tiny Library ribbon cutting that we got to attend. That was really something. Uh, congratulations to them and their hard work for putting that out there for the community. National Night Out event, of course, was fantastic. I got a burger. It was so good. Oh, and a hotdog was really good. So, uh, that was very exciting. So thank you to our, um, our public works guys who just did a fantastic job of striking up that grill. Want to wish the, uh, students of the ABC Unified School District a happy new school year 2026 2027 school year. Uh, it's very exciting. We we are proud of our students and we wish them the best. And then finally, I was watching a news report that talked about how Individuals in our country have been surveyed, and that the highest levels of trust that folks have are with politicians who serve at the local level. Why? I thought to myself, because a they have access to us all the time. They know where we live. They have our phone numbers. They know where we shop. They know where our kids go to school. They know everything, so they have access to us. We live in the same neighborhoods. We live in the city. We are not politicians who cover five cities under our, you know, under our watch. We are responsible for Artesia. So anything we do here impacts us as well. And finally, you see us everywhere. There was a lovely lady at the event who said, oh, I know you. You guys go to everything. And I thought, how nice that she sees her counsel out there and that she knows she can talk to us, bring her concerns to us. So that doesn't just happen, folks. That doesn't just happen where you just you trust your politicians. You have to see service in action. And what you see here on this council of five people who work well together, who trust each other, who have each other's backs. And because of that, we're able to move forward in real positive direction for this city. You see it on every agenda. There are all kinds of really interesting items that come up for the city. It's not only about trusting each other, but we trust our city staff because they're the ones who have the feet on the ground every day and are bringing us the important recommendations so that we can make the right decisions for our city. So I just want to remind the folks of Artesia that you have a council that works well together, and that's really important in order to make things happen. And finally, because this is always my moment to say, please keep Artesia clean. We're starting a new school year. Let's have the kids have a clean, safe area to walk to Burbank Elementary, to Elliott, to all the Kennedy, to all the schools that they have to go to. The Pharaohs to go to high school to. Everywhere they have to go. So please clean up your areas. If you have big items that need to be picked up, call the city. They will help you to arrange the big bulky item pickups in your neighborhood that we pay for through our trash contract. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[2:23:54] Thank you so much. Council Member Manolo will go now to Mayor Pro Tem Melissa Ramos.

[2:23:59] So thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I'll keep my comments brief. Um, the comments that I wanted to make this month, they can wait till next, uh, but wanted to welcome everyone. Um, welcome to those folks who came after our closed session. And apologies to the folks that, um, unfortunately left early. Uh, we'll get it next time. Um, but wanted to say, um. Happy holidays. We're almost through the year, and summer's almost. Oh. Summer's over. Um, but, you know, um, we're celebrating a lot of proclamations in a moment. Um, so, um, looking forward to celebrating, um, and recognizing some. But just for the fact of the matter, to report out, um, for external meetings, that is. Or internal meetings. Um, I attended the Parks and Recreation Committee meeting on July 15th and attended the internal Public Works Committee meeting on July 29th and August 5th. Uh, thank you to Commissioner Bailey, who attended as well. Um, I don't have my my vector control district board meeting is not until this Thursday. Um, meetings. I did attend a public expense which is reported in the agenda, but for the sake of reporting, um, I attended a AAPI lead, which is the Asian American Pacific Islander leaders elected and appointed leaders, which is equivalent to. Which is the Latino Network. This was our third year, I believe, in doing this. Um, so I got to network with a lot of elected and appointed officials from across the nation. So it was a good opportunity to meet other cities and elected officials who have similar cities and go through the same issues where we shared, um, ideas. Um also is very fortunate. I told my colleagues that I was able to talk to the former Vice president, Kamala Harris, um, before she went on stage, and that was a special moment. Um, I did also attend, and it's not in this, but it will probably be next month. Um, I was invited to the Capitol last Monday a week ago to celebrate early Filipino American History Month on this assembly floor. So that was a special moment to represent the city of Artesia. Um, like mentioned with the other colleagues, tended a Lakewood reorganization. Thank you to the colleagues out there. Uh, congratulation Mayor Jeff Wade and Mayor Pro Tem Arellano and also new council member, um, Rudy White.

[2:26:34] How do you see? S6:

[2:26:35] Vila real? That's correct. Um, and one, um, event I did get to attend from 11 a.m. to almost 5 p.m. was the 99th annual Festa Divino Espirito Santo, or Santo. And that's basically we processed all the way from the Portuguese Hall to the church, had mass, then processed all the way back and had to help us. So that was a 100 degree weather. And um, it is always quite an experience and great to be amongst the community and the Portuguese community doing that. Um, as I mentioned, attended the fish house. Congratulations to Ray, who actually, this is the second restaurant, so please go and attend, um, National Night Out. The Nemo's, um, elementary school. And then, um, we went to Hybrid Dabhade, Hyderabad. I think I still said it wrong. Um, but they opened another business, continuing to. We're opening businesses through the city, which is really wonderful to see. Um, and then I also attended the Philippine Global Media Group. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for allowing the proclamation. They actually were really excited for it. Um, and that's all my comments will defer for next month and appreciate the time and indulgence. Thank you.

[2:28:00] Uh, thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. I do want to take just a couple of minutes. I want to thank everybody for their patience. We certainly apologize for our technical difficulties tonight, and we will work to make sure that we get everything back on track for the next meeting. Um, I did too. You know, small business is very important in our city. It's a big economic driver and TJ subs. I was just there today with Tim, and we had a great lunch. The owners were there. They still have their 50th balloons in the window. Uh, and it's always nice to see them in action. But also, the fish house is a small business by 711 on, uh, uh, Artesia and Norwalk boulevards. And this is his fourth business, second in our city, and he's opening the fifth in Cerritos. So it really is small business that drives our economy in, in cities like us. So if you haven't tried it, go try it. It's well worth it. I, too, was, uh. I'm the delegate for contract cities, and, uh, Councilmember Noll was the alternate. We were both on the zoom call, uh, a couple of middle of July after our council meeting. You know, contract cities is the organization we pay into. Um, there was a big robust debate on the budget, the bylaws, and basically at this time, they're going to come back with, uh, to us in August with another proposal on, uh, membership increases and where all the money does go in a very transparent way. They're a great organization. Marcel Rosati is the executive director, does an amazing job. And John Erickson, a good friend of mine from West Hollywood, he's the current president. And he too, is doing a wonderful job in leading that organization. So we hope to get all those things worked out. Um, the last thing I want to say very quickly, I did attend this morning. I was actually invited to attend the welcome back, uh, teacher breakfast at GA High school. And everybody saw me walk in and they're like, what's he doing here? And I walked in and said a few hellos to some people I saw. Mr. Canlas, who's a former council member and mayor of the city, said hello to him. Talked to the principal for a bit and it was just nice to speak to a few people and welcome them back. And they had a wonderful breakfast and then a staff meeting. Of course, I didn't stay for the staff meeting, but that was basically what was going on for me in the month. And do you want to begin our meeting and we will go to ceremonial presentations. We'll make this as quickly as we can and we'll head down to the floor. Thank you.

[2:30:51] Um, I just wanted to make an announcement that Miss Artesia had to leave. And so we will be moving their presentation to next month.

[2:31:59] And we had a wonderful event. August the 4th. It was our national night out, so I'd like to call up our, uh, park manager. Uh, Edith Gedda. We we call her park lady. The park lady. Come on up. We also want to call up Sergeant Ramos. You were a big part of a National Night Out.

[2:32:24] So National Night Out is a celebration of public safety within our community. And we come out in force. We had about 300 to 400 people come out that night. Maybe more, I don't know, but it's a time to celebrate our first responders, and it's hosted by our Parks and Recreation team. So we'll go through the proclamation, all 15 lines. Let's see. No. I'm kidding. All right. It says now, therefore, be it resolved, the City of Artesia hereby proclaims Tuesday, August 4th as National Night Out and urges all residents to continue to help our community be a safer and more enjoyable place to work, live and play in the city of Artesia. So thank you so much for a great job, Sergeant Ramos. Thank you. Always. You had Captain Briceno out there as well. So you.

[2:33:12] Would you like to say a few words? S4:

[2:33:13] Out 937 hamburgers for a National Night Out. Now, I don't know how many people actually ate more than one, but we get we gave out almost a thousand. So that's pretty.

[2:33:24] Cool. Yeah, right.

[2:33:26] Don't know about the hot dogs. Yeah.

[2:33:31] Uh, I just want to say that five of those burgers I eat five.

[2:33:38] Know, just, uh, great event. And, uh, I was very happy that Captain Brasilia was there. Um. Be patient. We're going to.

[2:33:45] Treat him like the other one here.

[2:33:47] Frank. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Can we get a photo? All right, here we go.

[2:34:01] Probably.

[2:34:01] All right.

[2:34:07] All right.

[2:34:07] Thank you so much.

[2:34:15] There you go. Oh, okay.

[2:34:19] All right. Okay.

[2:34:24] So this next proclamation is for Women's Equality Day 2026. So August 26th, 2026. August 26th, 2026 marks Women's Equality Day and the 106th anniversary of the 19th amendment, which gave women the constitutional right to vote. We recognize the many women and civil rights activists who fought for equal rights and encourage all eligible artisans to register to vote and honor their legacy. Um. And.

[2:35:00] Sorry.

[2:35:02] Whoa! So many lines. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the City of Artesia City Council hereby proclaims August 26th, 2026 as Women's Equality Day and urges all eligible artisans to register to vote in honor of those who came before us and struggled so that we may have the right to vote. Signed and sealed on this day by the mayor and entire City Council.

[2:35:25] Okay, here's where we are. Take our picture, Mario.

[2:35:34] Yeah.

[2:35:35] If anyone would like to join in this photo, please join us.

[2:35:39] That's the.

[2:35:40] Whole.

[2:35:40] Section on.

[2:35:43] There. Should we stand over there? Come on, you guys who want to vote.

[2:35:48] You know how.

[2:35:49] Important it is to vote.

[2:35:52] Yeah. Who are in public service? You know, I think.

[2:35:59] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's good.

[2:36:04] No.

[2:36:07] It's not like that.

[2:36:12] Alright. Here we go. These are our ladies. What about Stephanie and Daniel? You get the picture going.

[2:37:23] Okay. Administrative services department week.

[2:38:34] Whereas the department's efforts behind the scenes are fundamental to implementing strategic goals, seeking outside funding for capital projects, ensuring the public stays informed, and fostering public trust in local government, as I mentioned earlier. Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the City of Artesia City Council hereby proclaims August 9th through the 15th, 2026 as Administrative Services Department Week and encourages all residents to recognize and appreciate the hard work and contributions of the professionals who serve our community. Signed and sealed this 10th day of August by the mayor and the Artesia City Council.

[2:39:14] Yay! Yay!

[2:39:18] You guys. And. Oh, let me hold this. 000, I can feel. Hold it. There you go. Oh.

[2:39:35] Thank you very much, you guys. Thank you. And then you all get to share it. Like every.

[2:39:41] Day somebody.

[2:39:41] Pulls back and you're all okay. Thank you.

[2:39:48] Did you want to be responsible? Okay, here we go. All right.

[2:39:52] I don't have.

[2:39:53] My paper, though.

[2:40:01] Yes.

[2:40:05] Okay. At this time, we'd like to turn the microphone over to our deputy city manager, Melissa Burke, for staff introductions.

[2:40:13] Thank you. Mayor. I have the pleasure of introducing Isabela Duarte. If you want to come on up. Isabela is our 2020 627 management intern, and she is a recent graduate from Arkansas State University with her master's in public administration. Uh, Isabela actually jumped ship from the private sector to join us here. Um, and we are really excited to give her her first local government work experience. Uh, she started with us in July, and she's been working on researching projects for the Administrative Service. Administrative Services Department, the Community Development department, and she's also been helping with our social media posts, assisting with the preparations for the state of the city, and updating our open gov platform for the planning department. She also has been working with me on the draft e-bike ordinance that will be coming to the council soon. In her free time, she enjoys reading, collecting vinyl records and baking, and she loves being outdoors, hiking and paddleboarding.

[2:41:20] All right. Very good.

[2:41:22] Yay!

[2:41:24] There you go.

[2:41:26] There's the party. I mean, some gifts.

[2:41:28] She has some. She's.

[2:41:31] All interns have to be like, okay, 100%.

[2:41:37] And then give it to them. I have one, all right. There you go.

[2:41:47] They just.

[2:41:49] Say, yeah.

[2:41:52] It was like, okay, there goes, um, yeah. I'm just very grateful for this opportunity. And, um, yeah, I'm very excited to work for this great city. So thank you guys.

[2:42:00] Welcome home.

[2:42:02] This house, this this way.

[2:42:13] All right. At this time, we'll call up the park lady, uh, Edith Guida.

[2:42:19] We're gonna.

[2:42:20] We're gonna.

[2:42:23] Have it.

[2:42:28] Uh. Hello, everyone. Who, uh. For those of you who do not know who I am, my name is Edith Guerra. I'm the Parks and recreation manager for the city of Artesia. Uh, also known as the Park Lady. Um, affectionately known as the Park. Excuse me. Okay, so it's my pleasure to introduce the newest member of the Parks and Recreation Department and our new program coordinator, Cynthia Valderrama. Cynthia is originally from Santa Ana. She's a graduate of Cal State Long Beach, where she earned a bachelor's degree in recreation services with an emphasis in community recreation. She's bringing about ten years of Parks and Rec experience to the city of Artesia. Having previously worked for Lakewood, Tustin and Garden Grove. We're super excited to have her join our team because she's going to be overseeing our newest and most exciting program to date, which is our Youth Community Access program. It's also known as the Artesia Great Adventure Program, which we launched this summer, and it's giving all of the Artesia youth an opportunity to get outdoors and explore local and state parks, and experience some of the amazing natural resources that the state of California has to offer. On a personal note, Cynthia is happily married to her husband, Eddie, and she's a proud dog mom to her puppy, bean. In her free time, she enjoys going to the beach with bean and catching a good movie. Uh, we are super excited to have you as part of the Parks and Rec family, and we look forward to all the great things that you're going to accomplish here in the city and for our kids. So please everyone, join me in welcoming Cynthia to the team.

[2:43:56] Every time it mentions a.

[2:43:57] Park.

[2:43:58] You have to mark it.

[2:43:59] Got it. I'll highlight with pink.

[2:44:02] See, you can turn in your report to the mayor. He'll. He'll review it. There you go.

[2:44:08] Do you have anything you want to say? S4:

[2:44:16] Yay!

[2:44:18] I do have one question for you.

[2:44:22] When did you leave the city of Tustin? S1:

[2:44:24] Oh, really? Oh, well, we have a message for somebody over there. We'll tell you. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. Just tell him goodbye. All right. Picture. We'll take a.

[2:44:39] Picture.

[2:45:28] All right. We will begin now.

[2:45:33] We will go to the consent calendar. At this time, this is item nine eight through nine. Amazon, Mary.

[2:45:48] Does any council member want to pull any items off the consent calendar? S17:

[2:45:52] Would you call.

[2:45:52] Me? Sorry.

[2:45:54] Okay. Nine G.

[2:45:57] I've never been called that before. Uh. Let's see. Nine G. Okay, we'll pull nine G.

[2:46:03] Anything else? S13:

[2:46:05] Okay. Um, do we have a motion?

[2:46:08] I'll make a motion. Um, with exemption of nine G. I move forward to. I'm sorry. How can I.

[2:46:18] Accept the consent calendar?

[2:46:19] Yeah. Can we vote on the consent calendar?

[2:46:21] Second.

[2:46:22] All right. We have a first by councilmember here and a second by council member Manalo.

[2:46:36] May we have a roll call. Vote.

[2:46:44] Mayor Trevino.

[2:46:46] Yes.

[2:46:48] Mayor Pro tem Ramos.

[2:46:49] Yes.

[2:46:50] Council member. Manalo.

[2:46:52] Yes.

[2:46:53] Council member. Ahir. Council member. Yes.

[2:46:57] Yes.

[2:46:57] Thank you.

[2:46:58] All right. The motion passes five zero. And we will now pull item nine G. And we'll begin that process. Um, Mr. City Manager, can we have a report for item nine G.

[2:47:17] Yes, Mr. Mayor. Um, this next item is the consideration of award of a pressure of professional service. This is agreement to CSG consulting. And to make the presentation, I'll ask Paul, our community development director, to do that.

[2:47:35] Good evening, mayor, and you this evening for consideration is the, um, the request for approve and authorize the city manager to execute the contract for CSG consulting in the amount not to exceed $75,000. Background. As you know, the city's been looking at opportunities and better ways to be more engaged with bulky items and graffiti throughout the city. So, um, although we strive to do that daily, we're looking at opportunities to improve that as part as the fiscal year budget. Uh, previously adopted, um, city Council approved a budget for community development department to bring on a part time code enforcement person. And this is going to be dealing with, uh, bulky items and graffiti only in the city. They will not be managing other aspects of code enforcement. Sole purpose is to address the alleyways and graffiti associated with those alleyways and other bulky item locations throughout the city. So that person would be coming in 12 hours a week, generally speaking, on Mondays and Tuesdays or Mondays through Wednesday. On being at that, the bulky items do, um, appear over the weekend more than in the middle of the week so that they can so those can be managed accordingly. And this was one of the 2020 627 goals for the beautification. It was number one on what the code enforcement was going to do to enhance the community, to listen to the community is they're bringing their concerns forward about what is the city going to do about beautification and the bouquet items and graffiti. Um, we did an analyze. We looked at, um, what what companies are out there? We looked at Wealden. We looked at for left for leave. We looked at CSG. We tried to find one that was, um, affordable with the budget adopted and would meet our needs. And of those two companies, CSG and four leaf, they were both successful in that. CSG was um, um, um, able to meet our budget requirement better than four leaf CSG offers services, which also includes a vehicle where four leaf did not, and we had to pay an extra $125 a day to bring them on to do that. So it was cost savings to go with CSG. And, um, they had their experience. What we're looking for in the city, um, the CSG consultant, um, includes a code enforcement officer for, um, the 12 hours a week at $120 an hour. Like I said, that includes the vehicle, and that comes out to 74,880. And then if we would. Were to have went with the next, um, consultant for leaf. Um, they came out at 79,768. So a cost savings for us to go with CSG. The fiscal impact, like I said before you, is 75,000 not to exceed. And this is a as needed service. Um, just because we bring it for you this evening doesn't mean that you're approving the 70,000. We're approving up to a 75,000 while we manage through our bulky items and graffiti in the city. So staff's recommending to approve and authorize the city manager to execute this contract. Uh, the Performance Service agreement is a part time code enforcement not to exceed 75,000. At this time, I'm open to any questions that you may have.

[2:51:29] Thank you for the presentation. Any questions from the council? Oh, here we go. Uh, yes. Council member here.

[2:51:36] Thank you, mayor. And thank you, Mr. Bowyer, for your, um, presentation. I have a couple of questions. Uh, my first question would be how many, um, code enforcement officers do we have full time and part time? Currently.

[2:51:52] Uh, right now we have two, uh, parking enforcement officers working on a full time capacity and code enforcement at this time.

[2:52:02] Oh, okay. And their sole purpose is parking.

[2:52:06] Uh, no. They are doing code enforcement. Only the parking enforcement. We have two other, uh, parking enforcement are solely doing parking enforcement.

[2:52:14] Okay, so two for code enforcement. Two for parking. Yes. Okay. For total. Awesome. And, um, I noticed that it says this, um, contracted, uh, employee would also help build a robust code enforcement program.

[2:52:31] I'm sorry. Can you repeat.

[2:52:32] That?

[2:52:32] Um, in in the policy or the briefings, it says, uh, they will develop a robust code enforcement program.

[2:52:43] Uh, correct.

[2:52:44] So what we're doing is, um, and if I could back up one more step further, we do have a code enforcement supervisor.

[2:52:50] Oh, correct. Miss Hamilton.

[2:52:52] I overlook that.

[2:52:53] So, yeah.

[2:52:53] No manager corrected me. So, um, what we do have, um, a robust, um, we do have Southwest Patrol in the city. They've been doing this since the spring. They're out in the alleyways on the weekends. Their eyes and ears for us. They're providing locations to us that code enforcement, but also not only code enforcement, is the partnership that we have with our public works department. Um, as they're also bringing on part time staff to to enhance the city's needs. We also mobilize the mobile surveillance camera. Right now it's over. Off 17888. Off of Albertus right now. So that's been out there for a week and a half or for a week now. Um, we also still utilize our Civic plus, um, um, communication for the community when they want to put in a complaint. When those come in. Um, those are directed code enforcement that day. We do have 72 hours to deal with code enforcement issues, but on bulky items, we jump on them that day. So we do we do go after those. So that's kind of where we're working on something different than what we had before.

[2:54:10] So you're saying this employee would now be an additional force to address the bulky item pickups the day of.

[2:54:18] Um, they would be out there driving the alleyways and other locations in the city that are identified as hotspots. As far as dumping it off, they would open a case, they would take pictures. They would. They would issue the notice of violations. They would issue the citations. And that's what their sole purpose would be. It takes about 2.5 hours to drive the alleyways in the city. That's without stopping and giving notices. I've done it myself. So it takes about 2.5 hours to get through there. You're taking pictures in and then you're opening a case. You're putting door hangers on the door, and then if you can't get to the door, you come back. You open the case either way in the system. And then you issue notice of violations that way.

[2:55:01] Okay. And would they then recommend a program as in like this is the pattern we should follow as a code enforcement, you know, agency entity like X amount of employees for this particular task, X amount of employees for this. Are they going to give insight or are they just they're just going to Give code violations.

[2:55:22] Um, their name of their company is CSG consulting. But don't get that confused. They're not here as a consultant for the city. They're just here as a resource for us. And that's that's what they're doing. Asking what we're asking of them is to provide a resource, which they are. They're providing somebody to come out and work these 12 hours a week at the beginning of each week. Their feedback is not what we're looking for because we know our city, they're coming in here to assist us in the interim while we look at other options in the city.

[2:55:54] And how long would it take for us to figure out other options?

[2:55:58] We're currently looking at those right now. Okay, I don't have a timeline with you, but, uh, human resources, a city manager myself, the deputy city manager. We're exploring other opportunities right now.

[2:56:11] Okay, um.

[2:56:13] When those come up, like I said, this person does not have to stay here just because we're approving $70,000 tonight, when we have the bandwidth and we have other ways to manage the city, then we can let that person go.

[2:56:27] Hmm.

[2:56:28] Mr. Wheeler, I trust your recommendation. I've seen you figure out such things in quite a timely manner with due diligence. But my concern over here is for illegal dumping and graffiti, which is the hottest topic in town. And I totally understand that. But we are now spending, you know, you have Southwest Patrol, you have the Civics Plus app. You also have our own code enforcement officers. So for me, it's just looking like a very, um, you know, expensive, uh, ordeal altogether when I think we could solve it if we just, um, you know, structured our attempts. Uh, that's just my recommendation. I know you work in this field out and about, But if we can really channelized all of our resources and efforts, I think we can possibly look at getting it done in a more economically efficient manner. But, um, I'm going to again, leave that out there and see what comes out after you have your additional resource and see where that takes us and the cameras. I just want to add the cost of the cameras. So I don't know. And I also want to mention, I did mention those veils, those garden veils on public property. If we covered them, we're going to deter graffiti as a result. I know taking care of them is additional work for public works, but I think that's still, um, more preferred than, than, uh, painting over graffiti, in my opinion.

[2:58:08] In the city is always focused on doing that. You know, they bring in public works, comes in when necessary to trim those back to still cover them, but still keep them safe for the public.

[2:58:19] Thank you. Yeah, those are my comments, mayor.

[2:58:21] All right. Thank you. Councilmember. Here, we'll go to, uh, Mayor Pro Tem Hermosa.

[2:58:27] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thank you, Councilwoman, for pulling this item. I wanted to pull this item, too. Um, you know, I was very clear when we were going through our budget, um, because our needs are growing, and this was mentioned as the number one goal. City beautification, which involves public works and code, that doing part time positions was not the direction I wanted us to go to. Um. And full time is what I've always asked for during budget and in the following subsequent meeting as well. Um, I don't understand why we have to contract this out. I'm very for I'm very far in favor that it is a city employee not contracted with. If we're doing a contract, it's telling me that you don't have the leadership capacity to train a new staff or this temporary staff that, um, that we were planning that we need.

[2:59:34] So I don't understand why can't just be a city, a part time employee? Why do we have the contract? S25:

[2:59:44] It takes its, um, $129,913 S25:

[3:00:30] I still, even if you can't do the full time we look, we have to work towards that. And if this is going to be part time, I'd rather have it be city. A city employee not contracted out because I know I like it's been said like councilwoman here even said she trusts your judgment.

[3:00:57] So why can't we trust you to employ a part time city employee for to do this very job? S25:

[3:01:42] When did our budget pass this merger?

[3:01:48] And it's August now, so we've had time.

[3:01:51] We have.

[3:01:53] We? Yeah.

[3:01:57] If I could.

[3:01:58] Sure.

[3:01:58] Mayor pro tem I know, I know there's frustration, but but if we want to just rewind a little bit the, the plan that we put forward was, at the time we presented it as a measured approach to increasing personnel. Okay, the most significant cost that a city can incur is expanding staff too quickly or expanding staff when you don't need it, per se. At the time, the budget goal setting sessions that we had, the City Council made it very clear that the number one priority was beautification of the city. We had talked about a lot of options about what we could do. Now, I know you said that you yourself in particular was we're committed to bringing on full time code enforcement officers. The council as a whole decided to to move in a different direction, and that direction was centered around bringing on a number of resources to address this. Uh, camera, mobile camera. We've got that. It included bringing on a part time code enforcement officer or a contract, part time code enforcement officer to specifically deal with the dumping. Okay. Some graffiti, but but primarily the dumping. Um, that is what we're here for tonight. It also included bringing on two part time maintenance workers. Okay, because dealing with bulky items isn't about just sighting or issuing novels. Somebody's got to pick it up. Okay, so there's still that. And we're on the process of implementing that Southwest Patrol. I just want to clarify. Southwest Patrol isn't somebody that we hired just to do dumping. Really their primary focus is on public safety. But in addition to that, we were able to supplement that by actually having them patrol and look for dumping as well. Um, as far as when did this take place? Okay. The the goal setting the budget meetings took place in May. June. Okay. The fiscal year, the money to actually do these things didn't become available to us until July 1st. So we're talking about 30 days into a plan that staff presented. Council approved. And we still haven't implemented all the elements. I mean, we started the work, right? We've got the camera last week. This this evening we would have this in place. Uh, we're a short time away from getting the two public works maintenance workers that will help with the cleaning up of dumping. Um, so. So I think that, you know, we still haven't fully addressed and deployed all the things that we were That we approve to do. And it just seems that like pushing for full time employees at this point. Kind of deviates from that 30 days into it. And, and I and I think respectfully, I think that we need more time to play this out before we can make a determination that, you know what this wasn't. This isn't achieving the goal. So now we've got to increase our efforts and bring in full timers.

[3:05:29] Mr. City Manager, all due respect, I understand everything you've said. My issue is. And tell me the two main maintenance workers.

[3:05:39] Are those contracted? S13:

[3:05:40] Then why can't we not just have the this part time temporary? Just a city employee not contracted? That's my issue. That's it. I know everything else you've told me right now.

[3:05:50] I could add.

[3:05:51] To.

[3:05:51] That on the books. We do not have a part time code enforcement officer position at this time. We have part time parking enforcement, but we don't have part time code enforcement. So that's another thing we're working on with the human resources. Sorry, I forgot to mention that before.

[3:06:07] If that was in the plan, then why didn't we try to make that into the plan earlier? If that was all your goal, knowing that our number one beautification was in the beginning, why didn't we already make space for that? Because why are we contracting? That's my biggest issue.

[3:06:27] Because contracting was the best approach at the time, and I still believe that it would be a successful approach. But but we're I look I've seen the posts. I've seen the pictures.

[3:06:41] Right.

[3:06:42] Senior manager to you for you to assume that because I'm reading what's online, I'm telling you as someone who who believes in truly not contracting out, I'm a daughter of union employee, so I get it.

[3:06:56] Mr. mayor.

[3:07:00] you interested? S3:

[3:07:07] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. No. So just very quickly, just to kind of make sense of this, this is a parallel process that's happening right now. Correct.

[3:07:15] Mr.

[3:07:16] Boyer? S13:

[3:07:16] Right. So we are using this as a as an opportunity to create consistency. So the work is still happening, but we are actively preparing to seek a part time employee or full time employee, whatever it is, whatever we agreed to. But I just want to make sure I want the residents to understand that this is a parallel process that is occurring right now, that we are contracting with somebody for a temporary position that can be canceled. The contract can be canceled at any time. Right. So if in two weeks, let's say, for example, in two weeks you find somebody. You know, we were actively seeking and we find somebody. We can terminate this.

[3:08:04] Correct?

[3:08:05] Correct. Okay. Because I want that to be clear. Because I did want to make sure. And Mr. City Manager, I did hear what you were saying. And Mayor Pro Tem, just because I wanted to make sure I understand there are people who are, you know, residents who are posting who are who are upset because they feel that we should be hiring versus contracting. Um, sometimes contracting is needed to be able to fill the gap. That doesn't mean that's where we're permanently going. Right. We are we are seeking a permanent employee in this city to take on the code enforcement. We are position right. Okay. I just want to make I just want to make sure so that everybody understands that it's not like we're dropping the ball and we're choosing contract over full time employee or permanent employee. But in order to fill that gap right now, while we go there, we have this so that residents get their bulky items picked up and their complaints taken care of when they're concerned about dumping in the city. Is that correct? Correct. Okay. I just want to make sure because I want my you know, I respect my colleagues and their concerns, and I want to make sure that the information is extremely clear, not only to us but to the residents. We are in the process of searching for a full time permanent employee, not full time. It could be part time.

[3:09:32] Correct.

[3:09:33] Right. But a permanent employee of the city who will be represented by the union, who will be part of the city staff. That's what I wanted. Thank you. Thank you very much.

[3:09:42] Thank you.

[3:09:43] Thank you. Council member. We'll go to council member. Taj.

[3:09:47] Thank you, Mister mayor. So I'll take it from that. And thank you, Councilmember Manalo. That was an I'll ask the next question. Where are we when it comes to recruiting someone? Have we put something out there or where are we on that to the next level of steps. I guess that was my understanding from Councilman Manalo questioning.

[3:10:13] So where are we on this? S25:

[3:10:17] Okay, so the process of recruiting could take 2 to 3 months.

[3:10:23] Um, correct.

[3:10:24] 6 to 8 weeks, depending how somebody passes their background.

[3:10:31] Do they not pass their background? What is the reference check? S16:

[3:10:34] Correct.

[3:10:35] Fall or worse.

[3:10:38] This is correct.

[3:10:39] Okay.

[3:10:40] Thank you. So given that so we're pretty much working on that as well. And making sure we get that.

[3:10:46] We are okay.

[3:10:47] All right. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Mayor.

[3:10:50] Thank you. Council member Thomas will go to. Council member here.

[3:10:54] Thank you. Mayor. Um, just a couple more questions. Are for a 1.6mi² city in comparison. Do you know of another city that has a code enforcement team of more than five people? How many people do they have.

[3:11:10] In other cities? Yeah. Uh, West Covina, they can. They have multiple full time and part time positions. They work 24 over seven. So, I mean, there's depends how you want to manage the city. City of L.A., County of L.A.. I mean, there's numerous.

[3:11:24] For our size, for our density. I'm in comparison. I'm just trying to understand. Um, for for, you know, the two employees that are there and the two that are in parking. And then one supervisor. How are we missing the ball? I'm not understand. That's the only question I have is where is the need? Is it that there's a lot to going on in the city on a daily basis, and it's almost like putting out fires left and right. And we need this additional help. Or is it that we haven't figured out why this dumping is happening? And, you know, we're too late to the game and providing a violation, and then we don't know who to give it to. What is it specifically that we have a need as a city. And then because I just don't want to throw money at this problem again and again and then have it, you know, recur. So and again, I completely respect you and your judgment. I've seen it in action, but I just wanted to voice it out just in case somebody was missing that that pivotal question of what specific.

[3:12:30] Well, the elephant in the room, I'll say it. You know, we brought on two parking enforcement officers to do code enforcement that do nothing about code enforcement. So we're training those folks right now to do the job to go out and ride with them and do ride alongs with them and train them on what to see, how to do it, how to document a case and how to put it in the system. So that's what we're doing right now. And there now we just went to six days a week. You know I have them working on the, on the on the weekend by themselves now in one individual. So they've reached that point to where we have enough trust and value in them that they can start managing the cases on their own. So that's one of the harder points. So when we're going to when we're going to interview and hire people, we're going to look people for people that are experienced and trained. We were put in a situation because that's what the city needed to make a temporary solution work. And that's what we've been doing now with our two parking enforcement officers. Long term, we have I have bigger goals and visions for the city.

[3:13:34] Thank you.

[3:13:38] Thank you. Council member here. So I want to thank you for the presentation tonight. Um, you know, I was in a I paid a visit to a resident today. Up in North Artesia on the west side of Pioneer Boulevard. And he and I had been messaging back and forth about other things, and I went up to visit him at his request. And we were talking. And one of the things he said in his message was that he doesn't experience illegal dumping in that area over by nemesis. Uh, in that area, you don't see illegal dumping on that side of the city. So this is not a problem citywide. I don't believe it's citywide. I don't see illegal dumping on Summer Street or other parts of the city. So it is a concentrated area of illegal dumping. It seems that the alleys are attacked. It seems that this is around apartment buildings, um, multi dwelling units where residents move in and out of. So I, I tend to see those trends. So I do agree with my colleagues that the goal is to obviously staff, uh, to address the problem. And as a business owner, I know that the number one cost in any business is labor. And once you bring on labor, you just can't have them sitting around doing nothing. And there was a push at one time in the last 90 days to hire five public works members, not from NSO, but there was a push. And what I said was, well, what are you going to do with those folks? Once everything is taken care of in a year or two, you got to find a home for them. So you got to measure your growth. And I certainly respect my colleague Mayor Pro Tem for, uh, the the desire not to outsource so we could cancel this contract tonight and have two code officers, and we could add a third one in October or November. That's what we could do, and we could continue to see the illegal dumping throughout the city. And we can be reactionary. Reactionary. I believe that what was discussed tonight is a hybrid of both, that we move forward with this contract, and we work toward attacking illegal dumping. Having somebody that's dedicated. And as Councilmember Manalo said, parallel to that, we're looking to fill another spot with code enforcement. We've done we've hired contractors in planning, we've hired contracts. We have a we've had a contractor that's done bookkeeping for this city for years, outsourced. So there are sources of that that happen in our city all the time. But we are always working toward making it permanent. So I do believe that I do support this tonight to move it forward. But of course, with with the understanding that within 60, 90 days, 120 days, we'd be in a position to bring somebody on. Have a vehicle for them and have a place for them to sit. And I'm not being semantic about that, but that's the reality in a business. So to address the needs of the community, this is an immediate address in my opinion, but we have to work toward a long term solution. Yes, Mr. City Manager.

[3:17:01] So, um, I think the the important piece here with regards to this contract is, is understanding that it's not, as Paul had pointed out in his, in his presentation, that this does not permit us to expend the full amount of 75,000. So, so just to be clear, it's a contract for services, right? If we have them come in, you know, for a couple of weeks, that's fine. If we decide not to bring them in for a couple of weeks, that's fine too. So it's not to exceed 75,000. So so look, we we as a staff, we've already been anticipating, um, that we would have to maybe dig deeper than just rely on a contract. Right? So clearly, there's been, uh, Mayor pro tem brought up. Well, why don't we just convert that into a part time code officer? Um, we're actually exploring, and and it's still early in the early stages, but we'd like to take a look at our entire operation as we started off, um, with Paul, you know, laying out that we've got essentially two part time parking enforcement officers, two full time code enforcement officers, and one supervising code enforcement officer. So there's three out there. But that that supervisor position does both, right. They're out in the field, but they're also supervising. We'd like to take a look and see if we can maybe Restructure the department right completely. And and parking is important too. But parking is a very niche. That's what they do. They do parking. As Paul pointed out, we've got two former parking officers that are actually working in the code enforcement position. So they're trainable. They kind of know the basics. So we want to explore what that looks like to restructure the organization and maybe to apply a different title altogether. That essentially brings in the parking folks into the code enforcement umbrella. Right. Because right now, we wouldn't be able to send out a parking enforcement officer to fill in, right, or to to assist because they're very limited to what they have. So that's one of the things that we're looking at, I think, as the mayor pointed out, if we really look at this as a hybrid, right? I mean, the contract I think would be needed to address things immediately because they can mobilize fairly quickly. Um, and in the meantime, we can look and see if we have other options to actually, um, create a structure that allows us to bring in either part timers, um, or just a restructuring of the department to leverage the part timers that we already have. Right. Um, I will say that all of that, if we move quickly on that, it's going to be a financial, you know, we're not we didn't budget for it. So then there's the question of the budget. So then we'd have to bring it back to the council and amend the budget. If we're trying to do this before we take it to the mid-year. Right. Because in the mid-year typically is when we kind of recalibrate and say, okay, we're going to do this, we're going to do that. So this is a clearly an important enough issue that I wouldn't I would normally say, well, wait till the midyear. But in this case, I guess we can start looking at that now and bring back to you something that might require an amendment from the council, but it seems like there's a lot of.

[3:20:43] Uh.

[3:20:44] Desire for us to address this sooner rather than later. So I think we can still do it with both. But it really starts with this contract, because then we can have boots on the ground quickly while we're ramping up with with another alternative. Structural wise.

[3:21:01] Excuse me. All right. Yes. Thank you for that. We'll go to Council member Monica manalo.

[3:21:07] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just very quickly, two things. So this growing code enforcement team just reinforces the need for us to move on this public service center. I just want to put that out there because I think this is very important for us to have. Um, and then the other thing I want to just clarify from comments that were made earlier, not by anybody here on the dais, but from out in the public. I want to remind the city staff that this council fully supports you. And even though we are going into a brief contract moment to to fill in a short term solution to a long term issue. This city council supports its city staff. And I just I just want to remind you that that so please, please know that please do not be misinformed by anything that anybody else says out there. This city council supports the staff of the City of Artesia. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[3:22:09] Thank you. Council member Manolo, go to mayor pro tem Melissa Ramos.

[3:22:15] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I do appreciate the comments of my colleagues and the staff. Um, you know, if we're going to come back with an amendment, as you mentioned, Mr. City Manager, then why not look at amending having a position part time so we can have it as a city employee. But my point I'm trying to drive in is that we took away two union jobs already two staff, and now we're going to replace it with a contract. That's what message are we sending? You know, like I just that's it's not I know we've we've contracted out for different, um, special subsets whether um but this is different because we it was two union jobs that no longer exists. And now we're replacing with a contract which make it make sense for me. That's what I'm trying to say. So, um, and if we could do our best to replace it with another union position, then. Yes, that's what I'm trying to drive in.

[3:23:22] You know.

[3:23:23] Um, mayor pro tem, I, I, I completely understand your your your your comments. Let me let me maybe address it this way. Um, just to clarify. Okay. I don't I don't like speaking about personnel issues, but I think it warrants at least a, an acknowledgement and just a clarification. Okay.

[3:23:51] Thank you.

[3:23:52] Um, yes. I got to be careful here. Okay. So? So, yes, two positions to individuals were were were terminated. I'm not going to get into all the reasons why, you know. Um, like earlier, you heard a lot of stuff. You know, I, I would rather not comment in public, but to address the question, those positions are still going to remain. We're not we're not replacing them. In fact, we've got two parking enforcement officers that are stepping up to fill that gap. The intent is for us to roll out and recruit for those two positions. Okay. We're not shrinking from the three that we have. Two in the field, one in the field and supervising that is our base amount. What we're talking about is increasing that. Right. Um, the purpose for the contract was not to replace a union position with a contract. Okay. Um, that was never the case. Why would we do that? To bring in just a part timer to replace. To replace a full timer. That that that was never the goal here. The goal here was to have somebody that can come in and move quickly, ramp them up quickly to address the ever increasing concern with the dumping. Okay. What we're talking about when we talk about amending and bringing it back is we're talking about one option is to possibly blend the parking enforcement with code enforcement, okay. And come up with a new position, if you will, that incorporates or allows them to kind of shift and do both parking and code. Um, we're looking at maybe straight up from what I'm hearing is to invest in increasing the department the old fashioned way, which is just create the position and fill it. Okay. But under no circumstances would we ever bring in a contractor or a part timer to take the place of a full time union position. Okay. Um, so so I just wanted to clarify that. And I know it's kind of all muddled. I think when we presented this before in the goal setting and in the budget session, we were looking at what could we do the quickest to get somebody to help with our team. It was never intended that this was going to replace somebody, but I guess given what Paul pointed out, it's going to take some time to ramp up. In the meantime, it's going to keep coming. The waves are just going to keep coming. So I think that the best measured approach at this point is to move forward with the contract so that we have the quick response, okay. And in the meantime, we also then start focusing on how to re re rebuild or re um structure. Thank you. Restructure the department. Okay. To take advantage of those part time parking positions. And the the amendment part isn't to I don't I don't mean to like rattle swords and make it seem like oh my god it's so scary. What I'm saying is that we will do the calculations. We will come back with what that cost would be, so that we can actually make that amendment before we have to wait for the the six month because.

[3:27:19] That would be, what.

[3:27:21] Four more months for five more months. So so we want to move on that quickly. So I hear what you're saying. I hear what what you all collectively are, are expressing is basically just wanting to have the tools at our disposal to do the work we need to do.

[3:27:45] This is one of them, but it's not the only one, and it's not the one that's replacing anything else, am I? S18:

[3:28:14] All right. Thank you so much, mayor Pro tem, I certainly understand, uh, you know your position. Um, I support the union. Um, I was in a union when I drove a uniform delivery truck for Prudential Overall Supply as a union member. So I understand that I support the union, but. But if we don't move on this contract, and I'm in favor of supporting this contract, I still respect and support the union. What we're doing is we're telling the residents, we're going to put your problem on hold, and we're not going to bring anybody in to address it. Short term, six months. We're just going to keep dealing with the photos, dealing with the complaints, driving throughout the city and watching things be dumped and not having the resources to deal with it until maybe October or November that I cannot do. So I'm going to support this and understand it's temporary. We're going to move forward with restructuring and flying the positions and doing everything that we normally do when we hire somebody in this in this city union or non-union. That's just the way it goes. And we all voted on this. We have voted. All of us voted on this. It was in the June budget that was presented. The 75,000 was dollars that were allocated to go in this direction. So we all voted on this, and I intend to vote on this tonight in the affirmative and support it, because it's going to help an immediate need in the city. I respect you immensely and I respect your views and your position. But I also have to worry about the 18,000 residents that are dealing with dumping in there. I mean, there were 6 or 7 mattresses in alleys. So it is something that we have to address. Um, and the other side of the coin is this, as Council Member Varnado says this all the time. Keep Artesia clean. We need people to report when they see things. That's part of the problem. It's a two sided approach. If the residents see a mattress in the alley. Report it. Go on the city website. Go into the service app and report it. Let us know it's there. How many times do you and I see on social media? This item has been there for two weeks. This item has been there for a month. Well, how do they know it's been there for a month? They've seen it. And it compounds and compounds and compounds. So I agree with you 100%. But I think as a business owner, if I have a need, I can hire somebody. It takes me it takes us to hire a manager anywhere from about 4 to 5 weeks. Applications, background checks, interviews, uh, flying them out. If they have to be trained, get them into the field. It takes us about 4 to 5 weeks as a small company. So I understand that process and I support you, but I definitely think that we need to move forward with this to start addressing the illegal dumping. So that's just my $0.02. Mayor Pro Tem, just quickly.

[3:31:28] Not to belabor this. Um, this item, it's I support the residents and I am like number one person to email about Albertus or any other street that's out there. Everything that's been happening at the Eagan house and the West, I I'm number one on that. I, I it was just the point of like who we are hiring. That's all it was. I 110,000% supporting the residents and hear them on this and want to support the staff too, because we're overwhelmed. You know, I get it. We had to go by a camera that goes around the city to help our deputies because we can't help her deputies ourselves. So I understand that the staff is trying to do this through a contract. But again, like I said, I believe we could have tried to do it as a city and employee position. That is a 110% always behind the residents when it comes to these issues. Never doubt that.

[3:32:32] All right.

[3:32:35] Do we have a motion? S17:

[3:33:04] All right.

[3:33:07] Do we have a second? S13:

[3:33:09] All right. We are first and second.

[3:33:14] Oh.

[3:33:16] Okay.

[3:33:23] You.

[3:33:25] Can't hide yourself.

[3:33:34] All right. Motion carries. We have four yeses and one abstention. All right. We will move on to, um. Oh, that was the conclusion of the consent calendar. We will now go to our public hearing.

[3:33:51] Item ten. Aye.

[3:34:01] All right, Mr. City Manager. May we have a report on item? This is a consideration to approve an off cycle Community Development Block Grant project utilizing available revolving grant funds.

[3:34:15] Yes, Mr. Mayor, this item is in our public hearing. It's our only public hearing item for this evening. And I will ask Mario Flores, our management analyst, to come up and do a brief presentation.

[3:34:33] Good evening, honorable mayor. Members of the City Council.

[3:34:43] Tonight, staff is recommending approval of approximately $214,854 S27:

[3:35:23] Following completion of that project, actual construction costs came in lower than originally estimated, resulting in $124,431 S27:

[3:35:35] The city now has approximately 214,854

[3:35:40] available for another eligible CDBG project. Staff is recommending that these funds be used for phase two of the Sidewalk Improvement Project, which would address approximately approximately 17 additional high priority locations identified through the City Sidewalk assessment. The locations are preliminary and may be adjusted as the project scope is refined. Funding is confirmed and final engineering is completed. The goal is to continue addressing declining sidewalk segments while improving pedestrian safety, accessibility, and Ada compliance. With that, staff recommends that the City Council conduct the public hearing, approve the use of approximately $214,854 in CDBG funding. Authorize the City Manager to execute the necessary agreements and related documents, and authorize staff to make administrative adjustments as necessary to comply with applicable CDBG program requirements. That concludes my presentation. Happy to answer any questions.

[3:36:52] All right. Thank you so much. We appreciate that information. This is a public hearing item. So we'll go ahead and open the public hearing.

[3:37:07] Do we have any public comments for this item? S4:

[3:37:09] Okay.

[3:37:10] Uh, having no speakers, uh, we will close the public hearing and, uh, we will have, uh, any, uh, council member comments.

[3:37:23] No.

[3:37:23] Oh, sorry.

[3:37:25] Uh, we'll go to Mayor Pro Tem Melissa Ramos.

[3:37:27] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, for this is 1080, right? Okay.

[3:37:38] Um, so when would we when when would construction begin in then? S27:

[3:38:04] Okay.

[3:38:05] And also, what about the a tree stumps or roots that go into the sidewalks? Um, will those be removed too?

[3:38:13] Right. So out of the 17 locations, there were 16 that were interfering, so only one wasn't affecting the sidewalks. Um, we recommended we passed on those trees to West Coast arborists. Um, there were four that we could not save. So we're. They approved the removal and replacement of four. And then the 12. They were approved to prune the routes.

[3:38:41] And we notify the residents that that will happen.

[3:38:44] Correct.

[3:38:44] Before construction. Uh, staff will be notifying the affected residents.

[3:38:49] Okay.

[3:38:50] Those are all my comments. Thank you. Mario.

[3:38:53] Okay. Thank you, mayor Pro Tem, um, seeing no other comments or discussion.

[3:38:59] May we have a motion? S16:

[3:39:01] Wait a minute. We have a.

[3:39:02] Oh, no, that was okay.

[3:39:05] Okay.

[3:39:06] Council member here. Go ahead.

[3:39:12] I'll make a motion to approve the use of approximately $214,000. 854. Um, um, sorry. 214 $854 in available CDBG revolving grant fund to implement proposed off cycle sidewalk improvement project.

[3:39:35] All right. We have a first and we have second by Mayor Pro Tem. All right. Uh, we have a vote.

[3:39:49] All right. We've all voted.

[3:39:54] Motion passes five zero. Thank you very much for the presentation. And we'll now go to item 11. A, uh, Mr. City Manager Avalos.

[3:40:08] Can we have port on item 11 A, which is, uh, the business license report? S24:

[3:42:08] Thank you, City Manager, for the introduction. Good evening, mayor and members of the City council. My name is Kevin Vega, and I am an administrative analyst with the finance department, and I currently serve as a city's business license liaison. Tonight, I'd like to provide an informational overview of the city's business license program. I'll walk you through how the process works. The different city departments and partners involved the role of HDL, and then spend some time discussing measure V and some of the compliance efforts staff has implemented. The goal is to give Council a better understanding of what happens behind the scenes. When a business applies for a license, and how we work to make that process as efficient and accessible as possible.

[3:42:58] To begin the business license process is a collaborative effort involving multiple city departments, along with our third party contractor, HDL. Internally, finance, planning, code enforcement and building and safety all play important roles depending on where an application is in the process. HCO supports the program by handling document collection, customer support, invoicing, and license issuance after approval.

[3:43:31] To give council some context. The city currently has just over 1100 active business licenses during fiscal year 2025 through 26. Those specific licenses generated nearly $1 million in general fund revenue. Of those businesses, 113 are subject to measure V, which specifically generated roughly 260 266,000 in general fund revenue.

[3:44:03] Staff has also worked closely with code enforcement on compliance efforts, resulting in approximately a 91% renewal and compliance success rate. Overall, a typical application takes about two weeks from beginning to end, although that can vary depending on the complexity of the application.

[3:44:23] So this next slide essentially summarizes the entire process. There are four primary steps. First, applicants submit documents to HTL. Second, city departments review the application and perform inspections. Third finance approves the application. Finally, HTL prepares the invoice and issues the business license after payment is received. I'll walk through each of these steps in more detail. Before we get started, this is a very crucial and important part of the process that sometimes businesses or applicants may overlook before an applicant actually starts the form application process. We encourage prospective business owners to have a preliminary conversation with the planning division. This helps confirm that the proposed business is allowed at the location they're considering, and that the specific use is permitted under the city's zoning requirements. This is also actually where I become involved as the business license liaison. If someone is interested in opening a business in Artesia, they can definitely reach out to me with general business license questions. I can walk them through what the process actually looks like. Explain what documents they may need. Provide informational flyers and resources and help direct them to the appropriate city departments. Specifically, when a question falls outside of the business license process, which sometimes happens. I think that the initial conversation is valuable because it gives a prospective business owner an opportunity to understand the process before they formally apply. Once planning gives the general green light regarding the location use, the applicant can move forward with the formal business license application.

[3:46:13] So now the most important question that everyone here might wonder who is HDL? HDL is the city's contracted partner that provides an operational support to the business license program. They assist with application processing, renewals, customer support, business license, software and records management, and additional compliance support. HDL works collaboratively with the city staff throughout the whole process. One thing that's important to understand is that HDL supports the administrative side of the process, but ultimately the city's departments are still responsible for the applicable zoning inspection and approval decisions. This is particularly important because an applicant may skip speaking with the business license, liaison or planning before submitting the application. When that happens, they may not have a full understanding of the requirements for the particular business or location. That's one reason why we encourage that initial conversation with city staff before moving forward.

[3:47:15] So step one the first formal step is application and document gathering. Applicants submit their information electronically through the Artesia HDL email or online portal, and in some cases, those applicants who have issues with technology. I can sometimes help them out at the counter and help process the documents and send them over to HDL myself. So it's on a case by case basis. It's not all the time, but that's something we do offer as a courtesy to people. If someone isn't comfortable with the online process like I was mentioning, staff can also walk applicants through the document upload process by phone, email or in person at City Hall. HDL performs that initial review to make sure the application is complete, properly classifies a business activity, and confirms that the required zoning documents have been submitted. Depending on the type of business, those documents can include a commercial zone clearance, statement of use, statement of understanding, home zone clearance for residential businesses, and a site or floor plan. Once that initial review is complete, HDL forwards a complete application to city staff.

[3:48:28] Once the application reaches the city, finance reviews it for completeness before routing it to planning. Planning determines whether the business is permitted under the Municipal code whether measure V applies, and whether additional approvals such as a conditional use permit are required. If zoning is approved, building and safety schedules and inspection to ensure the location complies with the applicable codes. Businesses that don't initially pass an inspection are given opportunity to correct deficiencies before requesting another inspection.

[3:49:04] After all, reviews and inspections have been completed successfully. Finance approves the application. The applicant is notified by email that the application has been approved, and they're also given a welcome or informational flyer to connect with the Chamber of Commerce for Business Networking. At this point, they're informed that HDL will prepare the invoice and that their business license will be issued once all applicable taxes have been paid.

[3:49:32] The final step takes place with HDL. using the city's approved fee schedule and any applicable measure V calculations. HDL prepares the invoice.

[3:49:45] Applicants definitely have several payment options available. Businesses can pay ACH, transfer check money order, or debit or credit card. The business license is issued once all invoice balances have been paid in full, including the regular business license tax and measure V, if applicable.

[3:50:08] So this slide simply highlights the payment. Sorry. That was back there. My bad. But now we're going back to the measure V overview. So the second half of the presentation focuses solely on measure V. Measure V is an additional business license tax that applies primarily to service and professional businesses operating in certain commercial zoning districts. It was approved by Artesia voters in 1989 and is somewhat unique because many cities focus primarily on taxing retail activity. Measure V appears as a separate line item from the regular business license tax.

[3:50:45] In 2022, the city adopted ordinance changes that modernize measure V. Those changes expanded where qualifying businesses may locate extended measure V into additional specific plan areas and established annual CPI adjustments. The current 2026 rates are shown for ground floor and upper floor spaces. The rates are lower for second floor and above, which helps provide an incentive for businesses to utilize upper floor commercial space by offering a lower taxable business license rate. Collectively, these updates expanded opportunities for service businesses while also increasing general fund revenue.

[3:51:30] This slide provides practical examples of businesses that are commonly subject to measure V.

[3:51:39] During application review, planning evaluates both the business activity and the floor plan to determine whether measure V applies. Businesses that primarily provide services rather than retail sales are generally subject to measure V, while traditional retail businesses typically are not. Existing businesses that become subject to measure V are often identified through code enforcement or compliance efforts, and staff work with those businesses, including offering payment plans when appropriate.

[3:52:11] I was brought to serve as a business license liaison, and since then staff has focused on making the process easier for our business community. We've expanded online resources, added frequently asked questions, created a measure V informational flyer, improve links for applying and renewing licenses and enhanced resources available through the city's website. The goal is clear and simple is to make the process as transparent and user friendly as possible. Ultimately, our objective is to provide a process that is transparent, efficient, and easy to navigate while maintaining an accurate record and supporting compliance. Those efforts alone have contributed to our 91% compliance success rate, while maintaining an average application processing time of approximately 14 days. That pretty much concludes my presentation. I'd be happy to answer any questions that the council may have.

[3:53:06] Thank you so much, Kevin, for that presentation. Uh, very informative. Uh, we'll start off with, uh, council member here.

[3:53:14] Thank you. Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Vega. That was a good presentation and very positive. I am now bearer of bad news. I'm just joking. Um, I did want to bring one fact to everyone's attention. Um, especially you, Mr. Vega. Um, I've heard measure V, I mean, no HTL, uh, when approached, their customer service is such. It's it's simply a collection agency. They're not here to to accommodate. They're not there to make any adjustments, nor do they have probably the authority because as you mentioned, the city sets up the system. Now in those cases, do the escalations come to you or anyone in the finance department or does HDL just tell them, you know what, this is what you owe and this is when you have to pay it. Otherwise there's a fine and we're just going to keep going in a cycle.

[3:54:14] Or is there is there any conversation that escalates up to you? S28:

[3:55:21] Thank you. And then one more question. I'm sorry. Um, yeah. And also, congratulations on and having it be 90, 91% and hopefully more this year. Um, I had a question for people who don't have access, because a lot of our businesses sometimes, you know, um, their small businesses, immigrant families, they do need that extra hands on, you know, approach to get all this done.

[3:55:53] Is there a systemized way for them to come in and get everything done right then and there or so? S28:

[3:56:31] Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate your zeal for this zeal.

[3:56:39] Zeal.

[3:56:42] Thank you. Council member here, we'll go to Mayor Pro Tem Ramos.

[3:56:47] Oh. I'm sorry. Council member charge.

[3:56:49] That's okay.

[3:56:50] Now we'll go to you Councilmember ties that way.

[3:56:52] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[3:56:53] Uh, my comments are brief, which is, thank you so much for your work, especially this presentation. This also helped me understand a lot, but I've also seen it yourself at the counter as well. And also the feedback that I received from some of the business owners that you actually take a very proactive approach to reach out and make sure those some of the kinks are, you know, you take the leadership role to do that. So so thank you. Thank you for this presentation and keep up the good work.

[3:57:21] Thank you.

[3:57:23] Thank you. Council member Tudge. I'll go to myself. So, in the absence of the mayor, I just want to say thank you, Mr. Vega, for this thorough report. I know I'm looking on the website that you do have these fact sheets available. Um, is it possible to also add your PowerPoint to, like, a version of your PowerPoint as well online? Um, I think that was helpful just to see the breakdown. Um, and I, you know, council member here mentioned HDL. I've heard from several businesses that they are just like a, uh, just a company collection. Not very nice. Do you make sure that each business knows that you're the point of contact if they have issues with HDL as they go through their renewal. I'm guessing.

[3:58:24] Yes.

[3:58:25] As best as I can. And I'm going to answer your questions to the best of my ability, because obviously a lot of it really is like boots on the ground. Them coming into what I mean, them like business coming into City Hall and asking those questions. My information is available or briefly available on the website, but it really comes down to just businesses actually coming in and speaking. And I do give out my business card when they come in. I do give them the flyers that we have available to make sure that at least if I'm not there, they know how to contact me or they know at least where to start. And those flyers that you have on on your desk, they're actually available at City Hall right now at the counter. There's laminations also posted up, you know, so if anybody wants to walk in and obtain a flyer without even having to see me, they know where to start and the contact info is still at the bottom of the corner.

[3:59:12] Thank you for doing all these other fact sheets, because I was just telling Councilwoman that I helped the last community development director, and I tried to do this one. And thank you for enhancing and building more for people to have a better understanding. Um, I think maybe if it's possible, um, a letter of introduction saying that you're in charge of business licenses if you have issues with HDL, just a letter to all the businesses would be helpful. So then people are like, oh, you know, I maybe saw I saw something about this, I could reach out to that person because I'm hearing I hear it and it gets passed down to me or somebody, um, that they're having issues with HDL. So I think just a blanket introduction, if they haven't met you yet, would be helpful as we go through this HDL and measure stuff.

[4:00:02] Okay.

[4:00:02] Thank you. Thank you, Mister Mayor.

[4:00:06] Uh, we'll go to, uh, Councilmember Bonilla.

[4:00:11] Thank you, Mister mayor. Mayor Pro tem, you did a great job of covering for the mayor while he was gone. Um, okay, Mr. Vega, that was awesome. I think in the entire time I've been on the city council, we've never had such a, you know, comprehensive presentation about how business licenses work in the city. So thank you for that. Clearly, your enthusiasm and knowledge is really helping us advance in this man, because I hear, you know, people, you know, they complain about, you know, business in Artesia. And I hope they heard this because it's clear that we've got, you know, we're going in the right direction. So thank you for that. So a couple of things. This whole HDL, is there any thought to ever going fully in-house or is that just something that doesn't happen when it comes to business license processing. Like you have to have, you know, an organization like HDL as part of the the business license processing.

[4:01:14] So right now, my current role is to be the best or have the best professional relationship with HDL. Specifically about bringing the program back in-house, I would definitely defer to Jamie or to Abel for much more guidance, but my priority is to make sure that I bridge HDL and the city together.

[4:01:32] Okay.

[4:01:33] And Councilwoman.

[4:01:34] Manalo.

[4:01:34] Thank you for that question. Um, there are many cities that do business licensing completely in-house. There are also many cities that use HDL, but only on a scaled back version, which is to say that they use HDL software and they use HDL staff to only process renewals for the most part. And I would say that those cities have one very strong community development finance, um, working relationship and also more staff. So for example, um, I know the city of Lakewood. You can get a business license the same day they go in. They make their way through community development, the various departments. Then they go to finance. They pay the cashier somebody from their code. Our community development team performs an inspection and you can get a same day license. They use HDL simply to process renewals. That is not the capacity that we have here. Um, and is something, you know, that can potentially be built on in the future if that's the direction the council wants to take. But for right now, the most recent resources that we've allocated was to bring on a full time, um, business license liaison, uh, to be a little bit more boots on the ground and try to run, um, facilitate the program a little bit better in-house using HDL.

[4:03:02] Miss Murphy, finance director, I really appreciate that explanation. I hope people are hearing that because immediately people will complain. You know, and so it is important for folks to understand the capacity that we have and how much we do in-house, but also the relationship that we have with HDL to make sure that the process is, you know, streamlined. So thank you for that. The other thing I wanted to, you know, I know that the city of Artesia has this unique feature slash opportunity with measure V, because a lot of cities don't have that right. We're we're fortunate. I mean, we need to use measure V to our to our advantage in this city. And I know in the past, you know, we've been kind of hesitant or, you know, weary about focusing on service oriented businesses. But I think we can get our fair share in this city of, um, revenue through measure V. So I think we really need to encourage that as well. And so that businesses know, hey, listen, we welcome you, But, you know, it's not just about sales tax. You will. We have this measure V. So anyway, I really appreciate you presenting that as well because I think sometimes we don't hear enough about measure V. And measure V can be a real benefit to the city. So we have a real opportunity. Thank you very much Mr. Vega.

[4:04:24] Thank you

[4:04:27] mayor.

[4:04:28] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Quick question, and probably you won't know this answer. Um, over the weekend, I met a former Artesia business owner who was a real estate agent, had an agency they actually now own, uh, an agency in Cerritos. But they told me in 1991, the city of Artesia told them they could not build a real estate agency because it brought no tax. And that was through. They said that they did brought a whole, um, contingency. And they spoke to the mayor. Um, I think it was Mayor Van Horn at the time. Um, and so I'm just thinking that and this is homework. If maybe measure V was prompted from something from that because they could, um. Yeah. Um, because of the real estate agency couldn't be taxed or we wouldn't be making money from them. That's why they were denied being a real estate agency here in Artesia. So that's why measure V happened. I'm just curious if that's the history. I'm just trying to put two and two in the timeline.

[4:05:41] Um, mayor pro Tem, I just want to say, I don't know for sure the answer to that question, but I will say that measure V was approved by the voters in 1999. So just working backwards from that, um, you know, as a staff member, it probably started as, um, you know, with council a couple of years before that. And so it's very possible that in the early 90s, we were already seeing the impact that non sales tax generating businesses have. Um, and also you know, just a quick point that initially the measure V was only on the first floor. Um and so the incentive was to put service to kind of incentivize service based businesses to move off the ground floor to make room for retail. But as we've seen just through various economic downturns, retail is often the first thing to go. And the city does have a very healthy mix of service in retail. Um, and so over the years, you know, we've seen some changes to measure V, but again, to, to your point, like it very much could have started in the early 90s.

[4:06:45] Okay.

[4:06:46] That's it. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[4:06:47] Thank you. Mayor Pro tem, we'll go to council member here.

[4:06:51] Just to add on to that bit. I think I gathered some information just recently because I wanted to talk about the origins of measure V with Miss Flowers, former mayor Sally flowers. And she said that yes, it was during her time that they proposed it. Has she been around since 1999? Probably, no. Okay. Well, anyways, um.

[4:07:20] She was on the council. She was on the council for 22 years. Stepped down in 2018. So she was on.

[4:07:26] In.

[4:07:26] 1000, 1998.

[4:07:28] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. She said it was her time. Um, and it was a built up, so perhaps they were talking about it, but it was actually Ziba Plaza. That was the inciting, uh, business for measure V to collect some kind of revenue because they were eyebrow threading place, which was a service. But what I'm what I was inquiring now is because measure V is becoming some something that is very, um, strenuous for a lot of businesses. So perhaps we can take another look at it, given the times? Or can we come up with a strategy to make sure that the businesses know that the tenant or not, they have to put in some form of, you know, um, additional taxes to pay later on. Because what ends up happening is this has been numerous businesses that reach out and they're like, can we do a payment plan for measure V? Or they didn't know they have to pay so much this last minute, or they haven't paid it before because they never got the mail or something. And then, you know, so and all those problems were resolved. The city manager definitely took care of them. But what I'm trying to say is that it is an an added stress to a lot of our businesses. So perhaps we can take another look at how we're imposing it.

[4:08:49] Sure.

[4:08:50] Yeah.

[4:08:51] Um, Council member here, I just want to, um, kind of clarify the purpose of measure V, which is that it is in place of sales tax that those service based businesses do not generate and do not remit back to the city. So obviously retail businesses there, they charge sales tax. That sales tax comes back into the city by way of the seat. For those service based professional businesses. They operate in the city, they utilize city resources, and their business does not necessarily have an economic impact by way of sales tax. So measure V is the city's vehicle to collect revenue from those businesses to add back into the general fund. Um, as far as, um, the point of, uh, businesses not knowing, I think this is a great first step. Um, council members requesting this report to come to council this evening. And certainly we'll get the presentation put online, but ensuring that prospective business owners understand that the best first step is to come to talk to staff first. We can certainly let them know. Not the entire city is not subject to measure V. There are service professional zones where those businesses can operate and they would not be charged. Measure V the incentive to the city is that if they're in those commercial general specific plan areas, they do have to pay measure V to be there because they're not generating sales tax. So obviously we want to get as much information out there as possible to get businesses to come into the city and have those initial conversations. But that's that's why the measure V is there. And also, I just want to note that we have not ever denied any business a payment plan if they have a hardship of some sort. Those are considered on a case by case basis. But, um, we certainly offer them as needed.

[4:10:53] Thank you. Jamie.

[4:10:56] Okay. Thank you. Council member here. We'll go to Mayor Pro Tem Reynoso.

[4:11:00] Oh, just quickly, I know, Councilwoman, I hear you brought up about, um, re discussing measure V and its impacts, but I.

[4:11:10] Know.

[4:11:11] Because I brought this up a couple years ago. That's what prompted this flyer how to open a business in Artesia. Just having the conversation first. Um, I know part of that conversation the staff has said is they always talk about measure V, that if they fall in that category, that that's always put at the forefront. Um, so sometimes I don't question, but maybe when they say, oh, I didn't know about it, but I have full confidence that the staff does talk about measure to these businesses. Um, but I just wanted to say that because we've had that conversation before.

[4:11:57] All right. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor Pro tem. Um, so I do have a couple of comments. Uh, in regards to measure, I mean, in regards to HDL. So you mentioned earlier in your report that it's $1 million in general fund revenue that are generated by the business taxes.

[4:12:21] Is that after HDL takes their cut or is that before? S28:

[4:12:23] It's after how much is their cut on $1 million?

[4:12:27] Um, well it depends. Um, we have a contract with them that has tiers to the work that they do for us, but on average, um, they receive $12 for every business license, um, that's processed.

[4:12:41] So we have 1000 business licenses.

[4:12:47] I do have the numbers, by the way, of what we paid to HDL last year. In the year.

[4:12:51] Okay.

[4:12:52] How much is that helpful?

[4:12:53] Uh, in 2026, we paid them, um, $82,000 roughly. And in 2025, we pay them $104,000. The anomaly I would just want to note for the record that in 2025, we significantly ramped up code enforcement and compliance efforts for outstanding business license. So that's why the number is higher there.

[4:13:16] Okay, so the I think where we are as a city with business licenses, how many do we process a month would you say?

[4:13:28] Uh new ones.

[4:13:30] Well, it can definitely vary.

[4:13:32] Um, so.

[4:13:34] Specifically within the last month, I believe I reported anywhere between 10 or 14. It could change. Um, I don't have the exact figures right now, but I could definitely get that for you.

[4:13:45] No problem, no problem.

[4:13:46] You're good. You're good. It's just the reason I'm saying all this. Okay. I believe we should do it in house. I firmly believe because you said tonight that HDL gets all the documents, right? You tell the new business owner, you got to put all your documents online. Godsend. HDL. What does HDL do with them? They send them back to the city. It then goes to finance. It then goes to planning and community development. And then a site inspection is taken, is done. And then it goes back to HDL. To do what? To create an invoice. And we pay $125,000 for that. Really. And we're processing 10 to 15 business licenses a month. I don't mind having HDL to collect the renewals, but at some point you can bring the renewals in-house too. It's simply an envelope with the payment. That's all it is. We can process millions of dollars in fees from developers, but we can't process. 1100 business licenses. And I will tell you, we used to have a man in the city by the name of Pradeep, and he worked at the counter, and you'd walk into that city hall and he would take your business license, and he would do it from beginning to end. And you were done. And I will tell you, as a business owner, it is horrible to deal with HDL. They are rude. They are. They don't answer your questions. They don't return your phone calls. They don't return your emails. I have never gotten a business license from HDL. I've had to ask somebody at City Hall to get me a copy of my own business license, and then I tell them who I am, and then the the charm comes on. I am in favor of getting ready, but getting rid of HDL. I'm in favor of that because you're talking 80 to $100,000. That can be done in-house for 10 to 15 new businesses a month. That's what I, I, I am in favor of getting rid of them. And maybe we'll have that conversation. We'll bring it back in September. What it would look like to do all this in-house, because what you said was you got to have a strong finance department. Well, we got the best finance department. The federal government knows that. And you have to have a strong community development team. We have a great community development team that's complete. So why can't we why can't we? I think, you know, we're moving in an era where we're doing our own plan checks. We're doing our own more for building and safety and such. I think this needs to be considered as another source of saving money for the city. You did a great job. Great job, very informative. And I hear nothing but good things about your role. How nice you are. Thorough. polite, effective. You get the job done and new business owners appreciate you. They really do. So this was a great presentation. That's my feeling on HDL. And we can talk about it later at another time. But do we have a motion to receive and file a motion.

[4:16:59] Motion.

[4:17:00] All right. We have a motion by somebody and a second.

[4:17:03] Somebody to.

[4:17:04] Okay. All right. Motion. Uh, who did the first? Like a three.

[4:17:13] Council member who? S1:

[4:17:13] Council member here. And, uh.

[4:17:17] Okay. Yeah.

[4:17:18] Okay. Yeah. Okay. And second to council member Taj.

[4:17:23] Yeah.

[4:17:24] Yeah. All in favor, say aye. Yay! Thank you. Kevin.

[4:17:29] Great job.

[4:17:37] All right. We will now go to. Yeah. So, uh, we will now go to the discussion item 11 B.

[4:17:47] Uh, Mr. City Manager, may we have a report on 11 b? This is a banquet hall discussion.

[4:17:53] Yes. B for banquet hall. That was.

[4:17:59] Uh, you know, it's a late.

[4:18:03] Okay.

[4:18:04] So, um.

[4:18:06] So this next item is something that the staff, um, brought forward. Um, it wasn't necessarily requested from the council, but, um, the reason we brought it here is because we wanted to get some, uh, input some direction from from the council. Um, we've seen an increase in, uh, requests for opening up banquet halls in, in the city. And I know that, um, the city that we have an ordinance that prohibits banquet halls currently. Um, and the more we looked at it, we were, you know, I know that the the banquet hall restrictions were put in place at a time when the city was not in a great financial situation. And I think the concern at the time was having a proliferation of banquet halls. Um, and wouldn't allow, you know, for, for space, they would be taking spaces that could have gone to like a restaurant or another type of business that generates some sort of sales tax. That was a the reason for for the banquet hall, as I understand it. Um, so what we wanted to do is, is as staff, we think that there is a place for banquet halls in, in our overall in our economic fabric of the city. Um, but we wanted to get your input. And so what we've done, rather than just say, hey, do we, do we like banquet halls or not? Or can we overturn this? We wanted to break it down into a provide you an analysis for how we look at banquet halls. And, and as you'll see in a moment when Paul walks you through it, you'll see that we've we've set this up in such a way that it makes it easy, I think, to understand where potential banquet halls might, might be successful. So with that, without dragging that on, I'll have Paul make the presentation here and then we'd love to hear your your comments with regards to banquet halls.

[4:20:20] Paul, that wasn't enough. Thank you.

[4:20:22] Yeah.

[4:20:25] All right. Good evening, mayor and city council. Tonight is a receiving file. Miss Abel said about your thoughts on amending the current Artesia Municipal code and zoning Amendment to determine the type of banquet facilities and where it would be considered. Little history. In August of 2020, the Planning Commission um removed the banquet halls and the CG and the Artesia Boulevard corridor specific plan. City council. In November of 2020, um removed banquet halls and facilities. CG Zone and Boulevard. Uh Artesia Boulevard. Um, specifically in the specific plan um banquet halls. Um as conditionally permitted uses. And again in May of 2021, city Council adopted the resolution and went into effect 30 days later. Uh, the Artesia municipal code does permit restaurants with ancillary banquet rooms. Um, in the CG and CBD zones. Um, zoning as long as 50% of the restaurant floor space is utilized and 50% of the the um sales tax is generated from that restaurant. The city has a limited amount of land, as you know, where banquet halls could be associated with. So that's why we're asking for your input on discussion or consideration of what that would like look like and where it would be. One of the considerations are banquet halls. In general, banquet halls without a kitchen have no tax revenue for, uh, fees related to kitchen unless it's catered in. And that cater is within our city to bring that food in, um, standalone um, banquet halls with the kitchen, like I said, are somewhat larger, um, taking up commercial space that could bring more revenue generated um, um versus an average banquet hall. Uh, banquet halls are predominantly open on weekends. Um, in periods of time with little to no activity during the week so they could appear somewhat vacant looking. Something to consider. Municipal code prohibits banquet halls. Um, but lately, Isabel said we've had people coming to the counter and looking at that opportunity to have that, uh, business, uh, banquet halls in the city. So, um, in light of that, staff broke it down into a tier system to better understand how it is in the city banquet hall with a banquet, a restaurant with a banquet room. We labeled that as a tier one. That's a restaurant with the ancillary use of a banquet room, which is permitted, like I said, in the Sieg and the KPD zone. A banquet hall with a restaurant is a tier two, which is the host large events and weddings, etc. the kitchen is a full kitchen on site, and that may also be used as catering services for off site as well. A banquet hall with no kitchen is a tier three to indoor venue to host events. Like I said, no kitchen. Um, um and the revenue and related to no kitchen is no sales receipts for the the food and less off site catering is brought it in. Lastly banquet hall community halls um such as in our city we have um Artesia des. We have halls and churches, community centers. They all have that that space, um, to hold those events there. So the banquet, the banquet hall, community hall is a separate, um, item to not get confused with what a tier one and tier two and three banquet halls are right now in tier one, we have um, 17538 Pioneer Boulevard, which is, uh, Julio's Pizza. It's in the CG zone. And we also have 18329, which is a former seafood harbor. Um, they're currently transitioning to new ownership. Um, they are located in the, um, Artesia downtown specific plan. And then tier three. We also have a banquet hall. Um, this was, um, approved. It's located on pioneer 17220 on the east side of pioneer. That was approved back in 2014 before this was pulled back from the Planning Commission and City Council. So they were grandfathered in. Um, we asked the the council wishes to expand the allowable types of banquet facilities, um, into tier one facilities in the CG and CPD zones. Um. Um, by doing so. Um, we're also, um, suggesting a conditional use permit be placed on those so we can better control how they operate days, hours, and etc.. Tier two facilities in the CG and CPD zones as well. There's a large number of, um, um, large amount of spaces that we're constantly, uh, operating. Um, if you allow it to happen. So what we're requesting to you to consider is setting up a setting a number on the amount that would be allowed. And staff's recommendation is to be fair for the banquet owners and to be fair for the businesses owners around them. We're recommending a it's 6000 residents every 6000. That's three, three banquet halls in the CG or CPD zone. To be fair for the banquet owner operator and not to have an oversaturation oversaturation in the city, um staff is requesting feedback on your on the application so we can better communicate with the applicants as they come into the counter, and about possibly expanding the municipal code to take into consideration, um, where and what type of banquet halls would be considered. There's no fiscal impact for this discussion tonight. And then, um, like I said, it's, uh, council is a receiving file this evening and open it up for discussion to get your thoughts and direction so staff knows how to move forward.

[4:27:13] Uh, thank you, Paul, for, uh, this presentation tonight. So I do have some opening questions, uh, to, Uh, begin this conversation.

[4:27:27] Do we have no banquet halls are allowed at the present time because we have a moratorium on them. Correct.

[4:27:34] We've removed them out of our our zoning amendment, zoning code and our Artesia municipal code.

[4:27:40] Correct.

[4:27:41] Okay, so, um.

[4:27:46] If a business wants to apply under tier one, can they do so with the moratorium?

[4:27:54] Yes they can. They have they have the entitlements to do so.

[4:27:58] Okay. If a business wants to apply under tier two with the moratorium, can they do so?

[4:28:05] No they cannot.

[4:28:06] Okay. And tier three.

[4:28:09] No they cannot.

[4:28:10] All right.

[4:28:11] Uh, and then, of course.

[4:28:12] It would be the least likely the city would be wanting in the city because there is no kitchen facility.

[4:28:17] Correct.

[4:28:18] Okay, so when we place the moratorium, um, I believe it was in 21. Was it 21? Was that in the on the one that signed that? Yeah. There it is. Um, so we did that in 2021 at a time where there was a little bit of panic going on. Um, there was this notion of money and such, and we brought this moratorium, uh, to, to life, and we signed it and we passed it. And now we're faced with a very different time where we have balanced budget, we have reserves, we have, uh, growth in our city. We have a train coming. We have all these things. And I think it is the council that needs to move tonight, uh, to have that conversation and to hopefully give staff direction to come back in September, uh, with, uh, an amendment or an ordinance change or whatever it may be, uh, to begin to allow tier one and tier two facilities in our city again. Uh, or I should I say tier two, um, because that seems to be a very harmless thing. You've got the kitchen, you've got catering. You may have, uh, alcohol sales, you've got, uh, uh, a space for a banquet hall. And in that instance, um, that's a lost opportunity if we are shutting the door, so to speak. I know there are businesses that would like to move forward with that. And, uh, I'm all in favor of it because they're willing to establish something that is solid. So just from my understanding of the council's understanding, tier one is currently allowed, but tier two is not correct. Okay. All right. So we have some comments and questions. Um, we do have any. Yes. Mr. City Manager.

[4:30:23] Before we open it up to questions, I just wanted to clarify something in the way that you're you're framing it. The one thing is that this item here is just to get some feedback. Um, we wouldn't essentially be bringing it back. Um, there is an applicant, a potential applicant that would like to modify the ordinance. So we would essentially ask them to submit the application. They would be the ones requesting that we change the ordinance. If that's something that the council would desire, it wouldn't be a staff driven item. It would be an applicant driven item.

[4:31:04] Right. And I and I understand that, but I also think it's in an open discussion, as we're having, that if the council is amenable to that, the applicant should be aware of that and know that so they can move forward confidently, that it'll be passed without any.

[4:31:20] That that is correct.

[4:31:21] That's why we're.

[4:31:22] Here.

[4:31:23] So okay. So we'll go to council member here.

[4:31:28] Thank you. Mayor. Um, I agree with you on the points that, you know, it's a different time and perhaps we should look at it now, given the fact that we have essentially secured a little bit more of our, um, public safety resources. Um, my concern would just then be I tier two and tier three for me would not make sense at the moment, given that a lot of our development, we want to make the most out of it, right? Sales tax. Um, you know, what have you. If it's just a banquet hall with the kitchen, then likelihood of it operating or making the full use of the space, I don't know. Um, and also just the banquet hall with no food retail whatsoever. I mean, I don't know, the most use, I feel like is tier one banquet room in a restaurant. That is something that I feel like is worthy of an amendment to our current ordinance.

[4:32:32] But that's already allowed.

[4:32:34] Oh.

[4:32:35] Then why are we.

[4:32:37] We're here to discuss. Open it up a little bit further.

[4:32:41] Tier two and tier three.

[4:32:43] More than likely just. Well, more than likely just tier two.

[4:32:47] Right. So so let me just just. Just to clarify, tier one is a full service restaurant that has a banquet room. Think of Julius Pizza.

[4:32:59] Correct.

[4:33:00] But I thought we couldn't have more of those.

[4:33:02] No, no, that that wasn't the case. The moratorium was placed on straight up banquet uses. Julio's pizza is a restaurant because they pay sales tax, right? They pay sales tax because the majority of their revenue is generated from restaurant use. Oh, okay.

[4:33:23] Are you saying the new banquet hall applicant will just require banquet hall with the kitchen?

[4:33:28] Correct.

[4:33:29] Man. Okay.

[4:33:31] Correct. And and and that is not currently allowed under the ordinance. So what we would be looking at or what they're with, what what they, they would want to do is to operate as a banquet hall. Only the kitchen, the, the way that that works or the way that, that we would that we would propose that it be structured is that they would essentially be paying sales tax on the kitchen square footage because the kitchen itself, they can actually do catering for other events elsewhere, so that would be subject to sales tax. The remaining square footage would be subject to measure V because it's not a part of a restaurant use. It's just for their banquet uses service.

[4:34:23] Okay.

[4:34:24] Right. So. So that's what we'd be doing now. I know the mayor brought up. There's a third tier. Now, the third tier is a straight up banquet hall. No kitchen. Those were not so fond of. Because really, I mean, this is extreme, but any space in the city that's just an office space could be turned into a banquet use. Because all you really need is just a space to put some tables and chairs. And then you bring in food from outside. That's where I think that we should. You know, it's like staff is thinking that if we wanted to really look at this carefully, we would make those tier threes. um, uh, still subject to the moratorium, but loosen up the restriction on the tier two level.

[4:35:14] But we're also asking you to take into consideration where that is in the city and how many the CG and the CPD zone. Not in the Artesia downtown specific plan, maybe where you want retail space to grow and the trains coming in. We're talking about that growth. So when you're plugging in a banquet hall at that location, maybe that's inhibiting the growth of your retail department. So and then thinking a consideration on how many do you want them in the city for the respect for the business owner and for no oversaturation.

[4:35:54] Hmm. Okay.

[4:35:55] Well in that case, tier two is open in my opinion. Should be open a little more.

[4:36:04] Okay.

[4:36:06] Are you.

[4:36:07] Good?

[4:36:07] Actually, one more question. Um, in terms of alcohol licenses.

[4:36:12] Do we have a cap in the city of how much we allow?

[4:36:17] Uh, no. Uh, ABC issues the alcohol license, and I've worked with them a number of times. They're not too concerned. How many are issued in a city? It's up to the city to manage it. They issue it. It's up to the city to manage it. If there's issues, then we have the right to address it at that time.

[4:36:38] Okay.

[4:36:38] Thank you. So in the banquet halls, do bring in alcohol sales too. There is a retail aspect to that. But again Friday, Saturday, Sunday usage. It's not like a normal restaurant type facility.

[4:36:51] Understood. Thank you.

[4:36:54] All right. Thank you. Council member here. We'll go to council member Ali Tash.

[4:36:58] Thank you, Mister mayor. Um, I support the tier two where kitchen is as well as banquet hall.

[4:37:05] Is.

[4:37:06] But I do not support them to be in the downtown, um, anywhere else but the zoning appropriate. Totally supporting that. I think that will certainly bring revenue and also bring more business. So yes, that's my position. In short, thank you.

[4:37:25] Uh, thank you, Council member. And, uh, we'll go to, uh, Council Member Manalo.

[4:37:30] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Okay, so, Mr. City manager or Paul, whoever can answer this, I just want to make sure that is tonight when we would be able to set a limit on the number of facilities that we would approve of in the city, because I in all in full transparency, I'm completely against banquet halls in Artesia. How many banquet halls do we need? Like, that's my thing. How many banquet halls does a city of 1.6 mile radius. But. But I hear what you're saying, Paul. You said for every 6000 residents, three banquet halls, correct banquet facilities.

[4:38:13] One for every 6000.

[4:38:15] One for every 6000. So we already have three. We already have three existing.

[4:38:22] Uh, no.

[4:38:23] No.

[4:38:23] Um, no, I.

[4:38:24] Just hear two.

[4:38:26] Tier two. Okay. Oh. Tier two.

[4:38:27] Okay.

[4:38:27] We have one tier three and no tier two.

[4:38:30] Okay.

[4:38:31] So so we have a tier three.

[4:38:35] With no kitchen.

[4:38:36] With no kitchen. Are we able to. We can't do anything about that. Right. We have to keep that one. They were grandfathered.

[4:38:43] In.

[4:38:43] Correct okay. And there's no way to put any kind of measure V tax on them on the banquet hall. You can do that on the.

[4:38:53] Their in.

[4:38:54] The banquet hall with kitchen. Right. Banquet hall with kitchen. You can put the measure V.

[4:38:59] And in the CG. CG in the CPD zone.

[4:39:03] Okay. Okay.

[4:39:04] You could do that with a banquet hall. Also, if they were in there. Okay, great. I just wanted to make sure. But the banquet hall that exists, that one we can't touch.

[4:39:12] As far as we don't want it there.

[4:39:15] As far as we want it gone. We can't do anything about it.

[4:39:17] We've approved it under Cup.

[4:39:19] Okay.

[4:39:20] They are looking to expand the housing at that location, which we're more than welcome to.

[4:39:26] Look.

[4:39:26] Forward to.

[4:39:27] Right. But okay.

[4:39:28] Now, I mean, and the mayor's right when we did this, it was a time when we were in a position in our city to really, you know, consider that. But I know that potential, potential permits or folks that are requesting, you know, they have a a good plan, you know, good a good business plan. So I'm I trust them. But I want to make sure that when it comes to a tier one, that's the restaurant with the banquet space.

[4:40:06] Larry. Banquet.

[4:40:07] Right. We can we can regulate that because it's a restaurant. Right? So we get the sales tax. How do we ensure that that a tier two, a banquet space or banquet hall with a kitchen that might use that kitchen for catering for outside events, pays its fair share of the measure V tax? Because if there look, we know that in this city there are these like ghost kitchens. We know that. And unfortunately we can't really we can't monitor it. We can't. So if we're going to if we're going to invest in this, is there a way to ensure that a banquet hall with a kitchen, which will obviously provide the food or whatever it is for the events that are there will also be responsible for whatever you know. Um, measure V tax for events that they cater from that kitchen to an outside event.

[4:41:13] That would be a sales tax revenue from the food sales.

[4:41:17] Okay.

[4:41:19] Do I maybe I'm not clear.

[4:41:21] I think the question. Um, sorry, Paul. Uh, the question is, can we require the new banquet halls that are banquet hall and kitchen only to pay measure B? And the answer is yes, because the, the initial the the primary purpose of the business is a banquet hall. Right. So the kitchen is ancillary to the banquet hall. There is no other use. So they would be a service based business with a kitchen. They would pay measure V and then any sales that they generate within the city that go outside of the city to not the banquet hall. Those sales are subject to sales tax as well as transaction and use tax.

[4:42:06] Okay.

[4:42:06] I just want to make sure that there's a way to regulate it or monitor it because I mean for me and again I'm going to be real transparent. I don't want banquet halls. But I will support it because it's a, you know, it's a viable business. And I want to, you know, I trust the people that are coming to our city and want to bring this, but I want to make sure that the city gets what it it's entitled to from this, especially if we're going to give, you know, important pieces of property, that opportunity, especially in our CBG or or. Yeah areas. Right. Okay. So the other thing let's say is there anything else. Um, so then we can create a limit. You said one for every 6000.

[4:42:50] It's only a suggestion. Okay. We're just giving.

[4:42:52] No, but that's helpful because we have 18,000 residents in our in our city, and we already have three.

[4:43:02] Um, if I may, we were just having a little sidebar when when you asked the question. One way that could be done is if this evening part of the the this the the directive from the council is to include or, you know, a a limit, a cap, um, in the event that somebody does apply for a, a tier two and to amend the ordinance, then we would just incorporate to put the language in there. Right. That would allow us to put a cap, a specific cap on the number of them. So. Um, again, application hasn't been submitted yet. This is really more like some fact finding to see where that flexibility, where the desire is. So if collectively it is to put a cap, we can. We can certainly do that.

[4:43:54] I just want to make sure that folks don't think that Artesia is now open to banquet hall business, right? Like the applicants, the potential applicants are folks that we know there. You know, established business folks in the in the community. They have a vested interest in Artesia. I get that, and I, you know, I just don't want it to become this thing where now, you know, oh, go to Artesia, you can get a banquet hall.

[4:44:16] So nor does community.

[4:44:18] Right, right. And and I'm sure my colleagues don't.

[4:44:21] Get around it to control.

[4:44:23] It. Okay.

[4:44:24] So that's what the opportunity.

[4:44:25] So can we remove the tier three completely from even existing, except for the one that's been grandfathered in so that nobody ever thinks they can come here and bring a banquet hall to Artesia.

[4:44:36] It already is.

[4:44:38] Well, it's it's a tier.

[4:44:39] Okay.

[4:44:40] Just to clarify, right now, all banquet halls, with the exception of tier ones, are not allowed.

[4:44:48] Okay.

[4:44:48] Okay. They are not allowed. What we're saying is it. If if the desire of the council is to loosen this up, what we're suggesting is that we only loosen up at the tier two level. If you don't meet that tier two level, then we would still keep that as a moratorium. Not not allowed.

[4:45:09] Okay.

[4:45:09] And we tell applicants sorry. Go somewhere.

[4:45:12] Else.

[4:45:13] That's right. I want to make.

[4:45:14] Sure that's what we've been saying. That's what we've been. That's what we've been saying to previous requests for that. We've been saying that. But now given everything that we've talked about, we're saying, okay, let's see if we want to explore a little bit. Loosen up at least at the tier two level, maybe with potentially some caps in terms of how many, and then and then see how that works out.

[4:45:37] Okay. Last question with this one existing tier three, which I don't think is functioning right. It's not it's not currently functioning.

[4:45:51] Is there anything we can do? Like to require them to do something? S25:

[4:46:01] All right.

[4:46:01] But they do have a cup by right. And that runs with the land.

[4:46:05] Okay.

[4:46:06] All right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, everybody, for.

[4:46:09] Thank you. Councilmember. We'll go to Mayor Pro Tem Ramos. No.

[4:46:13] I think I forgot.

[4:46:14] What I was going.

[4:46:14] To say.

[4:46:15] All right, we'll go.

[4:46:15] We're not.

[4:46:16] Really late.

[4:46:17] No, but you did mention the the tier three, which is like it's just sitting there, and that's that's unfortunate. Um, you know, I, I just want to say it might have been helpful. It would have been helpful to see a map of where things are and then where the zones are, because I'm trying to visualize it. I just don't know where CG adds up. See where that is? Um. But I know where everything else in here. The two tier ones are. Um, but, um. Yeah, I'd be open to, um, exploring, um, the tier two, um, given knowing that we could do much of it. So, um, those are my comments.

[4:47:04] Mr. mayor.

[4:47:05] Thank you.

[4:47:05] Council member here. Thank you, mayor pro tem.

[4:47:08] Thank you. Mayor. Um, I agree with my council colleagues. Um, comments. I think, uh, tier three would just be, you know, not the best use of land, uh, land usage.

[4:47:26] Um, but for tier two, are there parking provisions? Do we have language for that? S25:

[4:47:29] Okay.

[4:47:30] Uh, yeah. Okay. In that case, I'm just looking forward to seeing how you're going to come up with a plan to cap it, obviously. Um, my suggestion would be maybe just the ones that can are within a range within the freeway exits, just so we can control the traffic, not going into the residential area at all. Um.

[4:47:52] Yeah.

[4:47:52] Um, and then to answer your question, Councilwoman Manalo, I think the community hall does or that tear through banquet hall does make you somehow they hosted a, um, rice donation thing, and then they they had a lot of rice bags just parked there. And then lots of times they host prayer services there. So they do make use. But, um, I'm not sure if it's completely active. Yeah.

[4:48:21] But yeah, those are my comments.

[4:48:23] Uh, thank you. And I did take a look at the the design of the applicant primarily. Um, I think it's beautiful, I really do. Um, and that's what draws me into this.

[4:48:52] So, um, if we can, you know, make sure that whatever um, design application that we get also, you know, is aesthetically, you know, how do I say this? S25:

[4:48:54] Okay.

[4:48:56] Thank you. And can we consider getting, um, some kind of in-kind in exchange for, um, you know, an application of tier two, like, for example, 20 trees in return?

[4:49:10] Um, we always have a landscaping requirement with all of our.

[4:49:13] For.

[4:49:14] Sure for there. But how about a in-kind to City of Artesia? 20 trees.

[4:49:22] That that's not something that we could ask for. Okay. I mean yeah. It's just. Yeah.

[4:49:29] Or like a monument of mayor or something.

[4:49:31] I mean.

[4:49:31] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[4:49:33] Well that. Okay. No no no no no. And I guess, I guess it I'm just trying to understand. We. We don't. We wouldn't be able to do that unless we. We obviously made it a part of our ordinance whether like it was like a. Yeah, like a thank you, like a community benefit.

[4:49:53] Yeah.

[4:49:55] We we hadn't considered that okay. We hadn't addressed that.

[4:50:00] Okay. No worries. Yeah.

[4:50:03] You're good. Yeah. Thank you so much. Council member here. Council member. Tosh.

[4:50:08] Thank you, Mister mayor. Um, Mister city manager, what are you looking for tonight from us? My understanding is staff recommend city council to receive and file and some kind of a direction. Do you have enough direction? Which it seems like consensus on tier two or explore a little bit more. So.

[4:50:26] Right. I think I think what we're looking for is I think what you've, you've, you've given us already, which is, uh, it seems like the council is willing to allow us to work with any future applicants. Um, you know, they would be requesting to make a modification, uh, an amendment to the ordinance that allows that type of business. And what I'm hearing is that we could focus on that. Tier two is allowing the tier twos to be, uh, operational within the city. Um, the other thing that I'm hearing is that there is some desire for us to come up with some form of a cap that we can put on there. We don't know how many, and we don't know exactly how that plays out, but it's something that we would look into. Um, so that's kind of what I'm hearing. And if correct me if I'm wrong, but I think collectively that's that's kind of what we heard from the dais, uh, this evening.

[4:51:28] My follow up to that is, uh, the latter part of it, which is capping. And during this time of giving this direction to move forward, especially on tier two. Would that allow you to take some applications and move forward? And it would that.

[4:51:47] Yes, I think so.

[4:51:48] And capping could be a discussion letter or something that we could work on it.

[4:51:54] So we could we could incorporate it as part of the amendment. Assuming that there's an application at hand, we can incorporate it as part of that. We could even delay it if we if we really haven't figured that part out. Um, so yes, we just wanted the direction from you. We put it in here because we wanted to make sure that in addition to opening it up to the tier two, there was also the question of should we put a cap on it or not? Now, now, just so you know, with the caps, um, the the parking standards still need to be met. Not every site in the city would meet that. Right. It would take certain sites. So in other words, they would kind of weed themselves out, so to speak. Right. So somebody comes to us and they want to, you know, have a big banquet hall, but they only have ten parking spaces. That's a no go, right? Just because it doesn't meet the standard. Um, so some of that would already be weeded out. But we'll look into that and we will, you know, see what we can come up with in terms of how we would cap them. You know, whether it's two, three, four, five, six, seven, you know, any number of them, we'd come up with something that doesn't feel like it's overwhelming us and just we suddenly become like the banquet capital of the world. We don't want that distinction. So we would we would take a close look at that and then come back to the council at that point and, and make our findings.

[4:53:16] So given this discussion and kind of having a direction, if there is an applicant who is in that fair, would that move forward and then for you to come back later about cap and all that kind of stuff, or would this be discussion would be helpful for you.

[4:53:32] To.

[4:53:32] Write with an applicant.

[4:53:33] Yeah, I think I think an applicant just wants to know, like, is this doable? Like, you know, is this something because obviously applying for for the application if there's a commitment right. There's a there's there's extent it's a little bit different when you're facing like a flat out moratorium. You cannot do this right because it's a losing battle in most cases. So here in this instance, we wanted to get some feedback from the council to see if you felt the same way that staff did that, that yeah, there's a place for this. As long as we, we, we're, we're smart about it and that's what we're trying to do.

[4:54:08] Okay. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[4:54:10] Thank you. And.

[4:54:12] Uh, okay. So with with with what's going on, I'd like to not just consensus, but make it a little more specific and have a motion presented tonight on tier two. Um, I understand, so first of all, we'd like to move. I think the general consensus is that we have, uh, favorability to move forward on tier two. Uh, the question on cap. You know, is that going to our 20 banquet hall is going to pop up? Not really. That's that's a fear mongering. That's not going to happen. Uh, you want to put a cap on it? I would say about three or 4 or 5. That's fine, because now there's a component to generate sales tax measure V tax. And if they have an alcohol license, that's even more sales tax. So there's those components. Um, and some of these ideas that are floating around will beautify the city. So I'd like to see a motion, uh, tonight and I'll certainly make it if needed. Um, I'll make the motion myself to say that we approve, uh, tier two, uh, to allow banquet halls lift the moratorium on tier two. And, uh, with my council colleagues, I would say anywhere from 3 to 5. I'll let staff come up with that. I don't see any other properties. They're going to say, well, we want to become a banquet hall with a kitchen. Um, I just don't see that with the developments that are coming to the city. I that would be my motion.

[4:55:39] Second.

[4:55:40] But, Mr. Mayor.

[4:55:41] We're just going to make another comment.

[4:55:43] Well, go ahead. Go ahead.

[4:55:44] Um, I know council member Taj brought it up. We didn't. We briefly spoke. Where in this city. CG, CPD, Artesia downtown specific plan.

[4:55:55] Well, you're not going to put it in the industrial area.

[4:55:58] No.

[4:55:59] Well you're.

[4:56:00] Not. No, but I'm more worried about the Artesia downtown specific plan.

[4:56:06] What? What was council's thoughts on that? S3:

[4:56:19] I mean, why are we going to limit ourselves to something that's going to make us money? S13:

[4:56:21] Parking? S3:

[4:56:26] Automatic.

[4:56:27] Automatically.

[4:56:29] Yeah. In there. Um.

[4:56:42] City manager.

[4:56:44] For me. Is.

[4:56:48] That, like, that is something I just want to make sure. Not because you said you just sort of show up.

[4:56:56] I'm sorry, but because I just want to. I want to have that assurance, that's all. So for me, that is, um, like a condition of of supporting that is that we we do have a cap, like you said, five, you know, whatever it is, but something reasonable. The staff researches it and decides what would be appropriate. But for me, a cap is a condition of supporting the lifting.

[4:57:21] I would say no more than five.

[4:57:23] Okay.

[4:57:23] And let staff make the final recommendation.

[4:57:26] Okay. Thank you.

[4:57:26] We could. We could certainly do that. If I can just clarify something, Mr. Mayor, that you point out, I just want to make sure that we're all clear on this staff. And I think we said it earlier in the presentation. Our staff is not supportive, right. Of of having tier two type banquet halls in the downtown specific plan. The downtown specific plan, meaning the barriers with borders of 183 to 187. Um. Oh, no. Oh, I'm sorry, I got the.

[4:57:58] The downtown specific plan goes all the way to South Street. Um, it includes the shopping centers along South Street as well as the mobile home park. And then it goes just north of 1/83 Street.

[4:58:14] The.

[4:58:15] Thank you. Thank you for clarifying the boundaries. The point. The point with that is that is it we what we really want to see in the downtown specific plan is to kind of, um, uh, uh, growth. Um, and, and to have people there to activate that downtown portion. Um, we just feel that putting a straight ahead banquet hall, a tier two in there, it kind of goes contrary to what we really want to see. We would prefer our desire is to have tier one type banquet halls, their restaurants that have a banquet room. It serves more as a restaurant with an ability to do banquet space as well, like a Julius type style pizza. That's what we'd like to see in the downtown. Other than that, in the commercial zone and um, uh, the CPD that could accommodate both tier twos and tier ones. But in the downtown, we'd really like to limit that just to tier ones.

[4:59:17] I just don't agree with that. I'll tell you why I don't see anywhere in the downtown that has enough parking for a a banquet hall with a kitchen there.

[4:59:29] Where?

[4:59:31] So the downtown specific plan, as I mentioned, goes all the way to South Street. And so some of those larger shopping centers on South Street would have parking.

[4:59:42] Such.

[4:59:42] So.

[4:59:43] Jerry's Grill.

[4:59:44] Like where.

[4:59:45] Is.

[4:59:46] Plaza City Plaza?

[4:59:48] I don't see any of those having a bank.

[4:59:50] No, no they're not. But I guess let's say down the road Jerry's goes away. It's a restaurant. It's a popular restaurant. But then to be replaced with a bank state banquet hall.

[5:00:02] Well, that's outlined. Outlined because that's tier three.

[5:00:06] No no no no. I'm sorry. Straight banquet hall with a kitchen.

[5:00:09] Tier two. Okay.

[5:00:10] Okay. So what we're saying is that we'd like to keep the spaces within the downtown specific plan to be limited to tier one type banquet halls, restaurants.

[5:00:21] Where is the specific plan from where to where?

[5:00:24] Well, we should have had the map, but generally speaking it's from just north of 1/83.

[5:00:32] Okay.

[5:00:33] Um, down pioneer and then out onto South Street, because remember we have the mixed use development planned right behind the 76 gas station.

[5:00:44] Right?

[5:00:45] Okay. And then it it goes to the west, which are the two other shopping centers where the Jollibee is at. And I forget the other, the name.

[5:00:55] Of.

[5:00:55] The Seafood Harbor. Yeah. So they've we've got like two larger commercial developments on South Street.

[5:01:03] Well, Seafood Harbor is a restaurant.

[5:01:05] It is what, what what I'm saying is, again, if these restaurants don't five years from now, the restaurant is no longer there. Okay. If we if we do not. If we allow tier twos and tier ones in there, then it could that space, which is a restaurant space, which is a great restaurant space, would be converted to just a banquet hall with a kitchen. And it would, it would be against purpose. What we're trying to do, we're trying to activate those areas, have people there on a daily basis at daytime, in the evening, on the weekends. That's what a restaurant does. Julius pizza like Julius Pizza. If we allow tier twos to be in there. Then again we're talking about banquets, usually on the weekends, but not on the weekdays and not in the daytime, probably just at night. And we want to see more activation throughout the course of the day, day night, weekdays, weekends. And that's where the restaurant.

[5:02:07] I understand that, but then you're going to have to change the culture of the city, because downtown shuts down at 8:00 at.

[5:02:14] Night.

[5:02:14] And they're closed on Monday. So how we're working against. I get it, I'm not going to argue the point, I get it. But you're working against a whole culture of of. We close at 8:00. There's only a handful of places that are open till ten, maybe less than five on one hand. And everybody's closed on Monday except for a handful of places. Well, so anyway.

[5:02:37] And we and we are and we are trying to change the culture through the business improvement district, for example, as one example that we're trying to, again, you know, have to have restaurants and stores open earlier and staying open later because there's going to be a need for that. And again, this is all when the train comes in and we're trying to prep, get that ready so that when the train does come we've got all these things in place.

[5:03:03] So we're not going to allow it between uh, in the downtown specific plan.

[5:03:12] Yeah.

[5:03:13] Sorry about not having that on the screen. That's okay. My fault.

[5:03:17] That's okay. So we're not we're not going to have it in that area.

[5:03:22] We would not have the tier twos. Correct. But the tier ones would be would be fine.

[5:03:27] I'm good.

[5:03:28] With that. Okay. Thank you.

[5:03:30] I saw the map.

[5:03:33] Second to.

[5:03:34] That.

[5:03:34] Yeah, that's my motion.

[5:03:35] Second.

[5:03:40] You know that.

[5:03:41] Okay.

[5:03:43] Okay, so we have a motion, and we have a second. The motion was to, uh, lift the moratorium on tier two. Move forward with that type of facility. Keep it outside of the downtown.

[5:03:58] Specific plan.

[5:03:58] Specific plan. And have a cap of up to five. Let staff determine the final number. And we do have a first. And we have a second from Council member Tonge.

[5:04:21] May we have a roll call? Vote? S13:

[5:04:22] All right. Motion passes. So we'll move forward with that. Thank you, Paul, for the presentation.

[5:04:31] All right. Moving on to the half of the meeting. We'll have our discussion item presentation on 11 C, which is the Botanical Garden.

[5:04:48] How long will the presentation take?

[5:04:52] Sure. Okay.

[5:04:55] Yeah.

[5:04:55] This is an hour long. No, it's a no. It's it's it's actually not so.

[5:05:08] He said.

[5:05:16] Good evening. Sorry. You want to start it? Good evening, Mayor and Council. Um. Tonight I am presenting an update on the Artesia Botanical Garden project. It is also a receive and file report. Um, I am presenting this as a result of a request from Mayor Trevino from the last meeting.

[5:05:45] Oh.

[5:05:47] Where are they.

[5:05:47] Going?

[5:05:49] Um. Oh, you got it. Okay. Great. Thanks. Thank you. Um, this slide shows how, um, the botanical garden project will address Artesia Parks needs, which were first Identified in the 2016 Parks Needs Assessment and identified Artesia as a high need part hiding, high need area for parks. Currently, Artesia has 0.82 acres of parkland per 1000 residents. And to compare that to Los Angeles County average, which is 3.3 acres per 1000 residents. The Botanical Garden project, when complete, will increase um park access and raise availability to approximately 1.1 acres per 1000 residents. So it does increase park access and increases the acres per 1000 residents.

[5:06:55] Next slide please. Thank you. Um.

[5:07:01] As you can see from this slide, Um, we have, um, Project Progress, and this project started as a result of the 2016 parks needs assessment. And, um, started well before I started on this project. And, and, um, in 2018, the property was acquired on 1/78 Street. Um, and after that, we held a number of community meetings, extensive community outreach by the city, which informed this project. The city held five community planning meetings to solicit input on the proposed project. Um bilingual staff in English and Spanish were present at all of the meetings. Meetings were held at the project site and the city's other two parks on both weekdays and weekends. Um meetings were held at um meetings were held. Um. Oh, and spanning a variety of meeting time. Sorry. Um. During the community engagement process, the concept of the botanical garden was narrowed down as a frontrunner by the residents.

[5:08:20] Um, after the community input in 2019, um, the sequel was completed on the property as well as a conceptual design was developed. We also secured funding for this project. Um, and we secured federal funding, which was the HUD Community Project funding. Um, we've secured funding from the state, but um, which is being administered through the California Natural Resources Agency, and we also just recently received measure A funding for 2 million. 2 million as well. Um, most recently, we selected the design consultant. Um, and as a result of after the design consultant was selected, um, we had additional community feedback. Um which incorporated um incorporated, which I'll describe in the next slide, actually. Um, the desires of, um, the community. Um, the council approved the final design, um, in March of 2025.

[5:09:42] This slide shows a rendering from the designer and, um, the overall design, which was um, which was, um, determined by the community. The final community meetings that we had in the last year. The final design focused more on passive garden spaces, and it reduced the active recreation amenities. A small community center still remains, but it's tucked to, as you can see, the front one side on the front of the park, and it also allowed for more space for the garden to be the true highlight of the project. Um, also, as part of the project, the city will be replacing the entire perimeter fence with a seven foot high block wall.

[5:10:38] This slide shows the community center. Um, so the design includes a small community building. Um, and it has approximately 1276 square foot community room within the building. Um, the room also includes the ability to create indoor and outdoor spaces with a sliding floor to ceiling glass door, and the room seats approximately 75 people and an additional space outside if you were to open those sliding doors. Um, it offers space for educational classes. About. The garden provides meeting space, and it's also, um, space for small scale events.

[5:11:29] Some project highlights the design. The botanical garden design also includes a welcome plaza, tropical, arid and desert gardens with a dry creek bed, outdoor educational areas, a demonstration garden, walking paths, and a central lawn. The project will also include environmental sustainable techniques which include semi-permeable surfaces, bio wells. Drip irrigation and stormwater best management practices.

[5:12:05] So I'd like to now let you know what the current status is of the project, which is what you were asking for, and our next steps. So as I mentioned before, we've completed the the environmental studies. We also awarded a design contract to our designer. Um, we demolished existing structures on the property. Um, as I mentioned from the last slide, you approved the council approved the design of the of the park, and we've submitted the plans through plan check and, um, completed that process and also completed the construction document development. So what we're about to do this month is we're going to complete all of the building checks, building plan checks. Um, we will be releasing the construction bid this month, the end of the month. Um, in November, we will award the construction contract and begin construction in December. And then, um, expect to complete construction in March of 2028 and be open for operations by April 2028.

[5:13:37] And that concludes my presentation tonight.

[5:13:47] Thank you very much for that detailed presentation. Um.

[5:13:54] Seeing. No. Uh, no.

[5:13:55] Uh uh.

[5:13:59] Oh. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, okay. So with that being said, are we. Oh, my. We have a, uh, we go to.

[5:14:08] Really?

[5:14:09] Well, you want to join in? Yeah, we'll go to, uh, Mayor Pro Tem Reynoso.

[5:14:15] Thank you. Thank you.

[5:14:16] Thank you. Um, management analyst. Nationalist. Tafoya. Um, for this update. Uh, did we happen to already. Because I know we were trying to get to that last funding from the Park Conservancy.

[5:14:43] Did we get the two letters yet from the senator and Assembly member? S19:

[5:14:48] Okay. Wonderful are we? How much are we missing in terms of fully funding this project?

[5:15:01] So we have funding to do the project. Um, we were applying for grants, um, to add back in some things that we had removed based on our existing funding. Mhm. Um, and so with the money we have today, as long as the bids come in, according to the engineer's estimate, we will be able to build the project. Um, we wanted to add back in some of those amenities that we had to remove to keep within our budget, and that is why we were applying for an additional $2 million from the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy.

[5:15:36] Okay.

[5:15:37] Um, can we also get this update on the website under this this exact like I think this is good. This, um, slide.

[5:15:47] Sure.

[5:15:48] Um, also, my request kind request is that we hopefully, if we can fast track this to December 2027 as the latest to get that ribbon. That's all. That's all I want to say, you know. Easy. Thank you so much.

[5:16:11] Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem, we will now go to, uh, council member here.

[5:16:18] Thank you. Mayor. Um, as my memory serves, there's been a couple of changes in the designs, right?

[5:16:25] Yes. That's correct. So the original conceptual design did include more of an activity oriented design, which included an amphitheater and, um, more event oriented space. Um, after we had several commission and community meetings from 20, uh, from in 2025, actually. Um, and as a result of those meetings, including input from the ad hoc committee. Um, but on the botanical garden, um, it was the design and the the design. Uh, it was recommended to the design team to instead make it a more garden oriented, um, park. And so the new design, which we had mentioned before and we showed that slide, but, um, it is a more open space walking trails. And there it is right there. The overall design puts much more of an emphasis on the garden as opposed to an event space.

[5:17:48] Yeah.

[5:17:51] You know, just like a small little area. I know we don't have to construct the full amphitheater, but, like, just a small area where someone can use for, like, a little drama show or. I don't know.

[5:18:03] I'd like to point out, um, on on the drawing, there is a central lawn area which, if people wanted one of the uses for the for the site could be facility rental or space rental and they could, um, have, um, on the lawn. They could do something like that.

[5:18:30] Yeah.

[5:18:30] And certainly special events that the city can put on would be something like a movie night on that lawn.

[5:18:38] Okay. Yeah.

[5:18:40] Compromises. And what about the wall that you just mentioned? It was seven feet tall, but we I think we also discussed having really thick trees. Right.

[5:18:51] There will be larger trees planted as part of the design. Okay.

[5:18:57] Like a wall type of thing.

[5:18:59] Um.

[5:19:01] If I may, there are hedges planned around the perimeter fence. It's hard to see them in the bottom because there's a lot of mature trees. But if you look up at the top, um, right corner, you can kind of see the trees along the wall. Um, those are hedges, and they will kind of go around the entire property. They will take a couple of years to grow in and fully cover the wall. Um, but once they're grown in, the designers told us about 3 to 5 years, depending on the hedge. Uh, you will not see the wall anymore. You'll only see greenery.

[5:19:32] Okay.

[5:19:33] Thank you. Yeah. Those are all my questions. Thank you for the presentation.

[5:19:37] Thank you. Council member. We'll go to council member.

[5:19:40] Manalo.

[5:19:40] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, um, just really quickly, Mike. First of all, I thought we agreed against renting the property, like for special events or after a certain time or something, because that was one of the concerns about, in terms of noise, bringing in a band or bringing in a DJ. So I think we talked about that, right. I just want to make sure. Yes. I mean, and, you know, kind of referring to the. Yeah. Because, well, maybe for you we'll make an exception, I don't know, but, um, yeah, you better do a pass because. No. Right. So anyway, I just wanted to kind of, um, I just wanted to make sure I was on, you know, thinking correctly. The other thing is, you know, one of the residents that was here tonight that wanted to hear the update of the about the botanical garden was requesting that we have some kind of maybe not a town hall, but maybe just like a residential meeting with those Homes that abut the abut the botanical garden and, you know, not only behind but next door on either side to give them just an update about all the things that we agreed to do. Because I know we had that walk through and I know the mayor invited the, you know, the the neighbors to come. And I'd like them to be able to hear what we agreed to, like the seven foot wall and that we're going to put up these trees and it's not going to be rented after a certain hour and all those kinds of things, like if we could do something, maybe it's like a little neighborhood meeting for them just to give them some reassurances. And, you know, also maybe the timelines that they know what to expect, because once we start construction, it's going to impact them. So maybe we could just do that if that. I don't know if that's possible. Um, deputy city manager, Miss Nestor Nelson.

[5:21:32] Yes, yes, we'll absolutely be talking to our neighbors before any kind of construction begins. I also wanted to note that staff has already begun working on, um, uh, proposals, uh, that we'll be bringing to the Parks and Recreation, uh, know the Botanical Garden ad hoc committee, um, to give some programming parameters and ideas. Uh, we're anticipating budgeting for the facility to open, um, partway through next fiscal year. And so when a budget is presented to the council, uh, in the spring, we want to make sure we include those programming demands in that budget, because it'll be open the the fourth quarter of the fiscal year. And so, uh, we're hoping to move forward April to the fourth quarter.

[5:22:30] Um, so we should be moving forward with that soon.

[5:22:35] Thank you. Council Member Manalo will go to Mayor pro tem.

[5:22:39] Real quick, um, two things. Um, I think when there was a back and forth discussion with the the with Gisella, the designer or architect, um, we talked about because there is no more amphitheater space or whatever, that the small building itself, with that overhang and that space right there would actually work as a place for, I don't know, performance or something. That's why I think they extended it a little, because they're kind of envisioning still as a place that people could still do stuff. So that's one thing. If, um, if you look back on the slides, Councilwoman. Um, and another thing, um, we lost the big tree, is that being, um, is that being accounted for? And we did we tell Gisella that we lost the big tree that came down.

[5:23:35] Did we come? Oh, there was a tree on the.

[5:23:38] Big.

[5:23:38] Tree that was the focus of the Botanic Garden came down because the branches fell over and we had to cut them. Our national's not here, but I saw it like.

[5:23:50] And that was one of the ficus trees. And there's actually a row of them. So many of them are still there. Um, there are some large trees that will have to be removed due to the design, but we are planning to put big shade trees in. Um, as you can see on the rendering. Um, but there is there's a row of seven.

[5:24:13] Yeah, there's a few trees. Because of the health of the trees that may need to be removed, but they will all be replaced.

[5:24:21] Um, like, this was the big one. They fell. So, yeah, I just wanted to know if we relayed that to Gisella.

[5:24:29] Oh, there they are. Actually aware that we've lost one of the trees.

[5:24:33] Okay, those are my comments. And also there are kids that jump the fence to go in there and just letting you know to make sure we monitor that.

[5:24:43] Thank you.

[5:24:44] They can actually crawl under it if they really want it.

[5:24:46] They have.

[5:24:46] Their bikes.

[5:24:47] No they.

[5:24:48] They. Yeah yeah yeah yeah.

[5:24:52] Thank you. Mayor Pro tem. We'll go to council member Raleigh.

[5:24:55] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to close by saying thank you for your good work. Thank you for this presentation and update. And, Mr. Mayor, thank you for asking this. I'm quite helpful. And keep up the good work. Let's make it happen. Let's focus on what Mayor Pro Tem asked. Accelerate and get the ribbon cutting down. All right. Thank you.

[5:25:16] Thank you so much for the presentation. I will reiterate to staff if maybe we can have a meeting with the residents sometime in August or September and just the perimeter residents, the ones that will that are right up against the botanical garden. If we can do that, just invite him in for a casual meeting. To have a conversation doesn't have to be a council meeting.

[5:25:39] We could. We could do that.

[5:25:40] That nature.

[5:25:41] We've had tables there, and we sat down with it. We did that.

[5:25:46] As one of the workshops in 2019.

[5:25:48] Mhm. Yeah.

[5:25:50] Maybe as we get as we get closer to that time, maybe we can even have uh have them come to the site. I mean we have some boards, you know, images of and then we can kind of point out things specifically. We could do that.

[5:26:03] That'd be great.

[5:26:04] All right.

[5:26:05] Thank you so much for the presentation. Great work. Sorry it's after midnight, but thank you for hanging in there. We greatly appreciate.

[5:26:12] It. Thank you.

[5:26:14] All right. Okay.

[5:26:23] All right. At this time, we'll go to, uh, city manager, uh, Information briefings.

[5:26:29] Um.

[5:26:31] Yeah, I was going to say I was going to say that, but I did have something, but really, really quick. It's just two things, uh, upcoming, uh, dates, really, for the people that are looking at this, there's people out there still awake, right?

[5:26:42] Yeah. There are. Yeah.

[5:26:43] Um, so one is, uh, sister State of the city is scheduled for Wednesday, September 16th, from 1130 to 1 at the Artesia Diaz Hall. So I hope that everyone attends and find out here what's going on with the city. And then, uh, the next one is the Hispanic Heritage Celebration, which will take place Friday, September 18th at AJ Pettiford Park from 6 to 8 p.m. so we hope that people will come out and join us for that. And that's all I have for this evening.

[5:27:12] Very well. Thank you, Mr. City Manager. All right. We will now go to Councilmember comments. We'll start with Councilmember Taj.

[5:27:19] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, a few things. Uh, Mr. City Manager, uh, we have talked about heavy 18 wheelers going through City of Artesia and how that is impacting our roads, streets and, you know, any comments on that?

[5:27:37] We are in the process of finalizing a memo that we will send out to the council. Okay. The reason why we chose the memo is because in looking through it, it looked like there were some things in the in the circulation plan and other documents that kind of explain, uh, the current routes of, of, uh, truck traffic and just kind of information on that. Based off of that, then you can decide if you'd like for us to dig deeper and bring back an item, a discussion item. So we're putting that into a, a memo for a detailed memo so that you can actually see if that's what you're asking for. Um, and if not, then we can go from there and then bring that back as a discussion item to to the council.

[5:28:29] Okay. Thank you. Um, I guess what I'm asking for is those heavy 18 wheelers should not be part of this smaller 1.5mi², six square mile.

[5:28:40] I think I think and again, we'd like to put that in the memo and see how how you react to it, because.

[5:28:48] It's it's.

[5:28:51] Not feasible to just outright say these 18 wheelers cannot be in the city because we do need them, because our businesses need them. Um, to, you know, think of state our brothers think of, uh, 99 ranch. These are big supermarkets that require them. And there's other businesses, restaurants, as many restaurants as we have. We do have trucks that deliver. Um, so. So again, it's late. We are putting the memo together. Ernesto and Ron are looking at all the pertinent documents and really clarify for you what the roots are right now and how they're impacted by what you're asking. And then we can kind of go from there.

[5:29:36] Okay.

[5:29:36] Thank you. Um, I'll just indulge for a couple of more minutes, Mr. Mayor. Um, just wanted to which I was going to make comments earlier about sharing with my council colleagues and public out there and staff that I attended. League of California Cities board meeting. And that happens once a quarter. And I was also nominated to be the director for next two years at large position, as well as the upcoming annual conference is going to be here in Southern California. They take turn from Northern to Southern California. This time it's going to be Southern California, Anaheim from September 23rd through 25th. Um, also, I had a chance to go to League of California City's Los Angeles County Division meeting, where the mayor of City of Belle Anna Maria Quintana. She was also inducted as a president. And also she became the mayor just a few days ago. So sharing that. Um, and then, of course, uh, Mayor Pro Tem, you mentioned Hyderabad delights. We did the opening and presented the certificate on behalf of the mayor and the council. I actually went back to get some tea and then also biryani as well. Um, that said, uh, um, everything else was covered. Thank you so much.

[5:31:02] And, uh.

[5:31:04] Okay, over to you.

[5:31:05] Thank you. Council member Taj will go to councilwoman here.

[5:31:11] Thank you, mayor pro tem. Um, I just have one request from public works. And seeing as how no one's here, Um, are we allowed to uproot and replace like trees on pioneer, especially the downtown specific area? Do you know? Um, then the reason being is, uh, Curry on Pi, the new tenant on, um, on that boulevard. Um, they their sign is being blocked by a tree. So they're just requesting, you know, whether we can shift it or if not shift.

[5:31:50] Can we trim it a little so that the sign is being seen? S13:

[5:31:52] Yes. Actually, we're going to be, uh, doing some tree trimming of, uh, palm trees. Um, coming up so we can certainly I know it's probably not.

[5:32:04] Is it a palm tree? S13:

[5:32:05] That's fine. But we can actually see if we can include that into the, the scope and, and see what we can do about that. Yeah. I'd rather trim than relocate. I know because it's it's expensive. It's and it's not always successful depending on the type of tree.

[5:32:22] It's also equally distant I noticed. So I already knew the answer, but I just thought to ask.

[5:32:27] Right. Okay.

[5:32:28] Well, thank you for all that you do. Um, Artesia city staff. That would be all.

[5:32:37] Okay. Thank you. Council member here. We'll go to council member Manalo.

[5:32:42] Thank you, Mister mayor. I made all my comments earlier this evening, but I want to just reiterate to everyone that this Council of five works very well together, not only together as a council, but as a team with the city. And I think that, um, hopefully that gives the residents a lot of, uh, reassurance and encouragement that their city is moving forward in a very positive direction. Thank you.

[5:33:14] Okay.

[5:33:15] Thank you, Councilmember Manalo. We'll go to Mayor Pro Tem Ramos.

[5:33:19] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, what was I going to talk about? Um. Oh, yeah. Thank you. Um, Sergeant Ramos is still in the room, so I'll just bring this up. Um, residents on the west side of pioneer, um, are complaining about people who jumped the fence. Um, at the hotel. At the hotel. And they're running into the neighborhoods. The fence is low enough that people are doing that. That they're. Yes. So they want they want more, maybe more patrolling or deputies to see the, uh, to be around because it happens at night. And I think, I don't know, maybe city staff can check in with the owner because they close the gate in that area. So like the very what's the very last street on the west side? I think 1/67. Um, they jumped the fence. People jumped the fence.

[5:34:21] The motel six.

[5:34:22] From the motel.

[5:34:22] Six. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course we can.

[5:34:25] Yeah. So that it's come up a couple times already.

[5:34:28] And it occurs.

[5:34:30] During the.

[5:34:30] Night.

[5:34:30] During the night?

[5:34:32] Yeah.

[5:34:33] Yeah. And there there's a someone had jumped into this 90 year old lady's backyard and she. Yeah, I just felt bad for her.

[5:34:42] Definitely getting through the, uh, increased patrol checks. So, uh, encourage them to call Lakewood station.

[5:34:49] Oh, yeah. Definitely.

[5:34:51] If for some reason they feel they're not treated, um, fair to let me know, and then we'll handle it.

[5:34:59] Okay.

[5:35:01] Thank you, Sergeant. And, uh, last but not least, I wanted to say happy birthday to my dad, so thank you.

[5:35:09] Thank you. Mayor pro tem. I wanted to share that Miss Artesia had to leave. And they will be back next month for their photos. Uh, so they didn't, you know, we didn't skip them. They left due to the delay. Um, the other thing, I just have a couple of things to bring up. Um, we are having the internet lines, the Wi-Fi installed, broadband. Thank you. I write that down.

[5:35:35] Broadband.

[5:35:36] Um, the broadband is being installed, and there's a note that was taped to the mailboxes, which is questionable as to how they're obviously delivering the message. But in the note, it said that driveway access will be blocked for the working day or days. There are folks that have reached out that are handicapped and need driveway access. So even though they're making a notice, how do we let them know that you can't block a driveway during the day? Because if a person has to access their vehicle, it's not parked on the street. It's in the driveway because it's handicapped.

[5:36:24] How do we address that issue for them? S13:

[5:36:25] Well, just to clarify and correct me if I'm wrong, Paul, but but what they mean by that, it's not just that they're blocking the driveways. They're doing work in the street in front of the driveways. Remember, this is an underground broadband infrastructure. And the way they're doing it is they're micro trenching along the perimeter of the street where the street kind of meets where the gutters at. So if they're talking about blocking driveways, it's because they're laying the, the, the fiber optic broadband cable in that, in that space directly in front of the driveways. So it's not like they're blocking them. They're working on them. So it's it's so they're going to be moving along. I don't know. Well do you have any further details as far as how long.

[5:37:16] Right, right.

[5:37:18] It would be Paul's attending a meeting tomorrow morning. Um, and and the closer we get to it, the more information we'll have. But again, just to clarify, it does need to happen in order for the project to be complete. So we do need to lay the broadband there. Um, but maybe perhaps if we can identify, you know, these households that have special needs like that, we can at least give them a window and say, unfortunately, we're going to have to have this the we're going to be doing work there, you know, the next two days, three days, because once they lay it down, then they just keep moving on. You know, they're just going to lay it and then move on to the next. So we'll see if we can try to get a better feel for that.

[5:37:58] Okay.

[5:37:59] Okay. Yeah. We can find out and I can get you the the as it addresses.

[5:38:04] Have.

[5:38:05] Specific addresses. That would be very helpful.

[5:38:07] I'll get those over to you. Um, and I think that was it for, uh, comments. We have, uh, Councilmember Manalo had one more comment.

[5:38:15] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm so sorry I forgot to mention this. That resident reached out and I'm sure probably, um, other colleagues received this message that there have been some attempts to break in to mail trucks in our, in our area. And I think, Sergeant, you're aware of this. Are you aware of it? Okay. So maybe it's something that you can alert your deputy deputies to that there have been some attempted break ins into mail trucks in our, um, in our city, and there was one that was actually successful. So this resident wanted, uh, you know, residents to know about this, be aware of it. And then also, if they do see something suspicious to contact 911. Right. Uh, Sergeant. So that would be the best, best thing to do, especially if you live around the like. Alberta's jersey. The Rolleston area where the. Where the trucks are right there at the post office. Please just be aware of that. And also then of course also your mail on your on your porches, at your doors and stuff like that. Just be aware of the possibility that there are folks. Yeah, porch pirates, but especially right now with the mail trucks. So if you do see something, contact 911 and let them know. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[5:39:32] Appreciate it.

[5:39:33] All right. Thank you everybody. We will adjourn the meeting at 1236. Thank you. And we'll reconvene next month.

[5:39:47] Yes.

City Council Meeting

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